Midgies

This is the definition of a Highland Midge (known as midgies in Scotland) from wikipedia- a species of small flying insect, found in upland and lowland areas especially in the north west of Scotland from late spring to late summer. Female Highland midges are well known for gathering in clouds and biting humans, and are the smallest flies in Scotland to do so. They are generally regarded as pests.


In other words, take a mosquito, make it much smaller (so that it can get through mosquito netting) and impervious to insect repellent and you have a midgie. They can take an amazing weekend for camping and turn it in to a battle for blood, literally. 


We'd heard about these nasty bugs and knew to be on the lookout for them. Our first camping adventure (as you saw from our previous post) was a rousing success. Over the course of the two nights we saw a few midgies and had a couple of bites but were never really disturbed. 

It made for a miserable day

But then we decided to camp for a second time. As Erin's parents were in town we decided to visit the Isle of Mull. Erin's parents stayed in a bed and breakfast so we decided to rough it for one night, how hard could that be? Unfortunately we didn't know then what we know now, how to protect yourself from these cursed insects. Rule number one - midgies can't survive more than a 6 mph wind. Rule number two - avoid standing water. Rule number three - don't stay near trees which provide protection for them. So, where did we decide to pitch our tent? In a parking area surrounded by trees where no wind could reach us and there were puddles of standing water all around. As we were setting up the tent and getting ready for bed we noticed a few bugs but nothing overwhelming. However, by morning, all four corners of the tent had thousands of midgies collected inside and out. As we noticed all the bites we had received during the night we decided to hurry and break camp. Making things worse, as we started folding the tent all six million midgies in the area decided to attack in unison. We spent half an hour going back and forth between folding a few feet of the tent and running away from the black swarm. We were covered with midgie bites and by the time we had everything in the car, including ourselves, we found many had followed us in. We spent another 15 minutes driving as fast as we could with all the windows open trying to drive them out. 

I highly recommend Coleman tents.

Fortunately this experience taught us the three rules regarding midgies so this past weekend as we went camping again we were able to make sound decisions on where to set up camp. I found a lovely place on top of a mountain in the Cairngorm National Park that was perfect. Although, sometime around 3am it became a little too perfect. I'll let the picture speak for itself on what the wind was doing to our tent. Needless to say the winds were just a tad over 6 mph. My fear of midgies caused me to slightly overshoot the needed windspeed. 
The next night we were able to find a calmer area that had no standing water and wasn't too close to trees. The mix of rain and manure all around us did make for an interesting morning though. 


I guess having one bad night out of four is ok and all in all, we've had fantastic and very memorable camping experience in Scotland. It was a bit sad to pack the tent and sleeping bags up for the final time before they make their return to Texas in a couple weeks when my family takes them home for us. 

A Wonderful, Warm, Wild Camping Weekend

It looks peaceful, but in the morning
we were overrun with cattle.

Very rarely is sunshine in the forecast for a day here let alone an entire weekend. With the sun set to prevail for the full weekend, Erin and I embarked on an adventure planned since moving to Scotland, wild camping in the highlands. A little bit of background on wild camping: in Scotland you are allowed to camp any place where there's not a fence. This means you can pitch your tent anywhere you'd like. We just so happened to choose this spot for our first night.

 In preparation for this camping adventure, Erin and I had already brought over our tent and purchased the necessary sleeping bags and backpacks. (We're suckers for camping gear and great deals, there's a store here called Mountain Warehouse that's like a wholesale REI, we couldn't be happier).

We rented a car and headed north. Our first stop was to explore the central highlands, specifically the Glencoe region. We climbed the devil's staircase which wasn't so devilish, although my legs felt otherwise afterwards. The highlight of the day had to be, as we were climbing, four different Royal Air Force jets screamed past us through the valley. Quite the exciting moment for me.

Then we headed to the north to visit the Isle of Skye. We'll be heading back their later so we decided to just explore the southern area. Erin had found directions to a small cave on the southern shore so we attempted to locate it. We found the opening but discovered that either the cave was filled in or we were just in the wrong spot. Erin was not thrilled that I scaled the cliff wall to find the entrance, but I had a blast.

