för tio år sen
Dec. 30th, 2020 12:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaTen years ago (as I type this) I was finishing up my first post-doc position, in Milan, Italy, packing and getting ready to move to Sweden. I arrived in Sweden the morning of 1 January, 2011, having no idea how long I would stay. However, by that point in my life I had already lived in seven different countries and six different US states, with typical stays in any one of them ranging from 1 to 5 years, so if you had asked me when I arrived “will you still be in Sweden 10 years from now”, I would have likely said something like “no idea, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I will have moved again by then”.
Having exceeded expectation and stayed a full decade in this wonderful place, I feel that it needs celebrating. This being a plague year, I invite everyone I know to a party on Zoom:
Topic: Kareina's 10 Years in Sweden Party
Time: 16:00 on 31 Dec 2020 to 02:00 on 1 Jan 2021 Sweden’s time zone (or possibly later, if I am having too much fun to end the meeting)
(Which is the same as 07:00 on 31 Dec 2020 to 17:00 1 Jan 2021 on the West Coast of the US, or 02:00 to 12:00 on 1 Dec 2021 in Tasmania, so it ought to be possible for people in any time zone to find a time they can drop in for a bit, if they want to.)
Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 875 1406 7395 Passcode: hugs
Depending on who shows up, the party might involve conversation and sewing projects, or a “bardic”—singing songs and telling stories. Perhaps party games of the sort that lend them selves well to the setting might take place. If there are lots of people present at once we can use breakout rooms for various activities. BYO own snacks and projects.
The rest of this letter will be reminiscing on the past 10 years, its highlights, and the changes it has brought. Feel free to skip it (it takes a lot of words to summarize a decade), if such things aren’t of interest. But even if you do skip the rest of the letter, I hope that you are doing well, and that I will get to see you at the party, for as little or as long as you feel for attending. Or send me a letter and let me know how things are going with you (or both).
Hugs!
2011
Employment
• In February I applied for a job as the coordinator of the Ore Geology Division at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), despite never having done that sort of geology in my life, just because it was local, and it seemed like as good of a way as any to introduce myself to them.
• In April I had a lovely, informal chat with Per, LTU’s Ore Geology Chair about local rock types and my background as a geologist. He indicated then that perhaps there might be a possibility of my teaching metamorphic petrology on a part time basis, and I expressed interest in such a position.
• In March I did a short gig as a free-lance editor for a scientific publishing company.
• In early July Per sent me a note asking me to apply for a post-doc research position he was about to advertise.
• In September Per sent me a note asking me to come in and talk about the post-doc position
• In October I started the post-doc research job at LTU, a 10-minute walk from the apartment in which I was living with David.
Travels for work:
• Tromsø, Norway: February 2011, to meet with some people at the geology department there, in hopes that we could do some collaboration (nothing ever came of that, but it was a fun, and beautiful, trip).
• Tromsø, Norway: For a workshop on techniques for seeing and understanding geological microstructures.
Travels for fun:
• My “First date” with David: 1 January, 2011 I flew into the Stockholm Arlanda Airport, took the train to Tierp to visit some SCA friends from Alaska. David drove down from the north, picked me up there, and for the next 10 days we enjoyed a road trip which included stops in Uppsala, Nykvarn, and Norsholm (stay with various of his siblings), a ferry trip over to Gotland, where an old friend of mine from when I lived in An Tir (who happened to be Queen of Drachenwald) was staying, and, finally, we attended both a theatre production of one of his friends, and Drachenwald’s 12th Night Coronation, held in Hässleholm, before we drove up to the Shir of Frostheim, known in the modern world as the city of Luleå, where he lived.
• Pajla, Sweden: In March, to be fitted by a shoemaker for the cute little Swedish folk dance shoes with the pointy toes (“näbbskor” or “beak shoes”)
• Gothenburg, Sweden: In April we took the train south to attend the gaming convention Gothcon, and while there also visited some of my Finnish cousins who live in the countryside not far from the event.
• Double Wars: Drachenwald’s biggest SCA event, in May, a 17-hour drive south of Luleå (by then my stuff had arrived, so we had my pavilion to camp in).
• Kuoletisjaure, Sweden: Hiking trip: in June to the Swedish mountains
• Australia: In July it was necessary to return to my “home country” so that I could submit my visa application for a Swedish permanent resident visa to the Swedish Embassy in Canberra (since I had two passports, I chose the home country which typically has fewer applicants wanting to move to Sweden, and therefore shorter processing times for the paperwork whilst it is still at the Embassy). While there I got to see friends and attend an SCA event in Canberra, then see family in Belgrave (near Melbourne), and visit friends and an SCA event in Tasmania before my visa was approved and I returned to Sweden as a “permanent resident” on 26 July 2011.
• Visby, Sweden: Medieval Week in August, where we camped in the SCA camp. We took two days for the drive south to ferry so that we could do some tourist stuff, including climbing a small mountain (Skuleberget) and touring a “castle” on the way
• Tällberg, Sweden: a delightful SCA camping event in early September, held at the Larp Village a bit inland from Skellefteå.
• Miltenberg, Germany to attend the Garden of Earthly Delights SCA event, held in a 13th century hall. At that event they made Prince SvartulvR a member of the order of the laurel. I made him a Laurel Cloak, with a black wolf (copied from a runestone), knot-work laurel leaves, and runes commemorating the occasion.
• Sävar, Sweden: for SävCon, a tiny gaming convention in November, about three hours south of here
• Piteå, Sweden: Christmas with David’s family
Local stuff
• SCA: Norrskensfesten, in November Frostheim’s big indoor SCA event of the year. (I mostly missed their Medieval Days for the Public event in July, at which the Principality of Nordmark had their Coronet Tourney, since I was in Australia. However, David called me so that I could listen to the final round of the tournament, where one of our local fighters, SvartulvR, won.)
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: which David had been singing in for years before we met, and which I joined upon arrival. We performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
• Entertainment: a play in January by the Chalmar’s branch of Spexet, which had travelled north to perform (I couldn’t understand any of the words, but could follow a surprising amount of the story just from the actor’s body language), and a concert in December by Euskefeurat, a band that is famous for singing in the local dialect rather than normal Swedish.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David all year
• Both of us dating Linda long-distance starting in the autumn
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2012
Travels for work:
• Boliden, Sweden: Six trips to collect drill core samples for analysis.
• Nancy, France: A March conference/meeting
• Cyprus: Accompanied the undergrad trip in May to look at the geology there.
• Arvidjaur, Sweden: an August conference/meeting
Travels for fun:
• Scotland: Accompanied David for his two-week training course for work in February (I worked in our room whilst he was at class). We also got to see a fair number of castles and attend an SCA dance event and an SCA dance practice on the weekends.
• Kasamark, Sweden: to attend a workshop on Contact Improv in April, which also included my first introduction to Acroyoga, which is So Much Fun.
• Hässleholm, Sweden: Double Wars: A 10-day SCA event in May
• Storforsen and Jokkmokk: in June took Alfgifu, visiting from An Tir, to see the rapids and then head north of the Arctic Circle.
• Lofoten, Norway: Hiking and my first visit to the Lofotr Viking museum, in July.
• Copenhegan, Denmark: My mother came to visit at the end of August, and I flew south to meet her incoming flight, and we went first to visit cousins in Denmark before taking her to Luleå
• Storforsen, Sweden: took mom to see the rapids in September
• Oulainen, Finland: mom and I went to visit cousins there in September.
• Sorsle Sweden: Folk music festival in September
• Sävar, Sweden: for SävCon, a tiny gaming convention in November, about three hours south of here
• Piteå, Sweden: Christmas with David’s family
Local stuff
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice and performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna in July and Norrskensfesten in November.
House
• David and I made an offer on a house, Rutviksreveln 59, which was accepted the week before my mom flew back to Seattle, so she got to see it before heading home. We moved in to the new house in mid-November, and had a housewarming party 8 December (two days before my birthday).
