Anticipation

My husband's coming tomorrow! My husband's coming tomorrow! My husband's coming tomorrow!!!!!!!!

As a side note...

Deciding what window to look out of to check the weather here is like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Each window offers a completely different weather picture. And, just like many of those old books, somehow, no matter which window you choose, you still wind up in the end with rain anyway. Ha, and to illustrate this...I just came down from getting coffee when I started to write this. I wanted coffee because of the cold rain outside. And I just turned to take a picture of the rain to post with this message, but the window shows me blue skies and sunlight. Seriously. It's all a freaking illusion.

Unforcasted Weekend

What a weekend. Friday night I met a girl from school and a friend of hers at an Irish pub downtown and found out that they had Hoegaarden on tap...funny how I have to come all the way to Sweden to find that. So happy. Turns out that 3 big beers that are all different and all heavy, even when you've eaten, can make you walk pretty funny, but the sunset was beautiful and I got yelled at by a Swedish man on his bike when I was taking pictures. I couldn't stop laughing. Saturday I went on a boat ride with Eva, Mats, their daughter Cajsa, and a friend of hers to an island in Lake Malaren. It was like we stepped off the shore of civilized world and into a 1,000-year-old time warp, and it was awesome. Only a handful of people still live on the island, but we hiked and picnicked for several hours without seeing very many of them. The flowers are starting to come out and, despite the unforcasted cold and clouds, it was beautiful. I've been on more picnics here in the last month than I have in the entire last year in the States. Picnics are soooo underrated. Speaking of unforcasted cold, apparently Sweden is famous for that, too. Everyday the past week has been a mix of t-shirt warmth, clear blue skies, thunder, lightning, rain storms, hail, and bitter cold. Dressing for the weather is more of a challenge here than I've ever encountered before and, honestly, I've never been all that good at it anyway. Saturday night Mats's 18-year-old daughter Sara and her friends made dinner for us, and we talked about how Swedish sheets make more sense than American sheets and Americans can't pronounce Swedish words correctly. However, I am the apparent exception, thank you very much. Sunday I went with Martina and her girls to the fair (really similar to US county fairs with dinky rides and overpriced crap for sale). Then we went to Anundshog, one of the biggest and oldest burial mounds in Sweden with rock formations that look, from above, like boats. We climbed to the top of this huge hill and then the Swedish unforcast kicked in and we had to picnic under the roof of a nearby building instead. After lunch, the rain stopped, and we walked around the hills and watched the girls play. And then the hail started and all 4 of us ran across the field to the car holding the picnic blanket over our heads. Martina and I left the girls at home playing the coolest Playstation game ever and went to see her husband, Christer, at their sailboat in the marina. If I had a sailbot, you know that I'd wear an eyepatch, hair beads, and lots of eyeliner all the time. I had to spend the night last night at Mats and Eva's house to take care of their cats while they were away. No, I have not developed a liking, per se, for cats, but these were pretty cute. I watched Anna & the King and Tomb Raider 2, interspersed, with Swedish subtitles. Funny, because both of those movies have a lot of other-language speak, and without English subtitles for those parts, it's impossible to understand. I slept like crap because of the 2 skylights in the room I slept in. The sky didn't get completely dark until around midnight or 12:30, and the sun came up again around 3:30 in the morning. I kept waking up and looking at my watch and wondering if I had slept until 3:30 in the afternoon, but no, it was fake afternoon. This morning I walked home in BEAUTIFUL weather and was so warm when I got home that I opened all the windows in my apartment. I got into the shower and when I got out, it was freezing and getting ready to pour rain. Ah, well. It's my last week in Sweden (and I just now learned how to pronounce goodbye in Swedish correctly...sigh).

Fizzing Whizzbies

Friday night I went out with some girls to an Irish pub (where I had the biggest Hoegaarden I've ever had in my life) and then to the Skybar at the top of the only skyscraper in Vasteras. Great view, although it hardly justified the $10 for a small gin and tonic with LEMON instead of LIME. On Saturday I went to Stockholm with Eva, Mats, their daughter Cajsa, and her friend. We took them to the teddy bear factory (which, when spoken by a Swede in English, sounds a lot like "beer" factory). Then we walked around the old part of the town where the king's castle is. We went to the best market with tons of small counters with the best cheese, freshest meats, and hugest vegetables ever. I dream about living close to a place like that!! Stopped by the candy store on the way home and went crazy getting candies in little bags. Most of them were good, but every once in a while you bit into something that Fred and George Weasley must have come up with. Ugh. Getting homesick...I would LOVE a philly cheese steak right now. I have bought 3 different kinds of yogurt on 3 different trips to the grocery store, only to find that none of them were actually yogurt but were instead a drink, rice pudding, and a gelatin dessert, in that order. No more yogurt for me...I'll stick to my breakfast of orange juice and cookies. My mom was going to come over but the flights aren't working out, so I'm a little bummed, by Mark gets here in a little over a week! Can't wait!

