Night and Day

Midnight

So it's coming up to midsummer, and the sun doesn't quite go down properly at night. It is still well and truly light until about 11:00pm, and not totally dark at midnight. The problem with this is that it is also basically fully light by about 3am. And after the long, dark winters the Luleans seem to want all the sunlight possible, even in their sleep, so the blinds and curtains on the windows are more for decoration than function. So it isn't really as dark as it should be, and is not so easy to sleep-in in. Probably a good thing, but not at 5am when you wake up and can't get back to sleep.

I also went to my first BBQ with some guys and gals from the spex. It was a bit chilly (+8) , but sometimes sunny. We then played brännboll, which is kinda like a cross between up-ball and baseball. There's no pitcher - you toss the ball up yourself and hit it. You also don't get out if it is caught (the other team gets points), and you don't have to run, so you can wait on a base until you think you'll make it, so sometimes there are 4 or 5 people running. Beers are often used at the bases, just to make the game more... interesting, though with the complex scoring system (1-handed catches worth more than 2 etc) there is too much to concentrate on.

Johan, Maria, and Mats. Mats wears traditional uni overalls, which you get at 1st year and keep wearing until you're finished, collecting badges and dirt along the way. By tradition they aren't meant to be washed. At least, unless you are wearing them. A couple of the spexares wore them on the tour we went on. 4 years of grime in a cramped bus in 28degree weather....great.

Bränboll action

The swedes really are also a bunch of slackers. They don't stake sickies in the way we do. Rather, they just accept that a) before a public holiday (Thursday was Ascencion Day) people are only expected to work a half day. So offices close at 1pm on the Wed. Then b) Friday is a 'klämdag' which means 'squeezed day' and you can probably guess that since they have a special word for a work day in between two non-work days, that it probably gets treated differently... ie. becomes a holiday too. So they don't take sickies, they all just admit to themselves there's no point working. Cool eh?

An offering of pickles to the Wreckasaurus...
(left in the forest near the car wreckers)