Christmas in a Castle

**Disclaimer**
Please note that it took me hours to write this entry because it was 4 days worth of happenings, therefore ignore any errors and gaps in my stories. I couldn't put everything but one day I may tell the full story. Until then this will have to do.


Part One: Intro

Where to begin. First of all I want to note that I hate this blog sometimes. I had a hell of a time logging on. I had wanted to just before I left for the castle but it kept kicking me out. And today it wouldn't let me sign in at first. ARGH. It's been frustrating.

I'll start off with thanks to everyone who sent me Christmas cards. The notes in them meant a lot to me and helped me feel that I wasn't so far away from everyone. (sniff sniff I was truly touched). *Cough* Enough of the mushy stuff...

Part Two: Festivus

Festivus was a better success than I thought. I made a festivus carol. It goes like this...

(To the tune of Oh Christmas Tree)


Oh Festivus, Oh Festivus,
How shiny is your pole this year...
My pole is soo shiny this year,
It brings me joy, it brings me cheer,
Oh Festivus, Oh Festivus,
How shiny is your pole this year.
Oh Jerry, George, Krammer & Elaine,
They don't compare to Franks Festivus fame,
His feats of strength,
I know at length,
The grievances are quite a treat.
Oh Festivus, oh festivus,
How shiny is your pole this year.
Frank throws his son quickly to the ground,
The laughter spreads to everyone around.
Oh Festivus, Oh Festivus,
It's the holiday for the rest of us.

I'll give you a minute to wipe the tears from your eyes. So we didn't really have anything planned for Festivus so we just went out for dinner with some friends, and then went to a Christmas Party at a pub that ended up being a bit of a dud. As we wandered back to New Town to wander the pub scene we decided we wanted to go on the swings at the festival in the garden. It was really cold, but oh so fun!! After we went to a few more pubs we sang the Festivus song and then departed. Overall it was a good night and Festivus can only get better from here.

The night unfortunately could not go on that late because we had to get up early the next morning to catch our bus for the castle. Our friend who was coming to the castle too ended up staying the night at our place to make life easier, and we all ended up sitting up half the night talking.

Part Three: Christmas in the Castle

So we left Edinburgh at the wee hours of the morning on Christmas eve and made our way to Carbisdale castle, just outside of Inverness. Because we were going with a tour group (Haggis) we had planned stops all they way and a tour guide/driver to entertain us all the way up. Our first stop was about 1 1/2 hours into the trip, in the town of Doune to see Doune Castle. Doune castle, for those of you who don't know, is where Monty Pythons Holy Grail was filmed. Great castle, but only a 15 minute stop as the tour intended (that includes the potty break). I've already been to this castle on another tour so I just used the loo, and stood around talking. It was pretty cold and I had intended to stay on the bus but when I came out of the toilet the bus was gone. We all stood there, 28 of us huddled together when the bus finally came back. Did we want the good news or the bad news? she asked us. The good news was there was a great pub in Doune, the bad news was the bus was broken and she had to find a mechanic on Christmas eve or get a new bus for us. So off all 28 of us went wandering into this little down in search of a pub open at 10am. We all filed into the pub out of the cold only for the owner to come up and tell us it was closed until 11. So we all filed back out onto the cold streets of Doune.

About five minutes later we had walked through the town and alas there was no other pub. Being as cold as we were, all 28 of us squished into a little convenience store and bought chocolate bars as slow as we could so we could stay in the warmth. Thankfully when we got back on to the mean streets of Doune it was announced that one of the guys from our bus had explained our predicament to the bar owner and he agreed to open up early for us. Hooray!!!

So at about 10:30 Christmas Eve I dived into my first whisky of the trip. It would become the first of many. About 12:30, and 3 whiskeys later we were on the bus again heading to the castle. We now had a new addition to our group. Craig. One of the guys who works in the office at Haggis. Poor guy had to pack up for Christmas and come rescue us within a hours notice. He was great though. We pretty much sped the rest of the way there, stopping places for only about 5 or ten minutes at a time so we could get to the castle before too late. The fog was really heavy so we couldn't see most of it anyway. For me it was alright because they took the same route that we had taken on another Haggis tour. We saw Hamish the Hairy Coo. He is a big hairy highland cow, as you can see.

My favourite stop, everytime is Glen Coe. This is a 3 huge mountains call the Three sisters. It was so beautiful, and the mist made it even more amazing. The fog had started to lift and the sun was starting to come out.

This day also ended up being the day of odd injuries for me. Now despite having had a few drinks, this honestly had nothing to do with how sober I was. Before I had even had a drink in me, I was talking so feverishly (as you all know how I can get), and I somehow bit right down on my lip. I killed the cells so the flap of skin is dead and in turn it swelled up making it very hard for me to eat. Everytime I eat even still I bite it and boy does it hurt!!! I ate the best soup of my life but didn't enjoy it as much as God intended me to, because it burned my lip. I tell you this because it was the oddest thing I have ever done to myself and I still can't figure out how I actually did it.

Injury #2. On the new bus that we got there was a step down from the seats. We all kept forgetting and taking a tumble, problem was though, there were arm rests, and we kept hitting our legs on them. The first time I slipped it hurt and left a little bruise. The second time I did I ended up limping, and I couldn't sit on that side of my bum all weekend. And the bruise is HUGE and DISGUSTING!!! I write this not because I think you care, but the bruise is so hideous and disgusting I have a need to share it with everyone. I even made Cheryl look at it, well I kind of tricked her into it, she thought I was kidding when I told her to look. Hey she can't say I'm a liar, just a bad friend.

To keep us amused on our long journey Clare bought the bus something to play with. He was a blow up man and someone named him Santos. He was a big part of the weekend, and at one point ended up in the Christmas tree. He was very popular with the ladies and all the girls wanted to dance with him.

Just outside of Inverness Craig pulls our bus over and another bus is waiting there. Our bus is broken again and we need another one. By this time the other buses had gotten there hours before so one of the other Haggis guides drove up to pick us up. Claire and Craig stayed back withe the bus and our luggage, trying to fix the bus.

After a long but eventful journey we made it to the castle. It was a beautiful castle. A right proper castle we all agreed. This castle was built for Lady Sutherland, but was not completed before she died. In 1945 the owners donated the castle to the Youth Hosteling Association so that everyone could stay in a castle. On our first night there we got a Mexican meal, and then a folk band came and played for us. The leader was trying to teach us some Scottish dances but we were all getting a little drunk and he wasn't very happy with us. In fact he sooshed us!! Who sooshes drunk people?!!?? Needless to say I didn't feel very encouraged to dance much.

