This morning, I joined a badminton club! Another group of women from school have put together this club that plays every Thursday morning. So, yesterday, I purchased a badminton racquet and this morning, I mapped my way by subway to the badminton stadium. Yes, it is actually a stadium, entirely for badminton. There were probably 25 courts and more than half of them were full of players at 9:30 on a Thursday morning. Very interesting. Anyway, we played for an hour and had a GREAT time. Some members were more competitive and serious about badminton than others but all had fun. I then caught a ride home with one of the other women and realized that it was the first time that I have ridden in a car in three weeks! How crazy is that, considering I used to spend half of my day, every day in a car! I love it! When I got home, I put Coco on her leash and set out with yet another mission. This time, it was time to find a pet boarding place so that we can have the freedom to do some traveling without the dog! I quickly found a place just one block away from our house. I had to guess at what kind of facility it was but since it had a picture of a cat and a dog on the sign, I figured that it had something to do with pets! I was right, they do board animals and they are happy to take Coco when we want to go somewhere. They did tell me that she needs to have a kennel cough vaccination before they will board here though so they pointed me in the direction of the nearest walk in veterinary clinic. Coco and I set out on foot and after a kilometer and a half, we found the place that we wanted. The vet was wonderfully nice but couldn't tell from Coco's records whether she had ever had the shot in the past. I couldn't remember and it was still too early in the States to call our vet so Coco and I came back home without the shot. I did find out later that she has not had the shot so we will go back again a different day. We want to make sure that we can go somewhere over fall break and that is rapidly approaching!
While in the vet's office, I was reminded again of how important coffee breaks ("fika") are in Sweden. There is literally a coffee machine everywhere you go and you are always encouraged to have coffee. It is often free! There was one in the vet's waiting room (a machine with latte, cappuccino, espresso options). There is one right when you walk into the grocery store. There is one in the high school part of the school for the students. And, at restaurants, you order your main meal but there is always a side table set up with a small salad bar, bread, water and of course, coffee for you to help yourself to throughout the meal. Josh's office has an official coffee break about an hour into the morning where they are all given a free breakfast of cold cuts and bread and coffee. At school, the kids have fruit made available to them at all class changes and throughout the day. Very interesting....
Today was Thursday, which is pancake day throughout the country. Pancakes and pea soup are served for lunch throughout the country! The pancakes are more like a crepe than our traditional pancake but a bit thicker. You can read about the tradition here. http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/snuggling/2012/11/29/pea-soup-pancakes/
Needless to say, Tabitha thoroughly enjoyed learning that they will have pancakes with fruit and whipped cream every Thursday around here!
Our locals eat Swedish pancakes with Lingonberry sauce. Lingonberry goes on and in many Swedish foods such as jam, tea, and in place of cranberries. It's kinda an acquired taste but I enjoy the tart flavor. Our local Swedish Colony store has perhaps many kinds of coffee beans and one of my favorites was the Bishop Hill Breakfast blend. Have a good day - it's turning fall here, too.
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