Take a load of Fannie...

"The ornaments of your house will be the guests who frequent it". ~Author Unknown





I hope you all have your party hats ready, confetti better be in hand because we have an occasion here. This is my one year anniversary of arriving on Glasgow's fine shores. And how am I spending said anniversary? With a little Rod Stewart singing The Great American Songbook whilst blogging from my bed (after a ten hour shift). Hence the reason I need all of you to have your party hats on and confetti for the throwing!





So a year on and what's happened? "Tell us in a nut shell" I hear you shouting so I won't bore you with the details. I am now a qualified (if unemployed) teacher working at TGIFridays, I went home to Canada for a month, I've been to Iceland, and am now living in my first ever flat and essentially enjoying life.





I graduated from teaching in June and have to do a year's probation work through supply teaching. Once that's finished, I'll be able to teach anywhere that wants to hire me for more than a year. I'm still working at TGI'S because at the end of the day I still need to pay my bills (and I actually really enjoy it). My ultimate goal is to teach though so hopefully I'll get some supply work. In Scotland, all Scottish born students get a guaranteed probation year so on Monday, all my friends from the course will be starting their new jobs - am I jealous? Of course I am! I am exceptionally jealous, and I don't think that makes me a bad person, it merely highlights the fact that I really want to be a teacher. I am also a realist though and I believe that I was wise not to give up TGI'S right away.





I went home for a month and it was amazing, spectacular, wonderful - feel free to insert your own adjective here ________. I have a new best friend - her name is Frances and she's my niece. I honestly did not know that you could fall in love so fast but after two minutes at the airport I was smitten. It was great to be home and just relax and hang out with my famiy and friends. It certainly made coming back to Scotland harder but I'm confident that I made the right choice. I went to my best friend's wedding and had a total reunion with some of my MOST FAVOURITE people. The wedding was fantastic, I loved every minute of it. Me and the girls thought that there would be quite a few people from X there, and when we got to the wedding we saw that it was mostly family, it was so intimate, so Mick and Scott. (Mick, if you're reading this, we felt truly honoured and priviledged to have an invite to that wedding and even if I'd lived on the most remote island this past year where smoke signals were the only form of communication, I still would have found my way there). (May I just point out that my keyboard is being really stupid at the moment and is missing letters out so I have to keep re-typing every sentence - and yet I perservere). I agonised over the decision of whether to stay in Glasgow or not, it wasn't something that I took lightly. In the end I decided I would rather give it a go than get home and regret leaving.





Another exciting thing in my life right now is that I'm living in my first real flat! I live in a lovely flat in Anniesland - to the west of Glasgow. Is it the most perfect flat ever? Is it the most modern flat ever? The answer to these questions is simply no, and yet I love it all the same. It's an older flat which meant a lot of things had to be fixed when we moved in but they're all sorted now. I was a bit discouraged when people came to the flat and were sort of critical about it but now I don't care. Keep in mind that the average age of people who have been in the flat have been over 50 so they worry about things not working, but I'm just happy to be out of student accommodation. People worry because we live on the ground floor but Anniesland is sooooooooooo safe. I believe that living on the ground floor is no different from living in one of the houses on our street. There are always kids playing and our neighbours are lovely. We have an (overgrown) garden in both the front and the back, but most importantly it's ours. I was so pleased that my friend Mairead came over for my birthday because she said it was lovely - she sees the potential. I'll post pictures soon once it's all fixed up. I really wish I could convey correctly the pride I have for this flat. Perhaps it's because it's my first real flat, but I love it and wouldn't want to move from it. It has high ceilings and wood floors and a great big living room for entertaining. That's where my quote comes in - who cares if there are some things we need to fix in the flat - "The ornaments of your house will be the guests who frequent it". And I hope people feel free to frequent it whenever they like.





Hmm, what else is there to write about? One more thing than I'm going to bed. I have recently developed a penchant for going to the movies on my own - is that weird? I had done it before but really only out of necessity - like it was the only time a film was showing that I really wanted to see and no one could go. But now, I quite like going on my own. I always thought there was a stigma attached to it, and I thought everyone would wonder why I was there on my own - then I remembered - you're in a dark room- no one can really see that you're on your own. I went to see Harry Potter the other night on my own because everyone had already seen it and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I got whatever sweets I wanted, I sat where I wanted and just had a complete chill out session. I'm going to a matinee tomorrow because again there is a limited showing of a film that only I've heard of, and I'm going alone (and I'm also really looking forward to it). Let me know your thoughts on this*





Right that's me, off to bedski.





Love,


Mulrine





*unless you do think this is creepy, then I don't want to know.

