Great Week!

This week we had a lot of great experiences and great news come to us.  We met our neighbors and attended a neighborhood/flat building  get-together.  We are so excited to have great, friendly neighbors. We also tasted many different flavors of chips at this party, 3 of them which were meet flavored (I can't remember what kind).  Anyway, we have made some great connections and look forward to the chances we have to continue hanging out with our new neighbors. 

One of the other great things we have learned this week was that John can work full time while he is here.  He has just updated his outsanding CV (resume) and has applied for a National Insurance Number which he needs in order to work.  The rules haven't changed.  Brandlyn apparently misread something in all her visa research and believed he could only work part time.  We are both very glad she was wrong and will keep you updated as the job hunt is now expanded!

Although we have met many new, great people this week, we have also met some not so new, great people.  Some of our friends from FBC Roswell were coming over here for a little vacation.  Well, on Tuesday they called Brandlyn's cell phone and left a message with the number to reach them at.  Of course with touch-screen technologies these days, Brandlyn's face cheek deleted the message before a number could be written. Needless to say, we weren't going to be able to meet up with them.  John, however, after running errands while Brandlyn was in class, was walking back home and happened to see them on the street.  Is it a small world or what?  Although we do live in the tourist part of the city, it was still a happy surprise. 

Next on the list of good experiences, our flat is finally warm!  It hasn't been super cold or anything, but in the mornings our little Scottish flags wave in front of the window (on the inside). We just thought it wasn't sealed properly.  Well, after John decided to climb up on the sill and check it out, it turns out our window was actually cracked open a bit at the top.  Yes....our window pulls down from the top to open, as well us up from the bottom.  Of course we knew the bottom opened, but it is a relief to know that the top opens. It certainly did minimize the breeze.

That is all our amazing and wonderful news for this week.  I am sure we will have more to report on very soon.  We are getting much busier though, so forgive us if we do not publish a post as often.  We will try to be as consistent as possible.  In the meantime, if you plan on visiting us, please let us know so that we can give you a wee wish list.  Thank you.

Pleasant Discoveries

The sun is hiding, school has started, and jobs are still being hunted for.  We are more than 3 weeks in now, and we are starting to get a little bit busier.  This week has been a particularly busy, yet relaxing week compared to our previous two. Saturday and Sunday were spent mainly at home relaxing, however because the Archery World Cup was in town, we didn't stay at home the entire time.  We are also very happy to report that in all the events we saw, which was all but one, Americans placed in every event.  In the Men's Recurve event, an American won the Gold.  From what we have found, (both before and during the tournament) Great Britian takes a large interest in Archery.  More so than in America.  The interesting thing is, we can't seem to find very many Archery shops here in Edinburgh.  At the tournament when we asked about where people buy their supplies, we were told that they usually just buy everything online.
                                       

As you can see, it is the perfect setting on a very nice day!

On Monday we wanted to go to IKEA, so we each bought an All Day bus pass for £3 each.  We bought a £15 coffee table and a few other small things there.  After IKEA we came home, ate lunch and decided to explore the city by bus since we had a day long pass.  We decided to first go to the coast so, after arriving 30 seconds to late to the bus stop, we walked to a place to get a route map, then went to a different stop to hopefully catch a bus that would take us to the coast.  The only bus we were able to catch at that stop was a bus that took us to Ocean Terminal.  We figured by the name itself we would be right on the coast.  When we got off, we were right by the coast,  but there was a big shopping mall in front of it.  We decided to explore the mall and found it set up very much like American malls, but with different stores.  Same idea though.  After exploring the mall, we caught bus 35 which actually stops right next to our street that we live on.  It also goes to the campus as well as out to the airport.  We decided to take the bus to the airport to see the other side of town.  As we were on our way to the airport, we saw an ASDA.  The sign said they were part of the Wal-Mart family so, we got off and went in.  For the first time since we have been here (and we have been looking very hard) we found corn tortillas! Actually we found the boxes, they were sold out! However, we now know where to get them.  In comparison to Walmart which is about 3/4 merchandise and 1/4 food, ASDA is about 3/4 food and 1/4 merchandise.  We still found things we were needing such as beaters, slippers, and measuring cups, but the food part was the best.  It is the first all-in-one store that we have seen here, even though we know they exist, and to know that it is only a 15 minute bus ride from our house is amazing!  Sadly, we have never been so excited to see a "Walmart" in our lives.  After trying to avoid it back home, we are happy to embrace it.   We still prefer shopping for many things at the little stores around us, but it is nice to know that there is something more out there.   Here are a few pictures of Scotland.  None of these are more than a 15 minute walk from our front door:

                                   

This is a view of the castle from Princes St. Gardens.  It is a beautiful park.

This is a street just right off the Royal Mile. They all look like this.

This is a different view of part of the castle from the other side.

                                   

Celebrations and Papal Seeings.

