Kristianstad Predators Practice

Another beautiful day in Skåne.  I do love the bright sky here.

Today I was looking forward to a trip to Kristianstad to look around a little and see a Kristianstad Predators practice.  I had planned to hop on a train to go the short journey to Kristianstad so that I would be there with plenty of time to kind of wander toward the Predators' practice field and see the town a little bit on the way.

When I got to the train station, however, I found that the train I had planned to take was cancelled due to some reason that was explained, I'm sure, in Swedish.  I was able to figure out that there was a Regionbuss that had taken the place of that train.  I rushed off of the tracks to the bus terminal just in time to squeeze onto a packed bus.  I secured a spot standing next to the driver while a young woman and two gentlemen squeezed on behind me to take up the last free bit of space before the drive shut the door as somebody was trying to step on and away we went toward Kristianstad!

The bus ride turned out to be somewhat eventful, as well as full.  We blew past the first handful of stops, much to the obvious irritation of those at the bus stops, simply because we couldn't take on any more passangers.  On our way out of Hässleholm we witnessed the bus ahead of us sideswipe a car on a left turn through an intersection.  You know when you see semi-trucks taking turns and they always seem to just barely miss the car or street sign?  This bus didn't barely miss.

Finaly, after over an hour on the bus, I made it to Kristianstad Central station and began walking to the field.  I didn't have a lot of time to explore, but I was able to see a little more of the town.

The Predators' practice was fun to see.  Currently, their organization has a full junior program, including U13, U15, U17, and U19 teams.  They have a number of coaches and staff that come to help and split these teams, who are all practicing at roughly the same time, and make sure that all of the players are getting better while they're there.  I was impressed with the efficiency of the practice and the results thereof that were obvious in the demonstrated ability of the players I saw.

Tyson Guillen, seen here coaching up some half line 7 on 7, was my host and explained the workings of the program he helped build.  I also met with the club president, Anders Klang, as well as other board members and coaches, and Anders showed me the clubhouse.  Just a short distance from the field, the clubhouse includes both a small weight room for the younger players and a film room.  They also use the clubhouse for team building activities like gameday breakfasts.

It was nice to see another version of American football in Europe.  It looks to me like the Predators have a great organization going.

Skype-tastic Monday

No pictures were taken today, but I did have a couple notable experiences:

First, I had to take a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things, including bread.  Swedish bread is delicious.  I'm not sure why, but I think its just the fact that they still believe in baking bakery style bread loaves instead of manufactured for packing and sandwiches loaves.  I don't know if that made any sense, but I bought a delicious, hearty, soft, wheat bread loaf and proceeded to eat about half of it through the course of today.

Second, I spent a good deal of time organizing travel plans with my parents.  They'll arrive in Copenhagen on Saturday, the three of us will go from Copenhagen to Amsterdam Monday night and stay there until Sunday, September 12.  At that point, my parents will go home and I will continue on to Barcelona where I will stay with Emma Galin-Attleson, who I went to high school with and who has been living in Barcelona for the last two years.  Part of making these arrangements included talking on Skype to both my parents and Emma, as well as using Google Maps to make a custom map of Copenhagen to show my parents some things to do Saturday before they come to Hässleholm to stay for a night and see the area here Saturday evening and Sunday morning.  All in all, a kind of boring, but productive, day in Hässleholm.

Quiet Sunday Walk Around Hässleholm

The pace of life hasn't certainly slowed for me here in Sweden.  With the season being over and the Contreras's gone, there seems to be a lot less to do.  On the one hand I'm pretty content to be by myself and relax, read, watch a movie or TV shows (Mad Men is excellent and I've started The Pacific), or catch up with friends/job ideas, but on the other hand I feel a little guilty than I'm in Europe and not spending my time out seeing things.  I'll have to take better advantage of the remainder of my time here, if for no other reason than I'm starting to get a little bored.

To help cure my boredom, today I decided to go for a walk around Hässleholm.  I didn't venture too far, but sort of just enjoyed the beautiful day.

I'm becoming obsessed with the Swedish sky.  I also like its reflection in windows.

I also spent my spare time trying to cook my first legitimate Swedish meal.

Swedish meatballs and pasta with lingonberry sauce and mashed potatoes.  I tried also to make gravy, but, as you know, I can't read Swedish and what looked to me to be a cream colored gravy mix was actually a Chanterelle sauce mix.  It didn't make it out of the pan.

