Guest Blog: All About the UK, by A (7 years old)

As most of you know, we've been moving continents recently,  so I've been a bit busy and been neglecting the blog.  However, our seven-year old, as she patiently (and sometimes impatiently) waits for school to start after Fall Break here in Arizona, has been working hard to have something to show her new classmates to tell them about where she's just come from.  She drew some lovely drawings to go along with some of these statements - I've added some pictures I had in my computer instead.  

Hope you enjoy this guest blog: All about the UK, from the 7-year-old's perspective.

 

Midges are small insects that bite and leave itchy bumps.

A lot of islands are off the coast. Some of the names are: Staffa and Skye.

Island of Staffa, off the West coast of Scotland

 In the Highlands sheep block the roads.

Some men grow big beards.

Temperature is measured in Celsius; 0 degrees Celsius would be 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

It rains most every day.

My old school was called St. Joseph’s.

I lived in the city of Dundee by the river Tay.

Tay Rail bridge over the River Tay

 Edinburgh and London have castles and palaces.

 

The family in front of Edinburgh Castle

You can walk everywhere.

Lots of people go camping.

There are lots of rivers in Scotland.

There are lots of farms in Scotland.

There is a type of cow in Scotland called a Highland cow they have big horns.

Highland Cow at Blair Atholl, near campground

 There are a lot of green plants and grass in Scotland.

That is a little bit of information about Scotland and the UK.

Scotland and Dundee are a part of the UK.

We Have Acclimatized. I Mean, Acclimatised.

For my last Scottish language post, I said that we had given in, and started speaking more like Scots.  But really, it's not giving in at all.  It's acclimatizing.  Or as they say in the U.K., acclimatising.

I used to teach this in Introduction to Biological Anthropology - what is acclimatization? Acclimatization is adjusting to your environment.  I remember that Rhonda, my mentor, used to use the example of sweating in Arizona.  When you first arrive in Arizona from another part of the U.S. that features more reasonable temperatures, you sweat equally all over your body.  After a a few weeks, your body adjusts and you begin to sweat more efficiently, preferentially cooling your trunk, because, of course, that's where the important stuff for staying alive is located.  You have acclimatized. 

In Scotland, we have acclimatized in several ways.

First, we have changed our language, as previously discussed.  Even Paul, who doesn't really have much of an ear for languages, tending to remain pretty much American-English only, complains that half the time he calls our daughter's sweater a "jumper," in proper English fashion.  And as I read a book about food the other day with the three-year old, she identified the red fruit as a "to-mah-to." No, I said. "To-may-to."

We have also acclimatized to the cold, or more properly the absence of heat.  The cold is still nasty.  Especially the windy, rainly cold, like the entire month of November. Not kidding, the entire month. But, when we were in Edinburgh last July to get our passports renewed, it was HOT. And by HOT I mean 75 degrees.  This weather is described by Scots as "roastin'" and indeed we were roasting. It was clear and sunny ALL DAY, unheard of around here...here is a picture of that day. Look! Short sleeves! And I have my fleece around my waist, it's so hot. Truly, roastin'.

Roasting in Edinburgh, August 2014.

Another acclimatization is to driving - and riding - on the wrong side of the road.  Paul now has a full UK driving license, but in the early days he gave a couple of car dealers near-heart-attacks as he drive down the road, trying to stay to the side instead of (counterintuitively) hugging the center (I mean centre) line of the road.  Riding in the passenger seat, which would be the driver's seat in the US, took some getting used to, too.  For the first month or more, I habitually tried to get into the wrong side of the car.  Once I was in the correct seat, it still felt strange to be in the driver's seat yet have no control over the car.  And going around all the roundabouts made me feel slighly sick every time we took the car anywhere.  But eventually, I acclimatized.

The last acclimatization was to food availability.  When we first arrived, our families and others from the U.S. would ask us if we missed anything from the U.S., food-wise. And at first, we did. Decent bagels. Normal marshmallow. S'mores. But as we were here a little longer, we adjusted to what you could (and could not) get and became concerned with the bigger issues, that were mostly beyond our control.  Like, there are only two kinds of takeout food in Dundee that are any good.  They are: fish and chips, and Indian/Pakistani food. That's it. I feel lucky because I get to travel for work every couple of months, so every time I go to a bigger city, I seek out decent takeout food - Thai! Mediterranean! Sushi! Even (dare I hope for it?) Mexican! Okay, not really. You have to go all the way to London for that! Also, while the grocery store carries a number of products that we want to buy, they seem to mkae a game of organizing them in the most obscure possible way, so we can't find them. And, although we have also aclimatized to this, the Scottish idea of "customer service" bears only a faint resemblence to what you would see in the U.S. The idea of low profile shop assistants does have some benefit - you will never find a salesperson hovering next to you, glibly inquiring, "May I help you?" But, on the other hand, if you truly need help, sometimes it's like a prairie dog colony - you see salespeople all over the place, and then as soon as you open your mouth to ask a question, they're gone. Whoosh.

Two years of acclimatization. And soon we'll be back, and I'll be writing this blog in reverse.  Talking about how no one in America speaks properly or can cope with the cold.  Having the same unease about driving on the wrong side of the car, and actually driving again after two years of not driving. And of course, realizing that although Americans have proper bagels, marshmallows, S'mores, and of course fabulous takeout food (I'm looking at you, Tucson), the grocery stores will seem strange after two years away, and the salespeople uncomfortably clingy, over-helpful, and just plain American.

Time to acclimatize again.   

