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kareinaMy acroyoga partner was out of town last week, and didn't get back till Thursday. Therefore we had planned to meet on Friday morning at our usual time (07:30) before work. However on Thursday he sent me a message and asked if we could meet later on Friday instead. I said yes, and asked if he had a preferred time. He suggested 16:00, which happens to be the time that Phrie has Porsöhallen booked for training. I haven't managed to make it to a single Phrie practice on a Friday since we moved to that site from Porsöskolan last autumn (since I often work from home on Fridays, and then don't feel for heading in to uni only for practice, or, occasionally, because I did work on campus, but was tired and decided to just go home instead of to practice). Therefore I suggested that we might try meeting there instead of the campus gym we normally meet at, and I worked from the office that day. I just barely managed to reach a breaking point in work to get there (and was a couple of minutes late, but I made it).
That turned out to be fun. The room has a wall of mirrors and plenty of mats, so we set up mats in front of one of the mirrors, so we could see posture in the poses, and started practising. Then one of the new exchange students came over and joined us. He has done agroyoga before, so was able to teach us a couple of things, and is super strong, so was able to do on the first try anything we taught him. Also, he is a bit smaller than I, which made it fun to base him, since it takes so little effort compared to holding up Johan. Ellinor was there, so I got her to demonstrate the washing machine sequence that she and I do, in part so that Johan can learn to base it, since he has gotten stable enough for that, and because I wanted to try basing it with the new guy (I did, in fact, try, but didn't quite get it to work, but he was able to fly it with Ellinor after seeing me do it).
Johan and I normally only meet for 30 or 40 minutes, at it was -21 C that day, therefore when I had arrived at work that morning I opted to pay for parking, so I could plug in the car and have the engine heater going when it was time to leave. However, the campus system is one where you plug in the car, and tell it what time you will leaving, and the heater starts working an appropriate amount of time before the scheduled departure based on the current temperature. This is great if you know what time you will be leaving, but if you don't and guess wrong your engine may not have been warmed enough when you leave, or may well have cooled off again. Based on our above mentioned training habits, and knowing that I had stuff to do to get ready for heading south on Saturday, I figured that a departure time of 17:15 sounded like a good guess.
Ha! Johan finally decided he was tired and perhaps we should wrap it up for the day at 17:20. Oops! So rather than spending another 20 minutes or so stretching and talking like we normally do, I grabbed my coat and stuff and headed out the door, also missing the "show of the new things you have learned today" portion of the Phire training session.
However, it was good that I left when I did, as that gave me time to accomplish some of what I needed to do that evening. I did the baking (see the post I did on Friday), I gathered some of the stuff I wanted to bring with me, and I did my yoga, and then went to bed at 23:00 deciding that I could get everything else packed in the morning. I woke at 05:30 and did the last of the packing and loaded the car, but was running a little late when I picked up Ellinor. I had meant to be at her place at 07:00, and it was nearly 07:15 when I arrived. Luckily, she needed the extra time to get everything downstairs, since her elevator was broken, and she had to carry everything in multiple trips on the stairs, so she didn't have to wait long.
Because Ellinor is wonderful she did all of the driving to Skellefteå (just over 1.5 hours), which meant that I made some progress on my sewing project. We went first to Casja's parent's house, where we would be staying, and met Cajsa there. We had a lovely couple hours with them, sharing a second breakfast and conversation, then we set up our beds and went on to the Möhippa, meeting first at the home of the one organising the day's adventures. Once we were all assembled and had decorated a T-shirt for the occasion (with the phrase "Drottning Evelina"(Queen Evelina) and möhippa(bridal shower) and some random art, we drove a couple of blocks over to Evelina's and kidnapped her. First we dressed her in the T-shirt, and went to a climbing wall, where we all got at least one chance to go up the wall. Because she was the bride, Evelina got to go up first, and then got another turn in between each of the others, if she wanted it. She happens to both love climbing, and is terrified of heights, so when it was her turn she would try to get as high as she could without thinking, but each time, around the half-way mark, her brain would kick in, and the fear would kick in, and she would sit down and ride back down.
Because I love climbing (and have zero fear of heights), I was quick to volunteer to be the second one up the wall, and, since they had given us the easy, flat route, wall, and I didn't impose any limitations, I quickly scurried all the way up. Then, since I knew we were a big group (8 of us), and I wouldn't get many chances, I also climbed back down. Then everyone else had a turn (while I practiced hand stands). Cajsa commented to me that I was pretty quick, and I pointed out that it was such an easy route, and that I would have happily have tried one of the harder ones. She pointed out that I could choose to use only one colour hold, so, once everyone else had had a turn, I went up again, but that time I limited myself to only the red holds. That went super easily lower down, but they became spaced further apart higher up, which meant that I got to do fun things like pick my foot up to hip height, hook my heel on a hold, and then pull/step up onto that foot so that I could reach the next handhold above. Afterwards I got a compliment on "nice heel work" from the lady doing the belaying.
