I knew this month would fly but I definitely had no way of predicting the utter chaos my Spring Break would turn into. We all know (thanks to Maria) that it's best to start at the very beginning and in this case, that was Friday, March 26. Though my spring break wasn't meant to start until the following Thursday, Jen Sohl was on her way to visit me for the week of her Spring Break which, obviously, fell a week earlier than mine. I start on this Friday because it seems to be the last normal event I can recall over the past month. My staff at school had arranged a going out night in a neighbouring town where we enjoyed a tasty dinner, good conversation, and a fair amount of drinks. So many, in fact, that I was almost hung over. There was no headache or upset stomach but my body just knew something wasn't quite right. So it was in this almost hung over state that I headed to the airport at 9 AM to pick up Jen the next morning.
For those who have never seen Edinburgh Airport, it is the perfect size. One one end of the terminal is a little International Arrivals area and on the other is an area for Domestic Arrivals. Each end is punctuated with a newstand and Costa Coffee for those waiting for their loved (or not) ones to arrive. Between these two waiting areas are the ticket counters. It's maybe a 3 minute walk from one end to the other. And that's about it. So you can imagine my surprise when I show up in time for Jen's flight and she does not walk out of the Domestic Arrivals section of the airport. And before you jump down my throat, she was domestic because she first flew into London. So I wait and wait and wait. I go to baggage claim, I go to International Arrivals, I check my email and phone 10 times, I go outside, I come inside, and I wait. It might be worth noting that Jen had the unfortunate timing of arriving during the British Airways strike but when I checked her connecting flight online at home (her one BA flight), it was on-time and in fact, had landed when I arrived at the airport. Turns out I should have checked her other flights because the other two were the ones that caused the real problems for Jen. And Jen should have checked my phone number when she called me the day before to tell me her flights were delayed/cancelled because that caused the real problem for me. Turns out, I have message waiting for me on my cell phone in the States letting me know she was going to be about 4 hours late. At the time, however, I certainly didn't know where she was and resigned myself to wait in the airport for all the other flights from London to make their way to Edinburgh - about 1 an hour. But sitting in an airport for 4 hours, people watching, working on Sudoku, eating a panini, and drinking coffee is quite enjoyable - especially in an almost hung over state.
Jen and I had a great week while she was here. My friend Jenni joined us that first weekend to poke around St. Andrews and Jen learned how to drive on the wrong side of the road as she ventured up to Pitlochry, Glamis Castle, and Edradour Distillery. Quite finished with driving (for the most part), she planned on spending two days in Edinburgh poking around. Yet more craziness came in the form of SNOW!! and sleet during those last few days of March. The weather was awful so Jen braved Edinburgh one day and simply braved Freuchie on another day. I brought her to enjoy fish and chips in Anstruther and she even met my class on our last day of school before my Spring Break. We spent an afternoon driving windy, windy roads through Trossachs National Park on our way to Oban where we enjoyed the tastiest seafood dinner at the Sea Temple (highly recommended). There were no more than 8 tables in the entire place - it was built in the former public toilets of a seaside park in Oban that you would never ever find unless someone told you where to go. Reservations definitely needed. The next day we took the ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull where we were to spend the night. It was recommended to head over to Iona, a small 3 mile wide island off the southwestern tip of Mull that houses an ancient abbey and lots of sheep. The most amazing part of Iona, however, are the beaches. White sand and crystal blue waters that cry Caribbean! Granted, they are probably not warm and inviting but absolutely beautiful and unexpected.
The next morning I indulged in a Swedish massage at our hotel - something I have wanted since before I came to Scotland. Shoulder surgery dashed all those hopes last July so this was a treat I was not going to miss. Thinking the world was looking to be a good place, despite random snow storms and delayed flights, Jen and I headed back through rollercoaster roads to get home before her flight the next morning. Now I also don't get motion sickness so I figured the roads must be particularly nauseating for me to start feeling a bit queasy. I knew Jen was trying to sleep to ignore her own discomfort but she managed well and we finally made it down to flat, Fife land. But I didn't feel better. In fact, as soon as we got home, I was welcomed with the realization that I still don't get motion sickness. Yay! But I do get food poisoning (or at least that's what I reckon). And I was sick! You probably don't need details but in the course of 14 hours, everything in my body had left my body by any means available. The worst part was that I definitely could not drive Jen to the airport and she had to cab it 25 miles! to catch her flight. That is not a cheap fare. There are not many people you want around when you are sick as a dog and I was so grateful that out of all of my visitors, it was her. She took great care of me and took care of getting herself home from a foreign country. Not having to worry about her while I was sick was a blessing - thank you Jen!
After two days on the couch - caught up on a lot of TV - I managed to pull myself together for the first real week of my Spring Break and the arrival of Cindy and Mike. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that story. I loved my visit with Jen as we never really get to see each other very often. I am constantly amazed at those people in your life who you may not see or talk to often but when you do, life continues as though you were never apart. I guess that's what family's all about.
Two more interesting facts from this first week of Spring Break (that wasn't actually my Spring Break):
1. My niece, Ana Joan (AJ), was born on March 31!! Elisa was in labor for 48 hours but the world's cutest baby made it all worthwhile (for me at least). Tim is constantly looking up statistics and analyzing baby percentiles while Elisa simply enjoyed a week or two of passing diaper duty on to her husband. I imagine AJ is simply dying to meet her favorite aunt.
2. On a lesser note in terms of the world, but much grander in regards to my own effort (as the birth of AJ required no effort from me), my students successfully participated in their Dance Festival on March 29. We spent over a month of PE time choreographing a dance to "I Gotta Feelin'" by the Black Eyed Peas. The sense of relief when we were done was indescribeable. Elisa may have been in labor for 48 hours but I spent over a month coercing 23 rather unique students to pull off a 3 and half minute routine. Now that is exhaustion.
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