There's Nothing On TV

It's Wednesday morning, and we finally saw a significant amount of snowfall over the weekend here in Stockholm. First time since I've been here that we've seen snow plows out. It started snowing Saturday, and snowed off and on through Sunday. Reese is having a blast running and jumping in the snow. And somehow she can still sniff out the Rabbit turds through 3-4 inches of snow and eat em, which she's had a habit of doing here. We try and keep her from doing that, because, well, they're turds. But I've also heard that Rabbit dookie is actually full of vitamins, and might not be all that bad for a dog. We still try to keep her from snacking outdoors, but it's hard because you can't see the little skittle sized poops. 

So Sunday morning I sit down to to do some stuff on the computer while Reese and Kristy are still sleeping, and I flip on the TV. On TV, we have a total of 6 channels available to us. On this particular morning, two of the channels are featuring skiing events. That's not surprising, as it seems there is skiing on 24/7, and I've complained about that before. What is kind of unusual about our other choices is that two of the channels are still off the air, and Goofy (yes, the Disney cartoon character) speaking in Swedish, is on the other two channels. Interesting. At least we are not subjected to Basketball here!!

Speaking of Kristy and Reese, they were both very tired, for two very different reasons Sunday morning. Kristy had a bandy game Saturday in Tranas, about a 3-4 hour bus ride to the southwest of Stockholm. In the meantime, Reese had to stay here in her Kennel while we were gone, but we asked our friend Robert, who is Kristy's teammate Elin's boyfriend, to come let her out. We were informed by Elin that Robert came and let her out, and then some. His plan was to come get Reese shortly after we left, and take Reese with him for the day. Reese was exhausted when we got home Saturday night, and she couldn't get out of bed yesterday. We're not sure what Robert did with her, but we think he may have taken her for a run. Kristy and I don't take Reese running. One, I don't run. I feel like a champion after just making it up a flight of stairs! And two, Kristy doesn't take her running because Reese always wants to stop and sniff everything, so it's a constant battle to keep her moving. But her exhaustion was a good thing Sunday morning, as Kristy and I had plans to head over to our friend Miska's house to have lunch, visit, and make plans for a trip in early April to Finland, Latvia, and Estonia. Miska is from Finland, so she is advising us on the trip. Anyway, the good thing about Reese being exhausted, is that we figured she would be happy just to go in her kennel and sleep while we were gone. 

Meanwhile, Saturday in Tranas, Kristy's bandy team concluded a dominating regular season, finishing with no losses and a lot of lopsided victories. Her teammate Mikaela finished as the scoring champion for the league, and their goalie Linda finished with eight shutouts in a row. She also let in no goals on their home ice for the entire season. Normally I would say a lot of the shutouts were because the team was dominating, and Linda never saw any shots. But that's not the case. She's just awesome. Saturday she stopped a breakaway, and a penalty shot, which are next to impossible to stop. Kristy was bummed that their regular season was over, which means that the end to bandy for this year, and also our stay here in Sweden, is nearing an end. It's still over a month away, but neither of us want to leave at this point. 

There is no changes to report as far as my watch goes. 

The Royal's

Saturday morning we went to Drottningholm Palace to see where the royal family lives. On the way, I quizzed Kristy on the royal family members names, because I think it's important that we know them as guests in this country. They are all pretty easy to remember when you do word association. For instance, King Carl Gustaf (King Carl does the goose step), Queen Sylvia (Queen watches a Sylvania television), Crown Princess Victoria (Crown Victoria was a popular Ford automobile), Princess Madeleine (Madeline is a popular childrens book), and Prince Carl Philip (Prince Carl watches Philips television). When we got to the palace, it reminded Kristy and me very much of the White House in Washington D.C., except the place and the artifacts were a lot older, and there was a lot less security. The royal family lives there, so that part of the Palace is off limits. But you can pay to tour the rest of the place, and most of the grounds. As you can imagine, the palace is jam packed with statues, carvings, paintings on the walls of historic figures, and also murals on the walls and ceilings. The front walks out to Lake Mälaren, and the "back yard" is huge, and includes a lot of very well groomed hedges and trees, statues, and buildings. As with everything else, we kept thinking to ourselves that it would be great to visit in the summer time to see the place. Many of the buildings on the grounds are only open seasonally. But being that it's off season, there were not a lot of people there, so I guess things balance out. The one complaint I think I would have about the place was that when you looked out the windows of this ancient building, you saw traffic going by 200 yards away. Kind of took away from the experience for me for whatever reason. 