After climbing we took Evelina to a mall and gave her a half an hour to get 20 strangers to write their phone numbers on her shirt. She accomplished this mission, laughing later about how popular it was to write on her shoulders and sleeves, but only one person dared write on her belly, and they totally skipped her waist and breasts (no surprises there).
From there we went to a "Salt Room". I am not certain I understand the point, but the room had a thick layer of salt on the floor, and the walls and roof were totally covered in salt. So we sat there for perhaps an hour on comfy lawn furniture, happily digging our feet into the salt crystals, and having pleasant conversation. Towards the end of that time I drifted off to sleep a little.
Then three of the group went back to the starting apartment to get the place set up for the evening party, Evelina got a massage, and the rest of us relaxed in the lobby of the salt room, eating the yummy caramel apple cake with blueberry, oat and almond topping (see above link to my last journal entry for the recipe). We shared with the ladies working there, and they liked the cake, so I shared the link with them, since they liked the thought of a cake that tastes sweet but contains no processed sugar, nor sugar substitutes.
Then we went back to the apartment and nibbled a bit on the appetisers that had been prepared, which was my last food for the day. A bit later pizza was delivered, and I happily worked on sewing while the others ate. Quite a bit later the guys from the svensexa joined us, and they played some games that involved competing to see which team (his or hers) could more quickly correctly identify a song and the artist, or say which film a song was from, or which colour features in a song, etc. I didn't have a chance at any of these, since I haven't been in touch with popular culture in ages, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Around midnight I was feeling tired, and commented to Ellinor and Cajsa that if they wanted me to drive we should go soon. They decided that since neither of them could drive (having both taken some alcohol), but it wasn't that far back to Casja's parents that I could take the car now, and they would walk later. Evelina was also feeling tired, so I told her fiancé that I was kidnapping her, and gave her a ride home on my way back to the house.
I was asleep well before 01:00, but Ellinor didn't come in till after 03:00. Therefore, even though I woke the first time before 07:00, I decided it wasn't worth getting up that early, she wouldn't be ready to go for hours, so I rolled over and slept well till 09:00, when her alarm went off.
Then we got up, enjoyed breakfast with Cajsa (her parents had, of course, already eaten by then), and then we drove home, and Cajsa went to catch her bus back home (she lives in southern Sweden these days). During the drive north I got a text message letting me know that folk dance is cancelled tonight because our teacher is sick, which is a shame, but did give me the time and energy to both do snow shovelling, and type this up (in addition to unpacking, cooking food for the next couple of days, and hanging out a bit with David and Caroline), and it isn't even 20:00 yet.
Next weekend is the wedding itself, so I will drive back down again for it. This time Ellinor's partner will also join us, and I will check to see if there is anyone else coming down from here that might want to carpool.
That turned out to be fun. The room has a wall of mirrors and plenty of mats, so we set up mats in front of one of the mirrors, so we could see posture in the poses, and started practising. Then one of the new exchange students came over and joined us. He has done agroyoga before, so was able to teach us a couple of things, and is super strong, so was able to do on the first try anything we taught him. Also, he is a bit smaller than I, which made it fun to base him, since it takes so little effort compared to holding up Johan. Ellinor was there, so I got her to demonstrate the washing machine sequence that she and I do, in part so that Johan can learn to base it, since he has gotten stable enough for that, and because I wanted to try basing it with the new guy (I did, in fact, try, but didn't quite get it to work, but he was able to fly it with Ellinor after seeing me do it).
Johan and I normally only meet for 30 or 40 minutes, at it was -21 C that day, therefore when I had arrived at work that morning I opted to pay for parking, so I could plug in the car and have the engine heater going when it was time to leave. However, the campus system is one where you plug in the car, and tell it what time you will leaving, and the heater starts working an appropriate amount of time before the scheduled departure based on the current temperature. This is great if you know what time you will be leaving, but if you don't and guess wrong your engine may not have been warmed enough when you leave, or may well have cooled off again. Based on our above mentioned training habits, and knowing that I had stuff to do to get ready for heading south on Saturday, I figured that a departure time of 17:15 sounded like a good guess.
Ha! Johan finally decided he was tired and perhaps we should wrap it up for the day at 17:20. Oops! So rather than spending another 20 minutes or so stretching and talking like we normally do, I grabbed my coat and stuff and headed out the door, also missing the "show of the new things you have learned today" portion of the Phire training session.
However, it was good that I left when I did, as that gave me time to accomplish some of what I needed to do that evening. I did the baking (see the post I did on Friday), I gathered some of the stuff I wanted to bring with me, and I did my yoga, and then went to bed at 23:00 deciding that I could get everything else packed in the morning. I woke at 05:30 and did the last of the packing and loaded the car, but was running a little late when I picked up Ellinor. I had meant to be at her place at 07:00, and it was nearly 07:15 when I arrived. Luckily, she needed the extra time to get everything downstairs, since her elevator was broken, and she had to carry everything in multiple trips on the stairs, so she didn't have to wait long.