Crazy Europeans

And Finland won. I'm out.

Pancakes and Eurovision

Last night I went to Martina's house and she taught me how to make pea soup and pancakes, the traditional Swedish meal for Thursday nights in memory of the poisoned king. The soup was incredible and the pancakes were like the crepes that my Mom makes (girls--do you remember?), only a little thicker, and we ate them with homemade rasberry puree and fresh whipped cream. We also drank the traditional punch with the meal, which is a shot of super-sweet liquor. Yum. And watching Martina's youngest daughter eat the pancakes like an animal and then lick the plate was great. So after dinner, Martina's husband made me stay to watch Eurovision. If you've never heard of this (like I hadn't), you really wouldn't believe it. The whole time I thought I was watching a bad episode of Saturday Night Live, only it wasn't a joke. Charles---did you ever watch this?? Apparently the show has been going on for 50 years or so. The show is an annual contest for the best song in Europe, and at least a couple of people have been made famous (ABBA in 1974 and Celine Dion in 1988). Each country in Europe votes on the song they want to represent their country, and then they get someone entertaining to sing it in the competition. There are several stages, and last night was a semi-final. One of the final competitions is Saturday. So I'll just say that if I were from, say, Iceland, I would be mortified that I was being represented by such insane crap. Each band/singer puts on this 2.5 minute performance and you get a range of everything from Ricky Martin wannabes (a popular choice this year) to chicks in go-go boots and garter belts beating on drums to this crazy girl from Iceland who acted like a blonde American bimbo (like from the Barbie Girl song) and ran around sliding down enormous candy canes and saying "Oh My God" like a complete ditz. And, my personal favorite, Finland. A bunch of guys and girls dressed up like demons (complete with unfolding bat wings on the lead singer) who sang their song "Hard Rock Hallelujiah"...I couldn't keep my jaw from hanging open. Without a doubt, one of the most bizarre things I've EVER seen in my life. And in case you're wondering, yes, Finland made it to the finals. This definitely needs to be on American TV, although I'm not sure it would lead to a very positive view of Europe. And if anyone has known about this and hasn't shared with the group, you should be strung up by your toenails and sung to by Finland.

Love in the Mine

95% of all of the houses in Sweden are either yellow or red, and here's why. I'll start with my trip to Falun. On Wednesday I had to take a train (for the only time in my life, as far as I can remember) to a city called Falun about 2 hours northwest of Vasteras. I had to change trains twice and all announce- ments were in Swedish, so it was definitely an adventure. But the countryside was really beautiful... through the forests and across lakes. I got to Falun and Gunnel (a PhD student who does research on time-assisted devices for children and adults with special needs) took me to the Kopparberget, the old copper mine that the town is famous for. Falun, and the surrounding region, is really considered to be the heart of Sweden. There is a true story about a young man and woman who had fallen in love and were engaged to be married, several hundred years ago or something. The man worked in the mine and disappeared on the day before his wedding. Most people thought he got cold feet and ran away, but whatever the reason, he was never seen again. Forty years later, some miners were working in the mine and ran into an old abandoned mine shaft. At the bottom of the shaft they found a man who had died from falling down the shaft, breaking both of his legs, and not being able to climb back out. They didn't know how long he had been down there, but he looked like he was in his 20's and hadn't yet begun to decompose. They pulled him out and put him on display in the town square in a glass coffin. The woman who had lost her love so many years before immediately recognized him as her fiancee because he still looked the same, although she and everyone else had aged 40 years. The townspeople paraded the man around the country as proof of the preservative powers of the mine's minerals. Now those minerals are used in house paint, and the houses only need repainting every 20 years or so. Because of the paint, you almost never see a house in Sweden that looks faded; all the houses are bright colors. Long story but cool ending, yeah? Then Gunnel took me to a hill above the city where there are 2 HUGE ski jumps that run in the winter time, and I really cannot imagine how freaking nuts you have to be to do that. I stayed at Gunnel's house after visiting the hospital that she worked at. Her 21-year-old son is in a medieval band and he played his hurdy-gurdy for me. Really cool. Then his friends told me how stupid they thought American football was. I ate pickled herring for dinner...don't ever try it. It's nothing like sushi. But the homemade Schnapps that we drank with it made the meal fantastic. Moonshine will do wonders for a slimy salty fish.

