The Snow and Me

Really thought I had a few more snow free weeks up my sleeve. I was wrong. Very wrong.

 

So on Thursday the 25th of October 2012, I, Annie Rea, saw here first ever Swedish snow. Much to my host families amusement I went jumping up and down to every window in the house looking out saying “It’s snowing, omg it’s snowing!” funnily enough Swedish snow looks the same as New Zealand snow. It’s still white and it still falls from the sky!

My host brother, Aron, can running into my room going “it’s snowing Annie, it’s snowing!!!!!” and then laughed at me as I was looking out all the windows!

It wasn’t much snow but it was still there in the morning. Sadly it was not enough to make a snowman or even have a snowball fight. But I am sure that soon enough I will have enough snow to make snowmen until the cows come home! The snow has now turned to ice and slush in most places but in the forest behind my house it is untouched making it look like Christmas with snow covered pine trees. I like it!

 

 

SNOW!

 

 

Going to school this morning was something quite new. It was the first time that my trusty Kathmandu jacket failed me for warmth. The wind was bitterly cold and cut right though the jacket! But it was only a short walk down the now icy and slippy hill to the bus stop, getting warmer as I went down my hill! Once I got to school I was very happy that school is all in one building! Made me happy knowing I didn’t have to go out in the cold to get to my next class.

I am kind of looking forward to having more snow and I have been assured by many of people that it is just around the corner! Looking forward to it!!  

 

Life in Sweden

It is a weird feeling to forget that you are actually in Sweden. I have done it only a few times. Once when I was walking down to the bus stop to go to school, it just felt so normal and right that I didn’t think “I am in Sweden” like I seem to think most of the time! Even though I have never taken the bus to school before I came to Sweden yet it felt normal. Over the past few years I have been getting used to a new normal living in Christchurch and it has become normal this new normal and now it is time for another new normal. And maybe catching the bus to school and it feeling normal is just my brain saying that it is ok with this new normal. I think that when things start to feel normal like this it is the first step feeling right at home here.

Home here is very nice. Although the house is big (it fits seven of us and a dog easily) it has a cozy, comfy feeling to it. It also has an amazing view as I live on top of a hill! I like having this amazing view of the lake I live next to and the city I live very close to but sometimes the hill can be a nightmare. When you are late for the bus and you have to run down this hill it can be torture! I have never really liked running down hills (it is better than up though) as you always end up running full pelt down the hill and then not being able to stop running easily.  And then going up after a long day of running for busses ad going to school is not so nice! I have been thinking that I might just have to use a sled in the winter to get down this silly hill. But the view from the hop of this hill is almost worth all the running up and down it! Although my room in this house is starting to feel like my place in this house, I sometimes expect to wake up to find myself in a room back in New Zealand. I brought something’s from my room at home with me to make this feel homey and it was one of the best things I brought with me! And the picture that my sister gave me of me and her, it is just the best thing to have! I have learnt that house here are very warm! There is a heater in every single room in this house. I am so used to have a freezing cold room all the time in the winter that having a heater by my bed and my rooming being nice and warm at all times is taking a bit of getting used to. I have to dress up warm when I leave the house but as soon as I enter it I have to take off my many layers!

 

 View from the kitchen window of my house of a very foggy morning! Walking to the bus stop was odd that morning! Could not see much at All!

 View from the kitchen window of my house on a nice day! Where it starting raining about 10 mins after i had taken this! Swedish weather! I will never understand it!!

 

