My On-Line Journal
Spring 2005

June 2nd, 2005
May 26th, 2005
April 25, 2005
April 5, 2005
March 24, 2005

March 24, 2005

Welcome Spring!

I hope everyone�s having some good weather at home. I heard there was a little snow fall again yesterday. Craziness. Here, spring is in full bloom. The trees are all in bud, the gardens are full of flowers and it�s been pretty warm too. Work�s been pretty good. We had a few days of really busy lunch and dinner times because we had a good review in the paper. I like it when it�s busy though because the time goes much faster and the tips are better. One day I made 20 pounds in tips! It was for a 12 hour shift, but even so, that�s really good for here. Greg�s settling in more and finally they�ve hired a new front desk person so he�ll be moving to food and beverage very soon. He�s really happy about that as apparently the front desk is boring.

Greg and I both had Monday off so we decided to celebrate the first day of Spring by combining going for groceries and going on one of the walks from our new �25 Walks in and Around Aberdeen� book. The walk went around the River Don across two bridges and passed Tesco on the way back.

It started out in the parking lot next to a walled garden that we�ve passed many times and wondered what it was. It was set up as a workers memorial to workers who had died in the industry. It�s surrounded by really high brick walls as you can see in the picture which gives this really mystical �secret garden� type feel too it. It was quite small but very nice. Quartered by four paths that went into the centre, it was focussed on a fountain at the centre but it wasn�t turned on when we were there. Probably too early in the year yet.

From there we were a little confused which path to take but we eventually found the right one. The whole walk was set up to show the textile industry that used to be a mainstay of the economy at one point. The river Don used to power the textile mills, but all that�s left now is a lot of old wheels, machine bits and some walls. We passed through a small doorway and then could see Persley Castle way up on the hill. Now an retirement home, it started out as a fort and then was turned into a home for children factory workers! Not a very picturesque history and I couldn�t really get a good picture of it. It was a lot newer than a lot of the castles I�ve seen here too.

Further along, we came to this big field where they seemed to be doing some sort of construction work. There were also these giant wheels! I�d seen pictures of them from the book, but I assumed they were pretty small, but no! So I got Greg to get in the picture to show the scale of them, aren�t they huge!

And now Greg gets to put up with me stopping to take pictures every ten seconds. I bet Sarah�s glad to hand over that torch. Despite the fact it was a very grey day, it was very pretty walking along the river bank. We met a few other walkers and one runner that somehow managed to be running towards us two times during the walk! There was also a lot of birds and giant grey squirrels and a few swans as well. This one I have a picture of came right over to us. It probably thought we had food. There were also quite a few landings for fishing. I�m not sure I�d like to fish there though because it�s downstream from the sewage treatment plant. Yucky. I managed to identify a few herbs, though I�m not as good at remembering what they�re good for anymore. I�ve gotten out of practice this winter.

We did really well at Tesco and managed to get all the groceries into my backpack, Greg�s side bag plus our �Tesco for Life� bag. I don�t have any pictures from this part of the trip because the groceries were quite heavy and I was getting hungry at this point. But our adventures were not quite over. We continued along the path along the river rather than going along the road the way we usually go. I saw a bridge in the distance and I thought that it would be a good idea to head towards it. Well we all know what comes next, don�t we! Yup, it was the wrong way to go. We had to try to jump over a small river that, under normal circumstances (ie. without 10 pounds of groceries with us), we should have been able to jump no problem, but as encumbered as we were, we ended up sinking in some rather yucky mud, then crossed the bridge only to find that we had to walk all the way around a barbed wire fence and ended up very close to where we had begun. Yay for adventuring! But we made it home safe, if a little muddy, and cooked a really nice roast dinner. Okay, so the Quorn chicken style fillets didn�t turn out quite right, I cooked them too long, but everything else was great, and I cooked neeps (turnup which is also called swede here) for the first time ever. And we had leftovers! Greg and I never have leftovers!