After Skye we continued north along the west coast exploring the mountains and small villages. They say that the northern highlands are some of the most beautiful bits of Scotland and we would have to agree. We then made our way east to the Black Isle, seeing some amazing scenery along the way including a breathtaking waterfall. Upon reaching the Black Isle, we headed out to a spot that is known for it's dolphin viewing where we were not disappointed. It was spectacular to watch dolphins about 50 feet away jumping through the water. After seeing the dolphins we headed to the Black Isle brewery to sample their completely organic ales. It has become one of our favorite breweries around. To end the trip Erin endured as I got to visit Fort George and the Culloden Battlefields. The Battle of Culloden was fought in 1746 between the British government and a faction known as the Jacobites. It was the last battle to take place on British soil. The battle lasted less than an hour and more than 1500 Jacobites lost their lives. In response to the uprising, the government built Fort George, a massive fort that is still used by the military today.

After a fantastic weekend, we headed home passing through the Cairngorms National Park to see more great scenery. As we neared Edinburgh the clouds began to appear and drops of rain started to fall. The timing could not have been more perfect. In Erin's words, "This was the best vaca ever!" While I could never label a trip best ever, it certainly was a great chance to get out and enjoy God's beautiful creation.

Highland Games

We got to experience our first Highlander Games this past Sunday. The games consisted of competitions in Scottish dance, pipes and drums, and the fan favorite heavy events including the stone put, the weight throw, and the caber toss. Where else can you see an extremely muscular 300 pound man wearing a kilt tossing a 56 pound weight over a 13 foot high bar using one hand? By the way, we witnessed one contestant break a Scottish record in this event (16'5").

One of the more interesting aspects of the games was the pipes and drums competition. I never knew there were so many organized pipe bands out there. Upon arriving to the park you couldn't help but notice the sound of hundreds of bagpipes filling the air. Now yes the bagpipe is the ugly step-child of musical instruments but it does have its place and at a highland game is certainly one of them. I can honestly say I was never annoyed even after hearing each band play the exact same tune for the judges.

Would you tell this man he

looks silly in a kilt? That

pole weighs 175 pounds.

The highlight of the day for Erin was seeing all the young girls compete in the Scottish dance competition. Mainly because all the girls have matching outfits. My favorite part was definitely the caber toss. It was extremely riveting. In case you're not familiar with the caber toss, here's a brief introduction. Each contestant has three chances to pick-up a large wooden pole (typically 20 feet tall and weighing 175 pounds) and using their forward momentum, toss the pole so that it flips one time. In this weekends caber toss, each contestant failed on their first and second attempts, but on the final try, the man that was victorious in every other event, succeeded in overturning his caber. It was an extremely impressive feat.

Easter, Bank holidays, and Birthdays

Although a couple weeks late in posting I did want to report that April ended quite well here. In the UK there are these wonderful things called Bank Holidays; quite a few of them are late April/May. Mix that with the royal wedding and it meant that we had two four day weekends in a row to end our month. Always fun!

One of those was my birthday/Easter weekend. At the start of the week we had grand plans of exploring the highlands.  We encountered a few problems. Within 5 min of us reserving a car we got a phone call apologizing; every car for hire in Edinburgh was taken. Well… that won’t slow us down, we will simply take a bus and go camping. Oh wait, despite us thinking to bring our tent and sleeping bags, we don’t actually have a camping back pack (or a backpack pack, as my friend Sarah would say). Although we did our best to attach our tents and sleeping bags to my computer back pack and day bag, we realized without a car to hold our supplies it was going to be… less than ideal. Next thought, we can take multiple day trips to places we have wanted to see. Friday was my bday so we decided to spend that here. Saturday, however, we planned to explore somewhere fun. And we could have… had Scottish weather not kept us in. Since we had been traveling a bit in April, we really wanted to make it to church on Easter Sunday. So we planned one last attempt on exploring the highlands for Monday (which they call Easter Monday here, also a holiday). Buses were booked, trains were booked… Andrew was shaking?!?!  Yes, that’s right… Andrew came down with a 103 degree fever the night before we left. Although we were able to avoid the emergency room, he wasn’t quite ready to go on holiday the next morning.

