Anarchy in Scotland!

(...while democracy, and Democrats, prevail in the States. Congrats Obama!!! Mom, I hope you had fun working the polls. Make sure you remember some of the stories of crazy voters. I'm sure people dressed up!)

Remember, remember the fifth of November? Well, we do in the UK! I got to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day for the first time this year.  Usually just called Bonfire Night, the celebrations are kind of July 4th- esque: barbecues and fireworks. All festivities are reserved to the evening, though, so everyone still works and goes to school. But lots of neighborhoods throw carnivals and have huge bonfires. Edinburgh's Bonfire Night was surprisingly lowkey. Since fireworks are legal, lots of people just buy them at the grocery store and set them off wherever they want. We joined the masses of people at the top of Calton Hill where we thought we'd be able to see Edinburgh's fireworks. But those apparently don't exist, so we just got to watch the huge fireworks displays in the distance that other towns were putting on. And- anarchy!- we were surrounded by a bunch of lunatics who were setting off their own displays 10 feet from huge crowds of people or on the tops of buildings. There were no cops or firefighters or rules! One of the girls I was with kept screaming every time the fireworks went off because she was sure she was going to get burned. But luckily, we all survived.

The big boom in the distance is a fireworks show at a stadium

A "personal" display

It was a beautiful night and everyone was out and about. We took a walk up to the castle to see the view and then stopped off at a "chippie" (fried food heaven). Becky, from England, had never had one of the famed Scottish fried Mars bars. After eating it, she said she felt her life expectancy fall by 10 years. The place fried EVERYTHING! Haggis, burgers, ribs, candy bars, chicken, potatoes, fish, pakora, and more.

Edinburgh from the top of Calton Hill

Glowing Castle

Deep-fried Mars Bar... it was literally dripping with grease. Tasty?

Overall, even though the fireworks were disappointing, it was a good first taste of Bonfire Night.


Another first- I got mistaken for a Canadian! I really can't tell the difference between our accents, either, but it was very funny to me that someone's first guess was Canada over the U.S.

Camille made us this delicious French dish with imported French cheese, potatoes, and some cut of meat that I had no idea how to pronounce. It was apparently a "winter meal"- something to be eaten after a cold day of skiing. Apparently in France, people think that microwaves are more dangerous that cigarettes. Or at least everyone smokes, but there's a general sense of microwaves as evil radiation machines. Microwaves are not one of the leading causes of death, last time I checked. And they call the Americans crazy?