Dancing and Running in the Fair land of Scotland

So Ryan and I finally ran out of episodes of Lost to watch (we have now gone through all of the first, second, and now what is available of the third seasons), and so we were propelled last night for the first time to get off our lazy bums and go to a club. Edinburgh is purported to have a pretty good nightlife and so we figured it was only a matter of time before we would start going out more. Our destination was a club in old town called The Liquid Room, where a local weekly paper called The Skinny was hosting a party to celebrate its first birthday. So along with a group of friends, several of few are local writers/music critics, we all dressed in black (hey its slimming and never goes out of style) and made for the 'scene.' The first act was a punk group called project:venhell. This group is one of those bands that is pure aesthetic. By this I mean, there music is pretty much terrible; there is no discernible structure to their songs and their lyrics are always completely unintelligible. The whole point of groups like this is to present a certain 'look' or 'feel.' There are many punk groups like this out there, and many of them are still pretty good because they are really fun to watch. This group, however, was entertaining for only about the first ten minutes. Let me paint you a picture: five guys looking like they are still in high school, dressed in the first thing they pulled off the floor, except for the lead singer (or I should say screamer) who was wearing a pair of ripped up cut offs that were way too small and whose fly was down, a pink dress shirt half untucked (by the way he is a bit overweight and so his belly hangs quite a bit over his tight tight shorts), a blue stripped tie loosely hanging around his neck, overgrown, messy hair, no shoes, and a leather jacket at least two sizes too small. This guy is stumbling around stage drinking a beer, yelling in the mike and flinging himself onto the band's equipment. Like I said, funny about the first ten minutes, until you realize that is all there is.

Following this group however was a rather good Edinburgh group called O.B.E., which sounded like a kind of funky version of a love child between The Pixies and Franz Ferdinand (check them out at http://www.myspace.com/obeonline I recommend listening to the song called "Sex Offender").
Like I said, they were very good and fun to watch live. Personally, I can't believe these guys aren't signed yet. Anyhow, O.B.E got the night going off right and we all danced heartily. After O.B.E. we had a series of very good DJs spinning creating mixes of indie and pop favorites. We stayed at The Liquid Room until about 1:30 am before stumbling out into the Edinburgh night deaf and happy and in search of a 'Chippy' (late night restaurant specializing in french fries).

Beyond the world of Scottish entertainment, I have decided to run in this year's London Marathon. As some of you probably know, I have been trying to start running for several months but basically I am not a runner, at all. Having never really got going so far, I have decided that the only way is to sign up for an event so that I HAVE to run. So far I have worked my way up to 2 miles. Woo hoo. Let me tell you. Anyhow I have six months to train and have got myself a nifty training schedule for novices and so it looks like I will actually be running 26 miles in April, believe it or not. Ryan has decided to train with me for moral support and since I am already making progress I do believe it is quite possible. I'll let you know how it goes.
Signing off for now,
Alletta

Alletta's Back in the Saddle again

Hey there:

So it is almost midnight Edinburgh time and even though I need to get up at 8am I am staying up and poking around on the internet because I don't want to go to bed. To put it nicely, I have had a really lousy week. Ok, well its been lousy in parts. As many of you know, I have these chronic migraines which tend to be really terrible and very frequent. Recently I finally figured out that it was certain foods that were making me so sick, and after a very very difficult period of going on this insanely restrictive diet for several weeks this summer, I began my own little *shit* list of bad things that my body cannot tolerate. So far the list is as follows: tomatoes (in any form and any amount), most kinds of cheese, any kind of cured meat (including sausage, which for me is particularly painful), too much caffeine, alcohol (sometimes), and chocolate, yes, chocolate. At first I thought it was just the tomatoes, but this last two weeks, I have had two minor migraines and three massive migraines, each lasting TWO days. Basically, I've had more migraine days than 'normal', that is not writhing with pain, days this last two weeks. Not fun. At. All. This weekend was particularly bad because after a series of unexpectedly bad headaches, I ran out of medication and was stuck this weekend with nothing. Finally, after suffering all day saturday, a particularly bad saturday night and then part of the day today (sunday), I finally ended up calling the National Health Service out of hours emergency nightline. Ok so here is when I go on a big pitch about why the UK is amazing. (yes, I know you all were waiting for when I would finally start bragging about the UK, and it has finally arrived.) After talking promptly with a NHS nurse, I was arranged an appointment, (yes an appointment!) at the local ER with a physician in just an hour. When I got there, I was seen exactly when scheduled (no wait) by a very nice doctor who spent a good while discussing my medical history and what was going on with the migraine. He looked up all my American medications and found suitable replacements and then after writing up perscriptions sat and answered all my questions about the medication I was taking. Then, the nice ladies in the hospital reception area (by the way, because I was already in the centralized NHS database, having registered with a local physician on arrival, I didn't need to fill out any paperwork or even sign anything) looked up the closest pharmacy that was open and then called me a taxi. I got to the pharmacy, and my perscriptions were filled right away. I paid a flat rate of about six pounds each and then went on my way. At the end of the day, all it cost me was the price of a cab two ways, plus the pills, which were 13 pounds (In the U.S. they would have been like 75 dollars). Moreover, unlike in the US where my insurance company limits the amount of pills I can get to what they consider a months supply, I was able to get several months worth of what I actually need, so that I will never again have to sweat it through the end of the month hoping my medicine will last.

