Heading home...

I'm sorry all - I'm not sure why the post has all run together, I had to type it in the notes app on my iPad on the plane, and now it doesn't seem to matter what I do I can't get any line separation in there.. Although it looks fine in the editing screen :( And so, that's it - I've finished my time in Stockholm and am heading home... Happy in a lot of ways to have the freedom to see friends and family on a more regular basis, to be going home to look for a new apartment for SO and myself, to be heading into a different role at work. And sad in a lot of ways, friendships have developed - between the people from my company on the team, and from the client company.  It has been an intense work environment - for a fairly extended period of time, and intense environments fuel things in ways that they wouldn't be if things weren't so intense... I look forward to SO's return to Melbourne, we don't yet have a date for that beyond - about a month... And to my colleagues in the team from within my business.  It's sad to have left them behind (for clearly different reasons) but I know they are people that I will always have in my life. I'm sad that for the most part I may never see some of the people I met on the client side again. Over such a long period of time, working so closely with people it's impossible not to have formed some bond with them and they are people I'll happily call my friends... But, they will be friends from afar- and as I say, many of them I won't see again in person... That's quite sad - I hope that some of them (at least) will keep in contact over email, skype and Facebook- even more I hope that we eventually get to see some of them head to Oz for a visit. There are lots of things I'll miss about living in Europe - the ability to decide at the last minute to head off somewhere cool for the weekend - not exactly an easy thing to do from Melbourne.. The suburb where we lived - colorful and comfortable and always lively, the sights on the way to and from work in the morning - crossing the bridge from our island to the next on the way into town. Seems very strange that after living in a country where English is not the first language to be heading back to a place where I'll understand most of the conversations going on around me - without having to know the context and concentrate so hard! Sirens will sound different - strange but true, ambulances and police cars sound different!  And obviously I'll miss SO - until he heads home.  It's strange for us to be apart for any length of time - the last two years or so we spent almost 6 months traveling in South America, together all but one night of that time, some time not working and setting up the apartment in Melbourne, then about 2 months working for separate companies, before heading off traveling for another month... Of course, that changed a litle and it has ended up being 15 odd months - all of that time working together, some of it sitting next to each other, and all but about 2 weeks (when I went back to Melbourne to pack up the apartment) together... Some time apart certainly won't do us any harm, and it might actually do us some good - but it's strange not have him by my side, especially at times like now - in a plane on my way somewhere.. So much of our time together we've been traveling it feel very weird to head through security and out the other side without the camaraderie and surprise of what this security detail in this country feels is important, sitting waiting at the gate people watching or reading something, airport food and the actual being on the plane - especially for such a long flight, it just feels weird.. I guess it's a feeling that I'll just have to live with for a while - while I console myself with the warmth of friends and family and hopefully finding us a new home..

The continuing adventures with Swedish hairdressers...

Another Swedish hairdressing experience...

*deep breath* Well, About a week and a half ago I had another 'interesting' hairdressers visit.  I had decided to go dark - a big change from my normally blonde-ish tones...  I'd been thinking on it for a while, which speaks to me that it's something I really want to do.  I called my hairdresser at home - she'd done a dark colour for me a couple of years ago that I was really happy with and was hoping to replicate, so I got some instructions and colour numbers from her.  

I went into a hair salon and discussed my idea with the hairdresser, and even showed her a photo of me with a similar colour to what I was looking for to show her that dark hair is fine on me - when I'm blonde and so pale I can understand that might freak a hairdresser out!!  Ok, so she repeats back to me - in broken English - that she's going to tone my hair and then put the final colour in it.  This is all sounding like a good start...  Here's the photo:

And where we were starting from (not the best shot - I was playing in the park):

She sits me at the basin and tones, then applies a colour before plonking me back in the chair to wait for the processing time...  We get to the end, rinse, wash, etc and return to the chair in front of the mirror...  She starts moving around to get styling products and I'm looking at this extremely bland in-between coloured hair.  

Me: So, just to check - is it going darker??  

Her: No - that's it now...  

Me: Ah, no - it's not

Her: You don't like it?

