Mom's Weekend Syndrome

I can't write long because I'm using the hotel's computer, but I just wanted to give a quick update. I met up with mom at the trainstation no problem, and it was so AMAZING to see her and my grandmothers! Then we drove to where Marian is... our realitive who is also our connection to this area.

She was a sweetheart, although bossy in the way that only old people can be. She spoke to me as much as she could in Swedish... which was helpful, but also confusing because she has a different accent than all the other ones I've encountered. But when she slowed down and said what she said again, I could normally get the gist of what she was saying. I'm trying to pratice as much as possible.

She had baked a whole bunch of baked goods for us... trying to outdo her cousin who hosted my mother and Grandmother when they were there last. Incredible swedish treats... I enjoyed them a lot, and am dreading looking at the scale when I go back on Wednesday. I'll just have to do a bunch of walking to work it all off.

It's funny though, I find myself being at the same time overjoyed to see my mom, but at the same time weepy. I feel gald that she's here, but also angry becuase... I feel like she's interfering with my independence. I feel like I've done so much here, but at the same time, I haven't done enough. She's dong nothing to make me feel that way, but I reconize the feeling... I get the same feeling during Mom's Weekend at camp each year... still.

I complain, am alternately clingy and wanting to show her everything I've done. I'll wonder if she approves.

But for once, instead of just pulling all this stuff, I sat down with her this morning and told her ahead of time that I was feeling this way, and I was trying to deal with it.

Meanwhile, my crazy grandmothers are having the time of their lives, letting mom and I do all the organizing ('cause they can't read maps) and driving. We had fun last night going through all the pictures on my computer I took and also playing with my Swedish Language program I got, which I LOVE!

On a train to Goteborg

So this is really my second time going on a train (there was one time I took a train from Charlotte to Raliegh, but it was an unpleasant experience I do not want to think about), but I'm going to count it as my first because this time it's so much better. So there.

This train is really nice... and I even bought an hour of the net 'cause I'm just that addicted to my computer. The seats are nicer than an airplane's, which was kind of what I imagined it to be like. The seats are also roomier... and I have the cheapest type of ticket I could buy... student, and the last class. I'm in a quiet zone, so there's no babies crying or people talking on their cell phones. All in all, pretty neat.

Sweden, I have come to discover, is a lot of farmland, or if not farmland, then timberland. When I first got here I went to the South of Sweden with my host family for a family reunion, and we drove through five hours of farmland. I'm noticing a lot of the same on the train ride. I ended up choosing to take the faster train, and we're going along at a nice clip... we're currently 20 minutes late, but they're trying to make up the time (I don't know how one would go about doing that... but it's nice that they informed us.) The nice lady that is sitting next to me keeps on translating the announcements for me after she found out I couldn't understand much Swedish, so at least I know what's going on.

I'm actually quite tired today, because yesterday I got my packing finished and then Gabe had some friends over. It's the same group of friends he seems to have over every week, five kids that have all paired up into three couples. There's Gabe and Viega, Dante and Tome (I think that's how you spell her name), Tomas and Linea. They're furn kids that do stuff like play games, cuddle, watch movies and bake when they get together. They remind me of my group of friends from HS... we'd all just get together and do random stuff like go to the roller rink and have a blast.

But the best thing about these kids (and don't get me wrong, I call them kids, but I consider myself a kid too in a lot of ways... they're only 3 years younger than me) is that they include me in what they do. They tailor their games so that they either speak English or so that I can learn Swedish words from what they're saying. Last night (and this morning, come to think of it) I showed Dante my workbook and explained to him how we're learning about their verbs. He looked so serious when he was looking ove the stuff- he's got a solid build and a very cut face- pale blue-grey eyes and a spill of Blonde hair that flops onto his forehead. His girlfriend Tome is always pushing it back from his face when she goes to kiss him. Anyway, He found it interesting because he doesn't think of his language's verbs in that way. It was only the ways we study it that there is type 1, 2, 3, and 4 verbs.

Tomas on the other hand, likes trying to stretch my language skills. Of all the people in the group, he's the one that is most interested in helping me learn the language, although that is and isn't saying much, because all of them make an effort to help me when I try to respond back in Swedish. But Tomas in the one that most often stops from time to time when there taking in Swedish and summarizes what is being said for me. Or he'll remind his girlfriend, Linea (who feels like she isn't that good at English, and often is self-conscious) to speak in English when she's addressing the group. He's also really quick of wit and has a killer smile- they type that just sneaks out of his face and lights his eyes.

It was funny last night, the group was discussing how Gabe and Tomas would make a really cute couple... I find it highly ironic that all the girls in this group have short boy's cuts, while all the boys have (beautiful) long hair down to their shoulders. Then, Tomas and Gabe trade a look, and they both get up and vanish. Well, they're gone for a long time, and we start speculating what they're doing in Gabe's room. And then they come out. They've both put some type of oil on their chests so that they gleam, and are wearing boxers rolled up to look like short-shorts and Suitcoats. They're saying "POSE, Pose, Pose," a line from a play we went to go see who had these two effeminate guys who were all over each other and would do the same thing. But the best ting about the whole getup was that they put SOMETHING in their pants to make it look like they have a enormous bulge, and they're fake making out.

