tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70633361483547732512024-03-13T10:54:52.729+01:00Sweden from the Cheap SeatsJoehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14494485615727946650noreply@blogger.comBlogger328125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-59941372323331533682015-05-01T18:11:00.000+02:002015-05-03T21:12:43.651+02:00May Day 2015May Day 2015. We marched with the Feminsist Party into town, then turned right around to join the march of the Left Party, going back the other way (and they were the speech we had come to see).
What J! learned: never make eye contact with a journalist.
See <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.tumblr.com/post/117872140265/happy-first-of-may-comrades-it-is-grey-and-rainy">Joe's post, complete with moving pictures, of what happened when I did</a>.
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-74662905498751794562015-01-10T19:09:00.003+01:002015-01-10T19:09:41.683+01:00We've moved!<!--Insert medium sized, left float image here--><span class="author">Joe</span>More accurately, we are still in exactly the same place. We just don't blog here any more. We currently post semi-regularly at <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.tumblr.com">swedenfromthecheapseats.tumblr.com</a>. And, more regularly, we upload pictures to <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.smugmug.com">swedenfromthecheapseats.smugmug.com</a>. Migrating old posts is a pain, though, so all of our old stuff has been abandoned in place, and should remain here (until Google remembers that it owns Blogger, and unceremoniously shuts the whole thing down).Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14494485615727946650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-44505893155143433752013-08-21T17:32:00.002+02:002013-08-21T17:33:24.545+02:00A room of his own<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/photos/i-Bcjx8Q5/0/M/i-Bcjx8Q5-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/photos/i-Bcjx8Q5/0/M/i-Bcjx8Q5-M.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Joes-office-2013/31354579_LBPPcF" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
<!--Insert medium sized, left float image here--><span class="author">Jennifer</span>I wrote a whole post about Joe's new office and then Google for some reason alphabetized the text of the whole post, word by word, which was neither useful nor informative. And why the picture is on the right, when the HTML clearly indicates it should be on the left, is anyone's guess.<br />
<br />
So here's a placeholder until I get up the energy to re-write the consarned thing. Go see a <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=31354579&AlbumKey=LBPPcF">slideshow of all the pics</a> if you like in the meanwhile...Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-52219971430911051202013-07-27T12:28:00.000+02:002013-07-27T12:33:06.202+02:00Herring Wars<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIcMTdVaKUnp3lScVja1a-EQcHYvOon1ry9exAarbnVf4g_EyVmmsAL3AwjUdjAguXpaOqvjzLurel9rhWStKy2uyMJYG4xO3Fh6Jgbo1avMjXFBa4GRakmqs72hGl2NY3f08Oo_cCha4/s1600/fishingboats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIcMTdVaKUnp3lScVja1a-EQcHYvOon1ry9exAarbnVf4g_EyVmmsAL3AwjUdjAguXpaOqvjzLurel9rhWStKy2uyMJYG4xO3Fh6Jgbo1avMjXFBa4GRakmqs72hGl2NY3f08Oo_cCha4/s320/fishingboats.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: tahoma, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 13px; text-align: left;">Photo by ADT</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<!--Insert medium sized, left float image here--><span class="author">Joe</span>And so, it begins: the great North Atlantic <a href="http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=15193">Herring War</a> of '13:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
This March, the Faroe Islands unilaterally declared a herring quota of 105,230 tons, three times the amount they would have been allotted under the fisheries management plan. Since the total allowable catch (TAC) for all member nations is only 619,000 tons, the Faroese claim accounts for over 17% of the herring fishery. The European Fisheries Council, under pressure from the UK, responded that, if the Faroese move forward with their self-declared quota, trade sanctions will be imposed against the tiny island nation. Should the sanctions take effect, they will be the first implemented under the new European fisheries management plan and will prevent Faroese fishers from landing or importing catches in EU ports. The sanctions may also prevent all Faroese ships from entering EU ports. The Faroe Islands responded to the threat of sanctions, calling them economic coercion and requesting a return to reasoned debates. The Faroes maintain that the current stock allocation does not account for recent changes in herring distribution and that herring are more abundant in Faroese waters now than when the original management plan was implemented.<br />
<br />
In light of the dispute, the Marine Stewardship Council stripped the sustainability certification from Faroese Atlantic herring.</blockquote>
<br />
You simply have to love any article which includes the phrase, "In a phenomenon colloquially referred to as the 'Miracle of Fuglafjørður'…".<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=15193">Herring Wars: Quotas, Conflicts, and Climate Change in the North Atlantic</a> (via <a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/07/26/herring-wars-attack-of-the-fa.html">BoingBoing</a>).Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14494485615727946650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-42266964510797047152013-07-13T11:44:00.001+02:002013-07-13T11:48:35.487+02:00Summer berries<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Uppsala-2013/i-qGRM9nm/0/M/DSCN6865-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Uppsala-2013/i-qGRM9nm/0/M/DSCN6865-M.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="author">Jennifer</span>Turns out that the woods right next to my apartment are filled to the brim with bilberries. Who knew??
Well, probably almost everyone except us. We had wondered about the odd unofficial looking paths leading through the woods... and now we know why they're there. They are so thick that on a warm day you can smell them.<br />
<br />
(Bilberries, <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.se/2008/08/they-here-part-two.html">as you may recall from this earlier post</a>, are pretty much the same as blueberries but not quite, and they grow on low bushes not high, so they're rather a pain to pick. But oh so tasty!)A few smultron (wild strawberries) are to be found also, not far from the bilberries.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, our apartment complex maintains several currant bushes, both red and black. So the picture is is of my haul from a few day's ago, all of which was gathered within a 50meter walk from my front door. Life is good!<br />
<br />
A funny little-kid-logic story about the red currants – the bushes are right next to a playground, and while I was sitting on the park bench picking a few, now and then tasting one, a grandmother-and-grandson and mother-and-son were in the playground. I heard the grandson ask his grandmother something about me, though I didn't catch it or her response. But I did clearly catch the next thing he said, which was "Perhaps they taste better when you're sitting down," which made both the grandma and mom laugh, and I had to laugh a little too. "He likes to pick them," his grandmother explained to the mom and me, "but he doesn't like to eat them."Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-21246316725855681832013-07-08T18:50:00.001+02:002013-07-08T18:52:47.961+02:00My birthday cake<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Carries-Perfect-White-Cake/30400020_3xVtgD" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
<!--Insert medium sized, left float image here--><a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Carries-Perfect-White-Cake/i-ntGSHPN/0/M/DSCN6847-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Carries-Perfect-White-Cake/i-ntGSHPN/0/M/DSCN6847-M.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="author">Jennifer</span>Note: This post entirely duplicates an album on Facebook, so if you're a friend of me there, you may if you like skip this. The whole thing about the cake was originally posted there, because that's where Cousin Carrie originally posted her recipe, and so I thought it was only fair to repost there so that she could see it.
