Summer ...CHECK!

**Picture: My AMAZING birthday cake. Thanks Heini! ****

Nej men hej,

Summer. Officially in play. Today I experienced the first sunny day in Sweden since I have moved here (maybe that's exaggerating a little... but not really). I am officially flying out on the 29th of June. Funny because last year I can remember literally counting the days till I flew home, and this year I've been so busy with graduation, prom, end of the year team building, saying goodbye to everyone.... the list goes on and on...that it has literally creeped up on me. I have to start packing! South Dakota...here I come!

I am starting the countdown to 30 now. Depressing. I got a camera for my b-day, so now I can pour on the pictures... I also recently found out that some of my students at IESS are reading my blog... so sorry mom, I gotta keep it clean from now on =)

As I'm sitting here in my apartment I can't help but sweat (I know..I'm weird) with anticipation. Things I'm looking forward to: Meeting my nephew Micah (of course my other nephews as well, but I kinda haven't gotten the opportunity to say, "Hey, welcome to earth," to the lil man); seeing my sister, seeing my brothers, seeing my brother's prego wife, hugging my mom and dad fresh off the plane, going to the my family reunion, meeting John in the U.S.A, seeing Megs, Petah, Bynn, Char, Sara and her hubby, seeing my cuz KAMI and meeting her family that she has been the loving mother of for more than a year now (ugh I am a jerk), seeing my dog lexi, seeing Tom, seeing the Devout's, seeing my vermtown fam,.. .it's like a whole other life over there that I miss and it's all flooding me right now as I wipe the tears off my keyboard.

I have also started an "America List"... a list of things you just can't get in Sweden. Want to know what is at the top of my list? No, not peanut butter, CREST! I cannot live w/o crest. Yes yes they have toothpaste here, but it's just not as good as crest.

Chuck is staring at me right now.. he looks tired..actually he sleeping and it's making me jealous. If you are reading this, then I'm sure you have had a part in my life somehow. Right? So .. listen to these very important details: I am home June 29th-August 11th. We need to meet up! Bless you all...

-An Emotional Sob

Nipples aka Freckles

Happy Lordag,

One of the fun parts of living in a country is the many mishaps that come with the price of speaking a different language. I work at an English speaking school and to a person who speaks english as a second language sometimes the wrong words come at the wrong time. With that, this story needs to be unleashed. An unnamed teacher is cleverly thinking that she will have the students exit her class in a fun and different way. She starts off by saying, "Anyone with brown hair can go." So all the kids with brown hair leave the room. Next she says, "Anyway wearing pink may leave," and all the kids with pink leave the classroom. "All the kids with nipples may leave the classroom." Every froze. "I mean, what are those things on your face called? Freckles. I meant, freckles!!!!!" She tried to regain the sanity of her 6th grade classroom, but at this point kids were laughing to the point of tears. ****Giving you time to laugh...****** And done. Good story huh? Even better if you know the teacher. And so on............

Update on Chuck: If you are wondering who Chuck is, that's my cat. He is doing well...just a lil crazy at times. We decided to name him after Chuck Bass. Who is that? He is a character on a show called "Gossip Girl." I normally deny that I watch the show, but now that I named my cat after one of the main actors, I kinda have to own up to watching it WEEKLY. I find myself counting the days till we can download a new episode. Let's be real, everyone has a guilty pleasure. Am I right?? It's just whether or not the person is willing to declare from there blog like me. I know what my sister's is... should I spill??! Gossip magazines. (Sorry sis) The check out lane is what kills her. Gossip magazines screaming out their headlines ... she can never say no. HAHAHA! Alright, enough of throwing my sister under the bus......
Today is a beautiful day here in Sundsvall, so I'm thinking about trying out his new leash and giving him a taste of the outside world.
Hejda

Meow

Hej hej,

I have fantastic news. I am getting a cat! I'm sure those of you (especially my mother) are thinking, 'Do you remember what happened to your other cat?' (If you were wondering .. my other cat, Neko.. was brutally murdered by an oncoming car. Tragic.) The good news is, people walk here. So the risk of getting hit by a car is LESS. Plus, Im a more mature owner now... things like that won't happen. I think I will be getting the cat from the mother of the lady who cuts my hair. The thing I'm struggling with is a name. If you have any suggestions...feel free to leave them in the comments box. I was thinking Charlie ..but, that seems like a dog name? The kitten is a boy and is black with white paws and stomach. Help me out......