Wilbur

Today I saw the biggest pig I've ever seen in my life! I went with two friends to this place, Vallby, that they call a kind of outdoor museum. We took their children (3 all together). I had to walk a ways to meet them at the museum, but the walk was beautiful, alongside the river here. And yet another beautiful day! Vallby is sort of a collection of things; many of the oldest houses and buildings in the city have been transported here. There are also several areas with farm animals: goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, roosters, rabbits, etc. And then Vallby has a lot of beautiful, small stores that sell hand-made crafts (silver, textiles, brushes, etc.), flowers, candy, and coffee. Vallby is free for anybody to come, and lots of school children take field trips here. Lovely. So, now for some weird/funny things about Sweden:

• Philip-you're right. Very Godless country. And just to illustrate the difference with one point, instead of celebrating Halloween, a holiday typically thought of as pagan to many, they have turned Easter into Easterween (that's what I call it, anyway), where kids dress up like witches with aprons and fly on brooms (although they are good witches).
  
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• Many of the cafes have outdoor seating for people that want to smoke. And, because it can be pretty chilly on many nights, they offer blue blankets for people to sit around outside all wrapped up like mummies. Looks pretty funny.
• 60% of Swedes have summer homes. Like my mom says, Swedes sure know how to live right. Except for the Godless part.
• The company that makes most of the toilets here puts its name on the button on the top of the commode that flushes the toilet. It says "IDo", so everytime I flush a toilet, I think to myself, and sometimes say aloud, "I DO flush the toilet."
• Entrances and Exits are called farts. Infart and Utfart. The signs are everywhere. Wonder what an in-fart would be in English?
• Once there was a Swedish king who was killed from poison put into his soup. So now, every Thursday, many Swedes eat pea soup and pancakes, in memory of him. This was like hundreds of years ago or something, but the pea soup continues.
  
• Today I observed a class of 5th graders during their PE, math and english lessons. There are some CRAZY good 11-year-old football (soccer) players here, by the way. For english, they read a story called Red Stains and then sang a song about it. The majority of the song was a repetition of this: "Trousers, shoes, and underpants, panties, socks and shirts--they all have red stains. Jim-where are you?" I almost peed my pants.
  

Moria

Miner fourty-niner. Nina, who is from Russia, and her Swedish boyfriend Pontis took me to these 12th century silver mines just outside the city today. It was crazy...we all had to put helmets, boots, and ponchos on. We went about 65 meters down into the earth and through the old mine shafts where workers had mined dirty silver from the ground for hundreds of years. Pretty cool. It was really cold, though, and really quiet and really wet. And dark---especially when the guide made us turn off all of our flashlights. The walls were sparkly with all of the silver and other minerals in them still. You can clearly see from the picture what the mine looked like. Ha. But it completely reminded me of Lord of the Rings when they go to the mines...you could see down shafts that looked like bottomless pits. There were tons of dead ends where they had mined in but hadn't found any silver so they went to another spot. Let's all be thankful that we aren't mine workers...it's tough stuff. Even crazier...in one of the shafts on a ledge, there were little candles in the shape of a heart. The guide told us that they had a WEDDING that day in the mine. Who would get married in a mine? Swedes are crazy. Now, a wedding in an X-Wing Fighter, THAT, I could see.

Mulle Mulle

This morning I got to observe in a special preschool, called I Ur och Skur (you really don't want to hear me try to pronounce this). Martina took me there (see pic)...she used to be a teacher there and really was one of 8 who started the school. It was AWESOME and so weird at the same time. It's referred to, basically, as an outdoor school. The kids spend their entire day outside. When we got there in the morning, they were getting ready to walk into the forest. (In Sweden, most land doesn't belong to anybody...it's open space that anyone can use, which is awesome awesome awesome.) We walked quite a ways (while kids held the hand of their buddy) into the forest and stopped in a clearing where each kid had a small mat that the teacher put out to sit on. They had a sort of lesson about trees (in Swedish, of course), and then we had snack. Each kid pulled out their own backpack, their own thermos of drink, and their own brought-from-home snack in tupperware, and ate independently. Martina had brought coffee and danish for both of us. Then the kids just ran around and played in the woods for like an hour, playing games in the trees, building "forts" that they designed...whatever they wanted to do. The only rules were that you had to stay in seeing distance of the group and nobody would help you up on rocks or trees (the idea being that if you could climb up on your own, you could get down on your own without getting hurt). This would NEVER happen in America...teachers would feel too out of control and parents would sue. When sombody had to go to the bathroom, they either peed on trees or in a small portable toilet seat placed behind a rock. At one point, like 7 boys were all peeing on different trees at the same time...hilarious. Then we went back to the school and everybody ate outside sitting on little benches in circles. The younger kids even slept outside in sleeping bags. They whole emphasis was on play, respect and knowledge of the outdoors, and independence. It was awesome. (The other pictures are from the other night when Martina, her daughter Lena, who is 7, and myself sat in their garden and played barbie dolls until like 9:30 when it got dark. Lena is great.) The picture of the cartoon are the four symbols from legend that represent nature and environment: Skosmulle was born in the forst, Laxe was born in the sea, Fjallfina was born in the mountains, and Nova was born in outerspace. Their message to children is:

