We left Sunday, June 19 for Gothenburg, Sweden, Sweden´s second largest city. Their art museum was fantastic and had plenty of images and information for the students' papers they are writing to earn their grade for the art history portion of the trip. There is a huge train station there with tons of train tracks, passengers, trains coming in an out, eating places, etc. David found a bookstore there and I bought the second in the Steig Larson "Girl with the . . . . " books in English. I read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on my e-reader but found that I couldn't purchase any books over here, has to be in the U.S. for my reader. The Dragon Tattoo was difficult to get into, but once a ways along, totally worth it. I could hardly wait to read the next one.
We had a nice meal at a Swedish restaurant in Gothenburg - a three course deal with appetizer (David had herring, he loves it, I had salad) main course and dessert. David left an umbrella and my book there so he had to walk back to get it after we had arrived at our hotel. It was only a few blocks away.
We loved Oslo. What a vibrant city! Tons and tons of shops of all kinds in the downtown area, a beautiful harbor, lots of gorgeous old buildings, parks, people everywhere. Lots of tourists, like us. Everyone is eating outside or just having coffee and chatting. The first night, we encountered a marching band, so we followed it as they played and marched around several blocks, then settled into a beautiful park to listen to them play in a band stand.
They also had an excellent national gallery with a host of paintings and sculptures to enjoy as well as files with large thin drawers that contained drawings and prints by famous artists including Rembrandt and some really old ones from the1400s and 1500s.
We had a nice meal in Oslo as well. The restaurant had a beautiful outdoor area with a fountain. I had fish soup with super fresh fish and a delicious broth. David had a fish sandwich.
David and I visited the Norwegian Resistance Museum and you had to really want to see it or you wouldn't bother tromping over cobbled walkways, up hills, and up and down stairs to get to the museum which was located on an ancient fortress. It was worth the effort as it was very comprehensive and they had lots of artifacts, recordings, videos, etc. So now we've visited two resistance museums - one in Copenhagen and one in Oslo.
We returned to Mullsjö Folkhögsköa today (Wed. June 22) in the afternoon. It is really good to be back here. David walked to town to get some laundry soap and I am doing this blog and reading my book. Only two more days here and then we leave for our last trip which is to Stockholm. Then next Tuesday we fly to Springfield. We are all talking about how we will be glad to get home and we know that once we are home we are going to be sad because we will miss this place a lot.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
You can make decent chilli in Mullsjö Sweden
Most week-ends we travel, so we aren't affected by the fact that no meals are served here at the school on the week-ends, beginning Friday evenings. So, last Friday I cooked chili and baked brownies to be served on Saturday evening to the 7 MSSU students and David and me. First, a trip to the grocery store, which thankfully was facilitated by Janna, a teacher at the Folkhogskola, driving me to the store and helping me find things. It took a long time to locate everything I needed. Then, I started cooking. That was a problem because the stove, located in a kitchen in a student lounge area in one of the dorm buildings, wouldn´t turn on. I even found instructions, which were in both Swedish and English, but they didn´t help.Finally, I found two of the students who had cooked on that stove and found out there was a timer that had to be turned on. Apparently some mishaps have occurred in which someone turned on the stove and left it on. So there is a timer that has to be set every thirty minutes for the stove and the oven.
Once I got that problem solved, everything went smoothly. I was sure I had more chili than even 10 people could eat - our friend Edina, a volunteer at Folkhogkola from Hungary, joined us. But all of it was consumed. The brownies were kind of a wierd consistency - the flour seemed more like pancake mix - who knows - but everyone got fed and we had a good time talking with Edina from Hungary about what different English words mean. Like "zip lock" "snack" can´t remember what else.
Once I got that problem solved, everything went smoothly. I was sure I had more chili than even 10 people could eat - our friend Edina, a volunteer at Folkhogkola from Hungary, joined us. But all of it was consumed. The brownies were kind of a wierd consistency - the flour seemed more like pancake mix - who knows - but everyone got fed and we had a good time talking with Edina from Hungary about what different English words mean. Like "zip lock" "snack" can´t remember what else.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Saturday at the market
This past Saturday, June 12, we walked to Mullsjö and after a delightful pastry (we wondered if they call it Danish here in Sweden) and coffee at the local bakery, we caught the train to Jönköping. We had heard there was a farmer's market as well as a flea market there on Saturdays, all we had to do was find it. Even though it was gray, cloudy and a bit rainy, we decided to make the trip any way. At one point during our search for these markets, we encountered fairly heavy rain but were able to avoid getting super wet by standing under some overhangs of the downtown buildings until it subsided.
