Dancing, among other things, but mostly dancing (sorry non dancing friends)

So this  entry may be rather heavily dancing related. Since I went on Wednesday and then started writing about it then… so sorry non dancing ppl but there's some non dancing stuff at the end… ish. [disclaimer: I wrote this paragraph before writing most of the rest of the entry… there isn’t much that’s non dancing ]

So I went down to Chicago (which is the venue’s name) on Wednesday night. Was entirely nervous and almost didn’t. But was def glad I went. So I turned up and changed my shoes and stood around for a while. Until I was like this is stupid and went and asked this Finnish guy. He spoke English the whole time, and I had forgotten where he was from. Oops. He’s kinda fun to dance with. Has a stronger lead than a lot of the Swedish guys, but also has a tendency to get a little closer than I would aim for. So I danced with him for 3 dances, cos in Sweden everyone always does at least 2 songs. And then he asked for a third and it seemed like a stupid idea to say no. so I danced, and I saw this guy at the side watching us. which meant that when he came and asked me to dance halfway thru the next song I felt great. I was like yay, someone saw me dance and then wanted to dance with me. That’s way cool. Woohoo. So we had a fun couple of dances. Tho, cos the second one was fast and he had very much a style that involved sliding around a lot, he did end up falling on the floor. I was like oh no are u ok, but he was fine. Think he was mostly embarrassed since we were right at the front of the dance floor. Oops.

The problem with going to a social dance on your own is that there's a whole bunch of time watching on your own. And because the place is so hot, standing around can make you look warm on its own. So I sat there for a short while before noticing a really cool old-school style girl to watch. I noted her heels since there has been so much lindy blogging about girls in heels. And I have to say, they looked good, and the clicking that she was doing with the heels would have been way less apparent if she’d been in suedes instead.

Was good to watch for a while. Reminded me how much fun you can have just by watching people who are really good and are having a lot of fun themselves.

So then I ran into this Lithuanian guy who I had met the last time. I grabbed him for a dance and he even remembered my name. I was like awww, sweet. He’s pretty fun to dance with. Danced with him for 3 songs and then stood and had an actual conversation! Cos he doesn’t speak Swedish either! And does speak English.

So then I mostly had a bunch of random dances. They included

• Crazy old guy – who span insanely, and didn’t seem to realise that he was supposed to be leading something instead of just spinning and then making me spin with the sort of lead that doesn’t have any cushioning effect in it, just the brick wall approach. He also managed to bend my nail back which I wasn’t impressed at.
• Excitable looking guy, who had managed to hit me on the head while I was dancing with someone else. He just looked like he had so much fun that I grabbed him. The only problem with him is that he’s one of those people that look at you constantly, with a grin….
• Bouncy music guy – managed to get a song which was much more bouncy than the rest, and he said he much preferred it that way. He was much more the sort of style we dance at home, with a stronger bouncier lead. He had the sort of tension that ended swing outs with a leg swing and proper swivels. I liked dancing with him, tho he also did the constant looking thing…

So there's this guy called Erik that had been there the previous time I had gone. He’s very tall and wears a flat cap so is clearly noticeable, and when standing around on my own I think my nervous face may also seem to be like I don’t like people, so while I had seen this guy previously we hadn’t actually danced. And then he asked me this time. I mentioned not being Swedish and he asked where I was from. I said not London, from the north. He was like oh near Edinburgh? I was like between the two! This while we had started on a fast song which at least meant I couldn’t critique myself but I was like why didn’t I dance with this guy before he was so much fun. Was flinging me around and then threw in a frog jump!! I was like excellent! I love frog jumps! And cos he’s so tall it did mean I had enough air time to wonder whether, having just shortened my skirt (due to the excessive heat!!) I should do the frog legs or keep my legs straight. But I am a frog jumper!! So at the end of the song I told him I felt at home now that someone had thrown me. So in the next song he did a funky leg flick, like the one we did in dips and tricks at GNSH. But I was very aware that my skirt was not suitable for that so I managed to throw both my legs up at a random angle. He may have interpreted that as me having no idea what I’m doing… kinda… and then cos we had sufficient fun I got a third song, in which I got a proper massive frog jump. I was so impressed!! :oD  

While I spending some of my random time standing around alone, there was a guy came and stood at the bar with a girl with a big camera. And she was taking a whole bunch of photos. And I wasn’t sure if he was actually a dancer or just there for the fun photos. But she took a bunch of photos of him and then also took some on the dance floor. Which led to a fun situation whereby I was dancing with the slippy shoes guy and he clearly wanted to be in the photos so we were moving back and forth across the front of the girl. I was just laughing a little bit (internally of course) because the more we moved, the more she pointed the camera in the opposite direction.  

