The final hurrah

Well, I had intended on doing a few more posts but after I got back from my vacation the time really slipped away on me!

Some highlights from my last month in Sweden:

Attending a Swedish wedding
Getting burnt like a lobster from several days in a row on the beach
Finishing all of the Millenium series books (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy)
Getting spoiled during my last week

Overall, my AgriVenture experience was a great one! I was able to learn a ton about farming while also exploring another country. I met some amazing people as well, which I think also greatly impacted my experience.

I miss my children (Stina, Karl and Hilda) and cannot believe that the next time I go back that little baby may be partly grown up and will not remember me... So sad :(.

And I miss those darn sheep! I had no idea I would come home and miss them so much. I am dying to be a sheep farmer now and am forcing myself not to buy any sheep until I am out of university (for simplicity's sake). Seriously if there is a type of farming you are interested in but don't know much about, this is a great way to change that!

Now, I did have a bit of reverse culture shock (other than the horrendous jet-lag). It was the most amazing thing to be able to eavesdrop, and to be able to understand the radio and public signs! Even sometimes still I almost slip a "tack" instead of a "thank you". 

People always ask me if I will go back, and I say with confidence: yes. Gotland was the most beautiful island, and when I go back I want to be able to share my summer with someone else in real life so they can experience the beauty as well. So, if you are curious about all the fuss, contact me and we can plan a trip there in 5 or 10 years! ;) And of course I would like to go back so that I can visit all of the friends I made there! I look forward to the day I can have a full conversation with the kids I stayed with.

A sentimental little ending to the final post: It's never goodbye, it's simply I will see you again. TACK!

Kalmar part 2

Day 10

This day was another fabulous one! I got PEANUT BUTTER for breakfast for the first time in months, because Åke bought me some just because he knew I liked it! Nicest man ever? I think so! (Okay maybe I'm a bit too easy to please, but I went through all of public school with peanut butter sandwiches every. day. on my lunch!)

Our journey took us driving all over Småland (the name for the lanscape in south western Sweden). We got to listen to a fabulous tape in the car about the story of Beethoven. He was a crazy deaf man, but man did he make great music! It was amazing to drive the country roads listening to his music!

We drove out to the Pukeberg Glass Factory and got to see some glass blowers at work! One made a cat. It was so cool, one minute it was a lump and he just pinched it in a few places and Voila it was a cat! Next we went on to Målerås glass and crystal factory. This one used molds and created all sorts of art by etching pictures into the crystal! After that was Orrefors. They had just closed down the factory a few months ago but they still had a huge store! I had NO idea that each different wine deserved a special glass! it was quite the learning experience!

After a nice homemade supper of pasta, we turned on the TV to find Rascall Flatts performing at Liseberg in Gothenburg! We also looked through the Sandbergs' guest book dating back to 1987! It was amazing reading stories from all the people that had visited them. Swedish and English were not the only languages in it either! 

Day 11

For breakfast we tried fried kropkakor; they were just as delicious as the previous ones! We relaxed for most of the morning; Åke showed us some maps and books of Sweden.

In the afternoon the four of us took out the bikes and went for a stunning ride through the countryside. We stopped in the forest to pick wild blueberries! Åke showed us the place of the scout camp he took his group to for many decades. Then we toured the biggest dairy farm in the area! The Aggie in me practically screamed in delight! They had FOUR robots! And I'm not quite sure but they either had 500 or milked 500. There were plenty of calves to play with, that was my favourite! Swedish Red are the darned cutest calves (and maybe cows) ever! WE biked back after that.

We attended a birthday party for a family friend that night. Swedish people have birthday parties for themselves every year, I love it! They had the most delicious food there, including a chicken dish with a blue cheese sauce and grapes! For dessert was grädde torta (cream cake). It was a white cake layered with jam, pudding, and whipped cream and strawberries on top!

Day 12

Sadly we had to say goodbye to the Sandbergs this day. I had an amazing and memorable time with them! Before we left they gave both Kirsti and I antique keys with a Swedish ribbon attached. We are now a part of the "Key Club" that the Sandbergs started 35 years ago! They have given away hundreds of keys now! The idea behind it is that you should carry it wherever you go to help open doors in life, and as a good luck charm!!

Next I showed Kirsti Gotland for a few days, stay tuned!

Kalmar!!

Sorry about the delay here folks.. I was, uh, creating anticipation!! Because this was definitely the best few days of my vacation.

Day 7 (continued)

We met our hosts, Ulla and  Åke Sandberg at the train station in Kalmar. (Ulla and Åke are.. Kirsti's mom's cousin's husband's parents. OK, simple right?) They drove us for a tour around Kalmar and the surrounding area. Then we drove out into a forest to meet their relatives for a picnic! Sweden has a law that basically says "all nature shall be free". AKA you are allowed to go on anyone's property, provided you stay away from the homestead and don't disrupt the nature. You are even allowed to camp for free for one night! So we went into this random forest and had a delicious supper, followed by a scavenger hunt!

After all the fun and games were over, we headed to Trekanten (Three Corners directly translated), where the couple lives. As soon as I walked into their house I was in love! Everything was stylish but antique at the same time. Åke does a lot of collecting; he even had an old record player in the garden house and we danced to some 1920's jazz! Among other things he collects coins, he has a collection over 130 countries large! 

During fika (coffee break) I discovered fläder saft! Fläder is Swedish for elderberry. They take the flowers of it and turn it into a sweet drink! They actually don't really use the berries here. 

