God Jul from Stockholm

After 11 days straight in the lab (and only 9 working out – Tyler and I compromised and quit at 9 thank goodness - considering that on day 10 I showed up at work with my pygama top still on and inside out no less I think it was definitely time to stop!), I made it to Stockholm safe and sound on time on the 23rd.  Wish I could say the same for Vickie!  As I was happily riding on the bus – equipped with wifi no less! –(I had to giggle when the bus driver thought I was a forest PSYCHOLOGIST ;) - into Stockholm from Arlanda airport, Vickie was still in Dublin.  And there she remained until 26.5 hours after her original intended departure.  With tales of the pilot getting out on the wing of the plane to sweep the snow with – yes  a BROOM, stranded Swedes just wanted to get home in time for Christmas Eve (which is when Swedes traditionally celebrate Christmas here)!  She had a great attitude throughout it all – and I was delighted when she finally made it and we have gotten to spend Christmas together – us and our travel adventures!!  We’ve had our fill of drama thank-you very much!  No more!



Thank-you to the determined staff of SAS for getting Vickie to Stockholm through snow and Ryan Air bumping them!



So with Vickie not coming anytime soon I made the most of a solo Christmas Eve and ventured out into the streets of Stockholm.  Stockholm, as you likely know, is surrounded by water – well this time of year it’s a mix of ice and water!  So I ventured on to some of the other islands – including going to Djurgården where I visited Skansen – which is an open-air museum that has brought in buildings from around Sweden and is meant to be a miniature version of Sweden.  It was SO cold – I was thinking that an outdoor museum perhaps was not the wisest choice for a -15C day!  But I did enjoy seeing some of the wildlife they had – and enjoying the views.  But I think next time I will go back when it is WARM out – as I felt like I was going to freeze to death and a place to get a varm choklad to drink was hard to come by!

Getting near Skansa and already feeling COLD!



Map of Skansen



Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!



Swedish Christmas Decorations For Sale



Come and get your marsipan pigs - I prefer bacon myself!



Gray Wolf hunkering down - I don't blame him!



A very cool (cold?) lynx



Cutest Fox!

I did a bit of shopping and made sure to get the last of the groceries – all the shops were closing for 2 pm.  I was on the hunt for princesstorta to share with Vickie for Christmas dinner and was so happy to spot just a block from our home a bakery Annika – that had lovely princess cake (with red marzipan for Xmas in lieu of the traditional green) and yummy pepparkakor (gingerbread) cookies.

I love Swedish bakeries! 

I made sure to be back at our lovely rental apt (I found it online through www.airbnb.com) by 3:00 so I could watch Kalle Anka – that is Swedish for Donald Duck.  Indeed for whatever reason, the Swedes love to watch cartoons on Christmas Eve – it’s all about Donald Duck – which is dubbed into Swedish (my tv also offered up subtitles).   You can read more about the typical Swedish Christmas in the English newspaper for Sweden HERE. 

Kalle Anka! ?translation = I'm going to get you for that?

Vickie finally arrived on Christmas Eve at 8 pm and we stayed up catching up until the wee hours of the morning – and then I woke up again at 5 am and couldn’t fall back to asleep for a while.  I’m convinced that Santa and his reindeer were in the neighbourhood ;)  This is after all the land of domestic ated reindeer!  Santa did in fact stop by and leave gifts by the fireplace for me - thanks to Santa's elve Vickie :)

Thanks Santa's little helper Vickie!

This morning I made Christmas crepes with Swedish berries and of course grädde (whipping cream) – breakfast was brunch at 11 am – we slept in!!  Then today while Vickie followed her vow to stay in her pygamas all day until Christmas supper, I decided that with the sun shining and the temperatures closer to zero (-5C),  I would venture outside and play tourist some more.  So I wandered down to the shopping district – including the Macy’s type Christmas windows of NK and then went to yet another island which houses Gamla Stan (the old town of Stockholm).   Such a beautiful city for wandering around – and all the better when you don’t feelearly onset of hypothermia!!!

Streets of Gamla Stan - Many people out on Christmas Day and some shops open

NK Christmas Window

The sun was out!!!



The ice breaking up in the harbour





Surrounded by water water everywhere!

Tonight we enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner that Vickie cooked up for us – including turkey breast roast that she muled over from Ireland!  Delicious J  And I liked that we decided to reverse order and have our dessert first.  Gotta love being a grown up and doing what you want eh!

Master Cully & Sully Chef Vickie in our super cool apt



Course 1 = pink Christmas princess torta!



