Another week has almost past and lots of must's
And things start getting in order. The weekend wasn't too bad, I met a friend from last summer, worked out pretty good with orienteering, went clubbing (but the clubbing here sucks!) and visited my grandparents and cousins on "mothers day". I've been doing inlines and on Monday I practiced lindy my first time with a partner since I left the US. It's a dance girl I met last year who dances all kind of dances but not much lindy so I have to teach her a bit, but that's Ok.
I'm more in balance with my training in general and happy with again training every day - despite it isn't dancing every day as before. Yesterday I ran my 3rd race, was ½ minute slower than last week but I had dinner too late, ate too much fibers so my tummy was really troubled and I couldn't push myself hard enough. I really 'know' I shouldn't eat a lot of crispy bread before a race, but I kind of *forgot* since I haven't raced enough the last couple of months.
I have some problems getting in balance with my food here, I'm constantly hungry and eat a lot but I've also gained 4 lb just since I came back to Sweden (11 since the fall) so I try eating more fibers/fruit, so I don't gain weight. Maybe it isn't a problem, can be mostly muscles and liquid because I've actually lost even more of my waist size, but because I've been doing more cardio training back here I didn't expect gaining weight.
This Friday the barn dances (summer dances) begins too! I'm excited, it's so many good bands playing this summer every Fri/Sat and also during the week, so I'm expectant! The job at work is also funnier now, I've been put into a programming project so now I'm forced to learn a lot of new things and can work whenever I've time.
The day before yesterday I hadn't done my hair when I came to work (I often have spiky hair), and when lunch came Sara was asking me: "Henrik, how are you today? You look so kind. I don't know what it is, but you're just just looking so behaved and kind. -I haven't done my hair today. -Oh yeah, that's why!"
So now I've decided to never go outside the door agagin without doing my hair, I'm looking too kind then :)
Another thing that happened last Friday was when I visited my mum and her 'new' boyfriend. We were sitting in the couch inside in the evening, when he said to my mum they had to move some wardrobes outside before going to bed. My mum quickly said "Henrik, can't you help Christer moving those?" And of course I could do that, and was ready to, but before my answer Christer told her "Henrik just came home so let him relax for a second, we can move them ourselves!" I was so surprised, and realized why it feels so burdensome coming home to Örnsköldsvik (one reason): everybody want me to help them with everything! My mum wants help moving things from here and there, my dad as well... things have to get fixed, working days together at vacation houses and grandparents and cousins have birthdays... Mothers day and "grandma is old, you HAVE to visit her this week"....
I hate it! It's so much demands from everybody all the time, back her people don't let me take care of myself instead everybody want me to help "just them", "just this little thing that doesn't work, I'm sure u can fix it when you're so proficient with computers" (etc.) It's SO NICE leaving town, and even better the country, and just staying away from all "must" 's.
Anyways, I love it's light all the time now. Also in the night I can go outside anytime and it's still as light as in the day (maybe a cloudy day, but still) and the temperatures are also getting higher now with 65-90 degrees. Some positive things with Örnsköldsvik is the smell of the sea, the sounds of sea gulls mixed up with the smells of typical swedish summer flowers (we have more different smells/views and year ages here). It's still calmer with less traffic, green outside and the beatiful sea to watch all the time everywhere! We have a fantastic coast and lots of hills and fantastic views in the area so I can highly recommend you to visit it sometimes during your life time. Now I have to keep working.... miss you Denver, USA and dancing in general! Swedish dances and dancers, see you tomorrow!
I'm more in balance with my training in general and happy with again training every day - despite it isn't dancing every day as before. Yesterday I ran my 3rd race, was ½ minute slower than last week but I had dinner too late, ate too much fibers so my tummy was really troubled and I couldn't push myself hard enough. I really 'know' I shouldn't eat a lot of crispy bread before a race, but I kind of *forgot* since I haven't raced enough the last couple of months.
I have some problems getting in balance with my food here, I'm constantly hungry and eat a lot but I've also gained 4 lb just since I came back to Sweden (11 since the fall) so I try eating more fibers/fruit, so I don't gain weight. Maybe it isn't a problem, can be mostly muscles and liquid because I've actually lost even more of my waist size, but because I've been doing more cardio training back here I didn't expect gaining weight.
