Who's a big boy? Thom is!

Kristy made me a list of trains and buses I'd need to take. But it was a big step. I went to a bandy game which my friend Jasper was playing in. Now, I knew which stop I needed to get off at, but once you get to the stop, finding the bandy field is the challenge. I started walking in the direction I thought it might be in, and it turned into a dead end. So I came back to where I started and tried a different direction. Before I got very far, I stopped in a shop and asked where the bandy field was. The gentlman I asked had no idea, but he knew there was a soccer field down the road a ways. Soccer fields are commonly used as bandy fields in the winter, so I thought I was heading in the right direction. After I walked about half a mile, I decided to ask a guy who had just pulled into his driveway if he knew where it was. He definitly knew that it was back in the exact opposite direction I had just walked. So I got directions from him and started walking quickly in that direction. About a mile later, I finally arrived at the bandy field, just as the players were walking out to the ice. I saw Jasper, and said hello. I had worked up a sweat on the walk, so of course I got the chills. It was a good game, and Jasper had a hand in pretty much all of his teams 7 goals. He had 4 assists officially, but he made the play on all of the goals. 

Then I was off to Kristy's game across town. I got to my stop, but went out the wrong end of the station. I had been to this station a half dozen times, but figured leaving one end of the station would be just as good as the other. WRONG! I surfaced, had no idea where I was, and it was dark. But there was a grocery store there, so since I had not eaten anything all day I grabbed a ciabatta bun, and a Coke light, and started walking. I was eventually able to find my way to the bandy field, just in time to watch her team anihilate the other team 9-0. It wasn't even that close though. Then the following day, her team won 16-0. They have outscored their opponent 45-0 in their last three games. They had a game today, but her coach held Kristy out of the lineup. Kristy was really bummed out that she wouldn't be playing. But she also has a lot of faith in her coach, and believes there is a good reason for her to sit on the sidelines and watch this game, so she will make the most of it. 

Kristy was gone for a couple of days this week to Brussels Belgium on business. She didn't want to go, but didn't have much choice. While she was gone, I ventured out on my own a little bit. Headed "downtown" to Sergels Torg, and ended up finding some stuff that I needed. A hooded sweatshirt, a scarf, a calculator, and some other stuff. The calculator is so I can convert Kronor to US dollars in a hurry, since I'm not good at math. I also just kind of wandered around. It's fun just to see the sights, and people watch. Then yesterday, Kristy and I took the Tube down to the Stadion and walked around. That was pretty cool, but do I dare say maybe a little underwhelming? Stadion is the stadium that was built for the 1912 Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm. It was interesting to see, and incredible to think that it's close to 100 years old, but it was not as big as I would have expected an Olympic Stadium to be. Could have been the times too, may have been big for those days. Anyway, fun to see. Don't tell anyone, but the stadium was locked up, except for one gate left open a crack near the back. There were some pallets of wood there, which looked like they had probably been dropped off that day, so I'm guessing the gate was left open so that the wood could be delivered. We snuck in, took a few pictures, and snuck back out. 

Then we walked towards downtown on our way to Sodermalm, and Ostermalm, so Kristy could shop for a birthday present for her friend and teammate Elin. Elin has been really good to Kristy since she's been here, and her boyfriend Robert has taken care of Reese on a few occasions when Kristy has a road game. So we walked down, and decided to pick up the bus, since it was cold, and since we were running kind of low on time before the shops closed. We went to the far end of the shopping district, and started to make our way back in the direction of home. Along the way we stopped in a few shops, and stopped into a place that had Semla's in the window. I had heard of Semla's, and wanted to try one. So Kristy and I went into this place, got a couple of Semla's and coffee's, and sat down. They are kind of like a donut with cream, and some kind of filling that we couldn't quite place. They were good, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get another. Then we were off for more shopping. The shops started closing up, so we ended up walking to Gamla Stan. As we walked up the street, we walked by a bar and Kristy says "we gotta check this place out, it's the medieval bar that one of my teammates told me about". So we went in, and this place was really cool. It's an old basement bar that is kind of dark and cold, and has the medieval theme, right down to the bartenders in their medieval garb. That was a cool experience. We drank our mead, and headed out. We decided that we were going to catch the bus back towards home, and I suggested we have dinner at the Texas Burger Co., which we had gone by many times and wanted to try. They have a deal on a pitcher of beer and two burgers, so we HAD to take advantage of that. It was pretty good. Definitely tasted more like a hamburger from home than any of the other burgers we have had. 

