Hej y'all,

The last two weeks have drifted by in a summery haze. The weather is warm and the days seem endless. Coming from one of the hotter places on the planet, I'm used to slinking away from the sun to recline in the shade with an iced coffee (#blessed). Angelenos are like a pack of lions, laying in wait in the shade and emerging at dusk to hunt for burritos and pupusas. My life in California involved ritual application of sunblock, sunglasses, trucker hats, sun hoodies, and iced drinks. My Swedish coworkers seem to have a worshipful, borderline obsessive relationship with sunlight. At lunch we sit in direct sunlight. My skin feels like it's just on the edge of burning but never quite does. We sit like pruny sun-soaked kids who refuse to get out of the metaphorical summer bathtub, drinking hot coffee, and avoiding returning indoors.
 

The Sunday after returning from Örebro we had a house dinner with the four families in our building. Everyone brought a dish to Karin's place in the big downstairs apartment. There was barbecued chicken, pasta salad, nypotatis, non-alcoholic beers, and boozy boxed wine. We laughed and spoke English with a broken band of Swedish woven throughout. In a country famous for being shy and a world that sometimes feels isolated, I'm grateful for these types of relationships. Not exactly friend or family, but...community? Do you have people in your life who you live or work alongside and want to get to know better?

This last week was busy preparing for Midsommar - arguably the biggest holiday in the Nordics. Practicers of Christianity might associate it with St. John's Day, others with it's Pegan origins dating as far back as the Stone Age. Regardless of religion, Swedes appear to celebrate the longest day of the year with joyful abandon. The Thursday before Midsommar we saw many folks loading cars and vans with camping supplies and sports equipment. The city seemed to empty en mass. One of my friends from work helped us prepare a midsommar picnic of sill (pickled herring), ägghalvor (deviled eggs), romsås (caviar spread), skaldjursröra (seafood spread, literally "sea animal stir"), surdegsbröd (sourdough bread), french potato salad, and princess tårta (sponge cake with jam, whipped cream, and marzipan). Not being a fan of majonnäs (mayo), I found a few dishes challenging, but I loved the sill, potatoes, and of course the dessert! Thank you for all your help and hard work Algot!
 

We attended a community celebration of Midsommar at Gammla Uppsala with a couple co-workers and danced around midsommarstången (the maypole). Our neighbours also taught Nelson a folk dance and song called Små Grodorna ("Small frogs" - it's buckwild). In the evening we returned to our apartment to play a boardgame called ROOT. It was extremely fun. Holidays often bring up feelings and this one was no exception. I missed my friends and family back home. But I felt grateful to all the folks who shared their culture with passion. Tack så jättemycket!

I have found my new favorite place: a trail called GULA STIGEN that traverses 8 kilometers / 5 miles to a big local lake with lots of good swimming spots. I'm probably going to take everyone who comes to visit hiking here. We swam amongst a sea of lily pads with cute, squat, yellow flower bulbs. A gust of wind came and flipped them over row by row, like an invisible spirit rushing across the surface of the water. I floated on my back for a while then returned to the grassy field to flop down with a crowd of Swedish families to sun bathe. Life seems to happen at a slower pace here. It's been nice.

Well, that's it for now. Swedie stats return next week. I'm a sleepy girl. Love you guys. Talk soon! 

- Katie