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March 5, 2008

‘heya’

Scotland 1 Reply

Heya as the Scottish say. Not, ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi,’ but ‘Heya.’

I’m writing today from my desk at my latest assignment with the temp agency I’m working for. Yes folks, I have a desk. I’m kind of a big deal. I’m not working in a cafe, I’m not working behind a bar, and I’m not working a function as a caterer. I’m working on a switchboard at Edinburgh’s Aegon office – one of the world’s largest life insurance and pension companies.

Let me tell you, it’s a blast (all sarcasm intended)!

It may prove to be difficult to get anything significant included in this blog as every so often my computer beeps at me and I have to answer the phone. It goes a little something like this …

‘Good afternoon Aegon Scottish Equitable.’ -me

‘Yes, hello, my name is David Brandshed with Trifelt Investments. I’m calling about a pension my client has with you, reference number …’ -david (fictional name)

‘Sorry to interrupt sir, is that a personal pension?’

‘Yes, it is.’

‘All right, I can go ahead and transfer you on to our Customer Services desk, and they should be able to help you with option one on the menu. Cheers.’

And then they get the computer recording. Often, when I answer the phone, the customers exclaim, ‘Wow, a person!’ I chuckle to myself and think just wait, the computer automated voice awaits.

It’s definitely been an interesting experience. While the work with the temp agency hasn’t always been the most glamorous, it has allowed me to see situations from different perspectives. I was thinking about this as I walked to get a cup of coffee this morning. Just two mornings ago, I was working in the cafe of a different office complex here in Edinburgh – making coffees and sandwiches. I’ve worked numerous functions and seen the planning (or lack thereof) which goes on behind the scenes. Hell, I’ve even served as a kitchen porter washing dishes. All of this in the name of earning enough money to live. All of this while holding a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. All of this with the main goal of experiencing life outside of Iowa, away from friends and family, and outside of my comfort zone.

I read a quote yesterday evening that I loved, and wanted to share with you all – ‘The greatest tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.’ – W.M. Lewis

February 25, 2008

iowa … potatoes?

Scotland 6 Replies

“So, where are you from? Canada?” the man with the North American accent asked me.

“No, I’m from the states actually. From Iowa,” I told him.

“Ohhh, Iowa. Potatoes, right,” he declared.

“No, you’re thinking Idaho. Only corn, soybeans, pigs, and cows in Iowa” I corrected him.

“No, I’m pretty sure Iowa has potatoes,” he again declared rather affirmatively.

“Nope,” I said again. “No potatoes in Iowa.”

One of the other men at the table apparently didn’t believe me either. “Yah, you always see ‘Made in Iowa’ on bags of potatoes in Canada.”

Maybe I didn’t live in Iowa for 22 years of my life?!

This conversation – or should I say subtle argument – took place at work tonight. I’m one of Edinburgh’s newest bartenders. I started one week ago today at a pub called Deacon Brodie’s Tavern.

deacon brodies tavern

Deacon Brodies is situated directly on the Royal Mile – only five or ten minutes away from Edinburgh’s emblematic Edinburgh Castle which towers over most of the city. While we do have our Scottish regulars, many of Deacon Brodies’ patrons are tourists (Eg. The stubborn Canadians). I’m again lucky to have the opportunity to tend bar. While I have plenty of bar experience, the vast majority of this is on the other side of the bar. The tavern is a typical Scottish pub with a selection of Scottish beers, cask ales, and an assortment of malt whiskeys. Considering this, most of my time is spent pouring pints, mixing cocktails, and acting as though I know the ins and outs of malt whiskeys (our Whiskey Bible describes the malts as having characteristics such as ‘fruity,’ ”floral,’ ‘smoky,’ ‘soapy,’ etc. I mean, come on!).

That’s the latest news in the life of me. If I’m not working at Deacon’s, I’m working various assignments for the temp agency. If I’m not doing this, I’m being quite lame as I’m still … shall we say, broke. My goal as of now is to save money as I have a trip planned for the end of March.

On the 24th of March, I’ll be flying from Newcastle, England, to … Cork, Ireland. Yes, I’m heading back to the Emerald Isle. My good friend Lauren Lewis has always wanted to visit Ireland and decided now, with my close proximity to the island, would be the ideal time. Less than a month away … it will be here before I know it. I’m excited to go back and am trying to plan the perfect trip.

Thanks to everyone for the supportive words I received after my last post – I appreciate your encouragement and thoughts.

best, mk

February 12, 2008

lifestyle i’ve chosen

Scotland, Travel Advice 5 Replies

I sit down to write not with any exciting news of travels, pictures of places seen, or people met. I’d be foolish if I expected my journey of traveling and working abroad to be nothing but partying, pleasure, and completely enjoying myself. There are – without a doubt – going to be setbacks to conquer and hills to climb. I’d also be naive to not admit that thus far I’ve had a pretty good hand dealt to me.

