So sorry it has taken me this long to get the blog updated.
I have come to find that when you do not have internet at your house, you use
what little time you do get for only important things. In my case, contacting
my family, and ordering much needed baby items.
Randy and I made the journey over here with no problems what
so ever, which for us seems like a glorious record in our history of travels!
Our first day here was a bit rough for me. We arrived to our darling new home
by taxi, and I immediately wanted to take a nap, while Randy, in true form,
wanted to go explore every inch of Scotland then and there! Of course, if you
have ever had a 16+ hour travel day, you know how tired you can be. Simply add
in jet lag and being pregnant to that travel day, and you have a lethal
concoction designed to create the most perfect (and most desired) sleep. So
with a little bit of begging, Randy let me crash on our horribly uncomfortable
bed, while he took off to discover our new home.
When I woke up… or
was it when I was woken up by Randy? Either way, we took the time for Randy to
go show me some of his newest discoveries. It didn’t take long for me to see
how beautiful St. Andrews is. Flowers of all sorts and kinds thriving not only
in yards, but on roof tops of ancient structures, and in stone walls on the
side of the road. Along with these flowers you could find cobbled streets,
medieval ruins precariously perched over the ocean, gulls calling to one
another, a man playing bagpipes in the church square. Randy led me on our walk
down an adorable walking street called the Lade Braes to a park, Cockshaugh.
The park is made up of a few gentle hills, a long soccer field with a
playground at one end, a dark but beautiful forest, and the burn (the Scottish
term for a creek/stream). The burn, which actually flows quite near to our
home, is crystal clear on most days, and home to ducks, herons, and my personal
favorite bird, dippers.
In our month here, we have found many more beautiful places,
and yet there is still so much more to explore. However, I have also come to
find that while I seem to double in size every week, I am growing very tired. I
am very happy that we live in a place where we depend so strongly on walking
everywhere. It has given me assurance that I will have the endurance to get
through the birth of our child, and ability to recover quickly afterwards. Yet,
it is getting more and more difficult to climb the steep hill into town every
day! Not to mention my maternity clothes are becoming a bit small for my now
beyond-basket-ball figure.
