I love dollar coins

Not for collecting, for spending.

Get rid of the penny, all cash prices should be rounded to the nearest five cents. Pennies just fill my coin jar, then I get excited when I go to the bank to cash them in, only to be disappointed that my 30 pounds of coins weren't worth much because they were all pennies. Checks, electronic banking and credit cards can still track to the penny, but since a penny costs more than one cent to produce, it's time to give them the axe.

While they're at it, just get rid of checks, or at least open up the possibility to easily transfer money electronically. If I borrow $20 in cash from a friend, I should be able to go home that night, log into my account and transfer that money back to them immediately. Simple. Sure, I can understand that my grandparents may still want to buy groceries with a check, and sending cash in the mail can be a bit scary, but for those of us with internet available 24/7, the check should be abolished.

Back to dollar coins, most will disagree with me, but I don't care, they're awesome. I'd even use a $2 coin if it was available.

Homesickness is starting to set in (and ends up in a rant)

With all the excitement of our June travels, and then returning to Minneapolis in July to pick up the life we left over three years ago, I haven't had time to be "homesick" quite yet. Today has been a slow day, and I guess that was enough for it to sneak up on me. 

Yes, Sweden was a home, and it was a pretty darn good one. Tonight I want nothing more than to hop off the subway, walk 20 steps out of my way to visit the neighborhood grocery store, pick up something simple and go home to cook. A glass of smooth red wine on the side sounds heavenly.

The fact that I travel (by express bus) from Minneapolis downtown to St. Paul downtown and don't have one reasonable option for buying groceries along the way really bugs me. How do people handle downtown living in these cities? The downtowns sure have a lot of nice life to them, but they're missing the one thing that would make them truly livable. There are plenty of apartments and condos in each city, the population density would surely support a few real grocery stores. Over in Minneapolis you can find a few stores just a mile or two out of downtown, why not in downtown? What about St. Paul? Do I just not know the areas? I've walked or driven pretty much every street and skyway, but haven't found what I'm looking for. Over-priced corner markets just don't cut it, I'm talking about a store that sells fresh produce, meat and pastas, not just milk and canned/boxed goods. In Stockholm you'd normally find a decent grocery store every quarter to half mile; spaced a bit farther out in the residential areas. They had everything you'd ever need. They might not have 100 types of pasta sauce or 200 types of sugary drinks, maybe only 10 and 40 respectively, but I felt like they had a better food selection than the suburban Cub Foods.

Here, if I want real groceries I have to hop in a car and drive five miles out of my way to go to some over-sized grocery store where I'll buy enough groceries for a couple of weeks in order to save myself the hassle of making the hellish trip any time soon. It's too much work. I just want simplicity. And healthy food.

I'm just thinking of the superior bread selection at the local Coop supermarkets near our apartments in Sweden and am at a loss for words. I just wish I could describe how much better they were than the bread aisles at the chain grocery stores here in the Twin Cities. I don't even eat much bread, and I'm still drooling just thinking about the selection of breads they had there.

Maybe my problem is that I'm going to the wrong stores. I should try out Byerlys, Lunds or Trader Joes. I'll just need to drive an extra five to ten miles to get to one of those. No thanks.

Except for the heat, humidity, junk/fast food and the lack of willpower needed to stop me from eating crap, it really is good to be back, but I'm really longing for the best of both worlds right now.

Last night in Hawaii

We're about to launch into our last full day in Hawaii. We need to take it easy because we got a bit too much sun yesterday, but don't worry, it wasn't too bad. We'll have tans, not lobster coloring, at the wedding on Friday.

We started the trip with a day on the beach, then Pearl Harbor, hiked to the top of Diamond Head and snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, spent a day on the North Shore checking out the shops and sea turtle sanctuary before swimming at Waimea Bay and catching a sunset dinner (rain clouds spoiled most of the day, including sunset), then yesterday we went out to a sand bar and spent the day floating in shallow waters about a mile from shore. Today we'll do a short inland hike then take in the rest of the day on the beach. This time with lots of SPF 50 suntan lotion applied liberally and often onto dry skin. Dry skin is going to be the key.

