Job description: EXPAT wife!

Well its just about 4 months since we made the big move and I can actually say it's starting to feel more comfortable being here.  I have finally learned street names well enough to give people directions to my house, or into town.  I still have not learned my phone number, but I think I deserve a handicap on that one since they are SO long here and its so easy to just pull it up on my phone!  They also don't break it up in a (     )     -        . format like we do- or in any way at all for that matter.  Plus, I don't have the Asian gene like Puffin, so I'm not too good with the numbers ;) teeheehee!

So a big part of me becoming so comfortable is due to the American Women of Aberdeen Association that I am a part of.  We had our first meeting last month and I signed up for AAAALLLL kinds of activities! This week the golf group began and on Tuesday I had my first ever golf lesson!  I have NEVER had any interest in golf before.  We lived in a golf course community in Houston and it never crossed my mind to go out and take lessons.  But, you know what they say..."when in Rome!" My attire however does not follow this old saying.  Since I've never golfed before, I don't really have appropriate golfing clothes.  The shopping in Aberdeen is NOT great, so I couldn't even find anything to buy to make me look more presentable!

 

 Obviously, golfing is more serious here than it is in the States,  There are no golf carts on the course...unless you are disabled and can't walk.  And no drink carts either! Womp Womp.  The instructor is really nice and really patient.  Not only do I not know golf lingo, I also don't have a good ear for many of the different Scottish accents, so he's asked to repeat himself quite a bit!  (They differ based on their dialects.  Kinda like the difference between a Texan and a New Yorker accents.)  The English and Southern Scottish accents are easy for me to understand, but the further north the accent is from-the more it sounds like a different language! Unfortunately, Aberdeen is pretty much as far north east as you can get.  Fortunately, since it is the oil capital of Europe, people here are from ALL over the world, so not everyone is hard for me to understand!

 

On Wednesday I went to a "newcomers" coffee.  I thought I was a newbie until I showed up and realized that many people are just getting here!! It was such a change to be the one who knew what was where and to be able to give advice and heads up to other newbies.  It was also nice to talk to people who were in a similar situation and that I could relate to.  Its really great to talk to other Americans and reminisce on things that we miss and talk about new adventures that we get to be a part of.  We also look out for each other and give each other heads up on activites and items that may be of interest.

 

On Thursday I went on my first hike.  It was a 6 mile hike up Oxen Craig and Mither Tap peaks at Bennachie Park.  Personally I think it should have been called a mountain climb, but whatever-I finished it!  It was really foggy, so I wasn't able to take too many pictures.  It was really gorgeous and a lot of fun.  AND it proved to me that tennis shoes and yoga pants are NOT hiking gear! lol yeah, I was cold, wet, and I fell a couple of times!  All part of the experience, I guess!

 

 

This was at the first summit. They said on a clear day, you can see hills forever but obviously it was NOT a clear day....and my eyes are close because I was trying not to be blown over by the wind!! 

 

I also went into the "American Candy Store" downtown.  After that visit, I'm sure it is safe to say that the owners of that shop have NEVER been to the US!!  First indicator, they were selling VANILLA coke--what is this 1997?!  Second indicator, they were selling all the disgusting reject candy that no one wants to eat!  They also had expired food they were selling.  The funny part is they clearly labeled it "PAST DATE CHEETOS 2.00GBP"  OK, Third Indicator--YOU CAN'T SELL EXPIRED FOOD IN AMERICA! lol  The grocery store has a better selection of goods in their American aisle.

 

I found two more items today that I have been searching for since we moved here!!

 

Mr. Muscle is the Drain-o equivalent. And the refrigerated dough was with the butter! Which, come think of it-that's what it's next to in the States, but you have a HUGE section of it.  Here it was one box of each can shoved in the corner above all the butter....NO cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, or cookie dough with it!

Needless to say, it was a very busy week.  Greg will be in Kazakhstan all next week, so my schedule is even more full than it was this week!  Who said being an EXPAT wife was easy?!

 

 

 Final thought for the day: How slow???.....

 

 

Oh, these Brits...

Happy HUMP Day!

Woo hoo for Wednesday! It was relatively uneventful...what I consider to be typical nowadays-meaning that the majority of my conversations were with Murphy as he helped me get some chores done around the house. Later, he wanted to go for a walk so we spent the early afternoon strolling around the neighborhood.  It was then I realized that just by merely walking around the streets of my neighborhood I could cross off an item from my bucket list! "What" you may ask, "is so interesting about taking the dog for a walk?"   Well, my warm weathered fall friends allow me to show you...

