A day in Aberdeen

I arrived in Aberdeen after flying from Seattle via Copenhagen. It was a long, long trip that was not made shorter by the fact that I had managed to dump most of a glass of wine on my lap in the early hours of the first flight. Having arrived in Scotland, I exchanged what was left of my US currency and hopped a bus to the Youth Hostel.

That sounds pretty good, except I didn't really know where I was or where I was going. At least not at the level that I like to know these things. The result was not catastrophic, but I did wind up getting off the bus about ten blocks early and hauling all of my luggage along the bus route to the Youth Hostel.

I got checked in, stashed my stuff (up three flights of stairs), and decided to go for a walk. Seeing as how I'd botched being prepared arriving in Aberdeen, I figured I might as well be prepared leaving the city. I walked through a long street of shops (stopping for coffee and a sandwich) and made a sharp right to the harbor. I had acquired a map, so I knew where I was headed.

I was headed to the ferry terminal. I wanted to know if there were luggage lockers that I could leave my bags in during the day, since check out was at 10am and the boat wasn't leaving until 5pm. What I could see through the tinted windows didn't indicate the presence of lockers, and I didn't really want to appear too suspicious on the deserted dock, so I started formulating a plan B. That consisted of 'there must be lockers at the train or bus station' which I had walked past on the way down.

I went grocery shopping and tried to refrain from purchasing the whole store. I only needed food for one day and I already had coffee. (I bought coffee and a travel mug/french press in Seattle) I found myself with cheese, crackers, smoothie, and a couple bottles of water. I'd been walking for a couple hours by the time I made it back to the hostel, ate, showered, and crashed.

In the morning, I got up, had breakfast, repacked, and checked out. I took a bus to the bus station and asked about luggage lockers; they directed me to the train station a bus away. At the train station I paid £4 to have my bags searched and stored while I wandered around. I figured both the search and the price were reasonable.

Freed from my burdens, I headed off to the art gallery. There I made a painstaking survey of everything (just about) on the first floor. Then it was lunch time (spicy carrot soup!) before almost the same consideration was given to the upper floor. There was a lot more to look at on the upper floor and I was getting tired so I didn't quite study everything. Also, there were a few rooms closed. I suppose I'll just have to go back if I want to really see everything!

Having exhausted the gallery, I headed into the toasty early afternoon sun. I read in the park for a while. I drank coffee in a shop where the Canadian barista asked if I was reading Swedish. I bought a pen to write postcards and then wrote them. Then, I reclaimed my bags and headed back to the ferry terminal. It was time for adventure.

Mørketur

Well, to follow up on the last post (I think), I did not get the extra lessons after the audition. According to Ånon, this is primarily because he is too busy and pretty sure that I have enough to work on with what I'm getting now. This is probably true. It also means that I still have time to work on playing the banjo, torader, and spoons in addition to my more serious instruments. (The ukulele's haven't arrived yet!)

This weekend I celebrated another weekend without hours at the hotel by visiting the crew at Nesland. Nesland is about 2km from here and 4 folk music students live in a charming house there. Not having a car, I walked with my fiddles in my hand and a backpack full of warming beverages and homemade applesauce. Fortunately, Egil, who also lives in the student apartments, had a flashlight function on his phone or it would have been very dark on the way there!

We passed the time watching most of The Pirates of the Caribbean and playing fiddles. The time really flew once we broke out the fiddles! By the time we started leaving it was closing in on 2:30.

It was really cold on the way home. Too cold to talk. And I was really glad that mom had sent me long underwear and that the Nesland crew had lent me a hat and a flashlight. The stars are amazing here; the nights are clear and there isn't much light to interfere, especially when there's no moon. It feels like the Big Dipper is going to swing down and scoop up the school.

Of course, we didn't leave before we had some applesauce. Don't ask me why, I'm sure it's cultural, but Norwegians really want to put applesauce on bread. I guess it sort of makes sense; applesauce resembles jam and Norwegians put just about everything on bread. Still, I would much rather have it fresh and warm on ice cream or just by itself!

Sunday I cleaned my room. I suppose that's not really that exciting, but it is worth mentioning. It was starting to get a little deep in here.

The high-light of today was definitely the dinner I made! Chicken curry salad, as close to Mom's recipe as I could manage. I cooked the chicken with perhaps too much curry and a little bit of coriander, salt and pepper. While the chicken cooled, I chopped up a quarter of an onion, a ton of celery, red grapes, and almonds which I toasted with a little olive oil and salt. I mixed it all together with less mayonnaise than I would have used at home and ate it with rice. Yum!