Wednesday, June 23, 2004 (Haggis, Mashed Tatties and Neeps)

In the night the rain started and sometimes it was very intense. During breakfast Wendy ate her porridge, I had my more or less continental breakfast and Elsa, her coffee. It was very quite this morning in the house. We left home a little bit later than usual. We didn't take the 31 bus so we had to walk through the rain from Princess Street to the school and we were soaked when we arrived in our classroom. Also during the lessons, the window fogged up and the paper was wavy under our writing utensils.

A distinctive feature of Edinburgh’s weather is the “haar” – a dense, chilly fog that often blows in from the North Sea when the wind comes from the East. You can usually escape it by heading just a few miles inland.

This morning we learned a lot of idioms – I think James liked them the most. Many were the same like I knew from our language like “Too many cooks spoil the broth. We were all in the same boat. In the blink of an eye.” And there were some, which I just liked: “As dead as dodo. Donkey’s ears. Don’t rub him up the wrong way.” – and a lot more. Some are different “A wild goose chase. Keep a tight rein. Swing a cat. Monkeying around. He’s a cold fish. Snail’s pace. Skin a cat. Trawl through” - and others. I think that’s the cultural difference but also that we have different kinds of animals in our countries.

Over lunch we searched for a dry place in Old Town to eat. In this big group, it was difficult to find a place, so we went from pub to pub and then I ate a bacon and cheese sandwich – also not bad.

In the lessons with Kirsty we didn't have many new things, but a lot of homework for the next day, so I was a little bit annoyed about this.

After school I visited an outdoor shop then I looked for pure benzine or propane - for our holidays in August. It’s used for cooking and my husband mailed me the name of a special brand. I wasn't not sure and felt insecure because the bottle's weight was different than the information that I had. But in the other shops they didn't have any stove fuel so we will try in August the first one. Through the rain I “swam” to the bus station and back home.
Wet, wet, wet but this “boy-group” came from Glasgow … ;-)

Dinner was a very Scottish one, for the first time I tried Haggis and honest, I like it. This national dish consists of stomach stuffed with diced innards and served with mashed tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnips). This menu is not suited to everybody’s taste, but in Switzerland we also have black pudding and another one, called liver sausage - so I was well prepared.

After dinner, Wendy gave me a lot of good information’s about the Military Tattoo and Edinburgh’s Festivals. I heard that the last tickets for this big spectacle in August were now sold out and it takes places during three weeks …! Wendy reassured me, that there was also the possibility to buy a ticket just on the spot for the daily shows – it would not be for the evening show, but for the earlier one. She also gave me an article about the Royal Highland Show which was to be on the next weekend in Edinburgh. I thought that I would visit this big exhibition but I hoped for better weather then. It was a very quiet day with no excitement.

P.S. How many words do you know, which collate with age? Like: old, childhood, birthday, whisky, etc.