One Year in Scotland: 3 Reasons to Think Again

1. Being Far Away Sucks.

Far, far away Soria Moria Palace shimmered like gold: painted by Theodor Kittelsen, 1900.

This is the number-one reason we are thinking again about staying in Scotland. It is far away from family, from friends, and from events (like, for example, birthdays, anniversaries, my 20th high school reunion, American Anthropological Association conferences where friends gather, and of course the Orioles finally going for World Series).  We're also too far away to help - for example, as family members recover from surgery.  People ask me if we traveled back to the United States over the summer holidays.  The answer is no, of course. Trips for all four of us are too costly to even consider.  We have TIME, but not money.  One day, maybe we'll have both.  Which brings me to the number-two reason we are thinking again...

2. It Costs a Lot to be a Foreigner.

Scottish Pounds. Yes, Scotland has its own money, they are equivalent to English pounds, but with more character.

This is actually in two parts, the first being the actual costs of coming to and staying in the UK.  Although the University hired me, and paid for some relocation costs, they did not pay for even my visa costs.  And it was not just me who needed a visa.  In order to come work here for 2 years, we (okay, full disclosure, my dad) paid $800 for each of us - including the two year old! - to come here. While I'm here, I also don't have a pension plan that transfers back to the US ( I opted out, after reading the fine print that said, in essence "we'll try to get your money into an account you can use in the U.S."), and there are also certain benefits that people in the UK get that we do not qualify for as US citizens - for example, Child Benefit.  If you have 2 children in the UK, you qualify for approximately $55 per week to help with their care.  It may not sound like a lot but over a year it amounts to almost $3,000. The second reason it costs a lot to be a foreigner is the desire to do stuff.  It's the "Hey, we're in Europe, when will we get here again, let's take advantage of it!" Except it really is not that cheap to go to Europe for 4 people - even cheap flights add up.  Even just traveling around Scotland is not so cheap if you want to stay anywhere for any length of time during the times you can actually go (i.e., when kids off school).  When thinking about "living overseas" in the abstract, there's sort of a  myth of an eternal vacation - but I'm at work, the kids are in school, and we're trying to travel at peak times just like everyone else in the UK. And of course, there's also...

3. The Weather.

View from the 7th floor of the building where I work, toward St. Peter's Free Church, the River Tay and the Tay Rail Bridge.

Dundee advertises itself the sunniest city in Scotland.  And, it probably is, given what I've heard about Glasgow.  Even today, perhaps in an effort to make me change my mind about Point 3, it was sunny and clear.  But the truth is that it's far more likely to look like there pictures than to be beautiful and sunny.  This past Monday it was rainy and so windy that the rain was like little daggers trying to stab Audrey and I as we walked up to her school.  Umbrellas were useless (as they often are) and the wind was trying to whip our raincoats away from us.  When Scotland is clear, it's gorgeous, and I love taking the atmospheric cloud picture (see below).  But when it's rainy, it's just Scottish weather.

Tay Rail Bridge with atmospheric clouds

If you enjoyed this post, why not visit Part 1 of my One Year in Scotland series: One Year in Scotland: Five Reasons We Love It.

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!

 

At the Parlour cafe our first week in Dundee	Starting school after a month of back and forth with the city council
Magdalen Green, near our house, and yes, traditional, still functional British phone booth	With A in Edinburgh, before ice-skating
Paul with girls by the sea in St. Andrews	Girls with Gingy in front of Edinburgh Castle
Beautify sunset, looking toward the Tay Rail bridge near our house	Visit from cousins Tim & Julia, passing through Scotland in January
Happy New Year photo	Funny "haggis" cookies at the local baker, for Burns Night in January
Playing on Magdalen Green on a warm(er) winter day	A with her Healthy Roundabout badge for Rainbows
Yes, the weather was that bad: family visits Scotland, and it rains (near Broughty Ferry beach)	Stirling Castle: more bad weather, but a cool location!
Orzechs on the beach, St. Andrews	C climbing the abbey walls in St. Andrews - literally.
Amusing Papa and Nana on the train to London	Sports in the park: race to the center of the flowers
The British Museum: drawing, of course.	Big Ben Selfie for C and Papa
Copycat Big Ben Selfie for A and Kay	Paul and half of Tower Bridge ( the other half looks just the same, anyway)
Singing "Let it Go" (the Elsa Song) in front of Kings Cross Station	A's photo of us before we got on the train to Dundee, leaving Papa and Nana on their own in London

The ten minute blog

Today we are having a lot of "Scottish weather," as my husband says.  It's nice enough in the morning, a bit chilly but not too bad. We go out, to the St. Peter's church Christmas Fun Day (which was quite a low-key, fun even for us and the kids).  By the time we emerge, it is spitting rain and the winds are gusting probably up to 15-20 mph.  Heading home is a chilly proposition.  After lunch, we have no motivation to go out, although that means many consecutive hours in the house with two small children. But, we can observe the Scottish weather from inside instead of walking around in it.

The other thing I did today (in response to the Scottish weather) was bake bread - Speedy White Bread, to be exact.  This went okay, only involving two conversions (3 Tablespoons of butter is how many grams? They don't print the tablespoons on the packaging in Scotland!) This problem was averted by my husband again, who pulled out his scale and found the internet conversion 1 Tablespoon = approximately 15 grams. So I put the measuring cup on the scale, added 45 grams of butter, and there we were. The other conversion is one that I'm almost used to now - the Celsius to Fahrenheit oven conversion...just turn it to 190 C and figure it's "about" 400 F. Actually, the bread was ready 10 minutes early so maybe there is something to this convection oven!