Went to a party at our neighbor Malin's apartment on Saturday night. It was one of those things where you don't necessarily want to go because you're going to walk into a room where you don't really know anyone, and feel like you're there out of a sense of obligation on your neighbors part. So we decided we were going to just go over there for one drink and then come back to our apartment. We went over there and ended up staying for 3 or 4 hours I think. Malin is the neighbor who had mentioned to us that Reese was "screaming" a lot, and she's very sweet. Her friends are all really cool, and funny. We were especially fond of a guy named Chris, who spoke very good english after a year of schooling in Idaho. He was also a huge smart ass, and funny, which is really why we liked him. Everyone here speaks really good english, but not everyone is so good at being a smart ass! We played a game similar to Trivial Pursuit, except that it's in Swedish, and geared more towards adults. Let me tell you that the game was a great ice breaker, and a lot of fun. And, of course, Reese had to make an appearance later in the evening, and made many new fans. I'm pretty sure that a lot of people don't really care to know us, but they have to if they want to see Reese. :D  I decided it was time for me to leave when they pulled out the Rock Star: ABBA Edition. Me and singing don't get along so well. I don't mind if others sing, but when I feel pressured to join in, it's time to go. And speaking of ABBA, it's amazing how they are so revered here in Sweden, even after all this time. As a matter of fact, they are opening an ABBA Museum in Stockholm this June, according to what I read. 

Yesterday, we got up and went to a place called Sirap. Kristy keeps asking what I want to do, and I told her that one thing I've had the urge to do is go out to breakfast somewhere for waffles. We never found a place for waffles, but she did find a place that served all kinds of pancakes. So that's where we went, and it was really good. After that, we just started wandering down the street and stopping into shops here and there. Before I knew it, we were downtown. It's strange when you feel like you're nowhere near where you think you are, and all of a sudden you pop out of a little neighborhood into an area you recognize. I realized that more than ever yesterday? I realized yesterday that the apartment Kristy found is pretty much right across a bridge from where Stockholm begins, for lack of a better way of putting it. It's like you go from suburb to city across the bridge. It's a cool location in many ways. It's a convenient spot as far as catching the bus, being close to one of the better grocery stores in the Stockholm area, and close to Haga Park where we can walk Reese.  It's also a reasonable distance from where she practices and plays her home games for Bandy. 

For everyone wondering about my watch, there is nothing new to report. It's still flopping around on my wrist, with only one post keeping it attached to the velcro watch band. 

Later.

The Watch

So, dozens upon dozens of people have been dying to know more about my watch, and what the latest is with that. Thanks for asking. Well, I did find a watch shop when we were out and about, and stopped in to get a new post (that little metal pin that holds the watch to the watch band). The watch shop guy did all sorts of fancy measuring of the post that I would need, and even used a tweezers to take the posts out of the fancy container they were held in to size them up. He finally settled on the perfect post, and then used an electric file on the post, for what reason I'm not sure. But it looked impressive. He mounted the post with another fancy tool, and it was fixed! My watch was like new again, just like the day I bought it off that guy who closed his suitcase full of watches and ran after I bought it. Must have been quitting time for him, which was too bad, because as soon as he ran off, a couple of Police Officer's wanted watches, and went running after him. Apparently they were pretty desperate to buy watches. But, I digress. So, I was feeling pretty good about my watch until the next day when I noticed that I had lost my new post, and the watch was flopping around on my wrist again! 

