Last week was skiing break for my kids. I couldn't find anywhere good to stay in the mountains, so we didn't go off on holiday. Here's what we did for fun instead.
- Dinner at the home of a Chinese friend. It was one of those no hablar parties that spouses in multi-ethnic marriages know all about. The food was great and everybody there except me spoke Mandarin - loudly and incessantly. I've never minded much: this time I had brought a book and there was a computer to play with.
- Birthday party at the home of an Iranian friend. He used to be a death-metal kid. Now he's a pro-democracy Persian patriot. Everybody wore green.
- Watched the new Alice in Wonderland movie in 3D and in the country's largest movie theatre. The kids loved it. I didn't. Instead of Carroll's original bad acid trip with language games they've made it into a slightly sappy Narnia thing where the characters have names and relationships and there's even a fixed geography. But the lead actress does a fine job and is nice to look at.
- Karaoke night: my kids wowed all the grown-ups with their skillz. Did you know that there's a Chinese expression for someone who won't share the mike? Mai ba, "Microphone Tyrant". All the Beatles songs were accompanied by embarrassing footage of a look-alike band. In order to believe that they really look alike, you have to think that all European males look the same.
- Went downhill skiing at the towering old Flottsbro landfill. It's just across the lake from Ãlvesta, in plain view of where I practiced fieldwalking back in '08. For skiing, I still use the gear my parents gave me in 1988. Need to sharpen the edges.
- Went skating and cross-country skiing.
- Got beaten twice at Yspahan and once at Settlers of Catan by my buddy Oscar. That'll teach me to take up with strange men that I meet at on-line discussion forums about, ah, shall we say... specialised pastimes.
- Juniorette went with the neighbours and watched The Princess and the Frog, and Grandma took her to the Museum of Nordic Culture.
The skiing break then ended on a non-fun note when the entire Rundkvist family was laid low by a calicivirus on Sunday.
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You have official skiing breaks in Sweden? Now I'm all the more determined to figure out a way to emigrate there some day. What a civilized society! Healthcare for all, largely non-religious and educated population, good public transport options, skiing breaks, Viking Museum, the archipelago ... who cares about the cold weather? ;-)
Sorry about the virus - hope you and the family feel better soon!
Thanks, Owl! Sweden's not a bad place to live. The Feb/March break is actually named "the sports break", but that time of year there aren't many sports going on here that aren't snow-related.
Wikipedia tells me that the Swedish skiing break was first offered in 1940, when the reason for the measure was that coal was rationed and there wasn't enough funds to heat the class rooms!
First the Olympics, now this - I miss skiing! Also, I now want to form a band called The Microphone Tyrants...