Interesting Swedish things of the day

Interesting Swedish things of the day:

All light switches are 4 inch square buttons, usually located at your hip.

Gothenburg is like if you took Pittsburgh, a very pretty city low in mountains, and mixed it with Seattle, a very pretty city by the ocean. The weather here is almost perfect, 67 degrees or so, if it wasn't for the wind that makes it slightly chilly.

Bags must be bought at the checkout lane before you checkout, whether you are at the grocery store or the mall. You must also judge about how many bags you need (of which I suck). These bags are then used usually as your trash bags as recycling here is a big deal.

Swedish salad consists of lettuce, peppers, carrots, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, baby shrimp, mussels, and Rhode Island dressing (Thousand Island dressing minus the pickle relish plus yogurt).

Sweds love cheese. In fact, they love milk products. Cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream. Everything.

Coffee breaks are at 10:00 and 3:00, don't miss them.

I had tunnbrödsrulle (try saying that three times fast) for lunch today. It consists of a grilled hot dog wrapped up in a a thin flatbread with two large ice cream scoops of mashed potatoes, cucumber relish/salad, lettuce, ketchup, and mustard. It's huge and surprisingly tasty.

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Sweden beware of Nickzilla!

What a day! I finally arrive in Gothenburg to the longest day in my life. Here's a recap ....

The flight went really well. Since the first one to Munich was an overnight flight (obvious from how late we left), I wanted to try and get some sleep. I mean, we were in the air for eight hours and normally I have no trouble sleeping on a plane. It was surprisingly difficult to fall asleep though; I was wide awake because my body thought it was early evening and I was a little nervous/excited to be finally traveling. The lady next to me was a little bossy, thus I didn't try to talk to her much. So I basically watched tho two movies, Goal II: Living the Dream and Catch and Release. Goal was pretty good despite not seeing the first movie, utterly predictable but still very entertaining. Catch and Release was alright but far less captivating.

After the second movie I caught an hour of sleep until I was bumped in the face by my neighbor. Then I watched the German countryside. The German countryside is surprisingly beautiful and developed. Unlike in the US where we have mostly forest; it's all farmland around clusters of orange roofed homes. Farm after farm. It was really pretty. I tried to take pictures, and we'll see how well they turn out when I post them.

The Munich airport was interesting. We got there around 8:00 am their time (that's 2:00 am EST). Oddly the place had nobody in it. American airports are always busy in the morning, but Munich was dead. Huge beautiful airport with no people. Also, the design of the airport was really interesting. Basically it's one huge terminal (like 60 gates) with two levels and really short ceilings. Parallel to the gates, are the shops. They're all really open, unlike the compartmentalized US airport shops. It really felt like I was walking in a really new, upscale mall. I had to go through customs in Germany, so I could get to the lower level to catch my next plane. Of course they made me renter the airport and go through security again. Even though security was a breeze, I was kinda disoriented. So I held up the line a little. But, I found my next gate with ease.

To board my next plane, we had to get on a bus and board outside. This worried me a little because I had flashbacks of planes out of State College, which are those little planes that only hold 20 people that had to be boarded outside. But this was a real jet; the size of one I would take from Charlotte to Philadelphia. So I have no idea why we needed to head outside. Maybe real gates are reserved for really big international planes. Maybe this is how they keep all the planes ontime. Oh well. It all worked out int he end.

My flight to Sweden was uneventful, and I met Andy, the professor I work for, around 11:00 am in the airport lobby. This is where the real whirlwind began ... First we went to my apartment to drop off my luggage. Well apartment isn't the right word, it's more like a dorm room. But, this is the cleanest dorm room I have ever seen. Plus I get the entire room to myself and have my own bathroom. The kitchen is right above me and is pretty standard. We also checked out the laundry rooms but really couldn't see much because you have to schedule a time in order to actually get inside and use them. We'll see how this turns out when I actually have to do laundry.

Then we went to school to show me around and try, pick up some of the forms I needed, and get me some keys. Apparently the Sweds are super big on security. To get into the building, up/down the elevator, or through the many doors along the hallways, you need an ID card to swipe though the many locks. Well I was able to easily get a key to my actual office door, but apparently the card takes some unknown amount of days. You'd think they have it automated and setup for new people, but it's done by someone down in the basement. It's so weird.

Anyways, after that we grabbed some lunch at a Greek restaurant (I knew I would like the Sweds. Two Greek restaurants right next to the university.) Then we were off to pick up the boxes from Andy's house that I shipped over here with him. We then drove downtown so I could get the info to setup my internet (YAY phone!). Every time we went somewhere, Andy's trying to point out to me the different locations and good restaurants. Of course I'm retaining maybe 10% of what he is telling me because I'm tired and understand zero Swedish.

Next it was to Andy's house for dinner. Well they made fresh pizza dough while I played with Andy's almost four year old daughter. I don't know how I had the energy the run around the yard with her but I somehow did. While we waited
for the dough to rise, we went to the grocery store. Ecomax I think was the name. Basically it's like a super Wal-mart only with more groceries and less other stuff. I got a few things, not nearly enough. Finally back to Andy's for dinner. Then home around 11:00 pm to fall into my bed.

