Baking a cake and the Kelvingrove gallery

All right folks,

The weekend has come and gone and I figure it is probably time to post some of my doings on this dear little blog. I would just like to thank anyone who has taken the time to read some of my entries ( apparently some of you do) and so I'll try to keep it interesting.

Firstly, I finished my placement on Friday without having a horrible fire burn down the school. As you may or may not know I was supposed to be helping my class of p7 students bake cakes as part of one of their units. The idea was good in principle, but to make cake with 25 students takes ages. I worked with half the class, while the teacher worked with the remainder of the class and it was supposed to go smoothly...except nothing ever runs smoothly. We had all our ingredients and were all ready to bake when we returned from lunch, but then discovered that there is some obscure rule forbidding eggs from being used. That's perfect...especially when we were going to use eggs in the cake...perfect. So, we found the Cafeteria lady and she gave us a mix, but now were are simply adding water...swell. Well, we made the batter and then I was sent down with 5 students to bake the cakes and clean up...so off we went to the staff room and the ovens. So, we baked and cleaned and just as I was sending the students back to the class in came 5 more with instructions to make the topping. Nice. So, now I'm helping these students make the topping and clean up. I hauled out our cakes ( they looked really good...yeah all that baking cakes at OPE paid off) and sent the students back to class. No sooner that this batchhead off in come 6 different students with instructions to cut up fruit for their cakes. Now, at this point I was getting a little weary of standing around in the staff room and getting the distinct impression that I was getting the short end of the stick here, but I set about helping these students cut the fruit. Well, in matter of some 20 minutes had ALL 25 students in the staff room trying to cut fruit. YIKES! Does anyone else see the problem with this? 25 students...small room...sharp knife...its a miracle we had no stabbings. In the end the cakes tasted good, and the teacher was very appreciative for all my help and it was a lot of fun. Check out the photo of my group making batter.

On Saturday I went to the Kelvingrove Gallery in the West End of the city. It has just re-opened and I wanted to check it out. I wasn't sure quite what to expect, but it was impressive. The architecture is beautiful and the place was unbelievably busy. However, I spent mosy of 3 hours in the museum and could have spent about 3 more I'm sure( if you've ever gone to a museum with me then you know what I'm talking about). It had a whole host of exhibits about Scotland, its heritage, its people, the animals, and countless other stuff. They also have an extensive collection of artwork from across the world. Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, and all sorts of other artists had their work on display and it was pretty impressive. Chcek out the photos.














Now, for those who fear that I don't go out and party and that all I do is go to school, go to museums, and never have a good time...here you are. Saturday night I went to a flat warming party and it was a quiet affair. It was low key and a nice place to go. However, on my way back to my flat I got a text message from a friend of mine saying that everyone was at the Studeny Union bar and that had to show up or else. Well, it being Saturday night I had to oblige...and the craziness ensued. Its Frosh week here now and so the campus is crawling with first year students and they were all at the Union bar. It was busy...the beverages were very cost friendly ( dare I say cheap) and to make matters better I didn't pay for any because everyone really wanted to see me tie one on big. Well I did. I'm not a dancer usually...only under 2 conditions do I dance: summer camp, or stupid drunk. You figure out which it was. It was a good night...but I woke up feeling like anyone who was out until 3 am celebrating the weekend...terrible. Fortunately I don't go out all that often so that's ok once in a while.

At this point I will be free to admit that while I'm enjoying life in Scotland, I do miss Canada. I miss cars driving on the proper side of the road. I miss Tim Horton's. I miss Ice Hockey ( yes...boys in the ODHA I check up on you guys through the power of the internet). And I miss all you crazy people back home...so I'll keep on working and doing what needs to be done, but if you guys want to send me a kind word...go ahead...it will be appreciated.

Anyway, so long from Scotland.

Bruce