Then at 10:30 they switched the lights on. I was like oh, maybe it just finishes early tonight but it turned out to be a birthday jam. The weird thing was that it was this guy’s birthday but the original girl dancing with him got stolen too so there was 2 couples all the time. I’m not sure if that’s cos it was her birthday too or just so that guys could get in there too. I have to say tho we did have a guy following at one point. He got left in the longest cos no one wanted to follow him cos he’s really good. Also, Sweden does not have the stealing thing down. There was no stealing at all. The next girl would stand close and stick her hand out to be taken. I was like wheres the fun in that huh?

Then I had a Balboa moment. When I just stood there and thought, if Graham were here, I could balboa! And I there were a bunch of people balboa-ing and I just thought I really fancy that. So I asked the Lithuanian guy if he balboas(?). He said he’s just started so we didn’t do anything complicated, but I did constantly think of Svetlana telling me to take small steps. And my legs remembered why we usually wear heels for balboa!

Then I managed to follow that with Balboa with random guy, not unusual, but in a spinning bit I managed to get my hand inside his shirt!! Just between the buttons, not my whole hand. But I was like I’m so sorry. And the rest of the dance didn’t improve from there…

So then I had another couple of songs dancing with the first Finnish guy and we assumed that would be the end of the night but they put on one last song, so I went over to this guy with braces cos I had seen him a few times and he looked like a lot of fun to dance with. Had been wanting to dance with him for a while so I was like quick grab him. So I asked in my vague Swedish and he said a bunch of stuff I didn’t understand! I was like I’m sorry I don’t speak Swedish and he was like oh in that case we’ll dance. So it was actually a good thing that I didn’t speak it. Hurrahs. That was a fast dance tho. I hadn’t really paid attention before asking, and on the way onto the dance floor he did say but it did mean we could just play with the rhythms a whole bunch so it wasn’t just swing outs and having to constantly move fast. Which made it one of the best dances. And then he gave me a hug! Which is not normally noticeable but being the first hug for 3 weeks I was massively impressed by that too. So I headed home on a lindy high!!

 Also, going dancing on Wednesday made me feel a little bit like an addict, cos I was so much of a happier person on Thursday when I had had my lindy fix!

This Friday was the Friday closest to the full moon, which is apparently the very way that they decide when to have office drinks. This means that the fridge on Plan 4 (our level) was more than full of beer, and all persons got to finish at 4:30 and go get beer. The thing I most noticed was that the people from the other floor didn’t mix outside of their own floor, or certainly our floor didn’t mix at all. But the good thing was that there was lots of choice in beer, and proper good beer too. And to accompany the beer they provide popcorn, which still sounds random to me.

So we the English were the people who were there until the end. The Swedish are very much a get home early sort of ppl. At home if we’d had free beer, no one would be leaving until the fridge was empty. And in this case once it was empty Olga, brought out some of the wine from the wine lottery. So there was beer and wine. And we actually got a chance to chat to some of the Swedes for a while. Alex and little Kent won at being there til nearly 6! But we being the English then went for a wander and ended up in a pub. Where we stayed til midnight, like all good English people should on a Friday night. Apparently. They (including Jess) are def convinced we spend all our time in the pub, but I think while we do spend a lot of time there, its mostly because that’s an easy venue to hang out in.

On Saturday night we had heard about a folk music gig/album launch party. This is where Sweden creates variety for me. At home if someone had said they were going to a folk gig, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. But I went, mostly cos other most of the others were going, and it turned out to be a 2 violins and a guitar trio, and they were ACE! So I was really glad I’d gone. Also it means I have now navigated the tube on my own since a whole bunch of miscommunications resulted in Jess cycling and me getting a different tube than the boys. Although it then turned out that I manage to meet them in another station on the way, post changing lines of course.