So, anyone else who's interested (*cough* MOM! *cough), please <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=30400020&AlbumKey=3xVtgD" target="_blank">click here to see a slideshow</a>, and be sure to read the captions, which explain what's going on.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-78311522340404348382013-07-07T11:54:00.002+02:002013-07-07T14:13:55.148+02:00My birthday picnic outing<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Birthday-2013/29961118_CmxNgn" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Birthday-2013/i-fZktgBC/0/M/DSCN6503-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Birthday-2013/i-fZktgBC/0/M/DSCN6503-M.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<!--Insert medium sized, left float image here--><span class="author">Jennifer</span>I took a long drive through the local nature reserve for myself to have a picnic on my birthday. Click on the photo gallery to see the pictures I took (too many), which are in order of the journey. I'd hoped to make a map of it but that function doesn't appear to be working at the moment... check back later, but I did want to get this up, before I forget. Most pictures are, sadly, unlabeled, but pretty. And I do at least <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Uppsala/Birthday-2013/29961118_CmxNgn#!i=2572677292&k=fZktgBC&lb=1&s=A">list the picnic items on the picture shown to the here</a>. Next up, a post about my birthday cake, which I had on the Fourth of July. It's a Whole Big Thing, as those of you who check Facebook may know...Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-19164471557578371862013-07-06T16:08:00.001+02:002013-07-06T16:25:10.760+02:00A quick musical summary of the country<div class="gallerylink">
Just for fun, a quick overview of what Sweden is like, as presented as a time-filling skit for this year's Eurovision song contest, which was held in the Swedish city of Malmö (because Sweden won the contest last year). First, there's a little pre-taped bit from a British comedian which is pretty funny and accurate, and guest stars the actual Prime Minister (and what happens to him with the coffee mug is something I could totally see happening!): second, there's a musical number (sung in English) featuring dancing birch trees, mooses (or elk), bikini-blondes, people queuing up and standing on public transportation, the Swedish Chef, Death Playing Chess, Lizbeth Salander, and even a brief appearance by the women's football team. The only part that I don't really get is the lady in the giant martini glass full of milk. Enjoy!<br />
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<!--text here, no line break-->Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-52380606926724185272013-06-01T20:43:00.001+02:002013-06-01T20:43:57.608+02:00May flowersIt's been a really nice May – plenty of sun, but not too warm, often quite cool, which means the spring flowers have been hanging around longer than they otherwise might. Here's a few pictures. Why Google won't let me link to the whole album I don't understand, but I'll just put them up instead.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_PeVorwVtK0/UZYfrkYeX4I/AAAAAAAAAWE/ec23sEZPlOc/s1600/DSCN6441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_PeVorwVtK0/UZYfrkYeX4I/AAAAAAAAAWE/ec23sEZPlOc/s320/DSCN6441.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wood anemone, eller vitsippor på svenska.</td></tr>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqpvngGSZIY/UZYfs47qU5I/AAAAAAAAAWM/7-TodoOl73o/s1600/DSCN6444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqpvngGSZIY/UZYfs47qU5I/AAAAAAAAAWM/7-TodoOl73o/s320/DSCN6444.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two birch logs surrounded by vitsippor.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JrT7Wmcbdf8/UZYfwGx6PkI/AAAAAAAAAWk/-Rs-hrEbG7c/s1600/DSCN6449.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JrT7Wmcbdf8/UZYfwGx6PkI/AAAAAAAAAWk/-Rs-hrEbG7c/s320/DSCN6449.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They also come in blue, more rarely, and are then <br />
called blåsippor (and I'll bet you can figure out why).</td></tr>
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<br />Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-47160118279776381392013-05-03T20:47:00.003+02:002013-05-04T12:24:26.813+02:00A second posh Big City weekend<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/29080059_QtTtk9" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-HQ53CQm/0/M/DSCN5726-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-HQ53CQm/0/M/DSCN5726-M.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="author">Jennifer</span>[attempting, for humor's sake, to sound jaded, but not really succeeding because in truth it was fun of course] “...Oh, it was lovely but so <i>wearing</i> to take the first long walk in the sunshine on the first even remotely warm day of the year. It’s a good thing that the crocuses have finally broken through at the church grounds to cheer us up, although watching the local youths taking their longboards down the steep steep church hill was also cheering if a little scary – of course we were going past that just as the camera decided to fuss and refuse to take pictures – typical! And then we walked down to the water past the <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-KVfxkfb/0/L/DSCN5734-L.jpg" target="_blank">Solidarity House</a> (which reminded me that soon it would May Day and time to hear the various agitators giving their various agitatory speeches), and by the time we got there we were so tired from all the fresh air and exercise that we stopped for <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-hkpSWt5/0/L/DSCN5740-L.jpg" target="_blank">a sip</a> (in what I must say was an <i>extremely</i> fussy little cup) and <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-3BdNxh7/0/L/DSCN5743-L.jpg" target="_blank">a bite</a> at a lovely little place by the canal, in order to restore ourselves. The <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-rRsZKsR/0/L/DSCN5746-L.jpg" target="_blank">sight of the ski hill</a> still partly covered with snow made us feel perhaps even more grateful for the sunshine and enough warmth to sit outside, not that any such prompting was needed.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-RnH6krQ/0/M/DSCN5754-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-RnH6krQ/0/M/DSCN5754-M.jpg" width="320" /></a>“Then it was off to <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Swedish_Opera_Stockholm.jpg" target="_blank">the Royal Opera</a> for Culture Night in Stockholm, with the company offering us <i>Die Fledermaus</i> (<i><a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-BtXGgnZ/0/L/DSCN5789-L.jpg" target="_blank">Läderlappen</a></i> på svenska) – we got a short review of the plot, which sounded to me like a typical hair-brained opera mish-mash plot of jails and masked balls and mistaken identities, or perhaps that was just my impression because she was speaking Swedish. The interior of the Opera is fine and the company was in good voice but I can’t help but feel that the view would have been a slight bit better if we had not had <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-pNgMpkM/0/L/DSCN5751-L.jpg" target="_blank">a basketball team</a> sit down right in front of us, my goodness gracious, what a tall lot of boys that was. (One of them, when they stood up, was revealed to be wearing a kilt, and he claimed, to the usher behind us, that he was Scottish. Scottish he may have been, by descent perhaps, but the Glaswegian who was with me arched an acerbic eyebrow at his accent and muttered something about her arse as he continued on out to the lobby. I agree that he sounded about as Scottish as my cat, but on the other hand I do think it’s fun that the natives are taking Culture Night as an excuse to dress up in unusual folk costumes.)<br />
selections from Johan Strauss’ <br />
<br />
