So the rest of December and the start of January was a lot of fun.

I went to Göteborg with Elisa and Victoria to stay with Victorias sister for the weekend.  We went to Liseberg which was fun, but not as lit up as I expected.  I missed Christmas lights.  They have little lights in their windows, but no lights lining the houses like we have.  Which I guess is better for the environment except that they leave their window lights on all day and night even when everyone is at work.  Oh yeah and I sang at the school final assembly which was fun.  We came back from Göteborg on Sunday and then I took the train back out on Monday with Justin and Rachel.  I love them.  We had Italian food in Lidköping first, that is where they live.  And then took the train from Lidköping.  We went to Liseberg again which was more fun with them because I got to pretend to be a loud american.  

On the Tuesday before Christmas I hung out at home and then went over to PeOs, my counsellor and Elisas host dad, and we ate pizza and played bingo on the TV.  It was fun.  Wednesday was Christmas eve which is when they celebrate, so we went to Maggies sisters house and ate ham, meatballs, pickled fish, sausages and pickled cabbage oh and potatoes.  The last week of school was so much fun because it was all just Christmas parties and we got special Christmas food in the cafeteria.  Like rice pudding and ham and meatballs and special potatoes.  Anyways after we ate lunch on Christmas Eve we watched Calle Anka, Donald Duck.  Which was so cool because everyone in Sweden watches it on Christmas Eve.  It was just a string of parts from different Disney movies.

After Calle Anka we played some games, darts, Chinese Checkers, and others, and then we played a present exchange game.  The same one we played at youth group.  After the present game we went home to open our presents and eat rice pudding.  Gustaf and I watched Hitch Hikers Guide to the Universe while we waited.  But Gustaf was really excited and kept asking if he could open presents but Hans was on the phone with Amy so we had to wait.  Then when we did open presents I was assigned the Santa and I had to take everyones presents from under the tree and give it to him or her.  It was kind of cool.  Then after present opening we ate our rice pudding upstairs and watched the rest of the movie.  I woke up at like 2 in the morning so that I could talk to my family in Canada on Skype.

On Christmas day I got to have Turkey because my host mom is half British.  So we went to her other sisters house and had turkey and stuff, but no stuffing which was sad.  I left my host aunts house early and walked home so I could skype with my family when they opened Christmas presents.

The rest of the break was pretty fun too.  I went to Göteborg with Jessica one day because we were going to shop all of the great sales, but I didnt really find anything worth buying other than a childrens Christmas book about a cow and a crow.  But we had fun anyways.

I hung out with Gustaf and his friends a little.  I watched movies at Eriks house and we went ice skating on a little pond by the big church.  I went swimming with Jessica in Skövde one day and on New Years eve I went to a party at Eriks house.  IT was so much fun.  We all dressed up and had a fancy dinner and then after dinner more people came and we just hung out.  Over the break I also went to Göteborg again with Rachelle, Justin and Jessica.  We went to the Universeum, which is like a science center.  IT was a rather tramatic experience.  We were in the rainforest area where they let their monkeys run free and I was leaning against a railing looking at one and then all of a sudden it jumped right at me.  I thought I was going to die.  I jumped out of the way just in time and it landed on the railing.  But I was really scared.  I almost started crying so Jessica took me out of there.  But other than the monkey incident it was a really fun day.  We went to Göteborg on Monday and then the rest of the week I packed and hung out with the boys, we had a gam session and stuff like that.  Then on Wednesday I moved to Fagersanna.  A little collection of houses outside of Tibro.  I have to take the bus to school now which is kind of lame, but I like my house and host parents a lot.  I have like my own little apartment because I have the whole first floor, but I can go up whenever I want.  But I dont like living out of town because on my way home on Thursday I missed my stop and went all the way to Karlsborg which was like an extra twenty minutes both ways plus I had to wait in Karlsborg for and hour.  But I talked to Justin and Jessica on the phone which was good.

Okay well I am going to Tidalholm soon to meet my host mothers daughter and grandson so Ill write again later.