On the bandy front, I've been practicing with Kristy's team on a regular basis the past few weeks. When I first got here, my shoulder, back, and Sports Hernia surgery spot, were really bothering me. First time I played my shoulder hurt so bad I couldn't even throw the ball lightly underhanded, and then could hardly sleep the next couple of nights because of the pain. But now it seems like the more I've played, the better my body has felt, knock on wood. Now I pretty much practice every night that they do, which is Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Of course I don't do the pre-practice running that they do on Tuesday's, but that's only because I'm in terrible shape. I think the girls appreciate having me there to help out, but I'm pretty sure they also think I'm a tool. So some highlights of practicing with the girls... First of all, half the practices I go to I don't even get any shots, which is one reason I probably look like a tool to the girls. I wear my full equipment just to shag balls. But I don't mind because I'm still getting some exercise, and know I'm helping out in some way every night. I shag balls, help put up and take down the boards, and do other odd jobs to help out the team. But sometimes they have me do drills with the girls, and more specifically, Linda the goalie. This past Monday, they had a bunch of competitions with the team, and coach Oscar asked me if I would stand in for some penalty shots. Penalty shots are where the girls stand about 15 feet directly in front of the net, as the goalie has to stand on the goal line. The shooter basically winds up and shoots at the net, and the goalie tries to stop it. So, everyone seemed to be scoring on me in the lower sides of the net. I think I stopped 2 or 3 of the 15 or so shots I faced. Kristy later informed me that she had told the girls that I could not really move on low shots because of my recent surgery! Thanks honey! :D  Meanwhile, Linda maybe let in 2 of the 15 shots she face. Linda is a great goalie. I think I've mentioned that before. And she's lucky enough that the team has a goalie coach named Zoë. Zoë was a great goalie herself, and she works with Linda at every practice on drills, and seems to have a new drill for her every night. One drill Zoë came up with for Linda was having my fat arss screen Linda while Zoë shot at the net. Linda had to find the shot around my screen to make the save. Then Zoë wanted me to jostle with Linda, and try to push her around to fight for position while Zoë shot for the net. It must have been exhausting for Linda to try and push my aforementioned fat arss out of the way so she could make the save, but I was amazed at how many saves Linda made when I thought she had no chance. I wish I had half the skills that Linda had. To have a little fun with Linda, I told Zoë in private that she should tell Linda that she had come up with a new drill, where I would lay across Linda, and she would have to get out from under me and make the save. When Zoë explained that one to Linda, she just kind of looked at her in disbelief, as you'd probably imagine. Then, the other night, Oscar got a hold of the computer for the scrolling scoreboard, and it read "Oscar is best" in Swedish. It gave everyone a good laugh. Then last night, we were playing what they call "small ice games", in which 4-5 girls are on a team on a shortened ice. They split into three teams, and one team sits on the sidelines until one of the team scores, and then they replace the team that gets scored on. I play goalie at one end. And I ended up complaining to both the girls and Oscar that the fact that the team that was waiting to come on the ice was always waiting at my end of the ice, as if to say they knew that I was the end that was going to get scored on, and therefore that's the end that I'd come in on. I told them that they were killing any confidence I might have left. Then they pointed out that the scoreboard read "Let's Go Thom". Our friend Westman (his last name) had put it up on the scoreboard. Westman is not only the goalie on the AIK men's team, but also basically a Bandy field facility manager for AIK's home field. Actually, he does everything around there, including drive the Zamboni, and also the men's team laundry. He's also a really good guy, and has been a buddy around the Bandy field. We brought Reese to the rink for the first time, and he fed her some cat food, because he thought it would be funny. Well, I thought it would be funny to bring Westman a bag of Reese' very soft dog poop, and tape it up above his locker with a note from Reese thanking him for the cat food. He was the guy that also cleared a spot for me to sit in the guy's locker room, so I didn't need to keep transporting my equipment home every time. Then there is people like Robert, who plays on the men's team, and his girlfriend Elin from the women's team. They have both helped us out in so many ways. And then there is Linda the Goalie, who watched Reese while we were in Vasteras for the World Championships. All in all, Kristy's team, her coach, and the fellars on the men's team that I have gotten to know, have all been more than great. Super nice group of people. Another reason it's going to be so hard for us to leave. It's going to be hard to say goodbye, but we know they will be our friends for life, and it will be fun to see them down the road somewhere. 

And speaking of Oscar, I really like this guy. He is the head coach of the AIK women's bandy team, and also the head coach of the Swedish national team. He is a true gentleman, a very nice guy, and has a great sense of humor. I realized right away after going on a couple of the road trips, and seeing him at practice, that he really cares about the girls. When they stop to eat, he waits on them hand and foot to make sure everyone has everything they need. Same as in the locker room, and at practice. He's a very good coach, obviously. He makes practices interesting, and at the same time beneficial. He usually takes part in their training exercises, scrimmages, and even their skating drills. And he is a super smart coach. I've learned a lot from these here Swedes. They are very good, and very dedicated to training, which must be why they are so good at Bandy. 