Kristianstad vs. Västerås Playoff Game

After a very late return to Hässleholm last night, I slept in pretty late Saturday morning.  In fact, I had to show a little hustle to get showered and ready to catch the train to Kristianstad to watch a first round Division I playoff game between the Kristianstad C4 Lions and the visiting Västerås Roedeer, who finished 2nd in the North region of Division I.

On my way to train station I walked through the farmer's market that was going on in Hässleholm's square.

I was sort of in a rush to make the game, but still stopped to take some pictures in my first walk through Kristianstad.  This church is directly across from the train station.

Here is another European city square about a block from the train station.

And another farmer's market!

I like how these towns all have small parks and flower gardens, often with fountains and/or statues in their centers.

After a brief moment of panic when I thought I had walked to the wrong stadium in Kristianstad (I just approached it from the opposite side, which meant I was looking at a brand new about to be opened indoor arena instead of the football field), I walked a bit farther and found the field, just in time to see the coin flip:

Västerås on the left in white, Kristianstad on the right in blue.

I also got to see Hurricane's starting left guard Lucas Grip in action as an official (back judge, in this game).  Vertical stripes are very thinning.

The first half was entertaining and tight.  From the start, Västerås appeared to be a much better team, but with the help of a kickoff return and long pass for a touchdown and key penalties and a fumble by Västerås, C4 was able to enter halftime tied 21-21.

The second half was very different.  Västerås was able to completely stifle C4's offense and imposed their will offensively, displaying an efficient passing game and an explosive running game.  Final score: Västerås 49, Kristianstad 21.

Malmö Festival

As is becoming customary for me here in Sweden, I had a nice quiet Friday morning.  After lazing about Icelandia in the morning, I finally emerged for fika.  I walked to the square and enjoyed a pastry and a coffee at Konditori Lövet.

As promised, at 5pm Johan Persson picked me up from Icelandia to begin our night at the Malmö Festival. We made quick stops at the Systembolaget (a government owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden.  It's the only place to buy drinks higher than 3.5% alcohol by volume) and the grocery store we met Lucas Grip at Johan's apartment.  We enjoyed my second round of the day of fika and talked about music and, of course, football.

Johan and I walked to the station while Lucas, plastic wine glass in hand (or mouth) rode his bike alongside us.  We made it to the station in what we thought was plenty of time, but after Johan bought his ticket we found ourselves hustling to the train, but made it with time to spare.

On the train with my gorgeous dates we met a girl who suddenly began taking pictures... of Lucas?  She claimed to be taking pictures of the reflection in the window next to him, but it was a little suspicious.  We had a nice coversation, although most of it was in Swedish.  So really, Johan, Lucas, and she had a nice conversation.  Apparently photography is a hobby for hers.  She showed us some of her work.  Lucas was definitely in some of those pictures.

We made it to Malmö after about an hour train ride and exited to a busier than normal train station and much busier than normal streets.  Even famous Swedes were around, as a girl popped out of the crowd to grab Lucas's attention.  It was Nilla Fischer!

Nilla is a member of the Swedish National Women's Football team.  She lives in Malmö and plays for LdB FC, a top division soccer club in Malmö.  She and Lucas are family friends, as Nilla is from nearby Kristianstad.

Finally we made it to the city square, which had the main stage set up, as well as a ferris wheel seen her behind the now dwarfed statue that is usually the focal point of the square.  We had almost two hours before the concert was going to start, so we decided to walk around the festival in search of food.

We got some fair food, but the thought of eating at an American restaurant with an American was too tempting to pass up, so we stopped at TGIFriday's for a drink and some appetizers.  I felt a little ashamed to be in Europe and eating at a TGIFriday's, but it was kind of comforting to be eating food that was so recognizably familiar.

We worked our way back to the square a few minutes before the concert was about to start.  The main purpose of our coming down to Malmö was to see the Teddybears, a Swedish band out of Stockholm that has a large following nationally and is starting to get more worldwide attention.  You may have heard their track Cobrastyle on a commercial or elsewhere.  They're mostly an electronica band with some hip/hop flavor.  Not really my style in general, but I enjoyed the show.  Lots of energy live, and very visually stimulating.

We had a pretty good place in the crowd, with a clear view of the stage.  Wait a minute are they wearing...

