Den lokala simning hål

We spent most of the day today with our Swedish/Iraqi friend, Josef. He drove us out to one of the many lakes around Stockholm. We enjoyed middle eastern cuisine and got to see how the locals relax in the summer.

Unfortunately the sun hid behind the clouds so I did not go in the water. Stu, however, embarked on a manly trek of swimming across the lake - an epic feat that impressed even the locals.

After the lake we met up with Josef's wife and a few of their friends for dinner. Nice company, nice conversation - I'm beginning to really like this place. I could live here except for the fear of the winter. I can't wait to see the rest of Europe!

Tonight we are staying in a dormitory style hostel and are sharing a room with Adam, a polish sailor who just arrived in town with his crew. They went back on the boat and he is going back on a plane. I'm not sure why. He claims to never having had English lessons but his English is great. I guess everyone watches a lot of our movies (Josef said he learned English from watching The Matrix hundreds of times in slow motion.) and learns some English that way.

Culture is one of our biggest exports I didn't expect to be so prevalent. The radio plays American music, the clubs play American music, the people watch American movies, and everyone seems to love McDonald's, which can be found all over the place.