Week 2

This week has been wet, misty, windy, and pretty cold.  Guess we have been given a taste of what the weather can throw at you here so we have been thankful of a nice warm peat fire in the house.
You get pretty good at layering your clothing here - lighter in the house then pile on the layers for going outside depending on how cold and windy it is. A hat and gloves are a must too.
Walks are often described by us, on our return, as "bracing" if it has been particularly windy.
We have been back for a 2nd Gaelic lesson this week and learnt to count 1-10 and also learnt the days of the week which all seem to start with a "d" . Very confusing and also quite a challenge to pronounce. I'm beginning to recognise a few words though and work out what they mean.
We came across a gift shop in Lochmaddy recently and ventured in for a look. It was a little "Aladdins cave " in that it had a bit of everything in it. Shops here in this part of the Hebrides aren't always that well marked as such. I guess the locals all know where they are and what's in them but a little confusing to people like us. So it pays to ask and you usually are told where to find the appropriate place for what you want.
It was Mark's birthday this week so I managed to bake him a small cake to celebrate and find him some Scottish beer and cider to go with it!

Gaelic Lessons

We, David & I, finally got around to phoning about the Gaelic lessons and duely turned up to Lochmaddy at 2pm for beginners Gaelic Conversation. By 2.30pm the lady in the store at the Museum building where the lessons are held decided to ring some one about the lessons. It turns out there was a bit of a mix up with times and also they didn't know we were going to turn up that day.
I think the Isles may be a little like the East Coast at home and run on there own time to a certain degree!
 Anyway a guy came and we were introduced  as wife & Dad of  the local vet's replacement,( that being Mark),  here for 4 months. Actually Mark says people are having trouble with his accent and think his name is Mac. He tells me he has given up trying to correct them and is happy to answer to Mac for the time being!! At least my name being an Irish name is a little easier to understand and say with my Kiwi accent.
They were quite intrigued to hear we have done a swap with practices/houses/animals etc.
Anyway back to the lessons. After a query about how many other languages we spoke besides English, in my case, only French, we were off and into the language. We started with what in french is the verb "To be", and in Gaelic translated to "I am, he is, she is, we are, they are" etc.
 Ok I thought, I can cope with this if I dredge some of the old grammer rules out of my brain that apply to french and modify them a bit. Then we asked "are there any silent letters?" Yes there are. Also a lot of letters are missing from the language eg j, k, q, v, w x, y, z to name a few that I can remember.
We went on to learn a few adjectives too so by the end of the lesson could say "I am cold". A useful expression to learn as today it is indeed cold and wet and windy.
David has decided his limited Welsh language is not helping him at all with Gaelic. Gaelic is pronounced to my ear as sounding like "garlic" so I'd better at least get that right. It is going to be challenge for us to learn this language but by the end of our lessons we might at least be able to pronounce some of the place names better. We have some web sites to check out too so better do our "homework" before we go back next week. I might have got over my cold by then and they might understand my accent a little better too.
There seem to be lots of accents around over here, with very English sounding, Scottish sounding, and we even met an Irish guy yesterday too. Word is getting around about who we are and what we are doing here too. We went in a shop today and Mark was asked " you're the vet doing the swap with our vet aren't you? We've heard about you"!
It is not unusual to hear Gaelic spoken in a shop especially with some of the older generation. The children we are told are taught Gaelic at school but it is not total immersion.
So... we are looking forward to next week's lesson with some trepidation but may have to do a bit of "swotting up" before then so we can keep up. Perhaps I can record the lesson and it might help my terrible pronounciation!!
Will keep you updated with our progress.

Week 1

Today is the beginning of the 1st of 16 weeks we will be here.
I went out to hang up some washing this morning and the wind was very cold however the sun has shone today and warmed us up. I think the weather will feature a lot in these posts.
Took the road north west today, from our base here in Clachan, which goes in a circle back through Lochmaddy in the east.
Lochmaddy was bustling today as the ferry from Uig was in.
Spoke to a lovely lady at the Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre and we think we might go to beginners Gaelic lessons. Might be a bit of a challenge but fun too. We might then be able to pronounce some of the place names here.

Day 2

We woke this morning to cool but fine weather and no wind. We think perhaps we are being lulled into a false sense of security regarding the weather. We meet some local people this evening and they told us about just how strong the wind can get. Park towards the west they said,  and watch out for your car doors in really windy weather or you will loose them. Sounds like the wind chill factor will be an issue to consider when venturing out on a bad day.
Went out in the work vehicle with Mark to the grocery store and decided these Islands are bigger than I thought they would be. Driving is different with some stretches of road that are single lane and some that are two lanes. There are passing bays on the single stretches that you can dive into at the appropriate place when you meet another vehicle coming the other way. It pays to scan ahead for approaching cars. I managed to whip up a coconut cake for this evenings visitors which actually tasted pretty good. Still getting over jet lag so struggling to stay awake  much past 9pm.

First impressions

Looking down from the plane as we circled for landing we were stuck by how much water there is on this part of the Outer Hebrides. It looked to me a bit like "swiss cheese"! Benbecula airport is very small but efficient so we were soon reunited with our bags. The vet we are swapping with was there to meet us so we were soon on our way to his house. We were struck by how flat  it is, how many lochs there were and how few trees there are. Lots of heather and tussock looking grass. The weather was cold and there were a few snow flurries but no wind to speak of.

Trip Over

Well the 16 hours 30 some minute flight went better than expected. Both of us got at least 7 hours sleep and as a consequence weren't feeling too bad when we got into Dubai. There was time for a quick shower at Dubai then it was onto the next leg - 6 hours something to Manchester. During this leg Mark's glasses decided to shed a lens which promptly went down the side of his seat much to the concern of the flight attendant. Mark then set about taking apart his seat to retrieve the lens. Once recovered he put it back together again. I meanwhile managed to take some photo's out of the window of what I think was Iran. Lots of mountains and snow down there. We landed ahead of time at Manchester and decided it wasn't as cold as we thought it might be. Picked up the rental car - a Citroen which neither of us bonded with and it was off to Wales. The sat nav kept trying to take us strange routes and the controls were a mystery to "himself" as he kept muttering about them. Me thinks he won't be trading in the Ute any time soon. Picked up Mark's Dad in Wales & back to Manchester. Flight to Glasgow on Thursday, overnight stay there and flight to Benbecula in the Hebrides.

Countdown over.

So.....I have finally started writing this blog after having the girls set it up for me some time ago.
 We are currently at Auckland airport waiting for our flight to Dubai then onto Manchester.
As the blog title suggests we are off on another Anderson Adventure - this time to the Outer Hebrides for 4 months and then France for a couple of weeks then home via Melbourne.
This time it is just us "oldies" with no kids with us.
Not sure just what awaits us in North Uist (Hebrides) but I do know it's going to be a darn sight colder than here. This has proved to be a challenge packing, to fit in lots of warm gear, and coats for the wet weather we are bound to have.
 We (Mark & I) have been dashing around all weekend sorting out final stuff with the house etc so I'm feeling some what tired now and ready to hopefully sleep some of the 17 odd hours up to Dubai. Sounds somewhat daunting to me all in one flight but oh well at least we are doing this via business class this time.
I'll update when we get to UK and have got over the shock of 5 degrees C.