Monday 3. October - Sunday 9.October

HUH- autumn has yet begun with stormy weather and rain. The houses in Edinburgh are not particularly well insulated so there is a draught from the windows and you really need a warm sweater and warm socks when you sit down.

The week hasn't been that interesting. I'm trying to catch up my reading- there is an awful lot of reading to do. Time is very short for the writing I have to do. I have to write three essays to be submitted in December so I don't have much time to think of subjects to write about. Still I'm trying to do some other things beside studies.

Thursday was again Gaelic day and we were introduced to Iona our teacher, a very nice and humorous younger woman who makes the teaching quite interesting. It is funny to learn Gaelic although the grammatical rules are complicated and it is hard to remember how the words are pronounced. The gap between spelling and pronunciation is very big and maybe is Gaelic one of the languages with the most complicated and illogical spelling system at all.
Iona doesn't give us any rules for pronunciation yet for she says it would be even more confusing for us. Instead we have to get used to the language and listen to it and just by repeating over and over again the same words learn to pronounce them.

Saturday I spent with Li Wei at the National Scottish Library at an exhibition about Scotland during WWII. It was very interesting and there were certain things I didn't know about the situation of the country. There was a well organised cooperation between Scotland and Norway during the Occupation years. For example there was something called the Shetland bus. It was a route between Norway and the Shetland Islands a sailing and bus route which helped Norwegians escape the German occupation in Norway. Many people from the resistance movement in Norway saved their life that way. The Norwegian King Haakon held a speech for the Norwegian people just very short before liberation. That speech was taped and played at the exhibition and it was pure Danish. I think I have heard that King Haakon spoke a Norwegian very close to Danish.

Sunday I made a trip to The Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh; a nice and peaceful place (if it wasn't for screaming kids) very close to Broughton High. A trip to and from that place makes the legs strong and the bottom tight I hope. Here some of the streets are very steep but nevertheless people bike upwards without any trouble. When I have a bike I cannot do that without having a heart attack I think. I'll better find a smoother way to Broughton High but that is impossible.

Maybe this week will be a little more interesting and exciting. I'm very sleepy and wish you all good night and sweet dreams.