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.