So, thanks for all of you who asked how our children had managed their first day at school! There is a photo of them in school uniform on flickr (see link on your left), and also one of us on a peedie bike ride - and one of our neighbour rounding up the sheep with his dog, distracted by our children thinking they were being helpful by also telling the dog what to do :o) But he did manage very well, which - of course - impressed us immensely!
So, back to Nanouk and Maleah and their first day at school. I drove them to school because I needed to buy vouchers for their lunches and also because I had a meeting with the head teacher to talk about my volunteer assistant teaching in the following weeks. The children were a little disappointed, as they could hardly wait to go on the bus, but, as you will find out later, it was a good thing that I brought them!
The start at their school was made easier by our invitation from the lovely head teacher to go and see the school again on Monday, so they knew where their classroom was, where they would have to go and order lunch (yes, not only do they have a yummy lunch menu, they also have the option of a sandwich, soup or a tattie, if they don’t feel like eating the main menu!)
So, in they went, I had a super meeting with the head teacher, then I went off to town to do some shopping, get tickets for the upcoming performance of cats and then managed to buy some beautiful wool to make a new hat for Maleah as both of hers seem to have disappeard before arriving in Orkney! I took a lovely ride on the way home (not planned, but as our sat nav is on its way to Switzerland I will have to start and concentrate on my surroundings when driving!) and came home to have a lovely lunch with Matt.
Just as we were both “back at work” (Matt for his company in Switzerland, me working on a newspaper article for the local paper back in Wil) the phone rang. It was the school, asking us to pick up n&m after school, as we had not filled in the paperwork which would allow them on the bus. This was very frustrating, as we had emailed several times to ask what we had to do for the bus and we were told it was all taken care of.
Well, with hindsight it would seem strange that we have to sign that it’s ok for us that our children clean their teeth at school, but wouldn’t have to sign anything for them to ride on a bus...
Well, anyway, I drove into school, signed all the papers, had them faxed and picked up the two very disappointed children, who had been looking forward to their ride on the bus!
But, they were happy about their first day and seem to manage nicely with all the things that are different in british schools (including leaving their shoes on during lessons and always walking in single file). Also, they’ve been asked by several children whether they want to be their friends, so that’s really nice! They were looking forward to going again today!

I took them to the school bus this morning (just to make sure they would be collected!) and then had a lovely long bike ride to the village shop - this time an intentional d-tour, which was fully worth it!




Unfortunately I didn’t have our good camera with me, but I got two pics which look quite nice anyway, even if not nearly as lovely as the “real sky”!

And if you are living in Switzerland: There is a big article about the ring of Brodgar in today’s Tagesanzeiger (a big National Newspaper), saying how it was probably the centre of Britain about 5000 years ago and how Stonehenge is a mere copy of the ring of Brodgar!
Not that that’s important to us - we would also love that place if it was the other way round :o)

Ok, that’s all for today, have to cycle back to the local shop, as I was short of money today when shopping there - sooo embarassing! Only when cycling home did I remember they also took credit cards! Annoying! (We’re still waiting for our bank account to open, so we’re slightly short of money, but still managing!)

(oh no, Matt was right: my entry was probably too long... So now I've had to cut it up into two parts...)

Here's part one:

