Äventyr!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
onsdag 6 maj 2009

Hej hej!
Today was a day of two adventures.
But first, let me just make it known that I have officially left a little piece of me for the Sankt Erik to remember me by...or should I say, a little piece of my thumb. Apparently leaving certain motor skills on the plane over here, I was simply slicing some emmenthaler for an exciting grilled cheese sandwich in the ELECTIC GRILLED SANDWICH MAKER that is in the galley. No toaster, no ice (apparently not a big thing here?), but definitely a sandwich maker. And some other contraption mounted on the wall that I can only guess keeps food warm while you're making something else? Maybe I'll take a picture soon and start a guessing game. Anyways, cheese, slicer, and hand all met in what turned from a beautiful gesture to searing, slowly bleeding pain. I made it to the Första Hjälpen box in the nick of time (oh, the puns!), just before I bled out. Okay, not really. But the FH box has this ingenious way of dispensing band-aids with only one of those waxy paper things left on it, so when you're bleeding from one hand you really only need the other to apply it! You have no idea how much you use the inside of your left thumb until you slice it open.

But that was last night. This is today, and I can say with all manner of assurity that I did not hurt myself a bit.

This morning I went into work and caught up on some emails, aka used a relatively old svensk englsk ordbok to translate about one and a half sentences of emails that probably don't even relate to me before we started to make ready for a trip to Munkshätten (Moonks-hah-ten)! Yes, that does mean monk's hat! I retrieved the calipers and some rulers from skeppsverkstad (where I'll be interpreting tomorrow, woot!) and we went on our merry way in the company van. Munkshätten is a village/place outside a town that starts with a T and ends with something else (if I told you, I'd have to kill you. plus, I don't remember.) where some very smart person decided to create a wonderfully climate-controlled storage facility for local museums. I'm not sure if all the museums whom rent space there are in Stockholm, but they are all museums with no Rossie Mill next door. After walking around and around in the building (on purpose, our area is in and upstairs), we came to a very, very large room lined with large items that came off the Vasa...and they're building more scaffolding for things that will continue to be removed from inside the boat to relieve her weightload. The scaffolding waiting to be built is by the World Leader in Mesh Screening or something, which I thought was brilliant, a title to aspire to.

Lunch was great. We went to a place called Restaurang Alhamra, which is a sort of cafeteria-style dining experience, which I should have inquired more closely about regarding how common/traditional it is. I DO know that it's where everyone who works in the industrial parks (I know. But I guess they have to have them everywhere.) around there eats. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and tried as many things as I felt I could fit, although many were left untried at the buffet. More kyckling, as is my wont--this time with bananas and bacon and some sort of delicious sauce eaten with rice, apparently this is "traditional peasant food", which I forget the translation for. Peas and red onion with some sort of vinegary marinade. Bread with butter and tapenade (ooooh), a potato pancake, and this funny salad where everything is shredded really finely at the salad bar. Tastes the same, just stringier. And some crazy pear drink (dryck) that was just sort of flavored water. And coffee afterward, obviously.

But back to business. I forgot to mention that I was also fitted for some stylish and flattering overalls--overalls of the state! Official workman's overalls that apparently you will see on so many employees around Sweden. They are a dark blue with an infinite number of pockets that I can't imagine the use for. And I can't imagine having every pocket full and being able to work with ease and range of movement, but I guess I should take that up with the designer. Or just leave stuff on the table until I need it. And for the opening tomorrow, we will all wear the fierce black VASA 1628 t-shirts with a screenprint of one of the lion sculptures found on the ship. I'm under the impression that the Gustav II Adolf was associated with a lion, but I feel like maybe it was a Swedish royalty thing, or a Scandanavian thing? I'll look it up and get back to you. Anyways, the final touch to my verk outfit is a pair of steel-toed shoes....with straps across them that create holes in the upper. I'm not complaining, and I imagine that it's a feature that encourages airflow, but I just think it's a little funny. But I'm sure I can corral someone into taking a picture of me decked out.