On the second day, with our bus still not working properly, after a champagne breakfast, our group went for a hike. The frost was thick and almost looked like snow. It was some of the best scenery I have seen thus far and I took a lot of pictures. I don't know what it was, but all of the fresh air must have gotten to me because I did something a little crazy. We stopped at a brook and for some reason I decided (I was perfectly sober mind you) that I wanted to dip my feet in the water. Now by no means was this a mild day, but when I put my hand in the water it felt warm enough so I decided to go for it. And after I pushed the chunk of ice out of my way I stepped in. Haha I know your all thinking, my god she's crazy, but the water was fine at first. I only felt the cold when someone decided to take a picture and then fumbled with a camera for what seemed like ages. Suddenly I started to feel how cold the water was. When I got and tried to put my shoes back on my feet were shaking like crazy. Now I'm starting to think, 'how stupid am I, I can't feel my toes'. I tried to get my socks on and move my feet to warm them up but I was thinking, 'oh god I've given myself frost bite and I'm going to lose a toe now, but I know I'm going to be too embarrassed to say anything so I'll just let it rattle around in my boot til we get back'. Thankfully within 10 minutes my feet were as warm as fresh pie and my feet weren't even wet for the rest of the walk. Fabulous!

The point of the hike was to get to an outlook point where we could see the battlefield where Robert the Bruce (Scotland's Greatest Hero) and his army, defeated the English army. I convinced Craig to tell us the story instead of just reading the plaque they had, and he did a great job of it. He used sticks as swords and acted out the entire thing for us. It was fantastic.

When we got back to the castle we stole another groups bus and headed out to the beach...seriously. The beach was beautiful, cold, but beautiful. The day before Clare had collected a £ from each of us and bought a couple bottles of whisky for us. Now having been in Scotland for about 3 months now I have grown to love Whisky, but I do recognize that it takes time and effort to fall in love with it. Some of the other people on the tour were new to Scotland and didn't have the time or the effort...so they gave their whisky to me. Now when I drink whisky I add some water to it and take my time to savour the flavours that make every whisky so different and so good. On this day I had very little time to savour anything and without thinking drank a half bottle of whisky in about 15 minutes. Hmmm. By the time we had walked back to the bus I realized what I had done and was starting to feel the effects of it.

From what I heard the next day I was very loud on the bus on the way back. When we got back we were running a little late and we all still had to get changed before dinner started. On the way up the stairs to get changed I saw a guy I had noted before was Canadian, so I randomly asked where in Canada he was from. I still cannot believe his answer...DUNNVILLE!!! What are the chances of that, not to mention he went to St. Mike's too!!! He was a 3 years older than me and we tried to figure out who we both knew. We talked, sorry I talked for a a really long time before Cheryl finally dragged me up the stairs to get ready. By this time I was feeling pretty good and my poor friends had to help me get ready for dinner, and even brush my hair for me. We were almost an hour late for dinner.

The table we sat at had a family from Wisconson, and two girls from our bus. For their sake I was trying very hard to sober up, and all I remember is eating lots and lots of bread and drinking lots of water. After dinner I was feeling a lot better and my new Dunnville friend and I sat and talked more about St. Mike's and Dunnville. Ahhh the good old days.

That night they had a band playing and there was a raffle. Cheryl won tickets to go on a tour of Dublin for St. Patty's day!!! It was perfect because we were planning on going on it anyway and were going to buy our tickets when we got back from the Christmas tour. Funny how things like that work out.

Boxing day we all had to be on the bus by 8:15. This was hard for all of us and no one was out for the buses until about 8:30-8:45. You could tell that everyone had had a good night the night before because we all just wanted to sleep on the bus. Luckily Clare wouldn't let us. On the way back we stopped at Loch Ness, and a few other spots. At one point we went for a little hike and saw the most beautiful falls. We also had a pop quiz about the weekend to see if we were listening to Clare, and Cheryl and I were very surprised when we won!!! Unfortunately she only had one t-shirt to give away, but being the generous person she was, Clare gave us the shirt off her back...literally, so we could both have a t-shirt. At one of the stops we got her to sign it and we are going to hang it on one of our walls. We are also going to take it on anyother tours we go on with Haggis and collect their 'autographs'. Because there are two of us we've decided that when we stop living together and she moves back to Canada, we will rotate years with the shirt on display and since this was a Christmas tour we will wrap it up and send it to the other when the year is up. Wrap it in aluminum that is. (Only my immediate family will get that one).

All in all it was a great Christmas and I'll never forget it, but I did miss spending Christmas with my family...

...Just kidding, I've already booked a tour for next Christmas!!

Why I love internet cafes...

After losing my blog entry for the 5th time the other day I finally gave up and left to try another day. (Actually they kicked me out for cursing and throwing the keyboard out the window, but that's a story for another day). Today is 2 days later and I am about to attempt to use the computer again. I will never be able to duplicate the literary genius of those entries that were lost, which is a shame because they were one of the purest forms of greatness known to humankind. Sadly you will have to take my word for it and settle for this mediocre entry.

When I first wrote in my blog the other day I complained about all of the rain, and my God, was there rain!!! It rained for a week, it seems. And never that soft light rain that is dreary but bearable, no no, it rained buckets on our heads. Thankfully there was no flooding in Edinburgh, but there was plenty of flooding in the rest of the UK. I think in some sick twist of fate my blog entries complaining about the rain made its way through the abyss of the web to the powers that be and they got the message. Since that day we have had nothing but sunshine and absolute gorgeous weather (Your welcome UK).

The worst that Cheryl and I experience of the horrible weather was when we went to Glasgow shopping for her birthday. That was the worst day of the rain (well for us at least because we were out in it). The flooding was so bad that some of the trains from Glasgow were cancelled (the following day when I worked to Aberdeen no one could get to Glasgow from the north because of the flooding).

Now to the point. Shopping. Most people who know me know that I shop like a man. I go in to a mall knowing what I am getting, where I am getting it and the only reason for going to more than one store is for price comparisons. In and out, that's how I do it. What most people who know me don't know is that I do not shop this way because I like to, I shop this way because I have to. I like to shop because I need something, rather than shopping because I want something. Once I start shopping because I want something I cannot stop. On Wednesday, in the first store that we entered I found a fabulous striped shirt that I had to have, it was all down hill from there. I regret nothing that I bought. In fact I love it all and still 4 days later I find myself pulling it all out to admire it. Almost every item that I bought were items that I did not even conceive of not getting as soon as I saw them. The only other items that I bought were things that I did need and knew I would not find anywhere else for that price. Like the fantastic £4.99 purse. Love it!

It's my own fault that this happened though. When packing to come here I did not pack any jewelry because I was worried about losing it. This I finally decided after 2 months had to be rectified. I needed to add some colour to my life, and so I did. I bought an equally amazing ring that I do not think I will ever take off, as well as a pair of sunglasses that were made for my face (if they had not been sooo perfect I could not have bought them because I am embarrassed to admit that I already brought with my 2 other pairs of sunglasses). I also got a very bedazzled, girly and very unlike me change purse that I unknowingly have been longing to have. The funny part of this shopping trip is that I set out to buy an outfit to wear to the castle for Christmas dinner, and despite trying on many many many outfits and frustrating the hell out of Cheryl, nothing 'spoke to me', as we like to say. The best part about the shopping trip though was that my parents sent me some money as a Christmas present (despite the fact that I celebrate Festivus, not Christmas, and therefore do not require gifts) so all I have to say is "Thanks Mom and Dad!!!"