Yesterday we had another day off and it was a beautiful sunny day, probably around 16 or 17 degrees in the sun, so we walked downtown with no real goal other than Greg getting a haircut. I ended up taking off my sweatshirt and wore just a t-shirt which I think is pretty amazing. It felt a bit like downtown Halifax in the early summer. We had some Baskin Robbins ice cream while we wandered around trying to find the harbour and looking for some new bars to go to. I have since found out that the best way to get to this harbour village we were looking for is to go by bus, or at least take a map and know where you�re going. We were not successful, but we did get to see some of the seedier parts of Aberdeen which is kind of fun. Then we went to Slain�s Castle (the restaurant/bar, not the actual castle) for some food. I love eating there because it�s an awesome old converted church that has the best creepy atmosphere and the prices are really good. I really really wish I had pictures of this day, but I ran out of batteries on my camera so I�m afraid I don�t have any pictures.

Not much else new. I�ve been trying to do my Yoga again, but it�s hard to find a good time to do it. Luckily, my wrist is getting a bit better, but it�s still stiff a lot of the time. I�ll have to have it looked at when I�m home. Hope everyone�s enjoying Spring and I�ll see you in a few months!

Love
Jeannie

April 5, 2005

It�s another beautiful spring day here despite the weather report to the contrary, but they�ve been wrong the past few days so I�m not really surprised they�re wrong again today. Since I wrote last we�ve had a few interesting adventures. Two Saturdays ago we had a �Girls Night Out� at work. We went to a Spanish restaurant called �La Tosca� on Union Street for dinner first. Jim was nice enough to let Olga and I away from work early that night so we could go home and get ready. There were about 15 of us in total at dinner. The food was really amazing. All of the dishes were quite small so we all ordered two or three each and shared around. The vegetarian selection was really good and the sangria was wonderful. :) Two of the girls were having their birthdays so we sang for them and they got these cute little cakes for dessert. It was nice to be out with people from work, but I think it may have been even more fun if the guys had been invited as well.

After dinner, we all split up. Some people went to the Sol bar, some to Club Tropicana and some went home. I had heard that Sol bar was quite expensive and we had free cover for Club Tropicana, so that�s where I went. I had told Greg that this is where we were most likely heading after dinner so he and Liz from work both met up with us there. Greg and I thought the name of the club was really hilarious and joked about drinking orange juice there, but no one else really got the joke. The club itself was really interesting. It�s an 80's bar, so they only play 80's music which was really fun. It apparently used to be a gay bar, but now it�s mixed. The dance floor was surrounded in mirrors and it was really busy. We had a great time though. Liz, Greg and I all danced a whole lot and got a great work out. Early in the evening, Greg and I even did a little of the old swing dance routine from the Dinner Theatre! Great fun.

Our next adventure was the adventure of making cookies. We�d been craving real cookies (not the ones we get from Tescos which Greg has renamed chemilookies) but we couldn�t find a good recipe. So after unintentionally giving Pat a minor heart attack (Sorry Pat), we got a recipe from him and decided to make some chocolate chip cookies! We had to improvise a little bit, but not too much, but really, how can you put in 1.5 eggs? Plus we added a little cocoa to make them chocolate chocolate chip cookies :) They turned out pretty good, huge, but very yummy. And we ate them while watching the Japanese �Ring� on TV. Our cookie jar is in the shape of a very oddly coloured, cartoon sheep. Greg�s convinced that the sheep was trying to steal our cookies. It does look very shifty so who knows :)

I�ve been working a whole lot this past week. I told Jim that I need more hours and so I�ve been working closer to 35 hours now instead of 30. It isn�t that much more, but it does make a difference in my pay check. Plus I just heard that the minimum wage is meant to go up this month! Yay! It figures though since Tony Blair is set to call the general election today or tomorrow. He was going to call it yesterday but because of the Pope�s death, he�s postponed calling it. The Pope�s funeral also means the Prince Charles and Camilla�s wedding will probably have to be postponed as well which is a huge hassle. I�m not really sure how I feel about Pope John Paul�s death. I�m not sad because he was a really old man with a lot of medical problems and I never liked his policies especially his stance on women and gays. But I also can�t really hope that the next Pope will be any better because they don�t really have anyone to take his place that doesn�t have the same or even more conservative views. So unlike my brother who wants to get a t-shirt saying �New Pope, New Hope?� I don�t have a whole lot of hope that the next Pope will be better. It�s really strange to think there will be a new Pope though because John Paul has been Pope my entire life so it�s hard to separate the position from the man.

