Sheep, sheep, sheep!

Halò! (Hello in Scottish Gaelic)

Spring is still in bloom here and getting more beautiful every day. The trees are green and the flowers super colourful!

Christopher and I have been keeping busy. Walking into town most days, stopping in a few antique stores here and there. I think I've found a new hobby-antiquing! Only damper on my antiquing experience is Christopher relentlessness with all his "But you don't need that!" he's rather stubborn.

Christopher keeps busy with useful past times such a memorizing all the countries of the world. Its as if he must do something productive and useful before he gives in to his computer games. He takes books out of the library, learning new drawing techniques and practises every day. His newest foe is hair, when we go to the portrait gallery hes always staring at the hair in paintings being frustrated. He just completed his first full portrait and its amazing.

I keep busy with reading, cooking, cleaning (yes cleaning) and watching various movies. I'm trying to conquer the vegetarian lifestyle. I've come up with some tasty dishes if I do say so myself. There is only one kind of tofu available in the grocery stores here but its been working for us. Every week we get new veggies in our organic basket so every week is a new adventure in the kitchen!

The weather has stayed beautiful, and we're really enjoying our big living room windows, granted we mostly only have a view of other buildings but the sun is stealthy and still manages to sneak through.

The weekend was the most exciting for us. We finally made it to the Highlands!

The couple we work for have a seasonal restaurant up there and to get some work we went up to help them open it. We took a bus at 12:35 on Saturday afternoon.  That morning we headed to the library again because Christopher wanted a book for the weekend. He picked up War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Anyone who knows what this book is understands it is no small undertaking, for those of you who are clueless, it is a book by a Russian author about the famous Napoleon war with Russia... its about 1000 pages in teeny tiny font. It was originally written in Russian so on top of the bible length its a translated version which can be very difficult to understand. Christopher is on a mission! He's already gotten through a huge chunk and I'm excited to hear his review of it. Apparently the author originally wrote Napoleon in a completely different light andcharacter but the publishers wanted him to change it (Christopher researches everything before he chooses anything) . SO after the library we got on the bus to Inverness!

3 1/2 hours driving through the Highlands was everything I thought it would be. Mountains upon mountains.

We arrived in Inverness and due to complications Ann (our boss) couldn't pick us up, so we needed to take a bus to they're town, which is Drumnachit, its pronounced with alot of coughing sounds but the locals just call it "Drum". On the way there I noticed that we were driving along the Loch Ness! I didn't even think about it! The Loch was beautiful and huge. Drum is about 30 mins from Inverness, and when you get there you feel as if you've reached the end of the earth, almost as if you have stepped through time. The bus stops at the post office/grocer/ticket counter. The towns main resource is tourism for the Loch Ness Monster, so there is one major building that is a converted castle which is the "Loch Ness Center", and then the "town" is this little post office, two restaurants and a little ways down a fire station... you are surrounded by mountains, vast huge mountains. We met our new bosses at they're House which is also the police station, turns out that Carl one of our bosses was the policeman before he retired, that's right THE policeman... now the positions been decommissioned and there are no police... After a nice meet and greet with our bosses Carl drove us in his fancy Land Rover to our hostel.. the only hostel is a mile from town and on a street that is almost the only street with a full row of houses, nothing in front, nothing behind, oh except for sheep of course... sheep sheep sheep. The hostel which is called "The Loch Ness Hostel" was in good condition and clean. After we settled in we went on the hunt for food.... we walked out of the hostel, walked down the street, and just kept walking... it was amazing how quiet it was, deafening quiet.We came across houses but everything was silent. 90% of the houses are Bed & Breakfasts, and theres not many, again mountains take up the sky line and everything is so green! The grass is the most vibrant green of any vegetation I've seen. the houses rarely have address numbers, they have names. Like "The rose cottage" there is mostly variations of "cottages" but we couldn't find any actual numbers on these houses. While we were walking Christopher made a sound and when I looked over he said "I saw a ant and realized its been a really long time since I've seen a insect" lol. the roads are mostly dirt roads, the fences are either stone or worn out wood, and on the mountains in the distance you see little white dots sprinkled on the hill side that are sheep, always sheep, you can also see horses sporadically grazing. Christopher and I kept saying how easy it would be to nudge a sheep and watch it roll down the hill... 