By the way so far so good, the computer hasn't crashed yet, although Cheryl's has.

In order to get into the holiday season, coupled with the Festivus decorations, Cheryl and I have both tried our hands at baking. Unfortunately I no longer have the stomach to handle the sweets that I loved so dearly as a child. I made chocolate slice the other day, and I could barely eat it!!! It tasted so good but was sooo sweet. She made these fantastic squares that are like my grandma's peanut butter balls, but with a chocolate coating on top. They are so good, but they make me so sick because I eat too many. I hate getting older. The baking does make our flat smell fantastic though!!

Now on to the most important aspect of my life. Trains. I'm really starting to love trains. By the time I'm ready to leave I'm going to be a trainspotter. Oh yeah we have them. Allegedly some of the staff throw stuff at them as they sit on the platform recording times and other details about the trains. I could never figure out who these people were. They sit in the train station and don't blend in well with others because of their bright orange vests (by bright orange I mean like a safety vest so there really is no missing them). At first I thought they worked there, but couldn't figure out what they did so I asked someone. I cannot repeat the response. They are hated by train staff. Or maybe they are just misunderstood. Ha ha.

I do love the trains though, more for the people though than the trains themselves. The trains make me spill coffee and lurch around the aisle like I've had to much to drink. I'm starting to think there is a hidden camera so that every time a customer asks for a "spot" of milk, the driver lurches forward so that a spot becomes half the cup. I've learned to give out such a warning to these 'spotters'. My favourite is when the sliding doors either open only partially or only half way and as you are pulling your trolley fulling expecting them to open, you smack right into them. I have bruises everywhere. Oh and don't forget the trolleys. Yesterday I had the trolley from hell. The back wheel was broken and I wasn't willing to unlock the break on it to make it roll better because, well lawsuits and all you know how it goes... In any case I had to drag the trolley through 1st class all day long. Combine this with the fact that my book on time yesterday was 5:30 AM, it was a great day. I was unsure of the buses because at that time in the morning they are still night buses and the ones nearest to my flat don't run. So I was out of the house by 4:30, luckily I had a really nice bus driver who, although his route did not require him to go to St. Andrew Sq. he did just to drop me and another couple off. Due to this though I was into work at 4:55am. When I got home at 6pm I somehow managed to eat something and then suddenly the tiredness finally hit my and I went to bed at 7:30. I left everything out everywhere. I woke up this morning, went around the flat and was a little disgusted with the mess I had left. Hopefully that is the last early morning shift I have. Not to mention on a SATURDAY.

My one pet peeve about the job is the difficultly that people have in deciding whether they want coffee or tea. It is not a life or death decision, and I am certainly not quiet in coming so you have time to decide. At the moment my way to deal with a "Yes" response to the question of "Coffee or Tea", is to stand there holding their cup looking at it, and then back at them with a questioning look on my face. If they don't get it right away I say "You want both?" very innocently. I do the same with milk, but say nothing and just hold the milk over the hot drink looking at them and not pouring. Sometimes if they are one their phone I pour in milk and quickly move on.

So funny story. But graphic, involves the loo, viewer discretion is advised. I just took a 'potty break'. (I know I know, you really didn't need to know that, but it's worth that tiny bit of horrifying knowledge). I went to use the toilet in the cafe. A key is required to open the door. If someone leaves the door open you can go in but there may be consequences. And unfortunately for the poor woman who clearly cannot read that well, there were consequences. For both of us. I had the misfortune of opening the door on this woman doing...pardon my language but I cannot think of any other way to put this...the crap of her life!!! Her face was red and she was really working for it. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't notice the door was opening until we were staring at each other. Awkward. I quickly closed the door and took a seat facing away from the door so that I didn't have to make eye contact with her as she came out of the door. Unfortunately she thought it was better to face the problem head on and came out and said to me "It says that when the door closes it's locked", to which I replied "And under that it says to make sure you have the key or people can just walk in". *Shudder* I should seek some kind of compensation for that. I'll have nightmares for weeks.

To Aberdeen and back....

So the last weekend Cheryl and I had a three day weekend so we decided to make the most of it instead of taking overtime for once. We decided to go to Aberdeen because it looks so pretty from the train. Turns out it just looks pretty from the train. Cheryl called it Edinburgh's poor cousin. It was nice mind you, but unfortunately I am worried that nothing is going to compare to Edinburgh. Edinburgh has ruined everything else for me because if it's beauty. Not to mention that most of the castles around Aberdeen are closed for the season. Fortunately though one was still opened. I'm really bad with names and I can't remember which one it was, but it was only about a 45 minute bus ride out of the city. This may seem like a lot but the grounds are amazing and it was worth it. It just so happened that on the day that we came they were having a 1880 Christmas party so everyone there was dressed up, and the house was all decorated for Christmas. The weather was quite mild too so we were able to walk around the grounds and not freeze to death. We got some amazing pictures...before you ask I'm still working on getting them online. I tried willing it but unfortunately it takes a little more fiddling than that.

Since there wasn't much to see or do in Aberdeen we did what humans do best...went shopping. Oh and did I shop! I got the most amazing pair of boots that I have ever even dreamed of having!! They have suede AND fur. They are fabulous! Don't ask how much I paid. To even it out though I bought an amazing sweater for £6.99!! I may wear it for our big Christmas dinner at the castle, but I'm looking for something a little nicer for that. (dare I say...a skirt?...ooo maybe a dress...haha don't get your hopes up. I already have a nice pair of pants to wear and I'm cheap).

As for the hostel we stayed in...we had the craziest roommate. She would come in at 3am turn on the light and go through all of her belongings. Now here comes the strange part...she would then remove tape from around her stomach and reapply some more. She wasn't quiet about it either. She did this both nights we were there. So we made sure to make as much noise as possible, and finally on the second day I jumped out of bed and stormed out of the room. Don't ask me where I was going, I didn't even take my glasses. Oh and she cooked her dinner in the room and it smelt sooo bad. I still cannot believe how inconsiderate she was. It was shocking. Other than that the hostel was pretty anti-social and disappointing. Made me appreciate my bed all the more.

On the day we were leaving they had a tree lighting ceremony and we decided to get in the festive season we would go. It was *cough* nice. Tree was a little bigger than the one my parents will be getting, and they couldn't even be bothered to different coloured lights for it. The choir was from Norway (funnily enough we met them the day before at the castle), and because of sound problems they were less than fantastic.

