Turkey Weekend fun

We had this weekend off from basketball and it was a fun filled time full of good company and good eating.  On Friday we had a scrimmage against division II girls where we had our first win of the season! yaya  So to celebrate, on Friday we went to our coach Chris's house for some delicious Thanksgiving feast.  I prepared a turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, salad, and American style chocolate chip cookies.  13 of us on the team drove out to Chris's house after practice on Friday and had a wonderful time.  Thanks Chris and everyone for a fantastic home away from home Thanksgiving. :)

On Saturday, Janett and I traveled to Bjurholm to visit the Alger Hus (Elk House).  Here, we went on a tour of the moose farm and got to pet the moose.  They are huge animals and much bigger than I thought at a close distance.  It was a total of 5 degrees F there in the middle of the day.  The sun set at 3 on our way back to Umea, but we had a great time too.  The last week it has been snowing mostly every night and it never melts.  There is probably close to a foot outside now.  It is very cold and beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Today, Henna and I went into town and saw the Christmas Market that was taking place.  There were a lot of baked goods, jams, chocolate, and glogg.  Glogg is a Swedish Christmas drink much like hot apple cider and egg nog that we have in the States.  It is served hot with crushed almonds and raisins and is very sweet.  I had three cups of it today along with gingerbread cookies.  Delicious combo!  I met some new people at a Christian fellowship gathering and watched an innebandy game and had kababs with Jari, Camille, and Isabelle.  Thanks for a great Sunday everyone!

My new buddy!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!  One more week closer to Christmas-counting down the days!!

24 days until i get to see Dave :)

Happy Birthday!

I just wanted to wish my mom Happy Birthday today!  Thank you for everything you have done and all the support you have given me.  What would I do without you?  I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful day.  I can't wait to see you in 28 days. Whoo Hoo :)

Family Vacation Oregon 2010

30 days and counting..

So...nej. I feel like I always start my blog posts with so.  Well each day it is starting to get colder and darker here.  It is feeling more and more like Christmas, even though Thanksgiving has not come yet.  I am very sad that Thanksgiving is not celebrated over here, so I might have to make that happen by making a Thanksgiving feast.  I have been really bad with blogging, but not much has been going on around here.  I told myself that I wouldn't start listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but I might not make it that long.  I am the most excited for Christmas I have ever been probably because I have been homesick for a while and can't wait to get back on American soil. Literally!  

Lately.  I have been watching many episodes of Weeds (the tv show) and am liking it more and more.  I am on season 4 already and started watching it like a week ago.  Swedish Idol has also become something that my roommates and I watch off and on.  I have become a computer maniac and probably will have permanent eye damage from staring at my screen for so long.  That is all I have to say about that.  What are your new favorite tv shows?

I was walking downtown today and saw that they are starting to put up Christmas lights around the city.  With all the snow around, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  I will keep counting down the days until I get to go home and in the meantime hopefully we will get a win or two!  We need it.

Happy Friday everyone!

updates

So we have now had 6 games and haven't won one yet.  It is very frustrating and I am losing my patience quite fast.  That good winning feeling hasn't been felt for a long time now and it is about time to get back to the winning ways.  At this point in my life, I am not sure what will happen after Christmas.  Everything is up in the air at this point and I don't know if I will be coming back home for good or still be here in Sweden playing, or traveling somewhere.  I have been thinking and praying about it a lot lately because I am very torn with what to do.  I am no quitter (like you all know), but this has been a very hard couple months with the basketball side of things.  Coming to Sweden has been an amazing experience and I have got to travel around Sweden a little bit and see a glimpse of a Scandinavian country, which has been awesome.  I love the team and the girls are great, but I am really homesick and missing everyone back home.  It is quite lonely here and I have tried to be positive, but lately it has been extremely hard to be optimistic about it.  I knew leaving my family, the boy, and friends would be hard; but I didn't think it would be THIS hard.  At this point, I am not sure where I will be after Christmas and what I will be doing, but I will continue to pray about it and see where God wants me to be.
The coaching aspect of it has been great.  It is so cool to work with younger kids who speak a different language altogether and try and teach them the basics of basketball has been fulfilling and rewarding in itself.  Basketball is not very popular in Umea and it would be awesome to develop a basketball program for younger kids to get them involved, interested, and have a passion for basketball.  The key is to get them involved at an early age and develop a fun environment for them, so they will continue to play throughout their years.  Getting to that point requires a good coaching staff and commitment.  So that aspect of this journey has been uplifting to experience and have the opportunity to put my coaching skills to work. :)
The purpose of this post was to update you on how I am feeling currently about life in general.  I don't know what will happen but whatever I chose to do will be for the best.
And my grandpa used to always tell me to keep my head up and don't get frustrated.  I will continue to keep that mentality and remember his words when things are tough.
And in whatever you do, always have fun!

Have a good rest of the weekend.
Write soon~

monday thoughts

monday thought for the day:

I think the Spice Girls are so underrated!  I hate rotting, mushy Patrik Pumpkins.

And here is a list of the many places I want to go within the next year.  I need a checklist and travel plans as to the 5 w's (who, what, when, where, and why-for fun!!)

Visit:
Kerstan in Barcelona, Spain
Jeff and Zane in Ireland
Abby in Amsterdam
Maddie in Thailand

and maybe just hit up some countries for the fun of it:

London, Helsinki (just for you hhhhhenna. my partner in crime), Paris, Rome, Istanbul, Prague, Munich

And any more that anyone wants to add, be my guest.

Because I can can can can can....


Happy Monday everyone~