I think that's it for now. The U.S. Men's Bandy team arrives in Stockholm tomorrow, and they'll stay for a couple of days for some practice games before I head with them to Vasteras. It's funny, because I'm listed as an Assistant Coach & Reserve Player, but I'm also signed up as the American Press. Someone even forwarded me an 

Later.

Reese Can "Scream"??

Oops! Had some problems today when cleaning the apartment while Kristy was at morning practice. As part of that cleaning I mopped, so I opened our 6th floor balcony door a crack to try and let it air out a bit. When I say balcony, I mean this door basically opens to nothing but a free fall to the pavement in front of the building below.  The only thing to keep you from doing that are some bars that keep most things from falling out...most things except the bandy stick that Kristy had sitting by the door for when she wants to practice her stick handling. Yeah, it fell out, and as I grasped for it it slid completely out, and fell to the pavement below. Fortunately nobody was around, so nobody got hurt. But in a panic to run down and get the stick, I ran out the door, and locked myself out of the apartment. Reese was inside, but she still doesn't understand these complicated Swedish locks, so she was no good to me. I knew Kristy would be home soon, so I just wandered downstairs to wait for her in the lobby. Just as I was approaching the lobby, I saw her coming towards the front door. Crisis over.

And speaking of leaving Reese Bonkers alone, we got in trouble with the neighbor yesterday. We got up in the morning to go to the Stockholm Outlet, and ate at a Pizza Hut there too! Lunch buffet! Sooo good! And I don't really even like Pizza Hut. It was weird to see Pizza Hut, because really the only familiar American fast food type outlets you see anywhere are quite a few McDonald's, and a couple of Subway's here and there. There was a long line to get in, but it was so worth it in the end. Anyway, we headed home from there, and arrived to find a note had been dropped through our mail slot. It was from a neighbor telling us that Reese was "screaming" for a long time while we were gone, and it was hard for her to work, which she does from home. First thing Kristy did was figure out which neighbor it was, and then knock on their door. Turns out it was the neighbor right next door, who Kristy had met once before. 

 came out to talk to us, and was actually very nice about it. She loved Reese, and has a cat of her own. She even offered to come over and take care of Reese if we ever needed her to. We told her that we'd work on some solutions, and keep checking back with her to see how it worked. After trying a number of solutions, including putting our bed mattress in the doorway, we finally took the door off of the bedroom and put it on the kitchen, put her "house" (crate) in the kitchen, and closed the door. That seems to be our best alternative, and so far we have not heard back from the neighbor. Keeping our fingers crossed. Man, that Pizza Hut was good!

Fast forward a couple of days, and we're on a road trip to Sandviken for a pivotal game for A.I.K. It's a couple of hours by bus to get there, but not too bad. Sandviken has really nice facilities. There is a hockey rink attached to the outdoor Bandy field, and on the other side a soccer field. It should be mentioned that from what I'm able to tell, soccer is the big sport in Sweden. And most soccer (futbol) teams also have other sports teams associated them as a club. Men's and Women's Bandy is one of those associated sports. So A.I.K. is actually a professional soccer club in Solna that has a huge stadium, and then they also have the Bandy teams. There you go. And back to our blog. So, it's freezing, I don't think I mentioned that. It was around 17 degrees below zero at game time. I waited inside until the game was starting, like everyone else, and then went down and found a spot on the rail near the center of the stands. I tried to take pictures, but I was shaking so badly, and my hands were freezing when I took off my mittens. Other than freezing, it was a great game to watch, with A.I.K. winning handily 6-3. Great coaching, and great team play. Kristy scored another goal on a nice tip in front of the goal, and she also took a penalty, naughty Kristy! But A.I.K. played well against a very good Sandviken team. Their goalie, Linda Oden, was especially good, stopping two penalty shots. This is a VERY hard thing to do. Imagine someone teeing up a ball 10 or so feet in front of you, as you stand in a 12' wide by 8' high net. You're supposed to keep that ball out of the net as this person winds up and blasts a shot as hard as they possibly can. Anyway, a good win, and a happy bus trip back to Stockholm. We got back to find Reese had been given a LOT of treats by a friend who was kind enough to come let her out a couple of times while we were gone. We left the bag of treats, but no instructions on how many she was allowed to have. But half her bag was gone! I'm sure she didn't mind...until she started getting sick in the middle of the night. So sick in fact, that Kristy and I considered taking her to the Vet. She got sick at least 7 or 8 times, and was shooting soft serve out the stern. But, after she got rid of a lot, slept a little, and then had some rice, she seems to be doing much better. Poor little Bonkie!

