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.
No comments:
Post a Comment