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-Sndt8mh/0/M/DSCN5774-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-Sndt8mh/0/M/DSCN5774-M.jpg" width="240" /></a>“We fought our way through the throngs King Gustav III’s favorite room, the Golden Foyer (or Guldfoajén in the curious Frenchified Swedish that one often runs into with words involving luxury or comfort), which is indeed<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-F4Dj76b/0/L/DSCN5763-L.jpg" target="_blank"> absolutely coated in gold leaf and dripping with chandeliers</a> and includes paintings by <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-nT3jFmD/0/L/DSCN5761-L.jpg" target="_blank">Carl Larsson on the ceiling</a>. I parked by the grand piano that no one was playing, thinking I’d found a clever quiet spot a bit out of the way, where I could sit and marvel unmolested. The ballet company had other plans, and I had only been there for about two minute when a fellow sat down and <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-HsPCG3R/0/L/DSCN5757-L.jpg" target="_blank">started to play said piano</a> practically in my lap. A number of scruffy looking young people in sweatpants and hoodies started dancing – they turned out to be members of the ballet, here to give us More Culture after our bit of Opera. We sipped sparkling wine and watched as they contorted and <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-vwSTKGc/0/L/DSCN5769-L.jpg" target="_blank">flopped around</a>, sometimes going so far as to slither around <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-x7f9jqq/0/L/DSCN5773-L.jpg" target="_blank">on the floor under the piano</a>, nearly giving me a fright, and certainly giving me a laugh, and then the piano player had a hearty chuckle as well after this dancer pulled herself up off the ground by means of grabbing the piano’s other edge and giving it a mighty wrench, thereby pulling the whole instrument out of his grasp while he was playing. And she was such a tiny thing too! Whoever had the job to lock the piano’s casters? To the player’s credit, he hardly missed a beat.<br />
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<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-7cZq7fQ/0/M/DSCN5783-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-7cZq7fQ/0/M/DSCN5783-M.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
“<i>Any</i>way. Eventually the performance ran out, as did the bubbly, so we took a quick turn out onto the Golden Foyer’s balcony to get <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-JZLHGBW/0/L/DSCN5782-L.jpg" target="_blank">a view of the city</a> and a good look at the facade. Then we were off, treated along the way to a bell concert by <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-April-2013/i-RP2pVfr/0/L/DSCN5790-L.jpg" target="_blank">the church right next door to the Opera</a>, and so we made our way back to S.’s fabulous digs on trendy Södermalm, for a late night post-theater repast of fortified wines and an assortment of amusing cheeses...”Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-8756981789509094802013-04-25T18:02:00.001+02:002013-04-25T18:05:34.177+02:00Language notes part 8: A very multicultural moment<span class="author">Jennifer</span>My lecture in Swedish class today was about the official languages in Sweden. Swedish is one of them (duh, you say, but it was only in 2009 that it was decreed to be the official language), and additionally there are five minority languages. Today's lecture was about them, and we listened to a bit of each one. The Very Multicultural Moment came I realized I was getting a lecture in Swedish, while sitting in a building called The English Park, listening while the lecturer (an ethnic Lapp) played us a CD of a reading of '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Very_Hungry_Caterpillar">The Very Hungry Caterpillar</a>' translated into Yiddish.
Yes, Yiddish is one of Sweden's official minority languages. Betcha didn't know that!<br />
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The others, for the terminally curious, are Finnish, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_languages">Lappish</a> (many kinds), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_language">Romani chib</a> (again, many kinds), and a sort of Swedified Finnish called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me%C3%A4nkieli_dialects">Meänkieli</a>.<br />
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Want more multiculture? How about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Jannok">Sofia Jannok</a> singing <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzuWQpWCHls">'Waterloo' in Lappish</a>?Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-7891749932590033682013-04-01T20:03:00.001+02:002013-05-03T20:48:21.862+02:00A weekend in Stockholm, unexpectedly posh<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-2013/28614803_2JTDS6" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
<!--Insert medium sized, left float image here--><a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-2013/i-5rhznL3/0/M/IMG_6222-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-2013/i-5rhznL3/0/M/IMG_6222-M.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="author">Jennifer </span>A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of going down to Stockholm to see <a href="http://www.konserthuset.se/Default.aspx?PageId=16&Sida=Kalender&ConcertId=56817&Konsert=&leftpanedate=2013-03-01" target="_blank">Verdi's Requiem</a> performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the <a href="http://www.konserthuset.se/" target="_blank">Royal Concert Hall</a>. Some of you may know that Verdi's Requiem is among my favorites of classical music. It's overwrought, bombastic, melodramatic, and just plain fun. This performance was no let-down. I was especially impressed by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Ericson" target="_blank">Eric Ericson Chamber Choir</a>, which was 78 voices strong at this evening's show. Swedes sing well, and they sing well in groups; to hear a professional choir sing this piece was truly memorable. What was unexpected, and also a somewhat memorable, was that the king and queen were there, and their seats were only about two rows down and a dozen seats or so towards the center of our right-side first balcony seats. They were sitting so close that we weren't allowed to leave our own seats right after the performance, not until the royals had made their getaway. (There. I have now been Personally Inconvenienced by royalty. Down with the monarchy!) Frankly I was surprised at that <i>actual</i> royal heads were <i>actually</i> there, although I don't know why – I suppose this sort of thing happens all the time if one frequents the Royal Concert Hall. For some reason I still don't take that name very seriously – by which I mean that I don't expect anything that calls itself the 'royal' this-or-that will have anything to do with actual royals. But that leads to ruminations about the nature of being an American living in a country with a king that are perhaps best suited to a later post...<br />
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<i>An aside: Yes, yes, I know I've been promising 'later posts' about things for at least a year now. Well, this is me, trying to get back into it!</i><br />
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The next day was sunny and warm-ish (meaning over freezing, anyway), and we went into town for a little window and sundry shopping. We wandered eastward to the area of Stockholm called Östermalm, which is where the idle rich hang out. <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.se/2011/06/beer-and-brats-and-brits.html" target="_blank">When I went with my friend K. for 'brat spotting' a couple years ago</a>, this is the area that we went to. If you are going to see women in fur coats, this is where you'll see them. (And we did in fact see a couple.) It's a beautiful, old, well-preserved part of town, with pretty buildings often with fantastic little details, like this great wooden door. A food market building, <a href="http://www.saluhallen.com/" target="_blank">Saluhallen</a>, is on the square here; the army museum is in this neighborhood, as well as the music museum, which used to be the navy's bakery. I took a few pictures with my ailing old camera; a link to the whole gallery is up at the top of the post.<br />
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<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-2013/i-LJsRbRM/0/M/IMG_6274-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Stockholm-2013/i-LJsRbRM/0/M/IMG_6274-M.jpg" width="320" /></a>All the wandering about was eventually wearisome, and we started to cast about for somewhere to have a bite of something to eat. We wandered by the Royal Theater, which is reputed to have a good bar/restaurant, but it wasn't open, so we wandered back to the fancy mall, <a href="http://www.sturegallerian.se/" target="_blank">Sturegallerian</a>, for refreshments. It's a <i>fancy</i> mall, as you will see just by its homepage... suffice to say it's the kind of 'mall' that has a Bentley dealership tucked behind it. We sat upstairs and had a nice view over one of the mall's courts, where they have a stand selling baked goods and various other tasty treats. This being a couple weeks before Easter, they had a corner devoted to chocolates. In hopes of springtime – the court was decorated with pastel-painted and flower-bedecked bicycles hanging from the ceiling, which I found charming and cheerful.<br />
