Well after 4 days of the same smorgäsbord I am officially tired of pickled herring, do not believe that anchovies and potatoes go well together and beer flavoured soda (julmost) while maybe special at Christmas is highly overrated. Everything was exciting at the time though and I've tried more new foods in the last 4 days than I have in the last year!
Today I am off to go shopping with my mother's youngest cousin Marie and her two children in the town of Lund. I have only driven through so it will be nice to spend some time there. It is a very old university town with beautiful cobblestone streets, old brick buildings and two goregous churches, one of brick and one of stone.
cut this short, as off I go.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
try saying that five times fast
Hello Everyone!
A quick update for those who don't know, I am travelling with my grandmother around Sweden for about a month and then continuing on to France for until the first week in February.
Well, I've arrived in Sweden, and despite the fact that the keyboard is in English, my typing speed has still slowed down due to the extra three letters on it!
Flight time was 9 hours and then another 1.5 from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, where we found out bags, met Leif (my grandma's brother, so that makes him my great uncle?) found out which train would take us over the bridge into Sweden and onto Eslov, which is my grandmother's home town and where I will be staying for the majority of my time here. I was exciting to be crossing the famous Oresund bridge, but was severely disappointed when I realized that it was dark (no kidding in the winter for a country that has land well within the Arctic circle...) and I was unable to see that famous piece of architecture. I will hopefully make a point of travelling between the daylight hours of 0830 and 1600 when I return to Copenhagen to fly over to Paris.
So far my visit has consisted of a lot of visiting relatives, trying very hard to understand a language that I have little grasp of, and trying to avoid eating my fair share of 'fisk' (fish) specifically 'sill ' which is (herring, generally the pickled variety) although I will admit that
it tastes a lot better here than it does in Canada (sorry mom!) No, really, the food is good, and the coffee is excellent, so I'm not complaining.
My Swedish had been improving steadily since I came, and hopefully by the time I leave I will be able to hold a simple conversation, or at least that's my goal. Right now I can understand a LOT more than I could three days ago, and a little more each day, especially if they talk slowly to me... I am lea ring new phrases and words as well, however I still feel very self conscious when I try and say anything, and usually they laugh (appraisingly) whenever I try to say anything. They have a few vowel sounds over here that we don't have in Canadian English and those are generally viewed as the funniest when I am talking, which particular note going to first sound in the word *seven* which sounds sorta of like shoo but not really at all, and many of their tongue twisters are centered around it. I would just love to throw a 'sally sells sea shells by the sea shore' in their face, but unfortunately many have a quite a good grasp of English and would probably be able to say it back to me. touche!
The weather is similar to Victoria, not to much rain, and none while I've been outside. The fresh air feels lovely and the streets are beautiful. All streets downtown are cobblestone, and artfully made with all sorts of designs and arcs within them... treacherous to the heel of my boot though. I am thoroughly enjoying myself and despite the still trying to get used to the time zone difference I have slept all right, with the exception of last night when I woke up at 0430 and never did get back to sleep. (I usually however make up for it in the late afternoon with quiet read before dinner which inevitably turns into a quiet nap...)
Today is liljulafton (little Christmas eve) which they celebrate along before Christmas eve tomorrow night, with nothing particularly special happening on Christmas day itself. I am looking forward to more good food and people laughing at me, although I think tonight's visit will include some of the younger cousins as well so maybe I will be saved some humiliation.
I hope everyone is doing well and Merry Christmas to you all.
A quick update for those who don't know, I am travelling with my grandmother around Sweden for about a month and then continuing on to France for until the first week in February.
Well, I've arrived in Sweden, and despite the fact that the keyboard is in English, my typing speed has still slowed down due to the extra three letters on it!
Flight time was 9 hours and then another 1.5 from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, where we found out bags, met Leif (my grandma's brother, so that makes him my great uncle?) found out which train would take us over the bridge into Sweden and onto Eslov, which is my grandmother's home town and where I will be staying for the majority of my time here. I was exciting to be crossing the famous Oresund bridge, but was severely disappointed when I realized that it was dark (no kidding in the winter for a country that has land well within the Arctic circle...) and I was unable to see that famous piece of architecture. I will hopefully make a point of travelling between the daylight hours of 0830 and 1600 when I return to Copenhagen to fly over to Paris.
