The Perks of Gypsy Life

If you're going to be a gypsy, then you've got to travel around, right?  I would have to say that the opportunity to tour new places and experience all they have to offer is the silver lining to moving around a lot.  Since my last post, we have been trying to take advantage of the beautiful Scottish countryside and landmarks, but the kids and I first went souvenir shopping in Aberdeen.  We came all the way to Scotland for Sara to go to the Build-A-Bear Workshop...

That's Maggie--she had to have a Scottish name after all. Aberdeen isn't exactly a souvenir mecca, but we enjoyed ourselves and learned a little more of the city.

Our trip to Edinburgh was a highlight for all of us, though.  We were there just for the weekend, but we could've easily spent several more days there.  In addition to seeing the sights, we learned a little about the public transportation system.  This was our first trip by train. 

I was a little nervous about learning what to do, where to go, how the whole system works...but it wasn't too difficult.  One lesson we learned though is to always have a reserved seat.  We missed our return train Sunday afternoon and had to take the next one heading back to Aberdeen.  We didn't have assigned seats on that one and wound up standing for about half of the 2.5 hour trip.  Luckily we weren't the only ones, so we made some new Scottish friends while cramped in the back of a train car.

Edinburgh has so many cool things to see and do that it's easy to see why it's on the list of "must-see" in the UK.  It took a little while for us to get oriented: 5 or so minutes staring at a city map posted outside the train station, a confession in the tourist information center that I'm just lost, a bus ride in the general direction of our hotel and then a trek the rest of the way...but we finally got checked in to our hotel where the staff helped us get straight.  Once we did, we got to see some really cool things.

This is a section of the Royal Mile, the road that runs from the Edinburgh Castle to the Holyrood Palace.

This is the castle.  It is still a working castle, which means they have military training exercises there on occasion. We weren't allowed to take pictures in most areas inside so I can't show you, but we got to see the crown jewels--the oldest ones in the UK.  That was cool!  But Levi preferred the cannons...

And then here is the palace.

  

Once again, we couldn't take pictures inside, but this was also really cool.  It is still a working palace, in that this is where the royal family stays when they're in Scotland.  We didn't get to see their rooms, of course, but we got to see the rooms that Mary Queen of Scots used, and I'm good with that.

And lastly, here are just a few things that I felt were noteworthy:

There are bagpipe players everywhere, and they are really good!  Each one has on a kilt in his clan's (family's) tartan, which is the plaid color(s) and pattern used.

Then there are the iconic British phone booths all over...sometimes in the middle of nowhere.

We couldn't pass up an opportunity to climb inside!

And finally, what trip to Scotland would be complete without a William Wallace sighting??

I have no idea who the girl is with him, but I wasn't about to go pose with him myself.  He was getting ready to have her do some sort of dance, and my feet were already killing me by that point.

Thanks for reading my post, and if you have any questions or if I have left things unclear, just leave me a comment.  I will do my best to answer you!

Lessons Learned

I have learned so many things in my whole one week in Scotland, and I think the most important lesson thus far is that flexibility is key.  A person who is a creature of habit will not adapt well in another country.  While I think I've gotten much better at "rolling with the punches" in the last few years of my life, with all of our moves and such, I think God isn't through stretching me just yet. 

So here are a few of my newest lessons learned:

This is my refrigerator...yep, that's it.  Family and friends back in Texas will understand just how much this has affected me.  I have two refrigerators and an upright freezer back in Tomball.  Now I have this.

And this is my washing machine.  It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but this will hold a whopping 4 pairs of adult blue jeans! (And yes, that was sarcasm.)  What does this mean for me, you ask?  I have to do laundry ALL. THE. TIME. 
And apparently these two examples are not specific to apartment living either.  Other Americans I have met who live in houses have the same issue.  Not fun, but oh well...

This is ASDA.  It's like their super Walmart here.  I felt silly taking this picture, so I had Keith take it, but I know I was still gawking at the escalator for shopping carts! Grocery shopping is going to be interesting.  We were just there for a couple of things so we didn't have a cart, but I can see the future where I'm the crazy American who starts rolling down and lands in the display at the bottom. 