So the gig was just over an hour long. We assumed that was the end of everything but there was a surprising number of folk still about and more ppl with instruments were coming in. so we decided to hang about. Turned out they cleared half the chairs away and made a dance floor so we got to watch Swedish folk dancing. As a person who is clearly dancing minded I was very much watching their feet to work out what they were doing, while nick and charlotte explained how it differed from what they’d seen in the north, where ppl also just knew the dances, but this was much more energetic apparently. So then having sat around watching for a while charlotte decided that if I wanted to dance she could introduce me to the boyfriend of one of the girls in the band (not that she explained that’s who he was). So he taught me the three dances that ppl there do. There is waltz, Scottish, and slow polka. I hadn’t realised they were 3 different things originally since they were all done round in a circle where ppl seem to choose what they want to do whenever. (and the hold was pretty much the same for all three). The waltz was kinda like our but less directional and the Scottish was mostly walking but with random extra spins wherever you felt like it by waving your arms about (based on being side by side holding right to right and left to left). And the slow polka looked like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6nsvQBlMXE&feature=related but less organised. I tried to find videos for the others too but couldn’t see anything there.

(while checking youtube for similar stuff I found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgGM3Yv4r7g&feature=related!!! I do not wanna do that!)

Also, as soon as I had gotten up to dance, Hugo and one of his friends joined in. I was massively impressed, since the non dancers I know at home would not be up for randomly jumping in when neither knows how. And also a little amused since all I had to do was follow, so I got to see the looks of confusion coming from them.

And then we lost more ppl to the pub, and four of us stayed and danced for ages (or at least til 12ish). It was that good kind of dancing where you may be doing something totally different, but as long as you can get in time with each other it works. And it was definitely good for my following, one of those don’t step even if you think you ought to unless you can feel it situations.

We may also have caused a little bit of chaos. Apparently we were giggling too much and at one point did get evils from a couple who were clearly very good at it (she was even wearing aris allens). I didn’t appreciate that tho since we were clearly new and should be encouraged not pulled faces at. And it wasn’t like we did one song and gave up, we were clearly trying.

Also this weekend I remembered how much I like hanging out with other ppls friends, ie groups who have known each other for years. Hugo had 7 friends come this weekend, which meant that when we went back to the boys house post folk, there was 10 us in the living room just laughing. Or rather there were some comments between the laughter, but so much laughing. So much fun!

Today is the first day I’ve really seen the problem with the oven (apart from it taking longer to organise) * Jess was in the kitchen cooking and I thought its fine, I can just throw some food in the oven while jess is cooking. But no! Stupid oven. But when we mentioned it to Brita earlier this week (who is clearly the ramboll superhero) she has arranged to have it fixed, and by fixed I mean replaced since you cant fix it. Hurrahs for new oven tho. Apparently that should come at some point this coming week. So that will be nice. Also, jess cooked enough food for me so I could eat before cooking :o)

*I had totally forgotten I had food in the oven until I was writing this paragraph… oops…

Culture weekend

Ok so Friday night pub trip, not so cultured, but the title will make sense if you keep reading. But Friday I have to mention because having had a couple in this v quiet little old man pub, we went to an Irish pub. An Irish pub run by a real Irishman, tho the other 2 bar staff were American. It felt very ex-pat in there as we met a yorkshireman, right up to a real Swedish moment – scarf on fire!! Almost everywhere in Stockholm has tea light candles. They’re just one of those things that are always there, and ppl apologise if they aren’t lit. So it was interesting to see on Friday night a plume of smoke suddenly appear by the window inside the pub. And the reason I would call it truly Swedish – no one panicked, no one else really seemed to notice, and the girl who owned the scarf blew out the fire really quickly, and then apologised for the smell!! Amused me greatly. The people here are lovely. And it did make me wonder how come that doesn’t happen more often, the candles really are everywhere!! 

