Scottish tradition on Boxing Day

Paula and I have moved around a lot in Scotland over the last week-- Edinburgh to Glasgow to Edinburgh to Crieff to Glasgow again-- but we slowed down over Christmas. My Christmas with her family was lovely; we went to visit her Uncle Ricky and Auntie Mouse, their children, and everyone's friends (myself included). It was a small little party of about eleven people, and after we ate a delicious traditional British dinner (the second one I'd had on Christmas), we played charades and Trivial Pursuit. It was really fun, and I was paricularly amused when the rival team got the question, "Who was the first U.S. president?" I know I sound obtuse, but it hadn't occurred to me that this would not be ridiculously common knowledge to people outside of the U.S.

And they stuffed me. I keep eating traditional British things that I'd only ever read about in Harry Potter: crumpets, Yorkshire pudding, trifle, bread sauce, parsnips and brussel sprouts. The first day I arrived in England, I got a "bacon roll." The boy working behind the counter asked me if I wanted ketchup or brown sauce with it. I asked him what brown sauce was, and he paused and said, "...So you'll be having brown sauce, then?" Apparently no one can really tell me what it is.

Last night, Paula's mum and their family friend Peggy kept suggesting that Paula and I find a "ceilidh," pronounced kay-ley. This is a traditional Scottish dance party, and I found mention on the internet of a ceilidh held in a bar in Glasgow every Saturday night, so Paula and I set out to find this place. When we finally got there, two people were finishing up an unenthusiastic dance, and everyone else was sitting about the bar looking miserable. The place was pretty deserted to begin with, so Paula and I picked up a couple of drinks and then watched the poor accordion player begin another number. We expressed an interest and finally got a couple of men at the bar to come dance with us, and after a few dances there were several couples dancing on the floor. Not many people joined in, but it was really fun all the same, and I learned some real Scottish dance. I was laughing my head off the whole time, of course. It was lovely.

On Wednesday we'll be going to Romania to see Alexandru and Andreea for New Year's. Every time I tell someone we're going to Romania, they look at me strangely and ask me why on earth I would want to do that. I think it should be very interesting.