Despite the sad tree lighting, it got us in the festive spirit so when we got home, we began to work on our decorations. First to go up was our Festivus pole. we made it out of toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls. We then used aluminum foil to make it more festivus poleish. It is very shiny and pretty. I hope in the years to come I will be able to have a real pole for festivus, but this will do for now. We put it in our 'shrine' area. We couldn't agree on a festivus sign so we are both making our own interpretations of what it should look like. Can you tell we have a lot of time on our hands. We only got a Christmas tree out of boredom, and we are hoping that the lights coming off of it will make the Festivus pole look even prettier. We hand made all of the decorations for the tree, we haven't had the official lighting yet, as we are still making some ornaments for it. Cheryl has all the Scots convinced that we don't celebrate Christmas in Canada, but instead we all celebrate Festivus. We are planning on having a Festivus celebration with some of our friends...even those who sadly have never heard of Seinfeld. (For them we feel much pity and obligation to invite them in order to enlighten them). The only reason we are celebrating Christmas at all is because we are going to be in a castle(!!!) Otherwise I would have worked (you get awesome overtime if you work catered parties on Christmas). My sister sent me a great shirt for the season though! It says Holiday cheers. I've already worn it too much!!

I do admit though, Cheryl is a little more committed to it than I am...I sent out Christmas cards. (But I booked it off from work, hehe).

Yesterday was 2 months...

So yesterday was the 2 month anniversary of me landing in the UK. On one hand it feels as if we have been here for so much longer, on the other it feels like it's going by so fast.

So a few things have happened to me since I last wrote. The first was that it came to my attention that I had been unlawfully using a certain name in my blog that is not permitted under certain terms and conditions. And to the man in the little room reading this, sorry for any inconvience, I am sincerely apologetic, and slightly embarrassed that you had to read my blog, but I do hope that you enjoyed it. In the future I will be much much more careful, because although I didn't die of embarrassment this time, I know I will next time.

To everyone else, few of you know what I am talking about, so I'm eager to hear the rumours that will be spread!! Ha, just kidding, I know that Dececchi's will already be more informed than I am before they even read this. (Haha just kidding).

Back to my life thus far...

We finally have heat!!! It was getting pretty cold at night and for a little while it looked as though we may never be warm again. But alas when we thought that we could no longer stand it, we got heat. Now we just have to figure out how to use it. I thought I had it figured, but it ended up staying on all night long and I was sweating so bad that I had gone down two sizes over night. (Don't worry I ate a couple deep fried mars bars to get back up there).

As for my social life. I was supposed to have some riveting material but I ended up getting suckered into working instead of meeting up for a rugby game with a bunch of our friends from the hostel. Workaholic as I am I ended up working til 12:50am and then I had to be back at work at 8am the next morning. Don't ask me how I did it. I worked alot these last couple of weeks, which means my pays have been great!! Cheryl and I both have a 3 day weekend this week so we are taking all our hard earned money and going to aberdeen this weekend. By train, nonetheless. I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you who with but it's this fantastic train company!!! No free tickets unfortunately.

So I don't know if I mentioned this before, but it is well worth repeating. My favourite part of the job has got to be 'The running of the bulls'. I worked on Saturday and it was the finest example of it I have ever seen. Humanity at it's best!!! This story is best told in person but since I'm not with you now you have to do your best to imagine the scene on your own without my re-enactment (which I have done many times already this week)..
Setting the scene...
My friend and I are sitting in the restaurant car eating our lunch. Outside on the platform there are some 500 people standing at the gate waiting to board our train. Every seat has been booked on the train, and they always sell more tickets than are reserved.

Suddenly they open the gate. As we watch both in horror and slight amusement, our hopes for mankind fade into the darkness. If you have seen the movie Lion King, just think of the scene where the papa lion is killed. Don't laugh I could see it happening!!
When those gates open it is every man, woman and child for themselves. Everyone is literally running to get a seat. Mothers pulling their children along, screaming at them to run faster while the husbands use their elbows to know the little old ladies out of the way. Backpackers use the backpack to their advantage to knock to people out of the way, or stun them for a moment so they pause to see what hit them and then the backpacker can scurry ahead of them. Little old couples shuffle along with the husband dragging the woman behind shouting at her to hurry up because god forbid they don't get a seat together. Don't even think about using your cane if you have one, unless it is to trip the younger people up. The madness of it is insane, especially because they have 30 minutes until the train leaves!!!! Occassionally one will turn and look our way, and for a brief moment before they fly by you see their face suddenly change as they realize that yes, there are people watching them. We try to sit calmly, but I cannot help but sit and gawk in amazement everytime. I especially enjoy catching that moment of shame in their eyes as they see me watching them. It really is priceless.

I know that I cannot top that but I must soldier on...

After overcoming my loss of faith in the human race, and the feeling that I was working my life away for these people, I had a need to revert back to my tourist skin. So on Monday I dressed up in all of my Canadian gear and hit the streets. There is a German Market in the gardens, as well as a carnival. It is really pretty there and we spent the entire day there. We walked through the market, had some warm German wine that I'm not going to try and pronounce, it was very tasty though. They had some neat stuff there, but I had my money earmarked for another purpose...the Ferris Wheel!! My only regret was that they did not have any Christmas music playing, other than that it was quite enjoyable. We later went ice skating in the gardens on what had to be the best and the worst ice rink I have ever been too. The best because it's in the middle of the Princes Gardens in Edinburgh and very atmosphere, and the worst because there were puddles, it was all slushly and not at all the smooth ice I'm used to. Needless to say I didn't fall once...instead I did a graceful dive across the ice head first through one of the puddles. Oh but it was fabulous!! Later we all went out to eat a a Spanish restaurant, where our server couldn't speak English. That was an interesting meal. I'm not sure what I ate exactly, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Last thing before I leave...what is so hard about the question, "Coffee or tea?" Do people think they will die if they choose the wrong one? One of the managers, who on the outside appears to be a very proper gentleman, does the funniest bit. He walks about the train car at the end of the night going, (**Warning the next part contains off colour language that is extremely offensive**), "Coffee or Tea, Motherfuckers!!????" Sometimes he bends a spoon and puts it over his eye so he looks like the terminator, the best is when Cheryl comes out of the kitchen in our flat and does it. This man also does the best impression of Americans and sometimes talks to them with an American accent, it's almost impossible not to burst out laughing when your standing beside him. You have to keep a straight face though, I usually run to the kitchen. I love the Scottish sense of humour, and either they have it or they don't. Thankfully most of them do. It really makes the job worth it, I've never laughed as hard as I have this past month at work. It really gets interesting when we all go out for drinks!!


(How many words is that? I lost count)

So many things...

Where to start, it's been so long. Well the reason that I haven't written in a while is because we've moved into our flat and it's been busy getting it ready and liveable (although we still have no heat so Cheryl would argue that it isn't quite liveable yet). It's so nice having my own room but on the other hand it's weird not having people around all the time. Now we really do have to go out a lot more. To cope with it I have just picked up some extra shifts at work. To pass the time we are thinking of getting a dart board and putting a picture of the woman in uniform on it to keep us entertained.