 So then Sat night was culture night in Stockholm. Which meant that a large number of museums and public buildings had events on between 6 and 12, all of which were free. As tourists we obv wanted to get in on this. So me Hugo and jess started out by going back up to the city hall. We were aiming to go up the tower but it turned out the tickets were all gone before we got there. So instead we went round the rest of the inside. It has some massively impressive bits. Like the gold hall, which is fully tiled in shades of gold but with images on it which looked in some ways quite Egyptian. Then we got stuck in a queue which reminded me about my britishness. I stopped when the people in front me did, the ppl behind, clearly not British, tried to start pushing past even tho there was nowhere to go to. I was less than impressed!!

So from the city hall we went to listen to an organ concert in a church. That was kinda good, tho we accidentally managed to sit under the organ so we couldnt see anything. From there we went to find some jazz. Unfortunately that place was on the over full side so we made up for it by sitting having a coffee (or hot chocolate in my case) before we headed back to the church we’d come from for a viol concert. Turns out the viol is the precursor to the cello. Or the bass one is, and that’s what he was playing. It was really good and made me remember that I am a strings girl, I miss string music. 

So from there, jess went home while me and Hugo went up to meet Nick and his wife Charlotte at the Romanian institute since they were doing a tango night which I assumed from the phrasing would include a class. It did not tho, so I watched a couple dance for a while and then we headed up to the Nobel museum. That was exactly what I think all museums should be like – regular museum with a dj and a bunch of craft tables around for folks (not just kids) to get involved in. nick and charlotte watched a v old film which looked highly amusing. I saw bits of it, including bad special effects – worse than old doctor who bad!! Then I wandered around the exhibits, and we managed to hang about till half 11 which wasn’t a helpful time since I wasn’t quite ready to go home but didn’t wanna trek back into town (which was where the only things lasting past 12 were). So instead Hugo and I headed down to an Irish pub which did have live music playing in it when we went in, unfortunately it all finished up shortly after we sat down. 

 To round of the weekend of culture, on Sunday 6 of the 7 of us went to see the St Matthew passion which was being played (and sung) in a local church. That was long. Very long. Or rather I think it felt so long because we were sitting on uncomfortable wooden pews for 3 hours. I’m sure it would have been much more enjoyable with a cushion.

So yesterday I met Rob Butler. He’s in charge of the Northern region for Ramböll UK. And the one thing that I’d discussed about where I go next was being told that I would still count as northern region, so it would be him I’d need to discuss this with. So him me n Paul went for drinks/dinner and had a bunch of good conversation about people moving about the company. The thing was I was expecting the situation to be this is where we have space so this is your choice. His response was where do you want to go? And that I should tell him and he’ll try to make it happen. My total unpreparedness for this made me think where do I want to live. Currently RUK has offices in Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, London, Leeds and Winchester. I crossed off Manchester and London immediately, and have to cross off Leeds and Cardiff based on the size of office/they don’t have structures teams there. Which leaves me with Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Winchester. From what I’ve heard, Cambridge doesn’t sound like my scene, tho I no the dancing there is good. And Winchester is a small office and small town, so that’s probably not my place either. Which begs the question, do I want to live in Bristol or Scotland. I don’t have any ties to any of these places. I know there's dancing in all 3. And while I feel like I may like Glasgow cos my Granny was born there, I’ve never actually been.

I also know that the office in Bristol doesn’t really want any extra engineers, whereas both Scotland offices could use some extra. So the question really is, which is better (as a place to live) Edinburgh or Glasgow?? opinions on a postcard please (emails and comments also accepted...)

Adventures week 2

Ok so firstly I wanna point out that this blogsite isn’t exactly how I would make it, and that it’d be easier to change but that its IN SWEDISH!! And thus google translate is brilliant for getting me this far but the help for changing it back asks me to click on a button that doesn’t seem to exist on mine. So bear with me some if it all goes a little wrong somewhere…

Sorry I’m being slow about writing a blog, I was gonna do it last night but since we’re on wired rather than wireless broadband I have to sit in my room to use the internet and it just felt wrong to be sitting there when my new flatmate had suggested watching a movie. So we watched a ‘terrible’ late 80s/early 90s cheesey movie. Perfect.

Anyways, getting back to the exciting adventures…

Finishing up week one involved the test of my autopilotness. I managed to be so much on autopilot for walking to work that I managed to almost get run over by a bike! It was one of those crossings where you look and there's never anything coming, so on you go. So I looked, and I saw the bike, but didn’t register it until I had stepped out. So I managed to jump back some, yell sorry, and get a dirty look from the cyclist.