With the help of a friendly grocery store clerk who spoke English, we found the farmers market and had fun viewing the fresh produce, cut flowers, flowering plants, freshly-caught fish, cheese and deli meats, and even clothing that was for sale in the open-air market. We actually found a stand selling donuts! So, far there had been no donuts served anywhere in Sweden but this gentleman was from New York and his donuts were fresh out of the fryer. After enjoying that treat, I decided to visit "our" church again. Lucky me, the organist was playing again so I was treated to another concert while David explored outside.
One of the reasons we like this church, is that in addition to being beautiful and having an organist who peforms lovely music regularly, they have a great bathroom (toalett). So, this chuch is becoming our favorite place to take a break.
We also took a break in a coffee shop and had warm chokolade. It was served in a nice-sized pitcher with a very tall rounded stirrer. The server briskly stirred the chokolade by rubbing the large rounded stick back and forth between her two hands, then poured the hot liquid into our mugs. It was chilly enough that day that the warm chocolaty, not too sweet, beverage was just perfect for our break.
We finally found the flea market, located in a big building in the area that was a matchstick factory at one time. However, we were too late, they were already packing up. We will go there this coming Saturday, now that we know where it is, we can arrive in time to peruse the goodies they are selling.
We managed to catch the train only a couple of minutes after we arrived at the station. Then we walked back to Mullsjö Folkhogskola after the train dropped us off. It was an enjoyable but very tiring day so we decided to take a nap at 4:00 p.m. when we arrived at our apartment. Five hours later, we woke up from our "short nap" and got ready for bed!
With the help of a friendly grocery store clerk who spoke English, we found the farmers market and had fun viewing the fresh produce, cut flowers, flowering plants, freshly-caught fish, cheese and deli meats, and even clothing that was for sale in the open-air market. We actually found a stand selling donuts! So, far there had been no donuts served anywhere in Sweden but this gentleman was from New York and his donuts were fresh out of the fryer. After enjoying that treat, I decided to visit "our" church again. Lucky me, the organist was playing again so I was treated to another concert while David explored outside.
One of the reasons we like this church, is that in addition to being beautiful and having an organist who peforms lovely music regularly, they have a great bathroom (toalett). So, this chuch is becoming our favorite place to take a break.
We also took a break in a coffee shop and had warm chokolade. It was served in a nice-sized pitcher with a very tall rounded stirrer. The server briskly stirred the chokolade by rubbing the large rounded stick back and forth between her two hands, then poured the hot liquid into our mugs. It was chilly enough that day that the warm chocolaty, not too sweet, beverage was just perfect for our break.
We finally found the flea market, located in a big building in the area that was a matchstick factory at one time. However, we were too late, they were already packing up. We will go there this coming Saturday, now that we know where it is, we can arrive in time to peruse the goodies they are selling.
We managed to catch the train only a couple of minutes after we arrived at the station. Then we walked back to Mullsjö Folkhogskola after the train dropped us off. It was an enjoyable but very tiring day so we decided to take a nap at 4:00 p.m. when we arrived at our apartment. Five hours later, we woke up from our "short nap" and got ready for bed!
Kidnapped by a cab driver!
Yes, we were taken by a cab driver, actually with our consent, to his chuch yesterday. The story starts with a search for breakfast Sunday morning. No meals are served from Friday through Sunday night at Mullsjö Folkhogskola, and we hadn't done a good job of making sure we had enough in the apartment to eat. So, David suggested we walk to the Mullsjö Hotel. He was there the day before and saw that they had a dining room so he was sure we'd find breakfast there. Granted, it was a bit of a walk, but much of it was through beautiful woods and there was a path the entire way. So, after what seemed like many miles of walking, we arrived at the hotel, and entered. Not a soul was there. No one. No breakfast either. We could have walked away with their china and silver.
