Christmas Term: Part 1

I really can't believe it but five months have passed since I first came to Scotland and we are now at the end of our second term here at the school. This term went by so quickly I couldn't even remember what we did until I looked back at the photos. It has been a very eventful term I must say, full of festivals, trips with the class, weekend adventures, changes in the house and so much more. Here are just a few of the photos from this term.

Halloween. Stefan getting dressed in Sycamore. We all wore these white nightgowns and I'm not quite sure what we were supposed to be....something dead I guess.
Belvidere had a Star Wars theme. I don't know Star Wars well enough to remember who he is meant to be but this is one of the Belvidere boys all dressed up.
Gerusa as Yoda.
Again I don't know the movies well enough but here's Jens all dressed up trying to look intimidating.
Priory's theme was vegetables, Esther was a carrot. It was pretty cute to see them all together in their vegetable costumes.
Veit as a ghosty, dead something.
My youngest boy and I, cutin' up the dance floor.
David as Dracula I think, and Simeon as some Star Wars character.
The dohnut game.
Remember, remember the 5th of November! Well, maybe only if you are Scottish. This is Guy Fawkes Day when everyone celebrates with bonfires and fireworks. My oldest boy and I got to go along with the Belvidere boys to Perth to see the HUGE bonfire there and the fireworks show. As we drove on the motorway you could look out in any direction over the fields and see bonfires everywhere. It is really a major celebration here, it was quite fun to see.


Taco night. If you don't know already we are often cooking together here and one night we made tacos. Very popular. There's Simeon cooking the meat.
Stefan and Gerusa grating some cheese. Very important.Everyone in the kitchen. Simeon looking very intensely at the meat.

The spread.
We had everything. Including the refried beans which was something that caused a lot of suspicion. Inspite of how they look and smell most everyone tried the beans and liked them. Class outing to St. Mary's Walk. This is my boy from class who is a bit camera shy. As soon as I took out the camera he was trying to avoid having his photo taken.

This is where we were walking.That is the rest of the walking group. Another group from the class was cycling the trail instead of walking. We drove out to this trail on more than a few occasions. Mostly with a cycling group and a walking group. I did have the chance to be a part of the cycling group once, and on our last trip out there everyone was meant to cycle but I was unable. Unfortunately, it was planned for me to ride tandem with one of the girls but Boris didn't consider that I may be too short for the bike. Sadly my short legs and I had to walk the trail that day as well.

A Very Scottish Thanksgiving

When I realized that I would be missing Thanksgiving at home this year, I was so disappointed. I wouldn't be driving to Olympia. No Turkey. None of my mother's delicious pumpkin pie or Aunt Tami's caramel brownies. No pickled herring and following discussion about how I hate pickled herring. No driving the tractor or watching movies. No family.

Well, nothing could compare with being at home but somewhere out of my disappointment came the idea of making Thanksgiving here. To my surprise everyone jumped on board this plan. Before I knew it I had 25 people coming! Nearly everyone who works in Ochil Tower.

We actually had quite the spread. I spent at least a week worrying about the food, would we have enough or too much, and how much could I reasonably expect to prepare, and who was going to help, and who would follow through with bringing something. In the end I had so many people helping me in the kitchen that we added soup, and mashed potatoes to the menu. I know, I know, how could I think of having Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? Well, they were on the menu until the day before when someone else asked if they could bring potatoes, since I was beginning to question how many were actually coming to help cook, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get everything done, I thought I would share out the potatoes. I also gave away the task of making the pumpkin pie because one of the girls here wanted to make it and I was told that her pumpkin pie was really good. I'll just say that it wasn't as good as Mom's (I think I have to make pumpkin pie this weekend). Also not as good as Mom's, the advice about the turkey. I was told that if I wanted to cook the turkey on Saturday then I wouldn't have to buy it before Friday. Actually I was told not to buy it before Friday because it was unhygienic to allow meat to defrost for longer than 24 hours, and there was no way that it would take longer than that to defrost a turkey. When I bought the turkey the label even advised longer than 24 hours (as did my mother). That left Esther and I moving turkeys Friday night from Sycamore to Belvedire where we gave the turkeys a warm bath in the sink to defrost before putting them in the fridge for the night. It was quite the adventure not only cooking my first Thanksgiving meal but also cooking such a meal for 25 people! It was a Thanksgiving to remember though.

On the menu:
Mushroom Soup
Turkey (actually two turkeys)
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Spinach, Cranberry, Walnut Salad
Corn on the cob
Apple-Cranberry Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Cake
Brownies
Fruit Salad

The turkeys!!
Simeon and I stuffing the turkeys.
Look Ma, I'm stuffed!!
Annie, preparing the sweet potatoes.
Annie and Esther making the sweet potato dish.

