Grey Days

Grey days are already abundant in our well established autumn season. When the sun comes out, I now understand the efforts to flock and bathe in it. Tanning is still a mystery to me, but enjoying the sun, that's a different story.

Swedish has become my biggest thing. I spend 3 hours in class in the mornings Monday through Friday, and then from 1-3 hours practicing and doing homework in the evenings. I'm starting to be able to say a few basics like: My name is Lauren. I come from the USA. I have 4 brothers and many relatives, a mom and a dad, ... and well, that can go on a bit. I speak english and a little spanish and now a little swedish. My relatives live in the USA. I have lived here in Sweden for 3 months. I study Swedish. Yeah... you get the picture. Not too shabby for only a week and a half!

As a result, my other readings have taken a back seat and a much lessor time invested in them. However, I'm gradually getting through the ever so entertaining life of cadavers in Stiff. I have to share a passage (in fact it's a footnote) with you; just made me chuckle.

People have trouble believing Thomas Edison to be a loopy individual. I offer as evidence the following passage on human memory, taken from his diaries: "We do not remember. A certain group of our little people do this for us. They live in that part of the brain which has become known as the 'fold of Broca'... There may be 12 or 15 shifts that change about and are on duty at different times like men in a factory....Therefore it seems likely that remembering a thing is all a matter of getting in touch with the shift that was on duty when the recording was done."

This footnote was added in reference to a chapter about the search for the human soul and where it resides in the body; using cadavers to research that in the brain, heart, or liver which have been top choices over time.

Anyhoo. More praise when I'm through with that... and more swedish to come soon too. Hopefully I'll get to see Nance, from Chicago tomorrow, if not, there's next Saturday. She's in Copenhagen doing somthing with solar energy and a taco stand. I really have yet to find out what all that means. Feel free to visit her website and her photos for more about her nature loving sprit.

Swedish for the day: Hej då! This is pronounced sorta like hay-doe. It means bye bye/goodbye.