The weather actually hasn't been that bad considering the weather I keep hearing about at home. It's so funny when people here complain about how cold it is because I laugh and say 'Ha this is spring weather in Canada'. I've only had to pull out the hat, and mittens twice and one of the times was because of rain not cold. The other was when we went up to Loch Ness last weekend. That was cold, but it was made up by the fact that there was snow on the tops of the enormous mountains and it made it that much prettier. Loch Ness is something that you have to do because, well it's Loch Ness, but I was in it more for the drive up there. It was absolutely fantastic. The most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, certainly the best I have seen in Scotland thus far. Loch Ness itself I have to say isn't all that breathtaking. I thouhgt Loch Lommond was prettier. In Loch Ness we took a little boat cruise where they had all this sonar equipment which was pretty cool, and you kind of get sucked into the possibility that there really is something out there.
The only problem besides the weather about going out there at this time of year is that it gets dark sooo quickly this time of year. It's 3:45pm right now and it is almost dark outside. I was talking to a girl at work and she said that in December it will be dark by 1pm. And it isn't as if the sun comes out any earlier either. The funniest thing is that people always comment that they don't drink until it gets dark outside, as if that means anything at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. And they really do start drinking when it gets dark, but most places here close by 11pm unless they have a special license. I'm starting to get used to it though (starting to drink earlier that is).

My Aunt Bernie isn't going to like this next part so if she is reading this stop!!!
We went to Glasgow for our medicals a few weeks ago... I hated it there. In my opinion it isn't very nice, not after Edinburgh that is. It seems very industrial and unless you want to shop there doesn't seem to be much to do. Now as I say this I do realize I probably didn't give it due time, and I have been told by the Glasgow crew that I've worked with a few times, that I need to give it a second chance.

Speaking of work... it is going well. I've started taking overtime shifts because it's something to do instead of spending money (although we usually go out for drinks afterwards and in doing so spend money). It seems as though I'm working with a different crew everytime and it is beginning to get a little frustrating. It seems as though everytime I work I have to reintroduce myself and justify why I am here. It's getting a little tiresome. (I'm yawning thinking about it). The best shift I had Cheryl and I worked together with a fellow trainee who we occassionally go out with outside of work. I loved it!!! We weren't the outsiders!!! HAHA. The little group that we trained with is starting to form our own little group and if we can ever get organized I think we might have our own 'agency' staff christmas party. All the non-agency people keep going on about theirs, making us feel nice and excluded. I may finally have a crew though, as a few people have apparently been requesting me for their trains. It's a nice little ego boost I must say.

Oh, one of the agency staff I trained with is indeed the funniest man I have ever met. I must admit at first he was a little much but once you get over his over the top gayness you really can't help but love him. We worked together the other day and had the times of our lives. We did door service together (this is where we stand at the doors and thank the customers getting off and welcome the ones getting on). We kept taking turns saying 'goodbye' and 'thank you'. We even did a few in perfect unison. People loved us!
The best part of the ride though was when we were standing in the corner gossiping with eachother and when a train guard walked past we jumped and scurried off. The funny part was the look that he gave us. It was that 'what were you two doing in the corner look' combined with the 'he's clearly gay so really WHAT were you two doing in the corner' We couldn't stop laugh everytime he passed us that night, which made it worse for the poor guy.

Another favourite pastime at work is the people watching. Oh it's even better than at home here because I can be standing over people pouring them coffee and they talk as if I'm not there. Last night I stood and listened to a young woman propositioning her manager. The best though is when people are running, literally RUNNING for your train and when they get to the door huffing and puffing you smile at them and say 'Oh don't rush we still have another 10 minutes before we leave'. Sometimes I like to step back on the train so that they think that the doors are going to close. Last night people we're pushing eachother to get on the train like the doors were going to suddenly close on them...these being doors that swing out and need to be manually closed by the attendant standing OUTSIDE THE TRAIN BEHIND YOU. Oh it's the best. I've seen people fall off the train right onto there faces in their rush to get off. I saw one woman running for her train, loose a shoe and then fall down the stairs. Ouch. Don't worry her shoe was fine.
I don't know what these old ladies are thinking though when they pack up their kitchen sink and then try and cart it across Scotland by themselves. Sometimes they take the kettle and toaster with them too and have to struggle akwardly with all three. Oh good times.

My uniform doesn't always help me to stay invisible. Sometimes when we are standing in a group on the platform and I see someone approaching us with that questioning look on their face I go into a sudden coughing fit so that someone else can deal with it. I do love the ones who still ask me despite the red faced fit. That's when the Canadian accent comes in handy though, no matter what the question they all seem satisfied that I am not able to sufficiently answer them because I am not from here. 'Where's the toliet?', 'Just over there beside the...', 'Oh thank you dear, I'll ask that man over there...' But then he starts speaking Polish to them, but that's another story...
The best uniform story was when I was standing outside the station talking on my mobile when a woman ran up to me said "muhba haba dumba" and pointed, when I said pardon, she continued pointing wildly and saying " mahwba hawbaw dahba..." Doesn't help that I was half listening and half talking on my mobile. By the time I had my mobile away from my ear she was halfway down the walk going into the station. I looked around puzzled. I think that she was telling me about a group of men fighting, because clearly I was the one to go over and break it up, being about 2 inches taller than her, clearly not from around here, and no tazzer to jab them with. Maybe she thought #1 that because I had a uniform on I would care, and #2 my uniform gave me special superpowers to calm drunken homeless men. (Or she just thought I had some soap). All I did do though, was, in my infinite wisdom, scurry by them as quickly and quietly as I could. (Up up and away....)

OOhhhh, I almost forgot to tell my most tragic tale of the trip thus far...
After about 3 or 4 days in the flat I almost burnt it down!!! I know you are wondering how such an intelligent girl as myself could do such a thing. I'll let you ponder for a minute how I could be so stupid and careless...but before you judge me to harshly it was indeed the day from hell for me and I should have just stayed in bed.

So as soon as my alarm went off at 6am I knew that I shouldn't have taken an extra shift. They asked for someone to work it and when no one else offered I of course (being the kind hearted person I am) stepped up to take one for the team. Now the first real hint that it just wasn't going to be my day was when I was getting ready for my shower. I put my towel over the shower curtain rod and began to 'prepare' for my shower. Next thing I know the whole thing comes crashing down and my head. Fantastic. At the end of the day, when I looked back on the day I realize that it was at this exact moment that I should have said 'screw it' and gone back to bed. But I'm not a quitter.
The fire...
I push down my toast and head to my room to put my hair up. I've done this everyday for the few days we've been in the flat, coming back to add peanut butter as soon as I have that Lilith Krammer look. I hear a pop from my room, assume that it is my toast and step out of my room into the hallway which is filled with smoke (oh shit). I run into the kitchen where the toaster isn't just smoking, there is a flame starting to form from the top corner of it. Fantastic. (Stupidly) I blow out the inital flame, then unplug the toaster and turn off the outlet. I'm not that stupid and I don't blow on the fire anymore but I do look around the room and wonder what in the hell I'm going to use to quelch the rest of the flames. In all my wisdom I ran into Cheryl's room and shouted "The toasters on fire and I don't know what to put it out with" and then ran back into the kitchen. She comes strolling in, looks at the toaster, turns opens the cupboard, says "salt", then pours it all over the toaster, counter and floor. While she's doing this I realize how much smoke there is and I go around opening all of the windows, I'm still surprised that no one called the fire department. (although I doubt if anyone cared). With the toast inside still glowing red I took the oven mits and turned the toaster upside down over the sink dumped out my breakfast (yum) and ran cold water over it. The end result was that the toaster was, well toast, the counter was fine, and our flat still has the lingering smell of burnt toast. To top it off, that pop that I heard, that was the circuit going, which I didn't realize until Cheryl texted me that the fridge and freezer (which were just stocked the day before with our week of groceries) weren't working. Now my knowledge of breakers isn't very helpful when I'm at work for 12 hours so very embarrassingly to me she had to call our landlord and tell him what happened so that he could come down and fix it. Everyone I told though agrees (except Cheryl, but rightly so), that it was a faulty toaster and not me at fault. Had it not been me who did it I would point out the big sticker on our new toaster that clearly says "Not to be left unattended", but since it was me I won't bring that up.
I think my favourite part was that because of the stressful morning I ended up having a 'rough day at the office', and then when I finally got home I sat down on my bed and it broke. (but wait...) When I pulled my matress and sheets off to fix it I tripped on them and head butted the wall (don't worry the wall is fine). I ended up sitting in my bed that night eating my melted ice cream with a giant spoon.

