[Japanese]
A Year in Scotland
I visited Edingburgh University in the academic year 1990/91,
and worked with Andrew Ranicki. This was made possible by a grant from
Josai University, and I really appreciate that.
I also thank my colleagues of Josai University for taking over
my classes and allowing me a year's leave.
And I thank my host Andrew Ranicki for kindly arranging
everything for me, from my house to my eldest son's school.
I met many nice people in Edinburgh and really enjoyed the year.
The day we arived in Edinburgh, we could move into our house,
thanks to Andrew's arrangement. That night our younger son
had a fit while sleeping, and we were very upset. We did not
have such an experience before. I did not know what to do and
I did not even know the emergency number to call, so I ran to
the next door and asked for help.
The man next door immediately let us into his car and
tried to take us to the hospital, but he was also upset
and hit a Mercedes of another neighbor which came in our way!
Anyway we finally arrived at the hospital.
My son was further moved to the Children's Hospital,
this time in an ambulance, and was treated and spent a night there.
This was my first experience of an ambulance.
Andrew also came to the hospital and helped us moving
to and from the hospital.
My younger son recovered the next morning, and could play with
toys in the play area. He even asked a nurse to get a wooden
jigsaw puzzle on the shelf by saying "Pazur" (a Japanese way
of pronouncing Puzzle) to her.
Well there is no end to this so I stop here and show you
some of the pictures I took in Scotland.
Masayuki Yamasaki
The first picture is my eldest son standing beside a pig
made of wood. I took this on the Royal Mile of the Old Town
of Edinburgh.
The town itself is very nice, but the most striking object
in town is Arthur's Seat, an old volcano!
The view of the town from there is really marvelous.
There is a cliff called the Salisbury Crags on the western side,
and there are basalt columns called Samson's Ribs on the southern side
:
google search -- Arthur's Seat
Wikipedia:Holyrood Park
a wooden pig
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the top
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the Salisbury Crags | 
from the Holyrood Palace
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The Edinburgh Castle is standing on a huge rock.
When they made a tunnel through this rock, they get many
pieces of rocks and they mad paper weights.
I bought one for myself at the souvenir shop of the Castle.
entrance gate
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a big cannon
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a view of the station and
the Princess Street from the castle
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In the autumn of 1990, we went to Denmark to attend a mini-workshop
held at Odense University. This is where I first met Eric Pedersen.
Odense is famous for the Hans Christian Andersen Musium.
We visited Copenhagen other towns too.
H. C. Andersen Museum
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Hamlet's castle
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I lived in the southern suburb of Edinburgh.
It was close the Department of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh.
the entrance
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a nearby football field
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the house I rented
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University of Edinburgh
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near Blackford Hill
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Castles (1) Craigmiller Castle :
google search
Castles (2) Tantallon Castle :
google search
The First Trip to Highland
I made a trip to Aberdeen to give a talk there.
I also visited several places in Highland.
The first site is Dunnottar Castle.
It stands on a rock on the seashore.
Castles (3) Dunnottar Castle :
google search
Aberdeen and its suburbs
an amusement park
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an old bridge
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just like
a roller coaster | 
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Loch Ness and Urkhart Castle :
google search
google search
Castles (4) Eilean Donan Castle, near the Isle of Skye :
google search
the Isle of Skye :
google search
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a strange scenery
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Old Man of Storr
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waterfall | 
waterfall site
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Bruce Hughes and I shared the office during our stay.
This is a picture we took when we walked on the Blackford Hill.
The view of Arthur's Seat from here is great.
My younger son Hisashi first went to a kindergarten near our house for a week,
but he did not like the teacher, so he quit there and joined a
playgroup and then changed to another playgroup.
These pictures show the activities of the playgroup.
I accompanied my younger son during the first week, I really
enjoyed it, partly because one of the two teachers was very beautiful.
a sports day
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I really liked her!
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My eldest son Kotaro went to Liberton Primary School.
During the first month, I visited the school every day and
helped him for one or two hours.
He was in the class of Mrs. Boa.
She was such an interesting person.
One day she started to sell her old car to me during the class,
and persuaded me into buying it.
Everyday she read a book to the children.
When I was helping my son, she was reading Roald Dahl's "The Witch".
It was so scary and good, so I ran to a bookstore and bought a copy.
The children of the class were all very kind to my son.
My son liked giving jokes and riddles to his friends,
so I bought a big book of jokes and riddles and taught him
one or two everyday.
school
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sports day
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a trip to England and Wales
Since I attended a meeting held in Sussex,
we had a family trip.
Borders and Lake District
a stone circle
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we stayed in
a youth hostel
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My wife and her mother travelled to Spain in a group tour
and became friends with a retired couple from Wales.
We visited them and stayed in their house in Wales.
Their daughter Charlotte was a student of University of Edinburgh.
She is now a mother of twin girls.
The pictures below show an international high school in the town.
It is near the seashore. The school has a class of cliff-climbing!
Charlotte and his brother graduated from that school,
and showed us the campus. There we met a Japanese girl
from Kyoto. She also gave us a guide.
She looked very bright. I wonder what she is doing now!
While I attended a meeting at Isle of Thorns, Sussex,
my family visited a friend's parents' house and stayed threre
for a week.
See the picture below.
The brick part of the house was very old!
This is a monument on the border of England and Scotland.
The Second Trip to Highland
We had a short trip to Highland with our niece.
Glen Coe :
google search
There are many midges, and they are really annoying! Be careful!
google search
St. Andrews
Edinburgh Festival
parade
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from Japan!
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Morimoto-san and his family visited us.
Time to Go Home!
we said good-bye
to the lollipop man
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at the Ranickis
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Ida's collection
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the last day
in Edinburgh
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