Okay so I guess two people do read my blog.  Cool.

Lets see what have I done in the past two weeks?

Last week was normal I guess.  Not a lot happened.  On Friday I went to my friend, Erika's, Birthday party.  We were supposed to dress up like famous people, but I didn't because I don't really have a lot of dress up clothes here.  And I don't know a lot of famous people. I think I did something on Saturday too but I can't remember.  But my host parents weren't home so I got to be all by myself which was awesome!!  Un Sunday I had to work on a presentation to give at my host mom's school on Monday.  About Canada and whether or not you can surf there.  

On Monday I skipped my one class so I could give my presentation.  It was fun but a little weird because they all asked me for my email.  But they thought I was super cool so that was cool.  Man my vocabulary has gone down the toilet.  I gave my presentation and then ate taco soup with them.  It was tasty.  And then I played jump rope with some of the girls.  But I felt lame because I couldn't jump in.  After that I walked to Dagis and hung out there for a little while.  My best friend was My or something like that.  But you don't say my you say myu.  But she kept coughing on me and it was grossing me out.  They were all coughing on me.

Tuesday and Wednesday were really lame because I stayed home sick both days.  And Wednesday was Waffle Day but I didn't get any waffles because I don't get fed that often here.  Thursday was Kulturdag at school which was really fun.  There was music and speaking places and a presentation but I skipped that and went to Rotary instead.  But my morning was spent mostly just sitting in the gym with the boys trying to set up the instruments.  My friends' band played and it was cool.  Everything is cool I guess.  Yesterday they played at the youth house and I went and watched and it was fun, cool too.  Tonight I am going to Erik and Måns' Birthday party.  It is somewhere in Tibro, but I am going to a forefest somewhere outside of Tibro, I don't know.  It is a costume party so I am being a pirate because I have a costume from Denmark.

Oh right I remember what I did last Saturday!  I went to Goteborg and met up with Rachelle.  It was so much fun.  We walked like all over Goteborg.  We went to this fortress by Haga and then walked to this beautiful park which had like a free little zoo so we looked at the animals and then we tried to go to the Culture museum, which is free, but they had closed so I will have to go back with exchangers so I can show them all the cool stuff.  We also went to this crepe place and had awesome crepes and salad and soup and the crepe man hit on Rachelle a lot.

Okay that is all.

Okay so I guess no one reads my blog, but that is cool.

Lets see what have I been up to the last month.

Or two.

I think I told you about going to Goteborg on Valentine's day and having pretty good Indian food.  It was pretty good.  But I don't really remember what I've told you about February.  At the end of February I went to a party at Tibro Parken.  It was for Magnus, Bobby and Martin's Birthday.  It was fun.  

February 25th was Semlor Day, but I didn't have one on the 25th so I met Jessica on the 26th and we had semlor.  Semlor are these like pastries that they eat between Christmas and Easter.  It is like some light baked thing with cream and almond paste in the middle.  I really like them.  In Lidkoping there is this bakery that makes them with Lingon cream which is really tasty and makes me happy.  

Oh I also met the Ausies.  They are cool.  But live so far away that it is hard to meet with them very often.  I feel kind of bad for Robyn the girl because she is so far from us.  

Rachel and Jessica and I have started a workout plan that I have been pretty good at, well it has only been like a week since we started, but I have been pretty good this week.  We have also started a book club, but the book that I was supposed to give to them I gave to Calle instead because he made fun of me for reading a tjej bok.  A girly book.  But I was reading Slumdog Millionaire so I told him he had to read it.

In March I have been bad and hung out with exchange students a lot, but yesterday I went to youth group with Swedish kids.  It was fun and next weekend I am going to Erika's b-day party and the next weekend I am going to watch the boys place at the youth house and then it is Erik and Mons' Birthday party on the Saturday.  But anyways so last weekend we went to Goteborg.  It was fun.  We met up with two exchangers our there.  We went to the "English Shop" which rocked my socks.  It was so awesome.  It had all this English stuff.  I bought Kraft Dinner and short bread and a creme Easter egg.  Plus the guy working there was really awesome.  He is from London and we spent like a half hour just talking to him.  He owns a vintage store so we went and checked it out.  We also went to Haga, like Stockholm's gamal stad.  It had like lots of little individual stores.  Rachel and I found this amazing toy store because everyone else was too cool to go into a toy store.  Rachel and I spent a lot of time there.  Playing with the doll houses and stuff.  We also bought food for recorder lady again.  We bought he a sandwich, two bananas, a stack of pancakes and a jar of apple sauce.  We wanted her to have two meals.  But I don't think she has a lot of teeth so that kind of made it more difficult.  But she was happy and bowed her head in prayer but we didn't know if we should leave or wait until she looked up again so we just stood there.  I think she was happy.  But then when we walked back past her she had it all laid out like she was trying to sell it.  Oh well.

