Come Dine With Me

Picture it...Elise and I have traveled all day and finally make our way to our Glasgow hotel on our journey to the rest of Scotland. After settling in, I realize I'm pretty hungry. I am flipping through the channels on our TV (the first TV I've watched since being in the UK) and I stop at one channel that looks similar to the Food Network. I was intrigued...and hungry so I continued watching the unknown show. I really thought it was a British cooking show, but turns out I was only half right. 

It was Come Dine With Me.

Little did I know what I was getting into.

This show has a basic premise. I'll just take it from IMDB to save time. "A group of five strangers, each an amateur chef, compete to host the best dinner party, each party solely for the competitors and to be held on consecutive evenings. Each host's menu must consist of at least a starter, a main and a dessert. At the end of each party, each guest rates the party on a scale of one to ten. At the end of the last party, the competitors find out who wins and the winner receives £1,000. By the end of the last party, each competitor gets to know their fellow competitors a little better. Some may become friends for life, while others wish they had never met."

Yeah, so it was more than a little addicting. A lot of times, each dinner party (of the 5) are half hour episodes. So to see what happens, you have to watch 5 episodes! They know how to get you. We watched a few that night in Glasgow.

We didn't have a TV for awhile after that, but in the next hostel that had TV, what did we find? Come Dine With Me. And after that we found that it's on ALL THE TIME. It was crazy. I probably watched 40 episodes on this trip. Okay that's an exaggeration. Maybe 20. 

There are also celebrity versions of this show, which is funny to watch because the celebrities there mean nothing to me.

I learned from this show that "pudding" as I knew it, is not pudding.

I learned that a lot of people are crazy on this show. Some episodes had normal behaving people. And then some had insane people trying to cause fights with the competitors. 

I'm glad it comes on a channel I do not get back home because I would probably end up watching it too much.

Round and round we go.

Even though I'm not "Bethany in Scotland" anymore, I still have some thoughts about some things that I would like to share. A lot of times in previous posts, I didn't have time to go into detail about certain people, events, or whatever so if I think of things, I'll just continue on this blog.


The United Kingdom might take a bit to get used to when it comes to driving and dealing with traffic. Most everyone knows about the difference in driving on the left side of the road instead of the right. But there's more than just that.

Roundabouts. 

They are everywhere. 


Seriously.


It does cut down on the stop and go aspect of traffic lights and getting that dreaded red light, so that's a plus. It's probably way less expensive than traffic lights as well. It seems like they have figured things out when roads meet. 


The signs for upcoming roundabouts were sometimes confusing. I saw so many of these.

Ignore the place names. I couldn't find one I took so I got this somewhere online.

Another thing I noticed was in the traffic lights. There is the typical red, yellow, and green lights. Like the US of A, the lights go from green to yellow to red to indicate stopping. Unlike here, however, from red it goes back to the yellow then the green. So you have a yellow warning light before the green to go. I never got to drive there, and experience this as a driver, but I think I would LOVE it. It reminded me of drag racing and the countdown they get before they take off. I want our traffic lights in America to be like that.

We should get started changing all of them now.

Last leg!

I'm home! It feels good to be back! 


Yesterday was one of the longer days in my life. Not the usual 24 hours. I got a bonus 6 hours!


My flight out of Manchester (to Atlanta) began the day of travel. And Phoebe was on the same flight! We asked the man next to her if he would mind switching seats and he was more than willing. Thank God for him, because being with her made the trip so much better! In ATL we parted ways (sad) but it was one more step closer to home. My flight to Birmingham got delayed slightly and I figured out it would have been quicker to drive home from Atlanta than to fly to Birmingham. The joy of flying.


Dad picked me up and we got home about 7:45. I was already really tired at this point but I wanted to stay awake as long as possible to try to get rid of jetlag. After catching up with the family and dispersing gifts from good ole Scotland, I finally got to sleep. Yay!

Operatic thoughts

Debriefing weekend is underway!

We had a train yesterday morning to Manchester. On the train, we were sitting in 2 of the 4 seats that are around the table in the middle of the car. The ride was about 3 1/2 hours long and we spent most of it talking with the people next to us! They were from Scotland going on vacation to Greece. We swapped music and everything. The guy next to Elise is now the biggest Goo Goo Dolls fan in Scotland I think. And they bought us snacks! It was great getting to know them.