The nice weather plus some rain means that peoples gardens are looking really nice right now. People here have very small front gardens mostly rather than lawns and because of this it�s really interesting to see what people do with them. Lots of people have rock gardens, probably easier to maintain, and a lot of people seem to take a lot of pride in their gardens. I�ve decided this is one of the things I�m really going to miss when I come home two months from today. Does everyone have the date marked on their calender? June 5th at 11am. The other thing I�m going to miss a whole lot is British TV!!!!!!!!! The commercials are so hilarious, there aren�t as many commercial breaks, so many interesting documentaries, hilarious comedy shows, the soaps are actually realistic, and they�re just so much more willing to show controversial content. I don�t really mind that we only have four channels. At least they�re four good channels.

Last Thursday, Greg and I were both off so we decided to go to La Tosca for something to eat and then to see a movie. It was nice being at La Tosca when it wasn�t so incredibly busy. Our meal was very enjoyable and inexpensive. A perfect combination. We saw �Constantine� at the cinema. It wasn�t the best movie I�ve ever seen, but unlike Pat, I don�t want to demand those two hours of my life back. I really enjoyed the special effects and Keanu Reeves being dark and broody was really fun. :)

Yesterday, Greg and I were off again so we decided to do another walk from the �25 Walks in and Around Aberdeen� book. This one went through Old Aberdeen, where one of the Universities is located, through a lovely park, around a river and across two really old bridges. It was a great day out, it started out cloudy and windy, but gradually the clouds went away, leaving it beautiful and sunny. We saw St. Machar�s Cathedral, a beautiful old building surrounded by tombs and graves, some as old as the 1500's. It was a really long walk and I think we left the trail given in the book at some point, but we managed to find our way back regardless. The streets in Old Aberdeen are coble-stones and bricks so they were a bit hard to walk on.

When we got back to the park, we were both pretty tired and hungry so we took a break in a lovely little Victorian garden before heading home. We were so hungry that we stopped in the Spar store on the way home to pick up some biscuits for the rest of the walk home. For dinner we decided to make a roast dinner again. This time with roast potatoes, carrots, brussel sprouts (yes, I actually like them now) and Cauldron sausages. Yummy! Then, after the soaps were over, we went to Blockbuster to rent some movies and snacks. We rented �Big Fish�, which we�ll watch tonight, and �The Twins Effect�, an Asian kung-fu vampire movie. It was so hilarious! And strange! But I can�t wait to see Big Fish tonight as I�ve heard it�s really amazing.

That�s about all that�s new for now. I hope everyone�s well and I can�t wait to be home, even though I�m going to miss Scotland and everyone I�ve met here so much, it�ll be good to be home.

Love
Jeannie

April 25, 2005

Well, soon enough it�ll be time to be off again. Greg and I gave our two week notice yesterday. So now I�ve got less than two weeks of work left. Of course, I�ll be doing way more hours these two weeks, six days per week rather than five, but it�ll be worth it to have the extra cash when we�re travelling.

A fair amount has happened since I last wrote, but I�ve been getting a bit lax in both writing and in taking pictures. I�ve been concentrating so much on getting all our travelling plans dealt with and work that I haven�t had much time for anything else. But I have had some fun as well. A few weeks back I got to give a talk at the Aberdeen Pagan Moot about the Reclaiming Tradition and what the Halifax Community is like and then lead a ritual. It turned out really well, everyone seemed to enjoy it and I had a lot of really positive feedback afterwards. They wanted to steal a lot of the ideas like the wonderful smokeless fire (Thanks Circle Round) and some of the chants I taught them. Greg unfortunately couldn�t make it because he had caught the bug that was going around work and was off for a few days with it. But there was actually a really good turn out at the moot, way more than usual, though oddly way more men than women. Odd.

