Speaking Swedish, Amy's Birthday, Ishockey Match
Well this last week has been really good. I have seen some prime examples of where my Swedish is picking up. I mean I am no where near being able to communicate but I am able to understand and I attempted speaking...really badly...enough for applause! I understood my first conversation on the weekend which was really cool for me. It is like although you listen you never really think that you will be able to follow the whole thing but I did. This will seem very insignificant to some of you but it was a big thing for me... I even said 'I just understood all of that!' Haha yeah it was cool. Birthe and Lovisa were talking about the weekend trip that they were going on and when they would leave and get back etc. It was while Barbara, from California who was working with my host father for the week, was with us and it was cool because then I could tell her what they had said and Birthe was like that is exactly what we said! Woo...Cheer for Grace! Also I gave my weekly update at our Rotary meeting this week in Swedish. It was really really bad Swedish but they still understood...I think...and they all clapped for me so I felt really proud of myself.
Last weeked was Amy's (Canadian from BC) 18th Birthday. We all went to her house and had a dinner and watched movies. Amy's host Mom made us a really great supper and I have finally discovered scalloped potatoes that I liked. They were great. However no party is complete without gifts and Amy's were really funny so I have to show some photos of them.
This is some of us eating dinner. Jena (friend of Amy's from Canada who is working here this year), Laura (from Brazil), Diana (from Alaska, USA) and Me...way at the back. The next pic is one of Amy's funny gifts The Monkey Tree! There is really no purpose to this game except for the Monkeys to climb the tree and then slide down but it kept everyone entertained for a long time. Funny how simple it is to entertain 16-18 year olds!
I was with Phil when he bought this gift for Amy...a Moose Hat! It was way more entertaining to be there when Amy read the card that Phil wrote to accompany the gift. Something along the lines of...so next time you are walking in the forest wearing this gift be sure wear lots of non-moose color clothing and make non-moose noises...or something to that effect although there was a whole story before that. It was a fun night.
On Tuesday I went to my first Ishockey match in Sweden. It was Sodertalje vs. Djurgården. One of the exchange students, Cass from Austraila, lives in Sodertalje so she invitied us up to watch the game. Well down...I guess...Sodertalje is as far south of Stockholm as I am north so it took us more that 2 hours to get there...bike to train, train, subway, train, and then bus and the reverse to get home of course. But it was really fun...good to see a Hockey game again. I like sports because not matter where you are you can still understand them!
This is the arena where the game was. It was really nice I thought. And then there is all of us that went to the match (bottom around) Cass, Hannah, Me, Phil and Parker. I love going to these games because cheering is so fun. All the songs...the fans get really into it.
And of course no hockey game is complete with out the faithful Zamboni. But before the Zamboni they had these cars drive out around the ice. It was funny...I have seen this kind of advertising before...not at a hocky game anyways. The game was really close considering that Sodertalje is ranked second last in ishockey right now. Djurgården won 4-3 41sec into overtime. So it was a sad night for the home team.
My last adventure for this week was going to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. For those of you that don't follow or care about Harry Potter this is the fourth movie and it has just come out. We went to the Priemier here in Sweden and the theater was packed! The movie was really good but my friends and I agree that the book was better...isn't that always the way. It was also interesting to go because the subway workers are on strike right now...should be intersting to see what happens to this in the coming week when people won't be able to get to work and things. It was alright for us because we walked from the train and then were able to take the subway back to the train after. The subways are running partially but just some ways so it is hard to get there but coming back is normal.
Well that is all from Sweden for this week. Keep warm...and please don't send any snow this way...yet...let me climatize to riding my bike in minus weather first!