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March 31, 2005
Sometimes You're Just Too Tired...
...to pull up your pants.
Actually, I'll have you know that my pants are at an entirely appropriate location, clearly avoiding any plummer butt. On the other hand, were my pants to fall to a precarious position, I would be forced to do a quick cost/benefit analysis on the worth of expending the energy to put them aright.
After staying up w-a-a-a-y too late last night (thesis work, but still), I had to get up at 7 a.m. to get down to campus. What ensued can only be described as a posterior-numbing experience to rival no other. We had seven thesis groups present their progress so far (Ronan and I were #4 on the list)--all in the span of 9+ hours.
Thankfully, Ronan was a dear boy and brought me tea with super-caffeine for the morning session; in return I saved him a prime seat on the couch. And at the lunch break, he made grilled cheese sandwiches and split pea soup--yummy. I might have to keep him around...
Our presentation was fine, and I think we are finally getting somewhere. At least, our advisors weren't able to find any chinks in the armor, unlike several other groups to whom by heart goes out.
And yet, as I was biking home shortly before 6 p.m., wearing my favorite plaid mittens and with my face in the sun, I couldn't help but have a "I'm so happy to be alive, right in this very place, at this very moment." I don't many of those moments (which lasted only until I had to struggle to get my bike into the stupid elevator), so it was much appreciated.
Now it's 9 p.m. and I've had a healthy dinner of vegetable soup (my new expertise) and apples with peanut butter for dessert. I've worked a little on my thesis, checked email, and now I'm ready to call it a night. We have another class scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, and if I don't get a good night of sleep, I might just collapse.
Posted by madchen at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)March 30, 2005
Unlikely
Today's activities centered around lunch with Mandy and the 15 km bike ride that encompassed the Kungsmarken-Downtown-Kungsmarken trip. My legs are wobbly. Now, the big decision for this afternoon is nap or thesis. As Dilbert puts it: who shall be the victor? (Hint: put your money on the nap.)
And now...
You've always believed that people are basically good. Unfortunately, this week will go a long way toward convincing you that most of them aren't really good in bed, where it counts most.
Sadly, I doubt I will have the opportunity to explore this basic human truth--it's slim pickings here in Karlskrona.
Posted by madchen at 03:32 PM | Comments (0)March 29, 2005
Productivity Ratios
It was another bee-yew-ti-ful day in Karlskrona, with winter just a far-off memory. And with the time change last weekend, we now have the tail end of sunset just after 8 p.m. It's an amazing change from a couple of weeks ago, when I thought I might never see green grass again.
Getting a late start (and not even taking a shower because of the bathtub problems), I caught the bus downtown to fetch my bike from Amity's place. I originally planned to walk, but it was rather chilly and I realized I would never make it all the way downtown in time to fill the bike tires with air, and bike back home before dark--when it gets really chilly.
At any rate, I managed to get the bike, find an attractive man to help me fill the tires with air (seriously, I could marry this fine gentleman and be the wife of a gas station attendant with no problem whatsoever), bike to Mandy's, walk with her to campus, go to the library and return my grossly overdue books, and bike home--stopping on the way to get some much-needed groceries (I was going to have to eat leftover cardboard).
Feeling quite pleased with myself, I then had a delicious vegan dinner of tomatoes, avocado, and white bean salad. The cookies afterward were not so vegan.
Now it's almost 11 p.m. and I've been busy on the computer. I confirmed several job applications (mostly, I confirmed that they were not interested in hiring me), wrote some long-overdue emails, and have finally gotten back on track with my thesis. It's going to be a kick-ass project--we'll just see if my peers agree at our presentation on Thursday.
Photo Credit: This one is all me, baby. I have been making an effort to carry my little digital camera around with me during my daily adventures. I took this picture at Mandy's place, where birds seem to congregate near the dock.
Posted by madchen at 09:45 PM | Comments (1)March 28, 2005
Underwater Adventure
Today was just gorgeous. The sun came streaming in through my window, making the 10 a.m. alarm seem almost acceptable. (Hey, I had done laundry until 2 a.m.--so getting up "late" was entirely reasonable.) I had cracked the window open last night, and the air delicately hinted at spring. Sure enough, when I checked the weather report, it was going to be a scorcher--a whole 46 degrees Fahrenheit. (I suppose it really would be a scorcher at 46 degrees Celsius...)
I hopped in the shower and was totally invigorated at the notion of washing my hair in my own bathroom. The 13 days of travel had left me a little rugged, and I was pleased to have a razor again. Squeaky clean, I turned off the shower, pulled back the curtain, and was horrified to see that the bathroom had flooded and there was two inches of standing water covering the whole floor. My robe and clothes, casually tossed in the corner, were soaked, and the bathmat's terrycloth loops gently swayed in the water's current like an underwater plant. I got out of the shower--literally splashing as my feet hit the floor, wrapped a towel around me (so much for the robe), and shrieked for Jess to come and see. We determined that the drain problem, which had been plaguing us for the past couple weeks, had definitely gotten out of control.
I laid my soaking pajamas over the dryer above the bathtub and Jess awkwardly hung the bathmat on the side of the tub. And we left it at that. After getting dressed and drying my hair, I ventured back into the bathroom and was relieved to see that the flood had greatly subsided, leaving only haphazard pools of water on the uneven tile.
It was decided that I would go to Karlskronahem and notify them of the problem. Of course, by this time I was already late for my thesis meeting with Ronan, but I was able to negotiate a later start time--allowing me to get to the management company before they closed for the day (Karlskronahem being only open for approximately 7.5 minutes each day, it's important to time your visits with precision).
Being such a breathtaking day, I decided to get the bike out of long-term storage (the corner of my room next to the desk) and bicycle downtown. And since it was so warm, I thought I'd forego a jacket and just wear a sweatshirt over my t-shirt. Yes, we are the height of fashion here in Sweden...
So off I went, thoroughly enjoying the 7 km to town, although noticing on the way that my tires are a bit flat. As I should have suspected, Karlskronahem was closed for Easter Monday (as it is for all major holidays, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and random Wednesdays). Disgruntled, and wondering how I was going to take a shower the next day, I went up to Wayne's, where I met Ronan and we had an extremely productive thesis meeting. I'm starting to feel some sense of relief on this project, and I hope that it continues to go smoothly.
While at Wayne's I got an email from Amity, who invited me over for dessert to talk about my recent trip to the Baltic. Needing to kill some time, Ronan and I went to O'Leary's Sports Bar and had dinner and watched a little ice hockey. Good times were had by all.
Then, a walk over to Bredgatan. Chocolate cake was eaten, Earl Grey tea was elegantly sipped, and plans for future travel were discussed. Given my flat-ish tires and my lack of jacket, I decided to leave my bike there and take the bus home. Once home, Roya and I had a long chat about obsession (and what makes people obsess about things they can't change) and I checked email (hurray for follow-up interviews!). All of which brings me to this moment, when I am looking longingly at my bed and wondering if 11 a.m. is too late to set the alarm for. Surely not.
Photo Credit: I think this one is Kevin's.
Posted by madchen at 11:20 PM | Comments (2)March 27, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure - Day Thirteen
I'm not sure that today should be counted as part of the travel adventure, since we didn't really experience anything new in Helsinki. On the other hand, we did spend numerous hours on busses, trains, and airplanes and if that doesn't count as travel, I don't know what does.
We were quite rudely awakened by the neighbors across the hall at 5:30 a.m. this morning, who were delighted to tell their friends (in the next room) all about how they had just survived a mugging. As the story was painfully spun out, it turns out that the mugging was really an attempted mugging. Furthermore, it wasn't so much an attempted mugging as an attempted pickpocketing. In my opinion, they deserved it for being out and about in the middle of the night (and I don't care one whit if that makes me sound like a middle-aged spinster).
After nearly an hour of hysterical laughing (they seemed to think it funny to lock each other out of the room), they suddenly fell quiet. I was nearly certain that a good samaritan from down the hall had killed them all, but apparently they just passed out at the same time.
By then, I was only able to get a couple hours of rest before the alarm went off and it was time to get up and pack. It just happened to be daylight savings time this weekend (who knew?), so even without the annoying neighbors, we got less sleep than usual.
