the cold swedish winter is right outside

I want to write about supermarkets. Supermarket - place of cultural learnings. Between the hours of 4 and 8 the queues in the supermarket are insane. If you should happen to stumble in during this time, it's best to bring a paperback or a lot of charge on your ipod. The Swedes are so polite in their queuing. There will be half of the cash registers open, the checkout chick will be catching up with the goss with her friends and there will be queues banked up 20 people long - and the customers will just look at their watches and sigh. There is no ruckus, no cursing the managment, no tearing of hair. Patience. I told a Swedish guy how impressed I was at this and he said: "we're not really patient, inside we just want to punch the person in the back of the head, but we suppress it. And let it all out when we get drunk". Unhealthy, but what the heck.

Also, if you're wanting some saffron, you can't get it at the spice section. You have to specifically ask for it when you get to the register. The checkout chick gets his/her key and opens up a special cabinet, and hands over the requested number of packages. INTERESTING.

On Thursday Alex had a potluck dinner at her place. It was such a good idea and I can't believe that it hasn't happened earlier, especially in a community of hungry young students. The way potlucks work is that everyone brings a dish and you basically have a big eclectic feast. So I have been thinking recently of all the foods I miss and I remembered the glory that was Stalactites, that all-night Greek resturant on the corner of Lonsdale and Exhibition streets, Melbourne. Before long I was folding wee Spanakopita parcels in our kitchen. Made about 40 in the end. They could have done with perhaps a little more salt but they made me very happy. next time Baklava? perhaps i should just save myself the trouble and simply go to Greece in January.

Some other things this week: i nearly got hit by a bus that couldn't see me because i didn't have lights. I am now getting lights! My bike has been locked outside our favourite bakery for the last 5 days because my key to it broke off in the lock, and I can't figure out a way to fix the situation without looking like i'm trying to steal it. I saw my first beggar in Lund. He was on the main street, in one hand an empty coffee cup for the change, in the other what looked like an identification/centrelink card. Strange. Permits for begging? Only in Sweden.

I went dress shopping this week. First stop was Åhléns to buy my Lucia dress. It's for the Luciakonsert on the 13th December. The fact that everyone in the choir has to wear one, including the gentlemen, is easing my pre-emptive humiliation a little. I haven't tried it on yet. Am gathering courage. The second dress is my 21st birthday dress. It's from my favourite op-shop, a vintage empress line strappy number, red with tiny black butterflies all over it. It's five millimeters too tight to do up the zip, so Valé our resident seamstress is going to do some alterations on it.

I am very much looking forward to my 21st. It's not going to be the same as it would be in Austraila, but nonetheless, we have already reserved the days from the 5th to the 9th for partying. On the Friday I'm having a sittning with my friends at Hallands Nation. Nikki drew me a picture of it and by the looks of it, it's going to be a pretty special event - Dougal will be wearing shoes and Penny will be wearing a skirt! And maybe Brad From Oregon will be naked, but negotiations are still underway so no promises yet.