So, as you can imagine, this will be quite a long blog. Are you ready? Settled with a cup of tea and a biscuit? (Well, I am, anyway!)
But just before I start let me draw your attention to the small panel on the left of this blog, where the link for our flower page, our German Blog and M&J's Blog is. You will see two new links: Matt has set up a flickr page. This means, we’ll be able to share more photos with you and the blog will still stay fast - and if you’re not that interested in seeing the wonderful scenery and/or our faces over and over you can ignore that link! Also, there is a link to our youtube page. Only two peedie films on there now, but there might be more. I like the one of the Doonies walking towards the Ba’, but more about that later.
So, let’s start with Hogmanay: As you might know this is a big day in Scotland and it was also a big day for us, as it was the start of our special year! M&J had invited us to their flat in Kirkwall, which they had been renting to give us more space in our/their house. They had also invited three wonderful guests, and together with the seven of us, that made a nice round of ten people.
We chatted, drank champagne and at midnight wandered down to St.Magnus’ Cathedral, where a pipe band was playing. We only stayed till the New Year had arrived and headed back up to the cottage, where Maleah could go back to sleep. But it was a fitting start for our year!
Nanouk and Maleah were allowed to sleep in Kirkwall with M&J so we had a little lie in, before we headed back to Kirkwall for the boy’s Ba’.
Now if you’ve never heard of the Ba’ you’ll have to google it - and watch our two small films on our youtube channel, as explaining it would take up even more of this space. But let me just tell you this: It’s unbelievably exciting (at times) and it’s really one of the things you have to have seen! (Or you could ask my Dad, who will tell you about it in all detail, as he was even more taken by it than us!) So, to cut a long story short, we had a great time at the boys’ Ba’, then headed back to M&J’s flat for some more delicious food - and returned to the cathedral for the start of the men’s Ba’, which was even more exciting! Just watch those men in the film walking towards each other! Loads of testosterone!
Unfortunately we had to leave before the Doonies put the ba’ into the water, as we had another party to go to!
M&J had been invited to a party at a lord’s house and managed to get us invited, too! Of course we were a little nervous and excited, as we’d never met a lord before, but as soon as we arrived all our inhibitions vanished, as we were made to feel so comfortable and welcome! And then we were introduced to all these incredibly interesting and nice people, so we had a great time! Maleah fell asleep on a bench at the dining table, and Nanouk enjoyed being part of the party, so we didn’t have to leave too early - even if we would have enjoyed staying much longer!

So, before I go on, I’ve got myself another cup of tea and some of the wonderful gingerbread house - a replica M made to welcome our children. It looked just like their house:

and it’s really delicious!

(Part two coming up below)

So, back to our life of parties! On the second of January M&J had invited all the neighbours - and some “honorary neighbours” - round to meet us. Again there was loads of delicious food and drink and even more lovely people! We’re so happy to have come to such a wonderful place which seems to attract all these wonderful people!
After all the neighbours and friends had left it was time to say goodbye to M&J, who were leaving early on the 3rd for Edinburgh. It was quite sad, as they are such a big part of our swap - and now they’ll be so far away! But thanks to FB and email, it will be easy to keep in touch! Just before they left we switched cars (after having test driven each other’s the day before) and off they were!

On the third it was time to say goodbye to my Dad, who had not only brought our children safely over from Switzerland, but had also helped us settle, taking the kids for walks and confirming we had made the right choice with his enthusiasm for Orkney and its inhabitants!
Then we went to the library to get our membership cards - and to the great joy of all of us we were allowed to bring home twelve books each! Milsom-heaven! Then we went to the bike shop to buy a wonderful second hand bike for Maleah!

So now it’s the fourth, our first “normal day” and, at last, we’ve had time to write this blog! We are happy and looking forward to the long weekend - and then for the children to start school on Tuesday!

Maybe one last thing before I leave you to get another cup of tea and start doing something important: We have been asked about the English and German version of the blog. They are sometimes quite different! For instance this time Matt wrote the German version - covering roughly the same topics, but with different emphasis - and somehow managing to get it all into a lot shorter text. So if you do understand some German it might be worth reading both. On the other hand you’ve probably heard enough of our praise and would rather do something else!

Time for me to log off, sun’s going down in an hour!

Went to one of my favourite places in Orkney! Isn't it beautiful?

Hurray! After two happy but hard days travelling (not made any easier by my paranoia of not wanting to leave our car unattended for a moment, so all meals were eaten in the car, which, on the up side, made them very short :o) we arrived in Krikwall last night just before midnight! We were picked up by M&J, got a dram of Whisky and headed for bed. Which was nice, lying on a bed which doesn’t move!
Today we’ve been unpacking all day, finding new places for all our belongings and wondering, who packed so many shoes, jackets, things in general! and why so many??? This not so nice task was made much nicer by the presence of M&J, who were here, chatting, giving advice, cooking lovely food and taking us for a nice Sunday lunch!
Now we’re waiting for the fresh made bread to cool, and then we’re off to bed!
Tomorrow there’s more unpacking to be done - and at five we can pick up our children and my Dad - which we are very much looking forward to! And then, from Hogmanay on, the parties start! First, of course, Hogmanay; then on the first the ba and then a party we’ve been invited to, and then there's one here at “our house” with “our new neighbours”. So we’re very much looking forward to all of those! We’ll let you know how they went - we’re bringing chocolates :o)

Here’s a photo of me, in the lovely Orkney sunshine (what else would you expect??)