honey and sting

Yesterday H. and I went back to Copenhagen and I sat in while he did a day of therapy supervision for a family and child therapy center there. I got to be part of a team giving feedback while he did a session with a client, and participate in the case discussions. It was really interesting -- they spoke in Danish and some English, H. understood their Danish but answered in English and some Swedish -- and I just grokked as best I could. In the evening, H. and J.'s 2 grown daughters and their boyfriends came over and we had delicious dinner (pickled herring appetizer, cod poached in fresh herbs and by fresh I mean right out of the garden, baby potatoes, and ice cream and berries for dessert), then played lawnball in the yard. The boyfriends are Canadian and Australian, respectively, H is Swedish, J is French, and the daughters are Swedish but have lived in different places, so English in a variety of accents was spoken, with occasional bursts of Swedish or French, which everyone also seems to speak. We played boys against girls, and much fun was had. The really long daylight is a bit confusing -- what felt like 5 o'clock or so was in fact 10 pm, and the sun still hadn't set for a while after that. After the 'kids' left, H. and J. and I strolled through the village and visited the Count's cemetary. The aristocracy are buried in a special section, with cast iron crosses made from an identical mold on their graves. The other graves in the churchyard were more variable, sometimes having on them their profession in the Count's service... the huntsman, the farmer, etc. Europe! Feudalism! What a concept...

Today I came into town with H. and wandered around in some shops and a modern art museum while he did some work, then joined him again as part of the team behind the mirror while he did a session of solution focused therapy with a client. Now I am here updating, and have been watching videotapes that H. has of Steve de Shazer, who was a beloved mentor to both of us, working with clients. I will watch some more while H. does paperwork, then we will all go to dinner in town later. I am having a wonderful time. There is a clear sense of the past here -- evident in the old, beautiful architecture, things like the Count's cemetary, and so on, but at the same time a sense of life being spacious and modern -- a strong sense of the possible. One more day in Malmo, then off to Stockholm by train on Saturday (a 4 and a half hour ride) to meet up with my mother and sister.