It's an odd feeling being in Hawaii. We're still in paradise on a wonderful trip, but I can already feel that I'm taking this for granted. A week ago Saturday we were driving the Great Ocean Road in Australia and this last Saturday we were driving along the North Shore. Crazy! At the same time, Hawaii just feels like another day on this amazing trip, and when I stop to think about it, I return to the conclusion that these islands are so impressive, and I'm really not giving them the attention they deserve. We also feel like locals here - living the life of someone on the island who is taking in a bit of the local life and a few visits to the touristy places. Very fun, but it's also a great reminder that we're definitely back in the US now. I won't complain, the laid back life in Hawaii is a great way to readjust to what's to come.

Very excited to see my family tomorrow. The next week and a half are likely to be the best of the trip!

Sleepii in Hawaii

We made it. The Chilean ash cloud shut down airports in New Zealand, Tasmania and Perth, but we didn't have any problems. Spent the day at the beach and are now heading to bed. Pearl Harbor tomorrow.

Hawaii Bound?

Today is our last full day in Melbourne, at least, we hope. Volcanic eruptions in Chile have shut down Melbourne's and New Zealand's airports a few times in the last few days. Nothing against this city, but we're starting to look forward to Hawaii, so we're crossing our fingers that the airports will be open tomorrow.

Couple days in Australia

Greg and Effie rented a car for the three day weekend (Queen's birthday on Monday), so we headed southwest along the Great Ocean Road yesterday. After a couple crazy curves we stopped in a small resort town for some fish and chips (cheeseburger and milkshake for me), then went hunting for some motion sickness medicine. The trip continued for another couple hours with a stop to check out wild koalas napping in the trees along the road, and ending at some incredible seaside cliffs along with lookout points to the Twelve Apostles; free-standing rock formations created by the waves pounding the cliffs. A late-night drive home gave us the chance to check out some of the southern constellations, including the famous Southern Cross.

Today we all got in an early run before heading out to mosey through a flee market. No bargains though. Afterwards we headed north into the Yarra Valley, Melbourne's wine country, to visit a few wineries. The whites weren't anything to write home about, but I highly recommend the Yarra Valley Pinot Noirs and Shirazes. Pizza later in the evening, and now we're in for an early night.

No big plans for tomorrow, but we'll keep you posted if anything interesting comes up. Starting to look forward to Hawaii.

Good news

We enjoyed a very relaxed day. Slept in, enjoyed some delicious pancakes, walked through the botanical gardens, toured downtown, took a break for some sushi, came home - girls napped while boys ran, dinner, then an Australian Rules "Footie" (Football) game. Pretty interesting sport with a giant field, 18 guys on a team, and rules somewhere between soccer, rugby and American football.

As for the good news, I located Miranda's dress. I had it packed away in special container like things which keep my dress shirts from getting beat up while we travel. Since I hadn't worn any dress shirts yet, I just forgot the dress was tucked away among them. After walking through the 50-60% sales downtown I'm pretty sure Miranda is a little sad that I found it.

Oops

We just realized that Miranda's dress for Katie's wedding didn't make it into our suitcases. Our best guess is that it was in a garment bag, and as last minute decision we decided not to use the garment bag - just handed it over to the movers. Whoops.


One back up option did make it into Miranda's bag, but we still might be dress shopping in the coming days.

Check another country/continent/hemisphere off the list

Yep, we made it to Australia. Spent a laid-back day catching up with my college friend Greg. I haven't seen him since he moved to Melbourne in November 2005. WE also got to know his girlfriend Effie over an amazing home-cooked lasagna dinner made by Master Chef Greg himself.


No real stories - our last days in Thailand and our entry into Australia were pretty uneventful, although Melbourne did greet us with two rainbows as we rode the bus from the airport into the city; that alone makes it seem like a nice place. Temperatures are partially cloudy with some drizzle, wind and temperatures between 40 and 55. Nice contrast to the Thai heat.


