Christmas

First of all, I noticed after reading my last blog that I had a lot of misspellings, and misinformation. Actually, Kristy noticed most of it. Noble Prize is actually Nobel Prize, and the 26th is their big shopping day around here, not the 25th. Sometimes I look back at what I wrote, and wonder where my head was at. Probably the same reaction a lot of people have when reading my ramblings. I can't say that I'm used to the hours here yet, and maybe my mind is still spinning a bit.  

The days seem to go by so quickly here, and I DON'T LIKE THAT! I want this adventure to last forever, and the days just seem like they are flying by. It also feels like every day has been a mirror image of the previous day, with a couple of exceptions here and there. Seems like we get up, have a little breakfast and some tea, and then we're out the door chasing after the days to-do list. Our quest could involve anything from trying to find a Post Office to pick up a package, to getting to the bank to pay the rent, to finding a Tomtar shop, to taking Reese to the dog park, or any number of other little chores. No matter what the goal, it always seems to involve a lot of walking, bus rides, and/or tube (subway) rides. And by now I think Kristy expects me to be able to figure out how to get around town on my own, but I'm still a follower. I sort of recognize the bus numbers, and areas of town, but I just go where I'm told. Once Kristy gets back into a regular working schedule again, I'll probably start to venture out on my own more. But for now, I'm just trying to keep up when we go out. One thing I must say is that the buses and trains are pretty clean, and on time. 

On Christmas Day, we took the train out to Miska & Camilla's place for dinner and drinks. They have a beautiful place in Täby, a great little area outside of Stockholm. In Stockholm and Solna where we live, you don't really see any houses. It's apartment buildings everywhere you look. So it was kind of nice to actually walk through their neighborhood and see some houses with yards. At their house, we made introductions, and I met their children, Tuve & Röbin. Sweet kids, and very well behaved. We took a tour of the house, which was originally built in 1940, and saw all of the remodeling they had done. I even saw the sauna in the basement where Kristy spent a lot of her time while a guest there. We had some Glögg (Which I'm now hooked on), and then moved to the living room to have some wine. Camilla's sister and brother-in-law came over, and we had dinner. We started with an hors' devours consisting of a slice of toasted bread, something sour cream like, and caviar. I had tried caviar a couple of times before, but didn't care for it much. I still wouldn't go out of my way to have it, but it was pretty good when you put it on toast with the sour cream like substance. Something new to try anyway. For dinner we had chicken with blue cheese baked in the middle, and cous cous with pear mixed in. So good after eating pretty much crackers, meatballs, and "pirog"  since arriving. Miska is a great cook. After dinner, the kids were put away for the evening, and we sat in the living room and talked. In the course of our conversation, Miska mentioned that she had been given a USA Bandy jersey a long time ago, and thought she had heard that the player that gave it to her had died in a car accident. We had guesses as to who it might be, but she didn't think our guesses were correct. Curiosity got the best of her, and she ended up calling home to Finland to ask her Mother to retrieve the jersey. It was the jersey of Michael Blessing, whose name I recalled from my first couple of years in bandy. Long story short, Miska was helping out as at the Bandy World Championships in Finland when she was 13 years old back in 1985. It was something her school set up to put their English lessons to good use. She spent her week with the U.S. men's team, and at the end of that week, Michael Blessing gave her his jersey. I consulted a couple of the bandy "old timers", and they gave me the story behind Michael. He was a USA Bandy player back in the 80's, and a very good player. He was one of the pioneers in establishing USA Bandy. In 1989, shortly after returning from a World Championship in Russia, he was driving home from up north, lost control of his vehicle, rolled, and was killed instantly. Miska is asking her parents to send her the jersey, and we may end up doing some kind of write up on the USA Bandy website about Miska, the jersey, and what a small world it is. It was getting late, so we decided to jump on the train and head home. All in all, a great way to spend Christmas, if we have to be away from family.

Later.