This Friday the barn dances (summer dances) begins too! I'm excited, it's so many good bands playing this summer every Fri/Sat and also during the week, so I'm expectant! The job at work is also funnier now, I've been put into a programming project so now I'm forced to learn a lot of new things and can work whenever I've time.
The day before yesterday I hadn't done my hair when I came to work (I often have spiky hair), and when lunch came Sara was asking me: "Henrik, how are you today? You look so kind. I don't know what it is, but you're just just looking so behaved and kind. -I haven't done my hair today. -Oh yeah, that's why!"
So now I've decided to never go outside the door agagin without doing my hair, I'm looking too kind then :)
Another thing that happened last Friday was when I visited my mum and her 'new' boyfriend. We were sitting in the couch inside in the evening, when he said to my mum they had to move some wardrobes outside before going to bed. My mum quickly said "Henrik, can't you help Christer moving those?" And of course I could do that, and was ready to, but before my answer Christer told her "Henrik just came home so let him relax for a second, we can move them ourselves!" I was so surprised, and realized why it feels so burdensome coming home to Örnsköldsvik (one reason): everybody want me to help them with everything! My mum wants help moving things from here and there, my dad as well... things have to get fixed, working days together at vacation houses and grandparents and cousins have birthdays... Mothers day and "grandma is old, you HAVE to visit her this week"....
I hate it! It's so much demands from everybody all the time, back her people don't let me take care of myself instead everybody want me to help "just them", "just this little thing that doesn't work, I'm sure u can fix it when you're so proficient with computers" (etc.) It's SO NICE leaving town, and even better the country, and just staying away from all "must" 's.
Anyways, I love it's light all the time now. Also in the night I can go outside anytime and it's still as light as in the day (maybe a cloudy day, but still) and the temperatures are also getting higher now with 65-90 degrees. Some positive things with Örnsköldsvik is the smell of the sea, the sounds of sea gulls mixed up with the smells of typical swedish summer flowers (we have more different smells/views and year ages here). It's still calmer with less traffic, green outside and the beatiful sea to watch all the time everywhere! We have a fantastic coast and lots of hills and fantastic views in the area so I can highly recommend you to visit it sometimes during your life time. Now I have to keep working.... miss you Denver, USA and dancing in general! Swedish dances and dancers, see you tomorrow!
why is life weird?
Or, why does it feels weird being back in the town where I grew up? I don't like it, and think it may be because I almost only work and do most of my training alone, so I can't clearly see the point of training when I don't have competitions in a close future (next week). And I have hardly danced anything since I came back here, it hasn't been much offered. I was practicing alone in a ballroom when another (the only?) couple was practicing together, and had a good time in front of the mirror but I miss the partnerdancing and playing around - discussing how it looks, with someone else!
I'm a social person who likes socializing with other people, maybe I'm feeling as I do because I feel a bit alone. I haven't met many of my old friends, most of them don't live here anymore and those who do - they still are at the same place in life as when I left them.
I'm eating way more here too. Maybe because I'm doing more and harder physical training, but I also think the food in the US are more "compact", it's more energy per square unit food over there.
Monday I went mountainbiking after work, tuesday I swam in the morning and solodanced and wt lifted in the evening. Wednesday I ran a race, and I performed my best time ever on that route of 4.1K - 13m56s but I still feel I could have pushed me a bit more. Tonight I've been biking and running orienteering and I'm not sure yet about the weekend. I don't think I can afford going to the adventure race in next town north so I may stay here. Now it's late, I'm tired and always (so far) running out of time sleeping so godnizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
I'm a social person who likes socializing with other people, maybe I'm feeling as I do because I feel a bit alone. I haven't met many of my old friends, most of them don't live here anymore and those who do - they still are at the same place in life as when I left them.
I'm eating way more here too. Maybe because I'm doing more and harder physical training, but I also think the food in the US are more "compact", it's more energy per square unit food over there.