We'll head out on foot to explore the city tomorrow, will catch an Australian Rules Football game on Friday or Saturday, and plan to mix in a few day trips out into the country-side. Really looking forward to spending more time with Greg - it has been a blast so far.


We'll check in with more news once we have some.


Here are a few pictures from Thailand. Enjoy!


Bangkok - Chinatown:

A shot from one of the more impressive temples in Bangkok:

Receiving an elephant kiss:

Hanging out with the baby and her mother:

Midnight in an Internet Cafe

Our plans have been washed away these last two days due to late evening monsoons. They offer a wonderful relief after horribly hot days, but both last night and tonight the vendors at the street bazaars have packed up their goods early and headed in for the nights. We've found some good deals, even though we're not sure how we're going to get everything home. Definitely shopping for smaller things, but weight is the issue, so we'll see how we'll manage.

Yesterday we took the advice of a college friend who had visited Chiang Mai and took a day trip out to an elephant sanctuary. I'd love to post some pictures, but I don't have access to them here in the internet cafe. The sanctuary was just amazing - about 150 acres in a valley 35 miles outside of town. For centuries elephants in Thailand have been brutally trained, ending up in the logging industry or even performing tricks on city streets to earn money for their owners. The sanctuary outside of town works to raise money to rescue elephants - either taking on elephants where the owner can no longer care for them, or buying them from the owners in cases of extreme brutality. In addition, the local communities around the park were very poor, and didn't really trust the owner of the park when she wanted to open up the park. As a way to build their trust she gave them seeds to plant fruits and vegetables, and promised them that she would buy the produce back to use for feeding the elephants. She even agreed to pay market rates. It has taken time, but now the villages which were once subsistence farmers are now seeing the quality of life improve as a result of their agreement, and the park now has a lot of support throughout Thailand.

As you can tell, the visit was largely educational, and of course we learned the individual stories of elephant after elephant. It was just amazing being out in the park; at first we got to feed the elephants from a platform, then later from ground level. After a great (and giant) Thai-vegetarian lunch we got to walk through the park down to the river to help bath the elephants. Later we were allowed to walk among a small herd with two babies; feeding them, petting them, receiving elephant kisses, etc. Really, that doesn't sound like much, but words can't really describe the experience - we hope the pictures we just hope they will do it justice once we can get them posted.

Few other highlights - the sanctuary is also a dog sanctuary. Quite the mix to see all these dogs running around with the people and elephants. Also met some very cool travelers who were "finding themselves" in SE Asia. Their six-week to eight-month vacations made our trip home seem a lot shorter and like much less of a big deal.

What else...lots of cats around here. I caught a glimpse of a Siamese cat the other day, just one. It seemed worth noting.

We were tempted to go to a place that would let us hang out with tigers. Something like $15 for 15 minutes with a baby tiger or $10 for 15 minutes with a juvenile or adult tiger. I was so excited to get a picture cuddled up with a baby tiger, but after spending a day at the elephant sanctuary and then seeing pictures of the tigers' small steel and cement enclosures just made me feel bad for the tigers, so we skipped that.

Miranda tried a Thai massage today. Not so much of a massage, more bending and stretching with lots of pressure and elbows. I opted for the American-style oil massage. No complaints here, but I might have to try a Thai massage tomorrow.

Not much else for news. Tonight's Sunday bazaar was supposed to be a big deal. Street vendors everywhere, live music, fireworks, probably more that we didn't even know about. We got a few good deals, but about 75% of the vendors closed up early due to the rain so we weren't able to shop around much. With so much variety in the market, I'm sure we completely missed out on a ton of things we wanted to buy. The only down side of buying things here is the bartering. Lucky for us, Miranda hims-and-haws a lot, which often brought the price down 30% before we even started trying to bargain. At that point we'd be arguing with the seller over 10-50 baht, which is between 30 cents and $1.50, and on a $5.00-8.00 purchase, the bartering just didn't seem worth the effort. Often it could be a matter of arguing if a nice necklace should cost $1.00 or $1.50...which would have cost $10.00 at home. You get the idea.

