We are headed to America in October.. so naturally I am working on the list of foods he must have.. This is what I have come up with tonight.. more to come! Add your suggestions as well!- I will continue to update this list! Hopefully we can then document his reaction to each of them! Can we have it "animal style" This is not a scone... Buttermilk Biscuits Nashville's Hot Chicken Hushpuppies Key Lime Pie Everything Bagel Frito Pie!! Carne Asada Fries California Burrito Fish Tacos Fried Pickles Clam Chowder Bon Fire? Lets have smores Shrimp and Grits I am sure we can make something up with this block of processed cheese!!
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There is a buzz in the air! The Edinburgh Fringe festival is here. This past week has been jam packed full of work and social activities. Since I have probably bored my blog with work related posts I will focus on the social activities of the week and probably highlight the food:
Monday: Dinner with friends. I went and shared some bubbles with friends celebrating the new job. We had Chinese food from imperial palace. Amazing food. Now, I can't say everything that I ate was gluten free, however I have eaten there in person before and they were very easy to deal with. My favorite thing ever was the salty tofu.. um yeah, I just said that- salty tofu. I think my world was rocked with the best bite of goodness ever. I have always liked tofu.. but if this was the only tofu around then I would actually LOVE tofu. Not only was the food great, but so was the company. Interesting conversations, good laughs and a singing dog. What else could you ask for? Tuesday: Dinner with friends. Two nights in a row! Different friends. Starting to get a rhythm- I quite enjoy dinner with friends, it sure beats having dinner alone! Anyway, off to another friend's house and whoa- the house is absolutely stunning. AND the coolest feature was this clothes rack that hangs from the ceiling? I am going to have to get my landlord/aka Mr. Tyke's brother (because there is no way that Mr. Tyke could do it) to build one of these things and help me install it! This website, Pulley Maid shows what they can look. What a great way to get clothes to hang and out of the way. In my small flat it would be a perfect addition some where. Anyway, dinner was amazing- she made Chicken Biryani out of Easy Meals with Rachel Allen- this was delicious. And my friend let me borrow the cook book! So I did an online shop to make three of the meals from it. I made one. There is just a calmness about my friend and know that I can just learn a lot from her about life. She has good advice and great perspective. Wednesday: I have lived here for two years. The first year I arrived after the Fringe and last year I didn't do anything with it. It was overwhelming, too many options and so many people. Plus I was sick and stressed as I continued to prepare my major review report. Anyway, this past week I went to my first Fringe events! I saw a comedian David O'Doherty during the preview show. He is at the Fringe this year AGAIN so make sure you grab a ticket. The preview show was sold out! Good times! We then ate Thai Food @padBKKFOOD ( I sure hope I am tagging the correct place) and I ordered Chicken Pad Thai- it was really nice! Over in the George Square area! I am very thankful for my friend who got all of the tickets! Wahoo.. maybe this is why it was my first fringe event- I didn't want to stand in line! BUT she got them for me and sent me the invoice. Anyone else prepared to go broke during fringe? Thursday: Three days of being a socialite, I stayed home in the evening! I made Parsnip Porcini oil soup from the Easy Meals with Rachel Allen cookbook and it turned out amazing! I am so excited to eat the left overs for lunch today! MMMM Such an easy meal and super delicious. And so when Winter comes around, I am super excited to add this to my soup list. Mr. Tyke won't be thrilled because he isn't a Parsnip fan. Oh well, the cook picks what the cook likes! Friday: Food Festival Edinburgh. After a week of work and play today was only a little work in the AM and all play. I met another friend at this festival and got to try so many delicious foods and listen to some .. interesting and at times good music. Interesting foods I recommend (and probably purchased) That Hungry Chef- Chef Pratrap Chahel makes some really interesting pickled meats and relishes. I purchased the Achari Beef Curious Pickle. I never thought I would like meat in a can or meat in a jar but this stuff is amazing. Its beef cooked with spices and vinegar. You can eat it as a dip or turn it into a meal. I have not decided what I will do with it. Check them out @thathungrychef I also really enjoyed Mike's Homemade (@Mikeshomemade) - first of all if it was Mike standing at the stand (which I think it was) he was quite a character and great person. So you are not only supporting a good yummy business but a great businessman as well. You can order all of the yummy chutneys and relishes on his website- I bought a jar of Carrot and Cumin, although his mango was some of the best I had ever had. The Carrot and Cumin is described as "One of our more unusal Chutneys & one to avoid if you don't like Cumin, but the Shredded Carrot laced with Cumin creates a distinct palate freshing Chutney."