And so we made it thru our very first week of work, and make it to Friday afternoon. Friday afternoons are particularly good in Sweden cos we have Friday Fika (coffee break) where there is cake. And not just someone making some random bits, but the company supplies proper nice cakes. This is the point at which I really felt sorry for jess since she is gluten free, and the cakes are not.
All ‘the English’ apart from jess went out for a drink. We went first to the ‘Scottish Pub’ which is so Scottish it has tartan wall paper, and looks mostly like an actual pub rather than a bar. Here we had a couple of drinks and sent Hugo to the System while the slower of us, me and nick, finished up ours. The System is an important learning tool here. Its like an off licence except its only open til 7 on workdays and then like 3 on Saturdays. And it isn’t open on Sundays. And you cant buy alcohol from a supermarket. So the guys thought it very important to make it to the System before closing. The fun thing about living in a county that has rules like this is that you can carry a bottle of alcohol into the pub, tho I suspect they wouldn’t appreciate if you started drinking there. And also makes me feel a little bit like a student again, cos its so much cheaper to drink at home than in a pub, that people always drink at home before going out, if they’re going out. So then the guys decided that what we needed was some food if we were gonna ‘hit the town’! so we went back to Hugo and Paul’s house where Hugo cooked for us. So there were more beers all round and then all plans to hit the town were cancelled by the cosiness and Paul’s almost falling asleep.

So then on Saturday me Hugo and Jess decided to go exploring around across the other side of the lake. Or what the Swedes call the lake (it so isn’t technically a lake!!). but we walked down the front of Kungsholmen and then up over the top of a tall bridge across Langholmen and then back thru Södermalm via our new street. (that’s heleneborgsgatan for anyone playing with google streetview). 
So then on Saturday evening four of us headed up to what turned out to be this totally random little restaurant pub place for a gig for Earth hour. There was 6 different artists doing up to 3 songs each and then silent night from them all, but with just humming, 1 reminded me of Roy, 1 of Jackson, and one who was just really good. He played ‘dancing in the dark’ as well so we approved of him. Jess headed home after the gig and me Hugo and Chris had another drink before headed back into town. We went to this downstairs bar/club place which was really kinda fun. There seems to be a whole bunch of downstairs or underground bars and clubs in Stockholm. Its cool, I like it. So we three had a few drinks. Hugo made us dance. Tho somehow Chris got out of that one. But yeah, a fun clubby night.

Monday was the first time I really struggled with the language barrier here. Chris and I were the only ones who hadn’t brought lunch so we went to Rosen, on our own. That was clearly a mistake, since the guy who runs Rosen is only the person who doesn’t speak fluent English and couldn’t translate the menu for us. It was kinda amusing since Chris said that he didn’t care what he got as long as it wasn’t a plate of mushrooms, so he managed to get a dish of rice with meat in some sauce full of mushrooms. So then when I wasn’t sure what I wanted and the guy suggested that I have that but I managed to pick some other meat in creamy sauce with boiled potatoes, their specialty! So it was a bit of a fail, but we survived. 

On Tuesday we had a presentation at work about the business plan for the next however long. This we had to be at for introductions, which made us smile as we were introduced as the second team of English who will be here for a while… we don’t know how long! That was exciting to hear. So then the presentation was given in Swedish but half the slides were in English so that bit was ok, but then there was a Power cut. So I thought hurrah, but no, the guy giving the presentation had a laptop so he continued… in Swedish with no slides even to look at, not fun.
So then we wandered around the office looking at random stuff since we didn’t have power for computers. So we went thru this architecture book. Which was fun. And then after umming and ahing about whether to just leave, just after 4 the power came back on. We were like oh that means we have to work now but apparently not, the Swedish said that the server wouldn’t be up again before 5 so we all headed to this wonderful place called the Rosen. Its not a pub. Its not really a restaurant. Its this wonderful combination of those 2 and old café, run by this oldish Austrian guy. We sometimes go there for lunch where we pay on the way in and they hand the food straight over. Its particularly interesting as although there is a menu, he’s not very good at translating it, so generally he gives you what he thinks you want to eat. But the place is opposite work, and real fun. So we sat there for a few hours. Also, ways in which Sweden is better than England – Sanna who’s the manager at work didn’t come to the pub but did tell one of the guys on his way over to buy a couple of rounds on expenses to make sure we all had fun. Ace.