This week has been surprisingly busy. Between registering with doctors, attending Fresher's week functions, going to school meetings, and meeting new people, we have been quite busy.  We have also been having a lot of fun. For instance last night, we met up at Viava Mexico restaurant to celebrate Mexico's Independence Day with our new friend from Mexico City, and another friend from Hong Kong who actually lived in Mexico for 2 1/2 years.  The menu and the setting of the restaurant was actually authentically Mexican.  There were a few things on the menu that neither our new friends, nor we actually recognized, but for the most part, our Mexican friend recognized many tradional dishes on the menu.  We didn't eat any of these items.  The cheapest meal was £10 and seeing as how we were all college students, we just ordered some chips and salsa and guacamole.  Now, I am sure many of you are curious as to what may be on the menu.  They had the usual: enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, and a variety of traditional fish dishes.  Some weren't so traditional. One of the more interesting ScotMex they offered for instance was a cheese and haggis quesadilla.  Maybe one day we will go back and try this, but our first Haggis experience probably won't involve a tortilla.

As many of you know, the Pope visited Edinburgh today.  Of course we had to go see him, so we met our new Mexican friend and walked about 15 minutes to watch the St. Ninions day parade, at the end of which the Pope was going to be in his Pope mobile. We arrived at our watching spot at around 10, and arrived back at home at about 12:30. The parade was very lively.  There were 1,000 pipers who performed very well and a few nuns and religious figures as well.  Finally at about 12:15 the Pope arrived in his Pope mobile and we were able to see him for approximately 15 seconds.  Totally worth it!  He seems to be welcomed very well.  BBC is covering his visit here very thoroughly.  We even watched the Pope's plane fly in and land on the TV.  The rest of the day will continue on as normal, but come this weekend, the Archery World Finals will be in Princes St. Gardens, and so will we.

                                                    

Tram Revision

Ok, so we had a slight misunderstanding about the light rail/tram system here in Edinburgh.  Apparently, it hasn't even started running yet.  They are still working on it, and have been for a while.  This makes sense to us because before we came here, we weren't aware they had a rail system of any kind. The misunderstanding came when a sign in one of the rail cars said something about it being shut down for the Papal visit.  We just wanted to clear that up.

Our Second Week

Our second week has come to and end here in Edinburgh, and it has been one that we would definitely change if we could. The good news is, we are finally over the hump of our mourning period for the loss of our iMac. All of our important photos we realized last night were transferred onto our old iPod. We don't remember transferring them, but we are so grateful that we haven't lost them. As for the rest of our week, it has ended quite well. There were a few international events that Brandlyn attended and she met some very nice people. The country, where about half of the people she is meeting seem to be from, is Greece. Her school orientation events begin tomorrow. There are also so many events that the school is putting on for international students, nobody can physically attend them all. It is quite exciting.

I don't know how many of you know, but the Pope is coming to Edinburgh on Thursday. Although we are not Catholics, we are both very excited to see him drive by in his little Papal Bubble. It is the first visit a Pope has ever made to Scotland and the first for the UK since 1982. The light rail system has been closed down since we arrived just for this visit. The government is spending £12 Million in preparing for his arrival with security and closing off roads, and whatever else they are spending it on. This visit is causing quite a controversy here, but irregardless, we are thrilled to get the chance to see the Pope.

Yesterday, we were able to buy a new laptop. It of course is no Mac, but it will work just fine for school and some pictures. On our way home from the store where be bought our computer, we were walking back up the hill listening to the bagipipes play along the Royal Mile. When we arrived on the Royal Mile we noticed there were barracades that people were standing behind. We stopped to see what was going on and we ended up arriving just in time for a parade. It was a parade/march celebrating the 450th Anniversary of the Scottish Reformation. There were many different groups marching in the parade. Each group had a band that was playing the same song, and Scots marching behind. We didn't have our camera, so after watching it for about 10 minutes and not seeing the end in sight, we hurried back home to find the camera. Unfortunately we were too late to take any pictures. It was very neat to see though.

Tomorrow we will buy posters to cover the lightly tan walls of our flat and go to more international events. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our flat.

Our Bad Day

Today was our first cloudy rainy day. I was preparing for a job interview when our computer arrived. I buzzed the courier in and waited for him in the stairwell. I saw him running up the stairs with my package weighing around 30 pounds. I thought to my self this guys strong, that was until he handed the box to me. It may have weighed 2 pounds. All I could say was,"no no no no..." I told him that my computer has been stolen. He said,"No, you see it's still taped up". I said,"yeah it has been taped up after someone stole everything from inside it". All of my photos and movies were in it. Also tons of documents and our life! All we can do is collect the pittance of $650, the maximum USPS would allow us to insure it for. Today we have spent telling every investigator, creditor, and apple about our issue. We are happy that this day is at a close.

