Week 2 (cont.)

It's Saturday morning, and we have a busy day planned. But more about that later.

On Thursday one of the students from the second-year class organized a visit for me and 4 of his classmates of a big Swedish women's clothing company (Gina Tricot) that has a brand new building across the street from the school. It was fascinating to hear about the different ways that they have to market their clothing to the various Scandinavian countries. The women in one country never buy clothing that has the brand name showing on the outside. Another wears mostly black and animal prints. Another never buys anything but "basic" clothing until just before Christmas. Really interesting.

After that I had my interview with the last third-year student. It was so great to get to know each of them both formally, in an interview, and informally while eating, curling, geocaching, etc. Lena and I tried to take some group photos, hoping to get one that will work well on the poster that we put up to try to get host families. 

That afternoon we drove to Gothenburg to pick Dan up at the airport. It was SO wonderful to see his face and hug him. How excited I am for him to see and experience the people and the country I have come to love.

On Friday we had an amazing day.The Sundbaums have some friends who own a sailboat that they keep in a small harbor near Gothenburg (Almösund,) and they needed to sail it about an hour north to where it would be stored for the winter (Wallhamn.) And they invited us to come along! What a treat. We drove to where the boat was and spent a little time getting it ready. Then Ragnhild served us fika before she got off the boat to drive the car to where we would end up in the boat. The rest of us, Pär, Dan, me, and Torbjörn (the captain) sailed off under a sunny sky. So lovely. Seeing the islands off of the west coast of Sweden from the deck of a sailboat was just a little magical. When we arrived at the destination, Ragnhild got back on the boat and served us a really nice lunch, including a delicious mushroom quiche sort of dish that she cooked in her little oven that swung back and forth with the tide.

When we were done we helped them store their gear and clean out the food locker for the winter, and then headed home through the Gothenburg rushhour traffic. Dan and I quickly changed, and then Daniel came to pick us up for dinner! How happy we were to see our Swedish boy. He drove us to his family's home, only a few minutes from the Sundbaum's. His mother and father welcomed us warmly, along with his girlfriend Hanna, and Daniel gave us a tour of their lovely home, including the basement where Magnus Apler keeps his hunting trophies; heads with horns, stuffed birds and small animals, pelts with heads, etc. The animals really were magnificent. He and his wife own a company that makes and sells clothing and gear for hunters, so this is his passion. (Sorry - no pictures - I was a little shy to seem like I was gawking.) We had a delicious dinner that began with large split and barbecued crayfish with pesto, followed by moose and deer stew with winter vegetables, and ending with a kiwi cheesecake. Oh my.  It was so hard to say goodbye to Daniel when he drove us home. We just really love that boy.

I know I'm behind with my story, but the Internet connection has been hard to come by, and I've had to use nearly all of my online time to keep up with work and school. In fact, I haven't checked in at all today, which makes me a little nervous. In any case, more soon :)

Week 2

Sunday morning Pär and I went to see Linn, a student from this past spring, at her church in town. It was Youth Sunday, so the kids sang, spoke, and put on a puppet show. Afterwards we had fika in the basement with the whole church enjoying coffee and homemade goodies. It's always so hard to say goodbye again.

We had some more quiet work time at home, then we had dinner with Pär's cousin and his wife who live nextdoor. They fixed a delicious meal of baked chevre on toast, bbq'd chicken wrapped in bacon, tzatziki, salad with cantelope, and potatoes. Afterwards we went into town again to a large church that is related to the Covenant denomination and listened to a concert consisting of a guy who sang and played the keyboard and a woman who sang. They had great voices, and played both Swedish and American songs.

Monday was my day to say "yes"! 6 of the students picked me up at school at 8am and took me to one of their homes in town. The boy's mother must have been cooking for hours. It was a feast! After breakfast we packed a couple of baskets with food and drinks and headed for Ria Åsar, a beautiful part of Borås that features a hilltop with a beautiful view. Unfortunately, to get to the view required a climb straight up a steep slope, slippery with moss and mud. After about 20 minutes of hard climbing with lots of slilpping, I needed to stop for a breather. The kids felt bad for me, so they decided to stop and have fika, including some delicious homemade carrot cake, there on some boulders.

After climbing back down, we drove back to the school where group #2 picked me up for lunch. After all the food I had just eaten it was hard to imagine, but we went to the Viskan where I ate part of a salad and enjoyed the conversation. When we were done, we went to the Ishall (ice hall) to try our hands at curling. Sooo much fun! It was like playing shuffleboard on ice. You're supposed to wear these black rubber things on the bottom of your shoes that make you slide faster, but most of us stuck with our shoes so we didn't fall on our butts. That didn't, of course, prevent me from falling on my face :)

The third group took me geocaching in town. We found two different caches with lists that we signed our names to. It was nice just to walk around town and see some of the parts of the city that I hadn't seen before. Then we had fika at the Bakgården (backyard) Cafe where I had a lovely cadamom bun - because I really needed to eat again :o

The last group was in charge of dinner. We drove (my driver liked passing cars in the dark in the rain on hills where you couldn't see if anyone was coming the other way) for about 45 minutes to a town called Svenljunga. One of the girls lives in this sleepy little town and invited us all, the whole class, to have dinner at her home. Her mother had fixed a goulash soup and "sandwiches" (bread and cheese.) The students hurdy gurdied and I chatted with a couple of kids at one end about how you can't get a good steak in Sweden. Apparently this is why Daniel was so excited about going to Outback when he was with us! While eating dessert the students picked papers with questions on them (in English) and answered them for the group. That was actually a nice way to hear their thoguhts about things and see them interact with each other.

All in all a wonderful, tiring, filling day!

