Österlen and the Swedish countryside

These pictures were taken by Elaine at her country house where I spent a few days. My favorite nap spot was the hammock in the wooden loft. The Swedish countryside is covered with long swaths of golden wheat fields that look especially nice when the sun is around 9-10pm or 4 am. Elaine was my primary caretaker and cooked wonderful healthy meals. We visited an ecological garden and ate fresh garden food there. We also made several trips to the beach in Knabackshusen, which is some of the finest beach I've seen anywhere. Long white sand beaches that go on for several miles with purple, blue and fuschia flowers along the sand. One night walking in the neighborhood with Anja, Elaine and friends Kjell and Katerina, we were invited into another neighbors courtyard for wine. The husband was a photographer with an interest in grand prix car racing. After some wine we went indoors and listened to some cuban music, getting tango and salsa lessons from the daughter and Elaine.

My first night in the house was met with a massive invasion of earwigs. Though no threat to humans, they are still creepy looking. I had them crawling on my chest and I was up until 4 when it was light out and they retreated, managing to get my 8 hours after that. We went back to the city and researched online, where I found some solutions to the problem. We went back and rolled wet newspaper and put it around the house, hoping they would all gather there. We also filled pie tins with vegetable oil, where they would be attracted to and then drown in the oil. We also bought a tennis racket looking device that has an electrical current going through the strings. That was my favorite method of slaying, but by far the most effective solution was to close the windows. Sweden does not have a screen door industry.

A really nice day in Stockholm

Ida in the front of the kayak, Paula in the back. Paula, Ida, and Joakim at Paula's apartment.

My time in Sweden has had no shortage of wonderful people and wonderful, memorable days. Ida, one fifth of the pink bandit posse, was in Stockholm visiting her family. I hadn't been to Stockholm in about 16 years, so I came north and was greeted at the train station by Ida. We walked out and got into her friend Paula's convertible and drove as they played the song "World, Hold On" by Bob Sinclair. I laughed. This song has been the themesong of my last three months, primarily because it plays everywhere and plays nonstop. In Romania, it was actually the only song I ever heard. It was in every car, every club, every store, every cafe. It literally followed me around. I actually hadn't heard it in Sweden until now. We drove to a riverside pub and watched as the full yellow moon rose just above Stockholm's lovely skyline. Paula said she was going to bake some bread in the morning, which I assumed was a joke. How many people really bake bread? Sure enough, there was loads of fresh bread coming out of the oven in the morning, and it was delicious and soft with some full grains and raisins and lingonberries.

They asked what I wanted to do, and I mentioned that I didn't need to see sights or museums, I've seen enough cities in summer heat. I was more interested in spending time with cool people. Ida said "That's going to be a problem, we're better at showing you museums than cool people." They had no shortage of sarcastic humor. The girls took me kayaking on the river around King's Island in Stockholm, where we got to see many of the famous and beautiful buildings, swimming spots and other boaters. They hadn't kayaked much but they looked like pros and were later criticizing other kayakers we saw. We had a nice lunch with some friends of theirs, Markus and Henry, who shared my life interest of just hanging out with cool people. After lunch, Ida, Paula and I drove around and went to the driving range which overlooks a lake outside of town. We were actually hitting floating balls into the lake at floating targets, which I hope won't have a subconscious effect on my game. These two had such smooth and fluid swings that I was almost afraid to show my rusty swing in front of them.

After golf we went back to Paula's, and the two cooked a dinner of pork with a mushroom sauce and grilled vegetables. Joakim came over and mixed some drinks. It was a Tuesday night, so we decided to create a party of the 4 of us, singing karaoke with Paula's karaoke cds and dancing, and taking really strange pictures of each other's faces as we contorted them. Ida told us about the time when Joakim was in NYC this past March and danced at Amatuer night at the Apollo. He is not a dancer, but he had the chance and took it. People came up to him on the subway and said, "hey, I saw you dance at the Apollo." Paula even got us into doing some aerobics to the dance music.

Like I said, it was just one more really great day with really great people that I've been blessed to meet. As my time in Sweden comes to an end, it is sad to have to go. Everyone has been so hospitible and nice, and I've met so many people that it's not uncommon to go into town in Malmö and run into someone I know. It really is like home. I've become determined to make my home the same way for others who visit me whenever or wherever I have a home.

