Hej all,
Wow time has flown by. I can't believe that it will soon be April!! Lately we have been very busy with hosting guests and such.
Recently I have taken on the task of learning to ski. One of our friends has graciously offered to teach me how to ski. So almost every Saturday for the past few weeks, we make the 1 hour trek south to the ski resort know as Kåbdalis. As most of you know... I am not the most coordinated person, so me plus really slick things attached to my feet will most likely end in with a major wipe out and I have never down hill skiied in my life.
So here I am surrounded by people who have been skiing all of their lives and surrounded by kids who can be no more than five years old flying past me on the big hill, which doesn't help with my nerves. After going down the barn hill, aka baby hill, twice, my friend/ski instructor, Fredrik, tells me that it is time to try the big hill. I have never been so terrified in my life. The cause of my terror can be broken down into 3 parts. 1. I still couldn't turn let alone stop, 2. the ski lift isn't like the ski lifts at home, it's an upside down T that pushes you up the hill and if you lean back and try to sit on it you will fall and 3. I am not a big fan of embarrassment.
So after much convincing and reasuring that it is impossible to die while going down the hill and that no one will laugh at me, we made our way to the lift. Finally it was our turn, we got up to the lift, Fredrik put my side of the upside down T behind me, told me to hang on and off we went. I soon realized that it wasn't as scary as it looked and rather enjoyed the ride up. Once we made it to the top, we skiied over to the hill that I would be attempting to go down. It looked so much bigger than it did from the bottom of the hill. After a few more instructions and more reasuring, I faced my skis downward and took off like a rocket....unfortunately, I still hadn't mastered turning or stopping, so when I got scared, I just bailed and rolled down the hill. Let me tell you, I was so embarrassed. Fredrik quickly came to my rescue, helped me up, gave me some more advice and told me to try again. So I did, and it went the same as before, but this time I was even more embarrassed. So once again Fredrik came and helped me up and told me to try again. So I faced down the hill again and took off...as the Swedes would say...it ended in an epic fail. By this point I was super embarrassed bacause I thought everyone was laughing at me and I was frustrated bacause the little kids were showing me up. So I took off my skis and sat there trying to patch the wounds in my pride and regain composure. This time Fredrik skiied down and sat down next to me. He could tell I was frustrated, so he gave me some helpful advice. He told me that the only way you learn is to make mistakes, everyone falls, but not everyone gets back up. Most people just get angry and quit, and I don't think you are a quiter. It will come in time. Even the greatest skiers fall, but they learn from their mistakes. They get up and laugh it off. He also told me to clear my mind and forget about the other people on the hill, you're new at this, so you have to start somewhere.
It was then that I realized that it is okay to laugh at myself. Everyone on the slopes knows what it's like to just be learning how to ski, so there is no point in being embarrassed. With this in mind, I attached my skis back on to my boots, and with some help, got back up. I faced down hill again and took off. My skills hadn't changed, so I ended up falling and tumbling down the hill, but this time I was able to laugh it off and get back up and try again.
Let's just say that I'm still not the greatest skier in the world, but it turned out to be a good day full of laughs, epic fails and some pretty interesting bruises.
If it hadn't been for my friend/instructors encouraging words and persistant ways and unwilligness to let me give up, I'm pretty sure I would have given up, but it's a nice feeling knowing that someone is that dedicated, willing to help and spend their day trying to teach an Amercian how to properly ski. Who knew that a 17 year old Swede could be so wise.
In the end I learned that it's okay to laugh at yourself and laugh with others at yourself. I also learned there is no need to be embarrassed when you are trying something new. I will always remember those words of encouragement and share them with all my friends who are struggling with being able to laugh at themselves.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The not so little thing called market...
Hej all, Wow...it has been a long time since I last posted....so here we go!
For the past few months, nothing very exciting has happened. We stuck to our normal routine which consists of going to school, talking with students, hanging out at the house, knitting, and chilling with our highschool friends. And before we knew what hit us, 30,000 plus people bombard our peaceful town for a crazy fun-filled 3 days! This bombardment is more commonly known as Jokkmokk's vintermarknad (winter market) which celebrates the Sami culture and arts. It's the market that puts Jokkmokk on the map and it's been happening for over 400 years.
Monday Feb. 2 was when the market week began and it starts out with historical market, which is suppose to show what market would have been like 100 plus years ago. It was here you could find people dressed from head to toe in fur selling reindeer meat, hand made mittens and socks, and various hand made crafts. This market is very small...it took about 10 minutes to walk through it and see what all it had to offer.
On Wednesday the 4th, the opening ceremony for market occurs. It takes place in the middle of town and lots of people gather to hear what the important people of Jokkmokk have to say and then watch the show that starts the market. This year it was yoiking, which is a traditional Sami style of singing. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. After the ceremony, which takes about 45 minutes, every one heads home, or continues to set up their stands.
Thursday the 5th was a free day for us because there was no school due to that fact that it was turned into a make shift hostel to accomadate all of the people that come to market. There are only 2 or 3 hotels in Jokkmokk, so for 250 crowns a night, you can rent a space on the floor of the school. So this was my first day of market wandering. It was pretty intense. There were so many people and so many things to look at. After wandering around for a bit, I headed back to the church to make bread for the fika that we would be selling the next night. After finishing the bread, I decided to brave the cold and go back out to wander around somemore.
For the past few months, nothing very exciting has happened. We stuck to our normal routine which consists of going to school, talking with students, hanging out at the house, knitting, and chilling with our highschool friends. And before we knew what hit us, 30,000 plus people bombard our peaceful town for a crazy fun-filled 3 days! This bombardment is more commonly known as Jokkmokk's vintermarknad (winter market) which celebrates the Sami culture and arts. It's the market that puts Jokkmokk on the map and it's been happening for over 400 years.
Monday Feb. 2 was when the market week began and it starts out with historical market, which is suppose to show what market would have been like 100 plus years ago. It was here you could find people dressed from head to toe in fur selling reindeer meat, hand made mittens and socks, and various hand made crafts. This market is very small...it took about 10 minutes to walk through it and see what all it had to offer.
On Wednesday the 4th, the opening ceremony for market occurs. It takes place in the middle of town and lots of people gather to hear what the important people of Jokkmokk have to say and then watch the show that starts the market. This year it was yoiking, which is a traditional Sami style of singing. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. After the ceremony, which takes about 45 minutes, every one heads home, or continues to set up their stands.
Thursday the 5th was a free day for us because there was no school due to that fact that it was turned into a make shift hostel to accomadate all of the people that come to market. There are only 2 or 3 hotels in Jokkmokk, so for 250 crowns a night, you can rent a space on the floor of the school. So this was my first day of market wandering. It was pretty intense. There were so many people and so many things to look at. After wandering around for a bit, I headed back to the church to make bread for the fika that we would be selling the next night. After finishing the bread, I decided to brave the cold and go back out to wander around somemore.
Friday the 6th is markets BIG day...when I say big I mean so many people that you can hardly walk around. None the less my day started out with the church service held at the old church. It was a very beautiful service in which the choir sang, John 1:4-5 was read in 12 different languages and Tom Rutschman gave a sermon in 4 languages, Swedish, English, Spanish and French. After the service we headed home and hang out and warm up. Around 3 we headed down to the lake to watch the famous reindeer race. The race consists of 10 volunteers, preferably from a country other than Sweden. Then they attach a sled to semi-wild reindeer, the volunteer lays on the sled and the they race around a track. It was pretty intertaining. After a while we decided that we couldn't stay and watch the end because we were so cold...maybe the fact that it was -20 celcius had something to do with it. So we headed home to warm up before we had to work at the folk dance later that night. Around 8:45 we made our way up to the folk dance to sell fika, snack, to the dancers. It was a pretty good night. I got to do some traditional Swedish line dances and talk to lots of interesting people. We finished selling fika at 1 and went home exhausted.
