A thoroughly Scottish moment!

It is a gloriously sunny (though windy...) Monday morning in Edinburgh. I am sitting at our kitchen table by the french doors, enjoying the sun, and a very scottish breakfast - a bowl of porridge. While you can get oatmeal, well, all over the world I imagine, oatmeal isn't quite the same thing as a proper bowl of porridge. Porridge oats are ground finer, so make a different consistency of oatmeal, or porrisge. Here's my recipe from today:

1/2 cup of porridge oats
2 1/2 cups water
5-6 dried apricots cut into pieces
2 heaped tsps stewed rhubarb
dash of vanilla essence
dash of apple pie spice

mmmm..... delicious!

The crate has landed!!

It has finally happened. This morning at 9:00 a.m on the dot, an Allied Pickfords truck pulled up outside our flat. Two men jumped out, opened up the wooden crate, and moved our stuff into the flat. Yeah! Hooray! Sigh of relief from us, and probably from you as I imagine you're sick of hearing us moan about it!

Oddly, we felt a little homesick as we unwrapped our things. It's just that we could picture everything in our old flat, and the associations each item has to our life in Grand Rapids. There were two clocks on the crate - one fancy digital that reads the weather, and automatically adjusts to daylight savings etc... the other, a normal analogue wall clock. Both were unpacked when the alarm on the digital began to go off - both had continued to tick away during the entire trip over here, and the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. GR time every morning, apparently!! That was set for the day the movers came to Grand Rapids. We had a good laugh at the odd bits of food that had been packed up including an opened box of Rice Thins (see below!), the end of a bag of crackers, and multiple jars of peanut butter for Brian. Turns out he needn't have packed them as he's coping just fine with the UK Tesco brand! Brian was excited to get his tools back and immediately had them out to put Fi's bike together. He is also walking on air (or should I say, sitting...) as he now has his mirra office chair again. All felt right with the world this morning, and finally we feel like we can settle in a bit more. The most exciting thing from Fi's point of view, is having the kitchen table. Now we can have guests around for a proper sit-down meal - something we miss a lot. In celebration, we'll be having a few friends round for dinner on Friday evening :-)

The funny thing is that we were getting used to living with what we had. I suppose that's the lesson, isn't it? We don't NEED ANY of the things delivered to us today in order to survive.

Here are a few pics from the morning adventure. As always, more later.

The truth is out!

It's official. I am well and truly ticked off at not yet having our belongings with us. The moment of clarity came when I had been sitting on the sofa for hours working on an interview presentation. My papers were falling in between the sofa cushions alongside my pen, and the phone - which started to ring and of course I couldn't find it. Cushions were flung, and papers strewn but I was too late. Immediately after the ringing stopped, I lifted up a cushion to find it nestled at the back of the sofa. Grrr...

I really could have used a work surface today - which under normal circumstances would be our kitchen table (Brian gets to hog the office desk since he works from home). But we're not under normal circumstances, are we? Our household belongings are sitting in a depot one hour away from here, but they won't get here until Monday. So, in a moment of spontaneous pro-action, I called Allied PIckfords and asked if there was any possible way that we could get our things before Monday. She's talking to her operations people to see if that can happen. Not holding my breath.

The good news, is that I have three job interviews. I am also seriously considering entering my PGDE (Post Graduate Diploma in Education) to train as a religious and moral education teacher. For those of you so inclined, I would deeply appreciate your prayers. I feel closer to an answer to the "What Will Fiona Do?" question, but there are still decisions to be made.

Brian is doing well and currently cooking the tea (dinner). We enjoyed a fabulous weekend of music and sun in Anstruther this week, during the Homegame - Fence Records annual festival. Brian commented when we left that the weekend made him think more seriously about living in a smaller, more rural area. Who knows where we'll be in a few years, eh?!

Over 'n' out

Now it's just comical...

The move process, that is. Last night around 9:00 p.m. GMT, I received an email from our shipment agent in the USA. She told me that Allied Pickfords, the UK company they use once the container has reached British shores, had contacted her to let her know that our shipment would arrive this morning! You can imagine our delight, excitement and relief.

HOWEVER, we had heard nothing from Allied Pickfords since the letter to say that our stuff had cleared customs, and they'd contact us within 48 hours of the delivery time. So, I called AP this morning. After several phonecalls which initially led me to voicemails, I finally got through to our UK agent. Turns out - get this - there are two Baker families with shipments in this area, and she got us mixed up!!!! You'd think, wouldn't you, that a company that deals with international shipments, would be able to deal with high volumes of deliveries and details such as this!!

Part of our conversation went like so:

Agent: I am terribly sorry, there are two Baker families and I mixed you up with them. All I can say is that I am sorry.

Fi: Ok... well where is our shipment?

Agent: It is in Glasgow

Fi: GLASGOW? That's one hour away from here, and we won't get our stuff until MONDAY???

Agent: (Slight laugh) Yes, I am really sorry. I have had like, ten shipments this week and it's like, oh my gosh... really busy. yeah, lots of people must be moving to your area at the same time (said with another little giggle).

