Scotland, Day 4

WE DID IT!  We were very pleased with our performance.  We had little time to set up, but we were ready when the time came.  They remembered their lines and reveled in their first performance in Scotland.  Everyone was so relieved afterwards.

When we returned to our dorms, we relaxed a little and prepared to go to Charles and Nancy's home for high tea.  We left early for you can't be late for tea.  We strolled down streets, took pictures in front of the telephone booths, explored art galleries, and talked about how to drink tea.  We knocked on the door of Charles and Nancy, waited expectantly for the door to open to a British home.  They welcomed us with open arms and introduced us to their neighbors who live part of the year in Texas and part of the year in Edinburgh.  Their daughter Karen and her partner Jacques, who both live in France, were also there to meet us.  Another neighbor, a woman from the American Embassy, had also been invited but ended up not coming. Another neighbor of theirs came as well, one who spoke French and Spanish. Charles and Nancy, who just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, had indeed put a lot of thought and effort into making our visit as pleasant as possible.

As we entered the foyer with white and black tiled flloor and high ceiling painted in a a fancy design, we knew we had come to another world - one with a history and one of upper-middle class.  At first we sat in the living room, filled by floor to ceiling books, surrounded by paintings and arts from the family history and experiences.  It was like sitting in a museum learning first-hand the importance of our personal and historical history.  Our students sat in awe as they listened to Nancy's explanation of where we could drink our tea, either in her garden (depending on the weather) or the downstairs dining room.  An entire diningroom table was covered with fine china teacups and saucers and small desserts.  Our students took their cup of tea with desserts outside to the garden and drank, ate, and visited as seasoned Brits!  It was a Kokak moment.  Later they got a tour of the 18th century house.  It was an event to remember for a long time.  Our hosts were so excited and plan to come to our play on Friday.

We hurried home to change into warm clothing as we were going to the Military Tatto, a two-hour show with bagpipes, military bands, fireworks, etc.  We took taxis to get there on time, stood in line that curved up to the stadium adjacent to the castle along with 10,000 other people.  We had wonderful seats.  Right at 9 PM, the Scottish bagpipe clans entered with full force.  We were hooked.  Bands from Germany, Netherlands, Brazil performed as well.  Along the performance were fireworks, graphics on the castle walls to go with the music.  It was awesome and our actors loved every moment.

It was a late night, so we were happily tired.  My time is up.