- I found it really good and can't wait to have it with some cheese. Cheese? Did someone say Cheese? Oh my gosh did I have some of the best Cheese? Yes I did and I brought a bunch of it home. The Great British Cheese Company is where its at! Sticky Toffee Tastic- yes, Sticky Toffee cheese! Lets say it #OMG #OMG AMAZING. Although all of the cheeses I tried were pretty outstanding these are the ones I decided to bring home: Whiskey Mac The Drunken Monk Sticky Tastic Smokey Peppadew Garlic I highly recommend this cheese. We tried another cheese guy at the foodies festival and although there was one cheese I really liked there, the Great British Cheese Company I could eat about all of them! The guy was really nice that was working there as well! Meeting people is great fun! My friend and I met a ton of people that day- having fun with the local venders is definitely the way to be. We met Abbishek Banik a distiler and production manager at Ogilvy Spirits. He was fantastic! Super social fun guy who also a Heriot-Watter, I would love to take some distilling classes at Heriot-Watt while I am there.. but not sure if you can just walk in and say, hey.. i work here, can i learn how to make whiskey? Ogily is where they make Scottish Potato Vodka, yup potato vodka in Scotland. All in all I am not a fan of Vodka- or well.. it is usually not a fan of me! It loves to make me think I have already had like 20 drinks if you know what I mean. Anyway I liked the potato vodka- but they also make a ginger liquor and I really liked that. So I had a cocktail with it and it was really nice. Abbishek (who I like to call Abby Shake-it Shake it.. probably totally rude thing to do but I really just don't know how to say his name) was chatting with people from Stewarts Brewing (I think with a guy named Tim) and he introduced us to a beer they have Radical Road- What is super cool, is I didn't realize until just now that I brought one of their beers to my friend Justin when I was visiting in February. So apparently I have been a supporter of this Edinburgh brewery all along! I am super excited about David and Michelle's SaladWorxs dressing and marinade. I bought the Lemon Dill dressing and I want to use it on some nice white fish. I really liked all of their flavours, but can't buy them all! So if you are looking for something good and different for salads and marinades check them out. By the end of the day I had tried so many different dips, relishes, hot sauces and chutneys.. but there is one special hot sauce that takes the cake. Mr. Vikkis king Naga.. no idea what it is and what you do with it.. I assume just add it to anything and everything and make things amazing. I am actually looking forward to seeing what some people think of this! You know the people who think they can handle all hot things and be cool as a cucumber? Those people. But I really think I will bring it down south with me to share with the Curry Masters of Yorkshire. One other exciting thing to try is my gluten free pizza base that I picked up from Steven O'Brien @donmarcofoodco Dough it yourself! I am really excited to try the gluten free pizza base and the sauce that i picked up. The regular base that I tried was really good so dinner this week will def be a pizza! Wahooo! Ok I am going to bed now! I hope you are not super hungry after reading this Saturday: Will get its own post tomorrow :) Deaf Gain or Hearing Loss! Fringe event number 2! I am just a month shy of entering my third year of this PhD. I am on track and looking forward to its completion. Not in the sense that it will be over and I get to go home, but in the sense that this is a huge undertaking and I am looking forward to dabbling in other projects and doing more things..especially with my new job. Did you catch that? New job?? I am thrilled to announce that I have been offered and officially accepted a position at Heriot-Watt University as the new Assistant Professor in Sign Language Studies. I will transition my PhD to part-time, but I am determined to get it finished within the same amount of time that I had planned (maybe just a month or two off to be realistic). I believe that with a little hard work I can do it. I am so thankful for all of the people who have supported me through the years. I know that my achievements are not from my own doing alone, but much credit is due to the people who have helped me and cheered me on along the way. I am also thankful to Heriot-Watt University for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to first study and now study and work along side such amazing scholars! So lets toast some bubbles to new adventures! x
