Links
Archives
Orginially from Ohio, I went to the big city of New York for about 5 years (mainly for school), and now I am working towards my masters at Cambridge in England. I hope this website gives everyone a taste of what my life is like here... and if nothing else I think you will find it fun and entertaining!!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Burn's Night
Hey everyone!! Ok... so I have been very bad with photos this term... but I have been sick, what can I say?? Burn's Night (although celebrated early at Churchill) is basically a celebration of the birthday of Robert Burns, a famous Scottish poet and apparantly quite a ladies man. As we learned that night "On the anniversary of his birth, Scots both at home and abroad celebrate Robert Burns with a supper, where they address the haggis, the ladies and whisky. A celebration which would undoubtedly make him proud." It was definitely a really really cool experience. Make sure you check out the videos I took of the ceilidh (pronounce kaaay leeeey hehehe)... which is the cool dancing and music that I suppose is like the Scottish equivalent to square dancing hehehe. Just think... Braveheart!!
Ok so this has nothing to do with Burn's Night... but I woke up this morning and looked out my window and it was snowing like CRAZY... I got ready and 15 minutes later when I look out the window it is sunny... weird.
We had a HUGE group... so we made a mad dash for the table when the doors opened to get as many seats together as we could hehe!!
Dani, David and Rachel... the marroon top trio...
and the black off the shoulder top girls hehe
Here was our dinner entertainment... a bag pipe man and the chef with the haggis (haha or stuff to make haggis out of) to be stabbed hehe.
and the man to do the stabbing hehe... "His knife see rustic Labour dight, An' cut you up wi' ready slight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin, rich!"
Our awesomely strange menu and information about Burns.
And a picture of the proper haggis. This is what this stuff is... "Traditionally, a Haggis is made from the lung, liver, and heart of the sheep. These are mixed with oatmeal and a few spices and stuffed into the sheep's stomach. After being boiled, the Haggis is brought to the table with a great deal of ceremony. A piper ushers in the Haggis and all raise a glass of Scotch whiskey and "brrreath a prrayerr for the soul of Rrrobbie Burrrns!" It is then served with "neeps and nips," mashed turnips and nips of whiskey. I think you have to drink a lot of Scotch before you can truly enjoy this dish, but a party of Scots without a Haggis is simply not heard of."
And the toned down (yet still disgusting tasting) vegetarian haggis... the potatoes and turnips (first time I ever had them) were yummy!!
Hmmmmmm this food was disturbing... the veggies were good though... especially the long things that looked potato-ish hehehe.
Paul was my Burn's night buddy.
hehe weird dessert... I liked the raspberries in the bottom though.
Awwww Tats... probably thinking of Jon.... awwwww.
Tatyana's lab-mate... I'm not even going to try to spell his name hehehe...
This is Taty's normal happy expression....
And this will be Taty when she finishes her PhD thesis!!!
AHHHHHHH we missed you Herb!!!
Satan Herb hehehehe
Awesome Rachel!!!
hehe we even have fun waiting for the toilet!!
David and his mother... lovely lady!!
Testing out what I'd look like as a guy with a mustache... glad I'm a girl!!
Now Rachel on the other hand... awesome looking man ;) wink wink hahahah
Rachel and Ness are preparing for dancing.
The first dance of the ceilidh.
Look at our awesome Scottish guys.
Rachel and Ness' interpretation of the dance...
Shoop and David's interpretation hehehe....
Paul and my interpretation....
ohhhh this is definitely not what Shoop was doing when the music was going!! She had the steps down!!
That's more like it Serena!!
AHHHH don't fall Serena...
Our proper Scottish boy teaching us the dance moves...
Tatyana as a Scottish lad...
South African gone Scottish...
Diana gone Scottish.... glad I am American hahaha...
Paul looks good Scottish ahhahahahhahaha.
Tatyana popped up out of nowhere!!
People are getting much better at the dance now...
Everyone is in sync...
And nobody is kicking anyone else haha...
Michal ... finally got a shot of one of my boaties!!
And Liz!!!
