Ballet obsession

Before my trip to Prague, I was trying to find things to do or see on my extra day as a tourist. It is tricky for me to find things that I will enjoy doing/seeing alone. So then I got to thinking about things that are better to do alone, a.k.a. things that Greg would not enjoy doing and would appreciate me doing on my own.

So I think that is how I got onto this little ballet obsession of mine.

The only problem was that The Nutcracker was being performed while I would be in Prague, but it was sold out! Then once I got to Prague I saw on another site that the tickets were not, in fact, sold out. But it was a little hard to tell and all. I think the second webpage was some group that buys a bunch of tickets and resells them and adds an extra fee to "deliver" your tickets to you outside of the theatre.

I decided that the best option was to go straight to the box office and find out what I could find out. Luckily there were two seats left for one of the shows! So I chose the one on the main level, and life was good! I really enjoyed the performance on so many levels. I also thought it was interesting that the parts of The Nutcracker that I enjoy now are basically the opposite of what I enjoyed when I was a kid. I used to always like the entertaining parts, when the story was being acted out. And I would feel dreadfully bored during the long solo or duet parts. I guess when you are a kid you just don't realize the insane things these people are able to do with their bodies?

In anticipation of potentially seeing The Nutcracker I watched the documentary First Position (which I loved). Here is the official movie trailer, which will probably make you want to see it.

7 quick takes from Prague

Hi Everyone! I am in Prague! I mean...

- 1 -

I am in Prague! I have come here for work, but now it is Friday night and work is over and I will stay for an extra day to spend as a tourist.

- 2 -

My hotel room is very very nice.

I look tiny, but I promise that it is an optical illusion.

- 3 -

I am trying to have a working knowledge of different units, so that I don't embarrass myself in everyday conversation. For example, when shoe shopping, a person of my age should probably know their shoe size. So I figured out that Sweden shoe sizes are Euro sizes, and now I know that. Also, if you get into a conversation about ceiling heights with a European, they will tell you numbers in centimeters (I think?). Also, 150 cm is a person who is quite short (which I learned when I was renting my Swedish folk costume when I was told, "Oh you are much too tall for that one, that is more like for someone who is 150 or less."). 

So I would guess the ceilings in this room are 400 cm? Quite high!

- 4 -

Prague is incredibly cheap. I think this hotel is about 100 USD per night, and it is nice and right in the center of town and I get breakfast. I almost forgot to mention, I also have a bidet (I don't actually know how those work, but I'm okay with that lack of knowledge, because that is not something I want to google). 

1 USD is about 7 SEK is about 20 Czech monies

A pint of (tasty) beer in Uppsala is maybe 60-80 SEK (yes $10) and a pint of beer here is 50 crowns ($2.50!).

- 5 -

My plan for my day of tourism tomorrow is not well-defined. I left my nice camera at home, because I always get all nervous about having valuables with me when I am traveling alone. Plus I wanted to travel light, so I only brought my backpack and a shoulder bag. I do have my small camera, but I never found my battery charger when it was time to move to Sweden. I've made the current battery power last quite awhile, but I am guessing that I am on the last leg. So maybe I will post some photos of Prague at a later time, but maybe not. kanske. kanske inte.

- 6 -

I missed my very last Swedish class! ): There was some sort of quiz/game thing with teams? Luckily Greg went to class, and he picked up my (signed) Certificate!

- 7 -

Tomorrow I will maybe go see The Nutcracker!! Before I had left, I saw that it was being performed while I was here, but the website I was on definitely said tickets for Friday and Saturday were sold out. Just now I found a different website that said there are still tickets available! The website is a bit weird though, so I will not try to buy through them, but maybe I will walk by tomorrow to see if there is a box office where I can find out what is up. The Prague Ballet! Wouldn't that be sophisticated!

--

And that is all. Here are many more quick takes by others!

Quiet

I just recently realized that Susan Cain (who did the Ted talk called Power of Introverts, which I wrote about a bit ago) had a book out earlier this year titled Quiet. I am guessing it is like a longer version of her talk? Maybe? If that is true, I definitely want to read it.

Yesterday in Swedish class we were having fake conversations about making plans to do things among the class. And at least twice, our teacher said, "okay make just one more plan and then we'll stop" or something of the sort. I have a pretty good feeling that he was trying to get me and one other girl in the class to try to say a bit more. But the thing is, I just don't like to be the one talking 'in front of' a group of people. Even if it was in a language I actually knew. I guess it is unfortunate since the whole point of a language course is to acquire the skills to talk, but still.

And that got me thinking to grades in classes. As far as I remember it (correct me if I'm wrong, Mom), I think I only rarely got A's in elementary school, and only sometimes got A's in middle school, always because my participation grade was horrid. By the time I got to high school, I was motivated enough to force myself to 'participate' more, or at least to argue with my teachers that active listening is participating. Then college was glorious, because there is just no participation grade! How nice!

Maybe I'm thinking about this a bit too much, but that kind of makes me feel like your grade is partially based on how extroverted you are. And only if you can force yourself to act extroverted, even if you are quite introverted, will you get the best grades? That just doesn't seem healthy. Is this too big of a jump in the logic?

Found!

Interesting.
The last time I pulled photos off my camera, this little treasure was among the mix. This is not a photo I took. But I have a good idea of where it came from based off of the incriminating evidence in the reflection of the tea kettle.

7QT

More quick takes with Jen and friends.

