Puddle Jumping

With Paul, Benga, and Ewy out enjoying the road rally race, Evelina and I were left to wake ourselves. After enjoying our opportunity to sleep in uninterrupted, and lazily moving about the house beginning our day, we were shocked with the realization that we had less than half of an hour to catch the bus to go into town for shopping (the tentative plans previously made for the day). For many of you that know Evelina and me, this is quite a monumental task to complete in half an hour! We inhaled yogurt and cereal (here they enjoy cereal with thinner, pourable yogurt instead of milk and it is very yummy- I normally always choose the strawberry to go with mine), and got dressed enough to be presentable before we were out the door, headed on the short hike to the bus stop. Evelina explained that I could ride her bike and she would just speed walk (her legs are longer than mine, thus allowing for longer steps and faster walking) where we would make the bus on time. After hopping on Evelina's bicycle, I was quickly confronted with the fact that her legs are indeed longer than mine and I had to either sway my body back and forth to reach each pedal or stand up on the pedals without sitting on the seat. Standing on the pedals, holding onto the handlebars, wind flying through my hair, I felt like a child again- enjoying the breezes of forward motion, with the sun on my face while racing to catch the bus. What a nostolgic moment!

After stashing the bike in a small clearing of the woods, Evelina and I reached the bus stop with time to spare. We were soon to arrive at our shopping destination! Boarding the bus, it was easy to see that the use of public transportation here is much more efficent and common than any place I've lived. Buses, trains, and subways all regularly transport locals to and from home, work, and outings. Enjoying the opportunity to take advantage of such a system, I am left with a small pang of jealousy over the efficiency, ease, and enviornmental consciousness of such a system. One can't imagine the quailty and cleanliness of the pulic transportation in Sweden if you haven't seen it for yourself. The only city buses I have seen, or the New York City subway requires one to be fully alert at all times, with hand sanitizer at quick disposal. The Swedish buses and trains that I've experienced are clean, up to date, spacious, and of good quality. They offer comfortable rides and friendly drivers. The other passengers are different, some tourists like myself, but mostly locals making their way around their hometown. Sweden definately has the right idea with their public transportation system!

After our short ride (in charter-bus style seating, but choosing the seats that are facing one another for ease of conversation), Evelina and I arrived for our afternoon of purusing the local goods, looking for stores with a great "rea" (or sale for those of you not familiar with Swedish), and souvenirs for loved ones. We meandered through the first street or two, moving from boutique to store...when without warning the skies darkened and opened up, pouring their contents onto the two unsuspecting consumers. Ok, fine...we should have checked the weather or perhaps brought along an umbrella, but our time management that morning didn't allow for those luxuries. Sticking closely to storefronts, sheilded by the building overhangs and awnings, we made our way to several stores in search of an umbrella for sale. A local sporting goods store proved to be our savior with a small display inside the automatic doors housing a few black umbrellas. Forty-nine crowns (or about $7) later, I was the proud owner of my very own defense to nature's discouragement of my afternoon browsing the storefronts outdoors. Why I didn't forsee the future possibility of a turrential downpour instead of the "Swedish summer" shower (as so called by the locals), I'm not sure. Maybe optimism isn't always the best option. Oh, well. =) Perhaps next time I will consider the more pessimistic option and purchase two umbrellas, one for each of us. This was not the case today.

With our purchase opened and in hand, Evelina and I braved the weather and continued to our destination of the Old Town Shops through the streets and park, arm in arm, jumping over puddles, and pausing several times when the rain became especially bothersome. About midway through the park, a large tree was our reprieve at one point, leaving an area about the size of two feet across for us to escape the rivers decending from the heavens. With Evelina's arms and my back still caught in cascading streams, we huddled closer, laughing, with Evelina pulling me forward to escape the cause of my now soaked back. Two girls under a small umbrella, beneath a large tree overhanging onto the semidry spot on the sidewalk, caught in a downpour in the middle of a fresh green and luscious park. I wish now that someone could have taken a picture from afar, capturing the moment in time somewhere other than merely my memory. We had to have been quite a sight, attempting to stay merely damp, although failing miserably, yet laughing our way to our destination. We devised a plan to best pursue our course, attempting at first to walk arm in arm and steer around obstacles. Our arms ended up soaked, her left and my right. We adapted our strategy to Evelina holding the umbrella and walking directly behind me, with the umbrella in the middle directly between our heads. This made it difficult for her to hold the umbrella and for me to know which way to go, with her in tow. The handle also kept hitting the bun my very damp hair was curled into, making it even more difficult to hold steady. Finally, we were most sucessful with a modification of all of our previous attemps, me leading the way with Evelina behind me, a little diagonally to the side, the umbrella resting on my shoulder in the center of the two of us, and her arm around my shoulder keeping us tight and together. For any of you who find yourself in such a predicament, we recommend this procedure, although to begin walking, you have to decide on which foot to start because the inner leg for each person needs to work simultaneously as one. We even discussed the possibilty of entering (and of course winning because of our experience) a three legged race. "Start with your right, my left...one, two, three..." escaped between laughter. At crosswalks once we heard the signal to walk, we leapt between the solid fat white lines, mostly avoiding the valleys between them filled with water. Of course, I was the one mostly leaping with Evelina stretching her legs and making it in one stride. We only experienced a few mishaps, one of which was when we were not connected and I choose the path to left of an exceptionally large puddle, Evelina went to the right side, and the umbrella ended up in the middle of us, in essence covering the puddle. We both were able to soak up some cool, fresh rainwater with that manoeuver. It did, however, provide an opportunity for us to once again dissolve into giggles about our situation and decisions. Soaking wet or not, we were having a great time.

At some point through the journey, I realized that the afternoon and our purserverence wasn't merely for the trinkets we were purchasing along the way. Evelina and I had the opportunity to spend time with one another and relish the hours together. Of course, as is par for the course with the two of us, these hours were filled with problems to be solved, obstacles to overcome, more important than anything- good humor, friendship, and laughter. Evelina and I love to go puddle jumping together- metaphorically and literally. When one happens upon a puddle with a friend, it is best to link arms, laugh at the situation, and jump over it together. We did.