In case you're curious, here are two links to the elephant nature park:


http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/herd/index.htm

http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/

More time in Thailand

Thursday night, but probably won’t post this until I head down to the lobby on Friday morning to use the internet. We made our way into northern Thailand and are currently enjoying the air conditioned hotel room in Chiang Mai. The cars and mopeds in the streets are still crazy, but everything feels incredibly laid back compared to Bangkok.

I can’t quite come up with any words to describe Bangkok. Busiest city I’ve ever been in. So very different from anything we’ve seen, yet in many ways more American than the European cities we’ve become accustomed to in the last couple of years.

Skyscrapers, concrete, cars, pollution, kids playing on the non-existent sidewalks, stray animals, then randomly a quiet temple in the midst of it all. Every area of town harbored stuffy alleys filled with food carts, each emitting an unfamiliar (and usually unpleasant) smell. The food carts would appear around meal times and then disappear shortly thereafter. Most of the foods weren’t recognizable, and walking through these alleys on an empty stomach was the best way I could find to stave off hunger. After a few hours in Chinatown and another neighboring area we decided to call it a night and celebrate the end to a 90-95 degree day with a dip in the pool. Of course, just as we got back to the hotel the temperature dipped and thunder clouds started to roll in. We jumped in the pool anyway, but after a little while we decided we’d had better ideas than freezing and watching lightning in the distance from an open-air pool on the sixth story of a hotel (even though we were surrounded by 30 story buildings), so we headed up to the room for the night. The storm never reached our hotel, but better safe than sorry.

We spent a few hours visiting temples on our second full day in Bangkok. Wat Pho was listed in the guidebook as the second stop on every tourist’s itinerary, but also everybody’s favorite. We ended up going straight there, and didn’t regret missing the #1 stop. Oddly enough, the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, the main attraction, was far from the coolest thing about the temple. After leaving the temple we headed up the street to the amulet market, but didn’t find any trinkets worth buying, so we decided to start moving to the hotel so we could collect our bags and make it to the train station without having to worry about missing our train. Good thing we left when we did. It was about a three mile walk to the nearest metro station, then a short walk to the hotel after that. Normally the taxi or tuk-tuk (basically a three-wheeled cross of a VW and a golf cart) fare would cost $1-$2 to cover the three miles. Bargaining is also a big part of Thai culture, which we just aren’t very good at. Well, as we began our walk the monsoon rains hit, and within two minutes we were soaked in a wonderful summer rain. I welcomed it as a relief to the 95 degree heat, but considering Miranda was wearing a white dress, we opted to wait out the rain under a tent on the side of the road. Ten minutes later we were on our way again, but the rain made all the drivers more confident, raising their asking price to $5-$6 to cover the distance, and their agreed prices to $3-$4. We refused to pay more than the normal price, and as a result ended up seeing a lot more of the city than we planned to see. I’d say very few westerners have ever intentionally covered those streets on foot.

(Continuing to type on Friday now)

We had seen a lot of 7-Eleven stores around town, and an occasional McDonalds or Subway restaurant, but these really didn’t surprise us. However, walking into a grocery store was like entering a completely different, yet very familiar, world. The grocery store we visited wasn’t terribly far from the main expat area of town, so I can’t claim that this was a typical Bangkok grocery, but it felt more like we were walking through a Byerlys than a local grocery store. They still had a larger grain aisle than anything you’d find in the US, but with each step we came across American products and brands that we hadn’t seen in the last three years. We gave up searching for Crisco in Sweden after six months in the country, just accepting that our cookies would be flat. Of course that was the first thing we saw at this grocery store. I should have made a list of all these “new” items, but I was hungry, so instead I focused on what to eat.

The train ride to Chiang Mai was good. Evening departure and arriving at 7:45 in the morning, so we booked a first class sleeper car. The tickets were cheap, the food was cheap, and it had air conditioning. We did expect a little extra space in the first class car, and ended up dedicating about 85% of our foot space to our four suitcases and two back packs. They served as decent foot stools though, so I shouldn’t complain. The best part of the ride was the morning ride, ascending through the hills, through some jungles, then entering the plains where the rice farmers were out walking among the flooded rice paddies.

