Sweden Day Four

"Jag är en amerikansk tjur i ett svenskt porslinsbutik."

Translation: I am an American bull in a Swedish china shop.

Madeleine took me and Bobby shopping in the main part of town today. We checked out some fun stores and I bought a few things for our house. I bought a butter knife that says "sluta smörar" (stop buttering) and a big printed textile thing that says "din mamma jobbar inte här" (your mother doesn't work here). On the way back to Erica and PJ's, we stopped at the System Bolaget (state-run liquor store) to replace the beer we've been drinking. We also bought a small bottle of rum to take to Way Out West. As we were putting our purchases in my reusable shopping bag, the rum tumbled out and shattered all over the floor (and my pants). I turned purple and said "förlåt!" (I'm sorry), and was totally prepared to walk away without rum. However, the cashier told me to go take another one. For free! I love Sweden, even though it seems I can't come here without breaking something. Big, clumsy, stupid American, that's me.

We made it back to our home base without incident, and now I am updating all of you while Bobby takes a nap. I slept terribly last night because some stupid telemarketer decided to phone me at 1:30 in the morning. Of course, it's not 1:30 in the morning where he called from, but when my phone rings that late at night, all I can do is panic. The call prompted me to panic about my phone bill, so I got up to make sure I didn't have a zillion dollars worth of data roaming charges. Then I couldn't get back to sleep. My brain was going all over the place, half in Swedish, and thinking about too many things. Then the telemarketers called again. No sleep for me.

Earlier today, Bobby and I went over to Sandy's house for brunch. She cooked an amazing set of things, which are pictured below. We were joined by Madeleine, Erica, Sanna, and Håkan. Brunch looked like this:







Of course, I felt right at home when I walked into Sandy's living room:



Tonight, we will make some dinner and head over to Debaser for a free concert with a local band called Hårda Tider (Hard Times). Tomorrow morning, we leave for Way Out West!