We were at the bus station (right next to the train station--what integrated transportation Helsinki offers!) waiting to catch the bus to the airport when I realized I had left my camera charger in the room. After all the trouble I went to to get the stupid charger in the first place, I decided that God was telling me something. Nevertheless, I risked a smiting to run back to the hostel, negotiate the chatty receptionist, get the key, run up two flights of stairs, locate the charger, deposit the key back at the front desk, and run back down to the bus station--all within 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, the bus to the airport had left a mere 2 minutes after I left to retrieve the charger, and so we were forced to wait for the next bus, which left 30 minutes after the first one. Thankfully, we had time to spare and made it to the airport with enough time to spend the last of my euros on a sandwich.
What can I say about the rest of the day? The flight from Helsinki to Copenhagen was packed full, and Lisa and I were both in middle seats. I would like to put a question to the general public: why do men feel that the armrest between two seats is automatically theirs? Pay attention and you will find men monopolizing the armrests at movies, in airplanes, in doctor's waiting rooms. It must stop!!
Once we got to Copenhagen, it was the usual routine to catch the train to Karlskrona. I managed to doze a little, while poor Lisa was constantly getting kicked out of her seat to accomodate people with "reservations". (Lucky for me, my seat was apparently unreserved and I was able to ride unmolested the entire time.)
In a feat of magic, I got off the train in Karlskrona and immediately caught a bus up to Kungmarken, arriving in my very own apartment at just past 4:30 p.m. I had been dreading the return to this hovel, but I have to admit that it's nice to be back home. I've managed to procur the laundry key, the bathroom and kitchen are relatively clean, and brisk air is flowing through my stuffy room. All is well.
Photo Info: This is the picture that I got in Vilnius (showing one of the main streets in Old Town). It's amazing that it survived the trip in one piece. It's now hanging on an absurdly high hook in my room, where I will see it first thing in the morning when I wake up.
Posted by madchen at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)March 26, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure – Day Twelve
This morning has not started well. Lisa wanted to see the Architecture Museum, so she left early while I slept in. I was supposed to wake up at 11 a.m. (it's vacation, after all), but I somehow turned off the alarm and overslept. When I did wake up at 11:30, I was worried that Lisa would come back before I was properly up and ready for our afternoon adventures. So I ran off to the bathroom to wash my face, forgetting my key in the process and locking myself out. I had to tromp down to the reception area in my pajamas and pantomime the situation to the Finnish housekeeper, who eventually went to find the English-speaking receptionist that finally let me back in the room.
From there, things just got worse. I was hungry, and still flustered from being locked out, I grabbed a yogurt from the window sill and ate it. Now, let me explain the food situation.
Because food is so expensive here, Lisa and I stopped by the grocery store on our first afternoon here, stocking up on apples, carrot sticks, sandwich materials, and yogurt. We don't have a refrigerator in our room (or, indeed, the whole hostel), so we put the temperature sensitive items on the window sill. I went so far as to put my yogurt (which seemed the most precarious to my health in a warm environment) on the outside of the window sill, where there is a 5 inch ledge that slopes down. After carefully gauging the angles, I determined that the yogurt would not slide off the side of the building, plunge 3 stories, and kill and innocent passer-by.
You can probably see where this is going…I had grabbed Lisa's yogurt (that was sitting on the inside of the window sill) because it was the only one I saw, and I knew that I had one yogurt cup left. Well, as I sat there, I realized that my yogurt should have been on the outside of the window sill—thus, the realization that I had eaten Lisa's yogurt.
Tentatively, I opened the window as far as it would go and peered out over the edge of the building. And as you've probably guessed, there was my yogurt, far below. It had exploded on impact and had a rather "Law in Order" splash to it. Fortunately, no one seems to have been injured.
Now, Lisa is back and has been very understanding of the food situation, and we are preparing to go out for another round of Helsinki on Foot. The weather is just as gorgeous today, and I'm going to be leaving my fluffy down coat in the room (how audacious!) and go with a light sweater instead. Onward!
Later that day…
It's just after 5 p.m. and we've arrived back at our hostel. We set off, originally planning on taking a self-guided walk around part of the city, but were quickly distracted by the plethora of shops lining the main street. I engaged in some retail therapy (designed to ease the pain of returning to Karlskrona) and walked away with a new bag and a key chain.
We also stopped by a local market, where I finally got Jess and birthday present, a mere six weeks late. I am a bad sister.
With our credit cards still warm, we recommitted to the walk, which we partially completed, but then were once again distracted—this time by a café, where we stopped and had a coffee and little treat. By then, it was getting late, so we cut the walk short and instead zigzagged through the city to reach the modern art museum.
We spent about an hour in the museum, which was partially closed in preparation of new April exhibits. It was strange and disturbing, which, I suppose, was its intent (I feel much the same way after visiting all modern art museums). There were a couple cool features, including a two-paneled video of women rolling skeins of wool. Sounds weird now that I've typed it, but it was quite compelling.
And then we walked back to our hostel, where I have just finished downloading the pictures of the market and typing up this entry. I'll load it onto the memory stick and run down to the internet shop next door (that for some reason is open, even though it's advertised as closed today) and check email. Hope I have something good that makes me want to go back to Karlskrona!
Posted by madchen at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)March 25, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure – Day Eleven
Today was by far the most gorgeous weather we've had on this trip. Spring was in the air and the partly-cloudy forecast was nowhere to be seen. Lisa and I were not the only ones to notice—I think that every single Helsinkian (Helsinkite?) was outside enjoying the fresh air.
The fact that it is Good Friday helped, as virtually everything is closed, so people spend the day with their families. And since there is nothing to do inside (stores and restaurants being shuttered), there isn't much option except to be outside. But it was great to bustle along with the local crowd as they enjoyed the melting snow and ensuing slush.
Lisa and I chose today for our major "explore Helsinki on foot" self-guided tour, which led us through the embassy district (note to self: all the attractive men in Finland are guards at the U.S. Embassy.) and down to the waterfront. Moms and dads were leading their kids to the park, where the kids were throwing themselves down the hill on their bright red sleds, knowing that it was probably the last day enough snow would be on the ground. In places where snow had already melted, kids in snowsuits joyously poked sticks into the muddy pools of glop, careful to keep their outfits clean.
Of course, with massive snow melting comes several inches of slush, so I was constantly darting about, trying to keep my toes dry (but being only partially successful). We joined the masses of people on a walk along the shoreline, and it was a beautiful sight. Families frolicked on the ice, with the kids creeping out as far as they dared to the water line before their parents called them back.
At one point, we stopped for a minute at Café Ursula, which had been recommended to us by the hostel receptionist as a great place to "people watch". Indeed, it seemed like Café Ursula was the place to be, and after some confused consultation, Lisa and I decided to forgo the tedious line for coffee and continue our walk.
Around and around we went—not actually intending to go in a circle, but we had to double back at one point because the road we thought would take us back to the main road actually ended at the sea. We saw some amazing apartment buildings (and a realtor window that demonstrated that we could never afford to live in this amazing city) on our walk up to the "Rock Church"—literally, a church built into a huge rock. Inside the church was spectacular, stones lines the entire circumference, with a panel of windows at the top, and crowned by a copper ceiling that defies explanation. At the church we saw a performance of "Sabbat Mater" with an organist, a soprano, and a mezzo-soprano. It was transfixing—they both sang like angels and the hour passed all too quickly.
From there, we walked back to the hostel (through the train station, which looks impressive from the outside, but is just a train station on the inside), stopping at the internet place next door to check email.
Our hostel, being an old, old building, does not have internet, so we resort to the place next door that offers internet access, faxes, and international telephone calls. (Kind of like a horrid, tiny, run-down Kinkos.) Apparently, its run by an African guy, who has all of his friends over every time we visit. They made a ton of noise, and distract him from more important things—like helping me get the USB port on my computer to work! Anyway, between the guy's friends and the people in the telephone booths yelling to be heard in other countries, it's not very conducive to writing long and meaningful email. So I'm up in my room tonight, recording the activities of the day and downloading my pictures. With any luck, we'll find a better place tomorrow (since the place next door is closed all weekend) where I can upload this entry.
Update: In a desperate bid for English-language television, Lisa and I watched what we believe was "The Last Temptation of Christ" before going to bed. Oh my, my, my. I have never seen so much naked Jesus before. It had an all-star cast including Barbara Hershey (Mary Magdalene), Harvey Keitel (Judas), William DeFoe (Jesus), and David Bowie (Pontius Pilate). Aside from the overall bad acting, I was especially amused by the way they decided to distinguish between the Jews and the Romans—the Jews talked with New York Bronx accents (Jesus, you talkin' to me?) and the Romans had formal British accents (Jesus, if you would be so kind as to die on the cross, sir). It was atrocious. But in the proper language, nonetheless, so we sat through the whole thing.
