Now that we have been in Glasgow for almost 2 months we have established a routine for daily life. I think it's fun to know how other people spend their time, so I thought I give you a run down of what we do here.
Monday through Friday, the kids and I do our abbreviated school routine. We were not able to bring all of our school materials in our luggage so I selected the necessities for 6-8 weeks of school. I thought that our shipment would arrive as planned and we would expand back into the full schedule, but I was overly optimistic! I think it's important to count moving to a new culture as an educational experience, so our lack of science experiments won't bother me. For now, the kids write postcards to friends, keep up with math and english workbooks and we read the books I brought from home and check out more from the library.
In the afternoons I take the kids to one of the three parks nearby or we run errands. Yes, we have three parks, all within a 3 block radius of our flat. Hooray for city planning! When this area, Hyndland, was built at the turn of the century it was far outside the city center and meant to be a lovely suburb for the middle and upper classes. The planners and architects took great care to provide quick access to the city and many parks and amenities for the residents. To this day, it is still a desirable area.
During the week Darren spends a lot of time reading and studying. He goes to meetings and also meets with individuals for prayer. We are learning to adjust to him working from home. We'll soon try to get him a proper desk so he can work behind closed doors and the kids will have a better idea of when dad is available. Darren has staff meeting on Tuesday morning, I go to Bible read through group Tuesday night. He goes to read through Thursday morning and there's a staff breakfast every other Friday.
I'm trying to get back into running. I go out three times a week and explore the neighborhoods. I quickly realized that I was a softie, running on a treadmill in my garage. The city streets are uneven, treacherous terrain, and I'm getting used to paying attention to my next steps so I don't turn an ankle!
On Friday nights we have been getting take out from restaurants in the neighborhood. We found a cheese pizza that the kids will eat, so that's about as wild as they get.
Saturdays we've been training into the city centre to explore. The kids love to take the train. We found a giant toy store called Hamley's and they love to browse the aisles and think about how they'll convince the grandparents to them things!
Sundays are full days. Darren heads to church early for prayer and we follow along later. The kids enjoy their class and Hayden eventually enjoys her time after the tears subside. We head home for a late lunch and rest. Darren goes back for the evening service, leaving at 5:30 and often not returning home until 10pm. The kids and I have been meeting friends at the park in the afternoon and then eating a light dinner at home (honestly, its usually cereal because I don't feel like cooking!).
And that's our typical week. Every week seems to bring a new challenge, for example last week we were car shopping. Darren picked out a car for us, but the buying process has been delayed due to UK laws and inspections, but hopefully he'll drive it home this week. So our next challenge will be learning to drive on the other side of the road. I wouldn't seem so difficult except that you have to shift with your left hand (not many automatic cars here).
We seem to be easing into our new routine very quickly. The next big prayer request would be for learning to drive all over again and staying safe in the process!
