Last night we began repainting Deuan’s living room. On Sunday Jenny abruptly decided it had to be done. As it turns out, Deuan’s had the wallpaper partially off and the supplies bought for about three years. So finally it’s getting done. This is Graeme, another guy from St. Pete’s.
Here’s my journal entry from Saturday, when I went for a walk and a smoke now that I have pipe tobacco:
This city on the shore of the Tay where the river begins to open itself to the North Sea is a place of fitful air and momentous clouds, fitful air throwing the smoke from my pipe back in my face, then swirling it away, and fitful children too, unruly neds (Non-Educated Delinquents) uncomfortable with their own stance of rebellion, talking too loud as misformed adolescents do. This city is unsure of itself. Its poorest neighborhood, called Hilltown, is at its highest point-its best point of defense-and the poorest people in its poorest neighborhood are perched in half-abandoned high-rises that form the most prominent part of the city’s sky-line. They can survey the entire city, and the city always has them right above its head. It was from one of these high-rises that Mike’s brother-in-law threw himself in despair.
The high-rises will be torn down soon, making the problems less visible, perhaps more manageable, but where does the city go from there? I’m just an outsider, smoking tobacco on a monument to working class housing and I’m a little bit sick and dizzy now from smoking too fast and too deeply, so I can’t say. If there’s an answer it’s in the fresh breeze that always comes in from the water.
Lots of stuff happened this weekend. I went to church in St. Andrews this evening with the people above. In the middle is Deuan, my host. Amy is on the left, Jenny is on the right. They’re way cool. They came over for lunch and we cooked pork chops, shepherd’s pie and apple pastries. It was fantastic. Before today the only things I’ve seen Deuan cook are salad, pasta and chocolate cake. Not that that’s too bad, what else do you need when you have chocolate cake? He’s really quite a good cook, but he never bothers when he’s only cooking for himself. Here’s the remains of one of my cooking attempts:
Quite a mess, huh? Good burgers though.
Also went climbing on Friday with Aku. That was really fun. Aku gets distracted easily. One minute we’re climbing, then he wants to get a snack, then we spend like ten minutes trying to get this photo, and fail until this guy offers to take it for us.
I got my library card and went to the Dundee library. I was sorely disappointed in the literary habits of the Dundonians (as they call themselves). No copy of Le Morte D’Arthur in sight. I get the distinction of being the first person in fifteen years to check out The Man Who Was Thursday. Dundee does not like Malory or Chesterton. I have a promise to fulfill to Alex, so I will find Malory somewhere. My word is my bond.
Aku finally e-mailed me the pictures we took when we crossed the Tay river last week. It was quite beautiful. The most eventful thing that happened was that we found this rabbit with the guts pulled out of it. Aku took a picture, but I don’t think I’ll post it. Today me and Aku went climbing. When he sends it to me I’ll post a sweet picture of both of us on the wall that this guy took.
Me and Aku make a funny pair. He looks like a cross between a skater and a hip-hop kid (which is what he is) and I’m wearing my in-your-face patriotic St. Andrew’s cross sweatshirt. He talks non-stop in his half-swedish/half-british accent and says dude as much as I do. He’s pretty awesome.
Dundee is a pretty straight up, working class kind of town. It’s by no means a tourist destination, which is fine. I get to hang out with Scots who are going about their lives, rather than Scots who are being paid to tell me I’m having a good time. At the same time though, Dundee has its surprises. There are islands of green space in the middle of the city where you can lose yourself in the woods and in five minutes feel like you are in the country. I am very glad to be spending some time here.
Another thing I enjoy is the peculiar blend of sarcasm and absurdity that is the Scottish (and more generally British) sense of humor. Forgive me for over-generalizing, but they have a way of making the most absurd wise-crack sound dry and ironic, just by the short, clipped, droll manner in their delivery. It’s quite entertaining.
A taste of Scottish slang:
“Winging” (wingin’ actually)=disgusting
A “winger” is an extremely unattractive person.
“Pants!” Is an exclamation of minor forcefullness, like “dang!”
Jobbies=crap
Pure=cool
Some other language barriers:
An example of typical British wordiness is a soap bottle labeled “Washing Up Liquid.”
“Scheme” can be used interchangeably with “program,” as in, “Child Sponsorship Scheme.” It has no element of sneakiness in this context, which is far less common in the states.
There is no good word for soft drinks here. Not soda, not pop, not coke. They’re all “juice.” I’m informed in Glasgow they use the word “ginger.” Way to be confusing.
Signpost HQ
Originally uploaded by akidabroad.
Here’s where I work! That’s my bike there. Signpost owns this building. In addition to their offices, several other ministries are housed there and there’s a community center area to the right.
Things I love about Scotland:
The sky. When it’s sunny the clouds are magnificent. You’ve seen the pictures.
The country-side. Green alternating with yellow, separated by little stone walls. It’s very peaceful and pastoral.
The cycle-friendly streets of Dundee
Big beer cans
Snooker
Things I don’t like about Scotland:
Grey buildings. It seems like the whole world is colored grey when it’s cloudy.
Driving on the wrong side of the road. Why does Britain have to be different?!
I finally got a chance to see the lay of the land today. This is the view west from Dundee Law, or as Mike called it, Law How (as in Aslan’s How, meaning hill). The WWI memorial on top can be seen from basically the entire city:
There are also some cool trails around it, where I found these cool flowers.
At the top I wrote this poem:
Fair Warning
I run this town
If you haven’t heard
And there’s an order out for your arrest.
You’ve been found guilty
By a jury of your peers
Of drowning out story-time,
Driving through meadows,
Tearing down play-houses,
Laughing at make-believe,
Cutting up climbing trees,
Throwing out toys,
And even-most heinous of all-
Not believing in fairies.
For these crimes and others
I swear we will soon have your head.
I went on a walk just now and discovered this wonderful park:
At the top of the hill were these:
Graves? Ancient standing stones? No, this is The Planet Trail, a series of strange looking rocks at distances supposedly representing the solar system. Also on the hill was this:
An observatory, right under my very nose! As I came up I saw a group of teenagers and was greeted by an American voice. The youth worker at this church called The Gate was from Florida! They came to get the tour of the observatory, but were too late. I’ll have to go sometime when it’s open.
Pretty bizarre things to come across, huh? There was actually more, including a monument to a working class housing project and a super-spooky tree. To see pictures of these discoveries go to: my flickr site.
‘Till next time, have an exceedingly enjoyable day/evening/whatever (time is relative).
Some items for prayer:
Due to an error in a money transfer, one of Signpost’s employees is sort of stuck in Rwanda without funds. It’s all being worked out, but there’s a lot of stress in the office right now. It doesn’t affect me directly, I just keep on writing letters to child sponsors, but the atmosphere was kind of tense this morning.
Kelly, who is the main administrator in Dundee of Signpost’s development work left for India today. Pray she has a safe trip. Also pray that Jesus will grab her. I don’t think she really knows Him.
Pray I get over my cold quick. It’s really annoying.
Thanks guys! Feel free to comment, it’s great to hear from you!
2007_0520Image0008
Originally uploaded by akidabroad.
And here’s the outside. Beautiful day, huh?
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