We died laughing. I mean, that's how comfortable these kids are around each other.

Later that evening I had a long conversation with Tome about how Sweden actually trusts the government, and has more common sense than America. Sweden taxes the rich to level out the gap between the rich and the poor. I was telling her about a study done in America that surveyed people from the poor to lower middle class part of society and found that 80% of the people believed that by the time they had retired they would be in the high upper middle class bracket of wealth. I was telling here that there is a mentality in a lot of parts of America that you don't want to tax the rich too much... because one day you might BE one of them. The American Dream taken too far.

Tome had some really interesting things to say back to that. The least of which was, "WHAT?!?"

Lastly, we played a game similar to truth or dare, but it translated into more truth or challenge. People take turns have one person on the hot seat, and they ask them a question and the person has to answer that question, or they can ask for one other question. But if they ask for the second question, you have to answer that one. It was very casually played though, with not much peer pressure. Tomas's question for me was, "Would you rather be poor, addicted to alcohol but have friends, or be rich and know that you didn't have any real friends?"

I actually responded that I would want to be rich. Not because I want to live in comfort, per se, but just that I'm terrorified of being addicted to anything, especially something that robs you of your mind the way alcohol does. I'd much rather be in control of my faculties and be friendless than be so worn and ravaged by alcohol.

I asked silly questions, and I'm not sure that the people I asked them of realized they were silly. My favorite was when I told Gabe, "The world is in danger, you have to save it with one kitchen utensil. What would it be?"

He took it much too seriously, and was asking, what was the danger, how could he save the world with a kitchen utensil... and just I think it went over his head, if that makes sense. He finally said he'd have an oven so he could distill water, which would be good to give people who didn't have clean water. Then we went around and some of the other people answered it. Dante would want the biggest knife he could find, Tome would want a seltzer maker (these great devices they have to make their own fizzy water) so she could use them to charge up bottles and then shoot the compressed water at people.

Soon after, I went to bed, 'cause it was three in the morning and I wanted to get up at 7:30.

Well, we're almost there and my hour is almost up.

I have a shift key!

This causes me great joy.

So I'm getting ready to go to Goteborg tomorrow to meet up with my mom and grandmas... lots of fun.

Today I had my first Swedish test, and I'm fairly certain I got a good grade on it. I'm trying really hard, and all the Swedes I meet seem surprised when I try to talk to them in Swedish. It's still obvious I'm American, but I'm trying to learn.

I found this great program this week that has been helping me learn Swedish words fairly quickly with really good retention. It's called "Before You Know It" So that helped too.

I'm sure there's more to write about, but I need to pack, so I'll write more tomorrow.

Wrapping up the week

So on my last day in Visby, I ended up finally walking around the wall. This was nice because I found a place on the wall that I could climb up to, which worked out wonderfully for taking some pictures of the city and also for playing with the timer function on my camera. I'll hopefully get the pieced together panaromas up in the next few days.

I haven't posted the rest of this week because I had a Swedish test that I was panicing about. I just took it, and she gave us two hours to take it.... I ended up taking 45 minutes. It wasn't easy, but I knew most of the stuff, and it was mostly a case of knowing it or not knowing it. I don't expect to get a 100, but neither do I expsect to get a 70. We'll see, being the first test I've taken over here, I'm not sure how it went.

This week I'm excited because I'm taking a train across Sweden to Goteborg, to meet up with my mur, farmur, and murmur (swedish for mother, father's mother (aka paternal grandma) and mother's mother (maternal grandma). I like how swedish has a name for almost every time of relation. There's a word for your cousin's cousin. How sweet is that? I'm sure it makes things less confusing.

The other reason I haven't posted is because a book fell on Daram, my keyboard, resulting in two keys falling off. And no, they don't go back on, something broke off of them. Luckily, the warenty on the computer that my parents got me (knowing how accident prone I am) covers damage like that, so I called up the Swedish Dell place and they're sending me someone to put on a new keyboard.

And then I can write more.

'cause right now I'm using a swedish keyboard and the keys are different and it confuses me.

But such is life.

So I'll write more later once I've packed and got my keyboard fixed.

Even more of me

Yeah, so here's the last of them, for now.



And my view from the wall, plus my face way too close and a rather halfhearted wave...

And now for me (playing with my camera is dangerous)

I haven't gotten all the footage of me up, so here's what I've got thus far.

Realize, extreme corniness is going to follow, seeing as this is the first video I've ever taken of myself.



And the second one.



Stay tuned for more as I get it uploaded to youtube!

More adventures in Visby, Video Style

This video is of the Medieval dinner we had. Short and Sweet.


This is of a skeleton of a Female Viking that they dug up. All I could think of when I saw her jewelry, keys and knife is that for a Viking Woman, she was pretty rich to be buried with that stuff. I thought of Gangsters today.

But on a different note, I've always had this strange fascination with bones, with the graceful curve of skull and hip.

So here we go.



Last one here is of my favorite standing stone... made about the time Egyptians were alive, I think. They think there is some Egyptian influence in the boat, presumably to take people to the underworld.