... bear masks?  Yes.  The dual necked bass/guitar player and the other bass player had the heads on the entire show.  A third mask was out, but its unclear exactly who wore it, as some songs had vocals, others had heavily altered vocals (sung by a guy in a bear mask), and other songs had vocals by non-masked men, at least one of which I think was a guest performer.

One even changed his mask for his special speed-metal Yngwie Malmsteen-esque guitar solo.  Very shiny.

Again, a good show, even if it wasn't my particular brand of music.  Afterwards we started to make our way back to the station to catch what we thought was the last train out of Malmö for Hässleholm.  Johan, again, needed to buy a ticket.

So did all of these people.  After waiting for about 40 minutes or so, he got out of line and we just tried to head for the train, that was now scheduled to leave in a little over 5 minutes.  Around the corner we slipped through a mass of people only to be stopped by the Polis.

They were trying to do some crowd control.  As you can see, there were way more people trying to leave than a train could hold.  Little by little they inefficiently started allowing some people through, which basically led to lots of pushing, a near fight, and a generally feeling of helplessness as you were carried along without really trying to go anywhere.  Finally the three of us made it to the other side... only to be told they'd moved our train to another track.

So, we rushed back toward all of the people we had just escaped who were also being told to go to the new track and were stopped again by authorities, only this time much closer to the front.  A few minutes later we had claimed three seats on the train.  We had to wait almost another 40 minutes while they packed people on the train, then told a bunch they had supplied a second train so they needed to get off, then more allowed more people to get on, before we and our packed train departed the station.

After such a struggle to even make the train, some were exhausted:

And some were a little punchy:

Another great night with great people in Sweden.

First Day in Icelandia and Dinner at The Grip's

My first morning in Icelandia was a late and lazy one, although it ended up being productive.  I was able to check off a number of things on my To Do list, including email and research on future job possibilities, Skype Emma (a good friend from high school who will be my hostess in Barcelona) and my parents to firm up future travel plans, and go to the grocery store.  While doing this I practiced the Swedish lifestyle as best I could by having coffee and bread for breakfast and then fika in the afternoon, thanks to a delicious brownie I found in the refrigerator that was so carelessly left behind by the Conterases.  I hope George wasn't hoping to have that upon his return to Icelandia after the Camino.

In the evening Johan Persson picked me up and we went to Lucas and Sara Grip's home on the other side of Hässleholm for dinner.  I had been there before for dinner (after the Carlshamn victory) and was more than happy to go back.  Lucas and Sara are great hosts and we enjoyed a delicious pork and vegetable meal followed by berries and cream for dessert.  We then went upstairs to a movie room that has surround sound and a projector that covers and entire wall to watch Solomon Kane.  I had a good time again at their home.

I regret it now, but I should have taken pictures of their house.  I really love the styling and decorating.  I, of course, have very little decorating ability, but I feel like I could really enjoy living in a house like theirs.  It looks like something out of an Ikea catalog, in that everything is very modern looking with square cubbies on shelves, modern light fixtures, et cetera.  Hopefully if there is another time I'm invited I'll not be so embarrassed to take pictures.

Catch Up and Moving to Icelandia

Another morning of catching up on blogs and email.  Ok, so it wasn't all productivity, but I'm on vacation!

After coming home from work, and with my stuff all packed up, Shawn gave me a ride to George and Laurie's now vacated apartment.  They left this morning for London where Laurie would have a brief layover then continue on to California and George would stay the night before traveling to the South of France to begin the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage walk across northern Spain.  Icelandia, as George dubbed the apartment upon his arrival in March, is a nice, small studio apartment on the 4th and top floor of an small apartment building near the center of Hässleholm and above a pizzeria.

I am very grateful to the Cordeiros and Marcus Linderoth for letting me stay in their homes while I've been in Sweden.  Both were very welcoming and accomodating and I truly appreciate their kindness.  It will be nice to have my own space, though, and experience (a little bit) of living on my own in another country.

Final Team Meeting

I spent the morning doing some catch up on blogs, emails, and laundry at the Cordeiro's.  Partly because it needed to be done, but also partly due to the weather.  It was very windy and rainy at times.

