Wednesday 31 August 2011

Not my day

Maybe I should put a warning on this post. It will include a few negative things. For only positive things: go to the end of the post and skip the first part.

My day started with a BIG fly in my yoghurt for breakfast. It was there when I opened it so I had to throw it away.

I decided to go outside to get the newspaper so I could read it while eating breakfast. I was barefoot and stepped on a big snail which died and my foot got slimy.

My phone died at school and I can't get it to work so I will have to buy a new phone.. (Which means I won't be available that way until I get a new one)

And, my bike broke as well right after school.

We were doing tasks downtown for our freshmen pranks today.. You can see my outfit in my last post. It was fun to hang out with some people from the class but I must say that it was a little bit boring as so many of the strangers we met didn't wanna do the things we asked them to do (parts of our tasks). One thing that was quite fun was when we carried a 45 year old man over the big square :) I also asked 3 guys if they could buy milk for me (using the words you would use if asking someone to buy alcohol for them if they are too young). Those are two example of quite a lot of things we got to do.

We also had our first chemistry lesson today! I have been reading some chemistry during this spring which I'm very happy about now so the things he went through wasn't that hard. I actually really enjoyed that class and I'm looking forward to continue with it! I was using the same notepad today as I had during the chemistry lessons last spring so when our teacher asked us a question that was pretty hard, then I could answer it as I found it in my old notes :)
I'm ridicously excited about bringing all my pens, paper etc etc and print out the handouts and have them in a folder organized and so on! This will be so good!

Tuesday 30 August 2011

Outfit number 1 for pranks


Getting myself prepared for tomorrow... I'm a bit nervous as I haven't had time to learn the dance yet :/


Other updates:

I tried making my own sushi for the first time today! Was too tired to take pictures but I think it turned out pretty good for being the first time...


And look what I found :) A Texas flag! :D
Update: I have now been informed by my friend that this is Chiles flag, not Texas :) oh well, it made me happy anyways


Monday 29 August 2011

Pranks to come


My last post were before dinner which means - I was too hungry so I totally forgot to write to you a little bit more about the pranks! Maybe you read it and thought that we will only play games on our 2 weeks of pranks.. No it's not really like that..

Our theme is "make love not war". We will have to be dressed like the flower power/peace people in the 70's.. My sister had perfect pants for that but she told me today that she threw them away two years ago unfortunally.. Our group will also have purple lipstick. That is the outfit for 4 of the days. The last day the theme for our outfits will be "Walk of shame"... any suggestions of what I should wear?

Our group will also have to have an Avatar-outfit and a Lust-outfit.. I guess Avatar will be easy, but lust?? More suggestions please.

So in these outfits we will do different things. And we always have to wear our orange ribbon on our heads as you can see on the picture. As for one, we have to learn this dance on the link below and on wednesday when we are doing things downtown, we have to dance this in different places...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpdZWr2GWLI&feature=share

The whole thing will end with a gasque which is like a fancy dinner. So there you go!

First class and starting of the freshman pranks

I don't really have much to say about it but as I told you yesterday that I would tell you today about how it went, then I guess I should do that. :)

We had our first lesson today in school but it was only introduction so I don't know if that counts? We will have introduction for the rest of the week so the real classes doesn't really start until next week.

We also got to meet the students that are a year ahead of us that will be doing the freshman pranks on us. We started today with some games and got a schedule on how the rest of the 2 weeks of "nollning" will look like. I think it was fun today and I'm really looking forward to join the rest. We are 7 girls in our group and we will be doing all the things together on these 2 weeks.

It feels so great being a student again :)

Sunday 28 August 2011

Our biggest squash and a fish salad


The squashes keeps on growing in our garden.. We let this one stay on extra long too see how big it could get... The picture doesn't really justify it as it was really huge. The smaller vegetable next to it is actually a cucumber. Also from our own garden.

I read a friends blog today and she has a lot of pictures of the food she makes.. I got inspired so here you have a picture of my dinner: fish salad



Speaking of fish.. We eat fish quite a lot in Sweden.. And it wouldn't be a weird thing to eat fish for breakfast here. As today I ate mackerel for breakfast. So for you who are not from here who are reading this - do you think that is weird? Me and my sister talked about that today that maybe you would think it's weird to eat mackerel in tomato sauce first thing in the morning?

