Monday, May 27, 2013

Good times in the neighborhood

Hello friends and family. Another week has passed by over here and I still can't believe how fast things are going. In two weeks I will have been here for two months. Sounds crazy writing it and even crazier believing it. It makes me realize more and more just how much I need to appreciate this experience and get as much out of it as I can because it will be over before I will have even realized it.

One thing has gone on this past week: fika- outside of soccer, of course. There is a cute little cafe in the middle of Tierp that Carrie and I have been visiting on a daily basis. I was trying to cut back on how much sweets I had been eating because I did not inherit a flawless skin gene and mine hates me right now, but it was Carrie's first two weeks here and getting fika everyday because we can was just too hard to turn down. Sounds bratty, but fika really is a big part of this culture, so I'm reassuring myself that it's fine to be partaking in it as much as the typical Swede. Also, there is just something cute and European about going to sit at a little cafe, with a coffee, a sweet treat and a good book/journal. I think that is one of the things I will miss most when my time here is over. I don't think I want to make that a habit back home because I will no longer be walking and riding my bike for transportation anymore and I really think that's why most Europeans aren't fat. Biking and walking make such a difference. When I visited Stockholm, my friend Anna has a step counter on her phone and she told me we walked 10,00 steps that day. And we were only there for a half a day. Imagine doing that everyday!

The cafe we've been frequenting is called Konditori Royal and they  have some of the best creations of bakery items I've ever tasted. A few of their treats are there on a daily basis, like the princesstarta cake, the napolean cake (cake, whipped filling, and raspberry icing), and their different flavors of snurra (translates to spin), which is similar to a cinnamon bun. Hard to explain that one. But they also have new treats in there everyday, which is good because we get to try all different types of Swedish customs.

We discovered a few more bike trails around Tierp. There are so many here, it's awesome. They are good workouts because a lot of them have good size hills throughout them. It's so peaceful out in the woods here. Kind of eery, actually. I enjoy a good bike ride with beautiful views and it's nice that I'm also getting a good workout in.

Saturday was game day. We played a team named Vasalunds IF. Apparently they are one of the worst teams in the league, but we still went out with the mindset that they were a good team. We ended up beating them 7-0. It's hard beating teams that bad. Kinda wish there was a mercy rule sometimes. I had a hat trick. I don't even remember the last time that happened. Maybe club or high school soccer. Despite that, it was not one of my better games. I'm my toughest critic and scoring 3 goals and saying you played bad sounds weird but I know the way I can play and I didn't accomplish that on Saturday. I recently saw a cool quote from a national team member, who also happens to currently play in Sweden, Christen Press, who said, "one thing I love about sports: every game day you are reborn". Couldn't be more true. Definitely going to hang on to that one for the rest of my soccer playing days.

After the game on Saturday we went to our friend Frida's house for a smorgasbord and party type of thing. Frida is on the team, so everyone on the team was invited. She had so many different foods prepared for us, which is what a smorgasbord is, and a few different types of drinks that I had never tried. So nice of her to do that. They also introduced us to the Swedish game kubbe (cube), which is what you do on a nice day here in Sweden. You break into 2 teams and set up 5 blocks on both sides-about 10ft away from each other, with the blocks about a foot apart from each other, and a king block in the middle. Each team tries to knock over all the blocks (by throwing blocks at them) before the other team and who ever does it first then has to knock over the king block to officially win. When you are trying to knock over the king block, you have to throw the block with your head between your legs facing the opposite way. It was a fun game to learn, I enjoyed it! We went out to a club in Gavle after that. It was so fun! The dj played all electronic dance music. I was so excited to finally get to experience the nightlife over here! Loved it and love getting to experience all of this.

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