Ireland treated me amazingly. Immediately upon my arrival to the country, I fell in love with the place, the people, and this was surely made possible by my (relatively) carefree three weeks of traveling. When the three weeks or so came to an end, I made the decision to work for face2face. While the work was difficult and I often questioned my employment with the company, it provided many advantages. Free accommodation – I was able to earn Euros while paying nothing for a place to sleep each night. Though I worked long and difficult hours, the pay was good. I believe hindsight has shown me that the greatest benefit from working for face2face wasn’t the free accommodation, it wasn’t the wages, it maybe wasn’t even the feeling of knowing that I was making a difference in the lives of others, but that it provided a perfect venue to make irreplaceable friendships. These friendships absolutely added to my experience in Ireland – an experience that I consider invaluable – one that I will surely remember the rest of my life.

In Galway, I had stupid luck. With zero experience serving, I quite frankly probably didn’t deserve the opportunity to work for Ard Bia. But thanks to the goodwill of the staff – namely my manager, within three days of my arrival to Galway, I was working for a brilliant restaurant. Again, I was able to meet wonderful people and immediately had a steady flow of income.

Things in Edinburgh are taking longer to fall completely into place. My attempts at finding gainful, full-time employment have so far been fruitless. I’ve spent more than a couple afternoons canvassing the town, introducing myself to potential employers, and dropping off my CV with hopes of finding the perfect job. As of yet, it hasn’t come my way. And, I have to realize, the perfect job may not immediately (or ever) fall into place. Luckily, the temp agency I’m working for has provided me with the opportunity to work – albeit, none of this work has been overly glamorous or exciting. But, it’s work nonetheless.

I guess the purpose behind this post is to show that this path I’ve chosen isn’t as easy as it’s maybe seen. I’m hundreds of miles away from close friends, familiarity, and most importantly family. I’m watching my two year old nephew grow up through occasional webcam hellos. Anyone who knew me well in university would know that telephone conversations with my parents were a two or three time a day occurrence. Lately, a weekly hello and email is the extent of my relationship with my folks and my sister. All this being said, I consider myself unbelievably lucky to know that I have the support of such a loving family – regardless of how many miles or time zones separate us. Lucky, as well, to be on this journey – challenges or not.

So with the lifestyle I’ve chosen comes ups and downs. It’s all part of the experience. I’ll remember the ups and the downs will surely make me a stronger person.

stay well, everyone. thanks for reading. – mdk

February 8, 2008

Sevilla and Madrid: Pictures

Europe, Travel Photos 5 Replies

Below, you’ll find some pictures from my time in Spain – a wonderful two weeks of relaxation, sun, brilliant food, and beautiful cities. When needed, I’ve included some commentary and/or explanation of the shots. So, enjoy …

(editors note: you may notice my clothing changes infrequently throughout these photos – for three weeks, i lived out of a day pack sized backpack -luckily, many of the hostels we found had laundry facilities!)

brian, myself, and cat – drinking tinto de verano

Brian standing outside the Sevilla Cathedral. Sevilla’s Cathedral is the third largest in the world and the construction of it began sometime around 1400. It was fascinating. This one blew me away. The organ has 6700 pipes.


views from the top


Looking up at the cathedral through the orange trees – the trees seemingly lined every street of the city. Unfortunately, a forbidden fruit for the oranges were apparently quite sour.

The cathedral at night.


The Plaza de Espana. A half circle of buildings surrounded by a moat. We didn’t go in, but from what I understand, the buildings are used mainly for government functions. What I do know, is the Plaza was lined with very comfortable looking benches that would be ideal for an afternoon siesta.

Okay, maybe we kind of went inside … a view looking out.

The inside of a Sevilla bar. Hanging from the ceiling, you see the legs of pigs – jamon. Nearly every bar in Sevilla had jamon hanging from the ceiling – hooves and all. Jamon is served very thinly sliced either by itself or on bread. Good, but extremely expensive – a small tapa (four slices

ish) would be €2 or €3. In bulk, jamon sells for €60 – €70 per kilogram. After being slaughtered, the legs are let to dry for about two weeks – then, comes anywhere from nine months to two years of curing. In fairness, I should let you know I didn’t learn this all from my conversations with the Spainish barmen – remember, I don’t speak Spainish. Wikipedia.org provides more than you’d ever want to know about jamon – check out the article here.


Guadalquivir river running through Sevilla



The Torre del Oro (Gold Tower) in Sevilla. Situated on the banks of the river, it provided protection from enemy ships trying to head upstream … constructed sometime in the 12th century.

Brian and I on our Sevici bikes – we were flying, I’m not sure how Cat was able to get a shot of us (sarcasm, notice the kickstands).

brian, myself, cat, and cat’s friend nancy drinking mediocre beers

Our last evening with Cat – we were on our way to catch the 1am bus to Madrid.