**FYI I think I fixed the comments part so that you do not need a sign in name to post a comment, but with that being said, I'm having trouble opening the comments section***

*Some parts of this blog have been altered for the safety of others (wink wink nudge nudge)*

We got a flat!!

So the job has been going good. There's some nice down time each shift, although it can get very busy. Everyone is really nice, funny too. I love the Scottish sense of humour, although sometimes they can make even me blush!! I've started pushing the trolleys by myself and I'm getting lots of hours which is good because we finally found a flat!!!

From the outside, I will admit that this place looks like the ghetto or something and we were tempting to turn around and run. Once we got inside though the difference was amazing. Here's why: It used to be government housing but now the government is selling the flats individually so really no one owns the building, which is why it doesn't look very nice from the outside. And because the flats are owned and most aren't rented out but families live there, they take good care of them. It's quite a site. Cold gray cement walls with a white door, recently painted with matching brass numbers and knocker. They are still doing work on the flat, painting, carpeting and such but we are hoping to move in by this weekend. The landlord is really nice, and after I explained that I was still paying off my student loan he took £50 off of the rent (nice!!). It's actually going to be less than what we had planned on spending so it works out nicely, and it is only 15 minute bus ride into the city centre and while one stop is right off of our street, there are a bunch more 10 minutes away at the shopping centre. My only hope is that the walls aren't so thin that I can hear Cheryl's snoring through 2 walls and the bathroom. (I'm not holding my breath though). haha.

Oh what a night!!

So the other day a few guys and I went out for a drink after a wasted day of train evacuation training. When the conversation got to the fact that I hadn't had a proper night on the town the guys offered to take me around town. One of the guys kept insisiting on a club called Ego, telling us how fantastic it was. After hopping around a few more pubs in Old Town, I went home to change, picked up a few straglers and met up with him. After we went to a few duds (because he forgot his ID and we couldn't get in anywhere), we headed for Ego. When we got in it seemed normal enough, being halloween weekend it seemed normal enough with people all dressed up in weird costumes. Pretty quickly though, the 2 other girls I dragged along and I realized that something just wasn't right about this club. Finally the coffin was sealed when one of our other co-workers showed up, a very nice man who happens to be gay. This guy had taken us out to a gay bar!!! We stayed for a polite amount of time and then when he went to the bathroom we hurried out the door. Now it wasn't an entirely gay bar, but the only guys there who weren't were there with girlfriends. Not that there is anything wrong with a gay bar, it's just not what I'm looking for in a bar.

This isn't where the story ends.
As we were heading home on the bus later that evening, guess who gets on the bus??? Our supposed night club tour guide who took us to a gay bar. Luckily he wasn't mad that we left (we do have to work with him and all) I made up some lame excuse for us leaving, and then he told us that it was good we did because the club caught fire and it had to be evacuated. Good times.
Story still isn't over.
So a few days later at work I was talking to one of the other guys who had come to the pub with us and he told me that my gay club tour guide has a big crush on me!!! (At this point I was shocked as I was positive he was gay himself) I guess that kinda in some weird way explains why he would take us to a gay bar...no competition. Hahaha.
Needless to say, I think I'm staying away from anymore after hours socializing with co-workers.

For now at least.

WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE

Actually, just me...on a train. Or so our training videos have taught me.

So this week we began our training for Customer Service Attendants. I got my snazy (is there one or two z's in snazy?) uniform. It looks great. The first day I got it I put it on and modeled it for everyone in the hostel. It's really brought us all closer together. Oh what laughter (and by that I mean everyone laughing at me), can do. Maybe when I can finally post a picture of me in it on the internet people around the world will laugh so hard that world peace will be achieved.
...Yes it's THAT funny. What's funnier is that Cheryl hasn't gotten her's yet and she's had to hand wash her pants because she has to dress 'smart' everyday. (Not funny ha ha, but funny, haaa).

Back to the training videos. So in the first hour and a half of training we learned all of the ways that we can die, AND THEN how to watch out for terrorists. When they turned back on the lights everyone's faces we white and a few people ran for the door. (FYI terrorist are male, scraggly looking, young, darker hair...or bald!! Be on the lookout).

We went on a train to Barracks, which is the border city from England to Scotland. The train station was pretty, but that's all we saw of it. It's pretty hard to walk on the train, but Paul, who's training us said that it's best to walk with our legs spread out, which looks funny but makes it easier, especially in the heals we have to wear.

If you want to see what I have to wear, by the way, my friend just sent me a link to an employees blog, with pictures too. It's kinda funny...

**Due to official regulations the link to a picture of my uniform had to be removed, sorry for an incovience** (seriously!!!)

Well that's about all I have to say about that for now, we went flat hunting today but it's turning out to be harder than we thought.

Oh and back to my opening line...seems as though you're all going to die in NA because North Korea is going to Nuke the states. Glad I'm over here.

It's been a while...

So this has been a crazy last week. It started off that I was really busy and ended up with what I like to call the Plaguette. I'll try to remember everything but I have my doubts as I still have some of the plaguette in me.

So last Wednesday was my day of discovery, I tried some new things including Haggis, which by the way is amazing, then some Scottish beer. In the morning before the beer and haggis, we saw some girls wander down a path and decided to go up it to see what was there. This is Calton Hill for anyone who knows the area. At the top of the hill is a pillar structure that was started as a copy of the ones in Athens but never got finished. There is also a big tower which may be called the Russel Tower but don't quote me on it. The scenery from the hill is great. That's one of the great things about Edinburgh, if your willing to take the time, you can have a free and quite magnificent view of the city.
For dinner we went to Deacon Brodies Tavern, which is named after the man who allegedly is the inspiration for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. That's quite an interesting story. But one to save for another day. We also went on a ghost tour down into the dark depths of the vaults in the heart of Edinburgh. My little sister would have loved it, unfortunately for the group of us who went we thought it was more funny and entertaining then scary. Oh well I like hearing all the stories, and seeing all the parts of Edinburgh.