So perhaps we don’t really know how to make the most of a 4-day holiday. But the weekend had its moments, even though we stayed here. My mom mailed me a box mix for my favorite cupcakes (with icing that we haven’t been able to find for the last six year). Cory was kind enough to cook up an amazing Jaime Oliver Italian dinner… thank you Cory! And, keeping with our tradition, we had a birthday week where I got to open a different present every day. Some from family, some from friends (thank you bday twin and Sonnet), some that we had bought earlier in our stay and regifted (what can I say, the pound /dollar conversion meant we had to be creative with our bday week this year), and some Andrew picked out just for me (see pic). Above all, I received so many message and cards from friends. It made my first birthday an ocean away feel… closer to home than I was expecting. Thank you to everyone!

Floweres for my birthday

I actually laid in the dirt to take this picture.



So, we apologize for being delinquent bloggers. I also apologize for cheating, because this post is not necessarily about Scotland at all, but rather a trip we took with Cory last weekend to Holland. Background story: for about 7 years now I have been fascinated with Holland’s tulips. I saw a photograph of the tulip fields taken from the air with rows of colors blazing brightly and I have wanted to go ever since. As an early bday present this year, Andrew and Cory humored me as I spent two full days in the flowers.



The gardens



Our first day we went to Keurkendof, the most amazing spring time garden I have ever seen. There were flowers EVERYWHERE! There were also people everywhere, all wanting the same pictures. There are some people who decided to just push there way in. The best example was the teenager, who in a very thick accent looked at us (who by the way was trying to get a photo at the time) and in a very aggitated tone explained "excuse me". Apparently we were the two (out of about 100 other tourists) he really didn't want in his picture.



New meaning to the phrase "flower power".



We were there for the flowers parade, which this year had a musical theme.  The parade actually started about 1.5 hours late. It turns out that a float had gotten a flat tire earlier in the parade route. Once they got it fixed, it was only a matter of minutes before there were more problems. At least this time the float broak down in the general area where we were, so we got to watch as they attempted to fix the float. Masssive amounts of people broke through the barriers to get a closer look (or to leave in frustration). In resulted in about the most chaotic parade I have ever been to.  But the floats were certainly worth the chaos.



This is my happy place!


Then I took a day to bike through the farmers’ fields of flowers. This was no doubt my favorite part of the trip. I road a bike for 15 miles and saw nothing but fields of color the entire way. Just amazing. There were flowers everywhere you turned. The best birthday present ever. Thank you boys for tolerating the tulips!




#1 Hospitality

We have always thought of Texas as a hospitable place, and it is. But time after time we have been blown away by how friendly and welcoming everyone has been to us. We cannot leave church without someone introducing themselves and asking where we are from and how we are settling in (even when we are trying to make a dash for the door to move on to lunch). In the first month that we were here, the pastor, counseling pastor, social events coordinator, missions director, and small group overseer had all introduced themselves to us. This is in addition to the dozens of members of the church who welcomed us and made sure we were getting along well. This is incredibly impressive to me considering the 1000 people they have coming through their church each day.

We have found this friendliness everywhere, even while riding the bus. It is an unwritten rule that every passenger tells the bus driver thank you or cheers before stepping off. 

The welcoming is even true with random people we have run into noticing we were “tourists”. The gentleman we talked to while walking through an old cemetery in St. Andrews and a gentleman as we were taking pictures of a beautiful bridge in inverness just to name a few. They each told us where to go and what to see along with sharing about their lives in Scotland. 

We chose this as our number one because it alone has made this adventure worth it. 

#2 There's no such thing as bad weather, just people who are poorly dressed

We were told, and now understand, that Scotland only has one weather forecast: Sunny spells with scattered showers. If it's sunny in the morning and you dress accordingly, you will be miserable later in the day soaking wet and freezing. The changes aren't even the worse part, but the speed at which it changes. Just walking to your bus stop or playing in the park can see a gorgeous day become cold and wet. We've since learned that before leaving the flat each morning one should always have the following three items: umbrella, jacket, and sunglasses. You will need all three everyday. We've also learned that you can't let rain get in the way of a good time. If your philosophy is to wait for it to stop raining before you go do something, you'll never go do it. You might as well go jogging in the rain or it will be 3 weeks before you can. The greatest line we've heard about Scottish weather is from a tour guide we were with the other day. He asked how long we planned to be in Scotland and told him till August. His response was. "you'll love the summer here, the rain is warmer then."  