Saturday was another big day at the market. Once again there were so many people you could hardly walk. It was this day that I decided that I was going to go on a dog sled ride. It was awesome, for 80 swedish crowns you could ride on a dog sled around the track that had been made on the lake. The ride was really short and the dogs were insanely loud, but it was definitely worth it...I mean how many of my friends can say that they have been on a dog sled ride before. After my ride, Bethany and I decided to wander around the market a little more. After sufficiently freezing ourselves, we made our way back home to thaw before having to go work at the folk dance again. Once again we spent our night at the folk dance selling fika and chatting with all the interesting people.
Sunday was our day of relaxation. After church we decided to go out for pizza to celebrate the success we had in selling fika. Market was finally over, people were leaving and our town was finally going back to it's normal quiet self. All I can say is that market is a very interesting and one of a kind experience and I am really glad that I was able to take part in it.
Saturday was another big day at the market. Once again there were so many people you could hardly walk. It was this day that I decided that I was going to go on a dog sled ride. It was awesome, for 80 swedish crowns you could ride on a dog sled around the track that had been made on the lake. The ride was really short and the dogs were insanely loud, but it was definitely worth it...I mean how many of my friends can say that they have been on a dog sled ride before. After my ride, Bethany and I decided to wander around the market a little more. After sufficiently freezing ourselves, we made our way back home to thaw before having to go work at the folk dance again. Once again we spent our night at the folk dance selling fika and chatting with all the interesting people.
Sunday was our day of relaxation. After church we decided to go out for pizza to celebrate the success we had in selling fika. Market was finally over, people were leaving and our town was finally going back to it's normal quiet self. All I can say is that market is a very interesting and one of a kind experience and I am really glad that I was able to take part in it.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Life as a reindeer rassler
I'm now an offical reindeer rassler. Not even kidding...two weeks ago we were invited by the mother of a Sami boy, Erik-Amma one of our friends, to go wrestle with reindeer. Okay, so it's actually called reindeer sorting, but it felt more like wrestling.
Here is how my day as a reindeer wrangler was spent.
Let's rewind back to Tuesday Decemeber 9th. Around 11:00 am on that fateful Tuesday we had been informed that the sorting was to take place the next day, the 10th. After getting all the details as to what to wear and what to bring, we set a time to be picked up. Our driver, Sonja aka Amma's Mamma as we call her, said she had a denstist appointment and that she would pick us up after it at 10:30. We went home that night and stayed up a little longer thatn usual because we thought well hey we can sleep until 9:30 and be ready to go by 10:30.
After what seemed like only a few hours of sleep, we were a woken by a technoe ringing known as my phone. I quickly checked the clock which read 6:50, forced myself to crawl out of bed, staggered to my desk and grabbed my phone. I had to refrain myself from throwing my phone agaisnt the wall because it had aroused my from my slumber 2 hours to early, but none the less I answered it with a groggy Hello. I was greeted with the most perky ''Good Morning Alyssa'' I have ever heard at 6:50 in the morning. It was Sonja calling to say that it was about -30 degress celius, so we needed to dress extra warm and that we would be leaving at 8:30 instead of 10:30.
If being told that if was -30 degrees celius didn't bring me to my senses, the leaving at 8:30 instead of 10:30 did. I hung up after reassuring her we would be ready to go.
8:30 arrived all to soon and the next thing I knew, we were all packed into the car with Amma and his Pappa and heading to our destination about an hours drive into the mountains. We finally arrived and got out of the car, but there was no one in sight. In the distance we could hear snow mobile engines revving and that's when we knew the fun was about to start. Amma's Pappa motioned for us to follow him, so we set of into the woods after him.
All to soon we found the snow mobiles and the biggest herd of reindeer I have ever seen in my life. Amma's Pappa told us to stay put while he went on. It was at this time Amma explained to us what was happening. He said that the first step of the reindeer sorting was to go out into the woods on snow mobiles and find the biggest herd of reindeer that you could and then bring them to a smaller part of the woods, which they had already done. The second step was to get them into a slight smaller fenced off area, that's the step that we were witnessing abd were getting ready to help with.
After what seemed like ages, they finally got the reindeer to go the way they wanted them to go. It was then that our job was to begin. We were to follow behind and flap our arms and hiss at any reindeer that was brave/stupid enough to try and make a run for it. After this step was complete and the fence was in place, we had to set up another semi-fence in order for the next step to start. Let me tell you that settingup that fence was hard work. The pieces are really heavy, but they have to be because the reindeer tend to get fiesty and try to plow through the walls. After the semi-fence was in place, it was time for step 3 to begin.
Step 3 is known as the running step. You run at the reindeer and try to geta big group into the fenced area. It a lot easier said than done. After a good 20 minutes of running, arm flapping and hissing, we got a large enough group into the designated area. From there step 4 begins.
The goal of step 4 is to get as many reindeer as you can inot a large corral . After you get a large enough group into the large corral you can start step 5, which is flocking them into a much smaller corral. This is a long process as well. It seems like the reindeer know what is going to happen next, so they run in every which way. After much flapping, hissing and shouting, we got enough into the small corral to start step 6.
First I need to explain what they small corral looks like before I explain step 6. Ao you have a small corral and along the sides of the corral there are smaller pens. Each family has their own pen that they share with their entire extended family. This is where you put your reindeer after you have caught them.
Okay back to step 6. At this point each family has built a fire and brought in the necessary supplies they need for the sorting process. The fire is used for warmth and to help confuse the reindeer, smoke confuses them apparently. Now at this point the reindeer are in corral running in circles while each of the families are standing in the middle of it all looking for their reindeer. Each Sami person has their own mark, notches in the ear of the reindeer. After a while the head guy shouts saying that it is now time to get your reindeer.
This is when the actual fun begins. It amazes me how the people can tell which of the beasts were theirss by looking at the marks on the ears which to me seemed invisible. The actual separating is really fun. In order to get the reindeer you have grab them by the antlers. Well they don't really enjoy that, so you ahve to really sneaky and you have to tag team them. Once you get a hold of them, you have to drag them to your pen, well the don't like being dragged either, so they tend to pull back or they dig their hoves into the ground making it almost to pull them.
Let me tell you, these beasties are really strong and at times I felt like they were pulling me more than I was pulling them. Ocasionally some of them would rebel and start to kick, twist and jump until you couldn't hang on any longer and they broke free, but little did they know we would be after them again all to soon.
After the small corral is empty, you go back to the large one and flap, hiss and yell until the small corral is full again. Then the sorting process starts all over again. You do this until the big corral is empty. Then you repeat steps 3-5 until all the reindeer are in their respected family pens. Once all the reindeer have been sorted you have to load them into your trailers. To do this you have to stalk the reindeer and then lasso them by the antlers, pull them through the fence and them shove them into the trailers. You continue this process until all of them are loaded.
It's a really long process, but thankfully there were only 2000 reindeer instead of the usual 6000-7000.
It was really fun and once in a life time experience. At first we weren't really sure what to expect because when we told people what we were doing, they looked at us like we were crazy and would say ''You're doing that...best of luck to you''.
In the end their snide remarks had been forgotten do to how much fun I had and how much I learned during the process
Here is how my day as a reindeer wrangler was spent.
Let's rewind back to Tuesday Decemeber 9th. Around 11:00 am on that fateful Tuesday we had been informed that the sorting was to take place the next day, the 10th. After getting all the details as to what to wear and what to bring, we set a time to be picked up. Our driver, Sonja aka Amma's Mamma as we call her, said she had a denstist appointment and that she would pick us up after it at 10:30. We went home that night and stayed up a little longer thatn usual because we thought well hey we can sleep until 9:30 and be ready to go by 10:30.
After what seemed like only a few hours of sleep, we were a woken by a technoe ringing known as my phone. I quickly checked the clock which read 6:50, forced myself to crawl out of bed, staggered to my desk and grabbed my phone. I had to refrain myself from throwing my phone agaisnt the wall because it had aroused my from my slumber 2 hours to early, but none the less I answered it with a groggy Hello. I was greeted with the most perky ''Good Morning Alyssa'' I have ever heard at 6:50 in the morning. It was Sonja calling to say that it was about -30 degress celius, so we needed to dress extra warm and that we would be leaving at 8:30 instead of 10:30.
