{"id":2478,"date":"2023-08-23T16:06:18","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T16:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.todayatthelakeblog.com\/?p=2478"},"modified":"2023-08-23T16:06:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T16:06:18","slug":"hammarbadet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/?p=2478","title":{"rendered":"Hammarsbadet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


August 23, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weds, 5:22pm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today at the lake, I swam in the Baltic Sea for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been so antsy to swim the past 10 days, while also knowing it would be a wait because of traveling and because of jet lag. Now that I\u2019m at my residency I can swim whenever I want. I really needed a swim because I\u2019ve been a little uptight about some of the details here. Helps to get some exercise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I had to bike to the Hammarbadet, the beach, on the three-speed bike my residency has for me to use while I\u2019m here. It was a bit steep at parts, so I had to get off and walk. No problem. Glad I brought a helmet because I\u2019m in a small village, and it would have been a hassle to order one or not have options here and get stuck with one I didn\u2019t really want or couldn\u2019t really afford. Loving my orange Smith helmet. Fits perfectly. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The water today was both clear and murky.  It looks quite clear from the beach, from the dock, but it\u2019s hazy in the water. It\u2019s brackish water, so I don\u2019t know if that makes a difference. I could see the sand on the bottom, but not clearly. Maybe it\u2019s just my eyes. I wore my FiveFingers so I didn\u2019t feel anything icky on my feet. There were random clumps of seaweed, but not much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water was cold and perfectly refreshing after the brutal heat and humidity I\u2019ve suffered thorough the past week. I have sweated more on this trip than I have in a lifetime. My body is not suited for heat & humidity. I\u2019ve also been struggling with vertigo, which I\u2019m hoping will go away because I do not want to go to a doctor. I also have rashes all over my arms and the backs of my hands. Heat rash? In Sweden?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, anywho, I arrived at the beach, which is surrounded by little cabins and a campsite. There was a mother with three little kids playing in the water, two of them naked. I was trying to take photos for all of you, and having to wait until the kids passed by so I didn\u2019t get them in the photo. The cool thing about this beach: there are also ancient rock formations to explore next time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had a bit of a hassle with my swim bouy; it didn\u2019t feel like it was gonna stay sealed. I brought a different size and style than I usually use, and I hope I don\u2019t regret that. I usually use an old phone for my GPS, but only brought my fancy iPhone with me, so I put it inside two waterproof bags. 
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Back to the water \u2014- lovely cold. Maybe 10 degrees colder than the 74 F water I swam\u00a0in 10 days\u00a0ago in Seattle, and it was fine. I loved it. I swam a few feet, but saw lots of little translucent jellyfish. My host had told me they were not dangerous, but it was a bit weird. I swam, along, wondering if they were smashing against my chest or somehow able to dodge me. I tried to ignore them, but I kept seeing more. I decided to stop and just tread water for my exercise.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then I got bored and wanted to swim again. I tried going in a new direction, but with every stroke four or five more jellyfish came toward me. Then, I  TOUCHED  ONE! Ew. It was all rubbery, and I was worried that I hurt it. I kept swimming because what else was I gonna do, but I didn\u2019t like these things. I swam to the dock and climbed out, then saw a couple on the bench. I walked over and asked about the jellyfish, and they looked at me like I was a crazy person for attempting to make contact. Little do they know that I am a crazy person, but not for the reasons they think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got back in the water and swam, because that\u2019s the kind of woman I am. I tried to dodge the jellyfish, but it was no use. I stopped and floated so I could get a better look. Some of them were quite big, maybe the size of a softball. I could see their insides\u2026a cute little clover shaped filament under a clear jelly umbrella. It seemed smarter to slow down and see them since I will be swimming with them for a couple months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next time I will wear gloves so I won\u2019t feel them when I touch them, but I\u2019m gonna swim there again. And I\u2019m gonna find out where the nearest lakes are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I am exhausted. I\u2019m gonna host a few public swims, and see who shows up. Then at the end of my residency I host a little party and talk about my project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Night, night, you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 23, 2023 Weds, 5:22pm  Today at the lake, I swam in the Baltic Sea for the first time. I\u2019ve been so antsy to swim the past 10 days, while also knowing it would be a wait because of traveling and because of jet lag. Now that I\u2019m at my residency I can swim whenever READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[16,132,133],"class_list":["post-2478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ducks-wildlife","category-water","tag-adapting","tag-resilience","tag-risk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/todayatthelake.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/IMG_5334.jpg?fit=700%2C525&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}