The Freaks Come Out At Night

Home Update: Almost there...

NEWS: I have added a "Pages" section on the left. There you will find blogs that will continue to be updated throughout our time here. Be sure to check out the pictures page!

** 5 August **

Luke and I passed by the International street market in the City Centre while cell phone shopping the other day. We walked through looking at what they had to offer. Unfortunately, we just had lunch and coffee before hand so we were not in the eating mood. We were told later on that day that we should go back and go back hungry. So when Sunday came around, it was the last day we had to enjoy the market. We went for our jogs and headed to the market. You could find all kinds of "interesting" foods. Each tent had its own specialty: buckets of olive salads, special cheeses, crepes, arts, clothes, pastries, breads, sausages, etc.

At the end of the market

One of the tents with bowls full of different kinds of olives

Just needs a pipe

I have seen hydrangeas while jogging - so beautiful

Bags of garlic. Who would use that much garlic so quickly? me

The most interesting tomatoes I have ever seen!

Sausage station

When we walked by Friday, we saw a burger station with a few different choices: kangaroo, ostrich, venison and wild boar. We were told those were the best, so of course we had to try one. We asked for kangaroo and ostrich but because we were so late, we could only get wild boar and ostrich. We decided we would each eat half and then switch. I started with the ostrich and put zero extra toppings and sauces on it. I wanted to be able to taste the flavor (my family is probably wondering who this person is right now - maybe Ive grown up some?). Luke on the other hand added ketchup and mayo to his wild boar burger. When we switched, we both agreed that we liked our original burger best, so we switched back and I got to finish my ostrich!

Left: Ostrich
Right: Wild Boar

Ever since I arrived in Aberdeen, I have been craving some sweets. Im assuming it is because we dont have a whole lot of food in our flat and we definitely have nothing sweet. Therefore, I havent been getting that teeny bit of sugar after my meals everyday... a cookie is all I need. So at the start of the market, I saw a stand with a large variety or nuts and dried fruits. It caught my eye immediately. When we got to the end and had seen everything, it meant it was time to go back and fill up a bag with nuts and dried fruit to satisfy my sweet tooth. Well, that didnt happen. I got distracted by a stand that had about 40 bins with different kinds of chocolates. Any chocolate fiend would go crazy here and easily spend 20GBP, so thankfully I am not one of those. I did however pick out 8 kinds and got two of each (because I know Luke will try to eat them also). Okay, that sounds like a lot of chocolate, but it really wasnt! Well, my favorite one was the coffee and cream!

A flower garden at the end of the market was lined with this fence.

We walked around the city for a bit - yes, we are still exploring and we are nowhere near finished. We stumbled upon the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It is called Marischal College.

We also stumbled upon an area that would be perfect for watching football games... the real football... LSU, Coogs, and Saints. Do you think we can convince them? Maybe we can bribe them with beer and scotch.

** 6 August **

Since we arrived in Aberdeen, we have kept the windows opens all day and night. It has only been a major problem once when it rained pretty hard and our Sony ipod music player almost got wet. Usually the rain doesnt get into the house because it rarely down pours! Quick note that is off topic: I am not sure if I have already explained this or not, but the bird of the city is the seagull. They are massive... like the size of ducks or even cranes and they leave their feathers everywhere. At night, they turn into monsters or zombies or something insane. They are extremely loud, and one time I was woken up by the sound of squealing dogs, but no, it was the zombie sea gulls. I have gotten fairly used to it, but given that I am a light sleeper and didnt take to kindly to the movie I AM LEGEND, they still freak me out every once in a while. Well last night, our windows were of course open and there was a down pour of rain. I have never heard thunder or seen lightning since I have been here, so this was definitely a rain storm. So I was woken up by that since I was nervous the open windows would be be a problem and get things wet. Then it finally stopped raining and I fell into a nice sleep. That did not last long because the zombie sea gulls came out with force. Ugh... I need a shot gun, I mean earplugs. So the point of my story is that I was in a HORRIBLE mood to see my hubby off to work this morning. And zombies exist.

I cheered up later on that day after doing a 3mi uphill jog around town and dodging vehicles in the round-abouts (literally, almost got hit twice). Laine, who really has been the BIGGEST help in helping us settle and learn our way around town, picked me up to go to Costco and Tesco (one of the large grocery stores). Both of these stores are in a suburb called Westhill which is about 7mi outside of Aberdeen. Funny, huh? I had never been to a Costco previously, but Luke and I would always do a giant Sam's trip every couple of months in Covington. Costco is pretty much the exact same, but since we are in the UK, most of the products are different. I am still limited to the amount of things I can buy since I dont have my debit card yet, so I could not buy as much as I wanted. Laine dropped me off, and I was now on to finding something to do other than iron the pile of clothes in the living room. I skyped with Lauren & Juliana for a while which was super weird! They were at my old school, setting up their classrooms, preparing for the school year, something I would also be doing right now if I had not moved. It was strange to feel a bit sad about it, but I have to think about all of the greatness that has already happened and the greatness that is to come. <Teachers around the world are screaming at my insanity right now for being sad that I am not be preparing for the school year.>

** 7 August **

I slept MUCH better last night thanks to my mother-in-law who gave me the idea to use the sound machine app on my iPad while we sleep. Why did I not think of that before? Well I did, I just didnt actually use it. I bet you can guess which two sounds I did not choose to use? Anyway, I took a new route jogging today in which I experienced a few oopsies along the way, such as using an incorrect sidewalk leaving two feet between me and a very busy road. Ooopsy. And almost running into a man on a disabled scooter. Ooopsy. But I did an extra half mile and I got back before this happened:

And it rained pretty much all day. So I planned my jogging time perfectly today. Bravo to me and a pat on the back.

RANDOM FACT:

The "Royal Mail" man drops off the post as early as 8:30am.

Royal Mail Truck

-Debbie-