Lucia and Stockholm

On Friday we celebrated Lucia because Lucia was actually on Saturday. It was so awesome, I love Lucia. It started off with a fika in school. We got safron buns and orange juice which I had with the girls from my teknik class. I love safron buns. They are so yummy because they are not really sweet so they taste good. After fika I went to art class, but we didn't have enough time to do anythingso Elisa and I stole paper for our light saber costumes for the Christmas party we went to on Friday night. During art class we went to watch Lucia in the forum. It was so cute. Little kids came from an elementary school, they were in grade 2 I think. There were so many sjärngosar, or however you spell it, which are what the boys are in Lucia choirs. I felt bad for the little boys because they have to wear pointy, cone hats with stars on them and they have to wear dresses. I think some of the boys were embarrassed because when they went to the mic to say their little speech they covered their faces with their star wands. After the star boys came in the Lucia tåg followed. There was only one Lucia and a bunch of attendants. They were so cute when they were all singing.
After we saw the Lucia tåg we had a special lunch at school because it was Lucia. We had rice pudding which was so good. I love rice pudding and they eat it with milk, sugar and cinnamon which makes it even better. Elisa and I had to eat quickly because PeO was coming to get us to take us to Hjo for a Lucia tåg there.
The Lucia tåg in Hjo was amazing. It was at a music school and they were so amazing, but their Lucia was a little creepy looking just because she had giant eyes, but didn't move at all because she was afraid of tipping the candles or something probably, so she just stared out with her giant eyes. But they were really amazing. Those boys didn't have to wear dresses and cones, they got to wear dress shirts and red ties. After the Lucia in Hjo, we ate lunch again. I thought that we were just going to watch Lucia and then go home so I told Elisa that we should eat before, but then we had to eat again and we were really full. But the food was pretty good. We had ham and potatoes. And I met a man who had been on exchange in Oregon, it was kind of weird because he started talking to me in the coffee line and it was so weird to hear a North American accent instead of a British/Swedish one.
PeO dropped Elisa and I off at school because my bike was still there, but we were done school. We walked home because Elisa didn't want to bike in the snow. We saw yellow snow on the way home and she asked what it was. She is so cute sometimes. When we got home we worked on our costumes and went to the square because Elisa needed to pay a bill or something and we needed to buy presents to take to the party.
After supper Maggie took me and Elisa to the yellow house where I got to be Lucia!!! It was so much fun, but scary. We changed upstairs and I got my crown, but we didn't light me until downstairs because that could have been bad. But when they light me I was standing under a fire detector that kept going off. I was really scared of burning myself because I didn't have a wet cloth over my hair. I don't think I sang very well because I was so nervous about the candles on my head and I was really hot. Now I understand why the Hjo Lucia didn't move so much. But it was so cool to be Lucia. We sang for the handicapped people in Tibro because they were having a Christmas party. After we sang we got boxes of chocolate from them.
When my magnificient performance as Lucia was over we went home and got ready for the Christmas party. It was at the Church and was Starwars themed. Everyone had such good costumes, but Elisa and I looked pretty stupid. Neither of us have really seen starwars so we dressed up as lightsabers. We just rolled up paper and put it on our heads. But other kids had really cool costumes like princess leia and that fat worm guy, and the robots and a fat blue guy. It was really fun. They had a Lucia tåg at the party too, but instead of Lucia they had Leia as Lucia and the others were dressed as other characters. They changed the words to the songs so they were about starwars. It was really funny. Then for supper we had a corv, sausage, buffet. It was good and for dessert we had an ice cream space ship.
After supper we played Starwars games where we had to make stuff from starwars, my team had very little starwars experience so we made the gold bikini and put it on my host counsellor's son because he was one of the judges. Then we had starwars trivia. After that we had a present exchange. I love their present exchange game. You role a die until you get a six, then you get to take a present. Then you roll again and if you get a six you have to trade. I was happy because I ended with what I wanted. I got a cookie cutter and a sucker. After the present exchange it was almost one in the morning and Elisa and I were going to Stockholm in 6 hours so we walked home. I like walking around really late at night/early in the morning. It is so quiet and not that cold and very well lit.
