More than one room! (Pt. 2)

I made a few panoramas so you can see our apartment. Do note that I used a wide angle lens which has the effect of making the rooms look bigger than they are. I like to play around with these photos on Photoshop. I can paint my kitchen cupboards red, see what it would look like if I had striped curtains and decorate to my heart's content. So far it is totally free too, though the price may go up if I decide I want to actualize any of my digital experiments.

Friends from America

The Shivers are wonderful friends that we made during our time in North Carolina while I was studying at Duke. Molly was my supervisor when I did an internship at the small rural church she pastored. Mikael helped them take care of their son and we both enjoyed housesitting for them and taking care of their Labradoodle puppy. Their family has such grace and we are so glad they adopted us during what was a pretty rough time. We celebrated holidays together with their family and were always encouraged when we got to spend time with them. When we left for Sweden, we talked about the possibility of them coming for a visit in Sweden. A year later, true to their word, they arrived at Arlanda airport to spend time with us and tour Sweden for a week. With so many fun things to do and places to visit, the week went by fast. It was so fun to have them here. I was truly able to relax and just enjoy feeling like it was a vacation. I can't remember the last time I felt like that. What a blessing and joy. Thank you so much, Shivers family!


Here we are having a picnic on Djäkneberget.


We took a day to bicycle through the beautiful countryside.


We liked to stop by old churches and look inside. It was especially nice being able to do it with Molly because she studied art history and had all sorts of perspicacious and highly interesting insights into the architecture and art pieces we saw. It was also nice having Forrest because he studies Latin at school and could help with some of the inscriptions.



Here we had taught the ancient viking art of plundering. There is a lot of plundering to be done in Swedish candy stores!



Checking up on the news from America.


Buddies!


One day we took a ferry to an island - Birka - which was once the headquarters for Viking trade. It is a world heritage site and has a great museum and tours. It was really a remarkable place. Here is a picture of our tour guide in viking attire. Vikings were surprisingly technologically advanced as you can see from the accessory on her belt.


Finally, we went to Stockholm and spent 2 days sightseeing. Besides seeing the city, eating great food, and getting very sore feet, we happened to be staying at an uber chik hotel during Stockholm fashion week. Diane Pernet herself was staying there, for which we were glad because otherwise our guests would have not had the celebrity sighting we guaranteed them.









Other places we took them to included:
Anundshög
Västerås Cathedral
Strömsholm Palace
Tidö Palace
Sigurds Rune Stone This website is really amazing. It explains all of the elements of the carving and includes panoramic pictures.
Kungsholmen resutaurant
Skansen
The Vasa Museum (Wah!!)

Church Camp

August 2-6 I was one of the leaders/ camp counselors for the Västerås Pingst Church's annual summer camp in Falun.



The camp was located on the coast of a beautiful lake.



It actually was stormy weather most of the time, but that didn't stop the campers from swimming every chance they got. The last day we finally had sun which was celebrated by all.



Setting up to play Capture the Flag




Speaking of flags, one of my jobs at camp was to lead the morning flag ceremony. I got to share my patriotic thoughts about Sweden and try to lead everyone in the national anthem. I also spiced things up by teaching them silly American camp songs. Singin' in the Rain, Boom chick a boom, and Sha na na na na to name a few.


I am quite pleased to have captured this moment of happiness.
Here's the song they are performing.



Tommy is the beloved children's and family pastor at Västerås Pingst church.




Here is another moment of happiness.



Besides raising the flag, I got to be a counselor for a group of 6 campers, I played the lead role in the daily drama presentation, preached in the evenings and organized the concluding party. I had so much fun with these great young people. I am so glad I got to know them a little bit. They encouraged me so much.

Yay for Friends!!

In the beginning of July, our dear friends the Sanders came down from the North and paid us a visit for a few days during their vacation. It was so nice to have friends with us. We hiked and picnicked grilled and soaked up the sun together.















AWWW... Aren't they cute!?