After hearing all so many horror stories in the US media about how 'awful' nationalized health care is, I have to say that I was treated more kindly in a much more efficient and timely manner here than ever before in the US. If I had known, I would have not suffered for days before going to the hospital. I know for a fact that the average British person does not pay more tax than the average American. The typical middle class rate is about 22 percent. We Americans need to stand up and begin demanding better. We are all sick of getting poor medical care and the fact is, we can do better.

and more pictures

And, building on the last post, here are some more little nuggets of Edinburgh Scenery... and yes, that is our very own front door...

pictures at last

Hey there folks, as promised we finally have got together some pictures for ya'll. You punters (my new British word) on Facebook have already seen these, but for the rest of you folk they've been a long time coming!

Meanwhile, things are going well for me. I am finally getting into the groove of things with my classes at the university. One thing to know about British universities, is that they tend to assign you an ungodly amount of homework every week, but the little secret is, (hush*), they don't actually expect you to do more then half of it. Basically, at the grad school level, it is
up to you to get what you will out of the whole deal and the professors don't really care what you do. Still, it is worth making sure you have a decent grasp of the material, or at least admitting up front when you don't get something, because otherwise you will be brutally exposed in your weekly discussion seminar and trust me, with only 8 people in a small room and the actual professor presiding (no GTFs here) you can't run and you can't hide.

Monday night we went out to dinner at the invitation of a University of Oregon Alum, Doug Ragen. I got to know him through my work as Internship and Mentorship Coordinator at the U of O honors college, and now he has taken an interest in Ryan and I because A) he is a golf nut and is crazyabout Scotland, and b) he loves helping out ducks. Anyhow, he is currently on one of his semi-annual golf trips to Scotland and monday night he treated us to a very nice dinner at one of Edinburgh's fanciest restuarants to introduce us to several of his Scottish friends. They were
all very nice and very eager to share wisdom about Edinburgh, and make very generous offers for help with whatever we need. Overall, though the environment was a bit more 'high falutun' than we're used to, it was a very pleasurable evening. Many thanks to Doug for his generousity.

Ok, now for the good stuff. For starters here are some pictures of lovely Edinburgh.


This is a picture of the Scottish Parliament Building which took 6 years to build and 200 MILLION pounds.

This view is from Victoria Street, in old town (where we live).

Update on your two favorite people

Hey, folks. How are you all? Alletta and I are well. Things are going along at the usual alarming rate of reality. I am still in the job market. Oh boy does looking for work suck. Its the kind of thing that you have to fail at many times before you get it right. In the past I always had dumb luck at getting a job. Of course this was at college so it was kinda fake anyways. Now I am feeling the cold bit of the real world. Where you get one response for every 10 applications. Arg!

Our friend Mike Sarnoff-Wood came to visit us last week. That was very nice. He had been living in Italy since mid-June. So I had not seen him since his grad party long long ago. So I took a break from the job hunt and led Mike around the city. We went up to the Castle but found that it costs £10 to get in. Which is about $20, so we went elsewhere. Alletta and I had a good time with Mike. We went to a couple pubs, tried the veggie haggis, drank some beer and Whisky. Good times.

Alletta and I know have wireless broadband in our own flat. So our posts should more frequent.

Peace

Living in Edinburgh

Ok folks, first some business. We now have a phone!! We have two numbers, our land line which is 0144 131 221 0316 from the US, and our mobile (thats a cell phone for all you yanks), which is 0144 787 585 2427.

That settled, the theme for the rest of this entry will be the fair city of Edinburgh. The first thing to know about Edinburgh is that is is not at all as dreary and miserable as we Americans have been led to believe. It actually doesn't get any more rain than London and in fact unlike Western Oregon, it rarely rains for a long period. Rather, it often will rain at night or in the morning, only to become lovely and sunny by midday. This is great because if you wait until the right time to go out, the weather will be very pleasant. Otherwise, if it is sour you can always duck into one of the thousands of cafes and pubs the city offers for a hot drink.