Me: No, I don't like it - it's a shitty in between colour, I'm not happy with that (mind you  - it's this horrid in between colour, and it's still wet - so it's getting lighter before I leave the salon - not happy at all)...

Her: Well, you were blonde when you came in...

Me: I don't care - this looks nothing like the photo (show her the photo again)

Her: But, with your skin tone...

Me: The photo is of me - I have the same skin tone

Her: Well, I don't think that photo was good looking

At this point my head almost explodes with the desire to tell her I don't f-ing care what she thinks, I didn't come to ask her opinion I came for an expert who had the ability to achieve the look I wanted - and I was certainly not hoping she was going to pick me up, etc...

Her: If I make it any darker, it will go ashy and black

Me: It can't stay this colour

Her: Ok, well if you want it darker I can make it darker, it will only take 10 minutes

Me: Yes, please - I would like it darker

Ok - so she trims it and dries it off, then goes to mix the darker colour - which she proceeds to slap onto my head in a worse job than - I don't know, maybe a 5 year old might do - I have colour on my face, on my ears, on my neck...  And informs me that will be about 10 minutes.  No problem, and I sit in to wait out my time...  About 2 minutes later I spy her and one of her hairdresser friends walk past - handbags on shoulders, and I'm thing - no, couldn't possibly be...  And yet, yes - she's left for the night - no explanation that someone else will look after me or anything - no even glance in my direction as she struts off into the sunset... 

I was kind of flabbergasted at this point, but after 10 minutes or so passed one of the other girls washed my hair out - and then scrubbed my face, ears and neck to remove the colour before another blowed it dry...

The end result now I'm happy with - but man, getting it there!!  And yes, I'll try for a photo of the outcome - meanwhile here's a windblown one with my hair up (oh, and SO!)...

A whole month... how did that happen..?

Wow, a whole month - it's been a while...

There's been a bit going on - I had a bit more of a battle with salmonella, we had dramas at home with the internet, went off for a holiday over Easter to Malta, packed all our stuff, moved apartment and unpacked everything again...

While I was feeling better after I got smacked with salmonella while I was at home and resting and not eating much - I'd go back to work after the weekends and gradually (or suddenly depending on the week) decline.  I'd had the lovely stabbing pain that came along with the salmonella for almost a month in the end.    :(  I got a phone call from the Disease Centre chasing me up - obviously here as in many other places a doctor who discovers salmonella has to report it through.  The woman at the Disease Centre told me that there'd me about 20 people in this outbreak of a salmonella they've not seen here before (it had an indian name, but I can't really remember what it was!)  and had I eaten cashew nuts in the week I'd contracted it.  Well, I almost certainly had - I'd gotten a mixed bag of nuts from one of the supermarkets near work the week I returned from Oz and in fact I've been eating them on a regular basis (picking out the 'nice' ones like cashews) right up until that morning.  Well, of course a couple of days after I stopped eating contaminated nuts I started to feel much better!!

We were obviously in the middle of having found a new apartment to move in to and the landlord at the old place had started to get ready for some new tenants at our old apartment.  For some reason, part of this was ordering a new modem (although there were already 2 there - not really sure why!) in the process of this the company providing the internet (and modem) had decided that because there was a new modem on order the old one wasn't working - and so stopped the internet coming in on it...  Not very helpful to us when we still had something like 3 weeks left there.

Easter we jetted off to Malta - we spent the long weekend with a couple of other friends/colleagues and although we didn't have the best weather (can you believe it was warmer in Stockholm the weekend we were away?!!) we had a great time all together and a relax away from the project for such a long weekend.

The remainder of the week once we got back from Malta was spent packing - most of which was thankfully covered off in one 3.5 hour session.  Then we had the help of our friends/colleagues and a couple of trips in a rented station wagon to move everything last weekend.  One of the problems of this lifestyle is that you have to live with someone else's furniture (and often ugly things!) in your house.  It's great from the point of view that there's no furniture to move, but from the point of view of your everyday life that's the easier thing sometimes!!  The place we were in needed quite a bit of new furniture to finish it off, but there were lamps in both the bedroom and the lounge that were ok for us to live with - so we had the famous big trip to Ikea funded partly by the landlord.  But there was no pictures on the wall or ugly things around - this new place has ugly pics everywhere and ugly lamps in the lounge (none in the bedroom).  So, the last week has been spent trying to hide most of the ugly, trying not to kill the landlord (we were to have a washing machine installed in the bathroom - that has only worked since Friday just gone, and some more internet issues just for good measure!).  The whole trying to negotiate things when you don't share a first language and trying to get someone with a different work ethic to your timetable - well, let's just say it's less than easy!!

