"I'm More Fit Than A Butcher's Dog"

Hello All,

    I want to first set the scene of what I'm doing at this very moment:

I've just moved to the den to get away from the bowl of cookie dough in the kitchen. Raymond and I are making sugar cookies and I have no self control whatsoever. Raymond is upstairs working on school stuff (cough *nerd* cough) and I'm jamming out to Shane & Shane The one you need. I bought this CD last night thanks to an iTunes gift card. Thank you Carolyn and Scott Morehouse!!

    Now that we have that out of the way...

This post will be about my hysterical Job, Receptionist at the University of St. Andrews Sports Centre. Let me first start out by saying God is Great. He is the only reason I got this job. My co-workers have described me as "lucky" because getting a University job is almost unheard of unless you know someone. I knew no one. If you want to know the long story about how I got this job let me know. It's truly a God intervention story. Starting with I didn't even apply.

      Vocab:
 1. Field - Pitch
 2. Cleats - Boots
 3. Why? - How?

Out of the entire staff there are only two Americans, myself included. I'm the only American that is not a student. This makes for some hysterical  conversations. Let's start with me telling you about Willy, the head grounds keeper. Willy is from Fife and has a thick accent. I find it hysterical because I can not understand one word he says.  I dread it when I answer the phone and it's Willy. I know it's going to take a long time to decipher what he is saying. I tell him constantly that I have no idea what he is saying. When we finally figured each other out I'm laughing hysterically and he tells everyone he has to use his "posh" voice with me. I feel like Willy and I need to come up with some sort of code.

The people that work at the front desk and up stairs are also very entertaining. I have so much fun singing with Gillian and teaching her how to speak "southern". Iain just likes to dance (goofy dance) to whatever is on the radio and talk about his delicate woman hands (don't ask). He's fun.  Joyce tries to teach me how to speak Scottish but it's not sticking. I get made fun of almost everyday for saying y'all. I can't stop saying y'all. It's been in my vocabulary way too long. I promise I'm going to have them saying y'all in no time. I still can't speak in a Scottish accent unless it's a line from Shriek.

Locked IN:

One thing that happens constantly is people locking each other into closets. If the person is smart enough to carry their phone with them they call me and I decide if they should be let out or not. (usually I let them out) The favorite is locking people in the boiler/laundry room. Its loud, hot, and people are easily trapped in. I always carry a key in with me. I will not be fooled. (well I have not been fooled yet)

BLOOD:

Sports Injuries happen, and I'm there to be weirdly interested/grossed out by them. Grossest things I've seen:

1. Eyeball bleeding - basketball
2. Ear/head bleeding A LOT- rugby. This was really disturbing b/c the guy kept fainting
3. Teeth knocked out- this happens a lot.
4. Black eyes- happens all the time in boxing

Annoying:

I get hit on by students. I let them know that I'm way older than them and married. It was flattering at first, now it's just annoying. One poor kid hit on me and then pretended to make a business call. Something about 50 million barrels? He kept looking up at me to see if I was listening and I kept giggling at his efforts to impress. He keeps asking when I work and hangs around reception. That poor kid.

Pictures of the Sports Centre

The equipment is amazing the facility is outdated and in desperate need of a face lift.

Dundee United is the football team that train at our facilities. Everyone there knows I'm hopeless when it comes to knowing about any european sport. I know nothing about: Netball, Korfball, Cricket, or Rugby to name a few, but I'm learning!

tootles

MB

Family, Friends, and Adventure

It has been a fully loaded amazing week. My mom and her best friend Marilyn came to visit. We had a total blast!

(Marilyn and Beth/MOM at the Cathedral)

One thing awesome about their visit is they brought 4 bags full of my stuff! YES! My shoes have arrived. Thank goodness! 

(This is me carrying two military duffel bags and a rolling suitcase.  The bag on the front was my bag-o-shoes.)

The taxi driver told us he had never seen anyone carry so much luggage and that I had to be slightly crazy. Yes this is true cabby, no need to point it out. 

We spend that first day walking around St. Andrews seeing the sites. I wouldn't let either of them sleep because that is a sure fire way to get crazy jet lag. So I bullied them the entire day. Poking was involved. I'm pretty sure Marilyn fell asleep sitting up at one point. The technique worked and they slept a full night and were not jet lagged the entire trip! Amazing!

Raymond did this to me as well. I think I was more of a spoiled sport than Mom or Marilyn. I begged and pleaded with him to let me take a nap. He was strong, and I am thankful because I didn't get one bit of jet lag either.

(Edinburgh Castle)

The next day we went to Edinburgh to see the sites! This was Marilyn's first trip to Europe so it was exciting to show her around. Everything just looks so different. Raymond was able to move some things around and joined us on our trip. 

