A' Chiad Seachdain ~ The First Week

Halo a h-uile duine!

It's Sunday night here on Skye and I'm sitting writing to you after attending my first Gaelic church service ever. Though I could not understand a good percentage of the language, I still understood, for the most part, the general message. Perhaps by next May, I will be able to actually know what's going on.

My new home!

There were a few things that struck me about the service, apart from it being in Gaelic. Firstly, there were no hymns, but there were about five or six psalms. The minister would read the passage, after which two men at the front would alternate singing the passage. One of them would sing a line and the congregation would repeat it in song. It was very chant-like and almost monastic. I caught on by the third psalm and was able to fumble my way through the rest of them. All in all it was a very fitting arrangement, since psalms were, after all, originally meant to be sung. The second thing that struck me was the universality of what it is to be church together. After the service there was tea and conversation. Everyone there knew each other, as is to be expected, but they also didn't hesitate to ask me and my friend where we were from, what we studied at Sabhal Mor and whether we enjoyed the service.
Anywho...I could go on for ever about church services, but I won't.

I have now been in Scotland for nine days but it seems like I've been here a lot longer. Since the minute I arrived I've been busy with "induction week" and classes, not to mention being utterly bombarded with Gaelic 24/7, reducing my mind to mush.
All that being said, I'm having a blast!

First off, a few anecdotes from my travel.
I knew I had come to the right country when I was standing in line at UK customs. The man directing people to the desks asked me quite plainly when I got to the front, "Is that a machine gun?", pointing to my fiddle. I promptly said yes, to which he replied "Alright."
Try getting into the US with a comment like that. :)
Once I was actually at the customs desk, I had to answer a few questions about why I was entering the country and so forth. When I told her I was studying at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, a Gaelic college on Skye, she asked to see my acceptance letter. I then realized it was in my checked luggage. She asked if I had anything on me that could prove I was going to study at SMO. The only papers I had were a few random song sheets and a page on defective verbs that I had planned to read on the train. I was a little hesistant passing them to her, but was pleasantly surprised to see she deemed them acceptable. (But, she warned me to have my acceptance letter on me next time I need to leave and re-enter the UK)
All I can say is thanks Hector for teaching us Gaelic song at CBU! It's paid off in more ways than one. :)

The train and ferry ride to Skye were absolutely beautiful. A little bit of rain in Glasgow, but nothing for the rest of the day. In fact, it wasn't until the middle of this past week that we got our first day of wet weather. Actually, it hasn't stopped raining since then, but, ah well...

I've seen a fair amount of Southern Skye since being here. I walked to Armadale yesterday, where the ferry comes in, and went to a pub last night just south of Broadford. There was a music session there which was a great time.
On Thursday, a group of us also went to the Clan Donald Centre about ten minutes away from the university. It's a museum and archive around the Armadale Castle, complete with an academic library which SMO students have free access to! :)
I didn't manage to get any pictures because it was raining when we went, but I'm sure I'll be back on a nicer day. If you're interested, visit their website here.

There's been tons of music here as well. A few nights already, there have been dance ceilidhs at the campus pub and I've learned the steps to the Gay Gordons, Dashing White Seargant and others.

Well, that's most of what I've been up to over the past week. Classes have begun and are going well. There are only 17 of us in my course, so it makes for a nice group. We've only been having half-days since Wednesday, but full classes start tomorrow.

With that last thought, I'd better head to bed.

Oidhche mhath leibh!

Faclan ~ Vocabulary

Halò a h-uile duine!

'Se an ùine math a th' ann an seo aig Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Cuin a thuirt iad, tha Gàidhlig againn agus bruidhinnidh sinn i fad' na h-ùine, tha iad a' ciallachadh fad' na h-ùine. Ach, tha sin ceart. Tha mi a' tuigsinn mòran gach latha. Beag air bheag.
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Things are going really well here at Sabhal Mor. There has been a lot of Gaelic so far, and a number of times I've gotten lost (especially when speaking with near-fluent people) but I'm understanding a little bit more each day and hopefully will get even better now that classes have officially started. When they say, we can and will speak Gaelic all the time, they really mean all the time. But, like I said, it's been alright.

I'm creating this post as a bit of a dictionary so that you folks can understand some common phrases in Gaelic, in case you ever are in a situation where they'd be useful. One of the benefits of hearing Gaelic every single day is that my vocabulary is growing remarkably fast, even if I'm a bit slower at forming responses.
Here are some words and phrases that I've heard so far and will give you a good basic vocabulary:

Madainn mhath dhut [ma-ting va goot]: Good morning to you

Feasgar math [Feskur ma]: Good afternoon

Oidhche mhath leat [Oy-cha va leht]: Good night to you

Bithidh mi 'gad fhaicinn! [Be me gut aching]: I'll be seeing you! 

'S math 'gad fhaicinn! [Sma gut aching]: It's nice to see you!

 
Ciamar a tha thu? [Kimar a ha oo?]  How are you?

Tha mi gu math [Ha me goo ma]: I'm doing well

Tapadh leat [Tap a leht]: Thank you

Mòran taing [More-an tang]: Thanks a lot

Tha sin ceart [Ha shin key-air-sht]: That's right

Tha sin ceart gu leòr [Ha shin key-air-sht goo lee-or]: That's all right

A h-uile duine [A hoola dune-ya]: Everyone 

Rud sam bith [Root some be]: anything

Cuideigin [Koo-ja-kin]: anyone   

Aite sam bith [At-cha some be]: anywhere

Gach latha [Gack la]: each day

Fad' na h-ùine [Fat na hoon-ya]: all the time

Tha Gàidhlig againn agus bruidhnidh sinn i: We have Gaelic and will speak it. 
[Ha Gah-lick ack-ing egg-is breeney sheen ee]
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That's it for now! I'll write again soon about what I've been up to.