Pieces of Home

I did a very brave thing tonight. No, I did not eat any haggis (I have already sampled that... Haggis looks like dog food but surprisingly it tastes quite like a cross between turkey stuffing and meat loaf... They even have 'vegetarian' haggis. I must say that its notoriety, like that of deep-fried mars bars, is over-exaggerated.) And no, I did not purchase a kilt (they cost upwards to a 1000 pounds) and wear it to a pub. I DID buy a pack of raw salmon fillet and a bottle of amoy light soy sauce and attempted to 'create' my own version of salmon sashimi. I mean, how hard can it be? I just selected a pack of salmon that resembled the colour and texture of that which I've seen so often in Japanese restaurants back home... A fish is a fish right? So I got home and carved off the skin and cut the fillet into strips and ate the pieces with soy sauce (but sans wasabi). I suppose I'll have to wait until tomorrow find out if I'll survive this little experiment but two things are certain... 1) The salmon was damn good. 2) If i'm not dead this time tomorrow you can be sure i'll be going back for more...

Edinburgh is a strange place for me to be. I spent the last 8 years of my life on the west coast of Canada and now I live on the EAST coast of Scotland. I thought I knew English but I often find myself scratching my head at odd expressions or at normal expressions oddly pronounced. I've been told that Edinburgh is the "multicultural centre" of Scotland but compared to Vancouver it really isn't much to write home about. I suppose there is a big mix of Europeans and Scandinavians here but I sure haven't met many asian people. Besides, most of the international community here are visitors, either tourists or students, and don't really count as people who *live* in Edinburgh. Being somewhat of a westerner myself, I feel like this place should feel more familiar but instead I often feel a profound sense of disorientation. The bus drivers speak English but drive double decker buses on the *other* side of the road. I know 50 fish and chips and baked potato places but not a single sushi restaurant or a non-buffet-style Chinese place. A Korean Tapas place? Forget it. On the supermarket shelves, I find bottles and bottles of yakult and ribena but not a single drop of teriyaki marinade for my stir-fry. My supervisor, the head of the postgrad program at the U of Edinburgh, Scotland, is an American who taught at the U of Manitoba in Canada, and, incidentally, Regent College (unlike Rikk Watts, the australian-born cambridge-educated canadian lecturer). On many days I find Edinburgh to be more like Hong Kong than Vancouver... It is British, crowded, people don't tip, traffic drives the other way, has shops like Marks & Spencer and St. Honore Bakery (!). But on other days, not: Edinburgh has similar climate to Vancouver (colder and rainier), people speak english, people are caucasians, etc...

It's funny how there are some things you never thought you'd miss... I mean, I knew at the start I'd miss my siblings and my friends, my electric guitar, skating on ice. What I didn't count on sorely missing were things like...

*** Christian music - I used to be quite down on listening to contemporary Christian music outside of church; worship music or otherwise. I felt it was gimmicky, artificial, and generally not very original work. But since coming here I feel like I could listen to it all day and maybe sing along to it. Maybe it's because it reminds me of home (?) or because I haven't found a community to worship here but it's doing things for me I never thought Christian music was capable...

*** Having a car - Since I live in a historical (i.e. touristy) part of town, we have many shops that sell kilts, tartans, and other Scottish trinkets, and bagpipers on every corner, but the nearest grocery store is a good 15 minute walk away. I also live on the top of a mound and this means that a walk back from anywhere is going to be a bit of a workout. This means that if I really wanted to stock up my fridge I have to carry the bags of stuff by hand back up the hill to my place. On days that I do my shopping I dream of the *slightly* cluttered trunk of my 1991 Nissan Sentra.

*** Asian Food - I didn't think I could miss it THIS much. I'm not even talking things like Gyoza King or Ben's Upstairs Place or Fish on Rice or even the fancy Gloucester Cafe. I mean basic things like congee, wonton noodles, bbq pork/duck, fried rice... I hate to be such a wimp but I cannot deny what my body so strongly desires. Both Vancouver and HK are great places for all kinds of food and I now realize that I have been spoiled to have lived in those fabulous cities for as long as I have.

Don't get me wrong, there are things I have really enjoyed about being in Scotland but you'll have to wait for the next issue of this thing to come out. Until then... Live long and eat lots and lots of sushi.