Hello Blog... Let's Get Reacquainted

As discussed on this blog I tend to be a person of rountine. However, I love writing this blog so much each and every week that I assumed that a slight break in routine and a brief trip over the Atlantic would cause no disruption in the blogging process. How wrong I was! It has been over a week since I touched down in Glasgow for the second semester and as expected so much has already happened. Hopefully, this blog post will serve as a quick run through of the past month's events... a cliff noted version, if you will.

This story first begins in Portugal. Portugal?! Yes, a little over a month ago bags were packed and a Ryanair flight was boarded to Faro, Portugal. It was decided that a weekend away was due before heading home for the holidays and Portugal's price was unbeatable. Having taken our seats on the plane, carry-on luggage stored, seats in the upright position, novels in hand and utterly ready for the warmth and relaxation of Portugal my travel comrade and I prepared for a quiet, quick flight. It was at that moment where peace, happiness, relaxation and excitment entirely consume you that the smacking of flip-flops echoed down the plane's aisle way. As I turned to face this noise maker I came eye to eye with a man dressed not only in flip-flops but swimming trunks, tank top and straw hat as well. Apparently, this man and his six friends were having a party.. Now, I know they were having a "party" because they sang, loudly, about this party all the way to Portugal. In fact, I can still remember the song it went a little like this:

Loud Clapping:
LKDAJFOIEOIEAF IS HAVING A PARTYYYYY
OAIEJFLAEJFLKE  IS HAVING A PARTYYYY!
(Repeat 1000 times) More loud clapping.

Because we were seated right in front of these rowdy men we received some in flight entertainment, the entire flight. Being the champions of patience we both are (no comments please) the first hour or so of the flight we pretended to sleep, read, looked out the window and even bobbed our heads politely to the party song. But, about an hour and a half in Richard cracked. The song had become too much. My novel reading was interrupted as Richard snapped his head to the side leaned close and whispered harshly "I would like to do a study on the relation of noise-making to IQ and I would like to start with the men behind us." I congratulated Richard on finally deciding on a dissertation topic and continued to ignore the noisemakers behind us. Unfortunately, we never figured out who was having a party, as that part of the song was quite loud but quite unclear, perhaps it was the low IQs of the singers that inhibited the beauty of the song.

While I would absolutely love to give an entire run down of Portugal it was only a few short days of the past month and in all honesty I could not do the trip any sort of justice. While the various cities of Portugal may not have been the best cities I have visited, the trip itself was certainly one of, if not, the most relaxing, fun, exciting and enjoyable trips I have ever taken.

                                          The Hotel Eva. An off season bargain!

 The main square was bordered in orange trees. I, of course, made us pick some from the trees to sneak into the back roads and eat... they were the most sour oranges I have ever tasted, which is probably why no one else had picked them from the trees to eat... that or picking fruit is illegal. Either one.

 While in Portugal we decided it was best to rent a car. Therefore, Richard got to drive on the right side of the road, a new experience for him. I, finally, cajoled Richard into letting me take the wheel while he sat and nervously bit his nails the entire time I drove. During which time, I overtook a man in a donkey cart and drove like a native. Once my driving was complete and Richard no longer had nails he said to me and I quote "I'm pretty impressed Kathryn, you drive pretty well" (This needed to be in print).

 By renting a car we were able to visit lots of smaller Portuguese towns, like this one!

Hanging laundry was everywhere

                                                             As were stray cats!

                                              And, of course there were castles and forts.

                                      Which provided beautiful views of the local scenery.

                   I absolutely loved all the bright colors of the buildings, houses and doorways.

Richard transformed into Ricardo (The slightly more ethnic version of himself) while traversing the Portuguese countryside.

The bright sunny weather and clear reflective water made for some pretty impressive picture taking opportunities.

Yet another perk of travelling during the off-season, deserted beaches.

Before travelling to Faro, it was decided that a point of interest that simply must be visited was the bone chapel. The small chapel sits inside this larger church. The chapel was created using the bones of deceased monks and is to remind its visitor of their mortality.

It was pretty eerie. And, most strange of all was the fact that situated right next door was a school full of children out for recess.

                       The bridge connecting Portugal and Spain. We decided to cross that bridge!

                                                                        Spain!

 If stories about beggars, men singing lullabies to ducks, oranges, garlic filled fish, car trips, sunsets or my love affair with sangria interest you then there is so much more to share about Portugal!

Leaving Portugal was extremely bittersweet. The trip flew by all too quickly but I was anxious to get back to Glasgow and prepare to leave for home. The last day in Glasgow rushed by and before I knew it I was on yet another plane and headed back to the United States. Throughout the nearly 24 hour journey, I realized how thankful I was that while I was extremely excited and anxious to be at home I was having a difficult time leaving the UK. I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful family and home city that I was eager to visit and also for the extraordinary adventure and people that I found it hard to leave. These slightly sappy feelings were quickly pushed to the back of my mind when I crashed head first into reverse culture shock. My first run-in with my native peoples was on the flight to Charlotte, the man across the aisle from me whipped out his iphone before the flight took off and starting talking wildly in a very, very thick southern drawl about turning off a boiler. This man talked so loudly and gave such intricate directions into how to turn off his boiler, that I can guarantee that if I were so inclined I could break into this man's house and turn off his boiler. I had forgotten how loudly we Americans talk and how much information we find it necessary to share (I do realize this statement is slightly ironic in the middle of a blog in which I am sharing lots of information which probably isn't necessary!).