So far my visit has consisted of a lot of visiting relatives, trying very hard to understand a language that I have little grasp of, and trying to avoid eating my fair share of 'fisk' (fish) specifically 'sill ' which is (herring, generally the pickled variety) although I will admit that
it tastes a lot better here than it does in Canada (sorry mom!) No, really, the food is good, and the coffee is excellent, so I'm not complaining.
My Swedish had been improving steadily since I came, and hopefully by the time I leave I will be able to hold a simple conversation, or at least that's my goal. Right now I can understand a LOT more than I could three days ago, and a little more each day, especially if they talk slowly to me... I am lea ring new phrases and words as well, however I still feel very self conscious when I try and say anything, and usually they laugh (appraisingly) whenever I try to say anything. They have a few vowel sounds over here that we don't have in Canadian English and those are generally viewed as the funniest when I am talking, which particular note going to first sound in the word *seven* which sounds sorta of like shoo but not really at all, and many of their tongue twisters are centered around it. I would just love to throw a 'sally sells sea shells by the sea shore' in their face, but unfortunately many have a quite a good grasp of English and would probably be able to say it back to me. touche!
The weather is similar to Victoria, not to much rain, and none while I've been outside. The fresh air feels lovely and the streets are beautiful. All streets downtown are cobblestone, and artfully made with all sorts of designs and arcs within them... treacherous to the heel of my boot though. I am thoroughly enjoying myself and despite the still trying to get used to the time zone difference I have slept all right, with the exception of last night when I woke up at 0430 and never did get back to sleep. (I usually however make up for it in the late afternoon with quiet read before dinner which inevitably turns into a quiet nap...)
Today is liljulafton (little Christmas eve) which they celebrate along before Christmas eve tomorrow night, with nothing particularly special happening on Christmas day itself. I am looking forward to more good food and people laughing at me, although I think tonight's visit will include some of the younger cousins as well so maybe I will be saved some humiliation.
I hope everyone is doing well and Merry Christmas to you all.
Monday, December 18, 2006
In which I re-live my viking past....
I should be asleep now after a night of akvavit and pickled herring, but here I lie awake in my bed wondering how hectic the next few days will be.
This was my last night in Prince George before I leave for the Sweden and France, so my family decided that we could push Christmas up a bit to celebrate with me before I left. We pulled out all the stops. By tradition out family has a huge Swedish Smorgasbord (which translated means sandwich table) complete with about 10 varieties of bread and crackers, 7 of cheeses, caviar (in a tube?) fancy mayonnaise that squeezed out in a star shape! meats, pickles (and not just dill either! there were mustard pickles, and pickled beans, and herring, and pepper, and onion and cauliflower... the list goes on) as well as Swedish meatballs, scalloped potatoes, and ham. There was not a square centimeter of room left on our rather large kitchen island, not even enough to put your plate down so you could put food onto it. It's a good thing that most people who are in attendance have been around for a while, but its always fun watching the techniques of a newcomer... "hm mm, I wonder which cheese I should put on this? and how am I supposed to have room for that? and what exactly is that?"
It was a joyous occasion, and my first experience of akvavit, which translates to "Water of Life." It is a Swedish spirit of about 42% and is followed by a chaser of pickled herring. My entire life I stood up to masses, and refused the pickled herring, but this year I was fortunate enough to have a friend, Rebekah, come up to experience this evening with me, and she boldly dared me to try it. My mother gave some extra confidence to us with the phrase "there is something that happens when the pickled herring hits your mouth, after the akvavit, its like heaven" I have to say that the first "Skol!" felt rather hot going down and I felt it all the way to my stomach, and I was surprised that the pickled herring actually tasted good! (I don't think that it would had I tried it on it's own) After my glass was emptied for the second time, my pickled herring was finished and I was done, but now I know what to expect over the holidays in Sweden. Except I hear that they are rather heavy drinkers, so we'll see...
p.s. the story behing "Skol!" is that vikings used to drink out of their enemies skulls, and this has evolved into saying "Skol!" before a toast.
This was my last night in Prince George before I leave for the Sweden and France, so my family decided that we could push Christmas up a bit to celebrate with me before I left. We pulled out all the stops. By tradition out family has a huge Swedish Smorgasbord (which translated means sandwich table) complete with about 10 varieties of bread and crackers, 7 of cheeses, caviar (in a tube?) fancy mayonnaise that squeezed out in a star shape! meats, pickles (and not just dill either! there were mustard pickles, and pickled beans, and herring, and pepper, and onion and cauliflower... the list goes on) as well as Swedish meatballs, scalloped potatoes, and ham. There was not a square centimeter of room left on our rather large kitchen island, not even enough to put your plate down so you could put food onto it. It's a good thing that most people who are in attendance have been around for a while, but its always fun watching the techniques of a newcomer... "hm mm, I wonder which cheese I should put on this? and how am I supposed to have room for that? and what exactly is that?"
