IKEA trip

Hello again.

I've been rather busy since I last posted on here, so I haven't managed to sit down and post anything. Today I'm sitting in my PJs on the couch, watching the snow fall outside our windows. We got up about half an hour ago and in that time the snow has gone from not sure if it's rain to definitive snow, and it's falling on an angle. It makes me glad to be inside and glad we got our wandering and shopping done yesterday.
So I can't quite remember what I wrote last time, and am too lazy to look it up, so I shall guess.
Last Saturday we went shopping, with my new boss and her daughter, to IKEA and COOP Forum (supermarket) to pick up a chest of drawers and a shoe shelf, plus a few food items. IKEA was like every other IKEA I've ever been in, except it was filled with real Swedish people.
We wandered around and I think the boy got quite frustrated with me and my boss. We were looking at everything but chests of drawers. The first thing we did on arrival was to drop Embla (7 yo daughter of boss) in the playroom. Here we found our first delight in Swedishness. She was given a little bib with a number on it. All the children in the playroom were numbered. Marvelous.
Then it was the time to look at all the IKEA 'stuff'. My boss insisted on buying us some bulbs in pots and a low vase/bowl thing to put them in and some rocks to put in the bottom of the bowl. She said it was very Swedish and we could watch Spring approach with the blooming of the flowers. The boy wasn't too keen on the idea, but I was rather delighted, so we got them. We did eventually end up getting a chest of drawers, Hemnes in white, shown here in blue and a shoe shelf. For those not familiar with the European/Scandinavian shoe world, shoes are taken off on entrance to a home and you go around in your socks. You need somewhere to store your shoes in the front hallway. So we got ourselves on of those too. We also picked up a bathroom rug/mat thing and a few other plants.
We picked up Embla from the play room and had ourselves some lunch somewhere in the middle of all this stuff and had ourselves an IKEA lunch extravaganza. Well, more accurately, the boy had Salmon and I had meatballs. The boss again insisted on getting something, in this instance cake for dessert. I was absolutely stuffed full.
After IKEA we loaded up the car with our purchases and drove about 300-500meters away to get ourselves some food. We went to COOP Forum. As far as I could tell, it was a mix between the biggest supermarket you've ever been to in Australia, combined with a Kmart or Target. There was everything there and heaps of it. I couldn't get over the size of the place and the choice was enormous. I intend on revisiting that same place one day to get some photo evidence of the hugeness. I'd write more here, but really it was a supermarket shopping experience and is really not that exciting.
My boss took us home and we started constructing the furniture. Anne (the boss), was really keen on constructing the furniture then and there. The boy suggested that maybe we could wait until the next day and he and I would do it. But she was pretty keen on doing it then, and to be honest so was I. So the three girls put together the majority of Hemnes set of drawers and the whole of the shoe shelf. I was impressed with the dexterity of Embla. She even used a hammer pretty well. I'm guessing they must train kids here early in IKEA furniture construction.
The last item of business of the day was dinner at Anne's house. We made our way there and were greeted by some lovely food that her husband had cooked. It was red rice with chicken breasts covered in vegetables and bacon I think, cooked in the oven. Really tasty. We also had some cask red from Australia (apparently). The boy also got to try some beers that they had in their cellar and we got a tour of the house. Towards the end of the evening, we started playing a board game. It was effectively dungeons and dragons, as far as we could tell. We ended up winning by accident. We played as a team, Anne and Per were the second and Embla and Ask (their son) were the final team, though Embla wasn't particularly interested and spent most of the game out of the room.
Okay, this is already a long post, I shall add some more stuff at a later time. Right now, I'm going to have a shower and get some thesis work done. I'll be back later on today to talk to you about Saturday Sweets, new shoes and Thai food, Swedish style.