Wow, what a day. Anyways, the next day I finally setup the internet so I could call Dad and post this. Here's hoping I don't have another long day like this for a long time.

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Sweden here I come!

So, today I leave for Sweden. How odd to say that; I can't believe it's finally here. It is such a surreal thing to say to myself. Up until today I've been completely calm about leaving. I've just been enjoying seeing my family and friends while I have the chance. It's been a really nice vacation.

Strike that, it's been an amazing vacation. And honestly, I kinda don't want to leave simply because I've had so much fun here in Charlotte (naturally). But i did catch myself the other thinking how much fun it would be to actually do or even think about science. So I guess it means I need to get back to the real world.

Then came to packing. Ugh. Yeah, I left actually packing my suitcases for the day my plane leaves. Not the smartest thing, I know. But hear me out: 1) My plane doesn't leave until 4:30 pm and 2) Most of belongings were already packed earlier when I moved out of State College. Really all I needed to do was put my clothes back into the suitcases. What I had forgotten was I also needed to make sure those suitcases weighed 50 pounds or less. So I spent almost all of the morning packing the suitcases and the boxes my dad's going to mail to me once I get there and confirm my address. I thought I had laid Pack-rat Nick to rest when I moved out in July, but apparently he still owns a bunch of stuff.

Of well, I got it done, and now I'm here in the airport waiting for the plane. I'll post this (and pictures) as soon as I get internet access. Bon voyage!

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Slingbox

Slingbox's are soooooo cool. If you aren't familiar with them, you should checkout their webpage at http://us.slingmedia.com/page/home. Basically it's a way to stream your at home TV over the internet. This is how I had been planning on watching a little bit of TV while I'm over in Sweden. And I'm amazed at how simple it was to setup. Yeah it took a little bit of effort to get everything setup in the bedroom but that was because I wanted to setup my Tivo and I wasn't familiar with how it worked with a cable box. If all my TV stuff was still together, it probably would only have taken me an hour, tops. Either way, it works, and that makes me really happy. Now, on to the next project before I leave. 4 days and counting.

Somebody's Getting Married! Part 2

OK. I’m back for more wedding fun.

I have never seen a crazier place than my house on the big day. The wedding was at 12:00. Those five hours before the wedding, from 7 am and on, were absolutely busy. Kyle and I went to pick up the cake and just about every bag of ice we could muster. Then it was back home so I could start puling out the food of the fridge and putting it on the serving trays. Thankfully everyone had a job and knew what they needed to do. The backyard looked stupendous. In the back left corner under our huge oak tree, they setup where the ceremony was going to take place, with about 90 chairs. To the right of that were our two big tents with round tables. In front of all that under our cedar tree, we setup coolers with all the drinks. And on the patio we set up tables for all the food. I really liked how it all looked in the end. It was simple and basically just a big party. Thankfully, we could have everyone park at the lot just down the street because there was no way they were parking in our driveway nor on busy Sardis Road.

The ceremony itself was beautiful. The flower girl was especially cute, as they always are. For some reason, flower girls I’ve noticed like to conserve petals. This one dropped maybe four on her way. So at the end, everyone was motioning for her to make a huge pile where Dana and Dad were going to stand. Some I think even told her to dump them all on the ground. After a bunch of hesitant looks from her, and some jerky motions, she finally did. But the look on her face said, “I know I’m going to get in trouble for this.”

The party was a blast. I basically went around talking to whomever I could. And honestly I know I missed some people, and there were many more I wish I could have talked with for much, much longer. Oh well. I think that’s how everyone feels at a wedding in your immediate family. My toast went very well. I had started to become a little nervous about it on Friday because I wanted to tell the story about when I had first heard about Dana without sounding stupid. Commonly when I want to tell a story, I’ll leave out really important parts because I get ahead of myself. I made myself write it all out the night before to plan what I needed to say, and it went perfectly. Kyle introduced us, and I went in with the story.

After that and the cake, people started clearing out until we were left with two families who’s dads work with my dad, a family friend from Wisconsin, Dana’s brother’s family and my grandma sitting outside drinking (Rum and cokes and beer). This was especially great for the bride and groom as they really needed the time to not have to think and do because they had done so much all week. The kids played on the trampoline (young and old kids) while we sat and talked. Around 6, everyone started leaving, and Dad and Dana went to the hotel room Kyle and I setup for them uptown. Finally peace.

Yeah, we cleaned up a little. But why clean up when you can save it for tomorrow, no? And that’s exactly what we did.

OK! Now on with the pictures!

Somebody's Getting Married!

Yesterday was the biiiiig day! My dad and Dana finally got married, and boy was it a lot of fun and stressful. Let's recap the week of preparations ....

Monday, while we still had the truck, Dad, Dana, and I finished unloading all my stuff (and a few of their items that just didn't have a home) into a storage place. It's not staying there permanently, just for the time being. We honestly can't afford $50.00-$100.00 a month just to store my junk. And I'm pretty proud if I do say so myself, there's really not that much there. We have a 10'x10' space that I filled maybe three quarters of the way. Considering most of that is occupied by a bed and 6 chair dining room table, I'm pretty proud to say my packrat days are looking brighter.