Tomorrow I'll tell you how it went on my first real day at school. We are having our first lesson, but only introduction this far. After the lesson, we will start our "nollning", which is rag for your brittish and freshman pranks for the rest of you. I had to look it up in the dictionary as I can't really continue putting the swedish name in a blog written on english?

Saturday 27 August 2011

Celebrating that I have worked my last day

Today I worked my last day at Arlanda. That's what I hope at least.. I don't know if I would have to work there during the summer breaks but I hope to get something else until then. It feels so great to know that I don't have to go up in the middle of the night to work again!

Me, my brother, sister and Whitley celebrated with sushi and me and W will watch a movie soon and just relax.

Otherwise classes will start on monday, nollningen right after classes and bibleschool will start on tuesday. I will not go to bibleschool but I'm still excited to see who is here this year for it.

Friday 26 August 2011

Welcoming day at uni for all the new students


Inside the university house
 What a day! I am right now in the middle of two chapters of my life. Tomorrow will be my last day at work (maybe not for forever but for a long time at least) and today I was at the welcoming day my university has for all the new students. Speaking of students, did you know that Uppsala University has 40 000 students? That is quite a lot for a city with around 180 000 people. And that it was founded 1477. Beat that!

It feels so great to go over to this next chapter in my life. I am really excited for everything I have ahead of me and I'm trying to give God all my worries about it and all my other dreams.

So I started the day with going to the gym with Whitley, then she followed me to the welcoming day at uni and there were tons of people there! I met up with a few of my classmates and we sat together and listen to the program of the day. There was music and speaches. A famous swedish rap artist, Petter, were our host.
What surprised me was how beautiful the university house is inside. I have lived here so many years but I have never been inside it. It was pretty amazing to see.

Students waiting outside the building
We have something here that is called "nationer", which is a building that is representing a swedish county. We have 13 of them and you can become a member when you study at the university. It's like a student club. They have apartments, pubs, restaurants, places you can study etc etc. I'm not a person that likes to party but as they have so many other things as well, I decided to join one. I randomly picked Smålands, partly as that's where I'm born. All the new students were going around these student pubs this evening but unfortunally I had to skip it as I have been so exhausted with everything going on lately and as I have to go up this night to work.

People from the university's gym is showing off
Petter
After the welcoming program, me and Whitley went home a little bit and then continued to Gränby to do some shopping. We didn't really buy much but we got a smoothie each at the naked juice bar and I also got sushi that I brought home. Swedish sushi is good, but not at all as good as the one I had in Dallas. When (please God!) I move there, I think I will eat at that sushi place every week! :D
I got a cd box with 4 cds of Johnny Cash and also a cd box with 4 cds with Simon and Garfunkel. I'm not suppose to know about the later one though as my mom is giving that one to me for my birthday so she has hidden it from me now so don't tell me okay? :)

The sushi.. I was so hungry so I had to eat two pieces before taking a picture

Thursday 25 August 2011

Longing for heaven

Imagine to be able to see God with our own eyes, be able to touch him with our hands and finally be totally whole and free. Don't get me wrong, I want to live a full long life during my time on earth but heaven is still what I dream and long for. Heaven is home. No more tears, no more pain and no more sin.

Revelation 21:4-5
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EBSvFlBoIs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAian48rpRA

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Finally! Gym and school is on!


Me outside the main university house
I've been counting the days for a few things lately. One thing is how many work days I have left and I now only have 1 more day left which is on saturday. I have mixed feelings about that because I really like my job and my coworkers and I will really miss them.. but obviously it will be so wonderful that I won't have to go up in the middle of the night to go to work.

A part of the new gym


Another thing is when the gym will open up again after they have renovated it. Apperently it opened two days ago already but I thought it would open yesterday and I wasn't able to go then so finally today I went! I was so excited but as soon as I started, I could feel how unfit I am compared to 3 months ago. The gym was really nice though and I started off softly so I won't get hurt or sick. So now after one month of not working out at all and 5 pounds later - I'm back on track again :) Speaking about the gym, if you have any good work out music - please tell me the names of them because I am in desperate need of new exercise music.