So, we currently have two toilets sitting in the bathroom - well, one sits - the other is actually kind of attached to the water anyway - not so much to the floor, while we wait for the landlord to install the new one.  And the washing machine - installed and looking pretty in the bathroom since we moved in on Saturday, got plugged in on Friday so we could use it - with a long extension cable into the lounge room!  Anyway - at least it works, and I've spent a bunch of time since then trying to work through the gianormous laundry pile that has accumulated since the day before we went to Malta.

So, that's been my last month - oh, apart from missing joining in on the live run of beyond blogging for scrapbookers and looking in any way at my reader with everyone's feeds in it - I'll be working to catch up on that sometime soon.  This week SO's parents arrive for a weekend visit, so we're counting down the days in earnest and getting excited to see them...

Time for a bit of an update...

Well, a couple of posts ago I was sick - with what we (even the doctor) suspected was gastro...  However, no - it was salmonella!  Thank you Sweden!  It has all settled down now and my tummy is getting itself right again and the tiredness is even abating a little finally...

Wednesday night SO and I started our date night, we work together and live together - and so sometimes things just feel a little same same all the time - I wanted to change things up a little.  It wasn't a huge or eventful evening, but it was a lovely one.  We went for a walk around the island where we live and then onto to dinner in a Lebanese restaurant (how did we get to be eating in a Lebanese restaurant living in Sweden for goodness sake?!).  It was lovely and relaxing and cosy and just plain nice.  (There are pics and I promise to share once I connect the camera to the computer!).

During the week I'd investigated a treat for us as well and we set off today to a spa to have a romantic duo massage, facial and soak in a jacuzzi - it was wonderful and then we floated home!!  We haven't gotten up to much more than that today, it has been a very chilled one.

I keep looking at my scrapping table and thinking that I need to be doing some - I just haven't had the mojo for a couple of weeks - hopefully it will find me tomorrow and I'll get to play for a while.  I'm inspired by all the work of other scrappers that I'm seeing regularly now when I'm catching up on the blog role, but sitting on the computer looking at them isn't getting any of my own scrapping done!!

Something that amused me lately

Another for the Why Sweden, Why file:

This post bought to you by prompt 5 - Blogging for Scrapbookers

Amazing Days

For our 2nd prompt Shimelle asked us to think about the amazing days of our lives, and prompt 3 talks about lists (I'm sorry but there are many more than 5!)...

I have had so very many in the last 18 months or so that it's difficult to choose:

The day at Iguazu Falls in Argentina:

The day at Perito Merino Glacier in Argentina:

The days of trekking the Inca Trail in Peru and arriving at Machu Picchu:

 

The day we went parasailing over the Sacred Valley (very amazing for 2 so scared of heights!):

The day we went white water rafting - no photos from this day!!

The days on our cruise around the Galapagos Islands and being so close to the wildlife:

Our night out in Paris for my birthday:

Getting to see London and Stonehenge:

Having the opportunity to live an work in a foreign city (with snow!):

More recently though my amazing days were spent doing things like:

Meeting a girlfriend's (not so) new baby and spending time with her and her other son:

Dinner with family and friends:

  

Catching up with friends and family in Mildura:

A concert with mum:

Playing in the sunshine in the park after a haircut:

Coming home to SO:

Hmmm, I guess there'll have to be more on all of the above sometime (soon-ish!).

Back, again...

I have been terribly lax here, once again...

I had a whirlwind trip home, had the job of packing up our much loved and hardly lived in apartment, had the absolute joy of catching up with friends and family who took time out of their own busy lives and schedules to arrange dinners, drive 5 hours cross country and just generally make the time to add an hour or two of me into their time...

