Midsummer celebrations!

Last weekend my parents took me to the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia for a traditional Swedish midsummer celebration. It was a week early, but I guess they didn't want to compete with the big Swedish midsummer celebration in NY's Battery Park this Sunday. The one in Philly was very nice. They made lots of flower wreaths and I got the prettiest one, the one with large roses! Also, there was Smörgåstårta, and Swedish pastries. 

And of course no midsummer celebration with out singing and dancing "Små Grodorna" (The little frogs). Little known fact outside Sweden, this song was featured in Minority Report, check out this clip.

All that was missing from a truly traditional midsummer celebrations were drunk teenagers standing at the outskirts of the field watching the pole dances while saying things such as "can you believe people do this?, this is so lame!" followed by loud burps. I think deep down they wish they didn't have to be so cool... :)

NYC - Andrea's see-you-later-party

My friend and long-time New Yorker (the cute one in white) has decided to move back to Sweden and lucky for us we were in town for her not good-bye but see you later party. As always, she picks fun and exciting places. This time we went to Bar 675 in the meatpacking district. It's a place you can't find unless you know about it as there are no signs and you have to walk down to a basement to go in. Apparently it used to be an underground sex club, but now it's a bar in which each of the former eeehhhmm sex rooms? are game rooms! I ended up loosing big time in Space Invader. Others were playing Scrabble, cards, foosball, and of course there was the bar and the dance floor.

The Wålk around the Cårner...

Saturday brought everything that is expected from NYC, meaning the unexpected. 

We had brunch with Andrea at VYNL, a disco inspired restaurant in Hell's kitchen. Although the Omelette with spinach and goat cheese was amazing, the best part of the place was unexpectedly their restrooms. In the back you have the choice of five doors marked with different stars. I chose the Elvis room. The bathroom was a tribute to the King in the form of a big mosaic completely covering one wall and also in that you get to enjoy hits such as Suspicious Minds while you do your business. Obviously this is the ingredient for an amazing start of any day!

The next unexpected thing happened on our walk to Central Park. We're walking down a random street in the theater district, and two famous Swedes (Filip & Fredrik) walk past me on the sidewalk. I point them out to Ramzi who thinks it's a great idea to follow them and see what they are up to. It turns out they were shooting some scene for their TV show so we stopped and watched them retake it 5 times. Comedy is a lot less funny when it's done many times... Anyways, I don't really know what these guys do, I had already left Sweden when they got famous, but I'm amazed I recognized them! Since then, I've youtubed them and come to the conclusion that they're really funny! I'm now a fan!

The not so unexpected was the contrast between busy New York traffic and mix of activities and sereneness in Central Park as well as the blisters on my feet once we got back. But what are a few blisters when you get to experience all that on a walk through town?

 

NYC

After a week of excitement in White Plains NY, Ramzi and I made it down to NYC to see off Andrea before she goes back to Sweden (hopefully not permanently ;). We had great Thai food with dear friends, went to Buddah Bar in the meatpacking district, and then to a club whose name I cannot remember but in which we danced until the early morning.

In the early morning, we also realized Ramzi's rental car got towed... so no perfect ending for an otherwise amazing evening.

NY NY

I made it to NY! Ok, it was almost two weeks ago... I've just been too exhausted and busy to write. 

Anyways, the flight over was a red eye, I had plenty of leg room and slept most of the way. The flight is too short to get good sleep though. Got into La Guardia around 9 in the morning. Ramzi had been so sweet and made sure I had cash for the busses and trains I would have to take, so I just walked outside and there was M60, the bus I needed to take. I managed to lift my extremely heavy suitcase up on the bus, and handed over my dollar bills to the driver, he gave me an annoyed look and said: "no dollar bills... coins!" and then he looked away. Great! Alright, I took myself and my heavy bag off the bus and back into the terminal to get some coins and try again. I got the next opportunity 20 minutes later.