And the third thing is school. The classes doesn't start until monday but today we had registration so I got to meet my new classmates for the first time! I have had a little contact with a few of them on facebook so we exchanged our numbers and we will be meeting again on friday when there's a welcoming day on the university for all the new students. I read that there is over 19 000 NEW students so I don't know how all will fit in the university house? My sister showed me around school so it feels good now that I know where to go on my classes. I have lived here for 20 years and as Uppsala is a student city, it will be so exciting to explore that part of it finally.

For you americans - we have a thing in Sweden called "nollning" and that is students that has been here for a year already that does things for the new students - fun things so we can get to know each other and also embarrasing things. Embarrasing for us new ones that is. You can see those ones everywhere downtown now and next week it will be our turn! I'm excited to see what they have planned. Our "nollnings" theme is "Make love, not war".


The biomedicine centre - where my classes will be

The lunch menu at school... notice the english translation of färs - mice...should have been minced obviously :)


Me confused as my sister tried to explain everything about the school building

And one last thing. My brother is a breakdancer and yesterday he got to perform at an event where our crown princess was. This was the second time he has performed for her, last time the whole royal family were there. I'm so proud of my brother!

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Basketball - Sweden vs Washington


Me and Whitley (the american girl who stays with us this year) went on a basketball game today here in Uppsala. I believe it is my first I've seen in Sweden as basketball isn't a big sport at all here.. It's really a shame because basketball is so much fun to watch!

It was women playing and it was a team from Sweden and one from Washington! We got a bit surprised when we heard that an american team would play here. It felt so great seeing the american flag right next to the swedish flag, hearing all the american accents and also the american national anthem and then right after hearing the swedish one. I started thinking about all my friends in the states, but mostly on my friends in Texas and the basketball game I was on there in November last year when the Dallas mavericks were playing against Detroit... If I had only known back then that Dallas would win the whole championship!

The game today was obviously not as big at all as the american games.. And not that many people either. But it was so much fun and as I said - it made me miss Texas so much. I even think my heart was physically hurting for a while there :)


the american team having a time out


so beautiful! :)


Fish soup

One of the reasons why I got this blog was because I wanted to post recipes and get inspired and start cooking more as that is one of my biggest interests. This summer has been a bit more hectic than I thought so unfortunally that hasn't happened yet. I hope that starting school and working much less will mean more time over for cooking, if not - maybe I should quit school and become a housewife and cook all days? yeah maybe not haha :) (even though it does sound quite fun).
Here is the first recipe for this blog and it's a fish soup that I did yesterday when my friends came over for dinner. I normally don't measure things when I cook so I will try to remember about how much I put in. This recipe is for about 7-8 people and it takes about 2-2½ hours to make.

Fish soup

For the broth:
6 carrots
1 small swede/rutabaga
1 small rooted celery
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 fennel (not the herb but the vegetable)
5-10 whole white peppercorn
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
The shell (?) of about 500 grams of shrimps (1 pound)

Chop all of the vegetables in smaller sizes - but they can still be pretty big as you don't keep this in the end and it's only for flavour as this will be the broth. Heat up a BIG pot with the oil and the butter. Add everything except from the shrimp shells and stir for about 5 minutes on medium heat and make sure it doesn't get burned.

Add water - I'm guessing about 4-5 liters (16-20 cups). Let it simmer/boil for about 40-50 minutes (start preparing the rest while waiting further down). Almost half of the water is suppose to go away so the flavours get more concentrated.

Put the shrimp shells in the oven on about 200 degrees celsius or around 400 farenheit and "roast" them for 15 minutes. Add them in the pot with the vegetables and let it boil for another 15 minutes - not longer!


Pour out the broth through a strainer twice - it has to be through a very fine strainer (correct english word?) so it takes away even the smallest parts so you only have a clear broth left.