In other news that is kind of related, I had a... well I can�t really call it a date, more of a going out for a few mostly non-alcoholic drinks with a guy I met at the Moot. He gave me his number after the meeting and wanted to get together last Sunday so we met for some drinks and a little walk to the beach and some really great conversation. I was hoping we�d be able to get together again yesterday, but work interfered on both our parts. We�ll see if anything comes of it.

Greg and I had a pretty hard night on Saturday. Jim, our manager, left us in Lorna�s hands for a function which made for a pretty stressful night. So we decided that when we got home we�d pamper ourselves. We broke out the bottle of wine we�d bought the other day at the grocery store (yup, liquor at the grocery store, and at the corner stores) plus some wonderful strawberries and some chocolate spread and sat down to watch Moulin Rouge. I can�t think of many ways to make us feel better than that! Very indulgent of us.

I was a bit surprised at the reaction I got from putting in my notice yesterday. I thought everyone knew I was going soon, I haven�t exactly kept that fact a secret, but suddenly everyone�s coming up to me all shocked that I�m leaving. I�m flattered mostly because they all really want me to stay. And despite my initial misgivings about the Aberdeen Northern Hotel, I am a bit sad about leaving. I�ve made a lot of good friends there, and now that I know what I�m doing a bit more, I�m really enjoying the job, but I�m also really looking forward to coming home. I miss everyone a whole lot. And I�m really looking forward to travelling. This feels like it�s going to be my last great adventure of this trip and I intend to make it amazing.

So far, the plan looks like this. We stop work next Sunday, we have two days to relax, then we�re flying down to London, we go from there to Peace Haven to stay with Sarah�s Nan (as long as I can get a hold of her and ask her first) and then back to London where we have to take the tube then a train to Bristol. We�re doing a tour that goes from there to Stonehenge and back, then a bus ride to Glastonbury. One night there then back to Bristol and the train back up here. That�s the hardest part of the trip I think, the most complicated and rushed for sure. Possibly the most expensive as well, but should be well worth it. The next day we take the train to Forres, to go to Findhorn for the Experience Week.. After all that running around down south this should be a great week. I�m really looking forward to it. It was a toss up between going to Findhorn or going to the Star Wars premier and having the bragging rights to say we saw it four hours earlier, but we decided we could see Star Wars anytime, but this is probably the only time we could go to Findhorn.

So we get back the following Saturday, do some laundry, re-pack, then it�s off again, flying to Dublin for five days with Leah. I�m not sure what we�ll get up to there, I�m perfectly happy to leave that up to Leah. Just have to book the flights. We come back here on a Thursday, more laundry and re-packing to go off to Edinburgh with the Aberdeen Pagan Moot for the Scottish Pagan Federation Conference. We all travel down together and stay in a B&B for two nights. We�ll have some free time on Friday and Sunday to do some sightseeing which is nice because Greg hasn�t seen much of Edinburgh, and I haven�t been there in almost a year. Then back here for a few days rest and getting the flat ready to leave. We�re out of the flat on June the 2nd. Greg�s going up to Polmaily, I may join him for one day possibly, just to say hi to everyone before heading off, but it may be too weird with everyone being gone. We�ll see. Then the final leg of the journey, down to Glasgow. I just got an e-mail from Zoom Airlines, my flight times have been changed. I�m now leaving at 2:40 and arriving around 4:40. I love the time change, and I also love direct flights!!!!!!!!!

