April showers

This last month has been amazing! The BBC just announced that this past April in Britain has been the hottest in recorded history. I wouldn't say it has been hot, but I did wear flip-flops for two days. The weather has been significantly nicer and the sun returning has been a nice change. I have even had to use an eye mask since the sun comes up before 6am! I am not complaining though in the least.

Here is a rundown of what April has been like:

Scott came to visit Scotland:

Sander's old college roommate, Scott, came to visit this month! We have since learned that Scots only call the significant other 'roommate' so I guess I should call him his old housemate...Anyway, he came and we had a great time. The picture above is when he and Sander visited Edinburgh castle.

Being in a new place is great in some ways, but deep down Sander and I have really just longed to be with people who know us and understand us. Thankfully Scott is just the guy to do that and we had a fabulous time.

Irish Dance World Championship:


Here I am in front of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with my friend Karen. I felt a lot of 'closure' getting to go and see what it would have looked like. I was surprised by how little Irish dance had actually changed over the past few years. Yes, there were a few dancers with feathers on their skirts, and a few did these strange turns, but for the most part everything looked like it did when I left dancing in 2001. I miss it tons and still think, 'what might have been,' but all in all I am so happy with the way life has turned out. Maybe Irish Dance will play another role in my life, but for now it was great just to go and see it on this scale.

Road trips:

Sander and I had our first real Scottish road trip this month! Since we finally have a car that gets decent gas mileage and we finally had the first flexi-Friday without guests or me at work, we took off. We just took our map and National Trust booklet and hit the road. We eventually made it over to Dunkeld in Perthshire. They have this incredible, half ruined cathedral in Dunkeld that we really enjoyed. I am going to go back there with my parents when they come and visit in May so they can appreciate it too. I reminded me of Colorado with ruins so it should be a good combination.

May is going to be another full month as we have three sets of visitors coming. We're looking forward to it, but are also trying to balance out our day-to-day life here in Scotland. We are trying to spend as much time with the good friends we made here while also staying involved at the church. There is a lot going on with the older youth/university students that we are involved with and I know we want to do as much as we can before we go. In a way I wish we could stay (it is certainly easier to see people here since it is so much smaller) but in another I am ready to wrap things up. I think that life is just difficult in some ways and our lot right now is to be nomadic. We are just making the most of each opportunity and day and not get to caught up in the future.

Check out our pictures for more details on our adventures.