Thursday was recovery day from all the Scottish beer we drank. We even tried Cider, which I recommend to no one. EWWWWWW.

Friday we went on a Haggis tour, it was a one day tour into the Highlands. We saw 2 lochs (and learned how to pronounce the work loch), one of the lochs was Loch Tay, and I can't remember the other. We saw some awesome scenery as we got into the highlands. There is actually a bumpy part of road that you go over as you cross from the lowlands to the highlands. Our tour guide Ewan was awesome and almost talked the entire time. Despite the fact that we keep going on tours that may tell the same story, we always get different variations which adds to the mystery. I got some really amazing pictures in the highlands and we saw some great sites, I can't wait to get further up to see Loch Ness and the Island of Skye.

On Saturday we got the ultimate view of the city. It took some climbing but it was well worth it. Our goal was to climb up to Arthur's seat, this is a volcano that is over 1000 feet high. Things started off alright until we realized that we'd climbed the wrong mountain. Nonetheless it was quite a view. So down we went and up the other, from far away it looks as though they are connected but they are not. Now from the way that we went, which because we went from the way of the other mountain was not the proper way, was a bit difficult. Getting to the very top is a bit of a thrill, as it is pretty steep, and the path is not all that proper. But worth it all the same.
We were surprised how busy it was and how many kids we running, yes running, around up there. While we were worried about falling over the edge people were practically having picnics up there. Dogs were dashing all over, one man was even carrying a newborn. It was great.
On the way down we passed the ruins of an old church. Being so high up, going to church really was a hassle, no wonder attendance was low. From there we went to the bottom and took a nice walk around the pond, where there were ducks and swans. It was all very pretty.

Sunday is when the plaguette hit, I could feel it coming on but I tried to deny it. Sunday, and Monday especially, there was no denying it. Monday was the worst of it, I woke up and I could barely breathe, I spent the night trying to find a position that would not make me start having a coughing fit. Needless to say I spent most of the night having a coughing fit. I took a dead day Monday, and unlike Cheryl who has had the plaguette going on 2 weeks now, I seem to be getting over it.

Today, Tuesday, we went on a free walking tour with Haggis. We just went around the city, hearing more stories about the history, and extended versions of ones we'd already heard. A book I'm really interested in getting now is on the stone of destiny, and all the myths behind it. It is quite an interesting stone!! Well not the one on display at least, but the real one. That's a story for another day though isn't it.

We finally start work tomorrow. We'll be getting our uniforms. That's still about all we know. Hopefully we'll know more after tomorrow. Hopefully.

Stupid Me

Ok so I'm going to continue the story that I couldn't before. The problem is this time I have a few pints in me. Note this isn't for the squeamish.


So last night our roommate comes in around 3:00 in the morning, no problem there, but then not an hour later she starts to make this funny noise, sort of like hacking. And then suddenly I hear the sound of her puking. Great, just great. Luckily her bunk is across the room, I ask if she is alright after 5 minutes of this and offer her some water, she says she is fine, starts apologizing so I go back to sleep, trying not to think about the puke either on the floor or in the trash can...hoping desperately for the later.

Morning comes and as I get out of bed I peek around the corner of my bed to where her bunk is. Oh and what do I see to my surprise, something wet on the floor. Before I care to investigate further I get out of there and tell Cheryl about all that she slept through. On my way to breakfast, which I no longer felt like, I told the front desk about the situation so they could clean it up.

Breakfast came and went, and alas it was time to return to the room. This time I ventured another look. When I did I was embarrassed to note that she had simply spilt some water. She was awake and explain (and apologized again) that she had had a coughing fit. Oops my mistake.

Today we went to the Dynamic Earth exhibit which is something that is more suitable for kids. Then we walked around and decided to go and see a movie. Children of Men. It was good, if you forget about the half hour of commercials and previews before it. I enjoyed it. We may have done something else but it's Thanksgiving and my first attempt to have Haggis has failed so I'm going to bed.

What I forgot to talk about yesterday...

So in all the excitement of getting a job and finally being able to upload some of my pictures, I forgot to write about what I did yesterday.

To start off the day Cheryl and I went to see the Edinburgh castle, something it can be argued we should have done when we first got here. The best part about our tour of the castle was that it turned out to be free and we didn't have to wait in the huge line up to get tickets. How did we do that you ask? Well it just so happened that a man had brought a tour group of execs or something and not all of them had come so they had spare tickets which he then gave to us. So along we went free tickets in hand bypassing all of the people standing in the cold waiting to pay money. Oh and was it cold, I wore my toque all day. I felt very Canadian.

The castle was lovely, we took a guided tour around from a man with pink eye and veins popping out all over his face, charming really. He was funny and despite the cold we had a good time. How could we not, we could see all of Edinburgh from there.

After we had some lunch we then went to Mary King's Close. By far this is the best tour I've been on since our stay. We got to go under the city to see the way people lived before. It was dark, smelly and creepy as hell. I loved it!! Our tour guide was funny too which made it better. He kept scaring the crap out of us too by stomping on the floor.

Well I have more to tell but I've run out of time to tell it so I guess you will have to wait.

Pictures And A Job!!

So I got the job that I applied for yesterday!!! I'm now going to be working for BLEEP, serving food on the trains. I get my uniform on Monday. OOO I'm excited.

I'm finally somewhere I can upload some pictures, so here goes...

These first three pics are from London, while standing on the upper part of the tower bridge. I tried to do a panoramic kind of thing.

The next photos are from our climb up the Monument. 311 steps, very very little steps that sprial and are very steep. That was fun!! We got a certificate at the end!!!

View from the very windy top...

The last picture that I have time to post is from the hike I took. I found this structure in the middle of a forest. It was really cool, very storybook like with ivy growing on the walls.

Alright hopefully I'll have time to post more later. Cheers!!!

Job Interview Today!!!

So today I had a job interview. Yesterday I applied, and today I got a call for the interview. The interview went really well. The job is for onboard staff for BLEEP trains. This means I get to travel across Scotland for free. Ooo don't forget the uniform, one of the men in the interview comment on how smart they were. Um huh, well at least it means I won't have to buy more clothes for work. I do believe that I will have to wear a skirt though. Uh oh that could be trouble. And they have a hat too, a very interesting looking hat. Oh well it sounds like lots of fun.

Yesterday was an interesting day. It was laundry day and I of course am a complete moron and what should have taken me an hour at most to do took me up to 2 hours. So what did I do to take so long your wondering??? I forgot to push the button when I closed the dryer so I ended up sitting there while my clothes were not drying. Best part about it was by the time I figured it out my time had almost run out and I had to go and buy another token. Fantastic. On the plus side I got a lot of my book finished!!! It's a really good book too. I haven't been able to get into reading because of all the excitement but this allowed me some Sarah time.