Course 2 = turkey with the trimmings :)

Was happy to skype with family and friends over the holidays – thank goodness for technology eh – helps with missing of home this time year – as I am definitely missing home right now!  But LIFE IS GOOD!  Wishing you and yours a happy healthy holiday season and 2011!  Talk to you from Tallinn, Estonia – where we’re off to tomorrow.  Vickie was joking that they better not need an ice breaker for our ferry – you know, with our luck and all ;)

Skyping with Tyler and family back home :)

You know me and pictures -so you can find all the more that I took of Stockholm HERE!

Ten Very Full Days Before Christmas

For whatever reason – well perhaps a mix of procrastination and things taking longer than expected – it is suddenly almost Christmas and I’ve not got all done that I planned.  Not so intentionally at first - but now on day 7 of a 10 day stretch – I have decided to maximize life inside and outside the lab for 10 days in a row, a pre-emptive new years resolution mandate!  It feels like it would be ever so satisfying to get my lab work DONE before the new year and have my last few weeks here in Umea to play (over Christmas holidays) and then to geek out and run analysis and work on having a draft manuscript written for my departure on January 15^th.  Yes, perhaps I may be a bit grandiose with my dreams of the new year and pre-emptive resolutions, but so far so good – 7 days straight of lab and fitness and friend fun!  

Most of this snow has fallen in the last day - the snow piles are really really piling up!!! - And makes me appreciate that I live in an apt and so do NOT have to shovel!!!

Part of my mandate is to IKSU and/or cross-country ski 10 days in a row.  Two days of spinning class in a row though I’ve decided is a mal idea!  But I’m working on working off those Christmas pounds early – ha ha!  An excuse to be able to eat more cookies - like I need an excuse I know right!  It has been COLD here – but with the cold is snowy wonderfulness and cross-country ski adventures!  This morning it was a treat to get out to the trails with Aida and Natcho before hibernating in the lab.   There is an area of museums and park area called Gammlia which is a short bike ride from campus and in the heart of the city that has great cross-country ski trails.  It was beautiful with all the fresh snow – so light and fluffy – wish there was a downhill mountain – Tyler and I would be all over that freshy fresh pow pow!  Thanks to Natcho for biking with the skis most of the way, so that I only had to bike the very short ride to their place with my skis and poles (what a sight that is eh - a cyclist with ski gear – but surprisingly common here – the Swedes – I tell you NOTHING phases them!). 

Natcho carrying all of our ski gear on his bike - and he was a natural!

Skiing :)  Hope your back is better Aida!

Ski Team - we're going to come here in the evenings too - b/c it's lit up when it's dark (so I shouldn't say in the evening - anytime after 2 pm and the lights will need to be on!)

The working out has also become a bit of a friendly competition with Tyler – we always said how we should get a YMCA membership and now he’s gone and got one and is also on Day 7 – so maybe my 10 day stretch will have to extend even further depending on what kind of challenge he gives me.  Tyler - a truce and tie at Day 10 - pretty please?!  I’ll be getting my Y membership when I get home too – it will be a family affair as Don and his girlfriend Christina are also going.  Something to look fwd to (although the gym is definitely a love hate relationship!) :)
 
In terms of lab work, after 6.5 hours in the lab today, I have wrapped up *almost* all of my lab work except for a few more days of PLFA ( = phospholipid fatty acid analysis).  I’m learning some new ways of doing PLFA, and the changes are translating into me getting done in less than a week what would take me weekS! back home.  So hopefully by the time I get on a plane to Stockholm on Thursday I am done with my PLFA.  Coolio!  

Helena has the magic touch with the temperamental Auto-Analyzer (which measures nitrate and ammonium)

Extracting lipids - step one of PLFA in the fume hood

On Friday night I had a lovely dinner (reindeer is good!) with Kelley and Michael and their super cute kids (they are SO adorable!) and another  family.  I thought it was funny that their friend Camilla (Swedish) had been to Edmonton multiple times to compete in world swimming competitions at Kinsmen – that was the second Swede of the week that I discovered had spent time in Edmonton – so the Swedish Connection extends beyond that of the Oilers hockey team’s new players that are looking quite good :)  Go Oilers!  Oh and I also learned on Friday night that traditionally here in Sweden people don’t go to other people’s houses for dinner parties – that is more reserved for Saturday nights – Friday night is supposed to be a ‘cosy night’ – where you stay in and watch a movie – after eating Tex-Mex for dinner (which explains the large variety of Mexican food offerings at the grocery store).