#3 Well behaved dogs

After living here for over two months, we've noticed that the dogs in Edinburgh are the best behaved dogs in the world. Apart from walking down a crowded sidewalk, almost all dogs here are not on leashes. Normally this would result in mass hysteria with dogs running all over the place and destroying everything.  Here, dogs always stay close to their owner and I have yet to see two dogs get in to a fight. The greatest example of dog behavior here has to be at the grocery store. It never fails that each time we go grocery shopping, there is always a dog sitting perfectly still right outside the store just waiting for their owner to return. They are never tied up outside the store, just sitting there even in freezing cold temperatures and rain. We've also seen a homeless man who has a dog and while the man sits on the sidewalk, his dog is sitting in front of him holding his hat in it's mouth to collect coins. We have all sorts of new tricks to teach bear when we get home.

#4 Locks here are tricky

When Andrew and I first read our lease, we were nervous. There was a clause that if you forgot to lock the doors and the place was robbed, you were liable for all missing property of the landlord. Now, as most of you probably know, I am notorious about forgetting to lock up. In fact, we didn’t even start locking our house in Georgetown until my sister had her car broken into.  This was a problem waiting to happen. So we were somewhat relieved to find out that you can’t forget to lock the doors. That actually, every time the door closes, it locks itself. Good news: we won’t responsible for any of the property in our flat. Bad news: if you ever leave your keys on the other side of the automatically locking door, well, you are locked out. I always check and double check to make sure that I have my keys with me. But Saturday night, as Andrew was back in the states for work, I ran out the door without thinking. As the door was about to close,  I tried to get my foot in to prop it open. But it was too late. I looked in my purse and pockets hoping for my keys, but to no avail. I was locked out, and Andrew wouldn’t return until Monday morning, 36 hours later.  Now, it turns out that a lot of people have had this happen to them. So everyone had suggestions. One friend explained to me how to break in using a plastic coke bottle. Great idea, but didn’t work for me. Another friend explained I should just catch a train and get the keys from my flat mate. Brilliant, except my flat mate was an ocean away. I kept thinking why don’t people just call a locksmith when this happens. I quickly found out; the locksmiths here know that if it happens on a weekend, they are your only option for getting back in. So their weekend prices are outrageous. It would have cost 150 USD for me to get back inside. That wasn’t going to happen.   In the end I was very fortunate to have a friend offer me a place to stay until Andrew returned. Slumber party here I come! Fortunately Andrew took his keys with him, and had them in his pocket when he arrived on Monday morning. We are getting a copy of those keys made!

#5- I am getting to old for dorm style hostels

For the last 8 years or so, I have been an eager enthusiast for dorm style hostel rooms. You can spend as little as 10 dollars to have a nice warm place to sleep at night with 8-14 of your newest acquaintances. What’s not to like? Last weekend, however, as Andrew and I were up in Inverness to see Loch Ness, I started to realize these rooms have their disadvantages. As people straggled in at all hours of the night I found myself thinking, really, must you slam the door. Then there was the person in the bed next to us that made the strangest chirping and groaning sounds (alternating in a rather peculiar sequence). But I think the worst part is I still make Andrew stay with me in the smaller than normal twin size bed.  I enjoy being in close proximity and this was suffocating even for me. As we left the next morning, exhausted from the horrific nights’ sleep created by the combination of factors described above, I looked to Andrew and said “maybe I am too old for dorm-style hostels”.  I don’t think our budgets are quite ready for hotels, but next time we are going to spend the extra five dollars or so to upgrade to a hostel room for 2! I feel like I am growing up J.

#6- We speak American, not English



Hairy Coo! - it took a lot of persuasion
 to get Andrew to pose for that picture



 Our weekend trip to "Loch" Ness

We found Nessie



Andrew and I have been enjoying fun new Scottish words. For example, glenn means valley, loch means lake, and Hairy coo is a Highlander cow.  Then there are old words which here have difference meanings: crisps are chips, chips are fries, and trolleys are shopping.  For the most part our learning of Scottish has gone relatively smoothly.  But every now and then I am a bit confused. For example, during my induction the secretary said she had a diary for me that I could use to keep notes about work, and I thought to myself “what an introspective place to work.” Then she handed me what I would refer to as a planner… that made more since. I am glad I learned then though, otherwise I would have been in church during announcements the next Sunday sharing my intimate writings with people sitting by me, as the person during announcements asked us to “get out our diaries because you will need them in a minute, and introduce yourself to the people sitting next to you”.  