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. We have an invite to a party at our neighbor Malin's next door. She is the one that told us Reese was "screaming", and offered to come see her while we are gone. We came home tonight to a note pushed through our mail slot, and immediately assumed it was another note from Malin about Reese being disruptive again. It was actually a note inviting us over for a drink. We also received an invitation to go out with Linda the goalie and her partner Lena, who happens to be the girl that cuts Kristy and my hair here in Stockholm. Man, it's hard being the popular kids.

Later.

Reese Bonkers Turns Two

So, my watch broke within 24 hours of buying it. Lost a pin out of it, so now it's flopping around on my wrist. And we think it needs a new battery. So, my $10 watch will probably cost me $15 to make right. 

Friday afternoon Kristy and I went to the famous Absolut Ice Bar in Stockholm, and what a tourist trap that place is. You pay $25 each to go inside for one drink. You go in there, and the place is the size of our Apartment living room. The drinking vessels they give you are made of ice, of course, and are square shaped with a hole cut in the center. This makes them awkward to drink out of, and the fact that they are made of ice also makes them hard to get a good grip on. They give you a jacket to wear, and there are supposed to be gloves attached. But I only had one glove attached, and it was too small. I squeezed my hand into the glove and the ice cup still nearly slipped out of my hand. We discovered afterwards that Stockholm is not the only city in the world where they have an Ice Bar, and looking at the Ice Hotel magazine I picked up, it appears the Stockholm is the lamest of them all. Oh well, had to check it out. Do yourself a favor if you're ever in Stockholm, stop in and just look at the place through the window. 

After the Ice Bar, we wandered around downtown Stockholm a little bit, and walked down to the large indoor market that I had seen earlier in the week. We walked through just to see it, and then headed to dinner at a place called The Soap Bar. Maybe the best dinner we've had in Stockholm. I had the traditional Meatballs, smashed potatoes, and lingonberries. KP had a bacon burger. Doesn't sound like anything special, but it was. Afterwards, we were going to go walk around Sodermalm, but both decided we were tired, and would do that another day.

Saturday night after Kristy's bandy game, we just kind of hung out and relaxed. I took Reese out for one of what seems like hourly poop & potty break, and as we're standing there, I see what looks like a big cat coming towards us out of the shadows. I realized quickly that it was not a cat, but in fact a fox. It was about 15 yards from us and stopped when it saw me. It changed directions and headed behind our building, and around the other side. I had gathered up Reese in my arms and started for our building when I saw it come out the other side. Reese and I went inside, because while I'm sure the fox is harmless to both Reese and me, I didn't want to find out otherwise. Then as we walked up the short flight of stairs in the entryway of the apartment building, I heard Reese fart.

Yesterday we went to the Sweden vs. Finland hockey game at the Globen. Initially upon entering, I thought this place was really cool. It seemed like a gorgeous sports venue. We were one of the first people in there, and found our seats on the third level after a climb up a lot of stairs. We decided that since we were way early, we were going to go find something to eat before the game started. So we headed back down the stairs. We wandered around, and finally found a food stand. We got a varm korv (hot dog) and a beer, and headed back to our seats. We climbed up the stairs to the top, and realized we were on the opposite side of the ice. We realized that there was no way to get to the other side unless you went all the way back down stairs, and around. So we went all the way back down, around, and back up the stairs. By this time we were sweating by the time we got back to our seats. we soon realized that the layout of the stadium, and the bars that they have up to keep people from falling out of the upper deck, made it hard to see a large portion of the corner of the rink closest to us. So, the stadium looked good initially, but we realized that it maybe was not so user friendly, as one of our Swedish friends had mentioned previously. By the end of the game we realized that there was a lot of really weird space in there, tight seating, poor sightlines, and a lot of stairs to climb. It's beautiful in appearance, but not very friendly to the spectators...or at least the spectators in the upper deck. Maybe it's great down below. But, that aside, the game was good, and the crowd was great. There were a lot of Finnish fans there, and the Swedes and Fins seem to get along really well. As someone told me at the Bandy World Championships, they (Swedes) feel like Finland and Norway are family to Sweden. They all cheer for each other, and they have a friendly rivalry in sports, from what i've seen anyway. But the crowd was very loud, did cheers together, and just about everyone there was wearing either Swedish or Finnish garb. And many of those people had face paint, flags, wigs, hats, and so on. They really go all out for their sports teams here. It was fun, and a great experience.

