March

The sun is shining and the snow is melting. The wind is brisk, yet still refreshing. It is a perfect day for a walk. As much as I love winter and the fun that it brings, I might finally be ready for a change. It is, in fact, March 1st and spring is just around the corner, no matter how much I'd like for winter to stay a little longer. I am excited for things to begin growing once again. The first sign of plants sprouting up through the dirt is quite a sight to see, one that means there will soon be color all around.

I've begun to think of what I want to plant in my garden this year and have been getting excited to get things going, however, I soon put a halt to my excitement and remember that Jeff is planning on doing some changes to the house and garage, meaning that the back yard will be a big pile of dirt for most of the spring. It makes me sad to think that I won't have a garden this year; maybe I'll just have to plant in pots and place them around the front yard. If anyone wants to have a garden in their yard but don't want to take the time to tend to it, just let me know, I might be able to help.

happy valentine's day...i'm a student

yes, happy valentine's day. . .

As I sit in the kitchen, in the corner booth, the spot that i've been sitting in for many hours this weekend, I watched the clock strike 12:00 and my eyes instantly got heavy. (Disclaimer: all my typically amazing writing skills are gonna be missing tonight, because of sleepiness) I've been reading textbooks on grammar, literacy and mathematics and as boring as that stuff is, i've sort of enjoyed it (but my eyes are still tired). Now, its not quite the same type of enjoyment i get out of going to sleep at night, walking to get the mail, or even cleaning out the Roomba. It is a type of enjoyment that is hard to explain. Maybe the fact of the matter is that I am actually enjoying school and being a student again, even enjoying learning. For many people, this might be a normal thing, but for me, not so much. I don't think i've ever studied for 8 hrs in a month, let alone a single weekend, and if i didn't need sleep, i could keep going! I'm crazy!

But, anyways, school is underway and i am really enjoying it. my classmates are all great! very friendly and welcoming. One day last week we had to get into groups of 4 and find things that we all had in common. One of the groups said that they were "all younger than tim", which is true by a good 2 yrs.... oh wait... no, 7-9 yrs, i'm old. but it did get a good laugh out of the class and those sort of things help me feel a little more comfortable, since i don't, or didn't, know anyone. I am in a 3rd grade classroom every Tuesday and it is quite possibly the best 3rd grade classroom ever! my teacher is amazing in many ways, from the way she connects with each of the kids to how she organizes her day to how she relates to many of the parents. and the kids, the kids are practically little angels. They help each other when they need it, they behave when they should behave and they have also welcomed me in as one of their class. Last week i stayed after school to sit in on a few conferences. One family came in and my teacher introduced me to them. They said, "oh, we've heard about you. ... when 'our boy' gets home each day we have him share a high point and low point, YOU were his low point today. He said, "my low point is the fact that Mr. Olson is only in our class on Tuesdays." That made my day! Things like that really help you keep pluggin' along. well, off to bed so i can plug along tomorrow.

I've been home for a while

Well, little has happened since Thanksgiving. Let's see, where should I start?..... ok, here it goes.

The next morning was a brisk and lovely morning, I slept in a bit, until about 9:17, and after my breakfast, I walked my 9 minute walk to church. There was definitely a chill in the air and I knew that if I had been in Minnesota that a snowfall would be just around the corner. Ok, so maybe I won't be quite THAT detailed, when i told Jen that I was going to update my blog she said, "WAHOO!!! Good job! Is it going to be 5 pages long since it's been so long?" I said, "I hope not! I'm tired." So, you're going to get the shortened version on my last couple of months (don't be TOO excited)

My last month is Sweden was simply, wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a better experience. My host family couldn't have been more amazing, I still think about them all almost every day. As the month went on I was all of a sudden getting the questions, "are you getting excited to go home?", "what are you most looking forward to when you get home?", "are you going to come back soon?" and several other questions that I didn't really want to answer. I wasn't ready to go home yet, I was just getting comfortable, just getting to know people on a deeper level, making great friends and gaining family members. I really didn't want to think about those questions, but my answers where, "don't know if I'd use 'excited'.", seeing my dog & new nephew." and "hopefully." 3 months is NOT a long time to live somewhere and even after being home for over a month now, I often think about when the next opportunity will come for me to go back. I don't know what I miss the most, if it was all the walking I did, if it was the great bus system, if it was the church or if it was all the wonderful, kind people that helped make me feel more welcomed than I feel I deserved... maybe I miss it all equally, yep, I think that's it.

