A Taste of Home

Once again, we come to realize that it's the little things in life that matter most, especially when far away from your homeland and the "normal" things of everyday life.  It's the little things - like finding Helman's mayonnaise or lemon juice in a plastic lemon-shaped bottle - that make you think that things aren't so different after all.  Yesterday, it was a football and meal that brought smiles to our faces.

Tyson was looking for a football.  At UI, he and several friends would oftentimes take a break from labwork on sunny days and toss around a football.  So we set out this morning to find an American football that he and his labmates can toss around outside between experiments.  I didn't think there was any chance of finding a football in Sweden, but at the 3rd sporting goods store, he came with a smile and handed off his new football to me.

After finding the football, we continued our American experience with lunch at Subway.  Subway is one of the three American fast food chains everywhere in Sweden (McDonalds and Burger King being the other two), and we enjoyed our 15cm and 30cm sandwiches with bags of good old Lays.  To top off the experience, we each got a warm "American donut" from the street vendor.  These donuts taste more like funnel cakes than donuts, but no complaints  =)  

Our days are getting longer and sunnier.  We're now up to 12 hours of daylight, and every day is 5-1/2 minutes longer than the previous one.  It's been in the upper 40s and low 50s this week, which just feels wonderful.  It's great to crack the windows and let in some fresh air.  People have started sitting along the river and even eating ice cream outside, a favorite pastime of Swedes in the summer.

On a walk along the river Friday morning, I noticed a cyclist stopping to take a picture of something on the other side.  I saw a group of men looking into the water and then noticed what they found so interesting.  The picture below shows that Friday was not a good day for one boat owner in Uppsala.