Hi there... sitting in lab right now and waiting for my digest reaction to finish incubating. I have been in lab everyday this week and my project is moving along nicely. Haven't worked so much with Ingrid this week, she's the one who is teaching me how to plate bacteria, grow it, count it, be safe with it! I've been busy doing some more of the molecular biology techniques that I'm more familiar doing from my previous research experience and can do on my own. I think I'm going to set up something soon that requires I leave it incubating overnight... which means I'll have to come in early tomorrow morning before shooting practice to take care of it.
Today we had the day off (from bball), but I had an appointment to get a pair of orthotics made earlier this morning and tonight Erin, Malin, and I have to go to the photo studio to get our pics taken in our uniforms so that we can look the same as everyone else on the webpage.
The last couple days have been pretty "usual" - so to speak... nothing out of the ordinary or particularly exciting. I've been thinking a lot recently about the concept of actually living in another country, not just visiting, but actually living. Now when I walk around or ride the T, I've tried to view Stockholm as a visitor, but it's actually really hard. I know I've only been here for slightly more than a month and there is tons I have yet to see of the city, but being here even this long makes me really feel a part of it. Especially now that I am working in a lab and playing basketball, it's almost like being back at Stanford (though of course, not really close at all). It really is awesome though to have a sense of belonging in a place that isn't even your home country. I think that everyone, if at all possible, should live abroad for an extended period of time. The perspective gained is exciting and refreshing!
Ok, enough of that tangent... hmmm... what else: tomorrow our team is going to model in a fashion show at halftime of probably the biggest men's home basketball game of the year!! Will have to give you an update on that after the event. Pray that I don't trip and fall ; ) Last night we went to the designer outlet and the employees there helped us pick out our outfits... I am wearing some blue jeans, a black shirt-dress thing, red rubber boots with little monkeys on them, a scarf, and a blue bag with matching monkeys! I love my outfit. I wish I got to keep it, but modeling it for 4 minutes (or whatever the length of our routine) is good enough! Should be fun : )
Lake Atitlan from the San Pedro Volcano
Lake Atitlan from the San Pedro Volcano
30 November 2006
27 November 2006
Magic
November 27, 2006 8:33pm
Magic
Just finished up with practice, a yummy pork and potato dinner (no, I didn’t make it! rather, I ate at the café at our club), and some good conversation with Erin. Returned to my apartment for the first time since 8:30 this morning, after being gone to lab and practice all during the day. Opened my door and… tons of mail! Well, mostly it was a bunch of Christmas shopping flyers (but that’s great, cause as some of you know, I love to look at all the ads in the papers – haha – childhood pastime I think while my dad always read the morning paper!). In addition, there was one very special letter. Harriet, thank you for the card and for the newspaper clipping. The note meant so much to me and the article, well it gave me goosebumps. Titled “The camp that changed my life” and written by Colin Glaes (aged 15), the article was about how much Camp Kesem means to Colin. I had Colin as a camper my first year that I volunteered at camp. Camp Kesem is just such an amazing experience for everyone involved. It’s simply impossible to put into words the true magic that happens there (Kesem means “magic” in Hebrew; it really is the perfect name for this camp). Thank you Harriet for sending this to me. I am going to hang it up on my wall as a daily reminder of how small we are, how great God is, and how every little bright spot in life is a dear blessing.
Magic
Just finished up with practice, a yummy pork and potato dinner (no, I didn’t make it! rather, I ate at the café at our club), and some good conversation with Erin. Returned to my apartment for the first time since 8:30 this morning, after being gone to lab and practice all during the day. Opened my door and… tons of mail! Well, mostly it was a bunch of Christmas shopping flyers (but that’s great, cause as some of you know, I love to look at all the ads in the papers – haha – childhood pastime I think while my dad always read the morning paper!). In addition, there was one very special letter. Harriet, thank you for the card and for the newspaper clipping. The note meant so much to me and the article, well it gave me goosebumps. Titled “The camp that changed my life” and written by Colin Glaes (aged 15), the article was about how much Camp Kesem means to Colin. I had Colin as a camper my first year that I volunteered at camp. Camp Kesem is just such an amazing experience for everyone involved. It’s simply impossible to put into words the true magic that happens there (Kesem means “magic” in Hebrew; it really is the perfect name for this camp). Thank you Harriet for sending this to me. I am going to hang it up on my wall as a daily reminder of how small we are, how great God is, and how every little bright spot in life is a dear blessing.
All about
November 26, 2006 4:01pm
All about
It’s been a really good weekend for me. How has your’s been?
Yesterday we beat Sundsvall… which was an important win, as they had the same record as us going into the game, we were playing on our home court, and I personally didn’t want to lose to any Michigan State girls again. We won! At times we played really well, but our shooting percentage for the entire game was pretty horrible. So it ended up being a close game, more or less, because we couldn’t shoot yesterday. In the first half they played us man to man, and I drove to the basket more times than I have since high school. I don’t know what is was yesterday, but I just kept getting wide open lanes. Granted I missed a fair share of inside shots, it was still really fun to get into the paint again. The second half they played us in a zone and that’s when we struggled a bit from the outside. It’s sorta hard to be aggressive against a zone, but that’s what we needed to do. Thanks to Erin’s clutch three-point shooting and some good team defense, we were able to pull out the win. For those of you (Grammie, Mom, Dad, and Noah(!) ) who followed on Gametracker, thanks of course for your support! : )
Meagen and Deac made it to the game, but not by my directions… I got them totally lost, but luckily the three different times they had to ask some Swedes for help, the locals were friendly. It was so much fun to have family at the game! And of course, when we win, it’s always better. I hope they enjoyed it!
After the game, Erin and I went with Meagen and Deac to find a place to eat. We ended up walking around a long time in the rain because I was supposed to be taking the lead to find a good place to eat, but instead - keeping completely to my nature, though not being the proper tour guide as I should have been – just wandered all over the place before we found somewhere to eat. We were soaking wet by the time we sat down to eat; however, we had seen a good amount of Kungsgaten and Drottninggatan (two of the main streets of Stockholm) by that time too. And, the food turned out to be terrific! The name of the restaurant we ended up at was Drottninggatan 6 (www.drottninggatan6.se if you really need to be distracted). Erin, Deac, and I all ordered steak with potatoes and veggies – though as part of different dishes. Meagen has Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. The meat and berries together are very tasty. Perhaps we’ll have to try this together around Christmas time (or whenever the next time that I get to enjoy a meal with you may be).
After dinner, we ventured to the Ice Bar of Stockholm. It’s a bar completely made of ice! As part of your admission fee, you get a jacket and gloves to wear inside the bar. Unfortunately, you have to make reservations a good bit in advance (which we didn’t do) or wait until drop-in hours which were much later in the evening… oh well, Meagen and Deac will just have to come back!
It was so special to have them come here and visit. I know they travel a lot, so making the trip to Stockholm probably wasn’t a huge deal for them, but for me – it meant a lot to have them here and to get to spend some time with them. It’s a special treat to be able to show family and friends a glimpse of my life… especially when it’s at a place part way around the globe! I can only hope they had as a good time here, as I did having them!
Today: wow, where should I start… I feel like I’ve been all over the place!
Mindi sent me an email earlier this week that included a list of some churches that one of her friends had suggested that I may like to check out. I googled one, but their website was all in Swedish, so I didn’t know if they had any English services. The next church I googled, Immanuelskyrkan Stockholm, had a whole set of webpages dedicated to their international ministry. This looked promising. And, it was! So, this morning I attended the 9:30 service at Immanuel Church in Stockholm. Compared to New Life, this service was more… traditional (I guess you could say… for instance, no fika in the middle of the service). I really enjoyed the music and also the diversity of people attending. One of the pastors, Jodi Fondell, came up after the service to introduce herself and welcome me to their church. After asking where I was from and telling her Lebanon, CT (never do I ever expect anyone to know where this is!), she knew Lebanon and has been here! She knows the pastor of the Lebanon Baptist Church and was their in the summer(?)!! Crazy, huh?! So that was a neat little connection. She is from southern California, and she and her husband came to Stockholm about 7 years ago – only planning on staying a year or two, but now have no plans of leaving. After talking with her for a bit, I enjoyed a tea and Swedish cinnamon roll (I always forget the name) with a bunch of other girls in the reception hall. Everyone was very welcoming and I am planning to go back next week as well. And, for the message, the main point I took away was this… when God calls us to listen to Him… listen means not only to listen, but to act! The Aramaic word used for listening also means to obey (the direct correlation is lost in English). Therefore, we must not only hear what is being said, but take this to heart, and act on that! God empowers us to work for Him and serve others – I think that is awesome!!
After church, I took the T-bana back to Slussen and ventured down to the water in hopes of catching a ferry over to Djurgården. Well, jumped on the ferry easy enough (really, it was super easy to find!), but then… ah, yes, again my impulsive nature of – let’s just go, let’s not make sure this is where I’m supposed to be going… well, I got off the ferry as soon as it stopped on an island. Even though I read that we were stopping at Skeppsholmen, it didn’t quite register. Instead of going right to Djurgården, I made a slight detour – but it turned out great because I went to the Moderna Museet. It’s Stockholm’s Museum of Modern Art. Another superb collection of art. Very much enjoyable. Glad I got off the ferry. Then, after seeing this museum I got back on the ferry – now for sure to Djurgården.
Once reaching my original destination, the first attraction I came upon was Gröna Lund. I think I was supposed to pay to get in, but there was no one there when I walked in, so I just went in. Anyway, Gröna Lund is a mix of amusement park rides (there year round), carnival games, food, and Christmas market stands. There were a million kids there riding the rides and playing the games. There was a skating rink and the entire park was decorated for Christmas. I heard my first Christmas carols, as well. I tried to win a gigantic Swedish chocolate candy bar to bring back to share with everyone for Christmas, but my game card didn’t win. Sorry. I tried. For those people who had lucky tickets though, it was funny to watch them carry this huge – probably a meter long – candy bars around the park. I would have looked really funny too!
After walking around the park for some time, I explored a little more around the island. I didn’t go crazy far, but I was able to locate many of the museums I must come back and enjoy. Since I had already been to the MoMA and Gröna Lund today, I decided I would save the other museums to have their own full day of exploration. Instead of taking the ferry back, I had already walked a good bit already, so I just continued walking towards the Kungsgaten area. Bridges connect all the islands close to shore here, so you can actually walk most places if you really wanted to. At Kungsgaten I enjoyed walking through another Christmas market. I tried some more reindeer or moose or perhaps some other types of meat of which I don’t really know what I’m eating since the guys at the stand speak to me in Swedish unless I say otherwise. I did pick up a little Advent calendar with chocolates inside to give to Erin. I was telling her about these and she never had one before. It’ll be a good way for her to count down until our trips home… she can’t wait to be back in the States for a little bit (me too really, with all the Christmas spirit here… it just makes me want to be with family and share time together!).
It’s been a really nice weekend. It was so terrific to have Meagen and Deac visit. The game went well enough. Church was good this morning. And, I’ve had a fun time exploring for the rest of today. Might meet up with Erin later to watch a football game at O’Leary’s or I might just chill and watch a movie or read. Think I might go try to find a pizza place that might still be open, since I don’t really want to cook ; )
Have a great last week in November! Can you believe it’s almost December?! I can’t believe I’ve been living in Stockholm for more than a month.
All about
It’s been a really good weekend for me. How has your’s been?
Yesterday we beat Sundsvall… which was an important win, as they had the same record as us going into the game, we were playing on our home court, and I personally didn’t want to lose to any Michigan State girls again. We won! At times we played really well, but our shooting percentage for the entire game was pretty horrible. So it ended up being a close game, more or less, because we couldn’t shoot yesterday. In the first half they played us man to man, and I drove to the basket more times than I have since high school. I don’t know what is was yesterday, but I just kept getting wide open lanes. Granted I missed a fair share of inside shots, it was still really fun to get into the paint again. The second half they played us in a zone and that’s when we struggled a bit from the outside. It’s sorta hard to be aggressive against a zone, but that’s what we needed to do. Thanks to Erin’s clutch three-point shooting and some good team defense, we were able to pull out the win. For those of you (Grammie, Mom, Dad, and Noah(!) ) who followed on Gametracker, thanks of course for your support! : )
Meagen and Deac made it to the game, but not by my directions… I got them totally lost, but luckily the three different times they had to ask some Swedes for help, the locals were friendly. It was so much fun to have family at the game! And of course, when we win, it’s always better. I hope they enjoyed it!
After the game, Erin and I went with Meagen and Deac to find a place to eat. We ended up walking around a long time in the rain because I was supposed to be taking the lead to find a good place to eat, but instead - keeping completely to my nature, though not being the proper tour guide as I should have been – just wandered all over the place before we found somewhere to eat. We were soaking wet by the time we sat down to eat; however, we had seen a good amount of Kungsgaten and Drottninggatan (two of the main streets of Stockholm) by that time too. And, the food turned out to be terrific! The name of the restaurant we ended up at was Drottninggatan 6 (www.drottninggatan6.se if you really need to be distracted). Erin, Deac, and I all ordered steak with potatoes and veggies – though as part of different dishes. Meagen has Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. The meat and berries together are very tasty. Perhaps we’ll have to try this together around Christmas time (or whenever the next time that I get to enjoy a meal with you may be).
After dinner, we ventured to the Ice Bar of Stockholm. It’s a bar completely made of ice! As part of your admission fee, you get a jacket and gloves to wear inside the bar. Unfortunately, you have to make reservations a good bit in advance (which we didn’t do) or wait until drop-in hours which were much later in the evening… oh well, Meagen and Deac will just have to come back!
It was so special to have them come here and visit. I know they travel a lot, so making the trip to Stockholm probably wasn’t a huge deal for them, but for me – it meant a lot to have them here and to get to spend some time with them. It’s a special treat to be able to show family and friends a glimpse of my life… especially when it’s at a place part way around the globe! I can only hope they had as a good time here, as I did having them!
Today: wow, where should I start… I feel like I’ve been all over the place!
Mindi sent me an email earlier this week that included a list of some churches that one of her friends had suggested that I may like to check out. I googled one, but their website was all in Swedish, so I didn’t know if they had any English services. The next church I googled, Immanuelskyrkan Stockholm, had a whole set of webpages dedicated to their international ministry. This looked promising. And, it was! So, this morning I attended the 9:30 service at Immanuel Church in Stockholm. Compared to New Life, this service was more… traditional (I guess you could say… for instance, no fika in the middle of the service). I really enjoyed the music and also the diversity of people attending. One of the pastors, Jodi Fondell, came up after the service to introduce herself and welcome me to their church. After asking where I was from and telling her Lebanon, CT (never do I ever expect anyone to know where this is!), she knew Lebanon and has been here! She knows the pastor of the Lebanon Baptist Church and was their in the summer(?)!! Crazy, huh?! So that was a neat little connection. She is from southern California, and she and her husband came to Stockholm about 7 years ago – only planning on staying a year or two, but now have no plans of leaving. After talking with her for a bit, I enjoyed a tea and Swedish cinnamon roll (I always forget the name) with a bunch of other girls in the reception hall. Everyone was very welcoming and I am planning to go back next week as well. And, for the message, the main point I took away was this… when God calls us to listen to Him… listen means not only to listen, but to act! The Aramaic word used for listening also means to obey (the direct correlation is lost in English). Therefore, we must not only hear what is being said, but take this to heart, and act on that! God empowers us to work for Him and serve others – I think that is awesome!!
After church, I took the T-bana back to Slussen and ventured down to the water in hopes of catching a ferry over to Djurgården. Well, jumped on the ferry easy enough (really, it was super easy to find!), but then… ah, yes, again my impulsive nature of – let’s just go, let’s not make sure this is where I’m supposed to be going… well, I got off the ferry as soon as it stopped on an island. Even though I read that we were stopping at Skeppsholmen, it didn’t quite register. Instead of going right to Djurgården, I made a slight detour – but it turned out great because I went to the Moderna Museet. It’s Stockholm’s Museum of Modern Art. Another superb collection of art. Very much enjoyable. Glad I got off the ferry. Then, after seeing this museum I got back on the ferry – now for sure to Djurgården.
Once reaching my original destination, the first attraction I came upon was Gröna Lund. I think I was supposed to pay to get in, but there was no one there when I walked in, so I just went in. Anyway, Gröna Lund is a mix of amusement park rides (there year round), carnival games, food, and Christmas market stands. There were a million kids there riding the rides and playing the games. There was a skating rink and the entire park was decorated for Christmas. I heard my first Christmas carols, as well. I tried to win a gigantic Swedish chocolate candy bar to bring back to share with everyone for Christmas, but my game card didn’t win. Sorry. I tried. For those people who had lucky tickets though, it was funny to watch them carry this huge – probably a meter long – candy bars around the park. I would have looked really funny too!
After walking around the park for some time, I explored a little more around the island. I didn’t go crazy far, but I was able to locate many of the museums I must come back and enjoy. Since I had already been to the MoMA and Gröna Lund today, I decided I would save the other museums to have their own full day of exploration. Instead of taking the ferry back, I had already walked a good bit already, so I just continued walking towards the Kungsgaten area. Bridges connect all the islands close to shore here, so you can actually walk most places if you really wanted to. At Kungsgaten I enjoyed walking through another Christmas market. I tried some more reindeer or moose or perhaps some other types of meat of which I don’t really know what I’m eating since the guys at the stand speak to me in Swedish unless I say otherwise. I did pick up a little Advent calendar with chocolates inside to give to Erin. I was telling her about these and she never had one before. It’ll be a good way for her to count down until our trips home… she can’t wait to be back in the States for a little bit (me too really, with all the Christmas spirit here… it just makes me want to be with family and share time together!).
