Awrite pal!

I remember a pair of months ago in class there was an advice about not going to Glasgow to practise English...Well, it's the only English-speaking place I've been to!...in case it is English-speaking. * lol *

I should go back to 2004 to tell you about this better. That year, Vila-real CF played UEFA Cup, and in quarter finals of this competition, we met Celtic Glasgow. Lots of Celtic fans came to Vila-real for the match, and although their team lost, they were very friendly with Vila-real fans, and despite we were mixed in the stands, there wasn't any problem. Since then, most Vila-real fans like Celtic, and some Celtic fans like Vila-real as well.

A couple of months later, I started talking with a young Celtic fan on the Internet. He told me he had been here for the match, and he liked the way things went between both team's fans. So we went on talking, and finally, nearly two years later, he came to Vila-real for some days and stayed at my home. Then I was invited to go to Glasgow whenever I wanted, so in summer 2007 I decided to go there for a week.

I have to say I had a great time there. My friend and all his family, who didn't know me at all, were extremely nice to me. I visited some beautiful and interesting places like Edinburgh, Stirling Castle, some museums in Glasgow, Celtic Park, etc. I was offered a room, lunch and dinner everyday, and if my friend and me were not at home and we had to eat somewhere, he always wanted to pay it for me!

I was also shocked there about several things: cars driving on the left, distances in miles and not in kilometres, people saying “excuse me” when for example you walk against them and it was your fault, eight degrees in summer, people walking while raining as if nothing happened, etc.
There were also some things that were a bit difficult for me. For instance, at my friend's, they didn't have any water to drink! Haha,well obviously they had the water from the tap, but I mean they were a little shocked when I said I wanted to drink water while having dinner! And also, dinner at six o'clock, quite greasy food...Although I also liked some of the things I ate there, like sausage rolls and Indian food, hard to find here.
And of course...the “language”. Before going, my friend Eddie had told me about Glaswegian, but I thought he was being too dramatic...but when I arrived there, I saw he was right. I had reasons to worry. I had already heard him talking when he was here, and it was really difficult for me at first. Eventually he saw he had to make an effort and speak more “standard” English to me if we wanted to communicate well. So you can guess that I had serious problems to understand his friends, his parents...each time I met somebody new, Eddie or I had to explain that it was my first time there and that I didn't understand Glaswegian. It was a funny situation: at home, people spoke Glaswegian between them -so I didn't understand anything- but “normal” English to me. But I learnt a few words, like “awrite” for hello and some “grammatical” things about Glaswegian, like “yous” instead of you in plural.

Finally, I was sad to leave Glasgow, since I had had such a good time and liked very much the way people treated me there.

But I came back. It was last year, in December. Vila-real had drawn Celtic again, this time in Champions League, and I had no doubt, I had to see that match in Celtic Park. This time I went with another boy from Vila-real, who had only talked to Eddie a few times, but he was also welcome to stay there. What's more, this time, as we were two and there wasn't place enough at Eddie's house, we stayed at his grandfather's, who didn't know us at all. When we arrived there our first night -we only stayed two nights as it wasn't holiday time-, he made us drink a little glass of Scottish whiskey...I know that was very kind, but hell, I hate whiskey!! In addition, our second night, when we arrived there he had already gone to bed, and he had left a pile of cider and beer cans for us to drink. It was really fun, that.

I also enjoyed going to the pubs and sit there and drink for a time, watching Eddie drinking beer after beer while I had only drank a glass of whatever but sure not beer, I don't like it!

About the match, it really didn't matter much, as Vila-real was already qualified for next round and Celtic was unfortunately already out, so the score was useless, because Celtic won 2-0.

Another important thing from this 2nd trip was the cold...Holy shit, I hadn't been anywhere where it was so cold!! The maximum temperatures were about 0 degrees, so you can guess. Streets were all frozen, and there was even a frozen lake...But I still loved it. I prefer the cold than the disgusting hot we have here in summer.

Uff! I think I have written way too much. Well, what more can I say, sometimes I miss Glasgow. Maybe it's nothing special as a city, but it's special for me, I have enjoyed it, and I like the people I know from there -be sure that there are also...hmm...I'll say...worse people-. I want to go back soon for a longer time and to visit other important places in Scotland.

So yes, I've been to Glasgow.