Because Ellinor is wonderful she did all of the driving to Skellefteå (just over 1.5 hours), which meant that I made some progress on my sewing project. We went first to Casja's parent's house, where we would be staying, and met Cajsa there. We had a lovely couple hours with them, sharing a second breakfast and conversation, then we set up our beds and went on to the Möhippa, meeting first at the home of the one organising the day's adventures. Once we were all assembled and had decorated a T-shirt for the occasion (with the phrase "Drottning Evelina"(Queen Evelina) and möhippa(bridal shower) and some random art, we drove a couple of blocks over to Evelina's and kidnapped her. First we dressed her in the T-shirt, and went to a climbing wall, where we all got at least one chance to go up the wall. Because she was the bride, Evelina got to go up first, and then got another turn in between each of the others, if she wanted it. She happens to both love climbing, and is terrified of heights, so when it was her turn she would try to get as high as she could without thinking, but each time, around the half-way mark, her brain would kick in, and the fear would kick in, and she would sit down and ride back down.
Because I love climbing (and have zero fear of heights), I was quick to volunteer to be the second one up the wall, and, since they had given us the easy, flat route, wall, and I didn't impose any limitations, I quickly scurried all the way up. Then, since I knew we were a big group (8 of us), and I wouldn't get many chances, I also climbed back down. Then everyone else had a turn (while I practiced hand stands). Cajsa commented to me that I was pretty quick, and I pointed out that it was such an easy route, and that I would have happily have tried one of the harder ones. She pointed out that I could choose to use only one colour hold, so, once everyone else had had a turn, I went up again, but that time I limited myself to only the red holds. That went super easily lower down, but they became spaced further apart higher up, which meant that I got to do fun things like pick my foot up to hip height, hook my heel on a hold, and then pull/step up onto that foot so that I could reach the next handhold above. Afterwards I got a compliment on "nice heel work" from the lady doing the belaying.
After climbing we took Evelina to a mall and gave her a half an hour to get 20 strangers to write their phone numbers on her shirt. She accomplished this mission, laughing later about how popular it was to write on her shoulders and sleeves, but only one person dared write on her belly, and they totally skipped her waist and breasts (no surprises there).
From there we went to a "Salt Room". I am not certain I understand the point, but the room had a thick layer of salt on the floor, and the walls and roof were totally covered in salt. So we sat there for perhaps an hour on comfy lawn furniture, happily digging our feet into the salt crystals, and having pleasant conversation. Towards the end of that time I drifted off to sleep a little.
Then three of the group went back to the starting apartment to get the place set up for the evening party, Evelina got a massage, and the rest of us relaxed in the lobby of the salt room, eating the yummy caramel apple cake with blueberry, oat and almond topping (see above link to my last journal entry for the recipe). We shared with the ladies working there, and they liked the cake, so I shared the link with them, since they liked the thought of a cake that tastes sweet but contains no processed sugar, nor sugar substitutes.
Then we went back to the apartment and nibbled a bit on the appetisers that had been prepared, which was my last food for the day. A bit later pizza was delivered, and I happily worked on sewing while the others ate. Quite a bit later the guys from the svensexa joined us, and they played some games that involved competing to see which team (his or hers) could more quickly correctly identify a song and the artist, or say which film a song was from, or which colour features in a song, etc. I didn't have a chance at any of these, since I haven't been in touch with popular culture in ages, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Around midnight I was feeling tired, and commented to Ellinor and Cajsa that if they wanted me to drive we should go soon. They decided that since neither of them could drive (having both taken some alcohol), but it wasn't that far back to Casja's parents that I could take the car now, and they would walk later. Evelina was also feeling tired, so I told her fiancé that I was kidnapping her, and gave her a ride home on my way back to the house.
I was asleep well before 01:00, but Ellinor didn't come in till after 03:00. Therefore, even though I woke the first time before 07:00, I decided it wasn't worth getting up that early, she wouldn't be ready to go for hours, so I rolled over and slept well till 09:00, when her alarm went off.
Then we got up, enjoyed breakfast with Cajsa (her parents had, of course, already eaten by then), and then we drove home, and Cajsa went to catch her bus back home (she lives in southern Sweden these days). During the drive north I got a text message letting me know that folk dance is cancelled tonight because our teacher is sick, which is a shame, but did give me the time and energy to both do snow shovelling, and type this up (in addition to unpacking, cooking food for the next couple of days, and hanging out a bit with David and Caroline), and it isn't even 20:00 yet.
Next weekend is the wedding itself, so I will drive back down again for it. This time Ellinor's partner will also join us, and I will check to see if there is anyone else coming down from here that might want to carpool.