So mom asked me too...

My mom sent me an email asking if I could do a post about the kinds of things people ask me about the US and what I say. So here it is. Everything. There isn't one special thing that they ask me all the time, I get tons of completely random questions about the US and most of the time it is pertaining to what is going on in the room right then and there. I guess though that there are a few that I seem to get more then others. When you go to parties do you actually use the red plastic cups? -Yeah, most bbq's and stuff like that have paper plates and the classic plastic red cups, they're blue a lot of times though too. At school do you have the jocks, nerds, and cheerleaders? -I think a lot of schools have that but it's not quite like the movies, clicks are more common in the US then they are in Sweden. Are there a lot of fat people? -That depends on where you live but no it's not uncommon to see a heavy person while walking around. Do you eat at home every night? -No, I am on the go a lot and pretty busy so it's quite rare that I actually sit down and have a meal I eat on the run most of the time. So ya, that's a few questions I get but mainly no I don't one question all the time, mostly kids just ask about things they've seen in movies and adults are just inerested in life in general. I find it hard to answer any question because the US is such a huge country and there are so many different places and opinions on things. It is fun to kind of represent such a massive country though, I enjoy it. Sometimes I get asked questions about politics and how I feel about Obama and stuff. I think I get this question more here in Sweden then in the US but that's mainly just because they here a lot about the US on TV and they find it interesting to talk to a real American about how they feel and stuff. So it's not like in the US all my friends are asking each other about politics because they want to see how an American feels about it since we're all Americans there.

Jacqui!

Vilma.

Caitlin and I doin stuff in the kitchen.

Tjejerna! The girls!

The pizza guys had fun feeding the dogs a few pieces of kebab haha it was hilarious because the bigger black dog on the right, Fina, almost bit his finger haha.

Stuntin the sweat pants, oh ya.

We tied all three dogs together to see what would happen, surprisingly enough nothing really happened at all. They just stood there, it was dissapointing.

While I was at school these two kids were performing in the lobby of my school! I know one of them, Adam, the one on the left, I was impressed with his abilities.

There were some people there watching them.

These are what the lockers look like haha just thought I would take a picture of it, there are like 5 different kinds of lockers in my school though.

MMmmmm MORNING!

Friday, Friday, these days are always fun! I started it off really early for me because I thought that I was going to meet Jacqui at the train station at 6am, turns out though that her train was delayed a nice seven hours and so I didn't actually meet her until about 1:30pm. It was ok though because then I was extra awake for my morning basketball practice! Normally I don't have any classes after basketball on Friday morning and that is really nice because this day I needed some extra sleep. I went home and slept for an hour or two more and then went to school to see what was up with my friends and see if they were doing anything fun. They weren't but that was alright to because Jacqui's train came in! Jacqui and Elisabeth were there, they were waiting on the train platform and I spotted them from a distance because of their giant bags. They were both coming from the Rotary organized trip up to Åre for skiing! Since there train was so late Elisabeth had to catch a later train back to her town of Eskilstuna and so the three of us went to get some fika! Woohoo for fika, the tradition is great. In that time though I got to hear all about how the ski trip was and that was fun for me because I wasn't able to go. After we got Elisabeth on her train back to Eskilstuna we were waiting for our bus for a while and we just so happened to meet up with Caitlin! Jacqui and Caitlin got to meet and then Jacqui and I hopped on the bus back to my house. I helped Jacqui figure out her room and then we chilled for an hour or so before going over to the Skinnars to meet up for a pre established pizza night. I was really impressed with Jacqui and her Swedish, in the time we were chilling at my house she met my host sister Caisa and host dad Tommy, Tommy and Caisa don't speak English so often so Jacqui was forced to use her Swedish and I was impressed with her skills. After Jacqui met the Skinnar family all the adults and Klara went to a birthday party for a friend of their's little boy. It was a pizza night for Caisa, Vilma, Jacqui, Caitlin, and I. Pretty fun stuff. We just walked to the Aldofsberg pizzaria and picked up some pizza and then walked back to the Skinnars house, and chilled. At the end of the night we took a nice Sauna and then Jacqui and went back to my house for sleep time. It was a good long day and I enjoyed every minute of it!

MY NAME DAY

Marcus being sophistocated.

Feast.

David, Caitlin's friend.

People and a girl playing the piano, bad picture.

The church, they were building something in there or painting or something, not really sure.

Satisfied Gabe.

Smil.

They tried to sing the special name day song but they kind of failed, I was happy though, it's the thought that counts right?

Green frog, Mmmm.

Our table by the window, we could see the Örebro castle, which isn't an uncommon sight but it's still cool.

Fika in it's best form.

Caitlin stepped on the mini halfpipe of a shope an it broke, really funny!