Me and Frances passed out on the couch.

Well I am very cultured you know...

"I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums." - Stephen Wright (American Actor and Writer 1955-)

My friend Lauren and I are both doing the history course at Glasgow Uni, and it turns out we both live in the same block of flats. This particular block of flats is literally a 5 minute walk from a massive art gallery and museum - and in the 5 months that we have lived here, neither of us have ventured over. In fairness to me, I have actually been to Kelvingrove Art Gallery almost 7 years ago, while Lauren who is Scottish - has never been. (However, in fairness to Lauren, she isn't from Glasgow). So, in order to better ourselves and spend a Saturday afternoon doing something useful, we decided to go on an excursion.

What a wonderful time! Kelvingrove is unlike any museum or art gallery that I have ever been too. There is a floor plan, but no actual sense in the layout. In one room you can find a suit of armour, a horse's skelton and a Spitfire from the world wars! And we loved every minute of it. As Lauren pointed out there were no stuffy guards or employees walking around making sure we didn't touch anything, in fact there were many exhibits that encouraged interaction. You could happily take your kids there without fear of them knocking over the T-Rex. An imagination would feel welcome to come alive in this place.

Rumour has it that the building was actually built backwards and that's why the back of the building is so much more grand than the front. Lauren told me today that apparently the architect gave the plans to the builder the wrong way or something so it got mixed up. Regardless, it's a beautiful spot.

Here's the website so that you can check it out if you want. There's a cool history of it with better photos than I took. http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/index.cfm?venueid=4

The front (really back of the museum)

A really strange display they have of all these different faces hanging from the ceiling, some happy, sad, laughing etc. I loved it.

I wish this was clearer so you could see all the various things (note the plane hanging from the ceiling in a room full of animals)

This was part of their display on the Arctic.
The Fisherman
This is called "Motherless" and it's absolutely heartbreaking. It's little info card said it's one of the museum's most favourite pieces. It's of a father holding his wee girl.
A fireplace done in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh design (very famous Scottish artist) The Spitfire

This was part of the display on sectarianism in Scotland and how it takes shape in football .

Alright kids, I'm off for now but watch this space soon for a recount of New Year's (I'm just waiting on some photos). Going to Aberdeen in the morning to watch Celtic - so excited!! In total it will take about 6 hours travelling (going there and back) for a 90 minute game.

Hail! Hail!

I've got to go home, but baby it's cold outside...

“Christmas Eve will find me, where the lovelight gleams, I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.”

Ok chaps so I hope your respective Christmases have been enjoyable. Mine was good, not great, but good – I wasn’t at home, but got some wonderful gifts. However, before I begin talking about my Christmas, I’ll let you in on some funny/strange tidbits of info about what’s been going on in my life.

A) The Deportation: So I think I may have inadvertently gotten someone deported the other week. I was going out one Friday night after work, and I called a taxi to go to Shawlands, which is on the south side of the city (I live in the West End – the posh bit). I only knew the name of the pub I was going to, I didn’t actually know where it was. So I was on the phone to my friend trying to get the address because my driver was foreign, and impatient and had no clue where we were going. Unfortunately, it was really loud on the other end and I couldn’t hear properly what the street was called. Anywho, the driver pulls over to call his employer, and all of a sudden there’s a chap at the window. It was the police – can you believe it?? The driver had pulled over onto zigzag lines? I don’t really know what that means but it’s not right. The police told me they needed to speak with him for like 10 minutes and I said I’d wait because I didn’t know where I was going. A little while later, the police came back and asked me if I’d called the taxi or if I just flagged it down, I said I called it, and the police told me that he actually didn’t have any registration or anything!! Looking back, it’s kinda scary what happened because people have been pretending to be taxi drivers lately and have been robbing/raping people. Luckily, I managed to get away, and turns out we were only 2 minutes from the pub I was meant to be at, and I got my taxi was free. I fear that the driver may have been deported after that and I no longer use that taxi firm.

B) The Turning Away of the Football Player: So I work on the door at TGI:Friday’s now, and that means I take people to their seats. Well lately we’ve been very busy as it’s the Christmas season and it was during the day. We had loads of shoppers in because the restaurant is right in the city centre, and we were on a 15 minute wait for tables. I was looking down at the podium, and then I looked back up and who do I see? Mark Wilson, Glasgow Celtic’s right back! My jaw actually dropped, as in the way a cartoon does. I was speechless for a second. He was with his wife and baby and asked if we had any tables. I told him that there was a 15 minute wait, but he didn’t really want to wait. He wasn’t rude or anything, just said “I think we’ll just leave it thanks”. When I told people in the restaurant they couldn’t believe that me, being the biggest Celtic supporter of life, didn’t take him in right away. However, this is what my reasoning was: it was only 15 minutes, and the people who were waiting were probably waiting for their one nice meal out during the holidays because it’s the bloody credit crunch and they don’t get paid £20,000 a week like Mr. Wilson. Plus, Celtic had tied their last two games, perhaps he should have been at Lennoxtown (Celtic’s training ground) instead of coming in for a greasy burger and chips at TGI:Fridays! I am not an elitist!