OK, enough. Later.

New Years

Kristy treated me like a King all day today. Asking me what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to eat. We took the train out to the only hockey shop we've been able to find in the area so I could get parts for my goalie mask. This place was about the size of a standard bedroom, and you had to be careful how you maneuvered around in there, because if you have a big arss, you might knock something over and create a domino effect. Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think I have a big butt?? Anyway, the joint was jam packed from floor to ceiling with hockey stuff, and even some bandy stuff. It looked like this place had been there a very long time, and it had a lot of character. I met the owner, Johan, and we talked a bit. He had a Soviet hockey jersey from the late 60's hanging above the counter, with the old CCCP on it, which I would have killed for. He said he was a Packard (as in the car) enthusiast, and through that hobby he had met a lot of influential people in Russia, including some old hockey stars. One of those players had given him the jersey, which was worn in the Olympics. He also used an old American cash register from the 1920's, and indicated that it was because he didn't trust modern equipment. He just smiled at Kristy when she asked if he took Visa. Anyway, it was nice talking to Johan and listening to his stories. I'm sure we'll get back to his shop eventually. After a couple of other stops, we wandered up to a nearby pub called The Bishop's Arms, which we had passed on one of our walks, and thought looked interesting. We were starving, so we went there for a late lunch. Long story short, good beer, expensive, and if there's a next time, I'll just get a burger. I wanted to try something new, being in a foreign country, and that turned out to be a mistake in this case. Kristy had Deer, and it was good, but mine was horrible. But not knowing if my food was disgusting, or if that is how it was supposed to be served, was something we could not figure out, and the last thing I wanted to ask the Bartender/Waitress. "Excuse me, I'm an American, if you can't tell already by my backpack and loose fitting jeans, and I don't think my dog would even eat this....and she's been known to eat her own poop! Do you have anything edible here that doesn't have a white gelatin fat-like consistency to it? Maybe a Chalupa or something?".  You see, we're trying to be good Americans while we're here, so I just ate what I could, and then Kristy shared some of hers with me. She's giving like that. 

Afterwards we wandered back to the apartment to hang out with Reese, and map out where we wanted to go later. We had some Glögg to warm up after our long cold walk, and then a couple of drinks.  We turned off the lights and lit a couple of candles so we could watch all of the fireworks going off all over the city. They have been shooting off the heavy duty fireworks since about 4:00 here. Now we look out our window, and see fireworks going off everywhere we look. They are not those panzy fireworks you buy in Wisconsin, they are big time fireworks. Kinda cool, but poor Reese seems a little concerned. We finally ventured out around 10:30, and headed down to the Södermalm area of Stockholm on the tube to catch the fireworks. We got down there and there were thousands of people listening to a band, shooting off fireworks, taking pictures, and just having a good time. They had checkpoints coming into this area that everyone had to pass through, and they were checking people really carefully for booze, but it seemed as though everyone inside the barriers was wandering around with their own bottle of wine or champagne. I will not be able to do justice to how beautiful the setting was, but we were basically next to a large harbor, with big ships anchored in it. Ships from a huge cruise ship, to an old schooner. And they were all lit up. It was cold, but comfortable. We wandered around quite a bit taking pictures, and just enjoying being there, before we wandered up a sidewalk that went up the side of a hill. People had already begun to gather along the railings of this sidewalk that zig zagged up the side of the hill, but Kristy and I grabbed a good spot. We got there about a minute before midnight. We could here people counting down from about ten in Swedish, and at midnight, all of the ships in the harbor blew their horns, and the fireworks began. Well, the official fireworks started, and all of the amateur fireworks picked up. From the time it got dark we had seen a non-stop fireworks show around the city. It is hard to do justice to what we saw with words. Any night this would have been a gorgeous setting. Throw in fireworks going off in every direction as far as the eye can see, and it was spectacular. This went on for a good 15 minutes at least. Once they were done, a wave of people started for the tube to catch the train home. We knew we were never getting home in less than 2 hours if we went towards one of the tube stations, so we started walking home. Fortunately, Kristy knew where she was going, and we had a nice walk along the water over a few bridges, and found a bus stop. The bus came, and we were 2 of 6 people on this bus. We were home 15 minutes later.

