T.H.A.N.K.S.G.I.V.I.N.G

This week truly has brought me so much happiness. I will try and contain myself but no promises, it's just that this week had so many different little moments that made me realise how lucky I am. It started off with doing some research and trying to be productive in the library while the deadline for my finals are closely approaching, however this week soon distracted me from doing anything. I bought myself a little notebook that I can carry around with me in my pocket everyday and jot down some notes to myself, and it has made the world's of difference with remembering little details and things to do. Tuesday I got treated by Claire, Martin and Lise (again) to homemade crepes: 

This little notebook of mine really helps me with my french because I can write down a few phrases as the frenchies are talking. The crepes were unbelievable with a variety of ham and cheese to sugar and chocolate powder. 

Another thing I would have to mention was that this week was another dry week in Glasgow which made for some pretty amazing artwork in the sky: 

 This is the view from my room, and being woken up to this light coming into my window is such a blessing.

On wednesday I went to go see the intimidation game with the french girls and I was not disappointed. I highly recommend watching this film about the history of cracking the Enigma machine during a time of war around the world. After the film when I left the french house I saw a cute cat walking towards me and while on the one hand it jumped onto my lap and continued to be really cute and cuddly, the rest of the story didn't turn out so great. I got clawed in the face after she jumped up onto a garbage bin. I didn't have it in me to just walk away and leave our relationship like that however so I went back and we made up by her allowing me to pet her one more time: 

On thursday I had my regular lesson with Chris the bagpipe instructor followed by lunch with Sydney Cason. Syd was an interesting character to pin point in the beginning of the semester because she told me she was studying neuroscience yet she can sing opera. If it isn't her laugh it is her amazing enthusiasm to do everything and anything. She really is a gem to have around, especially because she always has a smile on her face. We ended up going back to the piping center before our lecture and both did a solid number with researching for our final papers. 

After our lecture a handful of us decided to have a wine and cheese night because who doesn't like wine and cheese? If not that then a chance to procrastinate more, perhaps? The night was a great success:

Friday meant bible study being back to the normal time, and although a lot of people couldn't make it due to weekend trips we still went on. This week was a little more in depth I would say because I could tell that a lot of people were at that time where finals and other stress in their life has hit them. This just gave us more to pray about and a chance to share some personal struggles:

Saturday couldn't have come any sooner because that meant that my cousin Maryke would arrive from London! Being reunited with my cousin really brought a special warmth in my heart. It amazes me how even after 3 years of not seeing her nothing seems to have changed. We spent the entire saturday going to the cathedral, the necropolis, and the modern art museum with Martin, Claire and Lise. We saw a wedding while at the cathedral:

Before we headed back out to the city center for night time we had some tea and cake at the french house where some of us passed out for an afternoon nap and others just played guitar. At night we attempted to go see Mockinjay, however after failing due to it all being sold out we ended up watching Interstellar. Now I have two words to sum up this movie: MIND BLOWN. Truly an incredible film that toys with your emotions, mind, beliefs, and perception of things. One of our fellow companions really wanted to watch interstellar the whole week yet couldn't make it every time. Brandon wasn't there this night but we tried to include him the best we could: 

Sunday was pure joy from the beginning till the end. We went to church and Maryke came with, also Calvin's family joined us. Every sunday so far it has been sunny during church service and it just really creates a sense of aw while learning about the Lord's word. This particular service had a baptism and right before she was submerged into the water she said a few words. For a person so young she spoke of words far past my vocabulary, with such passion and love it had most of the community in church: 

After the incredibly powerful service we went to campus to show the McNellys and Maryke around: 

Because a bunch of us will be traveling this weekend, not myself, we decided to do thanksgiving a week early. We ended up squeezing about 25-27 people into our tiny kitchen. The food stacked up against the counters and after the great feast it felt as though we had to roll everyone out of the kitchen:

Familiar friends, people we haven't really known for that long, families we just met and families reuniting from afar; france, argentina, canada, south africa, united states, texas and brazil. So many different people with so many different stories all coming together for thansgiving, for some it was their first. 

I am thankful for God blessing me with this amazing opportunity of coming over to a new country, meeting these amazing friends, having a loving family, and just for the amazing love He has given me throughout my life. 

Today was spent going geocaching with Maryke and placing a verse from the book of Psalm in each one we found. Following the exploration we took a lunch break in the botanical gardens in my hammock with some leftover turkey sandwiches from last night. After we went for a tour through the city chambers in the heart of Glasgow: 

I am so incredibly happy and although I am overwhelmed with how much work I have to do before my finals this week has been one of favorite weeks thusfar in Scotland. God is so incredibly loving and thoughtful. All glory be to Him forever. 

