Samhain Fire Festival

The Samhain Fire Festival takes place on Halloween evening. What is Samhain? It is the pagan holiday that Halloween derives its roots from. It celebrates the end of summer, the harvest, and the arrival of winter. The fire festival consisted of a parade of lots of scary and interesting characters, and then an elaborate performance by all of the characters acting out the symbolic demise of summer, the (graphic) celebration of fertility, and the connections between the living and the dead. The highlight was a battle between two men with large metal spheres (think beach ball size) that were on fire. This seemed unneccessarily dangerous, but was quite a spectacle nevertheless. The whole thing is put on by the Beltane Fire Society. We had a great time despite the freezing cold and the obstructed view (there was a huge crowd).

Pictures courtesy of Brighid.

Pictures!

These pictures are courtesy of Brighid, my classmate and best friend here, who is the redhead in the center of this picture. This is a few of my classmates and me having coffee in Princes Street Gardens after a successful farmer's market excursion:


Some of my classmates at a dinner party celebrating Christina's birthday (Christina is in the center of the picture):


After I left the party, it apparently turned into a dance party. (Come on, this was too funny a picture not to post):


At the farmer's market (yes, that's the castle in the background)!


From left to right: Sierra, Rachel, me, and Sarah -- at my birthday dinner at Black Bo's, a fantastic vegetarian restaurant:


Me and Aaron at the Castle:

Thinking about food...

Next week is Thanksgiving, and here in Scotland a few of us expatriate Americans are getting together and celebrating...and inviting our whole class to join us. So far about 15 people have RSVP'ed. The themes of our Thanksgiving dinner are: authentic American (which seems to excite the students that have never experienced Thanksgiving before), and sustainable. Sustainable? How so? Well, for starters we've ordered a free-range turkey from a nearby farm. Factory farming of meat is bad for the environment and just plain cruel to animals. We're also going to be making side dishes with as many local and/or organic ingredients as we can find. Local food...in Scotland...in November? Yep. Even though North-to-South Edinburgh is about halfway between Boston and the Arctic Circle (we're about as far north as Labrador, Canada) it is warm enough to provide local food much of the year (more about that in a future post). Aaron and I do most of our food shopping every Saturday at the Edinburgh Farmers Market (pictures to come). Here's a list of the things we've bought recently from the market:

Vegetables:

• celery
• potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• mushrooms
• tomatoes
• cucumbers
• carrots
• onions
• garlic
• lettuce
• radishes
• kale
• spinach
• brussel sprouts
• cauliflower
• turnips
• parsnips
• beets
• leeks

Fruits:

• raspberries
• strawberries
• apples
• jam
  

Dairy:

• cream
• butter
• cheese (lots of cheese!)
• eggs

Miscellaneous:

• honey
• oats
• barley
• bread, bagels, rolls, pretzels, etc.
• porridge bars (the best damn granola bars ever. Of course they have 450 calories per bar...but its worth it.)

They also have lots of meats and beer, which we will be trying eventually...
I'm very passionate about the importance of eating locally. Why is it important? Among other reasons:

1. It reduces the amount of fossil fuels burned to transport your food (by a lot actually; food on average travels over 2000 miles to get to you!)
2. It is healthier (less processed food is good for you; so is fresher food)
3. It supports smaller local farmers (who really do need the support. 70% of the food you eat is produced by 7% of the farmers in America. Small farmers can't compete, and are leaving the farming business in droves -- sad but true)
   

Plus, I really do love going to the farmers market. Buying food from about 8 different farmers feels a bit like a shopping spree (though its no more expensive than shopping at the supermarket), the food is delicious, and you get to chat with the sellers (many of whom recognize us now -- its so nice!)

Want more ideas for eating better (better for you and better for the environment)? Check out this article.

And I'll report back on our Thanksgiving adventure next week! Gobble gobble.

No TV for a year?! Gasp!