This weekend is a big weekend in Sweden. I don't know what it is called, but they have big bon fires and lots of cool stuff going around the country. I will try to take some pictures with the camera that I don't have to try to give you an idea of what goes on.

Umm... other than that. OH. Almost forgot. I will be going to Estonia in 2 weeks. Some of the teachers and I booked a boat there and since I have done NO traveling what-so-ever..I figured I could see a country outside of good ol' Sweden.

One more thing...today, the sun is shining and I didn't get goosebumps walking to work. Felt fantastic. Good day to ya'll.

Done and Done

Sha sha bloggers,

Season is officially over. Am I sad? Yes. Devestated. We truly deserved to make it to the final considering our conditions throughout the season. Am I loving my free time? HECK YES! It feels weird to have time again. In the meantime I've started to tutor a 7 year old girl in English. Can she speak English? No! Can I speak Swedish....kinda-sorta? So yesterday was the first "official" day that we met. To be honest. I am so proud of myself. I actually withheld conversation with a 7 year old. There were times that I just did the 'head nod' and did an occasional "Ahhh...", but for the most part...I"M COMING ALONG! Call me small town, but it is totally awesome to actually learn and use a different language than my mother tongue.

Other new things in my uneventful life: I have started to walk to school. ****Giving you time to laugh...giving you time to laugh ******I promised myself that after season I would start walking to and from work. Considering people that are older and less active than me walk...I could probably get my lazy American booty out in the morning for a 15 minute walk. Wanna hear a funny story? The other day I got up and walked in the morning. 5:00 rolled around. 5:01 I called John to give me a ride home. HA! Once an American. Always an American.

It's late here. Keep driving your cars short distances and eating more than the serving size says to eat. Proud to be an American. God Bless ya.
Ms. Daly

Choked

Nej men hej!

I wish I could scream and shout through my words and tell you WE WON... but I cannot. We choked, in front of our biggest crowd yet this season. So.. now we have to go to the 5th and final game to determine who will go to the finals. BA. As unhappy that I am about playing this 5th game, I think it is to our advantage. I truly believe we play our best when we are labeled "the underdog." (Which is pretty much the story of our season..) I don't think anyone wanted our team to make it to the play-offs....or the semi's ...and now the finals. SO, we go into the 5th and FINAL match at our opponents home court, coming off a loss. Perfect.

Gametime at 7pm. I will fill ya in on tomorrow ASAP

PS: Today I had my first FULL conversation in Swedish (normally I resort to my go to phrase "I don't speak swedish" ...)
That is my exciting life. I know..you're jealous =) Hej da from Sverige.

2-1....a tight one

Hey bloggas...

Bball update: WE WON! This was seriously a game to remember. Classic last second shot. Seriously. Whew. We ended up winning by one point. We were up by 1 and they scored with 14 seconds left. As you can tell from the picture...we were excited! We have to win 1 more at home... if we do we are locked into THE FINAL. If we lose, we have to play another game in Stockholm. (REALLY don't want to do that..)