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David
• Both of us dating Linda long-distance
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2013
Travels for work:
• Boliden, Sweden: only one trip this year, in January
• Hägersten Stockholm, Sweden for the first couple of days of a short course in June
• Stockholm-Helsinki Ferry: for group travel between the two halves of the short course in June
• Espoo, Finland: next few days of the short course in June
• Uppsala, Sweden: Geology conference in August
• Ullared, Sweden: Metamorphic Field Symposium October
Travels for fun
• Bygdeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Hässleholm, Sweden: Double Wars: A 10-day SCA event in May
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to see the rapids in August with Kimmo, one of my Finnish cousins from southern Sweden
• Umeå, Sweden: a visit to Linda in August
• Skelleftehamn, Sweden: a visit to friends on the way home from Umeå in August
• Alvsbyn, Sweden: In September I attended my first ever Live-Action Role Playing Game (or “Lavj” as they call them in Sweden), playing an Elf (in that game the Elves language was English, and the Humans spoke Swedish, and I wasn’t yet good enough in Swedish to play a human).
• Lund, Sweden: a visit to friends on my way to a geology symposium in October
• Bratby, Sweden: Höstdansen SCA event in October
• Sandsfors, Sweden: attended a “Mini Lavj” in November, wherein there were a large variety of short role-playing sessions, in a variety of settings, over the weekend, and time to be oneself in between.
• Grenoble, France: visiting Linda, in November, hiking in the Alps, and indoor rock/wall climbing
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends in December
Local stuff
• Swedish Folk Dance: The first full weekend in January we attended the Trettonsdagskurs, David and I attended the folk song course during the days, and danced all night.
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice and performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David
• Both of us dating Linda long-distance
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2014
Employment
• January: My research post-doc position having ended in December, LTU gave me a six-month, quarter-time contract at so that I would remain employed to supervise a Master’s student and finish up the paper to publish the results of that study.
• October: I was hired at LTU half-time to manage their new Laser-Ablation ICP-MS laboratory, which what scheduled to be installed that autumn.
Travels for work:
• Lund, Sweden: 31st Nordic Geological Meeting in January
• Oulu, Finland: a trip with a student to use the microprobe in May
• Copenhagen, Denmark: European Science Open Forum conference in June
Travels for fun
• Hässleholm, Sweden: SCA 12th Night Coronation in January
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends in March
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Copenhagen, Denmark: a couple of extra days to visit with cousins and go sightseeing while at the conference in June
• Tällberg, Sweden: helping to build a new house at the Lajv village in June
• Tällberg, Sweden: For the Lajv event, Nordanil, in August, where I played a Viking “Storman” (chieftain), for which I sewed myself a beard by attaching real hair to a silk base, and made a padded gambeson like fitted garment, with extra padding at the waist and shoulders to transform my figure to a more masculine one.
• Lofoten, Norway: visited my friend Þora in August and did some hiking
• Boden, Sweden: Nordfolk Ljav in September
• Nordmaling, Sweden: visiting friends in September
• V. Bergnäs, Sverige: visiting friends and attending the nearby Sorsle Folk Music festival in September
• Bratby, Sweden: Höstdansen SCA event in October
• Adölfstrom, Sweden: visiting David’s parent’s winter cottage in the mountains in December
• Piteå, Sweden: Christmas with David’s family
• Nordmaling, Sweden: New Year’s Eve party at which I cooked them my family’s version of a traditional American style turkey holiday dinner.
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna in July, and Norrskensfest in November
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice and performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David, who is also seeing Caroline long distance
• Brief flirtation with a visiting friend
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2015
Travels for work:
• Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: to attend a conference in February and get training in how to do LA-ICP-MS analyses. The plan had been that our lab would be installed in late 2014 and I would have a couple of months learning to use it, and then have the training in February to learn more advanced techniques. Sadly, there were issues with the delivery, and our lab wasn’t yet up and running before my trip, so instead I used that trip to learn some of the basics before we got our machine going.
• Storforsen, Sweden: a two-day work meeting in May
• Prague, Czechia: for a short course in August
Travels for fun:
• Geeveston, Tasmania: attended the Holy City War and Feast SCA event in February while I was in Tassie for work
• Belgrave, Victoria, Australia: visiting my step-sister, Kirsty, on my way back to Sweden from Tassie.
• Selet, Sweden: visiting friends on the way home from the New Year’s Eve party
• Gothenburg, Sweden: Saint Egon SCA event, with Nordmark Principality tourney in March
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Miltenberg, Germany: Known World Dance Symposium in April
• Hässleholm, Sweden: Double Wars: A 10-day SCA event in May
• Tällberg, Sweden: Umasmedeltidsdagar SCA event in July
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to see the rapids with Bear, visiting from the West Kingdom
• Burträsk, Sweden: Burträsk Folk Music Festival
• Målselv, Norway: Klottspel folk music festival in August
• Oulunsalo, Finland: an SCA event in Kaarnemaa in August
• Bratby, Sweden: Höstdansen SCA event in September
• Oulainen, Finland: Took my mom (who was here for her second visit) to visit cousins in September
• Nordmaling, Sweden: mom and I visited friends on our way to Sundsvall in October
• Bergeforsen, Sundsvall, Sverige: Glötagillet SCA event in October (mom came along!)
• Gothenburg, Sweden: Festivalo de Caderas SCA event in October
• Kinnbäck, Sweden: Christmas with David’s parents
• Gothenburg, Sweden: New Year’s Eve party
Local stuff
• SCA: Norrskensfest SCA event in November, I was the event steward, and we had the first Norrskensbard competition, and idea I stole shamelessly from the Bard of the Mists competition, and modified it slightly to better suit the Swedish SCA (the audience votes after each round for which performance they liked best that round). For that event we made the Norrskensbard’s cloak—I heavy wool half-circle cloak embellished with northern lights (norrsken) copied from a 15th century German woodcut, and a musical instrument (also from a 15th century German woodcut) that looks much like the nyckleharpa, an instrument that is still popular with Swedish Folk Musicians. The cloak needed 210 hours of sewing and embroidery (by 22 people—I did only 145 of those hours myself) to complete (no machine sewing), and came out well enough that some people enter the bardic competition just in hopes that they will win and get to wear the cloak for the next year
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David, who is seeing Caroline long distance
• Start dating Oscar in November
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2016
Travels for work:
• Venice, Italy: for the Marie Curie Alumni Association conference in March
• Gällivare, Sweden: a department geology field excursion in the Nautanen area
• Espoo, Finland: to use the electron microprobe there
Travels for fun:
• Haapavesi, Finland: for a small SCA event held January in conjunction with the Early Music Festival being held in that town.
• Tromsø, Norway: where my friend Þora was doing a presentation in February at the museum about the replica of the Skjoldehamn blanket she had woven for their display.
• Umeå, Sweden: Umefolk music festival in February
• Milano, Italy: Visited friends on my way to the conference in March
• Senales Valley, South Tyrol, Alps: an after-conference adventure in March to visit my friend Johanna who runs the Archeoparc museum dedicated to Otzi, the Iceman, who was discovered on the peak above the valley.
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Kajaani, Finland: a visit to Oscar’s grandmother and other family members in March
• Skellefeå, Sweden: I participated in the SCA demo at the Norrsken gaming convention in May
• Stenudden, Sweden: “Spelträff” in June—a gathering musicians, playing Swedish Folk Music
• Inkoo, Finland: my first trip to Cudgel War, a 10-day SCA event in southern Finland in July (I flew down and borrowed a pavilion)
• Visby, Sweden: Medieval Week in August, I camped in the SCA camp
• Storforsen and Jokkmokk, Sweden: a visit to see the rapids in August and then on north of the Arctic Circle with Firewalker, visiting from from the West Kingdom,
• Jokkmokk, Sweden: including heading north of the Arctic Circle (same loop as Storforsen).