So those are the plans. You can guarantee that we will take hundreds of photos and I�ll completely double my amount of photos that you�ll all have to look at when I get home. Look forward to a long slide show! One new toy I have to take on our trip is I finally replaced my ancient �discman�. I bought a new one at Dixons yesterday. It plays both regular CD�s and MP3 CD�s, which is why I bought it, plus the unbeatable price of 20.00 pounds! Can�t go wrong with that! It even plays my MP3 CD�s that Sarah�s wouldn�t play! So I�m really excited about that. Plus now I can listen to music when I�m going to bed again and while I�m going to work. It�s like having my own personal soundtrack.

I�m thinking that after I get back from Scotland I may switch to a LiveJournal and jump on the band wagon. As much as I love having my own website, a live journal would be so much easier to update! Anyway, I�ll probably update again before we start our trip, till then, live life to it�s fullest!

Love
Jeannie

May 26th, 2005

(This was originally written on May 22nd, I just didn't have time to post it that day)

No, I have not dropped off the face of the planet, I�m still alive and well. Things have been really busy though so I haven�t had much time to update but now I have tons to update about so I apologize if this is a really long update but there has been a lot of interesting things going on to talk about. I also have way too many pictures to post so I�ve decided to set up a webshots page to show all my pictures. Eventually I�ll try to get some of the older ones up as well.

First of all, I had a great last few weeks of work. I was working way too much, way too many hours, six days a week, double my regular hours in some cases, but I needed it to help finance all the travelling Greg and I are doing right now. By the end I was really exhausted, but our last day of work was really great. We got a few people to come out with us and do a little bar hopping. Everyone said some really nice things and we all had a really great time. Well, most of us did anyway. Some people like a particular Aussie we work with had a bit too much to drink and we ended up having to carry him down the street. I was very sore from that the next day. We had a few days of rest then before we started our travels, just enough for some good sleep and a bit of cleaning around the house.

Our first stop was London. We had to leave really early in the morning to catch a bus to the airport. We flew down with EasyJet, but had to fly into Luton airport as it�s the only place EasyJet flies from Aberdeen. I�d never been to Luton, but all UK airports seem to be pretty much the same. Descending was once again a terribly painful experience. Luckily one ear did pop on the way down but the other one didn�t manage to go until much later in the day so I was a bit deaf in one ear for most of the morning. We then caught a bus into central London and hopped on a tube to King�s Cross. There we bought our train tickets for the journey back and did manage to find platform 9 3/4 and get our picture taken there by a friendly family of tourists. The parents of the family seemed much more excited by the platform than the kids!

Our B&B was right across from the station so we found it in no time. The room was small, just two small beds and a tv with minimal reception and some odd colours. It had an attached shower, which was really just a tiny tiled closet with a shower head and another closet with a toilet and sink. But we really couldn�t complain as it was all pretty clean and cheep considering it was right in central London and breakfast was included. So we had the rest of the day to go out exploring so we did just that.

We had no real destinations in mind, just that we wanted to see the main sites like Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, things like that. I also wanted to find the Globe Theatre. After four years of studying Shakespeare rather intently, I didn�t want to leave Britain without seeing it. So armed with only a tube map and a small, badly marked map that only had part of central London on it, we successfully managed to see and take pictures of all the big sites. We saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye (even though we didn�t go on it due to long line ups, expenses, security checks and Greg being nervous of hights) we walked across London Bridge which, thankfully, is not falling down, the giant pickle shaped building which we later learned is actually the fishmonger�s guild, and we did eventually make it to The Globe. I was so excited just being near it! And then we saw posters advertising 5pound tickets for shows there, so in we went to find out about tickets for Thursday night and sure enough, there were tickets available to see �The Tempest� one of my favourite Shakespeare plays! I was over the moon with excitement!

That night, after a quick snooze at the B&B, we got on the tube to go and meet Trixi. She�s been living in London for a while now, left Polmaily soon after I did, and is really enjoying herself. Her sister was also up to visit so we got to meet her as well. She�s living in a house with a few other South Africans who are all Africanse (sp?) so they all speak the same language. It was so great to see her, though a little sad as her really close friend, and a friend of mine as well, Shaun, died in a car accident in South Africa a few months ago. He was the one who showed us around London last time I went with Polmaily staff so it was sad to see all the places he took us to see. But it was really nice to see her and talk. She looks really happy, I think London is really agreeing with her.

