Baby It's Cold Outside

In only two days time, my family will be in EDINBURGH!!!! In T -46 hours, I will be able to give my mom, dad, and sister big hugs! The first in over three months! I cannot wait for them to get here! EEEEEEE!!!!!!

My new job. Oh my new job. I’m not sure how much I am supposed to reveal about the history of St. Raphael’s (especially over the internet for all to see), but I’ll summarize it as briefly and politically as I can. Things had not been the best at St. R’s, and the Care Commission (the DHEC of care homes) gave them six weeks to shape up or ship out. To do so, a new manager (Mary) and a new team leader nurse (Ronnie) were hired. Over half a dozen staff have been “sacked” and another 10 or so have been hired. With four weeks under my belt, I have a bit of seniority here…odd as that may sound. The Care Commission came for the first review on Monday and Wednesday of this week and left us with tasks to be completed for our next review in six weeks.

If I were a permanent member of staff instead of a long-term temp, I would be contracted at 35 hours per week and be paid salary with no overtime. I work a full 35 hours half-way through Thursday. What I’ve been thrown into is three month’s worth of tasks that simply have not been attended to. Slowly but surely, I am digging my way out of the hole and things are beginning to run more smoothly. Oh, did I mention that three offices were swapped around the week before I came? My big task for next week will be to unpack all the boxes of files, try to make sense of them, and try to organize them. Luckily, Kate Howard—the Queen of Organization herself—works here, so I may steal her for a few afternoons.

Messy working conditions and hectic schedule aside, I do enjoy it here. I am getting to know many of the residents and some of their families, and I absolutely love Mary and Ronnie. I won’t hide that the idea of leaving for a less time-consuming and less stressful position has crossed my mind many times, but here I am still working at St. R’s. After I’ve finished digging myself out of the admin assistant grave, we will need to have a conversation about allowing me time to travel.

So when I’m not working 9-10 hour days, I spend a great deal of time with a good niche of friends we’ve made. We are regulars at Belushi’s on Monday nights for trivia (we’ve won 3 out of 4 nights), but our group has gotten too large to be one team. Most of the gang are Canadians, so they bustle about the city in hoodies while the southern American girls wear wool coats, scarves, gloves, and hats. And long johns on occasion.

Princes Street Garden is transformed into Winter Wonderland for the month of December. The bottom of the gardens (remember it was a moat…) is an ice skating rink, and the benches along the walking path provide a perfect place to perch and watch people fall. The west end is a “traditional German market” (read: sinfully good food). Hot dogs. Crepes. Sausages. Steak sandwiches. Doughnuts. Chips. Waffles with all kinds of toppings. Mulled wine. “Fire punch.” Candied almonds and cashews. Cotton candy. Absolutely brilliant. The flat mates and I ate our way through the market last week. NO regrets. We explored the rides on the east end of the gardens last night with our Canadian buddies Ross and Mark. Adorning the Scott Monument on either side are swings, slides, a merry-go-round, and… the EDINBURGH WHEEL. The ferris wheel offers the same view you would get by climbing to the top of the monument for a mere £.50 more and without the physical exertion. I am slightly terrified of heights, and Ross had a bit too much fun spinning our car, but again… NO regrets! Anna and I then rode the merry-go-round. We were the ONLY people on ride. Sweet. Mark, Ross, Kate, and Anna opted to ride the swings that sling you in the air (and look as if you WILL hit the monument); I decided to keep my dinner in my stomach, so I took pictures.

Our flat will be packity-pack-packed this week. My darling baby sister Anna will be staying with my while the fam is in town. In addition, Anna Wilson’s friend from camp will be with us until Monday or Tuesday; incidentally, her name is Claire, leaving us with two Anna’s and two Claire’s in one flat. Ross is sleep on one (or possibly both?) of our couches over the holidays to keep from paying his hostel’s increased holiday rates. (We are sympathetic towards weary and broke travellers.) Now add the aforementioned congestion to an additional 7 family members in town—my mom and dad, Kate’s mom, granny, and brother, and Anna’s two brothers. I love it. Can’t wait!!!!!

It already looks like Christmas, but now it’s beginning to feel like it too…