Great day. One of the best New Years I can remember, and hard to outdo.

Later.

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.

What the hell’s a Tomtar??

It’s Christmas Eve in Sweden, the day they traditionally celebrate Christmas here. And  like the day after Thanksgiving back home, tomorrow (12/25) is apparently the biggest shopping day of the year here. Feels kinda weird. Doesn’t really feel like Christmas to me. Felt like just another day today. Yesterday of course felt like the Christmas season. I got up and took Reese for a long work around the Karolinska Institut across the way. It was cold out, but not flippin’ Minnesota cold! Yikes!  Anyway, it was cold, but at least the sun was out. From what everyone wasKristy and I took the Tube into the heart of Stockholm, and it was wall to wall people doing their last minute Christmas shopping. We needed to take care of some business like pay the rent, buy bus passes, and look for some kind of wireless internet service. We also hit some stores to look around. Bank closed early for the holiday, so Kristy couldn’t pay rent. We checked into the internet connection, but most places required either a Swedish phone number, a minimum of a year’s service, or way too much money. We decided that I did not need internet that badly, as I usually spend only an hour or so on the internet a day, give or take? So I’ll just leach off of hers when she’s not working, check my gmail, take a peak at Facebook maybe, and look at CNN for the latest news. As most of you can probably guess, I spend the rest of my day working on my abs, and admiring myself in the mirror. “Who’s that handsome devil?”. Anyway, no luck on paying rent, no luck on internet, but we got our bus passes. And maybe more importantly, we ate lunch at Max. Max is basically like McDonalds or Burger King here in Sweden. Not sure if they are outside Sweden too, or what. But Kristy and I had been determined to try it, as we had seen them all over the place. So today was the day. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon, and all I had had the entire day was a cup of tea, some water, and about 8 Advil. I was starving. It was ok, but we were both a little disappointed. Kind of like they accidentally got the shipment of burgers meant for the local elementary school. We probably wouldn’t go back there, but it filled the need at that moment. Kristy ended up getting sick to her stomach from eating there, so I have now dubbed it “Max-atives”. We picked up a couple of packages from the Post Office, and then headed to the liquor store near our place to pick up some beer and wine to take to a dinner party we’re heading to tomorrow night, and to also thank Robare for taking care of Reese on Sunday while we were gone at KP’s bandy game. Fortunately Kristy brings her durable giant bag with her everywhere she goes. She got it  at IKEA! We were so happy to see that they had IKEA here in Sweden, by the way. Terrific!! Anyway, we put two boxes of wine, a 12 pack of bottled beer, and a 12 pack of Carlsberg beer, the 16.9 ouncers. I thought I was going to die carrying that thing to the bus stop, and then from the bus stop to our apartment. 

