I’ve mostly focussed in this blog about all the positive and wonderful things we’re seeing and experiencing. But I’d like to write today about the rest of the story. Turns out living in a foreign country is hard. Now that we’ve been here in our flat for three full months and away from Canada for four and a bit, we’re facing the reality that we are not on vacation. There are bills to pay – the obvious ones and the ones that seem to just pop up out of nowhere that you’ve never heard of before. Like TV tax. And the stair cleaning company. Seriously. We pay 10 Pounds a month to a company that comes in a couple times a week to sweep and mop the stairwell. I honestly don’t know how, on the wages that are common, people own beautiful flats, drive two cars and send their kids to private school. And take the lavish vacations I see advertised lately. Don’t get me wrong, there is money to be made in this city. But there is an obvious and blatant class diversity that I am not used to seeing.
We’re doing okay. We seem to be able to make it on what we’re bringing in. Things are about to get tighter because I just found out that my paycheques are going to be going down. Turns out this company pays you your contracted hours every week and then all of the overtime you work at the end of the FOLLOWING month. Confused? That means that starting this week, if I work more than my four hours that I’m contracted to work, I will not see that extra money until the end of March. I have no idea why this policy is in place and I have trouble wrapping my head around what could possibly be a reason for it. But I think we’ll be fine; we just have to be a little more careful.
I have an interview on Tuesday for an office job. Finally. And yes, all the eggs are in this one basket because this is the only basket that’s called me back.
One plus to not having a full time job yet is that I can keep up on keeping the flat tidy. Or well, most of the time anyway. Laundry seems to be a never ending cycle since the loads have to be so small and the drying time is so long. I’ve devised a clothes line in the living room though and that’s cutting the process a little shorter thankfully. It’s not terribly strong so only little stuff can go on it, and it does mean ducking under socks and underwear on your way to the couch, but it’s been a great help so far.
We both have other pressures now too in the form of pipe bands. Brandon’s band played yesterday at the opening of the Scotland vs. England Six Nations rugby match. It was great to see - or well, hear him play on TV. And I was so proud of him for this, his first gig with his Scottish band. He even played in the front rank! We both have a spring and summer full of competition days and both bands are starting to amp up the practice pressure. I’m finding it difficult to memorize the music for some reason. It’s a much different style than I’m used to and I feel like I’m constantly trying to catch up. I hate this part. If I could skip over this learning and putting it all together part and go straight to playing in the circle on the day, I’d be much happier. Sometimes I regret joining this band. I feel a little like I’m cheating on the Highlanders. But if I didn’t have this, I wouldn’t have any sort of social interaction outside of work so I guess it’s important. And I’ll be at all the games days that Brandon is this way too so that’s a plus. And I’ll play in the World’s. That’s pretty freaking cool.
Brandon’s work is going well. It doesn’t work out very often that we have days off together so when we do, we try to make the most of them. Next week we’re going to go to North Queensferry to see the Aquatic Life Centre. It’s supposed to be pretty spectacular. His boss is really good about working with Brandon to make sure he gets practice nights off and he gets along well with his co-workers. This is a much better fit than the first place he worked.
Someone asked me when we were packing up if I didn’t love the fact that everything I owned was going into my backpack. I said I hated it and I have to say, I’m still not liking it. We obviously have more now, but I find myself wishing for my garlic press and my purple skirt and a bunch of other things we left behind in my parent’s basement. And then there’s the Tassimo machine that my parents bought us for Christmas and added to the room full of boxes. That would be super handy right now. I crave Clamato juice fiercely. And I miss A&W. And I absolutely ache for a cuddle with Charlie every couple of days or so. But I already know I’m going to miss things from here too so I try not to think about all that stuff very much. I did find myself wishing I could go to Chinook Centre earlier today though.
I hope this post doesn’t come across as bad news or that I’m complaining. We’re very happy here. We both comment on a regular basis how much we love this city. I love the food, I love that people are friendly and want to hear all about why you’re here. I love that within an hour’s train ride we can see things that we’ve dreamed of seeing our whole lives. And I love that thanks to an amazingly generous Christmas gift, we’re going to Greece for a long weekend in March. Can you wrap your head around that? Greece. For the WEEKEND. Nuts!
We’re doing okay.
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