Okay well I am going to eat potato pancakes now.  

Later

I was just wondering if anyone actually reads my blog.  If you do can you make a comment.  I do not really care.  If no one comments I will still write because I know my mom reads it.  But I was just wondering if anyone else reads it.  So if you do please comment.  Like not a deep thought out comment just like Yes I read it.  That is all.

Sportlov

Pictures from top to bottom= Isak and Rasmus playing table top hockey, semi final.  Swedish chef and fruit salad.  The mountain.  My ski buddy.  Boys playing Grizzly Dumb.  My birthday breakfast.  Snow from the bus window.  Girls night with my besties.
So this week was sportlov which means sport break and I had no school.  On Friday Jessica and Rachel slept over which was really, really fun.  We talked about pretty much everything and ate lots of junk food.  Then on Sunday I went to Sälen with PeOs churchs youth group to go skiing for the week.   It took like 5 hours to get there and when we got there my group had to make supper, but it was really easy because all we had to do was microwave the premade food.  The place we stayed was pretty nice.  It was like a hostel but we were the only ones there.

Monday was my Birthday.  I got breakfast in bed and they sang to me in the morning.  Plus I had to wear a neon vest all day that said it was my birthday.  Monday was our first day of skiing and I realized I cannot ski.  Even on their tiny little hills.  But it was okay because I hung out with PeOs daughter and we stopped skiing after lunch.  Their mountains are not very big.  At night we watched The Chronicles of Narnia and talked about how it related to God.  Then we played games and stuff and I won the ice cream eating race.  But then I got like gum disease.  It was gross.  Everyday they had Dagens Dansk where they would each tell their story about something a Danish person did and then we would vote which one was best.  I saw a woman with her helmet on upside down.  It was very Christian of us to make fun of the Danish.

On Tuesday I only went skiing in the after noon and I convinced this one guy from my class, Isak, to go skiing with me.  It was fun.  We went on all the green runs.  After skiing Isak and I played cards and I taught him Grizzly Dumb,  the game that all of us exchangers play where you try to get your queen to the king.  Then all the boys started playing it.  It was so funny.  I took lots of pictures of them all trying to find their future wives.  Then we watched more of the movie and prayed some more.  

On Wednesday I went skiing in the afternoon alone.  I was supposed to meet the others for fika, but could not find the place so I just went home and showered and knitted.  When they came back Isak and I played cards some more and they had a table hockey tournament.  Then we had supper and it was my groups night to provide the entertainment so we had a disco.  It was lots of fun.  Oh and they played fruit salad which was disgusting.  Four people chewed and then spit out fruit into a bowl.  Then Måns ate it.  I almost threw up.  Thursday was out last day of skiing and Isak and I went in the afternoon.  Then I watched them all race, but got really cold just sitting there so I went a little on my own and then returned my skis.  I went back showered, then went to the Sälen store and bought a hoody so I would always remember my awesome ski trip.  It was lots of fun apart from the whole skiing part.  

We drove home on Friday which was fun because we watched good movies and I got to sleep.

On Saturday I went to Göteborg with Rachel and Justin.  We went shopping a little bit and Justin bought me my birthday present.  Then we had Indian food for supper.  It was pretty good for Sweden.  But it was lots of fun talking to them.  And we found an English Store that we are going to go to next time.  We did not go yesterday because my tummy hurt and by the time we got there it was closed.  We had to take the trolly thing.  We are getting so good at getting around Göteborg.  Yay us!  When we were heading to the station we saw recorder lady, the lady who sits and plays recorder all the time for money and we decided to buy her something to eat but the only place open was McDonalds.  So we bought her a cheeseburger and apple pie.  When we took it to her she like blessed us in her language.  I was happy that she was happy.  Oh yeah and in Goteborg we saw these guys with Guy Fox masks on who were protesting Scientology and then we went to the Scientology church because we wanted to see inside.  But you had to ring a bell to get let in so we stood outside for awhile trying to decide whether to ring it our not.  Then we finally did, and Rachel spoke, but they did not understand so we did not get in.  It was sunny in Göteborg so we just stood in the sun for a little and today it was sunny here so I went for a walk with my host mom.  It was really cool in the mountains because there was like actually real amounts of snow and it was nice out too.  It kind of made me sad at first because it reminded me of home.  But then yesterday on the train I was so happy that I almost wanted to cry.  I like it here now and am happy.  Okay that is all.  I was told I write too much so I tried to cut it down today.

