Rebecca Writes: May 2011

Well I have officially been here one week as of today, although it feels a lot longer because we have done rather a lot. And I have learned a lot too, which can be broken down into 5 major things.

What I learned this week

1. Jet lag is a lot easier to get rid of as a kid

If I had to choose one word to describe this week it would be "exhausting". I go to bed sometime around 11:30 at night and have a hard time waking up any time before 11:30 in the morning. It's ridiculous. I have to set an alarm and force myself to get up every morning. I don't get it. Every other time I have come here I have adjusted to the time change very easily and had tons of energy to go on all sorts of walks and play sports and basically run around like a gazelle. But I am getting old, I mean I am 19 now. I fell asleep at 9PM the other day watching a documentary about Dame Shirley Bassey, that says something about me. Soon, I am going to be complaining about creaky joints and my bad memory. But actually, it's okay that I am not feeling wonderfully energetic because the weather seems to be reflecting that. It has been rainy and windy and cold all week long, which means that hikes are out of the question, and a short walk everyday is all that can be managed. So, hopefully I will be back to my usual self by the time the weather becomes nice again. And in the mean time I plan on relaxing as much as possible and doing other fun indoor activities such as crosswords, puzzles, card games, and going to the theater.

2. I can actually speak Scottish

Now I don't mean that I have perfected the accent yet or that I ever will be mistaken as a native, but I have learned some of the vocabulary that is necessary to live here and understand people. For instance, I have learned that most people don't ask for "ketchup", but rather "tomato sauce". And people over here call a small town a "hamlet". And you throw things away in a "bin", and instead of being a testing proctor you are called an "invigilator". It's a complex language to get a handle on, but it's something everyone here needs to know in order to understand each other. But even with this knowledge there is some difficulty in translating the accent, but I feel that I am improving. Of course you always hear those people who just sound like they are making various sounds and speaking gibberish. We went out for dinner the other night and were sitting next to a man who sounded like he could not have been speaking english, but rather a long slur of vowels with the odd consonant thrown in. If you would like a demonstration of this I would advise you watch this SNL clip and no further explanation will be necessary.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/215177/saturday-night-live-british-movie

3. Goujons= Chicken Strips

So the other day Granny, Katie, Aunt Betty, and I went to the Beauly Art Gallery and shop. It was a rather posh store with a nice restaurant inside. We went to eat lunch at the restaurant and while looking at the menu I saw the words "goujons with chips". Well I didn't know what goujons were but there were chips, which I liked, and goujons sounded like a rather sophisticated French word so after being told it was a chicken dish I ordered it. I was feeling quite proud of my mature adult decision when the waiter came out with my large plate of chicken strips and fries and all of my pride vanished. I felt like my brother who, when we go to any sort of nice restaurant asks if he can have chicken nuggets or if fries come with his meal. So, slightly emberassed, I ate my delicious chicken strips and pondered the lesson I learned. Goujons are not sophisticated, I should always just stick to traditional fish and chips.

4. Seal War II has begun- the saga will never end!

Anyone who has heard about our families trip to Scotland two years ago must have heard of the seal war between Katie and me. It all began with our little French cousin Elliot who, when out shopping with Granny decided he simply must have this huge, horrifyingly ugly plastic seal. Then, of course, he couldn't take it back to France with him at the end of his vacation, so he left it in my bedroom at Granny's house. Well, along came Katie and I that summer and we found this seal and I decided to use it to scare her. So I stuck it under her bed covers one night and waited patiently in the bathroom to hear her cry of terror (although it ended up being more of a squeal). After I had heard her discover it I went back to our room only to discover that she had quickly retaliated by hiding it under my pillow to scare me. And thus the Seal War I began. Quickly we found more creative spots to hide the seal, under chairs, in drawers, on top of the door positioned to fall when the door opened. It became a challenge that soon involved terrifying our mother and Granny. Of course we took many pictures to document the event and it was tragic when we had to leave the seal here and head home. But, one of the first things I noticed when I walked in my room this time was that the seal, although slightly flatter and a little worse for the wear, was still here and that Seal War II would begin. The seal has already been outside Katie's door, under her pillow, under my bed covers, and outside my door. It's my turn to make the next move, and all I know is that by the end of this summer, Victory will be mine!

