It snowed today. I was in the school library working on some homework when I looked out the wide windows and saw small flakes of white hurtling to earth. Five minutes later the flakes were as large as dried apricots. Yea I know strange metaphor, but it's the first thing that came to mind. I was reminded of a lovely song by Swedish artist, Laleh, called Snö (snow).
And also the American dollar increased its value.
last week 1 USD = 7 SEK and now 1 USD = 8 SEK
I suspect that happened just for me.
I just finished a book, that I loaned from the Kumla library called The Pure Land. It was a great read, if you like historical dramas with romance, humor, drunk people and lots of violence.
Anyway I am glad I've started reading more, I find that I have really missed it.
Oh yeah! And I found out that I'm passing Pyschology! I suspect I'm passing all my other classes as well, but only teetering on the edge of Organization and Leadership and Law.
Jag läst en mycket bra bök
(yawg laist n mickay braw beuk)
I read a really good book.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Old news
Snow and ice has come and gone and I’m betting that we will be getting much more it in the next upcoming weeks and months. I think it’s a little exciting, my first real winter. Sure South Carolina gets cold, but I don’t think it’s ever been as cold as it is here. But surprisingly I don’t mind it, I thought the weather would be my least favourite thing about Sweden, but really it’s not terribly bad. In South Carolina, winter is the ugliest season, all the leaves have fallen off the trees leaving them stricken and bare, but in Sweden most of the trees are evergreens. It’s still green and lush even with temperatures of -5 degrees Celsius in November.
Last week in naturkunskap (Chemistry) we distilled beer. I thought it was hilarious that we were able to have the substance in the school, much less work with it in class. I don’t think people realize the stark contrasts between the general ideas of alcohol in Swedish culture compared to American. Of most toxic substances. Students smoke at school (not technically on school grounds, but right in front of them) use snus (a kind of popular tobacco in bags that they put in the top corner of their mouth) in school (even have it out on their desks). And it's not like chewing tobacco, not the same thing.
As most Americans know, if you even had that in your car at school you could be suspended or given some sort of punishment.
In some ways I think Americans have managed to really demonize such things and therefore make them so much important than they really are. Of course they are dangerous, addictive and unhealthy, but I believe that there is more of a problem with them in America than here because of the way they are seen. On a more positive note, I wager to say that use of tobacco and cigarettes is decreasing these days, at least in the states, as most people know that it leads to bad health, cancer, and overall unpleasantness.
So Obama won. Old news right.
I don’t really know how to feel about that. I feel kind of distanced anyway from the whole scope of American politics right now, but having been nearly bombarded with all sorts of questions and opinions about who won and how I feel about it I realized I don’t have many answers for them.
You might be surprised about how important the American election was in Sweden, I surely was. There was news coverage on it every single night on TV, press conferences held on the issues and pros and cons of each candidate. It was on everyone’s tongues, and every time something would come up about Obama or McCain everyone would turn towards me and ask ‘Who do you think will win?’
I thought it was strange at first and I remember asking one of my host brothers why Sweden cared so much about the American election.
‘‘Because it affects us too.’’ He said without missing a beat, and it made sense.
I didn’t have much favour for either McCain or Obama. I thought McCain was too rigid and too old and set in his ways to lead a nation into the future when everything around us is changing. I thought Obama was too young, too inexperienced and not ready to take on responsibility for everything that needs to be fixed in order to help pull America out of all the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.
But one of them had to win and somehow I had always known it would be Obama. So I guess what I thought never gave the decision much weight.
Oh well, the country hasn’t caught on fire yet, that’s a good sign. We will just have to see how it goes.
Undrar (und- rar) it means wonder
Last week in naturkunskap (Chemistry) we distilled beer. I thought it was hilarious that we were able to have the substance in the school, much less work with it in class. I don’t think people realize the stark contrasts between the general ideas of alcohol in Swedish culture compared to American. Of most toxic substances. Students smoke at school (not technically on school grounds, but right in front of them) use snus (a kind of popular tobacco in bags that they put in the top corner of their mouth) in school (even have it out on their desks). And it's not like chewing tobacco, not the same thing.