A bit of a misunderstanding

This week was probably the week where I got the most frustrated with being in a different place. The culture is different and sometimes the people don't always understand you. As I go through my updates of activities I will try and explain more. The week didn't start off with the best situation having Liverpool lose to Chelsea 2-1 in what might have been a better game if the ref understood the game. Needless to say Calvin and I were still supporting our team in our colours:

Noelle my flat mate who is such a blessing to have around with her continuous joy had a friend come visit her and a couple of us went to the Crafty Pig and the Bookclub. Two pubs that have great food and a casual environment:

My filming continued throughout this week and while I try to explore some newer areas I couldn't help but to stop and take a picture:

The weather this week panned out to be awesome with almost no rain and some sunshine, which meant one thing: Me. Myself. and my Hammock:

My french friends Martin, Claire and Lise once again outdone themselves with cooking myself, emma and Chris dinner. A traditional french dish called Crozets. I also learnt a new french sentence: comment ete ta journee? Yes my spelling is really poor but I understand it this way. They have a crack at my french because it is so horrible but I somehow am learning something.

I think because this is close to the end of the semester we all needed a little break from cooking and pizza was a must:

I don't have any exams for my finals but I do have three research papers. Now being in a different country things aren't the same as back in the States including the way we do research. Here we have to actually go into a library and find primary sources so I spent four hours in the Mitchell Library digging through archives and found my research for one of my papers:

While I was in the City Center I met up with a bunch of people in order to watch a Christmas parade, that turned out to be 6 reindeer pulling Santa in a sleigh. The gang went to a dinner place that had cheap but really good food which is where the frustration and misunderstanding part of my week comes in to play. The dinner was pretty great because I got myself some steak and egg. The whole gan was surrounding a half booth kind of table in the corner and I was on the outside next to a little table. There was a narrow gap for the person at the small table and myself to get out and I thought I was being polite. I was putting on my coat and just talking to the group while standing when the gentleman behind me started raising his voice and that is when I turned around to see what the commotion was. Apparently he was yelling at me, I still don't know what for, but he seemed very angry. I was confused so I asked him what I did wrong and he really had one of the thickest scottish accents ever. I am pretty good with understanding people here but for the life of me I swear he wasn't talking english. He continued to rant while I asked to speak slower so that I can understand, when the only words I could make out was "you're a prick, sit down boy". Obviously hearing this wasn't the best thing especially when I didn't know what I did wrong. He continued to say the same things over and over and then he stepped closer and got in my face, which at this point I could smell the alcohol on him. I tried to handle the situation as calmly as possible and told him that he doesn't know me and that he might have had too much to drink. After being shaken up I left telling him to have a better night. So that was the first incident, then I biked home and on my way home there were three guys walking next to eachother on the pavement when I politely said "heads up". The one guy started chasing me after I had passed them and I just kept pedaling because once again I didn't think I did anything wrong. I suddenly felt as if I was the one who did something wrong because this was two incidents in the same night. Moral of the story is there are different cultures and you have to be careful with your actions and words because someone might interpret it differently.

My friend Emma Dell who lived on my floor freshman year came to visit me this weekend and together we did some touristy things in Glasgow such as going to the Cathedral, walking down Buchanan Street, seeing the Necropolis, visiting the University of Glasgow, and seeing the Hunterian Museum in our Uni:

I notice that I save bible study and church always for the end of my blogs, and I think mostly it is because I want to leave off thinking about that the most. So this week bible study was short because many people weren't able to make it, but we still got to hear an amazing story from Mickael our french friend. He truly does not fail to amaze me with his constant enthusiasm and happiness no matter what the situation is. I am so thankful to have met him because an individual like this really makes a person's day 10 times better. Church was well needed like every week and ReHope genuinely makes it so awesome to be here and share our faith in a loving community. Not to mention free donuts, croissants and coffee.

J'aime le fromage et de la confiture

I have to be honest. I was so stubborn to think that homesickness won't be a thing for me but now in week 8 of school here I definitely can say that it has hit me hard. I'm pretty sure I face timed my family more that 5 times this week. But I don't want to be sad in my blog so we will just jump right into this week's activities. 

Monday night was a flat dinner night with Samantha being such a good cook and all, it's hard not to be excited for it. We had some wings and some tacos. Monday wing and taco night? Can that be a thing? 

