Early Easter

On Friday, our group of 4 labs had an Easter lunch. In the morning, we painted eggs so that they would be dry for the pre-lunch competitions. Usually, they use water colors to paint the eggs. I brought back a few egg dying kits (the "magic" crayon and color tablets that you put in water and vinegar) so we did both. Here are a couple of pictures of people (sometimes very seriously) creating their masterpieces.

At noon, the egg competitions began. The first was to see who could get their egg to travel the farthest after going down a ramp. I came in second.
In the second round, Jesper (the winner of the first round), rolled his egg down the ramp again. Then, the goal was to get as close to his egg as possible. Ernesto won this one. The prizes were a pineapple and a cantaloupe. Here are the winners in action.Our eggs got pretty smashed up - good thing they were hard-boiled. Easter lunch was the usual Swedish holiday fare - herring in several different sauces, potatoes, flat bread/crackers, cheese, ham, and, of course, our eggs.

Daylight savings time should be all year

I’m sure there are a number of rational reasons why we don’t keep the clocks an hour ahead year round. However, I can’t think of any this week. We just set our clocks an hour ahead last weekend. Where I’d much rather gain an hour than lose an hour, it’s been well worth it so far.

Swedes actually smile! The mood of the entire country has seemed to change overnight. The sidewalks and bike lanes are much more crowded than usual. This past week I’ve seen people hold doors for others, give up their seats on the subway, help people with baby strollers onto the bus, pick up newspapers that someone else dropped, etc. You would think this is normal but it is not at all – I thought Swedes were pretty rude. Apparently, they are just rude in the winter!

I should also mention that since we’ve advanced the clocks, it’s been bright, sunny, and (relatively) warm. I’m sure this has something to do with it too.

Sunset this week has been between 7:30 and 8pm. With the exception of today, I’ve actually left work in the daylight every day this week. We’ve even been eating lunch outside. According to the online weather, it’s only hit 55 degrees. However, I was outside sitting in the sun for lunch today for about 45 minutes and I was comfortable in short sleeves. (I’m still a cold weather wimp, though, so it was warm!) My boss was sitting with us for lunch yesterday and he bought our whole table ice cream.

Swedes really take advantage of the sun and warm weather. It’s fun to see. I’m looking forward to another 5 or 6 months like this week.

Våffeldagen

Sunday was Våffeldagen, or Waffle Day, but I missed it because I didn't find out about it until Monday. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who missed out on eating waffles last weekend so I think we may celebrate this coming weekend.

Waffle Day is international but it started in Sweden. This is a great example of how a Catholic holiday got changed to a non-religious holiday (since Sweden gave up Catholicism long ago but will not give up any holidays). Waffle Day is on March 25th every year which is the feast of the Annunciation. This is when the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she was going to give birth to Jesus exactly 9 months later on Christmas day.

So, how does the announcement of the birth of Jesus have anything to do with waffles? In Sweden, the Annunciation was also called Our Lady's Day, which is Vårfrudagen. Now, not knowing any Swedish but channeling the Swedish chef, you try to say "Vårfrudagen" out loud and now try Våffeldagen. Now, I'm sure it's crystal clear how the Annunciation became International Waffle Day. Pretty hilarious, isn't it?

And.....I'm back!

Like many of my blogger friends, I've fallen behind recently. As Wendy pointed out, the farther you fall behind, the more time you want to leave to post, the less likely you are to do so.....etc. So, now I'm back!

I made an unexpected trip home last week. Surprisingly, I had the cheapest Sweden to US roundtrip airfare that I've ever had. Why surprising? Because I bought the tickets less than 12 hours before I left for the airport! Despite the circumstances, I had a nice visit. I had the opportunity to spend time with my family and a few of my friends. I also got to eat home cooked food (that I didn't cook!), watch the BC games (and some others) in the NCAA tourney, shop for things that I either can't get in Sweden (ie. pants that aren't 5 inches too long) or that are ridiculously expensive in Sweden (ie. sneakers), experience a true Northeast winter storm (not that I miss this!), and hack at the ice on my sister's windshield with a hammer (yes, the ice and snow was THAT thick - and it was kinda fun because I'd never taken a hammer to a car before).

I got back to Stockholm Wednesday afternoon. Jet lag wasn't too bad this time around because I actually got some sleep on the plane (thanks to antihistamines and the fact that I took an 11pm flight so I was actually kind of tired, which isn't the case when I take a 5pm flight) and the time difference was 5 hours, rather than the usual 6.

