Roberts Burns B-day

Many of you probably didn't realize it, but this weekend was Robert Burns' 250th birthday. For those of you wondering who on earth Robert Burns is...I will tell you in as few sentences as possible. He was a poet and lyricist and is considered the National Poet of Scotland. In addition, he is regarded as the pioneer of the Romantic movement. He also had somewhat of a reputation for being a 'ladies' man.

I bet you are wondering why we would want to celebrate this dead poets birthday huh? The answer to that is simple. Our friend Brian loves Scotland. He is in love with Scotland and all things Scotland. He spent 6 months there and revisited again for a month later on. Therefore, we had to celebrate Robert Burns B-day. He has been talking about having a celebration for as long as I have known him.

Here is Brian all decked out for the big day. (Don't worry, he is wearing something underneath the kilt)


As part of the tradition we required music from a tin whistle to be played during the presentation of the haggis. Thank you Dave for your wonderful musical talent.

Then the reading of the 'Ode to Haggis before our meal of Haggis, Turnips, Tablet, Potato Leek Soup, Olive bread, Scottish Beer, and more. It was a unique meal, but good, and I left stuffed.
We finished off the evening watching an episode of 'Chewin' the Fat' which is a Scottish Sitcom. Parts of it were funny, but only when I could understand what they were saying.

After this party, we headed to another party to celebrate Australia Day at one of the Australian's apartments. This party wasn't quite as themed, but there was plenty of Australian decor. I left my camera in the car so I don't have any pictures of this. We didn't stay very late though. It was a Sunday evening and work in the morning. Overall a fun weekend though.