Posted by madchen at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)March 24, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure - Day Ten
The helicopter ride was GREAT! Despite my fears, it was completely smooth--and had a great view. The coolest part was seeing the ice floes that had been broken up as the big ships came through. We were under the impression that the passage was completely closed down in the winter, but it's clear that some ferries are still operational.
In a mere 18 minutes we went from Tallinn to Helsinki, where we caught a cab to our hostel--an old house build at the turn of the century (that's 1900) with high ceilings and a bathroom down the hall.
We walked around a bit, stopping at the local grocery store to get some food for breakfast (the cheap Baltic prices are behind us) and managed to sneak in a quick nap during the afternoon before going out for some serious exploring.
Helsinki is beautiful! We are right downtown, and there is such a "city" feeling all around us. People are scurrying to and fro, huge buildings are all lit up with neon signs, apartment houses are gorgeous--many designed with art nouveau themes, and there are enough stores that I'm practically drooling.
We had a scrumptious dinner, which I nearly had to sell my soul for--the 60 Euros I took out of the ATM this morning are not going to get me very far. Then Lisa and I stopped in to a little coffee shop for a latte and a little dessert--we'll see if I can zip up my jeans tomorrow.
The weather is cold, but definitely warmer than our other destinations. And knowing that we can stop off in a variety of stores and cafes along the way certainly helps ward off the chill.
Posted by madchen at 08:12 PM | Comments (2)March 23, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure - Day Nine
Today I gave my tired feet a rest.
Of course, it wasn't entirely a voluntary decision, as I got lost almost immediately after leaving the hotel. But it was all for the best, as I managed to get caught up on all my email and do some thesis work that I had been avoiding all week.
As such, there isn't much to report. Tomorrow, the helicopter awaits!
Posted by madchen at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)March 22, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure - Day Eight
We are in Tallin! The capital of Estonia, Tallin is a little smaller, a little uglier, and a little more expensive than Riga (Latvia) and Vilnius (Lithuania). We only have two days here, and I'm not sorry we chose to minimize our time in Estonia in favor of an extra day in Finland.
We caught the noon bus from Riga, and it was a breeze to get here. We even got our passports stamped at the border! Arriving almost an hour early, we were able to check into our hotel (a nice, but a dingy two-star place) and walk up to Old Town while there was still light.
We stopped in to an old Russian Orthodox Church (pictured above), where a service was in progress. Well, I think it was a service. A stout man with unwashed shoulder-length hair and a beard was reciting something from a book (rather like the Jewish bat mivah I went to years ago) in a sonorous voice. A dozen or so people were gathered in a haphazard semicircle around him. At key moments they all bowed and crossed themselved (but going the opposite way across the shoulders). Throughout the church, there were also supplicants walking around and kissing various portraits and crosses. It was weird, but interesting.
After that, we walked around another section of Old Town, but there wasn't much to see, other than the view, which was spectacular:
Finally succumbing to the bitter cold, we found a cozy Greek place where we filled ourselves with kebab, french fries, cabbage salad, Diet Coke, baklava, and lattes. Sated, we made the long, long, long walk back to our hotel.
We were hoping to have internet access in our room, and indeed, there is a broadband outlet right next to the TV. But it doesn't seem to be working, and the receptionist is clueless (between the technology and the language, we can't seem to communicate the problem adequately). So in the end, we plugged our laptops up to the computer in the lobby, where I am now sitting on a couch with a Latvian drama playing in the background.
Tomorrow, we'll go see the other portion of Old Town (we just saw a nook off to the west)--it looks like we'll easily be able to cover it in a day, assuming our toes don't freeze off mid-walk. And then, it's a helicopter ride to Helsinki!
Posted by madchen at 08:31 PM | Comments (2)March 21, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure - Day Seven
I slept in this morning (ahh, bliss!) while Lisa was industrious and looked at some art nouveau apartments in a new neighborhood. We met back up around lunch, and then we ventured out an masse.
Today's adventure involved pig snouts, magnetized santimi, and old Latvian peasant women grooving to Whitney Houston. Also making an appearance: greasy "fish and chips", a ragamuffin group of young musicians, and multiple closed museums.
We started off by walking back to the bus station, where we purchased tickets for the bus trip to Tallinn tomorrow at noon. From there, we meandered over to the Central Market, which comprises an indoor and outdoor section. On the outside are rows of stalls with semi-fresh fruits and vegetables being sold by bundles with feet (I assume women were there somewhere under the layers). Occasionally, there was also a stall or table with giant underwear, plastic toys (of the five-and-dime variety), and Soviet-style fur hats. Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was blasting from the loudspeakers and no one seemed to notice the bizarre juxtaposition of post-Soviet life with the Kevin Costner-esque soundtrack.
On the inside, cheese and meat dominated--with various pastries and chocolate options also available. My favorite part was the row of pig snout (quite reasonably priced, incidentally):
We got some fruit, cheese, and bread for tomorrow's bus ride, then made a hasty departure. We attempted to walk down by the river, but were repelled by the sewer-and-mud-soaked sidewalks, which drove us back to the inner part of the town. We tried to visit some museums, but Latvia has apparently decided that it's not enough to be holy on Sundays, but that everything should also be closed on Mondays.
Thwarted, we instead did some shopping (God apparently is fine with consumerism on Mondays) and I found a cute magnet of Riga to add to my collection.
Then it was back to our room to check email and out to dinner at the English pub around the corner. Bad idea--we were freezing and I think our brains had slowed to a crawl, because we decided that fish and chips was a good idea. A half-hour later, we were both feeling a little ill.
Thinking that maybe a little soda would settle our stomachs (ok, that's only partly true--we have both been craving Diet Coke, which is nearly impossible to find here), we managed to find a little shop that sold it. Armed with Diet Coke and a bar of chocolate, we went back to the hotel, narrowly avoiding a group of young men camped out on the sidewalk, playing music and asking passers-by for money. They are truly horrible, and even now, ensconced in our 4th floor room, we can hear their music wafting up through the night air.
Also, I've discovered that the Latvian penny (santims)is magnetized. It happened quite by accident, as I had slipped the Riga magnet into my pocket, where it attached itself to the loose penny. Thus followed a wide-ranging scientific experiment, where Lisa and I put the magnet up to all of our other coins (Swedish, Lithuanian, and Latvian) to find out the full impact of the magnet-coin connection. After much testing, I am confident in saying that the magnetized Lativian penny is an abberation--no other coins showed a similar tendency. And now you know.
For once, I think I may actually do some work on my thesis. I've been totally slacking this week and I'm starting to forget the premise of our research topic. Before that happens, I better finish the draft chapter!
Posted by madchen at 08:19 PM | Comments (1)March 20, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure - Day Six
Today was devoted to walking around and exploring Old Riga. It's a surprisingly small town, and the "old town" self-guided walk takes less than an hour.
Thankfully, the weather was beautifully clear, so that when we went up to the top of St. Peter's church, we got a great panorama of the city. The secret (or so the elevator operator told us) was the north wind--it clears out all the clouds but also makes it unbearably cold. My fingers were too frozen to manipulate the camera after the first couple shots.
After getting a good glimpse of the main buildings, we had lunch at a Double Coffee (it's a chain!!) a couple blocks from our hotel. Then we shopped around for a bit (although most of the good shops were closed because it was Sunday), and ended up back at the hotel for a rest.
Tonight we heard the Riga Technical University Men's Choir (sounds ba-a-a-d, but it was actually quite good) sing at St. John's church. The church was freezing, and we didn't understand anything (the singing was Latvian), but I had a good time nonetheless. I daydreamed about various things, always coming back to one of the guys in the choir, who reminded me of a more exotic version of an old boyfriend.
The concert ended a little after 8 p.m., by which time I was frozen solid--despite wearing my fluffy down coat the whole time, which rustled ominously every time I shifted a muscle. We had surreptitiously moved up from our second-to-last row seats to the front of the church at the beginning of the concert, and so had to plough through throngs of people to get outside.
We had a lovely dinner at a local place just around the corner called the Black Monks (well, that's the English translation anyway) that served fantastic food. I had the salmon corn chowder and a chicken salad with mango dressing. For dessert, Lisa and I shared chocolate creme brulee and crepes with ice cream and maple syprup.
Yum, yum, yum.
Of course, the dinner took nearly three hours, so now that we're back in our hotel room, there's not much to do but go to sleep. We attempted to find something on TV, but after discovering that the world championship of curling was the best thing on, we've given up.