Elise and I arrived in Manchester via train yesterday around 2pm and everyone else came and picked us up. It was good to see everyone again! I will miss these people greatly. We had our team in Scotland. Tara and Phoebe in Wales. And Daniel and Sam in Ireland.

Yesterday, we had a couple of debriefing sessions and then went out for a celebration dinner. It was this Italian place and we had like the family deal or something and so they brought us the food out and we passed plates around and stuff. It was so much food and was crazy but good! 

Today, we had another session and now, we are at a mall near our hotel. This place is huge and has so many different things. Earlier there was a show going on in the food court. Just so you can see it (since I can't get you pictures now) go to the wikipedia page here. 

We're meeting John and his team here for lunch in a little bit and spending the afternoon here. There is talk of us playing laser tag later. HIMYM anyone?

I guess that's the point of debriefing, but yesterday and today has been really good to sit and process what has happened over the last month and focus on what God has done with my team and myself and get prepared for life back home. And to hear what God has done with the other teams is awesome too!

Tomorrow we part ways. My flight is out of Manchester at 10:10 local time and I'll be back in Birmingham, AL at 5:31 local time!

Oh another concert is starting in here. It's getting dramatic. Like we are in the final scene of an opera. I feel underdressed. 

Mar sin leibh!

We're now back in Glasgow for the night. We had a 6am ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool. From there we travelled by bus to Glasgow. We just walked around the city a little and did some tourist shopping. I met a girl who goes to Auburn in one store! Small world!

Sunrise as we left Stornoway this morning.

Yesterday was a fun filled day as our last official day on our assignment. We got a couple interviews and other random footage. We had planned on meeting with our Gaelicaholic friend in the afternoon, but he never showed so we just had to miss out on that. Instead we went see Ronnie from the loom center. We had to talk about the Scotland flags, of course! We spent a lot of the afternoon with him and had a lot of fun. When we left, he got us to sign his guestbook. He only lets "honored" visitors sign it so we felt special! He kept saying he would never forget us! I know I won't forget him. I was so sad to leave him! 

Another thing I want to mention. I have never felt more like a stalker/creeper/whatever word you want to use, in my life than on this trip. I'll explain. As you would guess, people act different when they know a camera is around (excluding interviews). So when I tried to get "real life" on camera I found it to be very hard. Either no one was around in remote areas (like you've read in other posts) and so to get people on camera I had to quickly get them on the street. Or other times, like for example, in a restaurant, I can't just start filming people sitting at the table next to me because they would be weirded out and yeah you get the idea. So whenever I had a chance to film people it had to be in a semi undercover way that they wouldn't notice. It's harder than it looks! It means I get pictures and video like this:

Elise and I decided I am an experienced creeper now. I need a badge.

Tomorrow is more travel for us. What else is new? We have a train in the morning to Manchester. Travel prayers are appreciated!

Steòrnabhagh

Stornoway is so unlike all the places we have been on this trip so far. I mean seriously! I admit that in other places, we have really had a hard time finding people to talk to, let alone interview them. It was really hard at first and we just came to the realization that’s just the way it is here. Its not America. There isn’t going to be people on every street you turn on. Don’t get me wrong, once you find people here, in general, they are super super nice (as you have read about the people we’ve met). That part is great! But without waltzing right in someone’s house, it was hard to find people to connect with. Even in places like Leverburgh where opportunities were better, we still had to go seek out people more than you would think.

Stornoway is another story altogether. For my American city self, it is much more like what I am used to so automatically I feel more comfortable. But there are people everywhere all day (well from 9-5) and some places are even open until 9 or 10 at night. That’s totally crazy compared to other places we have been. And it’s so weird to me because in the US, that is early! We have places open 24/7! Cultures are different and it has been so interesting to me to see the differences within Scotland between bigger places like Stornoway and Glasgow and smaller areas like Castlebay, Leverburgh, South Galson, and Lochmaddy. And on top of that to see the difference between Scotland and the US, which is of course a big difference.

Today we did a small bit of touristing. I don’t know if that’s a word, but I used it. But we had seen a sale in one of the stores, so of course we had to check that out. Later on after lunch, we went to check out a local loom shop we had seen earlier. I don’t know how much you know about Harris Tweed, but it’s famous and made in Harris! The shop was so cool and had fabric laying everywhere and stuff was plastered all over the wall about the history of the island.