Wednesday is supposed to be dancing night but I was just too tired to dance. The plan of going to bed early to deal with the early mornings was much easier before I had a laptop, and the tele hasn’t been helping either. Not that there's anything amazing on, just stuff I really kinda like. And mostly not stuff I’ve seen before.

On Thursday afternoon we were taken on a ‘Walking tour’ of the city. Which involved a bit of walking, but not masses. It also involved us getting the Tube for 1 stop, which as far as I was concerned was a total waste of a ticket. This is cos the tickets we were given on arrival get stamped an cost 2 spaces for each go, but the stamp is a time stamp and you can use it as many times as you like within that hour. So it can work out kinda cheap, but if you use it for one stop and then sit in a café for too long its just annoying. Having said that, we did get to go see the crown jewels, and get taken for cake, or more specifically for simal (sp!), which is what you’re supposed to eat in Sweden at the start of easter week before a fast. The simal cake actually consists of a large bread bun with the top cut off, the insides pulled out and then filled with cream and marzipan. It did taste pretty good, although there was more cream than I would usually aim for. So then we wandered some more. We saw the 3d map of Stockholm at the Culture House which was interesting as it put some scale on the hospital that we’re currently designing. And then having been told we were going to take a tram down to one of the green areas and then a boat, the guy in charge decided that would take too long and we just took the tube back to the office.
Since Thursday was gonna be my last dinner on expenses I was thinking that I would just go back to Kelly’s bar since it isn’t too expensive and the portions are huge. But then I wasn’t quite hungry when I walked past so I decided to just keep walking down that street to see where it went. It was a great plan but mostly just involved me walking past a bunch of restaurants for a while before crossing the road and coming back. I ate at the very Swedishly named Jameson’s where I managed to sit in a corner and get kinda forgotten about. I had their ‘traditional fish n chips’ which is not that much like ours. It tasted ok but could def have used some vinegar. I then had every intention of having desert, but since no one came back to ask me about it at all I gave up and got the bill. Which is the more sensible thing to do. But I do feel a little like I missed out on free desert, and I did fancy their rocky road cake, not that I wasn’t already a bit full but.

I got up late on Friday morning since we were moving and I knew the taxi was due at 9:10. so we headed down to the new flat. Jess was already there and we just had to wait a couple of minutes for Brita. We got all our stuff into the flat and then they told us about all the different things, showed us the laundry room and garbage room and then they left us to it. Brita said we had to stay and settle in for a while before we went into work. This didn’t seem like a plan to me since I didn’t want to stand and unpack, and was mostly resenting the fact that it was a grown up apartment with a very bare approach to decorating, and a single bed! I was not impressed. So I mostly just sat around in a huff while jess unpacked stuff. She sent me to watch the tele while she finished up and we eventually headed into work for just after 11. Which at least meant we were in time for lunch, which was my aim since I hadn’t any leftovers to eat.
Friday was an important day for Hus (our department). It was wine lottery day. This is organised by a group of the guys in our team. To take part in this, everyone has to buy a £7 bottle of wine. Names are then drawn out of a hat and they pick several winners. All of this happens at afternoon Fika which made it doubly good since Friday Fika means cake. There was about 40 ppl involved in the wine lottery this time, I was not one, so the winner took 16 bottles then 9 and 6 and 3 and 1, or something like that. They also have this tradition of picking out an extra name, for the unluckiest loser who doesn’t get anything. That made me laugh. They also had gotten a girl called Olga, the lovely assistant, to pull out the names, and she managed to pull her own out as the big winner, which made us all laugh.
Just after 5 we had a beautiful moment of Englishness when the boys looked at their email notification and read “Is it beer o’clock <slut>” this made us all laugh some. And is the reason I no that slut is the Swedish for end. Since the message only read is it beer o clock, and this is shorter than the notification size it then puts end on it to tell you that it’s a really short email, but mostly it just made us laugh.  So then we headed off once more to the pub. In keeping with our embracing of our surroundings, we went to the bishops arms. It is most definitely an English pub! We were partly checking it out because it does a pub quiz about every other Monday and partly just wanted somewhere to drink. Having had a couple of beers there we then required food, and the cheapest place any of us knew, that’s not macdonalds, was the Jameson pub from the previous night. This time I asked for vinegar since I still had an abundance of chips, and was amused by the small bowl of cider vinegar that was provided, but loved it.