On Tuesday I spent the whole day at school meeting with the students in the different years, answering questions about coming to America, and working at my desk to catch up with my own students and work. In the evening several of the teachers took me to dinner at a local Greek restaurant. I couldn't believe that rack of lamb was the same price as the chicken, fish, etc.Yay - I never get rack of lamb! It was so delicious, served with roasted vegetables and fried potatoes. And, of course, a nice sauce...everything in Sweden is served with at least one sauce, and often two. How do they stay so thin?!?

Today, Wednesday, I met with the youngest students to talk about when they will come to California in 3 years. I don't think they can even imagine it at this point. Most of their questions were about things like why our drivers' license age is so young but the drinking age is so old (in Sweden they are both 18.) I'm not sure why they would think I would know the answer to a question like that, but I gave it my best shot :) Then I was able to sign in to my new CSUEB class that started today. I like it already! People from all over the country will be my classmates. I'm really looking forward to getting further into the subject with them.

Tonight I had dinner with Rebecca, one of the students who was in California this past spring. She is such a dear. We talked about her experiences with her family, traveling with her classmates, working at the Swedish version of Netflix, and hoping to travel to New Zealand in February. We ate at a Spanish tapas restaurant where we had roasted beet salad, chicken skewers, quesadillas, and, of course, potatoes. It was all delicious, and again it was hard to say goodbye at the end. When I got home they were watching an important fotball game on TV, and this time we won! Happiness in the Sundbaum house :)

That's it for now. Love to you all!

2011 - Week 1

I apologize for being out of touch for so long. It has been a combination of jetlag, extreme busyness, and technical difficulties. In any case, here's an update about the first week of my third trip to Sweden.

The trip from SFO to Gothenburg went smoothly. On the long flight, to Amsterdam, I sat next to two Russian/American young men from San Jose. They were on their way to Europe for a 2-week vacation with friends. They chatted in Russian, the flight attendants chatted in Dutch, and I sat wishing I was better with languages. In the middle of the night, while most of the passengers slept, I got up to stretch my legs, and mentioned to one of the flight attendants that I had expected Dutch and Swedish to sound more similar. "Why?" he asked, "Have you never listed to the Swedish Chef?" Ah yes...hurdy yurdy gurdy :)


Both Pär and Lena met me at the Gothenburg airport. It was so wonderful to see their smiling faces again. The rest of that first weekend is sort of a blur. I remember having dinner with Pär, Lena, Fredrik and Malin on Saturday night, and going to church on Sunday morning, and not much else. Losing 9 hours takes its toll on your internal time clock. Starting with my first meal on the airplane, I felt like people were always trying to feed me at times when I wasn't hungry, and I was always hungry when I wasn't supposed to be.


By Monday, I was starting to feel a little better. Unlike the first two nights, I wasn't awake for several hours in the middle of the night, which helped. It was still difficult to stay awake until a "normal" time. 3:00 in the afternoon always found me wanting to curl up somewhere for a nap. So, when Pär offered to take me to a soccer (fotball) game Monday night, I jumped at the chance to sit in the cold, rainy weather, hoping it would keep me awake, if nothing else! The game was great, although the home team, Elfsborg, lost. Fredrik was kind enough to sit beside me and explain the finer points of the game. I kept thinking about Bryce, picturing him out there on the field. I also wondered if one day Daniel Apler would decide to play for a Swedish team. The rain poured down on the field, but the spectators were kept dry because all the seats are under cover - very smart since Borås is the rainiest city in Sweden!


At school this week I have met with both the second and third-year students. I have interviewed almost all of the ones who will come to CA in the spring. They are a really nice bunch :) This is a photo of the second-year students. They had a chance to ask me questions yesterday. A little shy, but they managed to express their concern about things like food, activities, and chores when it's their turn to come to the U.S.

Unfortunately the wireless Internet connection was down on Wednesday and Thursday at the school. In desperation I spent Thursday morning at the local McDonalds in order to get some work done. By Friday the connection at school was working again, but then the Sundbaums got a new modem at home and my computer won't connect to it for some reason. Oj oj oj.

On Thursday I got to spend some time with our own lovely Viktoria. We spent some time shopping in town, and we got to see Carolina in her beautiful store! Then we met 4 other students who came to the U.S. last year for dinner at their favorite restaurant in town, Viskan. Afterwards Viktoria drove me home. It was so hard to say goodbye again! Louise, who is studying to be a hat maker, organized the dinner, and then came to the school the next day with some of her hats. She is so cute.

I was supposed to go home with Lena to Gothenburg yesterday afternoon, but on Wednesday night she came down with a bad cold and was home sick the rest of the week. We decided it would be better not to risk getting sick myself, so I am with the Sundbaums for the weekend. Yesterday, Lena had me put on some rubber boots and took me for a walk in the forest to collect mushrooms. We hadn't gone far  when I heard some loud pounding steps behind me. I turned to a see a dark blur hurtling towards me, so of course I screamed. It turned out to be a neighborhood dog who had decided to come along on our walk. The owners called to it, but he continued to follow us into the forest. Lena was a little unhappy with him when he snatched a precious chanterelle from the basket and ate it. Bad dog.

I wasn't very good at finding mushrooms. I kept wanting to pick the wrong kinds...

nej

nej

nej

ya!

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In the evening we sat and brushed the dirt off the mushrooms so they would be ready to cook with. I was a little uncomfortable when I realized that some of the little specks of dirt were moving. Pär rescued me from all of them, including the one I found crawling around inside the back of my shirt. Ack! So far we have had mushrooms on toast, in a souffle, in an omelet, and in a pie. They were all absolutely delicious. Lena is an amazing cook.


OK - that's all for now. I'll try to catch up again soon. Love to you all!