I have returned to a clearing snowy landscape, that seems almost ready to give way to spring and some sunshine - although not sunshine in the sense that we know it as Australians, because there's still not a lot of warmth in it.  And of course to SO, who by all accounts seemed to somewhat miss me while I wasn't around...

I have also managed to pick up a bout of what is likely just a bad case of gastro - but after 13 days of semi regular vomiting and diarrhoea, a day of excruciating tummy pain and being able to hold nothing at all in sent me off to visit the doctor...  A couple of hours, a couple of blood tests and a testing kit to bring home with me saw me collapse into bed halfway through yesterday afternoon from where I have only moved to run back and forth to the bathroom and go and wander aimlessly around the kitchen, looking for things that might last for more than 5 minutes in my tummy...

On the plus side - I might actually get to catch up with some FaceBook gossip, I have finally gotten around to making a blog post, and I am finally starting the reading for an on line course on blogging for scrapbookers that I have signed up to blogging for scrapbookers.  I have even managed to find a different template for the blog, and think I've successfully attached it - not sure if I'm loving it yet, but I'm happy to know that I can do it - so, even from the pre-course material I've learned something from my course already!!

I guess that's about all the sharing for now - probably more than anyone wanted anyhow, but that's the goings on lately!!

On my way...

So, this morning I headed off from ‘home’ through Stockholm and our snowy, alien landscape – past the forests full of evergreens wearing their white coats, and the others wearing nothing but the ice and snow…  In a lovely minus 5 degrees, in jeans and boots, a hat and coat and was freezing…

To the airport with the runways covered in snow, where de-icing airplanes is a regular thing.  Through the check-in counter and security, the stores that litter all international airports.  Through passport control and up to the gates near where the plane will depart…

A normal morning when travelling, up and ready and out to the airport, getting through all the normal checkpoints – with nothing out of the ordinary.  Except this time SO is not with me…  We have spent all but 2 (separate) nights together in the last 16 or so months – and most days too, between travelling together for almost 6 months and then a while where we set up the house on our return from overseas, and now back to how we started - in working together.

It’s a weird and surreal experience to look up at the fairy floss clouds as we pop out of the top of them into the bright sunshine and smile, without being able to share it with him…

I’m expecting the temperature in Melbourne to be something cooling down from a 30 odd degree day when I arrive tomorrow, which I’ll lay odds on won’t be in the negative temperatures – nor have the snowy landscape that I’ve gotten so used to recently.  The coat has come off for getting in the plane – although I always find planes so cold I’m huddled under the polar fleece blanket they provide anyway…  I expect the boots and socks, as well as the singlet under my top will have to come off – if not before Melbourne, at least by the time I’m in the airport there… 

I expect that my body will be warmed in the sun, my head and heart will be warmed by catching up with the people there that I love and miss so much so regularly.  I also expect that everything will feel just a little less warm not having SO with me…  

Snow...

Snow...

It's such a foreign thing to us as Melbournians - I mean, I've made the 5 or so hour trek to Falls Creek and the shorter 2-3 hours to Mount Bulla for boarding a few times (albeit a couple of years ago now)...

But, living in it - day to day, walking through it to get to the train station, to work, and home again each day - that's something altogether different...

It creates a really alien landscape, beautiful, eerie, fresh and crisp...  I love the way it makes everything lighter - and here that's a really big thing.  Without it here it's very dark and grey a lot of the time...  Thankfully the days are getting longer - so the sun's up before 8am and setting after 4pm these days, the darkness - much more than the cold is a really hard thing to get used to...

It snowed yesterday, snowed and stayed for the first time in weeks - we really thought that winter seemed to be coming to an end, but yesterday it came back again - and today it was sooo beautiful...  Looking out the window this morning, the courtyard in all full of fresh snow, and the trees and street out the front all white and pretty...  And it was deep when we stepped out the front door this morning, there'd been something like 15cms overnight - and walking across the square to work it was cool that they hadn't thrown the grit in it yet that they normally do - and the path through was not from some artificial source - but was just there because people had walked there and everyone that came through just found it easier to follow in the footsteps that had come through before them...

