free rommy New York → Kansas City → San Francisco → Stockholm → Berlin

I'm not one for big birthdays (ok fine, my last one was traveling in the south of France with seven friends). But the ideal birthday to me is no more than a great excuse for close friends to get together, doing something that allows you to chat, have fun, and most importantly relax.

The weather in Stockholm for the last few weeks could easily be called a heat wave. The weather has hovered around 25-30 degrees Celsius (75 - 85 degrees Fahrenheit) and sunny, which means the Swedes are utterly panic-stricken, fearful of what must be the impending apocalypse, enacting further legislation to recycle 99.8% of their waste, and probably even reconsidering that July vacation they were supposed to take to Thailand.

As a result of the abnormally awesome weather, Anna, Erik, Kim, Sara, Oscar, Francesca, Kylie,

Aleks, and I met at Hagaparken (a huge park on a lake in the middle of Stockholm) where we brought about 15 kilos of meat, 8 salads, 4 bags of chips, 1 cupcake, and just enough booze to bring us to the brink of incoherence.

We also brought along three engångsgrills and Kubb. Ah yes, two things that are quintessentially Swedish...or maybe not...

Parks in the US have stationary grills built into the ground that you have to snag or reserve ahead of time. In Sweden, I haven't seen any such thing (yet, though they might exist).

I found this concept of a disposable grill to be remarkably un-Swedish. Sweden, as mentioned in previous posts, prides itself on its deep-rooted respect (and concern) for the environment. Its environmental policies are second to none. Every Swede is an avid recycler, and people who don't actively recycle are shunned by their peers.

To me the engångsgrill is something I would expect out of a consumer culture like the US (it's no secret and yes I'm hatin'). Wasteful packaging, unreusable, made of foil which isn't biodegradable. I still don't question Sweden's dedication to the environment, but it was quite the noodle scratcher (yes, I just said noodle scratcher). I just don't know why they don't throw up stationary grills in certain designated areas of parks in Stockholm. That seems so much more environmental and socialist to me.

Either way, we only used two grills and ate half our meat before we had a little more to drink and retired to a few games of Kubb.

Kubb, according to some Swedish friends, is a game popular in Gotland (a big Swedish vacation island southeast of Stockholm). It's a summer game involving two teams, five rooks each side, and a king in the middle. The goal is simple, each team simply needs to knock down the other team's kubbs and then knock down the king in the middle. I heard it only really became popular here in Stockholm a few years ago, and even still we expats are the only ones I've seen playing it. When Kathryn, Britt, and Mike came to Sweden a few

weeks, we celebrated Midsommarsafton (Midsummer's Eve) with Anna and Erik who showed us the glory of this amazing game, even driving Britt to purchase a set before she headed back to the US.

...and it's the most fun lawn game I've ever played. EVER. Kubb is far more accessible (easy for anyone to play) than horseshoes, beerbie, croquet, or any of those lame summer lawn games. It's one of those games I can't wait to bring back to the US (if I ever go back).

(Aside: we played girls vs. guys and we got our asses handed to us. Yes, I was on the guys' team.)

Needless to say, it was Anna who had the great idea of grilling in the park and playing Kubb and I was not one to argue. The birthday was an awesome celebration with some great friends here (thanks guys!) in Stockholm with tons of laughs, wine, beer, and animal meat and I can't wait to do it again next year (with the guys exacting their revenge at Kubb of course).