Day 8

This day started with the most fabulous breakfast outside on the porch! (Little did I know that every meal from then on would be outside!) Then we headed into Kalmar. There was Loppis (Like a garage sale but usually isn't in a garage) throughout the town so it was very busy! We took a tour of Kalmar Castle. They had many interesting exhibits, including some history as well as several dresses that different princesses and queens had worn!

We walked into the city and had ice cream twice in one afternoon, instead of lunch! I don't know if I've ranted about ice cream yet, but let me tell you, Swedish ice cream is seriously awesome. it always comes in a waffle cone (one of the ones this day was homemade, YUM) and they have so many cool flavours! My favourite that day was blueberry!

We checked out the cathedral. It was inspired by the churches in Rome, so it had a very different look to the others I have seen in Sweden.

At 4 we took a ferry to Öland, an island off the east coast. We went to a restaurant and ordered Panbiff (a sort of meatloaf-hamburger combination with gravy) and some potatoes that were boiled then fried whole! They were really good, crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside! After supper we headed back to the Sandberg's, where we ended the night with some fika, complete with sparkling wine! 

Day 9

The beginning of my journal entry for this day was "Today was one of the best unexpected days in my whole life I think." I will explain why!

After a lovely breakfast on the porch, we took the scenic route to Öland. On the way we checked out a church from the 1100's, that had an alter piece than was stolen from Poland in the 1600's as a war trophy!!

We crossed the long bridge to Öland and took the eastern roads up north. (Öland is a very long, very skinny island- 16 km across but 136 km long!) We then headed west and stopped in Borgholm and got some ice cream and walked along the harbour. We took a nice trail in the woods up to an old cafe, which was famous for it's blue cabinet! It seriously just looks like a cabinet, but there's 2 bathrooms in it!! Weirdest thing. We took another trail and walked up to some old castle ruins. On the walk we saw some sky divers! We then took the car to the other side of the harbour and had a picnic of fika. 

We started driving again and went to a national park area; it was so beautiful there! On the way back we saw a camel farm! Before we came to it, Åke tried to explain what it was that we would be seeing. He was saying camel (with a bit of an accent) but we could not for the life of us figure out what he meant. We thought we had known all the different types of farming! Once we saw the camel's it was an "oh, DUH" moment! They were camels with two humps, and some of the humps were a bit lopsided, which made them look really funny! Before heading home we stopped at a butik for some Kropkakor (direct translation is body cakes!) to bring home for supper.

Now, kropkakor is a famous dish all over Sweden (and there's a reason, it's freakin delish!), but Öland's are unique because they use raw potatoes instead of cooked, so they have a different texture. Okay, to explain what body cakes actually are: they are about the size of a tennis ball, with cured pork on the inside wrapped around potato on the outside. They are usually served with cream and lingon sylt (Lingonberry jam). About 2 or 3 can fill you up, and it's great because it's a whole meal in one little ball!

After supper we pulled out some old bikes (literally: Kirsti's bike was from the 1920's!) and had a great ride through some nature! After the bike ride we skyped Michael, their son that lives in Canada (who is Kirsti's mom's cousin's husband).

This is just the beginning (well and the middle too I guess) of a great stay with some amazing people! Stay tuned :)

Malmo!

The next few days of my trip were spent in Malmo and the surrounding areas!

Day 4:

Kirsti and I left Gothenburg early in the morning and took a train to Varberg. It is a beautiful beach town. We walked around the town and down to the harbour and found an ice cream place. I had salted caramel ice cream, it was really good! There was a lovely walking trail next to the coast. We passed four nudist beaches! (Don’t worry we didn’t see anything we didn’t want to!) We made our way up to an old fort and had lunch at the cafe there. Despite being July 2^nd, it was so cold that I wanted my mittens! After lunch we continued along the trail and came to a big beach where people were surfing! That was cool to watch. We stuck our feet in the water but it was way too cold to go swimming.

After our nice tour of Varberg we took the train to Malmo. Once in Malmo we found our hostel and got settled in. Over the few days there I really took a liking to hostels. They are so cheap (200kr or about $30 a night) and we got free wifi, cheap (all you can eat) breakfast, and there were even free laundry facilities. The only thing that I didn’t really like was that there were only 3 toilets in the whole building; I think that was a bit too few for the 50+ people staying there. I was really surprised to see people of all ages there; I thought hostels were mostly for poor students (like me)! But there were several families and even an old man with a walker staying there! I landed in a room with 7 other girls, but luckily none of them snored, and most went to bed at a decent time.

Day 5

We took a bus to Centralen (the Central Station) and spent the rest of the morning exploring the streets! We found a cheap (slightly tacky) souvenir store and we both got some things for friends and family back home! We went to an awesome thai restaurant for lunch and then we headed on to a chocolate factory!!

Malmo Chokladfabrik is the only bean-to-bar chocolate operation in Sweden. They had a museum about the history of the factory and the story of the cocoa bean. With entry to the museum we got free samples, a guided (Swedish) tour and 20% off in the store later! It was really interesting to learn how chocolate is made. The current owners searched all over the world for the best cocoa beans! After they are picked they have to be fermented and dried, then shipped. At the factory they are ground up into “nibs” and 1 of 3 things happens: 1. Sugar is added and voila, dark chocolate! 2. Sugar and milk powder are added and tada, milk chocolate! 3. The cocoa butter is squeezed out, leaving the powder and butter separate. The butter is then taken and added to sugar and yum, white chocolate! This particular store also made a lot of pralines, which just involved putting the chocolate into molds and adding filling.The samples we got to try were excellent! We also bought some fika (coffee break/snack) in the store after and got to try some pralines as well as chocolates made from different types of cocoa beans. And OF COURSE we had to buy some chocolate to take home with us!