So, on to plan B. We knew there was another motel-gas station type place and while it was another bit of a walk, we headed that way. We made one mistake, in that instead of walking on the busy road, we decided to walk on the lawn of an empty commercial building. Big mistake. The "lawn" was small shrubs, planted very close to each other and there was a bit of a cliff to climb down and then up. It was so steep, we had to walk with our feet sideways so we wouldn't topple over.
After successfully overcoming that challenge, we arrived at the restaurant-motel place and had a very nice breakfast. We were hoping for scrambled eggs but no such luck. All the eggs in Sweden, apparently, are hard boiled. We also bought some much-needed groceries at the same location but now we were faced with the terrible (to me) task of walking back, this time with groceries in hand. I asked the clerk if she would call a cab for us. She did, but no luck. Discouraged, we sat down to gather our strength of the walk ahead, and then I asked her to call again. She did and this time the cab driver answered and said he'd pick us up in 15 minutes. I was so happy!!!
A very nice man who spoke English picked us up and told us he had left church to come and get us. Would we like to run by his church and maybe have a cup of coffee and then he'd take us to the school? We answered, sure, we can do that. When we arrived, church services will still going strong, so we entered the sanctuary and settled in. Everything was in Swedish, of course, so we did our best by observing nonverbals and doing what everyone else did. During communion, there was a beautiful duet with a woman playing the flute and another playing the piano.
When the church service ended, we were greeted by many friendly people and led into their community room where we enjoyed coffee and sweets. Instead of standing up during this time, we were seated which was very nice. A couple of people who work here at Mullsjo Folkhogskola were members of this church so there were some familiar faces.
Finally, we suggested to our cab driver that maybe we should head back to our school. He and his wife, Maryanne, then drove us back to Mullsjö Folkhogskola, and that is how we were "kidnapped" by a friendly cab driver and taken to his church.
So, on to plan B. We knew there was another motel-gas station type place and while it was another bit of a walk, we headed that way. We made one mistake, in that instead of walking on the busy road, we decided to walk on the lawn of an empty commercial building. Big mistake. The "lawn" was small shrubs, planted very close to each other and there was a bit of a cliff to climb down and then up. It was so steep, we had to walk with our feet sideways so we wouldn't topple over.
After successfully overcoming that challenge, we arrived at the restaurant-motel place and had a very nice breakfast. We were hoping for scrambled eggs but no such luck. All the eggs in Sweden, apparently, are hard boiled. We also bought some much-needed groceries at the same location but now we were faced with the terrible (to me) task of walking back, this time with groceries in hand. I asked the clerk if she would call a cab for us. She did, but no luck. Discouraged, we sat down to gather our strength of the walk ahead, and then I asked her to call again. She did and this time the cab driver answered and said he'd pick us up in 15 minutes. I was so happy!!!
A very nice man who spoke English picked us up and told us he had left church to come and get us. Would we like to run by his church and maybe have a cup of coffee and then he'd take us to the school? We answered, sure, we can do that. When we arrived, church services will still going strong, so we entered the sanctuary and settled in. Everything was in Swedish, of course, so we did our best by observing nonverbals and doing what everyone else did. During communion, there was a beautiful duet with a woman playing the flute and another playing the piano.
When the church service ended, we were greeted by many friendly people and led into their community room where we enjoyed coffee and sweets. Instead of standing up during this time, we were seated which was very nice. A couple of people who work here at Mullsjo Folkhogskola were members of this church so there were some familiar faces.
Finally, we suggested to our cab driver that maybe we should head back to our school. He and his wife, Maryanne, then drove us back to Mullsjö Folkhogskola, and that is how we were "kidnapped" by a friendly cab driver and taken to his church.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Day trip to Jönköping
David and I took the bus from Mullsjo Folkhogskola to Jönköping yesterday. Jönköping is about 25 or 30 miles from here. David has explored this small city before so he showed me what he had found from earlier trips. The town has a very nice, big shopping area with lots of coffee shops, clothing stores, and housewares type stores. It is a good walking area with lots of benches and even public toilets.I was thinking that we tend not to have toilets for the public in the U.S. unless there's event, probably because we don't want the homless to have any place to go to the bathroom but here in Sweden it doesn't seem like there are any homeless people.