Monday I went mountainbiking after work, tuesday I swam in the morning and solodanced and wt lifted in the evening. Wednesday I ran a race, and I performed my best time ever on that route of 4.1K - 13m56s but I still feel I could have pushed me a bit more. Tonight I've been biking and running orienteering and I'm not sure yet about the weekend. I don't think I can afford going to the adventure race in next town north so I may stay here. Now it's late, I'm tired and always (so far) running out of time sleeping so godnizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
A pretty good weekend w/ dancing and climbing
My first night with swedish dancing, gave me some reminders. First, our closed dance foxtrot is danced extremely tight, way tighter then blues is danced in US. The closed position is what make you sweaty, not a high tempo of dancing. Second, I hardly remembered how to dance bugg. Or, I can dance but lots of my handling of the girl is done automatically based on expectations how the girl act in lindy hop, and in bugg she didn't.... eg. twisting wasn't something I had to lead at all, just getting her to the side and she started 'kind'a' twist on her own, walking just straight forward. The momentum is nothing I could use very much, we aren't expected to switch place and the leading is coming way more from the arm/wrist instead of the entire body/chest/hip.
Anyways, the friday night dance was OK and on Saturday I was watching the Swedish Championships in all kind of dances, a very fun time. Especially in the discipline boogie woogie, where a young couple (15 and 12 years old) were a total blast and probably had placed also in the adult class.
Saturday evening it was social dancing and it's the first time 900 people has a percentage of maybe 50% competors, and everybody is great dancers! It was really fun and interesting but I also experienced the snoby behaviour from many competing dance girls, even if it was less than I expected.
Sunday morning we again went climbing, this time at another Mt about 350 ft high. A good day with 4 pitches of lead climbing before I got home and met my dad (back from Italy). I was tired with little sleep last night so took a nap before having dinner with him and then I went rollerskiing (skiing in the summer, on shorter skiis, perhaps 2 ft tall with wheels) 15 miles. I soon felt I haven't used my muscles for skiing since last summer, especially my triceps got sore fast so now I have to keep training till the races...
I was thinking about my expected jet-lag too... that I haven't felt yet. I was sleeping perfectly fine since the first night I got home and haven't had any real problems as I had last Xmas, so probably my problems in December were related to the entire previous semester when I hardly had time to sleep and was extremely busy with school.
Another thing confusing me is the fact I consider myself as someone who has easy to accommodate to most (new) situations and I feel I'm very confident in myself. This fact frustrate(d) me 'cause my mood haven't been the best since I came home, and I didn't expect it to be hard to go back to Sweden. I start getting back to some kind of structure and routines now and feeling some confidence in the future so it will probably be good in a while.
Anyways, the friday night dance was OK and on Saturday I was watching the Swedish Championships in all kind of dances, a very fun time. Especially in the discipline boogie woogie, where a young couple (15 and 12 years old) were a total blast and probably had placed also in the adult class.
Saturday evening it was social dancing and it's the first time 900 people has a percentage of maybe 50% competors, and everybody is great dancers! It was really fun and interesting but I also experienced the snoby behaviour from many competing dance girls, even if it was less than I expected.
Sunday morning we again went climbing, this time at another Mt about 350 ft high. A good day with 4 pitches of lead climbing before I got home and met my dad (back from Italy). I was tired with little sleep last night so took a nap before having dinner with him and then I went rollerskiing (skiing in the summer, on shorter skiis, perhaps 2 ft tall with wheels) 15 miles. I soon felt I haven't used my muscles for skiing since last summer, especially my triceps got sore fast so now I have to keep training till the races...
I was thinking about my expected jet-lag too... that I haven't felt yet. I was sleeping perfectly fine since the first night I got home and haven't had any real problems as I had last Xmas, so probably my problems in December were related to the entire previous semester when I hardly had time to sleep and was extremely busy with school.
Another thing confusing me is the fact I consider myself as someone who has easy to accommodate to most (new) situations and I feel I'm very confident in myself. This fact frustrate(d) me 'cause my mood haven't been the best since I came home, and I didn't expect it to be hard to go back to Sweden. I start getting back to some kind of structure and routines now and feeling some confidence in the future so it will probably be good in a while.
Climbing and dancing tonight - it becomes better
Wednesday it kept raining in the day but eventually the clouds blow away and the sun arrived. I went to my first running competition in a loong time. It's a smaller event in town every Wednesday for 4 weeks now, and it's only 4.2K (about 3 miles) flat running. There were a bunch of pretty good runners starting and I had absolutely no clue about my current shape, but was following in 2nd group and finished up 8th among 74 starting, with a time of 14.34 so it was a positive surprise despite the feelings still wasnt good. I felt really slow and weak, without power to accelerate.