1 Week In

It has been exactly one week since we arrived in Edinburgh. We are finally starting to get use to how things work around here. Brandlyn is still nervous about crossing the streets just because the vehicles are on the wrong side, and John has been able to cross the technological barriers and add more channels to our tv, as well as figure out what certain switches in our flat our meant for. We are both very impressed with how efficient the city is. In our flat, each electrical outlet has a switch that we can turn on if we are using the outlet, and off when we are not. Our water heater also has a switch we can flip to heat up the water in the house and it will keep it hot long after the switch is turned back off. Considering we have to pay our own electricity, we like these methods!

Although we have spent a lot of time becoming acquainted with our flat, our week has been very eventful. We have opened up a bank account, acquired cell phones for a lot less money then we would have in America, went up Edinburgh Castle, and Saturday we went to the farmers market behind the castle. We have also finally learned how to shop for certain items we need. There is no Walmart here, or any store of its kind (at least that we have found). There is also no Target here, or any store of its kind. After searching for a blowdryer all week, we finally found one on Friday at a drug/beauty store that has the feel of Walgreens and the makeup sections in Dillards all in one. We have also been looking for a printer which we desperately needed, and finally found one Saturday after leaving the Farmer's Market. We were walking home and noticed a store that we thought might cell electronic things like Printers and computers. We walked in and it was a catalog store. All you see are stands with giant catalogs and kiosks where you pay for what you want. Although catalog stores are very mid-1900's, these are very modern day ones. You can text in your order number and have it either shipped to your home or pick it up in the store. We got online, found our printer along with other things, and picked them up in the store which is 2 blocks away. It is such a great deal. We assume that this is as close to Walmart or Target as we will get when it comes to getting most of the things we need in one place. Needless to say, we are happy to have finally found a place where we can get anything we need.

To close, this was a very busy week. We have been making our flat into a home as well as exploring the city little by little. We can't express how beautiful this city is. We will post pictures once our desktop gets here which hopefully will be soon. Until then, you'll just have to take our word for it.

We're here!

After 16 + hours of traveling, and watching great movies on Continental Airlines which we definitely recommend flying overseas, we have finally arrived in Edinburgh.  We are so late getting this blog update out due to our lack of #1 our own computer, and #2 the internet. 

When we arrived in Edinburgh, we took a cab to Brandlyn’s uncle’s friend’s mother’s house.  It was a beautiful house, and the hospitality was just great.  We had tea when we arrived and after playing games with our hostess’s family, we ate a wonderful lunch consisting of chicken, peas, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips.  Oh yes, did we mention this was the middle course?  Our first course consisted of melons, while our third consisted of Scottish cheeses, oatcakes, ice cream, and a fruit salad.  It was a great first meal in Scotland for us.  Later that day, we went to my Uncle’s friend’s home where we stayed for the next 3 nights before we moved into our flat.  Their names are Adam and Amanda, and they are about the nicest people we have ever met.  After Brandlyn broke their sink and stopped up their toilet (which they say happens all the timeor at least that what they told Bran) they still put up with us and fed us.  While in their care and company, we had more interesting Scottish foods.  One of them being chicken liver patte on toast which was excellent!  Brandlyn was also brave and tried the one thing she said she wouldn’t which was Black Pudding.  She liked it, but isn’t in a hurry to try it again and probably won’t be stocking it in her house to feed to visitors, although it really wasn’t bad. 

We may now move on to tonight.  Tonight is September 1^st.  We have just moved into our flat after walking hours back and forth getting our key and other things sorted out around the town.  We are pre-typing this blog because we still have no internet connection due to lack of a cord, and we are not sure if our phone works properly because we have to register it to call anyone not in this building, but we can’t register it until we register our internet.  It is all quite ironic.  We went to buy a cable for our internet today, but oddly enough in this big city, most stores close at 5:30.  Restaurants and grocery stores stay open late, as well as pubs, but not regular stores.  Roswell has one up on them so far on that!

As for the flat we live in.  Despite it’s dark corridors, it is still pretty dark in the flat itself, which will probably drive a certain electrician crazy.  For now, it works very well.  The only bill we pay here is electricity, which is nice, however everything uses electricity.  We have just learned that in our bath/shower, the bath works and heats up just fine, but in order to turn on the shower, you adjust your heat by a knob in the shower, but you pull a cord that is by the bathroom door to turn on the shower.  For hours we have been trying to figure out what this random cord is.  Now we know.  We now realize it will cost us money to take showers, but no money to take baths.  It is all quite interesting, and I have a feeling we will start taking more baths. 

As for the temperature here, we have been sweating.  Let us just say that it is not hot.  It is probably 60 degrees during the day, and when the sun is on you it feels hotter.  We have been sweating however, because everything is uphill.  Literally, our flat is at the bottom of two hills. We’re not complaining, it is a fantastic workout, however it does bring about difficulty of how to dress.  Jacket or no jacket? Anyway, that is all for now.  Next stop, Haggis!