On Saturday we went to Stockholm at 7 am. It takes about 4 hours driving, or maybe 3. I don't know PeO drives pretty fast. So we stopped at McDonald's on the way to have breakfast. I like McDonald's here better than in Canada because it sometimes has really food like I had a sandwiche for breakfast with lettuce, cheese and ham. And I had Oh Boy, their hot chocolate mix. When we got to Stockholm the first thing we did was go to our hotel to drop off our bags and car. It was a very nice hotel in one of the richest parts of Stockholm. It was so nice. It had book cases all over and it was just very nice. But the elevator was really really scary. There was no door on the inside so you could see the wall go buy and you could touch it. It really freaked me out. And one time when we were in it it stopped and I freaked out a little bit. Once we had dropped off our stuff we set out walking to the Vasa museum, the Vasa was an old battle ship that sank, then was rescued from the bottom and then put in a museum. It was cool to see it. It had so many carvings on it because it was like to show off, but that is why it sank I think. I'm not 100 percent sure though. but we got to see conditions on board and they recreated the people that had died and stuff, it was interesting. After the Vasa Museum we went to a children's museum about Swedish Children's Authors like the lady who wrote Pippi Longstockings. it was so cool. They had recreated the settings from the stories and you could go in them like Pippi's house was a jungle gym. And there was a train that went from one part to the other and all along the train ride it had reenactments of the stories and speakers told the stories as you went. That was one of my favorite parts of Stockholm. They had a Lucia Tåg at that museum too, but Lucia was a boy. But we didn't watch them that long because we had lots to do in only 2 days. After that we had lunch I think. Yeah we ate at an italian restuarant which was kind of weird because they made you leave your coat at the front but you had to pay 8 crowns each. But they had really good pizza, because most pizza here is thin crust, but it is always soggy, but there it was thin crust and crispy. It was so good. After lunch we went to the Nobel Museum, which was cool, but it was mostly about the literature winners and I wanted to see about medicine and peace and science. But they had all the winners going around on a mobile around the roof and there were so many. Nobel day was on December 10th and they show it on T.V. and like everyone in Sweden watches them eat and then dance. After the Nobel Museum we went out to a Julmarknad in the square outside of the museum. PeO bought marzipan pigs for his dad and Marie's dad for Christmas. It was really dark out already because it was around 4. We walked back to the hotel after the Julmarknad. It was cool because we got to see all the stores. I like Stockholm because it is more like real Europe, or at least what you see in movies. It has old buildings, but also has shops with cutting edge design and is a melting pot of cultures. I heard so many people speaking English and other languages like French, Italian, Spanish... It was so interesting and to see all the different stores and restuarants. And there was a fresh food market. I love Stockholm. We walked past NK, like Swedens Sak's. They have huge window displays every Christmas. They were so cute and fun and colourful. I took pictures of them. While we were looking at them Sweden's Lucia road by in a horse drawn carriage and all her attendants were on horse back. It was so cool. I took pictures, but it was dark so they weren't very good. but it was so cool to see Sweden's National Lucia. On our walk we also saw Sweden's Reich and other government buildings. When we got back to the hotel we had hot chocolate, coffee and I had glögg. It was nice to have something warm. Then we went for supper. We went to TGI Fridays. I think that was my first time eating in a TGI Fridays and it was in Sweden. I enjoyed have North Americanish, restaurant food again. And the menus were in Swedish and English! But I know most food words in Swedish now. I had pasta for supper. The waiters all had TGI Friday santa hats on so when I came back from the bathroom when we were about to leave, PeO had gotten each of us one too. Elisa, Viktoria and I had our picture taken out side of the restaurant with our hats on. I will write more later. I have lunch now and we get special christmas food.
So after supper on Saturday night we walked back to the hotel and then Viktoria went up to the room to study and Elisa and I went for a little walk, but everything was closed so we didn't walk very long, we came back to the hotel and sat with PeO and Marie for a little, but we were all pretty tired so we went to bed.
On Sunday we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel, it was really good. We got to make out own waffles, Viktoria made mine and then I made ELisa's but I put too little batter in so her's didn't work out so well, but she was able to fix it. After breakfast we went to the National Museum, Viktoria stayed at the hotel to study. The National Museum was really nice, I like the Reniessance paintings the best. I like to see old people and old clothing. But I was in Reneisance and we had to leave because we had a tour in the Statshuset, but I didn't know what time it was so I made us a little late for our tour. The Stadshus is the city hall and where the Nobel Prizes are held. It was really cool because I saw the Nobel Dinner on T.V. on Wednesday and then I was in the room where it was held. There was a really beautiful ballroom where all the walls were covered in tile mosaic of gold and other colours. One of the mosaics was Lady Stockholm or something with landmarks from all around the world on either side of her, it was supposed to symbolize who the world comes to Stockholm or something. The tour was a little boring because it was in Swedish and I didn't understand everything.
After our tour we went back to the hotel to get Viktoria, then we had lunch in McDonald's on our walk to NK, the really fancy department store. The department store was really cool, but really expensive. I bought a safron bun stuffy thing and a marzipan pig. Oh and I found a cheese slicer in the shape of a moose that I bought even though it was really expensive. After NK we went back to the hotel and then we left for home. On the way home we mostly slept, but we stopped for supper and this sketchy little place. It was sketchy because we had to go off the road into the dark forest a bunch and then it was just this place with cold sandwiches and this weird girl speaking weird english on the phone. But we eventually made it home, and that was my weekend.