Thursday then, I and three of my friends went climbing at a great Mt 50 miles south of Örnsköldsvik, Ringkallen. We had an awesome day with sun and good trad climbing even if the temperatures were a bit chilly, around 45-50. They are staying tonight too, in tent but I work todya Friday so I had to go home. This reminded me about "the old days" and the life I use to live, and how easy (not a big deal) it is to just grab the tent and go for anything a night or two. Then we had a great dinner with entrecote (meat), boiled potatoes and bearnase sauce - cooked and grilled by ourselves outside in the sun while looking out over the sea. Yam yam!
Friday, back at work but tonight am I going to Umeå for my first swedish dance night! A band named Expanders is playing and I found a bunch of (for me) unknown people driving the 65 miles up there who are giving me a ride! Now I'm on my way to a gym for the first wt lifting training back in Sweden! *hugs*
Thursday then, I and three of my friends went climbing at a great Mt 50 miles south of Örnsköldsvik, Ringkallen. We had an awesome day with sun and good trad climbing even if the temperatures were a bit chilly, around 45-50. They are staying tonight too, in tent but I work todya Friday so I had to go home. This reminded me about "the old days" and the life I use to live, and how easy (not a big deal) it is to just grab the tent and go for anything a night or two. Then we had a great dinner with entrecote (meat), boiled potatoes and bearnase sauce - cooked and grilled by ourselves outside in the sun while looking out over the sea. Yam yam!
Friday, back at work but tonight am I going to Umeå for my first swedish dance night! A band named Expanders is playing and I found a bunch of (for me) unknown people driving the 65 miles up there who are giving me a ride! Now I'm on my way to a gym for the first wt lifting training back in Sweden! *hugs*
I don't belong to Sweden right now :(
Two days since I came back, it has been raining most of the time and been in the 40-50is... I've started working, and so far I've gone for one running exercise and one biking... But I don't feel happy to be back in Sweden. I don't feel inspired or revived as I thought I would be... I don't feel the fantastic smells that I kind of expected, out in the forest... *sigh*
I miss Denver, I miss the people over there, I miss the weather and right now I can feel I don't belong to Sweden despite I've grown up here and always loved it and the nature and what it gives me.
I just don't feel the inspiration of working hard for the skiing and adventure racing as when I was in the 20ish. Right now, the dancing (in the US) feels to be the most right goal I want to aim for and I can't wait going back, or at least leaving Sweden again.
Hopefully these feelings will change, in not too long. And I also know, I really love the winter with all the snow - but thats lots of months away.
I miss Denver, I miss the people over there, I miss the weather and right now I can feel I don't belong to Sweden despite I've grown up here and always loved it and the nature and what it gives me.
I just don't feel the inspiration of working hard for the skiing and adventure racing as when I was in the 20ish. Right now, the dancing (in the US) feels to be the most right goal I want to aim for and I can't wait going back, or at least leaving Sweden again.
Hopefully these feelings will change, in not too long. And I also know, I really love the winter with all the snow - but thats lots of months away.
Last report in my american blog
but I will keep blogging, only in english from now and on so my friends anywhere in the world can follow me if they are interested.
I spent entire Friday to pack my luggage for the flight back to Sweden. Started 9am and took a break 9-11pm and finished up my packing (and cleaning out my room) about 2ish in the morning. Then I got up 4.30am having a shower and took off to the airport (Mimi was so sweet and gave me a ride) with all my bags, about 240 pounds. Then I had already shipped 50 lb with a friend to Sweden and I left both clothes by Mimi and two pair of skiis to Hanna. I had to pay for two extra oversize pieces, but that's OK.
The flight to Chicago went fast, I slept deeply for 2hr and then I got 4hr at Chicago O'hare before keep going 9hr to Stockholm. This time I had a harder time to sleep, and I mostly relaxed, watched movies and just enjoyed doing nothing. I arrived Sweden (Stockholm) 8.50am local time and had 3hr before my last flight up to my hometown Örnsköldsvik where my mum picked me up at the airport. A bunch of hockey pro's were coming together with me, the brother's Sedin (Vancouver Canucks) and Niklas Sundström among others. I knew I were back in Övik (slang abbreviation for Örnsköldsvik), almost everybody has a relative or knows a hockey pro.