After another amazing sleep, I woke up ready to dive back into work. However, it was clear to me that I had to take a different route. I could continue to get to know each part of Barbara but I was already starting to notice I was asking similar questions about different answer combinations. Rebecca got me thinking about the statistical side of it. As much as I can describe what I see Barbara is just way too big and too challenging to describe on my own. I began to explore excel, I transferred the data into excel. I did it the right way this time around, so I didn't just get number codes. I started to play with excel. I watched hours and hours of youtube videos trying to learn the functions, I turned to social media seeking help, I saw many opinions of excel (it being the source of evil all the way to world peace). Completely focused on my work I had lost track of the time and in walks Margaret with some soup and bacon. I paid for a room, a place to stay and I was given a bowl of soup and bacon! I had to hold back the tears when she left I was really touched. My mom would have brought me soup too! So it was really just nice. I miss my mom :) While I was having my soup I continued to explore excel, my options and attempt to figure out my next steps. Meanwhile, the phone rang.. um? For me? How in the world was I receiving house calls? It was Calum! Calum saw my cry for help on Facebook and called to tell me he knew a guy- a guy who is an excel expert. So he introduces me to John and John then spends a few hours of his own personal time working on my spreadsheet so I can filter items. . I realized around this time that I totally need a tutor as well. I need someone who can really help me with this part of the PhD process. So at one point I thought I was emailing someone through this website about potentially working with me, however it turns out I was posting a job advertisement. I then received a ton of proposals of people who would want to work with me. Only one stuck out to me.. Candace. As Candace is a methodologist/researcher for quantitative/qualitative data at a university in the USA. She works in Social Sciences and works with large pieces of data every single day. She has done her PhD and so she has been there done that.. and has the knowledge I need. We skyped, and first impressions were great. She reminded me of someone who could be my friend and also someone who would have the ability to actually explain the complicated stuff to me. To walk me through the steps. I do want to learn! After sending her all my information and talking to her about all the ideas I had for the research she came back with a plan- Regression Statistics! I am still learning what all that is, but its definitely something that seems to make sense for what I want to do. Look at a bunch of different variables to see patterns that may help me understand interpreter educator experiences in relationship to their perspectives of student learning and work readiness. I am excited. Who in the world would have thought that coming to Inverness for 5 days would have opened so many doors and so much progress would have happened?? I am a happy PhD Student and after filling in my supervisor she is a Happy PhD Supervisor as well! WAHOO! Yesterday after finishing up some work I asked Margaret what she was doing with her day. I asked if I could tag along to run her errands. We went to the post office, the butcher and then to the garden centre. This isn’t a place where you can just get plants.. you can get tea, cake, a roast dinner on a Sunday, deli meats, cheeses, furniture etc. It was an amazing little shop with lots of things to explore. We stopped for tea and cake. Was really nice to spend some more time with Margaret. I would love to know more about her upbringing and her life. I know she has had an interesting one! She and Calum met when she was 15 or 16 years old! Calum spotted her one day and then asked her to dance and the rest is history- 35 years of marriage later J Earlier that day, I was able to chat some with her mum and it was just interesting to learn about her experiences. She is 89 years old and so you can imagine how much she has seen in her life. Anyway, after our tea and coffee, Margaret picked up some Stornoway black pudding.. I have lived in Scotland and not tried it yet- all because Jaci told me the BEST was from Stornoway- well, Stornoway is near where Margaret and Calum grew up on the Isle of Lewis (which has now been added to my visit list). So last night she came upstairs with homemade soup, chips, and black pudding! Again, I had just rented a room and was taken care of like family. I didn’t mind cooking or fending for myself but a little comfort from home was welcomed! I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did too! I had NO idea what to expect, and I am happily surprised! I later went and took a little rest that turned into a deep sleep! I must have needed the rest. I woke up early and had my last breakfast with Rebecca, and said “see you soon” to Calum as he headed off to work. Margaret took us to the train station as Rebecca was headed north on a day trip for a hike, and I am heading back home to Edinburgh. My heart is full and I am excited