What a weekend

What a crazy weekend. I’ve had some very lazy weekends over here...and this past one was NOT one of them. I was busy busy busy!! I’ll give you the quick synopsis of what I did, but will let all of the pictures tell the story!

One of my co-workers (Jamie, whom usually goes back to England every weekend) decided to stay up in Aberdeen. He was faced with two choices: 1) hang out by himself in Aberdeen OR 2) hang out with a bunch of crazy Canadians. I don’t think this was an easy choice, but he chose the latter none the less. (Now who’s crazy??)

He decided that it would be a good idea to cook us a proper English breakfast. We all thought that would be a fantastic idea and agreed to go over to his flat on Saturday morning. Now what you may not know is that an English breakfast is not quite like a usual brunch that I would have on the weekend. Although it looks somewhat similar...DON’T BE FOOLED!!

Here is a picture of the plate of food:



Missing from this picture are potatoes and tomatoes..they didn't quite make it to the breakfast table...but here is what did: the bacon (not in strips like at home), some Sausage (or Bangers as they call it here), fried egg...ok no problem...brown beans (a bit weird for breakfast, but I like them so no biggie), toast...no wait, deep-fried toast (getting wierder!) and a gem of a piece at the top right side of the plate. This ‘piece de resistance’ is called Black Pudding. Now this is not a dessert, I wouldn’t even go close to classifying it as a delicacy...but nonetheless a main part of the breakfast experience. I was not keen to eat it (especially since I know what it is ‘made of’, but the VERY disturbing part is that it actually tastes pretty good. I could only eat one bite as my brain just couldn’t get past the ingredients…Now I’m toying with the option of actually telling you what it is, or just let you google it on your own...hmmm...ok fine...it’s fried pigs’ blood...mmmm mmmm can’t think of anything else I’d like to eat first thing on a Saturday morning!!!

Then on Saturday afternoon I went to an Aberdeen football (soccer) game. I don’t know much about the specific rules of the sport, however, I learnt a lot of really funny cheers that the fans were singing. They sang through the whole match, and the guy sitting right behind me had the thickest accent. It was worth the admission just to hear this guy!! Luckily Jamie was there with us, so he was able to translate (from English to English).

Sunday, I had convinced some of my co-workers to come to St. Andrews with me to check out the famous golf course. On our way we noticed a run down looking castle, off to the side of the road. It looked almost crumbled and not so impressive from the road, but we decided that since we had lots of time and no specific agenda, we’d hop over and see it. It turned out to be AMAZING! Nothing like what we imagined from the road. I won’t even try to explain it, just look at the pictures at the bottom. It is called Dunottar Castle.

Then we carried on to St. Andrews, saw the golf course (I know it is old and famous, but NOT ONE tree??? What kind of golf course is that??) We took some pictures and did a bit of shopping then ski’dadled out of there.



As we were on our way back to the car we were walking along side a beautiful beach. There happened to be a sign that read:




From that moment on, I was trying to remember the music that goes along with the famous beach scene from Chariots of Fire...every time I thought I’d be humming it, I’d realize that I was signing “The Final Countdown”...I’ve looked it up, listened to it again...still end up singing “The Final Countdown”...It's driving me crazy!

Well the weekend had more odds & ends to it, but this was intended to be a ‘short’ letter...so off I go.

CHEERS!
Shay-Anne