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| About to go down the mountain! |
Although
we spent all day skiing, the day doesn’t last long up in the mountains. There are
about six hour’s max of daylight. It got dark at three, so although it was the
middle of the afternoon we could no longer ski. Because of this we spent a lot
of time playing board games and card games! When the games came out it was each
for their own. Or as my host brothers liked to yell out NO MERCY! And there was
no mercy for anyone. Monopoly is a killer in my family! It is all about getting
your three of one colour and then buys a hotel and makes everyone else
go bankrupt! It was a game not to be reckoned with. But so much fun! I got
taught a few new card games as well. One rule that was put in place during these
games was that if you swore in either English or Swedish you had to get down
and do five pushups! I have to say that everyone in the house did at least
five! We got very into our board games!
On the third
day we went a bear park! This was amazing! I saw so many animals that I had
never seen before, like polar bears and snow leopards. Walking around seeing
all of the animals was so amazing. I have only ever seen pictures of them and
to see these animals in real life, growling and jumping and playing with others
was so wonderful. I was looking at the snow leopards though a class window and
taking some pictures without fence when one of the snow leopards jumped up on
to the window! It was like he was trying to give me a hug! Well that is what I like
to think anyway, he might have been thinking something more on the lines of
`yum yum food for me! `
On the
last full day on the mountain I tried out cross country skiing. This was
something very different and something entirely new for me to try. I have never
done anything like it. You feel so silly doing it as well. When you are cross
country skiing you have to glide along the snow a bit like you are dancing. And you feel quite silly doing this! But once
you have got the hang of it feels fine and is quite a lot of fun! A lot of work
though. Talk about a whole body work out! I am really happy I have got to try
this. It is one of the things I now get to tick off my bucket list! Such an
amazing thing to get to do!
Where we were staying in the mountains
was a lovely cute house that belonged to a family friend who was with us also. The
house was so lovely and so very Swedish in every way it could be! On this also
had an outside pool heated by a long burning fire. Going in this pool was one
of the different experiences I have had since I have been here. It was -12° C
outside and I had to run from the house to the pool in my togs! Getting out was
by far the hardest part though! My body didn’t really know how to react to the
sudden cold and dropped in temperate very quickly. And once dry with warm
clothes on it still took a while to get warm. But it was all worth it for the experience
Sweden is also amazingly pretty. The scenery
around were I was skiing was just stunning and made me fall in love with Sweden
even more. And although it was bloody cold and still is bloody cold I have
fallen in love with the crisp, fresh feeling the air here has, especially in
the mountains. Taking a deep breath in the morning in the mountains was such a
lovely feeling, such a fresh feeling.
I go skiing with AFS in two weeks’ time
and I am really looking forward to skiing some more as I really enjoyed it. Also
I get to see another part of Sweden which is exciting as well!
Here in Sweden I also have another
family, as well as my host family, and they are my contact family. My contact
family are my friends’ family. I made this friend back in New Zealand when she
was on her exchange. On the first weekend after school went back I met up with
them all. This was the first time I had seen my friend since I left New Zealand
and it was great to catch up and see her. As well as catching up with her, they took me
out ice skating on a lake! This was again something I really wanted to try but I
was a bit nervous that I might fall in the lake. It became clear to me that I wouldn’t
fall in when I got there as the ice was very thick and there were a lot of
people skating on the ice! Skating was a lot of fun in itself. It is not like
skating I have ever done before back home on the ice skating rink. This was a
lot different. You had to make sure you take long glides on each foot and push
yourself forward with your legs. It took a wee while to get the hang of it and
it was an amazing thing to try! I am ticking off all the things on my bucket
list! I ended up skating for around 10kms I think and I have quite the sore
legs after!
Such an amazing view!
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