Three Americans

Yesterday I left work at 11 am and walked down to the Church of Dome. After a few minutes three Americans showed up, all eager to learn more about the country their ancestors came from. In 2006 I was contacted by Cal from Minnesota, since he had seen on the internet that I do research in Norra Strö records. His great grandfather was born in Norra Strö, and it was rather easy to find the details about his ancestors. He is not related to me, but our ancestors lived in the same village. I went with Cal, his wife and son to the church at Norra Strö, where a local resident explained the images on the mural paintings. That church was built around 1150 and the renowned paintings are from about 1450. The visitors were really impressed. We continued on to the site where the ancestral home had been, on the border between Strö and Övarp villages. Several generations had lived there until the end of the 19th century, when all of them decided that America was a better place to live. We also visited the historical museum, where there was a painting of the house. We viewed the exhibits too, both the school room and the local memorabilia section. Very nicely done exhibits. Afterwards we had dinner in Kristianstad, and they all expressed gratitude for the guided tour. It was great fun to be a guide, and I'm glad my knowledge of Norra Strö history comes to use sometimes. Later in the evening I returned home by train.

The weekly routine of going swimming at the indoor pool in Lund started again last week. I usually go on Wednesdays, so I was there today. I have to say that the best part is the 20 minutes in the hot sauna afterwards. The actual swimming can be rather stressful, since the kids in swimming training splash a lot in the next lanes. For some reason everybody else seems to swim faster than I also.

There is just one detail from the workplace I must share. Today a sign was displayed in the restrooms, explaining proper handling of the liquid used to keep our hands extra clean and free of bacteria. It was short and simple statements in Swedish on one half of the paper and in English on the other. After reading the English version I burst out laughing. First of all, they called the alcoholic liquid detergent (which to me sounds totally wrong), and then there were a total of four spelling mistakes in the text (flue instead of flu, for instance). This sign is displayed all over the university. I lack words.....