Yesterday, in the spirit of Swedish-Canadian hybridized Christmas, I held a Christmas Fika party at my house.  My house is feeling super cosy and even more Swedish now that Kelley has lent me a Swedish star light (EVERYONE has one of these in their window here – it’s our version of Christmas lights for Sweden!) and it was great fun to have a party here  :)  I made gingerbread cookies (well made is a relative term – you can buy the ready-made dough here which is delicious – and they don’t sell molasses so making my own was a moot point – so perhaps you could say I baked them!) and bought a variety of the godis (goodies) –and the decorating began.  I was impressed at the artistry of everyone (except me!) – Etsuko has been holding out on me for years with her cookie decorating talents!   I ate more candy than I decorated cookies!  What Jul fun!

Laura, Etsuko, and Aida

Was so great to have Patum over too - she cleaned my floors:)

Etsuko's breakfast gingerbread - sausage and egg - so creative!

We also decorated oranges with cloves - Tack Maja for the childhod memories of that!

Pippi Långstrum aka Pippi Longstocking is Swedish and we had a cut out for her too :)  Etsuko also celebrated wimbledon and pizza with her cookies!

Creativity abounded!

Maja's loon was a hit!

Natcho, Katie, & Maja

Us showing off our favorite cookies :)  - and you can see the reflection of my Swedish star light too!

Did I mention that is has been SNOWING and SNOWING – wow – I literally think maybe 20 cm in the last 24 hours?  Actually yet more accumulation in my window as I have been writing this blog!  Luckily I am not flying anywhere just yet – Heathrow is closed owing to this same storm.  The up side of that was that Katie stayed an extra day and we returned to our favorite café – Goteberg – and enjoyed more cake – mmmm cake!  There were two separate ‘cake days’ at school this week – can never be enough cake days I say (they have a princess cake - which Tyler pointed out must be where the Duchess cake back home comes from - so I have it to look fwd to back home too!) ;) Hopefully Katie makes it home to the UK tomorrow and I can get out the front door in the morning ;)  The snow is super duper fluffy and made for some most excellent melting snow angels last night when we would run out from the sauna to cool off.  Yes I finally had my first winter sauna here in Sweden – and hopefully not my last!  I do love hot tubs, but saunas I could also get used to!  Oh and the large flurry of snow action also made for a rather embarrassing event on my ride home from Goteberg Café tonight – I thought the bus was turning but it was going straight – so as I back-braked to avoid it, my back tire slid out and onto my ass I went…. Oh yes – with a fully loaded bus of passengers looking on – at least just my pride was hurt ;)  Thanks to Katie for getting off the bus at the next stop to make sure I was okay- we got to enjoy a nice walk the rest of the way home in the fluffiness –  was also safer than biking ;)  

Kelley's delicious Saffron loaf for Santa Lucia Day Fika (Dec 13th in Scandinavia) - in addition to the two cake day fikas  enjoyed by Michael, Kelley, Helena and me!

Goteberg cake = mmmmmmmm!

Mine this go round looked kind of nanaimo-bar esque

The snow outside the cafe - it's been seriously snowing!  Yeah okay - so maybe not the best conditions for biking ;)

Katie pushing my bike - we're in a road that had been plowed earlier in the day!

This is all fresh snow - SO light and fluffy and fun - pity Katie didn't do a snow angel for me ;)  But didn't  want to get cold waiting for her bus (which she got off to rescue me after my embarrasing fall!)

Only 3 more days – and then it’s on a plane to Stockholm and a winter wonderland Christmas in the big city – followed by a ferry ride to Tallinn, Estonia for a few days and then back to Umea to ring in the new year.  I haven’t been caught up in the buzz of shopping et al. here – not sure if that’s b/c it’s not so crazy here – or b/c I’ve been in the lab during the very short shopping hours around these parts!  We’ll see if any shops are open in Stockholm while we are there – I have kronors to spend before I go home - figure I get to do my Christmas shopping late this year - but I do plan to fill up my suitcase that came here with forest floor samples with much more exciting gifts for the trip home middle of January!

Happy Healthy Holidays to everyone - hope you get home through the snow!  I’ll be sending my Christmas cards out soon, so stay tuned - they may actually be Merry Christmas rather than Happy New Years cards if I can keep the momentum alive!  God Jul!  Hej da! 

