This past weekend was over flowing with all things Swedish. There are photos that instead of posting here, I will post in Picasa and give you links to specific photos. CLICK HERE for full album and scroll to bottom for the latest photos
It started Friday when a couple of us went into town for the yearly Lindesberg "Market". Its a small market that only comes once a year and is for just 1 day. There wasn't a lot of variety. Lots of meat to buy. Lots of reindeer, wild boar, moose, red deer, and salami. I got some strange bread and this traditional chocolate puff thing. I was expecting it to be something like marshmallow, but it was more like whipped cream. I do get a kick out of their sausage things. I remember when Bryan, Byron and I were here and we were laughing at the length of the hotdog vs. the bun...but now I get to laugh at the ketchup dispenser
That evening I was invited by the students to their Crayfish party. Typically they celebrate this day in August, but the students decided to celebrate here together. This was my first real experience of a Swedish party. This typically involves a LOT of singing. The food was kind of funny because they had the "American" crayfish that were packaged and imported from China - whoohoo America really knows how to outsource our invasive species! They had "Swedish" crayfish that I couldn't tell the difference in taste - rather the exoskeleton was more pokey yet softer to crack.
The meal had "rules". The men had to escort a lady that they were then responsible for the rest of the evening. The guy was responsible for the women on their left. He had to offer his arm for escort, pull out a chair, and toast her first every time we toasted. Upon a toast, the pair must toast each other first, then toast the person to their opposite site, then toast the person across the table, drink your drink, then toast the person across from you, a person to your right and then back to your partner. This happened every time anyone wanted to drink, BUT it followed a song. So - basically, if you wanted to drink, you had to sing first. They had a "program" of songs that were all in Swedish! It was very funny because 1/2 of us were not from Sweden and we had no idea the tune or what we were saying.
After the appetizer, came a cheesy pie thing and then another cheesy cornbread type thing along with the crayfish. These were "traditional" foods for the celebration. It ended in this blueberry pie which just looked like they threw raw blueberries into a pan and covered it in oats...raw oats. The drinks were also "organized" in that we started with a mojito type drink, then came beer, and this traditional liquor that was like fennel, and then wine. oh then the champagne.
After the dinner it was dancing. Lots of dancing.
Lets just say Saturday morning came really late for some people.
It started Friday when a couple of us went into town for the yearly Lindesberg "Market". Its a small market that only comes once a year and is for just 1 day. There wasn't a lot of variety. Lots of meat to buy. Lots of reindeer, wild boar, moose, red deer, and salami. I got some strange bread and this traditional chocolate puff thing. I was expecting it to be something like marshmallow, but it was more like whipped cream. I do get a kick out of their sausage things. I remember when Bryan, Byron and I were here and we were laughing at the length of the hotdog vs. the bun...but now I get to laugh at the ketchup dispenser
That evening I was invited by the students to their Crayfish party. Typically they celebrate this day in August, but the students decided to celebrate here together. This was my first real experience of a Swedish party. This typically involves a LOT of singing. The food was kind of funny because they had the "American" crayfish that were packaged and imported from China - whoohoo America really knows how to outsource our invasive species! They had "Swedish" crayfish that I couldn't tell the difference in taste - rather the exoskeleton was more pokey yet softer to crack.
The meal had "rules". The men had to escort a lady that they were then responsible for the rest of the evening. The guy was responsible for the women on their left. He had to offer his arm for escort, pull out a chair, and toast her first every time we toasted. Upon a toast, the pair must toast each other first, then toast the person to their opposite site, then toast the person across the table, drink your drink, then toast the person across from you, a person to your right and then back to your partner. This happened every time anyone wanted to drink, BUT it followed a song. So - basically, if you wanted to drink, you had to sing first. They had a "program" of songs that were all in Swedish! It was very funny because 1/2 of us were not from Sweden and we had no idea the tune or what we were saying.
After the appetizer, came a cheesy pie thing and then another cheesy cornbread type thing along with the crayfish. These were "traditional" foods for the celebration. It ended in this blueberry pie which just looked like they threw raw blueberries into a pan and covered it in oats...raw oats. The drinks were also "organized" in that we started with a mojito type drink, then came beer, and this traditional liquor that was like fennel, and then wine. oh then the champagne.
After the dinner it was dancing. Lots of dancing.
Lets just say Saturday morning came really late for some people.
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