We also visited a castle built in the 1930s and the famous Turning Torso. What a weird apartment building! For supper we went to a pizza place and I tried pizza with French fries and meat on it, and taco pizza! Both were really good!

Day 6

What a busy day! We travelled to Lund in the morning and had coffee with Hanna, a university friend of both Kirsti and I’s host moms! She took us through the botanical gardens and some of the town. We looked around a bit more and had some lunch then hopped on a train to Helsinborg! Here we got on a 20 minute ferry that took us to Helsinor, in Denmark! Here we looked at a castle that is famous because Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is about a prince that lived there! We also got some Danish supper, smorrebrod! It’s little open faced sandwiched with different toppings on special bread. Then we ran back over to Sweden on the ferry, and ran again to catch a train back to our hostel in Malmo!

Day 7

We spent the morning trying to find the beach but it didn’t work, so we stopped and had lunch at a cafe then took the bus to the train station and headed for Kalmar!! Stay tuned...

My vacation: part one!

As a part of AgriVenture, for every two months I’m here I get one week of unpaid holidays. So right now I am using up my 2 weeks of holidays!

DAY 1

I started on Saturday morning by taking a flight from Visby to Gothenburg. Then I met another Canadian trainee named Whitney and we spent the day together. We spent a lot of time exploring the city and grabbing fika! Gothenburg is a much younger town that most of the rest of Sweden. The oldest building was built in 1648! We went to a couple of cute cafes in the area. I had a chocolate muffin! So healthy right!?

We met another Canadian trainee, Kirsti, and organized a bit of what we would be doing for the next few days. We got to sleep in a relative of her host family’s apartment while in Gothenburg which was super handy!

DAY 2

Sunday was spent walking (I walked 18 km)! We visited a really nice church and took a walk by the city harbour. There was a huge sail boat that they had turned into a hotel! We took a nice walk through the Botanical Gardens and had lunch there. We walked through another park and got some ice cream! There was a performance going on but we got there as soon as it was over.

We walked to Liseberg, the famous amusement park in Gothenburg. But it was close to closing time and cost 90 kr just to walk in and look around, so we decided to walk back. We found a great little (expensive) seafood place. There was a pond right in the middle of the restaurant with fish in it! We even got to drive a boat with shrimp on it to our table to eat. We ate prawn, crab, muscles, shrimp and salmon! It was very delicious. But it was a well deserved meal; some of it was so hard to crack open and get into before I could eat it!

DAY 3

I was very happy to be spending Canada Day with two fellow Canadians, but I was still disappointed to not spend it in Canada.

I tried marmalade and cheese on toast, total yum! And totally Swedish. I apologize in advance for grossing you out with my “weird” food habits I will be taking back with me...

We met Kirsti’s host dad’s sister (host aunt?) for fika and a walk in the park. Then we took the Tram (street car) to the harbour. From there we took a ferry to Branno, an archipelago on the west coast of Sweden. There are many other islands just like this one. There are no cars allowed on the islands, so everyone has a bike and/or moped with a platform for storage in the front. There were only a few restaurants, one grocery store and the tiniest hardware store. Since you can’t buy anything else on the island, we saw loads of people bringing over things on the ferry, from windows to fridges! There was an awesome lookout point that we visited. We were able to get a great view of Branno and the surrounding islands!

We went to an American type buffet for supper and had some greasy food! (Kind of Canadian?) And on our way home we got some donuts for dessert. This was the only Canadian way we could think of celebrating Canada Day abroad...

Overall the first three days of my trip were great! Next we headed on to Malmo... Stay tuned!

Visby on a sunny Thursday

I have been travelling a lot in the last couple weeks with little time to sit down and write, so this post will be from events that occurred last Thursday.

After feeding the lambs in the morning I headed out with Annika, Stina and Lina to Visby. We went to the Gotland Museum and spent the morning and some of the afternoon there. This museum displays all of Gotland’s history for as far back as they can find anything!

There is a lot of Viking history on this island. It was really interesting to see how they lived and where they traveled! I even found out there were a few girl Vikings on Gotland!

On a farm on Gotland they also found treasures from two silver raids. In total, 80 Kilograms of silver (what it weighed at the time of burial) were recovered!! 

One of the most interesting things I found was a 9000 year old skeleton! That is not a typo! My brain almost fell out of my head. I couldn’t believe it! In Canada something that is a couple hundred years old is considered ancient. I can’t even begin to fathom what life could have been like 9000 years ago! And it was even in pretty good condition considering it is so old! 

There was also a lot of information on how Gotland came to be a Christian island. Before Christianity they were Pagan. Then a few people who had travelled to Christian countries or traded with Christians thought that they should start to implement the religion on the island. The first church that was built was burned down by the community. So the guy just built another one! The community was about to burn it down again but then the man sat on top of it and said “If you burn the church you will have to burn me too” Luckily before anything rash happened the man’s father-in-law, who was a well regarded man, stepped in and told the people to let the church stay. Soon after, more churches were built, and slowly everyone converted to Christianity. Eventually it was even illegal to be Pagan! Now there are 81 churches on Gotland.

Oh did I mention I got into the museum for free because I am under 20!? Europe is great for student discounts! Clearly they think we are great ;). For lunch we had lasagna (which I am starting to really enjoy ketchup on, so don’t look at me too funny if I come back to Canada and do that..). Then we went to several nice shops in Visby.