So last weekend we had a district thing with just the inbounds in my district. It was in Tibro, well actually the forest around Tibro. We stayed in a building owned by the Mission church in Tibro. It was so much fun. On Friday night a lady from my Rotary club came and did our hair because she is a hair dresser. And we are sausages and meat balls at like 10:00. But it was fun to just sit around and talk. There were only 5 students there, but there are only 6 kids in my district anyways. It was kind of a good bye to the two brazilians who are going home after Christmas. That is really sad because then I will be alone in Tibro. So it was kind of a sad weekend, but mostly just super duper fun. On Saturday morning we made breakfast all together and then we washed our hair in the sink because we had no shower. After breakfast we made gingerbread houses. I burned my finger on the melted sugar. Here they use melted sugar instead of icing to put the pieces together. But we couldn't find the powdered sugar to decorate with so we gave up and would do it after we got powder sugar. We watched Pirates of the Carribean instead. Then my host mom came to get me because I had to go into town for choir practice. The other exchange students went into town to another church to watch a Lucia performance and there was a Christmas auction there too. I walked over to that church after choir practice and met them just in time for Fika. We had saffron buns and pepparkakor and juice. I love saffron buns. We got a little bored after awhile because we were supposed to be watching the auction, but they were selling tea clothes and things that weren't all that interesting so we went outside and played with snowballs. We still had a little snow then, but it is all gone now and it is raining out. Then we walked to the Ica and bought candy and chips. I bought these cool chips that are in the shape of stars. The Rotary lady came and got us and we went back to the forest house. She had to go back to town to pick up Elisa because there was not enough room in her car. But they were taking a really long time to get back so we were concerned and called Elisa, but it was okay they were just picking up some things from her house.
On Saturday night we ate pizza and then the Rotary lady made us a fire out side where we roasted marshmallow santas and had sparklers. But then she threw the bag of our garbage on the fire which was really not cool and I tried to blow it out because you aren't supposed to burn plastic. And it was really gross. She was picking threw it all and roasting it with the roasting stick. She stuck pieces of pizza and orange peel on the stick and then asked if we wanted to roast hot dogs with it. We didn't. Anyways after our fire we went inside and the Rotary Lady left us and we played cards and talked about stuff. Then we finished watching Pirates of the Carribean and Paula found our powdered sugar sitting by the fire place so we decorated our gingerbread houses. Then we went to bed early, at like 11:30.
On Sunday we made a huge breakfast of all the left over food. We had meatballs, bread, cheese, pizza, hot dogs, salad and oranges and other things I can't remember. We ate so much. Then we had to clean up because we were leaving. Then we went home.
When I got home I got ready to go to choir. Then Maggie took me to the big church where we had practice before the Lucia crowning. We practiced all our songs for about an hour and then we fikad! We had juice and pepparkakor and saffron buns and sandwiches. Then we had to get ready to perform.
It was really cool. The Lucia girls all came in singing. But Lucia's candles weren't lit yet. Then we joined them in the same song and then sang a few other. Then the girls each did a reading, but Lucia forgot hers. Then we sang more songs and they lit Lucia's head on fire and then we sang more and then they had collection and some readings in Swedish. Then we sang a few more songs and then the Lucia girls sang themselves out. It was really cool and fun. But I've decided being Lucia is scary. Skövde's Lucia had wax running down her face. But I was in the newspaper today because we sang. Last weekend was so much fun. It was probably one of the best weekends I've had here so far and we didn't do anything outstanding, well other than the Lucia lighting.