We opted for a nice hotel in Chiang Mai that was recommended by a guidebook and was also well-rated on one of the online hotel-booking sites. The main criteria in selecting the hotel were that it had to have a pool and free wireless beat hotels without free internet. We got here at 8:30 in the morning and our room was ready; seemed kind of odd. Well, it turns out that the hot/rainy season is also the low tourist season, so we’re sharing this 100+ room hotel with two Italian men (according to the guest list Miranda saw). The staff outnumbers the guests six to four. Not too shabby. The only problem is that “luscious gardens” advertised on the website means “mosquito breeding grounds”. The room had about 10 mosquitoes in it when we arrived, but they were defeated after a short battle. The AC has been blaring ever since, and they seem to prefer the warm humid air outside, so we’re comfortably safe for now. The staff keeps shaking the bushes and using an electric mosquito swatter to zap the swarms of bugs in the courtyard, and it looks like there was a citronella candle burning outside our door yesterday evening; all greatly appreciated.

Last two things.

The food is spicy. That’s an understatement. Miranda’s papaya salad totally blew our mind. Shredded papaya, some dressing, peanuts, tomato – all okay – but we weren’t expecting the hot chili peppers and whatever else they put on there, and unfortunately for her sake she didn’t notice them before taking her first bite. That was one heck of a way to start a meal. That was the second time we’d had to order additional drinks to help us cope with the crazy-hot foods we’d been served. Yeah, we’d eaten hot Thai food before, but wow, there have been a few meals that have totally changed our concept of spiciness.

Speaking of spicy, here was a conversation with the server on the train that left Miranda in tears (of joy).

Scott: I’d like meal #2, but it says “not spicy”, can you make it spicy?
Server: No spicy
Scott: But I want it spicy
Server: No, no spicy
Scott: Yes, spicy
Server: No spicy!
Scott: Yes spicy!
Server: I bring chili sauce (and flashes a devilish grin)

The chili sauce came in a small container, probably about two tablespoons worth of juice with fresh peppers. I poured all of it over my rice dish and after a few bites I’d realized I’d made a mistake. I should have opted for “no spicy”, and used my bartering skills on something more productive.

We stumbled upon a crazy awesome temple gathering last night in the center of town. Thousands of people flocking into the area, buying flower bundles, incense and candles, and then praying and placing these on sacred shrines, in and around temples. Thai folk music, little carnival area for kids, food vendors, monks everywhere, and the best part of everything was that we were just ignored the entire time. Nobody wanted to sell us something, nobody wanted to hand us flyers to the night’s kickboxing match, nobody asking “where you from Where you going”, nobody wanted to direct us to “the big Buddha statue, very close, ride cost only 40 baht”, it seemed that everyone was perfectly happy letting us just hang out as casual observers. It was wonderful.

That’s all for now, got a relaxing day planned full of naps, swimming, reading and massages.

Fighting a cold in Bangkok

Humid and polluted air aren't making things easy for Miranda. Fortunately the incredibly spicy food seems to be on her side. One more meal and I expect her sinuses to be clear for at least another few years.

One night in Bangkok

Marathon done. Stockholm to London to Bangkok legs of the trip are done. About 13 hours of flying in total. British Airways definitely gets a thumbs up from us. The flight to Bangkok was about half full, so we had three seats between the two of us (the 747 had a 3/4/3 layout), so we could stretch out and sleep.

Two scares though. Miranda's confirmed case of bronchitis and sinus infection lead to some pretty unpleasant landings for her. The 20 minutes in London without any hearing and the subsequent pain of popping her ears to regain that sense led to a lot of anxiety about the second flight. It went better, but was still a rough.