Before we left for the day, we stopped at an ice cream shop that had 180 different flavours! Oh my, it is a good thing I didn't understand most of them or else I would have been in real trouble! Anyone who knows me well knows that my decision making skills need a lot of practice...

On the way home we stopped and got some Swedish strawberries :) Yum!

Midsummer!

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while.. There just hasn't seemed to be a whole lot to talk about. I have visited a few more places around here, such as some churches and stores. And of  course I have been working plenty!!

Yesterday I got to experience Midsummer celebrations! This is the most important holiday in Sweden, except for maybe Christmas. I wasn't really sure what it was, but Karin showed me this great video a few days before hand to prepare me. And it was actually pretty well spot on! (I was glad she had prepped me, otherwise I might have thought OMG WHAT!? At some of the things we did...)

After a bit of work in the morning, we went to farmor and farfar's (grandma and grandpa) house for lunch. I tried pickled herring for the first time, as well as a potato dish with herring in it. And some new potatoes, yum! There was also bread and meatballs and mini sausages. To finish it off we had Swedish strawberries and ice cream for dessert! 

We came home and got the hay wagon decorated and guests started showing up. Then we got to drive into Hamra in style on the wagon! In Hamra the whole community gathered to put up the Maypole. A small band came in and we sang songs and danced around the Maypole (yes I did dance like a frog)! After catching up with all of the neighbours we went back home.

We were served a delicious two course supper, the first course a repeat of lunch, and the second course some awesome barbecued meat and more new potatoes (seriously my new favourite vegetable..) and salad! We sang songs and raised our glasses for Skål (cheers) and spent the rest of the night chatting with good company. Some of the friends stayed over in trailers that they brought. (The legal limit for driving is only 0.02, so basically nothing.. and what fun is it to stay sober for the biggest party of the year!?)

Today we went out to lunch at the local place by the sea with some of the friends that had stayed over. I had the best smoked salmon ever, and some (guess what, awesome) new potatoes!

Overall, my first Midsummer experience has been great. I hope to celebrate it again, whether in Canada, or back here in Sweden!

A normal day

Yesterday seemed normal enough, so at Maggie's request I'll talk about it!

I started the day at 7:30 getting up and having some breakfast with the family. Then I went out to the sheds to feed the lambs. There are 2 pens in the new shed that I feed hay to and give water to. In the big shed there are 2 big pens, a smaller pen of "escaping lambs", a small pen of bottle fed lambs and another pen with a few ewes. I give everyone in there hay as well, and sometimes feed the bottle lambs if Karin is busy.

After that I went on to painting their picket fence white! It was a warm day but luckily I was partially in the shade for most of the painting that day. We stopped for a lunch break, then I got back at it!

In the early afternoon we went to Hamra to check out a community garage sale-out of peoples' trunks in a parking lot! What a great idea! I bought a bracelet and Karin bought some housewares and children's books.

Then I got back at the painting! (Usually my day isn't consumed by a single activity-for example today I did some gardening and cleaned the windows. They have this awesome vacuum thing so that there are no streaks, it was great!)

At about 4 I went out and fed hay to all of the lambs again. 

It was Sweden's National Day yesterday and all we did to celebrate was put up the flag and the cake that Emma baked had blue and yellow icing on it! I must admit I enjoy Canada Day a bit more ;). 

Annika and Bo (Markus's parents) had just built a special area to play Boule (I'd never heard of it before-- there's a small ball and you have to try to throw your big ball and get closest to the small one! We were in teams of three). So they had a party to celebrate! Our family and Markus's sister's family and some neighbours were there. We played the game for a while then went and had a dinner of pork and potatoes and quiche and salad! For dessert we had Emma's cake.

We came home around 8:30 (some of the others stayed to play the game some more). I read and got caught up with some friends via facebook, and went to bed around 10!

Other activities I have done this week: visited a neighbour and had a great chat over some tea, and made and cooked about 5 pounds worth of meatballs!

On the agenda for next week: planting the vegetables in their greenhouse garden, painting their newly renovated mudroom!

A weekend in Stockholm!

This weekend I was given the privilege of staying in Stockholm with one of Karin's cousins!

The weekend started early Friday morning when we left at 5:30 am for the ferry to the mainland. After a 1 hour drive we were on the ferry, which took another 3.5 hours. We arrived in Stockholm at about 11. We spent part of the day at Karin's other cousin, Erica's house in the suburbs of Stockholm. She fed us a most delicious quiche and we had some tea and snacks there as well. Therese, who I stayed with, met us there. Karin and Stina headed of on an adventure to bring home a new dog, so Therese, her assistant and I got a Taxi and spent the afternoon exploring the old town!

The old town of Stockholm is not unlike any other old European city centre. Cobblestone roads, cute little stores lining the sidewalks, with apartments up above, and hardly any cars! It was a beautiful day to just walk around and enjoy life. I got to see the Swedish Royal Palace, one of the largest palaces still operating. I even got a picture with one of the guards!

On Friday night we ordered in pizza and watched the Let's Dance (Swedish version of Dancing with the Stars) finale!

Saturday morning we headed into the city. The Stockholm Marathon was taking place in the city, so shortly after we got there we were stuck there for quite a few hours because all of the streets downtown were closed to traffic!

We visited the Vasa Museum. It's a museum based on one thing: the Vasa ship that sank in 1628. They rescued the ship in 1961 and after decades of research put it on display in his museum! It was amazing to see how much they found out about the ship. They even recreated some of the faces of the dead and gave them stories based on what they found in their research of the body. They spent twelve years researching the colours on the ship, wow!