I kid you not. I couldn't be bothered to get annoyed, to be honest. I am trying to have grace and understanding. After all, we're all human...

Today

It is with heavy hearts that Brian and I have watched the events at Virginia Tech. I first heard about it when I spotted a headline on Yahoo. We have BBC news 24 and CNN so we've had a couple of different journalistic lenses through which to encounter this tragedy. I have many thoughts about violence, guns and security, and I did consider writing about them here.... but this is a blog about our move, and shall stay as such. What I really want to say is that we are sad with the US today. I suppose what I will also say, (as it bears relevence to our move to the UK) is that I have tremendous trouble with the gun culture in the US. When a classroom of primary children were shot down with their teacher in the town of Dunblane, Scotland about 10 years ago, the lobbyists immediately set their minds to tightening gun laws - and it worked. accessibility to guns is incerdibly tight here and we've seen no more of these types of massacres in Scotland since then. I know that Scotland is a much smaller country thus making it easier to make said changes... still. Watching the BBC has been fascinating, The reporters repeatedly express the incredulity of the British public at the fact that despite the frequency of gun violence in the USA, guns are still extremely accessible. So, I tell you that just to let you in on the culture from which we watch this tragedy. People I have talked to today just cannot comprehend the concept of having access to, or a right to own firearms. Neither can I. I understand the for and against arguments, but... well... I don't think you have to guess where I land on the issue.

However, all that, in my opinion, can be laid aside for a moment as we continue to pray for those who have lost loved ones, and for the school as they deal with this devastating tragedy.

Virginia Tech

I was going to blog about our weekend in Anstruther, but that will have to wait because I have just heard the news about the shooting at Virginia Tech. We have BBC news 24, so I am watching as it all unfolds. What an absolutely awful tragedy. All I can think to say right now is that I (and Brian) feel deeply saddened, and angered that another shooting of this sort has taken place. I have no other words right now. More later.

Homegame and decisions

This weekend we will be in Anstruther for Homegame, the Fence Records annual festival. Unlike most music festivals, Homegame is kept deliberately small. Venues are intimate and the sense of community strong. Therefore, there's a real sense that you'll be part of something special. Lineup includes King Creosote, Pictish Trail, Barbarossa, MC Quake, James Yorkston, Alisdair Roberts, H.M.S. Ginafore, Uncle Beesly, and many more. We are also thrilled to hear that the weather in Anstruther is set to be sunny with temperatures in the 20s (celsius).

On a more pensive note...

One of the tricks of making a move like this is that you have to be prepared to live minute by minute. Without going into the gory details, Fi had rather a hard day regarding the employment search (as a result of the decision Fi made). After much discussion today, Brian and I both were reminded of the moment to moment nature of this transition. We are making day to day decisions in the wake of a HUGE move. Our energy is spent and there is still a lot to come. There's no knowing what the next day holds at the best of times, let alone when you've just up and moved to another country. We are learning (again) that we have to stop the second guessing game, learn to make decisions as informed as they can be, and leave it at that.

One of the tricks of making a move like this is that you have to be prepared to live minute by minute. Without going into the gory details, Fi had rather a hard day regarding the employment search (as a result of the decision Fi made). After much discussion today, Brian and I both were reminded of the moment to moment nature of this transition. We are making day to day decisions in the wake of a HUGE move. Our energy is spent and there is still a lot to come. There's no knowing what the next day holds at the best of times, let alone when you've just up and moved to another country. We are learning (again) that we have to stop the second guessing game, learn to make decisions as informed as they can be, and leave it at that.

This weekend we will be in Anstruther for Homegame, the Fence Records annual festival. Unlike most music festivals, Homegame is kept deliberately small. Venues are intimate and the sense of community strong. Therefore, there's a real sense that you'll be part of something special. Lineup includes King Creosote, Pictish Trail, Barbarossa, MC Quake, James Yorkston, Alisdair Roberts, H.M.S. Ginafore, Uncle Beesly, and many more. We are also thrilled to hear that the weather in Anstruther is set to be sunny with temperatures in the 20s (celsius).

Phew!

For some reason, ever since our belongings were packed up, I have been very nervous about the customs process. Now, I know that sounds incredibly dodgy. Surely most people are worried about customs clearance because they've actually done something wrong! I am not sure why I was so worried - I just was. There were days when I would wake up some mornings thinking about it.

However, good news: our stuff has arrived in the UK and has cleared customs. We received a call from the holding agents in England yesterday and they'll be notifying us of the arrival date soon. Hooray!