The next morning we had a quick breakfast at the B&B and then went to the pick up point for our �King Arthur Tour�. After much deliberation and trouble, we decided to take this tour rather than trying to see all these sites on our own and I�m really glad we made this decision and really glad that this particular tour exists because we got to see exactly what we wanted to see plus more. And it may have actually cost us a little less than if we had tried to see it all on our own. The tour took us right from central London with the first stop being Stonehenge about an hour away.

Unfortunately, there was one really obnoxious American on the tour with us. Everyone else seemed really nice but he sort of spoilt the whole thing a bit. He started out at the front seat, right behind the driver and he just had something to say about everything. He and his wife were both from Texas though surprisingly he didn�t like Bush but that seemed to be the only point in his favour. About 45 minutes into the journey, the turbo went in the bus. I don�t know much about engines and such, but this seemed to mean that we couldn�t go fast. Luckily, there was a spare bus so we had another driver meet us with another bus. This meant waiting around for a bit at a McDonalds, but the best thing about it was that we managed to shunt the American guy to the back of the bus.

Finally we got to Stonehenge. As amazing as it was, I must admit I was a bit disappointed. It�s huge and amazing, and the way it was all put together was just fantastic and incredible and all that, but we couldn�t get into the actual circle of stones, I knew we wouldn�t, but I didn�t really realise how much I would have wanted to when I was there! Plus there were tons of tourists and things. But we got some good photos and had to leave before we�d been very long and didn�t have a chance to buy anything more than a tea for the bus.

Next it was off to Glastonbury. Now that was amazing! From the first glance of Glastonbury Tor I had tingles all over! It�s a fantastically tall hill in the midst of really flat fields that used to flood all the time. This is why the Tor is thought to be the Isle of Avalon, because when it flooded, the Tor would have been an island. We had the option of walking up the Tor, or being bused around the other side. Greg and I, of course, walked up! Why wouldn�t we! It was a great climb, very windy and full of buttercups. The ruins of the old abbey were up on top and we could see for miles and miles around. Then we went back down the other side and got to see the Chalice Well and Gardens. That was really awesome as well. The gardens were so beautiful and peaceful with all the flowers in bloom. There were sculptures and nice little corners all over the place. We got to drink from the stream. The water is full of iron and so they used to think it was magical because it turned the stones that it passed over red. The chalice well was also really wonderful, so still and calm.

Then it was to Glastonbury for lunch. We had a lovely lunch in the sun watching all the interesting people walk past. There were lots of interesting stores with interesting things in them, but once again, partly because of the bus break down at the start, we didn�t have much time to spend there either so it was a quick look around at Glastonbury Abby to see where they think King Arthur was buried before running back to the bus. We got to see one the famous chalk horses on the hill as well. That one they think was to commemorate some battle or something.

Our last stop was Avebury circle, the largest stone circle in Britain as well as the only one that has a post office, pub and houses inside of it. That�s how huge it is! It�s quartered by roads and unfortunately the church tried to destroy it in the 1600's, they even encouraged school children to destroy the stones! A lot of the stone was then used to build some of the houses. They�ve tried to reconstruct as much as possible, but a lot is missing.

We did get in quite late, much later than we were meant to get in which was really unfortunate because it meant that we were late for the show, so we missed about the first act or so. We also got off at an earlier stop than we should have so we had to walk a bit far to get to the Globe. The show itself was amazing. They had only three male actors performing all of the roles plus three women performing the spirits and there were six �gods� up in the heavens singing. It was occasionally confusing as to who was playing what part especially when they were talking to themselves, but luckily I know the story really well so I could follow it. The only had a few props and only one set piece, a rope tied noose-like hanging from the heavens of the stage that was sometimes used to fly around the stage. Some of the actors were really great physical actors too! All in all, it was amazing. We were �groudlings� which meant we were standing but it was easy enough to see. A little chilly though with the open air. It was a fantastic performance though and well worth it.

