Tuesday, September 16, marks the beginning of my 6+ month experience living and working in Edinburgh, Scotland. This blog documents my experiences as an American girl in Europe.
The employment agency must have felt benevolent because I have a new job...and a rather long-term one at that; it could not be more different from my old position at SCVO. The agency had a lead for a position at a construction company, but that fell through, giving me three days to wander around and enjoy the city before starting work at The Viewpoint Housing Association(“housing association” = “nursing home”).
Viewpoint is broken up into several care facilities, and I work in St. Raphael’s, a former Catholic hospital turned elderly care facility. My office is right inside the doors, so I get a great number of visitors throughout the day: nurses, staff, visitors, and residents. It never gets boring (or should I say quiet?); however, most of the staff at St. Raphael’s are new, leaving them the task of figuring out their own job and not having the time or knowledge to tell the poor temp what she is to do. I feel useless waiting for a task to be divvied my way, but I am rarely content simply passing time. It could be much worse…
The patients keep me entertained. Anna gets to tell Kate and me stories about the kids she watches at the nurseries (like the child who was blown over in the wind), and now I get to join in with similar tales. After being introduced to Mrs. Heyes, she was quick to tell me that she went to school for a bit in the States. In school in Scotland, she and the other students had to sit with their hands behind their backs and their eyes no where but on the teacher; things were much more relaxed in America, she assured me. When the tea trolley came ‘round, she was given a plate with three biscuits (cookies). She did not shy at telling the staff that she wants “VARIETY WITH [HER] BISCUITS!” When no one responded to her repeated cry, she stole a biscuit off another resident’s plate and promptly got her hand slapped and the biscuit snatched back by her hungry neighbor. Finally, a care attendant gave her a slight variety to appease her cravings. Peggy, another very active resident, gets very restless and does not like to sit. She does, however like to hold someone’s hand at all times, especially when strolling around the house. If no one is paying her any attention, she will stand in the foyer and cry, “Help! Will no one help me? I need help!” I have been warnedn and she is indeed the resident who cries wolf. When her help cries prove ineffective, she alternates between cawing like a crow and squealing like a siren. By then, one of the care workers will usually come hold her hand. On Friday, the biscuit avenger told her rather bluntly, “Will you shut up? You make so much noise!” Thelma is perhaps the most persistent resident. She is bed-ridden today with the shingles, but she normally comes by several times every hour. While she does wear hearing aids, I am convinced that they do nothing. I have to put my mouth to her ear and practically yell. While this technique works with a Scottish brogue, she constantly has to remind me to “speak English” while talking to her. (Post note: Thelma's husband came to visit today with hearing aid batteries in tow; they had no batteries...)
We did have a resident pass away Friday only a few hours after I left. When I came in Friday morning, Ronnie, the head nurse, was getting Doreen’s files ready so that he could fill in the family. He told them she was not doing well, and the family said just to call the mortuary and not to phone if she passed during the night. It was a harsh dose of reality to know that a family did not visit and did not want to be notified in the night. I’m beginning to pick up that this job may turn into a character-building experience. (Isn’t that what you are supposed to call not-so-pleasant but very real experiences?)
This weekend was a very good one! Anna and I met Kate and Erin and three BUNAC Canadians at The Tass for burgers after work on Friday, and that turned into a night of fun people and long conversations. On Saturday the flatmates and I had lunch at Glenhas (our favorite deli/café) before heading to Our Dynamic Earth, which I always want to call the natural history museum…because that’s what it is. That museum was a well-spent £9.50. It’s very interactive and incredibly cheesy, but so much fun! (A birthday party of screaming 6-year-olds did not prevent me from enjoying myself.) You start your journey in a time machine (naturally) and learn about the creation of our solar system. From there, you travel through the volcanic age, to the ice age, to the dinosaurs, through the Antarctic and a rain forest, and finally to the future to see how our decisions will affect our water source 100 years from now. When you finally return to present-day Edinburgh, you are graciously dropped off at the over-priced souvenir shop. It may be dangerous that we realized Saturday night is crime scene prime time on the tellie. Our Saturday night consisted of spinach and ricotta ravioli, NCIS, CSI Las Vegas, and Law and Order Criminal Intent. On Sunday, for the sake of seeing new things, we visited St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the corner of Princes Street and Lothian Road for the choral matins service. That evening we met Keith to visit a new movie theater (where we get student prices with our YoungScots card!) for Body of Lies. Good movie! Good weekend!
Thanksgiving is in three days. Since the UK is not prone to celebrate America’s independence (too big of a blow to their ego?), my flat is hosting a regular Thanksgiving feast on Saturday for any and all who want to come. This will be my first attempt at preparing a Thanksgiving turkey without my mom’s guidance… Wish us luck.
Today was my last day at SCVO, and I was very sad to tell everyone goodbye. I have been very lucky to have had the same job for eight weeks and even luckier to have worked with such warm and friendly people at an organisation that I believe is doing a great amount of good. I suppose I should also note that Sunday marks Edinburgh and my two month anniversary. I’m thinking of buying a wide, stylish belt to celebrate. As a ‘thank you and farewell’ gesture, the SCVO networks team went out to lunch today, and I got to pick the restaurant! I chose Blue Moon Café, one of my favorite restaurants just off of Broughton and only a short walk from the office. Oh dear, I will miss SCVO.