Of course, there's also the issue of food.  From what I can tell, they like Italian and Indian food over here, but my idea of Italian is not their idea of Italian.  This was our garlic bread last night.  Keith and Levi shared a pizza, and Levi said, "This pizza has barbeque sauce on it!"  It seems that their sauces and condiments are much sweeter here than we are used to, so we will either learn to adapt or eat at home.

And finally, there's the road system:

This shot was taken in the Highlands.  It's such beautiful country, but boy is it hard to get to.  This road is considered a "B" road, with "A" roads being the best, so we didn't think much about taking it.  What we discovered is that it is a one laned road with places to pull over when you meet on-coming cars.  The white line you see on the road is dividing the road from the "shoulder".  And I use the term "shoulder" loosely because they don't actually run the entire length of the road...just where they think the shoulders are needed or will fit.  In addition to all of this, we ran into several places where the River Dee flooded and backed up onto this road.  If I weren't so nervous about crossing the water in the car, I would've taken pics of that too!

Overall, I'm just so thankful for the opportunity to see and live in such a beautiful place, that I will continue to do my best and adapt.  I wouldn't trade all of these experiences for anything!

The First 48

Since I left off last, we have endured the proverbial emotional roller coaster preparing for our travels: fill out visa paperwork and send off, schedule flight, cancel flight because we don't have the visas yet, redo biometrics (fingerprints) for visa paperwork and resend applications, wait....wait...wait..., receive email that visas are coming, reschedule flight, sit by the door waiting on visas to be delivered.  Was that confusing enough for you?  But after all of that, we finally made it.

And what was the first thing we did in Scotland, you ask?  Sleep!!

10 1/2 hours on airplanes and only 2-3 hours of sleep out of nearly 24 really took its toll. 

After a nap, we took a stroll...hoping to find something to eat.

We finally found a grocery store...but you gotta see what I found:

I suppose everyone needs a haggis flavored potato chip every once in a while...NOT!  I'm going to try and be a sport and take part in the culture, but I gotta draw a line somewhere.

After a nice 15 hours of sleep, I finally began my Tuesday.   We had a nice welcome from the Rowan office personnel with a team building event they let the kids and me join in on.  We all learned how to ride segways, and then teams competed in an obstacle course.  It was super cold, even snowed on us a little, but it was fun. 

The kids and I did a little exploring while we were there too.  The countryside is beautiful!

Afterwards we had a nice dinner where I had my first official Scottish food: cullen skink.  The name sounds awful, but the food was really good!

I have more pics, but I'll post them to facebook--there's just not enough room here.  More on our travels later!

And Another Journey Begins...

Redneck- sometimes disparaging : a white member of the Southern rural laboring class 
Gypsy: to live or roam like a Gypsy
  (from Merriam-Webster.com)

Redneck?? Check. All four of us, Keith, myself (Rebecca), Sara, and Levi, were born in Natchez, Mississippi.  Keith and I have spent most of our lives in the south, and we are trying to raise our kids with the same values we were taught: work hard, love others, and trust God.
Gyspy?? Check. Let's do the math... Over the last 5 years we have lived in 3 different states, 4 houses, 1 apartment, 1 condo, and too many hotel rooms to count.  Sometimes we even have two different homes at once and we just travel between the two. 

Now we wouldn't trade those experiences and invaluable friendships made for anything, though it would be nice to settle down some day. But the reason for this blog is to let our friends and family follow us on our newest adventure...wait for it...Scotland! Land of kilts, bagpipes, lots of rain and fog, and Nessie.  We are so excited!

And as we wait for our visas to be approved, we are in a packing frenzy.  Under normal moving circumstances, we are pros.  We can pack up a house in no time at all.  But this time it's different. Everything we own can't go, so what do we take with us and what gets left behind?? 

Anyway, I will keep all of you interested followers posted on our many (mis)adventures.  Stay tuned...