If being told that if was -30 degrees celius didn't bring me to my senses, the leaving at 8:30 instead of 10:30 did. I hung up after reassuring her we would be ready to go.
8:30 arrived all to soon and the next thing I knew, we were all packed into the car with Amma and his Pappa and heading to our destination about an hours drive into the mountains. We finally arrived and got out of the car, but there was no one in sight. In the distance we could hear snow mobile engines revving and that's when we knew the fun was about to start. Amma's Pappa motioned for us to follow him, so we set of into the woods after him.
All to soon we found the snow mobiles and the biggest herd of reindeer I have ever seen in my life. Amma's Pappa told us to stay put while he went on. It was at this time Amma explained to us what was happening. He said that the first step of the reindeer sorting was to go out into the woods on snow mobiles and find the biggest herd of reindeer that you could and then bring them to a smaller part of the woods, which they had already done. The second step was to get them into a slight smaller fenced off area, that's the step that we were witnessing abd were getting ready to help with.
After what seemed like ages, they finally got the reindeer to go the way they wanted them to go. It was then that our job was to begin. We were to follow behind and flap our arms and hiss at any reindeer that was brave/stupid enough to try and make a run for it. After this step was complete and the fence was in place, we had to set up another semi-fence in order for the next step to start. Let me tell you that settingup that fence was hard work. The pieces are really heavy, but they have to be because the reindeer tend to get fiesty and try to plow through the walls. After the semi-fence was in place, it was time for step 3 to begin.
Step 3 is known as the running step. You run at the reindeer and try to geta big group into the fenced area. It a lot easier said than done. After a good 20 minutes of running, arm flapping and hissing, we got a large enough group into the designated area. From there step 4 begins.
The goal of step 4 is to get as many reindeer as you can inot a large corral . After you get a large enough group into the large corral you can start step 5, which is flocking them into a much smaller corral. This is a long process as well. It seems like the reindeer know what is going to happen next, so they run in every which way. After much flapping, hissing and shouting, we got enough into the small corral to start step 6.
First I need to explain what they small corral looks like before I explain step 6. Ao you have a small corral and along the sides of the corral there are smaller pens. Each family has their own pen that they share with their entire extended family. This is where you put your reindeer after you have caught them.
Okay back to step 6. At this point each family has built a fire and brought in the necessary supplies they need for the sorting process. The fire is used for warmth and to help confuse the reindeer, smoke confuses them apparently. Now at this point the reindeer are in corral running in circles while each of the families are standing in the middle of it all looking for their reindeer. Each Sami person has their own mark, notches in the ear of the reindeer. After a while the head guy shouts saying that it is now time to get your reindeer.
This is when the actual fun begins. It amazes me how the people can tell which of the beasts were theirss by looking at the marks on the ears which to me seemed invisible. The actual separating is really fun. In order to get the reindeer you have grab them by the antlers. Well they don't really enjoy that, so you ahve to really sneaky and you have to tag team them. Once you get a hold of them, you have to drag them to your pen, well the don't like being dragged either, so they tend to pull back or they dig their hoves into the ground making it almost to pull them.
Let me tell you, these beasties are really strong and at times I felt like they were pulling me more than I was pulling them. Ocasionally some of them would rebel and start to kick, twist and jump until you couldn't hang on any longer and they broke free, but little did they know we would be after them again all to soon.
After the small corral is empty, you go back to the large one and flap, hiss and yell until the small corral is full again. Then the sorting process starts all over again. You do this until the big corral is empty. Then you repeat steps 3-5 until all the reindeer are in their respected family pens. Once all the reindeer have been sorted you have to load them into your trailers. To do this you have to stalk the reindeer and then lasso them by the antlers, pull them through the fence and them shove them into the trailers. You continue this process until all of them are loaded.
It's a really long process, but thankfully there were only 2000 reindeer instead of the usual 6000-7000.
It was really fun and once in a life time experience. At first we weren't really sure what to expect because when we told people what we were doing, they looked at us like we were crazy and would say ''You're doing that...best of luck to you''.
In the end their snide remarks had been forgotten do to how much fun I had and how much I learned during the process
Monday, November 17, 2008
living a swede life
Hey all,
I know that is have been a long time since I last updated and so much has happened since my last post. Our routine has changed a lot lately because we are now in such high demand. All the teachers who teach English classes want us in their classes and some teachers even want us to come to their class more than once during the week. So it's been crazy trying to get use to all the schedule changes that are being made. A normal day for us goes something like this.... get up at 7:00, get ready, leave around 8-8:15 and spend the rest of the day at school in various English classes and then return home around 3:30.
On a different note the kids are really starting to warm up to us. We barely make it into the school before we get mobbed by random students who want to say Hej and give us hugs as if we have been gone for years. They invite us to go with them to random classes all the time, which is a huge step for us. At first they would just talk to us and then scurry to class when it was time, now they want us to occpany them. We also get invited to join people at tables during lunch. At first we would just sit there as a team and the kids would walk by, say Hej and keep right on going. Now we get asked to sith with people or if they can sit with us, which gives us a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
On Monday on Friday we attend Swedish class. It's been going okay, but it's not my favorite way to start off the day. It's a little bit frustrating. We try so hard, but it feels like we aren't making any progress. We feel that the teachers are talking at us and not with us. During class they will only speak Swedish with us, and I know that it's going to help us in the long wrong, but when we have no idea what is going on or what being said, it becomes frustrating. The teachers will say something to us in Swedish or ask us a question and because we only know a few words, we get lost very easily. So we give them the ''deer in the head lights'' look and they proceed to repeat what they said, but a little bit slower. To me it makes no difference how fast or slow it's being said if I don't understand the language at all and it makes me feel really stupid. I think the reason I feel this way is because I'm angry at myself for not being able to pick up the language quickly, but I guess all of these feeling come with learning a new language.
Earlier I mentioned that all the kids are starting to warm up to us... well I lied. We seem to be having some problems with the 9th graders. They were gone the first week we were here and then the second week was fall break, so we didn't meet them until a few weeks ago. We had heard rumors that they were all jerks and thought that they were better than everyone else, but we thought they were just rumors. Turns out the rumors were true for the most part. There are a few who I really enjoy, but the rest I can't stand, especially the boys. There is one group of boys in particular that I just can't stand at this point. They cuss and yell all the time and have no respect for anyone. As if this wasn't reason enough to dislike them, Sam and I had a run in with them that caused me dislike for them to grow. One day Sam and I were watching ping pong and the boys were yelling and cussing as usual, when all of the sudden things got quiet and they started speaking in Swedish, because up until this point they had been ''speaking'' English. We had a pretty good idea that we were the topic of their hushed discussion. Sam and I finally got sick of not being able to understand what was going on, so we decided to make up our own translations and whisper them to each other. We were laughing and having a good time when out of the blue one of the boys points at me and starts yelling at me in Swedish. One of my new friends told me that he was telling me to shut up and to quit laughing. So I looked at him and sweetly said Nej. He proceeds to yell at me again in Swedish and again I said Nej. He continued to yell the Swedish version of shut up at me every few seconds and I just ignored him. This seemed to anger him even more, so he switched to English. Finally I snapped. He had just finished telling me to shut up for about the 100th time, when I glared at him, pointed at him and said in a stern voice ''No you shut up! I'm sick of hearing you''. He looked at me in shock and aww. He had never had a teacher figure tell him to shut up and mean it. Later he came up and apologized to me, I was very shocked and impressed that he did that. While that was going on with me, Sam was having problems of his own. The other boys in the group kept telling him he sucked and called him other various names. Finally we got sick of it and left.
Later on of our new friends told us what the boys had been talking about and we were correct, they were talking about us, saying that we were stupid because we didn't know Swedish. This just added to our frustration. We are trying really hard. We've only been here for a month. Do they honestly think that we could become fluent in a month. And to top it off, everytime we try to speak Swedish with them, they laugh at us, which makes us very self conscious. I am hoping and praying that thing will start to get better with the 9th grade boys, because at this point I just want to smack them all. I know that we shouldn't let the opinions of 15 year old boys affect us, but being foreign and not knowing the language and having them point that out to us makes us even more self conscious. So I truely hope things get better with them and the teachers insist that it will.
