I remember being told early on in the week that I was going to be joining Marcus and his extended family in celebration of his grandpa’s birthday. I’m not going to lie; I was nervous as HELL. I was still nervous around Marcus’ family so the idea of being around his extended family made me want to hide. I didn’t want to complain though and I’d be damned if I ever told the Midefelts that I was too shy to go.
So when Sunday arrived, I did what I usually do when I’m nervous on making a good impression: I over-analyze EVERYTHING. I must’ve stewed over my clothes, hair, and makeup all morning. I think I tried on every damn shirt I had. I didn’t have anything with me that was casual nice. Actually, I take it back. I had a navy dress and striped cardigan that went over it. Guess I was too nervous to realize that. Would’ve been nice if I had since everyone there seemed to be wearing something a lot nicer than a T-shirt, jacket, and jeans. Ugh.
On the drive over, I asked Marcus how to say ‘happy birthday’ in Swedish. I honestly can’t remember what it was but I think upon hearing me horribly butcher the phrase, they told me to just stick with ‘grattis’. When we arrived at Grandpa and Grandma Midefelt’s house, I was so nervous I felt like I was going to start shaking! When their grandparents came out to greet us, I shook his grandpa’s hand and said, “grattis”. Of course, I imagine it was barely above an audible mutter so I hope he heard me! Once inside, I was introduced to everyone and I failed to make any sort of small talk. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with myself; should I follow Marcus and Thomas around or try to talk to his family or etc., etc… I, of course, did the only sensible thing in this kind of dilemma and stood around like a doofus. Sigh.
I was informed that we would be eating something called Smörgås Cake (the only reason I knew exactly what that was is due to Regular Ordinary Swedish Mealtime). When it came to seating, I was placed next to Marcus. Marcus and I both figured that this would happen because his family would think that he and I were a couple. I was also next to a very good-looking guy who turned out to be one of Marcus’ –very—hot cousins: Jonas. So as if I wasn’t already nervous enough, add a hot guy to the mix and I become more wobbly than a bowl of Jell-O. Marcus leaned over every now and then to fill me in on interesting facts pertaining to his aunts and uncles or his grandparents.
For the majority of the meal, I was very quiet. Granted, it wasn’t just because I was shy. In all honesty, I was fascinated to watch the Midefelts interact with one another in a language I couldn’t understand. I know I’ve mentioned it before but there’s just something so incredible about observing human interaction without the ability to contribute or understand. There is this raw energy that suddenly becomes visible and audible as you find yourself on the outside, making use of the skill of deciphering body language, facial expression, and tone to understand the content of a conversation. You’ll still find yourself in a daze and completely out of your element, but the thing is, you just don’t care! It becomes fun to be the outsider; the foreigner. Of course, there are those times when you just want to carry on with them in their language but due to lack of education, you find yourself frustrated into silence. I know Marcus, Emil, Simon, Thomas, and the others all enjoyed this fact immensely as Emil once said: "It’s like we have a gentlemen only club, haha." Men.
I think what I found myself frustrated by the most is that I was very quiet when we were in large groups. The reason being is that, often times, the group would start talking in Swedish and I would be unable to join in. Now, I’m not saying this in a bitter or cynical tone. I mean, my God, I’m in Sweden; there is bound to be massive amounts of Swedish spoken. Marcus told me that I was welcome to just go off in English but I was very loath to do that because I felt like I’d be interrupting—and in a very rude way, I might add. It’s like: “Hey! You’re speaking Swedish but I don’t care! I’m American so you all have to speak MY language, bitches!!” I’m adamant that on my next visit, I’ll have at least have a rudimentary understanding of Swedish. I’m a very loud, talkative person. Seriously. And I don’t think anyone outside of Marcus and his family really got to see that in full force.
I remember distinctly at one point during the meal, Jonas leaned over towards me and said, “We’re all talking shit about you.” I believed him for a split second too! Marcus and Jonas had a fun time using me to exchange insults back and forth in Swedish for them. It got some laughs out of the family and that helped me feel a tad less nervous. Just a tad, mind you.
