3 Days To Home :)

Thanks everybody for all of the birthday wishes... It was a really good one. I worked the night shift the night before at my favorite shelter here, and I had one of the most incredible conversations with one of the women here early in the morning... it is hard to explain, but it was one of those conversations that impacted me deeply, and one that I will never forget. And I think it is so great that it happened on the morning of my birthday... that makes it even more special :) So, then I started an office job that same day at a social work center, so as you can imagine, I was a bit loopy when I got back from work that night... I had pretty much forgotten that it was my birthday at all. But as soon as I walked in, everybody, even people that I usually don't talk to very much, came up and told me happy birthday and gave me big birthday hugs! :) Apparently, my friends made signs and put them up all over the hostel informing everybody! :) So, I went down to my room to put my things away, and found my bed decorated with happy birthday confetti! It was so sweet! Jane and Sara made me one of the best lasagnas I have ever eaten, I mean seriously good, and I had a beautiful evening just hanging out with everybody.

So, yeah, for the past two weeks, I have been working in a social work office shuffling papers... It was ok for an office job... there was another girl there my age from California, so I alternated between doing a little bit of work and then doing a little bit of talking to her, which made the time go by, I suppose :)

Last weekend, went to see Stirling Castle... It was a lot of fun. We were in a particularly goofy mood that day, so we wore viking hats and peter pan hats and took pictures of ourselves doing various poses around the castle... I haven't laughed so hard in a really long time as I did that day :)

And now I am just itching for the next hour to go by so I can go out for st. patricks day. I am planning on doing all of my favorite things this weekend one last time... enjoying my last few days in Edinburgh and in Scotland... I just can't believe that it is almost over. I feel really good about it though. I have learned so much about myself and about the world in my time here, and I am ready to leave and count myself lucky to have had another incredible experience. Sometimes I am just overcome with how blessed I am and what an amazing life this is!!!!! :)

So, now I must reveal the big news. I just found this out about 9 hours ago, so it still hasn't completely registered with me. But here you go..... this is it...... I got accepted into the Peace Corps!!!!!!!!!!! I will be working with youth development on the pacific islands starting in july!!!!!! I am so overwhelmed right now, really. I mean, it is like this thing that I have always dreamed of doing... and now it is actually happening... and I just don't know exactly what to make of it. But it is just so funny how everything works out... All of those crazy jobs that I have done and all of the challenges that I have gotten through... I think they were to prepare me for this... and I feel ready for it... I feel at peace about it, like everything is happening as it should. Anyways, I could keep rambling about my thoughts on this forever, but I will just have to tell you all in person! :)

Because I am coming home on Tuesday!!!! Yay!!!

I can't wait to see everybody... Be warned, I am expecting big hugs!!! :)

Update

I just realized that it has been over two weeks since I have writen on my blog... And let me assure you, it isn't because life has been dull... I guess it never is. But I like it that way.

Honestly, I don't know where to start: Annika's visit: crazy bike rides, hiking in the highlands, meeting new friends, drinking lots of coffee-- anyway, it was great...

Working completely random shifts lately: everything from disabilites one-on-one, homeless, receptionist, elderly (remind me to tell you the story about how I had to cook for this crazy old man!), women's shelters... just anything and everything...

Still trying to figure out what to do with my life, haha, like i'll ever really know :)

Cooking dinner almost every night with some friends (yes, you should be impressed :) (even though the curry was very suspect last night :)

More than anything, I am trying to enjoy and appreciate my last few weeks here. Even the things that annoy me, I can sigh and say to myself, "I will miss that is a few weeks." (I really don't think I will, but it makes me feel better to try to convince myself of this anyways :) I am trying to be a tourist on my days off (Last weekend, the excursion was to Craigmillar Castle and it was so much fun... just this huge castle ruins to explore)... oh, and I tried ostrich for the first time from this farmers market... very delicious, and also very healthy (apparently... I didn't know this).

So, yeah, things are good. I am excited to come home in just a few weeks now, but sad to leave Edinburgh and everything that I love here. But I feel like it is time to move on, and I am comforted that I feel this way (because we all know that I make decisions with my heart and not my head :) I am rambling on now... it is the middle of the night over here, so I must go find something else to do to kill the time besides post all of my personal thoughts online :)

I LOVE YOU!!!!

To all who read my blog: WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE????

This is going to be a short one because ANNIKA IS HERE!!!! (the best Valentine's Day gift ever!!!)

Just wanted to say I love y'all!

SNOW!!!

It started last night. We looked out of the window and saw some snowflakes. The we looked again and the snowflakes were getting bigger. This time we got excited enough to open a window and stick our heads out. Then on my way to meet some friends, I noticed that it was sticking in some places... (just wait, it keeps getting better...)