Anywho, next week is English camp with the 7th graders and I can't wait. I am really excited to see what it's all about. I've heard rumors, but I can't wait to see what it's like for myself. Tom told us that we travel to the mountains about 2hrs. north of us and stay at a camp for a week and the whole point of this camp is to speak English. It will be great to finally be immersed in English all the time and not just in class.
Grottan is still going good. I enjoy it a lot. It's a great place to meet new people and just sit and chill. I really enjoy talking to the youth of the town that come.
On a different note, I am starting to feel more and more at home here. I have made lots of new friends and they come over almost every night. We just sit, have fika, talk and occasionally watch a movie. I know I have said this before, but I will say it again. Everyone is really nice. We get invited for dinner frequently, which is very nice. We also have people who check up on us all the time and tell us to let them know if we need anything. It's the people like that who make me feel so at home. It makes me feel so great to know that the people here really do care about us and only want what's best for us. I think I am falling in love with this town. :)
Well that's all for now. Many blessing!
-alyssa
random fact: the sun sets here at 3:00 everyday and the moon never goes down during the day
I know that is have been a long time since I last updated and so much has happened since my last post. Our routine has changed a lot lately because we are now in such high demand. All the teachers who teach English classes want us in their classes and some teachers even want us to come to their class more than once during the week. So it's been crazy trying to get use to all the schedule changes that are being made. A normal day for us goes something like this.... get up at 7:00, get ready, leave around 8-8:15 and spend the rest of the day at school in various English classes and then return home around 3:30.
On a different note the kids are really starting to warm up to us. We barely make it into the school before we get mobbed by random students who want to say Hej and give us hugs as if we have been gone for years. They invite us to go with them to random classes all the time, which is a huge step for us. At first they would just talk to us and then scurry to class when it was time, now they want us to occpany them. We also get invited to join people at tables during lunch. At first we would just sit there as a team and the kids would walk by, say Hej and keep right on going. Now we get asked to sith with people or if they can sit with us, which gives us a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
On Monday on Friday we attend Swedish class. It's been going okay, but it's not my favorite way to start off the day. It's a little bit frustrating. We try so hard, but it feels like we aren't making any progress. We feel that the teachers are talking at us and not with us. During class they will only speak Swedish with us, and I know that it's going to help us in the long wrong, but when we have no idea what is going on or what being said, it becomes frustrating. The teachers will say something to us in Swedish or ask us a question and because we only know a few words, we get lost very easily. So we give them the ''deer in the head lights'' look and they proceed to repeat what they said, but a little bit slower. To me it makes no difference how fast or slow it's being said if I don't understand the language at all and it makes me feel really stupid. I think the reason I feel this way is because I'm angry at myself for not being able to pick up the language quickly, but I guess all of these feeling come with learning a new language.
Earlier I mentioned that all the kids are starting to warm up to us... well I lied. We seem to be having some problems with the 9th graders. They were gone the first week we were here and then the second week was fall break, so we didn't meet them until a few weeks ago. We had heard rumors that they were all jerks and thought that they were better than everyone else, but we thought they were just rumors. Turns out the rumors were true for the most part. There are a few who I really enjoy, but the rest I can't stand, especially the boys. There is one group of boys in particular that I just can't stand at this point. They cuss and yell all the time and have no respect for anyone. As if this wasn't reason enough to dislike them, Sam and I had a run in with them that caused me dislike for them to grow. One day Sam and I were watching ping pong and the boys were yelling and cussing as usual, when all of the sudden things got quiet and they started speaking in Swedish, because up until this point they had been ''speaking'' English. We had a pretty good idea that we were the topic of their hushed discussion. Sam and I finally got sick of not being able to understand what was going on, so we decided to make up our own translations and whisper them to each other. We were laughing and having a good time when out of the blue one of the boys points at me and starts yelling at me in Swedish. One of my new friends told me that he was telling me to shut up and to quit laughing. So I looked at him and sweetly said Nej. He proceeds to yell at me again in Swedish and again I said Nej. He continued to yell the Swedish version of shut up at me every few seconds and I just ignored him. This seemed to anger him even more, so he switched to English. Finally I snapped. He had just finished telling me to shut up for about the 100th time, when I glared at him, pointed at him and said in a stern voice ''No you shut up! I'm sick of hearing you''. He looked at me in shock and aww. He had never had a teacher figure tell him to shut up and mean it. Later he came up and apologized to me, I was very shocked and impressed that he did that. While that was going on with me, Sam was having problems of his own. The other boys in the group kept telling him he sucked and called him other various names. Finally we got sick of it and left.
Later on of our new friends told us what the boys had been talking about and we were correct, they were talking about us, saying that we were stupid because we didn't know Swedish. This just added to our frustration. We are trying really hard. We've only been here for a month. Do they honestly think that we could become fluent in a month. And to top it off, everytime we try to speak Swedish with them, they laugh at us, which makes us very self conscious. I am hoping and praying that thing will start to get better with the 9th grade boys, because at this point I just want to smack them all. I know that we shouldn't let the opinions of 15 year old boys affect us, but being foreign and not knowing the language and having them point that out to us makes us even more self conscious. So I truely hope things get better with them and the teachers insist that it will.
Anywho, next week is English camp with the 7th graders and I can't wait. I am really excited to see what it's all about. I've heard rumors, but I can't wait to see what it's like for myself. Tom told us that we travel to the mountains about 2hrs. north of us and stay at a camp for a week and the whole point of this camp is to speak English. It will be great to finally be immersed in English all the time and not just in class.
Grottan is still going good. I enjoy it a lot. It's a great place to meet new people and just sit and chill. I really enjoy talking to the youth of the town that come.
On a different note, I am starting to feel more and more at home here. I have made lots of new friends and they come over almost every night. We just sit, have fika, talk and occasionally watch a movie. I know I have said this before, but I will say it again. Everyone is really nice. We get invited for dinner frequently, which is very nice. We also have people who check up on us all the time and tell us to let them know if we need anything. It's the people like that who make me feel so at home. It makes me feel so great to know that the people here really do care about us and only want what's best for us. I think I am falling in love with this town. :)
Well that's all for now. Many blessing!
-alyssa
random fact: the sun sets here at 3:00 everyday and the moon never goes down during the day
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Guys, are we still in Jokkmokk...?
Hej,
So another week has past, and we have had some more exciting adventures. Tuesady we had Svenska class again and then we got to hang out around the school, where we spent our time playing ping pong and checking emails. Then in the afternoon we worked with a class of 10th grade girls. They were still kind of shy, so not to much was said. On Wednesday we had a class at 8:45. This class was a of all 10th grade guys. They were really talkative, which was really nice. As it were, it turns out half of the stuff they told us was false. For example one of the boys in my group tried to convince me that his name was OKAY, so i was like oh okay... and he proceeded to correct me...NO it's OKAY. I should have told him that I knew that his real name was Viktor, but I decided to play along with it. Also during this time, one of the boys decided to explain to me what Midsummer is and this is the discriptiont that I got..."We dance around a stupid tree and I hate it!". By the time class was over, we were all laughing and joking around (in English) which was really fun. When we left they had to make sure that we were coming back again, because they really enjoyed talking to us. After the class had ended my craving for students speaking English to me was satisfied, even if they were lying half the time. The rest of the day was spent in Svenska class and then at school where we once again played pingis (ping pong) and checked emails. Thursday morning was spent with classes 6a and 6b(6th graders). All I can say is these kids are talkers and I loved it. This was the first time a class seemed interested in speaking English with us, besides the 10th grade guys. We laughed and talked a lot and even play some games. After the classes were done, we sat down in the commons area, but this time we had the kids we had just got talking to, swarming around us. It was the greatest feeling, knowing that some of the students actually want to learn enligh and knowing that we were appreicated. I learned that the 6th graders like me!! Hurray!! After lunch we had 7b, they were talkative, but unfortunately not as talkative as the 6th graders were.