Eating well on the Island of Hönö

This is just the appetizer, Crab, crab claws, wine, beer and Aqvavit. I was the guest of Joachim and Cathy Dahlgren and their children Anton and Jenifer. Cathy is the sister of my good friend Margarette, who was also visiting. Joachim loves to cook, and later made catfish with a hollandiase and basil sauce, and salmon with a teriyaki sauce. Everything was cooked to perfection.

I spent a day on this island just outside of Göteborg, and it was one of the few days I've seen rain. It is a small rocky island, perfect for kids because they can bike everywhere, to school, to soccer, to visit friends.

Music and Parties in Sweden

My second night in Sweden had me at Anja's apartment with her boyfriend Mathias and my Aunt Elaine. Anja is in acting school in Sweden and has been working like mad during the summer to save money. Mathias is an MC in the popular group LoopTroop Rockers, which was performing at a reggae fest in just under two hours. What was he doing before going on stage? Sipping some tea and washing the dishes.


If you've heard me talk about Sweden, you've likely heard me talk about my cousin Jason, who is a popular and award winning hip-hop artist and manages his own record company here. When I saw him perform in NYC in December with a full band, I got an idea of how popular he was. The line to the club went down the street, which I thought was special for someone who would be singing in Swedish. At that event, everyone knew the lyrics to his songs. We were now at the reggae fest in Malmö where he was performing some songs as part of the reggae group Helt Off. Mathias's Loop Troop was on stage first, and the 3 mcs were dropping rhymes in front of an electric crowd. I couldn't manage a good picture of Mathias because he was all over the stage getting the crowd fired up. After Loop Troop came Helt Off, and I would get to see Jason perform reggae music with his friends Jens and Måns. The crowd got bigger as Helt Off performed its first few songs, and when Jason came onto stage, just a day after returning from a tour in China, the crowd erupted. Linsen and I were in the crowd and had to fight off many young girls as we moved forward. The place went nuts cheering for an encore.

What surprised me even more was seeing Jason perform a few days later at an indoor theater festival in a large barn like building in the Swedish countryside. The crowd had more white and grey hair than blonde and black, the average age of the audience was well above 45. Jason was performing with his friend Magnus on acoustic guitar and vocal accompaniment, and another friend Magnus on bongo drum, similar to an MTV unplugged set in which the arrangements of his songs were changed to be more laid back with melodic harmonies. When he played one popular song, he held the microphone out and the entire crowd, 60 and 70 year olds included, danced, clapped, and sang the lyrics on cue. They screamed and clapped for several minutes after the performance before the encore came. I had a combination of chills and on the verge of tears of joy. Jason has loved music since we were young. I remember back to the days when we couldn't have been older than 14, and I listened to a tape he sent me with a song he made by himself and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Now we can't walk 30 feet down the street without someone asking for a picture with him or an autograph. None of this comes without alot of very hard work. Over the years he was always meeting with people, picking up new ideas, reading and writing. It's so good to now see his dreams becoming realized, and at the same time, I still see him as only my cousin and friend, because he's managed to remain the same person he always was.

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Hanging out here has had me meeting artists, musicians, actors, writers, photographers and has allowed me to see things I would not otherwise see if I was a tourist. After a day at the beach we hung out in the big warehouse flat of one popular artist-grafitti artist, covered with books and musical instruments and artistic designs. We went to illegal after-hours clubs (which unfortunately do not have smoking bans). After one night at a club that Jason hosts and DJs at with his friends once a month, the crowd coming out of the club upon closing had gathered in the parking lot alongside the canal-river-sound. Joakim (A buddhist, Ice-T look alike who I met last time in Sweden and was visiting from Stockholm) had a camper van in one parking spot, 5 parking spots away was another car with the doors open and music blaring as Jason continued to DJ on the car stereo and the crowd danced in between the two cars, getting beer from the camper van when necessary. Many of us were pissing into the water below, and then I noticed a few people stripping naked and jumping 15-20 feet down into the water, some diving and doing backflips. I thought to myself, "What idiots are jumping and swimming into.."

"Dave. Come on in, man, the water is so nice" Jason yelled to me.

"Dude, I just pissed in there" I yelled back.