5. Pirates of the Caribbean+ fish and chips= an Excellent day
Katie, Granny, and I went to go see the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how it turned out. The movie was really funny with all the action you would expect from a Pirates film. And of course they had a healthy dose of romance and the supernatural. It surpassed everyone's expectations and made for a fun afternoon. And then of course, we all headed out to The Snow Goose for dinner where we had our first traditional Fish and Chips of this vacation. All together I would have to say it was one delightful afternoon.

So, those are the five biggest things I have learned so far although I have learned a lot at my new job. That's right, I am now a working woman! I work at a little hotel in the village called The Anderson. I started on Saturday, just two days after we arrived. From 9AM-1:30 I was doing maid service which basically comprised of cleaning bedrooms and bathrooms and making sure everything looked nice. It's not the most exciting of jobs, but it will be okay. And then last night I was working my first night as a waitress in the hotel. I actually enjoyed that work. It was taking orders, delivering food, and making sure everyone was enjoying their night. Luckily it wasn't too crazy there last night, but we had plenty of customers. But I got the hang of most everything fairly quickly. I had to learn to use the cash register to put in someone's order which was the hardest part because there are just so many things you have to remember to do. You had to put in the table number and the clerk number before putting in all the orders. Then you send that to the barman who brings out their drinks and the cooks who begin making the dinners. Then basically the waitresses just bring out the food and take all further orders and set up/clean up tables. But I was working with some really nice people who all helped me out when I needed it, so it all worked out rather well. And I met one man who was able to guess just from hearing me speak that I was from coastal Virginia. I was very impressed by him even though he probably studies language and accents or something related to that. Not everybody was as interested in me as I guess he was, but I got quite a few "Where are you from?" and even one "Americans!" But most people were accepting of me and my strange accent and I figure I will just use that as an excuse if I ever mess up. "Oh I'm sorry but it's not my fault! I'm American."

Well today is definitely a busy and stressful day. Currently I am in the Boston Airport waiting for the next three hours for our flight to London. Then after that our flight to Scotland where I will be spending most of the summer with Katie. We will be staying with my Granny in the beautiful seaside town of Fortrose. Of course, we will both be working, so it won't be quite as relaxing and carefree as you think. I have the most arduous task of being a maid in a small local hotel. It will be just like my Saturday chores I used to do at home as a kid, except I will be getting paid for it, which of course makes it more worthwhile. But that won't be starting til next week sometime. For now, I am sitting in the airport on the second leg of our journey and I already am getting really antsy to be in Scotland and asleep in my bed.
Since getting back from my first semester at BYU, summer break has been pretty busy. Katie and I got back on Easter and basically ever since then I have been packing, unpacking, and repacking. I spent last week in Florida with my really good friend Kat Grosshans. We did all of the typical Orlando things which meant we basically spent all day every day in some park. The first day was Epcott, the second was Universal Studios, and the rest of the time was spread out between Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. It was a lot of fun, although we did so much walking. Just getting out of bed and walking around the hotel room was a challenge by the second day. And Florida was ridiculously hot, it reminded me of why I spend most all of my summers indoors. But it was a fun trip. We got to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter which was incredible. And we got in an hour early so there were no lines. So we wandered around Hogsmeade and all over the castle. It was very well done. But once the people started coming in it was ridiculous. The lines were so long that if you did not have a fast pass it was hard to wait for them.
And all of the other parks were the same way, lots of long lines for rides and lots of strollers. I felt slightly overwhelmed by the number of strollers that were parked on the various paths around the parks. I was constantly having to stop to avoid running over small children, and sometimes on occasion I still hit them. And some of the parents there would just let their kids do anything from running and knocking innocent bystanders down to throwing temper tantrums on the ground. But luckily, most kids were tired enough that they left the park around dinner time so the parks cleared out a lot at night.
But even with crazy lines and annoying children, we had a blast in Florida. But I basically spent the rest of the week unpacking, washing clothes, packing my bags for Scotland, and hanging out with some friends. And now we are off! Off for about 10 weeks in Scotland! So, this is going to be one amazing summer.