Goooooooaaaaaaaaaallllllllllll!!!

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Saturday November 18, 2006- Today was a busy day. Steve and I woke up again when Jason and Tracy came in to feed Sophie, but this time it was a weekend so everyone was still in their jammies. We spent some time talking about what we had done yesterday and then we had to get ready to leave. We were driving back to Elgin through Aberdeen to see a football game. Or for you Americans out there, a soccer game. (Our football is called American football everywhere else in the world). We had another couple of hours of nice driving, with more weird weather, more green hills, and more sheep. I love this country.

When we got to Aberdeen we went straight to Steve's sister Paula's house. She was out, but her daughter was in. We stayed for a short time there, had a snack, and then had to get going to make the game in time. As we were leaving Steve's dad pulled in and we talked for a few minutes, but we didn't have much time to get to the game, so we had to go. We tried to get him to join us, but I think it was a bit too rushed of a proposition. We drove to the game and parked a little walk away, so we had to hussle to make it. We missed the very beginning but got seated (in seats better than our own) and started watching. I don't think it was the most exciting of all soccer games, but I quite enjoyed it. Everyone gets very excited and into it. They were also all leaving and coming back with little meat pies, but Tracy said not to eat one there because they were terrible, so we refrained. I spent some decent time towards the end of the game watching the clouds - it was a gorgeous sunset with colors everywhere, and I do have trouble focusing on sporting events at times. I have spent a lifetime ignoring them in the States, and that is a hard thing to overcome in one day. Towards the end of the second half Aberdeen scored two goals against the opposition (whose name I have forgotten again) making the final score was 2-0. It started to get particularly cold at the very end, but I warmed up walking over to the car. We then had a couple more hours of driving to do to get back to Elgin. I slept a great deal of this ride, but it was already dark so I think it was ok.

Back at home Steve whipped up a little dinner for us and then we had to get going once again. A friend of his was leaving for six months for Australia, and they were having a going away party for him. We took a cab there with another couple at 8pm. This is how serious the drinking in Scotland is - everyone takes cabs to parties and cabs home again. At least they know they will get pissed and prepare for it.

The party was quite large and I don't know if anyone was still sober by the time we arrived. All of Steve's old school friend's were there and they are all still really close. Like the mob. If you mess with one, you mess with everyone. But in a good way. As a non-drinker, this was a seriously weird event for me. As a non-smoker, it was a hardship. I could see everyone light up like it was in slow motion. And the cloud just kept getting thicker and thicker. The good news was that Steve's friends were great, and the girlfriend's especially went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. They each came over at times, introduced me to people, and hung out for a bit. Donna even offered to make me a wee cuppa tea, which I did take her up on later in the evening. She also invited us to dinner one night before I left, so we agreed to Tuesday night. Most of Steve's school buddies came over at some point in the night to tell me what a good guy McGill (Steve) is, in case I wasn't sure yet. By the end of the night, somewhere close to 2am, I was tired and had seen most of Steve's friends naked or in some state of undress. I had seen them all singing songs from their youth, and at least two of them had fallen on me. I was ready to go home. When the cab came, we left and it was just a short ride to my pillow.

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