Easy on the Fika!
Today I learned a very important lesson – I should not have 4 cups of coffee a day; hence me writing a blog post at 2am.
Today started off with a great walk along the sea with Bea, Olivia, Mei-Mei, and of course Lucy (the dog). There is a concrete path that goes all along the ocean here and rain or shine it is always covered with Swedes going on their daily walks. Just outside my house is a giant fortress too, complete with a moat and everything! I will be sure to take some great pictures that first day it is not raining and post them on here.
After the walk we had a family breakfast and it was here I started to notice the first way that Sweden differs from America – they pour their yogurt from a cardboard box kind of like pouring milk. It still tastes good though! Once breakfast was finished Mats and Bea left to go workout and he kids and I played a fun board game. Then around 11 we took a break for some fika.
Fika is a very common thing in Sweden and it translates roughly to having coffee and a sweet basically. It was then I downed my second cup of coffee and had a delicious home made cinnamon roll. Although not like the ones in America that are covered in sugar, these are more savory and bun like.
Next came the futbol tournament. Now attempting to work a concession stand in a Language you do not know, selling completely foreign foods, and using a currency that I am not familiar with was basically sending me on a suicide mission. The line was full almost the whole time and people spoke so fast it seemed like absolute gibberish. At first I will admit it was not pretty, but after time and with Olivias help translating I managed to improve and get at least a few orders right, okay maybe just one but still I learned a lot. Swedish word of the day is Krov och Bröd which means hot dog.
At 4 it was off to grandmas house for some more fika. We had cake and more cinnamon roll things which were fabulous, but right now I am really regretting those 2 cups of coffee. Oh well, lesson learned. The whole family was very tired at this point so we headed home had some pizza and called it a night.
It is strange living in a brand new country with people you have only just meet I will admit that, moreover I am very happy I had the courage to do this. I understand that some days will be hard and adjusting to this new life will take some time, but I am up for the challenge and in the long run this will be a great adventure I will never forget.
Now I finally am feeling a little sleep and hopefully I can get a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow I am going to run some errands and have lunch at grandmas with the girls. Then on Wednesdays I have my first day of school.
Fingers crossed that both Varberg and Wisconsin have better weather tomorrow!
-Hannah