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'Springtime' remains only a hope. As I write this post two weeks later, on April 1, the ground outside my window is still covered with snow; sidewalks still have big patches of ice on them; the temperature, though above freezing on the sunny afternoons, dips down to well below freezing at night. S. noted as we were walking around that the fashion economy of Stockholm has suffered financially in the last two months, because the stores put out their lightweight spring clothing at the end of February. Apparently even Swedes are finding it mentally difficult to plan for spring when everyone is still wearing their down jackets and warmest hats during the day.<br />
<br />Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-34977053205369007712012-09-29T22:54:00.000+02:002012-10-07T19:02:15.790+02:00Never Mind the Bigos<span class="author">Joe</span><!--text here, no line break-->It's raining in Kraków.<br />
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I've been in the dwarven city of Wrocław this week, about which I promise to say more later. Right now, though, I've had a long day, what with the getting to Kraków and all, and the being too cheap to spring for a cab. The Wrocław train station was only 3 km from my hotel, and the same in Kraków — a nice walk through the city! So I checked out of my hotel at noon, hiked to the train station, figured out what train ticket to buy — a non-trivial task in Poland, as there are several companies offering wildly different levels of service (e.g., "reserved seat in an air conditioned car," versus "standing room only for five hours because we responded to the financial crisis by selling most of our rolling stock") — bought a crappy sandwich in a bar in order to have enough coinage to get a luggage locker, then spent the next two hours dwarf hunting (that would be the more, for the later). Five hours later: Kraków! The walk to my hotel was blessedly sans the rain from the morning's forecast; nevertheless, it was already 9 pm when I got to my room. Deciding that the half of the aforementioned sandwich which I had ingested instead of throwing away was no longer cutting it, I took a quick shower, then went for food.<br />
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The rain had arrived in the meantime, but it was jut a steady sprinkle, so I set off anyway. Turns out that my hotel, which I selected in a hurry based solely on tripadvisor reviews, is a scant two blocks from a restaurant filled square in the Jewish quarter. My quick glance at the map hadn't left me expecting to be spoiled for choice, so it took me a while to choose a place; the rain had rather made up its mind to stay, unfortunately, so by the time I took a seat I was a little bit damp, a little bit cold, and bordering on more than a little bit grumpy. I ordered a plate of peirogis and a glass of beer, and spent the next several minutes bemused at the incongruity of the Swedish Christmas goat sitting atop the shelf in front of me. Then my food came, and I forgot to take a picture of it. (The goat, or the food, take your pick, because I didn't. Take a pic. Of either.) <br />
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Best. Food. Ever. I am not even kidding. Just simple dumplings with a sauerkraut and mushroom filling, topped with a smattering of caramelized onions, but it was without a doubt one of the finest things I have ever eaten (not excepting my first ever plate of Bigos — again, with the later — whence cometh the title of this post).<br />
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On the walk back, belly full of cabbage and onion and beer, I realized that Sweden, despite its best efforts, has not yet succeeded in destroying my love of cities in the rain. Its something about the sound of tires on wet pavement, the way the stop lights glint off shining sidewalks… I can't put my finger on the quality of it, but I'd always loved it. In recent years, I've started to worry that my love of rain has been deadened by moving to a truly rainy place, but tonight I think maybe its just been dented a little. Or maybe I've just had a long day, and a good beer, and some yummy onions.<br />
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Either way: it's raining in Kraków.Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14494485615727946650noreply@blogger.com0Szeroka 2, Kraków, Poland50.0530503 19.947815249.8902773 19.6319582 50.215823300000004 20.263672200000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-27457881412078773592012-08-25T11:32:00.000+02:002012-08-25T11:33:05.293+02:00Scotland part one: Kilts and flags<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/24558707_BRqrzW" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span>I was fortunate enough be able to go along with my friend and native Glaswegian S. to Scotland last month, and attend a few soccer games of the Olympics in Glasgow. I guess London figured it had enough to do with all of the usual Olympic things, and hosting soccer games was just one more thing. Hence, early round football (for both women and men) were played in satellite locations in Coventry, Manchester, and Glasgow. (Presumably everyone who cares about the Olympics has followed it as much as they cared to, so I won't say too much about them in general other than to say that I enjoyed them quite a lot, as I always do, and that the coverage by SVT, Sweden's state-run television, was fantastic.)<br />
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Of the two large cities in Scotland, Glasgow is the more modern and 'real' city. Edinburgh, by contrast, is a bit more touristy, with a castle and stuff like that. "You won't hear bagpipes and see people walking around in kilts, that's more Edinburgh stuff," said S. at some point during our journey to her hometown.<br />
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Glasgow played host to a group that, for the women's soccer tournament, included the US, France, Colombia, and North Korea. The city didn't really have much in the way of Olympic spirit going for it, other than <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-NPzN7JL/0/L/DSCN4064-L.jpg" target="_blank">one of the bizarre mascots in the train station</a> (please note the kilt), a set of Olympic rings in the main square (above) <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-3kHx93d/0/L/P1090267-L.jpg" target="_blank">complete with warning sign</a>, and a lonely volunteer handing out literature on the main shopping drag; no beer tents or fan areas (as per the Women's World Cup in Germany last year).<br />
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The most important thing to do, after finding <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-pchjnxx/0/L/DSCN4311-L.jpg" target="_blank">our living quarters</a> (there was a kilt store just across the street), was to get some curry. We went to Charcoals, an Indian place about three blocks away, and nearly were in tears over the food, not because it was overly hot, but just because it was so <i>flavorful</i>. Swedish food is tasty but bland. I think many immigrants decide to open restaurants here, seeking the flavors of home and seeing the complete lack of them, but as a whole, Swedes just don't seem to be into strongly flavored food, and some little while after opening, all restaurants take the spiciness down. For some reason, instead of mints, this restaurant brought us jello shots with the bill.<br />
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Next day, two soccer games: <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-24jBShc/0/L/DSCN4133-L.jpg" target="_blank">US versus France</a> followed by Colombia versus North Korea (with synchronized ball boys as an unadvertised bonus, right). A free shuttle bus took us from the train station to the venue (on the way, US support <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-Sd6tTFq/0/L/DSCN4086-L.jpg" target="_blank">was spotted</a>, as were <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-9b8JR7V/0/L/DSCN4089-L.jpg" target="_blank">Questionable Establishments</a> ("Is it seedy here?" I asked. <i>(long pause)</i> "Well, <i>I</i> wouldn't go to an unknown bar in this neighborhood," said S., as we peered out the bus windows). At the drop-off point, a volunteer in a pink-and-purple polo shirt (and red plaid kilt that did not match) led us to the park. The venue, Hampden Park, is home of the Scottish national team. As we arrived, a bagpipe could be heard bellowing across the parking lot from the upper balcony.<br />