As most Americans know, if you even had that in your car at school you could be suspended or given some sort of punishment.
In some ways I think Americans have managed to really demonize such things and therefore make them so much important than they really are. Of course they are dangerous, addictive and unhealthy, but I believe that there is more of a problem with them in America than here because of the way they are seen. On a more positive note, I wager to say that use of tobacco and cigarettes is decreasing these days, at least in the states, as most people know that it leads to bad health, cancer, and overall unpleasantness.
So Obama won. Old news right.
I don’t really know how to feel about that. I feel kind of distanced anyway from the whole scope of American politics right now, but having been nearly bombarded with all sorts of questions and opinions about who won and how I feel about it I realized I don’t have many answers for them.
You might be surprised about how important the American election was in Sweden, I surely was. There was news coverage on it every single night on TV, press conferences held on the issues and pros and cons of each candidate. It was on everyone’s tongues, and every time something would come up about Obama or McCain everyone would turn towards me and ask ‘Who do you think will win?’
I thought it was strange at first and I remember asking one of my host brothers why Sweden cared so much about the American election.
‘‘Because it affects us too.’’ He said without missing a beat, and it made sense.
I didn’t have much favour for either McCain or Obama. I thought McCain was too rigid and too old and set in his ways to lead a nation into the future when everything around us is changing. I thought Obama was too young, too inexperienced and not ready to take on responsibility for everything that needs to be fixed in order to help pull America out of all the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.
But one of them had to win and somehow I had always known it would be Obama. So I guess what I thought never gave the decision much weight.
Oh well, the country hasn’t caught on fire yet, that’s a good sign. We will just have to see how it goes.
Undrar (und- rar) it means wonder
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Winter is on its way
Before I start this post i must announce to all that i am very sorry. It's been such an extremely long time since I updated my blog and thats not good. But you must understand how busy my life is right now, it seems like I never have enough time to actually sit down at the computer and actually blog anything.Life has bitten and it bites hard.
Well I suppose I should start at the beginning, as I sit here listening to the sounds of children playing loudly and looking outside into the darkness at this extremely late time of 4:36 pm. It's quite hard to remember last month, everything except for our week long holiday escapes me. But I did not get to stay home all week, no, I traveled to Jönköping to visit Ingrid (my svensk aunt) and we had a grand time. Ingrid is one of those women who are tougher than nails, approaching her sixties and owning no car, she opts for traveling by foot or bicycle. And Jönköping is a large, gusty and cold city. While in Jönköping I believed I walked over 15 miles in the course of two days. I enjoyed it, but Ingrid can keep it, its a little too cold for me. At one point it was -1 celsius.
Of course when I say that I realize everywhere is cold. At one point it snowed and the water froze solid here in Kumla. And it's was only October.
So from Jönköping I traveled to Göteborg again to meet up with a friend I made with STS. The Austrailian. So we spent our day in Göteborg in IKEA taking silly pictures and eating in the cafe there. The Austrailian ordered 15 kötbullar (swedish meatballs) and fairly appalled the people beside us who were calmly ordering their sparse looking salads.
I spent the night at her place in Väröbacka, which I can safely say is the middle of nowhere. Look no further, the middle of nowhere is Väröbacka. It was actually quiet terrifying walking from the busstop to her house a good mile in complete pitch black darkness fast approaching midnight. But as i'm sure hollywood has taught you Australians fear nothing. (R.I.P Steve Irwin)
So the next day after a promise to see each other again and a long train ride home to Örebro I was greeted with the sight of white, white and more white. Sweden snow is magical, I don't think i've ever seen the cold stuff so glittery and clean. It looked like someone had sprinkeled glitter all over the ground on top of the snow, and it was cold. (It still is bitterly cold)
My host father met me at the station with one of the new additions to our large family. A ten year old girl named Angelika. She talked to me trhough my host father, not believing his emphatic ''Hon kan prata svenska''s (She can speak swedish)
So about the new additions to our family.