On Saturday, having padded about the flat for the morning, moving things around, we decided upon an Ikea trip. We got the T-bana and then had to walk the last bit. Ikea in Sweden is very much like anywhere else. It lasted for many hours and involved buying way more than we probably needed since we managed to go overbudget. But it does mean that it actually feels like home now. And there was a tonne of stuff that we actually did need. Like pots and pans and utensils and boxes, lots and lots of boxes, for things like underwear and I created a bedside table out of one. Hurrah. I might also add, note to all persons, when embarking on an ikea trip, remember you will be on your feet for hours, go with the definitely comfy shoes, not the ones that should be comfy and could use some wearing in.
On the way home I announced to Jess that once I got in I was not going out again, but then we got in and I took off my shoes and sat down and felt so much better that I did go to the random gig that Hugo had told us about. It was originally described to me as electronica, and then later as laser metal. I still don’t think I no what laser metal is but I’m not sure it was that. It was these 3 Finnish guys, one of whom was wearing a head torch, with synth and electric drums and stuff. The first song kinda was electronica and then after that it was kinda metal but not really heavy enough to be metal. But it was amusing and entertaining anyways. So then we stayed and danced to the dj set for a while. Or mostly until we were all danced out.

So then Sunday occurred. Or half of it anyways, on the grounds that I missed the first half. But we decided to be sociable even in our tiredness and thus nick and Hugo came round in the evening. It was supposed to be a sensible approach where ppl come here and get pizza from the place next door, but nick had eaten, I was out on timing meals for the day and there weren’t any gluten free ones for jess. So she cooked and me n nick watched Hugo eat… kinda…

So now today is Tuesday. This morning me n jess walked to work along the waterfront. It felt like a very civilised approach. Tho tomorrow I need to take my camera that way to take a picture of the half sunk boat. 

News for today: i rushed home to meet the flat owner so he could show me how to make the oven work... cos i managed to get it lit, but couldnt get it to stay lit. Turns out its cos i wasnt using a broom handle to keep the button pushed in!! How ridiculous is this?!! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100158095469189&set=a.997477147619.2663544.197804393

Swedish Adventures - Week 1

So this is pretty much exactly a copy from FB but shhhhh...

So… I’m in Sweden!! And figured I should probably write a blog so that everyone can see what I’m up to without having to speak to me at all!! Also I don’t have a real blog thing yet so for now at least I will be ‘blogging’ on here!

So, having gotten home so late on the Friday night (thank you everyone who came to play) I did not wanna get up on Saturday!! But I had to be awake enough to make it. So I got left at the airport where there was no queue for customs at all, and I wasn’t asked to take off my shoes. Thank you mister America. First flight was gorgeous cos I just stared out the window the whole time. Then I got to sit in Heathrow. But only for an hour so all was good with that. Then I had another window seat so stared for a while at the sea below, but its not that exciting until you get over land. And what a view that was. South West Sweden was beautiful in a way I haven’t seen before. It was almost entirely frozen so was all in shades of white and grey. But gorgeous. And then sunset was pretty much upon us when the plane landed, so it was lovely to see Stockholm from the air at sunset. Lots of happy views.

So then I got met at the airport by the lovely Brita who had spent the day going back and forth to the airport picking us all up! Poor Brita. Who then also offered to walk me across the island to jess’s house. We then wandered up to Nick (our English team leader) and his wife Charlotte’s house. They had kindly offered to cook dinner so we had all the “English” team together for the evening. It was really nice to catch up with folks known and meet the new folks. And it made me feel very at home to be sitting around a table for the evening.

So on Sunday I decided to take myself off to find some food and see some of the island. I survived a trip to the supermarket where I bought a ridiculously expensive but huge bag of crisps and some other munchies. And then gave up and went for a tourist wander around Gamla Stan (the old town) with Jess and found the palace, a statue of a naked man and kings street among other things. We also managed to navigate the T-bana, which I still think should be called the T-banana just for fun.

