Perfect Weather Weekend

Actual date of this event: 17 Aug to 19 Aug

On Friday night, a group of people got together for a "leaving-do" for a girl I had never met. Many of the guys gathered at Nary & Gerald's home to grill steaks, while the girls went out to dinner. And then later we planned to all meet back up. The dinner group met at Rishi's which is one of the many delicious Indian restaurants in town... apparently Indian is the mexican food of Aberdeen. It was my first time eating Indian food, so I was expecting spicy spicy spicy. We pre-ordered, which forced me to ask for recommendations, and I ended up eating Chicken Tikka Masala. It was a sweet dish that had no spiciness to it all. I tried a few other dishes that were spicy, though. Next time, I would like to get a mix between what I ordered and what others had ordered. All were tasty though! The group also ordered a few plates of Naan, which was larger than the biggest sliced pizza you can imagine!

After dinner, the group headed out to Illicit Still for a drink where everyone was forced a Jager Bomb... I did the Jager, no red bull, ick. I was getting very sleepy at this time and the guys did not join us out, so I decided it was time to call it a night when everyone else headed to another location. I called Luke to let him know I was done for the night and that I would be heading back to where he was so we could walk home together. I was determined to walk by myself because I did not want anyone to be forced to leave the party. Laine insisted on walking with me and I am VERY thankful for that. We walked along the main drag, Union Street, where all of the pubs and clubs are located, and tons of the drunks kids were on the street - its Friday night, this is normal. Well, along the way, a guy just a bit older than us, started walking with us. Drunk, obviously. He asks if we are from Aberdeen. Um, yes, we are from Aberdeen? So Laine tells him we are from the States. And then he starts going on a rant about how American laws are stupid and the gun laws are stupid and that he visited New York one time and like 4 people got shot and that American laws are stupid. So after a minute or so of him not getting the hint that we do not want to talk to him and being fed up, Laine says, "Yes, America is stupid. All Americans are stupid." He got some kind of hint because he started to "sorta" defend himself, "Im not trying to be rude." Well, what else are you trying to be?!?! Luckily, it was our time to turn streets. We stopped for few seconds to let him keep walking and then turned just to make sure he wasnt going to follow us.
It isn't that we felt like we were in danger, but more that we were not sure how to read him. It is a completely different culture, and you dont know what they expect from us and we dont know what to expect from them. I have never been the one to chat up with strangers because I dont want to give any false impressions and I was not about to start now. So, this is still something we are learning. When we reached Nary & Gerald's, I had to walk with my own drunken man just a few moments later. This one thought he could walk with a drink on the street... we are not in New Orleans anymore, buddy! This is where Laine decided to take a cab home rather than walk with us! haha, should have followed her :-)

When Luke and I woke up the next morning, we needed to go to the grocery store. We were headed to a BBQ at Jillian and Ryan's house in the afternoon and I was in charge of coleslaw - yikes! I did some driving practice, and I might just be ready to do it alone. Might. Anyway, after looking on the internet and researching different ways to make coleslaw, I compiled a bag full of ingredients to take to Jillian's to make there since our flat does not have a large enough bowl. So usually, coleslaw takes Miracle Whip, right? Well that does not exist here. So I used a combo of light mayo, vinegar and dijon mustard. Ryan, the king of coleslaw, said it was good, so I say it was a success. Luke, on the other hand, said the cabbage was too chunky and "cut his gums". Sounds like a personal problem to me. So we had some great BBQ grilled by Ryan. He grew up in Texas, so BBQ runs in his veins. It was one of the most warm and beautiful days in Aberdeen (72 degrees), so we enjoyed the weather and the sunset while chatting. Their house is practically in the country, so we got to hear some cows mooing and saw some amazing scenery of pink clouds and the Cairngorm mountains in the distance! What a night!

On Sunday morning, a few of the girls from the BBQ gathered for brunch at Amicus Apple because it was super sunny and warm again. We each got a Bloody Mary where we got to choose a spice level from 1-10. We chose 6's and 7's, and they turned out pretty good, but I could have used more ground pepper in mine... I will just bring my own next time :-) Since it was a beautiful day again, Luke met me at the end of brunch and we walked to a nearby park to do some reading in the sun. Luke got a tad burnt on his neck!

In the afternoon, we FINALLY went to see Batman with a group of people. This, again, was a new experience. When you purchase a movie ticket here, you purchase a specific seat. So if you are going with a group, you cannot buy tickets without the group because then you wont sit together. The previews before a movie include a bunch of commercials, rather than just movie previews. We also saw previews for two movies (Total Recall and The Watch) that have already been released in the States... not sure if that is because we are seeing Batman later than everyone else or if these movies have not been released in UK yet. Ill go with the latter. Then, while watching the movie, I felt I had a spotlight on me the whole time because the overhead lights did not shut off completely. Not a big... just something I noticed.

After the movie, Luke and I went back home since it was a Sunday night. He had work in the morning, and I  planned to go on a hike with the girls. Stay tuned for more on that tomorrow :-)

RANDOM FACT:
A movie ticket in Scotland costs 8.90GBP which is $13.97.

-Debbie-