• Brattby, Sweden: Uma XXV—Höstdansen in September
• Kinnbäck, Sweden: Christmas with David’s parents
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna in July (I was one of the event staff, and went directly there from Cudgel War, with barely time to run some of my clothes through the washer first), Frostheim Newcommers in September, and Norrskensfest (I was the autocrat) in November.
• Lavj: Nordanil (with my beard on) in October
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
• Phire Jester Group: I joined this student club for the first time, and started doing the occasional acroyoga session at their practices (20 sessions; 13.78 hrs)
Romantic relationships
• Caroline moves in with David and I
• Dating Oscar
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2017
Travels for fun:
• Nordmaling, Sweden: The wedding of some friends, in January
• Vebomark, Lövånger, Sweden: visiting friends in February
• Uppsala, Sweden: in February to visit the bridesmaid I had befriended at the wedding the month before
• Umeå, Sweden: Umefolk (Swedish folk music festival) in February
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Kalix, Sweden: visiting a friend on my way to the airport in Kemi to fly to southern Finland in March
• Tuusula, Finland: Ave Cecilia - SCA Music bootcamp in March (I flew there)
• Storforsen, Sweden: a trip to see the rapids with Hjalmer, visiting from Umeå
• Sollefteå, Sweden: Drachenwald Spring Crown Tournament in May (Eino fought for me)
• Brattby, Sweden: Lövspricket SCA event in May
• Östra Vemmerlöv, Sweden: Doublewars/Nordmark Coronet Tournament in May (Eino fought for me)
• Tällberg, Sweden: Lajv: Akademia Oktivia in July (I visited the school of magic as “Inspector Montgomery, European Commission of the School of Magic” for only one day and night of the week-long event)
• Stenudden, Sweden: “Spelträff” in June—a gathering musicians, playing Swedish Folk Music
• Målselv, Norway: Klottspel folk music festival in August
• Ii, Finland: Kaarnemaa's Harvest Festival SCA event in September
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends
• Nurmijärvi, Finland: Drachenwald Crown Tournament in September (Eino fought for me)
• Pyhtää, Finland: visiting friends on my way home from Crown in September
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit in December to see the rapids with Gilbert, visiting from Finland, and Jean-Loup, Emily, and Stephanie, visiting from Scotland
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna (I was again one of the event steward team)
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
• Phire Jester Group: 11.02 hrs of acroyoga in 19 sessions
Romantic relationships
• Caroline gets her own apartment, and David switches to sleeping there, but leaves 90% of his stuff at the house—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friends
• Dating Oscar through to May
• A brief, long-distance flirtation
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2018
Employment:
• 2nd PhD: In January of 2018 I enrolled in a 2nd PhD program, at the University of Durham, half-time, and long-distance. This time my degree is in Archaeology, and my research focuses on Viking Age steatite (soapstone) vessels, drawing on my geology background and my half-time job at LTU’s LA-ICP-MS lab to analyse soapstone samples from known quarry locations with the goal of being able to “fingerprint” each quarry and then later match artefacts to their source quarries with the hope of being able to thus learn important things about the people who used them, and the trade routes they must have been using.
Travels for work:
• Umeå, Sweden: to the University at Umeå, where they have the nearest archaeology department to my home, to look at their lab resources and discuss the possibility of future collaboration.
• Durham, UK: My first visit in January to meet my supervisors and use some of their lab equipment (XRF and SEM).
• Trondheim, Sweden: in May to learn the basics of soapstone carving from the Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Workshop (that cathedral is built of soapstone!)
• Durham, UK: Grave Concerns conference trip in July
• Storforsen, Sweden: Two-day LTU meeting in August
• Southern Sweden: Sample collection road trip in September, starting near Gothenburg, heading north to the Norwegian border, north-east past Falun, and then south towards Uppsala with my cousin Carola to obtain soapstone samples from a variety of quarries.
• Durham, UK: For more laboratory time and meeting with my supervisors at the end of October/beginning of November.
Travels for fun:
• Sunderby, Sweden: The first full weekend in January we attended the Trettonsdagskurs, I attended the folk song course during the days, and danced all night
• Edinburgh, Scotland: Visiting friends on my way to and from Durham in January
• Dublin, Ireland: Visiting a friend from Sweden on my way to and from an SCA event in March
• Clara, Ireland: The Feast of St. Adalbert II in March (booked before I knew I would be applying to do the second PhD)
• Oulu, Finland: Frozen Arrow in Finland in March, the weekend after the event in Ireland (there were a couple of other people who also attended both of these events!)
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends on my way to Trondheim for work in May
• Sollefteå, Sweden: three days in May staying with friends, waiting for the car to be fixed on my way to Trondheim for work
• Storforsen, Sweden: visited the rapids in June, with Thorvald, visiting from Canada
• Lofoten, Norway: visited my friend Þora in and did some hiking in June, accompanied by Thorvald
• Kirkcaldy, Scotland: visiting friends in July, on the way home from a Durham work trip
• Inkoo, Finland: Cudgel War in July. I drove down with David, attended half the event (highlight: Kaarina’s laurel ceremony, including the performance of the song I caused to be written for her laurel’s scroll), and then continued on to Durham for the above conference, and flew home afterwards.
• Skellefteå, Sweden: Smoldering Arrow SCA event in August
• Erikslund, Sverige: Gyllengran 30 år jubilee in September (took the train there, then continued south via train after the event to meet my cousin for the above-mentioned work road trip)
• Gothenburg, Sweden: visit friends on my way to meet my cousin for the above-mentioned work road trip)
• Brattby, Sweden: Uma's 25 Year Anniversary and Bardic Contest in October, to which I brought Khevron & Laureena, who were visiting from Alaska
• Edinburgh, Sweden: visiting friends on the way to Durham for work
• Staffordshire, UK: Drachenwald Kingdom University in November (attended whilst in Durham for research)
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to the rapids in November, with my couch surfer Elena
• Seattle, WA: 2018 ended on a sad note—the day after US Thanksgiving that year my mother went to the hospital for another heart attack. She had had problems with her heart before, but on the previous occasions she bounced back quicker than her doctors expected. This time was different, and my sister Beth (with whom mom lived) suggested that we come ASAP. I flew in from Sweden, my step-sister Kirsty flew in from Australia, my step-sister Amber flew there from Toronto (where she and her husband had been spending Thanksgiving with his family—they live in San Francisco), and my mom’s big sister Barbara (her only surviving sibling), flew down from Alaska. We enjoyed mom’s company for a week, during which she was in good spirits, just too weak to get out of bed. She assured us, daily, that she had had a good life, and was ready to go, telling us that it is ok to cry, but we were to keep smiling as we do. We threw her a fancy-dress farewell party in her hospital room, and generally made her passing as good as such an occasion can be. After mom died, I had another week in Seattle with my sisters, and I managed to see a few other old friends whilst I was there (including an amazing concert by Tania Opland, Mike Freeman, Felicia Dale, and William Pint).
Local stuff
• SCA: Broken Arrow in June (my friend Aurelia from the West was visiting for that one!), Norrskensfest in November
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly folk dance classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer; bi-weekly “Herrskapsdans” (late 1700’s dance) classes
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice. Missed the 13 December Lucia festival performance as I was on a flight home from Seattle.
• Phire Jester Group: This was the year that I met my friend Johan and the farewell party of one of my Phire friends. He was also interested in Acroyoga, so we started meeting regularly on our own, and sometimes at the regular Phire training sessions. That year I did 118 sessions of acroyoga (mostly, but not only, with Johan, for a total of 80.27 hrs
Romantic relationships
• Still own the house with David, who sleeps at Caroline’s—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friend
• A visit from Thorvald in June rekindles that long distance relationship (first started in 1992)
• A brief, medium-distance flirtation
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• Two strong, unrequited, emotional attachments to two local dear friends
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2019
Employment
• April: Was told that LTU’s geology department was considering outsourcing the LA-ICP-MS lab to a local chemical analytical firm so that they would no longer have to pay the high cost for the room rental, the service contract, and my salary (the cheapest of the three, especially as I worked only half-time).