Another example, in a later meeting I heard everyone around me talking about their students “vivas.” I kept thinking they were referring to some type of horrific disease, but in fact viva is the word Scotland (and the rest of the world) uses to refer to a dissertation defense (perhaps my earlier understanding of the word wasn’t too far off).  But I think my favorite are those times that people are using the exact same word to mean the exact same thing, but I just can’t understand through the Scottish accent. Or alternatively, they just can’t understand me through my American accent. I have gotten many a confused look from bus drivers, shop keepers, and colleagues as I ask them questions.  It makes each day an adventure!

# 7- Don't wear snow boots at work

So I am sure most people have lived in places where it snows before and know the dos and don'ts of snow boots. I, however, have lived in south and central Texas my entire life, and didn't really experience much snow. The first week we were here, there was almost always snow on the ground. Having the grace of my mother, walking in the snow presented quite a few challenges. I was constantly slipping around. Fix: snow boots. For Christmas, my mother gave Andrew and I both "all-weather" boots. Perfect for walking in the snow: great traction, warm, and they keep your feet dry. So, I perceded to wear my boots to work (and really everywhere else I went). The problem with my snow boots is they are heavy, and I tend to drag my feet. The result was a really loud clunking sound resounding throughout the halls of my office. People often looked at me with a funny look as I walked by them throughout the day. I realized they were staring at my boots, but I just didn't care. I didn't want to slip and slide on my way to work. One day, as I am walking through the halls, on of my collegues commented saying she liked my boots. I explained (in utter embarassment) "I know they are loud and somewhat unprofessional for work, but if I didn't wear them I would never make it to work without slipping in the ice or snow." She laughed and replied "I wouldn't either, I wear them everyday... of course I change into flats when I get to the office". As she continued her walk down the hall I had one of those moments where you are sure you must be the dumbest person in the world, but are so thankful someone pointed it out to you. I now keep my flats in my backpack if there is snow on the ground. 

#8 - "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story"

Depiction of William Wallace

We are all aware of how loosely the term "based on a true story" is used in Hollywood. Erin and I found just how loosely it was used for the movie Braveheart while on a tour of the Scottish Highlands. Apparently the term Braveheart never actually referred to William Wallace at all, but Robert the Bruce. Wallace never would have worn a kilt as he was born in the Scottish lowlands and the kilt of that era looked nothing like the kilts of today. Our tour guide also mentioned about Mel Gibson's Scottish dialect saying he wasn't certain that William Wallace spoke with a 20th century Glasgow accent. Despite the historical inaccuracies it seems that everyone here loves the movie, after all, it makes the Scots look good and the English look bad.

Yesterday we had the chance to visit Rosslyn Chapel. This was a relatively unknown tourist attraction before a 2003 novel called The Da Vinci Code was written and it's subsequent movie released. If you've seen the movie then you know that Rosslyn Chapel is associated with the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail and is visited by Tom Hank's character. Our tour guide revealed to us that before the movie was released the chapel received 30,000 visitors a year, afterwards, it grew to over 150,000. There was even an incident where a man came crashing in to the chapel with an axe in hand, destined to destroy the pillar that supposedly houses the Holy Grail. He was quickly arrested and taken away without fulfilling his quest. There are some similarities between the chapel and the free masons but after touring it didn't take long to find out that Dan Brown and Hollywood took numerous liberties in stating the facts. 

Although Hollywood tells good stories, we have found that Scotland is a true epic of its own. 

#9- Chicken Kieves are amazing

Number 9 on our list is the discovery of chicken kieves.

When perusing the grocery store in Scotland, you are constantly inundated with such delicacies as haggis, cow's tongue, and blood pudding. This can make shopping for food just a bit more challenging. Of course there is still the option of chicken, beef, and seafood, but what was a truly amazing find for us was the chicken kieve. In case you aren't aware of this gift from heaven, it is a breaded chicken stuffed with something delicious such as bacon and cheese or marinara sauce. It takes only a few minutes in the oven and has saved us on many a night. If you come to visit us we will do our best to pass this blessing on to you as well.