I got a few hours to unpack my bikes, and wash and get my swedish car in order to drive before my relatives came and congratulated me for my b-day. It was good to see them and especially my grandpa who starts getting old felt very important to meet!
I slept most of this first night in a while, but woke up earlier than usual and went to work Monday morning. After 10 min's signing papers I had to start treating an ill computer, *buähh*, I was back in business but more an important then fun assignment to start working with. It took the entire day before I had to shop food to the empty refrigerator in my dad's house (he's in Italy) and I met up shortly with my climbing friend Erik. Then I felt it was time to go for a run outside! It has been cold here a couple of weeks and today it has mostle been raining and about 50 :( but this became my first running exercise in my "usual" environment for 9 month's. It felt really weird and lots of feelings memories, smells and thoughts passed through my head. About accommodating, living in different countries, comparisons about Swedish and CO's weather, putting time and efforts into different kind of things - aiming for different goals....
After an hour I felt pretty done, reminded how bad "running-shape" I'm in but I also felt happy and inspired of getting back in shape for the adventure racing season. Splitted when thinking about my dance camps - Herräng and Gothenburg Lindy Xchange - I've signed up for so far. Wondering about the request from a nordic skii team of making up a small sponsored team of 4 guys specialized for long races (>3hrs). Realizing I've spent a lot of money during my year in the US and need to work even more than before with my 2-3 jobs in parallell with school to (hopefully) refill my buffert, and also having a chance to keep having these expensive habits.
Help me! I want 36 or 48 hr days back in my life! (have I ever had those? well, sleeping only 3hr/night in the fall at least gave me a couple of xtra hours compared to other people)
It's a bit weird being back in sweden, but it's also good. I get more perspective of what I've been doing for a while, and what I want but I still think in english and are ready to answer in english, and already miss Denver and all of you so much!
Hugs and kisses to all of you!
I spent entire Friday to pack my luggage for the flight back to Sweden. Started 9am and took a break 9-11pm and finished up my packing (and cleaning out my room) about 2ish in the morning. Then I got up 4.30am having a shower and took off to the airport (Mimi was so sweet and gave me a ride) with all my bags, about 240 pounds. Then I had already shipped 50 lb with a friend to Sweden and I left both clothes by Mimi and two pair of skiis to Hanna. I had to pay for two extra oversize pieces, but that's OK.
The flight to Chicago went fast, I slept deeply for 2hr and then I got 4hr at Chicago O'hare before keep going 9hr to Stockholm. This time I had a harder time to sleep, and I mostly relaxed, watched movies and just enjoyed doing nothing. I arrived Sweden (Stockholm) 8.50am local time and had 3hr before my last flight up to my hometown Örnsköldsvik where my mum picked me up at the airport. A bunch of hockey pro's were coming together with me, the brother's Sedin (Vancouver Canucks) and Niklas Sundström among others. I knew I were back in Övik (slang abbreviation for Örnsköldsvik), almost everybody has a relative or knows a hockey pro.
I got a few hours to unpack my bikes, and wash and get my swedish car in order to drive before my relatives came and congratulated me for my b-day. It was good to see them and especially my grandpa who starts getting old felt very important to meet!
I slept most of this first night in a while, but woke up earlier than usual and went to work Monday morning. After 10 min's signing papers I had to start treating an ill computer, *buähh*, I was back in business but more an important then fun assignment to start working with. It took the entire day before I had to shop food to the empty refrigerator in my dad's house (he's in Italy) and I met up shortly with my climbing friend Erik. Then I felt it was time to go for a run outside! It has been cold here a couple of weeks and today it has mostle been raining and about 50 :( but this became my first running exercise in my "usual" environment for 9 month's. It felt really weird and lots of feelings memories, smells and thoughts passed through my head. About accommodating, living in different countries, comparisons about Swedish and CO's weather, putting time and efforts into different kind of things - aiming for different goals....
After an hour I felt pretty done, reminded how bad "running-shape" I'm in but I also felt happy and inspired of getting back in shape for the adventure racing season. Splitted when thinking about my dance camps - Herräng and Gothenburg Lindy Xchange - I've signed up for so far. Wondering about the request from a nordic skii team of making up a small sponsored team of 4 guys specialized for long races (>3hrs). Realizing I've spent a lot of money during my year in the US and need to work even more than before with my 2-3 jobs in parallell with school to (hopefully) refill my buffert, and also having a chance to keep having these expensive habits.