Put the broth back on the pot and add whatever vegetables you want to have in it. I choosed:

2 small fennels
5 carrots
½ swede
cauliflower

You should cut the fish in smaller pieces but not too small:
600 grams salmon
300 grams cod
the shrimps that you got when you used the shells

Boil the soup with the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add the fish (not the shrimps yet) and boil for another 5-6 minutes. In the end you add:

The shrimps
3 dl soya cream
3 dl white wine
1 gram of saffron
salt/pepper
and if the broth wasn't strong enough in it's taste - you can add a little bit more of powdered bouillon

I know it takes some time to make this soup but it's worth it!

Now I gotta get ready as me and the american who stays with us are going away to watch basketball. I think it was some swedish team against washington.. something like that :)

Monday 22 August 2011

I have brown hair again!!

I have really missed having brown hair as it has been 5 years since last.. This colour will slowly go out though and then I will let my natural haircolour grow out. Reason being that it will be much cheaper this way during the 3 years of studies I have infront of me. But as soon as those 3 years are over, maybe before depending on how my finances will look like, I will bleach it again, or maybe keep it brown.. But for now, I'd rather save my money for something more important. I'm also trying to grow my bangs out (fringe for u brittish ppl) as I'm really sick of it and I've had it for almost 10 years.


Later on today, I will post a recipie on fish soup that I am making today. It's my favourite fish soup but it takes at least 2-2,5 hours to make. But it's so worth it!

Sunday 21 August 2011

Swedish linedancing?


I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw linedancing, in the middle of a swedish mall.. I have never seen that here in Sweden.. Ofcourse it made me think of and miss Texas.. They invited us to come for a free lesson on tuesday.. hmm

Friday 19 August 2011

Stressed

The statistics for how many people (and how high grades they needed etc) that got into uni this fall is now published. I've been waiting for this because I wanted to see how close or not close it was for me to get in. I had more than I needed so I didn't think I would have a problem of getting in and that's also what the statistics now show.

I also wanted to check on another program that I was thinking about going. It's a new program they are starting with now and it's a bachelor program in peace and development studies. I was so excited when I saw that they would start with this program, so I asked them about a half year ago how hard it would be to get in. They said that it would be very hard, pretty much the same levels as getting into studying law or medicin so around 1,8-1,9 on the SAT test, which is very high. But now when I checked the statistics, people had gone in on 1.4 and I have 1.3 so I was actually pretty close and I think I could easily get 1.4 if not more if I tried again. This makes me doubt my choice I have now even more.

There's a lot that needs to get done before school starts and I'm getting pretty stressed about it as I can now see that the time isn't really enough. I wish I would have taken a week off work in the end of the summer so I could catch up with rest and other things. I'm still very excited even though it might not sound like it right now. My sister is going to show me where I'm going on my first days in school (she is studying her program in the same building) and she also promised me to give me a massage before work tomorrow! Yay :D

Oh yeah, one really positive thing, ICA (one of the biggest food store) has launched a student discount mastercard.. I already have their mastercard as I love that store very deeply :) So now I got mine "upgrated" to a student card as well. It's silly how happy I am about this.

Thursday 18 August 2011

A little bit about everything

I like when I have things in order. I like lists, structure, rules and to organize. Maybe because I am swedish? Or maybe because I'm a girl? Or I guess you could say woman, after all I turn 25 this year. My mom thinks that's a huge deal so I promised her that I won't make any plans for that whole weekend so I can be available for only birthday things. Which means, birthday party the weekend after for you who live close. Or if you want to take a 9 hour plane ride here for it, you are very welcome to come and join us for it(if I know you that is). As I've mentioned before, my first exam is on my birthday. The university must have made a mistake right? Well, I actually should (and I am) be happy, it would have been worse if my birthday was the day before an exam.

Oh yeah, I want to mention that our crown princess is pregnant. We all found out about it yesterday here in Sweden and this means that the baby will be queen/king some day. It's a huge deal.

I have now got my "information kit" from uni (top picture)... Maps, invitation to the welcoming day next week and other forms of information. As you can see on the picture, I got all the books ready as my sister already studied this course before. Now I only have to get more pens, a backpack and other things I might need.

Now it's also only 4 more work days left. I've worked there since 2007, with a break when I lived in Birmingham.. It feels so great to know that I don't have to be there much at all now, maybe not even anything depending on how things turn out. I will miss the people and the busy work days, but I will defently not miss going up 2.45 or 3.25 am as I have done so many times.