Posted by madchen at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)March 19, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure – Day Five
Today's lesson: looking for hostels over the internet is a hit-or-miss process. We left our lovely hostel in Vilnius this morning, after I caught the leg of the breakfast tray on the edge of my bed and spilled the apple juice everywhere (I now have some sticky clothes).
We walked up through a different section of town with our backpacks (why, oh why, did I pack so much stuff?), and saw the University of Vilnius and the Gate of the Dawn (the only surviving original gate of the city) on our way to the bus station. Once there, we caught the 12:40 p.m. bus to Riga. Thankfully, we were on a real bus this time and had two seats each. Having taken a full dose of Dramamine, just to be on the safe side, I slept almost the entire five hours, but Lisa took the opportunity to read up on Riga and do some planning for sightseeing.
We arrived in Riga at just before 6 p.m. and made our way through the bitter cold to the river, where we followed the road around to Old Riga where our hostel was located. After a little confusion over the address (there was only a teensy, tiny sign on a nondescript door), we were buzzed in to Friendly, Fun Franks Backpackers Hostel. We chose this particular hostel over the internet (just like the one in Vilnius) because the description made it seem like a good option:
We are the newest hostel in Riga. The Friendly Fun Franks is Australian, British and Latvian owned. We are situated in the Walls of the Medieval Castle of Old Riga.All Rooms are Newly Renovated with Panoramic Views Overlooking the Picturesque Daugava River.
If you want to enjoy friendly Australian Hospitality/British Quality Service, LATVIAN Cultural Experience, then Friendly Fun Franks is the place for you!
Additionally, it had free internet access and laundry facilities, and was advertised to have "just been renovated". While Lisa and I had joked that we were certain to be disappointed after our room in Vilnius, we were unprepared for Friendly, Fun Franks.
To begin with, we were greeted by an extremely loud Latvian young lady. To be generous, I am sure she was both friendly and fun, but it was just too much after being on a bus for 5 hours. She practically pushed us into the common room, which was a smoky, orange room filled with beige leather couches and empty beer bottles. To add to the stuffy ambiance, there was also a young man passed out on one of the couches, clearly the result of a night of heavy drinking (or perhaps a day of heavy drinking?). The receptionist then proceeded to proclaim at the top of her lungs all of the best Riga sites—such as the Russian clubs, the Latvian clubs, and the strip clubs. Clearly, this was a friendly and fun place to be. Lisa and I were unable to make eye contact (with both of us facing the woman), so we just smiled and nodded.
Next, we were invited to see our room. We were led around the corner from the common room, into an old rickety hallway. The unlit stairway was missing posts for most of the banister (and swayed precariously), and the shallow steps were unevenly worn. When Lisa questioned the safety, the woman managed to find a bare light bulb on the second floor that threw a little light onto the stairs (but the shadows it created made it look even more of an OSHA violation). We were guided past an open doorway filled with garbage, paint cans, renovation equipment, and more empty beer bottles to our room, which was opened to reveal our new home.
It was atrocious. There was barely room for the two beds (which, to be honest, had lovely sheets and blankets) in an otherwise empty room. There was no table, no chair, no curtains, no heat, no chest of drawers, no place to hang our coats. The room was freezing, with no central heat, and the only potential source of warmth in the room was an oil heater that used the only outlet in the room. In short, it was like a prison. Or perhaps more like an asylum. Certainly, we felt that we might go crazy if forced to stay there.
In the picture above, notice the lone electrical outlet, the unpainted walls, and the uncurtained window. My backpack was sad being in that room.
So once the lady left, we had a quick conversation and decided to wander around and see if we could find another place. We agreed that it was worth spending more money to upgrade, but decided that we probably couldn't get away with using the computer to search for a new room—since the computer was set up directly next to the reception desk and was currently being monopolized by the newly revived sick guy. Walking around was the best option and we wasted no time. After a comedic (and yet telling) moment when the doorknob to our room fell off, temporarily locking us in, we managed to escape.
Fortunately, God had decided that we were punished enough, because after a five minute walk we came upon the Hotel Centra Viesnica. (Check out the photo gallery!) It was gorgeous from the outside, and we approached warily—having read that it was difficult to find comfortable lodging for less than $100 a night (which was about our limit). The inside was equally daunting—a minimalist décor with a finely dressed receptionist (unlike the hostel woman who was dressed like she was on her way out to one of the clubs, in a short black mini and stiletto ankle boots). We nervously approached her and explained our sob story. She was gracious and polite, despite our somewhat grubby appearance. And luck was with us, because she offered us a room with a 10% discount. She took us up to look at the room, which nearly knocked our socks off.
The room is decorated in a simplistic but elegant fashion, with dark wood accessories and pure white linens. There's a TV, a full bathroom (done in blue tiles and chrome), free broadband internet access, and breakfast is included. Yippee!
Thrilled to be getting this room for 81 Euros a night (about $110), we went back to Friendly, Fun Franks and explained the situation to the woman at the door. To her credit, she graciously accepted our reasoning, and let us go up to the room to get our stuff. After another fight with the doorknob, we took some pictures to document the room, grabbed our stuff, and navigated the stairwell. At the main hallway, we ran into Frank (who is admittedly, both friendly and fun), who nicely tried to remedy the situation. He offered us another room, but when we explained that we had already made other arrangements, he relented and even offered to refund our non-refundable deposit. Good for him, and for us, since I will recommend this place to others who would like the particular kind of "friendly fun" offered by the hostel. And I also think that the place will be worthwhile (if still a little strip-club oriented) once the renovations are complete.
Still, we were ecstatic to be free of the place, and gratefully checked into the hotel. Having dropped our stuff in the room, we ventured back out for a late dinner. After wandering a little (the roads of Old Riga are windy and not well marked), we found our way back to the hotel and had dinner at the Amsterdam Pub across the street. For once, the dinner was great (I had potato pancakes stuffed with spinach and cheese), even if the service was a little lacking—they were neither friendly nor fun.
Once back in the room, Lisa called home while I took a long, hot bath. It was delicious and relaxed all the kinks out of my shoulders and back that had accumulated during my slumped nap in the bus. Then we switched, and I checked email while Lisa took a bath. (We are so deprived in Sweden, the presence of a clean tub that actually drains properly is almost overwhelming.)
And now, it's just after midnight and time for bed. Tomorrow morning we'll get up and partake of the included breakfast and I'll drop off some laundry (including the apple juice-soaked clothes and the jeans I spilled dessert on this evening). Then, we're off to do some sightseeing. Since it will be Sunday, a lot of the stuff will be closed, but we hope to look at a bunch of the art nouveau apartments in Old Riga and perhaps visit the ethnographic museum. Yay!
Posted by madchen at 11:21 PM | Comments (2)March 18, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure - Day Four
Today has been the most leisurely of our travels so far, in large part due to the uncomfortable feeling left by the traditional Lithuanian food at last night's restaurant. (Note to self, Polish traditional food made you sick, Lithanian traditional food made you sick, STOP eating traditional Baltic food!)
After breakfasting in our room, we went back to visit the market stalls. Although it was after 11 a.m. by the time we got there, many of them were still empty, so we went to a coffee shop and talked about our plans for the summer. Not surprisingly, we came to nothing conclusive.
With coffee and tea settling my stomach, we wandered back to the market, where Lisa looked for gifts and I looked for myself. (After all, you're happy when I'm happy, right?) She ended up passing on the many wares, but I found a painting that I just loved. Of course, it's too big to tote around the Baltic, but the guy was kind enough to wrap it up for me in a garbage bag. We'll see how it goes.
For the afternoon, Lisa and I parted ways: she's visiting a museum of modern art and I'm getting ready for my interview--which starts in a half hour, so I better get to it.
Update: Well, here I am at the internet cafe again...I just can't get enough. Actually, Lisa wanted to check her email, and I thought this would give me a good chance to upload the photo of the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, which we just happened upon during a walk this evening of the northeast section of town. I thought the guidebook description missed the irony of this statement:
Of fifteenth century origin, the church was rebuilt as a three-aisled basilica in 1668...to be a celebration of Vilnius's deliverance from the Russians.
How little did they know just how well they would get to know the Russians over the next 350 years!!
The interior looks cold and grey at first sight, but on closer inspection comes alive with gloriously over-the-top stucco work, featuring cavorting cherubs, rich foliage and exotic plants laden with fruit. The whole ensemble was conceived by Italian craftsmen Pietro Perti and Giovanni Maria Galli, who spent eleven years cramming every available centimeter of the upper walls and ceiling with over two thousand moldings.