C) Christmas: I’m absolutely homesick, and everyone knows it. I had a nice Christmas, I was with my mum’s best friend and they totally looked after me, but it still wasn’t the same as being in my own house, with my family, and my wee dog. *WARNING: Emotional overload in the following incredibly long run on sentence*I missed every aspect of Christmas. I can’t lie, I cried a lot. I missed putting up the Christmas tree, I missed wrapping presents, I missed knowing what every person was getting because I’m the only one who can be trusted, I missed Christmas mass at X, I missed getting Christmas jammies, I missed waking up on the big day and having to wait for my dad to get up, I missed waiting for everyone to be ready to go before any of us could go downstairs, I missed watching everyone open the presents that I painstakingly chose for them, I missed my dog getting into all the wrapping paper, I missed the big fry up, I missed getting in trouble for not putting my new stuff away, I missed lazing about and being the last person to get ready, I missed putting bets on with my dad and other sisters about how long it would take Michelle to say “I don’t even know why I come home for Christmas!”, I missed sausage stuffing, my mum’s mash potatoes, I missed everyone wearing their paper crowns throughout the ENTIRE dinner, there are no exceptions in the Mulrine house (even that year when we had plasticy crowns that made us all sweat bombs), I missed my mum always forgetting that she had the crown on and remembering ages later, I missed my mum forgetting the cranberries for Michelle, I missed singing the 12 Days of Christmas with 10 plumbers plumbing, I missed Frances and Aydan’s first Christmas, I missed my mum, dad, Michelle, Colleen, Gerry, Frances, Lisa, Jon, Tayler, Shayla and Aydan, I missed the build up to Christmas at X. Basically I missed everything, and it just didn’t seem like Christmas, nor did I seem like myself.I worked Christmas Eve, and worked today, in fact I’ve been working like mad. All of my gifts made it home in time, and all of my pressies made it here too. I got loads of books, money, some clothes, and Arrested Development Season 1 – yay! I watched a million Christmas movies and they all made me cry. Here is a list of Christmas movies that I watched: Meet Me in St. Louis, Love Actually, National Lampoons’ Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 34th Street, Little Women, All I Want for Christmas, The Family Stone, and my favourite – A Muppet Christmas Carol. I also spent an entire day watching Student Bodies on youtube, what a show that was! I spoke with my parents twice on Christmas Day, I talked to all three of my sisters for ages, and even got to call Mick and then James in Vancouver! So I know it could have been a lot worse, but I don’t think I’ll ever spend another Christmas away from home again.

D) Work: The people I work with thought I was so cute at, they checked on me to make sure I was ok throughout the holiday season and made sure I had plans. Just really nice! I really like the people I work with. They’re all really friendly and we always have a laugh when I’m working. Plus, the money is nice too and I’m no longer stressed about getting a job. I’m super pumped – my mum and dad sent me money to spend on whatever I want, so I’m going to buy a pair of trainers that I’ve had my eye on since I came here! Yay!

E) Celtic: so it’s the Old Firm match tomorrow – Celtic vs. Rangers, and I think I might be the only Celtic supporter who believes we can win. However, my philosophy is this, why go watch the games if you don’t think we can win? How upsetting and depressing is that? So I go into it with an optimistic view unlike anyone else I know! Natalie and I are going to the pub to watch it, and then we’ll hang out all day – should be a laugh regardless of the score because of the pub we’re going to. It’s called Failte, welcome in Gaelic, and it’s a total old man’s pub but everyone is so friendly that I love going there.

Alright kids, keep fit and have fun!

Come on, come on, and tell me why you're staring...

"Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach." - Peter F. Drucker (American educator and writer, 1909-)

Ok, first thing is an explanation of my title: it's a song by Smashmouth and I chose it because for about 4 hours a day, I have 20+ pairs of eyes staring at me, it's kinda eerie.

Next is the quote, which I know I don't normally explain, however in this case I feel I need to. I don't want you to read it and think "God, she's full of herself, thinking she's one of these "naturals" that Mr. Drucker speaks about". It's not that at all, being a natural is what I'm striving to do. I want to be good at teaching so badly and it's consuming my life. (Also you may look at that quote and think with a surname like Drucker, you might leave out that your middle intial is F).