We went in just to look, but it turned into a 2 hour exploration of the shop and conversation with the man named Ronnie who ran the place. He had so much history to tell us about the island and Stornoway and Harris Tweed and anything else! So I decided to ask him a question I had had since I got to Glasgow. What is the difference between the two flags I have seen around Scotland? I know one (the blue and white cross one) was the official one, but there is also a very popular one that is yellow with a red lion on it. And he didn’t know the answer! So he just got up and walked down the street to ask people if they knew. He was just stopping people as they walked by. It was hilarious. We never found out on the street but I looked it up a minute ago. Here is the best answer I found, if you want to know:

http://www.scotlandlogue.com/the-cross-and-the-lion-the-two-flags-of-scotland.html

After that we walked into a religious book shop (that was literally the name of it). We talked with the lady there and she said her husband would love to do an interview for us! So later on tonight he came over to the hostel and we talked with him. He had SO MUCH information. And he sang us a Gaelic psalm! Score. 

Good day. Tomorrow is our last day here and we are going to be chauffeured around town by Donald, the man we met last night.

Stornoway Harbor

A lot has happened now that I think about it...

I apologize in advance for this post being borderline novel.


Continued from my last real post which was oh so long ago (light years in internet world)...we were in Lochmaddy on North Uist. The bad weather continued into Sunday (June 26). That morning we slept in because church didn't start until 12. Late! We walked there in the rain. I don't recommend wearing dress shoes in that situation. I was surprised to see a lot of cars in the small lot and on the street. We made it inside and were greeted and showed to our seats. There were over 50 people there so it was pretty full in the small room. This church was similar to the Welsh church we visited the other week in that there was absolutely no talking before the service started. Once it started, there was some singing of psalms, prayer, and scripture reading. Then the minister gave a message. They were having communion too so we thought we were going to get to experience that but when it came up in the service, they only passed the plate and cup to the pews that had white cloths on them, which was about the front half of the pews. So we didn't get to partake and were confused for a little bit, but we got to watch at least. Afterwards, something we noticed was that everyone got out of the church very quickly. No waiting around or fellowship at all. It was really raining by now and a really nice lady offered to drop us off so we didn't have to walk in the rain. Very thankful for that. 


Sunday night, we went and talked with the man that the hostel keeper woman had told us about. She was very helpful actually because she called him for us and let him know about everything without us even asking! His name is Norman and he was great. The interview went well and then we just sat around and talked for an hour. He had a lot of stories! He was a military man back in the day. He also told us about this geneology place on Harris that we should check out. That was exciting to hear because in each new place we have a hard time getting leads on where to find people. 


Sunday night, I got to finally talk with Emily! Shout out! I owe that to Skype, my long lost friend. But let me back track one day for a second. Saturday, I went to a hotel near us that advertised free wifi. We first saw this promoted Friday night and went and ate dinner there. Well, Saturday I went and used the internet again. After awhile the head lady person came out and told us we couldn't use their wifi unless we had bought something at their restaurant/bar and she would change the password on the network if we kept using it. It was quite scary because she sounded really ticked off. I understand where she was coming from, but I was just annoyed that they advertise it as "free" when it's not at all. Rant over. Anyways, that night I used internet to talk to my family. Shout out! I hope you guys had a fun reunion! I wish I could have been there! Sunday we went to the same hotel except we bought something right away to not cause any confusion whatsoever. That same lady was there though and was making me nervous but we made it through...


Monday, we went out and got our last minute stuff of Lochmaddy. I got some b-roll of the village and we went to the art center/museum/store thing to talk with the manager to see about an interview. He was more than willing! We did that and then also bought a few things from the store there. They have tablet there (which Scotland is known for apparently) and we got some vanilla kind. It's so awesome! It tastes like every good vanilla cake and ice cream mixed into one. Another thing about that place...it was called "Taigh Chearsabhagh" but every time I looked at it, my American brain said "cheeseburger," so that's what I called it to myself. And "taigh" is "house" so it was cheeseburger house! Far from it's actual purpose but amusing to me.


Monday night. Repacking. Ugh. 