There's just so much stuff in the house though; we can't add more at the moment, even if it is only a little. Boxes from mom, Dana, the things left in my old room, Dana's mom after she passed away are scattered literally through out the house. I don't know how they've been able to repaint the house this past year. They literally have just a room full of boxes. As they need to paint the room with the boxes, they just pick it all up and put it in the next. Good news is the room painting is looking pretty good. Bad news is that it's taken like 8 months. But it's neither Dad nor Dana's fault. They guy they hired always seems to have some excuse for why he can't make it. They've probably heard every excuse in the book.

And of course, this means we spent most of the week trying to clean up the house since the wedding was held here in the backyard. I mean the last room literally was painted Sunday night (while I was in Richmond with Dad and Kyle). SUNDAY?!!!! Yeah. Oh well. So after we moved my stuff, we came home and spent the night playing AV nerd. My dad noticed that we never used our formal living and dining rooms. I mean who really does? They're not comfortable places nor are they designed to be. So he decided to make them just that, comfortable rooms. So we moved his big screen TV and surround sound stereo system into the former living room, and when the wedding's over and can sell the old dining room set, they're going to setup my table since it's much more informal. And in the old family room, Dana had setup the computer. This TV moving took us all night, of course. I mean the 60" (I think it's 60", maybe it's 54") is easy enough to move because it's surprisingly light for its size. But the sound system is such a p-a-i-n to setup. We were still fine tuning it on Friday.

Tuesday was spent moving anything without a place, upstairs. Basically, the thought was that if it rained on Saturday, these 80 some odd people needed someplace to go. So the downstairs needed to be at least somewhat presentable. Plus, our housekeeper Denise (we hired her to clean our house when my mom got sick and has since become a real family friend) was going to come in Tuesday and Wednesday to give the house a real good deep clean. I mean cleaning the carpets and everything. So we needed to do our part first.

Of course Denise didn't come until Wednesday (and thus also Thursday to clean the carpets), but that was ok. Those two days are such a blur; I can barely remember what we did. All I can remember though was we spent a lot of time in the car, running around town, buying this, picking up that. I mean Dad and Dana has spent a while planning and collecting what they could, but there's only so much you can do before hand. And our out of town help didn't really start arriving until Thursday. We did as much as we could, but I was glad when people started showing up here, even if I did spend all of Thursday afternoon driving to and from the airport.

Thursday and most definitely Friday, I spent cooking. Since I like cooking so much, Dana put me in charge of the food so to speak. Of course there was no way I did it all but I did my best to keep us on par with the plan. And I have to say, cooking for 80 people is a pain. Dana wanted a real casual meal for Saturday, so we made pulled pork (and of course coleslaw cause every good southerner has coleslaw on his pulled pork sandwich), pasta salad, garden salad, tiropita (literally in Greek it's cheese pie), relish tray of pickles and olives, and assorted nuts. Basically it was a picnic.

Mostly the salads and pork kept me busy because I had to cook everything in small batches and then find places to store them in the fridge. The pulled pork was pork tenderloin cooks with some seasoning in a slow cooker. So Thursday and Friday we had three slow cookers churning around the clock. And the pasta salad was real simple with some onion, carrot, and pepperoni added in for variety. Of course having one pot meant I could only make three batches at a time. So my eleven total batches took a while. And as for the tiropita, pita for short, if you aren't familiar with it, it's one of those traditional Greek foods that my family always has at just about everything. It's like the spanikopita (spinach pie) you get a Greek restaurants where a feta cheese and spinach filling is put between layers of filo dough only without the spinach. Hey I have nothing against spinach now, but when I was a kid I hated it! So we rarely make it with the spinach now. But I made the pita with Kyle, technically Kyle's the expert at making that, on Friday while we made all the out of town people keep asking us what smelled so good.

At least I didn't have to cook on Friday. My dad took all the family out to Brazas, a Brazilian Churrascaria. Braza's is neither a buffet nor are we strictly a sit-down restaurant. The meat portion of the meal is delivered to the table impaled on a 3-foot long skewer and carved directly onto your plate. Skewers of meat from steak to pork to turkey to lamb are constantly brought to the table through out the meal. There are also 2 buffets—one cold and one hot. The cold one primarily consists of greens, cheese, salads, melons, while the hot buffet is from their Indian restaurant, which shares the space. We had a great time with the two families and got home extremely full and happy.

That's all for now. When I get a chance, I'll post about the day itself with pictures!

PS .... On Friday I got a call that my visa had been approved and my passport was being sent back to me! Yay for getting to go to Sweden on time!

Moving day, come and gone

So this weekend was the big move. My dad and I made it to Charlotte safe, with a small stop in Richmond for Kyle. Like I posted earlier, I had been packing all this week. Somehow I fit all my belongings into one 10 foot truck, about half of which (mostly furniture) is actually being given to Kyle or Dad and Dana for their use. Kyle took some pictures that I hope to post soon. Hopefully I can find places to store the rest. Now onto getting the house ready or the big WEDDING!