I have to say that this week doesn't involve so much tennis. Most of that is due to the absolute rubbish hits I've been having this week. It feels as though I am right back at the beginning not knowing how to hold a raquet. But in all honesty I think I just hit a rough patch this week and my mind wasn't there. Nevertheless I have my weekly introduction of a member and this week it is my doubles partner in crime Eleni Pastellidou: I know what a boss name to begin with, but nothing compared to how this girl hits a ball. This Greek girl has a forehand that will put hairs on any guy's chest. Probably the speed of my serve. She is one of the sweetest but just like me she can get very competitive. Playing against eachother is fun because she keeps me on my toes and if I don't get a rediculous return shot I am usually fetching a forehand smash down the line. I also know how to greet someone in Greek now thanks to her.

Now being homesick didn't get me down all the way because it sparked my enthusiasm to go out filming again and luckily enough this week the rain stayed away and the sun came out to play. 

As I am sure you've noticed my title for this week was in french. That's because this week is dedicated to my two amazing French friends Lise and Claire. I bumped into Claire the other day and being so generous she invited me to dinner at their place. If they aren't making fun of me they are usually trying to teach me french. They cooked me dinner and I don't really know where to begin to say that these two are the sweetest girls I have ever met. Everything about them just pours out generosity. From inviting me, to giving me food, to asking about my week, and just being so precise with their words not to come off as mean really just is a small bit of how awesome they are. Having broken English and studying in it while being in a different country by themselves is something I value because just thinking about that makes it seem difficult. This was Claire's creation for the night. The saying I learnt this week was: I like muffins with cheese and jam. Now anybody who knows me will know that this isn't weird because jam and cheese is my delicacy.

Now that the sun is out I took advantage of it and hammocked. Yes it was cold but I layered up. The funny thing about this was that the man who was cutting the grass stopped and asked me what I was doing. The conversation went something like this: "I'm hammocking", "why? What is it? Do you just lay down?" I guess he had never seen one before. 

Remember, remember the 5th of November? Ever heard of Guy Fawkes day? Yea a lot of people studying abroad here didn't. Luckily for me we had it in South Africa. A group of us went to go see the fireworks on the Glasgow Green.

There was a carnival happening and we all (except Calvin because he's a scardy cat) went on this really upside down, sideways spinning ride before watching the fireworks show.

Here are the goons I went went with. 

Bible study was pushed a day earlier here because most of the people were going to Amsterdam this weekend. We made a group dinner and cooked before having our bible study where Sydney shared her story. 

One of my friends I met here who lives on the border between England and Scotland I want to say turned 20 and I ended up going over to her flat to meet some of her friends and we all celebrated her birthday. She studied in Syracuse for a year and it was good to talk about how different it is here and how different it was for her being there.

Friday came along and after tennis I went to the climbing gym with these weirdos and my forearms kill!! It was so much fun and definitely going to try and go weekly! 

Now just taking it easy and doing some work while watching the game (Liverpool v Chelsea) with mr. McNally. Up the Reds! 

Halloween and all the shananigans

It's Halloween week which means prepare for a great costume and lots of candy right? Well not so much in both aspects. The week started off with..you guessed it: Tennis practice. I definetly have to say that getting to practice 6 times a week is helping me improve with not only my skills but my confidence to a new sport I am in love with. 

We haven't been practicing at our regular Dowanhill courts but instead at Kelvingrove courts which are conveniently located next to the Art Museum: 

There are a great deal of benefits that come with not having that much class, such as exploring places I haven't been before (or places I have been). Rule number 27: enjoy the little things :

Above is Ashton Lane, which I am sure I have mentioned before in my blog. 

On a side note this past summer I have really grown fond of cheese, and having French friends really come in handy. This is some french cheese I had the other day and if you get past the absolute revolting stench you will experience a very very delicious tasting piece of cheese.

Okay enough of the cheese. Now back to tennis and other things. I had to eventual take a picture of the courts we practice at, however the weather isn't always on the photographer's side here in Glasgow. Luckily enough we had a sunny day (1st one in a long time). 

Wednesday night we had a social for tennis and the theme was zombie tennis so everyone got their face paint out and put on their terrifying faces. This is Jack and I sometime during the night. It would be Jack and Jacques however due to my nickname aka Shark it doesn't quite have that nice ring to it. Nevertheless I would now consider him my tennis partner because out of everyone Jack and I hit the most together. Also watching his reactions when he messes up is quite hilarious.

