July 15-21
I put the whole week in one posting because there was a good balance of outings as well as some "down" time at the home. I read my book, "Deep Dish" and borrowed Linda's book "The Beach" which was made into a movie with Leo DiCaprio. I need to watch the movie again now that I have read the book. When I finished "The Beach", I borrowed another book of Linda's that I finished when I returned home, "The Devil Wears Prada". I want to watch that movie again as well. I also took some naps. That was very nice! :)
Wednesday July 15
We got up and decided to hit Lund, Linda's hometown and where the Deaf school that she attended is. I had already went to Lund the last time I was there and saw the Deaf school and that was a good thing because the Deaf school is closed for the summer. We walked around the town looking for a hat for Albert, a phone for Magnus, some Swedish souvenirs for me and the most important of all, Ice Cream! :) We stopped for lunch right when we arrived and had some sandwiches. We were able to find some souvenirs for me, but no luck with the hat or the phone. :( After some ice cream that we bought from 7-11 (yep, you read that right.. there is 7-11 in Sweden!!! It looks a little similar to the one in America but with more fruits and sandwiches), we headed home. When we got to the car, Linda asked Albert if he had to go to the potty since he was in his underwear and is in the process of potty training and had not gone at all in Lund, he said yes so she took down his pants and lifted his legs so that he could pee and the urine would not touch his clothes. That was hilarious! I told her that there was easier ways to help him go potty than lift his legs. There is a picture of that in the album!
We came back home because we were tired and we all took a nap. After dinner (very good Chicken with some kind of sauce and potatoes), we went to Malmo, a town past Lund and on the southwestern tip of Sweden. There is a Deaf club there that has a bar and is open on Wednesdays during the Summer. There were maybe 50-100 people there, all signing Sweden! I am proud to say that I was able to understand some of their signing and was able to converse with some of them using the BASIC Swedish signs that I knew. They also slowed down a bit and used more gestures with me. I saw Linda's parents and brother there. Linda's brother, Ulf, works at the Deaf Club. The Deaf Club is located on the first floor of a 4/5 floor apartment building. Many Deaf people live in their apartments. It used to have all Deaf people before it was changed to office buildings and then back to apartment buildings. Now it has a mixture of Deaf/hearing people living there.
Magnus had some beer, I had some wine and Linda drank nothing so she drove us back home. Sweden has very strict laws against drinking and driving. If you drink one drop of alcohol and you get caught driving, you could get in big trouble. I thought that was interesting. It really discourages many people from drinking and driving.
Thursday July 16
Yesterday, Linda talked about taking us to Lomma, a city near Lund on the coast for their beach. I was excited, so when I woke up the next morning, we all ate breakfast quickly and took off to the beach with our bathing suits and beach stuff. We all were disappointed when we arrived and it was a bit cold and windy. :( We tried staying a bit because we had told Albert that we would be swimming and he wanted to swim. We stayed maybe 15 minutes before we decided to change our plans. We came back home to change clothes, eat our left over dinner from the night before and take off for the Eastern part of Sweden.
We went to a beach, Vitemölla. It was beautiful and much warmer than the one in Lomma. I had changed out of my bathing suit so I did not go swimming in the water, but Magnus and Albert did. We stayed there for a bit, and left to go to Kivik, an apple orchard, cannery and store. They sold many different kinds of juices and food. We bought some juices and strawberries covered in Dark Chocolate. That was yummy! We then went to Cafe Annorlunda, a bakery where you can pay 60 kronor=$7.50 for all you can eat pastries, cookies and breads. It was very good and very light. We considered that our dinner! haha.
After Cafe Annorlunda, we went to a national park in Sweden, Stenshuvud nationalpark. We took a little hike to the top of the national park and could see the beach we were just at and the water. It was very beautiful and worth the uphill hike where Albert walked ahead of us the entire way and behind us on the way down. He zonked out in the car maybe 5 minutes after we got in the car! Yay! :) Mission Accomplished. There were some good pictures taken of us on the top. The profile picture of me on my blog was taken there.
At night, Linda, Magnus and I played poker. Magnus was the first person to be out, I was second and Linda won! Beginner's luck! :)
Friday July 17
Albert woke up with two big bites on his legs. It was a little open and oozing some kind of clear liquid. Linda and Magnus got a bit worried so off to the doctor's office we went. We did not have to wait too long to be seen by a nurse. She said it seems to be some kind of a bug bite and that we should avoid getting it wet for a bit so that meant no swimming for us today! :( It was a perfect day to go swimming at Lomma, so we stayed around home until it was time for Magnus to play Poker at a friend's house.
