Let me first start this by saying Happy Gosh Dang Birthday
America! 237 years. Man time sure does fly. I remember when you were just a wee
little group of colonies with a bunch of pent up angst. Ready to lay the hammer
down on Britain. Ok so I don’t
actually remember that. I’m only 22. When I was born the only hammer being laid
down was MC Hammer. Times they
sure are a changing. Ok enough of
that rant. Let me jam “Born in the
USA” one more time and then I’ll get caught up to today.
The past few days have really just been spent running and
relaxing. Boy ain’t that the life.
No really. It rules. I wish I could do this forever. (Read that like they say it in the
Sandlot. Which Martin has never seen! Can you believe that?!?!?!?) Monday
Martin didn’t have to run so I journeyed into Falun by my lonesome to get my
workout in. Dude. I’ve got the bus
system in this country on lock.
Todays workout was one I’d been looking forward to for a while. A nice ambitious test of my
fitness(2x450 for all those who care). And man it went awesome. Such an awesome confidence boost. I needed that. Though being workout hero doesn’t fully
translate into Race Warrior, it at least tells me I’m in a good spot. I’ll take it. Saturday can’t come soon
enough! Actually it can take its time. No rush I’ll get to that day eventually.
After my workout I went to grab the bus, but I was 12 min late. Balls. Sucks to suck I guess! The next
bus was 2.5 hours later. So after
calling Martin we found a way that could potentially send me on an epic
adventure via bus and train. 2 means of public transport. Wow. Look at me. Well I ended up sitting on the wrong
side of the road and missed that bus as well. Double sucks to suck. Looks like I’m waiting for the original
bus. Guess I don’t actually have
the system on lock. Someday I’ll
become a Pokemon master. So I sat
on the bench for 2.5 hours. Passed the time by listening to the entire
Yellowcard discography. In case you wanted to know. Ocean Avenue still
rules. And watching cars drive
by. I also got to stare at the
creepiest ad I have ever seen in my life.
How they decide they are going to use these people as models is way
beyond my comprehension but I’m pretty sure I’m going to have nightmares
now. To top it off, the glass next
to it was broken just adding to the creepy effect.
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Eventually I made it back home and I got my second driving
stick lesson of the summer. After
about 8 stalls I made it out of the driveway and drove up the road to the
grocery store. Big traveler I
know. While at the grocery store
Martin decided it’d be funny to have me read the list and he would guess what
we were looking for based on my awful pronunciation. Let me tell you. Trying to pronounce these words is like
trying to put together a piece of furniture from Ikea. Impossible. He found it hilarious. I just got
frustrated. We then drove around
town and he tested my stick skills. Such as starting up a hill (I won’t tell
you how long that took me). And three point turns near a cliff (The fact that
I’m writing this entry lets you know I somehow made it out alive). After the lesson, we went back to the
pier for a quick swim. We brought
Martin’s dog along for the adventure.
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| Look at how rad that thing is! |
Tuesday was similar to other weekdays. We woke. Ate. Took the bus to Falun.
And practiced. Martin had to lift,
so I went to the indoor track and did a nice little jump circuit. Yeah. I got
ups. I touched rim once. What of it?! When I finished I just watched Martin
lift and made fun of this guy doing crossfit. That’s big here too. Super unfortunate. He ended up talking to us about
training for a bit which was actually really cool. He knew a bunch of USA weightlifters(which I had no clue of)
and some USA Crossfitters(which I really had no clue of). He turned out to be a pretty nice guy.
I felt a little bad about making fun of him. Actually. No I don’t.
Crossfit still sucks. After
that Martin went to work and I took a different bus than normal home. Again I was stuck next to the creepy
ad. As the bus came I stood up and
the driver just drove by me and waved.
