Just your average day in Dundee

As I've mentioned before, Scots are pretty tough people. This is particularly true of the kids, which is great because we can play games with them which at home would spell a certain lawsuit. Particularly, one of my favorites is played by holding hands in a circle around a chair and then eliminating people by flinging them on to it. Electric chair has had its share of injuries, but who can resist such fun??

Well, as you might have guessed, it was my turn to bear the obligatory injury. Though it was a relatively minor one-- a toe no longer pointing north... more like NW-- it was deemed hospital worthy.
Since there's no real point in x-raying a toe, the doctor (who was really cute) decided to just give me a good dose of gas and correct it by hand. I've had gas on multiple other occasions, but let me tell ya, that was some pretty special stuff. I suppose it was just more highly concentrated, because although I'm usually slow to react to such druggery, I was giggling and ready to go in about 5 puffs. In the 20 or 30 seconds that it took him, I was totally gone and heard a most beautiful symphony of hospital sounds. Then, I let the mask drop away, and was fully coherent again after another 4 or 5 breaths. Remarkable! Brick loves lamp, I love gas. There was also a drunk and flirtatious stab-wound patient across the curtain, as if that experience needed to be any more surreal.

Anyway, that being my first time with any kind of doctor here, I was expecting a hassle with registration, complication about payment, etc, etc. Happily, even for aliens, living under the NHS means that you don't pay for stuff like that. At all. Though the workers assured me I was free to go free of charge, I felt very much like I was getting away with shoplifting as I hobbled to the car.
I have more thoughts on the NHS, but that's a much longer discussion than a blog entry would do justice to. Hmm, that reminds me... I won't be under my parents' insurance when I get home. Yikes.

Springtime

At long last, spring has sprung in Dundee. The crocus and daffodils are in full force, and though it still spits snow occasionally, the neds (Non-Educated DelinquentS) have shed their coats and are back to their usual tom-foolery. Actually, I just saw them duct taping some kid to a tree in the city centre... but I digress. Spring also means it's time for my project to get more seriously underway, and though it's coming along a bit slower than I had hoped, there is progress. I'll update you more on that after I give my presentation *gulp* at the end of the month.
I've learned a lot of interesting things in the last few weeks. For instance, Scottish milk evidently spoils faster than American milk. Much teasing ensued, but again, I digress. I learned that daylight savings time is not the same all over the world, so there was a week when we were 7 hours ahead instead of 6. I also played my first game of netball, which for those of you not familiar with it, think basketball without dribbling or a backboard. It was a little strange at first, but surprisingly good fun... and I could probably use the exercise to counteract the plethora of teacakes. Schools here also enjoy a 3 week Easter break rather than a one week spring break, which reminds me that I haven't posted pictures from the Lipscomb campaign that visited us recently. Thanks for spending your one week with us! Here's a few from their day off at Dunnottar castle.