But the weather was clear all day so the sunset was pretty much awesome! I decided to run outside and get a timelapse of it. I set the camera up near a fencepost and got it going. It was going for a while and then out of nowhere this horse came running up from the field that the fence is surrounding. It came right up on the camera and us standing there and almost knocked it over so the timelapse was cut short but then we got to play with the horse so it was all good. And a little colt too! Oh and we saw two otters in the water outside our window later that night! OTTERS ARE SO CUTE.


Tuesday, we caught a bus to Berneray to get on a ferry to Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris. We found our hostel and we liked it right away. It looked so cool inside. I definitely took some pictures of it. But after that we went and walked around the village. They had a Co-op! So we felt like we had so much variety to choose from when we shopped for our food compared to where we had been before in Lochmaddy. That night, we walked around some more and finally got to experience true Scotland weather. What is that, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. That's when one minute it's sunny and bright and then the next it's raining cats and dogs. And cold. So naturally I wasn't dressed for the occasion and my shoes and jeans got soaked. Fun times. But it really was fun (minus the fact I was scared that my camera was getting soaked too) because we saw a bunch of sheep doing funny things. Like during the rain, they totally just stood there and stared, completely still as rocks...but still chewed their grass. It was a funny sight. And I got video of it so it can be a funny sight for you too! 


Wednesday, we walked to Northton, which is about 3 to 4 miles from Leverburgh. That's where that geneology/exhibition/visitor center that Norman told us about is located. When we got there, we talked to the wife of the man who started this place (really she co-manages it) and she agreed to do an interview later that afternoon. We didn't want to walk an hour back Leverburgh just to walk another hour back to Northton so to waste time until then, we walked to a beach nearby. It was huge and the dunes were probably a mile wide. It was so crazy! And it rained on and off. That is the theme of this location, I think. Also, here we have seen WAY more sheep than on any of the other isles. My sheep picture count skyrocketed. And it doesn't help that all of their faces remind me of my dog. After frolicking in the rain and sand dunes, we came back to talk with the woman, Chris, and it went really well! She is a native Gaelic speaker and had a lot of opinions on Gaelic and its culture so I think it was worth the effort of getting to this place. After the interview we talked with her for an hour and swapped stories. It was a good time indeed.


That night we went for another little walk (this time hoping it wasn't going to pour like it did the previous night). Well, it didn't pour, but it did rain. But this time it was sunny while it rained. It was wet but it was still such a beautiful sight. Elise and I wished there was some way to capture that moment of being there for others to experience it. Pictures and even video don't do it justice at all. And for weather, the conclusion I've come to is always be prepared for sun, rain, cool, cold, and colder. Someone in the hostel said there's a saying here "there's no such thing as bad weather. Just bad clothes." True that. 


Back at the hostel, we talked awhile with a couple from mainland Scotland staying there. For being just hostel-mates, I'd say we got to know them really well and I enjoyed being with them! 


Thursday, we went to the elementary school in Leverburgh to see if there were any possible interviews of Gaelic teachers we could get. We didn't know, but it was the last day of school (gosh, I would have hated going to school until the very end of June) so there wasn't a lot going on which was good for us. We actually got to talk with 2 of the Gaelic teachers there and they both agreed to an interview. Success!


After the school, we were going to walk to some of the churches around the area. They have 3 within a mile of each other. As we walked up to the first one, a woman from out of nowhere came up and started talking to us and told us the churches were locked during the week and we wouldn't be able to get in. After we told her what we were doing in Scotland with the video stuff and just wanted to check and see if the churches were open, she mentioned that she was a Christian and that we should talk to a lady named Diane who worked at the post office who was also a Christian. So our next stop was given to us just like that! 


We then talked to Diane and she agreed to do a video interview. Since we knew she was a Christian, a lot of what we asked her was more surrounding the religious aspect of Scotland and the Gaelic culture. We just sat in the post office and filmed her and then after it was over we just sat there and hung out with her until she closed. It was really fun to just hang out with her! She acted like we had known each other for years. 


So Leverburgh was good for us and God definitely showed He knew what was up the whole time especially when things came together Thursday. And on the whole, our time in Lochmaddy really discouraged Elise and me with just the way things were happening so it was a very needed reminder of who is in control. 


