There's always a lot to do before Christmas...

Sooo.... I have a lot to tell. Let's begin at once.
On tuesday the 10th of December, there was this AFS-Glögg I've already mentioned. We (the exchangestudents from region Stockholm) were all dressed in white, had glitter in our hair and a read ribbon aroud our stomaches. In the AFS office were tables with glögg, julmost, pepparkakor, chocolate and cheese and there were many people waiting for us to sing. The chorus prepared itself in the kitchen with practising some of the Luciasongs. Then we stept out into the room where all our hostfamilies stood ready to take pictures. We sang four or five songs and walked back into the kitchen as a train of people. The singing sounded quite good, we got nice feedback from all around. Then in the end we could enjoy the christmas mood and drink some glögg. David, Ylva, Karin and I didn't stay that long, because it only was a normal tuesday and we all had to go to school/work again on the next morning. Jonas couldn't come, because he was in London with his firm at this time.

 Arika from Indonesia was the Lucia, so she wore a crown of candles.

Because of the Open House Day on saturday the 30th of november (where we students had to go to school, so that the pupils from 9th grade could visit and decide, if they want to attend Huddinge Gymnasiet later) we got free from schools on monday the 16th. Some girls from my class and I planned to go to Stockholm on that day. First we ate lunch at PizzaHut (I was really full after this meal), before we went to the christmasmarket in Gammla Stan. I expected it to be bigger, but it was actually quite small. The were only few stands with christmasdecoration or food and candies. Nevertheless, we spent a little time there and drove home after a while. It was a nice afternoon.

 Yummy apple-candies

This picture is taken at about 3 pm and it was already dark as it was late evening... Well I'd better get used to this.

Last tuesday the 17th, I got asked from AFS if I wanted to tell how life is as exchangestudent in Sweden for two 9th grades. It was quite spontaneous, because the presentation was the next day, but I thought that it will be funny and said yes. Therefore I didn't go to the math class as normally on a wednesday afternoon. I took the train and cross path to Gullmarsplan, where I met Karolina from AFS who asked me to come. Together we rode bus to Årstaskolan (school in Årsta). It was cool to tell those students my own view of Sweden and how I experience my time here. Karolina was in France until last summer and she told both about how it was there and AFS. We also did some exercises: The students had to stand up in pairs and get so close, that their toes touched. Then they should tell each other what they're planning to do over christmas holydays. In an other exercise they had to tell about their plans for Newyears Eve without looking anywhere else than in each others eyes. This exercises should show, that our sence for distance or eyecontact while speaking is not a thing that we're born with. It's all about culture. I think, Karolina and I could arouse the interest of some students. They were quiet and interested listeners in any case. Ufortunately I don't have any pictures of this day, but I'm sure you all have a great phantasy ;-).

Today was the last day of school for this semester. We students listened to the schoolband playing some christmas or pop songs. It wasn't normal class today, so we all could go home again after this short show in the aula. I spent the rest of the afternoon with preparing and packing for next week: DALARNA! I'm so excited to go there for celebrating and experiencing the Swedish christmas. I'll see if I can make some blogging, but you probably have to wait until I'm back. So long: Merry Christmas everyone! :-D

Winterwonderland

Finally a little snow in Stockholm. I really waited for this all november long. Now it feels like a wonderful winterland, everything outside in white and shining Christmas decoration up in the trees and behind the windows. Whole Sweden is counting down the days until the 24 of december; there's a serie in TV, that shows 10 minutes of a Christmas story every day. This year the story is about a family from the stone age that travels to the future and wants to invent Christmas for making the winter less dark and cold. It's pretty funny to watch those short parts of the serie every day and see how the stone age people invent all the things which belong to a Swedish Christmas nowadays. The whole Advent-time seems to be very important for the Swedes. As soon as december started, everyone took out candles and lights in starshape to decorate the house and the garden. Even in school you can find candles on the tables in the cafeteria and Christmas songs playing in the speakers at breakfast and lunchtime. As I already told in the previous post, you eat a lot of delicious sweets (such as gingerbread) during the winter. This weekend Karin, David and I made "Lussebullar": sweet small buns with safran and raisins. They tasted heavenly. Now the time to learn some of the Swedish Christmas songs has also come. On next tuesday will be an AFS event, where we exchangestudents from Stockholms area will sing some songs for our hostfamilies and contactpeople. And on friday the 13th is Saint Lucia's day. I'm looking so much forward to experience this special tradition. However, there will be a lot more wonderful events and feasts next month, so I guess it's better I tell you more about each one afterwards. Have a nice Advent! :-)

 May I present you: our garden as a beautiful winterwonderland

 My very first Lussebullar. They don't look as professional as Karin's when she showed me how to do it, but they were delicious anyway.

Here I coat the buns with egg, then they were ready for the oven.

By the way: we didn't cut the rest of the birch tree. It's now a place for the bird house I won in the fishing competition I told you once about. Looks a little bit like in "Pettersson and Findus", doesn't it? :-)