As I sit here picking dog hair off of my sweater, listening to Dragnet, and trying to concentrate on writing this blog early because I might be out late tonight. Tonight I am headed to a St. Patrick's Day Party. Apparently St. Patricks Day is very big around here. Everyone goes out for it. (As a little side note, St. Patrick was born in Scotland and was sold into slavery in Ireland. He was able to escape and made his way back to Scotland where he had a dream of the Irish asking him to come back and save them. So he did. that is why he is known at the Saint of Ireland.)
Anyway, I want to take some time to tell you about my time in British Culture. One of the main things which may or may not be strange to you depending on where you are from is that the British seem to keep to themselves. Maybe it's just the cold and dreary weather, but they don't really speak to each other on the road. There are no "Hey, how are you"s. One Scotsman today, who hails from Glasgow and has a language that you have to stretch to call English, described his people as "dullfaced." Never smiling and the like. Of course, they view Americans as overly happy wishing each other a good day and always smiling. Scots seem to warm up to you before they are really friendly so friends take some work.
Eating habits are similar to ours. They are, from what I've seen (and remember all these opinions are from just 2 weeks experience and with that I am trying to talk not make judgments.), cereal or porridge (oatmeal) in the morning and usually a soup or sandwich at lunch. They do have bakeries all around that offer fresh made sandwiches. Dinner is the big meal of the day with it being just as various as our own at home. I expected it to be a lot of meat and potatoes, but Edinburgh has become so cosmopolitan that you can walk down the street and have your choice of cuisine from around the world. I had Nepalese takeout two night ago and fish and chips last night. The big difference from home is the availability and consumption of alcohol. It is nothing for co-workers to go to the pub for lunch and have a pint, and while stores can't sell you alcohol after 10pm, you shouldn't have trouble getting there by nine because you can talk into just about any store and get any kind of alcohol you want. The Ikea (a contemporary furniture store) sales the stuff. Also, it is not seen as a bad thing over here to drink. The church here looks down upon drunkenness, but is much different than the Southern every-drop-contains-hellfire-and-brimstone take on it.
In my trip, I have realised how isolated America is from the rest of the world. We know nothing about it. This is partially our own fault, but I think it has a lot to do with the distance that we are from anywhere. Here the British vacation (or holiday) in all parts of the world. They travel more. This is in part, because of their strong currency. I don't want to make US Dollars anymore. They are falling and will probably continue to do so. Britain has the most stable currency in the world. Europeans just seem to have a lot to do with each other because they are much closer.
Those are my thoughts for now. Oh, I did get to see an original painting by Rembrandt, Raphael, and Botticelli at the National Art Gallery and spent some time in the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter. Other than there there is no real news to give you from Scotland. So I will leave you in peace while I go wrestle an Alsatian for some dinner. Cheers
ian
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2 comments:
Everytime I make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I think about Scotland and how those poor individuals don't know the deliciousness of what I am eating. Let me know if they have any cool sandwich ideas.
is there a shrine in the cafe to "Just Kidding" Rowling? :)
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