Bohusläns Museum and the Effects of Testosterone

Arguments in favor of visiting the Buhusläns Museum today:

1. It is Monday.
2. It is a cold, grey, foggy day.
3. We have a rental car.
4. We've seen everything in Strömstad twice. At least.
5. Jeremy is working.
6. The girls finished their daily school work.
7. It is free.
8. It has a kids' play area.
9. It has a cafe.
10. We all want to go.

Arguments against?

1. I have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad sense of direction and no navigation.

We went anyway. Getting there was only slightly disastrous.

I made it off the island, over the scary bridges, and onto the E6 easily enough. (On the E6, I get to choose between north toward Oslo or south toward Göteborg. I still think it's cool.)

The directions that I carefully wrote down at home before we left did not match reality enough for me to follow them. "Take exit 96" they said, but I had to choose between exit 96.2 and 96.1, which I'm sure are actually radio stations, and not freeway exits.

I chose neither, betting that the next exit would be 96. I chose poorly and ended up driving for miles and crossing a giant bridge. Then turning around and crossing it again.

I finally got back onto somewhere resembling my original directions. Then came all the roundabouts. Just so, so many roundabouts. Usually labelled, but sometimes not. And when you don't know quite where you're going or what you're doing and the roundabout is not labelled you end up in a gas station parking lot crying.

*sigh*

By a minor miracle, we eventually found the museum. The supposedly "hour-long" drive had taken almost twice that long. Thank goodness the girls had brought their iPads, because it's the only reason we didn't end up at IKEA (which was right off the freeway and so very tempting!).

It is a lovely little museum.

Random stylish seating area.

We started in an temporary exhibit of an modern artist, which had a kid-friendly playroom.

I liked this one.

Dress up clothes included snail shells.

After that, we found a steamboat-themed play area which the girls adored. I spent my time attempting to teach myself Swedish by translating the signs on the wall, then google translating them to check myself. Entertaining AND educational.

Steamboat Uddevalla!

We did the quickest tour of the upstairs galleries imaginable. As with most places I go with my kids, I have a strong desire to go back and spend much more time there without them, so I can take my time and look at every. little. thing.

I found the exhibit design as interesting as the exhibits.

Just one of the unusual and pretty exhibits.

Backstory: I used to work as a photographer at the National Zoo, in Washington DC. The head photographer and I were part of the Exhibit Design department, since the photos were often used on signage in the exhibits. While I was there, several of the exhibits were overhauled completely and one was created from scratch. Since then, I've been more interested in exhibit design.

~

On the drive home, I listened to a podcast from This American Life (episode 220, "Testosterone", if you're interested).

One quote about the effects of testosterone stood out to me. It's from James Dabbs, author of a book on testosterone:

"The most simple thing, I would say, is it leads to a certain boldness and fearlessness and confidence in a person's behavior..."

It felt like a spotlight on the differences between Jeremy's experience of being here in Sweden and mine. He seems to be fearless. He randomly drove to Norway the other night, because he felt like getting some candy that he likes.

He didn't look at directions in advance. He didn't have internet access, so if he got lost, he'd just have to figure it out or (heaven forfend!) ask for directions. He just did it.

The difference between that and how I operate is like night and day. There is nothing bold or fearless or confident in my outings. I'm terrified just backing out of our driveway in a rental car. I panic driving over the scary bridges. I'm sure that I'm about to have a head-on collision every time a car comes from the opposite direction.

Jeremy does seem bold, fearless, and confident. I feel scared, uncertain, and hesitant.

I do want to go back to that museum, but I may have to enlist Jeremy to drive me. I have no confidence that I can find it again or survive another attempt.