Today we had a nice relaxed day. David and I went to see Ant Man and it was my first experience with the UK and their odd no refill notions. I am so used to going to a movie and getting my huge tub of popcorn, eating all of it and refilling it back up to take home! I love me some movie theater popcorn too :) We have two theaters in Tooele. One you get a free refill with the large popcorn, the other you can get a refill for $0.50. I asked the poor kid who sold our popcorn if there was any way to get a refill and he said that I could, but it would cost me another £4.50!!! Imagine! So, sadly we had to ration our one smallish tub of popcorn so that it would last because I was not about to pay another £4.50 for another tub.
Later that night I got to meet one of David's friends, Andrew. He came by the flat to just hang out and meet me (I will tell you I haven't quite gotten used to people wanting to meet me yet, it's such a weird sensation). We enjoyed a few drinks and it was nice to see David with his friend. We have friends back home of course, but these are his friends from childhood and there is a difference :) plus I have finally found someone who will rib him as much as he does me! It's pretty epic :)
Saturday, July 18th
Today was a day I was actually really looking forward to. My pure tourist fascination with the Highland Games! We went down to Balloch, near Loch Lomond for the games, and the weather looked as though they would have to cancel. I was near heart broken when we found out they were going to go ahead with the games, minus the cycling and running. It was such a weird day, weather wise, it couldn't make up it's mind!
 |
| There was a guy here with birds that you could pay money to have your picture taken with. They were cute, but I wasn't going to pay money to have my picture with them...birds kinda scare me! |
 |
| The field where the games would take place. They were running quite late because of the weather. |
Waiting patiently for anything to happen. We were watching the local competitors and were antsy for these huge guys we kept seeing to get up and do something!
 |
| Look at this awesome tree I spotted while waiting! |
While we waited it began to rain and we were worried it would keep up. This is our faces at the rain...and just pure boredom waiting haha.
The Highland Games at Loch Lomond were actually the S.H.G.A. Official World Heavyweight Championships and we were excited to see these real athletes. I couldn't believe the size of them! Easily towering over 6 feet tall and easily 350 lbs, they looked just like huge trees! There were supposed to be 7 competitors, but while warming up it looked like one of them pulled his groin muscle and was out. I kept thinking how much that would suck! Get all the way to the world championship and then have an injury like that and not be able to compete??!
 |
| Do you see how massive these guys are? The two that are standing in the middle, the one on the left is the Champion of the last two years. His name is Scott Rider and he's from England. |
16 lb Ball (like shot putt) & 22 lb Ball
This is a instantaneous shot of Scott Rider with the ball. He actually didn't get this one to count because he stepped over the board at the front; which you can see in my photos.
 |
| You can see his left foot is over the board. |
16 lb Hammer (a ball at the end of a long stick) & 22 lb Hammer
I took some of the photos of the local competitors close up so I'll put those up first so you can see what it looks like close up, but I also have a video of 2 of the competitors throwing the hammer - it's much cooler than my quick shots haha.
 |
| You can kind of see the little red flag towards the lower right corner. This is the marker for the world record. Most of the local guys didn't get anywhere near it...sadly. But the other big guys did! |
28 lb Weight (like a discuss, except it was more a ball and chain) & 56 lb Weight
Again, I got some close ups of the local competitors and then I just got quick photos of the main competitors. I wish I'd gotten a video of each of the events, I just didn't actually think about it till later...oops.
 |
| The local guy. I actually think he's the one that ended up taking the title - a nice big trophy and a huge bottle of whisky! Someone joked that the whisky was probably worth more than the trophy. |
 |
| The main guys. This one, I believe his name was Luke, he was always head to head with Scott Rider during this Games. |
 |
| Gotta keep your eye on the weight :) |
The Chieftans Qualifying Caber Toss & Tossing the Caber
The Caber Toss was the one thing that we really had wanted to see. It was amazing how much these men could lift! The goal was to get the caber up, then get enough speed going in order to toss it so that it flips all the way over. If it didn't go over it didn't count. Very few men could actually get it to go all the way over. You had to go through a qualifying round, where I believe you got 2 attempts to get it over or you didn't get to go on to the actual caber toss round - where you had a heavier pole.
I was going to post my quick shot photos, but I think I'll post the video. It's probably quicker anyway!
We were able to watch all of these events and the distance of some of the throws were amazing! These men must train for ages to do this - but I wonder where they actually compete because not a one was from Scotland this time around.