It made me smile today, to see it all white and pretty and fresh - you kind of forget how white it is - when it's fresh like that...  After the cars come through on the roads (not so much today as they were mostly snowed in!) and the grit gets thrown down to make it easier to walk through, it's grey and then when the days are dark and grey, it's a really grey feeling...  But today, white and light and bright...

I'm glad it came today, and glad that it was such a big fall overnight and that there wasn't yet the time for it to be grey and we got to see it that way - I go home to Melbourne in a few days, just for a quick trip to pack up our apartment and put our lives into storage before heading back over here for the next 12+ months - and while I know that I'll see more snow, if not this winter (which we're no longer kidding ourselves is coming to a close) - certainly the next one but it was nice to get this fix before heading home for a couple of weeks...

I even got to make a snow angel finally (was getting worried that I'd missed my chance!!)...

A rite of passage..

Well, today we went to Ikea...

Apparently it's a rite of passage here to go to Ikea - I can understand why...

It took us all day, between getting out there and the HOURS and HOURS in the store (it's over 3 levels the one we visited) and then getting home, unpacked and assembled - ALL DAY!!

But we've done it now, and we have some of the things we've been after, like a rug in the lounge, and a print for the wall, and a little bookshelf...  There was many more purchases than that, but they were the things we were mostly after...

And do now it's done - tomorrow I don't think much aside from relaxing will be done after that - but our Ikea run is done!

  

Me clowning around at the entrance - believe me, there wasn't this many smiles on the way out, it's EXHAUSTING!!

Being brave - take II

Well, we've moved 'house' and I could traipse across town on the train and then walk for 10 minutes in the snow to go back to the hairdresser's I tried last time, in order to have the owner lady do my hair...

But, there's a hairdresser every half block around where we live - surely I can find one that will be able to get it right??

So, it's been 3 months and I'm finally brave (or desperate enough) to be needing to get my hair coloured again - I've decided that today's the day and I'm heading to the salon around the corner in the hopes that they have someone who speaks perfect English...

Wish me luck...

What's been going on..?

So, I have been absent for a while - as I explained there was a (pc) death in the family...  It's such a hard thing to live with when you're so digitally dependant!!  I was keeping up to date with what's happening in the world (my world of Facebook friends!!) very quickly at work each day and trying to keep up with my personal emails there too...

Blogging though, that's a whole other ball game - the peace and headspace that I need to write anything down in this format just doesn't happen at work!!

So, what's been going on..?  Work, as usual - there's a lot of that to keep us going!!  One of our Aussie colleagues went home, there's a lot of family stuff going on for her at the moment and it's the right place for her to be...  It just feels like we lost a family member - over here our Aussie colleagues are like family, we all got put here together and no-one had a choice about who they came with, it's a bonus if we do nice things for each other - and best of all, we all get along pretty well...  So, it does rather feel like our little 'family' over here got one member smaller...

We went to Germany - we took a long weekend to head down to look at some of the Christmas markets in Cologne.  It was SO's (a bit late) birthday present - we stayed right in the centre of the city and walked around a bunch of these little markets and ate and drank our way generally through the weekend.  I'll have to put some pics up soon...

We moved 'house'...  After 4 months of living in an apartment in a hotel - we have now moved into an apartment in Stockholm that we have a 6 month lease on (whether or not that will get shortened or extended we're not really sure at this point)...  So, it's a small place - but now we have a separate kitchen (which includes an oven and a 'real' size fridge - which are real bonuses!).  We had a few annoyances when we moved in - the night we came to look at the place we ended up just talking to the guy who was renting here before in general about living around here, and what he was up to etc - and so after a quick look around the place we had to leave as the next people to inspect were knocking on the door.  We got a very quick glimpse into the bathroom, and never ended up getting to see the laundry...

So, when we got here we found that the shower head was mounted very low on the wall and pointed somewhere around our knees - now SO and I aren't exactly the tallest people in the world at around 5'4" or 5'5" so you can imagine just how low this thing was.  You take it out of it's holder, wet yourself, put it back in the holder to lather up and then pick it up again to wash off - showering was a joy especially in such a cold environment.  Luckily we have a fabulous landlord - and he has had his son install different shower head and bracket, so now we can have a proper shower...

