Celebrating Five Years in Sweden

Last weekend was a great weekend. We celebrated being married 5 years. We had always imagined we would make a trip to Hawaii on our 5th anniversary. Being on a warm beach surrounded by tourists watching sailboats go by might have been nice, but instead we went to a Swedish museum and perused treasure from a sunken 17th century battleship. It was really cool. We also walked through Pippi Longstocking and Jenny Nystrom exhibits. After the museum we visited another 17th century relic, the Kalmar Cathedral. The architecture and decor was classic European cathedral –high arching ceilings, mucho cherubim and a ridiculously large pipe organ. We found a really nice café, called Mama’s & Papa’s, for lunch before we did our weekly grocery shopping (where we buy sugary cereals, non-rye bread and way too much chocolate). The chocolate bars here are super good. Oh, and I also stocked up on baking supplies. Here at the school there must be 300 apple trees scattered about (all different varieties) so I have been thinking of endless ways to bake them. So far I have made apple sauce, but I have plans for a three-apple crumble, apple coffee cake, hot apple cider, and candy bar stuffed baked apples. Yes, your eyes did not lie…candy bar stuffed baked apples! I’ll let you know how those go.
Another big event over the weekend was a big Swedish tradition called Kraftskiva. The whole school was invited to a night of singing, dancing, and eating something called Krafta – basically, a mini lobster. We sat around long tables by candlelight laughing and chatting before someone would start a song (imagine Irish pub songs, sung in Swedish). It was a lot of fun. And everyone who saw us made certain that we had eaten one of their fishy things and were having a good time. It was fun.
This week I am finishing up my chair mock-up and Barb is building a firing kiln (for Raku, an ancient Japanese open-fire glazing technique) and experimenting with sculpture. Barb is doing really well learning pottery. Last week a guest teacher came and taught the students “throwing”, which is how bowls and such are turned on a wheel. This teacher was very good – in fact, he was once the 10th best pottery “thrower” in the world. Today my class had a meeting. They are always in Swedish and I just sit there like I know what’s going on and usually doodle pictures in my sketch book. And then afterwards the Japanese student and I get a translation. Today, the Swedish student who recapped the meeting, said we are all going to spend a day fencing (yes, the sport with white outfits and lots of poking) together, and another day we are going on a class trip. I asked, “why are we going to be fencing?” He just looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I have been trying to imagine why we are all going to go fencing, but I just can’t make sense of it. So, then I asked him where and when we will be going on this class trip. To both questions he answered, “I don’t know.” (Sigh). This is how it is for us lots of the time. We don’t understand what has been said and then all the sudden one day they’re dressing you in a white suit and asking you to poke people with swords.

Have you ever seen a happier church?