The restaurants in Loch Ness are mostly tourist or B&B and meals run about 20pounds which is almost 35$, so we went to the grocer, kinda looks like a Dep, and picked up some sandwiches, pringle chips and a liter of ice cream. We then walked along the main road, into a park and had a picnic on the ground with a view of rolling mountains. This was the first time we've had junk food since we've been here. We ate the entire liter of ice cream in one sitting, and upon realizing we didn't have any spoon in which to eat the ice cream we shared a tiny coffee spoon I had had the foresight to stash in my bag instead of throwing out, so needless to say it took us a while to finish the ice cream, but we did... We spent the evening having drinks with Ann and Carol and then walked back to our hostel late at night. Walking at night there you look on all sides and see only completeblackness... the mountains block any stars or moonlight so there is nothing but blackness.

The next morning we woke to 22 degree C weather and pure sunshine! We didn't have to work until 2 so we walked the mile to Urquhart Castle, which is a ruin now, but still a fascinating sight. The walk was the best park. We walked along the road on a dirt path and was immersed in nature. We had the chance to hear the field after field of sheepbahhing at each other, and I think it must be birthing season because there are tiny little baby lambs in every field, so adorable. Although a consequence of walking next to the sheep fields are that we noticed a couple baby lambs abandoned at the edge of a field that didn't make it, it was surprisingly difficult to see.

When it was time to work, our work consisted of sanding and re-staining chairs that were left out all winter. Christopher and I worked out side int he blaring sun, int he stone courtyard, so of course we both ended up with sunburns. Sunburns in the only place we would never expect to get one... we only worked for a few hours, but we definitely worked. We didn't mind though, we got to sit in the sun, with some cold Iron Brew (which is the Scots own soda, kidna taste like strawberry.. but not really) and work just the two of us. 

On our walk about in Drum we found the only fast food joint, which is a nice little place called "Drum Take-Away". They offer the regular, fish and chips, pizza, kabobs, and of course haggis. No we have not yet tried Haggis yet. We are still working ourselves up to it. we keep hearing it actually quite good, but we are putting off as long as possible. So far we've decided to get really drunk, but not drunk enough that we're going to be sick because that wont help, and THEN maybe.. possible try it. For those of you at home who don't know what haggis is, its is a traditional Scottish food that is chopped up lamb tongue, kidney, heart and liver, stuffed into a sheep intestine.. even writing it makes me gag-blah. Thats a feat for another time... we're not there yet.

When Carol and Ann came while we were finishing up, they gave us a 24 pack of Millar PINT bottles. They were close to expiry date and were cold. So Christopher carried a case of pints on the mile walk to our little Take-Away place (lol) we got an amazing Hawaiian pizza (have to mention this pizza.. it was one of the greatest pizzas I have ever had. Extra cheese huge chucks of pineapple and little pieces of ham nestled perfectly in the abundant cheese and the crust was heavenly soft doughy...) and found a picnic table next to a running stream and a stone bridge, popped a couple beers open (sorry, Lagers) and enjoyed the silence and smell of fresh air. I was nervous about drinking out in the open until Christopher pointed out that theres no one around to really complain and theres no cops for 30 miles! We enjoyed 2 pints and watched the sun set over the mountains. Our work the next day consisted of cleaning out the restaurant. Christopher spent 8 straight hours washing dishes... and all of it in cold water, because the hot water wasn't turned on yet. He didn't move from the sink once. It was a long day of work, but again we didn't mind. I had a nice chat with the refrigerator delivery man who gave me a 20 min lecture on not walking alone at night and all the dodgy areas of Inverness not to go. He was very charming. We want to take a picture with a Highland cow. For anything who doesn't know what that is google it. We were asking around and found out that Scotland has a law called "Right to Roam" which means just that. In Scotland you have the right to walk anywhere you want. Expect for gardens apparently. We can if we want walk onto someone farm and take a picture with a Highland Cow, although we have been severely warned against such a task, apparently highland cows can be temperamental, and have been known on occasion to charge when irritated. I wonder if leaving against one for a pose will be considered irritating...? After our full day of work we picked up another Hawaiian Pizza and rushed to make the next bus out of town so we could catch our bus back to Edinburgh. We actually missed our bus because apparently there isn't really any set bus scheduled, but more of time guidelines. Gotta love small towns. We got a ride to Inverness though, on this car ride we discovered another interesting Scotland law, apparently it is illegal to have sexual intercourse until you are over the age of 16, apparently you can and people have been prosecuted for such acts, I wonder what the sentence is? So you can walk on someones privet property but you cannot engage in sexual activity until your out of highschool, I can't figure out what my opinion on this is yet. 

