Day 45: Snow, baby sitting and a mysterious guest
This Valentine's day has been great. I woke up in a beautiful snowy and sunny Uppsala. When the Australian nurse had put her Doc Martens and bright red lipstick on and said good bye I decided to go back to bed (well, mattress), sleep a little more and enjoy being alone since I will have a lot of guests here the upcoming weeks.
After lunch I met the Korean family for toboggan riding in Slottsbacken. It was such a beautiful day, and they really enjoyed it. This is something we could not have done at home, the father told me, and he seemed really happy about it. It made me really happy too. And then we had a little pick nick with hot chocolate I'd made and cookies and Korean rice balls they had brought.
The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning the apartment. I have never been a big fan of cleaning before but I have to say I really enjoy it now. It makes such a difference making the space look nice for others, than just doing it for myself.
Then it was time for my first paid sharing economy mission (except for Airbnb): babysitting! A couple of friends wanted to have a Valentine's day dinner on their own and put an ad on Taskrunner which I answered to. Taskrunner doesn't really focus on babysitting, but I wanted to try the site and I plan to do other things there soon. Anyway, they have three kids and paid me 400 SEK for about two hours. The kids were little angels so it didn't feel like working at all. We read books, watched cartoons, changed diapers and brushed teeth.
After that I walked home to finally meet a guest that I've been very curious about. The thing is I have had no contact with him, but only with his fiancée. With whom I've exchanged several emails during the last month. Like: "A. would like to have a desk in the room, is that possible?" Ok, yes. (That's why I bought the bureau and re-painted it with the Koreans) "A. would like to learn some Swedish, would you happen to know where he can do this?" And all written in French ("Since you seem to speak excellent French." Thanks to Google Translate) So she's given me an opportunity to practice my French writing. But I've also wondered, who is this man who doesn't write his own mails?
Anyway, on my way home, I receive an email from him, at last. A very polite one. I especially like the part "Don't worry, everything will be in order during my stay (I'm Swiss)". But I was still expecting a rather demanding person only to meet, once again, a super nice guest who seemed very keen not to bother me. Like asking at what time I go to bed so he doesn't disturb me. Etc. Wow, it's amazing, I'm so blessed meeting all these great people.