It’s been a really nice weekend. It was so terrific to have Meagen and Deac visit. The game went well enough. Church was good this morning. And, I’ve had a fun time exploring for the rest of today. Might meet up with Erin later to watch a football game at O’Leary’s or I might just chill and watch a movie or read. Think I might go try to find a pizza place that might still be open, since I don’t really want to cook ; )
Have a great last week in November! Can you believe it’s almost December?! I can’t believe I’ve been living in Stockholm for more than a month.
26 November 2006
All about
November 26, 2006 4:01pm
All about
It’s been a really good weekend for me. How has your’s been?
Yesterday we beat Sundsvall… which was an important win, as they had the same record as us going into the game, we were playing on our home court, and I personally didn’t want to lose to any Michigan State girls again. We won! At times we played really well, but our shooting percentage for the entire game was pretty horrible. So it ended up being a close game, more or less, because we couldn’t shoot yesterday. In the first half they played us man to man, and I drove to the basket more times than I have since high school. I don’t know what is was yesterday, but I just kept getting wide open lanes. Granted I missed a fair share of inside shots, it was still really fun to get into the paint again. The second half they played us in a zone and that’s when we struggled a bit from the outside. It’s sorta hard to be aggressive against a zone, but that’s what we needed to do. Thanks to Erin’s clutch three-point shooting and some good team defense, we were able to pull out the win. For those of you (Grammie, Mom, Dad, and Noah(!) ) who followed on Gametracker, thanks of course for your support! : )
Meagen and Deac made it to the game, but not by my directions… I got them totally lost, but luckily the three different times they had to ask some Swedes for help, the locals were friendly. It was so much fun to have family at the game! And of course, when we win, it’s always better. I hope they enjoyed it!
After the game, Erin and I went with Meagen and Deac to find a place to eat. We ended up walking around a long time in the rain because I was supposed to be taking the lead to find a good place to eat, but instead - keeping completely to my nature, though not being the proper tour guide as I should have been – just wandered all over the place before we found somewhere to eat. We were soaking wet by the time we sat down to eat; however, we had seen a good amount of Kungsgaten and Drottninggatan (two of the main streets of Stockholm) by that time too. And, the food turned out to be terrific! The name of the restaurant we ended up at was Drottninggatan 6 (www.drottninggatan6.se if you really need to be distracted). Erin, Deac, and I all ordered steak with potatoes and veggies – though as part of different dishes. Meagen has Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. The meat and berries together are very tasty. Perhaps we’ll have to try this together around Christmas time (or whenever the next time that I get to enjoy a meal with you may be).
After dinner, we ventured to the Ice Bar of Stockholm. It’s a bar completely made of ice! As part of your admission fee, you get a jacket and gloves to wear inside the bar. Unfortunately, you have to make reservations a good bit in advance (which we didn’t do) or wait until drop-in hours which were much later in the evening… oh well, Meagen and Deac will just have to come back!
It was so special to have them come here and visit. I know they travel a lot, so making the trip to Stockholm probably wasn’t a huge deal for them, but for me – it meant a lot to have them here and to get to spend some time with them. It’s a special treat to be able to show family and friends a glimpse of my life… especially when it’s at a place part way around the globe! I can only hope they had as a good time here, as I did having them!
Today: wow, where should I start… I feel like I’ve been all over the place!
Mindi sent me an email earlier this week that included a list of some churches that one of her friends had suggested that I may like to check out. I googled one, but their website was all in Swedish, so I didn’t know if they had any English services. The next church I googled, Immanuelskyrkan Stockholm, had a whole set of webpages dedicated to their international ministry. This looked promising. And, it was! So, this morning I attended the 9:30 service at Immanuel Church in Stockholm. Compared to New Life, this service was more… traditional (I guess you could say… for instance, no fika in the middle of the service). I really enjoyed the music and also the diversity of people attending. One of the pastors, Jodi Fondell, came up after the service to introduce herself and welcome me to their church. After asking where I was from and telling her Lebanon, CT (never do I ever expect anyone to know where this is!), she knew Lebanon and has been here! She knows the pastor of the Lebanon Baptist Church and was their in the summer(?)!! Crazy, huh?! So that was a neat little connection. She is from southern California, and she and her husband came to Stockholm about 7 years ago – only planning on staying a year or two, but now have no plans of leaving. After talking with her for a bit, I enjoyed a tea and Swedish cinnamon roll (I always forget the name) with a bunch of other girls in the reception hall. Everyone was very welcoming and I am planning to go back next week as well. And, for the message, the main point I took away was this… when God calls us to listen to Him… listen means not only to listen, but to act! The Aramaic word used for listening also means to obey (the direct correlation is lost in English). Therefore, we must not only hear what is being said, but take this to heart, and act on that! God empowers us to work for Him and serve others – I think that is awesome!!
After church, I took the T-bana back to Slussen and ventured down to the water in hopes of catching a ferry over to Djurgården. Well, jumped on the ferry easy enough (really, it was super easy to find!), but then… ah, yes, again my impulsive nature of – let’s just go, let’s not make sure this is where I’m supposed to be going… well, I got off the ferry as soon as it stopped on an island. Even though I read that we were stopping at Skeppsholmen, it didn’t quite register. Instead of going right to Djurgården, I made a slight detour – but it turned out great because I went to the Moderna Museet. It’s Stockholm’s Museum of Modern Art. Another superb collection of art. Very much enjoyable. Glad I got off the ferry. Then, after seeing this museum I got back on the ferry – now for sure to Djurgården.
Once reaching my original destination, the first attraction I came upon was Gröna Lund. I think I was supposed to pay to get in, but there was no one there when I walked in, so I just went in. Anyway, Gröna Lund is a mix of amusement park rides (there year round), carnival games, food, and Christmas market stands. There were a million kids there riding the rides and playing the games. There was a skating rink and the entire park was decorated for Christmas. I heard my first Christmas carols, as well. I tried to win a gigantic Swedish chocolate candy bar to bring back to share with everyone for Christmas, but my game card didn’t win. Sorry. I tried. For those people who had lucky tickets though, it was funny to watch them carry this huge – probably a meter long – candy bars around the park. I would have looked really funny too!
After walking around the park for some time, I explored a little more around the island. I didn’t go crazy far, but I was able to locate many of the museums I must come back and enjoy. Since I had already been to the MoMA and Gröna Lund today, I decided I would save the other museums to have their own full day of exploration. Instead of taking the ferry back, I had already walked a good bit already, so I just continued walking towards the Kungsgaten area. Bridges connect all the islands close to shore here, so you can actually walk most places if you really wanted to. At Kungsgaten I enjoyed walking through another Christmas market. I tried some more reindeer or moose or perhaps some other types of meat of which I don’t really know what I’m eating since the guys at the stand speak to me in Swedish unless I say otherwise. I did pick up a little Advent calendar with chocolates inside to give to Erin. I was telling her about these and she never had one before. It’ll be a good way for her to count down until our trips home… she can’t wait to be back in the States for a little bit (me too really, with all the Christmas spirit here… it just makes me want to be with family and share time together!).
It’s been a really nice weekend. It was so terrific to have Meagen and Deac visit. The game went well enough. Church was good this morning. And, I’ve had a fun time exploring for the rest of today. Might meet up with Erin later to watch a football game at O’Leary’s or I might just chill and watch a movie or read. Think I might go try to find a pizza place that might still be open, since I don’t really want to cook ; )
Have a great last week in November! Can you believe it’s almost December?! I can’t believe I’ve been living in Stockholm for more than a month. Oh, and stay tuned for pictures from today... they will be coming soon.
All about
It’s been a really good weekend for me. How has your’s been?
Yesterday we beat Sundsvall… which was an important win, as they had the same record as us going into the game, we were playing on our home court, and I personally didn’t want to lose to any Michigan State girls again. We won! At times we played really well, but our shooting percentage for the entire game was pretty horrible. So it ended up being a close game, more or less, because we couldn’t shoot yesterday. In the first half they played us man to man, and I drove to the basket more times than I have since high school. I don’t know what is was yesterday, but I just kept getting wide open lanes. Granted I missed a fair share of inside shots, it was still really fun to get into the paint again. The second half they played us in a zone and that’s when we struggled a bit from the outside. It’s sorta hard to be aggressive against a zone, but that’s what we needed to do. Thanks to Erin’s clutch three-point shooting and some good team defense, we were able to pull out the win. For those of you (Grammie, Mom, Dad, and Noah(!) ) who followed on Gametracker, thanks of course for your support! : )
Meagen and Deac made it to the game, but not by my directions… I got them totally lost, but luckily the three different times they had to ask some Swedes for help, the locals were friendly. It was so much fun to have family at the game! And of course, when we win, it’s always better. I hope they enjoyed it!
After the game, Erin and I went with Meagen and Deac to find a place to eat. We ended up walking around a long time in the rain because I was supposed to be taking the lead to find a good place to eat, but instead - keeping completely to my nature, though not being the proper tour guide as I should have been – just wandered all over the place before we found somewhere to eat. We were soaking wet by the time we sat down to eat; however, we had seen a good amount of Kungsgaten and Drottninggatan (two of the main streets of Stockholm) by that time too. And, the food turned out to be terrific! The name of the restaurant we ended up at was Drottninggatan 6 (www.drottninggatan6.se if you really need to be distracted). Erin, Deac, and I all ordered steak with potatoes and veggies – though as part of different dishes. Meagen has Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. The meat and berries together are very tasty. Perhaps we’ll have to try this together around Christmas time (or whenever the next time that I get to enjoy a meal with you may be).
After dinner, we ventured to the Ice Bar of Stockholm. It’s a bar completely made of ice! As part of your admission fee, you get a jacket and gloves to wear inside the bar. Unfortunately, you have to make reservations a good bit in advance (which we didn’t do) or wait until drop-in hours which were much later in the evening… oh well, Meagen and Deac will just have to come back!
It was so special to have them come here and visit. I know they travel a lot, so making the trip to Stockholm probably wasn’t a huge deal for them, but for me – it meant a lot to have them here and to get to spend some time with them. It’s a special treat to be able to show family and friends a glimpse of my life… especially when it’s at a place part way around the globe! I can only hope they had as a good time here, as I did having them!
Today: wow, where should I start… I feel like I’ve been all over the place!
Mindi sent me an email earlier this week that included a list of some churches that one of her friends had suggested that I may like to check out. I googled one, but their website was all in Swedish, so I didn’t know if they had any English services. The next church I googled, Immanuelskyrkan Stockholm, had a whole set of webpages dedicated to their international ministry. This looked promising. And, it was! So, this morning I attended the 9:30 service at Immanuel Church in Stockholm. Compared to New Life, this service was more… traditional (I guess you could say… for instance, no fika in the middle of the service). I really enjoyed the music and also the diversity of people attending. One of the pastors, Jodi Fondell, came up after the service to introduce herself and welcome me to their church. After asking where I was from and telling her Lebanon, CT (never do I ever expect anyone to know where this is!), she knew Lebanon and has been here! She knows the pastor of the Lebanon Baptist Church and was their in the summer(?)!! Crazy, huh?! So that was a neat little connection. She is from southern California, and she and her husband came to Stockholm about 7 years ago – only planning on staying a year or two, but now have no plans of leaving. After talking with her for a bit, I enjoyed a tea and Swedish cinnamon roll (I always forget the name) with a bunch of other girls in the reception hall. Everyone was very welcoming and I am planning to go back next week as well. And, for the message, the main point I took away was this… when God calls us to listen to Him… listen means not only to listen, but to act! The Aramaic word used for listening also means to obey (the direct correlation is lost in English). Therefore, we must not only hear what is being said, but take this to heart, and act on that! God empowers us to work for Him and serve others – I think that is awesome!!
After church, I took the T-bana back to Slussen and ventured down to the water in hopes of catching a ferry over to Djurgården. Well, jumped on the ferry easy enough (really, it was super easy to find!), but then… ah, yes, again my impulsive nature of – let’s just go, let’s not make sure this is where I’m supposed to be going… well, I got off the ferry as soon as it stopped on an island. Even though I read that we were stopping at Skeppsholmen, it didn’t quite register. Instead of going right to Djurgården, I made a slight detour – but it turned out great because I went to the Moderna Museet. It’s Stockholm’s Museum of Modern Art. Another superb collection of art. Very much enjoyable. Glad I got off the ferry. Then, after seeing this museum I got back on the ferry – now for sure to Djurgården.
Once reaching my original destination, the first attraction I came upon was Gröna Lund. I think I was supposed to pay to get in, but there was no one there when I walked in, so I just went in. Anyway, Gröna Lund is a mix of amusement park rides (there year round), carnival games, food, and Christmas market stands. There were a million kids there riding the rides and playing the games. There was a skating rink and the entire park was decorated for Christmas. I heard my first Christmas carols, as well. I tried to win a gigantic Swedish chocolate candy bar to bring back to share with everyone for Christmas, but my game card didn’t win. Sorry. I tried. For those people who had lucky tickets though, it was funny to watch them carry this huge – probably a meter long – candy bars around the park. I would have looked really funny too!
After walking around the park for some time, I explored a little more around the island. I didn’t go crazy far, but I was able to locate many of the museums I must come back and enjoy. Since I had already been to the MoMA and Gröna Lund today, I decided I would save the other museums to have their own full day of exploration. Instead of taking the ferry back, I had already walked a good bit already, so I just continued walking towards the Kungsgaten area. Bridges connect all the islands close to shore here, so you can actually walk most places if you really wanted to. At Kungsgaten I enjoyed walking through another Christmas market. I tried some more reindeer or moose or perhaps some other types of meat of which I don’t really know what I’m eating since the guys at the stand speak to me in Swedish unless I say otherwise. I did pick up a little Advent calendar with chocolates inside to give to Erin. I was telling her about these and she never had one before. It’ll be a good way for her to count down until our trips home… she can’t wait to be back in the States for a little bit (me too really, with all the Christmas spirit here… it just makes me want to be with family and share time together!).
It’s been a really nice weekend. It was so terrific to have Meagen and Deac visit. The game went well enough. Church was good this morning. And, I’ve had a fun time exploring for the rest of today. Might meet up with Erin later to watch a football game at O’Leary’s or I might just chill and watch a movie or read. Think I might go try to find a pizza place that might still be open, since I don’t really want to cook ; )
Have a great last week in November! Can you believe it’s almost December?! I can’t believe I’ve been living in Stockholm for more than a month. Oh, and stay tuned for pictures from today... they will be coming soon.
25 November 2006
Thankful
November 23, 2006 11:32pm
Thankful for Family
Happy Thanksgiving! Did you have a good one? Are you full yet from eating left-over turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pies?! I had pasta and meatballs for dinner on Thanksgiving; perhaps you can save me a Thanksgiving meal in the freezer ;) Even though I didn’t have any turkey, I did celebrate the day with family! How special : )
I am so thankful Deac and Meagen decided to spend the holiday weekend over here in Stockholm. It’s been absolutely wonderful to get to share today with them, and I’m very much looking forward to more adventures in the next couple days that they are here.
I met up with them at their hotel this afternoon, and we headed out to find a place to eat. We ate at a little café – it wasn’t the best, but good enough… I wish I had taken more time to research the best places, but I tent to wonder around quite aimlessly through the city, instead of having a detailed agenda of places “not to miss” (doesn’t make for a very good tour guide!). After eating, we just decided that we’d walk around a bit… a walk is always nice after a big meal (Grammie, did you get to walk the Green last night after dinner?). It was a bit rainy out, but still very beautiful. We walked through Kungsgaten, viewed Gamla Stan and the Royal Palace from across the water, and spent some time strolling about the National Museum (there’s my museum for this week, I’m still on track with my goal of one per week!). The building that houses the National Museum is just about as impressive as the many works of art within it. The building is gigantic, elaborately decorated, and dominated on the inside by very high ceilings, huge mural paintings on the walls, and commanding while marble steps that go up at least three floors. There is art and furniture from all over Europe and one of the exhibits details the history of Swedish (or perhaps Scandinavian) design since the 1600s. Once outside the museum, we crossed a little foot bridge and walked onto another island – Skeppsholmen. We hiked some stairs to this circular building that turned out to be a church, but other than that we didn’t too stay too long here because it was quite dark by now, a little rainy still, and I guess we were all getting a little tired (I was so impressed Meagen and Deac were up for exploring given that they had basically been awake all night with their flight here). Tomorrow they are going to do some exploring on their own, as I have practice in the morning, will run into lab in the afternoon, and then practice again in the evening. I think we’re going to meet up tomorrow evening though. It’s SO great to have visitors : )
Lab Update
I couldn’t stop smiling today as I held a pipetter in my hand and diluted a stock solution of primers in order to run a PCR reaction. Oh, being back in the lab. It really does make me happy. Yesterday when I was there, I had to go through a more official tour, work through a checklist of safety items, get my picture taken for my ID badge, and fill out some more paperwork. I did get to plate some bacteria onto some blood plates. That was new for me! I was supposed to look at the colonies I grew today, but plans changed a bit once I got to lab today. Ingrid, the like all-knowing mother of the lab, is teaching basic microbiology techniques. She is teaching me what I need to know about proper lab technique so that I can work with bacteria without infecting myself or anyone else. She’s super sweet. Today she had a dentist appointment though, so I was more on my own for a while – just meaning that I read some papers. I have my own desk and computer though, so that’s very generous. I was prepared to be seated in the lunchroom or even in the corner of a conference room or something. So, anyway, with Ingrid being gone at the dentist, I had time to set-up a PCR reaction. The experiment I’m starting in on is kind of complicated to explain in a simple way, but basically the very short of it is that I’m working with the bacteria that causes pneumonia and contributing to research about how the pili (long, finger-like, feeler appendages attached to the bacteria cell wall) are assembled. If the way in which pili assemblage is better understood, there is potential to incorporate some of this knowledge into developing vaccines. Anyway, I actually did a bit of benchwork all on my own today and it surprised me how much I missed it. I really was having fun just being in the lab! Tomorrow I will run my PCR product on a gel to see if I successfully amplified my product. I hope it works. Good night!