After the game, we came home and celebrated Reese's second birthday. Kristy made her a couple of Swedish meatballs, and mixed them in with her regular food. She picked out her dog food and set it on the floor next to her bowl, as she tried to get to the meatballs. The meatballs were served along with a bowl of ice cold water, complete with ice cubes, which Reese loves to chew on. After dinner, the finest rawhide bone for her to chew on. 

Later.

Vasa Museet

Vasa

Wasssupppp!! Vasaaaaaa!!!!

Reese got a new jacket. She wanted me to let everyone know. Kristy spoils her, and I'm OK with that, because she spoils me too.  

Anyway, back to the lecture at hand, we finally made it to Vasa Museet (Museum) tonight. I believe it's the most popular tourist attraction in Stockholm, and for good reason. It was really cool! I love history, and have a special interest in shipwrecks, so this was right up my alley. The Vasa was a ship that went down shortly after leaving Stockholm on it's maiden voyage in 1628. It was built for war, and was one of the biggest and most spectacularly decorated ships of it's time. It was built during the time when Sweden was the power in the Baltic Sea region. It was built to instill fear just by the way it looked, and it must have looked really cool in dry dock. Problem was that it was built top heavy, and as it was leaving port, it's said that it started listing to one side, but righted itself a couple of times. Then it looked like it was going to be OK, but then started tipping again. This time, water started filling the ship through the port holes for the cannons, and it slowly started to sink. There it sank, and there it stayed until the 1960's, when a historian spent months looking for it. He finally found it, and divers started bringing up items, which were very well preserved.

Eventually, it was decided that they would try to raise the ship, and had the backing of the King of Sweden. They were able to raise it, and bring it into more shallow water where they continued the salvage. They continued to painstakingly remove artifacts as they sifted through the silt in the ship, and found among other things, articles of clothing, coins, tools, all of the other things you'd expect to find on the ship, and 25 bodies. Most who perished were trapped under cannons and the like, which were not properly secured, and added to the boat capsizing as they shifted to one side of the boat. Bummer for those guys. There skeletal remains are also on display, as were some ridiculously realistic heads that they had on display. Honestly, it was creepy how much these heads looked real. 

All in all, it was really an interesting exhibit. They had a 25 minute movie in a theatre that told you the whole story of the boat from beginning to end, from creation, to how it got to the Museum, which was built specifically to house it. I told Kristy that I could see myself loving a job like finding a sunken ship, bringing it up to the surface, and restoring it. I think it would be an exhilarating experience to see that boat slowly rise to the surface, and above the water. 

Today we went shopping, and I finally got a watch. I never wear a watch at home, and never thought I'd need one here. I do. So I got a Casio knock off at the marketplace "downtown" near Sergles Torg for 149 Kronor, or about $10. Hopefully it will work for at least a couple of months. Look up Sergels Torg on Google, and you'll probably see the statue in the center. It's what I would call the center of Stockholm's shopping/business district. (Not the actual vendor below)

I also had lunch with Leaf Klingborg, an old Bandy acquaintance, and very nice guy. I saw him briefly up in Vasteras, and he suggested we have lunch. So I took him up on it. Leaf was a very good Bandy and soccer player, and also coach. He coached many teams, including the Swedish National Bandy team. He took me out for lunch at one of his favorite places, and I had a traditional Swedish meal. It was basically a potato pancake, with some kind of thick bacon, and lingonberries. When we first started walking, he asked what kind of food I liked, and I said pretty much everything except mushrooms and fish. We went to his first choice, and they had nothing but fish on their menu. Seriously. I'm glad I spoke up. After lunch, we went back to his office, and he showed me some things he's been working on. He's a very interesting guy, but very busy. So I left him alone, but not before we made tentative plans to go have a beer one of these days when Kristy is able to join us. 

This is boring, isn't it?

Later.