The laundry, I found the night we moved in - is across the snowy courtyard and in the basement of another (almost adjoining) building...  Grrrr, it's definitely better than having to schlepp to the laundromat with all the clothes, but still a huge pain in the butt...  But, the real bonus of this place is that it's on top of one of the subway stations - so we walk out the front door and about 3 metres to the door of the station and down into it...  In the snow, and with how cold it's been here - that's a real bonus, and we figure that will be definitely be a huge benefit over the net few months...  And, it is very lovely to not have to walk through a hotel reception each night to get 'home'.

I got a new computer - obviously - I decided to try a mac this time around and check out life on the 'dark' side...  It's certainly very pretty over here - and I hope that one day soon I'll figure out all the things it does or is telling me with it's little beeps and noises!!  It's certainly a whole new world!

Yesterday there was apparently a suicide bomber in Stockholm - not a pleasant thing to ever have happen in the city you're living in - but we were helping our boss and his family move 'house' yesterday, and while their new place is not very far from where the incident happened - we were blissfully ignorant of the whole thing until we got home and saw something on the telly...

I had a really homesick day yesterday - another 2 of the Aussies have already left to head home for the Christmas break, and our boss and his family are heading out this week.  Just one of the others and SO and I have decided to stay in Europe for the break (and our colleague who's staying here has her parents coming to visit) so with all the talk about home, family and Christmas - I had a very teary night last night.  I watched a couple of sooky girly movies to help get it all out - and today am all a bit drained - but feeling a bit better for it...

We are gearing up to finish work this week - Wednesday is our last day - before a few weeks break from the project...  We decided that as we were so busy with everything going on (and we were staying in Europe to see more of the place while we can) that we'd book ourselves onto a tour of 'Imperial Europe' - so we are off to see some of Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary for 10 days starting on Friday...  It should be a good trip and we're looking forward to it, and the time that we'll have to recharge before getting back to work in the new year...

Well, it's a bit of an epic post - but I guess a lot's been going on in the absence of having the technology to catch everyone up - so there it all is...

Swedish words...

Sorry, I've been awfully slack in my postings - combination of spending too much time on a computer at work (and not wanting to when I get home), finding scrapbooking supplies that I've been playing with at the weekends (and yes, to everyone I've promised - I will get around to putting up photos), and generally feeling a bit unwell and so so tired...

The last few days (since the clocks have been set back to non-daylight saving time) it's been dark, and I mean night time dark, dark at 4.30 in the afternoon - it's just not right, and it's messing with the body clocks on all the Aussies!

But anyway, here I am.  I thought I'd give a run down on some of the Swedish words that we've learned since we've been here...
 

Swedish	Pronounciation	English
Hej hej	Hey hey	Hi
Hej då	Hey doh	Bye
Ja	Ya	Yes
Nej	Neigh	No
Tack	As it’s written	Thanks (don't say it with an 's' on the end though - that means dog!!)
Tack sä mycket	As it’s written	Thanks so much
Ushekta	As it’s writen	Excuse me
Bra	Like the underwear	Good (most guys I know would say it’s what’s in the bra that’s good, but anyway...)
Slut	Sloot	Finish/end
Lax	As it’s written	Salmon
Fiska	As it’s written	Fish
Biff	As it’s written	Beef
Kyckling	Shickling	Chicken
Fars	Farsh	Mince
Kista	Sheesta	It’s a location – where we work

This is a bit about how my train trip looks on the way home from work:  We get on at Kista (Sheesta) where we work and catch the train to Fred (Fridhemsplan) where we change lines - Fred is the station straight after Start Shaggin' (Stadshagen - actually pronounced Stads-hagen), then catch toward 'home'.  We stay near a station called Odenplan (Oh-den-plaan) I practice saying with the train announcement quite often - it gets me some weird looks, but hey - I'm the chick who sings and dances in the supermarket aisles - I've had weird looks before!

Well, I guess that's about all I can go on about for tonight - thanks for reading along!

Observations of Sweden

Well, we've had quite a few weeks of lovely observations so far...

Including, that they call it summer if it's still over 10 degrees in a week...  Let me well reassure you, that even by their standards - summer is now over, I'm sure we haven't climbed to the dizzying heights of double figures in our temperature for over a week now!

