Well. Noww that January is close to done...and December has happened..and I have neglected to blog...I guessss I will go ahead with it. Since about 1700 people have told me to. I don't know whereee to begin.
Let's seeee. Winter is dark. Winter is cold. I don't love winter. Ok so December in Sweden. On the 13th is Lucia Day. Girls dress up in long white dress things with a red sash and a crown of candles. If you are a brave boy you also wear a long white thing and you hold a star and have a pointy hat of sorts. Traditionally the girls get up early in the morning and go around singing to everyone and giving out lussekatter (saffron buns). Each town or city gets to vote for the girl they want to be the main Lucia girl. I opted to not take part...surprise? But I went to my bother Lukas' school and watched their Luciatåg. All of the kids in the first couple grades take part. It was adorable. And my brother was of course the cutest little Santa.
Next...Christmas I guess? Welllll. Let's see here. I loveee all of my relatives in the states. Pretty much every Christmas I can remember is spent with my family and Newell relatives. Being away was not the greatest. I haven't really had trouble with homesickness. But Christmas...yeah. I missed my Bellingham Christmas. On the bright side I now know how special Christmas really is! Aside from missing Bham, it was still a good Christmas, just different! Soo Swedish Christmas traditions. First of all Christmas in Swedish is jul, and that is a lot easier to write. SO. Swedes celebrate jul on julafton (Christmas eve). We began our day with breakfast. Pretty sure I just ate cereal...cause that is the only thing I ever manage to eat for breakfast. But I don't remember. Then we went to the church service at ten. Came home and ate? And ate some more? Julgodis=candy. Tasty candy. Homemade! My mom's parents came to visit for a bit in the afternoon and we had fika. Of course. I think we had raspberry pie. And I knowww it was delicious. Then at threeee. The famous Kalle Anka! Donald Duck in english. Every year this same show plays on TV. It is a collection of clips from Disney movies. I am pretty sure I was struggling to not fall asleep, it was very good though! My favorite was Mickey Mouse in the camper RV thing. Thennn it was time for dinner. So Swedes eat ham on Christmas. It was tasty. Of course they have sill (herring). I don't eat that kind of ridiculous food though. Basically there are fifteen hundred different kinds of meat or fish. Can't forget about the special potatoes. A Halland specialty is grönkål, kale. I just google translated that for the first time...I didn't realize I was eating kale! It isn't that great though...but better than brussels sprouts! Hmmm I'm sure there is more...well Swedes have this drink called Julmust. It is carbonated. I don't really know how to explain it...other than that they have it during jul time and then again around Easter..but then it has a new name. Sweden doesn't have eggnog. So that is sad. Thennn finalllly in the evening it is presents time! The Collander method involves each person opening one present at a time in a very methodical manner. No ripped paper, because we of course use the same paper for years in a row! Calvin and I usually order them in size and so on. Anywaysss that is not the Brosved method! The Brosved method is more along the lines of Lukas and Lousie making everyone a pile of their gifts and then the ripping begins all at the same time. And all of a sudden the floor is covered in wrapping paper. So that was a bit different. Funny story though. Well...I thought it was funny. When I opened my package from my Bham parents...I recognized one of the wrapping papers from a former Davis gift, the other was one we have literally had since we lived at Grandma and Grandpa's house..and the other was a former Newell gift. So that was entertaining, and very typical Collander. Plus I got gummy vitamins from my mom, of coursee:) No sunshine or fruits or veggies in this country. Just kidding. Not about the sun though..
Alrightt so after jul I headed up to Kungälv for a few days. First to Marstrand Erica and the cousins though! Such a beautiful, Swedish place. Love it. Even if I froze. That's just typical. But yes, it was nice to see family again! I got new knitted socks, so that of course was wonderful! Plus I completed farrr too many sudokus in just two days.
Ok so moving on from jul. Nyårs! New years! Well during the day I went to Göteborg with my friend Josefine. In the evening I went home and had dinner with the family. Hung out for the evening. And went in to town to watch the fireworks. Yeahhh so no super exciting stories there.
After thattt I roadtripped with the family to Västerås. You guys can feel free to test your google maps skills and figure out where that is. I slept in the car. We ate at IKEA cause it is cheeeap. And yupp! It was fun, stayed with some family friends who have three kids from South Afrika. Wow cool...I just spelled Africa with a K...that is the Swedish way to spell it. Ahh. The confusion that C and K are creating now that I am learning the Swedish spellings of everything. Anyways it was fun! Really nice family. I didn't do much. Just sat and listened, talked some. I was the not young kid..but not adult either person. It was cold there. I do not enjoy the being in the cold, or being cold. Surprise surprise.
My inspiration seeems seemingly lacking today. But I reallllly can't put this off any longer. Cause I happen to be quite talented at putting things off! So that hasn't really changed I guess. But I am a better person! I eat fruit. Willingly! I eat whole apples! Today I had a clementine and a banana. And an egg. Yogurt is delicious here. Chocolate. Is chocolate. SO. It is of course delicious. I just like food! Welllll that was a lie, wasn't it. I like certain foods would be more accurate.
Today I was down in Lund for an AFS meeting. Our half your year is basically over meeting. So in other words I spent most of the day on a train. Okkk not most of it. But a lot of it. Not much else to say. Though it was fun to see some of the others again. It snowed yesterday, and more today. Bellllingham and Sweden switched weather since I came here. As you all know there were four snow days and a whoooole lot of snow in Bham. Soo when I woke up Friday and there was an inch or two of snow I was in that "yesssssss snow day, back to sleep" mindset. Nooope. I wish. Swedes are completely baffled by the idea of any amount of snow causing school to be cancelled. It is amusing to see their reactions.
I've made a conclusion about my bed. My bed here is more comfy. BUT my my bed at home has better pillows and it is a bunk bed. So my new conclusion is simply that I enjoy beds. And my bed is what I should be in right now! I am reading Matilda in Swedish currently. And I am going to read Eragon too I think. If anyone was for some reason or another wondering about beds or books...I can't think of anything else to say. I was going to try to explain my most common, or at least most amusing Swedish language mistake. But it is too hard to describe in English. För ni som kan svenska, ni kan skratta åt mig. För att jag "går" överallt...jag "åker" aldrig. Vet inte om ni förstår vad jag menar...men min mamma och pappa gör det iallafall:) And for those of you who just google translated that...I know it makes absolutely no sense...I don't even know if it makes sense in Swedish. Oh well. Spelling and grammar have still not decided to be my best friend. In either language for that matter...mooostly Swedish though. You know what is really nice about Swedish though...in Swedish you capitalize soo much less, and apostrophes don't really exist? I don't think? Who knows...it is almost one thirty in the morning. SO I have a good excuse.
I will put up pictures. Some day. Now it is time for bed. I hope this satisfied all you who have been waiting. If I have left anything out that you happen to be very curious about....you can tell me! I would love to answer any questions if I can! Now I am going to go hibernate. Godnatt till er alla!