5 days left for the gym opens again as well.

Hmm.. That was a little bit of everything.. My 3 hour nap wasn't enough today so I think I'm gonna get ready for bed already. Good night!

Tuesday 16 August 2011

New background! + Crayfish party!


The new background for the blog is here as you can see :) There's a problem with it on some screens but it should work on some now.. My friend is working with it to fix it so it will work on all screens soon.

Today was a day of getting things done. As the girl (who will be staying with us) is moving here from another country, there's a lot of things to get done like setting up the phone, bus card etc etc.. We finished the day with the crayfish dinner with my family and hers.

And here they are! Welcome to Sweden!


Monday 15 August 2011

Beetroot juice + welcoming call


I was boiling beetroots today for tomorrows dinner and the water got so dark (lots of the vitamins goes into the water) so I thought of drinking it... It did not taste good but at least I tried..

I also got my welcoming call from uni today :) 2 more weeks!

Whitley is here!

The girl from Oklahoma that will be staying with us for at least 9 months finally arrived today! We've been really excited about it :) She came with her parents who will be staying for the rest of the week. I have loved having people from all over the world the last years here but it's still something extra special about having an american :)
So as it's crayfish-party/dinner-season in Sweden now, we decided to have one for them tomorrow to show them a swedish tradition.

It is now also 10 years ago since we started having bibleschool students (and a few others) living with us and since then we have had 4 americans (5 with this year), two swedes, three brittish, one german, one taiwanese, one french and one from Iran! Several of them has been very close friends of mine and has meant so much in my life.

And about something totally different. I'll be getting brown hair in a week from today! It's been 4 years ago (I think) since last time.. The plan is to grow it out and have my natural colour through my study years to save money.

And also, no Birmingham trip this time as one of the 2 friends I wanted to visit were not able to come those days. :( I miss them so much that it hurts but I guess I just have to wait till February :)

Sunday 14 August 2011

I'm confused..

It's hard to know what to do in life.. In Sweden, we normally wait a few years before we go to the university, so we can travel, explore life a bit and think about what we want to do the rest of our lives. Some start studying again right after high school but I would say that probably 90 % (or more) of my swedish friends didn't.

It seems like almost everyone in America goes to college right away and sometimes I must admit I feel behind in life when I'm there because of that even though I know I have done many other things instead. But here in Sweden most of my friends (or many at least) has still not gone to university and I also know many people that are not planning on starting either.

I don't believe university is for everyone. And I believe people can make it even if they don't have a high education. Many people were terrible in school but has really made it in this world. You shouldn't get an education just for the sake of it, but because it can take you where you want to go.

Hmm.. That was actually not at all what I had planned to write.. So now I'll change the subject a bit.

I know I'm passionated about nutrition. Mainly because I hope to be able to help people with it in the future. I don't want my kids or other kids to grow up on preservatives and cornstarch. I want to help overweight people. And normal weight people to eat better so they can get a healthier life so they can live longer and do more for this world.
But I feel my heart won't be satisfied with doing only this the rest of my life. My heart is still burning for other things. Mainly Israel and the middle east as I've mentioned before. I love Israel and jewish people so much that I have a hard time not crying when I think about it/them. I would defently say I'm more passionated about Israel than I am about nutrition or anything else. Nutrition is not life, but it's important so you can be able to live life.

Today at church, they spoke about that many times God wants what we want, because he put that longing in us. That gives me hope, that my other dreams will come true some day. But it also makes me confused about if I'm really doing the right thing now with school. A big part of my heart just want to study hebrew and the jewish culture instead. But at the same time, I'm so passionated about nutrition.. AAAhh I'm so confused! I wouldn't know what to work with when it comes to Israel anyways, I just want to learn everything about it.

I will always remember one thing from bibleschool (and many other things obviously) and that is when Joakim said that it's impossible for God to lead us in the right direction if we are standing still and doing nothing. Just as a boat, if it's standing still, you can't turn it anywhere, but as soon as it's starting to move, even if just a little, you can start turning it in the right direction.

That's how I feel now. I'm taking a step and if God wants to correct my direction a bit then he is welcome to. My goal is not to have a full degree just for the sake of it, but to do what God wants me to do and to be where he wants me to be.