Friday we had Svenska class again and then we helped out with the 7a class. This group really frustrated me because they didn't seem to want to talk at all and they were really rude about it, so we sat there in awkward silence. I would ask my group a question and one or two people would respond and then we would sit in silence again. Finally I told them that their teacher would give them homework if they didn't talk, that worked for a little while, and then it got quiet again. Finally I gave up and forced them to play a game, I felt bad, but that's they only thing I could think of doing to break the awkward silence. That night we had Grottan. Once again it turned out to be really fun, even though not as many people came. We played pingis again, talked a lot and even play TELEPHONE PICTIONARY, which was a blast. I love teaching people new games, especially this game.
Today, we had a free day, so we decided to go on a walk. We found ourself by the lake, which is beautiful. Then we decided to take a walk through the woods. It was very peaceful and calming, which was exactly what I needed. It was nice to be able to get out of the house and go exploring the woods, I love being in nature. I took lots of pictures, but unfortunately I left my camera chord back at the house, so I will upload the pictures sometime soon, so you may all see Sweden at it's finiest.
Next week, is week 44, which is a vacation week. We decided that we are going to go to Luleå, which is about 2 hours away from us, so we can get some winters boots and other warm items because it is cheaper to purchase them there. I also hope that during this time we get to explore the area around us somemore.
Life in Jokkmokk is still going great. I feel like I'm actually starting to settle in, which is a very nice feeling, it's almost like a home a way from home kind of feeling. I also feel like everyone here is starting to see us as their neighbors and not as the team that came from America.
Well this is all I have for now and I will add the pictures as soon as I can!!
So another week has past, and we have had some more exciting adventures. Tuesady we had Svenska class again and then we got to hang out around the school, where we spent our time playing ping pong and checking emails. Then in the afternoon we worked with a class of 10th grade girls. They were still kind of shy, so not to much was said. On Wednesday we had a class at 8:45. This class was a of all 10th grade guys. They were really talkative, which was really nice. As it were, it turns out half of the stuff they told us was false. For example one of the boys in my group tried to convince me that his name was OKAY, so i was like oh okay... and he proceeded to correct me...NO it's OKAY. I should have told him that I knew that his real name was Viktor, but I decided to play along with it. Also during this time, one of the boys decided to explain to me what Midsummer is and this is the discriptiont that I got..."We dance around a stupid tree and I hate it!". By the time class was over, we were all laughing and joking around (in English) which was really fun. When we left they had to make sure that we were coming back again, because they really enjoyed talking to us. After the class had ended my craving for students speaking English to me was satisfied, even if they were lying half the time. The rest of the day was spent in Svenska class and then at school where we once again played pingis (ping pong) and checked emails. Thursday morning was spent with classes 6a and 6b(6th graders). All I can say is these kids are talkers and I loved it. This was the first time a class seemed interested in speaking English with us, besides the 10th grade guys. We laughed and talked a lot and even play some games. After the classes were done, we sat down in the commons area, but this time we had the kids we had just got talking to, swarming around us. It was the greatest feeling, knowing that some of the students actually want to learn enligh and knowing that we were appreicated. I learned that the 6th graders like me!! Hurray!! After lunch we had 7b, they were talkative, but unfortunately not as talkative as the 6th graders were.
Friday we had Svenska class again and then we helped out with the 7a class. This group really frustrated me because they didn't seem to want to talk at all and they were really rude about it, so we sat there in awkward silence. I would ask my group a question and one or two people would respond and then we would sit in silence again. Finally I told them that their teacher would give them homework if they didn't talk, that worked for a little while, and then it got quiet again. Finally I gave up and forced them to play a game, I felt bad, but that's they only thing I could think of doing to break the awkward silence. That night we had Grottan. Once again it turned out to be really fun, even though not as many people came. We played pingis again, talked a lot and even play TELEPHONE PICTIONARY, which was a blast. I love teaching people new games, especially this game.
Today, we had a free day, so we decided to go on a walk. We found ourself by the lake, which is beautiful. Then we decided to take a walk through the woods. It was very peaceful and calming, which was exactly what I needed. It was nice to be able to get out of the house and go exploring the woods, I love being in nature. I took lots of pictures, but unfortunately I left my camera chord back at the house, so I will upload the pictures sometime soon, so you may all see Sweden at it's finiest.
Next week, is week 44, which is a vacation week. We decided that we are going to go to Luleå, which is about 2 hours away from us, so we can get some winters boots and other warm items because it is cheaper to purchase them there. I also hope that during this time we get to explore the area around us somemore.
Life in Jokkmokk is still going great. I feel like I'm actually starting to settle in, which is a very nice feeling, it's almost like a home a way from home kind of feeling. I also feel like everyone here is starting to see us as their neighbors and not as the team that came from America.
Well this is all I have for now and I will add the pictures as soon as I can!!
-alyssa
Monday, October 20, 2008
Hej Hej från Jokkmokk
Hey all,
Well as most of you know, we finally made it to Jokkmokk last Tuesday around 3:30 pm Swedish time, so about 8:30 am back home in the states. The flight here was good, extremely long though about 8 1/2 hours and I think that I slept for a total of 30 minutes because I was so excited to finally be heading to Sweden. Since I couldn't sleep, I think I watched about 3 movies and listened to some Swedish techno that the plane provided. The only thing that bothered me was that everyone spoke Swedish, so I got really confused. Thankfully the female flight attendants realized we didn't understand Swedish, so the would speak to us in English, except for the male flight attendant. He refused to speak to me in English, so I would give him a really confused look and he would proceed to point at what he was talking about and continue to rattle on in Swedish. Thankfully we had made some friends in the form of an elderly Swedish couple, and thankfully they sat behind me, because they would translate what he was saying for me. I'm pretty sure that he thought I was Swedish and that either I just did't want to talk to him or that I wanted to be incredibly difficult. We finally landed in Stockholm around 7:45 am, so 12:45 am back in the states. The airport was kind of confusing and once again everyone spoke to me in Swedish, so I got a little bit frustrated. Finally after much confusion and aimless wandering, we reached our terminal. It was at this point we decided to take a nap. When we woke up it was time to board the plane that would take us to Luleå, so at 11:10 sharp we boarded. We landed in Luleå around 12:10 and Tom was there to greet us. We collected our baggage and made the trek to Jokkmokk.
Jokkmokk is the most beautiful town I have ever seen, as soon as I get some more pictures of the town I will post them. It is located in between some mountain ranges and is about 10k above the article circle. The weather here is cold. The on the first day we were okay just wearing light jackets, but one day two we had to bust out our winters coats, gloves and scarves. One day I mention that it was a little bit cold outside, and they all told me that I was in for a big surprise when the winter season starts.
Any who... here is a summary of what we've done so far.
On the tuesday that we got here, Tom gave us a brief tour of the town and then we had supper at his house and met his family.
On Wednesday we got to "sleep in". I say it like this because I am still having trouble adjusting to the time change. I find myself going to bed at 12am and waking up at 2am ( 5pm and 7pm in the states) and not being able to go back to sleep because my body is telling me that nap time is over. Around 10:30 am Tom came to take us to lunch, they eat lunch really early here. After lunch we were brought over to the school and introduced to the faculty and staff. Once we had been properly introduced, we had some free time and got to use the computers. Then we headed home for a short period of time and then went to make traditional Swedish sandwichs for the Bingo players (bingo is the cool thing here...especially if you are old)
Thrusday we started our work. We helped out at the snack shop at the school for a while and then were told to mingle with the student. We ended up teaching them the only card game we know, SCUM. As it were, one of the students, Nicolas, knew how to play, so we would tell him the rules in English and he would translate it to Swedish for his friends. It was a little rough at first, but by the time the kids had to go to class, we were having a blast. They are very quick learns and they are very competitive. After that we helped teach English to a class of Columbian immigrants. I never thougth I would hear Spanish being spoken in Sweden, let alone use what little Spanish I know, but I guess you are shocked by something new everyday. It was at this time we recieved our first dinner invitation from a Columbian by the name of Andres. So our night was spent with his family enjoying a traditional Swedish meal (potatoes, cheese and sausage all mixed together).