• May: Applied (with the consent of my current PhD supervisors) for a fully-funded, full-time PhD Research Fellowship in Medieval Archaeology (AD 1000-1550) at Bergen University focus on the late Viking Age and medieval consumption of domestic soapstone wares and imported pottery in the Borgund Kaupang by Ålesund, western Norway.
• October: Learned that while I already had both a Master’s and a PhD in Geology, and had been working towards a PhD in Archaeology half time since January of 2018 Bergen’s Humanities department does not consider me to have “the equivalent” of a Master’s in Archaeology, and thus I am not eligible for the position.
• December: Meeting with my LTU boss and HR confirming that I will be given notice sometime early the next year, but that I have been employed long enough at LTU that they are obliged to give me ten months written notice, so the job won’t be ending soon. The HR person also suggested that, in addition to trying to find other work at the University (I have “preferential” right for re-hire, if anything were to open that I am qualified for), I might consider applying for a job that the Norrbotten Museum Library had advertised. So I did, letting them know about a willingness to work part-time, so I would be able to continue progress on my second PhD.
Travels for work:
• Arjeplog, Sweden: to look at the soapstone samples at the Silver Museum there in March
• Manchester, UK: in April EMASS conference
• Durham, UK: in April for the UKAS conference, meeting my advisors, and accessing the lab
• Uppsala, Sweden: in June for a short course
• Bergen, Norway: in August for a job interview
• Edinburgh, Scotland: in November for a job interview
• Durham, UK: (since I was in the country anyway: it is only a couple of hours south of Edinburg by train).
Health:
• March 2019: I finally had the surgery I had been wanting for around 40 years—I had my breasts removed. I am so happy with the result—no more pain and discomfort if I don’t wear a bra. No jiggling if I jump. The best part of it all was that the Swedish health care system covered it, so I only had to pay 200 SEK (around €20) for the surgery. I would have happily had the surgery any time in the preceding 40 years, but I simply couldn’t afford the high cost of surgery in the US (and I never had insurance, having been a student in those days). I was so used to thinking of the surgery as out of my price range that it took a while of living in Sweden before I looked into it, and then quite a few months before my name worked to the top of the queue (everyone who needs their breasts removed for reasons of cancer get to go first, of course).
• April: Infection and swelling in the left side of my surgery scar, which cleared up promptly with antibiotics.
Travels for fun:
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March (two hours south—the day after my surgery—people asked me at the event “shouldn’t you be at home resting?”, my reply was “I am at home, and here I have an event full of people who can wait on me hand and foot”)
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to the rapids in March with my friend Josie, on our way to Arjeplog for the above-mentioned work trip
• Rockelsta, Sverige: Drachenwald Spring Crown in March (Wilhelm fought for me) luckily my friend Josie was visiting from Seattle, so I didn’t have to drive the car whilst still recovering from surgery.
• Blackpool, UK: visiting friends in April between conferences in the UK
• Storforsen, Sweden: visiting the rapids with my friends Nick and Jess visiting from Tasmania (and my local friend Villiam)
• Kyrkholmen, Skellefteå, Sweden: Reengardas Medeltidsdagarna in July
• Storforsen, Sweden: visiting the rapids with my friend Aurelia visiting from California
• Storforsen, Sweden: visiting the rapids in July with my friend Amber, visiting from Alaska
• Målsev, Norway: Klottspel folk music festival in August
• Umeå, Sweden: visit friends in September
• Brattby, Sweden: Höstdansen & Norrsensbard contest in October
• Sjövik, Sweden: Kingdom University in southern Sweden in November (which I wound up attending on my way home from the job interview in Edinburgh)
• Ii, Finland: Feast for the new Baron and Baroness of Aarnimetsä in November
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Broken Arrow, in June, and Norrskensfest in November
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer; bi-weekly “Herrskapsdans” (late 1700’s dance) classes
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
• Phire Jester Group: 84 sessions of acroyoga, totalling 43.07 hrs (Johan was away for work for several months, so more of those sessions were with others at the regular Phire practice sessions than the year before)
Romantic relationships
• Still own the house with David, who sleeps at Caroline’s—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friends
• Long distance attachment (video calls only) with Thorvald
• Some months of enjoying the company a local “friends with benefits”
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• Two strong, unrequited, emotional attachments to two local dear friends
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2020
Employment
• 3 February: received official notice that my last day with LTU would be 2 December.
• 14 February: I got a call from the Norrbotten Museum Association Archives asking if I might be interested in a short-term contract as an archivist (they had my CV because of the librarian job I had applied for in December).
• 16 March: started a short-term, half-time contract with the Archives, which was soon extended through to 31 May. since I was still working half-time for LTU, I took a leave of absence from my PhD studies, because I figured I could probably manage two half-time jobs, but probably couldn’t also manage doing research at the same time.
• November: submitted a “concession” request to Durham to extend my completion timetable for my PhD research due to not working whilst dealing with job searches, death in the family, and pandemic.
• December: started another short-term, half-time contract at the Archives, to run through 31 March. Also begin working on an application for a fun-sounding summer job doing soapstone carving and experimental archaeology at the Lofotr Viking Museum in Norway. However, the application deadline isn’t till March, so it will be a while before I know if it will be successful.
Travels for work:
• Storforsen, Sweden: inventorying the museum buildings in May with colleagues from Norrbottens museum archives
Travels for fun:
• Rajamäki, Finland: Drachenwald’s 12th Night Coronation in January.
• Jokkmokk, Sweden: Winter Market in February to perform Swedish dances from the 1700’s. I went to Skellefeå (two hours south) for the bridal shower of my apprentice in February, and again the first weekend of March for her wedding. Then the world shut down for the pandemic, and my social life switched to on line.
• Skellefteå, Sweden: the bridal shower of my apprentice, Astrid, in February
• Skellefteå, Sweden: the wedding of my apprentice, Astrid, in March
• Burträsk, Sweden: Let There Be Cheese, a small SCA event limited to 40 people (at a time where 50 could legally gather in Sweden) that was run in place of the Drachenwald Crown Tournament in October, so that someone would eat up the cheese that had been smoked in advance for it.
• Storforsen, Sweden: visited the rapids in November with my new housemate, Elnaz, who is originally from Iran, but had most recently been an Erasmus student in the UK, France, and Norway, and with Wilhelm and Emilia, visiting from Finland
• Zoom: many on-line SCA bardic circles, crafts gatherings, classes, workshops, and SCA courts (including the Norrskensfest SCA event I ran in November), starting in March, and increasing in popularity as the pandemic continues
Local stuff
• SCA: Some archery practices outside in the summer (I missed the one summer camping event because my summer housemate, Jule, came down with a cold that Thursday, and one doesn’t go to events in that circumstance during a pandemic)
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly folk dance classes, and bi-weekly “Herrskapsdans” (late 1700’s dance) classes till March. A couple more classes in early autumn, which were cancelled again as soon as Sweden’s pandemic numbers started looking bad again.
• Phire Jester Group: Johan and I continued to meet regularly for acroyoga for the first ¾ of the year, since neither of us were seeing much in the way of other people the “bubble” felt reasonably small. As a result, I got in 107 sessions of acroyoga, for a total of 50.33 hours by November. Then the pandemic numbers for Sweden went through the roof, and we haven’t met since.
Romantic relationships
• Still own the house with David, who sleeps at Caroline’s—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friend
• Long distance attachment (video calls only) with Thorvald
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to two local dear friends
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
I have no idea where the next decade will take me, but I bet that I will enjoy it. If you have the time and inclination, do please reply and tell me what you have been up to.