And now a totally different direction of this post. Sugarfree swedish chocolate balls!

2,5 dl (1 cup) oats
50 grams of butter (I believe that's one stick for you americans)
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1 tablespoon of honey (sure, not the absolute best but defently better than the sugar that it's suppose to be in this recipie and it will also give you some antioxidants)
1 tablespoon of cold coffee

Mix it all together, do balls and put coconut on them and it will taste just as normal ones!

Saturday 13 August 2011

Todays adventures at Tom tits


Tom tits - the round ring on the wall is where you can bike, see last picture of this post

Me and my sister decided to do something different today, so we went to Tom tits experiments in Södertälje. We haven't been there since we were kids (school classes normally goes there) so we were very excited to have a relaxed day and check it out again as grown ups. I was a bit concerned that we would be too old for it but now afterwards, I think there were plenty of things for grown ups as well. We did laugh at ourselves many times though as it seemed like we were the only ones there that weren't kids or had kids with us.

We started the day with something easy... I learned that my balance is something I really need to start working on

My sister was a natural!

I was very excited about the day




We also went up in an air balloon

Södertälje from the balloon

me playing with all the kids in the pretend wind


Rat race

Foetal fluid

I would love to have these at home!

My sister biking upside down at the wall from the first picture
Only 1,5 more weeks till the gym opens up again, 6 more work days left and 2 weeks and 2 days for school to start.. I'm considering going to Birmingham just before school as two of my best friends will be there then.. I'm suppose to work one of the days I'm thinking about going so we'll see how it goes with that.. They are coming here hopefully in February but I miss them too much and I don't want to wait another half year as it will almost be a year by then that I saw them. Once a year is just not enough..

Friday 12 August 2011

The chickens

Chickens

99 % of all chickens that get consumed in America, Sweden and the most of the other countries in the world is a chicken that is extremly fast growing (people have made them like that) with large chicken breasts.

It grows so fast that it can't really have a normal chicken life outside as it's very sensitive to heat, it dies easily in heart attacks and its legs are too weak to carry all the extra weight from the large chicken breasts.

100 years ago, chickens needed 120 days on them to reach its slaughter weight. Today it takes 33 days.

So much of the chickens energi goes to the muscle growth so they won't have as much left to develop its immunsystem. Which leads to more sicknesses which leads to more medication.

The chickens fast growth also effects its lungs and other inner organs as they develop slower.

In Sweden they got 75 million chickens to the slaughter houses 2007. 1 million were too sick for us to eat and that was after the farmers had taken away all the ones they saw that were too sick before sending them to the slaughters. Some even had tumors, that they had manage to develop in their 33 days life.

So I'm wondering; how did a chicken look like lets say 100 years ago, before humans started messing with the created? If 99 % of the chickens we eat today are not like that, then I'm wondering what a normal chicken looks like..

Thursday 11 August 2011

Healthy smoothie


Did a smoothie today on different berries with mint and lemon balm from the garden. I have never thought of using mint in a smoothie but got inspired as I got that in a smoothie from the naked juice bar in Gränby.

Lemon balm is good as it can lower blood pressure and pulse and it is calming.
Mint is good for unwanted hairgrow for women haha (awesome!) but it has also been used against cold apprently. There are also many other things they are good for!

I have to put up a picture on my cat as well because he is so cool.

Soup from my garden


The raspberry season in our garden is finished a few weeks ago, but instead, we now have ready beetroots, carrots, peas and potatoes. All of the vegetables and herbs on the pictures are from our garden. So I decided to make a soup on it. Vegetable soup is for some reason the thing I crave most often.

Our tomatoes are not ready yet but hopefully soon! We have 15 big plants now with all lots of green tomatoes.

Our squash is getting bigger and bigger and we don't have time to eat them all. There's one in our garden now that is the biggest one I've seen in my life. I don't really like when they are so big but it's still fun to see.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

2 weeks left

It is now 2 weeks left until I have to be in school. The lessons doesn't start until the monday after but there's a couple of other things the week before. There's so many things I want to do before, but I'm starting to realize that the time is just not enough for all of it.
I have at least 3 books (2 big ones) I want to read. I'm doing a cookbook for my mom that I need to finish. My room needs to be thoroughly cleaned. I need to get a backpack, pens, folders etc for school. My hair desperatly needs a hairdresser. Etc etc.. I also have 7 more days left at work, plus another half day at my dads work.