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The evening was sunny and warm enough that short sleeves were enough, and the first game a fun one to watch, as France gave eventual gold-medalists US a real scare by jumping out to a 0-2 lead within the first 15 minutes (the US eventually won 4-2). In between the games, we ate our <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-LvKtvqF/0/M/DSCN4148-M.jpg" target="_blank">picnic lunch</a> and were entertained by <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-MLDhWbJ/0/L/DSCN4144-L.jpg" target="_blank">a ~20-piece fife-and-bagpipe-and-drum</a> core. Who were all wearing kilts, of course.<br />
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<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Vacation/Scotland-2012/i-b59vMwJ/0/L/DSCN4140-L.jpg" target="_blank">A pack of young men</a> appeared from entrance near us. I nudged S. with my elbow. "Look, Swedes," I whispered, going by their clothes and haircuts. S. looked at them surreptitiously, just as one of them started talking in a language that sounded familiar... but wasn't <i>quite</i> right... "Close," she muttered at me, and we nodded in agreement: Danes. They sat behind us, laughing and joking with each other and showing signs of being, let us say, in fine spirits. The crowd had diminished perceptibly after the first game, revealing the white-on-blue saltire of Scotland in the end-zone seats (see picture below).<br />
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Suddenly the stadium erupted with whistling. Why? What was going on? Why was there a North Korean flag displayed on the jumbotron, hovering menacingly over the saltire? "It looks like North Korea is taking over Scotland," S. chuckled. Wait, what time was it, anyway? A quick check of our timepieces showed that the kick-off should have happened five minutes earlier. In fact the stadium had introduced the players; in retrospect we are slightly ashamed to admit that neither of us had noticed <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9427788/North-Korea-women-footballers-protest-over-flag-gaffe.html" target="_blank">what had happened</a>. The whistles continued; a wave started and made it seven times around the stadium, which is pretty impressive given how few people were there. Eventually a voice came over the PA system, apologizing for the delay and saying that it was a result of "... An issue behind the scenes." (Well, yes, thank you, we had kinda figured that out already.) The field had been cleared for the game, but now a couple of coaches from Colombia came back on to the field and put out practice cones. The whistles from the stadium turned to boos. The Colombian team came back to warm up.<br />
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A few smses later, and Joe had informed us, from reading the Wall Street Journal blog (why on earth was someone at the Wall Street Journal live-blogging the North Korea–Colombia soccer match? don't they have international monetary crises to cover?), that a security worker at Hampden said that the team was angry because <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/olympics/4454194/Bad-Korea-move.html" target="_blank">the wrong flag had been displayed next to the North Korean players</a> on the displays. Eventually the North Koreans were satisfactorily apologized to, and the game started more than an hour later than it should have, with the Colombian team getting enthusiastic cheers during their anthem, and the North Korean team getting heartily booed during theirs. The only thing of note that happened during this game was that I got hit in the head with a ball: a clearance came skipping over the low wall, smacked the arm of the chair in front of me, and gently grazed my forehead. Note: no, this incident is <i>not</i> the source of the picture that some of you have already seen...)<br />
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The next day, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18995657" target="_blank">officials at the stadium blamed the pre-made media package </a>that they received from London. I'm not sure when Glasgow started trusting things sent from London, but I'm sure they won't make that mistake again! It's still unclear why the flag showed on the jumbotron for nearly an hour. Perhaps the stadium officials were trying to say "See, we do know what your flag looks like"?<br />
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Coming soon in Scotland Part Two: A pub, a park, and a passel of friends and relations; two more games and I get the ball again, but this time for real.<br />
<br />Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-13922438669160091822012-07-07T19:58:00.000+02:002012-07-07T20:06:43.264+02:00A Glorious Fourth in Stockholm<div class="gallerylink">
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span>We spent the Fourth of July this year in Stockholm. It was an unusually beautiful day, with clear skies and sunshine, and warm enough to go without a jacket. (Days like this have been rare so far this summer; it's been mostly cloudy, often rainy, and in any event too cool for shorts and sandals.) We bought food from Cajsa Warg (Stockholm's closest thing to Zingerman's) and picnicked on Korean beef, samosas, baguette and ginger beer in a tiny park <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/24025939_CGDkPT#!i=1950574784&k=Ld5qcKf&lb=1&s=A" title="View of Stockholm from the picnic spot."><img src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/i-Ld5qcKf/0/M/DSCN4020-M.jpg" title="View of Stockholm from the picnic spot." alt="View of Stockholm from the picnic spot."></a>" target="_blank">overlooking the city</a>, which has <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/24025939_CGDkPT#!i=1950575404&k=JFPbXV7&lb=1&s=A" title="Joe inspects the statue with too many thumbs."><img src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/i-JFPbXV7/0/M/DSCN4025-M.jpg" title="Joe inspects the statue with too many thumbs." alt="Joe inspects the statue with too many thumbs."></a>" target="_blank">a rather disturbing monument</a> (too many thumbs!) dedicated to Swedes killed in the Spanish civil war.<br />
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After lunch we went down the cliff to <a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=%22http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/24025939_CGDkPT#!i=1950575612&k=dSZRwm9&lb=1&s=A" title="Fotografiska, Stockholm's photography museum."><img src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/i-dSZRwm9/0/M/DSCN4027-M.jpg" title="Fotografiska, Stockholm's photography museum." alt="Fotografiska, Stockholm's photography museum."></a>" target="_blank">Fotografiska</a>, the photography museum, to check out the exhibit on famous and/or Swedish moments in Olympic history (the city is having various celebrations to honor the centenary of the 1912 Stockholm Olympics). One of my favorite pictures was this, of a famous Swedish weightlifter named 'Hoa-hoa' Dahlgren, who is here featured in an ad for the Social Insurance authority, in a campaign promoting paternity leave. <a href="http://blogs.sweden.se/staffblog/2010/05/25/a-swedish-classic/" target="_blank">This blog entry from the official Swedish promotional site</a> says that the baby is now a grown up who has a daughter of his own, and dutifully took his 5 months of paternity leave to care for her.<br />
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<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/i-nZrLZrS/0/M/DSCN4033-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Summer-2012/i-nZrLZrS/0/M/DSCN4033-M.jpg" width="320" /></a>We started back to the train station, and it was such a lovely day that we then decided to just keep going instead of catching a bus. I miss the water back home, so we stayed as close to the Stockholm's lake as possible, which fortunately is quite close, as you can see...Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-27284899670744240122012-06-23T12:53:00.002+02:002012-06-23T13:24:10.573+02:00Midsommar 2012<div class="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Uppsala-2012/22155180_XnCktj">
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span>Yesterday was Midsummer's Eve, in some ways the most important holiday of the whole year. Sweden.se, the official website about all things Sweden, has put up a variety of informative texts about it in English, <a href="http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Traditions/Celebrating-the-Swedish-way/Midsummer/">like this one here</a>. Or, you can watch this slightly snarky video, also made/endorsed by the official website (so you know it's not <i>too</i> off-base...).