Top 10 things we've learned in Edinburgh

Over the next ten days we will be releasing our top 10 things we've learned since moving to Edinburgh.

Here's #10:

Everything is done differently - We knew that by moving here we would be entering a different way of doing things, we just didn't expect it to be quite this different. Let's start with the most basic and fundamental difference, the bank. In the UK, having a bank account is the most foundational part of life. All bills are paid for by direct debit from your account. The rest is charged to your debit card and occasionally people use cash. Now, in the States, if you want to open an account and you have an address and some money, boom it's open. Thirty minutes tops. Here, in order to have an account you have to have an address that isn't a hostel and proof of a UK job. Here's the revolving door, in order to find a place to live to have an address, you need a bank account and in order to open a bank account, you have to have a permanent address. The only solution? Find a place to live and hope that the landlord will let you sign a lease with cash and that the bank will accept this new address before the first month's rent is due. Seven days after we first went in to the bank we finally got our account opened. Interestingly, we went with the bank that is considered lenient on the whole address/job thing. Most banks here wouldn't even begin a conversation without either. 

Another difference here is television. In order to watch anything on a television you have to have a license. This is just for the privilege of turning it on and watching over the air programs. If you want cable or satellite you have to pay on top of that. And if you move to a new address, you have to purchases a new license. 

The third difference is utility bills....but we still haven't figured out exactly how those work. All we know right now is you can choose to either pay for usage, or a flat rate. This flat rate may be more than your usage or less. Like I said, we have no idea what we're doing.   

The list goes on to include council taxes (comparable to city/property taxes), cell phone bills, online security, and purchasing tickets to sporting events. We seriously need a manual over here. 

Check back tomorrow for number 9!

Burn's Day (including haggis)

Erin wearing her Texas tartan.

Last Saturday we got to celebrate our first official holiday since arriving in Scotland. This is not a holiday that everyone gets off of work, but it is still exciting none the less. On January 25th, the nation celebrates the birth of the great poet Robert Burns. A traditional Burn's dinner is served containing haggis, mashed potatoes, and something containing mushed up carrots and turnips. The evening usually includes the reading of his poems, singing of "Auld Lang Syne," (which he wrote) and a wee dram of whiskey.



Since the 25th fell on a Tuesday, our church decided to have a Burn's dinner the following Saturday along with a Ceilidh. A Ceilidh is a traditional Scottish dance, kind of like going to a large square dance, only with kilts. There are numerous dances, some for couples and some        for the whole group. One of the highlights of the evening had to include when everyone stood at the beginning as the haggis was brought in to the room and Robert Burn's poem "Address to a Haggis" was read. (Adress to a Haggis)


We did in fact try haggis for the very first time. I think the nausea Erin felt afterwards speaks for her feelings of the dish. I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. It turns out that eating the leftover parts of a lamb ground up is not the worse part, the worst part is the oatmeal that's added to it. We've been told that unless we showed proof that we ate haggis than it never really happened. Here's your proof.

Day trip to Glasgow

Last weekend Andrew and I decided we would take our first train trip. We went to Glasgow, Scotland's largest city. To be honest, Glasgow leaves a bit to be desired. It was a huge industrial city, and there is a bit of left over pollution. Still, the art galleries were amazing. Much to Andrew's dismay we left at 7:00 am, and found ourselves in Glasgow long before things were open. It was cold and had the thickest fog either of us had ever seen. We made our way through the Glasgow Cathedral, past a parade of loyal orange followers (who swore their allegiance to the Protestant faith as they literally marched through the city with their drums), and on to the Barras market. Now, I don't know that I would actually recommend the Barras market to anyone. It was a bit "dodgy". But, at that point we were freezing and the 2 pound pair of gloves were a welcomed site. From the market we found our way to the People's Palace, a museum designed to tell the people's history (in a wonderfully heated building where we may have snuck in a picnic lunch).