I have burned the dickens out of my right forearm. I suppose the scar that will soon be once the burn heals will simply balance the scar on my left hand from a similar accident my senior year. You see, our oven is very low, and I have twice now touched my forearm to a rack whilst trying to remove a casserole dish. I first did it last week while making macaroni and cheese (the good Southern kind with eggs but without the dry mustard—we deemed that an unnecessary luxury), and I did it again last night whilst pulling out our barbecue chicken. The second burn is in a perfect line with the first, leaving half the burn a fresh blister and the other half a scabby mess. It stretches almost two inches across the top of my arm half-way up to my elbow, it hurts like none of your business, and it looks disgusting. Perhaps I should limit my cooking tasks to the stove-top and leave the oven works to Kate and Anna.
Our landlady is due to come into town tomorrow, carrying a second couch and a fringe hinge in tow. Joy told us she intended to add another couch to the living room when we viewed the flat, and two months later, we may finally get it. Granted, we have sat waiting for the delivery that never was on two other occasions, but since Joy will physically be in Edinburgh (she lives in Aberdeen), I have high hopes for this scheduled delivery. We went through the same thing with our kitchen floor. When we moved in, the floor was half-ripped up, and the man failed to show twice to finish the job. However, we now have a complete kitchen floor, so perhaps we will soon have a second couch. Right now we have a love seat, and while we three do fit on it, our couch-lounging, BBC-watching evenings are spent in a close snuggle. It will be nice to spread out. The fridge was a bit be-jiddity when we moved in, and now the bottom hinge has broken in to two. Refrigerators here are dorm-sized, so it is not like we have a 5-foot door swaying too and fro, but our mini-fridge door does fall to the floor when you open it. If all goes according to plan, this will also be rectified tomorrow.
I just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver'sPoinsonwood Bible, and it comes with the highest of high recommendations from this former English major (and it's even American literature, which, as we all know, is not my favorite). I think it meant a little something else living away from the US in more basic circumstances than I have ever done before, even though I am fully aware it is leagues away from living amidst war, hunger, famine, and poverty in the Congo. Read it. You won't regret it.
I have not written in a while because I have not had exciting happenings to recall; however, for the sake of updating my blog, I will write.
I am still at SCVO. I have been asked to stay until 14 November. I greatly appreciate the familiar faces and steady income!
I have sent in my deposit to Union- PSCE. I am going to grad school when I get back to the states!
I have met my soul mate. Her name is Erin. I typically do not believe in “soul mates” (certainly not in the romantic sense), but I’m pretty sure Erin and I have one soul that was divided: she was an English major and she appreciates the brilliance that is Sex and the City (the show, not the movie). We met Erin at a BUNAC pub meet last Wednesday. It was her second night in town, and we need friends, so we were a perfect match. We started off at Jekyll and Hyde’s, a pub on Hanover Street, and eventually moved to the Globe so that we could introduce Erin and Keith (another BUNAC-er) to Snake Bites. (A “Snake Bite” is our favorite drink; it’s ½ beer ½ hard cider, and black currant syrup. Yummo.) Over our hot pink beverages, Erin and I discussed my senior seminar thesis: Jean Rhy’s Wide Sargasso Sea as fictional criticism of English culture as found in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. She understood my angle and appreciated my findings. It was brilliant. While at the Tron this past Saturday night, we had a conversation about Wuthering Heights over pints of “exotic cider.” I felt like a giddy under-grad English student once again. I am also able to make SATC references around without being stared at with blank, un-understanding eyes… or having these same eyes rolled at me. She chips in with my SATC allusions and laughs as enthusiastically as me. (Gretchen, Beth, Bay-Bay, and Shelbs-meister: it is these SATC moments when I realize how much I miss you.)
Halloween was Friday. We were warned that people over primary school age traditionally do not dress up here. Without the ability or the desire to go completely blah, Anna bought us fairy wings and wands. We were precious. (Totes presh, that is.) Angela dressed as a ninja fighter meets geisha character, and Erin was an American college student. Halloween marks the end of the Celtic summer and the beginning of the Celtic new year and is celebrated with the Samhain festival held outside of St. Gile’s Cathedral. The elaborately dressed participants act out something about the winter king driving out all the light, but we were in the very back of the crowd and it was drizzling rain, so we left. We made our way to Frankenstein’s, but it was packed beyond belief (and not out scene), so we eventually wound up at the Globe for Snake Bites. (Trend: we always end up either at the Globe or the Tron.)
The election was Tuesday. I am incredibly glad it’s over with for the simple fact that people will no longer ask which candidate I support--hoping I will say Obama)--even before asking my name; now I will likely be asked about my reaction to the outcome. The US election is a bigger than big deal here. I was one of the few people in my office who did not stay up all night or set an alarm for 4am to check the final results. People were wearing Obama buttons left and right all day yesterday, celebrating the election of our new president. The purpose of this blog is not political, so I will leave this topic at that.
Remember, remember the 5th of November! No one tried to blow up Parliament this year, and the cold rain stopped us from watching the fireworks. But we did enjoy the Celtic vs. Manchester football game--at the Tron, of course.
