hej. so i moved into an apartment yesterday, above a Mennonite church here in Jokkmokk. it has a kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom and a bedroom with two beds. the timing worked out very well, with the help of my excellent hosts Jonah and Keira, who only live about a block and a half away now. i'll be living here for about a month, and hopefully that will give me enough time to explore all the amazing things that are to be found in this part of Sweden. tomorrow i am going to Lulea and see what's going on there. perhaps do a little updating on the old wardrobe as well. i think i lost my favorite t-shirt...
small things i have learned in my time in Sweden so far:
-shoes with excessive laces are not a good idea if you plan on going over to anyone's house for any amount of time. no shoes in people's homes ever
-knives are a really handy thing to have
-getting used to the fact that "hej" (hello) may sound exactly like the more casual american phrase "hey", but isn't
-the supermarkets charge 2kr for using their bags
-Jokkmokk has no stoplights
-alchohol stops being sold at the systembolaget (government owned) at 3pm on saturdays
-snus is great!
i think i'm going to start attending some Swedish language lessons at the highschool with some Colombian families who just moved here in the mornings from now on. that should help with situations like going to the store and taking an hour to decipher things. hopefully, i'll also be voluntering somewhere around town. a sweet girl named Ylva gave me some good suggestions, especially since these would allow me to spend more time outdoors. in this kind of cold, unless you are actively doing something, there is simply no reason to be outside.
i'll post some photos of my goings on when i can get some wireless, i'm at the library at the moment. hej da!
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2 comments:
Elisa,
Please don't come away from Sweden a snus addict! I don't like my friends getting mouth cancer! Okay, enough "mom mode"...that's so cool that you're putting down some temporary roots in Jokkmokk. It's really nice to have a "home base" whilst exploring a vicinity.
Psyched that you'll be learning Swedish! Here's a great link - the Lexin online dictionary is totally invaluable, and if you download the short course in Swedish (it's only about 30 pages, but has all of the important grammar info you'll need) pdf and print it out, you'll be well on your way.
http://www2.hhs.se/isa/swedish/
That trip to Kvikkjokk sounds awesome - have fun!
dude, i saw jules last night at the calart. we miss you so much. i get sad sometimes about missing you. but most mmostly i am excited about all the things you are seeing and doing and adventures. foreign gummy candy! reindeer meats! wow! i'm so proud! dude, i'm gunna go back to your myspace and send you a message before this one gets to long.
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