So Saturday was a real fun day. Come to think of it, every time I’ve left the house these past weeks, it’s been for something fun. Don’t get me wrong, tax law is still my passion, but there’s something to be said for wandering around Gamla Stan eating ice cream and soliciting an 18th century hooker.
This week has been the Culture Festival in Stockholm, an ambitious project that aims at bringing high culture out to the streets. Most of it is free as well, which is really a nice touch. They’ve had concerts and night clubs the entire week, opera performances, really interesting lectures about Swedish history, theater performances and various other activities. I wasn’t interested in any of that though. I wanted to find myself a hooker.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Before any of you decide to never talk to me again… yesterday was 18th century day in Gamla Stan, and Alexandra’s theater group had been hired to walk around Gamla Stan as 18th century characters and interact with people. No matter how people reacted, they’d stay in character, behaving as if they were truly Swedes from the 18th century. There was an aristocrat, a policeman, a thieving laundry woman, a poor ill-treated servant, a Navy officer, and uh, a prostitute. Guess three times which one Alex played =D.





The tagline: “One riksdaler for men, two riksdaler for women, three riksdaler and I’ll do whatever you want.” (Riksdaler was the currency at that time.)

(This picture took - I kid you not - 25 minutes to upload. You guys better appreciate it. Or you can raise your eyebrows at the unbelievable stupidity of trying to upload a 1,78 MB pic on a 46 k dial-up modem.)

She wasn’t very cheap either, because apparently one riksdaler is quite a hefty sum, around 1000 kr today or so. In those times, the prostitutes were divided into better and worse classes (wonder who had the task of classifying them…), but the price evidently suggested she was of the better sort. It was really fun seeing her sashaying up to bewildered tourists, displaying the goods, as it were, (helped along with large wads of tissue paper, but hey, we can’t all have natural heaving bosoms) and trying to stay in character in English. Not altogether easy I tell you – I tried to inquire discreetly for her company in 18th century Swedish, but ended up sounding very crude and modern. I did get to slap her ass for 1 kr though =D Anyway, there’s nothing quite like soliciting a 18th century lady – and I use the term loosely – in broad daylight amongst all the tourists in Gamla stan. Good fun.
After that I went back home to have a family dinner with my parents and my cousin and his girlfriend, which was very nice as well. She’s going to study in Europe this coming year and I’m leaving for China, so we had dumplings. It’s a traditional Chinese custom to eat dumplings before someone’s departure: they’re rounded and will therefore help you to roll to your destination. Conversely, it’s a custom to eat noodles when someone comes home: the noodles will bind your legs and make you stay. We’re a quite modern Chinese family, but this is one of the traditions we always honor if possible.
After the dinner, I got a ride in to Stockholm City for a moving-in party near Odenplan. On that note, on the way there: there’s nothing quite as creepy as walking past a group of ten drunken guys on an otherwise deserted street, feeling their eyes on you the entire time. One of them slurred a hi and me, being the too-friendly idiot that I sometimes am, reflexively said hi back. This inspired catcalls and whoops and high-fives amongst themselves, and me wishing I was wearing a potato sack. Ugh.
The party was great fun though, the apartment was small but really nicely renovated and very well-planned. The best thing was meeting old friends and acquaintances from high school, several with whom I’d lost touch, and it was generally a fun atmosphere. Some parties just click – the people get along well, nobody’s in a hurry to go clubbing (and consequently break up a good pre-party) and people are nicely inebriated but not completely drunk. The best times I’ve had are really pre-parties or after-parties, and I’m much more partial to those than clubbing. Good clubbing is a bonus, but you can’t beat a good house party. Maybe I’m growing old... or growing up. Heh. Right.
But it was definitely awesome to catch up on old times with my best friend in high school and several other good friends, and it was quite funny to see their reaction to my China news. I felt really calm about it, but I think it’s because I haven’t realized it yet. I’ll probably stand all bewildered in Beijing Airport come Monday, wondering what I’m doing there.
In other news, I’ve started packing for China. So far, I’m bringing fall clothes and about 10 boxes of chocolate (great gifts for both social and business relations – that sounded stuffy), and that’s pretty much it. I thought I’d have to leave half the stuff I need behind, but I’m pretty much done and it’s only around 13-14 kg so far. Even including five pairs of shoes, I still have plenty of room.
I must be forgetting something. Suggestions?


Music: Firefly - The Ballad of Serenity (because I'm wearing my Firefly shirt)