Some More Time in Sweden

As promised, here's something short. We've been in Sweden again for the past two-and-a-half weeks. It's been fairly uneventful. There was a visit to a bar I've never seen before, a Finnish Sitsit and some other miscelaneous activies. The pictures to prove it:

8th March. First full day back and I took a picture of my room. The weather was stunningly beautiful and that lovely Swedish sun warmed my room.

9th March. Still not much goin' on. There's a project looming on the horizon, but I'm starting work on a blog post instead.

10th March: so little happened that I didn't take a single picture. Even of anything boring...

11th March. Let's make beans. We gotta soak 'em first, though.

Later that evening (the beans were not that good) we put a lot of water on the kitchen table for an activity. Remember, there's not terribly much to do in Sweden at night...

12th March. Free taco buffet night! The weather's beautiful and we're walkin’ over there.

The aftermath.

13th March. We visit a bar where we can play darts. But you gotta learn the rules first. You remember these guys, right? Left to right: Megan, Laimis, Ariel.

Aim a bit more left... (click to enlarge?)

Good form. Maybe. I know nothing about darts...

Do NOT miss low...

Nice throw!

14th March. The only pictures today are from a visit to McDonald's right after the bar. That's Johanna and Diego. I don't think I've introduced Diego. He's from Mexico and this is his second semester in Sweden.

15th March. I went for a walk to the school to pay off a guy (I owed Aaron from the Belgium trip) and later to pick up a package from home. After a few days of beautiful weather, the actual concrete of the sidewalk in front of the school could be seen! First time all year. Woot!

Later that day was Swedish class. What an exhausting week! (Yes, it's Monday...I think I mentioned before that there's not much to do in Sweden...)

16th March. Sweden's thawing out. I snapped this walking back from the post office. I walked out there two days in a row expecting two packages since they gave me two notices for the package that I picked up the day before. But there was just one.

Tyler and I roasted some chicken and another of our Finnish friends (Heini...you haven't met her yet, but there will probably be a picture later.) made green bean casserole. Important for the next picture: we started some beans soaking before we planned dinner with Heini. We did not cook them.

17th March. Do not abandon soaking beans for chicken dinner with a Finn. They will SPROUT.

After sprouting, they will MURK up the water and make BUBBLES. Lots of small bubbles.

18th March. I think I told a story in the very beginning of plugging in a surge protector from back home and tripping the breaker in Tyler's and My room. Well, today I decided to investigate.

Turns out it's precious little MOVs (the charred green disks) are not rated for the European standard 220V. The way surge-protectors are designed, when too much voltage is present, the MOV's short to ground to prevent over-volting things plugged into the surge protector. Well, when the standard voltage is higher than the designed surge voltage things pop since there's way more than a small amount of surge current to be dealt with. Check out the charring on the plastic below (formerly above) the MOV bank.

And remember those sprouted beans? We cooked 'em up for dinner. They taste a bit sprout-y, but not bad enough to waste them.

19th March. It's Taco Night again! We were some of the first to arrive.

20th March. Time for the Sitsit! It's a Finnish tradition at universities where everyone gathers for a formal dinner. There is singing and drinking. Oh, and there's Heini: she's the girl on the far left.

Every one's getting familiar with the song sheets. You probably recognize some people. I am NOT introducing everyone though...too many people, and you may never see them again.

Course one: From-scratch mushroom soup.

Course 1.5: rye bread with cream cheese. This is the first cream cheese I've had over here. Exciting..

Course two: homemade meat balls, mashed potatoes and salad. Everyone is under the table for one of the songs. The Sitsit is considered a failure if you manage to eat your food while it is warm. It is far more important to sing and drink (and get under the table from time to time).

The third course was strawberries and cream. I have no picture.

21st March. We got potatoes. Let's take pictures!

We're still working on some chocolate that we got from Belgium. Some ass-hat thought it would be funny to season it with pepper and onion.

Later that night we played poker and were taken to the cleaners by the Lithuanian.

23rd March. I took some pictures of gum.

24th March. The spring market in Vasteras is under way. I got some samples on my way back from shopping.

I guess that wasn't so short.