An Ethiopian Ball and a Blair Witch

I am incredible sorry that, I would just like to apologize for my lack of blogging this year, so let me recap on the important things. Well three weeks ago I went to Holland for a hockey tour with the 8th grade hockey and rugby tours. Everything went very well. The standard of hockey is obviously very good there, since it is their national sport and so their facilities were amazing. Six Astros per club, with six or seven teams in each age group. Needless to say our girls won their first match but got their butt kicks in the second match. We had a lovely presentation at the end of the tour on the ferry back to say well done to all the kids. The kids then get up and say thank you to us and present us gifts (bottle of vodka to the ladies and case of beer to the men, they are no dummies) Well the lovely girl that spoke for us decided to add at the end…and congratulations to Miss Cuneo and Mr Monument, we saw you holding hands earlier. Not that most of them didn’t already know, but now officially all the year 9 kids know we are dating.
So it really wasn’t that big of a deal when the huge coached dropped the two of us off at the train station in Newcastle so we could catch our flight to Sweden. It is exactly how I pictured my send off actually. 40, 13 year olds waving us goodbye and wishing us a goodtime. So Luke and I were on our what seemed like an endless journey to Sweden. Train to Edinburgh, bus to airport, flight to Sweden, bus to city center, taxi to hotel. Well we finally arrived. Now before we left everyone warned us that Sweden is really cold and really expensive. We both would just shake our heads and say yeah we heard, thanks. Well I really need to become a better listener, because they were not lying. Sweden is really cold and really expensive. Now I did prepare myself a bit. Packing lots of sweaters, coats, tights, scarves. Everything would have been absolutely perfect if I did not leave my one pair of boots under the bed on the ferry. It really seemed to put a damper on not only my very well planned outfits, but I had a bit of cold feet and I am not using the expression. I am being dead serious, my feet were pretty damn cold. It also did not help that everyone from granny down to 1 year old were wearing boots and all the stores had them displayed in the window.
So despite the cold and 5 pound beers everything was good. It is a really pretty city and we took advantage of it. Walking around and taking a boat ride to see the canals, watching the changing of the guards. Our first night we set out to find the bar made entirely of ice only to find out they were spending the week changing the ice and our dreams of going indoors to get even colder were ruined. Our second night we decided to go to an Ethiopian restaurant. When I say we, I really mean me. I read about it online before I left and it said it was veggie, vegan, and carnivore friendly and it was literally a block away from our hotel, so I took it as a sign. Well we walked into this little tiny restaurant and saw the nice decorations, lively music, and I thought, this is going to be really good! Well if you have never been to an Ethiopian restaurant I have one tip for you…. don’t go. We were only into our starters when we both burnt our mouths and started to second guess my decision. What type of food is ‘Ethiopian?’ I asked Luke.
‘Umm, I didn’t think they ate.’ (When we told his Mom the story later, she said the same thing.)
So our main meal came out. I had gotten the vegan special and Luke got the carnivore. Well it came out in this big basket and it was small portions of their main meals spread out on ‘Ethiopian bread’ A spongy stretchy type of pita would we say??? So we were both eating, with our hands, we were not allowed forks and looking at each other. At first I thought it was pretty good and then I realized they all really tasted kind of the same. I was waiting for Luke to say something about his when he picked up this round thing in his hand that can really only be described as a ball. Not like a football or a basketball but more like, you know. So in my mind I think, holy crap maybe its like a cows or something. So I am trying to get him to eat it of course. He looks at it, goes to take a bite, stops, does it again, stops, and then finally digs in. I was staring, waiting in anticipation, but it was only an egg. As the meal went on we both started to feel a bit ill, Luke said his main sauce could only be described as the burn from the pan. I don’t think he ever fully recovered either from the whole thinking it was a ball incident, because even still when I mention it he loses his appetite.
So we paid, left and I apologized for my bad decision making and was temporarily banned from picking any restaurant or place to eat. We then went to a pub down the road where the night only got more interesting. There we were accosted by a man with only one working eye who decided after meeting Luke at the bar follow him over to our table to tell us about his life and a very interesting one at that. He had a ganster father. He made is first million selling shirts (Luke thinks) or shorts (I swore that’s what he said) that tie. He also told us about his girlfriend who is a kidney surgeon and hates him drinking. Well after an hour of him we had our fill and decided we should probably call it a night and not see what else could happen to us that night.
The rest of the trip was pretty low key. Luke choose the Grand Hotel for lunch the next day which was an excellent choice and the best meal we had all trip. That night we went to an Irish pub where there was live music, so we left Sweden with many happy thoughts. We flew back to Scotland and decided to go to a comedy club that night where most of their jokes were about Catholics and Americans. They even at one time spoke about the worst combination, a Catholic, American. I decided not to speak after that point, you know just in case I was asked to stand on stage, or worse stoned.
Back to School on Monday and the past two weeks have been flown by. Amy and I are still training for a marathon and another teach Steve has decided to join us. We have gotten very prepared for the cold, dark weather and have stocked up on head torches, and florescent vests so we can run at night. Last Tuesday was our first really dark run, even though it was only 5. We decided to do a nice woods run because we thought hey we have torches it will be fine. Wellll it was dark. As soon as we entered the woods all I could think about was the blair witch project. Now I was running in the front guiding the way, with no music listening to the dark night and I did my best to keep positive thoughts. Well we got to a fork and I waiting for the other two to catch up, when Steve goes ‘This is just like the Blair Witch Project.’ Now you can only guess what Amy said when she got there. Well needless to say I freaked out a bit. See at the fork we had two options, deeper into the woods where we were supposed to be going or out to freedom and safety. You can only guess where I choose to go. Steve and Amy seemed to think my minor freak out was quite funny and started to laugh, which made them not be able to run, which made me say, your fault if you die, and off I went. Sadly they made it out alive and were able to tell everyone about it the next day. So on Wednesday, all I heard was, ‘How was your run last night.’ Well I felt a bit better about my freak out when I heard there had been a prison break that night not to far away and the helicopters had been swarming the area all night. Anyway we are sticking to main roads from now on.
Anyway need to dress up as an Aussie in a few weeks for a party..and ideas??

Hope you are well!! Miss ya.