Speaking of pictures, I didn't take my camera to Munkhätten, and I wish I had, but I'm not sure I could have shown you the pictures anyways.
But after lunch we got back to work measuring rammers, ladles/scoops and swabs, and I learned the words for all those. They look very similar at first, but I learned how to make an educated decision about which was which, and of course we conferred. And Irene was the one writing everything down, anyways. But I am now a journeyman caliperist, and the metric system is coming to me more easily. Until we get into the meters, where I add numbers or forget that they equal one THOUSAND millimeters, not one hundred. But I think I did okay.
Today reinforced this concept that I've been focusing on, or been attuned to, maybe, of really engaging. This is, of course, not to say that I don't usually, but that being here draws on many things I have done and experienced before, but is certainly singular and more challenging, which I'm loving. Let me also introduce the words "critical thinking". As is usual in new environments, I find myself asking many more questions than I normally would, many without thinking. But I have found as well that I would like to start off with as anthropological a view as possible (ok, obviously impossible) and try to frame my questions from less of a comparative standpoint...just because the Plimoth village is set a year beforehand doesn't mean everything--or anything--is similar.

Which is how I'm starting to feel about my comparative museum examination--aka internships. I've been lucky enough to work at some very well-respected institutions, and although comparison is inevitable, it's not helpful (to myself, I mean). It was certainly not qualitative comparison, but I guess Sweden and its relationship with the museums that exist here will obviously be different from American institutions, so I will try my hardest not to say to myself, oh, interesting, we do this where before I did this (for better or worse)--not fair.

So we finished the recording work, with Fred making drawings of some of the artifacts, and we headed back. Oh, and I understood my first full sentence!

We had fika, assuming that's the word for the afternoon break as well as the morning one, and I was put to the task of entering the info we just recorded into the database. A few sheets done, and Fred interrupted (after graciously leading me through the many Swedish commands and words for biggest and smallest, which I don't want to mangle here) with a question of whether I wanted to see one of the coolest places in Stockholm, something I should really see. But Fred, my verk! Of course I jumped out of my chair and put on my scarf. And promptly walked down 4 flights of stairs...and then back up them when I realized I left my brika (entry card) on my overalls....and then down, and met Fred and Emma outside.
We walked along Stureplan to where the Theater is and then up to the....I guess you could say north, or northeast, me having zero idea what one of the COOLEST places in Stockholm could be. Is it...old? Culturally relevant and engaging? We'd already almost run over a famous Swedish actor on the way to Munkshätten, how much more exciting could it get?

(G)astronomically more exciting!



This is the Östermalm Saluhall, apparently ranked number 6 out of the 10 Worlds Best Markets according to some well-respected food magazine. We've established that I'm shy about picture-taking in public places (just taking out my camera makes me feel like I'm in Bermuda shorts and a tourist t-shirt with socks and sandals and a bucket hat), but I managed to get over that for these beauties:




Children, cover your eyes: that's reindeer meat in the second picture! I can't wait to sample a bit on Saturday......

I saw a million things I want to buy, but have to think of something to make with them first...vegetables and fruits, spices, meats, fish at which I wish I had taken a closer look (Emma benevolently tried to shield my eyes, knowing my inopportune dislike).

We stayed and had a beer and talked about early American things. A Danish beer, I believe, though I couldn't tell you which kind. My first beer in Sweden (believe it or not, DAD)! Next one's on me.

We parted ways, and I walked along...Storplan I believe, where I found a COOP Nara, which is a more upscale grocery store, which I liked more than ICA (sorry, Ick-a, HAH!), and it's really not far. I got some candy, as has been recommended to me. I like the middle one the best. The chocolate bears are filled with MARSHMELLOW, which was a real surprise to me. Sort of a random choice of three. The one on the left is a gummi peach, rather good.



When I got back to the ship I made myself a little sandwich and some tomato basil salad, which I ate with a traditional crispbread, and beer that I bought at the grocery store. You can only buy beer at the grocery store, and only up to 3.5%...but I haven't found the Systembolaget where all the good stuff is, so I'm happy with this for now. Also, a six pack of what we consider tall-boys was under 6 dollars. Maybe it's crap beer, I don't know.
But I sat outside with my book, where it was surprisingly cold.





But with this view on your front porch, how could you sit inside?

Hej då, alla.