Settling In

Four months into our adventure and life seems more familiar and not so foreign. We have found the pleasure and charm in our surroundings. We remember to look right, then left when crossing the street, we cross an intersection on the diagonal, and have discovered that pubs are friendly places. Here is a list of words that are now popping up in our speech.

New words we have learned (or new uses):

Trousers----DON’T say pants unless you want a glare
Jotters------ notebooks
Traybakes-- bars and brownies
Rubbers---- erasers
Lift--------- elevator
Roundabout- rotary
Lorrie-------truck
Bonnet----- hood of car
Scheme---- plan or curriculum
Theme----- conference or meeting
Offers------ sales or specials
Jumper----- sweater
Coach------- tour bus
Contraflow-- lane switch on the highway (as if the driving on the left is not bad enough)
Top-up------ top off or fill up
Mobile------ cell phone
Trainers---- sneakers
Turn-ups--- cuffs
Aubergine-- eggplant
Queue------ line up (and they love to queue)
Tariff------- rate or cost
VAT-------- sales tax which is a brutal 17.5%
Bacon rolls-- bacon on a flour roll--these really need to be imported
Wee a fabulous all purpose word: the wee ones, have a wee look, take a wee walk, etc

Christmas Pageant

Last night we attended the primary two “Christmas Carols Around the World” at Sciennes Primary School. Claire was an angel (clearly typecasting) and did a fabulous job! It was a lovely and festive evening and it was a clear example of differences in Scotland:

It was a Christmas pageant, not holiday or winter and it was all Christmas songs including “Away in a Manager”.

Prior to the performance, which was in the school assembly hall, wine and mince pies were served. This is a lovely way to experience school performances!

The front row of seats was reserved for the parent volunteers that helped with the event, what a great way to acknowledge the volunteers.

Thanksgiving

Our first visitors have come and gone. Jane (Aunt Jane) and her friend Lynette (or as Lily says Ninlette) were here for 2 weeks. Bryana (our former babysitter) was here for 1 week. The enthusiastic greeting that Hannah gave Jane was something to witness. We were fortunate to have them here for Thanksgiving, which we celebrated in American style (Jane supplied the pumpkin). It was great to have familiar faces here, it made the house here seem more homey –or as they say here homely. It was sad when they left, but we are keeping busy with all the many holiday activities in Edinburgh, the girls have seen some Christmas pantomimes with their school and we took in ice-skating and the Edinburgh wheel (ferris wheel) and the Christmas markets on Princes St.

Och Aye, Scotland

Lately, I've been truly captivated by the city of Edinburgh - beginning to discover its nooks and crannies, secrets, ghosts, and hidden charms. It is just a cool place, despite its weather and 3:30pm sunsets ... We're beginning to explore its night life and the amazing array of sweet pubs and fabulous restaurants (we've finally tapped into the right set of places which are far better than anything we have at home). Recent fun things included seeing one of the hottest Scot bands, Twilight Sad, from the "fog-drenched streets of Glasgow" at a little club in town. We also checked out the Royal Oak pub that had room for about 20 people and all the folk musicians that could squeeze in. Pubs are an amazing social event and it took me a while to figure this out. Folks won't give you faux friendliness on the street or out in public, but will warmly greet you and engage in conversation in any pub.

I've also fallen quite hard for football (ehm, soccer). I've scored a ticket in an upcoming Scottish premier league (the Scot equivalent of the English premier league) match between powerhouse Rangers (from Glasgow) and local Hibernian (Hibs) from Edinburgh. There are tremendous sectarian rivalries in Scottish soccer - Rangers (non-Catholic) and Celtic (Catholic) both hail from Glasgow. These are the best teams by far in the SPL and rival the top teams in the English league. Most everyone in Scotland may follow a local team, but can placed either in the Rangers or Celtic camp ultimately. Suffices to say that when an English documentary film-maker wanted to capture the intensity of football rivalry and hooliganism, he headed north to Glasgow to watch Rangers v. Celtic. I've chosen a match that will hopefully have the right atmosphere but without any rough stuff.

Another visit to A-dam

I met my buddy Ben Bloom for a day and night of adventure in Amsterdam a few weeks ago. Ben flew in from Paris and I from Edinburgh. Highlights included biking all through the city including as late as 3am, a canal boat tour, frisbee by the Van Gogh museum, Indonesian feast for dinner, numerous drinking establishments, and such like.

And if that wasn't enough fun, I've been invited back to A-dam to give a guest lecture. Click here.

Scotland v. Italy

A heart-breaking loss for the lads on a rainy night at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Italy 2 , Scotland 1. Scotland will not be going to the World Cup. I tried hard to get a ticket but as they began to approach 1000 GBP, I opted out. Even the Archbishop of Glasgow could not get a ticket and said "I'm still waiting as no one has yet come forth with a ticket". Italy was the World Cup champs, immensely skilled and highly favored, and full of creativity. Scotland relied more on "set pieces", disciplined-play, and out-running the Italians to the ball. Hampden was roaring and the Scottish team was swarming most of the match and out-played Italy. The conditions favored Scotland - a misty steady rain and intense local fans, but it was not to be. I watched some of the match in a SRO pub near our house. The atmosphere was truly electric.

