Week 42

I know this might seem like a strange title for a post, but so much has happened in the past week I really wanted to talk about it altogether. Plus counting weeks is a very Swedish thing to do especially at university where each weeks timetables are completely different. It really helps keep track of what is going on. Anyway after this little piece of information let me tell you about week 42.

I had hardly recovered from Intervallen when I was on my way to Stockholm (the capital of Sweden) for the first time. I say first time because I'm definitely going back! What an amazing city full of history, beauty and water, oh my word so much water! It was so hard not to take hundreds of photos of the buildings and landscape because I had the words of Aldo, my brother, ringing in my head, "...stop taking photos of the stupid old buildings, we already have enough of those in South Africa!" I really had fun exploring the city and I was spoiled rotten when I went to Emma's house. Emma is a Swedish girl who lives on an island in the Stockholm archipelago. I spent the night there with her family and was treated to Swedish pea soup, fillet steak on the braai and of course kanebulle and coffee! We also watched Sweden loose to Norway in the World Cup Qualifier and now they won't be coming to South Africa in 2010, which kind of stinks!

I also had a lot of class work this week where I worked on a group presentation about nature and business ethics. We presented it today in a seminar and I think it went well. (Just had to mention this because I really want to give a complete overview of a typical week in Sweden.)

Rotary was also a very big part of the past week. Apart from my Rotaract meeting on Monday night and the Linkoping: Aurora breakfast meeting on Tuesday, I went to dinner with some Rotarians and a GSE (Group Study Exchange) team from the Netherlands, who I'd met at the District Conference, on Wednesday. On Thursday I went to my first Ice Hockey game, also with the GSE team and Rotarians. It was fantastic and I really had a good time. Such a good time that I'm going again this Thursday with some friends. LHC, the local team, winning made it even better! GO LIONS! Ice Hockey is really big here and one can't help, but get caught up in the vibe, even the buses fly little flags to support the team. For Friday lunch I went to Linkoping: Filbyter Rotary Club where I once again met the District Governor, the GSE team and a local youth exchange student from Australia, Meg. It was a really nice meeting and I even got the opportunity to introduce myself to the club.

After the lunch I went to town with the GSE team and Meg. Of course we ended up having a fika as the weather was a little sour. Just a quick note on the weather. It is Autum and it is so beautiful. The leaves are changing color from green to yellow to red, sometimes all three colors are on the same tree...its really quiet breathtaking! The weatherman even says there is a chance of snow soon, but still no luck!

There is a little Thai restaurant in Ryd and my friends and I thought it would be fun to eat out on Friday night instead of making our own food. Talking about food I just remembered that I even cooked South African this week. It was a last minute decision, but on Tuesday night I made some Bobotie with Bread and Butter Pudding! It was really nice and the mixture of smells, red wine and SA music made me feel at home. Going to have to plan another dinner like that soon!

As it had been so long since I'd been at home, I decided that Saturday would be a good day to do my grocery shopping and luckily Henning and his car were going and I was able to tag along and really stock up. That was only after having a really nice, small and cheap breakfast at IKEA. (I really like that shop!)

Reading back through this post it does seem to be a little random, but I think it really illustrates a feeling I've been having the last couple of weeks; I'm no longer on holiday in Sweden, I actually live here now! Thinking about why it has taken me so long to realize this I came to the conclusion that it's because of all the wonderfull people I've met. Every single one of them is the reason why I feel so at home in Sweden...and for that I'm extremely grateful.

Hej då

PS: I think I'm a little home sick ?!?!