Loch Kinord and Burn O'Vat

Yesterday, I went on a 4 mile walk/hike. I joined the walkabout group to the Muir of Dinnet, a nature reserve that has a trail around Loch Kinord which leads to Burn O'Vat.  The reserve is about 45 minutes west of Aberdeen.  The drive was scenic.  We passed a few small towns, I guess they would be suburbs of Aberdeen, that were cute.  I need to convince Ram to drive out there so we can golf and then have high tea:)

The term "loch" refers to lakes.  There were some interesting facts I learned about this place.  Loch Kinord and Loch Davan, are a product of the last Ice Age.  When the glaciers melted, the lochs formed in the dents that the glaciers left behind.  This was over 10,000 years ago! The loch trail leads to the Burn O'Vat, a large rock amphitheatre carved out of rock by glacial activity from the last Ice Age.

That Vat is a cauldron-shaped pothole, wide at the base and smaller above.  This is possibly the finest meltwater-carve feature in Britain.  Over centuries, the Vat has been visited by rogues and royalty.  Queen Victoria even managed to scramble inside the Vat.  When we arrived at the Vat, however, the water was so high, I was unable to cross over the rocks to the place where the natural cave-like formation was created.

The entire trail was rocky and muddy but the views were picturesque.  It took us 2.5 hours to make the journey, despite the weather.  It rained constantly and we also encountered a bout of hail (brrr).  But when the rain stopped periodically, out came a bright rainbow.  That was the second one I saw that day. I felt like I was in a movie.

I'm glad I had on my rain jacket but wish I had invested in some water proof pants and shoes! Despite the bad weather, I completed the walk without falling! (Though  by the way my clothes looked afterwards, you wouldn't have been able to tell).  Over here the rain doesn't stop anybody from doing anything.  It's not a reason to stay home.  I'm slowly learning to just embrace the rain and get on with it.  No point in staying home when there's so much to see!

Loch Kinord

Do you see the rainbow? 

                                         

Getting closer to the Burn O'Vat

                                         

Some of us were trying to get through the water inside

                                                 

Played it safe and took a pic near the mouth of the cave-like formation

                                   

New Friends! 

Awesome view from the top

                                       

Behind the wheel

I finally drove yesterday.  I cleared my mind of any negativity, said a prayer, and off we went.  Ram and I decided to make the drive to our new house.  Its a 4 mile drive from our temporary housing. Piece of cake, right? 

A taxi driver once told me that Aberdeen is only 3 miles wide and 4 miles long.  I'm not sure if that statement is accurate but  I would say its Sugar Land^2.  So typically everything in the city is 5-10 minutes away.  

Initially, I was comforted by these facts.  But as I came across one round-a-bout after another, the 8 minute drive felt like an eternity.  The hardest part for me was the fact that the corporate car is big and the roads are not wide.  That coupled with the fact that many people park on the streets here, made the streets feel like they were 2" wide.    

Thankfully the speed limit is only 20-40 km (12-25 mph) here.   So I can drive as slow as I want without feeling guilty.  They do have camera's here though and you only get a limited number of speeding tickets before your license gets suspended.  Yikes.  

Ram was an excellent passenger.  He was very encouraging along the way.  I managed to get us and the car to our destination in one piece.  (Ram claims I hit the curb once, but I don't recall that, so I have my doubts). Unfortunately, I was not a good passenger when Ram took over.  Because the car was so big it felt like he was almost always about the scrape the curb or nick a parked car.  Needless to say, he was quite annoyed with me.  What can I say, he's a better passenger than I! Next week we hope to get a smaller car, finger's crossed. 

I still plan to take driving lessons.  Ram's company has arranged this for us in May.  Hopefully I will have driven a few more times by then.  All I know is the curb better stay outta my way!  

   

The REAL Housewives of Aberdeen

I recently joined the women's ex-pat organization, and I have to say, this is a pretty impressive bunch.  Most of the women have school-aged children and then there are a handful of empty nesters and then 3 younger couples (including us) with no children.  For many of these women, living abroad has become a new way of life. I am on the only one, so far, that is coastal for the first time and/or lived here the least number of days.   Their backgrounds range from accountants, physical therapists, teachers, and lawyers.  All of which they have left behind.  I feel an instant bond with these women. Regardless of age, we are all part of a shared experience. My admiration for them is instantaneous.

