Midsommar!

So, I took the long long ride to the west coast of Sweden, as documented with iPhone screenshots in my last post...
Capri (destination) is a small resort/nature reserve in Strömstad, Sweden. It has maybe 30 cabin-style houses for rent throughout the year, along with a beach, dock, tennis courts, pool, and small shop. Fredrik's parents started renting out week 25 (midsummer week) back in 1978, when Capri opened!

Hopefully by now you've seen the pictures from my trip.
If not,
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4960340499725.1073741827.1635420126&type=1&l=a0342f6a2b


Fredrik drove me 'into town' and we checked out a fish market, some shops, and of course had fika. We went for two short hikes in the nature reserve, and Fredrik did some 'creative' pathfinding (disaster) so it took a loooot longer than expected. We swam in the pool, and Fredrik decided to swim in the ocean just to say he did... after three seconds, he comes out with a bloody hand, scraped on a mussel or something. That was the end of that.

We had a little celebration of Alva's 3rd birthday, where Fredrik's god parents Krister and Kristina and their grandson Oscar joined us. They rent a cabin on Sydlångö (south-long-island) just 10 minute boat ride from the dock at Capri, and have done so since the 70's as well.

On midsommarafton (the holiday day) the 'young ones' packed up rain gear and took the little boat out to Sydlångö. It was cloudy but very warm. Alva was NOT happy about taking the boat. But we made it alive. Sydlångö (sude long uh) has its own little midsummer celebration, and the people renting on the island get together to make a maypole. At 2pm the kids get in a cart of some kind, right now a cart pulled by ATV, and the parents follow behind. They go to the far side of the island to pick wildflowers, some of which go onto the maypole and the rest go into the girls' flowery crowns. I managed to step in two separate ant hills while flower-picking... apparently they have biting ants in Sweden. I did not know this. Somewhere on Karl's camera is a picture of me jumping around literally with ants in my pants... I squashed some of them but they're like full mosquitoes (blood spatters) so I had to shower after that lovely experience. My feet are still covered in red itchy spots...

Anyway, 3pm everyone met by the pole so that the men could carry the maypole into the hole, while the ladies sang something wordless (I have a video somewhere). Then it was time for the songs. I had my lovely flower crown made by Kristina (I had no idea what I was doing). The song part was quite short, it varies from place to place, anywhere from 10 minutes to 1h depending on what people want. More 'traditional' celebrations, in Dalarna for example at the old historical villages, where people all dress in traditional Swedish costume, would last at least that long. Ours was only about 7 songs, but Fredrik said we hit all the main points. I didn't take any videos because I was of course forced to participate!

Here are some different perspectives of midsummer:
(ridiculous) German IKEA commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWU0CGfj-SU
General funny explanation of traditions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZLpGOOA1Q

After the dancing and singing around the maypole, we had dinner with schnapps, played minigolf, and ran through the now torrential rain back to the boat. A little bit of rest and drying off, then it was time for seafood. Crabs bought the day before, and crayfish & shrimps with bread and mayonnaise. Can't say I like crab but the shrimpy things were tasty!

The next day it was time to go home. We packed up everything from both the rented cabins (we were too many to fit in just one) and drove 4 hours to Örebro, where the Wäganders' summer house is. Fredrik and I were supposed to watch a football game on Sunday, so no point driving all the way home then all the way back to Stockholm. We stayed overnight there with Gudmund and Vickan, and then watched the last-ever Hammarby football game at the South Stadium (has been running since 1967). Now they have a fresh new Tele2 arena, but a lot of fans were quite emotional about the stadium closing. Everyone went down onto the pitch after the game, and people were taking pieces of grass, net, chairs, posters, all kinds of things. Hammarby is famous for its fan following... at least half the 13,000 fans were wearing green and white (team colours) and singing cheers and songs through the whole game. Especially for that night they even had some green flares... fun but very smoky...
I was reminded that most Swedish sports cheers consist of the team name. Most of the cheers were something like:
Hammarby! Hammarby! Hammarby hammarby hammarby! Hammarby... hammarby.... hamma hamma hammarbyyyy!