Another scare - went to withdraw money and the ATM ate my debit card. After completing my transaction with PIN code, amount, confirming the extra fee, etc. it briefly flashed a message that said "card suspended" and on the next line "card retained". No money, no receipt, no card, nothing. Had to call my boss, get the bank's telephone number, and was getting worried for a bit. Not fun to be in a foreign airport, unable to pay for the 30 minute ride into the city. And of course we didn't want to use Miranda's card for fear of it being taken too. Seriously, I can understand "transaction denied", but "card retained" really had me worried. Thoughts of sleeping in the airport for 8 days just didn't sit well with me.

Turns out I had lent my card to Miranda last week to finish a purchase, and she didn't notice it was my card since they look identical. She used her PIN code, and after two tries the bank automatically blocked my card. The error on the machine just said "chip not working" which is a common error, so we just switched cards to finish the transaction. I usually use a credit card, not a debit card, so I didn't even notice it wasn't working the last few days.

Anyway, we're now settled into the hotel. Nearly 6:00 PM here, very hot. Dark clouds rolling in. Guess we might have to spend the night checking out the hotel's pools. I think one of them is indoor at least.

One step closer

Round-the-world tickets are booked and paid for. Need to get Australian visas (no problem), travel insurance (just need to order and pay), figure out baggage restrictions, start digging into some travel books and then start to figure out what we actually want to do in Thailand and Australia. We know what we want to do in Hawaii - some hiking, mostly beaches!

Miranda visited the wonderful travel section at the Stockholm public library. Now it's time to do our homework. Bad timing though, I'm really starting to get into Män som Hatar Kvinnor (Men who Hate Women), better known by the US title The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I really don't want to put that book down. It's especially exciting because even though Miranda has been reading Swedish novels for over a year now, this is my first attempt, and I know that I'm missing a lot of details, but it's no problem to stick with the plot, and it's quite rewarding to realize just how much of the language I actually know.

It's kind of funny - I was ashamed of my Swedish until we went to Germany in March. Then I realized that I was able to communicate in Germany with an active vocabulary of 25 words that I've retained from my studies long ago. I figured if I could get by with so little knowledge of a language, the thousands of words I knew in Swedish had to be good for something. I'm still hesitant to speak Swedish if I know the conversation topics will move outside of my comfort zone quickly, but I've spoken more Swedish in the last six weeks than I had in the previous three years combined. Wish I had stumbled upon this realization years ago.

This post ended up a lot longer than I intended (like usual). It's 11:00 on a Friday night and I have a lot of work to do tonight and tomorrow. I just don't want to do it, so here I am typing away. The distraction is horrible, especially considering we need to do a 20 mile run and about six loads of laundry tomorrow, so working isn't going to get any easier. Bummer.

May never seemed so scary.

It's May. The background on this blog isn't up to date, stupid snow. Then again, neither are the posts. We're leaving Sweden in less than four weeks. We're leaving in May. Two days ago I woke up and stretched out, saw the sun coming through the windows, and in a happy moment I thought, "happy May Day." Then my brain stopped for a second and the next thought was, "oh shit." That's when my mind started to race. Yes, the arrival of May was scary.

In that four weeks, we're going to do the following things (in this order):

1) Run a lot.
2) Cram everything we haven't done in the Stockholm area into just four weeks.
3) Schedule dinners with all of our friends in Sweden that we've been meaning to meet up with.
4) Take a week-long trip to Barcelona.
5) Continue with the daily running, dinners, museum visits, etc.
6) Plan a "round-the-world" trip through Thailand, Australia, Hawaii and ending in California.
7) Wrap up a million loose-ends at work.
8) Pack up to move.
9) Pack up for the round-the-world trip.
10) Send away most of our stuff on a boat heading west.
11) Clean our apartment.
12) Run a marathon.
13) Hop a next-day flight heading east.

So, that's our May.