The org has numerous activity groups including golf, tennis, and mahjong.  I joined the book club, discover aberdeen, walking/hiking group, craft niche, the happy hour group (no brainer), and culinary caravan.  Culinary caravan is one of the few groups that allow husbands to join and the focus is to try new restaurants on a monthly basis.  I'm thinking about joining the golf group but I like to play for fun, not as a sport, so I'll see how serious they are. There is also a cooking class in need of a new organizer, so I'm thinking about it.  Maybe one of them can teach me how to use the oven.

There is an activity almost every day of the week, which will come in handy especially when Ram is traveling for work. Outside of those activities I plan to finally learn Spanish.  I'm hoping I will know enough to get by when we go to Spain in June:)  Spanish may be the only other language Ram and I have in common; I don't see either of us teaching the other Gujerati and Tamil. Ha! That has disaster written all over it....

Four Seasons

Each day it sinks in a little more that this is really happening, we live in Scotland.  I anticipated a wave of depression to hit me, but I am OK. The people are extremely nice and quite chatty, esp the taxi drivers.  For the most part its easy to understand the locals.  But over the phone, it's harder to catch what they are saying and has been a little frustrating.  I noticed that they don't pronounce the vowels whereas we enunciate ALL of them.  For example, they pronounce Pantene like "Pan-ten." Some of the differences are pretty funny.  It may takes years to be able to adapt their accent. Challenge accepted!

So we move into our new house at the end of April.  It was the second largest house and the best location. The house was built recently and modern, and it's 3-4 bedrooms, so plenty of space for visitors:)  Plus a lot of ex-pats live in the area.  Guess I will be having tea parties after all...

The weather here is very interesting.  Over a 10 minute period it will snow, rain, and then nothing but sun and blue skies.  The cycle repeats several times a day.  Its like four seasons in one day. I never thought it was possible for a city to beat Houston's inconsistent weather! I still get excited when I see snow falling, even though it doesn't stick.  Its consistently been in the 30's and 40's here, so I'm okay with not having to battle snow too.  Good luck to me getting Luca to walk in snow; I just got him used to walking in the rain.  The "summer" weather begins in June and promises to rise to the 50's and 60's. Yipee!

Next on the agenda is to travel within Scotland, see Edinburgh, Glasgow and the country side. There is a 5-7 day train that shows the country views and it takes us along the route used by the Hogwarts Express! It will be so cool to follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter:) We hope to start our travels in May, which is just around the corner.

Stay tuned!

Settling into Domesticity

We officially survived week 1 in Aberdeen!  

This past week has been quite interesting.  We discovered that the grocery stores only sell fresh food that lasts about 2-3 days and you have to bring your own bags (recycle friendly here, I like!).  That combined with the cupboard-sized fridge, stocking up is now a thing of the past! I guess everything IS bigger in Texas.  I don't think Ram will be pleased if I'm cabbing it to the grocery store 2-3 times a week.  Online delivery it is! 

The appliances are so odd here.  I attempted to use the oven since there is no microwave here.  I managed to both burn bread and make luke-warm chicken! Oven-2, Tanvi-0! So much for baking over here! I hope the internet can solve this dilemma for me.  Luckily, we have a washer/dryer in our apartment (no laundromats, phew!).  However, one load takes 3 hours and that was the "time saver cycle." The "normal" cycle can take 6-9 hours! 

You know I'm willing to try anything at least ONCE.  Yet, I'm reluctant to drive here.  I do miss being able to hop in your car, drive on the right side of the road, and know how to reach your destination. But something about these round-a-bouts have me scared shitless!  So for now, I will spare the Aberdeenians and Ram from my inability to tell which lane is the "right" lane.  I'm hoping once Ram gets comfortable with driving, he can be my teacher.  Hmmm.  

We ended our first week by visiting the charming coastal city called Stonehaven.  There lies the Dunnottar Castle, the place where William Wallace fought for his country's independence from England, which was depicted in Brave Heart.  The remains are beautiful.  The view is amazing! Will send pics out soon.  

Alright folks, that's it for now! 

Cheers!