They also have a swedish translation of the 'soccer song',
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlvIG09pIh8
Bajen is another name for Hammarby, which apparently was born decades ago when they played an English team, that pronounced it Hammar-bye instead of Hammar-bi. Bye became Bajen... so, "Bajen is the name, football is their game..." etc ;)

"Long live the southern stadium!"

Better pictures from my camera will come later. Some fun videos too... of Fredrik screaming a LOT.

Super warm here now. Sunny sunny sunny and I got a burn from doing homework outside today... oops. 

Grill time! Got this grill for $20 at ICA and it works perfectly for hanging in the park with some marinated pork and veggie kebabs. mmmmm

x

Train trip

iPhone GPS blue dot shows where I am!

Halfway in terms of time... But three quarters in terms of distance. 

Seen at the Grästorp (tiny town in the middle of nowhere) train station: "NOW we have Sandwiches again!!"

...?

More bits and pieces...

Well, the promised 'picture update' never actually came... sorry. It will get there. There is a mini super-virus going around Uppsala, the cold that never ends. It's not serious at all but it lasts upwards of two weeks... I'm on day 13 and optimistic that I'll be able to enjoy Strömstad.

Some updates from this week:
- picked up some more awesome free furniture because so many people move out around this time. They just leave it in the laundry area. Got a big rug (washed it of course), a tiny coffee table that matches the TV stand (victory!) and another mirror.
- also got a free Tassimo machine (another one!) because the Swedish coffee company Gevalia had a promotion that if you bought 10 Tassimo or Gevalia items, they'd send the first 5000 people a machine. Only about two weeks ago we got one for 100:- ($15) from a friend of Fredrik so hopefully we can sell the new one on Blocket !!
- Monday morning had an interview for my praktik (work placement deal). They definitely want me!
Here's the website: http://www.biotopia.nu/ If you use Google Chrome you can just click the "Translate" button. It seems to be a bit of a cross between a micro version of Science world, Van aquarium, and the LV ecology centre. I start there Sept 3! It's unpaid (except for the 'living allowance' which I will get from the government job agency throughout the 6 months of this program). I say 'living allowance' because it only barely covers my monthly rent, and nobody could possibly live on it. But, they're paying me to learn Swedish so... works !
- Got moved from the SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) 'C' course to the 'D' course. I still have to take the national test to officially pass it, but nooo big deal. Apparently they should have put me in the D course to begin with... oh well. [After I finish the D course I can get my 'SFI Bonus' money.]
- Fredrik left Saturday to the west coast of Sweden with his family, and I'm leaving in... one hour? Train leaves at 17.11 (this is a standard way to format time... of course it means 5:11pm). It will take me just under 7 hours to get there, and since I'm leaving at an odd time of day, it means two trains and three busses. YUCK.
Here's a map:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Str%C3%B6mstad,+Sweden&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=59.833279,17.658447&sspn=0.187361,0.676346&oq=stromst&t=h&hnear=Str%C3%B6mstad,+Sweden&z=13
in case you want to know where in the world I'm going...
On the way back we'll spend a night in the family summer house in Örebro
Map:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?q=%C3%96rebro,+Sweden&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=58.938346,11.179187&sspn=0.048094,0.169086&oq=orebro&t=h&hnear=%C3%96rebro,+Sweden&z=11
And catch a football game in Stockholm on Sunday. It's some kind of interesting/important game (no idea why yet).

Also, if you didn't get the message, my TWU email account is now out of service. TWU has messed up their email service and I can't log in anymore. So please use my UBC one!!