Terrorist Attacks in Stockholm

Last night as I was heading to bed I got an email from my friend Selma asking if I was okay - and she said there had been bombs in Sweden and it had been reported on the National news back home?!  So I got on the news sites and was horrified to read that in fact it appears that a suicide bomber tried to harm people in the heart of Stockholm (which is far away from where I currently am, but I will be there over Christmas).  One news report is here: http://www.thelocal.se/30776/20101211/

I was so saddened to read of this - it shouldn't happen anywhere, but in particular it seems shocking to me to happen here in Sweden.  I have nothing but WONDERFUL things to say about the Swedish people.  They are on the whole based on my interactions with Swedes here in Umea - kind, generous, thoughtful, intelligent  people.   And they certainly don't deserve to be attacked - again I don't think anyone does - but of all people and places for an attack - Sweden seems like it should be at the bottom of the list for so many reasons.

I hope that rather than attention being focused on individuals who decide to blow themselves up, that instead we can focus on the gifts of humanity and the wonderful people in the world and the good that so many people do in their lives.  During this holiday season, I for one will focus my attention on appreciating the gifts in my life, rather than focusing on the evils that are present.  There is much more positive in the world than negative - and it is unfortunate that some people only focus on the negative and somehow think it is okay to kill or hurt others.  Violence is not the answer, at least based on my experience....

I am grateful for my experiences and the people that I have gotten to know here in Sweden and I think that this is a place with so much to offer and such wonderful people - so I for one stand in support of Sweden and the Swedes!

UPDATE - To those who have inquired worried about my safety - I feel very safe here in Sweden and it seems that the Swedes I have spoke with about this seem to have the right attitude of not letting this affect them so much either - they instead focus on happy stuff - like December 13 - which is Santa Lucia Day - where Lucia brings the light to the dark - and we eat saffron-flavored bread (Kelley's was delicious) and listen to children's choirs sing :)   It is a refreshing attitude to see.  They do not make light of it and take it seriously, but by not putting too much energy into it, they are not letting the terrorists win!  It seems that Sweden is definitely getting a lot of media attention - between this and WikiLeaks!  I would prefer to hear about other aspects of Sweden instead!

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Vickie had me listening to Dean Martin on our holiday and now it's in my head :)  For a stroll down memory lane visit the youtube of it - warning - it will stick in your head!!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crFQpOCDfEc
Well it is indeed COLD outside!  And everyone has been suffering from colds inside - I lost a day at the lab this week - but happy to be healthy again :)  But the cold weather never dissuades the Swedes from doing anything outdoors - the racks filled with bikes outside SLU are a testament to that.  As is the fact that some friends from SLU are horseback riding today - nope - not riding in a sleigh tucked under blankets, but riding horses.  Brrr I say!!!  I think it is hovering around -17C the last few days and I think I am not ready for even colder - but seeing as someone pointed out yesterday on the bus - I am from Canada so I know cold, I should be prepared. Baby steps I say - and maybe going back to Spain isn't such a bad idea (I think the air space has re-opened! 
Last night Katie and I visited Goteberg Cafe - can I say again how delightful the cakes and yes ice cream (perhaps it's never too cold for ice cream?) are, as was playing a half round of scrabble (they closed early owing to no one else wanting to eat cake - crazy people)!  Mmmm!  I laughed at how Swedish we were on the way home - me doubling her on the back of her bicycle so that we could minimize our time in the cold on the way home.  A balancing act it was, but also quite amusing.  Reminded me of when I was younger and used to double my brother Don on the back - although in that case he ended up in a cast.  No casts this go round!  No pics of the doubling but will be posting pics of decliciousness when I get them from Katie - I actually forgot my camera for once!
Today in spite of the cold weather (more -17C), Aida (my wonderful office mate), Natcho, and their lovely pup Patum invited me out for our first cross-country ski adventure in Sweden for this winter.  Anna-Marie at school has generously loaned me some equipment and so I was excited to try it out (and can I once again rave at just how friendly and lovely Swedes are - I had many reminders of this my first week back from Spain!!!).  We had about 10 km of skiing and trekking up and down :)  Turned out to be more than just calm trails - some rocky adventures as well - with sometimes uncertainty of where we were supposed to go.  -17 is better than -30 at least, and it was still a great time - cold weather and all.  Thankfully our thermoses were filled with warm tea - so that helped too :)  We were out there from sunrise to after moonrise - down to 4.5 hours of daylight - so you gotta make the most of it!!!.  The days aren't getting any longer yet ;)

Sunrise!

 

And we're off!



My hair was looking even more grey (?WHITER) than usual!

  

The views were amazing - what a perfect day out there - well as long as you kept moving ;)



Warm tea for lunch :)

Already nearing sunset as we head back down



Natcho, Aida, & Patum - one happy warm family :)



We did it - and just in time!  Aventura!!!