Today, did some laundry, and then we took the bus down to Gamla Stan to look for Tomtar. Kristy wanted to get one for the people who invited us over for dinner tomorrow night. They are mythical (??) characters who are supposed to protect your house, among other things. Of course that’s the Tomtar that I’m referring to, not the people who invited us over tomorrow night. Rather than have me explain what Tomtar are, research it yourself. The people who invited us over for dinner and drinks tomorrow are Miska, and her partner Camilla. Miska is an Assistant Coach and Player on Kristy’s bandy team. She and Camilla put Kristy up for the first couple of weeks that she was here, and were very generous to her. She wanted to say thanks, so she got them the Tomtar, some wine, and various other gifts. Kristy is very generous, but you knew that already. Anyways, back to our story. We got the Tomtar in a shop in what is known as Old Town. Really cool area with narrow cobblestone streets. It’s a tourist trap for sure, but it has a lot of charm, and a ton of history. After the shop, we wandered around, and came upon an old church that was just incredible inside. Probably the most interesting church I’ve ever been in. I was just happy that I didn’t burst into flames when we entered to tell you the truth. We left the church and walked by the King & Queen’s residence. After that, we found a little cafe to have a coffee and some lunch. Then we strolled down to Stockholm  City Hall, the Stadshuset.  City Hall does not usually conjure up any spectacular images in my mind, but this place was incredible. It is also where they hold some sort of ceremony for the Nobel Prize. At this point, I wonder if I should maybe do a little more research for the reader. But then I remember, I don’t have limitless internet to gather facts, and you foo’s do! Google. After we wandered around and took more pics, we caught the bus back to the apartment. We took Reese Bonkers for a long walk, and then came back again. I did some more laundry, and then we opened the packages we have received from friends at home. My Ma sent us a bunch of stocking stuffers, most of which will come in very handy here. I just feel bad that she spent $45 mailing $50 worth of stuff to us. :D  Thanks Ma!  Nina & Eric Cook also sent us a package of essentials. I didn’t understand why Kristy was so excited about peanut butter until she told me that a jar of peanut butter here is approximately the same price as a barrel of crude oil. Thanks Nina & Eric, whoever you are!   Now we’re kickin’ it on the couch, not looking at the TV we don’t have, and having a couple of those Carlsberg beers we lugged back. Mmmmm, God Jul (Merry Christmas) to all!

Let Me Back Up To The Beginning Of This Journey....

This should have been the first entry on this blog. Eventually I'll have pictures and everything, like a grown up blogger!

Phew! I’m finally in Sweden! 

I knew I’d get here eventually, and feel that sense of relief, but it was a hell of a trip getting to this point. Lot’s of sleepless nights, and stressful days leading up to our departure.  So many little hassles with getting Reeses paperwork in order, and working out all of the little last minute details of getting ready for a trip of this magnitude. Luckily, I have the best family, and lot’s of great friends to help us out. My little sister Debbie is kind enough to watch our place while we’re away, and patient enough to take my stressed out arss to the airport on Thursday morning! :D  Can’t thank her enough. Lot’s of other offers from family and friends to help me out too. 

My last day at work was Monday December 15th. It was a chore in itself just getting ready to leave work for 3 months. Not only trying to clean up ongoing work issues, and trying to avoid any new one’s, but re-assigning my firms to my co-workers and trying to gather helpful information for them, and making my firms aware that I would be gone, and letting them know which of my co-workers would be assigned to their firm.  And when I notified people at RBC, and at my Correspondent firms, it created a lot of responses.  It was really nice seeing some of the sentiments coming back at me from all of these people. But at the same time, I felt like they all warranted a response, which just consumed more of my time.  I felt like I had things pretty cleaned up and under control when I left. I hope so anyway.