Help me! I want 36 or 48 hr days back in my life! (have I ever had those? well, sleeping only 3hr/night in the fall at least gave me a couple of xtra hours compared to other people)
It's a bit weird being back in sweden, but it's also good. I get more perspective of what I've been doing for a while, and what I want but I still think in english and are ready to answer in english, and already miss Denver and all of you so much!
Hugs and kisses to all of you!
Last time at the Merc (for a while at least)
First Wednesday, I started packing out things from my room and I also sold my small little car... Weird to be car-less but I have so many good friends that give me a ride so it isn't a big problem these few days. I went to the weight room a bit before I also had some food with relatives to my mum (cousins) so they should logically be relatives to me as well :) Then I started getting a cold and didn't do much important except of an early evening and lots of sleep.
Thursday then... I went climbing with Anthony in Eldorado Canyon (Boulder). It's basically only trad climbing and we entered the Mt about 10ish, and I wanted to head home @1pm but at that time were we only halfway up, and didn't see the top nor the bottom. I was back on the ground again 3.10pm and my Chasers practice begins at 3.30 (downtown) so I was way late... Hanna who was going to give me a ride was struggling with her experiment though, but when I got back to Golden I just grabbed my stuff and we took off for going downtown. I felt really stressed and in bad dance mood, and unfortunately did I show that with my entire body in my dance that didn't go very well.
After the practice did I go for a "last-dinner" with Pedro, Katie and Naomi, really good! Then some social dancing started before we in Chasers warmed up outside and got ready for the performance. We had fun together and I was in way better mood now, I was happy and I'm pretty sure I showed that as well with my whole body!
Back inside, performance went pretty good and we had a really fun time!! We also said thank you with flowers to Joe & Nelle and now all the most fantastic began! Dan was announcing that I'm leaving and "we are going to have a little jam for him" so I didn't get much time to catch my breath, instead I kept dancing non-stop with all girls that wanted to dance with me! It was very fun even if I partly felt my dance sucked a bit - despite I was very happy. And from now on I hardly did anything else than dancing "the last dance", giving the last hug and taking pictures with all my friends! It made me extremely happy when also girls like Delilah, Sarah and Tiffany tells me they gonna miss me! It was so much people coming to see me and, I'm totally overwhelmed! I got birthday/take-off cake as well and, yes! I've thought about if I ever is gonna have much fun say on my wedding in the future, but I'm pretty sure this was among the best and most meaningful days ever! I really really felt so happy among all my friends here in Denver!
Thank you all of you!!! I'm gonna miss Denver and all of you so much!! I will definitely do my best to get back here as tourist this coming year and really work for coming back for the entire next school year in some kind of way!
Done with finals and first peformance w Chasers!
Yeah! The last couple of days have been pretty intense... An awesome weekend in Minneapolis with lots of dancing, inspiration and more perspective about dancing and things..... followed up by 2 finals on Monday afternoon, and a look at the new Student Rec Center at Mines that just opened! It's so great, with a new indoor climbing wall as well.
Today Tuesday have I written my last final and I'm done with school!!! Talked to the school about the rules for Visa and I might be able to get some help for getting a visa to do an internship or so next year, and usually my 2 year rule isn't a problem for swedish people if I fill out a waiver, according to the people "who knows".
Gabe wanted to go climbing so we made a pretty short quick tour to North table Mt in Golden, for about 2hr before I rushed south and was supposed to have an ice cream with Kristen (I owed her some money for a dance) but she wanted to be healthy so we finished up at jamba juice for a little while, before I went to the Merc. A fun night when I also were part of my first real performance with Chasers! It was so much fun, even if we did some mistakes and it was far from perfect was it still really fun and it gave me an adrenalin boost!
Tomorrow will I clean out my room and start packing my bags for the return trip.... and have dinner with some of my (mums) relatives!
Today Tuesday have I written my last final and I'm done with school!!! Talked to the school about the rules for Visa and I might be able to get some help for getting a visa to do an internship or so next year, and usually my 2 year rule isn't a problem for swedish people if I fill out a waiver, according to the people "who knows".
