Well done Christie!

Have I mentioned my niece Christie before? I'm not sure if I have! Well, I suppose I might have mentioned her and her brother Daniel once or twice.

Anyway I do recall writing about how she more or less had to take responsibility for her own education and how I thought it would pay off.

Here's an extract from another blog piece.

"the news from my amazing niece Christie is that she got her Higher results and she got A for French, A for Spanish, B for English and B for psychology. It's all the more amazing if I tell you that just over a year ago, she was only planning to sit 2 Highers because she didn't know you needed more than that to get into Uni. She had a vague plan of what she wanted to do (languages degree) but her school had no idea at all and were quite happily letting her just do 2 Highers.

"Anyway fast forward, she left school, went to the James Watt college in Greenock, TAUGHT HERSELF the basics of Spanish (because her school refused to let her do Standard Grade), focussed herself completely on the task in hand, and now it's paid off. She has impressed me so much with her determination and I am so happy for her. Her aim is to live and work in Spain or France for the next year in order to become fluent in one of those languages and then study Mandarin at Edinburgh University the following year. It's a tough course to get into but I have a funny feeling she'll get there. "

So .... she did! She's been in Spain since April last year and last night when I spoke to her she was reading Twilight in Spanish. And also last night ... she received an UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE to study Chinese and Linguistics at Edinburgh University. That wee smiley face you can do just doesn't cover it right now.

I asked if she was excited and in her usual manner she informed me that it was "one of the things" she was feeling right then! She did admit to feeling a wee bit proud of herself because she doesn't actually know anybody else who's been to or is planning to go to uni apart from me and my sister. That is a subject for another day. So, right now I'm in a good mood and will banish all negative thoughts from my mind.

Me and her mum are considering taking out a billboard advert right outside her school announcing it to the world and her former teachers. Then again, her brother Daniel still has to attend that school so might run it by him first. I think Christie thought I was joking about the billboard. Silly girl doesn't know me at all really!

PS I must be excited if I'm prepared to show that photo of me! And PPS the denim thing is a handbag not my clothing.

Adios Christie

Anyone who has read this and my other blogs regularly over the last 4 years will feel that they know my niece Christie (pictured) fairly well. She has long become used to "strangers" asking her how she got on with this or that and now reads my blog herself so that she's not surprised in future.

Anyway, Christie is now 17. In fact she'll be 18 on Sunday. And her plan was to apply for a place at Edinburgh Uni to study Mandarin but to defer until 2011. So she's done that and she'll know in July if she's been successful. The reason for deferring was to give her time in France or Spain to consolidate her understanding of European languages. Very sensible idea but with the global recession it didn't quite work out that way.

However, the great news is that last week a job she'd applied for finally came through and tomorrow morning, she sets off on her own to start a new life in Murcia in the South East of Spain.

It's great news and very exciting for her. But of course, we'll all miss her terribly. In fact she's not even away yet and I'm feeling like there's something missing so who knows how her mum, dad and brother will be feeling. It's all happened so suddenly but it's definitely a good move for her. And thanks to Google Earth I can sit of an evening outside her apartment making sure she gets home safely - stalker aunt!!

So this afternoon is the big farewell and I'm sure everyone will be telling her how proud we are of her for having the courage to go out into the world by herself at such a young age. To feel the fear and do it anyway is the sign of a true warrior. The best bit for me however was shortly after she'd told me she had the job. She sent me a text saying "I can still vote in the General Election can't I? I have to make sure I get my vote."! That's my girl!

The Cheek

My 17 year old niece is working as an (unpaid) intern 2 days a week for me and today we were working from the constituency office. We had a 2 hour meeting followed by a half hour meeting followed by a 1 hour meeting followed by another 400 million emails followed by a destitute asylum seeker needing urgent help followed by a 2 hour meeting with 5 people which has just finished.

She's dying to go home and I'm just finishing off letters but I can see she's starving so I'm trying to go quickly. She tells me she NEVER wants to be an MSP and I understand (from today's experience) why she's saying that. I tell her I sympathise with her plight and I'm really not sure why she EVER wants to come and stay with me due to the continual neglecting of her most basic needs. She says nothing. I tell her "when you look back you'll be wondering what on earth you were doing coming here" to which she replies "I don't have to look back. I can just look"!

So to punish her I tell her I must update my blog before I can leave. That'll teach her!