We did some tourist shopping, walked around Old Town, walked up and down the Royal Mile, and visited John Knox's house. It was also a blast to show Mom and Marilyn where we ate and stayed on our last trip to Edinburgh in February 2011. They were especially interested in the Hostel, where we shared a room with several other individuals. 

Another great part of this past week was the visit of my cousin Annie! Annie lives in Edinburgh and came over on Sunday morning to see all of us. She's so great. It is crazy that we live just an hour away from each other. I'm excited to get to know her more and have some real family time. 

All in all this has been an exciting family filled week. I thank God for giving such an amazing life.

Guess what? We moved to Scotland!

If you happen to miss the past 6 months of me blasting the news over every social media outlet, we moved to Scotland.

Say What? SHOCK!

Why'd you do that?

How long will you be there?

Are you going to have babies?

Are you okay with moving to the U.K.?

Answers:

1. Raymond got accepted into the University of St. Andrews.

2. We are not sure how long we will be here. The MLitt program he's in right now is only a year long course, however he plans to go straight into his PhD. 3-4 yrs.

3. Probly- someday, Lord willing

4. It was totally my idea.

Fast forward 6 months and 3 weeks:

We now live in St. Andrews, well not technically IN St. Andrews. We dwell in a small town 4 miles outside of St. Andrews called Guardbridge. We get back and forth on a motorbike, much to my parents distress, that only goes around 50 mph with the wind at our back. It's great fun.

A few things that I didn't know about Scotland and the U.K. in general:

1. There are so many freakin' spiders. I mean, everywhere. My massive phobia is slowly turning into an annoyance. This thrills Raymond because now I don't freak him out every time I see one. Instead of screaming and running away calling for Raymond to dispose of the spider, I can do it myself! (If the spider is larger than my thumb nail all bets are off. The screaming and running will continue)

2. The refrigerators are TINY compared to the standard U.S. This just means buying less food and making more trips to the store. This is not such a bad thing because we have to carry all our food on the motorbike. We realized this after buying a lot of food at the grocery store and trying to shove it all into the saddle bags. Picture me carrying big bags of food on each arm while having some stuff shoved between us on the bike. Let's just say we got some stares on the way home.

3. They almost never use their dyers, which are also tiny. Everyone hangs their clothes out on the line to dry. I love it. The clothes smell sooo good after they are dry and I feel like Suzy homemaker, which doesn't happen very often.

4. If you say pants they think you are talking about your underwear. Yes this is true. I had an entire conversation with my boss about my work pants. He was very embarrassed and I was clueless. Now I know. I'm glad he still hired me.


5. Showers: The showers here only have this tiny retractable half wall thing. Needless to say water goes everywhere. I miss my shower curtain.


This list could go on for a while so I'll stop there. 






Scotland is BEAUTIFUL

I've lived here for three weeks and I still have to pinch myself. Raymond and I keep saying to each other, "We actually live here!" Walking around town with all this old architecture, Cathedral/Castle ruins and cute little store fronts is like living in a fairy tale. One of my first days here Raymond took me to some abbey ruins. It was in the middle of no where and absolutely beautiful. (picture above) I saw this mound of grass with a doorway and it reminded me of a hobbit house. Raymond snapped this picture when I was running to investigate. I did not find Bilbo but I'm convinced he was around there somewhere.


We have had a week of perfect weather. Sunny high 60's low 70's with a slight breeze that brings in that fresh sea air. It was beautiful. Everyone was saying this is not normal and do not get use to this weather. Well reality has set in and yesterday was cold, windy and rainy. Looks like it's nothing but cold from here on out folks but don't worry layers are my friends and I will survive this. 


We have already made some great friends in and out of St. Mary's divinity school. There are great people here and we are excited about the our new friendships. Especially with Garrick and Andrea Allen hailing from Seattle.


We have found and amazing church that we love called Trinity. The church is beautiful and is where John Knox preached and caused the people to tear down the cathedral. History is everywhere, which makes this history major a very happy girl. 


I miss my Family, Friends and Foxy.

(my last picture I took with Foxy the night before I left)


Look now you are ALL caught up! 

Pics of Us

About Us

Who are these two crazy kids? 

We love life!

Raymond 

From Redlands, CA and Moved to Charlotte, NC to attend Seminary. Artist, Smarty pants, funny man, sleep walk/talker and Husband to Mary Blake!

Mary Blake

From Charlotte, NC and lived there all her life until the recent move. Musician, goofball, southern, and Wife to Raymond!

Us

We met in the Spring of '08 at CharlotteONE, a city wide young adult ministry in Charlotte, NC. Raymond was in Seminary and I was in school at UNCC. We started dating in November '08, dated for 8 months and got engaged. We were married May 15, 2010. The Nerd and the Dork united at last.

We moved to St. Andrews Scotland in September 2011 for Raymond to attend the University of St. Andrews. 

This Blog is the Chronicles of our lives.