Note to audience: Day 2 sadly has no pictures.

I spent the day following Lucy around to see different comedy acts at the Edinburgh Fringe. First, I followed her around town gathering things for her show that day (Rachel’s Cafe). We went to pick up cookies, distribute flyers (for the show) and put on make-up for her actor playing Rachel.

For those of you unfamiliar with Rachel. She is a transgender who owns her own cafe in Bloomington; it was built as an oasis where everyone is welcome. She was born Eric but really truly identifies herself as Rachel. She is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. I really admire her because she struggles everyday with choosing whether to be what society wants her to be (Eric) or be her real self (Rachel). I had dinner with her last night and I feel that we had a good conversation about the difficult choices she had to make. It was nice, it was just the two of us at a Korean restaurant (I had never really had it before, so she decided to educate me) and while I will not divulge the contents of our conversation. I truly feel like I have made such a good friend. It’s also funny that while we both live in Bloomington, it took us traveling halfway around the world to meet.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the show. It was a one person show (Rachel) closing her cafe while telling us her story. She tells of her plight in being born a man but unable to identify herself as anything but woman. She also talks of the difficulty being open about her feelings in the public and how it effected her family. But sheI really admire her strength. Some of the critics said that it wasn’t sad enough or that Rachel was portrayed as too nice….seriously? She is just as nice as she is portrayed in the show. Get over it. Also, it doesn’t need to be sad to be good, it is what it is.

Anyway, I spent most of the day just wandering Edinburgh, following Lucy and seeing shows. Good times!

I had another date with Alex later that night. *sigh* I was heading to Oban in the morning and I was hoping to drag Alex along. However, he was in the process of moving and his mother was coming into town from Romania. We decided to try to keep in touch while I was gone.

Tomorrow there will be loads and loads of photos!

besos,

MLT

Location:Scotrail, bound for Glasgow, Scotland