Actually, the interior must have been recently painted with a veneer of white, because it positively glowed--I seriously worried for my eyesight (has anyone ever gone church-blind?). We actually dropped in and caught the last 15 minutes of a Friday night mass, where the pious Catholics of the city had gathered to kneel in every conceivable spot (some even chose to kneel directly on the ground with their noses two inches from the wall--some bizarre penance, I suppose). It was strange and fun to be in a Lithuanian mass, but I was relieved when it was over, because I was beginning to swelter in my fluffy down coat.
After the final benediction (I suppose, for it suddenly the entire congregations was voraciously crossing themselves), the people filed out, with some remaining to kiss the various crosses, and an entire line of people waiting to see the priest (to confess?), who was young enough to be an alterboy. Lisa and I wandered around for a bit, gawking at the obscene amount of decoration. We desperately wanted to take pictures, but felt it would be inappropriate given the people still hanging about (and some of the old women looked like they were just waiting to give us a poke with their umbrellas). So we left after a quick gape at the stucco figure of Death "prancing mischieviously" on one side of the main door, said to mark the grave of the military commander-in-chief on whose initiative the church was built.
Now freezing cold (the temperature is only supposed to hit -11 degrees Celsius tomorrow), we hurried along a "bad" part of town that is being renovated, and admired the architecture of the old houses. Then we found a pizza place for dinner. While the service was the traditional Lithuanian "grouchy", the pizza was delicious. Much, much better than the zeppelins of last night.
We hurried home, but decided on a quick trip to the internet cafe before bed. So here I am, with a full update for the day. Tomorrow we hope to hit the Genocide Museum (the city's old KGB headquarters) before catching teh 12:40 p.m. bus to Riga. With any luck, we'll be ensconced in a new hostel by 7 p.m. tomorrow night. The current theory is that we'll have direct internet access there, so no more cafes for the time being.
March 17, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure – Day Three
Today we explored more of Vilnius, beginning at the leisurely hour of 9 a.m. when our breakfast was delivered to our door. Unfortunately, overnight the snow had turned to rain and it was a mess outside. We decided to give it a go, however, and were delighted to find that the hostel managers had two umbrellas that we could borrow for our stay. Duly equipped, we set off to the internet café, where I confirmed my phone interview for tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. That settled, we headed off in a new direction and made our way to the Cathedral Square. The most obvious attraction is the Cathedral, which was described by the German Expressionist writer Alfred Döblin as a "cross between a Greek Temple and a Polish civic theatre". Quite so, Alfred.
As our guidebook succinctly puts it:
The site was originally a shrine to Perkunas, the Lithuanian god of thunder, and Mindaugas the Great chose to build a simple brick church here in the thirteenth century—this did not go over well though with the resolutely pagan Lithuanian nobles who had him murdered in 1263, and the spot wasn't associated with Christianity again until the conversion of Lithuania to Catholicism under Grand Duke Jogaila after 1387.
The Cathedral was then remodeled, added on to, modified, seized by the Soviets and turned into a museum, and then reclaimed by the Catholics in 1998. Also interesting:
As the symbolic heart of Lithuanian Christianity, the cathedral was the natural focus of mass rallies in the run-up to independence. The most moving of these took place in January 1991, when the coffins of those killed by Soviet troops at the TV Tower were laid on the flagstones of the square, draped in Lithuanian tricolors, for an outdoor memorial service that united tens of thousands in grief and defiance.
Also in the square is a three-tiered, freestanding belfry, which (as the guidebook so accurately notes) "looks like a stranded Baroque lighthouse".
After perusing the extremely devout and Catholic interior of the cathedral, including the hideously ornate St. Casimir Chapel, we continued down the slick and slushy Gedimino Prospektas street, where we admired the architecture and navigated piles of ice and puddles of water. Eventually, we made our way to the Opera Theatre, were we were able to purchase tickets for that night's showing of Aida. For 3rd row seats on the first balcony, we were willing to pay $10 for tickets without caring too much about the show.
With tickets in hand (well, in Lisa's purse), we found Double Coffee, which might just serve the best coffee in town. We had a delightful lunch, and then headed off to see St. Anne's Church (which was closed, but very impressive from the outside. Around the corner was the Bernadine Monastery, which was totally creepy. We were the only ones in a huge room full of relics and old paintings, except for a tiny babushka-ed woman who scolded me when I tried to climb up to the second floor…even though the chain that could have barred the way was clearly unfastened.
Well into the afternoon by now, Lisa and I ventured across the street to a fancy hotel we had noticed earlier. Following the signs to "beauty salon" we located the spa, where we tried to get on-the-spot appointments. Lisa was able to sign up for a massage, but there wasn't room for me to have a facial. And when the woman pointed out that I "needed a lot of work", I decided to skip it altogether. I don't need that crap—I can feel bad about my flaky skin alone in front of the mirror, thank you very much.
So Lisa and I parted ways, and I went back to the hostel for a nice little read-and-nap. When Lisa got back, we dressed in our finest clothes (ok, I put on my nice sweater, but put the nice pants in my bag—there was no way I was slogging through three inches of water in my dry-clean only slacks!) and left for the opera.
According to our pre-arranged plan, we stopped back at Double Coffee and had a drink, while I surreptitiously changed into my nice pants and dress shoes. Thus suitably attired, we made our way to the Opera House (noticing, with much chagrin that lots of other people were in jeans). The performance of Aida was comical, complete with a little modern dance, an actor representing Verdi who watched his masterpiece from the corners of the stage, and a full choir of mummies. That's right, the high priest was accompanied by a mummy choir. Lisa and I had never seen Aida before, so it was hard to tell how much of this foolishness was written into the opera and how much was from the crazed mind of the Lithuanian director.
We were thrilled with Aida and Radames—or is it Radamesas? It's spelled several different ways in the English synopsis section of the program—were finally walled into the crypt, singing their last duo as the air ran out. Full of good cheer, we wandered around town looking for dinner options, and finally settled on a restaurant serving only traditional Lithuanian food. More specifically, they only serve dishes from a special "registry" that details the regional food, and make all the food with "traditional technologies". I can sum up the meal with one word: potato. Apparently, the Lithuanian people were huge fans of the potato, with a little herring, crackling, and curd thrown in for good measure. We did not linger for dessert.
It's now almost midnight and we're back in the room. Lisa's diligently working on her thesis. Now that I'm done chronicling the events of the day, I will read a little Margaret Atwood and go to sleep—assuming, of course, that my stomach eventually stops making those alarming groaning noises. No more traditional Lithuanian food for me.
March 16, 2005
Jen and Lisa's Baltic Adventure – Day One and Two
It's just after 9 p.m. on Wednesday night and I'm typing from my hostel room in Vilnius, Lithuania. Yesterday, Lisa and I began our 12-day Baltic Adventure by meeting in downtown Karlskrona at the bus station.
We took the 500 bus to Karlshamn. On some trains and busses, the trip is free for students, but apparently this one was not, although we did manage to get a student discount. Having begun the spending early, we arrived at the Karshamn bus station just before 4 p.m. and took a taxi to the ferry station, which is situated in the middle of nowhere.
After some mixed messages (We should wait in the check-in room? Wait—we should go downstairs? Wait—we should take the bus to the ferry, the one we can see 100 meters away? Wait—we can walk to the ferry? Wait—we should get on the bus?), we finally made it to the ferry, which was a far cry from the luxury liner I took to Gdansk in November.
This ferry was a real Soviet-era cargo ship, complete with sewer-smelling bathrooms, scary bunk beds, and sketchy-looking men in ribbed turtlenecks everywhere. I felt like I was a character in a 1980s Tom Clancy thriller.
Once again, we were assaulted with confusing messages. While checking in, we were encouraged to come back at our leisure to buy coupons for dinner. We did so a bit later and were informed that dinner began at 8 p.m. Having snacked during the in the ferry waiting area, we weren't particularly hungry, so after a brief perusal of the ship (during which we noticed we were the ONLY women aboard), we went back to our room. I had taken Dramamine and was drowsy, and Lisa wanted to get some work on her thesis done, so I took a nap and she typed away. Around 8:45 p.m. Lisa wandered down to the restaurant area and saw that they were closing up. After a slight altercation with the chef, she ascertained that dinner didn't begin at eight and continue on for a couple hours—no, no. Dinner began at eight and everyone was supposed to be done by 9 p.m. She dashed back to the room, grabbed me, and we hurried down to the ferry to consume a plate full of lukewarm Swedish fare. It will not be remembered as one of the ten best meals I've ever eaten.