I went of the the Contreras's apartment in mid afternoon.  They had fika ready and we went over some details and quirks of the apartment, as I would be moving in after they left tomorrow.  I also spent a good amount of time picking George's brain.  He was very generous with his time and patience and answered all of my questions, which centered mainly around getting a coaching job.  I feel very fortunate to have had him as a coach and am glad that I've been able to stay in touch with him over the years.  He is a great guy and has so much knowledge and experience.

After our Q&A session, George and I walked to the field for the last time to attend a Hurricanes team meeting.

Uffe supplied fika in the form of coffee, chocolate cake, and lingonberry cream.  After eating, those in attendance gathered around and wrapped the season, as well as talking about the upcoming launch of the Hurricanes' peewee program.

So ends the Hässleholm Hurricanes 2010 senior season.  As mentioned, peewee and junior practices will continue, and I'll be helping out with those as I can.

American Football Youth Mini Camp and Thank You Dinner

Monday started off bright and early.  George and I had been asked by Jonas Grip to put on a sort of mini camp for a local school, so I met George at the field a little before 8am to set up.  Around 8:15 we started seeing students showing up, with a teacher shortly thereafter.  Oh, the freedom of the Swedish school system!

We ended up working with two groups of roughly 25 students each, boys and girls, for about an hour each.  George introduced the game to the students, including the equipment necessary to play.  We then put them through a brief warm up followed by short sessions in split groups of blocking, tackling, route running and catching, and kicking.

It turns out that the students were all about 17 years old and enrolled in an international studies program at Hässleholms Tekniska Skola.  Despite the age group, everyone had great attitudes about trying something new and giving a good effort.  There were some athletes in both groups and, hopefully, we were able to pique the interest of a few of them to pursue careers in American football as Hurricanes in the very near future.  Our exploits were again captured in the news here.

George and I stopped on our way back from the field at the cafe in the Heritage Park for a late morning fika and to discuss some of the athletes in the camp.  But mostly for fika.

I'd ridden on this bike path on the way back to the Cordeiro's a number of times before, but today it looked particularly peaceful and pretty.  I love how the light peaks through the trees.

Monday night I rode with Shawn and Katarina to Infinity Pizzeria where we were guests of George and Laurie for their Thank You Dinner.  In gratitude for all of the hospitality they'd received while in Sweden, the Contreras's took out a number of people they've met while in Hässleholm.  I was lucky enough to be invited without really deserving it.

Guests included Johan, Mariana, Christian, Elin, Uffe, Ulrica, Rasmus, Jonas, Linus, Helena, Mats...

... Johan, Thérése, Frank, Shawn, Katarina, Me, Lucas, and Sarah.  The food was good, the company was great.  These people had all been very welcoming to me as well.

George said a few words of thanks to the group, as did Jonas to George, Laurie, and even me for my brief time with the team.  He then presented a game ball to George that had been signed by the team.  I very cool memento of his time spent in Sweden, I'm sure.

Bjärnum

The Contreras's and I hopped on a regional bus just before noon and headed north to Bjärnum to meet with Frank Hilgers, who had invited us into his home for lunch and a trip to a local regional museum.

Of course I had met Frank earlier at practice, but this was the first time I had met his wife, Thérése, and his two daughters Sara and Anna.  Shortly after arriving we were greeted with a beautiful smörgåstårta (sandwich cake).  Smörgåstårta is a traditional Swedish meal, and this particular had tuna salad filling and was topped with shrimp, smoked salmon, cucumbers, tomatoes, and lemon.

Rich and filling.  After lunch, we headed out to the Bjärnum Museum of Regional History.  To get there, we took a shortcut through some very peaceful woods.

Suddenly, we stumbled upon a glorious sight...

Classic cars!  We lucked out and were visiting the museum while it was hosting a display of classic and antique cars, motorcycles, and even a few industrial machines.  The group toured an old schoolhouse first:

The schoolhouse also had the teacher's quarters, accessible in the back right of the above picture, that had artifacts that would be found there.  After the schoolhouse I couldn't stay with the group and had to look at the cars.

I took a lot of pictures of the cars.  There was certainly a European majority, but lots of makes were represented, including Volvo, Saab, Opel, Jaguar, Ford, Chevrolet, Fiat, and a few others.  After looking at the cars I rejoined the group to continue looking at the artifacts from the region.  The museum consisted of multiple buildings and had a surprisingly large and varied inventory.

After a few hours at the museum, we walked back to the Hilgers household for the promised fika.  It was a very pleasant and delicious afternoon in Bjärnum.