"I know, so did I" he replied. I walked over and saw a ladder that people were using to climb back out and thought "what the hell". As I took my shirt off, a few girls had warned me not to jump in, saying that it would be a stupid thing to do. But they don't know me like my cousin. We jumped off of the roof of my house together into the snow, we went pool hopping in the neighborhood as kids. This was exactly the kind of thing that was in our genes. I stripped down and did a spectacular front flip into the water. It was very refreshing. More people followed. We went to Anja's apartment and danced until 7am. I've been off of a regular schedule for so long, that it no longer matters when I wake and sleep or when I eat. I don't know if this is healthy, but hanging with my cousins and having fun like this leaves me very happy.

Taking the Ice Cream Boat to Denmark

It was sometime this past Winter when my cousin Jason, then living in NYC, met Siri, a girl from Norway. After talking for some time, they realized they both had roots in Scranton. Jason's mother and Siri's father each moved to Scandinavia after growing up in Scranton. Siri and two friends from Sweden, also living in NYC, Ida and Linsen, met up with Jason and I over President's weekend in Scranton for some skiing, a picnic at Elk mtn, dancing, and black russians with Glenn Miller in the background. The girls each had pink bandanas for us to wear, so we labeled ourselves the pink bandits. It just so happened that Linsen and Ida were each back in Sweden visiting family at the same time that I am doing the same, so it was time for me to see their homes.

Linsen and I drove to Domsten, her village just North of Helsingborg. We were taking her small boat across the sea to Denmark, which was only 20 minutes away. Her family called the boat, the 'Ice Cream' boat, because they used it to go to Denmark to buy ice cream.

It was a hot day, as just about every day in Sweden has been this summer, and we approached the sandy beaches of Denmark. Instead of docking in the marina, we wanted to anchor the boat and swim to shore, as many other boats were doing the same. Linsen dropped the anchor into the water, and I noticed alot of slack on the rope. Having experience anchoring boats in the small and calm Lake Ariel in Pennsylvania, I said "I´ll just pick up all of this slack and tie it down to the boat" essentially leaving very little slack on the anchor. We dove into the water and Linsen showed me the freestyle technique she has been working on every day in Scranton (where she has a ceramics studio for the summer). We swam a good distance to shore, walked around, and then crashed on the sand to lay out. 30 minutes later we started to swim back out to the boat.

"Bösse, I think the boat is floating away" Linsen said, using the Swedish nickname she coined for me.

"Naw, it´s just much smaller than the other boats, so it looks further away than it actually is" I assured her. We continued to swim hard for a few more minutes.

"No, Seriously, I think the boat is floating away" she said, now concerned.
I looked out at the boat. It was very far away. At least a kilometer or two.

"You know what? I think you´re right" I admitted. We discussed swimming as fast as we could to get out there, but there was no assurance that we could swim faster than the boat was floating away, and we were fighting the currents that were closer to shore. We decided we had to pull over a nearby boat and have them take us out there. We swam to the nearest boat, bearing a Swedish flag and a nude woman sunbather. The husband knew Linsen and her family and drove us out to the boat, and 'promised' not to tell Linsen´s father about this. They talked about how the boat could have possibly floated out so far, and said that the anchor wasn´t working. There wasn´t enough slack in it.

We pulled the boat into the marina and bought some ice cream and then some fresh fish for dinner. On the ride back home, one of the propellers on the engine wasn´t working properly, so the boat was tilted 35-45 degrees for the entire ride back. I was leaning over the side trying to balance the boat as lateral waves threatened to knock us over. Linsen wasn't afraid at all, and since she's a licensed pilot, I decided it was relatively harmless for us to be in a boat, as opposed to a plane, with one propeller malfunctioning. Linsen cooked up the fish with a tasty pesto sauce, boiled potatoes, and a Greek salad, and then got the call from her father asking about this strange foreign guy who helped the boat float away.

Swedish cousins

Cousin Anja and Aunt Elaine in front of a house near the beach in Knäbäckshusen. Cousin Jason and I in front of the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Anja and Jason in his apartment in Malmö.

Sweden, Home away from Home.

I have now arrived in Sweden, which is my home away from home. I've been here several times since I was a baby to see my cousins and have a few weeks of visitations lined up...