• Enjoy outdoor life!
• Learn from the nature, play, sing and dream!
• Love and take care of the nature!

I'm getting ready to read theses from master's students who are from Ghana and Belarus...it's crazy how everybody speaks at least some English. Aren't the English snotty to make everyone learn our own language??

I Would Walk 500 Miles

And I did. I probably walked close to 500 miles today, or at least it seemed that way. I decided to walk down to Lake Malaren today (Sweden's 3rd largest inland lake), and then I ended up getting lost a couple times after that, but eventually made it home without having to ask anyone. And I ran into some cool things on the way. The picture of the treehouse is a hotel room called Woodpecker Inn or something, and this crazy designer built it. He also built a hotel room under the water in the lake and apparently has designed a Swedish house for the moon that the Swedish space organization is considering. I had to buy some t-shirts (because my husband told me to pack some and I didn't listen but instead went with my mom's advice and left them at home...a lesson for next time) because of the unseasonably warm temperatures here. Today it was 70 degrees and is supposed to be around that for most of this week. I also bought one of the best candybars I've ever had, and some hazlenut ice cream I'm excited about munching on later. I found about four McDonalds, a Pizza Hut, and a sports bar called O'Leary's that had signs of American baseball teams in the windows. About halfway through my walk, I realized I was trekking around with camera in hand and a Crimson Tide shirt on...what a stupid American tourist I must've looked like. On the way home, I saw the only Corvette I've seen in Sweden drive down the road immediately followed by an old lemon-yellow 1950's Cadillac and then a red dune buggy. And then 8 million Volos. I tried to take some pictures of hot Swedish chicks for my guy friends (and, sadly, my husband), but they didn't really look like they'd appreciate a stranger snapping the camera in their face. Another day, perhaps.

Office space

Here's my office. I share it with a girl named Nina from Russia, very sweet. She is pregnant, along with every third girl that I meet here. Apparently, during the winter when it's dark so much, people just stay in their house and get pregnant. And then they come out in the spring time and surprise everyone with their news. It's almost like bears hibernating. Funny.

What if God was one of us

The MOST bizarre afternoon...today I went to a confirmation ceremony at a church in Sweden. Martina's sister's sister's son was being confirmed (I think), Simon. The weather was beautiful, and I walked to the church. It was built somewhere around the 12th century. The inside of the church is huge and ornate, very old Europe. The ceremony started out normally, with all of the preteens and teenagers being confirmed walking up the aisle dressed in white gowns. They were mostly all girls, to go with the all-female church staff. A hymn or two was sung in Swedish. The reverend said something I didn't understand. And then the weirdness began. All of the kids stood up at the front and began a series of songs, skits, and talks about symbols and stuff (all in Swedish). So I sat and listened, assuming I wouldn't understand any of it. And then, all the kids starting singing Joan Osbourne's "One of Us" in English. That's right, complete with the lines about the pope in Rome and a holy rolling stone. And more weird (or maybe not) were the 3 women trying to hide behind the kids and sing into microphones because the kids weren't really into the singing all that much, and I suppose it would look bad if no sound came out when the music started. Then they did some kind of skit where, at one point, one of the girls put on a black cape and played chess with another girl in white...I think it may have been the devil represented or something, but the devil was Swedish and so not very understandable and much less scary. A Swedish song followed and then a talk (in Swedish) about symbols in the church (including a skull with angel wings, which I still can't figure out...). And then, another English song. Get ready...my Mom's personal favorite, "Tears in Heaven" by Clapton. And all of this inside this super old, super ornate, super quiet, super Swedish cathedral. Then, more talking, the Nicene crede and Lord's prayer in Swedish, although nobody ever bowed their heads, and then we filed out of the church. Seriously, one of the must surreal experiences I've ever had.

