Family Size

Funny story. I posted my last blog in the morning on Monday, talking about how we hadn’t fully been able to move into the new apartment yet because the Internet wast properly set up. We were told it would take 1-3 days, starting on Monday. After practice we came back to the new apartment to eat and shower to then head over to the first apartment and low and behold… The Internet was working! Now I can officially say we are completely moved in and everything is going great.

Let me just get right to the part about the meaning behind the title of this post. I’ve lived in Canada for a short time and now also Sweden and it has brought to my attention how us good eating (fortunate is the best word) Americans love to have everything available in a family size portion. Whether it be milk, chips, cereal, meat, bread, or even veggies, our portion sizes almost double that of other countries. I’m not trying to knock any other country and their (smart) choice of having smaller portion sizes, more of saying its been hard to get used to. However, I would like to say how good of a thing this is and how I think the US should rethink how much food they make available to its citizens! There is a reason why there is such a high obesity rate there. A lot of America’s problem too is that unless you live in a small town with a short commute, you don’t really have the option to ride your bike or walk everywhere like just about everyone over here seems to do. The negative side to having smaller portion sizes when buying things is they run out quicker and it seems like you spend quite a bit every week on the same things, coupled with it already being more expensive over here. That’s where the US is ahead of the game. Hmmm. Makes ya think.

Friday, Carson and I went on a bike ride to explore Tierp and get a little exercise in on our day off before the game. It ended up being so fun! We found a horse farm and saw a few pretty horses. Loved it. There was a rocky path big enough for bikes and 4 wheelers (saw one) behind the farm, so we decided to see where it went. It ended up being a really nice trail for a bike ride and a really good work out. It was hilly and windy, more of a workout than we were expecting. We came across a sign that had a head sitting in a body of water and decided to follow it, not having a clue of how far it was, where it was, or what the sign really even meant. All of this took place on a path in the woods that was of course foreign to us, so it was kind of eery. It ended up leading to what I would call a quarry but I have no idea what it’s called here. There were rocks to jump off and a staircase that led up from the water, so it looked like that’s what it’s purpose was. Soo excited for that when it gets warm! We thought it was located kinda far away from Tierp itself because we rode through the woods and fields to find it…Turns out its an actual place to go and its about a minute down the road from our home field haha. Good to know, though. On our way back, we saw a few people running and walking the path, so it wasn’t as exclusive as we thought it was, which was relieving to know in case we got lost haha.
Saturday we traveled to play Roslagsbro IF in Roslagsbro, which was about an hour and a half away by bus. No idea of the direction. I love getting to see Sweden when we take these bus trips. It’s so beautiful here; winter, spring or summer, doesn’t matter. I noticed that a lot of the homes here have made parts of their yards into soccer fields. Some big, some small. It’s awesome. Blahhhh, it feels very weird for me to write something about myself, but seeing that soccer is the main reason I am here, I suppose I should include these things in here. We beat the team 5-2, 2 of the goals being mine. I also got an assist. It was a rebound type of game.. They scored, we scored, they scored, etc. Not our best game, but a win is a win. They had a crazy Russian on their team and she literally went after a girl on my team. Took her out twice from behind. So dirty. Hate that nonsense.

Fun fact: bunnies are the size of small dogs over here. Not like Yorkie small, like 6 month old lab puppy small. Aka massive for a bunny. Carson said she saw one crossing the road at our game yesterday.. Can’t wait to see one of those bad boys. We really haven’t seen much wild life out here. Like at all. I pictured bears, moose, reindeers, and all that to be roaming around, but Tierp has slim to none.

After the game our friend Anna, who is on the team, asked us if we wanted to go with her and her boyfriend to Gävle for an old American car show. Normally, that’s not my scene at all. I couldn’t tell you a thing about cars but since I’m in Sweden I felt I should go to get all the experiences possible! And it was all about old American cars, so getting a little bit of home was definitely nice. Before we went, all we knew was that you “drive there, have some drinks and hang out with friends”. After going, I have a better understanding. So basically, if you have an old American car, you drive through downtown Gävle and show it off to the people on the streets who are partying and watching. A lot of people were there to show off their old cars. Everyone is dressed up in leather and crazy 50s hair. There is even old American music playing. Older cars are crazy roomy and a lot of people can fit inside them, so most of the cars were packed with people having a good time. Inside the cars, you can slyly get away with drinking (not the driver, mom and dad). It ended up being really fun! Saw a lot of old cars that I know my father and brothers would have enjoyed seeing as well. Anna and her boyfriend took us to the Max, which is Sweden’s version of McDonald’s but its 10x better! The burgers are hugeeee and come with a really good dressing called Rhode Island. Not sure if thats sold in the US and I can’t think of what to compare it to, but I liked it. We ended up stopping there twice.. Had to get a late night milkshake and “strips” (fries) to go. Regretted that in the morning but I’m only in Sweden once right?
My parents shipped me a care package this week. It was like Christmas! Now I have little pieces of home. And hazelnut and blonde Starbucks coffee. Happy camper (although I do like the coffee over here, those are just my faves).

Oh and happy momma’s day to all the lovely momma’s out there and to my own, love youuu!