Fancy gifts and cold Swedes

Tuesday night. We´re sitting in the new living room, Dylan is watching TV and Jaime is in the kitchen, trying to find room for all the newly deliverd and unpacked wedding gifts. We always had a living room, but as of this weekend we actually spend time in it since it now has a coach, three comfy chairs, a rug and a wide screen tv. Considering how lavish their wedding was, I shoudn´t be surprised over the gifts they recieved, but it´s hard not to be. Wide screens (I think I already mentioned they got two), furniture (BIG furniture), fancy kitchen apparel, art, electronic stuff...

Yeah, it´s a different world. I´m still very excited about the muffin pan we got for our wedding. When we actually have a kitchen I´m making muffins like nobody´s buisness. Blueberry, cranberry/almond, chocolate, raisin/bran, you name it. And to go with the muffins, smoothies from our new blender. One day, in Ecuador I think it was, me and Dylan were sitting in an internet café, surfing away both kind of tired of the nomadic life style. We had a gift certificate at amazon.com and ended up bying a blender and a vaccum cleaner for our future and hopefully not too distant life in one place. It really cheared us up, too. I never though bying a vaccum clearner would make me so happy. Kudos to Dana and Darryl for storing our stuff...

Today Dylan came with me to the coffee shop for the first time. They have started showing movies there and I brought ginger bread from my care package and we had coffee and ginger bread while watching Angels & Demons. It was pretty good, I think I understood almost 75% of what happened. Subtitels in Spanish and low volume at a café is not the best setting for understanding a plot....

The people at the coffee shop are cool. Sometimes I pay for my tea or coffee, but they never ask me too and when I try most of the time they won´t let me. Being accepted as one of the group gets me free beverages but also requires me to cheak-kiss everone every time I come and every time I leave. I´m getting more comfortable with this Southamerican habit, but it´s still a little akward at times. At heart I will always be a cold Swede uncomfortable with exagerated displays of affection.
And speaking of Swedes. Francesco, one of the guys working at the coffee shop, used to date a Swedish girl....guess from what town? That´s right, Umeå. I don´t know her, though. We don´t even have any friends in common on facebook so that must mean I really don´t know her, all according to Francesco.