Strange things in my fridge

Tomatpure: tomato paste with 'delicate seasoning', in a tube, used to flavour such complex dishes as Korv Stroganoff (giant hotdog, cream, crushed tomatoes, and rice/pasta, plus a couple squirts of tomatpure).
Creme bonjour rökt renkött: cream cheese flavoured with smoked reindeer.
Milda matfett: translates to food fat. A combination of milky product and rapeseed oil, but only 4% fat. And can sit in the fridge for six months. Hmm. Yum.
Pepparrot: spicy horseradish paste, in a tube.
Räk och Kräftost: shrimp and crayfish cheese, in a tube.
Surströmming: fermented herring. Speaks for itself. Expiry is "december of the year after the year listed on top of the can" according to the can directions...

*Note: these items are all actually in my fridge, purchased for real by either myself or Fredrik.

Bits and pieces

This post will be a bit of a mish mash.
First up: Pancakes.

http://www.pannkakor.se/pannkaksrecept
YUM. Some crepe-like Swedish pancakes for breakfast, with fresh whipped cream and strawberry jam.

Somewhat common recipe (makes 8 pannkakor):
2.5 dl flour (1 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
3 dl milk (about 1 1/4 cup)
Mix until smooth.
Add another 3 dl milk, 3 eggs, and 2 tsp melted butter, and whisk. Let sit for 30 minutes (or don't).
Fry in a pan and eat. Preferably on Thursdays, and with pea soup.

Next: random picture from the internet. This is a series of 'comics' which makes fun of the naming differences in major european languages... I like this one.

Next: interview.

This is the beautiful 'small food room' (lunchroom?) where I had my interview for Short Cut. It was incredibly challenging to have a 25 minute interview entirely in broken Swedish... but apparently I did OK. Accepted!

Completely empty streets. Why? Because it's 3:30am and nobody is up, of course. A shot of the path by the graveyard when I got off work this past Tuesday.

shrimp!

they look so strange with their beady little eyes

These two pictures come from a Sexa, which is like a nation staff party. They have one a month or so, and it's partly to use up leftover food and alcohol, partly for the staff to get to know each other!

And more. Anundshög!

A few more updates that I forgot to include:

I now have a Swedish ID card, a maestro bank card, and am registered in SFI courses to start this week. I also interviewed last week for Short Cut, and am supposed to find out in a few days if I am accepted. I can get a small monthly stipend from the government for this program, about 3200:- per month.

Today we were back in Västerås visiting Fredrik's friends, and we stopped at a viking burial site from the 500s (pictures to follow!) I'm preparing myself for another busy week... working Tuesday thru to Sunday. Zzz

Note that you can click on any picture and it will display in full screen.

Welcome to Anundshög, Sweden's largest burial site.

It even has its own cafe.

Learning some things about the burial site.

Cute little kids playing, burial mound in the background.

Ships made of stone by Vikings to commemorate the site

view from the burial mound.

some nice Swedish countryside.

at the top of the burial mound.

Fredrik picked a wildflower.

Vårbal, Comviq & Bryggan

Well, it's been a wickedly busy two weeks. Haven't found any time to blog since I've been working a LOT. Unfortunately my shifts at Bryggan summer club are very unevenly spaced... I work 18 out of 21 days in the first three weeks (two weeks in now), then only 5-6 shifts in June and July, and another 15 or so in August.

Ok, start with vårbal! My dress was tailored very nicely and my super cheap Guess heeled sandals from Army & Navy (thanks Alyse) were slightly painful but went great with the dress.
We arrived just after 16.00 and spent an hour out on the patio in the gorgeous sun, hanging around with our welcome drinks, chatting with the other guests, and listening to a few spring themed choir songs (the Swedes love to be season-appropriate). Found our seats upstairs, which were unfortunately in the far back corner of the second room... and it must have been 30 C with the windows closed. I had a sleeveless dress on and *I* was hot... Fredrik had a wool tailcoat. Yikes.