Finally we made it home by 11pm and were surprisingly happy to be home. Its a little funny, I never thought I would ever want to live in a city. But since living in one, its hard not to get used to the convenience and entertainment of everything. Our grocery store is  half a block away, the major mall 10 min walk, everything is within walking distance. Also, when in the highlands, you feel so much as if you are on another planet that you feel disconnected and secluded from civilization, so much so it can make you just slightly anxious, at least that's how I felt. Its the first time I've been here that I've really missed home. 

Our week after that has been pretty normal. We've taken advantage of the weather and sat in the park for a few hours under the sun. We finally tried a deep fried Mars Bar, which was interesting. We were desperate for milk or anything to cut the richness. Its the only thing I've ever eaten that actually made my teeth hurt. We wanted to try it in ice cream... could be yummy. We're heading into Easter weekend and planning to go out for brunch. We tried finding a Polish restaurant but the only decent one we found closed just last week, so we're thinking of French! I'm hoping for a Julie & Julia experience. I'll let you know.

Christopher and I have challenged ourselves  to use the words "Cheers" and "Quid" at least once every day, so far this is proving a big failure. We feel like frauds when using either one in a real sentence, but it doesn't stop Christopher from saying "Cheers Mate!" with a mocking English accent at every opportunity, which I'm convinced is going to get us thrown out of a pub or something since he insists of saying it so damn loud! 

For now I'll leave you all with a : Cheers! and have it count to fill my quota of the day :)

Cheers!!

P.S. We've maxed our our Imgur account, we'll have to create a new one. It will most likely be: Chrisandelle1 or soemthing of the sort.

Spring in Swing

Happy April!

Christopher and I are getting into the rhythm of Edinburgh life. Sleeping, eating, walking and drinking-repeat.

St-Patrick’s day we went to a bar called Three Sisters. It is a pub/club. It has a huge court yard with two stages and two outside bars. Then inside are a series of stone tunnels with bars lining the walls and little alcoves of seats and tables. Then after the maze of dungeon like tunnels you end up on an open space with a high ceiling, which seemed to be the dance floor. The place was so crowded because of St=Paddy’s though there wasn't so much dancing as there was shuffling. Turns out because Edinburgh is "Festival City" every event is turned into a festival. So St-Patrick’s day is the ending of "The Ireland Festival" lol. We had a great time bumping into random people. We met up with some fun people from Boston so we had a shared sense of missing our home cities for St-Paddy’s, I watched Christopher get his groove on with a pretty girl named Paige :) and when I went to the bar to ask for my standard St-Patrick’s Day drink: Black Velvet, she looked at me like I had three heads and when I told her it was 1/4 cider and 3/4 Guinness she was disgusted... but she made it for me anyhow. All in all it was a fun night.

We heard back from our interview and we got the jobs!! We are really excited about it. We can't wait to start working. We will be working 40 hours in three days every week which counts for long days but lots of time off as well. We're not sure when our start date is exactly but we should hear shortly, the couple we are working for also own a restaurant in Inverness (main city in the highlands) and they will also need people to open it for the season so we're going to go help with that as well. I can't wait to see the highlands. The job is a catering position; we are part of the core staff which means we travel to every event. Almost all the highland games and festivals in Scotland, did I mention I was excited?

Since we've learned we have the jobs we are trying to take advantage of the time we have off in this city.

Last week we climbed the dormant volcano called "Arthurs Seat" This Mountain takes up half the city view and we were always seeing tiny little dots at the top, so figured if it was common for other people to climb then we can do it as well! So we slapped on some work out clothes (or I did anyway) and then we headed to the mall! While I brought over 15 pairs of shoes if you include sandals, Christopher brought 1... That’s right just one pair of shoes, and this one pair of shoes weren't exactly hiking ready. So we went shopping! We found a decent store that had sales on shoes and Christopher didn't really care what he got, so his wise sister chose a pair of white adidas, looked smart, stylish, practical, AND they were only 16pounds.

We couldn't have chosen a better day for the hike. The sun was out and it was warm enough to not need a jacket (but we brought a rain shell anyway because you never know in Scotland) but the wind was nice to cool you down while sweating. We chose the highest peak for our first try and started the climb... well; the view all the way is amazing, it was the perfect day, clear skies, sun- beautiful. It took us about an hour to get to the top and when we did we were nearly blown over by the wind, seriously, we had to crawl around the top because we were slipping. That didn't stop us from reveling in the view from the top though, we stayed up there for over 30 mins, just enjoying it. The climb down was a bit difficult because the volcanic rock at the top is so smooth and slippery you need to hold on to the ground a bit. We stopped on the way down at St Margret’s chapel which is a ruin of a chapel built in 1426. We stopped there shared a Guinness and took pictures. I also made great friends with this beautiful golden lab named Toby. We played fetch and cuddled, this dog was a stallion! His owner thought I was a bit odd I think but I didn't mind.