Hugs,
--Riia/Kareina
Having exceeded expectation and stayed a full decade in this wonderful place, I feel that it needs celebrating. This being a plague year, I invite everyone I know to a party on Zoom:
Topic: Kareina's 10 Years in Sweden Party
Time: 16:00 on 31 Dec 2020 to 02:00 on 1 Jan 2021 Sweden’s time zone (or possibly later, if I am having too much fun to end the meeting)
(Which is the same as 07:00 on 31 Dec 2020 to 17:00 1 Jan 2021 on the West Coast of the US, or 02:00 to 12:00 on 1 Dec 2021 in Tasmania, so it ought to be possible for people in any time zone to find a time they can drop in for a bit, if they want to.)
Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 875 1406 7395 Passcode: hugs
Depending on who shows up, the party might involve conversation and sewing projects, or a “bardic”—singing songs and telling stories. Perhaps party games of the sort that lend them selves well to the setting might take place. If there are lots of people present at once we can use breakout rooms for various activities. BYO own snacks and projects.
The rest of this letter will be reminiscing on the past 10 years, its highlights, and the changes it has brought. Feel free to skip it (it takes a lot of words to summarize a decade), if such things aren’t of interest. But even if you do skip the rest of the letter, I hope that you are doing well, and that I will get to see you at the party, for as little or as long as you feel for attending. Or send me a letter and let me know how things are going with you (or both).
Hugs!
2011
Employment
• In February I applied for a job as the coordinator of the Ore Geology Division at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), despite never having done that sort of geology in my life, just because it was local, and it seemed like as good of a way as any to introduce myself to them.
• In April I had a lovely, informal chat with Per, LTU’s Ore Geology Chair about local rock types and my background as a geologist. He indicated then that perhaps there might be a possibility of my teaching metamorphic petrology on a part time basis, and I expressed interest in such a position.
• In March I did a short gig as a free-lance editor for a scientific publishing company.
• In early July Per sent me a note asking me to apply for a post-doc research position he was about to advertise.
• In September Per sent me a note asking me to come in and talk about the post-doc position
• In October I started the post-doc research job at LTU, a 10-minute walk from the apartment in which I was living with David.
Travels for work:
• Tromsø, Norway: February 2011, to meet with some people at the geology department there, in hopes that we could do some collaboration (nothing ever came of that, but it was a fun, and beautiful, trip).
• Tromsø, Norway: For a workshop on techniques for seeing and understanding geological microstructures.
Travels for fun:
• My “First date” with David: 1 January, 2011 I flew into the Stockholm Arlanda Airport, took the train to Tierp to visit some SCA friends from Alaska. David drove down from the north, picked me up there, and for the next 10 days we enjoyed a road trip which included stops in Uppsala, Nykvarn, and Norsholm (stay with various of his siblings), a ferry trip over to Gotland, where an old friend of mine from when I lived in An Tir (who happened to be Queen of Drachenwald) was staying, and, finally, we attended both a theatre production of one of his friends, and Drachenwald’s 12th Night Coronation, held in Hässleholm, before we drove up to the Shir of Frostheim, known in the modern world as the city of Luleå, where he lived.
• Pajla, Sweden: In March, to be fitted by a shoemaker for the cute little Swedish folk dance shoes with the pointy toes (“näbbskor” or “beak shoes”)
• Gothenburg, Sweden: In April we took the train south to attend the gaming convention Gothcon, and while there also visited some of my Finnish cousins who live in the countryside not far from the event.
• Double Wars: Drachenwald’s biggest SCA event, in May, a 17-hour drive south of Luleå (by then my stuff had arrived, so we had my pavilion to camp in).
• Kuoletisjaure, Sweden: Hiking trip: in June to the Swedish mountains
• Australia: In July it was necessary to return to my “home country” so that I could submit my visa application for a Swedish permanent resident visa to the Swedish Embassy in Canberra (since I had two passports, I chose the home country which typically has fewer applicants wanting to move to Sweden, and therefore shorter processing times for the paperwork whilst it is still at the Embassy). While there I got to see friends and attend an SCA event in Canberra, then see family in Belgrave (near Melbourne), and visit friends and an SCA event in Tasmania before my visa was approved and I returned to Sweden as a “permanent resident” on 26 July 2011.
• Visby, Sweden: Medieval Week in August, where we camped in the SCA camp. We took two days for the drive south to ferry so that we could do some tourist stuff, including climbing a small mountain (Skuleberget) and touring a “castle” on the way
• Tällberg, Sweden: a delightful SCA camping event in early September, held at the Larp Village a bit inland from Skellefteå.
• Miltenberg, Germany to attend the Garden of Earthly Delights SCA event, held in a 13th century hall. At that event they made Prince SvartulvR a member of the order of the laurel. I made him a Laurel Cloak, with a black wolf (copied from a runestone), knot-work laurel leaves, and runes commemorating the occasion.
• Sävar, Sweden: for SävCon, a tiny gaming convention in November, about three hours south of here
• Piteå, Sweden: Christmas with David’s family
Local stuff
• SCA: Norrskensfesten, in November Frostheim’s big indoor SCA event of the year. (I mostly missed their Medieval Days for the Public event in July, at which the Principality of Nordmark had their Coronet Tourney, since I was in Australia. However, David called me so that I could listen to the final round of the tournament, where one of our local fighters, SvartulvR, won.)
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: which David had been singing in for years before we met, and which I joined upon arrival. We performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
• Entertainment: a play in January by the Chalmar’s branch of Spexet, which had travelled north to perform (I couldn’t understand any of the words, but could follow a surprising amount of the story just from the actor’s body language), and a concert in December by Euskefeurat, a band that is famous for singing in the local dialect rather than normal Swedish.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David all year
• Both of us dating Linda long-distance starting in the autumn
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2012
Travels for work:
• Boliden, Sweden: Six trips to collect drill core samples for analysis.
• Nancy, France: A March conference/meeting
• Cyprus: Accompanied the undergrad trip in May to look at the geology there.
• Arvidjaur, Sweden: an August conference/meeting
Travels for fun:
• Scotland: Accompanied David for his two-week training course for work in February (I worked in our room whilst he was at class). We also got to see a fair number of castles and attend an SCA dance event and an SCA dance practice on the weekends.
• Kasamark, Sweden: to attend a workshop on Contact Improv in April, which also included my first introduction to Acroyoga, which is So Much Fun.
• Hässleholm, Sweden: Double Wars: A 10-day SCA event in May
• Storforsen and Jokkmokk: in June took Alfgifu, visiting from An Tir, to see the rapids and then head north of the Arctic Circle.
• Lofoten, Norway: Hiking and my first visit to the Lofotr Viking museum, in July.
• Copenhegan, Denmark: My mother came to visit at the end of August, and I flew south to meet her incoming flight, and we went first to visit cousins in Denmark before taking her to Luleå
• Storforsen, Sweden: took mom to see the rapids in September
• Oulainen, Finland: mom and I went to visit cousins there in September.
• Sorsle Sweden: Folk music festival in September
• Sävar, Sweden: for SävCon, a tiny gaming convention in November, about three hours south of here
• Piteå, Sweden: Christmas with David’s family
Local stuff
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice and performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna in July and Norrskensfesten in November.
House
• David and I made an offer on a house, Rutviksreveln 59, which was accepted the week before my mom flew back to Seattle, so she got to see it before heading home. We moved in to the new house in mid-November, and had a housewarming party 8 December (two days before my birthday).
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David
• Both of us dating Linda long-distance
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2013
Travels for work:
• Boliden, Sweden: only one trip this year, in January
• Hägersten Stockholm, Sweden for the first couple of days of a short course in June
• Stockholm-Helsinki Ferry: for group travel between the two halves of the short course in June
• Espoo, Finland: next few days of the short course in June
• Uppsala, Sweden: Geology conference in August
• Ullared, Sweden: Metamorphic Field Symposium October
Travels for fun
• Bygdeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Hässleholm, Sweden: Double Wars: A 10-day SCA event in May
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to see the rapids in August with Kimmo, one of my Finnish cousins from southern Sweden
• Umeå, Sweden: a visit to Linda in August
• Skelleftehamn, Sweden: a visit to friends on the way home from Umeå in August
• Alvsbyn, Sweden: In September I attended my first ever Live-Action Role Playing Game (or “Lavj” as they call them in Sweden), playing an Elf (in that game the Elves language was English, and the Humans spoke Swedish, and I wasn’t yet good enough in Swedish to play a human).