I got to the metro station after about 30 minutes on the bus. The train to White plains NY was to leave in a couple of minutes so I hurried to get my ticket from the machine and rushed toward the train. Great again! No elevator and the tracks were two flights of stairs above me. I started dragging my bag up the stairs. It was so hard, it wanted to stop halfway up each step and fall backwards, and when I looked back towards it I could see that there a line of angry New Yorkans had formed behind my bag. They looked like they were gonna run me over and have a stampede. Then on my left a guy shows up and asked if I needed help! First I felt worried, this is NYC, he would probably try something, but then I realized that this would be my only chance of getting up the stairs and on to the train, so I said yes please. He carried it all the way up and saved me from the lynch mob. He couldn't have been from NY...

Then a 45 min train ride later I got to White plains. I grabbed a taxi to go to my hotel, the taxi driver grabbed two other passengers and then took off. Odd, but ok car pooling is better... He dropped them off first and then he started driving out of White plains. I was getting a little worried again, thinking this guy is taking me for a ride... (ha ha literally). So, I used the maps on my iPhone and saw that indeed he just missed the exit for the hotel and is driving outside the town! Yikes! I told him that I can see on the map that he missed the exit, that my hotel is called Extended Stay and is located in White plains and he just missed it. But he explained to me that no, my hotel is in Elmsford. I didn't believe him, but what could I do... He takes me to Extended Stay in Elmsford, which turned out to be the right place. For some reason the state of NY has a problem naming roads and likes to reuse the same names over and over again. So apparently there is a 118 Tarrytown rd in White plains and another 118 Tarrytown rd in Elmsford. Furthermore, Google claims that both these addresses host Extended Stay hotels... Today I had another experience with two different 9A roads, but more about that some other time.

So the room above will be my home for the next 10 weeks while I intern at IBM research!

No glass ceiling for my glassware...

I'm writing this as I sit here and contemplate over glassware (and updating my podcasts for the flight tomorrow while enjoying a Margarita...)

Why is it that certain material things, such as glassware, can make me so blissful?! I feel blissful and smile to myself every now and then when I think about all my loot from today's shopping tour, but earlier today, I felt almost like in a frenzy fighting over the best pieces with other glassware-hungry swedes in a "Kosta Boda / Orrefors" outlet here in New Jersey.  The price markdowns were insane in that store. Many of the pieces were 50-80% marked down already, and then everyone in SWEA, got an additional 30% off!!! 

I ended up with 6 small plates (see pic above), two white, two black, and two brown, a beautiful vase to be seen later, the green bowl above, and two sets of wine glasses that will probably be given away as gifts in the future. I guarantee that if I had more space in my suitcase, some of the bigger bowls and vases would be mine too!

Anyway, the interesting thing, is that now after the shopping is over and I packed all my loot, I feel so happy. Before packing the boxes, I actually took the plates out and enjoyed running my fingers over the uneven bottom and smooth tops and feeling their weight in my hands... yes I think I might be little crazy! 

But I think deeper down these glass pieces represent something I long for, which is a home (not a campus apartment) filled with things that I have selected and that  look and feel nice to use. dream dream dream.... :)

Wild life in New Jersey

I didn't know there would be such strange wild life in New Jersey, but in the few days I've been here, I have encountered a snake, an insect with 30 legs, and a strange leaf-look-alike butterfly.

The first encounter was the most horrible one. Mom and I were walking on a train in a little forrest, the trail took us over a bridge over a little creek, as we step up on the bridge a brown snake moves on our right and dashes down in the water and swims away! Eeewwwwww, I hate snakes, and am terrified of them, and this one was even worse than regular snakes as it apparently also knows how to swim! I was very proud of myself for not fainting or crying, but my heart was beating so hard I could hear it, and I walked very close to mom the rest of the walk and made her stomp on the path before me.

Then the next kind of creepy encounter came yesterday. We found a big insect with lots of legs in a corner in the kitchen. Here I have to say that mom freaked out more than I did. She didn't know what to do, so I suggested that she put a bowl over it. Then I grabbed a piece of paper and took it away. I've never seen an insect like it though, I'm sure it's a new discovery!

Today's encounter with the wild life was significantly better than the previous two, we saw a green butterfly on a tree trunk, and it looked almost like a leaf. It was very pretty, and didn't move or try to attack, which my mom was convinced it would do when I got close to take its picture. Morale of the story, we like pretty and tranquil creatures!

Another really beautiful thing here, is that all these trees are losing their flowers and the streets are covered in petals. It's amazing, we were literally walking through mounds of flower petals.