Östersund III

At the end of the day of dancing, Tom and I took a walk to the grocery store. It was good to get some non-dancing excercise to burn off some adrenaline. Also, it gave us the opportunity to talk about how things had gone. I had also started thinking about my upcoming departure, so it was nice to have company.

We got back to the cabin and made meatballs. There's nothing particularly special about frozen meatballs and boiled potatoes. Add some light beer and good company, though and they are the perfect end to a long day, not to mention months of training. Elaine joined us just as the meatballs were ready. She had had dinner with Harry and Roo, but those meatballs are pretty tempting.

We tried taking a little nap, but that didn't last very long for any of us. We each took off on our own to the evening program. It turned out to be a sort of dance themed variety show, with an emphasis on generations. It was interesting, and made me feel like I had really chosen the correct dance form! I love folkdance!

The evening dance was played by the Russindalspelmannslag. That is, the Raisin Vally fiddlers. They gave themselves that name because of the wrinkles on their faces! I'm not joking. They were a really excellent gammaldans band and they did get a ton of people dancing who were not part of the daytime events. That floor was packed! I had a fabulous time. I danced with good dancers and I think we all enjoyed it. Seattle girls don't know what waiting to be asked to dance is until they've been to a dance in Scandinavia. Stop complaining, you've got it good!

Earlier, I had asked Tom to do the last dance with me. At 11:27 he ran out and said 'Ingrid, this could be it!' So we danced. He taught me one of the diplom dances on the fly. I didn't do it right, but it was a happy ending to the day. But then, the day wasn't over.

A couple of musicians took the floor and about ten couples, including me and Tom stuck around. The rumor was that they were from the group Nätt och Jämt. It was beautiful dancing. And then we walked back and told jokes with the DC crowd. Perfect. Just perfect.