November 24, 2006 11:55pm
Wonderfully busy Friday! Shooting practice this morning, into lab all afternoon, team practice again this evening, and then out to a very nice dinner with Deac and Meagen tonight. Big game tomorrow against Sunsdvall Saints (two former Michigan State players on their team). In practice today, we actually went over a bit of a scouting report. Impressive. Time for a good night sleep now. God natt. Sov gott.
Thankful for Family
Happy Thanksgiving! Did you have a good one? Are you full yet from eating left-over turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and pies?! I had pasta and meatballs for dinner on Thanksgiving; perhaps you can save me a Thanksgiving meal in the freezer ;) Even though I didn’t have any turkey, I did celebrate the day with family! How special : )
I am so thankful Deac and Meagen decided to spend the holiday weekend over here in Stockholm. It’s been absolutely wonderful to get to share today with them, and I’m very much looking forward to more adventures in the next couple days that they are here.
I met up with them at their hotel this afternoon, and we headed out to find a place to eat. We ate at a little café – it wasn’t the best, but good enough… I wish I had taken more time to research the best places, but I tent to wonder around quite aimlessly through the city, instead of having a detailed agenda of places “not to miss” (doesn’t make for a very good tour guide!). After eating, we just decided that we’d walk around a bit… a walk is always nice after a big meal (Grammie, did you get to walk the Green last night after dinner?). It was a bit rainy out, but still very beautiful. We walked through Kungsgaten, viewed Gamla Stan and the Royal Palace from across the water, and spent some time strolling about the National Museum (there’s my museum for this week, I’m still on track with my goal of one per week!). The building that houses the National Museum is just about as impressive as the many works of art within it. The building is gigantic, elaborately decorated, and dominated on the inside by very high ceilings, huge mural paintings on the walls, and commanding while marble steps that go up at least three floors. There is art and furniture from all over Europe and one of the exhibits details the history of Swedish (or perhaps Scandinavian) design since the 1600s. Once outside the museum, we crossed a little foot bridge and walked onto another island – Skeppsholmen. We hiked some stairs to this circular building that turned out to be a church, but other than that we didn’t too stay too long here because it was quite dark by now, a little rainy still, and I guess we were all getting a little tired (I was so impressed Meagen and Deac were up for exploring given that they had basically been awake all night with their flight here). Tomorrow they are going to do some exploring on their own, as I have practice in the morning, will run into lab in the afternoon, and then practice again in the evening. I think we’re going to meet up tomorrow evening though. It’s SO great to have visitors : )
Lab Update
I couldn’t stop smiling today as I held a pipetter in my hand and diluted a stock solution of primers in order to run a PCR reaction. Oh, being back in the lab. It really does make me happy. Yesterday when I was there, I had to go through a more official tour, work through a checklist of safety items, get my picture taken for my ID badge, and fill out some more paperwork. I did get to plate some bacteria onto some blood plates. That was new for me! I was supposed to look at the colonies I grew today, but plans changed a bit once I got to lab today. Ingrid, the like all-knowing mother of the lab, is teaching basic microbiology techniques. She is teaching me what I need to know about proper lab technique so that I can work with bacteria without infecting myself or anyone else. She’s super sweet. Today she had a dentist appointment though, so I was more on my own for a while – just meaning that I read some papers. I have my own desk and computer though, so that’s very generous. I was prepared to be seated in the lunchroom or even in the corner of a conference room or something. So, anyway, with Ingrid being gone at the dentist, I had time to set-up a PCR reaction. The experiment I’m starting in on is kind of complicated to explain in a simple way, but basically the very short of it is that I’m working with the bacteria that causes pneumonia and contributing to research about how the pili (long, finger-like, feeler appendages attached to the bacteria cell wall) are assembled. If the way in which pili assemblage is better understood, there is potential to incorporate some of this knowledge into developing vaccines. Anyway, I actually did a bit of benchwork all on my own today and it surprised me how much I missed it. I really was having fun just being in the lab! Tomorrow I will run my PCR product on a gel to see if I successfully amplified my product. I hope it works. Good night!
November 24, 2006 11:55pm
Wonderfully busy Friday! Shooting practice this morning, into lab all afternoon, team practice again this evening, and then out to a very nice dinner with Deac and Meagen tonight. Big game tomorrow against Sunsdvall Saints (two former Michigan State players on their team). In practice today, we actually went over a bit of a scouting report. Impressive. Time for a good night sleep now. God natt. Sov gott.
22 November 2006
Checking In
November 22, 2006 12:16am
I’ve been not so diligent lately about blogging in a timely fashion. Oops. Sorry. At least I posted some pictures : ) Did you like the ones of my stitches? Perhaps I already shared this… but if I did already, oh well cause I think it’s pretty fun, but I took my own stitches out. That was cool!
So I think I haven’t been writing so much lately because I’m so addicted to reading. All through college I barely had anytime to read for leisure… so now that I don’t have any classes and therefore no lengthy reading assignments, I have more time just to read! I feel like I’m on vacation (the reading bit, at least). Last week I finished “The Short Day Dying” by Peter Hobbs. Then over the weekend I read “Abide with Me” by Elizabeth Strout. Currently, I’m reading “Memoir of a Geisha.” I can’t put it down! Do you have any good reads you can recommend for me? I’d love to know what your favorites are… chances are high that I haven’t read them. I really would like your suggestions, and then – when I’m reading the book, I could think of you too! Perfect.
Of course, outside of my reading world, I’ve had a pretty exciting week too. On Monday afternoon I met up with Aaron at the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. It’s a government facility, on the campus of Karolinska and also directly attached to the university; therefore, I had to bring my passport and get a badge in order to enter the building. Aaron gave me a tour of the lab and then I had the chance to sit down and meet with the heads of the lab – Brigitta and Steffan Normark. They travel all over the world to conferences and meetings, so the odds of actually getting to sit down and talk with them was very exciting to me. Both were very enthusiastic about my desire to be involved in their lab. Brigitta was very helpful in wanting to get me started right away, if I so pleased. That being said – I start learning a bunch of new techniques in the lab… tomorrow morning!! (well, more accurately, in about 8 hours or so – but I’m so excited to do that and with the book I’m reading, I’m just not falling asleep yet). In total, the lab has about 25 people in it. Monday afternoon is the weekly lab-wide meeting, so I was invited to attend, asked to introduce myself to everyone there, and also meet everybody as well. I hope I remember at least some of their names tomorrow!
Monday night, instead of practice, we had a workout at Klubb Activs (the fitness club). Yes, we boxed! And yes, it was fun again!
Today I had morning shooting practice, ate lunch at the club cafeteria, talked a bit on skype (if I didn’t talk to you and you want to talk to me, get an account and contact me!), read some more, installed curtain rods (finally!), hung up my green bug light (it’s not for keeping bugs away, rather its shaped like a bug – I love it!!), and had practice tonight. Pretty good day… oh, and I’ve been talking to more and more people who might come and visit me here. That makes me very happy. First two visitors on Turkey Day. Yippee!!
Now, back to Geisha or to bed?? Hmmmm.
I’ve been not so diligent lately about blogging in a timely fashion. Oops. Sorry. At least I posted some pictures : ) Did you like the ones of my stitches? Perhaps I already shared this… but if I did already, oh well cause I think it’s pretty fun, but I took my own stitches out. That was cool!
So I think I haven’t been writing so much lately because I’m so addicted to reading. All through college I barely had anytime to read for leisure… so now that I don’t have any classes and therefore no lengthy reading assignments, I have more time just to read! I feel like I’m on vacation (the reading bit, at least). Last week I finished “The Short Day Dying” by Peter Hobbs. Then over the weekend I read “Abide with Me” by Elizabeth Strout. Currently, I’m reading “Memoir of a Geisha.” I can’t put it down! Do you have any good reads you can recommend for me? I’d love to know what your favorites are… chances are high that I haven’t read them. I really would like your suggestions, and then – when I’m reading the book, I could think of you too! Perfect.
Of course, outside of my reading world, I’ve had a pretty exciting week too. On Monday afternoon I met up with Aaron at the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control. It’s a government facility, on the campus of Karolinska and also directly attached to the university; therefore, I had to bring my passport and get a badge in order to enter the building. Aaron gave me a tour of the lab and then I had the chance to sit down and meet with the heads of the lab – Brigitta and Steffan Normark. They travel all over the world to conferences and meetings, so the odds of actually getting to sit down and talk with them was very exciting to me. Both were very enthusiastic about my desire to be involved in their lab. Brigitta was very helpful in wanting to get me started right away, if I so pleased. That being said – I start learning a bunch of new techniques in the lab… tomorrow morning!! (well, more accurately, in about 8 hours or so – but I’m so excited to do that and with the book I’m reading, I’m just not falling asleep yet). In total, the lab has about 25 people in it. Monday afternoon is the weekly lab-wide meeting, so I was invited to attend, asked to introduce myself to everyone there, and also meet everybody as well. I hope I remember at least some of their names tomorrow!
Monday night, instead of practice, we had a workout at Klubb Activs (the fitness club). Yes, we boxed! And yes, it was fun again!
Today I had morning shooting practice, ate lunch at the club cafeteria, talked a bit on skype (if I didn’t talk to you and you want to talk to me, get an account and contact me!), read some more, installed curtain rods (finally!), hung up my green bug light (it’s not for keeping bugs away, rather its shaped like a bug – I love it!!), and had practice tonight. Pretty good day… oh, and I’ve been talking to more and more people who might come and visit me here. That makes me very happy. First two visitors on Turkey Day. Yippee!!
Now, back to Geisha or to bed?? Hmmmm.
21 November 2006
Pics: Scarface
These are pictures from the day I got my stitches. Don't I look tough :)
08stockholm.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AaMnDZi2ZtmM6
08stockholm.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AaMnDZi2ZtmM6
19 November 2006
Pics: Trip North
A few pictures from our trip up north:
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08stockholm.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AaMnDZi2ZtmMY
Lulea Upset!
November 19, 2006 10:33pm
We won – upset the only undefeated team in the league on their home court!!
Home now after being gone just for about 12 hours, but I feel like I’ve been gone sooo much longer!
The journey… met up this morning at 10:30 with Erin, Emma, and Giovanna to drive about 45 mins to Arlanda. Our flight to Lulea left from the airport at noon and was only supposed to be an hour-or-so flight (out game was at 4pm). However, as we were up in the air and on our way there, the pilot came over the speaker system and told us that we were unable to land in Lulea because of too much fog. Lulea is about far north as you can fly and still be in Sweden. I guess at this time of year, when the lakes haven’t completely frozen over yet, there is dense ground fog. We landed in Skellefteå – a 2-hour bus ride from Lulea – instead. We ate our pregame meal in the airport in Skellefteå, then drove to the game on buses provided by the airline (so there were a bunch of other passengers from the flight on the bus with us too).
The other team was pleasant enough to delay the game until 4:30. We had 20 minutes of warm-up time and then tip-off! We played well enough to win – nothing spectacular on our end. Erin did a really good job of getting to the free throw line in the last quarter and the whole team played pretty good defense (against a team who normally scores many more points than the 60 or so points we gave up). I didn’t shoot great, so that wasn’t too hot. They were a really physical team, so it’s real helpful (and challenging too!) to try to play against that kind of team. They would even push your hands on your jump shot and call no fouls… I guess if you can make a shot while someone is fouling you, even better for you! It was a really terrific win though. Did I say that Lulea was undefeated… not anymore! We were even on Swedish tv (the highlight reel : ), so we heard. Oh, our trip home was thankfully uneventful aside from a very minor delay out if the Lulea airport.
Famous guy sighting: on the plane ride up north, there was a really famous Swedish guy on the flight. We got a picture with him (see my entry above for the link). Lasse Berghagen is a really really famous, influential, and super-well-known musician in Sweden. Even though Erin and I didn’t know who he was, it still seemed pretty cool – especially since many of my teammates were “freaking out” to see him and get our picture taken with him : ) One of them said it would be like us, in the U.S., seeing Dolly Parton, or something like that.
Tomorrow we don’t have shooting practice, but will be working out at night in the fitness club (aeroboxing and strength training most likely will be the agenda for the evening). In the afternoon, I’m hoping to head to Karolinska to meet up with more members of the lab.
Have a great week! Short one?! Right? With Thanksgiving coming up? Let me know what your plans are for Thanksgiving. I can live it vicariously through all of your turkey-eating : )
We won – upset the only undefeated team in the league on their home court!!
Home now after being gone just for about 12 hours, but I feel like I’ve been gone sooo much longer!
The journey… met up this morning at 10:30 with Erin, Emma, and Giovanna to drive about 45 mins to Arlanda. Our flight to Lulea left from the airport at noon and was only supposed to be an hour-or-so flight (out game was at 4pm). However, as we were up in the air and on our way there, the pilot came over the speaker system and told us that we were unable to land in Lulea because of too much fog. Lulea is about far north as you can fly and still be in Sweden. I guess at this time of year, when the lakes haven’t completely frozen over yet, there is dense ground fog. We landed in Skellefteå – a 2-hour bus ride from Lulea – instead. We ate our pregame meal in the airport in Skellefteå, then drove to the game on buses provided by the airline (so there were a bunch of other passengers from the flight on the bus with us too).
The other team was pleasant enough to delay the game until 4:30. We had 20 minutes of warm-up time and then tip-off! We played well enough to win – nothing spectacular on our end. Erin did a really good job of getting to the free throw line in the last quarter and the whole team played pretty good defense (against a team who normally scores many more points than the 60 or so points we gave up). I didn’t shoot great, so that wasn’t too hot. They were a really physical team, so it’s real helpful (and challenging too!) to try to play against that kind of team. They would even push your hands on your jump shot and call no fouls… I guess if you can make a shot while someone is fouling you, even better for you! It was a really terrific win though. Did I say that Lulea was undefeated… not anymore! We were even on Swedish tv (the highlight reel : ), so we heard. Oh, our trip home was thankfully uneventful aside from a very minor delay out if the Lulea airport.
Famous guy sighting: on the plane ride up north, there was a really famous Swedish guy on the flight. We got a picture with him (see my entry above for the link). Lasse Berghagen is a really really famous, influential, and super-well-known musician in Sweden. Even though Erin and I didn’t know who he was, it still seemed pretty cool – especially since many of my teammates were “freaking out” to see him and get our picture taken with him : ) One of them said it would be like us, in the U.S., seeing Dolly Parton, or something like that.
Tomorrow we don’t have shooting practice, but will be working out at night in the fitness club (aeroboxing and strength training most likely will be the agenda for the evening). In the afternoon, I’m hoping to head to Karolinska to meet up with more members of the lab.
Have a great week! Short one?! Right? With Thanksgiving coming up? Let me know what your plans are for Thanksgiving. I can live it vicariously through all of your turkey-eating : )
18 November 2006
Gametracker
My games, live!
Did you ever use Gametracker to follow my Stanford games online? Well, there is something similar with which you can use to follow my games here too! Cool, huh? I think so : ) It’s free and I’m pretty sure it might be in English… well, not so sure about the English, but at least numbers are numbers, and names are names, so that part won’t be so confusing. Here’s how you do it:
(1) Go to www.basket.se
(2) Look for a picture of a scoreboard in the column of pictures on the right-hand side of the page
(3) Click on the scoreboard
(4) Look for the “damligan” scores (that’s the women’s league) – last time I checked, these score were on the right-hand side
(5) Click on the scoreboard that says something like “08 Stockholm HR”
I hope it works for you. If not, let me know and I will try to help you. Also, I’m pretty sure you can watch the game live or go here even if the game is over to get a game summary. We’re six hours ahead of you on the east coast, and – obviously then – nine hours ahead of you west-coasters. Let me know if it works out okay for you. Enjoy!