June and early July look like this:

1) "Relax" for three weeks while fighting constant jet-lag and trying to most of our trip even though we won't actually put any work into planning anything more than flights and hotel stays. Oh yeah, it'll be the start of monsoon season in Thailand. Let's hope we beat the rains.
2) End our trip in California just in time for my sister's wedding in San Diego.
3) Celebrate in royal fashion (hopefully with a tan and no bags under our eyes).
4) Enjoy southern California for a few days, then drive from California to Minnesota, taking in as many sights in the west as we can fit in, rushing through eastern Colorado and Nebraska, then stopping in Iowa. Miranda doesn't know this, but I've already nominated her to drive through Nebraska in it's entirety, that way she can learn that the three and a half hour drive from the Minnesota border to my parent's place in Iowa is pleasant, not boring.
5) Dig my rusty old car out of storage and make sure it's road worthy.
6) Celebrate the 4th of July at the Miranda's family's cabin in Minnesota.
7) Return to work on the 5th.
8) Start thinking about life in Minnesota (how long do we want to remain homeless, do we need a second car, job applications for Miranda, how are we going to pay down the credit card debt we just wracked up, how much longer can we live out of suitcases, etc.)

There are probably a number of important things up there that I missed, but you get the idea of what's to come. As much as I'd love to blog about these experiences, I can say with near certainty that it isn't going to happen. Our lives are approaching a complete state of chaos. If there's one thing that I learned from the move to Sweden, our subsequent travels and all of the challenges that we've faced along the way, it's that everything works out alright in the end. At least, that's been the case so far. My eternal optimism says it's perfectly okay to be overwhelmed, but there's really no need to worry. Plus, Miranda will worry enough for the both of us.

I may be steering this crazy ship, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm still just going to enjoy the ride.

Wish us luck.

Three years in Sweden

There hasn't been much that I've wanted to write about lately, mostly because I prefer to tell funny stories. I arrived in Sweden three years ago today, which I guess is as good of an excuse to blog as any. For the record, I use Mel Brooks' definition of funny. If I think it's funny, that's all that matters.


So, I don't have anything funny to write, I'm fresh out of funny stories and I don't want to take a trip down memory lane. Time to ramble.
 The last three years have been good to us, and they've gone crazy fast. I'm really looking forward to returning to family, friends and my kitties, but I fear that the challenges of getting established back home won't be easy. Not that life in the US is particularly tough (from my new perspective I now believe that I used to complicate things for no good reason), but unlike our lives in Sweden, every future decision seems a little scarier because it's "permanent". Not completely true, but it's been a comfort working toward the next life event, which always had a fixed date. Returning to a state of not knowing just doesn't seem fun. It's a return to the real world I guess. At least Miranda will be there to help me deal with this new reality.

In the mean time, we're trying to ignore all pracitcal thoughts and we're instead focusing on how to make the most of our time in Sweden and on how many trips we can squeeze into the next 13 weeks. Germany in a week and a half, Russia in just over three weeks. Barcelona in April or May, and hopefully another trip or two outside of Sweden before the end of May. Then we'll see about doing something crazy in June. More on that later. The limiting question is how much can we afford? All I know is that if we repatriate in the black, we've done something wrong.

Lastly, a fitness update: My beautiful wife is a real fitness buff. Her abs are looking better than mine, and I'm pretty sure she can do more push-ups than me. I, on the other hand, was picking out a shirt the other day, coughed to clear my throat and ended up throwing out my back. It reminds me of the time I lifted my leg to get into bed about seven years ago and ended up pulling a groin muscle. Aging sucks.

SATS

SATS means nothing to most of you, and honestly, I don't even know what it means. It's the name of the gym we go to, and that's all I need to know I guess.

The alternative option is Friskis och Svettis, which roughly means "healthy and sweaty", so you can probably understand why we chose the gym with an unknown acronym for a name instead.

Going to the gym in Sweden is quite different than going to the gym in the US. Sure, when you attend a class there are still the teachers' pets who fight for the front row to get in front of the instructor. There are also the less coordinated people who hope to remain unnoticed in the back of the room. There are the fitness enthusiasts who give it 120% and somehow take up 200% more space than anyone else in the room. There are a few people in class who seems more focused on drawing glances than getting a good workout. There's the man that got dragged along by his girlfriend or wife (often me). There's the sweaty guy (always me). I could go on, but you get the point.