 |
| The pipe bands would enter the "arena" and then get in this circle formation and play their set. Then they'd walk out. You'd have about 5 minutes or less of quiet and there'd be another band. I kept trying to get one of the bands that had about half of their members under 12 years old. They were just too darn cute! |
One of my favorites was watching the local groups of men in the Tug of War competition. I lovingly gave them all titles (judging by their covers, of course). You had the Frat Boys, the Local Bar Guys, the Nerds, and the Military Guys. They had enough members to have 2 teams and remarkably there was about one better team from each group except for the Military Guys who only had one really good team and the Nerds who had one really bad team. They were all fun to watch. One of the guys on the Local Bar Guys team was actually bare bottomed and when they got pulled down, he decided to moon the crowd! In the end, it came down to the Frat Boys and the Military Guys and I was annoyed because the Frat Boys were just ridiculous. The Military Guys ended up winning in the end :)
 |
| The Nerds were a late entry I think. Here you can see (left-right) the Frat Boys, the Local Bar Guys, and the Military Guys. |
 |
| The stronger of the Frat Boys group and the weaker of the Local Bar Guys group. Biggest darn tug of war rope I've ever seen! |
 |
| As you can see...the Frat Boys won this one quite easily. |
 |
| They had to play two rounds, switching sides each round. I'm not sure how many total rounds were going because they were round robining everything and we ended up walking to take a break. |
 |
| One of these Local Bar Guys was the mooner! |
 |
| This is the Military Guys versus the Nerds. The Military Guys just looked intimidating. Everyone rallied around the Nerds though, as the underdogs and all the teams were giving them tips on how to win - it was pretty epic. When they did beat the weaker Local Bar Guys team the whole crowd roared! |
After the games we came home and kinda just hung out at home. We'd been on our feet since 9 am and didn't leave the games until 4:30. It was a long day, but we had a blast, and were so lucky the weather decided it didn't really want to pour rain on us.
Sunday, July 19th
Just another relax day for us. I think I'll take this day to explain some things I've found interesting or different about being here in Scotland versus back home.
Houses
So everyone keeps asking me to take pictures of the houses and/or scenery in Scotland and I won't lie - it's ridiculously hard! I have decided that Scots just really like their privacy. There are always these either stone, hedge, or what-have-you fences around houses and you can't really see them from the main road. This has been killing me! I am a sucker for old houses and there are some amazing ones here - but I generally catch only a glimpse of them before they're gone.
Something else that's interesting is the fact that there are not very many single family homes that are unattached. You get neighborhoods that are, but apparently they are quite pricey and only really well-off people can afford them. Most people live in what I would consider to be apartments or duplexes/multi-attached houses. What's really interesting about this is that if you have, for instance, a set of four houses (lined up like duplexes) each one will generally be a different color and it has no sort of flow to it! Some of them actually do end up looking ok, but others are just completely random.
On that note, most houses out here are also built out of stucco or concrete. I guess it is logical as the weather is quite damp, but it's really weird! Not weird in a bad way...but just different. I'm not used to seeing so much of it!
Roads
Ok, so this is a given. The road signs are wayyyy different. I have been so confused by what they mean, but I'm slowly catching the gist. I wish I could get a picture of one of them, but it's not in an area that is stoppable. What it is, is a speedometer like the ones that tell you to slow down. But if you're going the right speed it actually gives you a smiley face. If you're going over it gives you a frowny face. It makes me giggle every time we drive by one.
I know people have been like oh you're driving on the wrong side of the road, but honestly it hasn't really bothered me. What kills me are the roundabouts. I'm still not sure that I could drive here even if I wanted to. Sure if it were a straight road, but when you get to these roundabouts...that are like EVERYWHERE, I would surely cause an accident! They're insane. Plus there's no stop signs. At all. Just yield and roundabouts and a few stop lights.
This last one I just got a picture of recently. It makes me laugh and seems very very British.
 |
| I just realized you can see the stucco/concrete houses in the background with the aforementioned stupid bushes as well! I was rereading and debating not posting this till I got a picture of one! |
This sign is telling you that 20 is the fastest you should go. What makes me laugh about this every. single. time. is that it seems so polite. And yet it seems super stern at the same time. It's like having your grandma tell you that you shouldn't be doing something, but in a super sweet voice. If that makes any sort of sense. Anyway, they crack me up nonetheless.
Bathrooms
Oh dear. Bathrooms. Toilets. I keep having to remind myself that it's toilets over here. I guess that word has always seemed rather...dirty haha considering what you do in a toilet. TMI I know, I'm getting to that point. But anyway. The public toilets are killing me. The best part of them is that they are quite roomy comparatively. However, not all places have free toilets. In quite a few areas you have to pay 20p to pee. Literally! I suppose if you were desperate enough - and what a way to make money!
But for those lucky people who don't have to pay to go to the bathroom, a lot of times you have to deal with this crap (no pun intended, seriously):
SINGLE SHEET TOILET PAPER???!!!?? Whose bright idea was this??? I feel really stupid taking like a million little sheets of toilet paper (ok, yes, I realize I am that crazy lady taking pictures of the toilet paper in the toilet....but let's get real here!).
Oh and it doesn't end there. Then you get another one of those adorably stern signs once you finish.
And then are faced with this. I still haven't quite figured out how the heck to deal with this. Do I turn on the hot and cold water at the same time so that I can kinda blend it or do I just try for the hot water, scald my hands, and quickly use the cold water? The time spent contemplating this is ridiculous and always leaves me the last one in the toilet. But seriously. I would love to know who invented this as well and for what damn purpose!
But it always is made up for when I get to see this outside my toilet.
 |
| Adorable girl with pigtails or signs of alien life?? |
And that's all I'm discussing on this episode of The Differences Between Scotland and America. Stay tuned for more to come. I'm just brain dead as I've now spent easily 6 hours waiting for pictures to upload. There are more differences, I can guarantee it.
No comments:
Post a Comment