Philip’s mom is in town. Saturday she cooked us all Saturday lunch. It was a sort of lasagna, except it was Greek and not called lasagna.

This weekend there has been much clubbing. Pere, from Spain, is a late edition to our corridor in Ekeby, and he’s one of my favorite. At the club, he is always on the floor dancing with me. It’s much better to dance in groups. Also at the clubs, he is my ‘wingman’ (and I, his). This works out well for me because he’s swarthy and attractive, drawing the girls near. Then I can talk to them with my natural charm. It’s a 1-2 punch.

Today was a lazy Sunday. I took the test last Friday (went fine, btw), and don’t start the “contemporary jurisprudence” unit until Monday, so no homework this weekend. I started two new books, East of Eden and War of the Worlds, and watched a goodly amount of Justice League on You Tube. There is this one episode (The Great Brain Robbery) where the Flash and Lex Luthor switch brains which is just fantastic! One scene has Flash (in Lex’s body) in the bathroom of the Secret Society trying to figure out what to do. He walks out and Dr. Polaris looks at him funny. “Oh no, the jig is up!” the viewer thinks. “Are you going to wash your hands?” Dr. Polaris asks. Then Flash regains his composure and says “No…because I’m evil!”

Talking with Tina I was told the longest single word palindrome of any language is the Finnish word ‘saippuakauppias’, which means soap seller.

Swedish class is going well. I now feel a little better in general, being able to say “here you go”, “thank you”, and “good-bye” confidently in daily life. However, I find myself slipping into my Chinese standbys phrases. For example, when I am speaking simple Swedish and I want to agree with somebody I say “ha ha”, and I constantly (constantly) want to say the phrase “duo shou qian?” (how much does that cost?) which was by far the phrase I used most in China. But I feel like I am getting into the Swedish culture a little. I should make more Swedish friends. There are a few at Värmlands I know, and a few at Kalmar. I shall try to hang out there more this week. Maybe get in a game of Settlers or two with the Swedes, do a little chit-chat.

~LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT SWEDEN~
Although part of the European union, the Swedes still use their own currency called “the kroner” and not the Euro. The kroner can also be written sek, as in that shirt costs 50 sek.. I don’t know why.

Uppsala is quite militant about their bike laws. You don’t need a helmet, but you do need lights at night (remember, night starts at like 4 pm). For most people, including myself, this means a wheel generator for your light. Generator is the positive name, because “device that makes it impossible to pedal” sounded a little too true. Seriously, don’t even try to bike uphill with a generator. You’ll just get mad.

Have a good start to your week,

-The Wandering Norseman-