 

Its fall y'all! And in Scotland that means LEAVE CHANGE COLORS!! YAAAAY!   I get to see leaves change colors in the fall! And not just brown and fall to the ground! They are starting to turn yellow, orange, and red!

They are just starting to change - I will be sure that I take more pictures so we can see them transition.

 

Amazing view from the bridge!

 

 

Murphy is leading me home from the "post" box.  Right across the bridge is our townhouse.

More trees on the way to the gym

In the gym parking lot

 

When Murphs and I got home I found myself enjoying a total British afternoon!  I turned a perfectly good grilled cheese sandwich into a Cheese and Tomato Toastee.  If you said tomato and not TOE-MAH-TOE...you pronounced it wrong, therefore I do not believe you understand the deliciousness of this sandwich.  Allow me to show you...

Delish!!  Of course the one I had a restaurant was not as good.  When they serve a sandwich with cheese here it is hard, crusty, grated cheddar cheese.  Not the melted deliciousness shown above!

 

Since we have moved over, I have burnt countless meal-even the simple ones, 3 batches of cookies, and several loafs of bread.  I swear I have an oven that works like a double sided mirror.  Sometimes it works perfectly and other times it burns food in 2 minutes.  One batch of cookies was ruined because Puffin turned the first knob to the left...which is the broiler.  An honest mistake seeing as how the oven doesn't have any words on it! Just weird symbols! All the other ruined food was because the oven gets frickin hotter than it says it does and someone likes to laugh at me as I stand there cursing at my chicken!!

 

 

I found a recipe for Earl Grey cupcakes that came out very tasty.  Did you know that tea is not just for drinking??   Despite the issues with all three batches of cookies I've made since being here,  I decided to give baking another shot.  Now I am a pretty good cook-not baker.  They are NOT the same thing for one simple reason...CHEMISTRY.   I guess God was trying to even the playing field amongst all the other wives in the world (JK :p) no matter how many times I ruin baked goods because I add this, substitute that, omit that, or eyeball it- I never seem to learn my lesson.

 

 

However, the baking turned out to be a success-kinda...only because it wasn't the oven that messed me up, and I DID stick to the list of ingredients in the recipe.  It was my American measuring devices and poor math skills that proved to be a challenge.  Did you know that 120g of flour is more cups that 140g of sugar?!!?  That one stumped me for a few minutes, lol!

   

 

I traded in my state of the art KitchenAid stand mixer for this new tool with all its glorious attachments that I LOVE cleaning. And by tool I don't just mean an object to get things done.

 

I chiseled away at this hunk-a-hunk brick-o-butter that does NOT have the handy measurements labeled on it! womp womp

 

THIS took me SEVERAL trips to the grocery store to find.  SIMPLE baking soda....would you EVER have thought that THIS is called something different?

If you said yes to the above question, we can no longer be friends.  

 

 

 

It was all good until the cakes were cooled.  Then, my measuring devices failed me and the icing came out chalky...maybe you bakers can tell me why.  I am pretty sure its because I made a mistake converting the g to cups/tsp/tbsp.  The final product is tasty, but too ugly to be shown.  I will be giving in and buying different measuring utensils this weekend!

 

Just when I thought the oven and I were getting along, she went and pulled a fast one on me!  There has GOT to be something wrong with it.  I don't think I have burnt food since I was 10!  Tonight, when we got home from the gym I turned it on to 50c to warm up dinner.  10 minutes later, everything was burnt!!  50c is 130F...There is NO WAY 130F for 10 minutes could do THIS-

 

Meatloaf with burnt sweet potato and beet crisps...it's ok-don't feel bad for laughing.  Being the resourceful person I am I turned that into this...

I am actually a pretty good cook, so this burning food thing is really crushing my ego - at least now I can add "least burnt scavenging" to my list of proficiencies!

 

 

Bank Holiday Monday!!

YAY! for random holidays that you have NO clue what they're about! Puffin had off work today for a "bank holiday."  From what I understand they are just a reason not to go to work.  The banks are closed on these days (for no obvious reason) so schools and companies are usually closed too.

What do you do on a bank holiday?!? Visit the local trash center and have lunch at a garden store, of course! DUUUH!!

This is the trash center near our house.  Since our trash is only collected 1x every TWO weeks, we make regular stops here.  The trash men will only take what you can fit inside your "bin."  Any additional bags of trash or larger items (like all the boxes from my Amazon shopping sprees! :) ) can be dropped off here and put in the "general waste" bin.  They also have bins for batteries, tvs/computers, appliances, scrap metal, and recycling.