Did you ever use Gametracker to follow my Stanford games online? Well, there is something similar with which you can use to follow my games here too! Cool, huh? I think so : ) It’s free and I’m pretty sure it might be in English… well, not so sure about the English, but at least numbers are numbers, and names are names, so that part won’t be so confusing. Here’s how you do it:
(1) Go to www.basket.se
(2) Look for a picture of a scoreboard in the column of pictures on the right-hand side of the page
(3) Click on the scoreboard
(4) Look for the “damligan” scores (that’s the women’s league) – last time I checked, these score were on the right-hand side
(5) Click on the scoreboard that says something like “08 Stockholm HR”
I hope it works for you. If not, let me know and I will try to help you. Also, I’m pretty sure you can watch the game live or go here even if the game is over to get a game summary. We’re six hours ahead of you on the east coast, and – obviously then – nine hours ahead of you west-coasters. Let me know if it works out okay for you. Enjoy!
saturday
November 18, 2006 7:12pm
Well, I didn’t get yarn and needles today; but, we did make it to the store. Only problem… today is Saturday and the store is only open Monday thru Friday. There’s always next week.
I had lunch today with Lily… she’s a Canadian I met at church last weekend who is here in Stockholm for 6 months on a project with Ericsson. When we met last week, we thought it would be fun to meet up again and take some time to get to know each other a little better. She’s pretty busy with work during the week, so meeting up this afternoon seemed perfect. We walked around Slussen a bit, and then ended up eating at this terrific little café that I might never have wondered into had we not just been strolling about. It’s really great just to stroll, you know?! People are always walking so fast with such a mission all the time. We all know this, and yet we don’t slow down. Well, try it some day. Just slow down : )
Lily reads all the travel guides – well, especially the LonelyPlanet Guide to Stockholm. It’s great… cause she knows about all these terrific little places to find good sushi, yummy seafood soup, and other fun little stops. She normally works in Montreal, but took on this assignment here for half a year. She’s already been away to Paris for a weekend and she has a bunch more trips planned during her time here. She loves to travel! And, I love to hear about her stories! It’s cool to find someone else who also loves to do new things and experience new places. I’m happy we met. We’ll probably hang out again sometime, explore some other place. That would be fun.
This afternoon I made it to the Stockholm Tourist Info Center… this time to buy this “culture card.” Most tourists buy the Stockholm Card which provides transportation to and entry into many museums throughout the Stockholm area; however, the card is only valid for 1 – 3 days (depending on what you buy). The card I bought today allows for discounted entry into many museums throughout Sweden and is valid until May. Perfect.
I then ventured into the Gallerian to hit up the frozen yogurt place. I love froyo, if you know me then you know that, and I haven’t had any since being here. Well, worked out great because I bought a cup of froyo (chocolate and pistachio), sat down on a bench, and pulled out my laptop just for kicks to see if there was a wireless connection. Yup, I was connected!
I tried to talk to my dad on skype, but he wasn’t there. However, the Klenows were. Yay! And, I started chatting with Christine and Pete just in time… in a few hours from when I was chatting with them (probably right about now!) Christine was going in to the hospital to have her little baby girl!! Yay!!!! I’m so excited for them!! I can’t wait to see pictures of Zuzu… that’s what everyone calls her right now, but not for too much longer – soon everyone will know her real name : ) Anyway, congrats to Pete, Christine, and Quinn. Welcome Zuzu!!
This evening will be pretty chill. I just watched the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy (another good one, actually really good one, of course!). Now I’ll probably read some, maybe fill out my application for Barretstown, and maybe find something else to occupy some time with before I get a good night sleep (hopefully). I haven’t been sleeping great, but I think that’s cause I’ve been getting so much of it (sleep!). I don’t think I’ve ever had so much time to sleep in my life, but who knows – maybe that will change soon… I’m currently planning on attending the lab meeting on Monday and maybe soon I will get to spend more and more time doing research too!
Enjoy your weekend!
Well, I didn’t get yarn and needles today; but, we did make it to the store. Only problem… today is Saturday and the store is only open Monday thru Friday. There’s always next week.
I had lunch today with Lily… she’s a Canadian I met at church last weekend who is here in Stockholm for 6 months on a project with Ericsson. When we met last week, we thought it would be fun to meet up again and take some time to get to know each other a little better. She’s pretty busy with work during the week, so meeting up this afternoon seemed perfect. We walked around Slussen a bit, and then ended up eating at this terrific little café that I might never have wondered into had we not just been strolling about. It’s really great just to stroll, you know?! People are always walking so fast with such a mission all the time. We all know this, and yet we don’t slow down. Well, try it some day. Just slow down : )
Lily reads all the travel guides – well, especially the LonelyPlanet Guide to Stockholm. It’s great… cause she knows about all these terrific little places to find good sushi, yummy seafood soup, and other fun little stops. She normally works in Montreal, but took on this assignment here for half a year. She’s already been away to Paris for a weekend and she has a bunch more trips planned during her time here. She loves to travel! And, I love to hear about her stories! It’s cool to find someone else who also loves to do new things and experience new places. I’m happy we met. We’ll probably hang out again sometime, explore some other place. That would be fun.
This afternoon I made it to the Stockholm Tourist Info Center… this time to buy this “culture card.” Most tourists buy the Stockholm Card which provides transportation to and entry into many museums throughout the Stockholm area; however, the card is only valid for 1 – 3 days (depending on what you buy). The card I bought today allows for discounted entry into many museums throughout Sweden and is valid until May. Perfect.
I then ventured into the Gallerian to hit up the frozen yogurt place. I love froyo, if you know me then you know that, and I haven’t had any since being here. Well, worked out great because I bought a cup of froyo (chocolate and pistachio), sat down on a bench, and pulled out my laptop just for kicks to see if there was a wireless connection. Yup, I was connected!
I tried to talk to my dad on skype, but he wasn’t there. However, the Klenows were. Yay! And, I started chatting with Christine and Pete just in time… in a few hours from when I was chatting with them (probably right about now!) Christine was going in to the hospital to have her little baby girl!! Yay!!!! I’m so excited for them!! I can’t wait to see pictures of Zuzu… that’s what everyone calls her right now, but not for too much longer – soon everyone will know her real name : ) Anyway, congrats to Pete, Christine, and Quinn. Welcome Zuzu!!
This evening will be pretty chill. I just watched the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy (another good one, actually really good one, of course!). Now I’ll probably read some, maybe fill out my application for Barretstown, and maybe find something else to occupy some time with before I get a good night sleep (hopefully). I haven’t been sleeping great, but I think that’s cause I’ve been getting so much of it (sleep!). I don’t think I’ve ever had so much time to sleep in my life, but who knows – maybe that will change soon… I’m currently planning on attending the lab meeting on Monday and maybe soon I will get to spend more and more time doing research too!
Enjoy your weekend!
reading
November 17, 2006 10:19pm
Trying to get on the internet; sitting outside right now avoiding raindrops. My usual spot is not working so well. I really hope I get a connection in my internet soon.
Today we had shooting practice. We (Jenny, Erin, and I) basically ran it by ourselves (instead of Anders because he couldn’t make it on time) and it was lots of fun that way. After practice, I hung out in the café, drank some chai tea, and read a paper that Aaron sent to me entitled “Pili in gram positive pathogens.” It was a review article published this summer about the subject on which the lab I might be helping in does their research. I actually understood much more of the article than I expected too. I had such a fun time reading it. It’s great to be reading academic pieces (with a specific purpose) again! I also just finished reading the fiction book I borrowed from the Stockholm City Library.
Tonight we had practice and then went to watch the Solna men’s game (Jenny’s boyfriend plays on the team). Tomorrow I’m meeting up for lunch with a girl I met at church. After that, hopefully, I am going to look for some yarn and needles with Jasmina so I can start knitting again. Bye for now.
Trying to get on the internet; sitting outside right now avoiding raindrops. My usual spot is not working so well. I really hope I get a connection in my internet soon.
Today we had shooting practice. We (Jenny, Erin, and I) basically ran it by ourselves (instead of Anders because he couldn’t make it on time) and it was lots of fun that way. After practice, I hung out in the café, drank some chai tea, and read a paper that Aaron sent to me entitled “Pili in gram positive pathogens.” It was a review article published this summer about the subject on which the lab I might be helping in does their research. I actually understood much more of the article than I expected too. I had such a fun time reading it. It’s great to be reading academic pieces (with a specific purpose) again! I also just finished reading the fiction book I borrowed from the Stockholm City Library.
Tonight we had practice and then went to watch the Solna men’s game (Jenny’s boyfriend plays on the team). Tomorrow I’m meeting up for lunch with a girl I met at church. After that, hopefully, I am going to look for some yarn and needles with Jasmina so I can start knitting again. Bye for now.
17 November 2006
research?
November 16, 2006 11:19pm
Had a pretty relaxing day-off today… well relaxing, yet very exciting too! First to sum up yesterday: didn’t have shooting practice in the morning, so Jas and I decided to do an aeroboxing class at the fitness club. I don’t know how many of you have boxed before – but it’s fun and it’s hard! The club provides the gloves and pads, though every time I wear them I’m reminded of the stench of my kneepads (when I used to wear them). Everybody in the club has access to the gloves (some people bring their own), but most people just borrow them every class. Um yum… lots of sweat all mixing together creates for a wonderful perfume. Really though, the boxing is great. I think everyone should try it!
After boxing, Jas came back to my apt with me and… surprise!... I opened my door to mail!! Yay! My first mail here in Sweden! I had a letter and a note saying that I needed to go pick up a package. Thanks, Grammie, for the Happy Thanksgiving card. It’s displayed nicely in my kitchen… and, no, just as you suggested, they do not celebrate thanksgiving here. Then… to get my package, I had to go to the address on the slip of paper that was stuck in my mail slot. It was super helpful that Jas was with me because she showed me to where the package would be. There aren’t that many post offices, so for instance, my box was being held at a convenience/tobacco store. Laura sent me cookies!! She and her mom baked them and they are totally delicious!! I’ve almost finished all of them (with a little help from my teammates). Perfect with a tall glass of milk. Grammie and Laura… thank you SO much!! You don’t even know how excited I was to get mail. I am absolutely appreciative of your efforts to send me mail! Plus, it’s pretty cool when you think of the path the mail takes to get here – I mean, those cookies came all the way from a kitchen in Menlo Park, California to my little apartment in the city of Stockholm. That’s amazing!
Did some laundry yesterday afternoon (I’m still doing my laundry with the machines at the club because I don’t know how to work the ones in my apartment), had a good practice, and went to bed at a reasonable hour because…
I met for morning coffee with a postdoc from Karolinska who offered to talk to me about the research in his lab and about the potential for me to do research there!! I was so excited to meet him, and now even more excited that there is a great probability that I really will be able to spend time in the lab. Aaron Nelson is an MD/PHD… he did some med school at Tufts, then PHD work at UPenn (where his wife completed her MD), and now is doing some post doctorate work for a year at Karolinska (he, his wife, and son – Raffi – don’t know if I’m spelling that right) are here in Stockholm for a year (which is up at the end of april). Currently, the lab he is working in is quite large and he has one student (about my level of study) that he is directly mentoring right now. That student is done at the end of December, and then it sounds like he has all the time I would need of him to help me if I wanted. When we met this morning, Aaron told me all about the lab, the research, what I could be doing, questioned me about what I wanted to be doing, discussed med school/being a doctor, life in Stockholm, living outside the U.S., and lots of other fun things. I think the best part was that he took the time to really explain to me about the research he does. He is a great teacher!! Plus, he really enjoys teaching. As we were sitting in the little coffee shop, he was drawing pictures and showing me slides from a powerpoint presentation on his mac. It was so much fun! Hopefully next week I will get to meet the heads of the entire lab (though they’re always traveling all over the world to conferences and I hope they’ll be back soon), perhaps too I will even go to the group lab meeting so that I can hear about all the projects everyone in the lab is doing. It was so good to be talking about science. So good. I mean of course I love basketball, but I love biology too! Yup, I’m a nerd (but, we already know that!). Anyway, I’m hopeful that pretty soon I might be able to spend a few afternoons every week doing research. : )
The café that Aaron and I met up in was off T-Odenplan… and yesterday when I was reading the paper, I saw an ad for a show store that was off this T-stop also. They supposedly were having a boot sale and I really have been wanting to get some cute boots! I figure I can treat myself to some cute shoes once in a while ;). I had the address of the store, but didn’t actually know how to get there. I asked a guy handing out newspapers by the T; he couldn’t tell me how to get there, but he brought me to another guy that could. Because of those two helpful guys, I was able to find the store pretty easily. I picked out a pair of boots and a pair of “going out” shoes… I mean, they’re just black heels to wear with jeans or a skirt, but I didn’t bring any with me and I’ve been wanting to get a pair anyhow, so it was perfect… that is, until I went to check-out… I didn’t know until I went to check out that they only except cash (is that sketchy? Oh, well. I liked the shoes a lot!). I couldn’t remember the pin number for my Swedish ATM card, so I has to go all the way home (like 5 stops or so on the T) to get the number. I bet the guys in the store didn’t think that I was coming back. I did though! The guys in the store were very helpful too when I was trying on the shoes, and kinda funny too… when I was trying on the boots, one guy was trying to make conversation and just be a friendly sales guy I guess… once people realize I’m from America, they always wonder where from. Then, the next question is most often “why are you in Stockholm?” Instead, this guy was slightly more specific… he wanted to know if I was here for “love or business.” Hehe. I thought that was pretty funny. Love? I asked. Definitely not. Guess it must be business… I’m playing basketball. Does that count?! Anyway, it was a fun little conversation. Come to find out, he has an 11-year-old daughter who likes basketball, so maybe they will come to one of our games. That would be fun! I just love meeting new people. Everyone is so different and interesting. Good times good times.
Tonight I watched the last two weeks’ epidsodes of Grey’s to prepare for the new one that comes out tonight. Now, I just have to wait until it comes up on the Apple Music store so that I can purchase it. It’s only $1.99 per episode… which is totally worth it to me. I’m addicted; we all know that… oh, well… it’s the only TV show I really watch. Don’t tell me what happens!
God natt.
Oh, last thought: I went to the library again today. I wanted to borrow some books and CDs that would help me learn Swedish. The beginner level of the “learn Swedish” set they had was taken out. Instead, I went to the children’s section of the library and asked where I would find books that Swedish kids who were just learning to read would start with. Now, I have a few “learn-to-read” Swedish books. My vocab is currently super tiny, but hopefully with these books, my dictionary, and some study time everyday… I just might be able to learn a few more words!
Good night for real now. Or good morning. Or, just: have a great day!!
Had a pretty relaxing day-off today… well relaxing, yet very exciting too! First to sum up yesterday: didn’t have shooting practice in the morning, so Jas and I decided to do an aeroboxing class at the fitness club. I don’t know how many of you have boxed before – but it’s fun and it’s hard! The club provides the gloves and pads, though every time I wear them I’m reminded of the stench of my kneepads (when I used to wear them). Everybody in the club has access to the gloves (some people bring their own), but most people just borrow them every class. Um yum… lots of sweat all mixing together creates for a wonderful perfume. Really though, the boxing is great. I think everyone should try it!
After boxing, Jas came back to my apt with me and… surprise!... I opened my door to mail!! Yay! My first mail here in Sweden! I had a letter and a note saying that I needed to go pick up a package. Thanks, Grammie, for the Happy Thanksgiving card. It’s displayed nicely in my kitchen… and, no, just as you suggested, they do not celebrate thanksgiving here. Then… to get my package, I had to go to the address on the slip of paper that was stuck in my mail slot. It was super helpful that Jas was with me because she showed me to where the package would be. There aren’t that many post offices, so for instance, my box was being held at a convenience/tobacco store. Laura sent me cookies!! She and her mom baked them and they are totally delicious!! I’ve almost finished all of them (with a little help from my teammates). Perfect with a tall glass of milk. Grammie and Laura… thank you SO much!! You don’t even know how excited I was to get mail. I am absolutely appreciative of your efforts to send me mail! Plus, it’s pretty cool when you think of the path the mail takes to get here – I mean, those cookies came all the way from a kitchen in Menlo Park, California to my little apartment in the city of Stockholm. That’s amazing!
