The end is nigh. Literally. I have less than two and a half weeks left here in Kalmar. So you can imagine that right now, I am partying it up to the max. But that isn't the only thing I am doing. Let me get into some details on that....

For all of you who were complaining that I party too much and read too little, I think you will be happy to hear that for the past 2 weeks I have been so busy I have barely had time to eat. I am doing a class right now that had the oddest meeting times for the past 2 weeks. We had to be in class from 10 to 4 most days for the past 2 weeks. And for someone like me who'd gotten used to sleeping till midday every day, that was a challenge. But I did it. I was in class every day at 10 on the dot. Then in the evenings, mostly, I had lots else to do. If anyone remembers, I have been getting ready to film the premier performance of the play by the university theater group, the Spex. That involved attending most of their practises so I could study their movements and how they would enter and exit the stage.

So, class from 10 till 4 then practise with the Spex till like 7 then head home to catch up on emails, facebook and food. By the end of that week, I hated school with a vengeance. It was raining most part of that week too. So I spent many days getting soaked to the bone walking about Kalmar. Not fun at all.
Anywhoo, the night of the premier was Saturday. I attended the dress rehearsal that Friday. That's when the work started. I took about 1100 photos at that dress rehearsal. Just to get an idea of how the action would move. Then the next day, I was supposed to be at the theater at like 3 PM so I could shoot some behind the scenes footage. But as Newton's forgotten law states, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I got a call Saturday morning that we didn't have the 90 minute tapes that I needed to shoot the play. So I was to go buy some tapes before going to the theater. In my sleepy daze from a whole week's worth of missed sleep, I forgot that in Kalmar, people close shop really early on Saturdays. I went to visit a friend of mine who'd been feeling sick and I ended up starting my hunt for the tapes at about 2 P.M. Unfortunately, that's when the shops closed. So I spent the next 3 hours going round Kalmar first on foot then by bike (borrowed) looking for tapes. I finally had to decide to use 60 minute tapes instead. So I had to film a 3 hour play on 3 cameras with 60 minute tapes. How did I do it? With a whole lot of running around. I was extremely active that night. By the end of the play, I was hungry, stressed, tired and ready for a party. And party we did. :-D

Now that I remember, there was a lot of photos taken that week. I was at a Queensday party that Wednesday where I did take quite a number of photos even if I was really tired. Then the next day, I took a photo walk around Kalmar with one of my friends, Agnes, who is looking forward to being an exchange student in USIU in the fall of this year. I still have to upload the photos from that. That same evening, I was shooting the 'Flight of the Corridor' at Soderport. Then the next day, the 1100 photos at the theater was the beginning of the night. I took a further 1000 at the rock party. I am just hoping my camera doesn't start giving up on me soon. :-D

Last week, we started shooting sequences with the class. Which was a whole lot of fun, but a lot of work too. I didn't do much in terms of partying last week. I was still quite involved with the Spex coz I had to shoot the behind the scenes material when they were performing on Wednesday and Thursday. I went out for an hour on Wednesday to sing one song at karaoke. Then 2 hours on thursday to one of my favorite joints in Kalmar, Soderport. There, I found someone who was tapping a drum on stage (He wasn't playing, aki) as his friend sang and played the guitar. When they took a break, at the insistence of the French girls, I played a simple but strong rhythm on the drum that captured everyone in the whole cafe. The drummer got so jealous that when he went back up to play, he stopped tapping the drum and started playing. And he also did all he could to make sure I didn't touch the drum again. And he got the guitar dude in on the action, so even when the owner of the cafe was asking them to let me sing with them, they refused.

As to what happened this past weekend, I will only mention that I was partying with the Spex on Friday. I got to teach people how to dance the shuffle and how to say 'my name is....' in Kiswahili. And then I also got to play some of my favorite songs by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. On Saturday, it was the goodbye party organized by ESN. I should also mention I sang very well at that party. I am still looking for the videos that were taken of me singing. Yesterday, I was working at the theater with some of my friends then I had some relaxing time watching Ace Ventura with a friend.

All in all, my last few weeks in Kalmar are shaping up to be among the best weeks of my life. I wonder what the future has in store....

Side notes

My phone died some time last week. The image on the screen turned up side down and then it refused to change back when I put the phone to charge. Thankfully, due to the efforts of the best friend anyone could ever ask for, Adele Tartarin, I have a phone that I can use to keep in touch for the meanwhile. On the downside, since I always save my numbers on my phone, I don't have anyone's numbers. Please feel free to inbox them to me.
My experience with the Spex has been extremely good. I got to learn a bit more Swedish by force coz I was watching a 3 hour play in Swedish. I made so many more friends and I had one of the greatest times of my life. Plus, now I have the samba beat in the fabric of my being :-D
I am busy for the next two weeks shooting and editing two productions for my class. I have a crazy crew to shoot with, so I am looking forward to seeing how this all turns out.
I have reached that point in the semester that I am reaching into the back of the fridge/freezer to see what I forgot to eat. So I wouldn't mind if anyone invited me for dinner sometime.....
I get to see Stockholm for a day right before I leave Sweden. Now I just need to find someone to get lost with/tour guide with me.
On Wednesday from 7 P.M I will be singing with the choir at the concert. Looking forward to that.

If you have enjoyed this episode of the Chronicles of Kalmar, make sure you stay tuned to this station for the season finale. Coming soon to your facebook.....