Just like “Hey! Hows it going? Oh you need this bus? Sorry! Have a nice
day!” Before I could get bummed
about having to wait 2.5 hours again the bus came to a quick stop down the road
and just sat there. After a long
contemplation as to what was going on, I started to walk towards the bus. The driver then got off and beckoned me
to hurry up. So I ran. Guess he did stop for me! After a while
I realized that I think he was a driver in training. He had trouble opening the door one time, and this man all
dressed up(I can only assume he was training him) had to show him a few
things. Poor guy.
For the rest of the night I was on my own. PARTAYYYYYYY IN
SWWEEEEDEENNN!!!! Not really. All
I did was make dinner and watch Men in Black 2. Which I forgot how awesome it is! Will Smith you crack me
up. Why are you so funny? (Also could you please make more music. I’ve been getting jiggy with it for a
long time and need a new jam.) I think I might watch it like 4 more times just
for the lolz. Which brings me to
my next topic. Netflix in
Sweden. It rules. The movies and stuff here are different,
and they all come in Swedish subtitles that you cant turn off. Ima for sure learn this language in no
time. Good thing I didn’t get rid
of my account.
Wednesday we met one of Martin’s friends at the track to do
our respective hurdle workouts.
Mine went real well again.
Put it in the books baby! While I was working out they had someone
cleaning the track with this giant street sweeper like machine. He just drove and it cleaned the track!
It wasn’t like a dude with a leaf blower or rainy weather. Seriously Sweden.
Wow. Anyways. After the workout I
talked to Martin’s friend about all the different foods I’ve been eating since
I’ve been here. I’m actually real
proud of myself. I’ve tried
everything they’ve thrown at me almost without hesitation. Maybe I’m finally growing up. Probably not. Also. For the
record. If someone from Sweden
says “Hey! Try this salty licorice. Grab one with extra salt.” Don’t. Unless
you want to have one of the worst tastes in your mouth for like 3 days
after. Seriously. How do Swedes
enjoy that stuff. I love candy,
but that stuff is awful!
While we were on our way home, Martin got a call from his Dad
that he was on his way into Falun to visit Martin’s new niece. Which as I type this I realize I never
made mention of. Last week,
Martin’s sister gave birth to a little baby girl! So congrats to the Kallur
family on your new member! Seriously. That rules! I havn’t seen her in person,
but I’ve seen pictures. Maybe
they’ll make me like the godfather or something. Probably not.
Either way she looks sooo cute.
And in case anyone was wondering. Swedish babies look the same as
American babies. They’re just tiny
people. Back on topic, Martin got off the bus in the middle of nowhere for his
Dad to pick him up. Bold. I went
home and watched more Netflix.
Dinner ruled. We
had a mini pre July 4th(‘MERICA!) dinner of burgers on the
grill. We ate out on the porch and
Martin’s mom put out Red, White and Blue blankets in case it got cold. HELL
YEAH! She’s awesome. We talked a
bit about different customs and things.
I love comparing the two places.
It’s really eye opening to see how different and how similar things can
be. After dinner, Martin’s dad
made dessert. His own
masterpiece. We laughed for a long
time while he was making it.
Banana’s wrapped in bacon.
Dude. Can’t get more American than wrapping stuff in bacon. We all stood around the grill taking
pictures and laughing hysterically while he perfected his masterpiece. They let me name it. So I decided on Baconana’s. Probably could have been more creative,
but it works. They actually turned
out really awesome. I mean its
bacon so how can it be bad(the Bacon soda from last summer doesn’t count. That
might as well have been motor oil)?
I highly recommend you all go out immediately. Buy yourselves 2 pounds
of bacon and a few banana’s. Cook
like 1.5 pounds of that bacon and eat it to hold you over. And then wrap the
bananas with the rest of the bacon and slap em on the grill. You won’t regret
it.
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| Copyright. Anders Kallur. Baconana Master Chef. |
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| Perfect. |
And now finally we are at the greatest day on Earth. July 4th. Independence Day. Freedom. Bald Eagles.
Obama. NASCAR. Baseball. Grilling. Bacon. American Cheese. Uncle Sam. FREEDOM!