It all actually didn't sound that bad when I wrote it all down..

The girl from America who will be staying with us this next academic year will be coming on monday as well. Her parents are also coming and they will be staying for a week. We are very excited to have her! I love showing americans Sweden!

By the way, I'm thinking of getting a subscribtion of the magazine called Fitness (a swedish one).. Anyone out there that has read it and knows if its good or not? I was looking at one today at work and it seemed pretty good. And I would also get a free pulse watch, which I've wanted to have for a year now but I'm too cheap to buy one.

Time for bed.. Finally a day off work tomorrow! Which means cooking, reading, resting, cleaning and preparing for work the next day..

Monday 8 August 2011

I met my future husband today

One of my customers today were italian and had several things on him from Texas, his cap, and a few other smaller things on his backpack.. He also had a ribbon where it said I love Israel.. He has to be THE ONE right? I can not imagine a better fit except from if he were jewish as well.

Sunday 7 August 2011

More structure please

16 days left till the gym starts.
22 days left till the lessons starts.
The last days at work seems to go by so slow now.. When I'm bored, I picture myself at the gym and it makes me so excited. I seriously really really miss it. It has been 3 long months when it has been closed..

I have a good feeling about this year. I'm more excited than ever to work out more serious and I will finally study nutrition! I also turn 25 in less than 2 months. Half way to 50! Which feels great!

Hopefully I'll get more time to be more serious on this blog as well as soon as I get more structure in my life. Right now it feels like a big mess with so different schedule every day. I should probably get a better camera for it as well. But I refuse to get an iphone.

Saturday 6 August 2011

America vs Sweden


I have a hard time deciding where I want to be. When I've been to America, I start loving and appriciating Sweden much more. But when the fall starts to come to Sweden, there's no place I rather be (except from Israel) than in America.

America has had a special place in my heart for about 5 years now, since I became a christian. And Texas has been the place that I've "always" wanted to go to. I have now spent 2,5 months total in Dallas and I must say it wasn't at all what I had expected. I thought there would be cowboys and people riding on horses everywhere. I also thought everyone would have a really thick southern accent and that almost everyone would be obese. It's not really like that there..
I totally saw 1 person riding on a horse and I didn't meet many at all with that accent I thought everyone had. And sure there were defently many more obese people in Sweden, but not at all as many as I had expected!

I've learned that american people are more generous than us swedes.. Families opens up their homes and lives to other people much more over there. They spend more time with each other and helps each other out. But they also work more. I heard somewhere that Americans live to work and swedes work to live.. maybe thats true.. Personally I believe Americans are better when it comes to the daily life and putting family higher than swedes, but swedes are better with traditions and also taking time to relax. Swedes are also really good with experience life. Swedes dare to travel and explore things in a better way.

I really want to live in America some day. I'd like to have it as my base, and then go out in different periods to other countries like Israel, Irak, India, France etc.. As I mentioned before, the middle east is really on my heart. I love food and nutrition but when it comes to maybe being able to start orphanages or help poor children in the 3rd world somehow, than my nutrition interest is worth nothing. But maybe it could be combined somehow.

That has been something that has worried me, that all of those dreams won't happen because I will start studying nutrition now. That's why I took the acceptance to the university with mixed feelings. I prayed to God about all of that.. And I went to church the sunday after I heard I was accepted to the program and I really believe God spoke to me there. The service was about dreams that God has given us, and that everything doesn't always come true at once, but some dreams takes a bit of time to become reality and that we shouldn't give up our dreams only because it looks impossible at the moment. That service really encouraged me and has put me in a more secure mindset about these 3 study years I'm about to start. I don't know Gods plans for my whole life but I know it will be much better than I can even dream or think. I trust that God will lead me in the right directions in my life even when I don't always understand it.

Oh and america also gets a point because they have NBA and they have the mavericks ;) First sport I truly enjoy to watch!