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!

nej

ya!

nej

nej

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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!