Bon Accord Scotland

"Happy to meet, sad to part, happy to meet again"

On March 30, 2012 we expatriated to Aberdeen, Scotland.  In the short 9 months we've been here, we've conquered many things.  I've had the time of my life.  Here's a snapshot of our time in and around Scotland: 

Click here to view this video

To my expat family- even though we fell in love with Aberdeen, your friendships have made it an unbelievably great experience. Thank you for making our first assignment a treasured one. I know we will all end up back in Houston someday, but we hope to see you sooner than that:) 

Bon Accord Bonnie Scotland, you will always hold a special place in our hearts. 

Christmas 2012

We did not have a white Christmas this year (and I cannot believe Dallas did), but the past few days still felt like Christmas with the icy roads and low temperatures.  On Christmas Eve, Jill & Ryan, invited us over for dinner.  Jill set up a photo booth, however, we kept having issues with the lighting and it ended up not working out. But they were pretty serious about making this work:

Debbie is drawing the curtains in and Ryan is about to remove the light

Prom pose! 

After several failed attempts to get perfect lighting, we engaged in a famous Scottish holiday tradition, Christmas Crackers! This tradition began in the 1800's.  A cracker is a colored tube tied at both ends. It usually contains a paper crown, a joke, and a small gift.  The best way to open a cracker is to gather around the table and have each person hold one end of the cracker and both people pull in opposite directions and the contents will pop out. I even brought the tradition to good ole US:

(Skype screenshot)

The ones I bought for this dinner were special because they all contained bingo cards.  So after we ate ate brisket, spicy baked beans, cheese, christmas bark, and much much more, a round of bingo was in order!

This is definitely a tradition that I want to continue no matter where we are in the world. To learn more about crackers, click here.  After an exciting game of bingo (which Laine won of course and Ram ended up being last lol), we played a not-so-friendly game of UNO. Funny how everyone's competitive spirit comes out instantly when you play a game that involves any sort of strategery (Jon won and I was second, Ram didn't even get points on the board, embarrassing).

On Christmas Day, we went to Falene's house for another night of great food and games.  We played taboo (girls won, woohoo), and the noun and verb game which was reenacted to the crowd in the form of charades.  These pictures don't do it justice but needless to say I'm still laughing...

All in all, we had a fun Christmas experience away from home.  Though we missed our families, we were in good company in the 'Deen:)

Seven Bridges

Thursday was meant to be the last official hike for the year with my explorers group.  But under the threat of snow/ice, it was cancelled.  The girls and I were pretty bummed out, so we decided to wait out the weather and by 10am, the roads were in decent shape, so off we went! We drove down to Ballater, a cute town about 30-45 minutes away from Aberdeen. The hike was along the River Dee and Glen Muick.  We came across sun-kissed views of the mountains, the country, bridges and the river. Just another day in Scotland.

Halfway through the hike, we took a small detour to see Knock Castle. A 16th century Castle sitting in the middle of the country. Just another day in Scotland.

Onions and radishes in a patch near the Castle

The hike would not be complete without coo sightings. I've never seen so many coos hanging out together, I even saw a baby coo just chilling in the country. Just another day in Scotland. 

After a 7.5 mile hike  we decided to reward ourselves with a cup of hot chocolate.  The infamous Chocolate Shop in Banchory gives new meaning to hot chocolate.  They coat the glass with chocolate, pour hot milk into the glass, and then top it off with a disc of chocolate that melts in seconds. Just another day in Scotland.