So then Monday rolled around and it was time to remember that this isn’t a vacation, and head to work. In Sweden everyone works 8 – 5 which sounds like a very early morning to me when I’m used to getting out of bed at 8:30!! The first thing I noticed about the Swedish office, apart from the snazziiness, quiet and space, is the attitudes. Swedish people know they are there to work. So when everyone gets in at 8, they immediately sit down and work, chatter and catching up can wait till coffee break. Which happens at 9:30 and 2:30. I find it to be a very civilised way to work. Although I do find that unless you’re really busy, its kinda hard to get back into work after, and the afternoon feels like a massively long time as the longest stretch at any point in the office is from afternoon coffee break to end of day. Plus we take lunch at 11:30 so the afternoon goes on forever. But the office is nice. Its like the uk offices only with more space and better furnishing and such. Also its quiet but in a good way. I have realised that although I’ve only been here for a v small while, I already have gone a little Swedish. Like referring to us as ‘the English’ when we are 4 English, 1 Scot and 1 Yank!

Some of you may have heard about my current living arrangements. Me and jess are to move into what has been described as a lovely apartment, but it isn’t free until the 1st, so in the mean time she’s in a studio flat opposite the office, and I’m in what basically equates to a hotel room about 25 mins away. It isn’t a hotel room tho, it looks like a flat, only there isn’t a kitchen, or a bedroom, just a living space with a sofa bed, a small hall and a bathroom. Which would work beautifully for anyone who just wants a bed for the night, and I don’t really mind it, but that it does mean I have to go out for food. Which here, is very expensive. Also, they don’t seem to have take outs. There is macdonalds, and I’ve found on the internet a couple of sushi places which will let you take food out, but I’m not a sushi person. It is weird tho to not find any take outs, esp when moving from Leeds!!

So, having searched the internet for interesting places to eat on Tuesday, I came across Kelly’s bar, which upon finding in real life turned out to be a lot more rock bar than I expected!! But honestly, it made me remember good times and smile. So I have ideas to go back there. Or I certainly did before I realised that the doorman totally overcharged me. So now I’m less sure. Which is a shame cos their food was tasty and the portion sizes immense!!

On Wednesday evening I decided to swallow all fear of my lack of language and I went dancing. This led to some interesting moments. I met a guy who also doesn’t speak Swedish (he's Lithuanian), which made me feel better. And one lovely friendly guy who actually had a conversation with me instead of just a dance. He was impressed with how quickly I had found Chicago since it had taken him a lot longer. Also discovered that some Swedes use ‘sorry’ when they bump into others and then they say something in Swedish so you have no idea whether they know I’m English or not. So there were some ace dances, and some less good ones, and I’m pretty sure I no what they’d taught in that evening’s class!! But I have to say Miss Alice Mei has a lot to do with the way I was dancing, since teaching us a couple of weeks ago that we can use our heels, mine got masses of use!! And the thing i forgot to mention last time, was the DJ. who by the way was a real life harlem hotshot, but was playing actual vinyl records the whole night. This i thought very cool, but did mean that you couldnt go and ask him to dance (altho i'm not sure if its a done thing to ask the teachers yet) cos he had to be there at the start and end of every song to switch the track...! Also, he played 't'aint whatcha do' and there wasnt a single person doing the shim sham, everyone just danced to it, it was ace!

They seem to be very keen in Sweden on American tele. Which means that I forget where I am  until the adverts come on. Then I sit there trying to work out what on earth they’re trying to sell!! But, yes, send me emails!! Cos I don’t have a life until we move into the new flat. Well kinda. But SEND ME EMAILS ANYWAY!! Thank you to the one lovely person who sent me an email! I’m half way thru listening to the attachment and I can now say ‘no I don’t understand English’ in Swedish… and ‘excuse me’ but mostly only when repeating after the man… this learning Swedish may take some time…
my computers are clearly trying to help by being randomly in English in some places and Swedish in others, so at least I recognise a whole bunch of words even if I cant pronounce them :o)

Photos to follow...!

Photos are now available on FB. Rest of the week can go intothe next update...