There are big differences though. For example, when I went to the gyms in Minneapolis, the locker rooms seemed to be filled with 70+ year old men, mostly overweight, who just liked to sit around in the buff. To be honest, I'm not even sure all of those guys go to the gym to workout - the percentage of older men in the locker room was always far greater than the percentage of older men out on the gym floor at any given time. In addition, I often feel like I'm the least fit guy in the Swedish locker room. A V-shaped torso and <10% body fat is the norm. Seniors in the gym are a rarity, and men sitting around in the buff is a no-no unless they're in the steam room or sauna.

In general, I'd just say the Swedish clientele are more fit, but that doesn't come as a surprise to me considering the general population in Sweden is more fit.

The hardest thing to get used to is that you have to reserve a spot in any classes you want to attend. There aren't many classes I want to attend, but I do like to do yoga once a week. A spin class is often a nice alternative to running. Then there are a few other classes that I've stumbled upon (meaning Miranda introduced me to) that are pretty good, one that focuses on core and another, Shape, which is a full-body strength workout which uses your own body weight as resistance. I've tried Shape twice and ran pain-free in each of the two following weeks. That's pretty good for a guy who has been fighting knee pain on every run for over two years. Granted, the last time I did the Shape, a 60 minute class, the instructor just about had me puking with 20 minutes left in class and passing out with 10 minutes to go (the 30 girls in the classroom didn't seem to have any problem sticking with him - don't know about the two other guys), but to be able to run without knee pain makes it totally worth it.

There's a problem though. Swede's are known for filling up their monthly calendars weeks in advance; "Want to meet for coffee? Ooh, I'm fully booked for a while. How does Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 in three weeks* sound? Oh sorry, I already have coffee plans that day. What about the week after?" The gym is no different. You have to reserve your spot in most classes 7-14 days in advance. It's a bit easier in the suburban gyms, but if it's a popular class, it's still going to fill up quickly. Shape, Core and yoga seem to be pretty popular.

There are benefits of booking a class so far in advance. It basically makes you commit to a gym schedule far in advance. The flexibility of "just running" makes it very easy to skip a workout. But if you skip a class you've reserved more than thrice, you lose your booking privileges. There is one out, you can cancel your reservation up to an hour in advance.

So, two weeks ago I booked a yoga class for today at 4:30. This one is a very popular class, so I reserved my spot on the first day it was possible to make a reservation, a full 14 days in advance. I ended up 25th on the waiting list, meaning I was #55 on the list for a class that could only accept 30. I didn't think there was any chance I would make it, but I signed up just to see. Yesterday I was #20 on the waiting list. I gave up home and by morning I had forgotten about it. By 1:30 I went out for my run. At 3:00 I checked my email; "you have now received a spot in yoga at 4:30". Great, apparently there was a mass rush to exercise (ba-dum, ching!) the right to cancel with only an hour to spare. Everyone had signed up just so they could have the option of going, not because they were actually committed to going. So now I had to make the choice, it's 90 minutes before class. I just finished an 80 minute run in the snow, my body is cooling quickly, I'll have to change from my winter running clothes and bundle up for a trip across town in 20 degree temperatures, pack a separate gym bag, make the 30-40 minute trek downtown, and by the time class starts in 90 minutes my body will have completely cooled and my muscles will be stiff. I followed the trend and canceled. Had I not checked my email, I would have been penalized for skipping the class, even though I was still 20th on the waiting list as of yesterday. I guess the lesson to be learned is that if you sign up for a class, even if it seems like you have no chance of getting in, you still go to the gym at that time.

Overall I guess the system is okay, but even after nearly three months in Sweden something like this still seems to surprise me.

Miranda and I will be home in just a few months. I'm guessing at that time I'll go to the gym, try to go to a class, find it's already full, then go gripe to the old naked guys in the locker room that it would be better if I could have reserved my spot in advance. Until then, I'll just whine about the Swedish system.

*Slight exaggeration