Here is a picture of Therese and I in front of the model ship they built to represent the colours and design of the ship.

As we entered the gift shop, Therese noticed she had a flat tire on her wheelchair... She decided to wait with her assistant and take a taxi to find a place to help her. I went on to the Nordiska museum by myself. I found out later they weren't able to get anywhere because of the marathon, but I will talk more about that later!!

The Nordiska museum was totally beautiful inside and out!

It was a museum about the Swedish lifestyle, back as far as the 1600s. I learned that Sweden has it's own indigenous people, called the Sami. They even had a whole exhibit on hair, and one on doll houses as well! One of the strangest things was that they used to serve their meat in a swan...

I met back up with Therese after I had finished touring the museum. She had had her own stroke of bad luck.. Because of the marathon the taxi couldn't come pick her up until 4:30! So she sat at a restaurant with her assistant, because she really couldn't do anything else. It was also raining, just to make matters worse! Finally the taxi came and we headed home. The stores were closed by the time we got picked up, so Therese couldn't get her wheelchair fixed.  We enjoyed some AFV and Off Their Rockers, OMG why have I not seen that show before?! Seriously a great show.

Sunday morning I headed off with one of her assistants, Emma and spent the day with her. Therese wasn't able to come because of the flat tire. Emma and I went shopping at Kista, (Say Sheesta) and I was able to discover some of the awesome Swedish fashion! Apart from the obvious H&M, they had some other great stores such as New Yorker (which Ironically is a store only located in Europe), BikBok, and lots of others. After our little shopping venture, we took a sightseeing bus tour of Stockholm! We had quite a trouble finding the bus stop, and ended up chasing the bus for a couple blocks until it came to the next stop. But the ride itself was very lovely! We sat on top of the double decker bus (it was a lovely day) and saw a great view of the city. Stockholm is built on a series of islands, each with it's own "personality". We got to visit all of them and learn what was unique about each one! I also learned some interesting facts about Sweden, such as the income tax here starts at 30% and goes up to 57%. Ouch. They also touched on religion in Sweden. The country became protestant in the 1500s when the king and Pope couldn't agree on the bishop, so the king just had enough and switched! 70% of Swedes are members of the Church of Sweden, yet only 2% attend service!

After the bus tour I headed back to the ferry by train. After a long ferry ride and another bus back home, I arrived home at 1:30 am! It was a great adventure but I am happy to be back on the quiet island (and to get some sleep of course)!

It's funny how much better you are able to experience a place when you are able to see it with a local. Therese also mentioned the opposite, it's great to experience things about your home town that you haven't done before! So many of us need to get away when we vacation, yet few have been tourists in their own city. Therese made my stay absolutely wonderful. She was so eager and proud to show me around what she called home, and it made the trip a lot more sentimental for me. She had such a great spirit even though everything seemed to be going wrong for us! (We had many other problems but I don't want to sound like I didn't have a good time, so I will leave it at the story of the flat tire.) She has inspired me to live a little louder, and to be confident in what I want in life. Thanks Therese!

Overall, Stockholm was really great! I'm feeling more Swedish already :) At Maggie's request, sometime this week I hope to post about my "typical" day of work here. Hopefully it won't be too boring ;)

Swedish facts!

Earlier this week Maggie provided me with this great link: http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/comedy-1/swedishness-a-hilarious-mockumentary-on-swedish-culture.html  (Thanks George!)

It really is a great video that has a lot of truth to it. Farther down the page he provided a great link to a tonne of facts about Sweden! I thought I would share the facts with you and comment on a few of them. (Facts in blue, my comments in black!)

Sweden is the 3rd largest EU country in land area, after France and Spain.

Sweden is one of the homelands of the Germanic ethnicity and culture. The Goths, the Suevirs and the Norses (Vikings) all trace their origin back to Sweden (as well as Norway and Denmark for the latter).

In the 9th and 10th centuries, Swedish Vikings invaded and settled in parts of Eastern Europe as far as Constantinople and the Caspian Sea. They founded the first kingdom of Russia. All the Tsars of Russia until the last one, Nicholas II, were of Swedish Viking descent.

As of 2006, Sweden had won 588 (winter and summer) Olympic medals, a feat only excelled by 6 much more populous countries (the USA, the USSR, Italy, France, Germany and the UK). Guess Canada has quite a ways to go to get on this list!

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Sweden was ranked third in the world for the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (HDI) defined by the United Nations Development Programme 

In 2006 Swedish people had the longest life expectancy in Europe (80.51 years). As of 2010 they were fifth (80.88 years), overtaken by Switzerland, Italy, Iceland and France. I must say eating lots of fruits and veggies is not the cause... Maybe it's a sign that carbs help you live longer! That would be fantastic!

Swedish people have the lowest income inequality in the world, with a Gini index of 23 in 2005. Having taken a class on Food Poverty and Hunger this year, I know that this is truly fantastic! Income inequality is a huge part of how poverty and hunger start.

Sweden has the smallest gender employment-rate gap in the developed world, with only 4% more men in employment than women. No stay-at-home moms here!

Swedish women have their first child in average at 30 years old, the oldest in Europe along with Ireland and the Netherlands. I've been told before to have all my kids BEFORE I am thirty! Although, with the previous fact, it is clear women here love to work, and I think it is a good idea to save up before having children (Lord knows they cost you a tonne!)