So I spent Monday night through Wednesday packing, doing last minute errand's, running to vet appointments, doing laundry, cleaning, and prepping the house for our extended leave. Wednesday night I actually felt like I was packed up and ready to go for the most part, with just a few things to do in the morning. Got that stuff taken care of, and was ready to go on Thursday morning. Then I watched the clock and started freaking out as I waited for my Sister to show up to give me a ride to the airport. Then when she did show up and we took off, I watched the clock and freaked out some more. What about traffic, what about the volumes at the airport considering this is just a few days before Xmas. Things went surprisingly well with traffic, and when I got to the airport, it was manageable. I decided to hire one of the guys walking around with the cargo carts to carry my stuff since I had a dog kennel, two big hockey bags packed to their limits, a backpack, and a dog on a leash. We got to the United counter, and there were only a few people in line. I was thinking that maybe I had been worried for nothing, and things might actually work out easier than I had imagined. So, I get up to the United desk and this guy starts helping me out. Everything seemed to be going OK. Then he says he needs to find out if it’s too cold outside for the dog to fly in cargo. What??  On all of the information we got for getting Reese to Sweden, nowhere was a temperature issue mentioned. I started freaking out thinking about scenario’s of what I was going to do if they said Reese couldn’t go. My first thought was that if Reese and/or I couldn’t go right then, Kristy was going to be devastated....that Reese was not coming. :D  I was really flipping out, but keeping calm assuming things would work out somehow. AN HOUR after I stepped up to the counter, I was finally told that Reese would be allowed to go. I was soooo relieved, but at the same time felt like this was just the first of many obstacles that Reese and I would have to overcome. But, trying to take them one at a time.  So I slipped Reese a sedative, hidden in a Snausage, and sent her off with the United people, praying for the best. I assumed she would be well cared for, and they would not let her go if there was any danger. Flew to Chicago happy that the first obstacle had been cleared. Now, I had watched the news in the morning to see if there would be any weather issues that might affect our flight, and of course, the weather terrorists were all over the news talking about how there was a line of storms pushing up to the Northeast that were going to bury every place I needed to be in ice and snow, potentially throwing up another obstacle to get over. Got to O’Hare, and fortunately had more than two hours to figure out the confusing signage at the airport, and make it to the SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) desk. There I got my ticket, and asked about Reeses status. The woman told me to check back in when I got to the gate. Got to the gate, watching the weather out of the corner of my eye, and praying it would hold off until after we took off. My cousin Eileen was kind enough to call me and tell me that if anything did happen where I was stranded at O’Hare, that I could stay with her. So I had that going for me. But at the same time, I just wanted to be in Stockholm on time, both for Reese and I, and because I knew Kristy would be distraught if her puppy didn’t show up on time.  OH, and her Fiance’.  I always forget that part. :D  Anyhoo, I checked with the woman from SAS at the gate, and asked about Reeses status.  She had her assistant contact one of their baggage guys at the gate, and they verified that Reese was there, and ready to go. She also mentioned that she saw Reese, and she looked very calm and content.  That made me feel soooo much better.  The weather held, and their wasn’t even a flurry before we took off. Another crisis averted.  

So, one 8 hour flight later, and a sore arss from an uncomfortable and cramped seat, we landed in Stockholm.  I got off the plane and got to the Special Baggage area to wait for Reese to show up. I figured that my bags would be fine, and she was more important than my terrible wardrobe anyway.  So, she finally comes through, peering out through the bars, and I feel like one more obstacle has been overcome. Then, unfortunately, I had to take her over and wait for my baggage to show, which took forever. And to be sitting there with a dog that had been stuck in this kennel for 12 hours, and hadn’t been feed, watered, or let out to go to the bathroom as far as I knew, felt terrible. I had been instructed not to let her out, or give her anything inside her kennel until I went through Customs. I would have liked to have gone through customs with her, assuming Kristy was waiting on the other side, and then come back in for my bags, but with todays security, that wasn’t happening. It was excruciating, and I felt horrible for Reese as she whined in her kennel.  Finally, my bags showed up, and I carefully maneuvered the two carts I had loaded everything onto into customs. Paranoid that something in the documents wouldn’t be right, I felt a little nervous as the Customs agent looked over her paperwork very carefully, and then went to scan her chip. Everything seemed in order, and I was incredibly relieved to here the agent tell me “she’s OK, you can go through”.  I should mention at this point that we had been warned that if Sweden didn’t like the paperwork, they could either quarantine Reese, ship her back to the U.S., or even destroy her. We were told that this probably wouldn’t happen, but there was the possibility. So, Reese and I were finally safely in Sweden. I started pushing her down the long winding hallway, and came around the corner to see Kristy anxiously awaiting our arrival. I could see the tears of joy from 20 yards away, as she saw us, and ran past the barrier ropes to see Reese.....and me.  I was so happy to see her after 2.5 months, and was so happy that she and Reese were together again. We quickly moved to an exit so Reese could get outside and do her business. We also got her some food and water. A train ride, and three different buses later, we were finally safely in Kristy’s apartment. If I wasn’t tired to the point of retardation, I would have insisted on a beer. Instead, Kristy feed Reese and I, and then took us on a long walk to a really cool park reserve. Got back to the apartment, gave Reese a bath, took a shower, and it was lights out.  Woke up at 9:00 local time, and went for another long walk. Came back, ate, and now I’m writing. It’s almost 4:00 in the morning here, and we need to get some sleep to try and get on schedule, but I wanted to finish this up. Lot of people wanted me to send updates.  Hopefully, future updates will not be so long winded or disjointed.  :D

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. I’ll be seeing some of my Bandy brethren when they make the trip to Sweden in January for the World Championships, which I look forward to.  To the rest of you, take care.