• Lund, Sweden: a visit to friends on my way to a geology symposium in October
• Bratby, Sweden: Höstdansen SCA event in October
• Sandsfors, Sweden: attended a “Mini Lavj” in November, wherein there were a large variety of short role-playing sessions, in a variety of settings, over the weekend, and time to be oneself in between.
• Grenoble, France: visiting Linda, in November, hiking in the Alps, and indoor rock/wall climbing
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends in December
Local stuff
• Swedish Folk Dance: The first full weekend in January we attended the Trettonsdagskurs, David and I attended the folk song course during the days, and danced all night.
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice and performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David
• Both of us dating Linda long-distance
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2014
Employment
• January: My research post-doc position having ended in December, LTU gave me a six-month, quarter-time contract at so that I would remain employed to supervise a Master’s student and finish up the paper to publish the results of that study.
• October: I was hired at LTU half-time to manage their new Laser-Ablation ICP-MS laboratory, which what scheduled to be installed that autumn.
Travels for work:
• Lund, Sweden: 31st Nordic Geological Meeting in January
• Oulu, Finland: a trip with a student to use the microprobe in May
• Copenhagen, Denmark: European Science Open Forum conference in June
Travels for fun
• Hässleholm, Sweden: SCA 12th Night Coronation in January
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends in March
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Copenhagen, Denmark: a couple of extra days to visit with cousins and go sightseeing while at the conference in June
• Tällberg, Sweden: helping to build a new house at the Lajv village in June
• Tällberg, Sweden: For the Lajv event, Nordanil, in August, where I played a Viking “Storman” (chieftain), for which I sewed myself a beard by attaching real hair to a silk base, and made a padded gambeson like fitted garment, with extra padding at the waist and shoulders to transform my figure to a more masculine one.
• Lofoten, Norway: visited my friend Þora in August and did some hiking
• Boden, Sweden: Nordfolk Ljav in September
• Nordmaling, Sweden: visiting friends in September
• V. Bergnäs, Sverige: visiting friends and attending the nearby Sorsle Folk Music festival in September
• Bratby, Sweden: Höstdansen SCA event in October
• Adölfstrom, Sweden: visiting David’s parent’s winter cottage in the mountains in December
• Piteå, Sweden: Christmas with David’s family
• Nordmaling, Sweden: New Year’s Eve party at which I cooked them my family’s version of a traditional American style turkey holiday dinner.
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna in July, and Norrskensfest in November
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice and performed the traditional holiday songs for both the St. Lucia festival 13 December, and for Valborg on 30 April.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David, who is also seeing Caroline long distance
• Brief flirtation with a visiting friend
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2015
Travels for work:
• Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: to attend a conference in February and get training in how to do LA-ICP-MS analyses. The plan had been that our lab would be installed in late 2014 and I would have a couple of months learning to use it, and then have the training in February to learn more advanced techniques. Sadly, there were issues with the delivery, and our lab wasn’t yet up and running before my trip, so instead I used that trip to learn some of the basics before we got our machine going.
• Storforsen, Sweden: a two-day work meeting in May
• Prague, Czechia: for a short course in August
Travels for fun:
• Geeveston, Tasmania: attended the Holy City War and Feast SCA event in February while I was in Tassie for work
• Belgrave, Victoria, Australia: visiting my step-sister, Kirsty, on my way back to Sweden from Tassie.
• Selet, Sweden: visiting friends on the way home from the New Year’s Eve party
• Gothenburg, Sweden: Saint Egon SCA event, with Nordmark Principality tourney in March
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Miltenberg, Germany: Known World Dance Symposium in April
• Hässleholm, Sweden: Double Wars: A 10-day SCA event in May
• Tällberg, Sweden: Umasmedeltidsdagar SCA event in July
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to see the rapids with Bear, visiting from the West Kingdom
• Burträsk, Sweden: Burträsk Folk Music Festival
• Målselv, Norway: Klottspel folk music festival in August
• Oulunsalo, Finland: an SCA event in Kaarnemaa in August
• Bratby, Sweden: Höstdansen SCA event in September
• Oulainen, Finland: Took my mom (who was here for her second visit) to visit cousins in September
• Nordmaling, Sweden: mom and I visited friends on our way to Sundsvall in October
• Bergeforsen, Sundsvall, Sverige: Glötagillet SCA event in October (mom came along!)
• Gothenburg, Sweden: Festivalo de Caderas SCA event in October
• Kinnbäck, Sweden: Christmas with David’s parents
• Gothenburg, Sweden: New Year’s Eve party
Local stuff
• SCA: Norrskensfest SCA event in November, I was the event steward, and we had the first Norrskensbard competition, and idea I stole shamelessly from the Bard of the Mists competition, and modified it slightly to better suit the Swedish SCA (the audience votes after each round for which performance they liked best that round). For that event we made the Norrskensbard’s cloak—I heavy wool half-circle cloak embellished with northern lights (norrsken) copied from a 15th century German woodcut, and a musical instrument (also from a 15th century German woodcut) that looks much like the nyckleharpa, an instrument that is still popular with Swedish Folk Musicians. The cloak needed 210 hours of sewing and embroidery (by 22 people—I did only 145 of those hours myself) to complete (no machine sewing), and came out well enough that some people enter the bardic competition just in hopes that they will win and get to wear the cloak for the next year
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
Romantic relationships
• Dating and living with David, who is seeing Caroline long distance
• Start dating Oscar in November
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2016
Travels for work:
• Venice, Italy: for the Marie Curie Alumni Association conference in March
• Gällivare, Sweden: a department geology field excursion in the Nautanen area
• Espoo, Finland: to use the electron microprobe there
Travels for fun:
• Haapavesi, Finland: for a small SCA event held January in conjunction with the Early Music Festival being held in that town.
• Tromsø, Norway: where my friend Þora was doing a presentation in February at the museum about the replica of the Skjoldehamn blanket she had woven for their display.
• Umeå, Sweden: Umefolk music festival in February
• Milano, Italy: Visited friends on my way to the conference in March
• Senales Valley, South Tyrol, Alps: an after-conference adventure in March to visit my friend Johanna who runs the Archeoparc museum dedicated to Otzi, the Iceman, who was discovered on the peak above the valley.
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Kajaani, Finland: a visit to Oscar’s grandmother and other family members in March
• Skellefeå, Sweden: I participated in the SCA demo at the Norrsken gaming convention in May
• Stenudden, Sweden: “Spelträff” in June—a gathering musicians, playing Swedish Folk Music
• Inkoo, Finland: my first trip to Cudgel War, a 10-day SCA event in southern Finland in July (I flew down and borrowed a pavilion)
• Visby, Sweden: Medieval Week in August, I camped in the SCA camp
• Storforsen and Jokkmokk, Sweden: a visit to see the rapids in August and then on north of the Arctic Circle with Firewalker, visiting from from the West Kingdom,
• Jokkmokk, Sweden: including heading north of the Arctic Circle (same loop as Storforsen).
• Brattby, Sweden: Uma XXV—Höstdansen in September
• Kinnbäck, Sweden: Christmas with David’s parents
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna in July (I was one of the event staff, and went directly there from Cudgel War, with barely time to run some of my clothes through the washer first), Frostheim Newcommers in September, and Norrskensfest (I was the autocrat) in November.