about my research again. I need to remember that when I am starting to get the blues.. an adventure might be in store. I am very thankful for the warm hospitality I received at Calum and Margaret's house.. and love that I was able to meet Rebecca and have such a great week. Below are some pictures of my recent adventure. The next morning I got up and decided to do some Yoga. It is important to balance the exercise- right?? I think so. I have been on a bit of a health kick since getting back from Yorkshire. Trying to get back into a good running and exercise routine- along with eating right and sleeping enough. Anyway, again another great breakfast and back up to work. I have had many conversations with Rebecca, my house sister who I am going to have to start calling her! And she LOVES Data. She began making some data suggestions. However, at this point I was still becoming familiar with what Barbara had to say. Each questionnaire I went through, I wanted to know more. I wanted to ask specific questions to the person that helped create her.. but all I have is Barbara. As I continue to color code, I pause and say, why did you say this but then you say that? I began to see some patterns and began to note them. At this point I was able to get through one more questionnaire than I did the day before. However, 66 questionnaires is daunting.. and I began to wonder if there is a better way, because when I begin to match up certain questions with other questions it begins to look like Barbara is beginning to morph into some other being- she is becoming more complex and less clear but some how more interesting. Later in the afternoon I took a little bit of a walk. Tried to get out and think. I began thinking about some of the ideas Rebecca had and wondering if it may be better to go this other route.. the excel spreadsheet route… the looking for patterns and correlations route. There was just a major problem- I am not very good at excel. I used to be pretty good at Access but I have just never been good with formulas and equations. To get through my remedial math- college math I had a tutor.. so you can only imagine how daunting this spreadsheet began to look. However, I took the color codes that I used in my initial writing stage and began to fill in the cells with unique colors. Totally something I can do and its productive. It actually takes a while to look at each question and consider what category it will go into. Thank goodness the day was wrapping up as my head was about to go a tad nuts. That evening we had some good conversation again downstairs. Larry, Rebecca, Margaret and Calum- sharing and learning about each others opinions on culture, politics, health care etc. Pretty stimulating conversation since everyone has different backgrounds to get a feel of how other people perceive the world. Calum and Margaret suggested that the next day (Sunday) we go for a run. Since I have been getting back into my running routine, sounds good to me.. However going for a run in scotland is going for a drive- so we quickly were relieved that the five of us were not going to be running the hills of the highlands. Rebecca and I shared some wine and cake in the guest room and chatted about so many great things. Its very stimulating to meet another person who appears to be very like minded about many things. I've been needing to make a new friend, and I had NO idea that I would be making one on this trip. The next morning was much of the same. However, I slept a little bit later and decided that morning exercise was just not on my agenda. It was Sunday the day of rest. I began working with Barbara, and while Rebecca had decided to go for a run and I heard Larry downstairs say he was going to join Margaret and Calum at church. Margaret popped up to say they were headed there and extended the offer. I was about to decline, but thought, maybe another little spark for the soul. So I left Barbara in the pretty room and left (she is just going to have to realize that she can't go every where with me and that in order for us to make this work-space is required). So off to church we go. It was a nice service and it seems to be a community of some really great people. Many of the songs were familiar from America AND the pastor made several American references. Margaret and Calum were just immersed in Americanisms this week. Upon returning, I had some lunch with Rebecca and dabbled in a bit of work. We then headed off for our run. I didn't think I was going to see much of Inverness as this was purely a work related trip- however I was also told to get some space and think. So what a better way than to go explore some wilderness. Us three girls and the little dog snuggled up in the back and Calum and Larry took the front. Larry from Montana, who has never been out of Montana did his best to not have a heart attack anytime a car came in the opposite direction. Being away from home and experiencing the driving on the opposite side of the road was a pretty interesting experience for him. Also, there is this guy at the