Orzechs, continued: Update: Six months in Scotland

The end of March marked our six-month anniversary here in Scotland. There wasn't a lot of fanfare - the biggest thing that was happening the week of 24th March was that we were preparing for my parents and sister's visit, which started on Sunday the 30th for us in Dundee. A bit more on that later. For now, the update, with some pictures below.

I am reminded of the interviews I conducted with young adults about their online life; they emphasized that what made it online from their lives was the fun, social, traveling-new-places part. Work (or school) was generally not photo-documented or posted about. My life is the same. I spend most of my week working, yet I have no pictures of it, except for this one of Audrey sitting at my desk, with dad behind her. And I didn't even take the picture (thanks mom). I guess I have a few photos from quarterly meetings, where we travel to our partner universities, in Surrey and Nottingham - but again, I spent most of my time at work! I enjoy my work, I like my boss a lot, it's a fun project, and it keeps me busy. In my "spare time" when I'm not working I'm taking care of the kids, doing what I did in Rhode Island - exploring the place - except without a car this time. We do have one, but my manual transmission skills are poor and enthusiasm for driving on the wrong side of the road practically nil...so no car, just walking, the bus, occasionally the train. Good thing the UK has a good public transit system! I also joined a women's singing group almost as soon as we arrived - we were still staying in the bed and breakfast, we hadn't even found our rental house yet when I went to the first rehearsal. That has been great - all singing by ear, no music, 40 or more ladies ranging in age from 28 to 88 - very opposite to every choir I've ever been in, but lots of fun.

Audrey at my desk in the Art College

Paul is settling in, though the transition has been harder for him. If we had arrived in July instead of practically October, things would have been a bit easier for him and for Audrey - we would have been here for the start of school instead of 8 weeks in, there might have been more people playing at the parks in the summer than there were in October - more people to meet. But, Audrey did get into school (and catch up with the phonics she had missed in the 1st 8 weeks), Paul did find playgroups to keep him and Claire busy, and has even found a yoga class that morphs into a night out at the pub every Wednesday. That group even took him skiing - when friends ask Paul what he's doing in Scotland and he says "Drinking and Skiing" they're a little shocked...but he's fitting into the culture :-)

Six months in, we have done a bit of touring around - we went to St. Andrews (castle, cathedral, the cafe where Kate met Will), to Edinburgh around Christmas to enjoy the "Edinburgh Christmas" fair, and to Stirling and London when my parents and Sarah visited. We're starting our hit list - the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Stonehenge or some other less well known stone circle, Dublin, Istanbul, maybe Spain (or somewhere with a warm beach). And of course Naples for when Margaret and her family get there later this year. We'll see how many we can make happen!

We don't know for sure what will happen at the end of my 2-year contract. My boss has already offered to write me into future grants this autumn, but we're not sure we want to stay beyond the 2 years. Some things are great (see my previous post on three things Scotland does right) but it's far from family, and we're not sure we want to raise Scottish kids. Both Audrey and Claire are already picking up British words (and spelling for Audrey). Audrey's learned the British monetary system as she's learned to add and subtract, and Claire told her sister the other day that she couldn't come play because she was "on holiday." So far the lobbying from Paul and Audrey seems to be pointing back to Rhode Island, but it's still early days yet.

I've pasted pictures below with captions that move from our earliest days to the most recent - some you may have seen on Facebook, but probably not all...enjoy!