21st Birthday!

I got offered a lot of drinks and food tonight and It was wonderful! But I still managed to stay sober for my 21st Birthday (A goal of mine...I like remembering things, being in control of myself and being a Christ follower I don't desire to end up drunk...however, while Paul said "do not be drunk with wine" it should be noted that Jesus did bring the best wine to the wedding for his first miracle. In my personal journey I've found that although a person is probably better off never drinking any it can be enjoyed wisely.). I told Jim (The international student Coordinator) at pub night tonight that it was my 21st Birthday. He later proceeded to embarrass me in front of everyone by singing happy birthday and making me blow out a candle (I kinda appreciate it). Several of the American friends I've made here threw a party in their flat as well(Shout out to Krit for helping celebrate on her last day in Glasgow!) . I actually had a good time...we all ended up singing songs into spoons at the top of our lungs and after hearing all of the drunk Scottish kids trying to sing karaoke at the union on Tuesday nights I think we were really good....although the singing seemed like a disappointment to the group of Australian girls who also joined.
The best part of my birthday was definitely yesterday. Scott and I went skiing above Fort William in the Nevis Range. It was simply gorgeous. The bus ride there was amazingly pretty even breath taking. I think it is finally dawning on me that I am really in Scotland. As decent a city as Glasgow is I'm definitively learning that I am not a city kid by any stretch of the imagination. Give me a mountain, wide open pasture land and a creek you can keep your clubs and noisy night life.
Scott and I got to Fort William(10:00 a.m.) and were trying to figure out which bus to catch to get to the ski resort. we asked a very helpful gentleman who said..."I think you want bus 41"...he then squinted his eyes at a passing bus and said ..."there it is". Scott and I watched it drive by in a speedy fashion. As we watched our bus fade into the distance we looked at each other and had to laugh.
There are several things to do in Fort William. Unfortunately the town is spread out like a line and non of them were within walking distance for us. So Scott settled for a cup of coffee and I got a "Flying Scotsman" breakfast at a strange cafe' that was attached to the grocery store which was more or less attached to the bus station. The next bus finally left at 11:55 so Scott and I got half day tickets and rentals and skied for cheaper than we thought. On our way up the gondola to get to the ski lifts we saw many sheep grazing/digging in the snow for food (whatever frozen plants the sheep prefer to eat...pictured...but hard to see).
The skiing was very strange. They don't make any snow themselves they just push around what they have to make some skinny ski runs. The weirdest part, by far, for me were the lifts...they had one chair lift. All the other lifts we used worked much like a stick pony. You'd grab this plunger looking stick that was attached by a retractile string to the main cable. Throw it between your legs, squeeze then pray as it caught tension and pulled you up the mountain.
Oh and um...Scott and I got to the top of he mountain and there was this sign that clearly said that all but two runs were closed in that direction....we tried to follow a skier and ended up dropping into some very rocky back country. What we found was Several feet of fluffy wet snow(not the best powder to ski in)...lots of huge rocks and an incredibly steep incline all shrouded in a cloud on top of the mountain. (note here that every time I went to take a picture of Scott he would wipe out...it was kinda funny...one wipe out is pictured below) It probably took Scott and myself thirty plus minutes to maneuver our way back down the mountain to safe land. It was definitely beyond our skill level.
But we survived (story of my life). Oh another trick we've found is to buy a huge bag of trail mix and use it for lunch/snacks so as to cheapen the cost of the day.