Sculpture Tour (aka Home Schooling Attempt)

Since we haven't been able to enroll the boys in school yet, we've begun some home schooling. We already had planned to keep Cormac going in Spanish and Algebra and Declan in math, but teaching them full time was not really part of the plan. For our first attempt, we planned a sculpture tour of City Centre and Merchant City (basically downtown Glasgow where the main shops and businesses are), followed by some writing and research about the people in the statues.

The Cenotaph, an amazing monument to fallen soldiers from the Great War (WW1) and other conflicts. Notice all the poppy wreaths laid on the memorial.

We arrived close to Robert Burns's birthday, which is a big deal in Scotland. A week later there are still flowers given by local clubs and societies (like The Glasgow Haggis Club).

Robert Burns is Scotland’s poet laureate. He is known here as simply, ‘The Bard.’ He wrote poetry during the Romantic Movement, but he was originally a tenant farmer. The Romantic Movement started during the second half of the 18^th century. It was an artistic and literary movement, during which the format of these two things changed drastically. The new format drew heavily from the creator’s emotions, which were channeled through the art. Robert Burns’ poetry fit this format. He married a woman named Jean Armour, and with her had two children, who were twins. To keep his poetry fresh and new, he toured Scotland to get information about local folklore and songs. He died of a heart condition when he was thirty-seven. (by Cormac)

Robert Peel was born February 5 1788. He became a politician at age 21, a very unusually young age. He worked at the House of Commons. However, working in politics in a very difficult job and soon he was forced to resign in 1835. Soon Robert found another job being the MP of The Irish Rotten Borough of Cashel, Tipperary (rotten boroughs had small electorates so were used to gain influence in the government). He died in 1850. (by Declan)

Queen Victoria triumphant under the ferris wheel.

Donald Dewar, first Minister of Scotland, not related to founder of Dewar's Scotch Distillery, John Dewar.

Daily Dose of Museums -- Part 1

views from the top of the Glasgow Necropolis

Glasgow has many amazing museums, all of which are free or suggested donation entrance, making it easy to visit often. So far, besides the afore-mentioned GOMA, we've been to a museum a day (our daily limit though Liam would go to 100 a day!).

Starting with the Kelvingrove Art Museum, which was having an AC/DC exhibit. Malcolm and Angus Young were from Scotland, then their family immigrated to Australia where they formed the GREATEST rock band ever as the exhibit clearly illustrated!

Gotta love the crude humor on the ticket!

The blue sky behind the museum is kind of a rare sight in rainy Glasgow.

Then, to the St Mungo Museum of Religious Art and Life, which had amazing cross-cultural and religious artifacts and artwork.

Loved the juxtaposition of religions -- St Joan and Buddha side by side!

Yes, It Snows in Scotland!

So, people warned us it would snow, and here is the most accumulation I could find. Notice none sticking on the ground. And I expect it will gone by tomorrow. We'll take that over having to do the shoveling.

Today, we checked out the boys' potential schools. Unfortunately, we don't have the right visas for them, so their enrollment will be delayed. That does give us more time to be tourists!

In the afternoon, we went out in the snow to the City Centre, which is a big shopping district like Downtown Crossing in Boston, Union Square in San Francisco, and the Bangor Mall (okay not so much like the last one). The boys found their two dream stores -- a store with comics, graphic novels, figurines, etc. and an Apple store.

Declan hugging the posters.

Inside the Apple Store, where there was live music to watch, games to test, and large monitors to check Facebook on. Can you guess who was doing what?

This area (like all of Glasgow that we've seen so far) has amazing architecture. Many stores in this area are in old banks or factories. We dropped in to the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), where the interior details surpassed the exhibits.

Trash or Art?

But you can buy trash at this store!

Greeted with Curry -- Day One

Once we arrived, I tried to catch a little nap while Liam and the boys went on a quick tour of the neighborhood before Liam taught his class. Having had some tea in Heathrow en route, sleep eluded me (I have a very low tolerance for caffeine -- even chocolate can keep me awake at night), but lying down felt great after hours in a sitting position.

Liam returned and we set off for some lunch. Love the Scottish twist, well for the name only. The food was all Indian!

Then, we were off to explore the university a little.

Outside Liam's office

Liam at

his desk

Cruising the campus

of the University of Glasgow

Finally, my candy obsession. Yes, I love candy in the USA, but the boys and I are very excited about new candy options in the UK. Despite having spotted these two tasty-looking items, and no, they are not green beans and fried eggs, just candy masquerading as such, we went for the safe and delicious choice of a Cadbury fruit and nut bar and a Carmello. But we will be trying the weird and yummy, as the days go on.

Now, I'm ready for bed but it's only 5:00 here. I'll try to make it through dinner, then hopefully catch up on some sleep for our next day of exploring!

Our bags are packed, and we are ready to go

Will this all fit?

Declan does a great job packing

Cormac's bag -- full of books

Despite the last minute trauma of Declan leaving his sneakers (or should I say trainers) somewhere, we managed to pack all six bags and clear out the house and be ready on time!

Here are our last moments in Bangor, and how my children spent 12 hours of their time while traveling.

How did parents survive

before portable electronics?

But at long last, we arrive!

My Almost-Empty House

from crammed

to cleared

The countdown is in earnest now! Three days until we are on the plane. I'm loving my minimalist house, even though it looks a little like the before from a home decorating show on HGTV. Emptied drawers and closets, cleared out shelves and cubbies, packed away fragiles -- it's amazing how much I could cram into our basement study, now storage space.

Now, onto the tough decisions, what clothes to bring?!?

How can I select my outfits for six months? And, even more important, how much can I cram into two suitcases? Beyond a raincoat, I'm not sure what else I really need, but what will I want? I'm thinking this limited wardrobe could be freeing. More brain space for deep thoughts, if less is taken up with figuring out what to wear. Plus, secretly, I would wear the same clothes every day if they stayed clean and no-one would notice. Always wanted to try that at school -- would any students catch on to the same outfit two days in a row? Probably, okay definitely, yes, but in a big city, I think I could do it!

So, my goal -- fewer clothes but more wearing power. I'll let you know how that works for me.

The Labor before the Reward

So, how do you pack up a house and a family of four for six months away from home? My solution (which works for pretty much all of my life): incremental steps and many lists.

I started sorting and packing some of our stuff back in November. The most daunting – our boys’ closets, which help keep their rooms neat by storing LOTS of toys, papers, clothes, stuff. They helped out by sorting into three piles – get rid of, put away now, put away later. I worked on the rest of the house, boxing up fragiles and sentimental items that we didn’t want the people staying in our house to worry about. Weekend by weekend, I chipped away and was feeling really on top of it all.

My list was long, but diminishing. My extraneous stuff was shipped off to Goodwill. My house was looking emptier. All was good!

The toll started to show this week, which was the last week of the quarter (lots of late work turned in by my lovely, but procrastinating students; exams to be written; organizing to do for my wonderful sub) and two weeks before we leave (visa issues; worries about what to pack; last minute medical appointments). Tired and cranky, I stressed – would I get it all done? (Remains to be seen)

Liam, meanwhile, is already in Glasgow dealing with the red tape of banking and visa bureaucracy. He sends good reports – weather is warmer than Maine, the flat will fit all four of us (more on that later), etc.

I probably shouldn’t be writing this on a Friday night, since it sounds a lot like whining about an opportunity for which I do feel very lucky. And all will come together (what doesn’t will just remain undone) and soon we will be in Scotland, sending you updates from across the pond!