One More Sleep ..... Then heading home.

Yes, I am just a little bit excited about coming home.  My bags are all packed.  I went out today and planned out the easiest route with all my luggage and exactly how I am getting to the airport.  A bus, then a subway and finally the express train to the airport.

This is Central station.  The final leg of my journey to the plane.  It is a beautiful old building.  Notice all the lights on in the buildings and cars.  I took this at 2:30 pm today and it was heading into dusk.

Then I wandered around downtown Stockholm and ended up in Gamla Stan and came home from there.  

My grade 5 planning for January is complete and the grade 4 planning is mostly done.  I can finish it when I get back.  So that means I'm not bringing any work home.  Hooray!

Heading to bed now.  See you Monday.

Vacation started today! Update for last week.

Hello All,

Christmas vacation started today.  Only 2 days till I leave for home and three days till I get there since I have a 15 hour layover in Amsterdam and it is going to take 40 hours to get home.  But I will arrive Christmas eve, afternoon, and get to see my family and give them all big hugs!.  I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!  Then Christmas Day will be great with all of us together.  Maybe even New Years to.  I fly back on the 2nd.

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic with marking, choice days and planning for 2019.  

We had our staff Christmas party on the 14th.  It was a blast.  We went to a restaurant in Gamla Stan and had a yulebord..... very Swedish Christmas.  This consisted of  lots of different cold dishes with lots of seafood and meats, salads and deviled eggs with caviar on top.  There was also a desert. table.  And lots of alcohol.  We started with Glogg - very Swedish Christmas beverage, it is a spiced mulled wine with alcohol added.  It tasted pretty good.. Then we toasted with shots of snapps, which I pasted on.  Then there were drinks with dinner.  After dinner there was a trivia game and Christmas cards from the principal with the promise of a school hoodie in the new year.

Next we went to a bar with karaoke.  It was a lot of fun watching people get drunk and silly.  Or too drunk and sent home.  I was amazed at how good some of the karaoke singers were and how silly/bad others were.  Everyone had a great time.  I went home about 10 but the others moved to a different charity event about that time.  Oh to be young again and be able to stay out all night. But I bet I felt better than them in the morning.

I haven't had time to do any sight seeing lately since I have been too busy.  I will get back into it in January. 

Stop by and say hi while I am at home.

Have a great weekend 

Chris

More Subway Art

Saturday I traveled to Taby to go check out Taby Centrum (Mall).  Taby is north-east of Stockholm  I am south adn a bit west.  It was a long ride with a bus, t-banna, and light rail transit.  But it took me through the Teniska station, which I had never been in before and they have subway art in it.  Here is some of the art.

By the way, the mall was great but I didn't buy anything but a few craft supplies for a club I am helping out with at school.  The train took me past the University.

Then today I was at the Odenplan station for the first time and there was more art.

On my walk from the station to the church I walked past a nursery and they had these adorable scottie dogs in garland for sale.  They were so cute I took a picture to show you.  If I had a lawn to but it on I might have looked at the price.

Have a great week!

Advent 2

So I went to a different church today. To begin the building was very modern.  This one was an international church and a bit evangelical.  They had a band, with an acoustic guitar, base guitar, drums and piano, and a praise team.  

It is very large with at lease two sanctuaries.  They do services in Swedish, English, Polish and Korean. There is a team of ministers that do the various services.  Some do them in two or three languages.  It is called Immanuel Church (Immanuelskyrkan in Swedish).  It is part of the Equmenia Church of Sweden.

My experience was very different than the last one also. It was a very friendly and welcoming place.  It was also nice to see so many children.  There must have been at least 50 children come up for the Children's Corner.

The service was really nice and very Adventy.  The sermon was especially empowering and gave you something to take home and ponder for the week.  It was in Odenplan, just north of Stockholm City, which is 20 minutes closer to home.  I may just go back for the Children's Christmas pageant next Sunday.  It definitely put some sunshine into another rainy day is Stockholm.

