We joined a Scottish Dancing group during our time in Gabs….something I never thought I would hear myself say! Mostly because I never knew Scottish Dancing existed! Our friends Tanya and James host a weekly gathering to do Scottish Country Dancing – also known as “Reeling.” Initially it looked very complicated but we actually caught on rather quickly. It is a lot of fun! Unfortunately the timing of the Wed early evening get togethers doesn’t work well with my schedule so we haven’t been able to join as often as I would like.
We were so pleased to be invited to the Reeling groups’ annual Christmas party, called a “Cèilidh” (pronounced kay-leigh) which is gaelic for a Scottish social gathering where you play folk music and dance. The Ferns have a large awesome property on the outskirts of Gabs in an area called Ruretse. A great place to have a party because there is plenty of room! I was rather sad Garrett and I weren’t able to pull together a full Scottish get-up for the Cèilidh but it was so awesome to see others in their traditional outfits. The party was full of things we love – costumes, ceremonies, music, dancing, new traditional Christmas foods to try and exciting foreign traditions to learn about. The best part was Simon (Tanya’s father) dressed in full Scottish garb playing the bagpipes and reciting the traditional “ode to haggish.” Garrett even got to try out playing the bagpipes for himself – it is just as hard as it looks!!
Over the years, Garrett and I are most often the ones who host the holiday parties so it was awesome to get to sit back and enjoy! The great thing about living in Gabs has been that people are much more inclined to host parties and plan events because there isn’t a whole lot going on around town. In Denver, I felt like if we didn’t plan something, nothing would happen most of the time. We also spent most of our time out and hardly ever at friend’s houses. I do love planning events but it is great to feel like you can count on other people to reciprocate. We definitely don’t have as many friends in Gabs as we did in Denver, but we get invited to a whole heck of a lot more personal dinner parties and events – its been a really nice change! We are really going to miss the friends we have made.
The Adventures of G & T in AFRICA 