Sweden has the highest percentage of working mothers in the developed world, no less than 76% of them. I am curious to know when this trend started, and what the levels are of other countries!

The Swedes spend the longest time in tertiary education with an average student age of 25.5 years old.

40% of Swedish women and 32% of Swedish men aged 25 to 64 participate in education or training. Compare it to the EU average is 10% for women and 9% for men. I think this is awesome! I love it when people are keen to learn new things, and aren't stuck thinking their way is the only way.

A 2007 UNICEF report on child well-being in rich countries ranked Sweden as the best country on 3 out of 6 dimensions (children's material well-being, health & safety, and behaviours & risks), and second best country overall after the Netherlands. I guess this is a great place to raise your kids!

As of 2006, Sweden was the most generous country in the world regarding aid to poor countries. It is the only nation where donations exceed 1% of the GDP. I wonder how much better off the world would be if every country gave that much?

The Swedish maternity and paternity leave is one of the longest and most generous in the world, allowing the the father and mother to take a shared total of 480 days (16 months) off at 77.6% of their salary. Maybe this is why the mothers return to work? 

As of late 2012, Sweden had obtained 30 Nobel prizes, including 5 Peace prizes. This is the 5th highest number of laureates in the world, and the highest per capita ratio for any country with over 1 million inhabitants. Of course Nobel Prizes are awarded by Sweden (except the Peace Prize, awarded by Norway).

Sweden has the highest number of McDonald restaurants per capita in Europe (although that is only about half of the US ratio). I've only seen one on the island so far...

With 47% of female parliamentarians (in 2006), Sweden has the highest proportion of women lawmakers in the world. WOW! You go girls!!

In 1862, Sweden became the first country to grant suffrage for (married) women, although only for local elections. Yay for women's rights! This was before Canada was even a country!

Sweden is set to become the first country in the world to phase out petrol for biofuel. According to Alex we have 25 years until the earth runs out of oil, so I'd say Sweden is pretty lucky!

Sweden ranks second in Europe (after Finland) in terms of technological achievement. There they are, using their smarts again!

Founded in Stockholm in 1995, the Metro newspapers has quickly become the world's leading free newspaper intended for commuters.As of late 2009, there were 56 daily editions in 19 countries in 15 languages across Europe, North and South America and Asia. I think I've seen these in Toronto! Cool!

Sweden has, along with Denmark and Hungary, the highest standard Value Added Tax rate in the world (25%). Okay this is one downfall of living here. At least the prices are taxes-included, so what you see is what you pay!

Total taxation in Sweden amount to 54.2 % of GDP, the highest level worldwide. One word: Ouch.

Sweden has an excellent reputation as a car maker with Volvo and Saab. Scania trucks are also Swedish. 

The world-famous discount furniture chain IKEA was founded in Sweden in 1943. Yay for cheap furniture! And a great store to play in ;)

The Swedish company Electrolux holds 28% share of the household appliances market in the world. It owns over 40 brands, including AEG-Electrolux, Zanussi, Eureka and Frigidaire. Another random thing that no one knew was Swedish...

The Stockholm Globe Arena is the world's largest hemispherical building, with a diameter of 110 meters, an inner height of 85 meters, and a total volume of 600,000 m³. It is also the world's largest scale model of the Solar System. Cool!

Sorry there were so many facts... I just couldn't seem to narrow it down; they were all so interesting!

I promise the next post will be awesome and adventure filled, because I am leaving early tomorrow to go to Stockholm for the weekend!

A blustery day in Hemse

Karl (now 5) had several friends over for a birthday party today. We got to eat this beautiful ice cream salad: 

This is ice cream layered with bananas, meringue, chocolate sauce and topped with chocolate wafer cookies! Very delish, and the kids loved it!

After some birthday shenanigans I went and toured the town of Hemse. It is the second largest city on the island, with a population of a phenomenal 1,700. Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot to do there, but it did keep me occupied for an afternoon!

After getting off the bus, I took a tour of the church. Not too extravagant in terms of size, but it was beautifully decorated with paintings!

 This is just a small example, the walls were covered in this! Back in the medieval period, the bible verses were in Latin, and many people couldn't read Latin so what did they do? Drew pictures for them! This is a part of the story of the birth of baby Jesus. Many of the churches have these paintings on the wall, but some are more intricate than others. This cemetery was also quite lovely; almost every single plot had flowers on it!

I then took a tour of all of the shops. There was an interesting Red Cross second hand store that I enjoyed. There were also several gift shops and a few cafes and restaurants. One thing I have noticed is that Gotland does tourist shops very tastefully. I remember being in Paris, France and just walking by store upon store of sweatshirts and shot glasses. Gotland has none of that; their souvenir stores feel just like gift shops (which I suppose in a way they are).

I headed to the ICA (one of the most popular grocery store chains) for some lunch. I had a garlic baguette, potato salad and some candy! I love their candy here, just a huge bulk section with chocolate as well, and everything is the same price so you can just dump it all into one bag! They have chocolates just like Rolos that I quite fancy. I was surprised when I collected my receipt that my pear saft had cost the most out of all my items! While one does need to keep hydrated, it often seems to come at an expense around here.

After taking the bus back to Burgsvik, I had a nice bike ride back to Norrgårde. It is an awesome feeling to only hear the rustling of the wind in the trees, the whirring of your bike on the pavement and the occasional bird. I love nature! I am definitely not one for big cities, and although there isn't a whole lot to do on this island, I definitely prefer it over a largely populated area! I was able to take some lovely pictures on the way as well! 

