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