Still alive and well (almost).....

I know it's been a few days since we last posted anything. Not to worry....all is well. We are still quite alive and kicking. It's rather hard to get connected to the internet....more so now that we have moved to a new location. The only way to access the internet at the moment is at the internet cafes, which can run a tab of about £1.50 (or $3.00) an hour. It adds up rather quickly.

Anyway, as mentioned earlier, we moved - from Leith to Stockbridge. I know it's quite irrelevant to you (ha ha) but we have been looking forward to this move since we got here. Stockbridge we have discovered is a more upscale area. We can tell by the luxury cars that lined the side walk! We'll be in Stockbridge for about a month (before we have to move again!!) which allows us to unpack, somewhat! We got quite sick and tired of wearing the same few outfits (since we left Pittsburgh) for about 1.5-2 weeks. Not to mention scarfs, hats, gloves and warmer attires were quite a delight to unpack! We have also moved from a tenement style apartment (really old style building) to a newer apartment building with all modern amenities! We are learning the difference! And yes, we are quite spoiled indeed. We both got sick (terrible colds) the last few days as a result of our daily intake of crisp fresh air (from walking, sometimes running when we are late, causing us to get chilled because of wet clothes from sweat and rain) and the inability to get a nice hot shower or to remain warm in the (1st) apartment. It is extremely chilly here and it rains almost everyday. The only good thing is the rain does not last, typically a shower, then the sun will shine immediately after. Very strange. Almost tropical in nature, except for the temperature!

Since we do not have a car, we are on foot everywhere, raking up to almost 5 miles of walking everyday! Which means we have to leave the house with an umbrella and a rain coat everyday. Quite a pain. The biggest risk/danger we face on a daily basis is getting run over by a car/bus! We're just never quite sure which direction cars are coming from, especially when there's a roundabout! Somehow, the direction we look is never the right direction. We almost got run over quite a few times now! Our first landlady, Wendy, thinks we are not going to last for very long without a car, and I have a stinking suspicion she might be right!

We attended St. John's on Princess Street on Sunday for church. Unlike the States, the latter service is the traditional (high church) service while the morning service is the contemporary service. Needless to say, we goofed and turned up for the 11:15a.m. service only to find about a dozen people in attendance in such a huge and beautiful church. We were quite discouraged only to find out later that we actually missed the "bigger" (contemporary) service which starts around 9:00a.m.. We plan to attend the earlier service next week. The message was quite good. The pastor stuck to Scripture....no jokes or stories to fill gaps! :-) Praise God! See pictures...

We spent some time walking around city centre last week before Dylan had to start work on Monday. We visited Old St. Paul (see pictures),

the Royal Mile (didn't quite make it to the Castle, yet),

Princess Street,

and a few other places. We haven't the energy (lots of up hill walking!!!) to hit all the tourists spots since we are also walking around looking for apartments, grocery stores, etc. We figured we'll be here for a while so we'll take our time to soak in all the spots slowly.

I got news yesterday from the headhunter I have been dealing with that he's secured an interview for me with Diageo on Monday - http://www.diageo.com/. They are the world's leading premium drinks producer - beer, wines and spirits. Yum! :-) Nothing better than to work for a premium/leading company in every location/state/country, eh?! Well, I have to get the job first!! Your prayers are much appreciated!! If you have lived in the CT area, and is familiar with the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industry, you might have heard of Diageo. They do have an office in Norwalk, CT.

Tomorrow, we are heading up to St. Andrews! We'll be taking the train (about an hour ride, then a 15 minutes bus ride) to get there. The train ticket cost for two (at a student discounted rate for a return-trip, which means round-trip in American terms) is about £25. This will be Dylan's commute once school starts. We are not quite sure yet how many times a week Dylan needs to be at school. Dylan needs to get registered with St. Andrews, we are hoping to open a bank account with RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) and also to register with NHS (National Health System - UK's free health care system). We need to do that before we get run over by a car and need medical attention!! ha ha ha....ok, sick joke. We've heard that St. Andrews is a beautiful place. Of course, I will be taking pictures. Stay tuned.

Anyway, I think we are both trying to transition from feeling like we are on vacation to really let it sink in that we are here for good - well, for 3 years at least. It's by nature that we want everything to be the same way we are used to....we just have to learn to embrace the change. This whole experience has taught us to really appreciate what we had in the States - a car, a single faucet with warm water (rather than hot & cold water in separate faucet so you either freeze your hand or suffer 3rd degree burn while washing your hands or doing dishes), the luxury of a dryer and dish washer etc.. We don't want you to think that we have landed in some 3rd world country but life is definitely simpler and greener in the UK. They don't generate as much waste in energy and paper goods as we do in the States. Modern apartments do exist but they cost more to let, obviously.

Hello everyone, just stopping in for a moment to say 'hello'. I've just completed one week's teaching at Basil Paterson, and what a week it has been! My students are primarily Saudi Arabian with one Ukrainian thrown in for good measure. The boys are quite wealthy, even beyond most common ideas of wealth. For instance, when trying to teach them about vertical integration today (this is when a business owns other factors of production/distribution/etc), I chose one student's family business (petroleum refining--yes, seriously) in hopes that I could show the students that most companies use shipping companies like UPS or other common carriers to transport their product, I was met with a blank stare when I asked Faisal who his father uses to ship the petroleum...he informed me that his father owns the shipping company as well. Um, so much for a real-life example from the classroom!

Back to Jacqueline....

We have also secured a mobile phone. If you wish to call us, just let me know and I will email you to phone number. For security/privacy reasons, I will not post it here.

Wondering where the pictures are??? Well, for whatever reason, the computers in this internet cafe will not allow me to upload anything from a thumb drive. So until I find another computer (internet cafe) which will allow me to do that, keep checking in! :-)