Sköldpaddan och jordgubben

News from today: Skräpstrul i N:a Djurgårdsstaden – sopsugen låg nere hela helgen Translation of this newspaper headline: " Rubbish trash in N: Djurgårdsstaden - the garbage collection was down all weekend ." Indeed... Garbage has been an interesting source of exploration for us since we arrived. We spent the first week at our short term rental apartment wondering what to do with the recycling (down the block in large containers) and garbage (Elizabeth finally suggested we push on the door that looked like a garbage room). Somehow the language program we're using hasn't spent a lot of time on vocabulary associated with trash and recycling. Then we moved to our apartment in North Djurgårdsstaden (the name of our neighborhood). Jennifer and Sven, from whom we are sub-leasing, showed us what to do. The sign in the elevator reinforces what we're supposed to do... but then when we were left to our devices, we had to figure it out again. It's taken us a bit. We ...

Chris forwarded me a video: a turtle eating a strawberry! Watch the video, listen to Alan Rickman (the actor who played Snape in the Harry Potter films), and raise money for "Save the Children" and kids in refugee camps Somewhat random, but here you go. Link to the video:  https://feber.se/video/skoldpadda-ater-jordgubbe/342117/

Vikings are in the news in Europe right now- 4 men were just sentenced for finding a Viking hoard and selling it versus reporting as is required by law in the United Kingdom. See " Metal detectorists who stole £3m Viking hoard told they have 'cheated the public' as they are jailed " So I've been working my way through several books about Swedish history just trying to get a better handle on this part of the world. More on later history, well, later... For now, some things I've learned (particularly from a book called "The Vikings" by Else Roesdahl). No one really knows why the Vikings started raiding other places- overcrowding? Not enough food? Easy riches? Imbalance in the number of men vs. women? The spread of Christianity and a rebellion against it? A fight between kings over power & prestige? Their boats had capacity for both sailing & rowing. A shallow draft meant they could go up and down rivers and rowing meant they could pro...

Here's my kind of post from our neighborhood listserv: Hej! Vi tänkte presentera oss lite här hos er, vi kommer stå i ert område med vår blåa lilla brödbil på Lövängsgatan ungefär vid Direkten varje söndag mellan kl. 08.15-16.00. Vi är ett 100% ekologiskt hantverksbageri som håller till på Skeppsbron 21 i ett av de gamla tullhusen, tullhus 1. Vi maler också allt fullkornsmjöl vi använder i våra två kvarnar (virvelkvarnen och stenkvarnen) på plats i bageriet, det gör att vi får ett färskare och nyttigare mjöl/bröd. Ett tips är att  prova månadens bröd nu i november, det är ett råg- och emmerbröd. Det innehåller bara virvelmalet råg och emmer och surdeg, vilket gör det till ett 100% fullkornsbröd. Nu på söndag kommer vi även ha flera olika saffransbullar och saffranscroissanter. Välkomna förbi! Varje söndag kl. 8.15-16.00 gäller fram till jul! Ett tips är att ha koll på våra sociala medier: instagram @skeppsbro_bageri fb @skeppsbrobageriet Även vår hemsida uppdateras om...

Mats is my bass teacher. He's very Swedish and very much a bass player. He's tall and reserved (common of Swedes) with a beard like a viking (or ZZ Top). He's really good with soloing on the bass and seems to have a beat drilled into him. My dad came up with Mats' name by asking a friend who asked a relative who asked Mats if he'd be willing to teach bass lessons to me for the year. Mats showed up, having walked over from the Royal Music Academy where he's a student. So far, lessons with Mats are very fun- more of an incentive to play because I'm learning cool bass lines. Take on Me. Another One Bite's the Dust. Beat It. King of the Road. Stand By Me. Summertime. Come Together. Each lesson has been 45 minutes long with Mats asking me what I want to do along with working on suggestions I might have made the week before. We normally figure out a song, then one of us plays the beat and the other the melody-- taking turns soloing. Occasionally my dad j...

When people ask me where I am from, I often have a hard time answering them. The thing is I live in State College, Pennsylvania but I am not a Pennsylvanian at all. I won't go into all the 'why's of that but it just isn't a great fit--even though I love my PA life. My home town of Rochester, NY is even worse. I haven't been there for several decades and I don't feel the slightest twinge of connection with the place. Seattle worked reasonably well when I lived there. It was a cool place to call home so it kept a conversation going and I used it as my 'from' comfortably for 10 years. In truth, the four years I spent in New Hampshire probably fit me best. I have long thought I was just a New Englander who hadn't spent much time at home. Turns out though, I am Swedish. I know this now because I went for a run in the park last week. Stephen and I decided to skip the orienteering competition on Thursday because it was going to be a long trip ou...

   It's 1:30 in the afternoon and the left picture is the view out our apartment window. The trees and buildings are the view from my office window yesterday in Uppsala.  As many shades of grey as you might want. Sunset is around 3:30 today. The Swedes are quite clear that November is not their favorite month. This reminds us a lot of Seattle or even State College. It's not the cold but the grey that gets people. Our recent sunny trip to France helps! Temperatures this week have ranged from 1-5 degrees Celsius, or about 34-42 degrees Fahrenheit. We had snow and ice earlier in the week but it's warmed up and rained. The ponds are ice free again. Bummer as we're hoping to skate the lakes. Gives us more time to track down skates for three of us (Elizabeth brought her skates and thankfully they still fit). We're also taking the Swedes' admonition to heart to get outside... lovely walks in the muted colors, or even the dark, to get some fresh air. Steph...

The "Uppsala Forum för Demokrati, Fred och Rättvisa" is the Uppsala Forum for Democracy, Peace and Justice, a partnership between several different departments at Uppsala University. I gave a talk yesterday entitled "Managing Rough Waters: A Path for Democracy, Peace, and Justice?". The longer abstract is online , but it was interesting to update my work on water issues to address my current Fulbright work and a Swedish (or really, an international) audience. Key point: that active work to manage water issues can be the path to better conversations, even better democracy, and even peace. A few photos from my colleague Ashok Swain:

We had a "wintry" mix yesterday and the snow stayed on the ground today. Just a bit of snow on the rooftops (the upper left picture is the view outside my window at Uppsala University). People are bundled up at the bus stop, but still out in all weather. It's still darkish at 7:30 AM and the sun is going down by 3:30. The soccer fields near our apartment in Stockholm have been turned into ice skating surfaces. Elizabeth's ice skates still fit- just need 3 more pairs. Elsewhere, a  set of playing fields have been converted to "indoor" playing fields through the installation of one gigantic tent (inflated with air).  It's snowing for real in northern Sweden- the first of the World Cup biathlon races start in early December 6 hours north. We took a field trip on Saturday from Stockholm to Uppsala (about 30 minutes via train). Figured it was a good chance to show the kids Uppsala before we joined friends for dinner. We were surprised (but sho...

Saturday, 2 November.  It's taken a bit to get to this final post... we re-entered our regular life. On our last full day in France- 2 November,  we lingered over breakfast again- no hurry to get started with our day given our planned escapade. Linda had wanted to make sure we were able to go to the Louvre and had wisely pre-purchased the tickets. Even better, she was able to pre-purchase tickets to see the just barely opened Leonard de Vinci exhibit at the Louvre. Once the show opened, the tickets sold out through the end of November. so we counted ourselves quite lucky that she was able to get tickets while we were visiting. First things, first: a walk around Notre Dame. Outwardly, it looked to be more well stabilized than we might have expected. The interior scaffolding was bent and blackened, and the windows where they weren't covered were charcoal on the inside. However, we were impressed with the work they had done to protect and preserve the structure.  ...