Fireworks. Ziplock Bags. Global Warming. Space. FREE GOSH DANG DOM! ‘MERICA! As
soon as I woke up I put on some Bruce to celebrate. A little “Born in the USA”. And then packed my bags because
today were headed to Amsterdam!
During packing I blasted the classics like R.O.C.K. in the
USA, American Girl, Party in the USA, American, God Bless the USA, The Star
Spangled Banner, This Land is Your Land, and of course as much Taylor Swift as
possible. Martin probably hates me
now. Oh well. If Sweden isn’t
going to give me fireworks then I’m at least going to celebrate as much as
possible. ‘MERICA! From there it
was off to the train station to start the journey.
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| USA!USA!USA!USA! |
The trip included a 2.5 hour train ride and a 2 hour
flight. Not too much happened
except I got a meal on the plane! For a 2 hour flight! Europe hell yeah! Also I sat in between these 2 guys who
were way bigger than me so I spent the flight trying to act as skinny as
possible in hopes I wouldn’t have to come into contact with them the whole
time. Sucks to be a skinny runner.
No it doesn’t. (I’m going to look at that statement when I’m 50 and cry) Once
in Amsterdam we had the hardest time trying to get train tickets to get to our
hotel. Martins card didn’t work
and none of the machines would take Visa or Mastercard. Seriously?! Who doesn’t
take Visa?!?!?! What kind of system is this. Eventually I was able to get to an ATM to grab some Euro and
pay with that. Throughout this entire
journey I would chant the National Family Anthem (USA!USA!USA!USA!) so that
everyone knew what today was. Man
I can’t believe people weren’t more excited about it. People these days. I tell
ya. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and because I stayed in so many for my
internship last summer I became what you would call a “Big Deal”. Yeah I’m a
platinum rewards member what of it? Because of that we got a free room upgrade
and they put us on the top floor with a pretty cool view of the city. RAD!
By this point it was like 9:30(or 21:30 as the clocks say
here) and we were starving. So we fumbled around with trying to get tickets
again(Seriously. No Visa Cards?!) and headed to downtown Amsterdam. Let the party commence. Amsterdam is an
epic city. First off. All the buildings rule. Second, the river flows through it. Third, all the streets
are super narrow and made of cobblestone. And fourth, everyone rides bikes, but
with like no regard for safety. As
long as you have a bell and balls you’ll make it anywhere you want. That’s my
kind of riding. We spent a while
trying to decide what it was that we wanted to eat for dinner. My only vote was steak. I mean its July
4th. We ended up
finding an Argentinean steakhouse(side note there are like 800 of these places
in Amsterdam. Why I have no idea. End side note). They had what I felt to be the closest to an American meal I
could get on their menu. It was a
platter of steak, ribs, sausage and corn on the cob. ‘MERICA! It was absolutely
delicious. From there we just explored Amsterdam. Including a walk through the
Red Light District. Why you ask? Because you’re not going to go to Amsterdam
and not check that place out.
Plus, its July 4th. If they’re not going to give me fireworks
I’m at least going to party hard. Except
I have to run soon so this visit just included a walk through. Still rad. Its so weird to see how much is legal here. Everything. You could also tell that
this was a pretty big tourist attraction based on the people hanging out. I
guess we were technically included in that population, but I’m going to just
pretend we weren’t so I can sound better than everyone else there. Nah. That
doesn’t work I was part of the tourist population. Damn. I did buy a Belgian Waffle which is
something I was most looking forward to. And let me tell you. It was
incredible. America learn that art. And if someone knows it already. Sell me
your waffles. I’ll eat them all.
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| Little known fact. Those buildings grew out of the water. |
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| Dear Coach. I know I’m here to run. But look at that thing! |
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| PR Food. |
Eventually
it was decided we should head back and grab some sleep. I guess I’m technically on this trip
for more than just partying. Just kidding. Everything I do is a party. So on that note, I say we leave this
entry all singing the National Family Anthem. Here we go. One! Two! Three!
“USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!USA!HEY!HEY!”
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