Today I woke up at 10. Oh how I'm going to miss those days when school starts up next week. We had practice today from 12-13 and after that me, Vera (Serbian baller), and Anna (Swedish baller) went to Birsta (the mall) to do some fundraising for children in Africa. (Okay it was to help promote our team too, but all the kroner went to the kids. I SWEAR!) At first I was thinking, "Why am I doing this? My couch with some comfort food and Grey's Anatomy all day sounds much better than standing by the mall doors acting like a beggar!" By the end of the experience I was soooooooooo happy I had decided to help out. At first I was a little shy. I kinda know what it feels like to be a guy now. Denial is a brutal thing. I mean, when you are putting yourself out there and all you get is a "no" ... that's just downright harsh. What really kills me is the "I don't see you but I really see you." COME ON! Don't pretend that you never heard me to begin with. I would relate that one to the "Call back/Text denial"??? One thing I got to work is my "guilt trip phrases." This is how my conversation went:

Conversation #1:
ME: "Hi! Would you like to help children in Africa?"
THEM: "No."
ME: "Really?! As long as you can fall to sleep at night knowing you said no to helping children dying in Africa, that's fine by me."

Conversation #2:
ME: "Hi! Did you know that you can help children in Africa today!?"
THEM: "No."
ME: "Not today? Maybe tomorrow?!

Conversation #3:
ME: "Children. Africa. You can save them!"
THEM: "No."
ME: "Jerk."

Conversation #4:
ME: "Hi! Do you want a free balloon?!"
THEM: "No"
ME: "What?"

Just a few of the interesting conversations. Now I'm sure you're all thinking Swedes are giving because everyone of my examples said no. NOT TRUE! I think we made a big chunk of change for the children in Africa. Back home.. I'm pretty sure I would've been beaten over the head with a handbag or something if I would've pulled the stuff I pulled. Now, I need to lay my head down... and sleep... because I know I helped children in Africa.

1-1

Hej hej (swedish spelling...pronounced "hey hey")

WELP, update from the other night....WE WON! The game was actually a boring one. We managed to be up by 17 during one point in the game. Due to the fact that we only have 8 players.. we tend to get a little exhausted by the end of the game and the game and it started to get a little close. We were saved by the buzzer. We need to work on that. Anyway, today we play again in Stockholm.

Now that I have had the week off, I am falling back into my life that I had last year......NOTHING! I forgot how much I love my job! Teaching really is where I belong, sometimes you have to leave what you love in order to figure it out. Am I right? Before Easter break I was dying for a break, but now I'm ready to get back to teaching.

Speaking of leaving things you love....I MISS MY FAMILY! I cannot wait to hit up South Dakota. The other day I was watching Rachel Ray and she had the lady from Entertainment Tonight on her show. Did you know she was from South Dakota?! I found myself shouting and "whooping" at the tv when she announced it to the audience. "I'm a small town girl from South Dakota, is anyone here from South Dakota?"! The audience was completely silent...BUT NOT ME! I was screaming, shouting, and possibly even fist pumping... than realized that the large pond between us would probably keep her from hearing my cry. But I must say that again, leaving what I love has made me more proud of where I came from than EVER before. Sigh....

Game time: 7pm. I'm outtie.....

Final Countdown

Holla my people. I'm BACKKKKK!!!! My camera has been broke and I have had NO TIME to blog, but the passion for bloggin has called me back to the keyboard...so here I am. I was JUST ABOUT to update my subscription to my mobileme blogsite, but I am too cheap to pay for a blogsite. Why not do it for free right?

So anyway, here is the update with lately:

I have been teaching at IESS (internationella engelska skolan) and also playing some bball for the Saints. I am currently on Easter break from school. (One of the many perks in being a teacher) We get this week off, so I have had time to focus on basketball.

We made it to the semi-finals for the first time in Saints history...whoop whoop! This means that there are 4 teams left. Saints (duh), Solna, Telge, and 08 Stockholm. We are matched up against Solna for the next 5 matches. We played them on Monday at their home and lost by 10. We play them again today, and friday. If we lose today AND friday, season is over. If we win one this week...we go into playing them next week.

That's all for now. I hate the update blog...but ya gotta start somewhere. I will continue with my thoughts and an update on our game tomorrow. I must say...good to be back in the bloggin world!