Lockness who has been monster siting for like 20 something years or more.. a newspaper article reads that he left his home, job, girlfriend to find the monster. It just made me wonder, what was her side of the story? My boyfriend was into bird watching? It then went down hill from there? I mean do you really just pick up and leave your life for a monster? Well maybe- I guess if you are committed to something thats what it looks like but that could also look like crazy- seems to be a fine line between the two. We then headed to Fort Agusta and stopped in for some hot tea. More conversation, and more laughs. I took a picture of a sign in the pub we went into, it said "Smile, it confuses people" - I got a right kick out of that! Pretty funny and so true. At one point Larry misheard Calum talking about the Local Authorities and quickly said, "the idiots?"- we laughed and were like, well yeah- they can be… There are really no words to describe Larry- But you can imagine a man from Montana who has never really seen much other than Montana on a solo adventure through Scotland. He is on a relay race really- and looking forward to exploring all of the creeks or the cricks as he calls them e saw deer, and sheep, and a Lockness Monster.. (ok, we didn't, I was just seeing if you were paying attention) and headed back to drop off the little dog and head to a local place to grab some food. It was packed, and Calum returned with some very happy news (his neutral face was quite a frown at the moment) it was a 45 minute wait, so we went elsewhere. Rebecca had Haggis for the first time, Larry, Margaret and Calum had a roast and I opted for fish and chips. I do love a good fish and chip. Dinner was great- but what was greater was being able to sit down for a family style dinner with my new friends. When you live alone you eat dinner alone.. you go to the butcher and ask for one chicken breast, and make your salad and watch TV- the latest is the Mindy Project. People always make comments about how glorious my life is.. trust me, its not all glorious :) So any opportunity I have to eat with others is something I welcome. I really won't be offended if you invite yourself for dinner- in fact, I would be relieved- so feel free. After a nice evening out it was a bit more chat and off to bed. We had had a long day- and yup, Monday would be a work day. To be continued…. Last week I got the chance to meet with my supervisors. I explained, how I hadn't felt like I had been doing much. They encouraged me to make sure I knew that I had been. In the last couple months I have spent time writing an article, writing an essay to apply for the Higher Education Academy, sent out a massive survey, collected data, worked with a company to get the next part of the data out and all the while working on a project to develop new teaching materials for our BSL program because I had applied for a grant and surprisingly got it.. so I have been busy. But sometimes you feel like you spend more time checking emails than actually doing anything productive. I showed them the pile of data I have gathered so far. It was nicely put in a blue folder, where it has been sitting for a couple weeks. I haven't known what to do with it- so it just would look up at me from my coffee table. It would say, "You want to look through me, right?" And I would say, "yes.. but.. no" You see, I didn't want to waste time going through it when I didn't really know what to do with it. (I sometimes laugh at the thought that I actually entered a PhD program. Me? I am a teacher, I am an interpreter, I can dabble in a research project or two, but by no means am I an "academic"- by no means, am I one of those really smart people that I admire so greatly). So the data just sat there looking at me. Kind of haunting me in its own way. However, I knew that soon I would get to it. I met with my amazing supervisors and they encouraged me to get away and write. One of them even suggested I named by data, because I seemed to respect it so much. Name it??? She continued that I needed to get to know it personally... as it was a live being. So I went with it.. I named her Barbara. I know you are asking.. why in the world would you name the data 'Barbara'? Well…a few weeks ago I was down in Yorkshire with Mr. Tyke and his best mate got super excited about a video game by the name of Rayman. Well we all had different characters, and one of the characters was Barbara. I think its funny that this was who Mr. Tkye was playing.. but check her out.. She is a fierce ginger with a double edged battle Axe and winged helmet. So I named my data after her. Maybe I just want to be Barbara slicing a way at the enemies to get win the game. Because in this data there are answers to find and at the end, I may be able to win the research battle by being crowned with a PhD.. but then again being crowned with a winged helmet would be pretty cool too. So anyway, me and Barbara decided it was time to get away. Where would we go? I needed a quiet space to write, to reflect, to really get to know Barbara.