Arthur's Seat

Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags November 3, 2007

We finally hiked Arthur’s Seat. It is the highest point in Edinburgh and a former volcano (12,000 years ago). We all made it to the top (even Lily hiked it).

Enchanted Forest

Friday night we headed back up to Pitlochry in the Highlands and stayed again at the homey Dalshian ("dal-sheen") B&B. We went to see the Enchanted Forest - an evening of lights and music in the local Faskally woods and loch. It was pretty cool, check out their pictures.

Portugal

Portugal 10/11-10/19

We spent 8 fabulous sun-filled days in the Algarve, Portugal. The Algarve is the Southern tip of Portugal and we stayed in the town of Carviero. The area is filled with wonderful picturesque beaches—most of which are coves accessed by long staircases down to the beach. It seemed that each cove beach was filled with wonderful rock formations, caves, turquoise water and golden sand. The area was very family friendly and the locals were very welcoming—especially to children. It was very easy to move around with our “large” (by UK standards) family. Besides the beach, we took a day long jeep tour of the area and up to Monchique, learned how cork was harvested (Portugal’s largest export), tasted the local moonshine and the local honey. We ventured out on our own to Silves to see the local farmer’s market, the roman bridge the castle (from the 10^th century), and the churches. We also took a boat tour of the area in a restored 1800’s wooden ship. From the large ship we took an excursion into the water caves, which was amazing. It was a perfect vacation and we all came back feeling rejuvenated.

NeSC

I work at the National e-Science Center in "downtown" Edinburgh about a quarter mile from the Royal Mile. They were taking some photos of the staff a few weeks back. I normally photograph terribly but this one isn't half bad. It didn't look as good after rotating so I left it as is. The past two days we have seen only blue-sky with no clouds or wind. If you know Scotland, this is rather amazing.

Catching up

It's been a busy two weeks - Hannah had her first party (a High School Musical II extravaganza)- the girls managed to catch a frog from our pond later that night (see below left). It was fun but I can't get the music out of my head. The top-most picture is Lily's first day of pre-school. We were invited to our neighbors Michael and Anna over for a formal Sunday lunch with a bunch of their family and grandkids. When I saw the formal table with individualized name place holders in different metallic animal shapes, linens, etc, and my kids, I was quite concerned about the mayhem that would ensure. Lily sat still for 40 seconds once last year when she had a 102 fever. It must have been the Yorkshire pudding (which thankfully has no internal animal parts) or the gracious company, but the girls were perfect. Other items to report - turns out that bubble bath and jacuzzi's don't mix (see Lily above). We also bought a car (a Vauxhall Vectra) - if you can't own an aston martin, I recommend this ;-). On the way back from Craigmillar castle (see top), Claire inaugurated the car with a mid-afternoon hurl. It made driving on the left-side even more hair-raising. Turns out that the problem actually isn't the side you are driving on, nor the much-dreaded roundabouts, but on the narrowness of the lanes. In a 2-lane road, I can practically smell the Bellhaven bitter on the breath of the driver whisking pass me.

Land of Song Writers

Many of my favorite songwriters over the years are from Scotland. Check them out 70s, 80s, 90s, NOW Please post more!

More Highlands

Blog posts are limited in the image upload size, so here are some more photos that go with the previous post. As an extra treat, I have included an oldie but goodie, click here.

Highlands

We spent a wonderful weekend in a town called Pitlochry in the southern reaches of the Highlands. This was Scotland as I had pictured it - steep green mountains, mist rolling off the hills, castles, and whiskey distilleries. We stayed at a sweet place called Dalshian where the owner family had two cute girls for our girls to play with. Highlights include the awesome Dunkeld Cathedral, Falls of Bruar, Blair Atholl Castle, and Edradour distillery - the smallest distillery in Scotland. After a wee dram, I was treated to a rainbow (see photo). It was also our first driving experience - yikes! - but it went so well on the drive home that we decided to get ourselves a car ...

catching up

The upcoming posts span a few weeks of fun. We're hopelessly behind in the blog and have lots of photos and thoughts to share. We're out of the initial culture shock phase and are really loving it here. Next post will talk about our first real trip to the Highlands which was wonderful. Above are some photos of the girls in the local park named the Meadows near our house and the girl's school.

the castle

The Edinburgh castle defines the city of Edinburgh in many ways. It's unique position on a hill and it's immense size set it apart of all castles in the UK. Being in a big city also makes it quite accessible. We managed to visit on a pretty clear day with excellent views of the city.

cycle tour

We went a cool historic cycle tour of Edinburgh. The girls did great on all the hills and nooks/crannies of the city. Adrian was a really cool guide - very funny and informative. We saw the resting place of Adam Smith and Robert Burns, the pub where Dr. Jekyll frequented (or was it Mr. Hyde), the square where twice-hanged Maggie was publically hanged (she survived both attempts). The shots of are of us on Calton Hill overlooking the city and Hannah cruising down one of the city steets.

