FUMAR

Named so because Tom refuses to admit that the word is ‘fulmar’, not ‘fumar’. On to words of the week (American: Scottish)! Ketchup: Tomato sauce. Curb: Kerb. rappelling: abseiling. Out of breath: Out of puff!

And so we realize our blogs are getting further and further apart, but that’s only because we’ve been busier! (Check the links on the right for the pictures if you don’t believe it!) On Thursday, Tom made another friend, he makes at least one each day (we haven’t figured out why). After his class, he was leaving to meet Sandra when all of a sudden, he heard someone yell his name from behind! It was the girl he had met and she chased him down to invite him to a church event, and said Sandra could come too. So we decided to go as long as it fit into the schedule because we had a piping lecture that night and were planning a feast of Chinese proportions! But it ended up working out, and the church event, which was Crescendo, was awesome. It was basically a showcasing of talents, everything from songs to poetry to stand-up. (And Tom went inside of a church without any lightning! )

Oh, and speaking of Piping! We each had our first lessons last week and our second lessons this week! And we are… well.. we’re not really that bad, really. We’re learning. The chanter is weird for both of us, Tom because it’s a foreign object and Sandra because it’s not a clarinet. We both discovered with have issues with overactive saliva glands, and have to dry out our reeds during our practices. They’re little plastic oboe reeds that go inside the instrument. It’s pretty neat. We can both play a (distorted) scale and we’re working on some gracenotes! Because really, bagpipe music is all about the gracenotes. Oh! And Tom’s been assigned to learn “Deck the Halls” this week and Sandra will probably attempt it also.

What else have we done?! Well, besides learning that Chinese food containers make awesome free Tupperware, we’ve explored the greater Glasgow and beyond! Early on Saturday morning, we decided to venture out down the street and across the River Clyde to go to the Glasgow Science Centre. It was a fun walk there and the Science Centre itself was a blast! (Until it was overrun by wee children with inattentive parents.) But it had a lot of neat exhibits and experiments and brain teasers (we successfully completed the 3-D tetris cube!). They also had a game called “Mind Ball” where you used your brain waves to move a ball into the opponent’s goal, the more relaxed you were, the better your chances of moving the ball. It went on for far too long until Tom won, finally. We saw a show called “Fantastic Forces” which was pretty class, and we also visited the Planetarium (which Sandra has never been to), which was awesome and beautiful, and only slightly dizzying. We also had lunch at the Science Centre, which was surprisingly decently priced. They boasted the best hot dogs around, and Tom did end up rating them an 8/10 overall.

Speaking of food, after we left the Science Centre, we took a long walk, looping around the river. We found a lovely restaurant with Tom’s mom’s name in it! Frankie and Benny’s New York Italian Restaurant and Bar! We decided we will return there for lunch someday. It’s funny how you can find little pieces of home even without looking for them. But anyway, we really liked the restaurant, both ordering fantastic calzones. 

After dinner, we had to find our way back to the Science Centre in the dark with no map or directions. We succeeded and we were early to see ”Tron: Legacy” that evening in 3-D on one of the largest IMAX screens in the UK. We also discovered Maltesers. Does anyone know how to say that? They’re fantastic, you all should import some. Okay, so after Tron we walked home by the light of the streetlamps and collapsed into bed. Only then we had to get up the next morning to go on our second adventure of the weekend: St Andrews!

 We left in the early morning, around 8:20 to be exact and made our way to Uni. We then were on a bus by 9 and ready to go. We stopped at some wee town along the way and that was awkward but provided a much-needed toilet break. Two hours later, we arrived at St Andrews! A beautiful wee town right on the North Sea (see pictures in albums). We wandered around at first, looking for the essentials, a toilet and food. Come to find out, in these nice touristy towns they charge you a whole 30 pence to use the toilet! What a rip off. Anywho, after that nice discovery, Tom made a new discovery: Bangers and Mash. Now, we passed a pub with a poster in the window proclaiming that it had “The Best Bangers and Mash in Scotland”. And according to Tom, it was true. Also, a Full English Breakfast, for anyone that’s wondering, is also quite good. So our first pub experience was a success! (And no, we didn’t have alcohol.)

We then explored St Andrews, wandering through the ruins of a castle (it was as awesome as it sounds, check out the photos by clicking the links to the right). We walked up on towers that were still left standing looking out over the sea. We crouched our way through the mine and countermine. We took a ton of pictures and just marveled at the granduer of the castle for a bit before stepping down to the water. The sea was cold and salty, but the beach was beautiful and Sandra got her feet wet, quite on accident. Tom didn’t because he was standing on a rock. Yay for him.

We then ventured to the ruins of the cathedral, which was absolutely massive. We wandered through the biggest cemetary we’d ever seen, noting the names on the tombstones and staring in wonder at the dates, which ranged from 1500 (or earlier) to 2008. We walked around the ruins of the actual cathedral building for awhile, standing atop the remains of columns that were five feet wide. The sheer size of it all was incredible. There isn’t much to top seeing that. So, we finished off our day with a walk out onto a very long pier, a trip to an office store, a bag of lemon curd and oatflake Scottish shortbread cookies, and a long bus ride home.

And now, we have purchased tickets to Loch Ness (Feb 19-20), have a brand new pot and pan (thank you UK ebay), and Tom is lighting yogurt on fire and feeding Sandra “Peanut butter surprise” sandwiches (turns out the surprises is a cookie, yay!). Have a good week people, survive the snow! (And for you eight people who may follow us outside of the NY, enjoy your FL/TX/UK? weather!)

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