Though Edinburgh is a very old city, it is today a young one, in that in most parts it seems to be crawling with twenty something hipsters. (Right now leggings, sweater dresses and big boots seem to be the thing.) There are several reasons for this I think, one being that there are several large universities in the city, another being that Edinburgh is considered a hip city to live in if you are young and thus tends to attract these types. The benefit of all this, is Edinburgh has a great night life. Any given night of the week, you will find large groups of people clogging the streets and pouring out of nightclubs. Unlike London, where by law, all pubs close by midnight (which surprised me, by the way) Edinburgh pubs and bars stay open very late. In addition to these, there are many many clubs and music venues with shows going on all the time, and which tend to be open very late (I walked by one yesterday that didn't OPEN until 3 am). Many of these venues are located in interesting and historic buildings. For example, there are many pubs and concert halls in old churches here (why I have do idea, something to do with the iconclasm of the Scottish Protestation reformation taken a different turn in modern times?) There are also cool arthouse movie theaters that have late night showings of films, and my personal favorite, the many 'take away' joints that offer late night revelers Edinburgh specialities such as deep friend Mars bars as well as British classics like chips (thats fries) and pie. One of my favorite features of the Edinburgh nightlife are the many rickshaws that scurry around town hauling drunks. They are brilliantly fun and riding in them necessitates much hooting and hollering as the poor driver hauls his or her passengers up the city's many hills, and then goes flying down the other side, careening around the narrow corners and streets. The drivers seem to enjoy themselves, and they are actually a bit cheaper than a taxi.

Now about the city itself. Edinburgh is interesting because it is very old, but has gone through many re-developments and expansions. As a result, different parts of town have a particular character to them. Old town, in the city center is very characteristic of what we picture an old city looking like. Tall, narrow stone buildings and little winding streets. Small windows with uneven glass, cobblestone streets with strange names and insane intersections with five different directions converging at one point. Newer parts of town are more orderly, with neat rows of pale stone houses and shops, each surrounded by a thin iron railing and with its own steps to the front door. Surprisingly the city has many parks and these are scattered thoughout it. Some of them are actually very big, some even have golf courses and lawn bowling fields in (golf is much more of a people's sport in Scotland than in the US). One park that is a five minute walk from our house is a half mile long and full of open spaces. Another, Holyrood park is the biggest in town and includes a series of large hills where you can go hiking. The largest of these, known as Arthur's Seat, is the highest point in the city at its top and carries with it all kinds of historical lore. Holyrood park is so massive that when you enter the park it is like you have left the city (like forest park but without the trees). One of its best features is a series of massive crags that are actually bolted and set up for rock climbers (yea!).

Apart from the parks and buildings, the geography of Edinburgh is very interesting. It developed around the castle, which is on a massive cliff surrounded by valleys and hills and so the city covers many different elevations. In certain sections there are actually two levels, as streets are extended on bridges above the city below. Likewise there are high points in town where you can actually get a view of the sea. Aside from the winding and crazily intersecting streets, there are a number of small pedestrian passages throughout the city known as 'closes.' These sometimes lead to little squares, and at others through buildings to other streets, and often different levels of the city (many closes are made up of stairs). Often walking through the city you can glimpse these amazing views through these little passages, and they are a very fun way to explore the city.

For the size of the city, Edinburgh has a thriving business community. On every street there are countless stores, pubs and restuarants of all kinds. In our neighborhood, we are within a five minute walk of at least fifty restuarants, at least twenty bars, five grocery stores, six hairdressers, three department stores, two movie theaters, a locksmith, a pawnshop, a stereo store, and countless news agents (which are like mini marts). We end up going shopping at least four times a week because it is so easy and that way our food is fresh, and we don't have to plan ahead much. Though everyone says the UK is expensive, Edinburgh is relatively cheap. Food is definately much cheaper here than in the US (if one ignores the exchange rate), and so are many other consumer goods. Even rent is cheaper in Edinburgh than in Eugene!!

Finally the people of Edinburgh. Though it is a very cosmopolitan city with many immigrants from all over the world, it is definately part of Scotland. It is not rare to hear bag pipes and to see big burly guys in kilts (I am not kidding here). Scottish people have a very unique accent, and especially when a little pissed (drunk) they can become utterly incomprensible. One of the big pastimes for Scottish men seems to be getting drunk and then walking down the street in big groups singing loudly (and badly). On a one-to-one level, Scots are very friendly and nice, though don't expect to much in the line of customer service. They love sport but are also big on art. Besides the countless theater and dance companies in the cities, there are traveling troupes that go all over the country. They have a great deal of national pride, though they are generally friendly with English folk. Scots are also friendly with Americans (they are plenty of us here), though if you hang around certain parts of town expect to be taken for a tourist.

Well, I have expended my free time for now, I must get on with my homework. I hope this little bit has been interesting and enlightening for those of who haven't been to our new home as well as those that have. We hope life is well for all of our friends where-ever in the world you may be. We are thinking of you all every day.
love, Alletta (and Ryan)