Now to get the full experience you MUST watch the videos. The video of the guy stabbing the haggis and talking with a Scottish dialect watch this video... hehe sorry but I was holding the camera in portrait view, but unfortunately I cannot rotate the video to landscape view... so just rotate your head when you watch it hehehehe: http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/killTheHaggis.AVI
Here is a video of the bagpipe guy on the way out:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/bagPipes.AVI
Here is a video of the first dance:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/firstDance.AVI
And one of the last dance:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/lastDance.AVI
Ok so this has nothing to do with Burn's Night... but I woke up this morning and looked out my window and it was snowing like CRAZY... I got ready and 15 minutes later when I look out the window it is sunny... weird.
We had a HUGE group... so we made a mad dash for the table when the doors opened to get as many seats together as we could hehe!!
Dani, David and Rachel... the marroon top trio...
and the black off the shoulder top girls hehe
Here was our dinner entertainment... a bag pipe man and the chef with the haggis (haha or stuff to make haggis out of) to be stabbed hehe.
and the man to do the stabbing hehe... "His knife see rustic Labour dight, An' cut you up wi' ready slight, Trenching your gushing entrails bright, Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin, rich!"
Our awesomely strange menu and information about Burns.
And a picture of the proper haggis. This is what this stuff is... "Traditionally, a Haggis is made from the lung, liver, and heart of the sheep. These are mixed with oatmeal and a few spices and stuffed into the sheep's stomach. After being boiled, the Haggis is brought to the table with a great deal of ceremony. A piper ushers in the Haggis and all raise a glass of Scotch whiskey and "brrreath a prrayerr for the soul of Rrrobbie Burrrns!" It is then served with "neeps and nips," mashed turnips and nips of whiskey. I think you have to drink a lot of Scotch before you can truly enjoy this dish, but a party of Scots without a Haggis is simply not heard of."
And the toned down (yet still disgusting tasting) vegetarian haggis... the potatoes and turnips (first time I ever had them) were yummy!!
Hmmmmmm this food was disturbing... the veggies were good though... especially the long things that looked potato-ish hehehe.
Paul was my Burn's night buddy.
hehe weird dessert... I liked the raspberries in the bottom though.
Awwww Tats... probably thinking of Jon.... awwwww.
Tatyana's lab-mate... I'm not even going to try to spell his name hehehe...
This is Taty's normal happy expression....
And this will be Taty when she finishes her PhD thesis!!!
AHHHHHHH we missed you Herb!!!
Satan Herb hehehehe
Awesome Rachel!!!
hehe we even have fun waiting for the toilet!!
David and his mother... lovely lady!!
Testing out what I'd look like as a guy with a mustache... glad I'm a girl!!
Now Rachel on the other hand... awesome looking man ;) wink wink hahahah
Rachel and Ness are preparing for dancing.
The first dance of the ceilidh.
Look at our awesome Scottish guys.
Rachel and Ness' interpretation of the dance...
Shoop and David's interpretation hehehe....
Paul and my interpretation....
ohhhh this is definitely not what Shoop was doing when the music was going!! She had the steps down!!
That's more like it Serena!!
AHHHH don't fall Serena...
Our proper Scottish boy teaching us the dance moves...
Tatyana as a Scottish lad...
South African gone Scottish...
Diana gone Scottish.... glad I am American hahaha...
Paul looks good Scottish ahhahahahhahaha.
Tatyana popped up out of nowhere!!
People are getting much better at the dance now...
Everyone is in sync...
And nobody is kicking anyone else haha...
Michal ... finally got a shot of one of my boaties!!
And Liz!!!
Now to get the full experience you MUST watch the videos. The video of the guy stabbing the haggis and talking with a Scottish dialect watch this video... hehe sorry but I was holding the camera in portrait view, but unfortunately I cannot rotate the video to landscape view... so just rotate your head when you watch it hehehehe: http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/killTheHaggis.AVI
Here is a video of the bagpipe guy on the way out:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/bagPipes.AVI
Here is a video of the first dance:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/firstDance.AVI
And one of the last dance:
http://www.zionadika.com/diana/xanga/BurnsNight/lastDance.AVI
