Visits!

Well, in February I had visits from 2 friends!

First came Olivia, who stayed in my ( rather cramped) room for a weekend, where we ate Tacos and watched many films! I also introduced her to 'fika' through many a Cinnamon bun and we tried to get some culture in with a trip to the Architectural museum on a Friday night when it was free entry.....We also tried to be very Swedish in going for to an Ice Hockey match of Sweden vs. Russia...........

.............and we also enjoyed an obligatory hot-dog and giant coke ( maybe I've watched too much Friends, but thought that these were entirely necessary!)

We also decided that walking on the frozen river in Djugarden would also be nice......

And a week later I made the long overnight train trip up to the even more frozen Arctic Circle with my friend Georgina from University. After she spent a brief night in Stockholm we took the train at 18.00 from Stockholm all the way to Abisko, which was surprisingly more comfortable to sleep on compared to the other  overnight trains in Eastern Europe I have been on!

Our main intention for visiting the such a cold place was to try to see the Northern lights, which we were lucky enough to do on the first night ( unfortunately, my camera is pretty old skool, so there are no photos to show....) It is kinda hard to describe what they looked like, but it is definitely an experience that will stay with me forever!
In the daytime however we tried out many new cold-weather activities such as dogsledding with huskies, which after some initial apprehension was a lot of fun! And I only fell of once! Here is me rocking a really cool and warm and child-like all-in-one snowsuit........( seriously, I actually wanted to take it home!)

We also tried some cross country skiing, but having NEVER attached skis to myself before, I have to admit the skill shown in this photo is not a true representation of my ability........

We stayed in 2 different hostels, the second being much more like a hotel, we took a trip up a chairlift to have a look at the view from the Abisko Mountain Station ( apparently one of the best places in the world to view the Northen Lights, but we didn't have enough money to afford the night time trip)

Until next time! 

.....my attempt to write in Swedish!

Hejhej!

Jag har inte uppdatera min blog för en lång tid, förlåt! Denna helg, kommer min kompis Olivia från england till Stockholm! Sedan, ska jag har många fotos.....

Anywaaaay, in the meantime.......I am sure you all know about the TED videos ( if not there are lots of thought-provoking and interesting videos at http://www.ted.com/), but here is really inspiring ( and funny ) talk by Sir Ken Robinson about changing education......

As 2012 is the CISV year of Sustainable Development ( as well as the end of the world.......http://www.cisv.se/1212) I have been doing lots of research around food for camps, but also looking at the different parts of Sustainable Development other than the Environment. 

I came across this interesting article about Peace Education and Sustainable Development, which I hope you can read here:http://www.paxeducare.org/Documents/bajaj-chiu%20FINAL.pdf

Hej då för nu :) 

January

Hejhej!

So it is now January and I have been back in Sweden for nearly 2 weeks, after a nice break back to the UK for Christmas and New Year. It was great to see family and friends and time away from them has made me value my friendships and family bonds more. But now I am pleased to be back in Stockholm!

After being worried that coming back to snowy, cold and dark Stockholm would be very hard, I was surprisingly not too down to come back. Maybe this was due to the exciting prospect of the Train the Trainers weekend in Goteborg......which was a really, really fun ( if very exhausting) weekend!

We learnt lots of different and effective ways to teach those embarking on CISV camps this summer.....unfortunately I didn't lug my giant camera down with me, so there are only a few photos from the weekend......Like this one of Saturday night.......

Overall it was a very inspirational weekend that has provided much 'pep' for the Impact weekends over spring, which I hope to be involved lots with. It was also great to see a bit of Göteborg, a city which hopefully I will see more of when meeting with the NJRs/RJRs next weekend!

Speaking of looking ahead, this Monday was the most depressing monday of the year (in the UK at least) so it should all be up hill from here! And in true New Years Resolution style I have joined Friskis och Svettis to try to stay in shape, I haven't been to any group training yet, I think I might wait until my Swedish is a bit better or take a translator with me!

This weekend another EVS volunteer will be visiting Stockholm, so it will be time to put my tour-guide skills to the test. And a couple of weeks after that I will have my first visitor from England, followed by a trip to Lappland to (hopefully) see the Northern Lights :)

Speak to you all soon!

It's Christmaaaaaaaaaaaas!!

So it's less than a week now until Christmas and I have really been getting into the spirit .....such as the NK  window display including a very SUSTAINABLE Santa on a bike and a rather strange Mrs Santa, complete with a beard!

Here are some of the things that have happened since last time! 


I tried 'glugg' for my first time in Gamla Stan, with my friend Sarah.............

I also went for a nice meal with Sofie ( my mentor) where we definitely didn't stage this photo......

We also had a Christmas fika (or a coffee break with CAKES!), where we learnt more about what the other organisations in our 'Peace Community' do and ate lots of lussebullar. And had a bit of an 'intercultural exchange' as I made some traditional English Mince Pies!

From the 13th of December I had my EVS On-Arrival training in Brommaplan (6 weeks AFTER my arrival......but oh well), which was a fantastic week where I met some lovely other EVSers from around Sweden to see what they are planning to do with their time here. It was really interesting to see the variety of projects people are working with, from photography and media in youth centres to coaching in a table tennis club! I also realised what a variety of motivations there were for coming to Sweden. I cannot wait to keep in touch and see everyone again soon!


The last few days here in Stockholm have also been Christmassy. In true Swedish style we went to IKEA on Sunday to try out their Julbord, which was a lot of food! Followed by cosily baking and decorating some pepparkaka with Sofie and Olof. And it has even started snowing a bit, though not as much as I had hoped for a 'White Christmas'. Tomorrow I am off on the Ryanair shuttle back to the UK for 2 weeks so..........

 MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone 

and a Happy New Year!! 

Helllooooo

Hej from Sweden! 


I'm Hannah from England and will be living and working in Stockholm for the next 9 months! With the EVS program (European Voluntary Service), I have just started working with CISV Sweden, a peace education organisation. I've not worked with CISV before, so its taking some time to familiarise myself with what they do and how they do it! 


I have been in Sweden for an entire month now ( and it has only just started to snow!) It slowly feels like I am settling in more and I am now getting used to eating lunch at 11.30 haha! And also getting more and more excited about Christmas......!


So far in my time here I have been to the Sok meeting, where I met A LOT of people involved with CISV ( thanks for speaking in English a lot!). I then drove ( an Audi, I may add.....quite a step up from my old Nissan Micra) to a place outside Göteborg for my first Impact weekend, which went really well. And this weekend just gone, I was leader at a try-out Village camp in Håbo with some cute 9-11 year olds! But now I am settling into what I am going to be working with, which hopefully will be involving next year's theme of sustainable development......


Last tuesday I started Swedish lessons, but so far have not progressed further than saying my name and if I am married or not.....but the class is very interesting, as it is made up of 15 people, from about 13 different countries!  


I have bought a camera ( a very vintage one at that.....) so will endeavour to post some photos up here soon! But in the meantime here is a sign I saw just along the street from the office, which I think serves as a perfect excuse for not posting that regularly...................