Alone and not teaching
On My Own
Facing being on my own was a bit difficult. I had met a few folks on the
island, but not that many, and the only ones that are good friends were away
for another few weeks in Australia. This meant I was suddenly faced with
being alone, in a big way. It was a strange feeling, and quite disorienting
at first. Each time I wondered what to do, I didn't have someone else to
bounce ideas off of, and I wondered if I would even make any more "touristy"
type trips due to this. I did manage to take quick trips to Dalbeg Bay and
back to Carloway for sunset on my own, and enjoyed them. Dalbeg Bay was
particularly striking, with crashing waves on the rocks and a sandy beach,
all surrounded by the pink glow of sunset. Beautiful!
On the other hand, being alone did allow me time to think, and time to pursue
all kinds of things I wouldn't have found time to do otherwise. I resumed a
drawing course I had started several years previously, but hadn't found time
to continue because it required too much time for each practice session. This
was great fun, and quite fulfilling. I started writing these chronicles of
what we'd done, which was a nice outlet. I also started writing tunes again,
which I haven't done in years. So far I've written two new tunes, and I feel
there are more on the way.
Meeting people
The worst thing about being alone was that I wasn't scheduled for much in the
way of social interaction at all, since I didn't have any students lined up
to teach yet. The teaching thing had proven quite complicated, first because
I didn't have a phone number to give the students when I first met them all,
and second because I'd been informed that most of them would want lessons in
Stornoway, and I was waiting for the head of the young musicians group there
to let me know when I could use the space for teaching. She was too busy,
and I spent a couple of weeks struggling to get in touch with her. I'd get
brief messages back, but nothing that told me the answers to what I really
needed to know, which left me with no way to start.
In the meantime, I did contact a lovely lady named Norma who lives in
Tolstachaolais, who teaches weaving and is learning harp, and we agreed to
swap tuition for the time I was here. She and her husband invited me over
for lunch on that first Saturday I was on my own, and I was made very welcome
by them. We discussed weaving and made plans on what I would try in the short
time I was there. There's a tapestry weaving process that is done on a simple
frame, without a loom, and I decided to try this, as it was something I could
do at home without a lot of expense.
My landlady also made great efforts to make me welcome. She is very sweet
and means well, but she was so intent on getting me students lined up that
she was phoning people and trying to get things worked out on my behalf. I
appreciated the thoughts, but honestly, I was enjoying this time alone and
the creativity that was coming from it, and wasn't all that anxious to get
started teaching. It was vaguely frustrating to not be teaching, but it was
much more frustrating to have someone checking up on me every day to see if
I'd started, and trying to find me solutions that required extra work on my
part. I never could make it clear to her that I was on holiday as well.
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I was enjoying my time alone quite a lot, but I also knew I could easily
become a hermit at this rate. I felt I needed to get out and meet a few
people. I also wanted to get out and enjoy the amazing scenery, so I would
take walks around the village. I met several folks this way, and would
introduce myself, but I found that a number of them didn't tell me their
names, even though they were very nice. I did meet a few folks, including
Ali and Sandy, who have cows that live on the hill behind my house. They
were quite friendly and had me over for coffee one morning. I was out walking
that morning when I came upon Ali on her horse, which she rides many days.
She was headed back to her place and invited me back for Coffee. While there
I also met a couple from the Ness area, Five Penny, who invited me out to
visit anytime.
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In a further effort to meet folks in the community and to get a feel for the
culture, I asked my landlady about where folks went to church. Lewis is an
extremely religious island -- pretty much everything is closed on Sundays,
and even the radio station only broadcasts for a limited number of hours.
You aren't allowed to do anything construed as work, like hanging out the
laundry, on Sundays. I knew there must be a local church, but there was not
one in Tolstachaolais. She told me that people went to church in Carloway,
and offered to take me on Sunday. I agreed. She also invited me to Sunday
lunch.
I didn't meet many folks at the morning church service, but I was introduced
to someone who oversaw music at the evening praise service, and she invited
me to bring out my harp to play along with the music there. I did, and met
a few folks there, including a wonderful flautist named Christa. I also ended
up playing two solos during the service.
Harp Lessons
I kept working to get word from my contact about using the facilities in
Stornoway for lessons. I finally got a message that things would work out,
but still no confirmation on the day I could use the facilities, so I still
wasn't able to call students and set up lessons. I did go ahead and call the
couple of folks that I knew might want lessons in Tolstachaolais, but they
had exams for the next week, so they didn't want to start quite yet.
In the meantime, I did start harp lessons with Norma, the weaving instructor.
This seemed to go pretty well. She said she liked Irish music, so I played
her the Rights of Man, and she thought she'd like to learn that.
She got me all set up to make my first weaving, a sampler that would teach
me the basic techniques and let me get the hang of it. I enjoyed it so much
that I got the sampler done within the week.
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