Christmas Countdown till I will be home ..... 15 days

Advent 1

I made it to church this morning.... the English church... The Anglican Episcopal Church of St Peter adn St Sigfrid.  It is a beautiful old church built in the 1800's with gorgeous stained glass windows.  It reminded me of Westminster but was narrower. 

The service was quite nice but not very adventy.  They did have an advent wreath and they lit the candle of Hope and some of the hymns were from the advent section of the hymnal, but those were the only signs that it was advent.

I would however go back since the worship was good.  It does however take a long time and two buses and a subway to get there but it was worth the journey.  Maybe next week I will try the other English church with services at 6 pm..... still two buses and a subway but slightly closer to home.  

Hope your first day of advent was a good one.  Not too long until I will be home for Christmas..... 22 days and counting.

December 1 - Can you believe it!

It was a gloomy - rainy day, but I ventured out anyway.  I figured no one would be at Skansen due to the weather.  Wrong! it was packed.

"Skansen is the world's oldest open-air museum, showcasing the whole of Sweden with houses and farmsteads from every part of the country.  One can discover Sweden's history and find out how Swedes once lived according to the changing seasons, through the customs and traditions, work, celebrations and everyday life of  times gone by."

I went to Skansen for two reasons..... the Christmas Market adn the glass blower.  Both exceeded expectations.

It was a really interesting day.  i started with the glass shop and watched them make ornaments.  It was fascination how easy they make it look.   

  

Then I ventured out to see the other shops and buildings on my way to the Christmas Market.  By then it was raining pretty hard so I didn't get a lot of pictures taken.  The market was great.  Lots of food and Christmas type things.  I bought a really nice loaf of bread with cinnamon, almonds and hazelnuts in it.    There was Swedish folk dancing which was fun to watch.  Then I noticed a  brass quartet playing in frount of a building so i went to check it out.

The building in the background is the Seglora Church and the rest of the band was inside.  The quartet was attracting attention to fill the church.  It was an all brass Salvation Army band.  The church was all wood and the ceiling was beautifully painted. (We couldn't take pictures in the church.)  There was no electricity, so our concert was by candle light.  It was a blend of Swedish and North American carols. Absolutely beautiful.  Especially as an introduction to Advent.  My mom would have really enjoyed it. (Not so much the cobbled streets and hills though.






Here are a couple of building with rock foundations, that is they are sitting on rocks to keep them off the ground.  That is how old these buildings are.  The barn (top) even has rock steps to get into it.



This is a model of Skansen, as you can see it it very large.  I will have to come back on a day that is warm and sunny to explore what I missed due to rain and cold.

On my way out I stopped at the glass place to make a purchase.  My final Christmas gift of the season. Not quite on schedule, November 30 was my expected completion date, but I am finished my Christmas shopping.  Woo Hoo!!!

Now I just have to finished my marking.

Hope you all had a great Saturday too.

Mondera Musset

I discovered that there are free museums I Stockholm.  So I took my unlimited transit pass and went to explore the Modern Museum.  It was a really inexpensive adventure 

Here are some of the statues outside the museum 

The name was a little misleading.  Their definition of modern begins in the 1900's.  There was an exhibit on the history of how houses were built in Sweden beginning with wood logs through to stone and brick.  There was also an Andy Warhol exhibit from the 60's... no not so terribly modern.  There were many other exhibit also  It was an interesting afternoon and the price was right.

This was my favourite statue.  

I got to see the sun set as I left the Museum about 3:15 pm. The days are getting so short here. 

Here are some other pictures of Stockholm that I took on my walk to the bus stop.

Subject teacher evening

So I had my first parent teacher interviews.  For the most part they went really well.  Only one angry mother.  And she wasn't even so angry at me but rather administration.  

It was fun to be on the other side of the desk...... telling the parents how well their child was doing or what needed improvement.  Coming up with solutions on how best we could both support their child. Of course, the parents I needed to see did not come. Whether it was because they couldn't get an appointment or didn't want to I will never know, but they weren't there.

I was nervous going into it, since I had a full schedule and didn't really know what to expect.  Luckily I had time to prepare ahead for each student I would be discussing which made it easier.  It turned out to be a positive experience, actually a pretty great evening.