Gabe wanted to go climbing so we made a pretty short quick tour to North table Mt in Golden, for about 2hr before I rushed south and was supposed to have an ice cream with Kristen (I owed her some money for a dance) but she wanted to be healthy so we finished up at jamba juice for a little while, before I went to the Merc. A fun night when I also were part of my first real performance with Chasers! It was so much fun, even if we did some mistakes and it was far from perfect was it still really fun and it gave me an adrenalin boost!
Tomorrow will I clean out my room and start packing my bags for the return trip.... and have dinner with some of my (mums) relatives!
Mer plugg och Minneapolis
Ja onsdag var det över 12 timmars plugg och torsdag pluggade jag tills Chasers träningen tog vid, åkte hem och packade en väska som en svensk tjej tog hem åt mig (flög hem på fredag). Jag fortsatte plugga på fredagsmorgonen tillsammans med Raul tills Luke körde mig till flygplatsen och jag slutligen hamnade i Minneapolis där Naomi hämtade mig.
Vi tog en vända till Naomis äldre syster (hon är från Minneapolis) och deras hus var byggt av svenskar så det var väldigt svensk inredning där.
Vad gör jag då här i Minnesota? Jo det är Midwest Lindy Fest, ett dans-event med socialdans kväll/natt 21-04 och olika kurser och workshops dagtid, mellan 11-18. Under kvällen hålls också tävlingar i olika klasser, vilket gör det hela än roligare.
Kul och intressant att få dansa med nytt folk med lite annan teknik och struktur på sin dans. Jag tävlade i Lindy hop Jack'n Jill på fredagen. Det innebär att man slumpas ihop med en partner, dansar en sång, slumpas med en ny och dansar, och gör så 3 ggr till låtar i olika hastigheter. Sedan plockar domarna ut de bästa till final där man får visa upp sig lite extra (vilket jag inte kvalade in till).
Vi bor lite närmare staden medan dansen äger rum lite längre österut om downtown, så det är lite körning emellan. Det är ju många (för mig) nya lärare som fokuserar på andra saker än jag lärt mig i Denver vilket är väldigt nyttigt men kan också vara väldigt jobbigt. Med Peter Strom t.ex. så instruerade han en intermediate klass som jag tog, men han tyckte vi var tysta och inte frågade tillräckligt. Så då frågade jag om en sak och då idiot-förklarade han mig offentligt och tyckte att min basic (grundsteget) sög, så det kändes inte så lockande att fråga mer därefter. Han är säkert en duktig dansare, men hans sätt att bemöta människor är inte alls det bästa.
Rent allmänt så är dansfolk väldigt väldigt speciella! Mkt kontroversiell miljö på sätt och vis att komma in i grupper och bli accepterad, särskilt då man som jag nu umgås med duktigare dansare än jag själv är. Man blir som inte accepterad om man inte är av samma klass (nivå) som de övriga, det känns verkligen som det gamla stånds-samhället.
Ikväll (lördag) har det ändå varit rätt bra. Naomi har blitt förkyld och åkte hem tidigare men jag blev kvar tills 03 då jag fick skjuts hem av en rumskompis. Jag hade träffat en tjej igår som jag frågade om hon ville tävla med mig idag, i striclty lindy (3 låtar med samma partner) men som ikväll drog sig ur. Det var dock bara riktigt bra dansare (½ Skidoo folk och resten av samma nivå, proffs eller instruktörer) så det var lite tur att jag inte tävlade ikväll.
Jag hade iaf kul och lärde mig väl lite mer också.
Imorrn fortsätter kurserna och dansen imorrnkväll/natt innan jag flyger hem till Denver igen på måndag morgonen då två tentor väntar på mig.
Vi tog en vända till Naomis äldre syster (hon är från Minneapolis) och deras hus var byggt av svenskar så det var väldigt svensk inredning där.
Vad gör jag då här i Minnesota? Jo det är Midwest Lindy Fest, ett dans-event med socialdans kväll/natt 21-04 och olika kurser och workshops dagtid, mellan 11-18. Under kvällen hålls också tävlingar i olika klasser, vilket gör det hela än roligare.