After searching for a few hours, while printing more of Barbara, I found a place in Inverness. Inverness? Yeah, why not. I have never been, in the spirit of the mysteries that Barbara holds, why not go where the Lockness Monster hides? I didn't really know what to expect but I booked a place on AirBnB. A few nice email exchanges and I was packed and ready to go. Headed out the very next evening on a late train and was met by the most lovely woman to take me off to my home for the week. She opens the front door and the beautiful wooden stairwell takes me to my room (along with a meet and greet of a cat and dog who look like brother and sister and actually match the furnishings of the beautiful house- the full package, really). A lovely room, huge bathroom and I can already sense the place of relaxation that I had in store. Perfect place to write, correct? What I didn't realize, is while I was trying to get away to find a place to write, I was about to spend some time with some of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life. I should mention, the last few weeks have been really hard for me on a personal level. I have been missing home, feeling lonely, isolated and even had a birthday that I spent most of the day wandering the streets alone- reflecting on my life. Turning 31.. I don't know what it is about birthdays- but I often get the bIrthday blues and boy did these ones hit, thank God for the dinner I had with a few friends that night because I think I would have been pretty devastated. Anyway back to my current story. I went to bed, I slept a peaceful sleep and got up early for a run. Came back to a glorious breakfast of meats and cheese, fruit, cereal. As I was working Margaret offered to run to the store for me and pick up some things for my lunch. She was headed out to pick up some other American guests. I was able to have a healthy salad, with chicken and some veggies that I had brought from home. I worked and worked. I didn't realize how long going through each piece would take. Color coding, asking questions, trying to be you know.. 'academic'- I made progress. I began to connect some dots. I took a break and took a walk. My view in the sitting room over looks Moray Firth and is so bright and airy that its just the best place to be in. In the afternoon I met house guest number 1, "Larry from Montana" - note: Easy to remember, because my dad's name is Larry. I continued to work and then later met house guest number 2. Rebecca… which it didn't dawn on me right then an there because I was on the phone making travel plans with my awesome friend and colleague. Once I was done for the day I headed down to socialize with the American guests.. Wait, Larry, Rebecca? My dad and my sister?? Both Americans. Ha. Small world :) Easy names to remember. Although the personalities are very different from my family they were familiar. And familiar helps. We then began cooking and sharing a meal and wine with each other. All strangers from America had to come to inverness to meet. Calum came home shared a dram with Larry and then next thing I knew we were all in the living room chatting until late in the evening. Something in my soul sparked- what was this, community? If you know me, you know that I thrive much better with people than without but I often get so wrapped up in my work that I miss out on the community piece. I went to bed, happy and content, knowing another long day of work was ahead and parts of my soul still needed to be ignited, but I knew I was in the right place to do it. You may have wondered as of late what I have been up to? Well maybe you haven't but I figure I can fill you in anyway :) So yes, I didn't die but have been taken over by the PhD. Back when I last posted I was preparing for the Major Review. This is the report that you write half way through the PhD process that allows you to move on with your research. You spend an entire 3-months sitting in an office chair, laying in your bed, and basically ruining your vision as you read articles, books and write the report on your laptop- attempting to show that you know what you are talking about.
I also became really sick during the entire process. Yup- sick as a dog. I ended up with RSV. Its something that kids and old people get and because I had turned 30 my body decided it wanted to play along. So while writing this report, I also got to lay in bed, coughing, sneezing, wheezing, crying at times and being miserable! I am so American too because when I was filing my sick leave I was saying, "YES, I was at home.. but I was working, so no I don't want it to look like I took the month off"- come to find out I should have just accepted the month because I would have had a month of sick leave added to my scholarship and my argument now got me a 12 day extension instead. Heck, I should have actually stopped working and rested because then maybe I wouldn't have been sick so long. However, if you know me, you will know that I will never learn. Back in December I passed my major review. It wasn't a positive experience on a whole- but I passed and that is all that matters. So I am allowed to continue my research and I can only hope that I can get this PhD knocked out in the 3 year time frame. However, I have to admit, I do like being a student. In the UK we get major discounts (No council tax and a really great student rail card that lets you take the train for a third of the cost). My folks came out for Christmas and New Year. We spent Christmas in England with Sandy and Phil and it was a nice time. Mr. Tyke moved back to England around this time which was a bit hard and has been an adjustment but all in all its been good. Just adds a new dynamic to the mix. He came up for New Years and we had a good couple of days. We watched the torch processional which if it happened in the US would have been an incredibly different experience. People in the UK really like to queue (be in a line). It is like their favorite thing ever! I think it was 7000 people in this queue and they all had torches of fire. They walked happily through the city holding fire, without torching trashcans, each other, having a riot and there really was no monitoring from firefighters during the walk. It was mind boggling. I imagine we Americans wouldn't be in such a straight line and there would be