First week in Scotland

It has been a very busy few days which have turned into a very busy first week in the
UK.

The first bit of excitement was when I was in airport in London. This was when I had to clear costumes as an outsider. For starters all the people I knew were all from the UK so they could stand in the European passport line where I had to stand in the line marked “others.” The line marked “others” as you may have guessed was not quite as long but shockingly enough it was moving significantly slower. So as my friends had all passed me in line and gone through without a bat of an eye I made my way to the front of the line. The man behind the counter told me to step forward and the first words he spoke after that was “used to snort crack and play tennis,” I immediately was flustered and though I was about to be deported back to the USA so I said very nervously, “no, no sir.” He went on the say, “well he use to.” I replied, “no, not at all.” At that point I remembered I was wearing a shirt with John McEnroe on the front. I then said, “yeah, yeah he probably did.” We then transitioned into a conversation I had anticipated and I was free to go onto Scotland. So the trip started off with a bang.

When I got to Banchory the first few days I spent with the Brodies. I know Pete from the mission trips that I have been on with UPC and the youth group from Banchory. This is because the family I am saying with now (Mechies) were still on holiday or what we would call vacation. I had loads of fun with Pete, we played football or what we call soccer each of the first two days. The first day we couldn’t get enough numbers to play on the Astroturf field they have so we played around in the park. The next day we had enough to go 6 v 6 and that was great fun. The funny/ stupid thing about it is that if someone wants to play on the Astroturf there is a fee. It is £20, which is equal to $40. Its crazy because there is a fee for everything dealing with sports. To play tennis it cost money and they have these trampolines that are meant for 10 year olds and under but those also cost money and then of course there is a fee for the Astroturf. On the second full day or third actual day I moved into the Mechie’s house. I have still not moved into the room in which I will be living in for the duration of the year but it is good to be in the house that I will soon call a second home.

That next morning we took off the Nairn, which is about two hours north of Banchory. The reason for the trip was because my friend Kyle Scott was getting married. We arrived in Nairn and went to Peter Chalmers’ grandmas house to get changed. (Pete stayed at my house in Seattle when we hosted the team from Banchory in 2004.) We all got changed there and went to the church. I was so delighted because I was able to borrow a kilt and all the other fixings so looked like an actual Scotsman. The wedding was different from any other wedding I’ve been too because it was a traditional Scottish wedding. After the actual wedding I went with some people to get a bite to eat and kill time because the dance part of the wedding was not till later. We returned to Nairn and were ready to dance. I love the traditional Scottish dancing. I know what its called but I would butcher the spelling. It was loads of fun and quite a workout. It was also really good to see Kyle. We were actually able to talk for a good ten minutes and catch up so that was good. Before I knew it the night was over and the band stopped playing and that was time for me to leave. Because it was a two hour drive we had planned on staying the night. Some people got hotel rooms but a few of us decided to sleep in the Mechie’s trailer tent. It had plenty of room and was great once we got the campsite and fell asleep. We woke up and went to Peter Chalmers’ grandmothers house again the next morning and had some brunch and saw heaps of people from the night before. After we were done there we made the journey back to Banchory. We got home and I had myself a little nap and then we went to Aberdeen to watch Transformers (not the good by the way). So today I was still a bit tired so I slept in till 12, woke up had a bite to eat and mowed the Mechie’s lawn. This was quite a bit different that cutting the lawn at home. They had an electric mower without wheels that was plugged into an outlet inside. So weird. But got that done we had another game on the Astroturf but this time the gate was left unlocked so we did not pay.

Today I woke up again at 12 and had some food and realized it was a beautiful Scottish day so a bunch of us took a 20-minute drive to a bridge to jump off and swim in the river below. I was really excited because I had jumped off a bridge when I was in Scotland before but when we got to the bridge I realized that this one was quite a bit taller. It was about 35 feet from bridge to water which doesn’t sound like much but its pretty high up there. So Pete the guy who I stayed with the first few days went off first because there is a certain place one must land or the jump could be fatal. So Pete went first and once he was out of the way I fallowed. I knew if I stood up on the ledge looking down I might chicken out so I got up and walked right off. It was very high up and the water was very cold but was a magnificent experience all together. That was the excitement for the day. When we got back home Sean (my host brother) and I played Golden Eye for Nintendo 64. it was a well rounded awesome day.