Inter Yer Ma 2008!

This blog entry is specially for my 5 a side football team: Inter Yer Ma!! I guess it is time for a non serious entry:)

What a team:) The team spirit is amazing, like no other team... I guess we make up for the "poor" performances... well... the truth is we always leave the pitch head high:) with HUGE moral victories:)

All I can say is that I am really honoured to play with such a team:) It is going to be hard to find a team like this... however if I do... Inter Yer Ma will have to go international:)

Here is a small commentary of one our games:

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Inter starts the game with their moral way higher than the other team.... We score after 10seconds.... (just because we can....) Scott makes a sprint towards the goals... passes it back to Gareth, Gareth simulates a shot, back heals it to Adam who is running in circles "God knows why....." maybe got laid on the way to the game.... then... all of a sudden he understands Gareth's pass.... makes a run and head down, blast the ball into the bottom right hand corner..but Alas... it hits the post... and Bruce who is always half in half out of the game (just like his washing machine) finishes with a nice touch to the left corner... The crowd goes BANANAS...... Shall I continue?
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I am not going to name the players in the picture to protected the innocent:P

Boogie Bus:)

I could not leave Scotland without going on a Boogie Bus!!!! For those of you who have never tried it out... all I can say is... JUST DO IT!!!!

There were 23 of us, all on a bus, music, dancing on the bus, drinking, stopping at pubs/nightclubs and back on the bus... more dancing, more fun....

I guess it is hard to explain what the boogie bus is... all I know that it WAS FANTASTIC. It was a great night:)

We stopped at about 6 or 7 pubs.... in the middle of the country side... nice pubs, where we just walked in and "took" over the place. The folk were very friendly... all I can say...is I am glad I did it.

It kinda of reminded me of those MTV videos.... all the women dancing on a bus!? where everyone is having lots of fun... and most people think that is never going to happen... well guess again...

Anything is possible if you put your mind to it!!!

Long live the boogie bus:)

Gareth

Dalian

I had a wonderful trip to Dalian:) The city is really very big, although not many people have heard of it. It is an industrial city to the East of Beijing. This is a nice helicopter view of the city... Of course when I was there it was really cold - black ice on the street....

I went on work, but of course there was enough time for a nice cup of coffee at ... Starbucks:)

The job went really well, actually it was such a success that it made the news:

http://www.hydro-international.com/news/id2824-Oceanscans_XTYPE_Success_Story_Continues.html

Check the site... the photo actually was taken with my sony cybershot:)

It is good to know that you go and do a good job in another country:) Left my mark in China:)

Gareth

Glasgow:)

Hi guys, after my wee trip to China (Aberdeen -> Amsterdam -> Beijing -> Dalian) and back, I decided to go with a few mates to see Scotland play Argentina in Glasgow....

The game was nothing out of this world, however the experience of going to Glasgow with my mates was AMAZING:)

I did not have a kilt with me.... but I still had the Scottish flag around my neck all night:)

The fire works were really cool...

The next day after a very cool night out... possibly my last night in Glasgow... was great. We had a huge breackfast and walked around a little. I spoke to a few people and found it hard to understand the accent... but still a great experience. Living in Scotland for 2 years and not visiting Glasgow would be a crime...

Wickerman!!!

Once again I thought it would be a cool thing to see the burning of the Wickerman... here in Scotland.

There was lots of entertainment ....

I thought that these photos came out really well...

The wonders of Sony Cyber-shot in night mode:)

Eindhoven:)

Decided to come and visit Eindhoven with Martine one weekend.... What a great place:)

It is only a 90minute train ride from Amsterdam:)

I mean Amsterdam is great but one could think... is this what Holland is all about?

I thought this was a cool picture because I feel that Eindhoven is a typical Dutch city... ya they do cycle a lot:)

Eindhoven is about the same size as Aberdeen but it is really different... I thought it was cool as even though it was raining everyone was out doing the shopping in the city centre:)

Ya I could get used to this life style:P

This was taken at the Van Abbemuseum :) They have great coffee there:)

Congrats: Ines and Marco:)

This entry is dedicated to my dear friends: Ines and Marco... they got married and I am so happy for them:)

The wedding was GREAT:)


They have set the benchmark way to high for the rest of us mortals:)

This is a neat picture of the gang:P

It was good to be back in Portugal listening to all of my friends stories...catching up with the gangs news:)
Gang for ever:)

I wish you 2 all the best:)

Back to Portugal:)

After the wonderful trip around Scotland I found myself flying through Amsterdam to go to Ines' wedding in Portugal:)

Before the wedding I managed to go and have a look at my old University...

IST:)

To my surprise there was a huge party there... o arraial do caloiro...

Freshman party:) I did not make it there however it was really great to see my old friends, professors and walk around the place which had such a big influence in me.

Thanks IST!!!

I could not go to Portugal and catch up with some old mate:)
Mario Vicente - Amigo para sempre:)
Bruno, Mike, and Pedro.... miss you guys:)

Gairloch Lighthouse

We finally made it to our dream lighthouse: Gairloch lighthouse:

http://www.scotland-info.co.uk/rr-house.htm

You cannot go wrong when you go there... this lighthouse is still working but you can sleep there.... The food is amazing... the scenery is amazing.... if you are looking for something special or a special place to spend a weekend.... I strongly suggest this place. The journey itself there is worth while.

I thought it would be an ideal place to teach Martine how to Power Kite... .but alas... the winds were strong and some of us had difficulty staying on their feet:)

It was a great fun:) I think this picture says it all:)

(ya it was really cold)

Shieldaig

After Skye we headed north towards Shieldaig a wonderful little village. Spent the night there and continued our trip towards Gairloch.

But before reached Gairloch we went on this walk through the hills and found this little water fall.

Just had to stop and take a couple of photos:)

From Fort William

After discovering Lochness we drove down to Fort William and stayed there for a couple of nights:)
The "Harry Potter" train runs there however, since it was a Sunday and we wanted to make the most of the trip we decided to drive along the railroad.

So Fort William to Morar... what a beautiful drive, roads twists and turns just like in a movie:)
Went for a small hike around Morar and visited the white beach and walked along side the Loch Morar, where apparently Nessies cousin lives... ya you guessed it we did not find him either:(

Went back to Fort William for a Chipper Supper... nothing special but still was good fun.

The following day we drove from Fort William to Mallaig and caught the ferry to the Isle of Skye:)

Just as we arrived we decided to check out the:

Clan MacDonald heritage:) IT WAS FANTASTIC:) Had a great walk around.

We found a wonderful B&B on our way to Elgol... this tiny village on Skye. There is this wee lighthouse there which is amazing. The road there was another story... tiny road covered with sheep and cows:)

We saw the sun set there... There are lots of boat trips that you can take from there to see a few more lochs and the local fauna, although we did not have enough time to go on a boat trip as we were going to start heading north:)

Urquhart Castle

After the tractors... we headed towards the Lochness to look for Nessie. On the loch there is this FANTASTIC castle called Urquhart Castle.

I have been lots of castles in my life but this one has something special...

No wonder Nessie would want to live here:) It is beautiful.
We were lucky as the weather was Perfect:)