I've been teaching now for almost 3 weeks and some days I leave school loving life, loving teaching, loving my pupils, and then there's other days where I'd want nothing more than to pack it in and go home to Canada. But that's what teacher's college is all about. I feel a joy when they understand something that I've taught them, when I watch them struggle and then I change tactics, and I watch the lightbulb go off and it's "Miss! I've got it!" (I now no longer just respond to Laura or Mulrine, my new names consist of either Miss or the Canadian Lady).

However, there's a flipside to this joy, and it's when kids just can't be bothered. It actually breaks my heart that they aren't interested in what I'm teaching, and it annoys me that for my older classes, they've made the choice to study history. They don't understand the importance of the First World War - they think I'm teaching them about machine guns or planes for the hell of it, when really I'm trying to point out that these were weapons of mass destruction killing thousands of people in minutes. But they don't care, they just complain that I make them write too much. Granted there is a lot of writing, but I fill the powerpoints with pictures and then one day a week we do no copying. Last Friday we watched a documentary - I'm comprimising. If I'm being honest, and perhaps I'll sound like a snob but I think history may be wasted on them.

I'm making it seem like doom and gloom, and it's not, it's just sometimes it gets you down. Everyone is telling me not to take it personally, but if we didn't take it personally we wouldn't be human. I did have a proper teacher moment the other day - this is the stuff that you would see in Dead Poet's Society or something, like if they ever make a film about my teaching career, this will be in it. I finished off a class on Trench Warfare talking about how poetry can be used as a primary source and can really aid in understanding history. I didn't choose the usual Dulce et Decorum est or Flanders Fields poetry of the male writers, instead I chose a female poet. I told the kids how women's poetry isn't as well regarded as the men's, how in some cases it isn't seen as literature, but it's still powerful nonetheless. I didn't think anyone was listening to me, but at the end of the class a girl came up to me and asked if I had any more copies of the book I read from. I told her it was my own personal one and she then wondered if she could borrow it because she was really interested in what I'd said. I could have hugged her! I ofcourse said yes and even showed her where I'd marked my favourite poems. I left the class on a cloud, 19 of those pupils might not have taken anything from what I told them, but that one girl, my saving grace was interested in what I had taught her.

So that's how my moods have been - up and down. It makes for a very tiring life. I rarely get to bed before 2am because I'm always putting lessons together. Somedays I don't even get changed I just fall onto my bed and sleep for a few hours. Tonight I finished early and that's why you get a blog entry!

In other news, I finally got a job. I'm working as a host in TGIFriday's right in the town centre. I get to be happy and cheerful all the time and show people their seats. This isn't really a problem for me because I'm generally pretty happy!

I have some new pictures of my niece Frances - she is beautiful and so alert. She totally knows someone is taking a photo of her! Wise beyond her years - and she has my nose :)

So here' s some photos of Frances and I think I may have some of my new nephew Aydan.

Hail! Hail! The Celts are here - and so was I because I've got a season ticket!!

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” - Bill Shankly (Scottish Football player and manager, 1913-1981)

So I have a season ticket for Celtic Park, and it is honestly one of the best things that has ever been given to me. It is a dream come true. Celtic is my true love and the thought that I get to watch them every week live is simply incredible to me. I've been to four matches now since I've been in Glasgow and my seat is amazing. It's 5 rows behind the Celtic end in the Jock Stein stand. I'm dead centre. If I were to shout to Artur Boruc, he'd hear me. I'm just posting all of my pictures from today's match which we won 4-0!!

Glorious Celtic Park

Scott McDonald

Shaun Maloney warming up.

Scott McDonald again (I love him).

Georgios Samaras

Samaras again

McDonaldDarren O'Dea warming up.

Celtic players.

The Holy Goalie.

The Holy Goalie again!

Hail! Hail!

At first I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side...

"Never forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours." ---Ludwig Van Beethoven (German Composer, the predominany musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic era. 1770-1827).

This week has been the first week since I've been in Glasgow that I was not heartsick for St.FX. I thought of my friends there often (as I always do), but I wasn't wishing that I was there with them. The reason for this is that I have made a wonderful group of new friends. For weeks I walked around this place meeting people, but not really making friends as such. This has never happened to me before - I've always made friends really easily, and up until last week I felt as if my social sense had stayed on the plane in Nova Scotia.

And yet this week it all seemed to click. I must admit that I went out quite a bit, and alcohol was consumed, but I had an incredible time.

