Livin' it up in the transjordan

We made it to Jordan, and its a great place. Better still, we are being taken care of pretty well too. At least in Amman. We arrived late (or really early the next day) on Tuesday and got a ride from the airport in to town-it wasn't quite a taxi, just a guy making money on the side, if we were stopped by the police we were to tell them that we'd all been friends for two years. Carl's parents are friends with a Jordanian family that lives in Amman, the capital city. Lucky for us the want to take us in as guests. Everyone in the house speaks english, even the maid, yeah, they have a maid that's there all day. Sana (the mom) cooks us proper Jordanian food and helps us figure out where to go. The official language in Jordan is Arabic, but many people speak english-though not taxi drivers.
The main things to do in the capital are see some of the ancient roman ruins and walk through the town. Both of these can be done in one day, but you need to be prepared to spend alot of time walking in the hot Middle Eastern sun. On Wednesday we watched Germany beat Turkey in a nice restaurant, we were rooting for Germany, most of the other patrons were supporting Turkey. On Thursday we did the sightseeing bit, burning plenty of calories and large areas of skin as well. To recuperate we went to a hamman in the evening. Hammans are traditional Turkish bathhouses. You go through a progression of steam room, jacuzzi, hot rock bed, scrub, hot rock bed again, and the massage, with dead sea mud mask. It all sounds very girly, but in Jordan (not officially a Muslim country but with a big majority of Muslim population) its all separated by gender. Women can use it to 6 pm, men after, so it was an entirely masculine affair.
ok, for now this is where I stop, my time on the computer is run out, and the spell checkers not working, so I'll polish this and finish it later, peace!

Blogs - home of the narcissist

It's kind of funny writing a blog, it's like your putting yourself out into the world, on display. I guess vulnerability is a way to put it. The weirder part is the narcissism in expecting others to go out of their way to read what I have to say. It's not like a conversation, nor an e-mail. E-mails get sent to people. You have to go out and search for a blog. What do I have to say that is so important that people will go out of their way to read my blog? And yet, even with this idea, here I am, writing, expecting at least someone - other than my family - to read my thoughts (hi mom).
If you are reading this then I guess you deserve more than some rambling about narcissism so I guess I should say something about what we are doing. I'm currently in South Queensferry--a suburb of the city of Edinburgh. Carl and I are staying with my Mother's Cousin, Fiona Stirrat and her family. They have been very welcoming, makings us feel quite at home. South Queensferry is about 20 minutes outside of Edinburgh city center by bus (side note: over here in the U.K. center is spelled centre, weird I know, but thats "the King's English"). We spent most of Saturday afternoon and evening in the city, walking around, avoiding the 12£ entry fee for the Edinburgh Castle (another side note: the £ sign means pounds, British currency, right now its about 2$ for every 1£ so 12£ is closer to 25$). There are plenty of good views from the downtown area and lots of other things to do. Around 7:30 we wandered into a pub to watch the Euro 2008 quarter final match between the Netherlands and Russia. Both Carl and I were rooting for the Dutch and lucky for us so were most of the other patrons, some decked out in bright orange to match their favored team. In the end Russia won the match after going in to overtime, but it was still quite and experience watching a football (soccer) match inside a crowded pub--especially after Ruud Van Nistelrooy equalized in the 86th minute for the Netherlands, there was pandemonium.
We joined the Stirrats at church the next day. The service was very similar to how we do things back on our side of the pond. Angus Stirrat (goes by Gus) played bass guitar for the worship band. He's really good, you can check him out on youtube (yeah they have it over here too). After church we had a little tour of the area, seeing the Falkirk Wheel (a revolutionary way to raise and lower boats on the canal... did you catch the pun?) and the Wallace monument. Today we've had a lazy day, getting things ready for the trip to Jordan tomorrow. So far we've been really well taken care of. That might continue in Jordan, but things will no doubt be different. Oh, Carl says hi as well.
Cheerio for now - Macleod
p.s. there are pictures of some of the sites posted, follow the link in the sidebar

Maybe too much time with family?