Swedish puppies are all refined, and like - I don't talk to strangers, they travel with their people on trains and wander around in shopping centres without much excitement (so, I guess they've kinda gotta be well behaved!)...

And, Swedish ads are in quite a lot of cases quite frankly funny - sometimes it's because we can't decipher them and they just sound funny, sometimes you don't want to decipher them because the Swedish is more funny than the translation is ever likely to sound...

And then, there's ads like this - designed for a company called Locum, who were wanting to wish people a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year:

Advertisement gone wrong, or disgruntled Marketing employee...?

Being very brave

Well, today I'm about to be brave again and entrust my hair to someone I don't know and don't share a first language with...

I did it at New Year's - found a hairdresser in Cusco, Peru and entrusted my hair to her with my very basic Spanish...  Now, I have to do it again but in in Stockholm, Sweden - without a word (well, other than your basic hi, bye, thank you type words) of the language!  I think that's brave...

I have this horrible lanky blonde mop at the moment - courtesy of months of travelling in the last year, where it's always just easier to stick it up (and not being near my trusty hairdresser!) and the fact that my SO likes long hair.  I keep trying to get the message across that my hair is never going to be this beautiful long thick mane that he admires on other women - my hair is fine, and mostly straight and really needs work to get it to look decent (of course after all this time of neglect, even a lot of work has stopped making it look decent!).

And so, with (for a change) a very firm idea (and multiple photos) of what I'd like my hair to resemble when I leave the place, and my big girl panties on - I'm off, to brave the hairdresser and hope like heck I get something decent - preferably resembling in some way the idea I have in mind!  Wish me luck!

Tourists

Ok, so the weekend before last my SO and I headed off to do some more tourist stuff...  We've done some since we've been in Stockholm - trying to get out while the weather's still (sort of) decent...

We went on a hop on hop off tourist boat ride (yep, just like the buses - but on a boat!) after we'd done a lap of the sights, we decided to hop off at the Vasa Museet (Vasa Museum) to go check out another boat...

This one is a 17th century man of war boat, it was commissioned by one of Sweden's kings and took years and years to complete the building.  Then it toppled over about 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage!  Yep, the incredibly clever design of this thing meant that it was too top heavy, with not enough space below for ballast...  And apparently if they had used all the ballast they could have (which may have helped) the gun holes would have been sitting in the water - cluey, cluey people...

So we wandered around this huge (dark) ship for a while - and looking at it, it really isn't all that surprising that the thing fell over it just doesn't look quite right!  My SO was reading some of the information there - and one of the shipbuilders had 30 men stand on the boat once it was complete, stood them all on one side of the boat and then had them run to the other side.  Once they'd got there he made them run back to the other side, then he made them get off - because they were going to sink the ship if they kept that up!  So, it's not like no one knew that this was going to happen - they just chose to ignore it...  Not so clever!

And so, twenty minutes into her maiden voyage the ship turned a little - and you guessed it, tipped right over! It was something like 333 years before the Vasa was pulled out of the sea, but now it's quite a cool (if very dark) museum...  With a ship looking like something out of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (or so I've been assured!

Here's what it looks like today:

Sting and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

AH-MAZE-ZING, what can I say?!!  Amazing...

A brilliant night was had at the Ericsson Globe - a giant white ball of an arena here in Stockholm...  Carried away by the sounds of a full orchestra and soothed by Sting's smooth tones - at the same time!

Some of the songs sounded like they should always have been played that way like Roxanne, with the hear wrenching tones of the violins, cello and double bass...

And the most unbelievable version of Russians, and such a moving version of Fields of Gold...  Well, I could name them all one by one - the whole concert was a fabulous experience.  I spent half the night with goosebumps and the other half holding back tears at the beauty of it...

Thank goodness, because getting the tickets was a trial - you can't order them here with our Australian credit cards over the net or phone - but have to front up to an outlet for purchase, so after work on Tuesday after a few failed attempts over phone and net, I left work to run into the city to make it to the outlet and then back out near home before our fantastic yoga class... 

Let me assure you, it was well worth the effort!