Did some laundry yesterday afternoon (I’m still doing my laundry with the machines at the club because I don’t know how to work the ones in my apartment), had a good practice, and went to bed at a reasonable hour because…
I met for morning coffee with a postdoc from Karolinska who offered to talk to me about the research in his lab and about the potential for me to do research there!! I was so excited to meet him, and now even more excited that there is a great probability that I really will be able to spend time in the lab. Aaron Nelson is an MD/PHD… he did some med school at Tufts, then PHD work at UPenn (where his wife completed her MD), and now is doing some post doctorate work for a year at Karolinska (he, his wife, and son – Raffi – don’t know if I’m spelling that right) are here in Stockholm for a year (which is up at the end of april). Currently, the lab he is working in is quite large and he has one student (about my level of study) that he is directly mentoring right now. That student is done at the end of December, and then it sounds like he has all the time I would need of him to help me if I wanted. When we met this morning, Aaron told me all about the lab, the research, what I could be doing, questioned me about what I wanted to be doing, discussed med school/being a doctor, life in Stockholm, living outside the U.S., and lots of other fun things. I think the best part was that he took the time to really explain to me about the research he does. He is a great teacher!! Plus, he really enjoys teaching. As we were sitting in the little coffee shop, he was drawing pictures and showing me slides from a powerpoint presentation on his mac. It was so much fun! Hopefully next week I will get to meet the heads of the entire lab (though they’re always traveling all over the world to conferences and I hope they’ll be back soon), perhaps too I will even go to the group lab meeting so that I can hear about all the projects everyone in the lab is doing. It was so good to be talking about science. So good. I mean of course I love basketball, but I love biology too! Yup, I’m a nerd (but, we already know that!). Anyway, I’m hopeful that pretty soon I might be able to spend a few afternoons every week doing research. : )
The café that Aaron and I met up in was off T-Odenplan… and yesterday when I was reading the paper, I saw an ad for a show store that was off this T-stop also. They supposedly were having a boot sale and I really have been wanting to get some cute boots! I figure I can treat myself to some cute shoes once in a while ;). I had the address of the store, but didn’t actually know how to get there. I asked a guy handing out newspapers by the T; he couldn’t tell me how to get there, but he brought me to another guy that could. Because of those two helpful guys, I was able to find the store pretty easily. I picked out a pair of boots and a pair of “going out” shoes… I mean, they’re just black heels to wear with jeans or a skirt, but I didn’t bring any with me and I’ve been wanting to get a pair anyhow, so it was perfect… that is, until I went to check-out… I didn’t know until I went to check out that they only except cash (is that sketchy? Oh, well. I liked the shoes a lot!). I couldn’t remember the pin number for my Swedish ATM card, so I has to go all the way home (like 5 stops or so on the T) to get the number. I bet the guys in the store didn’t think that I was coming back. I did though! The guys in the store were very helpful too when I was trying on the shoes, and kinda funny too… when I was trying on the boots, one guy was trying to make conversation and just be a friendly sales guy I guess… once people realize I’m from America, they always wonder where from. Then, the next question is most often “why are you in Stockholm?” Instead, this guy was slightly more specific… he wanted to know if I was here for “love or business.” Hehe. I thought that was pretty funny. Love? I asked. Definitely not. Guess it must be business… I’m playing basketball. Does that count?! Anyway, it was a fun little conversation. Come to find out, he has an 11-year-old daughter who likes basketball, so maybe they will come to one of our games. That would be fun! I just love meeting new people. Everyone is so different and interesting. Good times good times.
Tonight I watched the last two weeks’ epidsodes of Grey’s to prepare for the new one that comes out tonight. Now, I just have to wait until it comes up on the Apple Music store so that I can purchase it. It’s only $1.99 per episode… which is totally worth it to me. I’m addicted; we all know that… oh, well… it’s the only TV show I really watch. Don’t tell me what happens!
God natt.
Oh, last thought: I went to the library again today. I wanted to borrow some books and CDs that would help me learn Swedish. The beginner level of the “learn Swedish” set they had was taken out. Instead, I went to the children’s section of the library and asked where I would find books that Swedish kids who were just learning to read would start with. Now, I have a few “learn-to-read” Swedish books. My vocab is currently super tiny, but hopefully with these books, my dictionary, and some study time everyday… I just might be able to learn a few more words!
Good night for real now. Or good morning. Or, just: have a great day!!
16 November 2006
A few more pics
Our locker room, Erin and I in our uniforms, some fun times with our teammates...
08stockholm.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AaMnDZi2ZtmMJ
08stockholm.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AaMnDZi2ZtmMJ
15 November 2006
Win v. Brahe
November 14, 2006 11:33pm
Win v. Brahe
We won our game tonight by about 20 points. It was against Brahe Basket – they had a couple Americans, but I didn’t know of either of them – their team was ok, but definitely among the weaker of the teams we’ve played. Our first half was terrific… we had lots of transition baskets, offensive rebounds, and pretty intense defense. We didn’t come out so strong in the second half, but we still managed to do well enough to win by an ok margin. Agga – our 36-year-old post player – had 18 pts and 19 boards! I was excited for her to have such a good game. Emma did well running. Catie, one of the younger girls, got a chance to play more minutes than normal, so that was good too. I don’t know how many fans were in attendance, but there were definitely a lot of excited little girls. They all came up for autographs after… we mostly sign paper and shirts, but afew of the girls have us sign their arms – hehe. Hopefully they won’t get ink poisoning (i think they will be ok ;) ). We have practice tomorrow; I imagine it could be and should be pretty challenging.
After the game tonight, Erin and I went out with Lauren for pizza. I think I already mentioned this, but the pizza here is way better than at home (well, at least I think so). I had tuna, olives, and onions tonight on a super thin crust. The pizza place was by Lauren’s apartment, so it was good to see a different part of the city.
Nothing much more happened today, except for shoot around this morning and a good nap this afternoon. Oh, just a random detail that doesn’t matter much… I thought I had booked my ticket to come home, but today I received some email (in Swedish) from the company I booked the flight through. Good thing I asked someone to read me the email – the company couldn’t confirm my credit card info, so I really never booked it. That would have been a total bummer if I ignored the email, thought I had booked the ticket, and then tried to fly home with no success! So today I made another booking and then called on my cell to pay the bill. I hope it worked this time!!
Win v. Brahe
We won our game tonight by about 20 points. It was against Brahe Basket – they had a couple Americans, but I didn’t know of either of them – their team was ok, but definitely among the weaker of the teams we’ve played. Our first half was terrific… we had lots of transition baskets, offensive rebounds, and pretty intense defense. We didn’t come out so strong in the second half, but we still managed to do well enough to win by an ok margin. Agga – our 36-year-old post player – had 18 pts and 19 boards! I was excited for her to have such a good game. Emma did well running. Catie, one of the younger girls, got a chance to play more minutes than normal, so that was good too. I don’t know how many fans were in attendance, but there were definitely a lot of excited little girls. They all came up for autographs after… we mostly sign paper and shirts, but afew of the girls have us sign their arms – hehe. Hopefully they won’t get ink poisoning (i think they will be ok ;) ). We have practice tomorrow; I imagine it could be and should be pretty challenging.
After the game tonight, Erin and I went out with Lauren for pizza. I think I already mentioned this, but the pizza here is way better than at home (well, at least I think so). I had tuna, olives, and onions tonight on a super thin crust. The pizza place was by Lauren’s apartment, so it was good to see a different part of the city.
Nothing much more happened today, except for shoot around this morning and a good nap this afternoon. Oh, just a random detail that doesn’t matter much… I thought I had booked my ticket to come home, but today I received some email (in Swedish) from the company I booked the flight through. Good thing I asked someone to read me the email – the company couldn’t confirm my credit card info, so I really never booked it. That would have been a total bummer if I ignored the email, thought I had booked the ticket, and then tried to fly home with no success! So today I made another booking and then called on my cell to pay the bill. I hope it worked this time!!
Kungl. Myntkabinettet
November 13, 2006 11:00pm
Kungl. Myntkabinettet
Yay! Game tomorrow! Better get to bed soon : ) Eat right, drink right, sleep right. Mom, right?! I love you!! (and you are totally and completely right about good game prep and pretty much everything else you’ve ever taught me) Anyway, practice was really good tonight. During our team meeting on Saturday, we all decided we wanted practice to be harder, to more game like, and for the coaches to be more demanding of us. Anders and Putte did a great job today of really pushing us, getting more upset than usual (which is good!), and encouraging us to play at a higher level of team ball. Hopefully we’ll be more ready to go tomorrow for the game than we were last week when we played Solna. I feel confident that we’ll be ready. Plus, some of us are going to have a pregame shoot-around tomorrow morning… good thing; I really want to get some shots up!
Before practice tonight, Anders asked Erin and I to come a bit earlier so that we could help coach some middle school girls for an hour or so. We did some ball handling drills (I always think of you, Al Clark!) and some full court drills too. I guess it’s probably pretty fun for them to have a couple of Americans coach them every once in a while.
After shooting practice this morning, I had the entire afternoon off before coaching and practice (pretty much the usual schedule now). Well, it’s my goal to make it to at least one museum each week that I am here. Most museums are closed on Mondays, but I found one that was open… Kungl. Myntkabinettet – Sveriges Ekonomiska Museum (the Royal Coin Cabinet). I didn’t exactly know how exciting a bunch of coins could be, but it actually was very interesting to see how forms of currency have changed. From cocoa beans, shells, and furs to paper money today, there have been lots of different materials that people have placed a value on and then used for exchange of goods. The world’s first bank note, issued by Stockholms Banco in 1661, is on display, as is the world’s largest coin, weighing in at 19.7 kg of copper (I somehow managed to miss that one, don’t know how, but I did). All the exhibits were described in Swedish, so again that proved to be a bit challenging (though it’s kind of fun, however not very accurate, to go around to the exhibits and make up your own stories!). One part of the exhibit had currencies from all over the world. There were also lots of medals on display… such as the Alfred Nobel Medal (for the Nobel Prize, of course!). At the gift shop they had lots of replica coins of the Swedish Krona… well, replicas made of chocolate!
In addition to visiting the coin museum, I saw a changing of the guards, walked a bit around old town, shopped a little (I finally got a pair of the straight-leg jeans that everyone wears here and tucks inside their boots – now I need boots!), and visited the Stockholm Tourist Info Center. I’ve been wanting to get to the info center for a while now, and I’m grateful I finally made it today. Now I’m outfitted with lots of maps and even more ideas of what to do. I really want to take a boat tour throughout the archipelago; however, most boat trips only run in the spring, summer, and early fall months. I think there may still be some that run occasionally now – on the weekend perhaps – but, I will need to do some research. The Christmas Markets (outdoor festivals filled with food and holiday goods) will start to open soon. I’m really excited to visit those! Oh, also, today while I was walking around Gamla Stan and towards Kungsgaten (the King’s Garden), I heard some music being played. I didn’t know if there was a concert going on in the middle of this cold afternoon, so I followed the sound of the music. In the middle of Kungsgaten is an ice-skating rink and the music was being played on speakers there. It was so picturesque, well except for the fact that there’s currently no snow on the ground. Soon there probably will be snow; then we’ll have to go skating!
Tomorrow I think I’ll do less exploring, after all, it is a game day! I am having so much fun getting out and seeing the city (and I have barely even seen all that there is to offer). It’s just a really great place… I don’t think anyone could ever get bored here. I feel so blessed to be playing on such a super team in such a tremendous location. I hope it starts snowing again soon!
Kungl. Myntkabinettet
Yay! Game tomorrow! Better get to bed soon : ) Eat right, drink right, sleep right. Mom, right?! I love you!! (and you are totally and completely right about good game prep and pretty much everything else you’ve ever taught me) Anyway, practice was really good tonight. During our team meeting on Saturday, we all decided we wanted practice to be harder, to more game like, and for the coaches to be more demanding of us. Anders and Putte did a great job today of really pushing us, getting more upset than usual (which is good!), and encouraging us to play at a higher level of team ball. Hopefully we’ll be more ready to go tomorrow for the game than we were last week when we played Solna. I feel confident that we’ll be ready. Plus, some of us are going to have a pregame shoot-around tomorrow morning… good thing; I really want to get some shots up!
Before practice tonight, Anders asked Erin and I to come a bit earlier so that we could help coach some middle school girls for an hour or so. We did some ball handling drills (I always think of you, Al Clark!) and some full court drills too. I guess it’s probably pretty fun for them to have a couple of Americans coach them every once in a while.
After shooting practice this morning, I had the entire afternoon off before coaching and practice (pretty much the usual schedule now). Well, it’s my goal to make it to at least one museum each week that I am here. Most museums are closed on Mondays, but I found one that was open… Kungl. Myntkabinettet – Sveriges Ekonomiska Museum (the Royal Coin Cabinet). I didn’t exactly know how exciting a bunch of coins could be, but it actually was very interesting to see how forms of currency have changed. From cocoa beans, shells, and furs to paper money today, there have been lots of different materials that people have placed a value on and then used for exchange of goods. The world’s first bank note, issued by Stockholms Banco in 1661, is on display, as is the world’s largest coin, weighing in at 19.7 kg of copper (I somehow managed to miss that one, don’t know how, but I did). All the exhibits were described in Swedish, so again that proved to be a bit challenging (though it’s kind of fun, however not very accurate, to go around to the exhibits and make up your own stories!). One part of the exhibit had currencies from all over the world. There were also lots of medals on display… such as the Alfred Nobel Medal (for the Nobel Prize, of course!). At the gift shop they had lots of replica coins of the Swedish Krona… well, replicas made of chocolate!
In addition to visiting the coin museum, I saw a changing of the guards, walked a bit around old town, shopped a little (I finally got a pair of the straight-leg jeans that everyone wears here and tucks inside their boots – now I need boots!), and visited the Stockholm Tourist Info Center. I’ve been wanting to get to the info center for a while now, and I’m grateful I finally made it today. Now I’m outfitted with lots of maps and even more ideas of what to do. I really want to take a boat tour throughout the archipelago; however, most boat trips only run in the spring, summer, and early fall months. I think there may still be some that run occasionally now – on the weekend perhaps – but, I will need to do some research. The Christmas Markets (outdoor festivals filled with food and holiday goods) will start to open soon. I’m really excited to visit those! Oh, also, today while I was walking around Gamla Stan and towards Kungsgaten (the King’s Garden), I heard some music being played. I didn’t know if there was a concert going on in the middle of this cold afternoon, so I followed the sound of the music. In the middle of Kungsgaten is an ice-skating rink and the music was being played on speakers there. It was so picturesque, well except for the fact that there’s currently no snow on the ground. Soon there probably will be snow; then we’ll have to go skating!
Tomorrow I think I’ll do less exploring, after all, it is a game day! I am having so much fun getting out and seeing the city (and I have barely even seen all that there is to offer). It’s just a really great place… I don’t think anyone could ever get bored here. I feel so blessed to be playing on such a super team in such a tremendous location. I hope it starts snowing again soon!
12 November 2006
Food, Drink, Fun!
November 12, 2006 5:25pm
Well, it’s been a fun last 24 hours! Yesterday evening Erin and I met up to go hang out in Solna with Jas and Malin. We stopped first to grab a kebob pizza. It’s pretty popular here (the kebob pizza) and Erin really likes it. After hanging out for a bit at one house, we then went to Jenny’s house. Maddy, Martina, and Leila were there too… and it was really fun to just hang out off-the-court with everyone for a while. It’s funny… Erin and I were pretty much told all that we’d need to pack is sweats, so neither of us really brought any “going out” clothes. Compared to everyone else – all in their super, stylish euro-looking clothes – Erin and I looked like total Americans, or maybe just a little out of place : ) . haha. It’s really ok though, since it really doesn’t matter that much. Maddy did offer that I could borrow some of her clothes (or she’d even take me out shopping if I want… so maybe I’ll do that sometime). It’ll be fun to get all dressed up in certain styles I have never worn before… everybody hear wears skinny jeans inside boots (but I guess that may be picking-up popularity in certain parts of the U.S. too). Eventually we made it out to a bar… the one where Jas’s friend was supposed to be playing. Well we were too late to hear him, but it was still fun – good music and great people – how can you beat that?!
This morning I went to church at the same place as I went last week – New Life Church. I’m glad I went, though it wasn’t quite the same as last week. The church was having a conference all weekend, so the church service was probably a little less involved (or at least differently focused) because of the time, energy, and planning that went into the conference. The conference – called “Synergy” – was mostly for people “in the arts,” though everyone was welcome. From what I can tell, the idea was to provide support, encouragement, and respect for everyone who is in someway an artist, and for them to feel supported by God to pursue the natural talents He has given them. The service itself today had less traditional worship music because there were some musicians visiting from the U.S. who played. They were kinda rockin’ out – which is awesome for them cause I’m sure that’s how they like to praise God, but for me – well, I guess I just prefer some of the traditional music sometimes. The sermon, shorter than last time, focused on everyone’s desire for community and a place of belonging, and there was lots of “ministry” time… calling people forward if they felt a “pulling” on their heart. I totally respect all that and know it’s really important (obviously), but in a selfish way, I didn’t exactly feel like I was able to worship God as completely as I would have wanted to. Maybe I just didn’t come to church prepared to worship God, maybe I was distracted by other thoughts, or maybe I don’t know – I just wasn’t totally focused. There was a lot of time provided just to pray… so I took to writing down some prayers/journaling (so that was really good). I also met a woman, Lilly, who is here in Stockholm working for 6 months. She’s from Montreal and is working here for Ericsson (I think the phone company, right?). Anyway, we may meet up sometime this week for fika or something. She was really nice. I would like to meet more people in the church and when I can I will go back. It’s a great start in finding a church community, but I think I will also continue to look around just to see what else Stockholm has to offer in way of English-speaking Christian churches.
After church, I headed off to Det Goda Köket, the International Food and Beverage Show at Stockholmässen (Stockholm Fairgrounds). I picked up a train from T-centralan (hoped it was the right one; it was!) and headed to this massive convention building with huge halls, cafes, and lots of space to have fairs and shows.