Kul och intressant att få dansa med nytt folk med lite annan teknik och struktur på sin dans. Jag tävlade i Lindy hop Jack'n Jill på fredagen. Det innebär att man slumpas ihop med en partner, dansar en sång, slumpas med en ny och dansar, och gör så 3 ggr till låtar i olika hastigheter. Sedan plockar domarna ut de bästa till final där man får visa upp sig lite extra (vilket jag inte kvalade in till).
Vi bor lite närmare staden medan dansen äger rum lite längre österut om downtown, så det är lite körning emellan. Det är ju många (för mig) nya lärare som fokuserar på andra saker än jag lärt mig i Denver vilket är väldigt nyttigt men kan också vara väldigt jobbigt. Med Peter Strom t.ex. så instruerade han en intermediate klass som jag tog, men han tyckte vi var tysta och inte frågade tillräckligt. Så då frågade jag om en sak och då idiot-förklarade han mig offentligt och tyckte att min basic (grundsteget) sög, så det kändes inte så lockande att fråga mer därefter. Han är säkert en duktig dansare, men hans sätt att bemöta människor är inte alls det bästa.
Rent allmänt så är dansfolk väldigt väldigt speciella! Mkt kontroversiell miljö på sätt och vis att komma in i grupper och bli accepterad, särskilt då man som jag nu umgås med duktigare dansare än jag själv är. Man blir som inte accepterad om man inte är av samma klass (nivå) som de övriga, det känns verkligen som det gamla stånds-samhället.
Ikväll (lördag) har det ändå varit rätt bra. Naomi har blitt förkyld och åkte hem tidigare men jag blev kvar tills 03 då jag fick skjuts hem av en rumskompis. Jag hade träffat en tjej igår som jag frågade om hon ville tävla med mig idag, i striclty lindy (3 låtar med samma partner) men som ikväll drog sig ur. Det var dock bara riktigt bra dansare (½ Skidoo folk och resten av samma nivå, proffs eller instruktörer) så det var lite tur att jag inte tävlade ikväll.
Jag hade iaf kul och lärde mig väl lite mer också.
Imorrn fortsätter kurserna och dansen imorrnkväll/natt innan jag flyger hem till Denver igen på måndag morgonen då två tentor väntar på mig.
Bara dans och skola
Ja måndag har jag pluggat hela dagen och kvällen. Naomi hjälpte mig dock med simning och teknik i poolen. Jätte jätte bra och nyttigt att få lära sig iaf grunderna i crawl och bröstsim. Hon har jobbat som siminstruktör och är jätteduktig på att simma.
Söndagkväll åkte jag förresten över till Naomi vid tio och fick jättebra hjälp med Suzy Q och applejacks. Behöver bryta ner de jazz-moven till riktigt låg nivå.
Det är ganska intensivt nu då jag flyger tillbaks från Minnesota på måndag förmiddag, och sen har jag 2 finals på måndag och en tredje på tisdag, så jag försöker göra mitt bästa för att plugga in det nu innan jag åker. Idag tisdag har jag pluggat ganska mkt, repeterat lite för Chasers med Allison Scott och Hanna, pluggat mer, en snabbis till gymmet och sen har jag dansat på Merc. En bra kväll! Det mesta av dansen stämde bra och jag spexade runt med Ashley och det är så himla kul då man improviserar och svarar på varandras styling och variationer. Tyvärr fick jag det inte riktigt lika stämmigt med Mimi, även om jag hade jättekul med henne och hon dansar bra!
Jag gick också in i birthday circeln vid tio, där man får stjäla födelsedagsbarnet/speciell orsak. Jag fyller ju nästa vecka, och drar också hem från USA, så därför dansade jag. Riktigt kul då hela Skidoo gänget och även många andra bra tjejer stod i kö och "stal mig" hela tiden :) Kändes också roligt idag då Alison hade diskuterat mig bl.a. med en dansinstruktör i Boulder som hon tar privatlektioner med. Han hade utbrustit att jag "borde vara i Atomic".... det är väl alltid roligt att få positiv feedback.
Jag fick också större förhoppningar och tilltro då jag fick höra att Alisons kille, Brat (som vann lindy J&J tillsammans med Naomi i helgen) bara dansat 2 år, och han är ändå väldigt stabil och duktig som dansare! Och de är ändå runt 30 så det känns som att det trots allt finns hopp att utvecklas!