The cows here are SO photogenic, it's really great! That old windmill is right by the sea, although I was unsuccessful in getting a shot with both sea and windmill together.

Tonight we ordered in pizza. It's very different from Canadian pizza! The crust is very thin and they don't overdo it on the cheese, so the pizza is "skinny" enough that each person orders their own (medium sized) pizza! Now we are relaxing and watching some America's Funniest Home Videos! :) Tomorrow I am off to church to see Stina (and grandma Annika!) sing in the choir!

The foodie in me took over this post...

This week has FLOWN by for me! Anyone else feel the same? (I hope so, considering most of you got a short week and I didn't!) Yesterday and today were regular work days for me. Yesterday I was able to meet some neighbours that are just a few years older than me. Hopefully they will be able to help me explore the island more!

Since it's almost time for supper I guess tonight will be the post about FOOD... 

The Swedes LOVE their bread, and their milk products. I had bread four times already today and haven't eaten supper yet! On a good note, they have way cooler bread than us. A lot more variety, and tons of types of buns and other types apart from the regular loaf! Something Stina (7) loves to put on her bread is liver paste.. I have yet to try it but a lot of the locals enjoy it. They also have caviar in a tube in MANY different flavours. Once again, those that have grown up with it really enjoy it! I didn't take too much of  a liking to it.

Of course Sweden is famous for their meatballs, and rightly so! I seem to eat them like I'll never see them again... They have a great berry sauce that complements them very well! Here they are big pork eaters. I have already tried wild pork roast (from the mainland, no wild pork on the island!) and what Markus called "pork skin" but I'm not sure if that's what it actually was. We eat a lot of sandwich meat on our bread (even for breakfast)!

I have already mentioned a bit about their milk products, but I feel it needs to be emphasized again, because it is such a huge part of their diet! Walking into the dairy section of the grocery store is so overwhelming because there is TONS to choose from. They have several types of milk, as well as pourable yogurts. Baking butter and bread butter are two separate things, and of course each has about 4 different versions. There is also a lot of cheese to choose from! I have yet to really figure out what any of them are because the names are so different, but many of them are quite delicious!

One thing I've found odd here is their pasta. Not the noodles itself, but the sauces.. They always have cream in them, and their version of a tomato sauce is ketchup and cream. It is an interesting flavour! The lasagna we had once reminded me of sloppy joes! Just this week we had plain macaroni noodles and meatballs and a bottle of ketchup. It had actually never occurred to me to eat noodles without sauce... It wasn't too bad though.

Saft... <3 Saft is, from what I've been told, like pop without the bubbles. I suppose it could be like fruit punch or those cocktails you can get in North America... But saft is way better! Especially for someone like me who doesn't really enjoy pop for the simple factor of the bubbles. It's like a dream come true! Most people buy it in a concentrated form and mix it with water at home! Two of my favourite flavours are raspberry and pear! (They are huge with pears here.. pear popsicles, juice, candy etc! I think Canada should take a hint... I love pear!)

I mentioned before that they eat 5 times a day... I've literally eaten seven pieces of bread today. I am still surprised I'm not gaining weight.. (that I know of anyway.. I haven't weighed myself, but my pants are still fitting so I think I'm okay!)

This one's for you mother: They LOVE their potatoes! We probably eat them close to once a day in one form or another. 

Another random food I've noticed they have here that isn't in Canada (that I know of) is called American Dressing. I think it's supposed to be like Big Mac sauce... They love it on their burgers and hotdogs! (By the way, Canadian hotdogs are way better for some reason.)

Almost done.. This is kind of food related.. They only use metric here. Whenever I'm asked to bake something I find an epic recipe.. In imperial. The task of converting can be quite difficult. Even their oven is in Celsius! They use centiliters and deciliters very frequently here, in package measurements, and their baking tools. 

For anyone curious about my actual life the past few days, and not just what's been going through my mouth, it's been fairly uneventful. I worked at feeding the sheep and pressure washing the fence, which I am finally done! I also oiled part of the deck. Yesterday we finished de-worming all of the sheep, YAY!

I don't have any concrete plans for the weekend; hopefully something grand will pop up! Bye for now :)

The European farming life

I spent my entire day today farming.. something that doesn't always happen. With the spring rolling right along and the weather getting warmer, we are doing a lot of work with the sheep to get them ready for summer!

Apart from my usual job of feeding hay to the lambs and the ewes that have been weaned, I helped to "drench" (de-worm) about 200 ewes today. I am definitely going to be a strong girl by the time I leave here, because each ewe weighs about 150 pounds! For those unfamiliar with sheep: they get worms in their tummy! Each flock is different, depending on how often they are on pasture and how resistant the breed is to worms. But de-worming is very common, some shepherds do it up to six times a year, although the Westbergs only do it once a year. One time they went three years without having to do it at all! It's just a liquid medicine you have to give them. Quite simple once you can catch the sheep and hold it still!

I also helped to wean the lambs of about 100 ewes (I get to drench those ewes tomorrow). Weaning is an interesting time for sure... Noise levels get higher than ever during this time of year. It should take a few days then the lambs and ewes will learn to be quite content apart. Some extra tasty food is extremely helpful of course ;). 

My last big job of the day was to help catch and sort 45 lambs for slaughter. When I say lamb I mean a 110-130 pound sheep.. So once again I was able to get a workout! Seriously, anyone that doesn't have money for a gym membership should try farming. I'm sure a neighbour farmer would love the help too! ;)

I will say now that watching a sheepdog do its work is really an amazing thing! (Also, how does anyone get by shepherding without one?) It is like nature combined with talent and a lot of training. When it all comes together, it's great! I think I can say I know more Swedish sheepdog commands than English... Someone will have to teach me when I get home!