Fringe 2007

We had a blast at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival which has now just ended. Here are the shows that we saw: Cinderella, Emperor's New Clothes, and a Bubble Extravaganza. Claire was a feature performer in the latter today as she beat the bubble master in bubble volleyball on stage. Very fun. It never seems old riding a double-decker to Princes Street in downtown Edinburgh. On Saturday, we rode the bus to nearby Pentland Hills for a hill walk (hike) that went straight up at what seemed to be a 90 degree angle. We witnessed some DRY hill skiing - very much a UK thing. The girls did great on the arduous walk and we were rewarded with a blue sky and view of the ocean (firth of forth) and Edinburgh not to mention gale force winds and a rainbow peeking through the distant mist. After, we had a pub lunch with a pint of Bell Haven (adults only).

Cool commute

This is a view of some local mountains on my 1.5 mile commute to work. This park is huge and is called the Meadows and is currently filled with festival activities. It has a cool playground for the kids and often one can see cricket matches or soccer football being played.

Back to School--Scotland Style

Wednesday August 15, 2007







Today was the first day of school for Hannah and Claire. They attend Sciennes Primary School. We have spent the last week frequenting the local stores to acquire the proper uniform. Sciennes (pronounced "Sheens") is liberal in their policy—it is just dark bottoms, navy sweatshirt or sweater and red/white or blue polo with their logo—and of course black “school shoes”. Also a gym uniform of a white shirt, blue shorts and plimsolles (think Keds). Claire tried on plimsolles and decreed that they were dumb looking. It took some convincing from the sales clerk that she would not be the only child wearing them. In fact Claire decreed the entire uniform as “boy clothes” (you can imagine how dull she finds boys clothes).
Today started with a blue sky and sun, which I took as a good omen for this school year. We all arrived at the school, the students play outside until the bell rings and then they line up. The scene with all the kids in uniform could be from 1950. Our girls were escorted to their classrooms, we all met their teachers, and then Jon and I were dismissed. The building is a Victorian building with a cupola, cloakrooms, and a swimming pool in the basement. While, the building is old, the rooms are high tech with interactive white boards (these are cool) and lots of computers. The teaching staff is very friendly and young. The head teacher (principal) and receptionist are very nice (Hannah says they are nice, but not as good as Mr. Litwin and Judy).
I picked them up this afternoon and they were both all smiles and have made friends, although Claire can’t recall her teacher’s name or what she did much of the day (Hannah of course gave me a moment by moment recitation).
So a major hurdle has been crossed, while not every day will be great, it is a relief that they had a good time and want to go back tomorrow.

We're Here!

Amazingly we made it to Edinburgh! Five people (3 children), 15 bags, left St. Paul at 7pm August 2 and arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland 3:30 pm August 3, all just a wee bit tired. Many thanks to Susan's sister Jane and Paul Meekin for delivering us to the airport; customs for letting us sail through; the cheerful Edinburgh taxi who somehow managed to fit everything into his 2x8, and Nigel Masterton, our beloved relocation agent who met us at Thistle Cottage when we arrived to help us settle. Nigel was already changing lightbulbs, replacing fuses in plugs (don't ask) when we got there, and later did a little plumbing work on the girls tub. Nigel managed to get the TV working but we've just now got Internet in the house (that was an undertaking). We did manage to find the Daily Show on one of the channels - that was huge as we've been missing the states a bit.

The cottage is lovely and the garden (yard, that is) is spectacular, though we are getting use to a smaller home and how to establish new intra-home routines and such. We spend a lot of time in the four-season conservatory. The neighborhood is quiet and leafy - a collection of older stately detached stone homes. Neighbors are quiet and reserved - warm when you knock on their doors, but you have to make the first effort. Meeting new people will take time and patience. The streets are narrow, cobbly, and windy, and although Edinburgh is a small city geographically, getting from A to B can be very tricky, as street names can change abruptly and may be listed on buildings or not. A 1.5 mile journey to a store for the first time can be an adventure. The narrow sidewalks directly abut the street and so these tiny cars are zipping by inches from you. We're only a mile from Arthur's Seat with some excellent hikes and lochs.

Our first week in Edinburgh was very much like the Thistle - beautiful with some rough edges. Everywhere you look are old stone buildings and churches with cute shops tucked within them, with hills/mts and the ocean on the edges of the city. But at the same time it feels a bit strange and mysterious. The Jam's great song "Strange town" and the Doors "People are Strange" is spot on as they say. The Edinburgh festival is going on and the city is hopping - we've already seen one Fringe theatre performance and have two more coming up in the next week. We got the girls some used bikes as they may be able to bike to school which starts Weds! The weather has been mostly good - we've seen more blue sky than I expected, but some rain too. Yesterday was a bit rough. After failing to get a bike for myself, I stared at the computer weather screen to see RAIN, RAIN, RAIN for the next 3 days feeling rather blue; just then I noticed a whizzing sound on my right - Lily was emitting a stream of No. 1 right next to me into the carpet.

Despite the early bumps in the road, it will be a long exciting journey.

--Jon

Our Scotland home

Welcome to Thistle Cottage - our new home in Scotland.