Bye Chicago! See you later!

Yesterday was a sad, sad day. It was the last day I got to spend with my hostess Dana. This weekend we first got out of Sussex and got into Chicago where we met up with one of Dana's friends. We went to the Best of Second City comedy show after having spent a few hours gawking at organic food at Whole Foods. Would you imagine? I found Kombucha at Whole Foods! That's like... really rare nowadays! The comedy show was really entertaining. It was a mixture of improv and skits and the comedians were very relaxed and funny. They lured a lot of laughs out of us.

The day after Dana and I went out to have a celebration of my last day in Chicago. Even though it felt a bit like celebrating a loved one's death. The whole evening went between laughing and looking at each other with pouting lower lips and going "mmf..."

We kicked it off by an all we could eat Flat Top Grill. You pick your veggies, beans, fruits, rice, noodles and then you pick out your meat (fish, calamari, beef, chicken, etc), drown it in sauce and a chef will fry it for you.

My beautiful hostess holding her drink at Flat Top

After that Dana and I walked though the cold and windy night to the John Hancock Tower and had a couple of drinks together while marvelling at the city night scape spreading out in all directions underneath. The tower is one of the largest ones in Chicago, and even though the air wasn't completely clear, you could see for miles upon miles.

Isn't the view to die for?

Today however was the day when I had to leave Dana. We were both really brave and neither one of us cried at the airport. Even though it was very close. You might understand that our relationship is not only hostess and hosted any more. I guess that was quite clear when I ended up staying in Sussex for 6-7 weeks perhaps though. More about that at another time and another place. Now it is time to get to bed, because I have 18 hours of flight ahead of me tomorrow!

Deep dish pizza

I'm really enjoying it up here in the northern states. I'm currently residing in Dana's mother's house with Dana, trying my best to be moral support and a stand up person in helping Dana move her mother to a home for the elderly. They are both such sweet persons to be honest. And I think that Dana's mother have really taken a shine to me.

Dana and I spent two days in Chicago in her condo, which is currently occupied by her uncle, the uncle's boyfriend and the most adorable little 2 year old boy. The first day I went out with Dana to City Winery and had my first glass ever of wine from a big ol' barrel. Really tasty too, a Argentina Malbec from 2012. At the Winery the Swedish artist Theresa Andersson was playing, and as the show was over Dawr na wanted to buy a couple of her albums for both herself and her other uncle. And of course Dana pulled attention to that I was Swedish so for a confusing star struck moment I was talking swenglish and generally being a fool. I slept rally well that night though, despite the fact that Dana and I had to share bed since her uncle was occupying her bedroom. Or perhaps because of it?

The second day we went to a Swedish Resturant called Tre Kronor and had a nice meal and then went to see a Swedish shop right next to it where I educated Dana in the wonders that is Astrid Lindgren and Sven Nordqvist. That evening we had some Deep Dish Pizza, Chicago Style and was going to go see a comedy show, but as Dana was feeling a bit under the weather we decided to postpone that.

Now we're back in Milwaukee, and time is passing by nice and slow. If I would ever move to the states, the Chicago area would absolutely be where I settled down.

Observation: Dutch toilets

Yes, it looks odd, doesn't it? A white shelf with a centimetre or so of water on a landing platform for brown airplanes. For me, who is really used to the simple funnel ones this one was a bit scary for me to use. I mean, what if one built a tower tall enough to reach all the way up? It showed that my fears did not have any ground in reality however. To reach all the way up you'd have to be pretty dedicated.

Once you flush, it is sort of like watching soggy gingerbread cookies in a water-slide and then jump of a porcelain trampoline into the abyss of the plumbing.

Truly odd indeed.

Belgian goverment!

The Antwerp Grand Centra

Okay, I'm in Belgium now, and I'm going to teach you just how the government work. I know all about it since I had it explained to me one and even saw a youtube video. One. Basically you got one single government which likes french fries with mayo. They control the whole country. Then you got 3 other government (Flemish, French and German) who also have the same power. Each of theses doesn't much like one another and work in different regions (mostly, but sometimes they overlap). Neither much agree with the other, and they all speak different languages so they can't much understand one another, but they all agree on that the national dish is French Fries with Mayo.

When voting, you do it 5 times, since it is a very democratic nation (6 if you count the european parlament vote). Once for Government. Once for the other government. Once for quite local area. Another time for a very local area. And another which I forgot, but is also important.

But they all love fries, even if they say it differently. Oh, with mayo.

So. This is me. Hi!

I'm just going though the last few things, ordering the last few tickets and insurances and what have you, and then I will head out into the world and see grand and pretty new things.

I will keep this blog running and show all the nice pictures I take with my trusty new camera I just got from my father and stepmother. Or, well, not all pictures, but you get the idea.

I will also use this place to vent ideas and make sure you know I'm not quite dead yet. And of course, last but not least, tell about my adventures and explain about all my friends I meet along the way.

The whole idea of this trip is to meet up with old and new internet friends. Some friends I've known for over 12 years. A few others only for a month or too. But they have all managed to win my heart somehow. Some seems to be nervous about me imposing on them, others are all very eager and are making plans for what to show me once I get there. Already now I'll say "I'm sorry I'm late!" because I am fairly certain my idea of a time schedule is pretty messed up. The only real time I got set in my mind is to be in Berlin at latest on the 22nd of December and then be on Key West at the 24th of december.

Anyhow, to keep in interactive, feel free to ask me questions, challenge me to do things or simply just talk to me.

First stop will be on Tuesday the 20th of November. Grums of Sweden! There I will meet up with my friend Danne, and we will make strange music together. =)