A beginning in Glasgow

Today was a very grey day weather wise, and also for me personally. I think because I’m getting a cold. But we got a bit accomplished despite it all. First, Brandon woke up rather early. I stayed sleeping, just couldn’t seem to get going. He went down to eat breakfast and then even went out walking a bit. When I finally got up, it was only about 9:30, we headed out in search of cell phones.

The first place we talked to said we couldn’t get anything set up without a bank account. So to the bank we went. We tried two banks, both of which basically said we can’t open accounts without a National Insurance Number (equivalent to a SIN number) and/or proof of address. Enter melt down number one of my day. We can’t try to get a flat without a phone, and we can’t get a phone without a bank account and we can’t get bank account without a flat. Great.

Thankfully Brandon has a little more level head than I do and we tried phone place number two. And that went much, much better. The guy there was super helpful and got us all sorted out. Turns out my phone that I bought in Canada so that I could use it here is not usable after all. Thanks Koodo!

But now we have communication. They’re the simplest phones we’ve seen in years, not even as sophisticated as my old little green phone. But they’re cheap and they’ll get the job done. 15 pounds each is a whole lot easier to swallow than 500 pounds it would cost for an iPhone without a 2 year contract.

Next stop was a job centre to apply for the NIN. We wandered around a bit on the road where it was supposed to be. But it wasn’t there. We asked a guy in the coffee shop and got directions to where we finally found a really helpful place. We both got the process started for the application and we talked to a job advisor as well. The good news is that there are hotels screaming for chef de parties right now so Brandon is in good shape for employment. I, however, am not. Enter melt down number two. Though my eight years of customer service is wonderful, it’s maybe a little too specialized. Retail is going to be difficult since all the university students want those jobs right now too, and the minimum wage is only about 6 pound an hour. Most retail stores will only offer part time. When I calmed down and thought about it without feeling, well, rather stupid for attempting this adventure in the first place, I realized that I just shouldn’t freak out yet. I’d like to search for office positions and maybe reception or something.

After this, we got onto our city sightseeing tour. We sat on the top of a double decker bus, in the back where it was uncovered so it was a bit chilly. But we saw a good bit of the city and some places we want to go back to see again. We found out that the publicly owned museums are all free to visit. So tomorrow I think we’re going to try to catch a tour of the City Chambers and maybe Provand’s Lordship and the Glasgow Necropolis. But this is after we check in with a Letting Agent that’s just a few blocks from here. We saw some gorgeous neighbourhoods today that we’d love to live in. Fingers crossed the prices aren’t through the roof.

Tonight Brandon cooked supper for us in the hostel kitchen and it was great to have an actual cooked meal for the first time in what seems like forever. Most of our other meals since we’ve arrived have been sandwiches and soup from Tesco’s. I did two loads of laundry tonight too and man, I’m sorry I ever complained about how much it used to cost back in my apartment. It’s 3 pounds to wash a tiny load and 50 pence gets you 8 minutes of drying time. Thankfully they’re powerful driers and 24 minutes was enough to get each load almost completely dry. And the soap was included so that's a plus I guess.

Now, we’re back in our room, Brandon is snoozing away and I’m drinking a cup of tea to try to make my scratchy throat feel better. Time for bed.

Oh! Check for photos on Facebook. I’m sorry I can’t get them on here but it takes forever to upload them onto the blog site when you can only add one at a time.