With nothing to do after dinner, we went back to the room, tried to figure out a way to make the bathroom smell less like fresh vomit (unsuccessfully), and went to bed. I started reading my final library book (which reminds me, they will be overdue by the time I get back), Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. If you have noticed me reading a lot of Atwood recently, I will confess that it's not just because I like her writing style, but because our school library carries just about every work she's ever written (plus a whole section about her, but I haven't gotten that far yet).
Long, boring hours passed and we woke up (after both having terrible nights of sleep—I personally woke up every time the window jolted against the Soviet-style bolts) and had breakfast. Fortunately, the bathroom smelled better (although it was still quite rank) and we were able to pack our things and disembark the ferry promptly at 10 a.m.
We were taken in a minivan (that drove recklessly through the snowy cargo hold and zigzagged around huge transport trucks at breakneck speed) to the customs area, where I was quite peeved when the customs officer did not stamp our passports. I mean, one of the main reasons I travel is to have a record of it in my passport! This whole trip to Europe has been a disaster on that front. But I digress.
We took a taxi from the ferry station through a barren patch of land to the main area of Klaipeda. It was a little surreal to be in Lithuania with Uncle Kracker playing on the radio (with a little Billy Joel thrown in for good measure), but I tried to go with it. Our original plan was to dump our stuff at the bus station and walk around the town for a bit before getting on a 4-hour bus to Vilnius, where we had reserved a hostel. Well, after driving through the city (which was covered in snow, with additional snow/sleet coming down in a steady stream) and noticing that the bus station was no where near the old (and therefore interesting) part of town, we opted to go straight to Vilnius.
I say that "we opted" to go straight to Vilnius, but really it was the cab driver who chose for us. He zipped up to the bus station, nearly rear-ended an 18-passenger bus, and unrolled the window. Having been through a similar scene in Israel, where our bus driver got out of the vehicle and started yelling at the poor car driver, I was prepared for a scene. But our taxi driver just exchanged a few words with the van driver and motioned for us to go with him.
Lisa and I exchanged looks, not sure if we wanted to spend the next 4 hours in a tiny van (particularly since we'd heard there were no bathroom breaks) with a driver that did not speak English. Not only did he not speak a work of English, but he seemed angry with us from the start. He harrumphed to the back of the van, and while Lisa and I were still debating whether or not we wanted to wait for a "real" bus, he grabbed my backpack and threw it in the back, settling the matter for us. I insisted on using the bathroom before we left (thank goodness there was a girl on the bus who translated in broken English that there was time if I was "very fast") and before I knew it, we were whisked off to Vilnius.
I'll skip over the bus ride. Suffice it to say that the main Lithuanian highway is not very interesting. Picture, if you will, a lot of snow, a lot of forest on either side, and crazy drivers surrounding you. After looking out the window, which had to be rubbed every five seconds to keep the fog down, I abandoned the endeavor and went to sleep. Poor Lisa was not so lucky, having a crazy woman directly behind her that kept pushing on her chair. I, on the other hand, was directly behind the crazy woman, and worried that she was going to take all of her clothes off at any moment. It turns out that she was just overheated from wearing 5 layers, but it was touch and go there for a good while—every time I opened my eyes, she was wearing a little less.
In almost exactly 4 hours, Lisa and I were dropped off at the Vilnius bus station. After looking at the map for a bit, we decided that our hostel was across town, but probably only about a kilometer away. So, with our backpacks and computer bags in tow, we set off. After an initial wrong turn, we eventually made it through the old town neighborhood of Vilnius and found our hostel. Other than not having the advertised internet service, the room we got is fantastic. We're on the first floor of a tiny apartment building, with our own bathroom and a kitchen directly across from us. We saw a pair of guys go up the stairs at one point, but so far, it's completely silent except for us.
After dumping our oh-so-heavy backpacks (did I need to bring an extra pair of shoes?), we set back off to explore the town. Thankfully, Lisa has done a lot of the research and is great with a map, so it was fairly easy to navigate the town. Of course, the heavy snow (which somehow never seems to accumulate more than an inch of slush) made it uncomfortable for raising your eyes from the sidewalk and destroyed any photo-opportunities, but we were happy to just stretch our legs for a bit.
Our first order of business was a stop to the ATM. Armed with enough cash to buy the city, we meandered back up the main street to the outdoor marketplace, where I got a new hat. Sadly, my previous touque, which I had since before college, had been sacrificed to the Karlskrona bus gods, and my poor head was wet and cold. I had been all over Karlskrona looking for a replacement with no avail, so I was not optimistic about finding a replacement on such short notice. Luck was with me, however, and I was able to find a lovely new wool hat at the first stall we stopped at. For only 25 Litas, about $6, I thought it was quite the deal. We'll be back tomorrow to look at the other goods, which were being packed away for the night.
Now toasty warm, we worked our way further up the block and did a circle of the old town area. Again, it was cold and slushy, so we didn't get any good pictures, but we saw lots of interesting places, including an old wall with bullet scores (from WWII, we think) and the remains of what looked like a bombed out building. We're hoping that tomorrow there isn't any snow, so we can get better photos.
Having worked our way back to the center of town, we stopped in for a coffee. Lisa had a so-so latte and pear-and-poppyseed pastry, and I order a cup of hot chocolate. What I received, however, was a cup of hot chocolate. As in, melted chocolate. As in, fudgy goodness that might be found atop a scoop of ice cream. While not what I expected, I certainly did not return this unanticipated wonder. So while Lisa had a latte, I had a tiny cup of melted fudge. I love this country!
Once that treat was finished, we weren't exactly in the mood for dinner, so we found the internet café and checked our email. I forgot to report earlier that I finally received an email from one of my recent job applications, and have set up a phone interview for the first week in April. Well, when it rains it pours, because I got another request for a phone interview for tomorrow evening (yippee!). In an amazing stroke of luck, the internet café has its computers set up for Skype, so I can just call into the interview from the café tomorrow before dinner. (I REALLY love this country!) I also received an email response from the Saratoga Foundation about my volunteer work. It was very complimentary, and suggested some new projects that would look very nice on my resume, so I think I'll follow up when I get back.
After our need for technology was satisfied, we found a nice little Italian place for dinner. I had the "original 'clab' sandwich", which, while good, was like no "clab" sandwich I've ever had before.
Now we're back in the hotel room, unpacked, pictures downloaded to the computer, and the day's activities chronicled. We're having breakfast delivered to the door at 9 a.m. (breakfast in bed, included in the price!!) and the a full day of sightseeing planned. Cheerio!
March 14, 2005
Preparations
I realized today that I have been in seclusion too long.
This afternoon I was on a mission: to have a working camera by the end of the day. I took the bus to Amiralen (a whole 8 minutes away) and went to the On/Off store, which is the Swedish equivalent to Best Buy. I was able to find an employee who spoke English and he was gracious enough to locate a battery charger for my camera. The charger could be mine for a mere 699 SEK (that's just over $100). I was flabbergasted. I figured that I had three choices:
1. I could forego the expensive charger and quickly leave the store, relying on Lisa to take good pictures. While I'm sure she is an excellent photographer, this was a highly unsatisfying option.
2. I could purchase the expensive charger and quickly leave the store, thus allowing me to use my camera on this vacation.
3. I could upgrade and get the newest version of my camera, which is very, very nice. It's super tiny and 4 megapixels.
After serious deliberation (including making my choice, then walking away, then stopping in the middle of the store, then walking back, then stopping 20 feet away from the cameras, then turning around resolutely, then wavering, then firmly walking to the cashier), I decided to go with option #2.
So now I have a new camera charger (with European plugs) that will allow me to take all the pictures my little heart desires over the next couple months. Then, when I go back to the United States, I'll have a whole NEW charger waiting for me (with American plugs).
I did a little pre-vacation snack shopping (I remember that the food on the Karlskrona-Gdansk ferry was horrid) and came back home. As I was taking the elevator up to my apartment, I realized I was emotionally exhausted. Having to make important purchase decisions is such a foreign concept to me now (where the hardest decision is whether to buy half-ripe mangoes). Clearly I need to get out more. Lucky I'm going on vacation!
And speaking of vacation, I am not packed at all. In fact, I haven't even thought about packing, other than to acknowledge that I'll need to do it sometime tonight. This will be my first adventure using my new backpack, so I'm excited to experiment with the whole non-suitcase technology.
But first, I think I'll read a little Tender is the Night. I take back any ambivalence I was feeling yesterday. I spent about 4 hours reading it last night and I'm hooked.
Photo Credit: I took this photo with the last of my dying battery about a month ago. It was a gorgeous night--this is all real, no photoshopping to make the colors crisper!