This was the last day of the fair, but it seemed to be going as strong as ever. I wish my foody friends – you know who you are! – were all there to join me (and to experience the different tastes with me, and to explain different things to me too!). Even though I did go by myself, I had a really great time walking around, tasting all sorts of different foods, and trying to learn about the Swedish culinary scene. Of course, there were booths will pans, pots, kitchen tools, storage containers, and other goods like that. There were many, many wine stations… and for 60 kronor you could get a wine glass and some tickets for tasting. I decided not to do that – mostly because I didn’t have anyone to taste it with or to talk to about it, but it would have been fun to do that if I had someone to enjoy it with. However, I had lots of fun tasting a bunch of different cheeses (I still don’t really like cheese much at all, but at least I was trying it), meat, chocolate, cider drinks, and more. They had all sorts of different kinds of meat… the usual suspects (pork, beef) and then they also had deer, reindeer, elk, moose, and ostrich! Fish, too and some veggie-soy fake meat also. There were chocolates from Sweden, and from Belgium, Italy, and I’m sure other places too. It was an international fair, so generally there were wines, cheese, chocolate, and other products from all over the world. There were lots of cookbooks – they looked awesome – but everything was in Swedish, so I didn’t understand much and didn’t buy any either for the same reason. Everyone initially spoke to me in Swedish, except for one time… this guy, clear as day, asked me “hello miss, would you like to try some parmesan cheese?” I guess I looked clearly English-speaking to him, but everyone else only spoke English after I looked at them cluelessly as they tried to explain their product to me in Swedish. Interestingly, it seems as though many of the food products are not easily translated to English… certain berries, flowers, breads, drinks, and spreads are specific to Sweden. Many people had a harder time than I expected in trying to explain to me what their product was made of.
I met and talked with one woman who works for a company that delivers organic fruits, vegetables, and fish to your doorstep. She was telling me how “organic produce” is gaining popularity in Sweden, though this company – Arstiderna – has been serving Denmark for 7 years and now for the last year has been serving Sweden too. (you can go to www.arstierna.com for more info) An interesting connection, the woman (who’s name I do not know) has an 11-yr-old son who plays basketball at Fryshuset sometimes. Fun. What else? I ate a lot. lol. I like trying the different meats, the flavored honeys, and then new tastes – like, for instance, cloudberry? It was the flavor of a cider. See, alcoholic ciders (they’re served either in glass bottles or in a wine glass) are very popular here. They are sweet drinks that really hold the flavor of whatever fruit they were made from. Flowers are also used quite a bit for flavoring, drinks, sauces, and more. There were flavored honeys, many varieties of jams and mustards, and bulk spices that were available too. A giant pumpkin – I mean, really giant! It might have rivaled those at the Half Moon Bay Giant Pumpkin Festival – was cut open and I had some raw pumpkin. I like pumpkin pie better : ) , but it was cool, crisp, and refreshing! Anyway, it was a really fun afternoon and I left absolutely full of all sorts of food – mostly Swedish, but some from around Europe as well. I wish you could have been there to enjoy it with me; you would have loved it too!
Well, it’s been a fun last 24 hours! Yesterday evening Erin and I met up to go hang out in Solna with Jas and Malin. We stopped first to grab a kebob pizza. It’s pretty popular here (the kebob pizza) and Erin really likes it. After hanging out for a bit at one house, we then went to Jenny’s house. Maddy, Martina, and Leila were there too… and it was really fun to just hang out off-the-court with everyone for a while. It’s funny… Erin and I were pretty much told all that we’d need to pack is sweats, so neither of us really brought any “going out” clothes. Compared to everyone else – all in their super, stylish euro-looking clothes – Erin and I looked like total Americans, or maybe just a little out of place : ) . haha. It’s really ok though, since it really doesn’t matter that much. Maddy did offer that I could borrow some of her clothes (or she’d even take me out shopping if I want… so maybe I’ll do that sometime). It’ll be fun to get all dressed up in certain styles I have never worn before… everybody hear wears skinny jeans inside boots (but I guess that may be picking-up popularity in certain parts of the U.S. too). Eventually we made it out to a bar… the one where Jas’s friend was supposed to be playing. Well we were too late to hear him, but it was still fun – good music and great people – how can you beat that?!
This morning I went to church at the same place as I went last week – New Life Church. I’m glad I went, though it wasn’t quite the same as last week. The church was having a conference all weekend, so the church service was probably a little less involved (or at least differently focused) because of the time, energy, and planning that went into the conference. The conference – called “Synergy” – was mostly for people “in the arts,” though everyone was welcome. From what I can tell, the idea was to provide support, encouragement, and respect for everyone who is in someway an artist, and for them to feel supported by God to pursue the natural talents He has given them. The service itself today had less traditional worship music because there were some musicians visiting from the U.S. who played. They were kinda rockin’ out – which is awesome for them cause I’m sure that’s how they like to praise God, but for me – well, I guess I just prefer some of the traditional music sometimes. The sermon, shorter than last time, focused on everyone’s desire for community and a place of belonging, and there was lots of “ministry” time… calling people forward if they felt a “pulling” on their heart. I totally respect all that and know it’s really important (obviously), but in a selfish way, I didn’t exactly feel like I was able to worship God as completely as I would have wanted to. Maybe I just didn’t come to church prepared to worship God, maybe I was distracted by other thoughts, or maybe I don’t know – I just wasn’t totally focused. There was a lot of time provided just to pray… so I took to writing down some prayers/journaling (so that was really good). I also met a woman, Lilly, who is here in Stockholm working for 6 months. She’s from Montreal and is working here for Ericsson (I think the phone company, right?). Anyway, we may meet up sometime this week for fika or something. She was really nice. I would like to meet more people in the church and when I can I will go back. It’s a great start in finding a church community, but I think I will also continue to look around just to see what else Stockholm has to offer in way of English-speaking Christian churches.
After church, I headed off to Det Goda Köket, the International Food and Beverage Show at Stockholmässen (Stockholm Fairgrounds). I picked up a train from T-centralan (hoped it was the right one; it was!) and headed to this massive convention building with huge halls, cafes, and lots of space to have fairs and shows.
This was the last day of the fair, but it seemed to be going as strong as ever. I wish my foody friends – you know who you are! – were all there to join me (and to experience the different tastes with me, and to explain different things to me too!). Even though I did go by myself, I had a really great time walking around, tasting all sorts of different foods, and trying to learn about the Swedish culinary scene. Of course, there were booths will pans, pots, kitchen tools, storage containers, and other goods like that. There were many, many wine stations… and for 60 kronor you could get a wine glass and some tickets for tasting. I decided not to do that – mostly because I didn’t have anyone to taste it with or to talk to about it, but it would have been fun to do that if I had someone to enjoy it with. However, I had lots of fun tasting a bunch of different cheeses (I still don’t really like cheese much at all, but at least I was trying it), meat, chocolate, cider drinks, and more. They had all sorts of different kinds of meat… the usual suspects (pork, beef) and then they also had deer, reindeer, elk, moose, and ostrich! Fish, too and some veggie-soy fake meat also. There were chocolates from Sweden, and from Belgium, Italy, and I’m sure other places too. It was an international fair, so generally there were wines, cheese, chocolate, and other products from all over the world. There were lots of cookbooks – they looked awesome – but everything was in Swedish, so I didn’t understand much and didn’t buy any either for the same reason. Everyone initially spoke to me in Swedish, except for one time… this guy, clear as day, asked me “hello miss, would you like to try some parmesan cheese?” I guess I looked clearly English-speaking to him, but everyone else only spoke English after I looked at them cluelessly as they tried to explain their product to me in Swedish. Interestingly, it seems as though many of the food products are not easily translated to English… certain berries, flowers, breads, drinks, and spreads are specific to Sweden. Many people had a harder time than I expected in trying to explain to me what their product was made of.
I met and talked with one woman who works for a company that delivers organic fruits, vegetables, and fish to your doorstep. She was telling me how “organic produce” is gaining popularity in Sweden, though this company – Arstiderna – has been serving Denmark for 7 years and now for the last year has been serving Sweden too. (you can go to www.arstierna.com for more info) An interesting connection, the woman (who’s name I do not know) has an 11-yr-old son who plays basketball at Fryshuset sometimes. Fun. What else? I ate a lot. lol. I like trying the different meats, the flavored honeys, and then new tastes – like, for instance, cloudberry? It was the flavor of a cider. See, alcoholic ciders (they’re served either in glass bottles or in a wine glass) are very popular here. They are sweet drinks that really hold the flavor of whatever fruit they were made from. Flowers are also used quite a bit for flavoring, drinks, sauces, and more. There were flavored honeys, many varieties of jams and mustards, and bulk spices that were available too. A giant pumpkin – I mean, really giant! It might have rivaled those at the Half Moon Bay Giant Pumpkin Festival – was cut open and I had some raw pumpkin. I like pumpkin pie better : ) , but it was cool, crisp, and refreshing! Anyway, it was a really fun afternoon and I left absolutely full of all sorts of food – mostly Swedish, but some from around Europe as well. I wish you could have been there to enjoy it with me; you would have loved it too!
11 November 2006
weekend number 3
November 11, 2006 4:34 pm
It’s Saturday afternoon, pitch black outside, and rainy. That’s ok though, because I’ve had a great weekend so far and am looking forward to the rest of it too! Yesterday, I officially booked my flight home and to Spain (I actually get in a day earlier than I first thought – so, I’ll be home the night of the 22nd). We had shooting practice yesterday morning and watched some film. Some of the game was bad to watch, but some of it was encouraging too… we really have a lot of talent, now we just need to play a lot together. Last night Erin and I were on our way to practice together when I got a call that the gym we were supposed to practice in was filled with some other activity. We ended up going to the fitness club and doing a physio-ball workout and playing floor hockey. Supposedly, floor hockey is quite popular in Sweden among all those “athletes” that couldn’t make it with the traditionally popular sports (like soccer, bball, and ice hockey). We had a 3-on-3 floor hockey tournament… I was on the winning team!! It was Martina, Catie, and I. Yay : ) After “practice,” I hung out with Erin at her apt. I’m so happy she’s the other American here. I love her! We have a great time together.
This morning we had a workout at the fitness club again, but this one was planned and quite intense. It was a bocing and resistance-training workout. Really hard. Afterwards (and during), your muscles start feeling like jello. Erin and I want to start working out with Jose on a regular basis… everybody watch out, if we do, I think we could come back in the spring stronger than ever! Really though, the workouts feel so good. They’re upbeat, fast-paced, work your muscles to the point of exhaustion, and make your body feel that good-tired. Our team ate together at the “Taco Bar” (my first Mexican since I’ve been here), then we had a team meeting. We did some team building activities… discussing our goals for the season and how we’re going to get there. What a great environment! I love that our coaches and team care enough to check-in with everyone, get each other on the same page, and really dream together and believe in each other. It’s such a blessing to be here and a part of this team. Everyday I am thankful to be where I am.
I just downloaded Grey’s latest episode (I’m now buying it off iTunes because the free abc.com episodes aren’t aired outside the States) and watched it (terrific episode, but I think they’re pretty much all great… hehe). Now I might take a nap, but later should be exciting. Jasmine invited Erin and I to go with her to listen to her friend’s R&B/Hip-hop band play in a bar.
Have a great weekend!
It’s Saturday afternoon, pitch black outside, and rainy. That’s ok though, because I’ve had a great weekend so far and am looking forward to the rest of it too! Yesterday, I officially booked my flight home and to Spain (I actually get in a day earlier than I first thought – so, I’ll be home the night of the 22nd). We had shooting practice yesterday morning and watched some film. Some of the game was bad to watch, but some of it was encouraging too… we really have a lot of talent, now we just need to play a lot together. Last night Erin and I were on our way to practice together when I got a call that the gym we were supposed to practice in was filled with some other activity. We ended up going to the fitness club and doing a physio-ball workout and playing floor hockey. Supposedly, floor hockey is quite popular in Sweden among all those “athletes” that couldn’t make it with the traditionally popular sports (like soccer, bball, and ice hockey). We had a 3-on-3 floor hockey tournament… I was on the winning team!! It was Martina, Catie, and I. Yay : ) After “practice,” I hung out with Erin at her apt. I’m so happy she’s the other American here. I love her! We have a great time together.
This morning we had a workout at the fitness club again, but this one was planned and quite intense. It was a bocing and resistance-training workout. Really hard. Afterwards (and during), your muscles start feeling like jello. Erin and I want to start working out with Jose on a regular basis… everybody watch out, if we do, I think we could come back in the spring stronger than ever! Really though, the workouts feel so good. They’re upbeat, fast-paced, work your muscles to the point of exhaustion, and make your body feel that good-tired. Our team ate together at the “Taco Bar” (my first Mexican since I’ve been here), then we had a team meeting. We did some team building activities… discussing our goals for the season and how we’re going to get there. What a great environment! I love that our coaches and team care enough to check-in with everyone, get each other on the same page, and really dream together and believe in each other. It’s such a blessing to be here and a part of this team. Everyday I am thankful to be where I am.
I just downloaded Grey’s latest episode (I’m now buying it off iTunes because the free abc.com episodes aren’t aired outside the States) and watched it (terrific episode, but I think they’re pretty much all great… hehe). Now I might take a nap, but later should be exciting. Jasmine invited Erin and I to go with her to listen to her friend’s R&B/Hip-hop band play in a bar.
Have a great weekend!
10 November 2006
Catchin Up II
November 9, 2006 10:36pm
Hmmm, perhaps I should first start by apologizing that it’s been a couple days since I’ve written. Sorry. I’ve been busy : ) Unfortunately, in the fun of the last couple of days, we lost a game. Bummer. I’ll start there and then go on to the good stuff.
So we played our biggest rival – Solna – on Wednesday night. They are another club right here in Stockholm and have won the championship the last few years. Our team played alright and Erin played awesome (she had 28 pts!), but overall they just played better than us. We had lots of unforced turnovers, our help defense was awful, and on offense we were just running around without a purpose much of the time. I know we can be very good, but right now we have lots of work to do. The potential is great; however, we are still learning how to play with each other. It will get better (I mean it’s early and it’s not that bad). The bummer thing about the game is that we could have won… we had the ball with 10 seconds to go and were down by 3 pts. A girl on Solna missed a free throw that would have put them up by 4, so we outleted the ball and pushed it up. However, there was a bit of miscommunication… and as I was beginning to cut one way to come off a double screen for a shot, the ball was passed to me in the opposite direction. Frustrating, yes. At least though, these games do not matter a whole lot. I mean, I hate losing (!), but if we can address things now, make practice more difficult and emphasize being aggressive, then we should only get better before the playoffs (in March/April) when things really count. Tomorrow after shooting practice, Erin and I will watch game film with Anders. Hopefully we’ll have a good time doing that.
Aside from the very disappointing game (obviously disappointing because we were the better team, but still managed to lose to our rivals!), I’ve had a great last couple of days. On Wednesday morning I went to Stockholm stadsmuseum – the Stockholm City Museum. It’s all about the history of the city. Pretty neat to learn about all the ups-and-downs, growth and decline, and overall ways in which the city has changed. Lots of refugees from different wars/battles because it was traditionally pretty safe up here and accepting of all sorts of people. There were a couple floors with the permanent exhibit of the history of Stockholm (outfitted with both Swedish and English captions), then there was also a floor with a rotating exhibit. The current exhibit (this only with Swedish captions), “Döden Dö, A Gravely Serious Exhibition,” was a bit strange. There were collections of guns, knives, coffins, a guillotine, and what seemed like stories of actual people who had died (?). I think if I were to revisit that exhibition, I would like to do it with someone who can read Swedish! However, if you come and visit me, I definitely think this is stop not to be missed. After all, having a good history of something really helps in understanding why things are the way they are now.
Later that day I tried to attend the opening fashion show of the “Gallerian Fashion Awards.” lol. I showed up at 1pm ready for the show, but no one was there! Finally I realized it was only the 8th of November and the shows began on the 9th. Nice. Oh, well. Maybe I will get to one tomorrow. There are a few more left. It seems like it’d be a fun thing to get to see. Gallerian (the big mall in downtown) and the Beckman College of Design are collaborating to present fashion shows and exhibitions by their students with a focus on “young fashion” (whatever that means). If I make to a show on time or on the correct day, I’ll let you know : )
Today was a day off, but I still went to the gym anyway. I wanted to shoot, but the courts were all full; so, I just lifted instead. That was interesting because all the weights are labeled in kilograms, and of course I’m used to weights being labeled in pounds. It’s sorta funny when you at first expect to pick up 10 lbs, but it’s really 10 kg (so closer to 20-25 lbs). The guys team was lifting at the same time; they probably got some good laughs if they were watching me.
Grabbed lunch at the café in Fryshuset, then went upstairs to use the internet in the office. I’m working on booking my flight home for Christmas. Just in case anyone is interested, I’m flying into Boston on the evening of the 23rd (who wants to come get me?) and flying back to Stockholm (out of Boston) on the 27th. Then, I’m going down to Malaga (Spain) on the 28th and will be back in Stockholm again on January 2nd. I hope I get to see some of you in the time I’m back in the States!
Tonight I had a most fabulous time with Staffan, Anna, and Anton. Larry Mohr connected me with this family and I’m so thankful to have been introduced. Staffan is in venture capital (or however you put it; I don’t really understand all the business lingo) and Anna is an industrial designer for “ergonomi design” (she helps research and design a wide range of really cool products; they’re website is www.ergonomidesign.com if you’re interested). The both of them are just awesome… super welcoming, fun, interesting, helpful, and just really great to get to know. Plus, they have Anton!! Anton is just about 8 weeks old and is so precious. He’s long and thin, has blond hair and blue eyes. He’s a real cutie and was hungry the whole night. lol. I really love babies. I don’t know what it is, but I think I really really want to be a baby doctor. Anyway, it was great fun to hang out with them. Their apartment is right in the downtown part of the city and it’s in an old, old building. It’s even decorated with Anna’s own paintings… she took a year of art school in order to have the design job she now has. Staffan and Anna were very helpful in helping brainstorm things to do while I am here in Stockholm. I hope one of them in babysitting for Anton : ) It was a very fun evening. Thanks, Larry. I owe it to you!