an increase of patients in the emergency room. There would also probably be a few lawsuits here and there. Just a different world :) The last few months I have been busy continuing on with this research. I have been creating a questionnaire and actually just launched it. You probably have seen me posting constantly on twitter and Facebook about it. Its just hard to think that you dedicate 15 months to figuring out what you are going to do and then you collect data for like what? 3-weeks? So the next steps for my research really are dependent on people accessing and completing this survey. I know its long, but I really hope that people are passionate about being an interpreter educator and will take the time to fill it out. We really don't have that much information about our experiences and this questionnaire is going to bring back so much information that I personally believe it will be beneficial. So I can only hope that the questionnaire makes it out there and people schedule some time to complete it. If you are an interpreter educator: https://hw.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/jdrslie You can take the survey here :) You know, recently I read this article that went viral on Facebook about how parenting can make you stupid. Well, I have news for you- you don't have to become a parent to feel stupid. Just enter a PhD program. Its a process where you question your intelligence every single day. You also realize how much you don't know. You think, well I used to think I was smart… and now.. I just am trying to get by. If you are a parent your house may be filled with toys and clutter… well, if you are an academic its filled with sticky notes, journal articles and books. You constantly are needing to read something else, but being distracted by someone, something, some email, some other project and you always feel like you are just keeping your head above water. However, some how you manage. Thats at least how I feel. I am moving along and some how managing.. but I don't feel any smarter :) In addition to all this, I have continued to teach. Not only at Heriot-Watt as a part of my research hours but also in the US through distance education. Giving up teaching was not something I was completely comfortable doing. I love to teach and although I am loving the UK and learning BSL and immersing myself here. I also want to hold on to my roots. They are important to me. I invested so many years into learning ASL, becoming a professional in the US that I won't completely give that up. I want to continue to be connected to my community and continue to give back. So here I am juggling it all and at the end of the day, I may not feel smarter, I may be exhausted but I am happy. I love that in just a year and a half I feel my British Sign Language skills are improving quickly. I continue to notice that I am getting better and better and my communication access has improved. When I first joined the department we always had interpreters at the meetings.. some how they have disappeared and I am realizing that I don't actually need an interpreter to keep up with the rapid staff meetings. I don't always feel I can express just what I want and how I want it, but my colleagues are patient and understanding so I can usually make it work. In February I went the States. It wasn't as great as a trip as I had hoped. It was cold and icy in two of the places I was at. I went to a conference which I didn't find too beneficial. No one showed up to my presentation and they didn't schedule a lunch break or have any tea and coffee breaks. However, I did get to spend some quality time with my niece and nephew, saw my sister, grandma, best friend, mom and dad and some other good friends while I was there. I am sorry if I missed you while I was home. The weather wasn't great and I was really in each place for a short amount of time. I hope you are saving your pennies though and can make it out to this side of the world sometime soon. I just moved.. and have a nice big couch and better space for visitors so come on over :) I am heading to Leeds next week to see Mr. Tyke in his small little village outside the city. I am really looking forward to going down there. I have to say the one thing that has been amazing his his family. Even though they are not my own family, when you don't have family close by it is really nice to be able to just jump into someone else's- to sit down for a sunday roast, watch a movie with the entire family and play scrabble by the fire does more for my soul than they probably realize. When I go I hope to see Sandy and Phil as well because they are like my adopted UK parents and I am always so grateful for my time with them. When you have opportunities like this, it doesn't make you so homesick. So there you have an update. I hope you are all well. I am continuing to live the adventure and think of you all often. Please do keep in touch. I have also moved as I mentioned above so if you need my new address, please send me an email. I still do love getting snail mail. -Stacey I have so much to catch you all up on. So much has happened in the past couple months. From being incredibly exhausted, to feeling a bit depressed and even lost in life (maybe even homesick). Missing my dear girlfriends back home and around the U.S. Realizing I am 30 and not exactly where I wanted to be in life.. and somewhat confused on where I want to go. However, all of that is for another day. Yesterday the girls and I took a little trip to Dunbar. The birth place of John Muir- pretty cool growing up in California, making trips to Yosemite every year and coming full circle to visit John Muir's birthplace and house. Anyway- I put together a little fun video of our adventure. Our favorite part by far was seeing the seal in the Harbor. We named him of course. We watched him beg for food from some fishermen who wouldn't give the cute little guy anything and then after a bit of exploring we came back to find him with a new fisherman! Who although a bit gruff and didn't smile clearly enjoyed his time with this new friend. Turned out to be such a great day. Enjoy our little video. I have begun to really love a lazy saturday. Not because I don't want to be adventurous, but because at the end of a week of writing, working etc- I am just ready for a day off!
