swedenusa

Today Mirjam and I decided to go Geocaching. We found the perfect spot less than 3 miles away in a nearby forrest. We took the bus and I figured we could run right in and be back in 30 minutes for the return bus.

Three hours later we emerged from the thick vegetation tired, thirsty and hungry. Don’t get me wrong, we had a blast and the forrest was beautiful! We saw trees that were over 500 years old! (according to the nearby signs-we didn’t have the attention span to count the rings)

I ran into a store to grab a couple beverages while Mirjam waited at the bus stop. I grabbed a Coke and a Freaky Fläder Fanta. I had never tried this type of pop before but it kind of looked refreshing. Apparently a Fläder is a type of wild flower in Sweden. Now, I promise I am not making this up…It tasted like Deep Woods Off mosquito spray (this is for all the Americans reading this) It really wasn’t bad, I always liked the taste of Deep Woods Off but kind of felt ashamed to tell anyone.

Okay… so I don’t get the video stores in this country. It’s crazy. This is one thing that is so much better in the states. The movies are in sections. You know comedy, drama, and action. However, they are all on the shelves like books in the library. You can only view the back of the DVD cover. Of course the titles are in Swedish, which makes it harder for us to know what’s what. Worse part… NOTHING is alphabetized. Thrillers and horror are all in the same section along with TV series. Hmmm? What’s up with that?

I’ve learned that if I can’t find what I’m looking for, I can just stand in the long line to the register and ask the person to get the movie I want from behind the counter. I leave with just the DVD disc in a generic plastic cover. This tells me that it’s common for people not finding what they are looking for. This knowledge came after searching for the movie Troy for about 30 minutes on a wall that was about 6′ long and 5′ tall.