Let it Snow!

Snow, Snow, Snow! It started snowing here on Wednesday and is forecasted to last the rest of the week with the lows in the upper 20's F and highs in the mid 30's F. We've never lived in a cold place place before so this is a whole new experience for us. I'm really enjoying it, although I know it's going to get old really fast. At least I have a wonderful husband to take care of the car situation for me. Since the snow started, every day after work, Gerald has to scrape the snow/ice from the windshields. While he's doing this, I sit in the car with my heated seats on...I turn his heated seats on too. We've also had to shovel our driveway a view times..eeks. Driving in the snow hasn't been too bad, that's because Gerald's been driving...I felt the car slip a couple of times and almost freaked out, but he has it under control (I think). Thank goodness for 4 wheel drive.

gerald at work

On Thanksgiving morning, the snow was coming down pretty hard and I was worried about driving out to Maryculter House for our dinner with the AWA. It's only 8 miles from Aberdeen, but with the dark, single lane country roads, it might be an adventure. Luckily another member offered to take us, since they're more experienced than us. Anyhow, we got there and back safely and spent our first Thanksgiving away from home. As most of you have seen on my Facebook, we had a White Thanksgiving and it was lovely!

Thanksgiving dinner @ Maryculter House

Friday morning, Gerald and I went to Edinburgh for the day on the train. I was expecting similar weather in Edinburgh but it was actually really nice! Freezing cold, but no snow or rain, just pretty blue skies and sunshine. The train ride there was interesting. We started off seeing loads of snow covered fields and hills and then it gradually changed to green pastures. I wish I could have taken better photos, but my window was really dirty.

heading to Edinburgh

We spent the entire day in Edinburgh shopping and visiting the Christmas markets. I LOVE market food and we had some yummy ones. I tried mulled cherry beer and did not like it; tasted like cough syrup. We did enjoy a nice cold lager, german potatoes and pork steak sandwich. The Germans sure do love their pork! Before heading back home on the train, we grabbed a drink at the Balmoral Bar. This is where Gerald had his fruity cocktail while I enjoyed a nice cold Chimay Blue! We also had a few mini bottles of wine on the train ride home. I love day trips on the train.

german goodies

being silly on the train

Today, we're off to see our first Rugby match with Scotland taking on Samoa. I'm not sure how this is going to work; sitting in the freezing cold for a few hours, but I'm sure it will be fun! I'm definitely bundling up in my snow gear. Maybe a few shots of whiskey wouldn't be too bad either. Enjoy the weekend friends!

waking up to this on a Saturday morning

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Food is always better with Company

It's Sunday and another week has gone by. Weekdays go by slow and of course, the weekends go by fast! Either way, we have 3 weeks until Houston!! Instead of our typical dinner out on Friday, we spent it at a friend's house, cooking and playing the Wi. And with Gerald taking shots of warm Absolut vodka just for the heck of it..haha. My friend Sevil and I made salmon, crabcakes, cous cous, and spinach salad for dinner. Everything was delicious! Sevil has an 8 year old girl who was born in Houston and 3 year old boy that was born in Aberdeen. The girl enjoys hanging out with me because I'm American. She says she feels comfortable around me...kids, they're quite fun! And they're such quick learners; I taught them a few words in Khmer and Chinese and they said them perfectly! It was fun!

the cooks

the drinkers

chamreapsu

On Saturday we went out to Stonehaven to have lunch with Gerald's supervisor. His supervisor is French and is married to a Scottish woman. I enjoyed spending the day with them and hearing their French and Scottish accents, so lovely! We spent the afternoon eating French raclette, drinking, and playing the Wi. I think it's time for Gerald and me to finally buy a Wi. There are so many fun games and it can entertain guests for hours! The Wi Fit is also great for these cold rainy days. After doing a few exercises on it, I actually got a little sore.

Anyhow, we've been trying to do a bit of shopping here for the Holidays but not having that much luck. On Friday, we're going to take the train to Edinburgh for a day of shopping so hopefully it will be better than Aberdeen.

The cake pops I made last week were sold at the AWA Craft Fair for 1 pound each, with all proceeds going to CLAN. Most people have never heard of cake pops before so I wonder what they thought when they ate it...haha. I also made a batch of Sprinkles Vanilla cupcake and one woman loved it so much, she wanted to order some. I think Sprinkles should open a franchise in Aberdeen. Not just for me, but for the Aberdonians as well. The Scottish love their teas and cakes so I think it would do great! The craft fair was fun and I'm glad I got to participate in it this year.

sweet shop

can't wait to get some real Sprinkles!

Well, that's all I have for now. Congrats to the Longhorns for finally getting a win! I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday with the AWA!

4 weeks until Houston!

We've been in Aberdeen for a little over 3 months now and in 4 weeks, we'll be going back to Houston for a visit! With everything that's been going on since we've arrived, I haven't really felt home sick or anything, but now that I know I'll be going home soon, I'm starting to miss it. Mainly just being at home during the holidays with family and friends. Gerald and I usually make some part of Thanksgiving dinner for both sides of the family so we'll be missing out on that this year. To make up for it, we've decided that we'll have Thanksgiving in December.