Radi and Franco, two other tennis amigos I have come across. Radi being a pretty important figure for Glasgow Uni Tennis gives him some authority, but not too much because he still knows how to socialize as much as everyone else, and even more. Franco just happens to be one of the nicest people on the team and an underrated comedian because for this night he didn't really have an outfit so instead he decided to just put some blood on himself and go as "the black guy who always dies first in movies". He's a riot. 

The night consisted of going to 5 different flats and then ending up at club Viper. It was one heck of a night. Also once the team found out I could do a standing backflip David Cox really has made it his mission to have me do one at every social. But it's all good fun and just good #banter 

Also due to special request I have to tell you guys about a guy named Daniel Bob Timmins. Ahh where to start. I guess I would say thanks to him for messing up my name the first time we met, because thanks to him I have a nickname on the team. I'll try and keep this short (kinda like Dan). He's probably going to have a word with me after this but no worries he's harmless. Depending on what time it is during the day Dan can be 4 different people. 1. The guy who you never want to introduce to your parents, but one heck of a person you HAVE to introduce to your friends. 2. The guy you don't want to mess with. He might be short and well short, but he has a side you don't want to see. 3. The life of the party. He can take any situation and completely make everyone feel comfortable. 4. The one liner guy: someone who can make you feel really stupid by throwing out some logic that he either pulled out of his .... Or actual facts. To summarize: Dan is awesome and I really appreciate him. 

Friday night consisted of almost everyone going to ED SHEERAN! It was Halloween so we weren't going to miss out on dressing up. Calvin, Sydney, Harper and I went as the crew from Frozen. The girls really nailed their outfits as for myself.. Well let's just say I could have done more . Calvin just had to be himself because I think his spirit animal might actually be a rain deer:

Ed played at the SSE HYDRO:

We had nosebleed seats but it didn't stop any of the amazing quality from reaching us. He came out dressed up as Austin powers and to put it simple, he is one talented guy who knows how to perform! Coming back after the night we were all hungry and got ourselves the famous Scooby snack from Maggie's food truck. For some it was their first! Oh by the way the guy wearing the american flag and hat is Michael. He is french and truly one of the happiest people I have met. A true joy to be around. The night didn't end well when he and I both got egged by someone driving by thinking throwing eggs at people on Halloween was a good idea. 

Last night we had our team dinner and got all fancy for it. Bow tie is the way to go. Just saying. 

Coopers bar really had some great gourmet burger that hit the spot! 

My kit also came in:

After dinner we went back to a flat for some "events" that really didn't make me feel good the next day but nonetheless it was a time for "team bonding".

Bible study and Church this week was really what I needed because I needed a pick me up and being around a great group of friends who are willing to learn more makes everything so much better ! This was the second week at the same church and I do believe I found my church here. 

As always no complaints here in Glasgow other than the weather, however this week there was some homesickness that persisted between Calvin and I. 

Tennis, tennis and more tennis:

This week has been nothing but tennis. Hence the title Duh! Started off my Sunday with an hour of swimming followed by a four mile run to the indoor tennis facility; had four hour practice and then jogged back another four miles. That seems like a lot and it was. A good 6 hour training session. This wasn't the end tho because it was only one day of working out. Monday came along and I had 5 hours of tennis and an hour of swimming combined. A little about school because I have failed to mention it thusfar. I had reading week this past week and that means that j don't have class but I have independent reading I have to do. I also have an essay due this Monday which should be good to go soon enough. Fingers crossed. On Wednesday we had some team coaching for free or apart of the membership and it consisted of different quick movement drills. You know there's a saying here in Glasgow: If the ground isn't flooded we play... Atleast that is what I have come to terms with. Rain, wind and cold weather doesn't bother us. We will have practice haha. 

This week was relatively relaxing with some movie nights and pumpkin cookies. The night after tennis Sydney and Harper found me biking and then invited me to dinner. Our regular place named Ketchup! 

Next to the National Piping Center there is a nifty cafe that makes great coffee and not to mention sticky toffee pudding. My Thursday was spent typing my essay and relaxing during my only day of no tennis. 

Now when I say only day of no tennis I actually mean it. 6 days a week where I can use the courts with the team, get free coaching and play some matches. Friday I went for an hour and then decided to go to the gym because it has been a while. Following the gym a hearty meal was cooked by the famous chef mr. Gerber. Today and tomorrow I have tennis and just finishing up on essay.  Our bible study this week went so well because we had a handful of new people show up! Not to mention the wicked awesome snacks! 

My prayers still go out to Robby as he is very hurt but seems to be stable. God has been good and we just lift him up to you Lord because your healing compares to no other.