The Game of Kubbspel

Kubbspel = horseshoe + bowling a la Viking style

Kubb is the ultimate Swedish summer game, as I discovered last Saturday at my first Birthday Bender and first experience playing Kubb. Basically, the kubb 'court' is made up of 2 rows of wooden blocks with a tall wooden 'king' block in the middle. Each team tries to knock down the blocks on the opposite side using wooden sticks [note these can also be used to vent frustration by throwing them at opponents rather than at blocks]

The game of Kubb is sometimes referred to as 'Viking chess,' although there is no real evidence that it goes back that far in time. Regardless, Kubb became popular in the 1990s when sets were made in the masses, and can now be found in almost any Swedish gas station all summer long. Apparently, the game is also gaining international recognition - there's even a World Championship, started in 1995, on the Swedish island Gotland. 

kubbspelarna [the kubb players] / birthday bender partakers

Although my team lost both matches, I still enjoyed my introduction to Kubb. And I have to say, its pretty convenient for relaxing in a park: drink in one hand, stick in the other. 

Kungsholmen Runt

Crossing the finish line of a race is a truly glorious moment. Whether a 1-kilometer competition or a 42-kilometer marathon, the sense of accomplishment almost always overshadows the feeling of exhaustion, which anyone is bound to feel if they've given it their all. 

On Saturday morning, I ran the 10-kilometer Kungsholmen Runt around the island of Kungsholmen in central Stockholm. I hadn't raced in almost a year (the last time being the Annapolis 10 Miler last August, during which I puked 3 times, again after, and had to have 2 IVs pumped into me to keep any liquids). But crossing the finish line on Saturday, I remembered what it is that brought me back. Fortunately this time, sans puke.

this is me, not looking my finest, but about to cross the finish

A friend asked me to run the Kungsholmen Runt with her the Thursday before, giving me a total of 2 days to prepare. Not to worry, though. I've been cycling to work almost every day for the last few weeks, and have been running a bit - well, a very little bit - lately. But in those 2 days, I trained mentally, deciding to aim for a decent time, but also not pressure myself to the point of sickness.

The weather on Saturday (as the last few days in Stockholm have been) was incredibly gorgeous: not a cloud in the sky - which nearly never happens in Sweden - and temperatures around 75 in the sun. It felt like heaven, and only 4 days after what I hope will be the last snowfall! 

The bana, or course, itself was a beautiful loop around the edge of the island, with views of the city, starting and finishing in a lovely park by the water. I got to the start line less than a minute before the starting gun fired. Still, I was able to settle into a good pace early on, and stayed pretty constant throughout the 10K. I finished in around 52:49 (my chip actually didn't register so it's an estimation based on video footage). Regardless of the precise time, it felt great - and the bullars (sweet buns) at the end never tasted so good!

A City of 2 Faces: Buda and Pest

Budapest is a beautiful city, where we spent a gorgeous weekend over Easter with our dear friends B & G...

This is the Danube River, which divides the 2 sides of Budapest: Buda to the West and Pest to the East. Although Buda has the palace and many other attractions, Pest is the place to be - and so that's where we stayed, in hostelbookers.com's .... er.... finest, Broadway Hostel, finest at least for 10euro/night

This is Instant, the first bar we went to, recommended by our friendly hostelkeeper, and conveniently located just around the corner. It didn't look like much from the outside, but once you were inside, it was like walking into someone's bizarre dream spread over 3 floors and a maze of 26 rooms. I couldn't really capture it with my camera, but this was just a small taste - a herd of paper-mache rabbits swinging across the ceiling. Naturally.

St. Stephen's Basilica: Budapest's largest church, with space for up to 8,000 people; we went to Easter mass there, we climbed to the top (all 65 meters), we passed by it at least 30 times throughout the weekend. And a fun fact about this enormous structure: it's home to the mummified right hand of St. Stephen. Who knew?

This is the Royal Palace of Budapest, located on the Buda side of the Danube. It's beautiful, and has an amazing view of the city from high on the hill. Unfortunately, after some confusion about whether or not the palace was actually a boarding school, we made our way up to what we thought was Parliament. Walking around the Palace, we didn't bother to read a single sign, and left satisfied at having seen this house of governing. Later that evening at a bar, we met some locals and described the day's events at which point we realized it was the Palace and not Parliament that we visited. Note to self: must read signs next time

Oblivious at the Palace

The Szechenyi Baths, where we spent Easter Sunday afternoon lounging in the 20-some baths and dozens of saunas of all different sizes and temperatures. As they've done here since the spa was built in 1913, we hopped from pool to pool, soaking in the healing mineral waters. Forgot to bring flip flops, which everyone else seemed to have, but so far no unsightly foot diseases

And so our getaway ended far too soon, but it was a wonderful trip with great friends in an incredible city

And one of the best parts? These 4 beers only cost us 1000 Forint, or about 4euros. Gotta love Eastern Europe!

April in Stockholm

Saturday was the first day of warmth I've felt in, let's see, about 6 months. Stockholm spring comes a couple weeks later than spring in most of Europe, and much later than the spring I'm used to back home. But sure enough, it doesn't disappoint.

view of Gamla Stan (old town) from Skeppsholmen

Stockholm is truly a beautiful city, and in the sun, even more so. On Saturday I strolled around for hours, trying to soak in as many rays as possible along with everyone else in the city. It seems that everyone has been in hibernation for the winter, and they've all just woken up. 