Notes from a Reversed Culture Shocked American-- Or the top ten things I observed in America while being back that I had never really ever thought about before:
1. Menus in the United States are absolutely massive! When there are 400 choices it takes a really long time to figue out what you are after.
2. Refrigerators are massive in the US
3. So are cars
4. People, that you do not know, randomly compliment you. (I really did miss this!)
5. Dresses and tights aren't as in fashion as they are in the UK
6. If you go out to your local pub on a Sunday night it's assumed you have a drinking problem
7. There aren't little chips in the visa cards
8. Dogs and Kids are generally worse behaved (There are some exceptions to this of course)
9. Skim milk exists!
10. Roll on deodorant exists!

A Garrett Family Reunion:

As the years pass children grow up, this includes the three Garrett children. Amazingly enough we have somehow managed to evolve into functioning adults that are beginning to have very full, involved and busy lives. Thankfully, we have the holiday season in which we can come home to our parents' house and devolve. That is correct over the break there was a Garrett family sibling reunion. Which means my mother was able to say "I am soooo happy to have all the chicks back in the nest" at least four hundred and eighty five times over break, which means Kevin had to groan loudly and protest this statement four hundred and eighty five times over break. While there are many, many stories that can be shared from the holiday season I have selected a few of the very best to share with you:

Cookie Decorating 101:

Each year we come together as a family to make Christmas trays for those we love the most. When I say we come together as a family, we literally come together around the table and ice over 100 cookies and this usually involves a fight or two, 50 broken cookies, smeared icing and the never ceasing challenge of creating black icing. I don't want to ruin the secret but okay we all secretly like icing cookies. Well, the first five cookies at least. However, while we all like it though we have to pretend it is the worst form of torture since the guillotine, no one quite likes cookie decorating like my father. Paul Garrett is a master cookie decorator, which was witnessed by the "army" of sugar cookie men created this holiday season. After icing a snowman I decided it needed a little extra punch and sprinkled powdered sugar over the freshly iced man. The completed cookie was placed alongside my father's army. Standing there with his arms crossed my dad observed this cookie for probably five minutes, he finally turned pointed at it and said... that looks good, you have upped the artistic ante for the year. It was after this observation that each and every cookie he iced had to have some sort of artistic significance and God forbid any one of us simply slop a single color on a cookie, it needed to have something of merit! When my brothers and I could handle his "artistic" workings no longer we began to mock my poor father and his artistic cookies. He responded by giving us a pathetic look followed by this statement "Well, I am so sorry you guys but this is the one time each and every year where I get to explore my artistic side!"

The Garretts Meet the Kardashians:

Christmas Eve Mass is a steadfast tradition in the Garrett Family household. Usually, we all pile into the car around 10:30 to make it to midnight mass. But, this year we opted for the earlier special. Meaning we all piled into the car around 7 to make it to 8:30 mass. Without fail, there is always an argument about which time we should leave for mass on Christmas Eve. My mother of course voting for hours upon hours too early while my brothers argue for leaving 30 minutes after mass has begun. Needless to say my mom usually wins this battle. Therefore, we got to the church about 45 minutes earlier than we needed to be there. But, this story takes place after mass. We load back in the car and my mom turns to tell us all that she heard someone talking about us. While walking through the foyer after mass she heard  someone say "Well first I saw Kate and then Michael so I guessing the entire Garrett family is here" my mom had absolutely no idea who these people were. Michael therefore pipes up with this "Mother, please, we are like the Kardashians, people know us" Let's just say my mother was none too pleased with this analogy.

#GarrettFamilyTakesScotland

My brother Michael, the Kim of the Kardashians, is an avid twitter user. In fact, he loves it so much he finds it necessary to talk in tweet speak 90% of the time. Kevin and I then have to translate for our parents, which Michael finds far too hilarious causing him to keep up the ridiculous talk. For Christmas, my brothers, myself and my brother's girlfriend Kelsie received an amazing gift, the gift of Scotland. That's right in May my entire family, my dad, mom, Kevin and Kelsie and Michael will be coming to Scotland. After tearing off the paper Michael thrusted his "Scotland for Dummies" book in the air and shouted "HASHTAG GARRETT FAMILY TAKES SCOTLAND." He has informed me that throughout his Scotland adventures he will be hashtagging plenty of little ancedotes with "Garrett Family Takes Scotland" for all his loyalist of followers.

New Couple, New Year and a New Garrett Family Dance Move-

Over New Year's Eve my family attended a wedding. Which means there were plenty of Garrett Family Dance Moves incorporated into the evening's festivities. Michael and I decided that in the tradition of new, with the new year and all, to incorporate a new dance move we learned over the year from a particular South African we know, that move along with the other 1000 Garrett family dance moves made for an impressive night of dance and ringing in the New Year.

After the ringing in of 2012 I busied myself with many cups of coffee with friends, plenty more family moments and the stuffing of my suitcase. Landing back in Glasgow was wonderful and I have already had many great moments of reunion and adventure. I am certainly looking forward to everything this year has in store and to being back on the Tuesday blog schedule!