Edinburgh Castle

Life has been pretty busy for us here in the UK, and so we have lots to update you with! The weather is now much colder here, as we are sure it is back home as well. Last I heard, there was a snowstorm in Ontario last week! The temperature here has been hovering around 4 degrees or so, getting a bit warmer when the sun is out, and rainy as usual. Although not as cold as back home, it is still cold for us, because we've been acclimatized to this weather. But the weather channel is calling for sun all week, so that should be great for us!

First off, Rob started his placement last week on Monday, and had a very busy week. He is starting to realize that teaching isn't simple work. He taught a swimming lesson, gymnastic lesson and basketball. Although he was really busy, he loves it. He's also had great reviews from his teachers, who think that his lessons were a great starting point. He'll come home every night and do lesson plans, and work on them all weekend as well, but he says that he's really enjoying the challenge of teaching.

As for me, I'm in the third week of my new job, and it's going quite well. It's not the most amazing and fulfilling job, but it works for me. I rotate on a weekly basis between being on switchboard to being at the front reception. My uniform is like a flight attendants-knee length black skirt, pinstripe blouse, black jacket, coloured scarf, hair worn in a tight bun, natural makeup, and high court heeled shoes. Very posh...lol. It's great to come home at night and change into my sweatpants though. The job pays a little bit more money than my last job, but still not enough to completely support us here, but there are tons of opportunities for overtime, which I am taking lots of. This month I have signed up for 30 hours of overtime, so I'll be a busy girl!

As far as sight seeing, a couple of weekends ago, Rob and I finally got to go see Edinburgh Castle!! The Castle, like the other couple that we have seen, is actually made up of numerous different buildings in the same enclosed area. There is the dining hall, the church, the royal apartments, the servants quarters, and the building which now houses the gems of Scotland (the Crown and scepter. The gems were actually buried in the dungeons of the Castle for a hundred years to protect them from the English, and then again during the Second World War to protect them from the Nazis. I thought that this was a neat little piece of history. The Castle was quite beautiful, but to be honest, it didn't quite live up to our expectations of grandeur. The royal apartments were quite small, although stunning, as was the tiny chapel on site. The Crown and scepter were stunning as well, but the line that we stood in to see them took about 45 minutes, and they weren't as amazing as we'd hoped, although they definitely were worth seeing. The part that I liked most about the castle was that it did actually look and feel, for the most part, like a medieval castle. I could picture the royal court, Queen Mary in the apartments, and the fabulous parties that must have gone on at it. However, I do look forward to seeing the Palace of Holyrood because it is apparently more amazing than the Castle. We'll see though!

We haven't done much else, although next weekend we will be going to watch Scotland play New Zealand at the Murrayfield rugby stadium. That should be a great game...although cold. The weekend after that, Ian and Maria (friends of Pat and Mike's) will be coming up to visit with us from Durham, and then the following weekend, Rob and I will be DRIVING up to Aberdeen (about a 3 hour drive) to watch Scotland vs. Canada. We're excited about that, but nervous as well. We figure once we get on the motorway we'll be fine, but the driving in Edinburgh will be ridiculous....not only do we have to drive on the other side of the road and the other side of the car, but all the drivers are crazy and the roads all seem to be one way. But it will definitely be an adventure.

There is also a considerable amount of hype about soccer (football they call it here). I didn't understand it so I asked one of my co-workers about it, and I'll do my best to explain it....because I think it's crazy!!! In Glasgow, the two teams that always seem to compete for the top position are the Rangers and the Celtics. In Edinburgh, the teams are the Hibernians and the Hearts. The rivalry between these teams is insane. For example, as a fan, if you were to go to a Rangers game (their colour is blue) wearing anything green (the Celtic colour), it is very likely that you could get stabbed. The fans sit on opposite sides of the stadium, and they are separated by police in riot uniform. The roads around the stadium are filled with police with shields, and upon horses. The two teams hate each other. Apparently the rivalry started a long time ago because the Celtics are a Catholic team, and the Rangers are a Protestant team. What was a religious feud between the team, has now become both a religious feud (just passed on down through the generations) and just regular team rivalry. My co-worker told me that at the finals last year, when the Celtics won....Rangers fans (grown men mind you...because children are very rarely taken to these events because of the danger involved) were sobbing!!! People here take soccer very seriously. I thought that this was amazing. Although it would be neat to go to a game and see what the hype is all about, the tickets are almost impossible to get, and are also very expensive. Every single game the Rangers have at their stadium (that seats 80,000) is sold out! Pretty incredible.

Well that's about it for us...not much else is new. Would be great to hear from some of you! Drop us an email!

Lots of love,

Rob and Sarah