Thoughts on Skype

I absolutely adore Skype. I think its a revolution in communication. Mind you I'm finding Skype 4.0 slower than 3.8 which is annoying, but over all the concept of Skype and what it allows you to do is incredible. Now all it needs to do is figure out how to cure the problem of time zones.

Skype allows you to not only talk in real time, but see in real time the person you are talking to. Which for me is perfect. I'm a very visual speaker - I use a highly integrated system of visual clues with my audio speech patterns to communicate an idea, and I rely on the visual clues others give to understand what is being said. Which is one of the reasons I'm such a reticent phone user for serious conversations.

Email - and instant messaging - solved this problem for me previously, because written language is so different from spoken language and used so different I never encountered the same problems I did with phone use.

In attempting to maintain relationships across vast distances, oceans and continents in my case, and any kind of relationship - friendship, familial, business etc - I have come across two main problems. 1) its easy to let these relationships collapse, and 2) its easy to construct the relationship in an imaginary way when not in regular contact. While problem 1 seems fairly obvious, problem 2 is something I've discovered about myself in the last 3 or so years. I find it easy to construct an image of the person I'm trying to maintain a relationship with in a way that is based on my knowledge (or understanding) of who they are to me, but this image tends to get stuck in the past of when we weren't long distance and not develop, and to take on characteristics that I want that person to fulfull in my life. All in all this can create and fairly "false" image of a person, which ultimately causes problems when the person and I reconnect.

While email (and facebook) have drastically helped me overcome problem 1. Problem 2 can still exist despite constant email communication. I find that Skype is amazing for banishing all false creations of people. The visual helps me see how a person has changed, or not, and gives me a solid clear "real" image of them to maintain.

But there's another complication. I think Skype might actually increase my homesickness. Everytime I get to see someone I desperately miss, and usually a little bit of their apartment as well, I realize exactly why I miss them. I see how happy they are in their life and I wonder why I'm not there being happy with them. Or worse, I see how frusterated they are with something and I can't reach out and try to comfort them, I can't just squeeze their hand to let them know that things will get better. I have to say it, and we all know that talk is cheap (unless you're looking at your phone bill). While I love being able to see my friends from a million miles away, I'm never more homesick than when I'm staring at their faces moving across my computer screen.

This makes me think that maybe I should go back to pen, paper and post. It'll make me live my life more in situ, rather than the way I am now split across an ocean, my heart and hopes on one side and my body on the other.

I think perhaps homesickness has mutated from being a dull chronic disease of the soul to an acute progressive disease of the heart.

More Doric

The longer I've been in Scotland the more I'm slowly becoming obsesed with Doric. Now Doric is the North-East variety of Scots. Scots, the language, is NOT Scottish Gaelic (pronounced gal-ick), which is the younger sister of Irish Gaelic (pronounced gay-lick). The Irish version travelled to Scotland with the Dalriada's who founded Argyle (yes, the home of that lovely triangle pattern on socks), which means Coast of the Gael.

Scots is a sister of English. I have come to decide that it is NOT a dialect of English, but its own language, with its own dialects. Doric is the version found in the North-East, where I am, how appropriate. Scots and English have similar histories and foundings, and have their own versions of words with the same french or german roots. Scots has more Dutch/Norse influence then English though and it probably closer to Frisian than English. Doric is called such, because 'doric' means north in some derivative of something from Latin. This is where my language history knowledge gets fuzzy, because I've never studied Latin. Yes, Doric columns are relating in the semantic naming sense, but little else.

So, what this all means. I've attempted to read Scots poetry, which makes me feel clever, because it is ever so closely like English, but different enough that I feel like I'm learning a new language.

Now, my most recent favourite quotation (and explanation):

the wee bairn stammers oot his smaw speech in the accent o his ain fireside: the accent that will bide in his speech till his voice is heard nae mair. (Robert Garioch)

wee - small
bairn - child
oot - out
smaw - small
o - of
ain - own
bide - live
nae - no (general negation)
mair - more

There is something much more immediately evocative of place in the Scots. I just see a very small, little boy struggling to to put words together to express his thoughts as he warms himself be the fire.

On a side note, the man being quoted - Robert Garioch - is also the name of a town. Garioch, not Robert. Garioch, is not pronounced as you are assuming. It is pronounced Gar-ee-o. And the town Gardenstone is pronounced Game-ree (but that's a weird local thing and not actually a pronunciation thing).

SPAIN

I'm headed to Portugal and Spain for spring break, for three weeks and, obviously, I'm really excited. The map below shows my current plan, but it totally subject to change, particularly the part along the Med Coast - I might hope over to Ibiza, not sure yet.

I'll fly to Lisbon and then my sister will join me the next day. Then we'll take the night train to Madrid. We'll be in Madrid for 3 nights. Then Toledo for 1 night, then Seville for 2 nights. My sister's break is over and she flies back to Rome from Seville. I continue on to Tarifa - the most Southern town in Spain - then Granada, Valencia and Barcelona. I might stop at other coastal towns along the way, but I'm not planning anything. I'm gonna wait and see what kinda student bus pass-y-thingies they have when I'm in Madrid. I think my Spanish might be better than assume - readingwise, but I'm nervous about the accent. Most I've the previous Spanish I've heard spoken is of Latin America.

2009 is the year Callan first goes to countries where she's never studied the language even a little bit - Portugal and the Netherlands (in late July).

I'll keep you updated at the Spain stuff when I'm there, or when I get back either way. Until then I need to finish an essay.

Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival

I went to Exeter this last weekend to dance at the Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival. Aside from learning a few new types of folk dance, and just generally doing more hours of dancing then sleeping every day, I performed.

Below is the video of our performance. Sorry its a little dark. I'm the girl in the blue skirt and red blonde hair.