Buried In Bandy

Buried In Bandy

It's been a while in between blogs because I've been busy, and how much do you want to hear about walking Reese, and riding public transportation? That's what I thought. I've been working on articles for the USA Men's Bandy Team for the last couple of weeks, as well as practicing with Kristy's team, and doing other odd jobs like laundry, cleaning, walking Reese, and riding public transportation. It's amazing that someone like me who isn't working at the moment can have so little time to get anything done. 

So the U.S. team came to town two weeks ago today already, and time flew by. When they first got to town, they played a couple of training matches around Stockholm, before leaving for Västerås on that Tuesday morning. I went for the week, with Kristy joining me late Saturday night. We were able to leave Reese with Kristy's teammate Linda while we were gone, and she liked Reese so much that she cried when she had to bring her back to us. Reese has quickly become a big favorite with Kristy's team. Anyhoo, the week in Västerås was a blast, and a great experience as usual. I was an Assistant Coach for the team, which pretty much meant that I was stick boy and water boy all week. I didn't mind though. It's just fun being a part of the team, especially this group of guys. So, for the most part I did a little of everything for the team. I was also the U.S. Media, which was kind of funny. Even got mention in a couple of international bandy articles. "Media from all over the world, including Sweden, Russia, Norway, Finland, and even America". Anyway, it was hard keeping up with articles when I was hanging with the team as well, so I just skipped a couple of meals, and trips back to the hotel, and hung out at the Media Center. Made some new friends there. I recognized one of the Swedish photographers, Martin, from when the women's bandy tournament was in the U.S., so I reintroduced myself.  He really ended up helping me out quite a bit. I was using a crummy little camera to try and take pictures of the games, and all of the pics were blurry, or off center, or looked like it was from 1000 yards away, etc. So Martin said I could use his photographs, which are top notch pictures. There were also some other photographers working with him, and they said I could use their pics too. So, I became fast friends with all of them, and we got to talking. They asked if I had learned any Swedish, and I told them all of the words I knew, one of which being "bice", which means poop. They thought that was pretty funny, and when I came into the media center the next day, they all started calling me "bice". Yeah, respect everywhere I go. Anyway, the week was great. So now, it's back to business as usual. I always hate going home after a week like that, so it was kind of cool staying here afterwards for once. Said a brief goodbye to some of the guys, but next thing I know, Kristy and I are sprinting trying to catch our bus. 

This week was pretty uneventful. Just laundry, cleaning, bandy, writing articles, walking Reese, and riding public transportation. Yesterday, Kristy's team played their toughest opponent, Nassjo, and beat them 5-0. Kristy's team is undefeated, and has scored about 50 goals more than the second place team. Nassjo's Assistant Coach is a friend of ours named Pelle. Pelle came to Minnesota last winter along with a couple of girls, one of which now plays with Kristy on AIK, and the other one plays for Nassjo. Pelle is the nicest guy. In the process of getting to know him last year, I learned that he was a goalie on the Swedish National Team back in the 70's & 80's, and now he makes goalie gloves for the Swedish Bandy equipment company Kosa. He was kind enough to give me a couple of pairs last year, which would normally run me between $150 - $200 a pair if I was to buy them through Kosa.

So, I got to talk to Pelle a little bit, but hopefully we'll be able to get together with him again soon away from the Bandy field. Then last night, we got home from Kristy's game, took Reese for a walk, and then rode public transportation down to meet a bunch of her teammates for sushi. Sushi was sooooo good, and it's always a good time hanging out with the girls. Originally, the plan was to see a movie after dinner, but I think everyone was tired from the game, so everyone went their separate way. That was fine with me, cuz I was tired and always hate the thought of Reese being stuck in her kennel. 

It's Sunday morning here, and I'm just relaxing on the borrowed couch in front of the borrowed TV. You know you're in Scandinavia when you have 6 channels to choose from, and they're showing skiing events on 2 of them. You also realize you're not in the U.S. when you see a commercial running in the middle of the day for some show, and it features Chevy Chase. It's not only surprising to see Chevy Chase getting work, but it's funny to see him standing by the water in downtown Stockholm, acting like a needy, pushy, celebrity. But the funniest part is the end of the commercial, when he says "Where am I? I don't know where the F*ck I am!". Just about anything goes on TV here.  There is a bandy game on at 3:45 between Edsbyn & Sandviken that we're pretty excited about. Other than that, just grocery shopping planned, and maybe a walk for Reese....and maybe a ride on public transportation.

Later.