We have two siblings living with us now, Angelika and a 14 year old boy, Robin. They come from a bad previous family life just like Pamela and Mary and they are here to stay. In fact earlier in the month of October we spent an entire day rearranging the house to squeeze in more people.
So I believe if you counted it up now there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 10 living in the house now. And yes it's packed. But they really are cute kids. A few days ago my host dad and I took them to McDonalds for lunch. They were so excited because they had never been before. Can you imagine? Fourteen and ten and never been to McDonalds? It's hard to dislike kids who have never been to McDonalds.
I've started a new hobby with one of my swedish friends. Archery. Yes good old fashioned bow and arrow. It's really exciting and it requires strength and technique, but lots of fun.
And now I will say goodbye with a promise to update sooner than last time. Promise.
The word is lovat (loav-att) it means promise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jQIjVJw9Pc
There is the video i promised about Göteborg for you.
Well I suppose I should start at the beginning, as I sit here listening to the sounds of children playing loudly and looking outside into the darkness at this extremely late time of 4:36 pm. It's quite hard to remember last month, everything except for our week long holiday escapes me. But I did not get to stay home all week, no, I traveled to Jönköping to visit Ingrid (my svensk aunt) and we had a grand time. Ingrid is one of those women who are tougher than nails, approaching her sixties and owning no car, she opts for traveling by foot or bicycle. And Jönköping is a large, gusty and cold city. While in Jönköping I believed I walked over 15 miles in the course of two days. I enjoyed it, but Ingrid can keep it, its a little too cold for me. At one point it was -1 celsius.
Of course when I say that I realize everywhere is cold. At one point it snowed and the water froze solid here in Kumla. And it's was only October.
So from Jönköping I traveled to Göteborg again to meet up with a friend I made with STS. The Austrailian. So we spent our day in Göteborg in IKEA taking silly pictures and eating in the cafe there. The Austrailian ordered 15 kötbullar (swedish meatballs) and fairly appalled the people beside us who were calmly ordering their sparse looking salads.
I spent the night at her place in Väröbacka, which I can safely say is the middle of nowhere. Look no further, the middle of nowhere is Väröbacka. It was actually quiet terrifying walking from the busstop to her house a good mile in complete pitch black darkness fast approaching midnight. But as i'm sure hollywood has taught you Australians fear nothing. (R.I.P Steve Irwin)
So the next day after a promise to see each other again and a long train ride home to Örebro I was greeted with the sight of white, white and more white. Sweden snow is magical, I don't think i've ever seen the cold stuff so glittery and clean. It looked like someone had sprinkeled glitter all over the ground on top of the snow, and it was cold. (It still is bitterly cold)
My host father met me at the station with one of the new additions to our large family. A ten year old girl named Angelika. She talked to me trhough my host father, not believing his emphatic ''Hon kan prata svenska''s (She can speak swedish)
So about the new additions to our family.
We have two siblings living with us now, Angelika and a 14 year old boy, Robin. They come from a bad previous family life just like Pamela and Mary and they are here to stay. In fact earlier in the month of October we spent an entire day rearranging the house to squeeze in more people.
So I believe if you counted it up now there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 10 living in the house now. And yes it's packed. But they really are cute kids. A few days ago my host dad and I took them to McDonalds for lunch. They were so excited because they had never been before. Can you imagine? Fourteen and ten and never been to McDonalds? It's hard to dislike kids who have never been to McDonalds.
I've started a new hobby with one of my swedish friends. Archery. Yes good old fashioned bow and arrow. It's really exciting and it requires strength and technique, but lots of fun.
And now I will say goodbye with a promise to update sooner than last time. Promise.
The word is lovat (loav-att) it means promise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jQIjVJw9Pc
There is the video i promised about Göteborg for you.
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