Kräftor!

I had the good fortune of being invited to a crayfish party last night! The Swedes have traditional parties/events throughout the year and the premier of the crayfish harvest in Aug. is one such party. Groups of Swedes gather to eat crayfish (salt and fresh water varieties), and a lot of other delicious things (like quiche or the “egg pies”). And along with the eating there is much more to enjoy; first off, crayfish parties are colorful affairs and silly hats are often made to wear at the celebration!

(Astrid, Amelia and Simon)

The best part, however, is the singing! (And this coming from someone not known for having any musical ability.) Throughout the meal, eating and talking stops and everyone sings, a mix of the poetic and the silly. At the end of the singing a toast is shared…skål! Last night I had the pleasure of toasting with liquor flavored with elderberry or “fläderbär”. (Incidently, I also learned how to make a non-alcoholic lemonade-like drink from the elderberry blossoms—of which grow in profusion in the Duluth area).

My luck to attend such a lively event was thanks to Alison Aune. UMD has the distinction of having two Fulbrighters in Sweden! Alison, a friend from Duluth, is teaching and presenting her art in Växjö as part of the visiting scholar fellowship. Alison, along with her kids Linnea and Kjell, were visiting a friend in Göteborg and hence my invitation…lucky me!

Alison and Linnea

Along with the festivities, I may have made a good connection to go mushroom picking and ice-skating (on area lakes once the cold arrives). Two other Swedish traditions that I don’t want to miss out on.

Anyhow, I must share how much I appreciate the traditions of eating and singing and drinking. It seems to me that many of these events coincide with changes in the natural world, a way of celebrating the bounty and the beauty; for example, the Swedes celebrate both the winter and summer solstices. I love the idea of celebrating seasonal events—real worldly events…a definite environmental connection!

Anyhow, back to fish…I did learn that the bounty of Swedish crayfish is no more. Disease has wiped out much of the Swedish crayfish and subsequently, Swedes are forced to import much of the crayfish they eat (some of what we ate last night was from Turkey). Fortunately, not all of the crayfish are gone, in fact my friend Maggan was setting out yesterday to “fiska kräftor” (fish for crayfish) at a lake North of Ljusdal…I’ll see if I can get a picture from her adventure.

The final note from the evening regards alcohol and transportation. I overheard a conversation last night at the party, one woman mentioned that she and her husband were taking the bus home from the party because they had both opted to drink the alcohol; they would leave the car and pick it up in the morning. This behavior is in synch with my stereotype, if a Swede drinks, they do not drive. And, speaking of drinking and NOT driving, let me tell you about my bus ride back to Göteborg! 5 of us made our way from the suburb of Mölnlycke where the party was held to Göteborg proper. The midnight bus ride was the most raucous bus experience of my life…aside from our small group, everyone appeared to be in the age range of 18-24; and when I write “everyone” I mean MANY (thousands!? Sure seemed like it); I have never been on a bus so full! People on each other’s laps, people standing on the steps, the aisle was so full as to not allow movement. As noted, it was crazy wild and loud—singing, pounding, yelling and a fair amount of beer drinking; it was a mobile party with a few misplaced old-timers like me. You might think it was out of hand, and I guess it could have been viewed as such…I, however, was impressed…no fighting or nastiness and the best part, no one was driving, drunk or sober! I actually thought it was crazy fun—20 minutes where I felt I was a part of a grand celebration. What a great night in Sweden.

One more photo of my neighborhood from a different angle to end this post (note the tower, I took the earlier photo of my neighborhood from that vantage point:

Arrival in Göteborg

Aug. 26, I arrived in Göteborg yesterday and with my body not quite on track with the time changes it is now 4 AM and I am wide awake; subsequently, I thought it an opportunity to start this project. This “project” is a blog with two basic goals:

1. Share my experiences with friends and family.
2. Use writing to help me understand this experience.

Before I dive in too deeply, just a note of thanks to many of you who will be reading this. As I prepared to depart Duluth, I realized just what an incredible support network of people I was leaving. I engaged in some emotional accounting before this big change…I had the realization of how rich I am! Here’s an example, I spent a small, albeit wonderful, chunk of my summer paddling with my sisters:

I have arrived a few days early. The intent is to get settled and use this solo time to concentrate on studying for my upcoming comprehensive written exam for my doc studies--this I will do...as well as explore a bit.

I am living in guest student/researcher housing in a part of Göteborg called Haga. The university here does not have a defined campus area, rather it is spread out throughout the city, intermingled with everything else; and this arrangement is true for my housing.

The building in the middle is where my room is—second floor with a view of the street (it is a radically different view from any window of my home in Duluth).

This next picture shows a broader perspective of my neighborhood taken from the vantage point of a 300-year-old tower overlooking my neighborhood.

The tower is at the end of my block and provides a great vantage point for much of the city. check out the rock work on this fortification.

With a strong need for fresh air after being cooped inside of airplanes and airports for ~20 hours I went on a walk/jog/explore of my neighborhood soon after arrival. The fresh air helped to clear my head, but I was haunted by the reality of being here…The “Oh my god! What have I done! What am I doing here…” sort of anxiety (because after all the excitement, there is a bit of fear). It is not as though I can walk around as a tourist and simply take in the sights, I see everything right now with a realization that this is where I am and I have a lot of work to get done. I wish I could be easier on myself, but the gut knows what’s really going on, thus my first walk was a bit intense.

I saw this bit of “Banksy styled” graffiti and thought of Peter, and further, it fueled the noted anxiety—the translation is “Göteborg kills.” Whoa! Kills what? Kills the spirit? Seemed a bit harsh and I hope not relevant to my upcoming experience with this place. Not too far off I saw more of this urban art, and I should explain—the font and graphic style are derived from the warning label on Swedish cigarettes (e.g. instead of “Göteborg Kills”, the cigarette packs read: “Smoking kills” or actually, "Rökning dödar").

“Swedes are naïve.” Hmm?

At this point in my exploration, I was deep into thoughts about this opportunity—trying to calm my anxiety with deliberate reflection (i.e. dig deep and get the positive excitement back!) I thought of a passage I recently read in David Orr’s book, Earth in Mind (2004). Orr shared a quote from Vaclav Havel who stated: “Hope is definitely not the same as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.” Orr goes on to describe how he believes that "...hope can be nurtured by doing good work, being open to life, and rising above our lesser selves. Hope, real hope, comes from doing the things before us that need to be done in the spirit of thankfulness and celebration, without worrying about whether we will win or lose” (p.210).

I have a great opportunity here, thus I shall heed Orr’s words and nuture hope via doing good work in a spirit of thankfulness.