August 28, 2004
Farmers Market
What began as a beautiful day has turned into a blustery, might-pour-at-any-second afternoon. On the other hand, the clouds might pass as quickly as they came—Karlskrona has crazy weather patterns that defy prediction.
I realized I had dawdled too long (taking a bath/shower, eating a yogurt-and-granola breakfast), so instead of walking to town, I took the bus. The farmers market was amazing, it was much more than just produce. People were selling books, clothes, fun food items (candy apples, hot dogs—oh how the Swedes love their hot dogs), flowers, etc. I perused the goods and bought a basket of fresh blueberries and a basket of fresh raspberries—which I am definitely going to enjoy. They were remarkable affordable, only 45 kronar for the bunch (about $6).
With my little bag of berries, I wandered down to Spär, a kind of mini-Wal-Mart, where I purchased sunglasses and a little mirror. (Guys may want to skip to the next paragraph.) But most excitingly of all, I found tampons!! Apparently, Swedish women prefer sanitary napkins for all their menstruating needs—you can find a whole wall of them at the grocery store, with only a few boxes of O.B. in the corner. Now, I have brand loyalty to very few items, but tampons are one of them, so I was delighted to find Tampax at Spär. I was beginning to wonder if I would need to send out an all-points bulletin to my girlfriends requesting airmail packages of the much-desired product. But back to discussion for everyone…
I also found shower curtains and bedroom curtains, but I just couldn’t figure out the hardware. (Dad, where are you when I need you most?) It seems like I either have an extra part (in the bedroom, there are what appears to be ½ of the curtain rods) or a missing part (the shower curtain rod seems to only go around ½ the bath tub). So I gave up and came home, stopping at Willy:s to get some milk and chocolate (Roya made some excellent Argentinian-style hot cocoa) and at Blomster Landet for two more plants (a hibiscus bush and a fern) for my bedroom. Still no bed, but a plethora of plants!
I got a call from my parents this afternoon—and it was so good to hear their voices! I realized after we hung up that talking to them is a lot like talking to my grandparents—the ladies do most of the talking, and the guys put in a word now and then. It sounds like everyone back there is doing well, even without the daughters. Jess and Janie stayed at school this weekend, leaving my parents as empty-nesters for another week.
In a couple minutes I'll head down to campus and check email and upload the latest journal entries from the Sustainability group's common room (which is another adventure I'll have to relate some other time). I'll also upload my pictures from Ofoto, including a picture of the new desk and bookshelf, and a picture of Roya (on her makeshift bed). After that, I'll trot on down to Centrum to meet up with some other Sustainability students for a night on the town.