Something I found interesting about my stay was how much my appetite changed. Less food made me full and most of the time, unfortunately, I felt like I was going to vomit shortly after. Now, I’m not saying the food was bad because that was most certainly NOT the case. I’ve had this happen to me before but I’ve never been able to find out what causes it. But anything more than water will make my gag reflex ultra-sensitive and swallowing food and/or drink becomes very difficult. It also affected how much coffee I drank. I bloody love coffee and I can’t get enough of the stuff! But I barely drank more than half a cup every couple of days while I was there. I felt bad whenever I turned down coffee but I didn’t want to end up wasting it which happened on a couple of occasions.
Something I found interesting about my stay was how much my appetite changed. Less food made me full and most of the time, unfortunately, I felt like I was going to vomit shortly after. Now, I’m not saying the food was bad because that was most certainly NOT the case. I’ve had this happen to me before but I’ve never been able to find out what causes it. But anything more than water will make my gag reflex ultra-sensitive and swallowing food and/or drink becomes very difficult. It also affected how much coffee I drank. I bloody love coffee and I can’t get enough of the stuff! But I barely drank more than half a cup every couple of days while I was there. I felt bad whenever I turned down coffee but I didn’t want to end up wasting it which happened on a couple of occasions.
The reason I bring all of that up is because after I had a piece of Smörgås Cake, I was really full. But apparently there was dessert. And a lot of it too. I picked a few desserts but found myself unable to finish a whole one. I felt like I was either going to explode or barf and the latter I would much rather not happen. God, what a first impression that would have been. And after the first round of desserts, there was even more! My God, it looked really good too! I was so sad when I had to turn them down because I couldn’t swallow another bite. SO SAD. Fortunately, Marcus leaned over and told me that it was alright if I had leftovers on my plate. Thank God. I still felt guilty about it because I didn’t want his grandma to think I didn’t like it.
We had coffee as well and I remember Marcus trying to get his grandma to ask me if I wanted coffee in English but she was too shy. It was really adorable. After the meal, we all hung out for a little bit and Jonas invited us to go out fishing with him sometime in the week. I’m not much of a fisher but how many times would I get this opportunity again? Plus, he’s hot. Can’t turn down an offer from a hot guy.
Eventually, it was time to go and everyone said goodbye to one another and Marcus’ grandparents even hugged me! I was so stupidly happy about that.
Eventually, it was time to go and everyone said goodbye to one another and Marcus’ grandparents even hugged me! I was so stupidly happy about that.
After that, Connie and Morgan took us bowling! The only problem was that Mother Nature decided to visit me right at that moment. I was frustrated since I knew I should have brought my… err… supplies with me. I informed Marcus since I was waaaay too shy to bring that up to his mom. So he told Connie and she drove me back to their house. Luckily, they didn’t live very far from the bowling alley so it was a quick trip home and back.
Even though I sucked, it was a lot of fun to go bowling again for the first time in many, many years. And of course, Connie and Morgan were kicking our asses! Connie told me in the car ride back from their house, “Morgan is very good but he’s such a douchebag when he wins.” Haha, I love Connie. We got to play two or three games before our time was up. Thomas was the best out of Marcus and me. I got three strikes at one point during the game, but for the most part it was almost all gutter balls. Oi vey. Marcus and Thomas gave me advice to improve but I just sucked too hard for it work. Late during the last game though, we discovered that I had been holding the ball the wrong way the entire time…. May or may not have affected my game.... Jesus, what a moron I am.
Even though I sucked, it was a lot of fun to go bowling again for the first time in many, many years. And of course, Connie and Morgan were kicking our asses! Connie told me in the car ride back from their house, “Morgan is very good but he’s such a douchebag when he wins.” Haha, I love Connie. We got to play two or three games before our time was up. Thomas was the best out of Marcus and me. I got three strikes at one point during the game, but for the most part it was almost all gutter balls. Oi vey. Marcus and Thomas gave me advice to improve but I just sucked too hard for it work. Late during the last game though, we discovered that I had been holding the ball the wrong way the entire time…. May or may not have affected my game.... Jesus, what a moron I am.
