Traveling, Arriving, and Settling

After finishing up things in GR, a night in Ann Arbor, 4 airports, 3 flights, 2 layovers, and 1 uncomfortable night on a bench in Reykjavik, I arrived in Glasgow and met up with Andrew on Saturday morning.  

We enjoyed staying the weekend in Glasgow.  Unfortunately we weren't able to check into our hotel until 4pm on Saturday and had to be out by 10am on Sunday, which left us with very little time to tour Glasgow without luggage.  Thankfully, Saturday was, for the most part, a sunny day in Glasgow, and we spent much of the afternoon sitting on a bench in St. George's Square and catching up with each other.  In the evening, after getting cleaned up a bit from the journey, we were able to spend some time in the City Centre without luggage.  We walked down Buchanan Street,

and checked out St. George's Square again.  For those unaware, there was a vote in Scotland on Thursday to decide if Scotland was to become its own independent country or to stay a part of the United Kingdom.  The overall vote was to stay as part of the UK, but Glasgow's majority vote was for independence.  It seems that St. George's Square was a meeting place for campaigns and gatherings.  There were still some small, peaceful gatherings on Saturday, and someone had written on the ground in chalk "Glasgow said YES - we'll never give in!"

Further, all the monuments were encased in fences to prevent folks from climbing on them, although a few folks still managed to get "Yes" stickers on the monuments.

We wandered a bit further and found a pub, Blackfriars, to have dinner.  I had Irn Bru and Haggis Pie.  Andrew had a pale ale called Loch Ness Inverness with his Beef & Ale pie.  It was an excellent Scottish dinner.

We worshiped at Tron Church on Sunday morning and then took the train down to Carlisle, and settled into our new home for the next couple months, a room in Brian & Vivian Doub's terraced house.  We are so thankful for them taking us in and letting us rent a room for two months.  They are gracious hosts.

Andrew is now back working at OM this week.  We're still on the lookout for how God wants to use me during this time.  The past couple days, I have spent time recovering from traveling, as well as exploring around Carlisle and doing some grocery shopping.  I am accustomed to the luxury of shopping once a week and bringing home what I buy in a car.  Here I will be carrying everything I purchase for a quarter mile walk home.  We are trying some new flavors of familiar foods.  For example, yogurt flavors such as rhubarb, fig, or prune as well as crisp (or chip) flavors such as roast chicken, prawn & cocktail, or cheesy beans on toast.

It's so good to be back together.