I suppose for my Aggie and farming alike friends, I should explain a few differences between European and Canadian Agriculture that I have noticed so far.

It is illegal to dock tails in Sweden, and many other European countries. (This includes dogs, pigs and other animals as well). This practice is still common in North America. The obvious reason why this is banned is because it causes pain to the animals. But there are many reasons why people still do dock tails, a main one (for sheep anyway) being that it eliminates the chance of feces getting stuck in the tail. When this happens, gross things like maggots can start living in the feces and will eventually start to eat the sheep. I recently read that in North America people can be "docked for not having docked". AKA they can lose money at the market or slaughter for two reasons: The butcher doesn't want to spend extra time on the tail, and it is also considered poor shepherding if the tail is not docked. 

Castration via rubber band is illegal here. Karin (my host mother) said that it is very uncommon around here to castrate, simply because it's takes extra time and is not necessary. Lambs here go to slaughter before they are sexually mature, so there's no risk of pregnancy or crazy ram hormones. From what I know, they get the same price either way. This isn't always so in North America, but it all depends on various circumstances.

I was talking to a beef farmer a couple weeks ago and he raises bulls for meat. I asked him why  not steers, and he explained to me that there is a law here that you have to put them out on pasture for a certain amount of time, which adds a whole extra season before they have gained enough to be sent to the butcher. So unless the demand for steer meat increases largely, it is only practical for farmers in Sweden to be raising bulls!

Fun fact: I visited a Swedish Agricultural school last week! It was for ages 16-19. (An extension of high school for them, there are different specialized schools all over the country). I was expecting a day of, well, classrooms and lessons. This was far from my visions! I spent the entire morning exploring the dairy, swine and sheep operations they have on campus, and got a tour of their fields. The students are given tasks every day on the on-campus farm, to prepare them for their farming future! In the afternoon they had welding class (where I did get to try welding for the first time)! Then we spent 10 minutes in the classroom going over a quiz from last week. Then to coffee break where they talked to their teacher about the practicum they had last week. Then it was home time! Best school day ever in my opinion. I probably learned more about the hands-on type of farming stuff than I will at my 4 years earning my Agricultural Business degree (I know, university is all theoretical and stuff... Still makes me sad that I can't play with animals at school)! 

For those of you that are totally sick of my farming rant (sorry!) I will tell you this fun piece of info: "chase me" is one of the 3 English phrases that Karl here (5) knows. So after my long day of work I had the pleasure of chasing a little boy all around the house! Who, despite being caught several times, was never "it". So, you can be positively sure I got my exercise tonight! And in saying that, I am totally ready for bed. 

Goodnight!

A summary-The first few weeks

Now, I have always enjoyed writing, but English was always one of my worst subjects in school. So please bear with me if my language choice isn't as colourful as you had hoped!

For those of you who don't know, I am spending four months on the island of Gotland, off the east coast of Sweden, in the middle of the Baltic Sea! I am spending my time here working on a sheep farm, and of course exploring! Now you may be thinking, how the heck did she find herself a farm halfway across the world!? Well, I am on an AgriVenture exchange. I received a scholarship from 4-H Canada to help cover a large portion of the cost of the trip. With AgriVenture, you can be set up with a farm in many different countries, and you can also choose the type of farm! The idea is, I spend my weeks working full time, in return for a small salary (room and board is taken off), and I get my weekends to explore!

I have been here for three weeks now, and am slowly getting into the routine of things. I help a lot in the barns (feeding, weighing, weaning etc) and outside (gardening, painting etc). Once a week I get to clean the house, and sometimes I get to bake! 

A bit about Swedish life

I eat 5 times a day here! And almost every meal contains dairy.. they love their milk, butter and cheese! Sometimes my lactose intolerant tummy doesn't like it, but usually it's okay in moderation. Three of these "meals" (breakfast, and 2 "fika" [coffee breaks]) are made up of bread, butter and whatever else you like! Lunch and Supper are always hot meals.

Many people here speak English very well (big sigh of relief when I found that out!). The money they use is Swedish Krona, and it's about 6.2 times the Canadian dollar! Hopefully I'll be great at arithmetic when I get back with all the mental math I have to do here ;).

Of course the most famous things out of Sweden are IKEA and ABBA! I learned that the guy who owns IKEA is very tight with his money and still drives around an old clunker.. Of course everyone still shops there anyway! Some awesome things that I didn't know were Swedish are H&M and Pippi Longstocking! The house from her TV series is on this island, I will have to visit some day!

Gotland 

Gotland is the island I am on. It is an extremely popular tourist destination with the mainlanders, and it's because it is so beautiful!I seriously recommend it for anyone wanting a vacation that is a little less mainstream, unique in it's own way, and very relaxing, I definitely recommend Gotland! 

 I am on the south part of the island and no more than a 15 minute drive from the sea in 3 directions! This island is very well known for it's Gotlandic Sheep (we have some on the farm here). Almost every gift shop has sheepskin products in stock!

Gotland is also famous for it's medieval history-there are over 90 medieval churches on the island! Vikings also lived here many years ago-there is a museum full of artifacts on the island that boast it holds the most viking related artifacts in the world!

As I have been here for 3 weeks already, this post could go on for much longer... Perhaps I will spare you this time and within the next few posts I will start talking more about my daily life here.

Cheers!