I woke up to see my parents are selling tennis rackets of mine! I have to say.. it cracked me up. Sure.. they were a gift from my parents way back when.. and I had never actually used them- BUT you know what happens when you move away and leave stuff? They sell your shit! Hahaha. I sure hope this isn't the first of the rest of the sells ha, I have some nice things so you may want to get in on that- make some money!! I had the best conversation with Mr. Tyke today. So I am about to lose him to the #WCP.. oh you don't know what that is? Let me inform you- World Cup Party. Yeah- it starts the 14th. Be ready all you girls who have men who LOVE football! Anyway, he says, Mr. Tyke: We need to figure out when all the USA games are for the World Cup Me: Is that right? Mr. Tyke: Yes, I mean they are my second team now. Me: Why? Mr. Tyke: Well, for you of course and how they helped us during WWII Bahahaha. I died laughing. So yes- we are apparently needing to get USA hats and eat American food and cheer on America in the World Cup- but only after England, of course. Its gonna be interesting since most of these games start at 11- and my bedtime is about 11. I hope I can survive the month. I will keep you all posted on the World Cup experience. The rest of the day?? Oh yes- it was more lazy! We have watched some crappy TV, ate some good food, began planning our trip to Italy,been to a couple stores and plan on making some steaks for dinner. And yet, the best part of the day has been watching the rain fall and then venturing out to take a walk in it. Edinburgh has some beautiful days- and even the rainy ones can be lovely. It isn't all that cold today- but the rain is coming down and sometimes you just need to walk in it, dance in it, or even kiss in it. Don't let rainy days bring you down- just embrace them. Have a great rest of your weekend. Today the girls and I headed to the city centre for what was called spa day in the city. First, let me say that I had a great day, but it was because of the company that I was with and not because of the amazing event planning of this day.
Arriving early to get a bag for being one of the first 100 in line we were excited to see what was inside. If you are planning on going tomorrow, let me tell you what you will be waiting for. Nothing too exciting and from what we heard in line the bag goodies have gotten worse and worse over the last couple years. In the bag:
There were no instructions really on how the day was to progress, other than stand In line, sign up for only one treatment and then because the bloggers were let in early for treatments appointments were not available until 11. On top of this the tent was unorganized and you didn't really know where to go. What we wanted to sign up for was Lush Spa : hand, head & arm massages & the opportunity to create your own product. The use of the & symbol looked like we would get to enjoy it all! Arriving to the front of the line we were asked which of the list we wanted..... Sad day! While waiting for our appointment we had a walk around and realized that most of he tents were empty as people waited for their appointments. Talking with some of the ladies providing the services we found out that sometimes people don't show up and they are then stuck waiting for their. Ext appointment. All appointments had go go through the registration tent (the unorganized one), I guess if you want multiple appointments you have to keep going though the line- although still not too sure. I will say that the band that was playing was fantastic! becky and the lunar orchestra... Great vibe. And the coffee shop in the middle of st Andrew square has amazing coffee! That was also a highlight! If it's cold and rainy tomorrow you might be better off picking a cafe and having some coffee and cake with your girlfriends. While you are there checkout groupon and see if you can create your own spa day!! |
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The Adventure:
One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.
William Feather