More is soon to come.....

Winter's over?

Everyone has been saying for the past week or two that it "feels like spring". I haven't been buying it. Just because it's 0 or slightly over (Celsius) doesn't make it spring. However, this weekend was very spring like. It was 10 Celsius (50 F).

The thermometer in the little downtown area near my apartment on Sunday.

Friday night, Carolina had a party because her first paper was accepted and she finished building her Ikea bar. Saturday, Lotta invited the lab over for a Hungarian dinner. Her Hungarian husband made yummy goulash.

Carolina, Ann-Charlotte, me, and Kathy

Sunday, a group of us got one last ice skating trip in for the season - on a man made rink, of course. Only half the rink was frozen when we got there. The frozen part of the ice rapidly shrank over the hour or so we were there.

Me, Marcus, and Henrike

Princess Camping

I read an article on CNN.com today about "glamping" (or glamorous camping). It's taking "princess camping" to a whole new level. Were not just talking beds and electricity - it includes saunas, hot tubs, food served on china, etc. Anyway, I saw this article and remembered our trip and the 3 million silly emails back and forth about it.

Check it out: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/03/06/bi.glamping.ap/index.htmlFor those wondering what I mean by "princess camping", it's a long story......

Our neuroscience program retreat (Emory) several years back was being held at a place that had a lodge and camping onsite and a hotel nearby. For the student party the night before the official start of the retreat, we were given the options of paying a decent amount of cash for a hotel, paying something like $10 for a room in a lodge, or paying $5 to camp out Friday night. I said that I'd prefer the lodge but I would go regardless of what we ended up doing. Apparently, Cary and I were the ONLY two people who didn't choose camping. (I still don't understand why!) For whatever reason, one room couldn't be canceled from the reservation so Sonia (the person who takes care of the program) told Cary and me that we could have the room in the lodge. Only a small group of people knew about this and they gave us such a hard time! Turns out that Friday night, it was POURING rain all night long. Who was knocking at the door shortly after the campsite curfew? Oh, all of the "hardcore" campers!

A group of friends organized a camping trip that took place at least once a year. The trip was dubbed "nerds in the woods" by Leah's sister, I think. I went (tent camping) with the nerds in the woods group once. I did have a good time but camping is just not my thing. So, the last camping trip involved cabins, beds, electricity, a bathroom, etc. (We actually had one cabin that slept 8 and there were 15-20 of us on the trip.) The email announcing the trip said that we would be going cabin-camping this time, for the princesses in the group. Cary and I knew we were the ones being called out. So, we did stop and pick up purple glittery tiaras (with feathers) on our way and wore them for part of the weekend. The picture above is from the princess camping weekend - with our castle in the background.

Lunar Eclipse

While waiting for the local train late last night, I got to watch the total lunar eclipse. By the time I got back to my apartment, the peak of the eclipse was well over with but the moon looked red. I tried to take a picture but none of my pictures do it justice. (I put one below anyway.) The ones on CNN -probably taken through a telescope- are much more impressive.

Swenglish

I've been in Sweden for just about four months now and I've picked up enough Swedish to get myself into trouble. Most people here speak English better than I do and those who don't speak English, understand it pretty well. So, where I definitely don't need to know Swedish, since I see and hear it everyday, I like to know what's going on.

I can start off a conversation by asking a question or by replying to a question (as long as it's in context). Basically, I'm good for one back and forth and then I loose it. Either I don't understand what the other person says or I understand but I can't formulate a reply in Swedish. When I know what was said, I just reply in English (and depending on how comfortable the person is with English, they will either flip to English or stay in Swedish and speak basic and slow - and I continue replying in English). If I don't know, usually I apologize (in English) that my Swedish is not very good and ask them to repeat in English. Occasionally, I just smile and nod (particularly if it's just small talk while waiting in line for something). This works about 50% of the time and the other 50% of the time, the person thinks I'm a complete idiot.

I get stopped on the street and in the subway pretty frequently (I'd say at least once a week) by someone asking for directions or the time. Last weekend, a couple asked me something in the subway but I had no idea what they said. So, I said that I'm sorry but I don't speak Swedish (thinking that they'd re-ask in English or smile and ask someone else). Instead, I got the dirtiest look and they walked away. I thought it was weird how rude they were. Then, I looked back down at the Swedish newspaper I was flipping through while waiting for the train. Oops! They must have thought I didn't want to help them.