Noon came, and the fog was still thick. We made our way to the Gallery of Modern Art with no more than five feet of visibility in front of us. But by the time we left to catch Kelvingroves galleries in eastern Glasgow... we could see again. I think the Kelvingrove galleries were probably our favorite. They had everything from Scottish art to Egyptian mummies, all in one place. So Andrew could enjoy the history, while I enjoyed the art. As our day was coming to a close we grabbed a cup of tea in the Willow Tea Room. It is famous because it was designed by the city's renowned architect, Macintosh. But we liked it because their tea was the best we have had since we have been here.

Just when Andrew thought he was going to get a break from running around the city, I made him backtrack to get pictures of everything we had seen that day without the fog. Andrew said it was painful, literally. But I thought the pictures were well worth the trek. Now we can share them with all of you!!!

We miss you all! erin

Home Sweet Home

As promised here are a few pictures of the new flat.

And the view from our living room in the evenings:

Getting Settled

It's been an exciting week here for us starting with moving in to our new flat. Our building was built somewhere around the 1890's so it has plenty of character. We'll post pictures tomorrow of what it looks like. Meanwhile, this last saturday we decided to be tourist and take a self guided walking tour around the Royal Mile, a section of road leading from the Palace of Holyrood (the Queen's official residence while in Scotland) on one end and Edinburgh Castle on the other. In between are great museums, hiking trails with amazing views, and fascinating whisky shops. We were joined by our friend Melissa who was just as eager as us to brave the rain and chilling temperatures to see the sights.

(Palace of Holyrood)

While on the tour we were able to find the grave of the great economists Adam Smith. Of course Erin, being the Phd that she is, kept referring to him as John Adams. I had a hard time understanding why the 2nd President of the United States was buried in Edinburgh Scotland.

(John Adams, err, Adam Smith's grave)

And for you LOST fans, we also found a statue in honor of the great philosopher David Hume.

(Brotha?)

We finished the night in a cafe called the Elephant House which is where J.K. Rowling began writing the Harry Potter novels. Despite the weather it ended up being a great day and now we have a great walking trail to take people on when they visit. 

Snow pictures

Here's some views of our walk from the hostel to the main city center near Edinburgh Castle (pictured above).

Scottish Attire

Ah, the traditional Scottish kilt. A unique choice for the men brave enough. Take this picture and add snow and below freezing temperatures and you get a traditional snowman. This is what I have seen at least six men wearing in the three days since we've arrived. Let's not even get in to the occasional woman who decides to tough out the cold wearing just a skirt and a small jacket. Erin and I in the meantime are trying to find a way to install heaters inside of our jackets to save our limbs from frostbite.

We are here and safe

Last Thursday we arrived in Edinburgh, our home for the next 7.7 months (not that I am counting). We were so excited to get here. The city looks like it is from a fairy tale, with castles, cobble stone streets, and mountainous terrain all around. We have been living at a backpackers hostel these past few days. Here we are learning how to brave the cold (as the hostel doesn't like to waste too much gas on frivolous luxeries like heat) and meeting new friends. In our room is Melissa, a new Australian friend, who has been very kind to show us the ropes. We are catching on, learning how public transportation works, how to convert things to metric units, and of course, how to walk in the snow. So many new skill sets.

Andrew has been busy keeping up with work at TNM. Unfortunately there is no heat in our hostel during the days, so he come with me to Heriot-Watt University and works from an upstairs study room (where heat is available). My official first day of work was Monday, and I already love the university. The entire school is connected by corridors and hallways. You would never have to step foot in the cold outside weather if you didn't want to. My boss, Bjarne Holmes, has been wonderful. We are working on a project with mother's and infants' cortisol levels, ultimately trying to determine how they are related to parenting behaviors. Work has been busy. Next Tuesday Bjarne has a big presentation to the Scottish government that we are trying to prepare for. In the midst of recovering from jet lag and trying to stay warm, I am doing my best to be productive.

In the midst of the craziness we have been searching for flats (deposit is down, pray they accept us and let us move in soon!), opening bank accounts (which requires an act of parliament in Scotland), and planning out our next 7.7 months.

We are so excited about what God has in store. Although we can't wait to be a bit more settled (as it will no doubt help us be more disciplined and productive) we are enjoying the adventure that is starting life in a new place.  We hope all is well with everyone. We are posting pictures in hopes they entice some of you to come see us (we are getting good at finding cheap flights... let us be your travel agent).

More to come soon,
Erin