The next few days we both felt sore but it was worth it. There is a second lower peak we'll do as soon as I can convince Christopher.

Another thing we accomplished was to finally see the Castle. We are now officially Historical Scotland members. Which means that for 12 months we get unlimited free entry into ALL Historical Scotland sites, 50% off all English heritage sites and 20% the shops of all sites. The membership cost 60pounds for the two of us and just one entry into the castle is 14 pounds, so if we go to the castle twice we've made it worth it. Plus we get a magazine :)

The Castle was magnificent. It’s more of fortress really, and when you go in your more in like a fortress village. They have a couple churches, gardens, dog commentary for all the solders dogs... again the view is amazing. We took our time because we can see it as many times as we want, so on our first time we checked out the crown jewels and the stone of destiny! To get to these precious artifacts you need to walk through about 10 rooms with wax scenes while they give you the history of them and finally you walk into a tiny almost completly dark room where the only light is from the lights in the case. The glass case is in the middle of this tiny room and the scepter, wand, and crown and stone is elevated within. They defiantly use dramatic effect. It really is an fun story too. In 1707 when the Act of the Union passed through which in nutshell is when the Scottish and English parliments crated a treaty that in effect created "Great Britan" -blah anyway since 1707 the "Honors" as they're called were hidden away not to be seen for over hundred years until famous Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott got approval from King George to search Edinburgh Castle for them where it was only rumored to have the honors in hiding. He found them behind a wall in a massive oak chest and has since been on display for the public. Except for a few times being brought out for the monarch but let’s not get into THAT. The Honors consist mostly of a sword that was given to King Alexander by Pope Julius II in the 1400's, the holster..  the crown of course and the stone of destiny... I will never get sick of looking at it. Truly special. Then throw in some antique jewlery with massive diamonds and you have the Scottish Crown jewels! We plan to back to the castle this week.

Last night, after tremendous research Christopher and I found a bottle of Absinthe! We were very excited. The bottle came with a louche spoon which is what the effect is called when you place the slotted spoon over the glass and pour ice water over sugar cubes. The green liquid then turns into a milky opaque. The bottle we got is the only "deluxe" one available in this city which means it is distilled with the real stuff. It smells great especially at 70% alcohol I was surprised. Smells like black licorice and taste not as bad as expected. My tongue was numb but the whole green fairy thing is just a myth. Was an experience though that’s for sure.

Other then these eventful activities we are enjoying spring here. I have gone out in shorts and a T-shirt. We've gone out to the park at the foot of Edinburgh Castle and read, and we walk to the city center usually once a day, we go to the art store, or wander along the Royal Mile, go to the library, there’s so much to do. The tulips are already in full swing and the grass is lush green. Apparently in the height of spring all the cherry blossoms come out and it’s a few weeks of a "snowing" effect while the wind blows the blossoms off the trees. Every day gets better.

Christopher and I have had only one major argument so far which was over the best way to make quiesidiallas. Apprently I wasn't making them how mom makes them. We got over it, I just made them how he likes it, not after losing my temper of course, but thats to be expected once and a while...  We have been enjoying our organic baskets. Every week we get something new, I have been challenging myself to use only whats in our baskets, which produces alot of sauces from scratch and odd recipes,  but Christopher really never complains about my cooking or mocks me when I praise my own handy work :) We are in full vegetarian mode, eating tofu and everything. I am trying to feed Christopher chick peas and other proteine filled foods but it seems I need to find more creative methods, I'll think of something. Fun note, I found clotted cream in the grocery store! After a false start of buying "Double extra thick cream" which I thought was clotted but in fact was not, still delicious, but NOT clotted heaven cream. I found the real stuff at only 1.40 pounds... I love this city. For those of you sorley uninormed people out there who don't know what the glory of clotted cream is, the best way to describe it is a mix between butter and whip cream. The process of making it requires unpasterized milk which of course at home we don't have this so clotted cream therefore is impossible.

Another long post! I'm going to quit now, I'm sure I've forgotten something but this is becoming a novelette.

Check out our imigur account. We apologize for the repeats, we are using the account as a back up for all our photos as well in case something happens to our hard drive.

Cheers!