an update on life in edinburgh

I've been keeping myself pretty busy here lately! I'm feeling much more settled living here now.

Scots Monument on a sunny Edinburgh Day

a weekend in the emerald isle

On the morning of 23 February Sophie and I got up at some horrendous hour of the morning to make our way to the airport for a weekend in Ireland.

It was especially strange to me to be going to another country for just one night, with only a small carry on backpack!

Teeny backpack for another country!

cafe hunting in edinburgh

Since I have arrived in Edinburgh I have been on a bit of a mission. This mission doesn't really have an end goal however. The aim is just to find decent cafes around Edinburgh. Someone give me a good flat white!

Scones baked fresh daily and a flat white at Wellington Coffee

kitchen obsession

Living in a flat again has made me rediscover my enjoyment in cooking and baking.

While I was living in Australia my Dad, who is an awesome cook, did most of the cooking as he enjoys being in the kitchen too. So much so that he can't stay away when I try and cook!

My other personal chef was my friend Kim, who would always have delicious dinner ready for me when I got off the train to Brisbane on a Friday or Saturday night, and whip up amazing brunches to follow our crazy nights out.

I did make some desserts and that but nothing major because it was too hot and I was too busy to think much about cooking and baking!

So below is some of my experiments over the past couple of months. Most of it from the gold old Edmonds Cookbook!

Banana Cake with lemon icing

Waitangi Day Pub Crawl London

Slightly contrary to my previous posts, it's not all boring setting myself up here in Edinburgh. I do plan on posting some more about what I have been doing, but for today I have a special post in mind. 

It is now (super) early morning on what is considered our national day in New Zealand. Having experienced other national days abroad, I can say that Waitangi Day does not exactly have the same celebratory nature. Despite that, I feel like for the first time in my life I properly celebrated being a kiwi for a day.

My Waitangi Day Pub crawl outfit...a Pukeko!

where would all the adventures be?

As always comes with a big life change, I have been having a lot of up and down moments.

Most of my entire Asia trip was a huge up. It was full of more than one of those moments when you actually stop to acknowledge that life is pretty awesome. One I distinctly recall was when we were riding in a mini bus through the countryside of Laos, en route to our next destination. I had the window next to me down, music playing and was writing in my travel diary, and I felt as light as the air, nothing could weigh me down in that moment.

I took a photo, so I wouldn't forget

Of course, it cant be like that all the time, or we would never appreciate when that happens. Since I have been in Edinburgh I have had a lot of issues trying to get things sorted, and have had some up and down moments while I'm looking for a job. I'm taking it all as it comes though, because that's the point of it all! Too often we get complacent with where we are, and long for change, but when it happens, we wish everything would go back to how it was before. I try to always be careful not to take things for granted, whether good or bad, and to remember that things are always moving forward, whether we want them to or not.

- If life was easy, where would all the adventures be? - 

another path forward

Well, here I am again.

New city.

New home.

New life.

I have been in Edinburgh for one month now and it's been a mix of emotions and experiences. Happiness at settling into a new home and life, the hellos and the excitement in the newness. This has been a dream for so long I can't even pin down when it started. But on the other side there is the sadness in the exchange of my wandering for a more settled life, the goodbyes and the niggling fear of what if it doesn't work out? This fear is pretty easy to allay, as it always works out in some way, whether it's how you thought it would or not. The more deep seated fear is, what if I don't like it? 

Fortunately I have decided for the moment that I do like it.

However, it is hard right now because I don't have a job yet so I don't feel completely settled. But I get the feeling  this is the kind of place that gets under your skin, that you might not realise how much you like it until you leave, and then you miss it with more feeling than you thought. At the moment I already feel like at the end of my two years I will be leaving. Not because I won't love my time here, and not because I'll be done with it by then, but because there are too many other adventures ahead. My love for Asia is too big to ignore, and I know I will have to indulge myself with an extended stay or I will forever regret it. But I can see how, day by day, I will fall more in love with it here, so that when that time comes I will leave with great sadness.

One of my goals for 2013 is to write in my blog more regularly. Nearly a month has passed so far without this happening, but I do have a list of things I want to talk about. So here's to the next year and the complete unknown that it is.

- Sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade wind in your sails -