Friday was another travel day. By this point I think we were both slightly tired of these days (since we have like 10 of them!) but this time, all we had to do is bus travel, so that was a plus. The Isle of Lewis is the same land mass as the Isle of Harris so I'm not sure why they are called separate isles. You can google that. But anyway, we arrived in South Galson around 2. Our first impression wasn't a good one in terms of getting video footage because of how small it was. It is basically one street, about a half mile long of houses and then our hostel (which is a house). Not a lot to choose from. Then our attention quickly turned to food and where we were going to buy some for the coming days because we didn't see any place to get any and had no means of transportation except our own feet. We found out the nearest local grocer was in the next village, 3 miles away so we walked there to get some. Little geography tidbit: Harris is relatively mountainous and hilly. Lewis is the EXACT opposite. It is so flat and there are probably only 32 trees on the entire island. So as I was walking along that road to the store, the sight was crazy, especially for me, considering I'm from a part of America so different from this. I kept thinking it really looked like Davy Jones' locker in Pirates 3 except instead of sand on the ground, it is green and brown mush stuff. 


A little later, the other people sharing our room came in and it was the same people we had roomed with in Leverburgh 2 nights ago! Small world! And small islands. They are a mother and a grown son from mainland Scotland. We had a TV (I had forgotten what that was...) in this hostel so we watched Wimbledon games all afternoon with them. Fun fact: I forgot that I really like tennis and need to keep up with it better and play more in real life. Back to blog: For dinner she made haggis and potatoes for her and her son, but she gave us some too so we could trhy. I decided to give it another chance to see if I really didn't like it or that other time was a fluke. It still had that same stale chef boyardee sauce taste though. So the verdict on haggis is (drumroll please): I can keep it down and would be okay if someone forced me to eat it, but I would choose many other things in place of it and would be fine never eating it again. After all that, we explored the beach area nearby. It's really beautiful. I would never think "beach" when I think Scotland but this trip has changed that definitely. At least the islands of Scotland. 


Saturday, we had made plans to go to Callanish to see the standing stones there. They're older than Stonehenge! Look them up. Based on experience from last weekend (Saturday and Sunday especially are dead days unless you're a tourist), we were going to do a little sightseeing while still keeping an eye out for anyone to interview while there. So I figured out the buses we had to take and we set out. Our first bus was 7 minutes late however. Problem. That made us miss our next bus (and another wasn't going to Callanish for another 3 hours) so we went into a gas station nearby and got some candy to keep us busy for an hour. That's when the next bus to Stornoway was. So our plans changed to an afternoon trip to Stornoway. By the way, Stornoway is the largest town in the Outer Hebrides and at that time was our next (and last) stop. We scoped out the place so when we got there later we could know where to start. We went to the library (this is when I blogged my last post saying I was in the library). 


Back in South Galson that night, we had a movie night and explored the beach some more. Only here you can watch 2 movies and walk around for hours, doing all this after 7pm and it still be light outside the whole time. But yeah one British channel plays a lot of movies so that's usually what we had on. 


There was no church near us at all...well, in terms of walking distance. So Sunday we pretty much stayed in a lot of the day and worked on stuff. I did some video stuff and watched the Wimbledon final. I figured out Nadal reminds me of Taylor Lautner for some reason so that means I like him. Later on, Elise decided to go into the water at the beach because she told someone she would. Of course, that turned into me filming her getting into the really cold water. And this beach isn't a beach like what I'm used to. It was basically all rocks and stones in place of sand and there were a lot of rocks in the water too so when the tide is in, it's super rocky. So getting in the water didn't look like fun at all. But she did it! 


Monday, we were ready to get some things done after being on hold for the weekend. We got on a bus to an area called Ness, a few miles north of South Galson, near the very northern tip of the island. There are about 3 communities really close together that we wanted to explore. First, we stopped in Habost at a small historical society museum. It was all local history of Ness and was really interesting to read about that. We even got complimentary tea (gross) and candy (yay!). After we looked through all the museum, we talked with the woman there which led to an interview! Once we finished there, we just wandered around the villages seeing what we could find. We came up on a sports center in Lionel and we talked to the lady at the front desk for awhile. Once she heard about us wanting to talk to people about Gaelic and that whole thing, she was on the phone calling everyone she knew that might be able to help! She was so willing to help! It was crazy! But she did call one man named Donald who drove right over and did an interview for us! And in his interview, he talked a lot about Christianity and I got the feeling he was a Christian from what he was saying. I was very happy we got to talk to him. 