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Midsummer remains a somewhat perturbing holiday for us poor immigrants, because the cities shut down completely (the street scene of Stockholm on Midsummer's Eve in the video above is not an exaggeration!) and all the natives disappear. Nevertheless, we had a very pleasant day. The sun was shining, and we packed a picnic of spice-rubbed chicken, dill potato salad, grapes, strawberries, and homemade lemonade, and took it to a nearby field. Joe leaves soon for a workshop in Turkey, and it was nice to just hang out and relax for a day.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-26481030572989006412012-05-24T20:59:00.002+02:002012-05-25T10:52:32.075+02:00Language notes part 7: A strange momentJust a quick note, in the midst of finals. I had a odd language moment the other day, courtesy of Joe, my visiting cousins E. and S. (more on their visit later), and the fact that the four of us ran into one of my Swedish teachers from last term, at random, on the street.<br />
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Teacher T. (she of the '<a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.se/2011/12/language-notes-part-procrastination.html">we have nothing better to do in Sweden other than compare our hands</a>' incident) and I saw each other and I said hello, then I started to introduce people... in Swedish, because that's all I've ever used when speaking to T... Joe and E. and S. stared at me... And then I suddenly realized that I should speak English, but wait, I had never <i>heard</i> T. speak English, and oh my gosh, what do I do now? What language should I speak? Using English just felt <i>wrong</i>, like it would be cheating or something, and I became briefly (but truly) tongue tied. I think this sort of thing has happened to T. before though, and thankfully she quickly took over and introduced herself to all (of <i>course</i> she speaks English, better than I do probably, don't be silly).<br />
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We all talked briefly about Uppsala and the weather, but I found myself switching back to Swedish when talking to T. I don't <i>think</i> I was intentionally showing off — in retrospect I suppose one who is studying something obscure (like Swedish) is glad to when an opportunity comes along to display one's knowledge, however imperfect.<br />
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(Quick, someone ask Joe about separation logic.)<br />
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Anyway, learning and using a foreign language certainly has its odd moments. I guess I expected it to be more like history or something fact-based — you study it, and then you know more about it, and that's nice. I've never studied/learned something that results in moments of pure disorientation...<br />
<br />Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-47466121051456377902012-05-01T20:54:00.000+02:002012-05-02T19:31:20.496+02:00The Witches of Easter<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Uppsala-2012/22155180_XnCktj" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span>And now to start catching up on some of the stories and fun things that have happened in Sweden in Spring of 2012.<br />
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First, Easter, or in Swedish, Påsk. (Quick refresher: in Sweden, Easter is the holiday (well, <dfn title="Maundy Thursday">Skärtorsdag</dfn>, to be precise) when the <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.se/2008/03/glad-post.html">witches come to beg for candy</a>... and <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.se/2010/04/glad-pask.html">a couple years ago</a>, a father came by with his two adorable little girls dressed in their adorable påskkärring costumes, and said, 'You can always give them a little bit of money, 5 or 10 kronor. Or fruit. Fruit is good.')<br />
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So this year, the witches came early. Before noon!, which is hardly fair. Needless to say, we had not yet gone out to get candy. I tried to delay the påskkärringar at the door while Joe frantically hunted about for something to give them. We had a couple wrapped chocolates sitting around but that seemed a little light, so Joe grabbed a couple of blood oranges to give them as well.<br />
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They took the oranges and looked... a little <i>dubious</i>.<br />
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I wanted to sneak a picture of them because their costumes were so fun, so I nipped out on the the balcony and looked back toward the door that they would come out of. I was therefore in <i>plenty</i> of time to see the older one, who was holding the door open for her companion, pick the orange up out of her bag, and give it a look that I will generously describe as one of disapproval.<br />
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Right. Note to selves for next year: "fruit" is <i>not</i> an appropriate present for the Easter witches. Do <i>not</i> listen to the advice of their dads!<br />
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I just hope we haven't earned ourselves a curse or anything.<br />
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For Easter dinner on Sunday we went over to our Swiss friends, and were joined by three other friends and a visiting mother (French, Swedish, French-Swedish, and French, respectively). Their citizenships are important because it meant a whole new group of people to introduce to cascarones! It's always entertaining, introducing this custom to new people... there are about ten seconds of hesitation, between picking up a cascarone and choosing a victim... and then the victim realizes that maybe they would like to avoid getting a confetti-stuffed eggshell broken on their head, and so they run away, and then the chase is on (see picture to the left). (And the exercise was welcome, because it was just above freezing outside, and started to snow a little bit while we played a very poor game of kubb.) This was also Baby N.'s first Easter, and I'm only too glad to have seen to it that she — a Swiss national born in Sweden, with a temporary French passport — should have enjoyed a Mexican Easter tradition that my Irish grandmother picked up America.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-27794980772391019242012-04-18T13:46:00.003+02:002012-04-18T13:52:51.277+02:00Många stulna saker<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Art/Four-Seasons/21752021_2G4HPT" target="smugmug">Photo gallery</a></div>
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span>This post is in progress, and functions at the moment mostly as an excuse to put a link to our visit to the National Gallery (aka the "Crap Sweden Stole during the Thirty Year's War" museum) in Stockholm last February. To the left, Carl Larsson's famous art nouveau-ish 'Midwinter Sacrifice', made to fit in the main hall.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-49589302078997753792012-04-04T09:53:00.000+02:002012-04-04T10:01:44.097+02:00School daze<div class="gallerylink">
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span>At US universities (well, in the Midwest anyway), a 'student fair' usually means a chance to get candy, leaflets, pens, and maybe cheap or free condoms from your school's safe-sex organization. In Sweden, at the 'student fair' you get candy, leaflets, pens, and free condoms distributed by several state-sponsored safe-sex groups. Here's a picture of the swag I was handed at last week's Humanities Day fair in my classroom building. I think it is a pretty accurate representation of student life here.<br />
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Clockwise from upper left: bookmark from the Studies in Arts, Languages, and Theology; Linnaeus bookmark; student government sink scraper (it says "You don't have to take the shit alone" on it) holding a condom from the Condomera, or 'More Condoms' (they do <i>nothing else</i> except distribute condoms at the university); 'hon-han-hen', advertising for the debate about gender pronouns in Swedish; the red thing, a postcard for the government-sponsored sex-ed organization (they distribute condoms both at the university and to high schools); postcard of a moose, with a chocolate from the local cultural museum sitting on it (the chocolate is an ad for their current exhibit about coffee breaks); a postcard for Culture Night with a teddy-bear face reflector and yet another condom sitting on it; a bicycle trail map for the city; yet another condom; yet more chocolates (the square black things saying 'Uppsala' on them).Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-83042193862351444662012-03-18T20:03:00.001+01:002012-04-18T13:47:08.468+02:00A study visit to parliament<div class="gallerylink">
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span> This term's Swedish class is going full steam ahead. At the end of this course we will be allowed to take something called TISUS, which is the Swedish equivalent of the TOEFL; passing TISUS also certifies that the holder has a high-school equivalent knowledge of civics and society. Therefore, on top of the language work, this term of class includes a once-a-week civics lesson. And last week, we took a class field trip to Sweden's parliament, which is in Stockholm and is called riksdagen. (Note that lack of capitalization; they did that on purpose so the the politicians won't get above themselves.) My assignment for Tuesday is to turn in a short summary of the visit, including what I learned or found surprising, and after that, a brief commentary. So here, for your reading pleasure: Version 1 of my assignment in its entirety.<br />
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UPPSALA UNIVERSITET, Vårtermin 2012<br />
Institutionen för nordiska språk<br />
Behörighetsgivande utbildning i svenska<br />
Delkurs 2: Skriftlig framställing och läsförståelse<br />
Referat 4: Riksdagsbesöket<br />