The American Women's Association will be hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner on Thanksgiving Day so I'm looking forward to that. Other than that, things here have been pretty chill. Work is going kind of slow for me, but I'm hoping that will change by next year. If not, I might just have to go part time or something...haha. We've been doing lots of dinners and night outs with new friends so it's been nice to finally have people to hang out with. I helped with an American baby shower for a friend here and that was tons of fun. We played the dirtydiaper game and everyone had a blast.

awa happy hour @ dutch mill

lynn & tj's baby shower

Today, I attempted to make Cupcake pops with a friend. Let's just say that candy melts frustrate me sometimes. I can't seem to ever get it to the right consistency. Anyhow, we produced some decent gigantic cupcake pops! They were so big, they couldn't fit into regular size lollipop bags. I had to use bigger treat bags to wrap them....whoops. Either way, Tana and I had fun. I'm going to miss her when she moves to London. Aberdeen is a city where people come and go so I'll just have to expect that. I miss my Cranston girl...hehe. I guess I'll have to make as many friends as possible.

caitlyn's going away @ howies

cupcake pops w/ Tana

We didn't get to watch the Pacquiao fight last night but I heard he did good. From the looks of Margarito's face, it looked like a straight win. I love hearing the after fight interview with Manny. He makes me laugh...haha.

Well, hope everyone is doing well and we'll see you all soon!!

Amsterdam

The joy of living in the UK is that you have somewhat easy access to all the countries in Europe. Gerald and I spent Halloween weekend in Amsterdam. It’s like flying to Vegas for Halloween but only you’re in a different country. And when I say different country, I really mean different country....haha. The main means of transportation in Amsterdam is by bicycle. I saw people with babies strapped across their chest, holding a dog leash, with baskets full of groceries all while on a bike. Maybe not doing it all at one time, but you see what I mean. This will never fly in the States. There were thousands and thousands of bikes all around town; it was an amazing site! Pedestrians do not have the right of way here, bicyclers do! We didn’t want to get caught up in the bicycle frenzy for our first visit so Gerald and I walked pretty much everywhere. The few times we decided to use a Taxi, we got ripped off! Next time we'll definitely be more like the locals and go for a bike ride. Did I mention people ride their bikes to go out at night? Imagine coming home intoxicated on a bicycle. It’s hard enough with a vehicle; I guess the Dutch are very experienced! Okay, enough about the bicycles!

We had 3 full days to explore the city and by the end of day 3, I was exhuasted. We spent Friday night exploring the Red Light District. This was by far the most bizarre experience to me. I won’t go into details; you’ll just have to see it for yourself. Let’s just say sex is very recreational here.

Saturday, we visited the 3 main museums: Anne Frank House, Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum. I especially enjoyed Anne Frank House. Everyone has probably read "The Diary of Anne Frank" as a school kid but to be in the same room that she once sat to write in her diary was pretty touching. I was trying to imagine how she felt and what she did during those times in hiding. And to think she never expressed most of her thoughts to her family; I guess that’s what diaries are for. Otto Frank mentioned that as a parent, and having been close to Anne, a parent will never really know their true child. Even though I don’t have any children, I can totally agree. No matter how close you think you are, you just don’t open up all your feelings to your parents. There’s a part of you that you just want to keep for yourself and it is totally understandable. I left the museum wishing something like this would never happen again in this world.

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On another note, the Rijksmuseum housed a lot of Rembrandt’s paintings and the Van Gogh Museum gave us a chronological look into Van Gogh’s life. Both Gerald and I didn’t know that Van Gogh killed himself so that was news to us. Overall, the museums were great. If you ever decide to go to Amsterdam, make sure you buy all your museum tickets a head of time to avoid the lines. They weren't too bad, but you can definitely save some time.

rijksmuseum

After a busy day of visiting museums, we still found some energy to go out. It was Halloween night and for the most part, we didn’t see very many people dressed up. I guess we were in the touristy parts of town. We decided to spend time at the Holland Casino instead of going to a bar. A few hours of play and we came out even...actually, down 10 Euros due to the Casino entrance fee. No free drinks, and entrance fee to a Casino; we’re definitely not in Vegas!

Since we had a whole day left and have already pretty much seen most of the city; we decided to book a bus tour to the windmill farms and the fishing villages. Here, we visited a cheese factory and a wooden shoe making factory. The weather was kind of crappy but we got to see a different side of the Netherlands away from the very liberal city centre. It was also nice to have a morning of breathing fresh air, if you know what I mean. With all the ‘Coffee shops’ around town, I wouldn’t be surprised if people got high off of second hand. Again, a totally different country!

wooden shoe shop

I’m really enjoying our travels here and getting to see all the different cultures. Also, meeting new people is always fun. I ran into a guy at our hotel that also worked for Chevron and was from Houston; small world but not really. Somehow, one way or another, we’re all connected.

Today is the 6 week countdown to Houston! I can’t wait to see all my favourite people!