two weeks

Today's soundtrack:
"Letter from an Occupant" by The New Pornographers
"Piste 1" by Galaxie
"Black Day in December" by Said the Whale
"True Patriot Love" by Joel Plaskett Emergency

Now that we have our own internet connection and I have no qualms about using up bandwidth, I can finally offer up a summary of our past thirteen days.

April 24th - Our last day in Canada: We began, the only way we really could, with a Tim Horton's breakfast.

Clearly, Miguel was still feeling the lingering effects of becoming an artist.

Neither of us were too excited about the 23 hours of travelling that was ahead of us.

Although the heart-attack on a plate that Miguel ate in Newark seemed to brighten things up.

April 25th - Are we there yet?: Bleary-eyed and punchdrunk, we arrived in Cellardyke and discovered not only is our place amazing, but we have the sweetest landlords. Norman gave us a quick tour of our new home and Audrey brought over groceries so that, as she put it, "we'd have something to eat when we woke up at 2am".

Our house, by the way, is called "Craighouse". It also has windows and is above-ground, concepts that have us very excited, although the excitement is generally punctuated with someone shouting "Miguel! Pants!".

April 26th - We live in Scotland now: Jet-lag be damned! We want to explore! So off we trotted to the Co-op in Anstruther, taking pictures of the harbour and our neighbourhood along the way.

Our neighbourhood, by the by, comes complete with 18th-century graffiti.

April 27th - Too many people: After a quiet 1 1/2 days in Cellardyke, we travelled up to St. Andrews for the day. Compared to the 3000 souls of Anstruther/Cellardyke/Kilrenny, St. Andrews is a thriving metropolis. With an H&M! Also, ruins of a castle,

and a cathedral.

Not to mention, of course, The Beach.

You're humming the song right now, aren't you. It'll be stuck in your head all day now. You're welcome.

More importantly, we spent the afternoon with Kristin and Peter (she blogs here), who were busy preparing for their wedding on Saturday. We drove up to Dundee, which is about 30 minutes from St. Andrews, a trip I was told would take "all day". I also learned that beer doesn't come in anything smaller than a pint here.

April 29th - An eccentric neighbourhood: Our landlords threw a wee and well-watered meet-and-greet so that we could get to know our neighbours who, like us, are from everyone else. Professors, artists, professionals, and retirees. We're apparently eccentric enough to fit right in.

About 10 years ago, Cellardyke was apparently in decline, then this group of folks moved in and revitalized a fair bit of Dove Street and the surrounding neighbourhood. Unlike Elie, which is full of houses only used in the summer, Cellardyke has a year-round, rather active community.

April 30th - The Other Wedding: The aforementioned Kristen I'd met once before moving here, at CSECS in Ottawa. But as knitters are a friendly bunch, and English Lit grad students even more so, Kristen and Peter invited us to their wedding. It was a High Anglican service or, as Miguel and I began referring to it, more Catholic than Catholic service. Incense, bells, and choir singing hymns. I think by the end of it Kristen and Peter were married about 3 times over. And they looked thrilled.

At the reception, we drank champagne out of Union Flag-emblazoned dixie cups (they do it up classy here) and met even more of our neighbours. I've since discovered that everyone in Cellardyke can be considered your neighbour. That's how small it is.

May 1st - Sunny Days in Cellardyke: Taking advantage of our amazing weather, we propped our laundry up outside and kept a vigilant eye out for seagulls. Miguel, still channeling his inner artist, headed up to the back garden to read and enjoy the view.

Unable to resist the sun and view, I've spent a few hours up in our garden as well. NB: To get up to our garden, you either need a sherpa or to be half-goat.

The past few days have been more quiet as Miguel's started work up in St. Andrews and I spent my days working on my dissertation and running errands. There's also been a period of extended mourning given the results of the Canadian federal election. This afternoon, however, Shivaali and Madeleine arrive to the Ivory Tower (our alternative name for Craighouse) and the Fence Record's Home Game Festival kicks off in Anstruther this evening. This may or may not lead to photo documentation of the elusive Scottish hipster. Chances of sighting one are pretty decent, as the Co-op stocked MGD, there's a indie-folk festival this weekend, and the creatively-bearded abound.

Speaking of the Ivory Tower, we've made a Google Calendar for those of you planning on visiting us in Scotland. Just drop a line to Miguel or me, we'll send you the calendar, and you can pick your dates.

A h/t to everyone who helped us out in our final days in Calgary: John and Kristy, Cousin Mike and Amanda, Lindsay and Lawrence, Linda, and the whole iLab.