I have finally got my head around school. It has taken sometime but now it has become somewhere I know and understand (ish). Not having to make lunch everyday has now become routine and I no longer get up in the morning and start to make my school lunch. And I must say that a fully cooked meal for lunch beats a sandwich and a couple of apples any day. (On a side note my family has an apple tree, so for all those wondering if I am still eating all the apples, I am set and happy as can be on that front!) School seems to offer everything when it comes to lunch. On day it will be pancakes (best day ever!) the next it will be fish, then it could be pasta. And always fresh salad and fruit on offer. It is really quite nice and all free!! I mostly take subjects in learning Swedish but I also take music, in which we are making up a musical which is pretty cool if you ask me, I then take English, in which we are writing essays and learning this about creative writing that would have been super helpful two years ago! I am also starting three hour PE class next Wednesday, which covers everything and I am also taking religion, which I have never taken before in my life so I am looking forward to seeing what it is all about (even though I won’t understand much to start with!) next year I am going to be dropping all Swedish learning classes and only take classes with Swedish people! I will either join the social science program or the natural science program. So far with school I have been out for a day hiking around a lake where I fell in a big heap of mud! I have been to a museum for the day and I have had a party at school! I know a party at school seems pretty weird but trust me it felt weirder to be at school till about 11 o’clock. It was so much fun though. The ‘party’ was for all the music students over all three years. Everyone who is a music student is part of this group called “bobby” and this was a “bobby” party. We had dinner, did music quizzes and they tried to teach myself and the other three exchange students Swedish in song form! My team, The Space Butterflies, won the music quizzes which was so good! We won Pez for this! I was/am very happy for this!!! In a weeks’ time the school is holding their annual school dance competition where the school dances! It is an all-day thing and I am really looking forward to it as it sounds like heaps of fun to watch, and maybe make a fool of myself and join in! My school is all in one building. Even the gym is attached! It is the best thing when it is raining. No more fighting to stay under the covers when moving from class to class for Annie now! My school is also very open with windows everywhere and so much natural light! It makes the school have a nice feeling to it! My school also always has art hanging everywhere in the main halls which is really cool to look at! One thing that I can’t get used to is calling all my teachers by their first name. I feel so very rude when I do this and disrespectful towards them. Also the fact that you can answer back to them to make sure your point is made. There is also the fact of them treating you more like a friend than a student. It is very hard to get used to. One of the best things about school here is that some days I don’t start school till 12 o’clock, while on other days I’ll finish at 11.30am! It is great! I think I love Fridays the most as I don’t start till 9am and finish at 11.30am! Such a good day! Mind you there are a few days that I start at 9am and don’t quit until 5pm which are not as nice. I like school here and I am really looking forward to the rest of the time here as there are many exciting things that are coming up!!

My School, with noone in it! Also those stairs are the hardest thing to walk up and down. Not a nice size stair case!  

Apple tree!!!

I have joined a football team here. Although I have not played football in many years and it shows when I am training with people who have played all their lives, it is heaps of fun and I met heaps more Swedish people! I have also notice that football is the same all around the world! The rules are the same and it easy to get the hang of what to do even when it is in a different language. The team I play in seems to me to be a very serious team, with training twice a week, all equipment in good condition and the whole team wearing their kit to practice. But I am really enjoying starting to play again even though my skills are, well, shit (but getting a little better!) plus hopefully doing this bit of exercise twice a week will help me not put on any more weight!!

I thought that living in a family where there is seven of us would be a mad house with people busy and doing things all the time but it is not like that much at all. There are a few days where we are all a little busy but it sure is not all the time. In my host family I have three host brothers (one who is 19, and two who are 14), a host sister who is 16 and a host mum and dad. I also have a host dog, who is just as silly as billy back home which is nice! My host brothers are really into gaming, which I know nothing about so when the conversation turns to gaming I have no clue what is going on! But I have learnt that if I hear my host brother, Aron, talking to himself (his room is next to mine) it is ok and he is not going crazy!! My host dad travels a lot for work and I don’t see him that often. I get on really well with my host mum though which I am really happy about. We always eat dinner together as a family and if we are not home then some is always left for us to warm up. I like eating together. It gives us all a chance to talk about our days and it is nice to have family time!

So far in the almost two months I have been here I have talked so much about New Zealand and become very patriotic about New Zealand. I have also proved to myself and to my mum, who said I know nothing about NZ, that I know a heap more about it than I thought. I have helped people with homework on New Zealand, done presentations on NZ and in a weeks’ time going to do a presentation in Swedish about New Zealand or Nya Zeeland in svenska! I have also begun to look for New Zealand on every map I see. So far the AFS map itself didn’t even have NZ on it which I thought was quite unfair! But other than that most maps have had it which I am happy about!