We arrived in Madrid shortly after 7am. We were tired, frustrated, and delirious. After mindlessly studying a map of the city for some time, we decided to leave the bus station (note: we weren’t entirely sure what bus station we were at). We really had no clue where we were going. After ten minutes of walking through the cold, dark, area surrounding the bus station, we promptly turned around. Plan B was getting on the Madrid Metro. After boarding a couple wrong trains, we eventually made our way to our destination, Sol.


Straight from Sevilla to the very center of Spain. This stone block is found in the city center Puerta del Sol in Madrid – it marks the radial center of all the Spainish roads – Kilometer Zero.

brian, lost at Kilometer Zero one Madrid morning

Billboard on the top of one of the buildings surrounding the Puerta del Sol – something like the first billboard ever constructed in Madrid …


Yes! The Iowa Restaurant. In Madrid?!

The Royal Palace of Madrid – the largest palace in Europe with over 2800 rooms. It was nice, but probably not worth my five Euros – equally impressive from the outside where the view was free.

The Madrid Cathedral. Neoclassical design – construction didn’t begin until the end of the nineteenth century, stopped completely during the Spanish Civil War, and wasn’t completed until 1993.

Plaza Mayor in Madrid

Below I have some pictures of the rarer types of tapas I ate while in Madrid. I think I enjoyed Madrid more than Sevilla – the deciding factor was the tapas. In Madrid, you’d go to a bar, order a beer, and get a plate of tapas – free of charge. Brilliant.

braided lamb intestines

kidneys (from some animal)

Oreja a la Plancha – delicious. Okay, well interesting. If you were a ‘food texture’ person, you probably wouldn’t be able to eat them – they chew exactly as you’d expect oreja a la plancha to chew. Oh, oreja a la plancha are diced pigs ears.


Brian, myself, and our two friends from La Sobebria (Lincoln and Julio). In the week that we spent in Madrid, La Soberia was our nightly watering hole. We became the locals … from Iowa. Each night, we’d sit in from of Lincoln who was the tapas chef. We’d spend the night drinking Cruzcampo, eating plates of tapas, and having the craic. I told you most bars would serve you a small plate of tapas with a beer – by the weeks end, Lincoln was shoving plates of food to us throughout the entire evening.

February 1, 2008

settled in edinburgh

Scotland, Travel Advice Comments Off on settled in edinburgh

So, I just got back to my flat from work and my face is numb from the cold. My beard typically protects my face – at least somewhat – from the bitter and biting wind that has become ubiquitous here in Scotland’s capital city.

Wait. Flat? Work? Yes, much has transpired since I last posted from Edinburgh’s NewCityHostel. I had spent much of my time in the past couple weeks scanning Gumtree for job and flat postings. I sent out my CV to many restaurants and hotels outside of Edinburgh – the upside to these jobs is that the employer would provide live-in accommodation. Unfortuantely, many of these employers were also looking for a long – term commitment. This is something I wasn’t comfortable with. I want to be able to travel. Also, my parents will be visiting again sometime soon. My thought is I will have more flexibility with a job here in Edinburgh.

Now, about finding accommodation. Not surprisingly, most landlords or current tenants want a long term or short term (at least six month) commitment on a flat. Again, I just wasn’t ready to make that sort of a commitment. I like Edinburgh – a beautiful city, full of travelers, with much to offer – arts, social scene, history, proximity to airport, etc – but, three months from now, I might want to head someplace else within the UK.

So, what did I find? In my mind, the best possible option for where I’m at right now.

My job: I’m currently working for two different hospitality staffing agencies. The work should be interesting to say the least – if nothing else, I’ll experience something different each time I work. At least for now, it’s perfect. I worked tonight, I work tomorrow night, I work Sunday night, and I have shifts scheduled all next week. The priceless advantage is the fact that I’m paid weekly. So, already next Thursday, I’ll be paid by two employers. Much needed pay after my extended holiday + deposit on flat + first months rent.

So, the flat: Again, I must say, it’s ideal for the situation I’m in. Brian and I are living in a quaint two room, top floor flat. It is quite cozy, to say the least – but, it really is nice. The location is ideal – we’re three minutes away from one of the main streets here in Edinburgh. The price is right. Most importantly, we’re not tied down to staying here. The owner is trying to sell the flat – so we just have to be here one or two times a week to show the place. Once it sells, it will be at least two months before the sale is finalized and we have to move out. If we want to leave, we just need to give the owner three weeks. It’s great to finally have a place to call ‘home.’ It has literally been five months since I’ve been able to properly unpack my pack. Plus, we have a fireplace. I mean, you can’t beat it.

My face is cold, because as I walked into work tonight at the Edinburgh Sheraton, the first thing I heard was, “You, the beard has to go.” I mentioned that it has been five months since I’ve properly unpacked my pack, I would also venture to guess it’s been five months since I’ve had a properly, clean-shaven, face.

So, for the moment, I’m settled in Edinburgh. cheers.

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Backpacking Matt

Kia Ora - I'm Matt. Adventurer, Instagrammer and New Zealand travel planning expert living in Queenstown, NZ. Founder of Planit NZ - New Zealand's largest travel planning & booking website.

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