Sofía

Under the skin

November 20th, 2012. Tuesday. Edinburgh, Scotland.

Sofía's pov:
Mama has been working a lot this month for her new movie, where she doesn't really have more co-stars, so she does all the scenes.

She plays something like an alien, I think. All I know is that her character somehow eats men. Mama didn't told me more, I don't think she fully understands the movie either. But it looks cool and Mama wears a black short hair wig that makes her look very different but still very pretty.

We are in Scotland, in the UK. People here speak english but their accents are very different from ours, so I can hardly understand them. I think it may be easier to understand french, and I've only taken classes for like almost two months. The only thing I know how to say is yes and no.

Lara came with us as well, because she takes care of me when Mama is working or she is too tired so we let her rest, she deserves it.
She was with me the entire time I was on set the two months before we came to Europe. And I had to be at three different sets, the good thing is that all of them were somewhere in New York, so we didn't have to move to some other state.

The first days here, we spent them by been on Mama's trailer doing school and homework, and then we would sit behind the camera seing how the movie is getting made.

And it was very interesting to see because there are some scenes where the people around Mama didn't know they were been recorded. Like the scene on the mall, people didn't even know my Mama was there, not until later, when the director and producers told them and asked for their permission to use the scenes in the movie.

But Lara and I also wanted to explore the city, it is our first time been here unlike Mama, who has been here a couple of times before, so she has had time to explore and have adventures.

Mama knew about this, and like three days ago she told us to just go on and explore. The only conditions are that I, obviously, first have to do school and whatever language lesson I have that day; and second, we have to be careful and Mama has to know where we are and where we are going to. Which it all seems reasonable.

Sooo, today we are going to the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh. Even tho is very cold and it has been raining almost everyday, today the sky is not that cloudy so it's the perfect time to go there. Either way, we were also told that there a ton of indoor activities to do.

The car ride is quiet, just me laying my head on Lara's side while the both of us look out the window, seeing the beautiful city.

We know we are already at our destination, because there's this big wall covered with plants, that somehow still look green under this weather where the sun is out for like maybe two hours, if not less.

Passing through the main doors, all the trees and bushes look like they came from a movie. They have different shapes and it all looks princess castle like.

We head inside one of the glasshouses (green house), into the one that has a lily pond. It's called the Plants and People House. Inside here it's warmer than outside, because the vegetation in here is more tropical, which seems crazy to me because Scotland is not a tropical place. Surrounding the pond are banana trees, cocoa trees and more trees like that, that definently wouldn't be able to grow in this country if they weren't in a glasshouse.

After seeing all the other glasshouses, we decided to go to the library of the garden. It's a research library but it is open to any visitor that wants to see the books.

Most of the books here are very big, and very heavy. They have from books about plants in general, to books that talk about just one species of a wild flower from Madagascar.
I ask Lara like 30 times I we can stay here reading for at least a little bit, and after seeing that it's still early she agrees.

I grab a book about wildlife flowers from South America that has a bunch of photos, and Lara grabs one about illustrated native scotish plants. We sit on one of the big tables at the center of the room with tall ceilings and just start to read.
Every now and then, we tell each other about some weird or interesting fact we find on the many pages of the books.

After spending like two hours there, we decide it's time to head back; mainly because Mama sent a text asking where we were and saying that she was almost done for today.

But before going, we pass through the store, and we buy some souvenirs. Lara gets some for her family and I get some for mine and for Maya's, and I got a flower chain for Mama, it's rose with other flowers I don't know the name of.

When we are standing in the line at the cashier, I notice they have a books section, so I go look there while we wait for the line to move. While looking the titles I find a coloring book, about all the different species of plants they have in this place, but what I like about it is that it's not only the drawing and that's it, it actually explains to you the history and anatomy of the plant.
I grab it and take it back to Lara, telling her I want it. She takes it and pays for it alongside everything else we grabbed.

Mama has a free day tomorrow, and she said she would take both Lara and I somewhere exciting, but she didn't say where and she won't even give us a hint. I know she is a little bit sad that she can't take me to every single place I want to go to, but she is working and I understand that. But if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have already been to a lot of different countries and discovered a lot of different and unique places.

I love my Mama.

Hi

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday or the day before, I had a family event and then I remember I had to do a statistics project I hadn't even started.

This chapter is kinda boring, but I didn't know about what else to write. I hope the next chapter is better and you can enjoy it more.

Hope you all are doing fine :)

Stay safe <3