So this past weekend I went to Laholm to see Halli, a girl from Washington. It was so much fun. I love her host family. They are so crazy, but awesome and she treats them like they actually are her family. The tease each other and throw stuff at each other it was awesome.
So I got there on Friday night after 2.5 hours on trains, sitting backwards, but I always get backwards seats on trains so I think I've gotten used to it. Anyways I got there and no one was at the station to pick my up. It was awesome. So I called Halli and then she said her host dad was coming so then he came and it was alright. But when I got to her house it was so awesome just to talk to some one who speaks English and has shared cultural experiences with me. We just stayed in on Friday night. Her host dad made us supper and then we all went to the grocery store to get ice cream, but it was closed so we went to the gas station instead and got candy and ice cream. Then we watched T.V and ate ice cream that her host mom had put bananas and chocolate and caramel sauce on. It was so fun. And I like Halli's host sister, she is kind of really weird, but she is nice and funny. Then we had to figure out the pull out couch thingy in Halli's room where I slept. Eventually we got it but we stayed up late talking.
On Saturday we went into Halmstad to go shopping. It was so fun to go shopping with Halli. There was two candy stores in Halmstad so we bought lots of candy for our families at home and we bought matching rings from a candy machine. I also bought Halli a ring for her birthday which was on the 11th. It was lots of fun. We saw another exchange student named Calle in Halmstad, but she was getting on a bus so we didn't really chat.
After shopping we went home with Halli's host mom and we bought pizza and rented a video and bought candy with Halli's host sister. Then we ate pizza in the restaurant and took our candy and movie home and watched it. We watched John Tucker Must Die. It was fun. Then we watched the end of Moulin rouge on the T.V. We talked some more and then went to bed because we had to get up to go with Halli's counsellor the next day.
Yesterday Halli's counsellor came and got us and we went to Halmstad's air port. We unpacked a hot air balloon to make sure it was working well. The sun was out and there was no wind, but then the sun went away and the wind picked up so we thought we weren't going to get to go up, but as we ate our hot dogs the sun came out and the wind died down so we could go up in the balloon.  It was so cool, but they had a little trouble getting off the ground at first.  But once we got up it was nice but we had to be tied to a car because the wind was blowing towards the ocean and we didn't have enough gas to bring us back if we went over.  But it was cool anyways.  After that we came back down and packed up the balloon.  It was surprisingly easy and quick to pack up.  Then we were on the road and Halli's counsellor asked if I wanted to see the ocean so we drove to a walking path along the coast and it was so pretty.  I love the ocean.  When we got home we fikad with O Boy and donuts.  And we watched some model show.  Then we went to the town square which was only like 1 minute away because Halli's house is practically in town square.  They were having their Christmas Market so we got to have glögg, a Swedish Christmas drink, and we had a saffron bun and Peppar kakor, like gingerbread.  It was fun and I felt like I was in the Gilmore Girls because like the whole town was out.  There were six santas and we got our picture taken with four of them.  And the town had a big tree in the middle all lit up and star lights hanging everywhere.  I met some of Hallis class mates and bought a reflective cow.  Because everyone here wears reflective things all the time because it is so dark.  After the market we got hamburgers from the fast food place in the square, but they didn't like us very much so we took it home to eat.  Then Hallis family came home and we watched some TV and ate our food.  But then we didn't pay attention to the clock and all of a sudden my train was leaving in ten minutes so we had to rush to the train station but then we missed the turn off and had to go all the way around to a traffic circle and then I was running down the high way at night, but I made it with time to spare.  I love the train.  I even got to sit facing forward from Göteborg to Skövde.  