• Lavj: Nordanil (with my beard on) in October
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
• Phire Jester Group: I joined this student club for the first time, and started doing the occasional acroyoga session at their practices (20 sessions; 13.78 hrs)
Romantic relationships
• Caroline moves in with David and I
• Dating Oscar
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2017
Travels for fun:
• Nordmaling, Sweden: The wedding of some friends, in January
• Vebomark, Lövånger, Sweden: visiting friends in February
• Uppsala, Sweden: in February to visit the bridesmaid I had befriended at the wedding the month before
• Umeå, Sweden: Umefolk (Swedish folk music festival) in February
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March
• Kalix, Sweden: visiting a friend on my way to the airport in Kemi to fly to southern Finland in March
• Tuusula, Finland: Ave Cecilia - SCA Music bootcamp in March (I flew there)
• Storforsen, Sweden: a trip to see the rapids with Hjalmer, visiting from Umeå
• Sollefteå, Sweden: Drachenwald Spring Crown Tournament in May (Eino fought for me)
• Brattby, Sweden: Lövspricket SCA event in May
• Östra Vemmerlöv, Sweden: Doublewars/Nordmark Coronet Tournament in May (Eino fought for me)
• Tällberg, Sweden: Lajv: Akademia Oktivia in July (I visited the school of magic as “Inspector Montgomery, European Commission of the School of Magic” for only one day and night of the week-long event)
• Stenudden, Sweden: “Spelträff” in June—a gathering musicians, playing Swedish Folk Music
• Målselv, Norway: Klottspel folk music festival in August
• Ii, Finland: Kaarnemaa's Harvest Festival SCA event in September
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends
• Nurmijärvi, Finland: Drachenwald Crown Tournament in September (Eino fought for me)
• Pyhtää, Finland: visiting friends on my way home from Crown in September
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit in December to see the rapids with Gilbert, visiting from Finland, and Jean-Loup, Emily, and Stephanie, visiting from Scotland
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Medeltidsdagarna (I was again one of the event steward team)
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
• Phire Jester Group: 11.02 hrs of acroyoga in 19 sessions
Romantic relationships
• Caroline gets her own apartment, and David switches to sleeping there, but leaves 90% of his stuff at the house—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friends
• Dating Oscar through to May
• A brief, long-distance flirtation
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2018
Employment:
• 2nd PhD: In January of 2018 I enrolled in a 2nd PhD program, at the University of Durham, half-time, and long-distance. This time my degree is in Archaeology, and my research focuses on Viking Age steatite (soapstone) vessels, drawing on my geology background and my half-time job at LTU’s LA-ICP-MS lab to analyse soapstone samples from known quarry locations with the goal of being able to “fingerprint” each quarry and then later match artefacts to their source quarries with the hope of being able to thus learn important things about the people who used them, and the trade routes they must have been using.
Travels for work:
• Umeå, Sweden: to the University at Umeå, where they have the nearest archaeology department to my home, to look at their lab resources and discuss the possibility of future collaboration.
• Durham, UK: My first visit in January to meet my supervisors and use some of their lab equipment (XRF and SEM).
• Trondheim, Sweden: in May to learn the basics of soapstone carving from the Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Workshop (that cathedral is built of soapstone!)
• Durham, UK: Grave Concerns conference trip in July
• Storforsen, Sweden: Two-day LTU meeting in August
• Southern Sweden: Sample collection road trip in September, starting near Gothenburg, heading north to the Norwegian border, north-east past Falun, and then south towards Uppsala with my cousin Carola to obtain soapstone samples from a variety of quarries.
• Durham, UK: For more laboratory time and meeting with my supervisors at the end of October/beginning of November.
Travels for fun:
• Sunderby, Sweden: The first full weekend in January we attended the Trettonsdagskurs, I attended the folk song course during the days, and danced all night
• Edinburgh, Scotland: Visiting friends on my way to and from Durham in January
• Dublin, Ireland: Visiting a friend from Sweden on my way to and from an SCA event in March
• Clara, Ireland: The Feast of St. Adalbert II in March (booked before I knew I would be applying to do the second PhD)
• Oulu, Finland: Frozen Arrow in Finland in March, the weekend after the event in Ireland (there were a couple of other people who also attended both of these events!)
• Umeå, Sweden: visiting friends on my way to Trondheim for work in May
• Sollefteå, Sweden: three days in May staying with friends, waiting for the car to be fixed on my way to Trondheim for work
• Storforsen, Sweden: visited the rapids in June, with Thorvald, visiting from Canada
• Lofoten, Norway: visited my friend Þora in and did some hiking in June, accompanied by Thorvald
• Kirkcaldy, Scotland: visiting friends in July, on the way home from a Durham work trip
• Inkoo, Finland: Cudgel War in July. I drove down with David, attended half the event (highlight: Kaarina’s laurel ceremony, including the performance of the song I caused to be written for her laurel’s scroll), and then continued on to Durham for the above conference, and flew home afterwards.
• Skellefteå, Sweden: Smoldering Arrow SCA event in August
• Erikslund, Sverige: Gyllengran 30 år jubilee in September (took the train there, then continued south via train after the event to meet my cousin for the above-mentioned work road trip)
• Gothenburg, Sweden: visit friends on my way to meet my cousin for the above-mentioned work road trip)
• Brattby, Sweden: Uma's 25 Year Anniversary and Bardic Contest in October, to which I brought Khevron & Laureena, who were visiting from Alaska
• Edinburgh, Sweden: visiting friends on the way to Durham for work
• Staffordshire, UK: Drachenwald Kingdom University in November (attended whilst in Durham for research)
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to the rapids in November, with my couch surfer Elena
• Seattle, WA: 2018 ended on a sad note—the day after US Thanksgiving that year my mother went to the hospital for another heart attack. She had had problems with her heart before, but on the previous occasions she bounced back quicker than her doctors expected. This time was different, and my sister Beth (with whom mom lived) suggested that we come ASAP. I flew in from Sweden, my step-sister Kirsty flew in from Australia, my step-sister Amber flew there from Toronto (where she and her husband had been spending Thanksgiving with his family—they live in San Francisco), and my mom’s big sister Barbara (her only surviving sibling), flew down from Alaska. We enjoyed mom’s company for a week, during which she was in good spirits, just too weak to get out of bed. She assured us, daily, that she had had a good life, and was ready to go, telling us that it is ok to cry, but we were to keep smiling as we do. We threw her a fancy-dress farewell party in her hospital room, and generally made her passing as good as such an occasion can be. After mom died, I had another week in Seattle with my sisters, and I managed to see a few other old friends whilst I was there (including an amazing concert by Tania Opland, Mike Freeman, Felicia Dale, and William Pint).
Local stuff
• SCA: Broken Arrow in June (my friend Aurelia from the West was visiting for that one!), Norrskensfest in November
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly folk dance classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer; bi-weekly “Herrskapsdans” (late 1700’s dance) classes
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice. Missed the 13 December Lucia festival performance as I was on a flight home from Seattle.
• Phire Jester Group: This was the year that I met my friend Johan and the farewell party of one of my Phire friends. He was also interested in Acroyoga, so we started meeting regularly on our own, and sometimes at the regular Phire training sessions. That year I did 118 sessions of acroyoga (mostly, but not only, with Johan, for a total of 80.27 hrs
Romantic relationships
• Still own the house with David, who sleeps at Caroline’s—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friend
• A visit from Thorvald in June rekindles that long distance relationship (first started in 1992)
• A brief, medium-distance flirtation
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• Two strong, unrequited, emotional attachments to two local dear friends
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2019
Employment
• April: Was told that LTU’s geology department was considering outsourcing the LA-ICP-MS lab to a local chemical analytical firm so that they would no longer have to pay the high cost for the room rental, the service contract, and my salary (the cheapest of the three, especially as I worked only half-time).
• May: Applied (with the consent of my current PhD supervisors) for a fully-funded, full-time PhD Research Fellowship in Medieval Archaeology (AD 1000-1550) at Bergen University focus on the late Viking Age and medieval consumption of domestic soapstone wares and imported pottery in the Borgund Kaupang by Ålesund, western Norway.
