Six Months!

We arrived in Scotland six months ago today! That's incredible.

This is how Scotland greeted us this morning:

I guess it's still winter.

However, the gusting wind brought with it periodic bright, brilliant blue skies, which reminded me of just how beautiful this town can be.

We are blessed to be here!

'What about Liana??' #2: Work

The questions I receive most often from people back home are all about my job situation. Finally, you can cease your wondering!

I started looking for a job in early October. I went around (somewhat nervously) with my CV to a number of B&B’s, retail stores and cafes. I managed to land a part time serving job at a cafe in town called Mitchell. Even though I was looking for something a little more permanent and in line with my interests, at this point any job was better than no job. Plus I got free Mitchell’s coffee, which is some of the best in town.

Our first week here we visited a farm shop & cafe called Balgove about a 25 minute walk out of town. I immediately loved it and wanted to spend every day there consuming large amounts of scones with clotted cream and jam. The cafe serves up simple Scottish staples and the shop is full of wonderful local products, many of which come in fresh from the farm. So, naturally I dropped my CV off there. I was able to have a quick chat with the manager and a few days later received an email requesting an interview!

Scones, clotted cream, jam, good coffee. One of my happy places.

The interview went really well and I learned that they were expanding the shop and cafe starting in the new year and would be hiring someone for a marketing/promotions/admin position. It was still a little early in process to hire someone at that time (it was late October) and I was asked to come back in a month for another chat. In early December I returned and was given the job which was to start full time in the new year!!!

Heading down the drive to the shop & cafe

I would work in the cafe for 6 weeks, and then the shop for 6 weeks before moving into the office. This is so I could learn about the business, see how things run, and get to know the staff.

Main building

I am currently about to start my third week in the shop and so far I really enjoy working there. The staff is friendly and welcoming and I get to spend my day around beautiful food! I’m eager to start my position in the office in three weeks’ time. I think the role will develop as I learn more about the goals of the business and I’m excited to see where this takes me!

Fresh Fife eggs and local bread made that morning

So there you have it! My job in a nutshell. I’ll try and post another update about this in a few months when I’ve been in the office for a little while.

Balgove's very own highland cows

Farewell, February!

Well, here we are and another month has passed. Incredible! Over these past several weeks -- really, since Liana started working five days a week -- time has seemed to be zipping by especially quickly. I think my busy-ness has also been contributing to feeling this way. Anyway, how have we been doing? What have we been up to? A few reflections on February:

• It feels like spring is starting to peek through here in Scotland. We've had a couple of days of beautiful sun that actually feels slightly warm when the light hits your skin! Amazing, I know. The thing is, though, the next morning you could wake up and the wind will be blowing and the temperature will have dropped several degrees. So spring isn't here yet... but it's trying. Makes me want to golf!
• I have moved offices! I had inquired back in January about moving to a newly added desk in the Hadow room, which is on the top floor of the Roundel. This past week I received an email saying it was mine for the taking. There are lots of good things about this new office: the window is a lot bigger so there is more natural light, the ceilings are much higher so it feels more open, the office itself is larger, and there are three other NT folks in there, which makes for a great corporate learning environment. However, the decision to switch desks was not an easy one to make. I really liked my office mates in Bannerman, and I was saddened to have to leave them behind. I'm going to miss sharing coffee and mate with them, as well as joking around together. I am, though, excited to settle in to my new daily work space.
• As mentioned, I have had a really busy month of work, as I've been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and writing in order to make a decision about the direction I'm heading for my GRO chapter. Through most of the first weeks of February I was feeling a certain lack of direction in my work, but I had a meeting with my supervisor a couple of weeks ago that was both encouraging and challenging. Since then I've managed to gather together some things I've been thinking about into a chapter topic that I'm pretty excited about. That is promising, and energizing. Even better is the fact that I was able to take a chunk of the larger argument of the chapter and write it up into a shorter paper for submission to the Society of Biblical Literature conference, which happens every November. I sent that in for consideration last Wednesday, which felt really good. It would be hugely exciting to be a part of that conference next fall!
• We've been talking a lot over the past several weeks about some exciting things coming up over the next months: visitors, and travelling. Nothing is nailed down in stone yet as far as dates go, but we know that Liana and I are going to be taking a trip to Spain at the end of April, my parents are coming to visit at the end of May/beginning of June, and we'll most likely be coming home to visit sometime in August! This is all very exciting stuff, for very different reasons. I can't wait to take advantage of being so close to the European continent for the first time since we've been here; I super excited to see my parents and show them around our home and introduce them to our friends; and I'm really looking forward to visiting Vancouver, seeing lots of people we miss, and eating lots of food that I can't get over here.
• Liana has been working very hard at her new job over these past several weeks. After six weeks working in the cafe, she has now transitioned into her six weeks in the farm shop. It's certainly keeping her busy! However, she is going to write a blog post herself about her work -- really, she is! -- so I won't say any more about that right now.
• In our free time, we've enjoyed many good times with good friends. It's a social existence here, that's for sure! We are thankful to be able to share this experience with others.

That's all that jumps into my mind as post-worthy from February. We continue to be thankful for the opportunity to be here in this beautiful corner of Scotland. God is good! Until next time...