Tuesday: a girl from history was celebrating her birthday so they texted me to come over to the pub across from our building for a drink. So I went over and there were a few from our class there. We went up to Strathclyde Uni's student union where there were super cheap drinks. We stayed out for ages, and then people had to catch the last train. However, now that I live in halls and not so far out, I didn't have to get a train. So Irish Brendan (there were two Brendans and since he was from Ireland...) and I decided that we would stay out (note: I'd only met him that day). We went back to Strathclyde and had such a laugh! I didn't have lectures the next day but poor Brendan did and he went to his 9:00am class - well done! The next day my mobile inbox was full of texts asking how I was feeling and about what a great night it was.

Wednesday: Celtic were playing in the Champions' League so I went to the pub to watch the game. I didn't drink though because although I wasn't hung over from the night before, I just couldn't face it. I went with some of the other Canadians and was gutted when Celtic failed to produce anything more than a draw.

Thursday: I had an English seminar where I'd been put in a group with a girl called Mairead. You know when you just click with someone? That's what happened with us. We decided to go for a coffee after class, but actually ended up going for a drink near my flat. 3 Strongbows later on my part, and 3 glasses of wine for Mairead left us feeling giddy and we decided to call it a night!

Friday: we usually go out for drinks after history finishes at 5, and this week was no exception. Especially since we found out our school placements this week and won't be in uni for two weeks. Although Mairead isn't in history, her good friend Colm is, and so she came with us, because I invited her. Again we had a fabulous night. The girls and I were sharing pitchers of a cocktail called French Kiss and it was devine! I would definitely recommend it, and would have it again. Irish Brendan was there too and he thought I'd be staying out all night again, but I showed self-restraint and only stayed out until around 1, when Mairead, Colm and I found a place open late to get food. This is my mistake, I don't eat anything before I go out, and am left starving at around midnight. However, this place we went to (I'm ashamed to say I can't remember where it was!) was just what the doctor ordered (if of course there was such a doctor who prescribes greasy food after mass consumption of alcohol). Colm and I both had pizzas which we shared and all was right in the world, or atleast our bellys.

I decided to take it easy today/night because I start my school placement on Monday (EEEEKKK!) I'm going to St. Thomas Aquinas for two weeks just to observe various history classes. I will then return to this school in November where I'll actually be teaching (if you can believe it after all my boozing last week!) I am incredibly nervous about Monday, and am going on a trial run tomorrow to make sure that I can find it properly. I was asking other people if they were nervous and one of my friends (yay I can say that now lol) was able to put what I was feeling into words. She said that it's so nerve-wracking because we've wanted to do this all our lives. Now, we're being given the chance, and what if we fail? What will we do if we can't hack it as a teacher? When she said this I thought EXACTLY!! That's what I've been feeling. Hopefully, I'll be ok!

In other news, I have a new nephew!! He's called Aydan and (from pictures) is lovely! My heart breaks that both Frances and Aydan will be nearly a year when I see them for the first time, but I'm living the dream in Scotland and I'm learning that if I keep focussing on these things, then I'm only going to hinder my chances of success here.

Aydan Jonathon Flynn Gorman

Proud Papa giving Grover a puff of the cigar (children avert your eyes).

The loves of my life, Shayla, Tayler and Aydan (Frances is sadly not in this pic).

Papa with his first grandson - and after 4 daughters, and 3 grandaughters, this must be very exciting for him!

I fully intend to write an entry about my flat and my flatmates, but I would like to have pictures to accompany this, and with the state of my room at the moment, it ain't gonna happen! I'll also write about my walk to uni and that will be picture heavy because it's really a beautiful spot. I have to walk through a park and there's a war memorial that I get to go past every day.

Now, I hope that after reading about my joy at making friends that you, my old friends don't feel you are not important to me. It was just this past Monday that I received a call from James, and then another call from James and the girls and it made my night! I will always need you, will always need to talk to you, and to find out how things are going with you. All I'm saying is that I don't wake up every day now wishing I was back in the Nish. I guess I had to go through a patch of growing pains, but I'm very thankful that it's over! I'm back to the Laura I know, the one who'll talk to people on buses, smile at strangers, make friends in two seconds - and I'm the favourite Canadian!

Baby when you're gone...

“A baby is God's opinion that life should go on.” - Carl Sandburg (American Historian, Poet, and Novelist, 1878-1967)

I am over the moon right now. I am the proud auntie of one Frances Kate Gill, to be affectionately known as "Frankie". I am absolutely gutted that I can't actually see her in person as she's in Edmonton, but I have pictures on my computer and my ipod so I can look at her whenever I want. And now, through technology so can you....

I meant to put loads of pics in here, but for some reason it won't let me, might be my internet connection, so you can all just enjoy this one!