Anyway. Lots of speeches, more strange Swedish songs, some delicious Vasterbotten mousse (cheese mousse with radishes and asparagus) and nettle soup with half a boiled egg and bacon, some oxfilé and not so tasty potatoes (kitchen emergency I was told by my waitress friend... menu said endive salad. I don't know what an endive is but I know potatoes are not endives.) and pannacotta for dessert. And the typical ball drinks as experienced last time... beer, schnapps, port, wine, punsch (nothing like punch), baileys, coffee... etc.

svensk punsch

The dinner ended around 12:30am this time, as they had to inaugurate the new curators for the following year which meant a million more speeches. After that, me and Fredrik ran across the street (literally) to Göteborgs nation for their afterparty, to meet my friend Angelica who didn't get ball tickets. Angelica sang in the Lucia choir with me at Christmas, she was on exchange to UBC last year! Anyway, the dress code was strictly enforced at that nation, so everyone had tailcoats and ball gowns, and we danced until 4am. By that time the sun was shining brightly, and the streets were packed with people in fancy dress, either going home, to another afterparty, or to the train. This train is yet another special Uppsala tradition that I don't understand. The heritage train, called Lennakatten, runs only on Sundays in the summer. It runs on an old-fashioned track preserved by a special society from Uppsala to Faringe and back (50km), and for some reason or other, students ride it after the ball. It used to be run starting at 9am on the day after the spring ball, but in recent years it's been changed to 5am to accommodate students.

Lenakatten sitting at Uppsala Östra (west), next to the Centralstation

Another exciting event of that week: winning tickets!

I managed to drag Fredrik away from working on his thesis into the city centre where the phone company was having a promotional event, giving away free food and 10 sets of tickets to Summerburst, a big electronic dance music festival in Stockholm and Gothenburg. We assumed since we got there late that all the tickets had been given away, but then we discovered the tickets were hidden in envelopes around the city square, and apparently there were some left. We found an envelope within about 3 minutes of looking, and voila, each had an 800:- ($130) ticket to Summerburst Stockholm!! This was extra super wonderful because we were actually going to buy tickets, but they sold out before we had a chance. I had a bit of a panic because I was supposed to work that night, but finally NOW I can get excited about it because I finally managed to switch with someone.

happy winners.

After all that excitement it was time to start work at Södermanlands-Nerikes nation, also known as Snerikes. My first day was May 23, the day after their 'premiere' at the restaurant bar. After two evenings (18.00-01.00) at the restaurant bar, it was time for club night. Snerikes holds a restaurant everyday from 18.00-00.00, and every Tuesday and Friday they also run a nightclub until 02.00. They have two bars inside open, one big one small, and the same outside, one big one small. I was working at what they call the 'event bar,' the small shack-like bar which mainly sells beer, cider, and basic hi-ball drinks (gin tonic, rum coke...) in plastic glasses, designed to be as highly efficient as possible. 

The Event Bar

the happy bartender with her love can (kärleks burk aka tipjar)

It was very hard work... I sold around 40,000:- ($6250 CAD) mostly in $5 beers and ciders. We do sell mixed drinks here but most people don't know any drinks, so they just order a vodka-redbull (apparently one of the most popular drinks at the nations... yugh). My arms were full of scratches from the bottles and my fingers were and swollen from grabbing several bottles in one hand... we didn't have any break in the crowd from 8pm to 1:30am. I did an amazing amount of lugging cases of beer and liquor back and forth... needless to say I was a bit dead on Saturday. Since then I've worked at the event bar twice more, and it was a little easier but not much... less scratches those times around since I realized *avoid the bottlecaps*. Seems silly but there you have it. Unfortunately most people pay by card, and for some time we had only one card machine, so a lot of people were pretty grumpy... also, you can't tip by card machine, so the tips are not wonderful. And since I'm paid around $6 an hour for working 12 hours a day, I count on tips... luckily (or not) the machine broke last Tuesday club night, so we got double the tips because everybody had to pay cash :)

I'll put some pictures of the spring ball up in a few days. I've been working quite a lot and there isn't much time to be on the computer... plus it's been gorgeously sunny the last two weeks and I live next to a park! Hello frisbee.