Okay so I haven't written in like a month and I am a bad person.

Let's see what has happened in January.  I moved, but you knew that.  I like my knew house with my little apartment like area and it is nice on the lake.  It is pretty.

So school was the same pretty much as before Christmas.  But now I have only one class on Mondays from 8:15 to 9:20 so last week I started working at my host mom's daycare.  It was lots of fun and I think I learned more Swedish there than I do at school.  Because the little girls say things and if I don't understand get all cranky and little girlish and say "you don't understand do you"  with a smirk.  But now I have learned how to say lose your teeth and all about different animals.  There was one little boy there who doesn't speak very much either and we are kind of like best friends now.  

But before last week lets see what I did.  Justin slept over on the 16th and then we went to Göteborg with Jessica and her friend from Belgium on Saturday.  It was kind of fun but I was kind of sick so I was rather tired.  But we saw Nazis again.  This time they had done something bad but we did not see what they did we just saw when they were lined up against the wall being frisked by the police.  There were lots of police and a police dog.  It was rather exciting.  But they were just taken away and we were getting hungry so we went into the mall and ate at Pizza Hut.  It was fun to eat in a Pizza Hut, but it was not really the same as at home.  When we finished eating we came out and there were no more Nazis.  I wanted to go home early because I did not feel well so Justin and I went home early.  Justin went back to Lidköping and I went to watch Erik, Calle and Antons band play.  They are really good.  I quite enjoyed it.  Then we went to Eriks house after and had and after party.  

Then that week at choir I started my first Swedish Solo.  It did not go so well the first time, but I think I am getting better.  Carros 18th birthday was that Friday so we had a party at her house.  It was really fun.  I love the boys in my class, well and the girls too.  We sat around and talked about what I like about Sweden and what I thought.  And they asked me if they saved up money for me if I would come back next year to go on the class trip to Germany.  It almost made me cry.  I love them so much now.  On Saturday I went to Hjo and watched the boys play again.  I went with Carro.  We are like groupies now.  

I have also started being really nerdy again.  Swedish school is rather under stimulating so I have started researching stuff like UN missions and stuff.  And I have started to write a paper comparing Queen Elizabeths rule to Catherine the Greats.  Yeah kind of lame but I think that it makes me happier to actually use my brain again.  Plus it is good practice for next year.

On Wednesdays I finish school at like 11 or something.  I have started going to Religion which is interesting.  But now Jessica and I meet in Skövde earlier on Wednesdays and fika.  I love talking to here.  And I love Canada.  Canada is really awesome.  I have decided.  But we found this new little cafe in Skövde with lots of good stuff and we go there a lot now and have made friends with the guy who works there.  But I am pretty sure he still thinks we are American even though we have told him a bunch that we are Canadians.  Last Thursday I watched the boys play in Skövde again.  They were good but the other bands were a little scary.  But on the bus home I talked to Erika all in Swedish and it was so fun.  I think she was a little surprised at how much Swedish I could actually speak because everyone speaks English to me so I never really get a chance to speak Swedish.  

This weekend I went to a folk music festival in Vara with my host parents because my host mom plays the accordion and my host dad plays the bass.  It was fun.  I played the accordion and sang, but it was really hard to learn the songs because we did not get the words written down, she just sang them to us and then we had to sing them back.  So I made up some words and hummed a lot.  But it was cool to listen to.  

Yesterday was Justin's Birthday so Jessica and I went to Lidköping to see him and Rachel.  It was fun.  Lidköping is so much cooler than Tibro.  Well it is a lot bigger at least.  We had sushi and then fikad.  And saw their school and stuff.  It was nice to visit with them.  I like them.  We have a small but awesome district.  I wish the Ausies were closer because I am a little afraid they might feel left out because we always hang out but we cant hang out with them because they are so far away.  Oh well I invited them to Göteborg on Valentines day.  But they have each other so hopefully they are good.

Okay so that is what happened in January.

I am going to make soup because I am sick

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.