The doctor office was a bit bigger than the ones in America where you can only fit two or three people in the room. There was a bed with a huge lamp on the top of it that is usually found in hospitals in America. Otherwise, the office was similar to the ones in America.
We all went to IKEA to get a gift for the hosts (it was a house warming party and poker night combined in one). After we dropped Magnus off, Linda, Albert and I went to the mall to look around. It was getting late and Albert was getting cranky so we went back home and put him to bed. Linda and I had planned to rent some movies but we decided not to because Albert was getting tired. We played Mexican Train Dominoes all night instead. I think Linda won that one too--right, Linda??
Saturday July 18
It was a very rainy day, so Linda decided to take Albert to Skattkammarön, a indoor playarea in Lund. You can pay 100 Kronor=12.50 for unlimited play. They have three different sections--1 for babies, 1 for toddlers and 1 for bigger kids. Albert had a ball playing there while Linda and I relaxed. We both were getting tired because of the rain so we left to rent movies. We rented three movies--7 Pounds, Changeling and some stupid movie. I had already seen most of the movies that were at the video store so I suggested the first two movies although I had already seen them. When we got home, we took a nap and watched a movie after Albert went to bed. We watched Seven Pounds at first--very good movie. I always recommend it to everyone! :)
Sunday July 19
Linda and I had a "girls day out". We went to a mall in Lund that I had gone to 3 years ago. It improved a lot inside. Before, it looked like a warehouse inside with different stores but now it looks closer to what a mall would look like in America. The boys went fishing while we went shopping. I got three things--2 shirts and a dress for 210 Kronor=$26.25! I have noticed that everything is cheaper in Sweden! We ate lunch there then went back home. When we got home, Magnus told Linda that there would be a poker game happening later that evening and asked if we were interested in going. I encouraged Linda to go and have fun so we went after dropping Albert off at Linda's parents' house.
The poker game was at one of the Deaf apartments in Malmo. We paid 100 kronor=$12.50 to play. During the game, I noticed that people in Sweden are more frendlier and less strict on the rules of Poker. Since I am a relatively new player of Poker, they took the time to explain why one card set worked and they did not rush through the game like my experience in America. Maybe it is because of the people I play with. I was the 5th person out out of 10 I believe, so I did pretty well. I did not win any money, like usual!
Monday July 20
Linda and I went to get Albert from her parents' house and stayed there a bit to chat over some tea/coffee/water and biscuits with sugar on top of it. The biscuits were delicious! We stayed there for maybe an hour or two and headed home so I could pack and get ready for my departure the next day. We chilled around home until it was dinner time. Linda made Swedish Meatballs in a sauce, potatoes, and peas for dinner. Her brother, Ulf, came for dinner and hung around for a bit before taking the bus home to Lund. Linda and I started watching the stupid movie (it is so stupid I do not even remember the title of it) for a bit and decided to change the movie to Changeling and watched it for the rest of the night.
Tuesday July 21
After breakfast, I got my final stuff together and took some pictures of the family for a gift I had in mind. Linda, Albert, Magnus and I took off to Malmo to take the train over the water into Denmark for my airplane ride back to London and America. I was sad to leave Linda, Magnus and Albert but I kept in mind that Linda would be coming to visit or I would visit her sometime soon. The plane ride to London was uneventful with sandwiches for my lunch. I had a hour layover in London and boarded the plane for Philadelphia. The plane ride was long, I took a nap or two and read my book, The Devil Wears Prada while keeping an eye on the movable map showing where we were on the route to Philadelphia. We had two hot meals and I was satisfied when I arrived Philadelphia. BA Rocks!
Although I had a great time in Europe, I was glad to arrive back to America where everything is familiar (the language, the currency, my home, my car, etc). I arrived in Philadelphia at 7 pm which meant it was 1 am in Sweden and finally arrived my home at 10 pm which meant it was 4 am in Sweden and I was exhausted! I actually survived my trip to Europe and had a blast!
To View Linda's pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/vildasmahjarta/SuzySVisit?authkey=Gv1sRgCPSPpIy1wPOcXQ#
To view my pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/suzyki/Week2Sweden?authkey=Gv1sRgCKyF0b2w_Pnscg#
No comments:
Post a Comment