Friday Phone Photos: Making Friends

I went on two breath-taking hikes this week which means that my handy dandy camera phone was replaced by my fancy schmancy Nikon to better capture the scenery. I still managed to capture a few of this week’s moments with my iPhone to share with you on this Phone Photo Friday.

Last Friday we said good-bye to a couple as they made their way back to the States. In honor of their departure we had dinner, went to the Aberdeen Beer Festival, and then sang Karaoke at a Scottish Pub.

At the Beer Fest we each sampled a few out of the hundreds of options and all got really excited to see this ale from Houston. It was a bit of a letdown to discover that ‘Houston’ was simply the name of the brewery rather than its location.

From what I tasted, the Aberdonian Beer Festival could use some Texas beer to add a notch of tastiness to the event. Of course, most of the beer was served at room temperature so that may be skewing my opinion. They don’t seem to like cold beer in Europe so maybe that just takes some getting used to on my part. It was still a fun cultural event that we were happy to share with our new friends.

Another cultural observation from the night: The Scots love their Karaoke and take their performances very seriously.  I have to respect them for keeping a straight face while singing Disney songs and 80s classics. I was under the impression that karaoke was meant to be a bit goofy and silly. After a while, us American girls decided to show them how we do Karaoke, USA style. This picture is mainly to prove to my parents that I am making friends in Aberdeen.

 After singing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, we decided to call it a night. On Saturday morning, we took the dogs for a walk in Countesswells woods and caught some pretty pictures while there.

After our walk, we walked another 2 miles to the International Street Market and proceeded to eat our way up and down the street before walking the 2 miles back. I will say that one part of living in pedestrian friendly Europe is guilt free eating.

The International Street Market is a semi regular event hosting food and crafts from countries all over the world, most of them European. The crepes were the first thing that caught my eye and I stood in line for dessert while Jonathan tracked down a Venison burger.

While I waited in line, I was treated to the stylings of quite possibly the worst bag piper I have ever heard. My ears were seriously assaulted this past weekendJ. Usually I am a huge fan of bag pipers, but this guy was not doing the reputation of the polarizing instrument any favors. I had a chuckle and just had to smile about this moment that my crazy life had brought me to. Standing in line, waiting for a crepe, at a street festival in a Scottish city that I call my home, listening to a bag pipe that I originally swore was a dying cat; it just hit me that my life is pretty cool and that I am pretty happy. 

 On Sunday, our friends Jillian and Ryan took us to their 'secret spot' with their puppy Angus. This picture is to prove to my parents that Bailey is also making friends in Aberdeen.

So this is Bailey playing in Loch Skene with Angus. And this is Bailey directly after playing in Loch Skene with Angus.

And this is Bailey the day after playing in Loch Skene with Angus.

Can I just say: we love Angus. On Tuesday we met back up with Jillian, Ryan, and Angus for a hike around the Glen Tanar Estate. I’ve already told you all about that, but what I didn’t tell you about is the hot chocolate that we stopped for in Banchory afterwards.

Jillian had heard that this one chocolate shop made their hot chocolate by pouring hot milk over pieces of chocolate and since I had previously mentioned that I love hot cocoa we decided to try it out. When we got inside, they had two options: Swiss Chocolate and Dark Chocolate. Since both of us are dark chocolate aficionados, that’s what we both ordered. 

When the drinks were served, they were the consistency of chocolate syrup and unbelievably rich. We had to ask for extra milk to mix it with which elicited a fussing from the store clerk that we should have ordered the Swiss chocolate option. Noted. It was still delicious and has curbed my chocolate craving for about the next 6 months or so.

On board for this weekend we have a “Crawfish Boil” at Fraser castle, an AWA dinner at Ciao Napoli, and lots and lots of home shopping to do. Our shipment is supposed to arrive in Aberdeen today and once it goes through customs it will hopefully be delivered to us sometime next week. I am so excited to finally have our belongings and to start making our house feel more like our home.