Adventures and Mishaps

Friday was a convergence of happenings. Right now I'm not sure where to begin!

After much hassle and no small amount of Swedish kronor, I became the proud owner of a black second hand bicycle. Even though the front wheel wibbled and made a funny noise, I was really grateful to finally have my own set of wheels replete with a basket on the handlebars.

After a run (I run about 7 kilometers every other day now)Carl and I got the bike, went shopping, and ate dinner. Ah, I forgot to mention that Carl finished his Chinese classes and was invited to a party hosted by some of his classmates. I tagged along but under slight duress. I mean, I don't speak either of the languages affiliated with that party: Swedish or Chinese. In fact, I could be seen as the enemy for speaking Japanese. But oh well. Carl didn't know where the party was so we followed a friend of his by bike.

The party was pretty cool and I imagine it would have been a lot more amazing if I could speak fluent Swedish or Chinese. The people were great. Quite a few of the students made the effort to speak in English when I was around. As soon as two chinese girls came, things got a little easier for me because they could only speak English as well (it was only when they started speaking Chinese that I was in a rut). They had chinese decorations up and (this is how I could tell they were my kind of people) a bamboo chair with a picture of Mao taped to it with the words: Fullast Tag Plast. That means "Drunkest person sits here".

Some great points in the evening:
1. A Swedish girl told me that every American girl that she had ever met was called "Katie." What's worse, there was even a Katie K! Oh, the tragedy.

2. A full length conversation was had on the appearence of Mao and how he resembled a Star Trek figure. More specifically, a Vulcan because he seemed so wise and peaceful in the picture.

3. Two very skinny Swedish boys were inspired to play their accordian and violin in a style of music they called "Gypsy Jazz". It was amazing. I have video.

4. Two said Swedish boys promised to partake in a music exchange because when I looked at their music files on their computer I didn't recognize a single band.

It was a really nice evening and I met great people. Swedish college students are fairly similar to American college students except that they aren't as loud or high energy.

I was getting tired, having been awake since 7am, around midnight Carl and I left. The sky was still alight with the last traces of the sun (a trait of Sweden that I for once became very grateful for). My stomach fell, however, as soon as we left the door and Carl said "I have no idea how to get back." Now, I could make some cracks about men - how come you never ask for directions? How come you always trust to luck and gut feelings? GAH. Well, Carl and I head out and immediately get a bit lost. To add insult to injury, the rear tire on my new bike makes a loud popping noise and suddenly I'm struggling to not fall over and lose control. We dragged my bike to the sidewalk to find that the wheel had slipped out of position and was wedged against the rim. In other words: NOT a quick fix. The bike was down a wheel and we were lost. *sigh*

At this point, Carl called a friend to help Mapquest us a way back home. Unfortunatly, he was unsuccessful so we tried to retrace our steps. After a moment of walking, when Carl expressed doubts that we were even going the right way back, we asked two guys standing on a porch holding beers and cigarettes if they knew the way. It's a very good idea to have a tall and fearless Swedish guide in these cases! We got pointed in the right direction and managed to walk the hour walk home.

Now I have learned several things from this encounter.
1. Make sure your Swedish guide has his glasses with him. Even though they might not be cool, they are necessary when in unfamiliar territory.

2. Don't buy a bike on a Friday from a shop that will not open again until Monday.

3. Don't buy a bike from supicious and lecherous old men.

4. Solid frame bikes are heavy and lugging them any amount of distance is no picnic. Because my rear tire would not move at all, we had to hold up the back and push the front for about 5 or 6 kilometers. We locked the bike in town and will retrieve it on Monday.

5. Maps are good things.

So I'm pretty much a free bird today. Carl is working and I have the run of Sweden to myself. The unfortunate part is that I'm dead tired so I'll spend the day writing, relaxing, and researching things to do in Stockholm, Uppsala, and Sweden. If anybody has any ideas... heard anything on the grapevine that might be fun... here's the chance!!