Good news, my bags arrived. It's actually old news too. We're now on the Isle of Mull, where my Mum is from (mum is the British way of saying mom, but I'm sure you already knew that). Before we got here though, we had a couple of days in Lewis. Driving my Gran's car was quite an experience, being a left hand drive car. The roads in Britain are switched, with people driving on the left rather than the right. Its a little bit of a trip, I kept going to the wrong side of the car to get into the drivers side.
The added freedom of having a car was great, we drove across the island to the Callanish stones. These standing stones were built approximately 5000 years ago by neolithic peoples. It's a pretty neat sight, like Stone Henge, but not quite as big, nor with any stones stacked upon one another. While it is smaller, it is also much more accessible, unlike Stone Henge, you could actually walk up to the towering stones, get up close and even touch them. We also used that freedom to visit the Lewis Castle Grounds, drive across the island the other way to see my other cousin's house. We also made a couple of visits to my Gran, a wonderful lady, just quite ...unique.
That Wednesday we took the early ferry off the island. It was a decent trip, however there was a family that did not quite understand the concept of a designated children's area. I was reading/trying to take a nap while a toddler was screaming up a storm. Carl was laughing at me, this not being the first time a good nap has been ruined by a screaming child. After we got off the ferry we took a warmer necessary bus to Inverness, then a stinky bus to Fort William, then by car with my mum to Mull.
On Mull Carl and I have been much more relaxed. We've stayed at either my Grandmother's house (who happens to dislike Carl, because he's German-they caused WWII) or at my cousin's hotel. We visited an old abbey where Christianity was first brought to Scotland, and generally had a slow paced time. Tomorrow we're off to Edinburgh, and then in only a few days off to Jordan.
Until next time - Macleod
p.s. pictures are up, check out the link off to the side (<== that way)

Pictures are up

Check out the new pictures: Here

We're here

Alright, first update since we left. Carl left way early on Saturday, I left latter in the afternoon. The plan was to meet in the Glasgow airport. The flights were uneventful, my dad thought I was going to miss one of my connections, but that went fine. At the Glasgow airport (in Scotland, right before our flight to the Island my dad grew up) I went to pick up my bag. I was supposed to recheck it in before the flight. After waiting for a while I saw Carl's bag, which wasn't supposed to be there, and no sight of mine, which was. It turned out that while I had made all of my connecting flights, my bag had not, it was still somewhere in Ireland. Carl's on the other hand was checked all the way through to Stornaway, but someone had taken it off by mistake. After filing a missing bag report I left Carl's with a baggage guy and it was sent to our flight.
The plane we flew on to Stornaway was tiny, 33 seats total. It was only a short flight, but after 16 hours of travelling for myself and 25 for Carl we were pretty much done with planes. My Aunt picked us up at the airport then we stopped by briefly for a visit at my Gran's. She recently had knee surgery which is the first thing to slow her down in 89 years. Of course she was upset that we were travelling on a Sunday, the Lords day, and made a point to tell us how they have fought very hard here on the Island to keep the sabbath holy, not allowing the commercial people corrupt the locals. She then interrogated Carl about his ancestors and where he's from. She is quite a unique woman, very set in her ways. After dinner we walked down to my cousin's house and chatted with them for a bit. By the time we left it was 10 pm, and we were dead tired from being on the go for over a day. Because the island is at about 58 degrees latitude (further north than Moscow, just south of Anchorage) it stays light very late during the summer. As we were walking home it looked as though it was only maybe 5 in the afternoon. It would really get dark until about midnight, and then light again by 3 am. Next weekend, with the longest day of the year, there will barely be a dark moment, maybe lasting about an hour. Its a little weird to experience, but I'd guess it would be even more odd in the winter when there's so little light.
Ok, well, we're here (minus my luggage), safe, and ready to have a rockin' good time.
-Macleod
p.s. Pictures comming soon

Graduation and then some

It's the day before we leave, and things are all falling into place. The school year is over, the students have graduated, the classrooms have been cleaned up. Now we just have to pack. Carl is leaving in the wee hours of the mourning, I leave later, mid afternoon. We'll then meet up in Glasgow, Scotland Sunday, 5 pm local time. We're both packing extra outfits in our carry-on bags, as well as any vitals because its more than likely the bags won't arrive when we do. There may be an update before we leave, but for now, we'll see you again across the pond!
Happy Trails
Macleod

Pictures!

I've uploaded some pictures from past travels, check them out.
Summer 06: http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.macleod/TopPicsFrom06
Summer 07: http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.macleod/TopPicsFrom07

So where am I now?

You know where I've been, but where to next? This summer is rapidly approaching, and on June 14th Volkhardt and I are off to Scotland. After 10 days in the land of my forefathers (and real father, and mother, and older brother) we leave on our way to the Middle East. First, for another 10 days, we will be staying with a Jordanian family in Amman, Jordan. Then from the southern tip of Jordan we will cross to the Sinai Peninsula and into Egypt. Egypt for another 20 days then home. So there you have it, 40 days, 3 countries (more if you include the layovers for me in Italy and Ireland, and Volkhardt in Turkey and Canada).
A little plug, my pictures for the summer will be posted on a picasa site. Check them out here. There maybe some stuff on my myspace. you can also on occasion here from me on my instant messenger name y0dude (its a zero, not an "o").

Peace - Macleod