Snowmen

I forgot to mention last week that Chris has been utilising the snow to make some ace snowmen. He made a little one on top of a random car; he thought it was his mum's car (wrong!). And back at the hoose, he built one nearly as big as himself, although his mum soon claimed the carrot nose for soup!

The past week has been a good one. I had the now usual work week, which was good. My highlight was discovering the wonder of woolly tights. Chris had a great interview and mention of another job possibility. He has yet to experience the wonder of woolly tights himself. He's diverting himself with training to be a tenor in the upcoming carols by candlelight service at the Nodens' church.

The real fun began this weekend. On Saturday, we had a delicious lunch out with Tom. We'd been trying to get into this restaurant for lunch the past two weekends, but they were booked full each time. So this weekend, we booked in advance. Luckily the entree we were after was still on the menu: tagliatelle with pesto, spinach, garlic and haloumi cheese. STUNNING. We then met up with Tom's partner Fran and wandered through the international street market on our way to the thea-tah for the eagerly (on my part) awaited performance of "The Woman in Black". I'd seen it a couple times a long time ago in London, and I couldn't remember what happens in it, just that I loved it. I loved it this time too. It's absolutely spooky, good fun. I highly recommend it!

After the play, we wandered back through the market, sampling some lovely Dutch pancakes with sugar and lemon on the way. We then helped Tom and Fran move some stuff into their amazing new apartment before we made our way home. We had a lovely, lazy evening in front of the fire.

Today is a gorgeously sunny yet freezingly cold day (-2 degrees C). After church, we all worked to make a gorgeous lunch of buttermilk scones with Cheshire cheese and chives, washed down with some heavenly vegetable soup made by Shelagh.
We are so spoiled by the food and kitchen here, it will be hard to stay in hostels again!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow it will be December!

There's no business like snow business!

Check out the view from my (temporary) work on Friday:


It's all good!

Meanwhile, Iff has been getting some exercise (and accumulating bruises) at 5-a-side football with his dad each week. I do not approve!

Down to Business

Another week has passed in Aberdeen, and it's been a good 'un.

I've had my first week (or four days anyway) at the Disability and Dyslexia Service at Robert Gordon University. The people there are ace, so friendly, and the work they're doing to support students with any sort of disability is fantastic. I'm really happy to be a part of it. My work there will only last four or five more weeks until their permanent administrator is due to start, but that means I'll finish in time for a nice Christmas break. So it's all good.

Shockingly, I don't mind the crazy hours I've had to adjust to for the sake of public transportation. I get up at 6:30am to get the 7:23am bus which goes right by the house and into town. Then I get another bus out to RGU. I get there at least 30 minutes early, so I happily read for a wee while in the library before I start work. Then after leaving work at 5pm, I get a bus into town. I wait there for about 30 minutes before getting the bus back to the house. All in, I get home about 12 hours after waking up. It's a bit tiring, but I like the work I'm doing and the people I'm working with, so I'm happy. Plus when I'm riding the buses, I feel like a backpacker still!

Meanwhile Chris has been fielding calls and attending interviews, but a job hasn't quite materialised just yet. A few options are in the works, though, so hopefully he'll be gainfully employed in time for the next blog post. As I type this, he's outside chopping logs with his dad. My husband the lumberjack!

We're still having a great time living with Chris's parents. It's so wonderful to feel at home and to spend time with them after being gone for so long. We're very much looking forward to Christmas time, when all of the Noden kids (and some of their partners) will be here. That reminds me, we need to start doing some Christmas shopping!

I'm typing this post in front of a lovely, roaring fire. It's cold outside, but it is toasty in here. It's great to be back!

Edinburgh revisited

So after a few weeks in Aberdeen looking for jobs, we decided that it was time to head down to Edinburgh to see various friends of ours - and also we'd heard that there was a little baby tapir at Edinburgh zoo. We figured that it was a good idea to get down there before we found jobs because it would be too difficult afterwards.

Funnily enough, a few days before we left for Edinburgh, Tracy registered with a recruitment agency in Aberdeen and they phoned back almost immediately offering her a job. Luckily, our Edinburgh plans didn't get in the way of the job otherwise we'd have had to cancel them. She'll be working at Robert Gordon University doing some administration for the Dyslexia and Disability unit in town. Her first day is today and I haven't heard anything so far (it's 9:15). Hopefully all will be going to plan.

Anyway, we had a great time in Edinburgh. We stayed with Craig & Kerry and got to see their family as well as Simon, Jenny and Freya who dropped by for tea. It was our first time to meet Freya - we've only seen pictures of her so far - and she's every bit as cute as the pictures make out. To check out wee FR, look up SimonLogan on Flickr and you'll see what I mean. After an initial bout of shyness brought on by with meeting new people, she stomped around the house in her wee pink boots like she owned the place. She even tried to get in on a game of Halo3 on the Xbox, but that was a little much for her. Unfortunately, she was also a little tall to be standing up under the table and managed to bash her head a couple of times. Luckily, no serious damage was received (by her or the table) and normal service was quickly resumed.

We also managed a trip to the zoo where we saw all our old favourites: Tango the wol, Dillon the armadillo, the Pallas cats, capybaras, bongos, penguins, lemurs, rhinos etc. We also met a few new arrivals for the first time: the baby tapir (still young enough to have the spots & stripes), some Sumatran tigers, the new chimp exhibit and the free-flight bird enclosure.

The next day, we all went into town and I spent the morning annoying my former colleagues at Microsys. Russell, Neil and Kerry all tried to get on with work, but in the end I managed to persuade them to entertain me. I didn't get to meet Gordon Freeman Steven because he was out, but I got to meet Part Time Steven and Geoff - which was nice. We even managed to get Russell down to Kalpna (whose decoration has been updated to sparklingly gaudy effect) and all enjoyed the buffet.

Sadly, our time in Edinburgh was limited as Tracy's new job (and an interview for a job for me) were awaiting us in Aberdeen. Much though we wanted to stay around and play with Freya, we had to return to the frozen north and the prospect of gainful employment.