The flag above is as near as I can tell related to the church in the region as red and yellow is the flag of the county I live in. As you can see, it was blue skies in the beginning of June, and we had a couple weeks of gorgeous weather. Alas, I spent much of this time before Courtney arrived inside. I was frantically trying to find a place to live while trying to get as much of my thesis done as possible. At the same time the European Championship started which basically made the entire country grind to a halt whenever Sweden was playing. Ultimately things worked out and I ended up finding place we are really happy with (refer to Courtney's post).
I spent most of the games during the tournament with the tv on in the other room only popping into see when something interesting was happening. The Sweden games however were a big deal and not to be missed.
One of the big ones was Sweden versus Spain on June 14th. I caught it with Björn and a few other guys.
As an aside, one thing that's weird about Swedes is that they eat hamburgers with a fork and a knife. This has nothing to do with anything, but I think it's weird).
Here's the crowd assembled. The pub we were at had a main floor, a basement, and this outer area and it was packed.
Unfortunately we were all disappointed as Spain broke the tie scoring the 2-1 decider with a minute left in regulation.
Four days later on the 18th I watched with Björn's friend Håkan at a big movie theater. It was crammed full of several hundred people. All Sweden needed to do was tie or beat Russia and they would advance to the knockout stage.
Sweden instead looked utterly incompetent and lost a depressing match 2-0 leaving the crowd in a stunned silence as they stumbled their way out back into the day light.
06/19
Midsommar (or Midsummer) is a big deal here with the only holiday that is probably met with more fanfare being Christmas. The tradition is to eat the usual Swedish complement of herring while drinking a lot of snaps. Then there are all sorts of dancing around the Midsommar pole and bonfires and other weird pagan things.
As an treat, our office had a Midsummer's Eve Eve. We went to an open air museum (which I wish I knew about when Giselle and Mom visited) that showed aspects of "old Sweden". There were buildings devoted to the 4 different aspects of Swedish life: the the farmer, the tradesman, the clergy, and the aristocracy.
We then had herring and new potatoes (nypotatis) with strawberries (although no snaps ... boo).
The night then ended uneventfully as I cleaned and rested up for Courtney's arrival to Sweden the very next day!
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