It was a joyous occasion, and my first experience of akvavit, which translates to "Water of Life." It is a Swedish spirit of about 42% and is followed by a chaser of pickled herring. My entire life I stood up to masses, and refused the pickled herring, but this year I was fortunate enough to have a friend, Rebekah, come up to experience this evening with me, and she boldly dared me to try it. My mother gave some extra confidence to us with the phrase "there is something that happens when the pickled herring hits your mouth, after the akvavit, its like heaven" I have to say that the first "Skol!" felt rather hot going down and I felt it all the way to my stomach, and I was surprised that the pickled herring actually tasted good! (I don't think that it would had I tried it on it's own) After my glass was emptied for the second time, my pickled herring was finished and I was done, but now I know what to expect over the holidays in Sweden. Except I hear that they are rather heavy drinkers, so we'll see...
p.s. the story behing "Skol!" is that vikings used to drink out of their enemies skulls, and this has evolved into saying "Skol!" before a toast.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Quote of the Day
"It sounds like a helicopter is coming out of my ..."
- my adoring little sister while playing backgammon
- my adoring little sister while playing backgammon
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
It's Fixed!
Sorry for the wait, I think I've finally fixed the slideshow! After everything is said and done it proves the superiority of Google over Yahoo and Picasa over Flickr.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Who Knew?
So who knew that there were so many things you could do with a blog? all sorts of template changes, and then there is the trying to figure out exactly what to change in all the computer code to make that image fit into the column properly... but I think I got it, finally! or at least I'm happy with it for now. Anyways, I think I'm just a little too thrilled with this whole thing. Oh and can someone tell me if they can see the slide show in the previous post??
Monday, December 11, 2006
New Caledonia Rotary Club - Kenya Slideshow
To all the New Caledonia Club Rotarians who missed my presentation at your Christmas Party. I've sent an email with a letter explaining what my team did over at SHERP, and here is the slideshow so you have pictures to go along with my letter.
If you want to see more of my pictures, check them out here...
If you want to see more of my pictures, check them out here...
I think I can...
So like I said I've decided to get on the blog train... and even though that didn't pan through before I'm hoping that it will this time, since it will be a better way to keep everyone updated with my life, and my latest adventures. Specifically the next one, which will be Christmas and New Years in Sweden and then a jaunt over to France for a few weeks
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
It's done!
I write to you all from a beautifully finished apartment that I don't have to work on any longer, the weather is cool, just a sprinkle this morning to cool things off, and with a tummy full of ice-cream! The first trip of the summer was amazing! The weather was hot and sunny everyday, with the exception of some overcast cloudson day 7 (I figure this is only because Rebekah and I jinxed it all by deciding a few weeks ago that we would wear skirts on day 7 - boat Sunday). We had a wonderful group of trainees onboard, many of which had never been on a SALTS vessel before. It was really awesome being able to experience things I've done so many times with those who never had. My watch (Port Watch) headed up by myself and the hilarious Mark Erhardt was a blast. Mark took over a lot for me which was nice, although I have to admit, that when you are used to doing it all yourself, it is hard to give up the control sometimes.... I told the kids I was all about "making the memories" and that this was the reason that our dory always seemed to be on the brink of sinking and also why whenever we went ashore we took "the long way." (we actually only got lost - sort of - twice) On the note of dory rides... usually the kids get better at rowing during the trip, however my watch's competency seemed to decrease drastically with our last dory ride filling the dory up to a record high; although I still haven't beat the record Marquesas underwater row!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
My Very First Post
So I've finally decided to get on the blog train and start my own. I finished my last spring trip as of Saturday and now am enjoying 5 peaceful and relaxing days off... or not so relaxing. Rebekah and I have been painting the apartment and now one month after we moved in we are putting the finished touches on ~ replacing hardware in the kitchen and screwing the doors back on for example. It's been busy but the end is in sight and it looks fantastic, although we have both developed some kind of allergy to rollers and an addiction to paint fumes...
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