The next morning we were off to King�s Cross again after a lovely breakfast at the B&B. We had a nice train journey back up to Aberdeen. Only about 7 hours and the weather was nice so we got to see a lot of the country-side. Part of the journey we had two women sitting with us as we had reserved seating. They were both Canadians from Vancouver though one woman was originally from Hong Kong. They were really nice and we had a great chat about all kinds of things. To treat ourselves, we ate in the dinning car for lunch. A bit expensive, but good food and excellent dessert.

So after less than 24 hours at home, we left again the next morning to take a train to the Findhorn Foundation. We had very little real idea what was going to happen this week. Other than seeing the special on TV back in November and looking around the web page a little, we didn�t really know that much about the Findhorn Foundation other than it was a community that was trying as much as possible to be sustainable and in work in harmony with nature. Beyond that, we just knew we were going to living there and that the food was included. What we didn�t know was that we were staying at Cluny Hill College which used to be Cluny Hill Hotel, a holiday spa resort with the biggest most wonderful bath tubs ever and a sauna that was open two nights a week, a huge ball room, very bright and sunny dinning room and the most wonderful gardens ever. This week turned out to be less about the Findhorn Foundation and more about learning about ourselves. We were in a group of 12 people plus two �focalisers� who, as the name implies, were part of the group as well but gave the group a bit more focus. We did all kinds of amazing things over the week like group games, trips to really nice nature spots, talks by members of the community, things like that. On the mornings of the weekdays, we also went to our work groups for three hours. My work group was in the Cluny Dinning Room. Most of our group was working over at the Park, about 5 miles away from Cluny and the original site of the community.

The whole week was just amazing. I felt so relaxed and energetic. Greg and I were the youngest of the group, a lot of them were in their late 40's early 50's but we all got along really well and by the end felt a bit like an extended family and it was really sad to leave on Saturday. I really hope to stay in touch with everyone. Four of our group were staying on to do another program and possibly stay even longer if they like it. It was really interesting to be a part of a community that was based around love and care, that felt spirituality was important but it didn�t care how you practice your spirituality or what religion, if any, we were.

Our train trip back was quick and very nice. We still felt very relaxed and just smiling and laughing at little things. Getting back into Aberdeen I kept noticing things like litter or the fact that people don�t tend to meet each others eyes, things that didn�t really happen as much in Cluny, certainly there was no litter anywhere as a lot of people worked really hard on the grounds and in the gardens so why would anyone want to spoil that. We got in at around 1pm and after going home for a little while we went out again for an early supper at the Norther Hotel. It was really nice to see everyone and talk about our trips thus far. It was also really nice to be there but not working. We had a nice meal there and sticky toffee pudding for dessert :) And then we went to see Star Wars Episode III ! We got the last two tickets for the 5:30 show before it sold out and got really great seats before the cinema filled up so we were really lucky that way. I really enjoyed the movie but I won�t spoil it for anyone who hasn�t seen it.

So yeah, that�s been my past few weeks! Pretty amazing, isn�t it? I can�t believe most of it myself. And tomorrow, after a nice break today, we�re off to Dublin to stay with Leah for a few days and then off to Edinburgh for the weekend and then back here for a few days to sort out the flat then off to Glasgow. Hopefully I�ll be able to stay with Emma while I�m there as it would be nice to spend some time with her and she told me she lives pretty close to the airport. Hopefully I�ll update again soon.

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In further news, I just got back from Dublin. We had a great time there with Leah. We stayed at her flat and got to meet some of her awesome friends. We spend a lot of the time there wandering around Dublin. We went to the Irish Jewish Museum one day and out to kareoke one night and an to an Irish Pub where I had my first Guiness. It was okay but I'm still not a beer drinker. I'll stick to my cocktails. We saw the Guiness factory and the giant spire that has no point other than to be a really big spire in the middle of Dublin. It was so wonderful to get to spend some time with Leah. Yesterday we went to Kildare, a nearby town that is reputedly the home of Saint Brigid, one of the two patron saints of Ireland, the other of course being Saint Patrick. We went to the Cathedral and the well dedicated to Brigid and spent a lovely day in Kildare, a really nice little town with lots of greenery and trees. We flew back to Aberdeen this morning and have just over 25 hours until we're off again to Edinburgh.

