However, this week quite a few notable things happened. First off, tennis tournaments began. First we watched the French Open, our eyes flicking back and forth and back and forth and back and forth across the screen. We sat in front of the TV rooting for Englishman Andy Murray, who unfortunately lost, and watching Granny yell at the players on the screen. We just laughed until it appeared that her words actually affected the players. When she got really angry they would do whatever she told them to do. But of course, once she was satisfied and no longer annoyed with them they went back to their old ways. However, the tennis has been really enjoyable. We have also watched a lot of the Queens tournament, which had two Englishmen in it, two in the semi finals and Andy Murray who is in the finals today. Of course, the commentators were more excited about the fact that Pippa Middleton was sitting in the crowd than the tennis that was being played, but that's only to be expected. I mean that's why I watch tennis, to hear about the celebrities in Britain.
But other than tennis, we have been doing more exciting things this week. On Monday morning the weather was nice so Katie, Granny, and I headed out on an adventure. We drove about two and a half hours over to the west to Tarbet where we caught a ferry to Handa Isle. I say the word ferry here, but what I mean is a pathetic little boat with two benches stretching down the middle. The benches had five or six backrests that made up the seats. So we basically straddled the benches and leaned against the backrests, it was kind of like horseback riding, which was an odd feeling as we sped across the water. Luckily, it was only a ten minute ride to Handa Isle, a nature reserve with thousands of birds and other wildlife. We had a quick meeting in the small visitor's center (and by center I mean "hut") before heading out on the trail.
It was beautiful. The scenery on the isle was amazing. It looked so untouched except for the small trail that we were on. There were birds nesting all over the grounds. The nests were mainly those of the Great Skuas, which we were warned to stay away from because apparently they are quite vicious (more than one innocent tourist has been dive bombed when they wandered to close to a nest). I felt like I was in one of the places a Jane Austen novel takes place, when the heroine stares out over the wild landscape and the high, rocky cliffs to the deep blue ocean. I only needed to be wearing a long dress and have a British accent, to be just like Elizabeth or Emma.
We got to the cliffs after about an hour of walking and were immediately overcome by the stench of bird. It's a disgusting smell, to say the least, when one bird is around. But multiply that by 9,000 and it just gets ridiculous. But anyways, we got out our binoculars and sat down along the edge of the cliffs just watching the birds and looking for the puffins. Katie and I have been in love with puffins since we saw them in Iceland as little kids. And then of course we watched the Swan Princess which has a heroic puffin as a character. So, in my imagination I was seeing this.
It took a while and a couple of movements along the cliff, but eventually we found where the puffins were. The were all nesting on top of the "Great Stack" which was an enormous rock formation sticking out at least 100 feet above the ocean. And then, Katie saw that there were a few nesting just 10 feet from where we were sitting. It was so cool. We just sat and watched them for about an hour as we had a little picnic.
But, eventually we had to move on so we could catch the boat back in time. We walked for another two hours to get back to the visitor's hut. In that time it started to rain a little bit, so of course I had to slip and fall over a rock. Just my luck, right? So I spent the rest of the time walking around as a cold and muddy person. But, it was worth it. The scenery was so beautiful and we got to see a lot of different birds and rabbits and other wild life. By the time we got back to shore and our car it was dinner time. So we drove about an hour to Ullapool and ate at the local "Chippy", which was delicious. The scenery on the drive back was as stunning as it was on Handa Isle. There are mountains everywhere and lots of cute small villages with very old fashioned houses. It was an amazing day.
And the rest of the week was just as fun. Thursday night I saw my first opera, Rigoletto. It's a tragic opera by Verdi about Rigoletto, the court jester, and his daughter, Gilda. Rigoletto is jester for a duke who is a bit of a womanizer, who goes too far when he makes fun of the devilish Monterone who puts a curse on Rigoletto. Gilda, his daughter, has been kept secluded all her life because Rigoletto wants to protect her, but she meets the duke at church and he follows her home and uses here naivety to make her believe he loves her. His friends then kidnap her for him and he seduces her. When Rigoletto finds out he hires Scarafucile, an assassin, to kill the duke. However, before Scarafucile kills the duke, his sister falls in love with him and begs him not to. Because Scarafucile doesn't want to cheat Rigoletto, he decides to kill the first man that comes to his house and give Rigoletto that body instead. Gilda hears him say this and disguises herself as a man and goes to their house to sacrifice her life for the duke's. She goes to Scarafucile's house and he stabs her, and gives her body in a bag to Rigoletto. As Rigoletto walks away with the body he hears the duke singing in the distance. Horrified, he opens the bag to discover his daughter there dying. They sing one final song together and she dies. The End. Obviously, it's quite tragic, but the music was beautiful and the singers were really talented. I enjoyed the opera but I had a few problems with it. First off, it was quite long, over two hours and it's hard to pay attention to constant singing for that long. But the other problem was that they were singing in Italian which I don't know, other than saying "ciao" and "grazie". So they had surtitles which were above the stage. So I was constantly looking up and back down to the actors, then up again every time a new line came up on the screen. It was just like watching tennis, looking up and down and up and down again. So sometimes it was hard to keep track of exactly what they were singing about and who was saying what. But overall, it was a fun experience.
The only other thing of note I did this week was work. I spent one night waitressing, which was pretty fun. I have gotten to know quite a few of my coworkers fairly well by now. So it was fun to joke around and catch up on all the kitchen gossip. And I did get £17 in tips! Which is approximately $28. So, it was an enjoyable night. Plus, we get free meals when we are working, and they are delicious. The other four days I worked this week were spent doing housekeeping, which is not quite as exciting. It means making beds, cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming, and sweeping for 4-5 hours in the morning. Luckily, I am done by 1:30PM at the latest. And I enjoy working with Kim, she's fun to talk to and she works as quickly as I do. So overall work is not a painful experience, and I don't mind going, which I can't say about any other job I have tried doing (babysitting and Water Country, and sometimes piano lessons).
So, this past week or so has been a lot of fun. I love being here in Scotland with Granny. Playing banana grams and scrabble, or rummikub and other card games, or going on long walks by the seaside. Scotland is a beautiful country and I am enjoying every minute I am here.
Handa Isle's Visitor's Center
Granny and Katie walking up toward the Puffin Viewing Area on Handa
Granny and me puffin watching
The cliff face where seabirds are nesting on Handa
Thousands of birds- skuas, gulls, kittiwakes, etc- on the Great Stack
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