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!