Anyways, Tuesday morning, December 22nd, Birgitta drove me to the airport and as we hugged, wished each other "Gud Jul" and then as I watched her drive away, it hit me that I was going home to be with my family for Christmas. I landed in Minneapolis and Jen, Jeff & Brad were at the gate waiting for me. It was really good to see all of them, even though I had practically just seen Jen ;) We got home and Mom & Dad were there to help welcome me back. We went inside and there was my baby! Riley hadn't forgotten about me, she was so excited she peed a little bit :) ... I think I might have too, but I don't remember the details, whatev. Brad, Jeff & I went out for dinner and had a good time. I was home and was ready for Christmas.

I went to Mom & Dad's on Christmas Eve and after dinner I fell asleep on the couch, since my internal clock thought it was about 4 in the morning. I was dreaming about Santa, or Reindeer, or Snow, or something when I was abruptly jostled by an adorable little 4 year old! Erika, JJ, Kaleb & new baby Alek had arrived and Kaleb needed to give his uncle a big hug, even though I was sleeping, it was the best way to be woken up! After a big, stronger than when I left, hug, I got to hold Alek for the first time after getting to just see him via Skype. He was/is ADORABLE! (and so much more real in person).

Ok, Christmas was great, New Years was fun. I'm pretty tired after a long weekend and should get to bed, because tomorrow morning I will be a full time student at Bethel University. yep, once semester of classes/practicum and one semester of student teaching and I will have my teaching license, which I will elaborate on later, but i MUST keep this under 5 pages.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am a few days late on this but i figured better late than never.
So, Wednesday the family got here, it was great to see their smiling faces as i met them at the airport and after we hugged we were off, and didn´t stop until they left at 4:30 on Sunday morn. We had Wednesday night and at 6:00am on Thursday we were on the train to Stockholm. We had really nice weather (well, sunny and a bit chilly) and enjoyed the day walking around and enjoying the city. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe and as my dad paid the bill the waiter wished him a Happy Thanksgiving! it was a nice reminder of the holiday that was being celebrated back home. We ended the day by getting back onto the train at about 8:00pm and got back to Göteborg at a little after 11:00, we were all very exhausted.
Friday started out with breakfast at my place. I drove the rental car over to get my parents from the Jannerlands, where they were staying. oh, and driving was pretty fun, i havent done that in 2 months! Aaron joined us for breakfast and we all had a nice relaxing start to the day. After breakfast we stopped by the church so i could show them where i have been working and they were also to meet a few of the folks i spend so much time with in the office. We toured Göteborg for the rest of the day and ended by going to Liseberg, which is decorated for Christmas this time of year.
Saturday we took a boat to the island Hönö and checked out a Christmas market that they have every year, it was quite nice. We ended the day with dinner at the Jannerlands house and then made Fiskebäcksbröd (Fiskebäcks = the town/area. bröd = bread.) At about 10:30 a few people started arriving for fika. more and more people kept coming and then a little before 11, Aaron and Stina came to celebrate the end of their "Aaron and Stina day" aka 6 month anniversary of dating. However it wasn't long before Aaron began to tell the story of the day and how he picked Stine up at 4:30 am and then took her to Venice, Italy for the day. while there, he proposed to her and she said, "yes". So the little fika that the Jannerlands thought they were having was actually a mini engagement party, it was a lot of fun!
The night ended around 12:30 and my family left after a few hours of sleep and went on their way to a day in Amsterdam.
I called them at 1:15am on Monday morning to make sure they got home ok and everything was good. I was exhausted and went to bed.
Good Times.

Timmer

Where am I?

Last night as Andrew and I were waiting at the bus stop I heard something coming down the street. Normally just hearing something coming would not catch my attention since there are many cars, buses and other vehicles here, however this sound was different. All of a sudden from around the corner I saw a 4-wheeler/atv (whatever you want to call it) ..zz....z......zzz........ ooh, i just fell asleep for 5 minutes, too bad since it is 11:00 am..... ok, umm..... where was i? .....aw, yes. Depending on where you live this might not be an abnormal sight, but when we were standing at a busstop in downtown Göteborg and the only street that went past us was an entrance ramp to the freeway, I was really surprised! What kind of place do I live in? 4-wheelers on the freeway!? now that is just a little crazy.