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I fredags, 9 mars, tog vi ett besök på Sveriges riksdag. Först mötte vi vår guide som gav en översikt av hur dagen skulle hände, och sedan satt vi i ett utskott rum och fick höra en kort presentation om hur husen fungerar. Bland andra faktum lärde vi oss att ungefär 300 personer arbetar hos riksdagen som tjänstemän, ett nummer som känns ganska små. Han föredrog också lite om hur regeringen och riksdagen fungerar i allmänhet, och uttnyttjade fyra föremål som metaforer: en glob, några böcker, en förstoringsglas, och en tryckning av 'Sveriges rikes lag'. Han berättade hur riksdagen ser ut idag såvitt riksdagsledamöterna och partierna som de tillhör.<br />
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Därefter tog vi lite promenad genom husen. Riksdagen består av två hus på Helgeandsholmen, östra riksdagsdus och västra riksdagshus. Det västra huset hade tillhört Sveriges riksbank, och det första rummet som vi stannade in i kallas för Bank hall. Idag finns tjänster för ledamöterna, såsom posten och en resebyrå. Sedan gick vi genom mera hallar, och stannade in i ett vackert utskott rum som hade varit ett bibliotek. Gruppen gick sedan till en storstilad trapphall, och guiden höll lite om talmännen och sina roll i historia. Det nästa rummet var Andrakammarsalen, ett gammalt rum där majoritetspartiet får möta. Till sist gick vi till Plenisalen, det nya officiella rummet där ledamöterna diskuterar, lyssnar, röstar och fattar beslut.</div>
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Ledamöterna sitter enligt valkretsar, inte enligt parti som brukar finns i ett parlament. Alltid är det möjligt att veta hur var och en riksdagsledamot har röstat. De som vill får sitta på åhörarläktare där vi satt oss, och vara med sammanträdena. Nuförtiden är det också möjligt att följa med ett sammanträde på riksdagens webbsida.</div>
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Det var en intressant dag, och roligt att gå in i hus som jag har sett så många gånger från t-bana eller en buss. Det var bra att ha lite repetition om ledamöterna, och hur utskottsbehandlingar går, och hur ett parlamentariskt system fungerar. Jag hade inte tänkt på hur ett ensamstående parti, som inte någon vill samarbeta med, kan lägga sig i den hela riksdagen; jag tror att guiden beskrev situtationen tydligt och opartiskt. Jag har ett små klagomål om turens fysiska tillgänglighet, och jag tänka att skriva det som min insändare.</div>
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Here's the GoogleTranslate version, which gives a pretty accurate feeling for the 'Me go on field trip' quality.<br />
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UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, Spring 2012<br />
Department of Scandinavian Languages<br />
Permission Giving training in Swedish<br />
Module 2: Writing the posture and reading comprehension<br />
Summary 4: Parliament visit<br />
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On Friday, March 9, we took a visit to the Swedish Parliament. First we met our guide who gave an overview of how the day would happen, and then we sat in a committee room and heard a short presentation on how the houses work. Among other fact, we learned that about 300 people work in Parliament as officials, a number that's pretty small. He also preferred a little about how the government and parliament are generally working, and uttnyttjade four objects as metaphors: a globe, a few books, a magnifying glass, and a touch of 'the Swedish law'. He told how the parliament is today as far as MPs and parties to which they belong.<br />
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Then we took a little walk through the houses. The Parliament has two houses on Helgeandsholmen, eastern and western riksdagsdus parliament. The western house had belonged to the Reserve Bank, and the first room we stayed in is called the Banking Hall. Today, there are services for members, such as entry and a travel agency. Then we went through more halls, and stayed in a beautiful committee room that had been a library. The group then went to a grand stairway, and the guide was a little bit about Presidents and their role in history. The next room was the Second Chamber, an old place where the majority party gets to meet. Finally, we went to Hemicycle, the new official room where members discuss, listen, vote and make decisions.</div>
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The members sit according to constituencies, not by political party that is usually found in a parliament. There's always possible to know how each MP voted. Those who wish to sit in the public gallery where we sat down, and join meetings. Nowadays, it is also possible to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary website.</div>
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It was an interesting day, and fun to go into the house that I have seen so many times from the subway or a bus. It was good to have some repetition of its members, and how its services are made, and how a parliamentary system works. I had not thought about how a single party, not someone want to work with, can get into the whole parliament, I think that the wizard described POSITION clearly and impartially. I have one small complaint about the tour's physical accessibility, and I think to write it as my letter to the editor.</div>
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<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Stockholm/Riksdagen/i-zb9sTV7/0/M/DSCN2690-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Sweden/Stockholm/Riksdagen/i-zb9sTV7/0/M/DSCN2690-M.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Yep. Took me a couple hours to write that, it did. There may be one or two little mistakes in there. I reserve the right to fix this post later, after I have gotten back the corrected version from the grammar teacher.</span></div>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com2Riksgatan 1, 111 28 Stockholm, Sweden59.327300843669825 18.06738138198852559.326288343669823 18.064913881988524 59.328313343669826 18.069848881988527tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-25586287163695315442012-01-19T11:17:00.005+01:002012-02-02T20:50:43.701+01:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<span class="author">Jennifer</span>My translation of the local newspaper's review of the recent movie "<a href="http://www.dragontattoo.com/site/" target="_blank">The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</a>":
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Despite a slight surrealistic feeling when the actors speak English while the surroundings and everything else is in Swedish, the American version of "Men who hate women" is really good. Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig have chemistry between them and Drottninggatan in Uppsala has an important role.</blockquote>
Right, let's take that last part first, the part that reads "...Drottninggatan in Uppsala plays an important role." As readers of this blog may remember (<a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.com/2010/09/girl-who-was-annoyed-by-stieg-larsson.html">here's the relevant post</a>), we who live in Uppsala, and especially those of us who travel by bus, were inconvenienced for more than a month last year by the filming of this movie. People I met on the bus were happy to grump about it a little, but also seemed secretly pleased of course. Who isn't pleased when one's beloved hometown gets some face time in a Big Hollywood production?<br />
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Except... Drottninggatan doesn't play Drottninggatan, and for that matter Uppsala doesn't play Uppsala. The three-block stretch of Drottninggatan that appears in the movie plays the entire small town in which a parade happened in the early 1960s. (Hence a little bit of extra time was needed to remove modern road markings, street signs, etc.) The <i>existence</i> of the street is important to the story, sure, but the events don't take place in Uppsala, and in fact these scenes <i>could</i> have been filmed almost anywhere (anywhere that the architecture was right, of course). To say therefore "Drottninggatan in Uppsala plays an important role" is perhaps a <i>wee</i> bit of an exaggeration... if not wishful thinking...<br />
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(Don't get me wrong, I fully intend to see the movie in the theater, and to cheer, only inwardly and silently of course, when Uppsala shows up!)<br />
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(And allow me one quick "I'm showing off my Swedish" note: on the movie poster above there's a tagline at the top: "What is hidden in the snow comes forth in the thaw." In Swedish it is an aphorism and sounds better because it's shorter and rhymes: "Det som göms i snö / Kommer upp i tö."<br />
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(Oh, and two further bits of amusement: Haven't or don't want to read the book? Check out the New Yorker's parody, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/07/05/100705sh_shouts_ephron">The Girl who Fixed the Umlaut</a>," which focusses on the heroine's technical genius. Haven't or don't want to see the movie? I recommend "<a href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/8c164a81bc/the-girl-with-the-tramp-stamp-tattoo">The Girl with the Tramp-stamp Tattoo</a>," which imagines the heroine as a ditzy Valley Girl type rather than a punk-goth type.)Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-47823390618401805092012-01-08T00:18:00.000+01:002013-06-01T20:45:04.872+02:00Snow, Runes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="author">Joe</span>It was a crisp, sunny day in the midst of a grim, muddy winter. We celebrated by tromping through a bit of horse pasture to see our pair of local runestones. It turned out to be a good time to see <a href="http://www.arild-hauge.com/raa-se/U-897-Norby.htm" target="_blank">U 897</a> (pictured, on the right): the light dusting of snow was enough to bring out its rather faded lines but not enough to make the field impassable. In the summer, the stone is covered in dense vegetation; in the spring and autumn, the pasture is treacherously muddy.<br />
