Dreaming of Scotland

Entry for 18 December 2006 (in Toledo, Ohio):

I awake about 4 am from a long, vaguely remembered dream, thinking for a moment that I am still back in Scotland. However, the bed is too comfortable (no mattress springs to prod me as in the cheap bed in our Fulton Street place). I open my eyes: there is a delicious moment of disorientation, a kind of swirling, then the room suddenly settles out of intercontinental quantum uncertainty, condensing into my bedroom in our old house in Toledo.

I get up to go to the bathroom and get a bottle of water; the air is drier than I’m used to from our forced air central furnace and I seem to be coming down with a sore throat. When I go back to bed, I find that my body doesn’t want to go back to sleep. East-west jet lag has struck again!

As I lie there trying to relax, I remember the general content of what I’d been dreaming: The familiar, pale Scottish faces of the colleagues with whom I have been working; the sense of familiarity and comfortable ease.

Eventually, after an hour or so, I manage to drift off, into more dreams of Scotland: This time, we are gathered for Burns Night (25 Jan)ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff [Here I drift off as I write this entry, mid-blog, with my left index finger on the “f” key – this happens quite a bit.]. … Everyone is dressed up; it’s a solemn occasion, full of ritual. As it continues, various things happen that I have so far only heard about: The speech to the haggis, the dagger, the reading of poetry; it’s all there. When I wake up again, the sense of happiness lingers for a while into the day. I feel more rested and better than I expected to.

Emotion scheme analysis:
1. Emotional core: happiness/comfort, feeling at ease.
2. Perceptual-situational: Getting an email about Burns Night a couple of days ago; the Unit party on Thurs; surviving my first term in my new job.
3. Body-expressive: A relaxed, loose feeling in my shoulders, arms.
4. Conceptual-symbolic: Identity: identifying with my Scottish ethnic identity/ancestry/new work situation. Verbal commentary: “I must be getting used to living in Scotland.” Metaphor: Dreaming about Scotland is like dreaming in another language; it means one is finally learning at a deeper level.
5. Action tendency: Wish: To stay connected with my life in Scotland during the coming weeks away; email Lorna about Burns Nights, decide which celebration to attend (both?).