There is so much wildlife here, even in the city! I have seen many squirrels, much to my friend’s enjoyment when I first saw one, she thought I was very funny as I went “OMG THERE IS A SQUIRREL!!!!!” and pretty much just flipped out! I have also seen a wild deer just chilling by my bus stop one night, it gave me such a fight that I just sort of stood there frozen looking at it! That is one of the good things about living in a sort of forest! I have also seen a few sheep on my first day here in Sweden! The other two kiwi girls that are here and me were like “oh they have sheep here too!” it made us happy!

Overall life here in Sweden is going pretty damn well! So far, so good!

I have settled into a routine that I am happy with and it feels like I am living a normal life in a place that I don’t speak the language and rely on a lot of guesswork! All part of the fun!

But I am happy as a cow that is for sure!   

 

Thoughts On Things

Writing in English is surprisingly soothing after try to focus your mind in swedish all day. Words come easily from the mind to the hands to type without having to think and look up and get confused. Although I enjoy learning Swedish it is so very hard to get my head around. If I can’t remember what a word means in English it is gone within seconds of learning that word. Learning Swedish means watching peoples every move to get what they mean or what they are telling you to do. I know that Swedish will come in time and that if I put in the effort now I will benefit in the long run, but this is becoming increasingly harder when you feel that others around you are picking it up and you still seem to be stuck at this confused stage of learning the language. So English comes as a relaxing tool. To just type in English has never been so relaxing. It is as though my mind switches into a state of pure ease and the headache that lingers around when I am trying to think in Swedish goes into nothingness. Swedish has not necessarily been harder than I first thought I think there is just more to it that I first anticipated. Many rules that you just have to guess if you use it with that word. Some things there are no rules to it you just do that with this word, but if you add a t at the end it changes completely! But these things come with learning a new language! But there are the times when you understand something and you just want to dance. The moment when your mind just goes hang on I know what that means, you can answer that! At the moment just understanding one small conversation in Swedish means that I have accomplished something in my day, that I can keep on going on in this endless sea of Swedishness!

 

There is something about living in a big city that is exciting and scary all at the same time. Stockholm is not the biggest city you can find but it sure amounts to more than Christchurch does. I have this thought in my mind that big cities have trains. Stockholm has trains. Underground trains too. Trains make a city feel bigger. Trains make you feel like you have been on a journey, even if it is only a 20 min train ride. I have always dreamed of living in a city that is full of people and life and general busyness. A big city. Being here feels right. I feel as though this big city is soft and welcoming with its history and different coloured buildings, with its many little alley ways to lose yourself in, it’s smell of the sea mixed with the smell of hotdogs from the many carts dotted around the city, and with its many bridges and it’s busy hum of all the people. There is so much to explore and get lost can mean finding yet another new and enchanting place in this city. Finding yourself sitting down on a concrete wall with your legs hanging down just above the water in the middle of a city is something this city aloe can offer. I am looking forward to seeing this city in the middle of winter. The picture in my head is of the buildings covered in snow with many lights on around giving the city a glow in it’s almost constant winter darkness. I image a fairy tale like setting and I am forever hoping that it will look much like this image I have painted in my mind.   

 Sometimes when I say I am from New Zealand I get a blank look until they click and realise they do know where that is and then go on to say “you’re so far from home!” others will know right away where it is and say “lord of the rings!, sheep! or Auckland!” Well at least they know it’s not part of Australia! But one thing I have realised quite quickly is that although New Zealand is known for many things it is a very small country. My English teacher was talking to me about his trip to New Zealand (Auckland) and he said that it was “lovely but if you blinked you missed everything.” He was very surprised to hear that Auckland was the biggest city in New Zealand! I have always know New Zealand is small, I mean we are always being left off maps, even the AFS one, but looking at it from an outsiders point of view makes me believe that it is not only Auckland city you miss if you blink, you could end up missing the whole thing! I love New Zealand though. It is so relaxed and so easy to just chill there!

 

Sweden so far has been full of surprises, so here is to more of them!

 Stockholm on a sunny day! Taken while sitting on a concrete wall after getting a bit lost with some other AFS seen down below in the other picture, which was taken on a bridge by a lovely passer by!