LONDON

Just left London yesterday. I was staying with 5 English.Scottish kids. They were the nicest couchsurfers ever. They made me almost every meal. Did heaps with me, like take me to the Tate Modern. And this girl Ali let me use her camera because mine broke, until I could buy a new one.

They were the first group of English kids who were really intrigued by America. Only one had been, and so they asked me all sorts of questions about schools and tv and food. It was really fun.

I liked London much more this time than I did the other times I went. It seemed prettier, smaller even. More quaint. It's no Edinburgh, but it was nice. Except, the air quality is horrible. Way worse than New York. I think it has to be built up from like all the years people have been living there. But, seriously, when I went to blow my nose, all I saw was black.

'mericans

Oh man, these past few weeks, I have made up for all the Americans I haven't been meeting on this trip.
Kyle and MacGregor were from Seattle. My camera has broke so I don't have any pictures of them. But they were covered in tatoos 24 & 25 and the first boys on the trip that I couldn't keep up with in drinking. They were pretty well versed in drinking skills. They work in a restaurant in Seattle. We hung out for a few days doing the normal toury things, they went to Spain and then came back today before they leave tomorrow. We went to the castle, my friend Alison got the 4 of us in for FREE-normally like 15 bucks-- and then they said they had to buy some whiskey fot the place they work. $1,000 worth of whiskey. The shop guy helping them was so excited. And it was really fun just watching them spend all the money. And we got some free samples of whiskey. They are nice. People I would actually be interested in seeing again in the states.

More and More

First of all, my mom didn't come like she was suppose to. In fact, about the time she was suppose to be getting on the plane I called to find out she's not coming. To be honest, I am a little sick of making new plans, but as this was not part of my plans, new plans here we go again...when I have any idea what I am doing, hopefully tomorrow as I am suppose to be going to France on Satuday, I'll let you know.

In the mean time...I have some more pictures from the festival so you can get a better idea of what was going on...

OK. This first picture is of the royal mile. That is the road that leads from the queens palace up to the castle. It's where all the tartan shops are basically. During festival, they close it off to traffic and they allow street performers to do their thing and people flyering for shows(oh my god, can't get 5 feet without being asked if you are interested in a show). They also allow shows to have 15 minute previews to sell themselves. Unlike normal street performers, these people have to pay to be there. There might be 3 or 4 big acts going on at any given time with all these people. Crowds of a few hundred gather. Anyway, it's kinda impossible to walk, but it is crazy fun.


One of the performers was called "The Space Cowboy." He was my favorite. Mostly because I got to be his assistant for a show. I threw him knives. And he cut a squash out of my hand with a double edged sword. Kinda awesome. As you can see, one of his talents is also swallowing that double edged sword. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for sword swallowing. 17 swords at once. He used hoses to stretch out his throat. Kinda gross. His other big trick was juggling knives. Blindfolded. On top of a 9 foot high unicycle.

This picture is from a show called "Late N Live." It starts everyday at 1 am. You know when everyone, even the comedians performing are nice and drunk. This particular picture was something they did every night(this night being the last, therefore the most fun) called Scotland v. The Rest of the World where they picked people from said countries and saw home many pushups they could do with people on their backs, adding one more person each time.
This night I volunteered for something--not knowing what it was, only knowing it got me on stage in front of a few hundred people. I got the most money out of the audience for a charity, I won a plastic leg and the audience sang "Jolene" to me. Epic.


Finally, this is Mary. She is Australian and was in town for most of the festival. Basically she was my partner for all sort of debauchery. She's wearing a highland cow hat here. One of the best girls I have ever met.

I actually stole this picture from someone else's blog.

This is the mosque kitchen. One of my favorite places to eat here. It's an actual mosque that serves proper curry like churches back home sell noodles. And, it's amazing. Roughly 3£ for a huge bowl of rice and dal. 1£ for amazing nan(warm bread kinda like pita).

What I love about this place, is that the immigrant population is totally different than in the states. And while in the states all the people live in one area together, here while they are larger groups living in one area, everyone is just pretty evenly spread out. The mosque is next to the casino which is next to the church which is next to the bagel shop, next to the bar.

I'm meeting my friends at the mosque in like 15 minutes. Chicken curry for dinner. Any time I miss Mexican food, I just get a curry knowing that when I get home, it will be tough to get it like this again.

Brass Monkey

There is a bar here called "Brass Monkey." It is the most brilliant idea ever. And my long term goal is to now open a bar just like this in America.

The concept is pretty basic really. There is a huge room that is just a sofa. One huge padded room. Every day at 3:00 they show a movie. Which is great for bums like me with nothing to do now that festival is over. They make fresh soup every day and serve it with some bread or a sandwich and a drink for 3 lb ($5). They have movies from American Beauty to Monty Python. And at night, it's also a really cool place. Decent beer. Comfy sofas in the other rooms. Free Wifi.

Basically, I'm in love.