This morning I realized I had two missed calls from my parents on my cell phone. I was a little worried, though figured it it had been something bad they would have left a message. So I was wanting to call them right away when we got in. But when we got home I found a letter from UNB so I got sidetracked with that first. I have been accepted to the BEd program there and am really excited about that! So all the more reason to call home. I got ahold of my Dad and he told me he was trying to call yesterday because MUN had sent their letter there and they had opened it for me and found that I had not been accepted there. Had I heard about MUN first I would have been sad, but knowing that I've been accepted to UNB it's actually really great because I don't have to make a decision and I was leaning a bit more towards UNB anyway, so it's really great!

In other news, things are really going downhill at Polmaily. The guy that is in charge of hiring wasn't letting Samantha know about whether or not Greg had a job there and is also trying to cut back on staff in general it seems which is pretty stupid considering it's coming up to the summer vacation, the busiest season by far. So Greg's decided he's going home early as we've spent a lot of money travelling around and without Polmaily or another live in job to go to it would be a bit hard. He may come back here at some point though.

So that's all my news for now! Lots, and lots. Thanks for reading through the whole thing :)

Love and Light
Jeannie

June 2nd, 2005

This is probably going to be my last entry from Scotland. I'm leaving Aberdeen tomorrow afternoon for Glasgow and staying there with Emma (Aussie I worked with at Polmaily) and then I'm on my way home at long last. This last week has felt a bit long and a bit frustrating. I'm ready to go home now and I'd rather not be waiting around anymore. I'm taking a break from packing right now, partically because the dryer doesn't seem to be working so I'm having to wait for my clothes to dry in front of the fire, and partially because I'm frustrated with the 20kg baggage restriction with Zoom airlines. I was so pleased with myself. I'd gotten rid of a lot of stuff, took two garbage bags full of stuff to a charity shop today, and everything looked like it would fit in my suitcases nice and easily. Then I weighed the first suitcase and it was 30kg!!!!!! Not good. This is not helped by the fact that empty, the suitcase weighs about 5kg to start with. So I had to empty it all out and start again. I'm still going to be over by about 15kgs, but I called and apparently it's not too much if I go over, but still. Annoying!!!!!!!!

But enough complaining about that, so what's been going on since I wrote last? Oh yeah, we went down to Edinburgh for the Scottish Pagan Federation Conference. It was pretty good, nice to spend the weekend with some of the Aberdeen moot people, though some couldn't make it and were sorely missed. The B&B we stayed at was really nice with a great owner and plenty of space for everyone. The Conference itself was also pretty good. I was really tired though from so much travelling and little sleep. Some of the speakers were good though and Greg and I went to a Voice and Song workshop that was fantastic! I'm really going to miss the people at the moot and hope that they come and visit sometime.

After we got back we mostly slept for one day and then spent lots of time trying to get everything sorted before leaving. Greg left yesterday and should be home sometime around now. He managed to miss his train to Edinburgh, therefore missing his flight to Heathrow so ended up taking the sleeper train straight to London and then flying out from there. Luckily that option was there and it didn't cost him too much extra, but it was pretty stressful, that's for sure. I'm planning on getting to the airport about four hours early just to be on the safe side. If I miss my flight, there isn't another one for a week! I still have a ton of things to get done tomorrow too! AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Sorry, I'm trying to not get stressed about all this but it is kinda frustrating, especially since I thought I was doing such a good job of getting everything sorted out. I guess rather than procrastinating more, I should just go back and face it and then get some sleep. I hope to see everyone soon!

Love
Jeannie

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