Broken Ribs

This week’s been pretty wild.  And even though Borje broke seven ribs last weekend when he fell off of his bike, throwing things a little off of the normal track, this is the week I’ve started to feel most in the groove of being an au pair.  The kids love me and I’ve mastered the arts of flipping super thin Swedish pancakes and driving the Volvo stick shift. 

Fanny just keeps getting funnier ever day.  I started calling her Fanny Pack, you know, because of fanny packs.  So she started calling me Kacie Pack.  She also says, “Good night, sleep tight! Don’t let the bed bugs bite!” And she thinks it is the best sentence ever to be spoken in the English language.  I love that little kid. I think she is my best friend in Sweden so far.  The other day we were doing a puzzle on the floor and she started climbing on my back.  Susanna said a few things to her in Swedish that I didn’t understand.  Later, Susanna told me that she had asked Fanny to be careful with me.  Fanny said,  “It’s ok mom, because we are such good friends and we love each other.”

I also showed Fanny pictures of my three dogs in Wisconsin.  She loves them.  I told her, (in Swedish!) one day when we were walking home, “I miss my dogs” and she was so sympathetic, holding my hand and saying, “Oh Kacie, Oh Kacie.” with a little whimper of sadness especially for me. Then I told her, “I miss my boyfriend!” And she rolled her eyes and said, “Kaaaacie,” like it was the silliest thing in the world.

Goofing around on the way home from school.

Besides things with Fanny going well, I also feel like my new friendships are finally starting to grow in the right way too.  I’ve been hanging out with a Canadian, a Finnish girl, an Estonian, a few Germans, and a couple of pretty cool Americans too. 

Last weekend, I went to the Archipelago with a few friends.  The Archipelago is a group of thousands of islands just north east of Stockholm accessible by boat.  I was sort of in charge of this little outing, but I wasn’t quite sure where we were going or how to get there.  But I figured if we just got on the boat, we could pick the island we wanted to go to.  So, we got on the boat and the ticket man, who seemed to be very cranky asked where we were going.  I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know where we were going so I just said, the last stop.  He mumbled, “Ok so you want to go to Finnnakhalmnd?” I said sure and we all paid our 110 crowns.  On our way up the stairs, Meryt, my best Estonian friend, said in a panicked voice, “Is this boat going to Finland?!?!” 

For a good five minutes, we were convinced we were on the boat to Finland, which would take an entire day to get to.  After we got the courage to ask the nice couple in front of us if this boat was indeed going to the Archipelago, we could rejoice because we were indeed on the right boat.  We laughed about our silly, stupid thought that that tiny boat could go all the way to Finland for such a cheap price.

And the guy we thought was crabby?  Well, he was actually really nice.  He brought us a map of the island we were going to and when we got back on the boat after a wonderful day of exploring beautiful Finnhamn, not Finland, he didn’t charge us for the return trip.  We got our Archipelago excursion for half the price.  Yes, I think I am most definitely living the dream.

On the way to Finnhamn

Relaxing in the sun on Finnhamn with Bjorg
from Iceland, Lara from Germany, and Meryt
from Estonia.