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Published: November 13th 2008
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Hej Hej!!
We finally carved pumpkins! It was so exciting and my host parents were so supportive. My host mom made a really nice holiday dinner and my host dad dressed up as Scream. We lit the candles in the pumpkins for days after Halloween😊 We had two trick-or-treaters! That was so exciting. I told my host mom that I was just happy to have the two. Then we watched a movie, I didn't go trick-or-treating, though I really missed it. A few days after Halloween, I was walking the dog and I came across a house with one single carved pumpkin, I was so happy for like the next two days haha😊
The election is finally over! Justin and I stayed up to watch the whole thing. From 20 minutes before the first poll closed till they announced Obama's victory! We finally got to bed about 5:15am. Needless to say I slept the whole next day! Everybody was quite anxious to ask me about the election and what I thought of the outcome. It seems the Swedish are very pleased that Obama won. I didn't know they kept such a good watch on U.S. politics, but even people
my age know their facts and are curious about my opinion. Justin and I took pictures of the TV screen when they announced Obama won haha
Last week I got to visit my host dads hospital. I got to observe the ICU. Nothing new was going on, I had seen all of it before, but the people I met were really nice to talk to, and you can never get too many experiences in the hospital. It was a wonderful day!
Things have pretty much slowed down and are maintaining a routine, but soon they will pick up again. This weekend Justin and I are making Thanksgiving dinner for our host families. Next weekend Marianne and Bo, my host parents are taking me to Stockholm to visit their family. Also this Friday is a school costume party. I was really excited about it, but now Im not sure if I am going.
Yesterday was a hard day. I was really homesick and I was frustrated with Sweden and the culture of Sweden. This exchange is really meant to test you to your limit. Yesterday I was at my limit. It was pouring rain for the 14th day
AHH
Me Bo (my host dad) and Justin in a row (thats not easy when your vehicle is a bike) and it was Justin and I's only day to get to the store to buy all the food we need for our thanksgiving meal. So we met at the ATM on our bikes and headed toward the store. It is about a 15 minute bike ride from my house to the ATM but the wind and rain makes it that much more difficult. Because of the wind my hood wouldn't stay on so my hair was absolutely drenched and there was no point in putting on make-up. I was absolutely frustrated with Sweden at that point I couldn't see the plus side of staying anymore. Everything sucked at that point, but it got worse. So Justin and I start heading to the supermarket, ICA. Its about another 8-10 minutes. We were riding on the sidewalk which your not suppose to, but its not a law or anything. Then after passing an old couple Justin went to turn off the sidewalk so we would be on the street where we were suppose to ride. At that same moment I was trying to speed up to him so I could tell him something, and our tires hit when he turned. I tried to stop but I couldn't in time. So I flew off my bike and landed face first in the mud. At that moment I broke, I was so so mad and upset. I didn't want to go home, I was just mad. Justin was really sweet though and after we checked out my bumps and bruises we quickly decided that we needed to get to the store before it started raining harder. We got to the store and what a site we were. My pants were absolutely soaked from the rain and then filled with mud from my face-plant. My borrowed white jacket was covered in mud. I had mud up the sleeves of my shirt and shoes and my hair was drenched. Justin was only wet from the rain. We got inside and half way through our list of items, I noticed the blood soaking through my pants just above my knee. I was determined to get everything though, so limping around that whole store, We got everything and even ordered our turkey in SWENGLISH😊 2 1/2 hours later we had finally made it through the cashier line and managed so shove all the food into my backpack my huge blue duffel bag and 2 grocery bags. It was a long ride home with all that some how strapped to our bikes but we made it. 😊
By that evening, I really felt my injuries. I mean of course my knee hurt really bad riding my bike home, but after sitting for a while and drying off it was extremely painful to walk. I was worried I had broken my knee cap or something. Luckily I live with 2 doctors haha so they looked at my scratches and bruises and gave me some pain medicine. Today my host mom doesn't have work (I didn't know that yesterday, or else I would have asked her to take us to the store today) but it doesn't matter now whats done is done. My host mom looked at my knee today and she thinks I have blood trapped in the wrong places, she is not sure if I broke my knee cap because she is a cardiologist, but my host dad is bringing home a knee brace and hopefully that will help, if not they have friends. For now I am couch potato. Well big hug to you all!! Love, Rachel
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Byrklei
Byrklei
RACHEL!!!
Oh dear. Sounds quite miserable my dear. You are going to do a Thanks Giving day dinner too!? Sweetness!!! Tell me how your knee is doing later hon. All my best. Get better miss Swedish couch potato!!!