Smörgåstårta

I just had the most amazing food. You can check out the definition in Wiki here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sm%C3%B6rg%C3%A5st%C3%A5rta

Basically, this thing was a huge cake-like structure made with layers of Swedish flatbread with many different fillings: liver pate, leek and curry paste, ham, creme freche, shrimp, eggs, tomatoes, dill, kiwi, and who knows what else. It looked incredible, sounded interesting, and tasted so damn good that I ate three pieces of it, had dessert, then promptly fell asleep on my hostess' couch (how embarassing!). Oh yeah, speaking of dessert, it was some sort of chocolate cream cake with fresh whipped cream, and a cardamom-cinnamon cake. This added to my food-induced couch coma. When I woke up, everyone was just laughing at me. Ah well, worse things have happened. :-)

So, today is my last full day with Carina and her family. In addition to going for sleep-inducing food at her mom's place, we also went to a soccer game to watch her son, Andreas, play, and we went to the local castle to get some pictures and a history lesson.

Tomorrow, I am off to Stockholm to continue my adventures. The weather has been wonderful so far (although there were some dark clouds today and it was getting colder than it has been) and everything has gone wonderfully well. I don't know how much internet access I will have from this point forward, but will try to blog as much as possible.

I must go now, as Carina is ironing my laundry and I am feeling marginally guilty.

Be well!
Janine

Nyköping

I am currently in Sweden, where everything is green and gorgeous. To put it in a perspective that my friends can relate to, it's a lot like the Tahoe area, except with more green meadows between all the stands of pine trees. I have been blessed with great weather since I got here, it's about 70 degrees during the day and about 40 at night.

I am staying with Carina and Per and their two children, Andreas and Emma. Carina lived with me for a year about 19 years ago, when my kids were tiny. We have kept in touch over the years, and she was thrilled to have me come visit when I told her that I was going to be in Scandinavia this fall. Carina is a CADD drafter (and many other things in her company! and Per is a plane mechanic. Andreas is 6 years old and Emma is 3. They are both beautiful and really bright. Andreas is pretty quiet much of the time, but Emma is a serious talker. She reminds me completely of Alec at that age. She has been teaching me some Swedish words in exchange for English words. I regret to say that her retention is about 100% while mine is near zero. I am getting old....

The area where Per and Carina live is a smattering of homes (maybe 130) about an hour outside Stockholm. More than half the homes are summer houses, so not too many families live here year-round. It is quiet and idyllic, with a lake a couple hundred meters away. There are deer and wild pigs in the woods. The sky is blue like I've never seen it, and there are so many huge stars at night - I am enthralled.

Sara, you'll be happy to know that I have taken pictures of some food as well, Carina made some sort of pork loin wrapped in bacon and stuffed with garlic, butter, tomato puree, and green onions that was to die for. Oh yeah, and topped with a cider sauce (I even took a photo of the sauce ingredients, so I can try to recreate it). We need to have a cooking fest when we get home!

The coast here is so different, too. Sweden is a land of islands, and so the coastal areas are full of channels and inlets, with no crashing waves as we know them. We went hiking yesterday on the coast about 15 miles from here, and it was great. I also visited a town called Trosa, where canals go through town and people have a house AND a boat. It all looked like something off a postcard.

So, we are off to buy converters for the Nintendo DS Lites that I brought for the kids (the chargers are, of course, built for 110V currents). I hope that everyone back in the states is happy and healthy. Be well, my friends!

Hej då,
Janine

The Paper Chase

I am sitting in the Stockholm airport, waiting for a train to take me to Nyköping to see my long-time friend Carina and her family. Since I last saw Carina 19 years ago, she has gotten married and had two adorable children. My adventure begins with her family, and I can't wait to get there!

This is the farthest I have ever traveled alone: San Francisco to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Stockholm, and now the train. It's proving pretty easy to get around, and I am good at asking people for help (always have been, it's a blessing [for me] and a curse [for everyone else that I bug]).

I must say, the people in Sweden are phenomenally nice so far. I went into a convenience store in the airport where I could get a printed copy of the train ticket that Carina had reserved for me, and the proprietor told me that he could do it for me, but there was a 20 kronor charge (that's about 3.50 USD) and I could print it for free from a kiosk upstairs. Nice guy. He said, "It's easy to use the machines and if you can't do it, then I just get to see you again when you come back down here to have me print it for you." It was, indeed, easy, and now I sit here at an internet cafe, ticket in hand, and will board my train in about another hour.

People in Germany? I have no idea; four hours in the airport and I don't think I heard more than three people even speak! It was like being in a library. This does NOT bode well for me and my loud, ever-present voice. Ah well, perhaps they are just bored with life and need a good, healthy dose of Janine!

But onto the paper issue....folks, you there in the US do NOT appreciate one of your greatest resources: toilet paper that is kind to your bum. The paper in Stockholm is rough, but the stuff in Frankfurt was downright abrasive. I could have taken some extra squares home to scour my sink. It occurred to me, whilst sitting on the toilet here in Stockholm, that I should collect a t.p. sample from every place I go, and put them all into a sort of "loo roll" scrapbook after I get home from my trip. But, I just can't bring myself to create such a scatological masterpiece, so I will just say it here: next time you go to the john, say a prayer of thanks to the toilet paper gods.

And now, I am off to find the train. I hope you all are happy and healthy, and I will try to blog as much as possible whilst here.

Kramar,
Janine