Sweden

The 4th of July never ended for me, but the 5th of July started at some point for me over Canada. I haven't traveled every year of my life and definitely not across the Atlantic Ocean every year (though I think I'm trying to make up for that now), but never before this trip has the sun never set for me. It was very strange, but really cool all at the same time.

I arrived at 16:00 in sunny Copenhagen. Everyone was out and about enjoying the irregular sunshine and, so that I would sleep well that night, Julie and I joined them walking along the cobblestone streets with my suitcases. (For planning on being gone for 14 months, a backpack, a carry-on, and a suitcase weighing 48lbs isn't shabby at all.) It was really very nice to get to chat with Julie again, see her home, shower, and eat Danish food. (Danishes are not called danishes here, but something like German Bread. Julie didn't know if they were actually German or Dutch.)

July 6th I left Denmark to go to Holsbybrunn, Sweden. I didn't quite realize that the two countries were separated by water, but it was quite the experience taking a train across part of the North Sea. Despite not knowing Danish or Swedish, I wasn't have issues traveling because literally, even the Grandma on the train spoke English with me. But you cannot imagine my shock when I saw the principal from my school at Capernwray, England on the same train as me going to Holsby as well to lecture my first week! It was a huge relief especially as we missed our last train by like 2 minutes. Derek was great though, "There's a bus leaving in about 15 minutes - our train passes will work for our ticket."

So that is that. I have been at Holsby since Saturday evening and have felt very blessed by all the people here. Some of you know that I was hoping that I would find a Mary to balance my Martha personality. I didn't meet someone who I would say is definitely a Mary, but I think she's a more mature Martha working a good balance of human being-ness and human doing-ness.

Highlights:

1. Every night, a group of Interns gather and say 3 things they're thankful for and then we pray. It is such a good exercise to "Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done," everyday. It gives you such a heart of thankfulness.

2. There is a Swiss family here and their two children speak French and only a very little Swiss German (which apparently, is almost impossible at their language level for the German speaking Germans to understand). There is one other intern who is fluent in French, and then there is me who speaks enough French to speak to children. It has been really fun. I bet I sound so strange to them, but I love it when they respond to me.., in French!

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3. Some of you also may know that I love the cello. ;) While the school doesn't own a cello, there is a family with four children (all good soccer-lov'n kids) in which the oldest daughter does play the cello. I was never told the mom's name, but she said they could look into renting one from a guy in their church. I think I will like this family.

4. Seriously, I have felt really blessed by these people here. I was really kinda surprised at how quickly they welcomed me into their group - into their family. They've all been working with each other for about a year.