Eating "leaves" in Edinburgh

I just got back from a long walk around Edinburgh. It is 1:45am, the city is still bustling with activities, mostly kissing, smoking, and arguing. Everybody seems to be staggering from alcohol. And they speak something that sounds like English...Scottish english, I am told.

I met three Tanzanians as i was about to come back to the apartment. It is always such a great feeling meeting Kiswahili speakers in the Diaspora. "Are you here for this thing?" They asked me while pointing to a piece of cloth outside an old church, which says: Unfair trade costs Africa $2700,000,000 every year.
Strange, one of the three Tanzanian comes from my village!

Before we left for lunch yesterday, I wrote about Dr. Fackson Banda, the Executive Director of Panos Southern Africa, asking us to go where he can eat "real" food, not fast food. We went to a restaurant not far from where we leave (Sameer: "dont break anything, please dont touch anything...don't, don't, dont..."). Dr Banda's food ended up being too "real"! I havent laughed so much since I got in here last Monday. Dr. Banda ordered sauteed chicken pepper, thinking it was going to be a filling. Unfortunately, he did not see the word:salad. When his meal came, his salad, to be precise, he had to ask to see the menu again before he realised that his order was for people who like eating leaves (vegetables). In less than two minutes he had finished his leaves! I advised him that next time, instead of asking for menu, he should go to the kitchen to see for himself what he is ordering.

On our way back to the apartment, we laughed so hard while discussing Banda's "leaves."
"I grow vegetables in my backyard. I eat them for free, now here I had to pay the equivalent of 150,000,000 Zambian currency (Kwacha)" John Kamau, who also happened to eat "leaves" for lunch, did a quick calculation to find out how much Kenyan shilings he had used for "leaves" that left him even hungrier. He
grabbed a mint we got from the hotel from his mouth and threw it away in disgust. Banda looked at John while cracking with laughter, " You see, that damn thing does not even dissolve!"

Oh, I am tired. Tomorrow is a long day. I have to go to sleep. There will be a big march in town. Earlier today ohn told me that next week there will be 8 leaders of the so called "wealth economies," 10,000 arnachists, and 100, 000 activists!

There are so many police officers around the town, some roads have been closed and some shops on Princes (street/ avenue/road?) have been covering their glass windows with wooden planks, mainly because of anarchists. As I told you yesterday, I will be looking for anarchists for tomorrow.

**I learnt today that John Kamau from Kenya, who is with us, is also an accomplished musician.