Just a brief overview... from the 36-hours I've been here...
I've officially been in Scotland since 11am on Friday. It was really cool to see a couple of my teammates standing at the window waving at me while I waited patiently for my luggage to arrive. I've been very fortunate when it comes to shipping my luggage over here with the whole plane "system." They haven't lost my luggage or anything, yet (knock on wood). All my bags arrived, safely, somewhat. One of them had ripped open, but luckily, not enough to where my things could fall out or be stolen. I mean, yeah, someone could've gotten into it, but didn't. So, I'm working on getting that "fixed," by having them send me some sort of check to pay for the damage. The things that wouldn't have gotten done had my coordinator (Alex) not been there.
It's really cool... Scotland is almost just like home, which has made it really easy to adjust to. Yes, they drive on the other side of the road, but luckily, I won't have to mess up my mind by wondering which way is the right way because we walk or bus everywhere we go... or, catch a ride with Alex, Andrew (his son), or (in the future) part of the youth, church, etc. There's Starbucks, Pizza Hut (to my surprise!), McDonald's, KFC... it's pretty crazy. Mine and Melanie's apartment is very homey and comfortable. We live in a two-bedroom and one-bathroom apartment. There's a good-sized living room and kitchen. And, it is fully furnished. So, the main expenses I'm looking at is bedding, hangers, and other necessities. We're in a pretty good part of town to where we're able to walk to get what is needed... anywhere is just about 10-15 minutes away and if not, the bus is always there to ride.
One thing I've noticed... it's pretty much, ALWAYS, cloudy or rainy here. You are very blessed to have the sunshine when it's out and when it does happen to come out, you soak up every last bit of warmth and light you can, because it's only there for a short while. :)
Tomorrow will be my first time to go to church. I'm really looking forward to it. I believe Melanie said it's about a 10-minute walk, but Alex usually picks us up for church. It's pretty exciting!
Things have been great so far... and I'm not real sure what else to write about at this moment, but if there's any questions you might have about the place or anything at all, email me at neysia.gwyn.smith@gmail.com.
Love you all.