Before I moved to Scotland I watched an embarrassingly large amount of TV. I'm not proud of that...but its true. After a stressful day at work it was such a relief to plop down on the sofa and watch a sitcom or two. Except that it was hard to get up, and more than I like to admit, the TV would stay on until I went to bed.

With TV watching being such a large part of how I spent my freetime, I was secretly a bit nervous about what I was going to do in Edinburgh for a year without TV. But lets back up a minute -- why don't I have TV here? I could; its not like TV doesn't exist in Scotland. First of all, I would have to buy a TV set which I would then have to get rid of after a year. Since things are already twice as expensive here, that was the first deterrent. Secondly, in order to legally watch TV, you have to pay the television tax, which is about $250/year. That gets you basic broadcast channels. And then if you want anything beyond those couple BBC channels, you have to pay for cable. Add this all up and you might not be so eager to get TV either.

So what do I do without TV? Well, I get probably a lot more studying done than I otherwise would. I go to coffee shops, museums, bars. I read books for fun. I play card games. I go for walks with Aaron and/or my friends. I rent movies. I keep my apartment clean (my mom probably just fell out of her chair when she read that). Its nice! I didn't think it would be this easy...or liberating. I'm not a slave to my TV anymore!

This is all not to say that I don't miss watching TV. I miss Lost, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, The Daily Show, and I fully intend on catching up on them when I move back to the states. But for now, I am happy going without.

If you're interested in lowering your TV consumption without giving up your favorite shows, there is a good article here on how to do it. Good luck!

...and the last of the accumulated pictures

St. Andrew's Castle ruins


The North Sea, as seen from the castle ruins


Aaron in front of St. Andrew's Cathedral ruins


St. Andrew's Cathedral




Come on, this is too funny.

....more pictures

I might as well get them all up (and Blogger seems to not like me putting more than 6 pictures on one post).

Jack-o-lanterns! (funny sidebar: pumpkins about the size of the smaller ones in this picture are sold in bins in the supermarket labeled "Extra Large Pumpkins". I almost wet my pants laughing when I saw that)


A bit of the countryside right outside of Edinburgh (can you believe how green everything is? Its November!)


Rosslyn Chapel (featured in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code)


Cassie being regal and proper

More pictures

Two blog entries in one day, oh my! I'll confess...I am procrastinating. I really really should be working on a paper for my Culture & Ethics class, but I have to admit I'm just not that interested in it. The topic is Peter Singer's utilitarian philosophy on animal ethics...and while I do find that a bit interesting, right now I'd rather focus on something that actually has something to do with sustainability. I'm so picky, I know :)

Anyhow, last week was basically a touristy week for me, as my friend Pat was in town for a visit. These are all pictures from that mini-vacation.

The inside of Edinburgh Castle


View of the city from up in the Scot Monument. Good view of Old Town and Holyrood Park.


View of the Balmoral Hotel and Calton Hill in the background (which I still haven't been to/up!)


Holyrood Palace


Holyrood Abbey


Pat in Holyrood Abbey

Some pictures....finally

Here are some embarrassingly belated pictures from the field trip I took back in September (up to the Highlands...very very beautiful countryside, of which I took a grand total of zero pictures. You'll just have to come visit).

Here are some very cool looking stripey cows.


If you squint, you can kind of see the reindeer. It was an absolute downpour at this point, so I only took this one picture, and it didn't really come out. We got to feed the reindeer out of our hands...I can't even describe how cool that was.


The Findhorn eco-village:


The wastewater treatment plant at Findhorn. The simplicity, lack of anything gross (there was no smell at all, besides maybe some of the better smelling plants and flowers), and unassuming nature of this little greenhouse system were all quite a surprise. All of the sewage from the village goes through this system, and clean water comes out at the end. No industrial chemicals, not a lot of energy input. Pretty amazing.


One interesting cluster of houses at the eco-village. These houses were built inside old barrels from a whiskey distillery.