Hmmm, perhaps I should first start by apologizing that it’s been a couple days since I’ve written. Sorry. I’ve been busy : ) Unfortunately, in the fun of the last couple of days, we lost a game. Bummer. I’ll start there and then go on to the good stuff.
So we played our biggest rival – Solna – on Wednesday night. They are another club right here in Stockholm and have won the championship the last few years. Our team played alright and Erin played awesome (she had 28 pts!), but overall they just played better than us. We had lots of unforced turnovers, our help defense was awful, and on offense we were just running around without a purpose much of the time. I know we can be very good, but right now we have lots of work to do. The potential is great; however, we are still learning how to play with each other. It will get better (I mean it’s early and it’s not that bad). The bummer thing about the game is that we could have won… we had the ball with 10 seconds to go and were down by 3 pts. A girl on Solna missed a free throw that would have put them up by 4, so we outleted the ball and pushed it up. However, there was a bit of miscommunication… and as I was beginning to cut one way to come off a double screen for a shot, the ball was passed to me in the opposite direction. Frustrating, yes. At least though, these games do not matter a whole lot. I mean, I hate losing (!), but if we can address things now, make practice more difficult and emphasize being aggressive, then we should only get better before the playoffs (in March/April) when things really count. Tomorrow after shooting practice, Erin and I will watch game film with Anders. Hopefully we’ll have a good time doing that.
Aside from the very disappointing game (obviously disappointing because we were the better team, but still managed to lose to our rivals!), I’ve had a great last couple of days. On Wednesday morning I went to Stockholm stadsmuseum – the Stockholm City Museum. It’s all about the history of the city. Pretty neat to learn about all the ups-and-downs, growth and decline, and overall ways in which the city has changed. Lots of refugees from different wars/battles because it was traditionally pretty safe up here and accepting of all sorts of people. There were a couple floors with the permanent exhibit of the history of Stockholm (outfitted with both Swedish and English captions), then there was also a floor with a rotating exhibit. The current exhibit (this only with Swedish captions), “Döden Dö, A Gravely Serious Exhibition,” was a bit strange. There were collections of guns, knives, coffins, a guillotine, and what seemed like stories of actual people who had died (?). I think if I were to revisit that exhibition, I would like to do it with someone who can read Swedish! However, if you come and visit me, I definitely think this is stop not to be missed. After all, having a good history of something really helps in understanding why things are the way they are now.
Later that day I tried to attend the opening fashion show of the “Gallerian Fashion Awards.” lol. I showed up at 1pm ready for the show, but no one was there! Finally I realized it was only the 8th of November and the shows began on the 9th. Nice. Oh, well. Maybe I will get to one tomorrow. There are a few more left. It seems like it’d be a fun thing to get to see. Gallerian (the big mall in downtown) and the Beckman College of Design are collaborating to present fashion shows and exhibitions by their students with a focus on “young fashion” (whatever that means). If I make to a show on time or on the correct day, I’ll let you know : )
Today was a day off, but I still went to the gym anyway. I wanted to shoot, but the courts were all full; so, I just lifted instead. That was interesting because all the weights are labeled in kilograms, and of course I’m used to weights being labeled in pounds. It’s sorta funny when you at first expect to pick up 10 lbs, but it’s really 10 kg (so closer to 20-25 lbs). The guys team was lifting at the same time; they probably got some good laughs if they were watching me.
Grabbed lunch at the café in Fryshuset, then went upstairs to use the internet in the office. I’m working on booking my flight home for Christmas. Just in case anyone is interested, I’m flying into Boston on the evening of the 23rd (who wants to come get me?) and flying back to Stockholm (out of Boston) on the 27th. Then, I’m going down to Malaga (Spain) on the 28th and will be back in Stockholm again on January 2nd. I hope I get to see some of you in the time I’m back in the States!
Tonight I had a most fabulous time with Staffan, Anna, and Anton. Larry Mohr connected me with this family and I’m so thankful to have been introduced. Staffan is in venture capital (or however you put it; I don’t really understand all the business lingo) and Anna is an industrial designer for “ergonomi design” (she helps research and design a wide range of really cool products; they’re website is www.ergonomidesign.com if you’re interested). The both of them are just awesome… super welcoming, fun, interesting, helpful, and just really great to get to know. Plus, they have Anton!! Anton is just about 8 weeks old and is so precious. He’s long and thin, has blond hair and blue eyes. He’s a real cutie and was hungry the whole night. lol. I really love babies. I don’t know what it is, but I think I really really want to be a baby doctor. Anyway, it was great fun to hang out with them. Their apartment is right in the downtown part of the city and it’s in an old, old building. It’s even decorated with Anna’s own paintings… she took a year of art school in order to have the design job she now has. Staffan and Anna were very helpful in helping brainstorm things to do while I am here in Stockholm. I hope one of them in babysitting for Anton : ) It was a very fun evening. Thanks, Larry. I owe it to you!
07 November 2006
Walking Around
November 7, 2006 2:20pm
Walking around
This morning we didn’t have shooting practice because the gym was being used by someone else, so I had all morning to walk around and explore somewhere before heading off to practice. I hadn’t yet walked around Gamla Stan by myself, so thought I would do that. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning… it was warm enough to walk around without a hat and gloves and the sun was brightly shining. I walked along the water and by all the boats lined up on shore to take people out for tours about the archipelago. Stopped by the “Swedish Bookstore” to buy a more complete English-Swedish dictionary… that was sort of interesting, picking out a dictionary, that is: there was an American-Swedish dictionary and an English-Swedish dictionary. Hmmm. I picked the American one. There were also lots of brochures there about the museums and events going on in Stockholm. I will read those now probably.
I walked to the Royal Palace, the Treasury, some official courtyard and garden, and past Storkyrkan (the church in Gamla Stan) . I happened into the little store connected with the church. There was an older woman working inside who was very sweet and nice to talk to. She thought I was Swedish. When I told her I was American and was over here for about 6 months, she asked if I would get home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. That was thoughtful of her.
Meandered through some of the old streets of Gamla Stan, past many of the traditional and touristy shops, and across a bridge to Riddarholmskyrkan. It’s this little island with a bunch of very old buildings that used to be a monastery (I think). It was super windy on the island and there were bunches of leaves blowing in mini-tornadoes! All the streets were cobblestone. The church was closed… it’s only open from May to September. Maybe I’ll have to come back illegally in the summer months. Jk. Even though I really want to return then.
Walked back to the T and headed to Odensplan to find the library. I went to the Stockolm City Library – Stockholms Stadsbiblioteket. The building is shaped like a circle, and when you’re inside you sort of feel like you’re inside a many-layered-cake. I have a library card now! And, I took out three books – all in English. I went into the children’s section too, thinking that perhaps I might take out some beginning-reading books in Swedish… but couldn’t find them. When I was walking around the different sections, I saw this guy examining a bunch of DNA sequence. Oh, made me think of how many times I used to look over and over different sequences in my research lab. Made me wish I could do some research here too.
Before I took the T home, I stopped at a grocery store to grab a snack. Had my first “Pucko.” It’s my new favorite drink. It’s a Swedish chocolaty milk drink… quite tasty. Grabbing some lunch now, maybe a nap or reading, then off the practice. Hey då.
Walking around
This morning we didn’t have shooting practice because the gym was being used by someone else, so I had all morning to walk around and explore somewhere before heading off to practice. I hadn’t yet walked around Gamla Stan by myself, so thought I would do that. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning… it was warm enough to walk around without a hat and gloves and the sun was brightly shining. I walked along the water and by all the boats lined up on shore to take people out for tours about the archipelago. Stopped by the “Swedish Bookstore” to buy a more complete English-Swedish dictionary… that was sort of interesting, picking out a dictionary, that is: there was an American-Swedish dictionary and an English-Swedish dictionary. Hmmm. I picked the American one. There were also lots of brochures there about the museums and events going on in Stockholm. I will read those now probably.
I walked to the Royal Palace, the Treasury, some official courtyard and garden, and past Storkyrkan (the church in Gamla Stan) . I happened into the little store connected with the church. There was an older woman working inside who was very sweet and nice to talk to. She thought I was Swedish. When I told her I was American and was over here for about 6 months, she asked if I would get home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. That was thoughtful of her.
Meandered through some of the old streets of Gamla Stan, past many of the traditional and touristy shops, and across a bridge to Riddarholmskyrkan. It’s this little island with a bunch of very old buildings that used to be a monastery (I think). It was super windy on the island and there were bunches of leaves blowing in mini-tornadoes! All the streets were cobblestone. The church was closed… it’s only open from May to September. Maybe I’ll have to come back illegally in the summer months. Jk. Even though I really want to return then.
Walked back to the T and headed to Odensplan to find the library. I went to the Stockolm City Library – Stockholms Stadsbiblioteket. The building is shaped like a circle, and when you’re inside you sort of feel like you’re inside a many-layered-cake. I have a library card now! And, I took out three books – all in English. I went into the children’s section too, thinking that perhaps I might take out some beginning-reading books in Swedish… but couldn’t find them. When I was walking around the different sections, I saw this guy examining a bunch of DNA sequence. Oh, made me think of how many times I used to look over and over different sequences in my research lab. Made me wish I could do some research here too.
Before I took the T home, I stopped at a grocery store to grab a snack. Had my first “Pucko.” It’s my new favorite drink. It’s a Swedish chocolaty milk drink… quite tasty. Grabbing some lunch now, maybe a nap or reading, then off the practice. Hey då.
06 November 2006
O'Leary's
November 6, 2006 8:55pm
Last night I was home in New England, or at least if I were to wake up where I was I would have probably felt that way. Lauren and Landry invited Erin and I to watch an NFL football game at O’Leary’s Irish Pub. The menus were all in English (with items like the Larry Bird burger, for example) and the rooms were decorated with Boston Bruin, Boston Red Sox, Boston College, and other “Boston” sporting teams’ paraphernalia. It was strange to be a foreign country, yet feel so close to home. I didn’t want to feel close to home. Haha. (don’t get me wrong, I love home… but if I’m here, well, I want to be here! :) ). We watched the Dallas/Redskins game. Anybody catch it? It was a great game. Fired me up so much, as did some heated discussions of basketball sets and strategy, that I couldn’t get to sleep before 1am even though I went to bed pretty late the night before! We’ll probably watch some more games there… hopefully some good basketball games (and not just football) soon enough.
Today I had shooting practice this morning, coached some high-school aged girls for a bit, hung out at Erin’s apt, shopped a little, and then had practice again. Practice was really good tonight. Lots of hard playing in those short spurts that really get your heart rate up. After practice, we listened to a presentation from “United Sisters.” (well, the presentation was all in Swedish, so my teammates filled in Erin and I after it was over). “United Sisters” is an organization sponsored by Fryshuset (the home of our club) that pairs up young women with young girls aged 12-20 years old. It is kind of like a Big Sister sorta deal. I’m really excited for it. I’m hopeful that we’ll each be asked to mentor a girl. I don’t really know all the details yet, but it seems like a terrific program and would be a super opportunity to try to reach out and support a specific community of younger girls in our club. As I learn more and hopefully become more involved, I’ll keep you updated with how it goes.
Last night I was home in New England, or at least if I were to wake up where I was I would have probably felt that way. Lauren and Landry invited Erin and I to watch an NFL football game at O’Leary’s Irish Pub. The menus were all in English (with items like the Larry Bird burger, for example) and the rooms were decorated with Boston Bruin, Boston Red Sox, Boston College, and other “Boston” sporting teams’ paraphernalia. It was strange to be a foreign country, yet feel so close to home. I didn’t want to feel close to home. Haha. (don’t get me wrong, I love home… but if I’m here, well, I want to be here! :) ). We watched the Dallas/Redskins game. Anybody catch it? It was a great game. Fired me up so much, as did some heated discussions of basketball sets and strategy, that I couldn’t get to sleep before 1am even though I went to bed pretty late the night before! We’ll probably watch some more games there… hopefully some good basketball games (and not just football) soon enough.
Today I had shooting practice this morning, coached some high-school aged girls for a bit, hung out at Erin’s apt, shopped a little, and then had practice again. Practice was really good tonight. Lots of hard playing in those short spurts that really get your heart rate up. After practice, we listened to a presentation from “United Sisters.” (well, the presentation was all in Swedish, so my teammates filled in Erin and I after it was over). “United Sisters” is an organization sponsored by Fryshuset (the home of our club) that pairs up young women with young girls aged 12-20 years old. It is kind of like a Big Sister sorta deal. I’m really excited for it. I’m hopeful that we’ll each be asked to mentor a girl. I don’t really know all the details yet, but it seems like a terrific program and would be a super opportunity to try to reach out and support a specific community of younger girls in our club. As I learn more and hopefully become more involved, I’ll keep you updated with how it goes.
05 November 2006
God is great!!
November 5, 2006 4:15pm
God is great!!
So I’ve been sleeping really well here… which also means I’ve been sleeping pretty late – well, really late for me (till like 10am sometimes, crazy?!). Anyway, this morning I woke up around 8am and couldn’t really fall back to sleep. I just laid in bed and read some of the Bible. After reading for a while, I thought I’d go check my email (this still means bundling up and going to sit outside up at Katarina Hissen). So now listen to this… I was going through my emails and I received one from someone that I didn’t know at all. It was from a couple with two girls; the mom wrote me the email. She somehow (God) came across my previous blog entry about my desire to be connected with a church here in Stockholm. Come to find out, they are involved with ministry and are trying to raise support to come back over to Sweden (and she – the mom – had been here 11 years earlier). Crazy, huh? Then, it keeps getting better… she suggested a church for me to go to AND (since it is Sunday) the church’s service was at 11am this morning!! Oh my gosh, I was so excited. I had happened to wake up early, happened to go out to find an internet connection, and then happened to get this amazing email from the sweetest family trying to help me find a church. Coincidence?! No way!! God is SO amazing!! I took the subway to church (the mom gave me perfect directions to the church and I found it very easily) and even made it there on time. The church… New Life Church (ww.newlife.nu) was awesome. It’s bilingual (Swedish and English, obviously, I think). There was worship music with guitars and drums, prayer, fika (a break in the middle, over coffee/tea and a Swedish pastry, to meet and talk to the people around you), the sermon, and then more prayer and worship. I felt like I was in heaven (or at least a glimpse of what it may be like!). The sermon was talking about love… how God says “You shall love eachother.” You shall you shall you shall… not that you could or should, but that you shall. Think about that. It’s powerful (or it was to me). The pastor also kept emphasizing that love is not all about feelings, rather love is a choice and a commitment. Love means making a sacrifice so that others have it better. We must have faith, tolerance, and build trust in our relationships, so that we really can love with all our hearts… so that we can take on other people’s burdens and help each other out. Love them. I felt the sermon was very applicable to my life right now because, being in a new place, I’m meeting lots of new people and trying to make new friends. In making new friends, there’s lots of trust that goes into it from the start. Lots of putting yourself out there (or not)… you know, like negotiating boundaries or rather (hopefully) just sharing all of yourself with others (hoping that God comes through at least some of the time). Sometimes I think I need to be more patient in relationships, as I always want to get to deep stuff right away. That’s one of the reasons why the sermon was good for me today… building trust can take time, not everyone is just ready to jump into deep stuff. But in loving others and building that trust, a great platform is built to be a really good listener, encourager, and challenger in a relationship. And, God’s love has come into our hearts and is “enough” (from Romans). Of course, God’s love is enough! So we’re all equipped to love eachother, now we just have to do it!
After the service was over, the family that sat next to me invited me to go to lunch with them. Sweet! They are young couple, Kristine and Carlo, with a cute, little baby boy, Elias (he’s eight months old). She’s a doctor (general practice), but is thinking more and more about going into pediatrics. Double sweet!! They had their car there, so they showed me all around old town, the eastern part of the city, and then took me out to “rice.” The restaurant was a really nice Asian place with delicious sushi (Carlo is like addicted to sushi… might I say addicted to wasabi?! he loves the stuff!). They had another one of their friends meet up with us for lunch too. Happens that she works about 100m from Fryshuset (the gym I play at almost everyday). Their friend, Maria, is twenty-four (close in age, good) and very nice too… hopefully we’ll get to hang out sometime soon too.
All in all, today has been more than I could ever have asked for. I feel like I don’t deserve the wonderful people whom God has been putting in my life. Thank you so much for all your prayers. Please tell me how I can be praying for you too. Praise God!!
God is great!!
