Last month was my big summer holiday. Of course, it didn't really feel like a summer holiday. See, most people I know in Holland escape the (usually) crap weather and go on a summer vacation to south France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Peru, Egypt. No, instead, I went to Scotland. As Billy Connolly once said: "There is no such thing as "Bad weather", because otherwise Scotland would be fucked. There's only inappropriate clothing."
Here are some photos of our trip to Sterling (the place where the great battle against the English was, not where the silver comes from). We visited the William Wallace memorial, or at least that's what they told us it was. We couldn't really see it.
Luckily, I packed my umbrella. Thanks Billy Connolly! Obviously, I wasn't going for the weather; I was going for a cultural holiday, and mainly to catch up with some old friends (i.e. They are both older than me). Besides, even though the weather sucks- apparently it rains every 2 out of 3 days- there is no better time to go to Scotland than August. Imagine how miserable it must be in winter. However August is the best time to go not only due to the weather. There is also a little something called the Edinburgh Festival. The timing of this was incidental as my two old(er) friends were at the mercy of their Japanese holiday schedules, so this was a giant bonus, especially with my love for comedy. Despite never having gone to a live stand-up show before. That was about to change.
One of those friends is also a New Zealander, and this one week's holiday was the most New Zealand-ish I have ever felt. Besides hanging out with him for an entire week,a list of the stand-up comedians should explain this New Zealandishness.
1. There was some NZ comedian who lives in London (don't they all?). He also played some musical comedy. He was good at talking to individual members in the audience and grilling them and apparently his cute New Zealand accent allowed him to get away with insulting people. The only thing is, he was completely overdoing his accent, to the point of putting on a Maori accent. The more awkward a silence was, he stronger his fake accent. After the show when I gave him a donation, I asked where he was from. He said "Blenheim."
Now, I don't expect many people to know this, as this is a small town about an hour from where I grew up, but if you come from Blenheim and are white, you should not be talking like he did. I lost respect for him instantly. (However, to be fair, I would have lost respect anybody who comes from Blenheim, regardless of their accent.)
Raybon Kan:
This is New Zealand's greatest humour columnist. In fact, he might be the only one. I always read his articles, to the point where when I was living overseas, my father would cut out his columns from the Sunday paper and send them to me. I had seen him on a few TV shows, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see how good (and controversial) he could be as a standup comedian. It must have been difficult for him too, as the tiny room he played in (half-filled with compatriates) had no air-flow. After 45 minutes, I don't know whether I was exhausted from laughter or heat-stroke. Either way, it was a good night.
He didn't use this bit, but it seems appropriate for this post.
Rhys Derby:
The manager from the HBO show Flight of the Conchords. I cannot tell you how much I love these guys. I lived in Japan for a year, and in the first year, every time I mentioned where I was from, the automatic response was: "Ooh, Lord of the Rings!". Man, I thought the book was okay, and the movies a little lame, but they ruined New Zealand's image. I'm not talking about it being a beautiful country; that hasn't changed. But the impression now is that New Zealand is filled up with Lord of the Rings nerds. And you know what, that isn't too far from the truth. For sauronssakes, during the premiere of the films, they renamed Wellington, our capitol city... they renamed it to "Middle Earth"!!! I was so ashamed.
However, after the first year in Japan, something wonderful started happening. Some people, instead of immediately talking to me as if I some kind of geek that goes to conventions dressed up as Legolas, they would ask me about The Flight of the Conchords. (Besides, we all know I would make a better Arwen.) The Conchords are funny, talented and not lame. So, going to Ryhs Derby's show was probably the high-point in my life of my relationship with New Zealand. Here is a clip of a bit he did in the show we saw.
And so a holiday to Scotland wasn't terribly holiday-like. There were no sunset beaches and palm trees, or there wasn't any adventure tourism. It was, in a way, an unexpected reconnection with the old country, which is nice because Scotland is so much closer.
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