Sweden adventures #8
- dancing sweden
Wednesday at Herrang.
I get up early and have breakfast in Heaven’s Kitchen, the camp restaurant. Today, there are no morning classes so people have a lie-in and the breakfast room is empty.
I chat with a Swiss guy and then walk over to the lake for meditation practice. Meditation practice gets thwarted by a group of dressed up people clearly aiming for the float in the lake, but too many of them to fit into the one boat left on the shore. They somehow manage. Later, I find out that two of them just got married and are one of two couples this week at Herrang who are spending their honeymoon here.
I make a mask at the mask-making workshop. The theme of tonight’s party is masquerade and dressing up is mandatory. My Swiss army knife is very popular at the workshop so I leave it when I’m done.
I get my dancing shoes and get a backie on someone’s bike to the blues class. Blues class is fun, and I consider taking a private lesson with the teachers, but then they are too busy and I’m not actually sure what I want to learn. I’m loving the blues class though. It’s a beginner’s class, and I’ve been dancing blues for many years. I feel like Monica in the show ‘Friends’ must have felt when she took a beginners’ cooking class even though she was a professional chef. She just really liked being top of the class and getting loads of praise from the teacher.
I’m trying to fulfil today’s mission to make it a productive day: Find stamps. The Lindy Hop Shop is closed so I suspend my mission and get a coffee in Bar Bedlam instead. When I try again they are open but don’t have stamps. However, I’m right in time for the Herrang Week 5 Group Picture.
I then go to Kuggen, the village store, for stamps and offend the cashier when I say that all the Swedish coins look the same (they really don’t). It actually is a productive day: I drop off laundry - my hand washing with regular hand soap wasn’t that successful. I also charge my phone.
I take a long nap and go to the daily meeting, then change and dance a bit with a mask on - masquerade night. I go to the blues music jam session, drink wine, have a few more drunken lindy dances and go back to my tent, but on the way stop for a shisha with people I know, and it’s half five and proper daylight when I finally go to bed.
I get up early and have breakfast in Heaven’s Kitchen, the camp restaurant. Today, there are no morning classes so people have a lie-in and the breakfast room is empty.
I chat with a Swiss guy and then walk over to the lake for meditation practice. Meditation practice gets thwarted by a group of dressed up people clearly aiming for the float in the lake, but too many of them to fit into the one boat left on the shore. They somehow manage. Later, I find out that two of them just got married and are one of two couples this week at Herrang who are spending their honeymoon here.
I make a mask at the mask-making workshop. The theme of tonight’s party is masquerade and dressing up is mandatory. My Swiss army knife is very popular at the workshop so I leave it when I’m done.
I get my dancing shoes and get a backie on someone’s bike to the blues class. Blues class is fun, and I consider taking a private lesson with the teachers, but then they are too busy and I’m not actually sure what I want to learn. I’m loving the blues class though. It’s a beginner’s class, and I’ve been dancing blues for many years. I feel like Monica in the show ‘Friends’ must have felt when she took a beginners’ cooking class even though she was a professional chef. She just really liked being top of the class and getting loads of praise from the teacher.
I’m trying to fulfil today’s mission to make it a productive day: Find stamps. The Lindy Hop Shop is closed so I suspend my mission and get a coffee in Bar Bedlam instead. When I try again they are open but don’t have stamps. However, I’m right in time for the Herrang Week 5 Group Picture.
I then go to Kuggen, the village store, for stamps and offend the cashier when I say that all the Swedish coins look the same (they really don’t). It actually is a productive day: I drop off laundry - my hand washing with regular hand soap wasn’t that successful. I also charge my phone.
I take a long nap and go to the daily meeting, then change and dance a bit with a mask on - masquerade night. I go to the blues music jam session, drink wine, have a few more drunken lindy dances and go back to my tent, but on the way stop for a shisha with people I know, and it’s half five and proper daylight when I finally go to bed.