So I’ve been sleeping really well here… which also means I’ve been sleeping pretty late – well, really late for me (till like 10am sometimes, crazy?!). Anyway, this morning I woke up around 8am and couldn’t really fall back to sleep. I just laid in bed and read some of the Bible. After reading for a while, I thought I’d go check my email (this still means bundling up and going to sit outside up at Katarina Hissen). So now listen to this… I was going through my emails and I received one from someone that I didn’t know at all. It was from a couple with two girls; the mom wrote me the email. She somehow (God) came across my previous blog entry about my desire to be connected with a church here in Stockholm. Come to find out, they are involved with ministry and are trying to raise support to come back over to Sweden (and she – the mom – had been here 11 years earlier). Crazy, huh? Then, it keeps getting better… she suggested a church for me to go to AND (since it is Sunday) the church’s service was at 11am this morning!! Oh my gosh, I was so excited. I had happened to wake up early, happened to go out to find an internet connection, and then happened to get this amazing email from the sweetest family trying to help me find a church. Coincidence?! No way!! God is SO amazing!! I took the subway to church (the mom gave me perfect directions to the church and I found it very easily) and even made it there on time. The church… New Life Church (ww.newlife.nu) was awesome. It’s bilingual (Swedish and English, obviously, I think). There was worship music with guitars and drums, prayer, fika (a break in the middle, over coffee/tea and a Swedish pastry, to meet and talk to the people around you), the sermon, and then more prayer and worship. I felt like I was in heaven (or at least a glimpse of what it may be like!). The sermon was talking about love… how God says “You shall love eachother.” You shall you shall you shall… not that you could or should, but that you shall. Think about that. It’s powerful (or it was to me). The pastor also kept emphasizing that love is not all about feelings, rather love is a choice and a commitment. Love means making a sacrifice so that others have it better. We must have faith, tolerance, and build trust in our relationships, so that we really can love with all our hearts… so that we can take on other people’s burdens and help each other out. Love them. I felt the sermon was very applicable to my life right now because, being in a new place, I’m meeting lots of new people and trying to make new friends. In making new friends, there’s lots of trust that goes into it from the start. Lots of putting yourself out there (or not)… you know, like negotiating boundaries or rather (hopefully) just sharing all of yourself with others (hoping that God comes through at least some of the time). Sometimes I think I need to be more patient in relationships, as I always want to get to deep stuff right away. That’s one of the reasons why the sermon was good for me today… building trust can take time, not everyone is just ready to jump into deep stuff. But in loving others and building that trust, a great platform is built to be a really good listener, encourager, and challenger in a relationship. And, God’s love has come into our hearts and is “enough” (from Romans). Of course, God’s love is enough! So we’re all equipped to love eachother, now we just have to do it!
After the service was over, the family that sat next to me invited me to go to lunch with them. Sweet! They are young couple, Kristine and Carlo, with a cute, little baby boy, Elias (he’s eight months old). She’s a doctor (general practice), but is thinking more and more about going into pediatrics. Double sweet!! They had their car there, so they showed me all around old town, the eastern part of the city, and then took me out to “rice.” The restaurant was a really nice Asian place with delicious sushi (Carlo is like addicted to sushi… might I say addicted to wasabi?! he loves the stuff!). They had another one of their friends meet up with us for lunch too. Happens that she works about 100m from Fryshuset (the gym I play at almost everyday). Their friend, Maria, is twenty-four (close in age, good) and very nice too… hopefully we’ll get to hang out sometime soon too.
All in all, today has been more than I could ever have asked for. I feel like I don’t deserve the wonderful people whom God has been putting in my life. Thank you so much for all your prayers. Please tell me how I can be praying for you too. Praise God!!
04 November 2006
Squeeze
Just got off the phone with Paul. He’s this guy who has been doing sports ministry in Sweden for the last 15 years.
Coming here, I wasn’t sure what finding a church or fellowship would look like. All my teammates I’ve talked to about going to church are quite accepting in just talking about it. Church seems kind of like this “other.” Something that some people go to sometimes, something that’s respected, but just not something most people choose to know more about (Jasmina… if you’re reading this… is that a fair take? :)). That’s all fine with me, it’s all on God’s schedule anyhoo. It’s just as of yet, I feel like I haven’t had a really satisfying conversation about God with anyone here. I feel like most conversations with “church” or “God” seem to fizzle out.
Well, things changed today when Paul emailed me and now just called. He is located about 3.5 hours north of here. He played hockey at the University of Michigan and then professionally in the states and abroad for a while. Now he is doing ministry here in Sweden. He was so good to talk to… just to be able to talk to someone who holds the same priority in life. I am doing ok in reading books, my Bible, and spending time in silence with God (it’s refreshing and challenging to spend such chunks of time alone with Him), but God really does call us to be in fellowship with others too. Not until Paul started talking about his experiences and how God is working throughout his life here did I just feel this pulling in my heart. Kind of hard to explain… but, I think it was a combination of desires working… wanting to be able to listen to and talk with others who share this love of Christ, and also feeling like I could have conversations with people who don’t really know God, but might want to. I could feel more than ever this desire to live as His student and servant. It was awesome and amazing and the grip of it was surprising to me. Anyway, Paul knows of some churches and pastors in Stockholm, so hopefully I’ll meet up with them soon. I think I may take a trip up north to visit him and the groups he fellowships with sometime soon too. I am ever so thankful for the time of solitude I’ve had and will continue to have. I am also excited to meet other people who desire to live their lives for our Lord! I pray that I will submit to God and be there to serve Him – in everything!… that He will do with me as He desires and that He’ll use me someway, somehow. And, yes, I appreciate all your prayers too! Thanks :)
Coming here, I wasn’t sure what finding a church or fellowship would look like. All my teammates I’ve talked to about going to church are quite accepting in just talking about it. Church seems kind of like this “other.” Something that some people go to sometimes, something that’s respected, but just not something most people choose to know more about (Jasmina… if you’re reading this… is that a fair take? :)). That’s all fine with me, it’s all on God’s schedule anyhoo. It’s just as of yet, I feel like I haven’t had a really satisfying conversation about God with anyone here. I feel like most conversations with “church” or “God” seem to fizzle out.
Well, things changed today when Paul emailed me and now just called. He is located about 3.5 hours north of here. He played hockey at the University of Michigan and then professionally in the states and abroad for a while. Now he is doing ministry here in Sweden. He was so good to talk to… just to be able to talk to someone who holds the same priority in life. I am doing ok in reading books, my Bible, and spending time in silence with God (it’s refreshing and challenging to spend such chunks of time alone with Him), but God really does call us to be in fellowship with others too. Not until Paul started talking about his experiences and how God is working throughout his life here did I just feel this pulling in my heart. Kind of hard to explain… but, I think it was a combination of desires working… wanting to be able to listen to and talk with others who share this love of Christ, and also feeling like I could have conversations with people who don’t really know God, but might want to. I could feel more than ever this desire to live as His student and servant. It was awesome and amazing and the grip of it was surprising to me. Anyway, Paul knows of some churches and pastors in Stockholm, so hopefully I’ll meet up with them soon. I think I may take a trip up north to visit him and the groups he fellowships with sometime soon too. I am ever so thankful for the time of solitude I’ve had and will continue to have. I am also excited to meet other people who desire to live their lives for our Lord! I pray that I will submit to God and be there to serve Him – in everything!… that He will do with me as He desires and that He’ll use me someway, somehow. And, yes, I appreciate all your prayers too! Thanks :)
Connected from the Start
I had just been to the hospital to stop the bleeding and get all stitched up when Putte’s cell phone rang. He gave me the phone and said it was for me. What?! Who would be calling for me. Like I had any friends in Sweden?! ;) (remember, this was back on day 2 that I was even here.) Well, it was this super sweet, caring, and concerned voice… no joke, seriously… Jasmina was calling to check on me. Since then, I knew we would be good friends . (How am I doing Jas? jk. Really that meant SO much to me – more than a blog could ever do justice - knowing that she cared enough to call). So Jas called to check on me that first night, and since then has been most amazing at including me, showing me around, and letting me tag along . You know those friends that sometimes you start to take for granted (but never ever should!) just cause they never stop being nice, and funny, and helpful (even if you don’t know how to do your own laundry), and make fun of you once-in-a-while, and care for you too… well, Jasmina is one of those. She just gives of herself (and I know that she’s gonna think this is cheesy and stuff), but just as a little shout out to her – thanks Jasmina. You of all people make me feel really welcome, comfortable being myself, and really smiley to be here. Thanks. Oh, and I think I may be coming over to watch Grey’s. Yeah? What do you think? Love you!!
03 November 2006
Ikea Buss
November 2, 2006 9:57pm
Most of you know that Ikea started in Sweden. Did you know that only “poor” people used to go to Ikea in Sweden? Then it started taking off around the world, and it became much more popular for everyone to go to back home in Sweden too. Anyway, today I took the “Ikea Buss” to the largest Ikea store in the world. There is this free bus that you can pick-up throughout downtown Stockholm and its sole purpose is to bring you further south to the actual store. I had never even been through an Ikea before (only quickly in and out of the exit of one in CA), so this was quite the experience! I bought some needed dishtowels, lightbulbs, and washcloths. I also had fun buying a few things to liven up my apt… not too much, but just enough to add some greens and blues to the place. Now you’ll really have to come see what it looks like.
The bus to Ikea was packed and everyone seemed to be speaking Swedish (as I would expect), but then this lady (with bright green boots and bag! Wowy) started talking to me. She thought she knew me. She thought I was an English teacher in one of the English schools here. She was quite convinced. In fact she even asked me where I was from to see if I could be this other girl’s twin (she – my twin - is from Philly). I wonder if I will ever run into her. Strange.
Last Ikea bus story… after I finished shopping, I was ready for an ice cream cone. I don’t know why, but I just was. So I bought the cone and went outside to wait for the bus. Sooo many people were waiting for the bus. They probably thought I was pretty crazy to be outside in the icy weather with an ice cream cone. Anyway, I was happy .
Most of you know that Ikea started in Sweden. Did you know that only “poor” people used to go to Ikea in Sweden? Then it started taking off around the world, and it became much more popular for everyone to go to back home in Sweden too. Anyway, today I took the “Ikea Buss” to the largest Ikea store in the world. There is this free bus that you can pick-up throughout downtown Stockholm and its sole purpose is to bring you further south to the actual store. I had never even been through an Ikea before (only quickly in and out of the exit of one in CA), so this was quite the experience! I bought some needed dishtowels, lightbulbs, and washcloths. I also had fun buying a few things to liven up my apt… not too much, but just enough to add some greens and blues to the place. Now you’ll really have to come see what it looks like.
The bus to Ikea was packed and everyone seemed to be speaking Swedish (as I would expect), but then this lady (with bright green boots and bag! Wowy) started talking to me. She thought she knew me. She thought I was an English teacher in one of the English schools here. She was quite convinced. In fact she even asked me where I was from to see if I could be this other girl’s twin (she – my twin - is from Philly). I wonder if I will ever run into her. Strange.
Last Ikea bus story… after I finished shopping, I was ready for an ice cream cone. I don’t know why, but I just was. So I bought the cone and went outside to wait for the bus. Sooo many people were waiting for the bus. They probably thought I was pretty crazy to be outside in the icy weather with an ice cream cone. Anyway, I was happy .
Snu
Nov 1, 2006 10:25 pm
During lunch yesterday, I asked one of the other coaches how to say “snow” in Swedish. “Snu” she said. Then she added, “And, it’s supposed to snow tonight or tomorrow!” Really?! I miss the snow so much. Last night I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, who keeps looking out the window all through the night in hopes of a white Christmas. During the night I kept waking up and looking for snow falling outside my window. Well, it finally did. Snowed this morning, stopped for a bit around midday, then started up again this afternoon and evening. Yay! I had to wear my boots . It was so slippery and icy outside that Anders canceled our scouting trip because the car we were planning on taking wouldn’t have been safe enough on the snowy roads. Tunnels and roads were shut down. The head coach for the men’s team didn’t even get to the game to coach his team until half-time because there was such great delay on the roads due to the weather! I don’t know why I get so excited by snow. I mean, it snows lots of places, and most likely will snow much more here. Most people tire of it. It can be dangerous and uncomfortable. I don’t know though, I guess I just think it’s beautiful. All these crystals… drifting down or maybe flying horizontal if the wind is fierce enough. How can I be so romantic about snow? Haha. Perhaps by the end of the winter, or maybe just by the end of November, I will have had enough of the cold, white flakes. Perhaps not though. I think one of the reasons I like snow so much is because each crystal is unique. Isn’t that awesome? And beautiful?! Each crystal is a new piece of art. Thinking of snow makes me think of God.
During lunch yesterday, I asked one of the other coaches how to say “snow” in Swedish. “Snu” she said. Then she added, “And, it’s supposed to snow tonight or tomorrow!” Really?! I miss the snow so much. Last night I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, who keeps looking out the window all through the night in hopes of a white Christmas. During the night I kept waking up and looking for snow falling outside my window. Well, it finally did. Snowed this morning, stopped for a bit around midday, then started up again this afternoon and evening. Yay! I had to wear my boots . It was so slippery and icy outside that Anders canceled our scouting trip because the car we were planning on taking wouldn’t have been safe enough on the snowy roads. Tunnels and roads were shut down. The head coach for the men’s team didn’t even get to the game to coach his team until half-time because there was such great delay on the roads due to the weather! I don’t know why I get so excited by snow. I mean, it snows lots of places, and most likely will snow much more here. Most people tire of it. It can be dangerous and uncomfortable. I don’t know though, I guess I just think it’s beautiful. All these crystals… drifting down or maybe flying horizontal if the wind is fierce enough. How can I be so romantic about snow? Haha. Perhaps by the end of the winter, or maybe just by the end of November, I will have had enough of the cold, white flakes. Perhaps not though. I think one of the reasons I like snow so much is because each crystal is unique. Isn’t that awesome? And beautiful?! Each crystal is a new piece of art. Thinking of snow makes me think of God.
01 November 2006
Happy Halloween
October 31, 2006
Coached all day at Alvik again. The kids are so cute. Especially the little ones. We had this tiny 6 year-old-boy there today, Gustav. Gustav could barely reach the basket when he shot, but oh he did try. The coaches also put the kids through some pretty elaborate obstacle courses… dribbling on top of benches and jumping over them! The little kids! They were great at it, well, mostly. Gustav took a couple tumbles, but he was ok. Two of the players from the 08 men’s team were there to help too. One of them, #8 (I don’t remember his name), was pretty tall… he would lift Gustav up so that he could dunk it. Once Gustav grabbed the rim, he wouldn’t let go! Everyone at camp couldn’t stop laughing. After camp, which lasted most of the day, I just hung around in the gym because it’s one of the places I’ve found with internet access. I just found out yesterday that I won’t have internet in my apartment for 2 – 4 weeks. I don’t know the exact reason, but at least I now have a TV that works and a new DVD player. However, I think the DVD player only plays discs from Europe. Does anyone know how to switch the “region” on these international DVD players?
Anyway, while I was waiting around at the gym, another little boy was waiting for his father to come pick him up. This one is my favorite (though I don’t know his name!), he has a mop of white-blond hair and the cutest smile. His ball got stuck above the backboard, so I tried to help him. Haha. I got another ball stuck and my shoe. Oh well, eventually we got all three items down and had a good laugh about it.
I passed my physical with the team trainer, Gregor, and he said that I should wait a few more days to take my stitches out. The doctor who stitched me up said I should take them out on Sunday (last Sunday), but Gregor says I should wait. I’m ready to take them out, but I don’t want Gregor to get upset with me. Either way, I will get them out soon… then I will be able to really see how much of my eyebrow I lost (or did not lose). Oh guess what? We might get some snow tonight! Maybe not in the heart of Stockholm because the water serves as a buffer, but perhaps in the suburbs of the city. I hope so!
Coached all day at Alvik again. The kids are so cute. Especially the little ones. We had this tiny 6 year-old-boy there today, Gustav. Gustav could barely reach the basket when he shot, but oh he did try. The coaches also put the kids through some pretty elaborate obstacle courses… dribbling on top of benches and jumping over them! The little kids! They were great at it, well, mostly. Gustav took a couple tumbles, but he was ok. Two of the players from the 08 men’s team were there to help too. One of them, #8 (I don’t remember his name), was pretty tall… he would lift Gustav up so that he could dunk it. Once Gustav grabbed the rim, he wouldn’t let go! Everyone at camp couldn’t stop laughing. After camp, which lasted most of the day, I just hung around in the gym because it’s one of the places I’ve found with internet access. I just found out yesterday that I won’t have internet in my apartment for 2 – 4 weeks. I don’t know the exact reason, but at least I now have a TV that works and a new DVD player. However, I think the DVD player only plays discs from Europe. Does anyone know how to switch the “region” on these international DVD players?
Anyway, while I was waiting around at the gym, another little boy was waiting for his father to come pick him up. This one is my favorite (though I don’t know his name!), he has a mop of white-blond hair and the cutest smile. His ball got stuck above the backboard, so I tried to help him. Haha. I got another ball stuck and my shoe. Oh well, eventually we got all three items down and had a good laugh about it.
I passed my physical with the team trainer, Gregor, and he said that I should wait a few more days to take my stitches out. The doctor who stitched me up said I should take them out on Sunday (last Sunday), but Gregor says I should wait. I’m ready to take them out, but I don’t want Gregor to get upset with me. Either way, I will get them out soon… then I will be able to really see how much of my eyebrow I lost (or did not lose). Oh guess what? We might get some snow tonight! Maybe not in the heart of Stockholm because the water serves as a buffer, but perhaps in the suburbs of the city. I hope so!
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