Another feature of the hostel that I really like, besides the dryers (yeah right), and the amazingly creamy Scottish beer, is the movie room. This room has the most amazing hammock like seats. They are so comfy everyone just sits in there despite the crappy movie playing, just so that they can relax. There is a downside to this movie room though, as Cheryl and I have discovered. While Cheryl went to see what movie was coming on next I went into the room to have a seat. Problem being, because there was no movie it was very dark in there. After a good look around the room I chose to sit in the back and went to the 2nd seat in put my stuff down and turn to sit. Now for some reason the man sitting in the chair said nothing until after I had sat on him. Now I don't know if he was sleeping or if he didn't see me, all I know is that I did not see him at all, until he opened his mouth to smile at me though. Feeling terribly embarrassed I sat in the seat beside him to try and make it like my butt just went a little too far, but it was too funny to contain so I went outside to find Cheryl and tell her.

After we had a good laugh, we both went in, her leading the way. Now when I saw her going towards that back row I thought of saying something but I wanted to see if it had just been me or if this guy really was invisible. I went and sat in the next row, and Cheryl went on to sit on the invisible man. Now for those of you who may be doubting that this truly was the invisible man, let me tell you...Half way through the movie a girl came in and sat on him again. In any case, the guy wasn't complaining.

Things are looking up

So yesterday I had a me day and it was amazing. I walked around the new hostel, which upon re-evaluating, we have decided is really very nice. The only problem with it is that it is out of the way but there is a shuttle available. So back to my walk. It was a five hour affair and I went far. I started off walking along the water, and then on the first leg of the walk I ventured into a forest and found some ruins. Upon further investigation I discovered a church that was built ontop of a Roman fort, so my only guess is that the two may be connected. The ruins that I found in the forest were pretty old and had trees all over the inside. The next part of my walk took me through a suburban area of Edinburgh but eventually lead me to a trail called the Almond River Trail which took me along a very pretty trail along a creek where I saw pheasants running around and ducks swimming in the water. It was very quite and peaceful there. I stopped along the way at a little cafe and had some pea soup. I was the only customer and a guy about my age was the only member of staff. We had a nice chat while I ate my soup and I think I'm going to go back there for some homemade ice cream, (and on the chance that he'll be there again!!!). Along the way back I stopped along the water by my hostel and got my feet wet. It was great!! I couldn't think of anything else I would have rather been doing on a Tuesday afternoon. Today was back to reality though, I hit the pavement looking for a job. I have no idea where I want to work so I intend on applying everywhere, seeing what I like and working where I want. When people ask me what I want to do I say that I want to work with people. That narrows it down a little, eh?

I don't know what I like better about this trip, the things I am seeing or the people I am meeting. Although it seems as though everyone is either from Canada or Australia. I really like it here and so far it's so pretty I could see myself living here forever.

I left my brain behind...

Ok so today we moved to a new hostel. Had it not been for our previous living conditions I may have first noticed the beauty of the location, but considering the stressful day I have had it was lost on me. The first thing we see when we walk into the room, which we had high hopes for, was another tiny room with too many bunk beds shoved into it AND other girls clothes literally ALL OVER THE ROOM. After the day we've had the rage inside me is great. I really was looking forward to a room with more privacy and more room, as was advertised. I have to admit though looking outside the rage does subside. It's really pretty, and on the water. I think that tomorrow I am going to rent a bike and ride around the trails. Looking back on it, it really isn't all that bad, I think that my mood was spoiled when 5 minutes before the van (advertised as a bus) came to pick us up it started to POUR, buckets. On top of that we could barely fit our cases in the van.

I shouldn't complain yesterday was a good day. We slept in (10 o'clock has become really late for us). Then we took a hop on hop off bus tour around Edinburgh to get more oriented with the city, and then we took a look around the National Art Gallery, which was free!!! They were close to closing so we didn't get the full appreciation, and I know we'll be back.

Oh and the best news is that we finally got our cellphones to work so we called home!!!
That's all for now that I can remember.

London at night, Edinburgh by day

So yesterday we was our big day in London. I got up really early after a pretty good sleep (5am). Really I got up because I had to go to the bathroom but we were sharing our room with 4 other people so I didn't know when I would get another chance to use the shower. After breakfast we headed down to Tower Bridge where we took a tour. It turned out to be an amazing day so we were looking forward to a nice walk across the top of it, BUT it turns out, and it makes sense too, that it was all enclosed. Still the scenery was great. London is so beautiful and you can see so much from there. It was actually really interesting too, to learn about the other designs that had been proposed for the bridge.
After that Cheryl and I headed to the London Monument. Oh and when we first got down there we found this cute walk way along the water. It was really pretty and we got some good pictures of the bridge. Sorry, back to the monument...

The Monument is 311 steps up this very tiny tower, which gets smaller as you go up. It was quite the hike but well worth it for the scenery when you get to the top. The worst part of it was the wind. It was sooo windy I felt like I was going to fly off of it. Going back down the stairs wasn't any better.

After we recovered from our climb, we went down to the London Eye to check out the area. We sat for a bit along the river Thames doing what I do best, making fun of the people who were walking by. We saw quite a few interesting characters. We then went on a boat tour of the Thames and met up with a girl and guy doing the same SWAP program that we're doing. From there we went to The Hole In The Wall (literally) and had some beer called London Pride. We all thought it should have instead been called the Shame of London, because it was sooo gross, but it kind of went with the atmosphere of the bar.

Around 8pm we went on the London Eye. All of London was lit up and it was amazing. I can't even describe it, but when I have more time I'll post my pictures.

Early this morning we got on a plane (with slight delays) to Edinburgh. It was a very bumpy ride and Cheryl and I didn't get to sit together. I almost had a seat beside a hot British guy, but being better looking than intelligent, he sat down in the wrong seat.

Edinburgh so far is amazing. After a bit (ha) of stress finding the hostel and then dragging ourselves up a HUGE hill we found our hostel (which we don't recommend to others, it has 8 people a room with no space and one bathroom a floor below us for all the females. Oh and don't forget the 3 showers). Other than that the city is BEAUTIFUL!!! It's amazing here. The landscape from every direction is breathtaking.

Well my time is running out, so I have to go. Hopefully pictures will be coming soon!!
Cheers.

Packed and ready to go...almost

Here's a pic of me all packed up with my suitcase/backpack on my back. If it looks like I'm wincing I am...it's very heavy!!! Then again it's carrying everything I need for the next 2 years of my life.

4 days

I leave for the UK in 4 days. I still have tons of stuff to do and lots of people to say goodbye to. Good thing I can leave the stuff behind and avoid the people until I leave.

So here is the plan so far. Our flight leaves on Wed, Sept. 27th at 10:45pm. My friend Cheryl and I will then be arriving in London sometime in the morning. The plan for Day 1 of our journey is to find the hostel, maybe grab a nap, then explore the city. Because we'll be tired we aren't planning on doing any heavy site seeing. I'm really excited for Day 2. On this day we will hit as much of London that we didn't see the last time we came. This includes a tour of the Tower Bridge, then a hike up The Great Monument, followed by a boat cruise around the Thames River. We will then finish off the night on the London Eye at its best time of day... at night!!

The next day we take a short flight out of London and into Edinburgh...and from there? Who knows, which is all part of the fun!!