Next, in hopes of talking to more people, we decided to walk to a school nearby that had a historical exhibition going on. Well, God had other plans. As we were walking along the road, we passed a house where an older woman was gardening in her front yard (by the way, a lot of the houses here have gates or walls of some sort around their front yards). Her two border collies were out there in the yard with her too so I noticed that cuteness right away. As I have done with everyone here (because I learned really quickly this is just what people do here no matter what), I said hello and waved. Normally, people just wave back or say hi and leave it at that. This woman said hi and then some! Also one of the dogs jumped up on the gate to try to get us to pet him. So cute. But she asked if we were tourists and then we told her what we were doing there with Gaelic and stuff. Then within like 1 minute of knowing us, she invited us in for tea to refresh us on our way! We went in her house and she made the tea and gave us some cookies and cake as well. Then we sat around for about an hour talking. Even some of the talk was in Gaelic! It was so awesome! I didn't even notice (well, too badly) how much I hate tea as I gulped it down to not be rude. Being there definitely made Elise's and my day! After we left her house, we thought about how that would have been a great interview. But I was thinking, I know that is so trivial in the grand scheme of things. Even on this trip, video is secondary. Our main goal is always to share our lives with the people and be an example of Christ to others and I think us sharing this time together was a great part of that. Plus, she said if we ever came back we were welcome there. Pretty good deal if you ask me. AND I got my border collie pictures finally. Ryley will be proud. 


One other thing about yesterday: I got to experience the wonderful thing known as the stinging nettle (something else you can google). It is this plant here in the UK that John first told us about in Wales. And the first thing he said was to stay away from it. Well, as you can tell from the name, it stings. I accidentally touched one with my leg (of course on the only day this whole time I decided to wear shorts). And it was insanely painful! It looked like 100 mosquitoes had bitten me in one area. I survived though. No worries. So I have that experience checked off on my life's to do list. 


Tuesday, today, finally caught up! Today, we left South Galson and headed to our final stop, Stornoway. Stornoway is really not that big of a town at all, but compared to the other places we have been, it seems like New York City. Since we had already had a afternoon in Stornoway in place of the Callanish stones on Saturday, we decided to go see the stones this afternoon after we got settled in the hostel and got food. Even though they are just stones standing in the ground, it was neat to see them and all the history there.  


Later on after dinner tonight, we were hanging around at the hostel and a guy came to collect our pay to stay there. It was slightly weird at first because we are already paid for and it was confusing but we worked it out and then talked with the guy about what we were doing here. After learning about our interest in Gaelic, he stopped us and told us he had just the guy for us. He got out his phone and called him right then! And then the man he called said he would be over in 5 minutes! Completely crazy! Things are just falling in our lap now! We talked with him and went to a pub next door to talk some more. He is totally a Gaelicaholic. I just made that word up. It's fun to say. But I think it sums him up. He is also a storyteller so that's an interesting twist. He offered to be a tour guide of sorts around Stornoway tomorrow and he works at the Gaelic radio station and invited us there too. I think he is going to be awesome to say the least. Things are going well for our last few days and God has definitely provided us with opportunities that we couldn't even have imagined and for that I am and will always be thankful. He's way more creative than I am anyway... 


We'll be here in Stornoway until Friday morning. Then we'll travel by ferry/bus to Glasgow and stay there Friday night. Saturday to Monday, we'll be in Manchester for debriefing with all the video teams and then home sweet home! 


If you have read this far, I commend you greatly! And you deserve a hug from me. You may cash it in the next time you see me.

I'm still alive

So internet has been scarce...

We are now in South Galson, Isle of Lewis. I have a running blog draft on my phone because it's easier to carry it with me and write, but I can't post it unless I have wifi (in order to get it off my phone). Right now (because of some bus schedule mishaps) we are in Stornoway for a couple hours and found a library with computers with internet so I am not using my own. Instead of trying to rewrite the entire week's worth of stuff and forgetting stuff, I'll wait a couple more days until I have wifi to post everything in depth. Supposedly, we have wifi in our next hostel that we will arrive at Tuesday.

So this is to say I'm alive, things are still going, if you haven't heard from me, I don't hate you.

God is good though and I can't wait to share!

Until more reliable internet...