I didn't even realize what today was until Pauline texted me with the congratulations. This day was one of the biggest here in Sweden though, it was my name day. 24th of March is a big day that I will mark on my calender for the next few years! If you click on the title of this post you can go to the nameday website and see if you have a name day. I don't really know what the whole nameday thing is all about but I have one so that makes me happy, Caitlin doesn't have one. I asked Pauline what you should do on your name day and this is what she said "Buy something nice... then eat it". So that's the advice I was going on. Caitlin and I somehow got together during the day after school and went around looking at clothes and such, it was nice. Not to long after we met up Marcus joined us too. Marcus is about the same age as Caitlin so they hang out a lot and I fit right in there with them. We all were just walking around looking in stores and I was really pumped up about the fact that it was my first ever name day. Marcus is a pretty fun guy to hang out with and what's even better is that we can ask him how to say words and in this case he was a guide as to how to celebrate my name day! He said that he didn't do to much for it now that he was older but I insisted that it was my FIRST name day ever so we had to do something. We took a nice fika at a local place and I got a green frog pastry, Marcus said that's what he got when he was little plus it was fun to eat! After that we went to the St. Nicholi church because during the fika Marcus asked me if I was a christian and after that he felt like I should go to the church haha so we went there. It was cool to go and look around in there because I never really walked around behind where people talk and stuff so that was pretty cool. Then we were just about to take the bus home when Caitlin informed us that she had made plans to go to a little music thing with a friend of hers and she said Marcus and I could come too, we decided it would be a good idea. It was nice, it was only about 45 minutes but there were some good songs and they showcased some good skills, I was impressed and jealous of the musical talent there. After that we took the bus back to Adolfsberg and then we all went to the Skinnars house to eat with them! They are really nice and kind people and it was like a big dinner party because Anders sister was there with them for the weekend. It was a lot of fun to meet them and I they even made a toast to me because it was my name day! It was a good name day I think and I can't wait celebrate it again in the Unites States of America :D

Banana bread!

Eating some banan bröd, mmm..

Doesn't it just look delicious?

Getting made into greatness.

We looked on the internet even though Caitlin knew the recipe really well.

Girl scout cookies, they are delicious.

So happy making this delcious food.

All the ingredients.

I thought I would take a picture of this, all of the rain gutters freeze and so they put wire in them that is warm to help melt the ice away.

Here is just a bigger picture.

The nice day, a street in Örebro.

Wednesday was a nice lazy day for me of just chillin out. I went to basketball practice and the Rotary meeting and just took it easy, you know, enjoyed it all and had a nice time talking to people and stuff. I enjoyed the weather as well, it was one of the nicest days we had for a while and the sun was shining and man it felt good. I got on the bus to go home and guess who was there, it was Caitlin, she was on the way home too, it was funny because she was laughing and saying she had been waiting for this since she moved to Adolfsberg. Neither of us had real plans so we decided to chill and make some bread. I guess Caitlin isn't much of a baker but when she does bake she makes delicious banana bread. Caitlin made it a few days before but it was all eaten up so we made a fresh batch. I didn't do a lot but what I did do was mash some bananas and I did that with the utmost of skill. We just chilled out and made some bread. After we had put it in the oven Marcus came home and we just talked about stuff and laughed and listened to music. We also ate some girlscout cookies from Caitlin's mom, there was still some left and we ate those with Nutella, utter deliciousness. Eventually Caitlin had to go to soccer practice and so I caught a ride home and chilled out, watched TV, talked to Caisa and Tommy. This was also a very good day that involved a lot of chilling and getting to know Marcus a little better, I was happy with it.

Yuppp

Singing and playing the guitar.

Kiki's art, Kiki is my friend.

More art.

It was a nice day I felt.

Just to show it was a nice day, that is another big church here in Örebro but that one isn't always open and I have never actually been in there.

Hugo doing his speech.

A few guys in my class waiting to do their speeches.

The girls in the English class I went to, we talked about a Swedish "law", that maybe explained why Swedish people are so shy.

Here is the law and it is really just from a book but basically it says that you are not more special then anyone else and you don't deserve anything anymore then anyone else. Weird stuff but a good topic.

Tuesday was a good day, I did a lot and saw a lot of people. It started off early with an English class. Caitlin and I were invited to attend an English class just to give our opinion on cultural differences and just what we thought in general. It was Mathilda's English class and she was in Africa at that point so it was just me and Caitlin with a bunch of random student's but that was really nice too! The teacher of that class is a really nice lady who is genuanly interested in the US and everything so that is really nice. After that class I went to my English class and Chilled with my friends and listened to their speeches. We were split up into three groups and we went on different days, I had fun listening to them because I never get to just hear them talk and so it's more interesting to hear that. I am really impressed with the level of English here in Sweden, I mean they have been speaking it for a long time and they have it all around them but I couldn't imagine doing a whole presentation in Spanish and just making a few mistakes. After school I was ready to chill and I just went home for a while to relax and sleep. I was feeling pretty move friendly, I wanted to go and do stuff. Luckily I had an art showing to go to. A friend of mine I had met through Severin was having an art show to present some of his works, there was also a girl who designed clothes and another kid singing, it was really nice. I was really impressed with the art and tried to get Caitlin to go to but her phone was dead so she missed it. It was a really good day though, a solid Tuesday, I dd a lot.