Wow. The Ceilidh (said like “kay-lee”) was one of the best nights I have had since being overseas. It was a non stop night of traditional Scottish dancing with the caller teaching us the dances to wicked (modernised) Scottish music.

The band Teannaich was rocking and you can’t help getting up and grooving to the funky/jazzy/folky/rocky music.

I didn’t realise how exhausting it would be, it was a complete work out. I paid for it the next day with bruised arms and aching muscles. There was a big group of us there made up of internationals from France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany and of course, Scotland (lots of men in kilts). And we had so much fun.

dancing up a storm

In one of the dances, the guys spin you around in a circle by your arms and your legs fly off the floor. My favourite dances were Strip the Willow and Gay Gordons. Soooo much fun.

On Saturday night a big group of us (about 30 or so people) did a Pub Scavenger Hunt for three of our birthdays (me and californian Stef and italian Luca). This included such tasks as finding an old lady to pull the bird, getting a stranger’s phone number, picture of a belly button, or having a dance off with someone in a pub. It was a good laugh.

My birthday was certainly one to remember this year, for more reasons than one.

On a totally random note, not to do with anything, today I am going to tell you about one of my favourite New Zealand artists/illustrators/designers -  a very talented man called Martin F Emond who designed clothing for Illicit, along with tattoos, artwork and general funky-ness.

Unfortunately for the world, he committed suicide in Los Angeles in 2004, aged 34, so we didn’t get enough of his brilliance in his short life. I first saw his illustrations in Pavement magazine when I was about 15 years old and I remember putting his drawings of the Rolling Red Knuckles up on my wall back then, so I have been a fan for awhile.

Here is a quick collage I have put together of some of his illustrations/artwork (some not for the faint hearted)… I love his stuff.

As a side note, if you’ve seen the American pop/rock star Pink’s music video for her song “U + Ur Hand“, you will see that she blatantly copied New Zealand artist Martin Emond’s imagery for her video without thinking anyone would notice. Well his friends and New Zealanders did - the characters on her video are a mirror image of his. It is not exactly subtle if you look at the pictures below and the Pink video on the right. Coincidence? I think not.

But hey, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Well on Tuesday afternoon at work this week, I got an email from Cabaret Voltaire (a funky bar here in Edinburgh) for a competition to win tickets to Hollie Smith (kiwi soul singer or as they call her here, the kiwi equivalent of Amy Winehouse, ugh) so I got my workmates to try win tickets too. And we got em - 4 tickets to the gig that night.

Hollie Smith was awesome. She swears like a sailor but sings beautifully.

It is New Zealand music month and I am all about celebrating our homegrown music. So I am off to Opshop and Shapeshifter this month. Go kiwi music in Scotland!

If you want a taste of Hollie Smith’s music, here she is singing at the NZ Music Awards.

Okay so it is 12.55am in the morning and I am procrastinating going to bed. I’m not really sure why.

We have two hungarian girls couch surfing with us for the weekend called Szivlie and Boge. They partied with us last night and we are going to the Forrest Cafe for brekkie tomorrow before they head home. I am totally utterly loving the concept of couch surfing and have really started getting into it. The concept is simple - when you travel, stay with locals. It’s such an enriching way to travel, staying with a local means they will take you away from the tourist traps and into the real culture/life. You will also often meet their friends and learn about their culture.

As Couch Surfing puts it: ‘we seek to create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding.’  Of course, there are people who join it for the main reason of free accommodation all around the world. Whoever came up with the idea + created the website is a genius.

It’s all about trust and a little bit of karma, and it gives me hope that there are a lot of good people in this world. And of course, you can check the person’s references before requesting to stay. I just love it. Check it out here.

Its now 1am, better get to bed, I need my beauty sleep.