Hej

So when I got here, I heard people saying "hey" to each other and thought they were speaking English. Stupid American. "Hej", pronounced "hey," is hello in Swedish. You'd think I would have known that before coming to this country. One more thing I forgot to do before I left was learn some of the langauge. Last night I went to eat dinner at my hosts' house (who are 2 married professors) with them and their 11-year-old daughter, Cajsa, who is insanely beautiful and smart. Their home was awesome...very modern, clean lines...and they LOVE IKEA here...I thought it'd be like American products that we don't care for but that foreigners love, but it's not. They really do have IKEA stuff all over their homes. For dinner, Eva made cod and shrimp in a white sauce (the Cod, interestingly enough, was from Alaska...apparently the cod around Sweden is all fished up at the moment) with asparagus, new potatoes, and salad (which we ate without dressing). For dessert, we had strawberries and Swedish ice cream with truffle bits in it...everything was delicious. Mats walked me home and we crossed a river that I recognized from a picture I had on my computer...so pretty. By the way, Sweden is amazing for so many reasons...as an example, when you have a baby, you get 1.5 years off with 60% salary, and you get to decide whether the wife, the husband, or the grandparents (if they are not retired) will take the time off!! Maybe we'll have our children here.......Today after a few meetings, Martina took me on a walk through the city and to lunch at this park on a high hill overlooking the city (see the pictures, along with a picture of a Mallard for Mark). I had Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes with lingonberry sauce...awesome. We walked home through one of the oldest parts of Vasteras, complete with cobblestone streets and really small doors. I'll have to take some pictures later. Right now, I'm just happy because I'm full of meatballs and I got to talk to my husband and my puppy for the first time earlier today. Mmmmmm, lingonberries......

Getting there...this is a long one

so I’m sitting in the airport in france waiting for my plane to Stockholm that leaves in 2 hours, and I have some observations. First of all, I can handle being tired. But what I can’t handle is when I’m so tired that I get restless body syndrome. Sucks. And I still have 1 plane ride and 1 long bus ride to go. And then, I guess, a walk to my apartment. This is the most messed up airport…all circular and circles within circles. The weather is really pretty. OH, I forgot to tell about the bus ride here. So when we land, we have to get on this bus to take us to the main terminal because they are doing a butload of construction. So we taxi in the airplane all this way and then all pile into this bus (standing room only). The bus has all of its heaters on full-blast and the bus is already overfilled with people. Then we went through an obstacle course, I think. We would be riding along next to the runway and then duck to the right to go on the side of a divider, and then under something big and glass, and then around another building which looked like it got us back to where we started. Anyway, I thought I might die of being hot and motion sick, but we at last got to the main terminal. And then I just gave up trying to figure out where I was going on my own and started asking anybody who looked like they might try to help me even though I was only speaking English and nixed the French 101-trying to get information out of a French guy-bullcrap. So anyway, I’m still waiting now for my next flight. I miss Mark. We watched King Kong on the plane on the way here…does anyone know that he DIES at the end of the movie? Am I the only one who didn’t know that? Sucky movie, cute gorilla, sad ending. And then I got all teary and I couldn’t tell if it was because the bad guys shot Kong or I just left my husband a zillion miles away. I wonder why my body refuses to sleep on airplanes? Really an annoying trait. Maybe I should try hypnosis? I will say that the people here LOOK weird, and it SMELLS REALLY bad. I’m pretty sure I’m going to look like a big American ball of ugly by the time I meet the chick who is supposed to pick me up at the bus station. I hope she lets me take a nap when I get there. If you haven’t flown Delta in a while, let me tell you, there have been some changes, my friend. For instance, instead of serving your food on trays that are meant to look like nice plates, they serve your food in what can only be described as plastic troughs…kind of like bread pans. Instead of serving alcohol for free on international flights, they charge $5.00 PER DRINK. Instead of nice flight attendants, they just respond to your questions with “I don’t know.”But right now there is this little 2-year-old boy crying in the airport walking next to his parents, and his 4-year old sister is walking next to him, making a heart with her hands and trying to show it to him to make him feel better. It doesn’t make him feel better, but it makes me smile!! These Europeans sure love to wear cowboy boots…not the best look for them.

The Apartment

This is my apartment...really big but not really clean...I'll have to work on it. 2 bedrooms, big living room, big kitchen with table, fridge and small freezer and stove, small bathroom, and a small back patio. Going to buy a pillow tonight, hopefully...sleeping on my sweatshirt is no fun. Last night my neighbors above me decided to have a dance-off or something...stomping around and yelling and playing loud music from 1-3 in the morning. Swedes must hate thick ceilings and walls. If they do it again tonight, I may turn into that guy who lived below Monica and Rachel on Friends that would poke their floor with a broom handle.