Friday was our first time actually working in an English class with the Swedes. It was a little bit awkward at first because they are shy and don't like to speak English in front of their whole class. So the teacher decided it would be for the best if we took 4 students at a time and talked with them. The first group didn't turn out so well, but by the time the second group came in we a discovered which questions were okay to ask and the ones that weren't, so it went a lot better. After that we ate lunch with Melissa, Turcan and Emelie, some of the girls that have become attached to us. When we came finished lunch and came back to the school, it was like someone had flipped the "The Americans aren't weird, let's invite them to play ping pong and talk to them" switch. It was great. I got owned in ping pong. Turns out that they are all really good at it. Then evening came around and it was time for our first Grottan (youth center) experience. We were all a little nervous and didn't really know what to expect. The way Tom had made it sound was that there wasn't going to be anyone our age there, they were all going to be young and not many people came. All of these things turned out to be wrong. It was a little slow at first, but soon we had a least 30 people there. It was a blast. I spent most of my time playing a ping pong game in which there are 4 or more people, two on each side, then you serve the ball and run to the other side. The point is to not let the ball hit the ground or to be the one that messes up, because you only get 3 strikes and then your out. You continue this until there are 2 people left and then you play normal ping pong. Well the Swedes are very competitive, so things got pretty intense. After playing ping pong for what seemed like ages, I sat down and talked with one of the Afgan refugees, named Salin. This peaked the interest of some of his friends, so they would ask him questions for me in Swedish and he would translate for me, then I would respond and he would translate for them. After a while some two of the guys that would speak in Swedish decided to try English... it was a bit broken, but I understood enough to get what they were trying to ask without to many miscommunications. All in all I thought it was a good night, with a good turn out and I can't wait for the next one.
Saturday was spent helping paint Andres's parents new house. After we had finished Andres invited to watch a moive and eat pizza at his house. I learned 2 things about Swedish pizza that night 1. It's freaking huge and 2. It's the best pizza I have had, besides Giordano's of course.
Sunday we went to our first meeting (church service). It was all in Swedish, so we didn't understand anything, which was very frustrating. Finally Tom and Disa came to sit with us and translate for us, which was very nice and helpful. After the service, we enjoyed some fika (snack time, they have this all the time here). Once fika was finish, we were introduced to the congregation. Before the meeting they had us write 4 facts about us that are true, and then they would guess which fact belonged to who, it was fairly intertaining. After the guessing had finished, they all prayed for us and welcomed us into the church. The afternoon was spent at school watching the Jokkmokk floor ball team crush some team that I don't know they name of. Floor ball is basically floor hockey, but instead of a puck they use a ball. It's a very intense and vicious game, I love it. I found myself cheering when they would do good and wincing when someone would get slammed into the wall or hit with a stick. That night we ate a delicious meal of fish and potatoes at Tom's house. After dinner, we chatted for some time and Emelie and Elis, church kids and our new friends, came over for dessert. Once dessert was finished we chatted some more about our interests, for example Elis (Emelie's older brother) loves to play football (good thing I brought one with me). Then it was time to go home and while we were getting in the car, Elis comes running over and tells us that you can see the Northern Lights. So he took us to the spot where you could see them the best. Wow they were beautiful! I have never seen anything like them. Elis then informed us that the colder it gets the prettier they become, so I can't wait to see them in the dead of winter!
Monday we had our first Svenska (swedish) class. It was really confusing yet fun at the same time. We learned how to ask what someones name is, where they live and where they came from. We also learned the alphabet and how to respond to the questions we learned to ask, I felt like a little kid starting school for the first time, but instead of being terrified of the first day, I was super excited! After our classes were done, we ate lunch and then headed back to the school where we spent the afternoon playing ping pong and talking to the students. That night we had a free night, so I decided it would be a good idea to go on a bike ride. It was really fun, except for the fact that I haven't been on a bike in about 8 years, so I was a bike wobbley at first. The ride was good, but I couldn't really see much because it was dark out, which kind of sucked. I hope that sometime in the near future we get time to explore the town in the light.
Today we had Svenska class again. We learned animal names, for example lodjur is bobcat and gås is goose. We also learned how to count in Swedish and write out simple math problems in Swedish. Right now we have free time, so I decided that this would be a good time to finish my blog. Around 1:15 we have a meeting with Tom, then more free time. One of the girls asked us to hang out with her today and I think/hope she is going to cut Sam's hair!!! After that we have to go to a concert. As you can see we are very busy.
Well this is my life in Jokkmokk so far, and I try to keep you updated as often as I can.
Adjö
-alyssa
Well as most of you know, we finally made it to Jokkmokk last Tuesday around 3:30 pm Swedish time, so about 8:30 am back home in the states. The flight here was good, extremely long though about 8 1/2 hours and I think that I slept for a total of 30 minutes because I was so excited to finally be heading to Sweden. Since I couldn't sleep, I think I watched about 3 movies and listened to some Swedish techno that the plane provided. The only thing that bothered me was that everyone spoke Swedish, so I got really confused. Thankfully the female flight attendants realized we didn't understand Swedish, so the would speak to us in English, except for the male flight attendant. He refused to speak to me in English, so I would give him a really confused look and he would proceed to point at what he was talking about and continue to rattle on in Swedish. Thankfully we had made some friends in the form of an elderly Swedish couple, and thankfully they sat behind me, because they would translate what he was saying for me. I'm pretty sure that he thought I was Swedish and that either I just did't want to talk to him or that I wanted to be incredibly difficult. We finally landed in Stockholm around 7:45 am, so 12:45 am back in the states. The airport was kind of confusing and once again everyone spoke to me in Swedish, so I got a little bit frustrated. Finally after much confusion and aimless wandering, we reached our terminal. It was at this point we decided to take a nap. When we woke up it was time to board the plane that would take us to Luleå, so at 11:10 sharp we boarded. We landed in Luleå around 12:10 and Tom was there to greet us. We collected our baggage and made the trek to Jokkmokk.
Jokkmokk is the most beautiful town I have ever seen, as soon as I get some more pictures of the town I will post them. It is located in between some mountain ranges and is about 10k above the article circle. The weather here is cold. The on the first day we were okay just wearing light jackets, but one day two we had to bust out our winters coats, gloves and scarves. One day I mention that it was a little bit cold outside, and they all told me that I was in for a big surprise when the winter season starts.
Any who... here is a summary of what we've done so far.
On the tuesday that we got here, Tom gave us a brief tour of the town and then we had supper at his house and met his family.
On Wednesday we got to "sleep in". I say it like this because I am still having trouble adjusting to the time change. I find myself going to bed at 12am and waking up at 2am ( 5pm and 7pm in the states) and not being able to go back to sleep because my body is telling me that nap time is over. Around 10:30 am Tom came to take us to lunch, they eat lunch really early here. After lunch we were brought over to the school and introduced to the faculty and staff. Once we had been properly introduced, we had some free time and got to use the computers. Then we headed home for a short period of time and then went to make traditional Swedish sandwichs for the Bingo players (bingo is the cool thing here...especially if you are old)
Thrusday we started our work. We helped out at the snack shop at the school for a while and then were told to mingle with the student. We ended up teaching them the only card game we know, SCUM. As it were, one of the students, Nicolas, knew how to play, so we would tell him the rules in English and he would translate it to Swedish for his friends. It was a little rough at first, but by the time the kids had to go to class, we were having a blast. They are very quick learns and they are very competitive. After that we helped teach English to a class of Columbian immigrants. I never thougth I would hear Spanish being spoken in Sweden, let alone use what little Spanish I know, but I guess you are shocked by something new everyday. It was at this time we recieved our first dinner invitation from a Columbian by the name of Andres. So our night was spent with his family enjoying a traditional Swedish meal (potatoes, cheese and sausage all mixed together).
