2 weeks left, only 2 days of which are for teaching :)

It's officially Easter Break here in Sweden. 1.5 weeks off. Currently watching the Big Bang theory and relaxing for the night after a very busy week.

Recent Highlights:
- A day snowmobiling and dog sledding.
- A trip to the famous ice hotel including the more famous Absolut Vodka ice bar and an impressive ice chapel. Also discovered Brown's Bear's long lost cousin (see below).
- My first time down-hill skiing on the Swedish Alps, not bad. Kabdalis is the home of the Swedish National Ski team.
- Got Neon pink Nike's.
- Flew kites (but didn't have the supplies to make our own, Swedish kites are inferior)

Kite flying in Jokkmokk

Dogsledding

two of the dogs

The Absolut Ice Bar

The Ice Chapel

Brown's Bears long lost cousin at the ice hotel

The Ice Hotel

Kabdalis Ski Hill

Easter Break Plan
   On Sunday, I leave for Stockholm to spend the week exploring the capital. Should be interesting and I will post a blog when I return.

Looking forward to getting home in two weeks!

Week 4 down

Some more observations.....

- Sweden is VERY laid back, almost too laid back. I have never seen so much down time in a school day.

- Elementary kids are adorable.

- Old MacDonald and Twinkle Twinkle are universal.

- In the time it takes to put clothes in a washer and walk outside, it can go from sunny and 10 degrees to snowing heavily and freezing cold.

- Teenagers everywhere are the same, they all can recite the lyrics to every Lady gaga, Katy Perry and Beyonce song on cue.

- What is the biggest English resource in Sweden? Family Guy with subtitles. Only problem is, the vocabulary is awful.

- Pizza in Sweden has paper thin crust.

- Having Skype dates with a 5 year old in Canada while you are in another country is highly entertaining. Try explaining why you can't come have kraft dinner with him right away. :) My favorite was trying to explain where Sweden was by relating it to where the elephants live in Africa.

- Junior High kids will prove their excellent language skills by reciting every curse word they have ever heard, their teacher will just look on and be thrilled because they are finally speaking English in English class.

- Living in residence that is not like StFX, will make you miss StFX explicitly.

- 1 week to go!

some more notes about Sweden...........

Hello again, 

A few more notes to add after week 3:

- The roads are still very slippy, (yes it's a word) and they will wake you up at 6am with the incessant noise of the ice breaking machines that tear up layers of ice on the road and then make giant piles with it along the sidewalk. 

- Sunsets come in many color combinations, I don't believe I had ever seen a truly purple sunset until the other night. 

- We ate reindeer this week, I haven't quite recovered from the thought of consuming Rudolph and am still considering calling PETA. PLUS.....they don't burn their meat here which means there is too much blood, definatly not the way we do things in Washabuck. 

- We have discovered that once you tell elementary children you are from Canada and that yes you know who Justin Bieber is, they will love you forever and hugs will soon follow. Bonus points if you play Baby on your ipod and sing along. Double bonus points if you also happen to have the Hannah Montana playlist (disclaimer: I have a lot of younger cousins okay). 

- Teaching is interesting. We always have random lessons ready because we never are sure when exactly we might teach. It's rather random. Most of our lessons have to do with speaking English because we keep getting told they need to work on pronunciation even though we feel their English skills are top caliber. 

- If a teacher here is sick (or wants to go skiing for a week), they don't get a sub, they cancel class. They also reserve the right to uncancel class and have the Canadians teach it. :P

- Being referred to as 'The Canadians', kind of grows on you. 

- Getting mail from home is the best thing in the world. (Thanks aunt Murdell)

- If you feel homesick, turn on the tv. 9/10 times the Simpsons or Family Guy are on. (Swedish Favorites)

- You know you're far north when a school field trip depends on whether or not the location has already melted. 

Just a few observations, more to come in the next few weeks.