After our trip to the dumpsters, our quest for pumpkin began!  Since we moved I have been in search of pumpkin pie filling...even though I brought 2 cans with me.  I knew they sold it here because I had found it on the local grocery store website.  However, every time I went to the store and asked for it people looked at me like I was crazy.  Alas we found it and grabbed all the cans from the shelf!  Sorry, Aberdeen friends!! :)

We then went across the street to the garden store to look for actual pumpkins.  I don't know if I'm just ahead of schedule or what.  Don't pumpkins become available in September in the States?  I'm happy to have found out they WILL have them here...just have to wait a couple more weeks!  Even the Starbucks will have Pumpkin Spice Lattes...YAY!!! (Starbucks here does not have all the "specialty" drinks they do at home)  Oh, and after you've carved your jack-o-lantern and its sat outside for weeks, the Aberdeen City Council suggests that you "recycle it" by cooking up some yummy sweets!  **EWWW** Maybe since they're not sitting outside in 90F heat at this time of the year it is actually ok?? IDK...nor will I find out!

Anyway, when Greg came to Aberdeen looking for houses, the realtor told him to meet her at "Dobbies" for lunch.  He pulled up to find it was a garden center.  Gardening is a big deal here, so once you get past the idea of eating in a spruced up Home Depot, the café inside is actually pretty good for lunch!  We come here for lunch quite a bit on pretty days and today was a gorgeous autumn day to sit outside with my Puffin!

 

 

One thing is for sure - the slow, "simple" life I have now become accustomed too makes me enjoy the little things a lot more than I ever did before!  Happy Autumn y'all!

 

 

 

 

 

The one in London Baby!

Last week Greg had to visit a site in Bournemouth, UK, about 1 1/2 hrs south of London.  Instead of flying home Friday night, he flew me to London to meet him for the weekend! I got in Friday around 4pm.  Puffin picked me up in  baggage claim (ha ha - get it...I'm the baggage HE claimed hahahaha) and we took a train from Heathrow to Paddington Station.  YEAH! LIKE THE BEAR!!...forgot to take a picture :(  From Paddington, we took the Subway to our hotel.  My first EVER subway ride!  It was just as gross as they show in the movies, but less scary lol.

 

London as we know it is actually TWO cities.  The city of London is actually one of the smallest cities in the world....only 1square mile, I think?  The London that we think of is made up of Westminster (where all the Royal touristy stuff is), and London (the financial district downtown).  Our hotel was in the financial district, right across from the London Tower, the Tower Bridge, and the London Bridge.

 

After we checked, we moseyed out the front door to explore.  Our first stop was the Tower of London.

 

The Tower of London

Puffin admiring the Tower of London

The guards of the Tower of London

Tower of London gift shop

Me in front of the Tower of London

View of the Thames River and Tower Bridge from the Tower of London

 

After we saw the Tower of London, we walked over the Tower Bridge across the Thames River. - which is not the same as the London Bridge.  The Tower Bridge is a lot bigger and prettier.  The London Bridge runs parallel to it and it looks like just an ordinary bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, we did the Original Tour Bus all day long.  It was a hop on hop off service, so we were able to take pictures in front of the different places.  Since there is SO much to see in London, we didn't actually go into any of the different places.  We rode the tour bus all day so that we could look at everything and make a list of the places we want to tour next time we visit.

 

Waiting for the bus in front of an classic double decker

Puffin and I on the tour

I forgot what Palace this is....

The Marble Arch

The guard outside Buckingham Palace

The gate in front of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

At Buckingham Palace

The gates to Buckingham Palace

Parliament Building

Big Ben

Big Ben

Parliament and Big Ben from across the Thames River

The London Eye

 

This statue marks where Westminster ends and the City of London begins.  When the Queen enters the City of London, the head of the city meets her here to formally greet her.

Puffin and I in front of Big Ben

 

For lunch, Puffin took me to Bourough Market.  It was SO cool!  It's a street market under a railway bridge full of small stands. They sell all kinds of food- cheese, pastries, olives, fish, chocolates, herbs, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we left the market, we romped around the city to explore.  Here are some random pics from our adventure.

A London taxi

These are pretty cool.  It's like a bicycle candy machine!  I begged Puffin to let me do it, but he said no since I refuse to ride in the street.  hehe :)

A red London Taxi

Woo hoo a phone booth!

Lol Puffin didn't understand my excitement!

"I know, I have to step into the map!" - Joey from FRIENDS

Just a building

Pretty view

Shops in London

Puffin loves boats....and misses his

M&M's World London

The only guard we were able to take pictures next to

The only Queen we were allowed to take pictures next to!

 

It was an amazing trip and a great weekend!  Hopefully we will be going back to see everything we didn't have time for! So blessed to be able to have this experience!!!