Posted by madchen at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)March 13, 2005
Everlasting Winter
This time last year, I was in Hawaii with the girls in my family. It was warm and sunny and delightful. We didn't really do anything but sit by the swimming pool (Ms. Janie was scared of the beach) and try to keep our pale white bodies from bursting into flame.
Today, on the other hand, it is 27 degrees. The ground is covered in several inches of snow, although thankfully most of the sidewalks are now cleared. For some reason, the people of Karlskrona seem to be happy sliding around on ice-covered sidewalks until the sun deems it time to melt. Have they never heard of shoveling? Of salt? Of sand?
Tomorrow we are expecting more snow, which is unfortunate because I will be attempting to take the bus to Amiralen (about as far as I venture out alone) to the electronics store. I am desperate to get a charger for my camera battery. The one I ordered hasn't yet arrived at my parents' house, and therefore will not arrive here before I leave on Tuesday. And I just can't go on this vacation without a camera!
Side note: how great is Madeleine Peyroux? There is just something about listening to jazz on a lazy day that makes me want to make hot chocolate and read the newspaper. Too bad that I have neither hot chocolate, nor a newspaper (reading the Washington Post online just isn't the same). Guess I'll have to settle on reading F. Scott Fitgerald's Tender is the Night, which I started last night with ambivalence.
I've also been looking to upgrade to a digital SLR. So, maybe, if I can't find a battery charger... no, no, better not even contemplate it.
Blog update: Thanks to the fantastic people at LivingDot, my 2004 blog entries are now uploaded. This is a more impressive feat than one might imagine, as I tried to do it myself and mucked up horrendously. They had to go back and delete a bunch of stuff and then migrate the information properly. They have promised to do the 2005 entries soon.
Blog Update #2: In the blink of an eye (or, really, in the blink of a bowl of ice cream), my 2005 entries are here! Now I'm ready to go.
Blog Update #3: Oops, it looks like a bunch of entries are missing (say, for instance, all of February). Right now, I would estimate that only about 30% of my entries have appeared on this new site. Hope the tech guys can figure it out!
Blog Update #4: Well, I've gone through and manually moved over the remaining entries. The formatting on a bunch is screwy, but what can you do?
Posted by madchen at 04:33 PM | Comments (3)A New Home
I've been keeping a LiveJournal account for almost a year, and I decided it was time to move on. So here I am, with my very own domain name.
With any luck, I'll be able to import my old entries. Otherwise, I'll just start from scratch again. I'm hoping that Kevin will be able to help me improve the style of this blog (who knew that Movable Type could be so complicated?) to make it more "me".
And, of course, since I'll be away for the next two weeks, I don't expect much to be happening. But come April, there will be a lot of time for introspection!
Incidentally, I just finished reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I knew that it was considered a challenging read, but I didn't expect it to take me almost two weeks to get through. And although I admit it was quite intriguing (a series of murders, a library labyrinth, general discourse on philosophy--oh my!), I found the ending to be a little too Rebecca for my taste.
Also, after much praise from several colleagues, I have abandoned Internet Explorer in favor of Firefox. So far, so good. I like having the ability to change styles, add extensions, etc. Right now, my favorite discovery is an extension that embeds the local weather forecast in the internet browser. Tomorrow's forecast for Karlskrona: Snow showers, 30 degrees (Farenheit, no less). Right now: 16 degrees and fair skies.
Photo Credit: Kevin took this picture a couple weeks ago. People (including him) have been playing out on the ice and tempting fate. I actually saw a bird fall through the ice a few days ago, I can't imagine people making it safely across.
Posted by madchen at 03:57 AM | Comments (0)March 12, 2005
Yay--A Trip
This is the big one--where I spend all the hard earned tax-refund $$.
Jennifer and Lisa's Tour of the Baltic
Beginning next Tuesday (March 15), we will venture forth from Sweden to Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland (in that order).
We'll first take a ferry from Karshamm, Sweden to Klaipeda, Lithuania. From there, we will take a decrepit bus (which is still better than the decrepit train system!) to the capital, Vilnius.
We'll spend 3 days in Vilnius before taking another bus to Riga, Latvia.
After 3 days in Latvia, we'll take yet another bus to Tallin, Estonia.
We'll only take 2 days in Estonia before boarding a helicopter (!!) for the quick ride over the Baltic Sea to Helsinki, Finland.
We'll spend 3 days in Finland, then fly to Copenhagen, where we'll catch a train back to Karlskrona.
If all goes well, we'll be back in town Sunday, March 27.
Yippee!
(Of course, I'm going into this with the full realization that none of these pictures will be remotely like what we'll see, since the expected forecast is about -6 Celsius the whole time. Grr.)
Posted by madchen at 02:34 AM | Comments (1)March 11, 2005
The Downside of Sweden
One of the things I really miss about Washington, D.C. is the culture. I regret not taking advantage of all the free museums--especially of not visiting the new National Museum of the American Indian over Christmas. And now, I'm especially sad, because The Philips Collection is exhibiting Modigliani, one of my most recent discoveries.
Posted by madchen at 02:36 AM | Comments (0)Basic Human Needs - Understanding
Fundamental | Being | Having | Doing | Interacting |
understanding | critical | literature, | analyse, study,meditate | schools, families |
I have understanding coming out my ears. Or, at least, the opportunity to expand my understanding. Let me briefly categorize the ways I understand (not necessarily in order of importance):
School – for all my bitching, this year has been full of personal growth for me. The program itself has been less than engaging, but the frustration with the structure/content of the lectures and assignments have sparked many, many fruitful conversations with classmates. These conversations have had a ripple effect that has come back to me time and time again. And even the structure—yes, I'll admit it—has allowed me the time and space to think about thinks independently. I definitely have a different perspective on life because of this graduate degree and its effects.
Volunteering – although I haven't devoted much time to it lately, I have found volunteering to be highly complementary to my understanding. Volunteering for the Saratoga Foundation for Women Worldwide has allowed me to pursue a topic I have long been interested in (but never done a lot of work on)—women's human rights. Even better, the project work was flexible enough to let me be even more specific—I wanted to look at human rights in
Blog – perhaps more than anything else, the act of keeping an online journal has increased my capacity for understanding. Just the routine of sitting down—to note the events of the day, to explain my frustrations and victories, and to chronicle this amazing Swedish adventure—has been eye-opening. I feel like I am more likely to be conscious of my actions and their motivations when I journal, and the added accountability of a public journal has brought additional benefits.
Writing Club – having just finished a meeting with the members of my little writing club, I am full of enthusiasm for group writing. Over the past month, I have had multiple interesting, deep, contrary, and wonderful conversations about life's big issues. Just tonight we covered the concept of leadership (Is it intentional? Can you choose not to be a leader? When is the burden too much?), the theory of non-violence (Is it better to life according to your principles or to get something accomplished? What if people's lives are at stake? Are there situations where violence really is justified? If so, doesn't this condone the idea that violence is acceptable?), bread-making (Laura made an excellent "health bread" to contribute to the evening's meal), the reality of common-space living (how do you deal with different standards of cleanliness), circadian rhythms (why do I stay up until 4 a.m. when Laura gets up at 6:30 a.m?), and others. I love being able to have these stimulating conversations and then spend time thinking about them independently, only to come back and discuss them together at a later date.
In short, this year has been replete with understanding. I will be hard-pressed to find a situation in June that allows me to have this much time for reflection. I will have to carefully consider my options in regard to this basic human need.
March 10, 2005
Funny Story and an Update
The following is supposedly an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.
Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
This gives two possibilities:
1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.
2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.
So which is it?
If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you, and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.
The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."
THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A".
As for me, I had a lovely dinner with Amity, Derek, and Kevin last night, and am relieved to have my peer group session over (it was uneventful). I've also finished my final draft of my leadership essay, which I hope we will discuss at the writing club this evening. Roya and Jess have gone up north for a ski trip, leaving me alone in the apartment until Sunday night. While I would like to walk around naked, my primary concerns are the ever-growing laundry pile and the messy kitchen.
Posted by madchen at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)March 08, 2005
A Stake Through My Heart
Dear applicant,
Thank you for your interest in the XXXXXXXX Congressional Fellowship. At this time we have selected to move forward with other candidates whose background and interests more closely match the fellowship.
Bah--I didn't even want that fellowship anyway. So there!
