To the many gracious
family and friends who want to follow along with our adventure, we offer this
blog….
After a VERY long and
cold journey, we did arrive. We left Harrah, OK (with the abundant care of Les
and Benita) at 4:30 am on Jan 1st. Happy New Year! OKC was a great
airport from which to leave, small, not crowded, and friendly. The flight to Newark
was seamless, and then we embarked on our great idea to show the kids NYC in
all its Christmas wonder. Since everyone had gotten up in the middle of the
night and the wind chill was in the single digits, this proved to be
less-than-enjoyable, or in Lance’s words, “an unmitigated disaster.” We did see
the Empire State Building (from the ground outside) and the Rockefeller
Christmas Tree (notice the abject joy on everyone’s faces) as well took a
(scream-filled) trip down a few streets and the Lego Store. The silver lining
is that in all future trips, this will be our lodestar of horror (“Well that
was a little stressful, but it wasn’t as bad as New York!”)
The flight to Edinburgh
was the smoothest Lance and I had ever experienced. Immigration went smoothly.
We walked through Customs without even stopping, and it didn’t take too much
effort to find our taxi. All graces for which we were very thankful.
Our new St. Andrews
friend T.J. met us at our new house and took Lance and Kate on our first
grocery run. The house wasn’t as cold as New York, but it was pretty chilly and
it takes quite awhile for radiator heat to catch up. The rest of that day was a
long endurance run through coldness and tiredness. We did survive.
On Wednesday, T.J. drove
me to work and I met with the scholar who let me know about this opportunity,
Alan Torrance. We had coffee at the Golf Café overlooking the ocean and the
course. It was stunning and encouraging as he spoke about the history and
future of the Logos Institute. I’m simply thrilled to be a part. I spent the
better part of that day at HR and other offices that helped me get inducted. While I was in town, Lance
and the kids were exploring our neighborhood. We are just a few minutes’ walk
from the East Sands Beach. Inside, the kids fell in love with our attic loft
where they constructed their own play world.
Since then we’ve fallen
into a decent rhythm. Lance has taken the lion’s share of the workload to get
us settled in, with a mobile phone, internet, utilities, etc. He’s navigated
the many great small stores around town as we’ve fallen in love with fresh
Scottish food and especially rich Scottish dairy products! Alan has graciously
introduced him to several musicians in town and the churches have been very
welcoming, so his plan for the next full week is to find as many organs as
possible that he can play on a regular basis!
I have a lovely
third-floor office space at St. Mary’s College (the theological school of St.
Andrews) that I share with several other (very helpful!) research fellows and
students. I love the spiral staircase I climb to my office, and love how quiet
it is for thinking and writing. I have met many of the faculty at St. Mary’s
and will start to meet more students as the semester begins in a few weeks.
Kate and Maxson are
enrolled at Canongate Primary School. We walked the first morning (our coldest
here, wind chills were in the teens), over a mile, and they were troopers.
After that they’ve been riding the bus. It is a large city bus, but reserved at
that time and on that route for their school. The children have been very
welcoming to Kate and Maxson. Kate said on the first day, “I have too many
friends to count!” This month they are memorizing the poetry of Robert Burns,
and learning Scottish dancing. They seem to be doing quite well, although
Maxson admitted that it still doesn’t feel comfortable there yet. Their hearts,
we are sure, are still at Hawthorne.
Kindred started at St.
Andrews Nursery School, and although he claims he forgets his whole day as soon
as we pick him up, we hear glimpses of fun things like playing outside,
painting, Lego, and computer time. We are pretty sure that if they ever have
free time, he chooses to read “Billy Goats Gruff” on the computer. His teachers
are abundantly kind, and though he worried he wouldn’t be able to understand
“Scottish,” all sound (to me!) like Mrs. Doubtfire.
We’ve taken two day trips
on our Saturdays. First to Dundee to buy school uniforms and second to
Edinburgh to visit our grad school friends, the Novensons. The bus and train
system are fantastic (just as everyone told us!). Dundee is a little gritty,
but we had a great meal there and enjoyed walking around (and spending the end
of the kids Christmas money – thanks Grammy!).
Edinburgh was stunning.
Truly one of the most amazing cities Lance and I have visited. The Novensons
fed us a lovely lunch, then walked us just a few streets away in their
neighborhood to the top of Blackford Hill where we could see the entirety of
the city. Michelle promised the boys it would be better than a movie and she
was right. They thoroughly enjoyed playing tig (as we have learned to say in
“Scottish”) and taking in the views.
Close up, Edinburgh looks
like the wizarding city J. K. Rowling imagined it to be. With homage to Sir
Walter Scott, Greyfriar’s Bobby, and the young wizard himself, we hit several
of the highlights on what we hope will be only the first of many visits (to the
great delight of our Hogwarts’ loving girl).
At the close of our first
full (non-jetlagged) week, we can say that we are LOVING it. The pace of
sabbatical itself gives room to enjoy and breathe (while still getting lots of
writing done), and in this setting, we still keep having to pinch ourselves at
the beauty of this gift.
Favorites:
Walking everywhere (Lance
and I are killing step counts every single day)
The East Sands Leisure
Center. Just a block or so from our house, we’ve swam in this amazing pool on
most days.
The people of Scotland,
so welcoming
The town of St. Andrews.
It reminds us of Wheaton and Princeton. Cute shops. Fun restaurants. The energy
of a University. It’s only a lot older and sits right next to the ocean.
Hopes:
That Maxson would love
school as much as Kate
More time for
work/practicing for Lance
That we could find
another place to live! The landlords of our cute little house have decided they
need to sell, so we need to find another nice place in the next month or so.
That Kindred either falls
in love with walking or we will find another way to transport him (our backs
are feeling it!)
Since we do have internet
in the last few days (it took awhile!), we look forward to keeping in touch
with you all! We miss everyone!
This week Kate, Maxson, and Kindred have been very into drawing, especially Maxson. They have found these videos called Art Hub for Kids that show how to make your own cartoon drawings. Kindred loves drawing superheroes and Lego guys; Kate really likes drawing cute treats; and Maxson’s goal is to draw everything (he’s gotten pretty far!).