Veit cooking the cranberries.
Aren't they gorgeous?
Those birds are a cookin'.
Time for basting.
It's the sweet potatoes' turn in the oven. I don't know if you can tell but some of the marshmallows on top are pink. Apparently in Scotland you can't buy a package of plain white marshmallows, you can only find white and pink together. Go figure.
Kirsten is busy making brownies.
Everyone working away. Esther is folding napkins with Veit (you can see him below) while Annie is preparing mushroom soup, Carolin is helping make pie and Kirsten is finishing those brownies.

Washing and peeling the potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes.
Jens and David. Still washing and peeling potatoes. Don't they look like they are enjoying themselves?
The potatoes are finally ready to cook. I don't know if you can tell how big that pot is or how many potatoes are in there but we cooked a LOT of potatoes.
Cheers!!
Apple-Cranberry Pie. Making it look pretty.
Busy busy.Carolin and Annie.

Our beautiful table.

Annie is serving her delicious mushroom soup.
Gerusa and Carolin are carving the turkey and serving us all.Yumm!! (I can't figure out why it is sideways.)

Enjoying our meal (this is only part of the table).
Singing Christmas carols. It is very much Christmas here already and well, I'm still not sure exactly how it happened but we ended up singing Christmas carols on Thanksgiving. Like I said, it was a very Scottish Thanksgiving.
The desert table.
Anne, Annie, Carolin and David.

Singing Ding Dong Merrily On High (and struggling with the glorias)


The Germans led by Simeon singing (sort of) a German Christmas carol.



And so there you have it, a very Scottish Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Part 3 The Rescue

This photo is actually from Day 2. I had to include it even though it is out of order now because you can see the trail we took, winding down the mountain. If you look carefully just to the left of center you can see Gerusa walking on the trail. You can also see the other mountain which we climbed up before realizing it was the wrong way.

The Three Kings Hiker's Restaurant. Jens, myself and David.
Valerie and Simeon.
Mmmm, delicious.
Waking up to the rain. Day 3.



Rain, rain and more rain. After a few hours of Scottish rain me and everything in my rucksack was soaked. Still walking. Still raining.
Jens and I bringing up the rear.....as usual.
"We're so excited!!" You could say that this was our mantra for the trip. We kept saying it in an attempt to make it true. In this picture I am holding my trousers up because I am so wet underneath my rain trousers that my jeans were falling down.
Gerusa, David and Simeon taking a break. Jens and I could see them from way down the road taking their break. They took their break and finished before we were even close. By the time we reached this spot we didn't dare stop for a break. Sitting at this point was dangerous.

Eating another proper meal in the fancy hotel restaurant in Bridge of Orchy. This was where we assessed the many blisters on Valerie's feet and Esther's sprained ankle and the decision was made that they absolutely could not and should not continue. It was then decided that since we were a group we should all finish here at Bridge of Orchy. There were no complaints about that. A couple people from the school had offered to come and pick us up should we have the need and so while waiting for Cameron to rescue us we enjoyed a meal and a few hot, and cold drinks. Sitting there I really realized how tired and sore and wet I was. I started shivering while we sat there and eventually had to find the driest pieces of clothing in my bag to change into.
On the one hand it would have been nice to keep walking but I think it was best that we stayed together as a group and really, we enjoyed ourselves up to this point but we were in holiday mode, just wanting to take it easy, and it was good that we ended the trip here on a positive note.

Yumm, the soup was so good.Woohoo! Cameron is here! When we saw him pull up outside we really jumped out of our seats so fast with excitement. I didn't know that I could move so quickly and fluidly at that point, I was really so sore.
Gerusa, Jens, Esther, David, Me, Valerie and Simeon.
"Yeah! We hiked the West Highland Way! Even if it was only for three days."
And so, three days later our trip ends. Cameron drove us home in the school minibus. I arrived at Sycamore hoping that no one was awake so that I wouldn't have to answer the "oh, you're back so soon" question. As I approached the house it looked dark but when I reached the top of the stairs I saw the lights. Nico was home. Not only that but his door was open. I paused at the door to the hallway, got my key ready and prepared myself to walk quickly past his open door, unlock mine and slip in un-noticed. It didn't work. I didn't even reach my door before I heard it. "Oh you're back." He said.
"Yeah."
"Why so soon?"
I explained.
Laughter.
"Well, I bet Kirsten that you guys would be home as soon as the weather turned."

As it turned out he wasn't the only one who didn't think we would make it and wasn't surprised to see us.

And that's the West Highland Way.