Once we scoped out the shopping area, we visited a very large church with huge steeples. The best part was the organist was practicing so we stayed and listened and just looked around for quite some time until practice was over.
The next stop was a beautiful, quiet cemetery. I guess they are all quiet, aren't they? It was very well maintained and had a lovely spot with a semi-circle of trees that were trimmed to make a canopy. There was a water feature and lots of flowers as well as some benches. We spent a lot of time there as well since I like to get as much rest between walks as I can.
At the town square or town park, not sure which, a crowd of college students were marching to the beat of some drums, carrying flags, and then they presented a program featuring a choir that sang several songs and a speech by one of the students, it appeared. The speaker received an enthusiastic response from the crowd. We had no idea what the occasion was or what they were speaking and singing about but it was enjoyable just the same.
This small city sits on a huge lake which was quite foggy that day. It made the air nice and cool while we walked and toured.
Jöngköping used to have a match factory which has now been turned into little shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. We shopped at the Red Cross second hand store where there was lots of great stuff including clothing, furniture, books, glassware, etc. Another stop was in an antique store crammed with bric-a-brac, pictures, lamps, jewelry, and chandeliers.
We ate lunch at a little restaurant in the match factory area. I asked for enough pizza for two people and we received two probably 12 inch pizzas each, way more than we could eat. We were eating outside and I noticed some people walking by looking at our enormous pizzas and laughing. I think they were saying, "those Americans, they eat so much, no wonder they're so fat."
We visited a radio museum with two rooms chock full of radios from the 1920s through 1980s and televisions from the 1950s on. David got more from that museum that I did because he knows more about old radios than I do.
We were able to run a bit and catch the 2:00 pm train back to Mullsjo. It stops in Mullsjo and then we caught the but back to Folkhogskola which is actually walkable but taking the bus left me with more energy for the rest of the day.
A return trip to Jonkoping is planned for this Saturday because they have a farmers market then and we didn't visit the historical museums yet.
Tomorrow (Friday, June 10) we go on a day trip with the students to Kalmar Castle in southeast Sweden, south of Stockholm, plus a stop at the Orrefors glass factory. Our wonderful driver, Bernt Svensson, will be ferrying us around again. It is so good to have him as he knows about every place we visit, can get us there and back, and answer all of our questions. Plus he patiently waited at the grocery store the last time, while we supplied ourselves for several days of no meals being served at Folkhogskola. He also let me know via e-mail the very next day after we returned from our last trip, to let me know he had my purse, etc. that I had left in the van by mistake. Reminded me of losing my purse in northern California a couple of years ago.
More after we return from our trip to Kalmar Castle.
Once we scoped out the shopping area, we visited a very large church with huge steeples. The best part was the organist was practicing so we stayed and listened and just looked around for quite some time until practice was over.
The next stop was a beautiful, quiet cemetery. I guess they are all quiet, aren't they? It was very well maintained and had a lovely spot with a semi-circle of trees that were trimmed to make a canopy. There was a water feature and lots of flowers as well as some benches. We spent a lot of time there as well since I like to get as much rest between walks as I can.
At the town square or town park, not sure which, a crowd of college students were marching to the beat of some drums, carrying flags, and then they presented a program featuring a choir that sang several songs and a speech by one of the students, it appeared. The speaker received an enthusiastic response from the crowd. We had no idea what the occasion was or what they were speaking and singing about but it was enjoyable just the same.
This small city sits on a huge lake which was quite foggy that day. It made the air nice and cool while we walked and toured.
Jöngköping used to have a match factory which has now been turned into little shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. We shopped at the Red Cross second hand store where there was lots of great stuff including clothing, furniture, books, glassware, etc. Another stop was in an antique store crammed with bric-a-brac, pictures, lamps, jewelry, and chandeliers.
We ate lunch at a little restaurant in the match factory area. I asked for enough pizza for two people and we received two probably 12 inch pizzas each, way more than we could eat. We were eating outside and I noticed some people walking by looking at our enormous pizzas and laughing. I think they were saying, "those Americans, they eat so much, no wonder they're so fat."