- 1 -

There is such a thing as a Swedish mile. It is 10 kilometers.

- 2 -

I was reminded about Reese's Christmas trees (and other specialties, like pumpkins, hearts, and (most importantly) eggs, for that matter) after reading this post by the latest random blog by a stranger that I'm enjoying reading. We'll go ahead and add those to the top of the list of Foods That I Miss Being Able To Have Since Moving To Sweden.

- 3 -

On Wednesday it snowed something like 30 cm? After the storm was over I realized that it was actually quite a big storm. I was just kind of operating under normal mode all day. It wasn't until I tried to take a bus and a bus never came that I realized it was a fairly big deal. I guess it is not typical for the buses to stop operations more than once or twice each winter.

- 4 -

And even though the buses weren't running, no amount of blowing and drifting snow can stop people from riding their bicycles. Seriously.

- 5 -

I've been in a bit of a shoe crisis lately. I sort of ran out of shoe options and found myself with only my hiking boots as wearable. I finally managed to order some shoes online, and then I spotted a (possibly nearly identical) pair in a shop yesterday. So I bought those too. I don't remember ever being so frivolous with shoes, but the shoe crisis has been keeping me in panic-mode for too long now.

- 6 -

I forgot to water my plant, which I normally water on tuesdays. I keep remembering at times when I can't water the plant, so really I am just typing this with the hope of being able to remember to water the plant at the next possible opportunity.

- 7 -

I had a really cute plant with tiny orange balls on it. Unfortunately it is so dry here and I am really only good at watering plants once per week (or less). So that poor guy died.

Before & After...

Craft Night!

 When I lived in VT/NH some of my friends and I spent most Wednesdays for probably over a year having Craft Night. We would switch around to different houses. Sometimes the host would cook a full meal. Or if there were a lot of us, we would go at it potluck-style. And everyone brought their own craft to work on, and we defined 'craft' very loosely, so it was quite an inclusive activity.

That being said, you better believe I was excited to hear about the craft night hosted by the folk dance group. Partly I was excited because of my love of Craft Night, but partly I was excited because I really want to make friends with the folk-y people.

The main activity at the craft night was making candles. The cabin that the group owns doesn't have electricity, so they hand-dip all of the candles that they use for the year during this one craft night. I got Really into the hand-dipping of the candles. That is an activity I'd like to incorporate into my future life. I really think it would make me a better old world woman.

There were also many other Swedish holiday crafts. The oddest by far was this:

Take an orange, stick cloves in it, wrap a red ribbon around it. And now you have a thing you hang in the window and it smells good.

There was also a wool station which was really quite cool, but I spent so much time dipping candles that I didn't have any time leftover to get into the woolen goods.

Here are photos I took after I got home of my loot!

 
A tiny flower pot with a Swedish flag!

 
I'm sorry to say, but this was painted by me and not by a five-year-old. It is like a jar that is painted and you can put a tealight in it and hang it like a lantern. Pretty special painting there.

And some hand-dipped candles! I got to take three home with me. I gave the best-looking one to Greg, so these are the two less-than-perfect ones. Pretty awesome right?

Ups and Downs

Normally I like to stick to the 'ups' because they seem more significant in the long-run, but sometimes I can't help but write about the 'downs' too.

So here you go, the ups and downs of my week so far.

U: On Sunday there were fireworks that were choreographed with (comically terrible) music!
D: It was bitterly cold. Too cold to be standing still outside, for sure.

U: There has been tons of snow which looks beautiful and makes everything a bit brighter during these dark days.
D: I haven't yet equipped my bicycle for winter, and walking or bussing everywhere is taking a lot more time than riding my bike ever took.

D: At dance class on Monday I danced with a Very rude girl. I know a good dancer when I encounter a good dancer, and I also know a dancer who believes themselves to be the world's greatest dancer when I encounter such a dancer. Unfortunately she was in the latter category and was actually quite mean about it. I know it isn't worth dwelling on, but it was actually quite hurtful, and that is quite real to me. It also sucks all of the fun out of dancing.
U: Luckily we change partners a lot, and I got to dance with a lot of other really wonderful people. One of the dancers I would classify as 'exceptionally good', like the kind of dancer who makes me look super good too. Another I would classify as 'quite good'. And a third I would classify as 'a surprising pleasure'. The third is a guy who has been in the beginner course from the start, and he always looks like he is struggling a bit. From the outside he doesn't look graceful, and the rhythm doesn't seem to come naturally to him. BUT I had a really fun time dancing with him, because he was trying really hard, and he was getting it (and it was one of the more complicated dances). It was also a good reminder to me about the types of things I need to do in order to adjust my style to match/compliment the styles of others.

U: I made a new friend! Similar to last week, when I was leaving dance class, I had a little conversation with a girl I had been talking with earlier. This time the conversation was in Swedish, and she asked me where I lived and if I was walking there, and I understood what she said! (super proud svenska moment)

D: In Svenska class, we were working in small groups and I had absolutely zero idea what the others in my group were saying. Ever. For at least 15 minutes. And vocalizing that didn't change anything. Up until then, Swedish class had always been a really fun activity that I happily looked forward to.

U: Tonight is my first "night off" in awhile (excluding a small task that I must accomplish that I definitely will photo-blog about (cliffhanger...)). I have been on-the-go quite a bit lately. Mainly in my attempts to force myself to be social and outgoing, because I need to find some friends. So tonight I will study some Swedish, and hopefully the next class will be a bit better.