Restarant festival, Abs, M's friends

Have you ever just reveled in silence? That's pretty much how I'm feeling right now, and by silence, I mean.. quiet except for the hum of the computer and a comedian on television. We went out in town this evening with Blatt and the rest of the bunch in its entirety, plus some. It was.. well, nice to see everyone, but except for Blatt, I really don't know any of them, so.. well, not my crowd, anyway. Tonight was all about M.. actually, this whole trip is mostly about M, but tonight especially. We went to JoLo, which is the old pool hall/restaraunt/bar they used to go to. We ate there, and then took a historically correct walk over to Pele, which is where they spent a lot (a LOT) of time. (I was informed that M has spent a good ten years of his life in that place.)

Now, here's the thing about Pele. They kind of changed their focus after they stopped going. When I say kind of, I mean.. totally. They used to be the kind of place a bunch of young guys went to have beer--now they do tango. And when I say tango, I mean, tango for the elderly Finnish crowd looking to score. (M says that Swedes do not tango, which he apparently took to mean that everyone there was Finnish.) I was feeling extremely uncomfortable because we--they--were all really loud and obnoxious, and we fit in like a sore thumb. Oh, and there was a 100 kr cover charge. We didn't pay that, though, because the guy at the door kind of remembered them and let them in. Apparently, it was the brother that they didn't meet more than twice.. it was the other two that they talked to a lot. You have not lived until you have sat at a table with seven drunk Swedish guys, yelling and laughing and drinking, while elderly couples dance with wandering hands. Or, actually, just skip that one.

Then we walked down to this.. club, I guess, and that is where I nearly had a panic attack. M rescued me by saying his goodbyes, and that's how we came to be home much earlier than expected (11:30). It was a totally worthless place. I don't think that even my wordiness can describe it. First of all, it was so loud that we could barely hear ourselves think. This is not conducive to carrying on a conversation since every other word is "What?" But the thing that really got to me is that we were packed into this room so tightly that you couldn't move. I've never seen anything like it. We pushed our way through the room to the bar, where they started buying drinks. At all times, I was touching at least three other people and trying to move out of the way of someone trying to get through. So, that nice jacket you're wearing because you've been walking around outside.. yeah, that's like a wrap-around furnace with all the body heat pressed against you. AND, if you're as short as I am, you can't even see what's going on because you're too close to someone's shoulder to see ahead. AND, the air is warm and muggy. I'm not really claustrophobic normally, but this place was horrible and gave me a bit of it. Considering how antisocial I am, this was almost like Fear Factor for me! :) Anyway, we had been kind of hoping we could get home early because we only have the one day left, and M didn't want to be hungover, so it worked out just fine.

Earlier today, we took the train (and subway) into town and ate at the Restaraunt Festival. Lots of different restaraunts from around town set up booths, and you can walk around and have small dishes for like, 25 kr. The idea is that you find new restaraunts to go to, of course. It was pretty neat, though we didn't stay very long or eat very much because we had to meet P, who is our very first mutual friend. We both knew him from the mud where we met, and M kind of knew him irl as well because he's a good friend of the guy who M worked with that introduced him to the muds. We stayed there with him until we had to leave for JoLo. That was really nice, and we have decided that trying to catch up on three years in two hours is silly, so we will schedule something more for next time, which shouldn't be so far from now as it was this time.

I can't believe our time here is almost over.. already dreading the trip home and the return to work. But, it's been fun, and I don't think it'll be another three years before we come back. And at the same time, it sure will be nice to be at home, and sleep in my own bed again. So, it'll be fine.

Last night.

I really don't have the energy for this but if I don't write it now, I won't, so I thought I should make the effort. Today has been kind of busy, or at least, it has felt somewhat stressful. We met Kina (M's sister) in town. We had decided to meet, but hadn't decided whether we wanted to go to a museum, go shopping, or what, exactly. The weather really sucked, but we ate at the restaraunt festival again, and then walked over to a coffee shop to warm up. We decided to go to a museum located very very close to where we were.. basically, it's just the house of a rich family from 1895. It was free, and I got my very first experience with the lovely Swedish custom of shoe protectors. Have never seen that before.. we had to wear the paper shoes that surgeons wear in the operating room to protect the carpeting and floors. We looked like Smurfs.

M says that Smurfs were three apples tall. (He has always said that I am as tall as a smurf, three apples tall, but today he admitted that I was taller than that--I'm three fairly large apples tall. He is so silly.) I always pictured them as a little larger.. a couple of feet tall, perhaps. I really haven't watched any episodes since I was little, though, so I don't really remember for sure.

Anyway, that was completely not the point. We went to the museum, which was nice and oh my goodness, these people had so much money, and then we did a bit of light shopping at NK and a bookstore, but didn't buy anything. We said goodbye to his sister and walked on to Centralen, where we took the train back. We stopped at a little shopping center there to buy chili nuts and ice cream, and then came home. Dinner was extremely good.. lots and lots of different things (three, THREE! kinds of potatoes) that M had said that he liked. (Isn't that sweet?) Anyway, then M's mom took us around the house to show us lots of different handiwork pieces (tablecloths, doilies, etc) and we have a huge bag full of stuff now to bring home. I am a little overwhelmed because I am not sure where we're going to put all these things, but they're really pretty anyway. And then there has been packing. I've showered tonight, which I will probably regret tomorrow, but our plane leaves at 9:25, which means we need to be at Arlanda at 7:25 at the latest. M is pushing to leave here by 6:30 (takes half an hour to get there.. he believes in a healthy margin, the boy does.) And now, I really have to go to bed because it's midnight and I am going to be extremely unwilling to get up in the morning. (But, by the way.. there is still a bit of daylight outside.)

And now M is reading over my shoulder to point out that Smurfs have white feet. HMPH, I say. HMPH.