Friday was our first time actually working in an English class with the Swedes. It was a little bit awkward at first because they are shy and don't like to speak English in front of their whole class. So the teacher decided it would be for the best if we took 4 students at a time and talked with them. The first group didn't turn out so well, but by the time the second group came in we a discovered which questions were okay to ask and the ones that weren't, so it went a lot better. After that we ate lunch with Melissa, Turcan and Emelie, some of the girls that have become attached to us. When we came finished lunch and came back to the school, it was like someone had flipped the "The Americans aren't weird, let's invite them to play ping pong and talk to them" switch. It was great. I got owned in ping pong. Turns out that they are all really good at it. Then evening came around and it was time for our first Grottan (youth center) experience. We were all a little nervous and didn't really know what to expect. The way Tom had made it sound was that there wasn't going to be anyone our age there, they were all going to be young and not many people came. All of these things turned out to be wrong. It was a little slow at first, but soon we had a least 30 people there. It was a blast. I spent most of my time playing a ping pong game in which there are 4 or more people, two on each side, then you serve the ball and run to the other side. The point is to not let the ball hit the ground or to be the one that messes up, because you only get 3 strikes and then your out. You continue this until there are 2 people left and then you play normal ping pong. Well the Swedes are very competitive, so things got pretty intense. After playing ping pong for what seemed like ages, I sat down and talked with one of the Afgan refugees, named Salin. This peaked the interest of some of his friends, so they would ask him questions for me in Swedish and he would translate for me, then I would respond and he would translate for them. After a while some two of the guys that would speak in Swedish decided to try English... it was a bit broken, but I understood enough to get what they were trying to ask without to many miscommunications. All in all I thought it was a good night, with a good turn out and I can't wait for the next one.
Saturday was spent helping paint Andres's parents new house. After we had finished Andres invited to watch a moive and eat pizza at his house. I learned 2 things about Swedish pizza that night 1. It's freaking huge and 2. It's the best pizza I have had, besides Giordano's of course.
Sunday we went to our first meeting (church service). It was all in Swedish, so we didn't understand anything, which was very frustrating. Finally Tom and Disa came to sit with us and translate for us, which was very nice and helpful. After the service, we enjoyed some fika (snack time, they have this all the time here). Once fika was finish, we were introduced to the congregation. Before the meeting they had us write 4 facts about us that are true, and then they would guess which fact belonged to who, it was fairly intertaining. After the guessing had finished, they all prayed for us and welcomed us into the church. The afternoon was spent at school watching the Jokkmokk floor ball team crush some team that I don't know they name of. Floor ball is basically floor hockey, but instead of a puck they use a ball. It's a very intense and vicious game, I love it. I found myself cheering when they would do good and wincing when someone would get slammed into the wall or hit with a stick. That night we ate a delicious meal of fish and potatoes at Tom's house. After dinner, we chatted for some time and Emelie and Elis, church kids and our new friends, came over for dessert. Once dessert was finished we chatted some more about our interests, for example Elis (Emelie's older brother) loves to play football (good thing I brought one with me). Then it was time to go home and while we were getting in the car, Elis comes running over and tells us that you can see the Northern Lights. So he took us to the spot where you could see them the best. Wow they were beautiful! I have never seen anything like them. Elis then informed us that the colder it gets the prettier they become, so I can't wait to see them in the dead of winter!
Monday we had our first Svenska (swedish) class. It was really confusing yet fun at the same time. We learned how to ask what someones name is, where they live and where they came from. We also learned the alphabet and how to respond to the questions we learned to ask, I felt like a little kid starting school for the first time, but instead of being terrified of the first day, I was super excited! After our classes were done, we ate lunch and then headed back to the school where we spent the afternoon playing ping pong and talking to the students. That night we had a free night, so I decided it would be a good idea to go on a bike ride. It was really fun, except for the fact that I haven't been on a bike in about 8 years, so I was a bike wobbley at first. The ride was good, but I couldn't really see much because it was dark out, which kind of sucked. I hope that sometime in the near future we get time to explore the town in the light.
Today we had Svenska class again. We learned animal names, for example lodjur is bobcat and gås is goose. We also learned how to count in Swedish and write out simple math problems in Swedish. Right now we have free time, so I decided that this would be a good time to finish my blog. Around 1:15 we have a meeting with Tom, then more free time. One of the girls asked us to hang out with her today and I think/hope she is going to cut Sam's hair!!! After that we have to go to a concert. As you can see we are very busy.
Well this is my life in Jokkmokk so far, and I try to keep you updated as often as I can.
Adjö
-alyssa
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
And then there were three
Hey all, sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time, so here we go.
The last week and a half of orientation has flown by. I don't really remember all that was said or done, but I do remember it was super fun.
There is one thing at is embedded in my mind is last Friday. Dorothea and I went to the Shedd Aquarium, it was a pretty good time. I think we had more fun making fun of the fish than actually looking at them and reading about them. After the aquarium we headed to meet up with the rest of the group. We were all to meet at a restaurant called Cafe Too for our final goodbye meal as a group. Cafe Too is a restaurant that takes homeless people who qualify and train them in the cooking arts. The meal consisted of 3 courses. For the first course I had portabella and goat cheese on bread, which was exceptional. For the second course I had ribeye, which was quite possibly the best ribeye I have ever had in my life. For the last course I had a chocolate tart that had coffee beans in it, and it was amazing.
To end the night Krista took us on a walk to a mystery location. The night was cold, but we trudged on because we were anxious to see where we ended up. There had been some talk of going to the Hancock Tower, but as we continued to walk, it became apparent that the top of the Hancock tower was not our final destination. We continued to walk, we heard the crashing of waves on the shore. We climbed up a small hill and found ourselves on the shoreline. It was gorgeous. We climbed down the steps that led to the beach. Krista told us to sit, so we sat in a large circle. She proceeded to tell us that we were going to pray for each team. So each team got together and stood in the middle of the large group while the rest of the teams put their hands on the team in the middle and prayed. After each team took their turn in the middle, we circled up again and sang.
When we finished, we took some pictures, broke off into groups and headed home. My group consisted of Craig, Krista, Tyler, Lee, Becca, Kristen and myself. We walked for what seemed like ages until we finally reached the "L". At this point we were all tired and freezing, so it was a silent ride on the "L" and the walk home from the "L". We finally reached home and went to bed. The next day rolled around and I said my goodbyes to the England team again, then left with my family for the day. We didn't really have a set plan, so we found ourselves in Millennium Park, my "second home". After walking around, playing in the fountain and taking random pictures in the bean, our parking time expired, so we left with a new mission, which was to go to the Hancock Tower. We drove and drove and drove and still no Hancock Tower. We eventually found ourselves in Greektown and on a normal day that would have been fine with me, but we really wanted to go to the top of the Hancock Tower, so we followed random streets and eventually found ourselves at the base of the Hancock Tower.
We parked and headed to the lower level of the tower. We walked into the Northface store that is at the bottom of the tower. This turned out to be a bad idea because I have a strange obsession with Northface. After prying me away from the store we wandered around until we found the elevator that would take us tot he lounge on the 96th floor. We reached the top and looked around. The view was amazing, but we didn't really want to pay for food, so we went to the facilities, as it were the view in the women's washroom was beautiful.
After taking numerous pictures, we got bored and made the descent. We left and headed for our next destination, which was Navy Pier, but not before purchasing gloves and an ear warmer from the Northface store. We made it to Navy Pier and decided to eat at Bubba Gumps, which was great. After satisfying our hunger, we walked around, took tons of random pictures and decided to head back to the hotel my family was staying at. After stopping there for a short while, we headed to IKEA to get the Swedish cookies that I adore so much. For supper, we went to Mr. Greek's to get Gyros. We went back to the house and partook in the Gyros, which were delicious as usual. After that my family decided to head back to their hotel, so we made plans to meet the next morning at 11.
