update and a bad day's reward

well... hello again, hi there!

it feels so good to see those little words shift across the screen as i compose this.

i am quite proud that i have managed to actually get some work done this week before i logged-in and recorded my foreign-and-distant-to-you little life in its majestic totality. i would like to be able to claim that already, after only a few days of absitnence, i can feel the blog-addiction's icy grip on me wanning, but that would be a little too optimistic.

fact is, it is incredibly difficult to sit at a computer fiercely trying to write a paper that you have little interest in writing when, just a click away, lies the opportunity to connect with the world you so heartily miss....

but, i have managed to get the paper in a mostly presentable condition, and can now turn to my dear blog.

so, what have i been up to since friday? well...

on friday my mateys (in case i haven't told you, i have decided that i am tired of continually writing the drawn out, proper term "corridor mates" while simultaneously supressing the urge to erroneously call them roommates. and, being the solution-seeking, critical-thinking individual which i have been so wonderfully conditioned to be-- thanks mom and dad-- i have created for myself this, rather comical, diminutive term) gathered in the not-so large-or-comfortable kitchen-nookish/living-roomish-appendage to our massive, yet divided double-kitchen (you got all that?) to relax into a vhs-rental viewing. what did we watch, you ask? well, it wasn't exactly a relax-ish kind of movie either, but i suppose that would make sense since there really wasn't enough room to properly relax... anyways... i am sure you are on the edge of your seat waiting for me to actually arrive at some sort of point, huh?

ahh... the power.... yus kidding!

okay, so we watched... mystic river. the general consensus (minus the guy who claims that every movie is a classic) was that it, perhaps, didn't deserve all of the acclaim that it received. personally, what little of it i could actually hear (as one of my mateys came in about 2/3 of the way through the movie with what appeared to be his significant other, after which they proceeded to make a rather smelly and noisy dinner including several LOUD toasts with their wine glasses), seemed to be a rather disturbing tale with obvious potential that was never quite realized. i would definitely recommend that you NOT see it, and if you already have, well that's your fault, not mine.

saturday-- i got moving a little later than i had planned (a trend that, oddly enough in this time-driven culture, i am so easily falling into) and managed to completely miss the meet-time for one of the international students' little stockholm excursions. not to fear, though, i simply asked the nice sl (the transportation system guy) how to get to our final destination, vaxholm. turns out, while i was hurrying to get to the meeting point all the way downtown, the bus to vaxholm (a small archipelago to the east of stockholm) was leaving two stops from kungshamra! i was a bit disgusted at myself for not having utilized my critical-thinking that i was just praising above and taking the time to check our planned route, but nevertheless, i sucked it up and headed back towards the bus stop.

upon arrival in vaxholm, i was quite lucky to bump into the group right as they were beginning to disperse. following two much needed cups of coffee (one of which ended up spilled all down my leg...but, it wasn't my fault and it dried leaving no sign of stain, just an overpoweringly coffee-ish smell, so no worries!), a small group of us ventured around the little streets and shoppes. nothing too exciting or interesting about the place, though the town does offer two ice cream parlours (quite amazing considering the size of the place, but did i ever mention that per capita, swedes eat 16.2 kg of ice cream a year? amazing, i know...). so, if you want to enjoy some typically-stockholmishly over-priced ice cream admist a beautiful harbor, smiling infants who are similarly, though somewhat more messily (is that grammatically correct?) enjoying their own ice cream (which may, in fact, surpass yours in size), on a cobblestone street frequented by sophisticated summer-house-ish kind of swedes, then vaxholm, my friends is the place for you!

whew! i think i need a break after that sentence/multiple string of fragments....

saturday evening planned to meet same friends to go dancing, but they decided not to go after i had been waiting for thirty minutes or so. i was a bit disappointed, but the fact that i found a perfectly new shrek 2 (yes, still in its plastic) cat-robin-hood (can you tell i haven't seen the movie?) mini-arrow throwing (yes, it really launches those pieces of cardboard... i was quite amazed at its trajectory) posable action figure, made my evening (in that secret-ish sort of way that you don't really want to share with anyone... oops!).

on the way home, i ran into a rather scary guy who, "just wanted to be one of my friends... you can always use another friend, right?" i ignored him for a good five minutes and was quite relieved when he left me alone... i don't think that i will dress up and go out alone without a jacket again, even if it may save me 20 kronor... it's just not worth it....

i went to bed around 11:30 and woke to get ready for church, which was uneventful (though it was in swedish). it was followed by coffee time in the basement where i unknowingly placed a cheesy, fish-flavored slice of bread on my plate. (well, i knowingly placed the bread on my plate, i just didn't know that the cheese was fish flavored... that was the unknowing part).

sunday afternoon i cooked some garbanzo beans... this time they didn't burn, so that was good. then, i joined some of my mateys out at the nearby lake. we lounged on the boulders and tashka (i think is her name) caught five small perch with this awesome foldable fishing rod from poland. one the walk back i had a nice vibration in my pants-- the phone was ringing-- of course, what did you think? and i got to talk to my wonderful, wonderful boyfriend. i can't really remember what happened after that because i was still just blissfully replaying our conversation....

monday, first swedish lesson. i would give you some phrases, but this blog is already too long... i will save that for later. umm... spent the rest of the week working on my paper (or not working on it and reading "just to make sure i was understanding the texts").

last night, i plugged my ears with these rather effective fluorescent-orange noise-reducer ear plugs (my neighbors just enjoy talking at 3 a.m. too much...) and slept well. so well, in fact that i almost missed my spanish lesson this morning.

spanish lesson?

i know you are wondering why i am in sweden, this grand time to learn SWEDISH, and i am spending my precious time practicing spanish, and here's your answer: it is free, it is fun, and it is functional (whereas, swedish, not so much in the last department).

then, i came to school and finished up my paper. but wait, i seem to be forgetting something... ahh, yes... yesterday.

yesterday was not a good day. well, the day wasn't so bad, but in the evening i found myself in this incredible state of homesickishness. and i was like, "oh, so this is what they meant when they said you dip low, low, low." and then it began... the overwhelming flood of just not wanting to be here anymore... of romanticizing all of the familiarities of home that are absent here. remember wal-mart? ahh... wal-mart... that wonderful place where you can go for anything, for everything!! and it is so cheap, and so convenient.

wait a minute... me wishing for wal-mart? yes, it was in this instant that i knew that all the things i had read about homesickness and culture shock were true. i was even missing the places that i have hated with such fervor in the past. and, just when i was about to burst into tears because i missed wal-mart so much (can you believe this?), i opened my mailbox.

and, what, do you suppose, i saw in there? no, not an advertisement from wal-mart! what are you thinking, you goofs.

there were three things... a card from stephen and holly =) and two post slips (one from kate and one from my "parental unit"). this morning i went to the designated places to pick up these packages (the petrol station and the spel and tobak convenience store, respectively) and was delighted before i even opened them.

so, i just want to thank you all for making my day brighter when i needed it most.

maybe i should make a habit of these bad days, it could become rather lucrative... nah.