Walking down the street, there are dozens of people standing completely still, eyes closed, in the middle of the sidewalk with their faces tilted toward the sun. Get me some Vitamin D! It looks silly at first, until you realize, yes! that's exactly what I want to be doing right now! Or rather, I'd love to lay in a park in my bikini, but lets not get ahead of ourselves, it's only 15 degrees C (60 F). But it's only a matter of time. 

one of many people soaking up the sun... and me trying to discretely take a photo of it

Another new development in Stockholm is the amount of light we're getting. It gets light around 5:30 am and dark around 8:30 these days, something I'm used to in the middle of June, not April. I'm definitely not complaining, though... just anxiously awaiting the days when it's never really completely dark. And the month of summer holidays everyone in Sweden gets... I have to say, the meters of snow just might be worth it all. 

March in like a Lion...

...and out like a lamb. I can't actually remember what the beginning of March was like weather-wise, so much has happened since then. But today truely felt like the first day of spring, full stop. The sun was out, and temps rose to 8+ C! When the wind blew, it wasn't painfully cold, but actually felt refreshing. 


But the main reason I knew it was finally spring today is when I walked into our local Solna Centrum mall, the revolving door wasn't revolving, but was somehow wide open (not sure how these advanced mechanisms work, but obviously it doesn't take much to impress me), letting the fresh air into its store-lined corridors. Now it's official.


And so, a run down of major and not-so-major events of the last few weeks:

1. We went skiing for the first time in Sweden! A small mountain resort called Romme Alpin... rather more like a big hill... is about 2 1/2 hours drive north of Stockholm (the furthest north I've ever been!). We took a day trip a couple Saturdays ago, leaving T-Centralen at a painfully early 630am. Was well worth the lack of sleep, though, as the day could not have been more beautiful, and as it was my only skiing of the season, I took well advantage. 


Despite not having skied in over a year, it came back to me straight away. The challenge was the lifts, or rather the T-bar lifts. The people in this photo in the link look happy and at ease riding up the mountain. This was not me. The morning was fine regarding the T-bars, mainly because we mostly rode chairlifts. But after lunch, trying to get on the T-bar lift with Kate somehow went very wrong, and led to both of us falling on the ground in uncontrollable laughter as the T-bars behind us whipped by, nearly knocking us out. The lift stopped, the lift guy had to come help me get up, and yes, we were those people who everyone was waiting for.... ooops. 


Other than that, a perfect day on the slopes. 

2. Nik's brother turned the big 3-0, and we had a surprise birthday party for him here in our apartment on Saturday night. Weeks of planning over lunch, sneaking extra dishes into my bag whenever we went to visit he and his wife, paid off. Patrik was really surprised to open our apartment door to find 25 friends and family crowded in the hallway burst into song, the (Swedish) birthday song of course:

          Ja, Må Han Leva!

          Ja, må han leva!

          Ja, må han leva!

          Ja, må han leva uti hundrade år!

          Ja, visst ska han leva.

          Ja, visst ska han leva.

          Ja, visst ska han leva uti hundrade år.

          Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!  

Rough translation: yes, he lives until he's 100 years old! All right, he will, Hurrah!

And Hurrah for a great party!

3. As I sit on my couch typing this entry now, I hear a quiet groaning from above me every 20 seconds or so. This sound has been going on since Friday morning, the same interval every time, and from the hallway outside our door, you can also hear a child's voice saying something in Swedish. It was quite creepy for the first couple days, until Nik investigated. He figured out who lived there and called the apathetic tenant who was "clueless," and is unconveniently out of town until Tuesday. 

Lucky us, today is Tuesday. Unlucky us, the noise hasn't stopped. I'm starting to seriously consider dropping something not so nice into his mail slot.... maybe I'll wait a couple more days

Ice: 1, Me: 0

March in Stockholm is a month of expectation. After 4 months of snow, there finally seems to be an end in sight. The sky gets noticably lighter every day; the temperatures hover around and then rise above freezing, if only by a couple degrees. With this inbetween weather, pedestrians are subject to the hazards of ice that melts during the day and then re-freezes at night, creating a slip 'n slide on every horizontal surface. And so it was on Saturday that I experienced first-hand what makes people tread so carefully.

I try to run every Saturday morning, and have done so through most of the winter, whether there were 3 feet of snow on the ground or sheets of ice covering the sidewalks. I've boasted about my record of falls so far - 0 - and was pretty confident I would make it through my first winter in Sweden without injury, well-balanced and fearless of the cold.

The above is a photo of the side of my thigh 3 days after my first - and hopefully only - fall of the season. Near the end of my run, as I made a slight turn, my foot fell out from under me and BAM the weight of my body slammed against the rock-hard ice. Not a pleasant feeling, to say the least. And the walk home felt more like 2 hours than 10 minutes. 

For awhile, I couldn't sit without pain, and I still can't sleep on the right side of my body, but at least it's not swollen anymore. Now I too have joined the ranks of the slow walkers, at least until spring. But I still don't plan to wait that long for my next run. 

How to Cure a Scraped Knee

As part of my attempt to learn Swedish, I borrowed books from our lovely Solna Centrum library. Children's books to be exact. The level you would get for a kid who can't really read. Babies, actually.

And that is how I came upon the photo below, which left me quite confused.

Page before: little girl's nose is hurting. Next page, father blows on it. What is this about?, I wonder. 


Upon asking my in-house Swede, I was informed that in Sweden, when kids get hurt, rather than kiss the pain, as is done in the US, parents blow on the injury. In the case above, I wonder about bad breath issues, which surely arise when blowing directly on someone else's nose. But in other circumstances, it actually makes some sense. Scraped knee? Mom isn't going to kiss the scrape. But maybe blowing on it will make it hurt less. Cut finger? Same thing. 


It's interesting to notice these small cultural differences. Perhaps a combination is the best solution?