The snowflakes were still steadily coming down on my way back home, bigger than ever, and even more beautiful that before. It was such a beautiful feeling, just trudging through the snow on the Royal Mile, catching a big one on my tongue every once in a while. I almost felt like I was in a different world as I squinted my eyes and saw nothing but huge swirls of white coming down all around me. The cold kept me alert and the warmth of my body under all of my layers made me aware of the parts of my body that were uncovered. I could see my breath, and the place was relatively quiet, especially as I approached home. All I could hear was my own breath under my hood and the distant sound of a snowball fight on the castle hill.

The next morning, Jane excitedly shakes me awake, trying to be quiet, but making exaggerated gestures towards the window... After shaking the fuzz from my pre-coffee brain, I realized what must have happened... I peaked out of the curtains, and the city was covered in a beautiful white blanket of snow...

I threw on the first set of clothes that my hands made contact with, struggled in the excitement of it all with my socks and boots, and ran outside to see the whole street, the cars, the buildings, the castle and the hill, the phone booth next to the hostel... it was all covered in snow. It was so BEAUTIFUL. I mean, this is already one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but it is just that much better with the snow over everything.

So, of course, I acted all of eight years old, and skipping all over the city, taking pictures of everything in Edinburgh that I already have pictures of, but this time covered in snow :) Of course, now it has all melted away, but it was beautiful while it lasted. One of my wishes has come true: I got to see Edinburgh covered in snow.

The Fifth of February

Even though I still don't have an affinity for Mondays, this one wasn't too bad. I woke up and took a walk in the very cold, but very sunny weather that is actually kind-of creeping me out now (It just isn't meant to be this sunny in Scotland!) to turn in my timesheet. Usually they have at least a couple of shifts for me on Monday mornings, but I was sad to learn that there was nothing for today. So I walked back to the hostel, had a burst of enthusiasm, and decided that I could clean today. Just as the clock was striking 11 (the official start of the cleaning here at Castle Rock), my phone rang, and I got a shift at my favorite homeless shelter.

It was a great shift... I am learning how to do a lot more stuff there, and it is much more fun to work when I know more about what is going on. There was a really sweet art therapist there today who did a session with some of the service users... (I just think it is the sweetest thing in the world for her to come do art therapy with the rough characters that frequent this homeless center.) There was a really funny Polish man that no matter how many times I told him that I couldn't understand Polish, just kept talking to me and asking me questions in Polish... I know he speaks English... I have talked to him before in English... He just didn't want to speak in English today for some reason!!! (I have a feeling it is probably for the best that I couldn't understand what he was saying! :)

Now, I am very bored and hungry. One of the guys here is a really good cook, and he is making lasagna tonight... my FAVORITE!!!! But there is nothing to do but wait...

I am being told that I must entertain Jane now, so I am going to try... :)

Roslyn Chapel

Saturday was an absolutely GORGEOUS day... so gorgeous that I just wanted to bottle the sunshine and save it to combat the inevitable greyness of most days. I got up relatively early and walked around the city, just taking in the atmosphere. The sidewalks were packed, the peope were all smiling, there were students protesting, homeless selling magazines, vendors selling souvenirs... it was a bustling, infectiously joyful, beautiful day.

To make it even better, one of my friends with a car invited me to go to see Roslyn Chapel (yes, the one from the DaVinci Code) nearby. So, five of us packed into the car and enjoyed the excitement of going somewhere new, meeting new people, traveling, sightseeing... all of these things that I love :)

The chapel was beautiful, and all of the stories and conspiracy theories surrounding the symbolism made it all the more interesting. Nearby was a ruined castle, so we walked through the beautiful countryside with a rushing river on one side and a green forest on the other. It was all very picturesque... an absolutely beautiful day. :)

Rachel is alive today

hi y'all, greetings from Edinburgh!!!! This is Rachel's friend Jane. On friday we went to Glasgow to see Ben Folds play then on saturday we went to high tea at The Willow Tea rooms, amazing and we also saw a house from 1470. Crazy amazing. We have been discussing how to pronounce SCONE. Its been an enlightening and informative weekend for all and we are much changed by the experience. This is Katy now. I'm Canadian, Jane is Australian. We are fabulous and Rachel is very grateful to have met us as we are sooooo brilliant and wonderful and fabulously beautiful. We are so inccredibly modest and humble. I swear you would not believe how great we are. Rachel is so lucky. :) She agrees. Now about me. I moved rooms today, was really happy. They are happy for me. Rachel and Jane that is. Don't worry we are taking good care of Rachel. She is a fabulous wee lassie, and we will miss her but not too much cause she's going to create world peace all by her wee self. Seriously now, Rachel is being well taken care of and she eats her veggies, gets her 8 hours of sleep, but I'm afraid she does talk to strangers. Cant be helped, we just mobbed her one day and now she's stuck and cant seem to shake us. But we're wonderful so she doesn't try too hard. And now back to Rachel for the final thought....

Funny thought of the day: (seen on a mug I must soon purchase)
"POTATOES CAN'T SWIM"
then on the back of the mug: a picture of a potato at the bottom of the fish bowl
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I know this isnt really that funny to you... you just had to be there :)