Back to Normal

Tja!

Everything is back to normal now. All the first period Funk and Konfirmands have left. It was kind of weird to walk into the dining hall for dinner on Sunday and see practically no one that I recognized. Even though I only knew the staff for 4 days, it is hard to realize that I will more than likely never see them again. The new staff are just as friendly and polite as before, and I am sure we will all become good friends.

Anyways, today was the first day of normal work at Fladan for me. On Sunday, I was trained how to use the safety boats (motor boats), since they are taken out whenever groups are sailing or canoeing within Fladan. This involved learning how to empty and pull up onto the boat a flooded canoe and Optimist (a small sailboat). This morning, the Kollor (a group of kids from the inner city) booked a full day sailing trip. I helped FS in their raft building, in which they took empty drums, spars, and rope and had to construct a floating raft. As you can see, I took some pictures. The weather today was sunny, windy, and basically amazing. Since both of those things took all day, and no groups were booked for tonight, I now have a rare 3 hours of free time. Tomorrow, I am to help take out a group of French-speaking Belgians (a language I can actually sort of speak) sailing around the island.

Anyways, here's some things I've noticed so far about Sweden, the people, and the culture:
-The weather is very inconsistent. It can be sunny and 25 (C) one day, and then raining and 10 the next.
-Everyone can speak English. It is all just a matter of how willing they are to speak it.
-English is not an alternate language, but a secondary one. It is hard to join in a Swedish conversation without feeling rude.
-When the Swedish swear, which they often do, they do it in English. It's very funny to listen to with their accents.
-Vassaro is not a Boy Scout Camp. From the rules to the lifestyle, everything is different. For example, Vassaro has free condoms.
-Swedes love to eat. And they have good food, too. A great combination.
-Everyone drinks kaffe. So far I've seen kids as young as 10 drink it.
-Fikas are something that need to be used in America.
-No one has heard of Swedish fish.
-They are very open in their friendships and relatoinships. Lots of hugging and such everywhere.
-They are socialists in disguise. I told a few of them this, and they agreed.
-Many are interested in politics.
-The Baltic Sea is not very salty, which makes for a very relaxing swim.
-They are not very patriotic. They never sing their national anthem. Some people feel that displaying the flag in public as being offensive to minorities. Strange...

That's about it for now. I'll write again in another few days, and I'll have more pictures too. Life is basically perfect now. Hej da.

-Lukas