Car rides started off being very quiet –minus the metal music that always played (SEE WHY I LOVE THIS FAMILY)—but eventually turned into Thomas and me poking, shoving, and otherwise torturing one another. We got fairly rowdy but Thomas was far too easy to subdue. He’d probably fiercely deny this fact if he ever read this XD I think our pestering one another turned into both Marcus and Thomas informing me that ponytails sucked. This made me a very sad panda. I like my ponytails! Fuck you two and your long blonde hair.
After returning home, Thomas, Marcus, and I were debating on what to do with the rest of our day. Thomas suggested Kubb (if you don’t know what that is, stop now and go look it up because I do not have the willpower to type up an explanation for that). It sounded like fun but I wasn’t sure if Thomas would be successful in convincing his parents to help set it up or to even join in. Marcus wasn’t sure if he’d be very good since we just came back from bowling. My arm and wrist were in a fair amount of pain so I doubted my ability to play as well. But it ended up being a great way to spend the evening! Minus the mosquitoes that is. Thomas and I also spotted what appeared to be a baby hedgehog :D Dottie and Casper were equally fascinated but surprisingly didn’t attack the little guy. They also added a little mayhem to the game since whenever we would toss a baton, they –mostly Dottie–would burst out across yard and nearly get their brains knocked out.
Something that had always been in the back of my mind was whether or not something was bothering Marcus that day. He seemed unusually quiet but I just hoped that maybe he was tired.
Something that had always been in the back of my mind was whether or not something was bothering Marcus that day. He seemed unusually quiet but I just hoped that maybe he was tired.
Later that night, Marcus accused me of being a woo-girl… Something that none of them will EVER let me live down. For the record: I AM NOT A WOO-GIRL DESPITE WHAT SOME SOURCES MAY SAY. Marcus certainly did his best to make sure EVERYONE thought I was one though. Damn Swede. I made sure Marcus and Thomas received a severe beating every time they called me one, though. Still didn’t stop them though.
After Thomas went off to bed, Marcus and I worked on my CthulhuTech character. Again, if you don’t know what that is, discover it through the magic of Google. We spent an hour or two developing Jeza before I became fully satisfied with him. Marcus decided to wait on the stats until we played next Sunday with Johan and the rest of the CthulhuTech gang.
With that done, we decided that climbing out onto the roof would be a fun adventure. It was rather tricky, and kind of painful, to crawl up but we eventually made it to a level plane. We sat there talking for some time, though about what exactly I can’t remember. One statement that Marcus had made resonated with me the most. He told me that of all his friends and girlfriends he had ever had, Thomas liked me the most. I was really surprised by that. It really made me feel special.
We weren’t on the roof very long however, as a seagull caught our attention when it began circling above us. It was making an odd sound that Marcus kept saying reminded him of a bad experience he had as a kid. We shrugged it off and kept talking but it wasn’t long before a second seagull joined the first, making the same weird sound. As we were puzzling out this odd behavior, a third one came over and mimicked the other two. At that, Marcus and I jumped up and started scrambling to get off the roof. As we were sliding our way down, Marcus finally remembered a similar bad experience with seagulls which resulted in him getting attacked. Wanting to avoid a repeat, we made our way back in through the window as fast as we possibly could. Marcus swears his roof is seagull territory; I think they just thought he was a giant seagull due to his white shirt :P
To finish off the night, we started watching a TV series called Defying Gravity. Don’t know what that is either? You know what to do. It’s a very cool show though and Marcus expressed his disappointment in the show’s short running time. I was definitely hooked from the pilot episode and it became something we watched for the rest of my stay in Sweden.
Now, the way our nights usually ended was with Marcus saying something incredibly snarky and getting a severe beating for it. This night was certainly no different. Of course, Marcus wusses out and tells me that he’s too tired once I get the upper hand. He has to like irritating me though since he ALWAYS makes snippy little remarks that he KNOWS will result in him being persecuted. Thomas is the same way. Ah, but that’s why I love them.
And thus ends my first Sunday in Sweden! I’m making progress! Herp derp!
Until the next entry!
