Swedish Christmas

It’s starting to look like a warm lovely Christmas over here! Red and white paper stars are hanging from every window in Sweden and the advent calendars are being opened every day by my anxious little kiddos.  They are so excited to get up each morning because children’s television in Sweden has a special advent television show every day.  Each morning at 7:15, Fanny and Lovisa are so excited to watch this Christmas series.  Borje says a new one is on each year, every day until Christmas starting on the first of December.  And, kids can buy an advent calendar that matches the one that they open each morning on TV.  Borje says I should write and American version of "Julkalendern" because it really is a very, very cool Christmas tradition!

Stockholm has a ton of lovely Christmas markets and I had a very nice time last weekend shopping at one in Gamla Stan with friends.  They had a gambling game in which you put a coin in a slot next to a number and if the giant wheel landed on your number, you would win a giant candy bar.  My French friend Sam, kept playing.  And three times the wheel landed on the number just after hers.  She might have grabbed a candy bar and ran for it! After wandering the Christmas market, we sat down for a perfect Fika in the coziest café I have ever been in.  Best hot chocolate in Sweden too. 

"Tomten", Santa Claus', for sale in Gamla Stan

I sent off my Swedish Christmas package the other, with a note on it that said, “Do not open until December 24^th!” I’ve always wanted to write that on a Christmas package.  It’s filled with lots of Swedish Christmas goodies for my family at home.  This week, my mom sent me an email that said she’d just sent my Christmas package and that inside are presents for me to take to South Africa so that Tebogo and I can open them on Christmas eve just like if we were at home in Wisconsin, I almost cried of Christmas happiness! She’s the best mom ever!

Today, I was very happy to get a box of Christmas goodies in the mail from my grandma-but I think I gave Fanny one too many.  She was hopping off the walls today.  But it was worth it-she had to try a cut out cookie that wasn't pepparkakor!

Recently, I’ve started helping out a couple of days a week in Fanny’s classroom-just to keep myself occupied without spending money.  The differences between Swedish and American elementary schools are interesting.  School systems are much more laid back in Sweden. For example, kids have recess starting at 1:30 until their parents pick them up around four or five.  And, today I joined seven of the kids on a field trip into the city of Stockholm.  The kids were given a chance to explore a large square Christmas market on their own, with a buddy.  I was surprised we didn’t all have to stick together the whole time and I kept thinking about Pine Lake Camp’s risk management sessions.  The kids had a chance to buy something small to take home-Fanny chose chocolate and a balloon shaped like a mermaid.  I always have an amazing time hanging out with those kids and it can be the only chance I have to speak Swedish beacause every adult in Stockholm can speak fluent English so my Swedish skills are hardly necessary.

Window displays at NK-Stockholm's Harrod's

I am looking forward to one more week of ice skating at Kungsträgården, Swedish class,  pepparkakor, and kiddos Christmas concerts before I head of to Johannesburg!  

Skating in Stockholm with Ellie from England

November

So, over here, nobody really cares about Thanksgiving, which makes sense because it’s an exclusively American holiday.  Fanny wasn’t even that into tracing a turkey with her hand but I think she did it for me anyway.  There was no way that I was going to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner for the family on my own, so I made a pumpkin pie.  Which was a lot harder than it sounds. I went to three grocery stores on my island and none of them had any canned pumpkin.  The three workers I asked all said they had never even heard of it before.  But I had promised the girls an American pumpkin pie! And I already had all of the other ingredients! So, the next day I had to go all the way downtown to the English shop, which also has some American products as well.  I spent about six dollars on a can of pumpkin.  And I was so happy that I found it, that I bought three cans.  I better start baking. 

November near my home.

The kids loved the pie and I’m really thankful for that.  It was a little hard to be away from home on Thanksgiving, but I didn’t cry the whole day so that’s good.  Home also doesn’t feel so far away with Skype.  I’m also so thankful for the opportunity to travel to and live in Stockholm for free.  So even though it can be lonely sometimes, I have to remember that it’s worth it for this amazing chance to see a new part of the world.

A few weeks ago, I got the awesome chance for a friend to come stay with me here in my little cottage. It was so fun to show my friend Emily, who is staying in Krakow, Poland for the semester and whom I know from college, around the town.  We bummed around in Gamla Stan and had a delicious and expensive fika, a Swedish coffee break. We went to the world’s biggest Ikea and had the cheapest lunch in Sweden.  And I finally had some Swedish meatballs.  At nights we relaxed with the Big Bang Theory and caught up on gossip from home.  It was so much fun that next weekend I am going to visit her in Poland for the same thing. 

World's biggest Ikea!

December is going to be a very exciting month for me.  Next Thursday, I am off to Krakow, Poland to visit my friends Emily and Agnieszka, I haven’t seen Agnieszka since she was a foreign exchange student at my high school during my freshman year.  The weekend after that, I will be having a Christmas party with friends and going to the Stockholm Lucia Concert with my host family.  Also, I will be seeing Paul McCartney that weekend! Then, just one weekend after that, I will be heading to South Africa to see Tebogo Moremi and the stars on the other side of the world!