Posted by madchen at 05:40 PM | Comments (0)March 07, 2005
Back on Track
Thankfully, the computer is back to normal. I deleted 78 "critical issues" detected by Ad-Aware, and thankfully no viruses turned up. I shut it down for several hours and when I turned it back on this afternoon, all was peachy.
Today I've diligently worked on my thesis. Ronan is largely over his stomach flu from this weekend and so I'm leaving the PowerPoint presentation for tomorrow's peer group meeting to him. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about the idea of soliciting comments on our project from our fellow students (for purely cynical reasons), nor am I pleased to be devoting 8+ hours tomorrow to listening to other group present their projects.
On a nice note, we now have 30 responses to our survey--a remarkable 10% response rate. I'm sure it will trickle down as the days go by, but I am quite pleased.
And now, back to work. I have to review a couple thesis proposals for tomorrow, then finish writing my leadership essay for my book club meeting on Thursday.
Posted by madchen at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)Grr.
Why is my computer so f***ing SLOW??? All of a sudden it has decided to make trouble. Roya and I couldn't even watch a DVD (poor Sydney Bristow was reduced to still shots) this evening. I'm running a virus and ad-aware scan, but so far, nothing has popped up that makes me think the problem is resolvable.
And yes, I've restarted the computer.
Grr.
Posted by madchen at 02:42 AM | Comments (0)Basic Human Needs - Affection
Fundamental | Being | Having | Doing | Interacting |
affection | respect, sense | friendships, | share, take care of, | privacy, |
Now we get to the interesting stuff. Do I have physical and emotional affection? Clearly, I am less than fulfilled in this area, as compared to subsistence and security. Let me count the ways:
Well, first off, I have to admit that I have the opportunity to receive respect and generosity in my current situation. My classmates are wonderful people (well, most of them) and I feel lucky to have made such good friend with a number of them. In addition, I have a strong group of friends from my other lives (high school, two previous jobs, etc.) plus a family that provides me with ample emotional affection.
Second, I often get to express my sense of humor (and this, I suppose, results from a sense of security, freedom, and creativity), and take great pleasure in the humor of my friends and family. In fact, I was lying awake laughing out loud last night, remembering a funny thing that my sister had done once. I love when things stay funny years down the road.
As for physical affection…well…let's just say the well has been dry for a while. In general, I'm okay with the idea of not dating anyone (or having wild hook-ups with Swedish strangers). On the other hand, I'm holding out hope that my love life will pick back up again when I come back to the
"Relationship with nature" is also listed above, and I'm not quite sure how it's related to affection, but whatever. The weather lately has been so snowy and wet that I have shirked my commitment to go outdoors. The most I get these days is a 10 minute walk down the hill when I miss the bus (I can catch the bus down two stops down at Willy:s, so it's a nice opportunity to stretch my legs instead of waiting in the bus vestibule). Sadly, it doesn't look like it's going to warm up anytime soon, which is VERY, VERY bad. Staying inside has placed me near the kitchen. In the last month I have gained 4 pounds and my face is VERY, VERY fat. I won't even describe the rest of me. As a result, the possibilities of physical affection are even more remote.
So, to sum up, I need to get my act in gear. I need to get outside more, which will help me be more active, which will get me out of the kitchen, which will make me more attractive, which will get me more men. Ahh, men. It's hard to generate that much enthusiasm for cats.
Posted by madchen at 12:43 AM | Comments (0)March 04, 2005
Bad Moods Are Contagious
Ugh...I started off the afternoon in a perfectly nice mood. It was further enhanced by the advent of successful wireless internet capabilities at the local coffeeshop. And then...
It all went sour.
First, there were a string of emails that got snippy at the end, all related to something I started in what I thought was a joking matter. Sigh.
Then, I saw with delight that several people had responded to our survey. Using our super-stealthy new email address (designed specifically for this project), I went through the 50 or so "delivery failed" messages (sigh, the master contact list was more than a little faulty) and noticed with glee that we had actual emails from some of the survey participants. I read the first one with a rapidly beating heart--after all, a lot is riding on the success of this survey--and imagine my terror when I read:
Hello, I can't access your survey. I get a message saying: survey is closed.
With a trembling hand I opened up three other emails with similar sentiments. I swear, we had pre-tested this survey to death--how could it be CLOSED?? I hurriedly went to the survey and, sure enough, there is a secret button you have to choose to "open" it to outside participants. I opened the survey, and quickly wrote back to the emailers, noting that we had fixed the problem. I just hope that a bunch of other people hadn't tried to answer the survey, seen that it was faulty, and threw the email away without contacting us. Distaster.
So by then, I was in a truly foul mood. I thought that a trip to the Fox & Anchor for the famous free Friday buffet would fix things, but the bantering just made me more irritable.
I got home around 9 and checked back on the survey website. Seven people have completed the survey (yay!), so it appears that it is working at least. Then I took a closer look at the responses. One of them came from my former boss, which was amusing just because of the way the world works. Another response was quite rude, implying that we had completely misunderstood the nature of sustainability reporting. Now, I have spent the last 2+ years working on the issue of sustainability reporting: I assure you, I have an excellent grasp of the subject. But it made me MORE irritable (if possible) than before.
Then, we have a "special" guest at the house tonight for dinner, and there is loud music playing in the kitchen, that even two closed doors cannot block. I can't figure out what my next steps are for the thesis, and I'm at a loss on how to combine my two spreadsheets with thesis information.
Finally, one of my peer group members is unhappy with our choice (led by me) to use a yahoo group account to coordinate information from our thesis peer group. While I realize this is NOT intended to be a personal attack, once I'm in a bad mood, it's hard not to see it that way.
No whining, I know. I'm just at a loss on how to salvage the evening.
Posted by madchen at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)Brilliant!
I feel like the entire world has opened up and I am invincible. I am sitting at Wayne's Coffeeshop and THE WIRELESS INTERNET WORKS!!
Can I get a hell yeah?
Posted by madchen at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)March 03, 2005
Daily Update
And now, a chronology of the day's events:
March 3rd is Girls' Day in Japan, also called Hinamatsuri.
The general word for the girls' day ningyo is hina (also ohina, and the combination form -bina, as in tachibina, "standing hina," or dairi-bina, the seated royal pair who feature in most displays) and the festival is known as Hina Matsuri (though its proper name may be Momo no Sekku, or Peach Festival). The festival was established in 1687. A few days before the festival, girls and their mothers take out the hina and arrange them on a red cloth which may cover a structure, the hina-dan, with as many as 7 steps, each with its own designated set of hina: the Emperor and Empress (this is the way Americans have always identified them, thought the doll pair is much older than the idea of the emperor having a single wife) at the top, three ladies serving them sake on the next step, then five or even ten musicians, two "guardians" with weapons, and three servants; also included may be toy trees, perhaps made of semi-precious stones, and various toy implements representing a dowry (small chests, carts, and so on). Girls then play hostess to their friends, and also to the ningyo, who are "fed" in tiny dish sets.
Tomomi hosted a brunch for all the girls in our program (and Rebecca and Sophie, Karl's wife and 1-year old daughter). We had a special sushi salad, which was delicious, then got a slide show describing the holiday. We finished up the event with origami--we all made a little paper empress, and then each did individual origami. I pulled out my old elementary school trick of the paper balloon. Everyone was very impressed.
Afterwards, I went down to Ronan's room, where we had a very productive thesis meeting. We are almost ready to launch our survey--we'll meet again tomorrow to finalize it and email it out to our 350 participants. It makes me VERY happy to see this progress. I also have high hopes of beginning another chapter on the feasibility of integrating sustainability reporting with corporate strategic planning.
From the thesis meeting, I walked down to the pizza place and met with Laura and Mandy to discuss our book progress. So far, we're pretty close to having final versions of our first essay. We have made a tentative schedule for the rest of the month, at which time we hope to send out publication enquiries to a publisher. Very exciting stuff.
From there, I ran to the Frukt Huset, where I stocked up on some MUCH NEEDED groceries. The highlight of the day (perhaps the week) was the presence of fresh strawberries. I haven't had strawberries EVER in Sweden, I am almost hopping up and down with joy.
Then I caught the bus back home, where I have briefly checked email, and am now preparing to hop into bed. It's just past 9 p.m., which is an almost unheard of early bedtime. But I have a sore throat and runny nose (not quite a full-blown cold, but just hovering on the edge of congestion) and I want to avoid it if possible. Also, if I'm awake when Roya gets home, she's going to make me drink some disgusting cold remedy comprising raw ginger, raw garlic, chili paste, and orange juice. Yuck.
Posted by madchen at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)Basic Human Needs - Protection
Fundamental | Being | Having | Doing |