Old

So I put cornflour in my hair to see if I can use it instead of dry shampoo. I'm not so sure about the result, it seems to be working alright, but I got a pretty good impression of what I'll look like when I'm old and grey :)

(I'll look youthful and wise.)

Pentlands in August

After the massive birthday dinner my flatmate made for me and friends with mackerel in rhubarb-ginger-sauce, tatties, runner beans, roasted courgettes and orange-courgette cake I put all these calories to good use the following day by doing another half-day trip to the Pentlands. Scotland in August is tinted purple with blooming heather everywhere. The weather was a warm, light drizzle with intermittent dry spells and one or two heavier showers - fine Scottish walking conditions.

Fringing

This week is a sociable one. Having won free tickets for a book festival event, on Monday I went with a friend to a reading by a Chinese author who wrote a novel about Chinese women experiencing the one-child-policy (click here for The Dark Road by Jian Ma reviews). I didn't know a whole lot about the topic and what I know now is very gruesome and brutal, and I won't get into details, but it was a good event, and I liked the vibe of a book festival. The crowd wasn't that different from the Jazz&Blues Festival crowd - less hipsters and more seniors than expected - but the whole thing happened on Charlotte Square, a nice little green park in the city where I sat down at a tree in the sun to read a book since I was early.

One-Day-One-Job Challenge Update

After all the travel and birthday excitement I got a little bit behind on the job challenge front. But since I started the challenge I have already had plenty of feedback. One rejection, one note that I missed the application deadline (oopsi), one invitation to an interview, and one email by my flatmate's friend who might help me get a job at SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency).

Also, it's August, and no one in Edinburgh in their right mind actually works in August. It's festival season after all, and in that spirit, I'm gonna go out tonight to enjoy a pint and some free performances.

One-Day-One-Job Challenge - Day 3

On day three of my job hunting challenge I applied for the position as

Affordable Warmth Advisor

Glen Affric Walk

I set out to walk through Glen Affric, the finest of all Scotland's glens, and while the walk was truly fine it was also truly wet. So finally, you get the whole picture about Scotland: sometimes it does rain here!

Click here for the map.

Happy Birthday Me!

I was DELIGHTED by all my mail! Thank you!

The Finest of All Scotland's Glens

Taken from walkhighlands.co.uk:

By common consent, Glen Affric is the finest of all Scotland's glens. It features a fabulous variety of scenery and is deservedly popular with walkers. The glen begins amongst the steep, bare mountains of Kintail far in the west.Further downriver is beautiful Loch Affric, at the foot of the highest mountains north of the Great Glen. The middle part of the Glen is a National Nature Reserve, magnificently wooded with Scots Pine - one of the last remnants of the original Caledonian Forest.

And this is where I am spending a few days with my boots, my backpack and a tent.

One-Day-One-Job Challenge - Day 2

On day two of my one day one job hunting challenge I applied for the first time for an applications engineer position. And the only reason that I did that was because it is in fact an

Applications Engineer (Infrared Spectroscopy)

A Short Dictionary of Scottish Hills

Sorted by height in descending order.

• Munro: The munros are Scottish mountains over 3000 feet (914.4 m) high. Nowadays, there are 282 munros, but that can change if heights are newly measured with modern and more precise technology. The name comes from Sir Hugh Munro who first listed them in 1891. People climbing munros to check them off their lists are called "munro-baggers" and their ambition is to climb them all because they are there.

• Corbett: Corbetts are hills in Scotland between 2500 and 3000 feet high, and there are 221 of them.

• Graham: Grahams are hills in Scotland between 2000 and 2500 feet high, and there are 224 of them.

• Donald: Donalds are hills in the Scottish Lowlands which are higher than 2000 feet. There are 89 of them.

All this and more can be found on my currently favourite walking website: Walkhighlands.co.uk.

Another Walk in the Pentlands

Should I ever need to remind myself again why I moved to Edinburgh, a walk in the Pentlands usually does the trick.

It was another fine hot Scottish summer day (20°C and sunny) and I took a few buses toward the south east corner of the Pentlands National Park. With good connections the trip should take a bit longer than an hour, but I missed the final bus by seconds and had no idea when and if there was another bus coming. Sitting at the bus stop and mulling over my options

One-Day-One-Job Challenge - Day 1

I do not love job hunting.

Five Magpies Are Sitting in front of my Window

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

One-Day-One-Job Challenge

My job hunting progress has been slow and unsuccessful so far, as I have been enjoying life and living in Scotland. But as the summer is coming to an end, I am now committing to a new challenge: I hereby publicly announce my sincerest intention to apply for one job each working day until my savings run out and I need to go back to Germany and claim unemployment benefits. Wish me luck and stamina.

Winner

I won two tickets for a reading at the Edinburgh International Book Festival!

'Tis the Season

It's festival season in Edinburgh.

Festival Carnival

Every summer the craziness happens, Edinburgh fills up with people, rent and hotel prices sky-rocket, students sublet their flats and move to the countryside, tents, stages and arenas are set up all over the city for the Edinburgh Jazz&Blues Festival, the Art Festival, the Military Tattoo, the Festival Fringe, and the International Festival. This is a big deal here and affects everyone - even me who lives in the outskirts of the city and doesn't have much business in the centre.

When I had a dog

I once had a dog. I found him at a beach on Skye where he jumped around in the water barking at seagulls and then at his own echo coming off the cliffs. He was reasonably well-behaved, quite upbeat and self-sufficient. He drank water from the streams and ate grass. He liked watching me eat, too, from up close. He followed me along the beach, up the cliffs and across the heather. When I climbed over gates he found holes in the fence. Such a smart dog. I called him Go Away but he wouldn't listen.

Scraped Knees and Tetanus

I scraped my knee quite badly when my bike and I took a dip in the canal. I had always thought that wounds heal best when they are left to dry after cleaning, and form scabs which fall off after some time. But according to my mum, according to my paediatrician, it's better to leave the wound covered. This way, it will heal better and leave less scars. I can see that, since scab can rip and break (or get pulled off), especially on the knee. So I have been washing my knee once a day, putting some ointment on it and a bandage loosely on top (it's too big for band-aids). It looks like it's healing fine although it stays oozy due to the ointment. But I am sure all signs of it will be gone by the time I marry :)

More Phone Yawn

While I am waiting for my care package from Germany with a replacement mobile phone (my phone fatally drowned), I am now using my flatmate's mum's phone with extra big buttons. I love the big buttons! Also, I am experiencing life without 24/7 access to social networks, e-mail, and Google maps - interesting and not all bad.

Water Damage

When your phone takes a dip there is a great chance that it will survive it if you do things right. After serious water intrusion (in my case my phone was in my trouser's pocket when I fell into the canal, and it took me maybe a minute to get out) you will have to have it cleaned by a specialist to prevent corrosion, but that is actually not that expensive (GBP 20 in Edinburgh for an iPhone).