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Coincidentally, just yesterday morning I wrote up a bit on the <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.com/p/background.html">other runestone</a> in this same field.Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14494485615727946650noreply@blogger.com1Norby59.833732071344464 17.60138511657714859.831737071344463 17.59644961657715 59.835727071344465 17.606320616577147tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-52171552703249697132012-01-06T15:59:00.000+01:002012-01-07T18:59:13.407+01:00New Year's Booms<div class="separator" style="clear: left; text-align: left;">
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<span class="author">Joe</span> I think we mentioned previously that New Year's is one of the big three annual fireworks days here in Sweden. New Year's is unlike either the first Sunday in Advent, when Uppsala has a large municipal fireworks show, or Walpurgis Night, when large neighborhood associations all over town have medium-sized displays. Swedes, or at least Uppsalabo, ring in the new year with a barrage of individual displays. There's generally a light peppering one or two nights beforehand, then on the day itself we'll hear increasingly frequent booms in the distance. But when midnight hits, suddenly there are fireworks going off everywhere.<br />
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Living right on the edge of town as we do, it's a pretty impressive display even from our balcony. This year, though, the night was cold and clear, and there was no snow on the ground, so it seemed like a good time to check out the nearest little gathering up close (we've previously seen evidence that the local football field sees pretty heavy use as a launching pad, we've just never gone over there as it was happening).<br />
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Video of the proceedings is above. The cluster of lights in the lower left hand corner is the local neighborhood children, who marched up to the field bearing torches just five minutes before the stroke of twelve. The foreground is the (semi-official?) neighborhood display at first, with some random locals joining in as it progresses. In the background there were at least half a dozen other displays going at the same time (you can see bigger stuff from at least two other locales in Norby in the video, plus a few small items from the farmhouse down the road). The best part is the unintentional ground display that starts at about 20 seconds in — don't worry, no one was injured!Joehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14494485615727946650noreply@blogger.com0Blodstensvägen 18, 752 58 Uppsala, Sweden59.835857 17.607639659.833862499999995 17.6027041 59.8378515 17.612575099999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063336148354773251.post-35677894319994946572011-12-30T18:58:00.000+01:002012-04-18T13:51:55.110+02:00The Works<div class="gallerylink">
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs" target="smugmug">photo gallery</a></div>
<a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/i-C4m2hcK/0/S/DSCN1444-S.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/i-C4m2hcK/0/S/DSCN1444-S.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="author">Jennifer</span>Rural Sweden has its surprises, and one of them is a fantastic art gallery in the small town of Avesta. <a href="http://www.verket.se/index.php?s=26&l=eng">Verket</a> ("The Works") is a 100+ year old iron smelting factory, a remnant of Sweden's heavily industrialized late 19th century. The metal-working industry became so large and important that it outgrew these old structures, and the factory was abandoned around the middle of the last century, with buildings left intact and large equipment left in place. What do you do with an old smelting factory? You turn it into an art gallery, of course.<br />
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Verket makes the most of its past. When you enter the doors you are greeted by a large furnace (left) dominating the gift shop/cafe area. The exhibition spaces have names like Roasting Hall, and Blast Furnace Hall. The place has uneven surfaces, and thick soot on the walls, and <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455733665_bVqtmpK-A-LB" target="smugmug">open pits</a> that you could <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455741350_jTd2tvt-A-LB" target="smugmug">fall into</a>. You get <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455733280_Zw6nQw4-A-LB" target="_blank"><i>dirty</i></a> walking around in it. Parents are advised not to let children they care about out of their sight. It is Not Safe. It is Super Cool.<br />
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The exhibits were fun, often large, and sometimes noisy. <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455732929_Gq6NgBZ-A-LB" target="smugmug">Laser-generated maps</a> dance across the floor and walls; 20-minute videos of <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455740353_3KPvTWf-A-LB" target="smugmug">ghostly women</a> are projected onto a free-standing screen while creepy music plays; <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455733096_Z5rLh9N-A-LB" target="smugmug">blank-faced dolls</a> abound; various <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455734345_sNLKXWS-A-LB" target="smugmug">metal</a> creatures <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455741188_3dvjFkm-A-LB" target="smugmug">menace</a> you; a <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455740776_cZXc886-A-LB" target="_blank">mirror-maze</a> disrupts your sense of direction; upstairs are the <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455742404_cmJXpRB-A-LB" target="_blank">colorful blown glass sculptures</a> of among other things <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455742605_bhMDQVx-A-LB" target="_blank">women's clothing</a>, and faux-old-fashioned photos of kids with animal heads (not pictured), and more disturbing babies (not pictured, too icky), and some very odd male-dwarves-and-human-women-in-the-woods oil paintings that we dubbed '70s-style elf porn' (not pictured, too tacky).<br />
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But Verket's undeniable highlight was an exhibition by French artist <a href="http://www.verket.se/index.php?s=194&l=eng" target="_blank">Nicolas Cesbron</a>, who uses mostly wood to create fantastic but naturalistic shapes, for both furniture and decoration. To quote the artist:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"In the same way as the ruins of classical </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">temples are covered in luxuriant vegetation </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and are filled with mythological animal </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">life, the ironworks' void with machine relics </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">encloses a sanctuary dedicated to the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">industry of the past." So says Nicolas </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Cesbron and bequeaths a post-industrial </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">jungle on industrialism's cultural heritage. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"I want to convey sensualism in form </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and thought. The interplay between wood </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">and light is vigorous in my works which </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">quite often unite shape and function. A </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">sculpture that is also a piece of furniture </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">can give inspiration for a ritual life in the </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">everyday world."</span></div>
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Yes yes, <span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">An exposé of post industrialism's tragedy"</span> and all that, but don't let it fool you; Cesbron's work is accessible and interactive and you are allowed to touch it, and the polished wood is wonderfully silky and smooth. Many of the table and lamps are on raised platforms, and a <a href="http://joescott.smugmug.com/Other/Verket/18796462_qjPdvs#1455736764_BK3Sb8F-A-LB" target="_blank">swing</a> hung from the ceiling, connected to the platforms by unseen ropes and pulleys, sets the platforms and many of the sculptures into a subtle motion. <br />
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As an aside, I would like to note that this exhibit was one of the first things that any Swede (in this case my long-ago office-mate JS, who comes from this region and does the spot-on <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.com/2008/02/language-notes-part-1.html" target="_blank">Swedish chef impersonation</a>) told me I ought to see. He was right. The Cesbron installation was so cool, and public response to it was so positive, that it stayed at Verket for four years, much longer than it was supposed to; sadly (for me and my hopes to try to lure artsy friends here), I have been told that the exhibit has now moved on. Thanks, JS, for the recommendation; thanks also to S. and I. for making it possible for us to see this wonderful installation and fantastic venue. <br />
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(This post should have gotten published several months ago, but didn't. In the space-time continuum that I live in, it should go directly after the post about <a href="http://swedenfromthecheapseats.blogspot.com/2011/08/life-in-small-northern-town.html" target="_blank">life in small-town Sweden</a>.)<br />
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<br />Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13495017402298667891noreply@blogger.com2