Life in the village continues

Recently, I went to register with the doctor's office here in my village. They were very friendly and nice and wanted to know all about me and why in the world I would leave "sunny Canada" for Northern Ireland. I also found out that there is a Canadian doctor, from Ontario, who sometimes covers the clinic, which is somewhat exciting. Since I've moved here people like to point out the other Canadians that they've heard about living in the same area. I have yet to meet a fellow Canuck, but I know there is one living somewhere nearby in "the sticks", which I thought was where I am now living, but it appears I have been misinformed!

Last night I went to watch Gaelic football for the first time. It's different from regular football (meaning soccer to you Canadian folk), in that you are allowed to pick up the ball with your hands. You can also score both points and goals . . . a goal goes in the net, and a point goes between the uprights, kind of like in the CFL. If you pick up the ball, you can't just carry it, but you have to either bounce it once (kind of like basketball) or do a solo, where you kick the ball back up to yourself. It was all very interesting and fun. People really take it seriously here . . . there was lots of swearing! And my current housemate, who almost never speaks and is someone that I consider quite shy, suddenly became this whole new person and barely stopped yelling at the pitch. It was bizarre! The first match I saw was a cup final, called the New York Cup, and it was very exciting. I am glad that I went and will likely continue to go support my local team, who's pitch is just up the road from where I'm living.

I'm still not in my own flat yet, which is frustrating! I better be in asap this week, or else I will be one unhappy lady!

Little Village = Little Adventures

I wrote this blog earlier in the week, but I haven't had a chance to post it until now . . . enjoy!

I have been in Northern Ireland for almost a week now and I like it so far. I haven’t settled in yet though, as all my stuff is still in boxes and shoved, rather precariously, into a closet in the house I am sharing. There’s no point in unpacking it yet really as I am moving again in a week or two to a private flat. I can’t wait to move, not only so I can unpack and start to make this place feel a bit more like home, but also so I can find my phone charger . . . my battery is definitely going to die at any moment and then I will truly be cut off from the world . . . not that I can get much phone signal here anyway! ;-)

I survived my first day of teaching. It went alright, all things considered. I was flying blind because I hadn’t had the opportunity to observe the session I was teaching in advance, so it was a steep learning curve. I am glad it’s out of the way though!

My most recent adventure in the village involved visiting the local shop to see what they stocked on their shelves. Answer: not much, but it’ll do for staples like milk and bread. The shop lady looked up when I came to the till, and seemed quite disappointed when she didn’t recognise me (she’d called everyone else by name who had been ahead of me in the queue!). I am not sure what was required of me, in terms of social etiquette; in that situation . . . should I have introduced myself, telling her who I was? That seemed a bit much, as there were a few people waiting behind me. I decided to leave it for the time being. It won’t be long now until she finds out who I am on her own, I suppose.

My upcoming adventure is as follows: On Saturday, I plan on travelling into the nearest town (pop. 10,000) by bus to do a bit of shopping and nosing around. The only annoying part of my plan is that once I arrive in the town, I am then stuck there for about 9.5 hours before there will be another bus to take me back home. Oh, the joys of small town living!

Those city lights are calling!

First Impressions

I arrived in my Northern Irish town (location to be kept secret from the public domain) about an hour ago. “Town” is a term to use loosely here, as there are only around 600 people in the area, so village would be more appropriate. I am currently exhausted, having not slept well the night before the move, and being on the go since just after 4am. Yuck.

The ferry crossing was beautiful though, as was the drive to Stranraer (where you catch the ferry from Scotland to Belfast). I wish I had explored that part of the country before. But, I digress . . .

My first impression so far of this village and of the accommodation supplied is that of claustrophobia. And, it’s not because there is anything wrong with the village or the house . . . it’s just that they are quite a bit different than what I am used to! I was living in Edinburgh (pop. ~450,00) where no one that you pass on the street really pays attention to you and my flatmates were very much interested in keeping a distance from each other. This is in contrast to here, where already I have been the subject of much staring and a few waves from the local children! Also, the house that I am in at the moment is probably smaller than the flat that I was living in before, and I feel like there isn’t much privacy. It’s just the complete opposite of the flat where no one spoke to one another and you would often go days without seeing someone. Here, you can see/hear the other person without any difficulty.

On the plus side there is a lovely garden though. Also, I have about 20 pillows on my bed. Bonus!

I will need to decide over the next week about staying in this place or moving to the flat that the girl I am replacing is currently staying in. I haven’t seen her place yet, so I am not sure what I will end up doing!

Deep Sea World

Here's a video of my recent visit to Deep Sea World in North Queensferry. It's quite dark and a bit blurry, but hopefully it'll give you an idea of what I got see. It was taken while I rode around on a conveyor belt through a tunnel surrounded by clear glass with fish, sting rays, and sharks swimming overhead!

"No More Than Two MPs Allowed at a Time"

****My friend JenMac recently (and rightly so, I might add) got mad at me for my lack of posting lately. I humbly apologise. For some reason, I tend to start writing blog posts, save them, and promptly forget about them. Here is a post I started from way back - June 10th!****

On the walk home from work today I spotted a sign with the above slogan written on it. It was hanging in a local shop in the Cannonmills section of Edinburgh and it made me laugh out loud. For those of you not in the know, many of the UK's politicians have been recently plagued with negative publicity for using public funds in inappropriate ways. For example, two MP's, who are married own two properties. No problem so far, but wait for it . . . . Both claimed "second-home mortgages", which they are completely allowed to do, but they claimed it for the opposite property to that which their partner was claiming it for. Clever that. Another employed family members to do secretarial work of some sort, while said family members were living in a completely different part of the country from the MP. Another's husband paid for porn and had the tax payer foot the bill. There's more too, but I am getting too annoyed to write about it. .

The downside of all of this, is of course that people are feeling rather uninspired by our politicians. The MPs have broken the public's trust to such an extent that they cannot be allowed within local shops more than two at time for fear of them stealing! This is a huge problem. Recently, the European Elections were held and voter turn out in the UK was an uninspiring 34.7 percent. Furthermore, out of the 27 nations eligible to vote, our percentage of voter turnout was ranked 21st. Ouch. I helped count the votes for the election in Edinburgh and one voters showed his/her displeasure by writing the word "crooks" beside every party on the ballot. They had to be pretty angry because they actually took the time out of their busy day to make it to a polling station and then write "crooks" beside all 13 parties (including one independent candidate) of this election.

Perhaps one of the consequences of the low voter turnout was that BNP (British National Party) scored two seats in European Parliament. I feel the need to point out that neither of these seats came from Scotland, but, nevertheless, their apparent rise in popularity does send a shudder of dread down my spine. They're not exactly "pro-foreigners"! I certainly hope that this is not a sign of things to come.