Yesterday it was snowing when I woke up and there was a lot of snow on the ground, but I biked to school anyways because everyone else does.  I think Sweden is the only country where people bike all year round.  But I couldn't bike home because there was too much snow on the ground and my tires kept slipping so I just walked my bike home.  Today I don't start school until 12 45 so I am still at home, but I don't know if Ill be able to bike to school or not.  

Okay well that was my awesome weekend in Laholm.  I am going to go back in the summer so that we can go to the beach because she said that she lives by the longest beach in Sweden so that should be fun.

Sorry I haven't written in a while. I was busy in Denmark and then just needed to unwind last week and this week I have off so I have been doing some exploring. So the rest of my trip to Denmark was pretty awesome, but tiring. We didn't make it to Legoland because it was raining. But I did experience Danish culture. Last week my mom sent me my favorite movie and some halloween treats so I just hung out around here. Well actually that's not true. On Tuesday we went to Skara and watched Gustav compete in a music competition. The songs were so awesome. They had gelic sounding ones that I really, really liked. We each got a little ball and had to put it in a box to vote. The car ride there and back was really squishy though. Two of Gustav's friends came with us and they are both huge hockey players and I had to sit in between them on the way. Last week I also made Fika for my class on Friday. Every week some one brings a snack and we eat it in Swedish class on Friday. This week I made popcorn balls with gummy frogs in them for halloween. Carolina helped me and it was a lot of fun. The next thing I make with her is going to be rice krispie squares because I told her the concept and she got really excited about them. We had to pop the popcorn over the stove and we burned like a whole bag of corn, luckly I bought two.
On the weekend I went to a district thingy in Bankeryd. It was fun, but really short. We got there Friday night and left Saturday after lunch. But it was good to talk to other kids even though I've met them all before, but I met the Rotex for the first time. We pretty much just talked on Friday night and then on Saturday we did some Swedishy outdoorsyness. We walked along logs and other things suspended from trees. It was fun, but scary. Then we ate lunch and came home.
This week I have done some cool stuff. On Sunday I baked peanut butter cookies with Elisa and we ate them with PeO and his family. Then on Monday I went with Elisa and PeO's wife and daughter to an outlet store. It was fun to have a girls day, but the store wasn't that cheap or that big a selection. But I did buy some socks and tank tops, that were only 5 dollars, and a scarf of course. It was a good day.
Tuesday I went to Hjo with Jessica and we discovered there isn't a lot in Hjo. We bought "I Love Hjo" stickers because Hjo is pronounced you. It is right on the lake though so it was nice to look at the lake and we saw a crow with a broken wing and that made me sad. Then we went into Skövde and looked for basketball shoes for Jessica. It took a long time because there weren't a lot of people working so we weren't able to go to Thai food like we planned. But we had pizza instead. Then we came back here so Jessica could get her basketball stuff and then she went to basketball and I talked to my sister and brother because my choir was cancelled for that day. We watched a movie and then went to bed because we had to wake up at 7:30 the next morning to get to the train for Göteborg.
Yesterday we went to Göteborg. It was an amazing day. We met Aaron, an exchange student from Michigan. It was so much fun to talk to him. And we had an amazing lunch because it was really cheap and good and had a really awesome bathroom that we didn't have to pay for. I love free bathrooms. We took pictures in the bathroom because it was so cool. Jessica and I did a little Christmas shopping because the stores have their Christmas stuff out already. But that is good for us because then we can send it off early. I can't wait to go to Göteborg around Christmas. They already were getting ready with the decorations. It will be so awesome. Already when it is dark out the lights from the stores and signs just make it so much nicer. Jessica and I ate sushi for supper. It was better this time. Then we came home on the train. But I hadn't checked the bus schedule right so we were going to miss the 9:30 bus back here by 3 minutes and the next one wasn't until 11:30, but we were really lucky and the train came in early and we were able to run and throw ourselves in front of the bus to make it stop. Actually he saw us running and stopped and there were other girls too so that was really good. Yesterday was an awesome day. Aaron is so nice.
But now I am going to make pancakes for breakfast. Not fat pancakes like at home, but crape style because those are the only ones they every have. Last week was a good week because at Rotary we had pancakes for lunch because Thursdays are pancake days. But I don't think I'm going to Rotary this week because I am going to Mariestad with Jessica. So talk to you later