• October: Learned that while I already had both a Master’s and a PhD in Geology, and had been working towards a PhD in Archaeology half time since January of 2018 Bergen’s Humanities department does not consider me to have “the equivalent” of a Master’s in Archaeology, and thus I am not eligible for the position.
• December: Meeting with my LTU boss and HR confirming that I will be given notice sometime early the next year, but that I have been employed long enough at LTU that they are obliged to give me ten months written notice, so the job won’t be ending soon. The HR person also suggested that, in addition to trying to find other work at the University (I have “preferential” right for re-hire, if anything were to open that I am qualified for), I might consider applying for a job that the Norrbotten Museum Library had advertised. So I did, letting them know about a willingness to work part-time, so I would be able to continue progress on my second PhD.
Travels for work:
• Arjeplog, Sweden: to look at the soapstone samples at the Silver Museum there in March
• Manchester, UK: in April EMASS conference
• Durham, UK: in April for the UKAS conference, meeting my advisors, and accessing the lab
• Uppsala, Sweden: in June for a short course
• Bergen, Norway: in August for a job interview
• Edinburgh, Scotland: in November for a job interview
• Durham, UK: (since I was in the country anyway: it is only a couple of hours south of Edinburg by train).
Health:
• March 2019: I finally had the surgery I had been wanting for around 40 years—I had my breasts removed. I am so happy with the result—no more pain and discomfort if I don’t wear a bra. No jiggling if I jump. The best part of it all was that the Swedish health care system covered it, so I only had to pay 200 SEK (around €20) for the surgery. I would have happily had the surgery any time in the preceding 40 years, but I simply couldn’t afford the high cost of surgery in the US (and I never had insurance, having been a student in those days). I was so used to thinking of the surgery as out of my price range that it took a while of living in Sweden before I looked into it, and then quite a few months before my name worked to the top of the queue (everyone who needs their breasts removed for reasons of cancer get to go first, of course).
• April: Infection and swelling in the left side of my surgery scar, which cleared up promptly with antibiotics.
Travels for fun:
• Bydgeträsk, Sweden: Jungfru Maria Bebådelsedagsgille SCA event in March (two hours south—the day after my surgery—people asked me at the event “shouldn’t you be at home resting?”, my reply was “I am at home, and here I have an event full of people who can wait on me hand and foot”)
• Storforsen, Sweden: a visit to the rapids in March with my friend Josie, on our way to Arjeplog for the above-mentioned work trip
• Rockelsta, Sverige: Drachenwald Spring Crown in March (Wilhelm fought for me) luckily my friend Josie was visiting from Seattle, so I didn’t have to drive the car whilst still recovering from surgery.
• Blackpool, UK: visiting friends in April between conferences in the UK
• Storforsen, Sweden: visiting the rapids with my friends Nick and Jess visiting from Tasmania (and my local friend Villiam)
• Kyrkholmen, Skellefteå, Sweden: Reengardas Medeltidsdagarna in July
• Storforsen, Sweden: visiting the rapids with my friend Aurelia visiting from California
• Storforsen, Sweden: visiting the rapids in July with my friend Amber, visiting from Alaska
• Målsev, Norway: Klottspel folk music festival in August
• Umeå, Sweden: visit friends in September
• Brattby, Sweden: Höstdansen & Norrsensbard contest in October
• Sjövik, Sweden: Kingdom University in southern Sweden in November (which I wound up attending on my way home from the job interview in Edinburgh)
• Ii, Finland: Feast for the new Baron and Baroness of Aarnimetsä in November
Local stuff
• SCA: Frostheim’s Broken Arrow, in June, and Norrskensfest in November
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly classes, and performances in July at Nationaldag, Spelmansstämman, and Midsommer; bi-weekly “Herrskapsdans” (late 1700’s dance) classes
• Aurora student choir: Weekly practice, and performance of the traditional songs for the St. Lucia festival 13 December.
• Phire Jester Group: 84 sessions of acroyoga, totalling 43.07 hrs (Johan was away for work for several months, so more of those sessions were with others at the regular Phire practice sessions than the year before)
Romantic relationships
• Still own the house with David, who sleeps at Caroline’s—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friends
• Long distance attachment (video calls only) with Thorvald
• Some months of enjoying the company a local “friends with benefits”
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• Two strong, unrequited, emotional attachments to two local dear friends
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
2020
Employment
• 3 February: received official notice that my last day with LTU would be 2 December.
• 14 February: I got a call from the Norrbotten Museum Association Archives asking if I might be interested in a short-term contract as an archivist (they had my CV because of the librarian job I had applied for in December).
• 16 March: started a short-term, half-time contract with the Archives, which was soon extended through to 31 May. since I was still working half-time for LTU, I took a leave of absence from my PhD studies, because I figured I could probably manage two half-time jobs, but probably couldn’t also manage doing research at the same time.
• November: submitted a “concession” request to Durham to extend my completion timetable for my PhD research due to not working whilst dealing with job searches, death in the family, and pandemic.
• December: started another short-term, half-time contract at the Archives, to run through 31 March. Also begin working on an application for a fun-sounding summer job doing soapstone carving and experimental archaeology at the Lofotr Viking Museum in Norway. However, the application deadline isn’t till March, so it will be a while before I know if it will be successful.
Travels for work:
• Storforsen, Sweden: inventorying the museum buildings in May with colleagues from Norrbottens museum archives
Travels for fun:
• Rajamäki, Finland: Drachenwald’s 12th Night Coronation in January.
• Jokkmokk, Sweden: Winter Market in February to perform Swedish dances from the 1700’s. I went to Skellefeå (two hours south) for the bridal shower of my apprentice in February, and again the first weekend of March for her wedding. Then the world shut down for the pandemic, and my social life switched to on line.
• Skellefteå, Sweden: the bridal shower of my apprentice, Astrid, in February
• Skellefteå, Sweden: the wedding of my apprentice, Astrid, in March
• Burträsk, Sweden: Let There Be Cheese, a small SCA event limited to 40 people (at a time where 50 could legally gather in Sweden) that was run in place of the Drachenwald Crown Tournament in October, so that someone would eat up the cheese that had been smoked in advance for it.
• Storforsen, Sweden: visited the rapids in November with my new housemate, Elnaz, who is originally from Iran, but had most recently been an Erasmus student in the UK, France, and Norway, and with Wilhelm and Emilia, visiting from Finland
• Zoom: many on-line SCA bardic circles, crafts gatherings, classes, workshops, and SCA courts (including the Norrskensfest SCA event I ran in November), starting in March, and increasing in popularity as the pandemic continues
Local stuff
• SCA: Some archery practices outside in the summer (I missed the one summer camping event because my summer housemate, Jule, came down with a cold that Thursday, and one doesn’t go to events in that circumstance during a pandemic)
• Swedish Folk Dance: weekly folk dance classes, and bi-weekly “Herrskapsdans” (late 1700’s dance) classes till March. A couple more classes in early autumn, which were cancelled again as soon as Sweden’s pandemic numbers started looking bad again.
• Phire Jester Group: Johan and I continued to meet regularly for acroyoga for the first ¾ of the year, since neither of us were seeing much in the way of other people the “bubble” felt reasonably small. As a result, I got in 107 sessions of acroyoga, for a total of 50.33 hours by November. Then the pandemic numbers for Sweden went through the roof, and we haven’t met since.
Romantic relationships
• Still own the house with David, who sleeps at Caroline’s—both spend much of their free time at the house, and we all remain good friend
• Long distance attachment (video calls only) with Thorvald
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to a long-distance dear friend
• One strong, unrequited, emotional attachment to two local dear friends
• A variety of loved ones in other countries with whom I would happily be involved again were we in the same place and they were interested
I have no idea where the next decade will take me, but I bet that I will enjoy it. If you have the time and inclination, do please reply and tell me what you have been up to.
Hugs,
--Riia/Kareina