We visited a radio museum with two rooms chock full of radios from the 1920s through 1980s and televisions from the 1950s on. David got more from that museum that I did because he knows more about old radios than I do.
We were able to run a bit and catch the 2:00 pm train back to Mullsjo. It stops in Mullsjo and then we caught the but back to Folkhogskola which is actually walkable but taking the bus left me with more energy for the rest of the day.
A return trip to Jonkoping is planned for this Saturday because they have a farmers market then and we didn't visit the historical museums yet.
Tomorrow (Friday, June 10) we go on a day trip with the students to Kalmar Castle in southeast Sweden, south of Stockholm, plus a stop at the Orrefors glass factory. Our wonderful driver, Bernt Svensson, will be ferrying us around again. It is so good to have him as he knows about every place we visit, can get us there and back, and answer all of our questions. Plus he patiently waited at the grocery store the last time, while we supplied ourselves for several days of no meals being served at Folkhogskola. He also let me know via e-mail the very next day after we returned from our last trip, to let me know he had my purse, etc. that I had left in the van by mistake. Reminded me of losing my purse in northern California a couple of years ago.
More after we return from our trip to Kalmar Castle.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Dinners in the dorms
Last Thursday evening, we were invited by Oscar and Daniel to dinner in the faculty lounge of one of the buildings on the Folkhogskola campus. They knew that dinner wasn´t being served that evening by the school, so they kindly decided to host us themselves. This involved a lot of trouble on their part because they don´t have a car so they walked to town and purchased the items and then cooked and served them to us. The faculty lounge has a great kitchen and lovely setting to enjoy dinner. We had ground-moose meat meatballs with herbs and onions, roasted root vegetables including carrots and beets, and potatoes. For dessert - Greek yogurt with honey, nuts, and chocolate shavings. It was a delicious dinner featuring great food and enjoyable conversation. The moose meat balls were excellent and tasted just like ground beef but moose is much leaner.
Oscar, who has finished his 2 years at the Mullsjo Folkhogskola, and Daniel who has a masters in human geography, were both in the class David taught when he was here in January. Then they both came to Joplin, along with about a dozen other Folkhogskola students, and stayed at MSSU in April. We drove everyone, using both our cars and several trips, to a diner in Webb City one Sunday in April for breakfast.
Another dinner in the dorm was last night hosted by the students from MSSU who are here for the month. They collaborated on every aspect of the dinner including planning the menu, purchasing the items for it, cooking it and serving it in the student lounge of one of the dorms. The menu was spaghetti with a creamy tomato sauce, mushrooms (on the side because not everyone wanted mushroomsd) and garlic toast. David and I contributed a couple of beverages, not to be named because this campus doesn`t allow alcohol. The food was delicious and it was more fun because everyone participated.
Oscar, who has finished his 2 years at the Mullsjo Folkhogskola, and Daniel who has a masters in human geography, were both in the class David taught when he was here in January. Then they both came to Joplin, along with about a dozen other Folkhogskola students, and stayed at MSSU in April. We drove everyone, using both our cars and several trips, to a diner in Webb City one Sunday in April for breakfast.
Another dinner in the dorm was last night hosted by the students from MSSU who are here for the month. They collaborated on every aspect of the dinner including planning the menu, purchasing the items for it, cooking it and serving it in the student lounge of one of the dorms. The menu was spaghetti with a creamy tomato sauce, mushrooms (on the side because not everyone wanted mushroomsd) and garlic toast. David and I contributed a couple of beverages, not to be named because this campus doesn`t allow alcohol. The food was delicious and it was more fun because everyone participated.
Tivoli Gardens and Amusement Park
For a treat we headed for the famous Tivoli Gardens which has been an amuseument park since the late 19th century. The most charming part was the concert band which played in an old fashioned setting, and the pantomine acts and ballet which performed on a Chinese theatre type stage. There were also lovely gardens and plants, flowers everywhere. Otherwise it is pretty much an amuseument park with rides such as you would find in any amusement park. There were also tons of restaurants. It was a pleasant outing and I`m glad we got to see it.
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