I went to bed satisfied and awoke the next morning and began my usual routine. It was then that I realized that sometime was different, we were missing Rachel, Kristen and Lee. It was a very strange feeling, but it was one that I would all to soon become accustom to. Any who my parents came to pick me up and we went to get deep dish at Giordano's and then got dessert at Artopolis. After we finished, I said my goodbye's to my parents and spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and other various activities.
The next morning came about and it was time to say goodbye to the Brazil team. It was very sad to see them go, but also good because it meant that they would be beginning the next chapter in their adventure. It was during this time that it was said "And then there was 9... soon the be 3". It was then that it hit me, that after Tuesday there would only be 3 people in the house, which was a very strange thought. Any who, it was shortly after the Brazil team left, that Sam and Bethany found out that their visas had been approved, which led to a Swedish team "Happy Dance". After the dancing was over, the rest of the day was spent with the Paraguay team. That night as a final goodbye, we went to a deep dish place called Gino's, which was delicious.
The next morning was spent saying goodbye to the Paraguay team before we set out for our first service project. As soon as the Paraguay team rounded the corner, the Swede team in unison utter those 5 words... "And then there were 3". After standing there for a while we headed to Vital Bridges, which is a food pantry that helps HIV/AIDS victims. Instead of giving them random food items, they give them food that goes with their medications. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I can't wait to go back again on Friday. When we finished around 4, we headed home and walked into an empty house. We even walked into the house and called out hello before we realized that no one was there to respond. It was the strangest feeling knowing that the house had once been full of people and is now only occupied by 3. It was kind of depressing, but we have some how found a way to manage. The rest of the night was spent at a Battlestar Galatica forum, which was very interesting.
Today, we went back to GADS Hill. It was really fun being able to play with the children again. I got to go back into the class that I had been with before. It was really exciting to see the kids again. The day went by super fast, and soon it was time to head back. We were all exhausted when we got back, but we needed to get some food so we wouldn't go hungry, so we got some food. When we got back, Sam and I crashed for a while and by the time we got up, it was supper time. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and watching movies which was really nice.
On a different note, WE ARE LEAVING FOR SWEDEN ON MONDAY AT 4:25 P.M. and we will be arriving in STOCKHOLM around 7:45 am Sweden time have a lay over there until 11:10 am and then arriving in Lulea around 12:30 and then driving for about 2 hours until we reach JOKKMOKK!!! If you can't tell I'm super excited!!
Well this is my life thus far and I will update again soon.
-alyssa
The last week and a half of orientation has flown by. I don't really remember all that was said or done, but I do remember it was super fun.
There is one thing at is embedded in my mind is last Friday. Dorothea and I went to the Shedd Aquarium, it was a pretty good time. I think we had more fun making fun of the fish than actually looking at them and reading about them. After the aquarium we headed to meet up with the rest of the group. We were all to meet at a restaurant called Cafe Too for our final goodbye meal as a group. Cafe Too is a restaurant that takes homeless people who qualify and train them in the cooking arts. The meal consisted of 3 courses. For the first course I had portabella and goat cheese on bread, which was exceptional. For the second course I had ribeye, which was quite possibly the best ribeye I have ever had in my life. For the last course I had a chocolate tart that had coffee beans in it, and it was amazing.
To end the night Krista took us on a walk to a mystery location. The night was cold, but we trudged on because we were anxious to see where we ended up. There had been some talk of going to the Hancock Tower, but as we continued to walk, it became apparent that the top of the Hancock tower was not our final destination. We continued to walk, we heard the crashing of waves on the shore. We climbed up a small hill and found ourselves on the shoreline. It was gorgeous. We climbed down the steps that led to the beach. Krista told us to sit, so we sat in a large circle. She proceeded to tell us that we were going to pray for each team. So each team got together and stood in the middle of the large group while the rest of the teams put their hands on the team in the middle and prayed. After each team took their turn in the middle, we circled up again and sang.
When we finished, we took some pictures, broke off into groups and headed home. My group consisted of Craig, Krista, Tyler, Lee, Becca, Kristen and myself. We walked for what seemed like ages until we finally reached the "L". At this point we were all tired and freezing, so it was a silent ride on the "L" and the walk home from the "L". We finally reached home and went to bed. The next day rolled around and I said my goodbyes to the England team again, then left with my family for the day. We didn't really have a set plan, so we found ourselves in Millennium Park, my "second home". After walking around, playing in the fountain and taking random pictures in the bean, our parking time expired, so we left with a new mission, which was to go to the Hancock Tower. We drove and drove and drove and still no Hancock Tower. We eventually found ourselves in Greektown and on a normal day that would have been fine with me, but we really wanted to go to the top of the Hancock Tower, so we followed random streets and eventually found ourselves at the base of the Hancock Tower.
We parked and headed to the lower level of the tower. We walked into the Northface store that is at the bottom of the tower. This turned out to be a bad idea because I have a strange obsession with Northface. After prying me away from the store we wandered around until we found the elevator that would take us tot he lounge on the 96th floor. We reached the top and looked around. The view was amazing, but we didn't really want to pay for food, so we went to the facilities, as it were the view in the women's washroom was beautiful.
After taking numerous pictures, we got bored and made the descent. We left and headed for our next destination, which was Navy Pier, but not before purchasing gloves and an ear warmer from the Northface store. We made it to Navy Pier and decided to eat at Bubba Gumps, which was great. After satisfying our hunger, we walked around, took tons of random pictures and decided to head back to the hotel my family was staying at. After stopping there for a short while, we headed to IKEA to get the Swedish cookies that I adore so much. For supper, we went to Mr. Greek's to get Gyros. We went back to the house and partook in the Gyros, which were delicious as usual. After that my family decided to head back to their hotel, so we made plans to meet the next morning at 11.
I went to bed satisfied and awoke the next morning and began my usual routine. It was then that I realized that sometime was different, we were missing Rachel, Kristen and Lee. It was a very strange feeling, but it was one that I would all to soon become accustom to. Any who my parents came to pick me up and we went to get deep dish at Giordano's and then got dessert at Artopolis. After we finished, I said my goodbye's to my parents and spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and other various activities.
The next morning came about and it was time to say goodbye to the Brazil team. It was very sad to see them go, but also good because it meant that they would be beginning the next chapter in their adventure. It was during this time that it was said "And then there was 9... soon the be 3". It was then that it hit me, that after Tuesday there would only be 3 people in the house, which was a very strange thought. Any who, it was shortly after the Brazil team left, that Sam and Bethany found out that their visas had been approved, which led to a Swedish team "Happy Dance". After the dancing was over, the rest of the day was spent with the Paraguay team. That night as a final goodbye, we went to a deep dish place called Gino's, which was delicious.
The next morning was spent saying goodbye to the Paraguay team before we set out for our first service project. As soon as the Paraguay team rounded the corner, the Swede team in unison utter those 5 words... "And then there were 3". After standing there for a while we headed to Vital Bridges, which is a food pantry that helps HIV/AIDS victims. Instead of giving them random food items, they give them food that goes with their medications. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I can't wait to go back again on Friday. When we finished around 4, we headed home and walked into an empty house. We even walked into the house and called out hello before we realized that no one was there to respond. It was the strangest feeling knowing that the house had once been full of people and is now only occupied by 3. It was kind of depressing, but we have some how found a way to manage. The rest of the night was spent at a Battlestar Galatica forum, which was very interesting.
Today, we went back to GADS Hill. It was really fun being able to play with the children again. I got to go back into the class that I had been with before. It was really exciting to see the kids again. The day went by super fast, and soon it was time to head back. We were all exhausted when we got back, but we needed to get some food so we wouldn't go hungry, so we got some food. When we got back, Sam and I crashed for a while and by the time we got up, it was supper time. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and watching movies which was really nice.
On a different note, WE ARE LEAVING FOR SWEDEN ON MONDAY AT 4:25 P.M. and we will be arriving in STOCKHOLM around 7:45 am Sweden time have a lay over there until 11:10 am and then arriving in Lulea around 12:30 and then driving for about 2 hours until we reach JOKKMOKK!!! If you can't tell I'm super excited!!
Well this is my life thus far and I will update again soon.
-alyssa
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