Thom

It's day five here of my Swedish adventure, and actually, I'm feeling right at home. Of course, I had the easy part. Kristy had the hard part in coming here alone, finding a place to live, finding her way around the city, making friends, and learning the language. All I have to do is follow her around (on the bus pass she bought me), and get to know her friends, teammates, and coaches. And that part has been pretty easy, since they have been VERY nice, and most speak very good english.
When I arrived Friday we went for a long walk around the park to try and keep me awake, and to get Reese a little walk after being crated for about 12 hours. Also, the sedatives I gave Reese at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport had not quite worn off, so it was good to get her some fresh air, and get the blood flowing. After the walk, I slept for a few hours. We woke up about 9:00 PM local time, and I was up. So we decided to go for a walk around town.
Saturday we took the bus to what was supposed to be a Christmas market. We were a little disappointed, because we expected more goods to purchase, and less food & drink stands. It was still good to get out and explore a little though, and we did have a drink they call Glogg. It's a warm berry drink, which can be served with alcohol, or without. We wanted with, but got it without. They also serve it with raisins and almonds, which you drop into the drink. It's very good. We headed back towards home and stopped at a grocery store on the way. Interesting that it looked more like an old warehouse from the outside, but was a pretty standard grocery store. We headed back to the apartment to drop our stuff off, and then headed over to Kristy's teammate Elin's house for a "baking party". There I met Elin, her boyfriend Robare, and Maria, a teammate of Kristy's from Norway. They were all very nice, and we had a lot of fun. After a while, the girls went to make cookies, and Robare and I talked. Poor guy probably was forced by Elin to hang out with me. I learned that he is on the AIK men's Bandy team. In our course of conversation, he mentioned that they might want me to come out and play goalie for their second team. I mentioned that I might suck. We'll see what happens.
Sunday, Kristy had a game in Kareby, which is about five hours southwest of Stockholm. We had to get up at 4:00 in the morning, which wasn't hard for me since I was already up for the last 3 hours not being able to sleep. We had to be at the Solna Centrum bus station, which is about a 20 minute walk, if you walk quickly. I had a hard time keeping up with Kristy, but we made it just in time to catch a ride from her teammate. Got to their home rink where we boarded the bus for Kareby. It was a beautiful bus ride, from Stockholm and it's lights, to when the sun finally came up and we drove along Lake Vattern, which is a very large inland lake. It almost felt like we were seaside. We passed some ruins along the way that almost looked like the remains of old stone castles. Once we got to the rink at Kareby, AIK tied Kareby 2-2 in a light rain. Although AIK dominated the game in my opinion, they just couldn't hit the net with their shots. The tie was like a win for Kareby, and they celebrated like they had just won a championship game. Also, AIK is the defending champion in Swedish Women's bandy, so they are the team that everyone wants to beat. The tie was disappointing, but not the end of the world, and AIK kept their undefeated streak at 17 games. The trip was fun, because it allowed me to get to know the girls and coach Oscar a little better, and helped me learn some names. During the trip I was constantly amazed at how the bus drivers could maneuver these big buses through the narrowest gaps, and as we pulled into the driveway for AIK's home rink, I was once again reflecting on how skilled they were....right up until the bus hit the corner of the building, blowing out one of the huge windows right next to where we were sitting in the back, and right where Elin had just been sitting. We got off the bus at that point, but as Kristy unpacked her bandy gear, I watched the driver try to get the bus unstuck from where it was, and break three more windows on the bus. It also did some damage to the corner of the buildings roof, which I'm sure the bus company will have to pay for. What an exciting way to end the day!
Monday night I took my bandy gear with to Kristy's practice, and worked out with the team. I was horrible, and my body just can't handle playing. :( My shoulder, which was seperated about 3 years ago while playing golf (don't ask), and needs to be fixed surgically, gave out on me quickly. Also, the spot where I had surgery for an abdominal tear in September is still giving me issues. I think I'm probably just getting too old to play goalie anymore. Still, I liked practicing with the girls. They just need to learn that they need to go easy on me. :D

That's all.