It was during my five years at Trinity Episcopal Church in Washington, PA that the liturgical seasons became burned into my psyche. My favourite is Easter. From the Maundy Thursday service, through Good Friday and Holy Saturday, I literally felt like I was in mourning. I haven't walked through Holy week like that for two years. This year was no different, and I was annoyed with myself for not making more of an effort to make it to Holy Week services. However, we did catch two versions of the passion: one on TV - the Manchester Passion, and one in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Each version was completely different in style. The Manchester Passion is as it sounds - it is set in modern day Manchester. The Roman guards are heavily armed police and Jesus is a sprightly, good looking young Manchester lad. A crowd waits at Albert Square as a gigantic white, lit up cross makes its way through Manchester to meet the crowd. The passion story is acted out along the way and it's piped to the crowd. In Princes Street Gardens, a group of Scots performed an accurate portrayal of the story. When I say accurate, I mean it. The whole thing lasted over two hour. I have to be honest, I found it, well, comical to hear a Glaswegian centurion and a Scottish Peter - the accents just didn't match the visuals! Add to that the brilliant comentary from the child sitting behind me... "This is the part where he gets whipped".... "That's Pontius Pilate. He's the boss and I don't like him. He whips every body." Hear those words in a broad Scottish accent... fabulous. I am not sure which version I preferred. I found the Manchester Passion, while moving in parts, and creative, a little lazy about the details of the events. On the other hand, I found the Edinburgh Easter play comical because of the Scottish accents... However, the attention to detail was phenomenal, the setting effective, and the acting of good quality. Well anyway, the pictures of the Edinburgh Easter Play are below. Edinburgh has had fabulous weather over the past week and you can see how spectacular the city looks in the sun. We're very grateful!

In other news, Fi has moved slightly further forward in the job search - we'll keep you posted. We also heard that our shipment has arrived, and is in the process of clearing customs. We can expect to receive it anytime between now and the 17th. Good news indeed! Brian is doing well and has had the opportunity to visit a few art galleries already. We are looking forward to an Easter breakfast with our friend Kat tomorrow, after which we'll join her for church.

Enjoy the pictures. Enjoy Easter.

Post box trauma

Two blog entries from Fi in one day. Lucky you.

Anyway, I just HAD to note this one: I miss American mailboxes. Let me explain. Today I walked along to the pillarbox at the end of our road to post an envelope. I was forced to bend and fold my mail in order to get it through the slot. This I found to be intensely irritating because that envelope contained a job application. I had spent rather a long time preparing the documents contained, and specifically bought a large envelope to prevent foldage (yes, I know that's not a word). American mailboxes while in my opinion less pretty, are infinitely more practical. With that pull-down chute thingy (or at least the wide mouthed mailslot) you can put a wide variety of sizes into the mail box. Here in the UK one is limited it appears, to small letters and packages. It might be said that these are appropriate parallels to the respective cultures but we won't go there for now.






I also miss the practice of leaving stamped mail in the home mailbox for the postie to pick up. Now THAT is convenient. On the other hand, I get more exercise by walking to the mailbox. Six and half a dozen really.

Ok, it's not like I can't post large packages and envelopes in Scotland. I just have to walk further and try harder.

Housewifery and luxury automobiles

Housewifery:
When Brian and I paid our first visit to the Bank of Scotland to set up our accounts, I was asked to enter my profession. After a short chuckle and shake of my head, the teller asked us "Would it be 'houseperson'?" It would indeed! While I spend a fair amount of my mornings looking/applying for gainful employment, I basically spend my days 'keeping house' (when I am not out being a lady of leisure meeting friends of coffee and whatnot). Between pots of soup and loads of laundry, I keep myself pretty occupied. However, there is only so much cooking and cleaning one can do. I am grateful to have found some jobs to apply for... here's hoping I actually get one of them!

Luxury Automobile for sale:
Most of you will know that Brian and I had two cars while we were in Grand Rapids - the Subaru Wagon (oh, how I miss that car) and the minty green Honda Accord. The Subaru was given away months ago, but the Honda has not yet been bought. We're advertising it, of course, so hopefully someone will bite soon enough. However, if any of you reading this know of someone (perhaps yourself!) who might be interested in a lovely Minty Green (I kid you not) 1992 Honda Accord, please email Brian and let him know: www.brian_baker@hermanmiller.com, and he will take it from there. Pictures of the luxury vehicle are below and you can get more details from Brian.







See? Minty Green!

Four Weeks!

Yesterday marked our fourth week to the day since we touched down on Scottish soil. Sometimes it feels like we've been here longer, and at times it feels like we just arrived. Either way, we've survived this far and for that, we're thankful. There have certainly been days when homesickness paid us a visit. We're well aware that we're repeating ourselves, but we miss things. Friends. Routines. Familiarity.

It's a funny feeling to know that we're not returning to the States in a few weeks. Usually when we visit there's a sense of urgency in all things - from stocking up on M & S underwear (!) to spending time with friends. Knowing that we are staying is taking a bit of getting used to! Also, Fi is having what might be considered a rather weird experience. She keeps hearing Scottish accents and it takes her aback!! Having lived in the U.S. for so long, hearing Scottish accents became a novelty (a nice one!). Now they're all around...fantastic!

Despite the moments of homesickness and longing for routine and familiarity, we are doing very well. Brian's work is going well and Fi has a couple of job leads (watch this space!).

There's not too much else to tell today. More later!

Fi & Brian