ABBA Museum Visit

The ABBA Museum lived up to its reputation of a great place to visit.  

It was full of everything ABBA including an audio tour that was recorded by the band members that added to the experience.  

  

There were tons of pictures and memorabilia ..... all the guitars, costumes records, old mixing boards and so forth.  There were rooms done up as recording studios, as their homes and offices.

 

And there were the most realistic wax statues I have ever seen.  You kept thinking they would move.

There was also a lot of interactive activities.  You could play with a sound board and remix the music as it was playing, sing karaoke in a sound book and get graded, or dance on stage with holograms of the band.  It was a blast.

I had a great day!

Happy Halloween!

I hope you all had a great Halloween.  I spent mine with an adorable black cat named Arwin.  

  

We have become great friends. She loves to get her ears scratched. 

Chris

Host Lov (fall Break) is finally here

The weekend was quiet.  I bought some groceries since I will need to cook for myself during break.  No quick lunch or breakfast type meals for dinner since I ate a dinner at lunch at school.  I caught up on a course I am taking on line and some odds and ends from school.  Most importantly I caught up on my sleep. 

The days are getting colder here.  I am wearing my winter coat, scarf, ear muffs and mittens when out side.  There are bits of snow in the air but nothing that stays.  Today it is all rain.... cold rain.  I bought a new winter coat that is designed for the Nordic winters.  It is a grey white and very warm.  Too warm to wear in the zero degrees Celsius weather.  It is long enough to cover my butt and almost to my knees. It adn my new winter boots should keep me warm through the cold winter.

My excitement for the week will be house/cat sitting for a friend.  I start this evening through the weekend. I can't wait to play with the cat, it will be a blast.  She lives in the apartments by the school.  The peace and quiet will be great.

Fun plans for the week are trips to the ABBA museum and the Vasa Museum so there will be pictures to come. 

Not so fun plans include getting ahead on my planning and marking last week's tests .  But at least I can do it in my pj's.

Nothing much for now.

Talk to you soon.

Chris

Weekend Wanderings

Sunday I took the ferry to Vaxholm, which is described as an" rchipelago town with many well-preserved wooden houses from the turn of the century painted in the archipelago's typical delicate pastel tones," which is north of Stockholm City.

It was a beautiful morning until I got on the ferry to the island grouping.  Then it turned overcast and colder.  I took the ferry since it is free to SL card (transit) holders in the off season.

                                      

Here are some pictures of the shore line on the way to Vaxholm.

All the boats put away for the winter.

 The wake from the boat

 When I arrived on the Island, there were a tn of black ducks. Even their beaks were a dark grey colour.  I was fascinated since I had never seen black ducks before and secondly because I would have thought they would have already left for their winter homes down south. 

I explored the island for a couple of hours and got my steps in.  i began in the harbour area of shops and cafes and then journeyed out father to the neighborhoods.  Here is a house I particularly liked.   

I also found a cute little church.  Which dates back to the 1700's.  It had a cemetery where some of the graves also dated back to the 1700's.

                                   

                                              

                                              

The temperature dropped again and the wind picked up so I decided to take the bus back to the city instead of the boat.  I would have had to wait for over an hour for the boat and the bus was sitting right there.  It was a fun day, exploring a new part of Sweden.  It would be great to go back on a brighter day.

Saturday I went out to find a Halloween costume for school next Friday.  I found a witches hat and shawl (reasonable inexpensive), to go with my black skirt and top, in the Flying tiger store  which is similar to a dollar store but doesn't have the variety of a dollar store.  I was having no success finding green makeup to go with my costume  anywhere.  Then I remembered seeing "The Dollar Store" near IKEA and decided to check it out.  The name is somewhat misleading and nothing like a Canadian dollar store.  It was huge and more like a Walmart (which they do not have in Sweden).  There was a bit of everything from cosmetics to clothes to furniture and housewares and more. Some of the prices were good, but others were crazy.  I did find Halloween makeup for my costume and pretty cheap.  I also picked up a few other bargains like TP , office supplies and food stuffs. The day was a success and I am ready for Halloween.

Have a great day!

Chris