To The Top!

Hey all in Vancouver.  Today I finally have sometime where I think I will be able to email people back, I'm sorry about the delay.  

Saturday Night - We watched the Canucks win over San Jose! WOOOOOOO! I miss hockey so much.  It was almost bittersweet to watch a game because I was finally letting go of the fact I couldn't watch it anymore and then I was roped back in and now I miss it even more. I really need to get on the football circuit though because we live about 3 blocks from the stadium and often conversation I hear in the supermarket is about the Hibs (Hibernian FC).

Anyway, Sunday our church St. Margaret's had a joint service with a pentecostal and another church from our area of town to bring out the commonalities of our religion, Christianity, and somehow foster a sense of unity between our diverse denominations.  Anyway our pastor was of course hilarious and although the entire church was full of elderly people, he made us sing "Hallelujah, praise ye the lord" complete with the alternating standing of each side of the church as we sing our part of the song.  "Stand if you're able" is how he introduces the exercise and amazingly almost the whole church stood up with the exception of one quite elderly lady.  It was pretty great. Then we headed upstairs to share snacks before making our way to climb up to Arthur's Seat! Yes, I have been staring at it ever since I found out it existed and I was anticipating doing some actual climbing/physical activity outdoors.  So Josh, Kurt, Erin and I walked over and began climbing up.  I was pretty focused behind the camera trying to capture the beauty of the entire massive area and would often have to run to catch up to them making this climb more of an "intense physical activity" rather than the leisurely time it was intended to be.  Although, Kurt wanted to go "off-roading" so to speak and so we were often climbing actual parts of the hills instead of taking the neatly laid out paths. When we got to the top, the winds were amazing. You could lean back and have the wind hold your body upright - it was like surfing on wind.  I wanted to stay longer up there and write or just take pictures for an hour or two, but it was quite windy and we had taken the difficult way up so people were tired.  So we made our way down and went home to get ready to entertain Kurt and Erin's friends from the uni who were coming over.  Jackie and Will and Iya and Kengo came over for a hangout/game night.  I had only had 4 hours sleep the previous night because of some lovely drunk people in the hallway of our building so by the time catan started (which was 11pm), I was so tired I probably looked like the most unhappy little troll sulking because she was loosing. Rematch! Rematches until I win! But anyway the game was fun and I practiced my Japanese with Kengo, who seemed really happy to be talking to someone who was trying her darn-hardest to remember simple things.  I think I'll brush up on my Rosetta Stone tonight and do some more Japanese.  Kengo wants to speak Japanese with me whenever he sees me now - he says to use it every chance I get and I completely agree, I just wish I knew a bit more or else it's just me saying some random nouns I know then smiling gleefully at the fact I remembered correctly.  

Yesterday, Monday, I did yoga in the morning, then went out to explore Leith Walk and find some more organic food stores which I'd found on the Edinburgh Organic Foods website. I found one at the end of Leith but it was closed so I was distracted by the Salvation Army... and bought two coats I didn't need. Where was Erin to stop me?? I have no self-control with those things, especially when they are inexpensive and of good quality.  Darn it.  Then I walked back up Leith to Elm and went to this tiny, tiny little shop packed full of lush veggies and nuts and grains and sweets.  I'll have to head back there someday and really take a good look.  Then I went to Real Foods and picked up some ingredients for dinner (Homemade Macaroni and Cheese with roasted cauliflower and glazed carrots).  I picked up a few more things from Scotmid and then went to Sainsbury's for the rest.  Then I went home, started the cookies (a soft oatmeal cinnamon cookie) and began cooking my first full dinner for the house or family, Erin and Kurt (especially Kurt) like to call us a family which I think is cute.  It was so nice to be cooking again; I had put so much pressure on creating the perfect meal, when in reality, anything would have been great just as long as I cooked it properly.  That simple fact I tend to forget and I feel like I need to be making some four course chef worthy meal everytime I cook.  Anyway everything turned out great, although the cauliflower could've cooked for longer, and we sat down and ate together.  Unfortunately I made dinner ready for 7pm so we didn't have much of an evening left and we just sat in the lounge for a bit before parting ways for bed.  Now it is Tuesday and I got up super late and I feel like I will be unproductive today BUT be that as it may I will still make it outside, even if it is just to go for a walk.

Below are an excessive amount of pictures!

Love

Looking at the park

Down this way is the Queen's Gallery

We make our way to Arthur's seat!

Very damp and muddy paths

The sun is out!

Look at the far left - that little beige structure is a ruined chapel

A lake!

Erin and I

Kurt, near the chapel

The paths that intertwine over the hills

Calton Hill in the distance

The ruins

Josh!

Erin and myself, and the sun.

I'm very enamored with the sun in this picture.

We will be now going off path

Erin - so stealth

Looking down 

The prickly bushes on this hill we decided to climb

About 20% of the entire space there was in this park

Close up of the prickly

The wind in the grass

Erin, Kurt and Josh

More land

Looking down at Edinburgh

I'm so far behind them now!

Me in the back throwing up the peace signs!

Courtesy of Erin

Arthur's seat in the background

The land

The amazingly deep crevices among the hills

So much space

The bottom of the hill to Arthur's Seat

Here we go!

Tada! 

Everything is so small down there

Looking over to the left

Looking to the right - the gang and the water!

Looking down

Kurt was the only one ready...

Yay!

"Did she take the picture yet??"

There's his seat surrounded by tourists

Another monument someone decided to add...

And Kurtis decided to pose with...

South Edinburgh

The clouds

The wind will literally hold you up

Livin' on the edge

Little figurines

Looking back at the seat

The clouds are so perfectly spaced and the sun illuminates it beautifully

Another hill

They're so far away!

Atop the hill, very beautiful

Some water below

A lot more rocks on this hill

Some boulders

Little Erin

Ah, the water on the left is so nice and calm

A condensed city below

Kurt and Josh, and boulders

Lots of space below the hill

The sun shines again!

I just liked how this all looked together

Touching the grass

Josh - the model

Erin - the model

The hillside

We're coming back down

Some stairs in the hill

The path back

I really love pictures of an empty path ahead

Artsy, for me

Moving over to the Crags

The Crags! We didn't go up though

Hillside

More hill

I absolutely love the rock

A little break 

Breaking in the sun

... So I found it necessary for a self shot!

The rocks line the sky

Wooo, more of me!

I love this tree

Walking up to walk back down the side of the Crags

Crags

Path behind

Path in front

The Crags!

I can't even capture the vast space these rocks took up

That shadow is me, this is how small I am in comparison to the Crags

More mountain side

Edinburgh Castle in the background

Hillside and the City

There's the drop off the side

A path back to civilization

A ray through the brush

Over the side!

Little white building near the Queen's gallery - we're on our way home.