The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow-weekend bliss

When I woke up Saturday morning it was a beautiful day outside, and actually has stayed pretty nice ever since.  The weather is in the 70s here, so it's been pretty perfect outside.  Much different than what I hear we are getting back home.

When I was planning my trip to Salzburg I had purposely planned to arrive in Austria a couple of days before my class to do some sight seeing.  I booked two tours with "Bob's Tour Bus" (sounds real  hokey doesn't it?!), but both tours were great!  I highly recommend this company if you ever do any sight-seeing in Salzburg!  I scheduled the "Sound of Music" tour on Saturday morning, and the "Bavarian" tour on Sunday morning.  However, while I was on the "Sound of Music" tour, the tour guide encouraged me to do the "Bavarian" tour that afternoon instead of waiting until Saturday just in case in started raining again.  I wasn't about to let rain interfere with my Salzburg plans again, so I happily agreed.

The "Sound of Music" tour included seeing the convent, the area where she sang "The Hills are Alive", the open area that she began "Do Re Mi" with the children, the mirabell garden area at the end of "Do Re Mi", the gozebo in "I Am Sixteen Going on Seventeen", the church where they married, and the Frohnburg (the place that I'm staying for the week).  We also had the opportunity to do some other activities on the tour.  He stopped at a place in Old Salzburg to let us ride a Toboggan, which I jumped at the opportunity to do so.  Someone happened to take a picture of me coming down the Toboggan, and said she would email it to me, but I haven't received it yet.  We also stopped for lunch in the old town of Salzburg and faced the area that I was referring to earlier where she began singing "Do Re Mi".  I have that picture posted below.

The Bavarian tour included seeing the eagles nest, and seeing the beautiful sights in Berchtesgaden.  It was an absolutely beautiful tour through the mountains.  As soon as I have better internet (probably not until next week), I will post more pictures.

That night I happened to run into a few people that were at the Orff institute for the International Orff-Schulwerk forum.  A number of people representing each countries Orff-Schulwerk organization had the chance to meet at the end of last week to discuss "hot topic" issues in this field.  The American Orff-Schulwerk president, Chris Judah-Lauder, was the one I ran into and invited me out to dinner with some of these people along with two ladies from Greece that just got in town for the summer course (the course that I am taking).  This was the first time that I had formally met Chris, and she was just as wonderful as I had always heard. I felt so humbled to get to eat with her and some of the others that were here for the forum.  It just made me realize how warm and welcoming Orff teachers are regardless of status and leadership within the organization.  

On Sunday, I decided to sleep in and do laundry.  In the afternoon I went for a jog to and from the city center and found Mozart's birthplace and statue while I was there.  It took me about 30 minutes both ways, but it shouldn't have taken that long.  I didn't know exactly where I was going, so it took me a little bit to find it and then on the way back I tried a short cut, but it definitely wasn't a short cut.  Like I mentioned earlier the weather has been amazing, so it was definitely a perfect afternoon jog.  I will also post some pictures from my jog later too.  I just kept thinking the whole time that my Tulsa jogs will never been the same after getting to jog around here.

On Sunday night we had the opening for the summer course, which included an overview of the week and a performance from Das Collectiv.  Das Collectiv is a dance group from the institute made up of both students and teachers.  They performed choreographed movement from excerpts from "Carmina Burana" (composed by Carl Orff).  It was incredible!  I had the chance to see them at the American Orff-Schulwerk professional development conference in Pittsburgh almost 2 years ago, so I was excited when I heard that they would be performing just for us that night.  After the opening I went back to the city center along with the two ladies from Greece and a girl from Finland that I had actually previously connected with via internet.

So as you can tell Saturday and Sunday completely made up for the dreadful Friday night I experienced.  Once again, as soon as I have better internet I will post more pictures from this last weekend.

McDonalds--my first nights oasis

On Friday I flew into Salzburg, and thankfully had no problems with my passport in the airport (thank you Lord!).  I arrived at the Frohnburg, which is my accomodation for the week.  It is right next to the Orff Institute.  You might recognize it in the "Sound of Music"?!  The front of the building was the outside of the Von Trapp family's house.  The street leading up to the palace, the one Marie walked down with her suitcase in hand, is the street you can take by foot or bike to get to the main part of the city.

After getting settled in and realizing that the wifi connection wasn't strong enough to facetime my family, it was getting closer to 6:00 and I was hungry. At this point it starts pouring outside, so I put my rainjacket and flip flops on, and headed to the busiest street nearby.  Unfortunately there were no eating places in sight, so I chose a direction and hoped for the best.  After a 30 minute walk I found a supermarket, and realized I should probably get some snacks and something to keep in my room for breakfast.  I asked the lady at the check-out counter if there was a restaurant close by and she mentioned a McDonalds back in the direction of the Frohnburg (hotel/dorm).  At this point in the conversation I realized that grocery stores here don't offer complimentary plastic/paper bags, so I put my things in the plastic bag that my bananas were in.  I craddled the bag so it wouldn't rip and walked 20 minutes back in the direction that I came from to get to the McDonalds.  By the time I got to the McDonalds, I lost a flip flop trying to cross the road quickly, and my bag ripped just as I was walking through the McDonalds door.  Thankfully I was able to get my undamaged flip flop back, and the sweet McDonalds guy gave me a paper sack to put my grocery items in.  The high calorie dinner that followed never tasted so good, and by the time I left McDonald's the rain had stopped in enough time for me to walk back to the Frohnburg (approx. 15 min walk).  I'm not gonna lie it was not the best first night by myself in Austria, but thankfully the next day was absolutely wonderful.

4th of July in Sweden

We began the day glass shopping in Vaxjo.  Sweden is known for their glass and have several shops (even outlets) dedicated to selling their Swedish made glass.  I attached a couple of pictures that I pulled from the internet below.

After we finished glass shopping we went on a "moose safari".  It's quite possible to see a moose in the "wild", but going to a ranch that has them was the most assuring way to spot one.  The moose were contained in a large area that you could walk around.  We were able to see a couple of moose, but the oldest one that we came across was laying down so we couldn't tell how big it actually was.  This was actually my first time to see a moose.  :)

When we left the "moose safari" we went to one of the castles in Vaxjo.  The second floor of the castle was destroyed in an attack with Denmark.  The remains of the castle have been preserved, and are used throughout the year for reinactments and other events.

That night Ede's family served a traditional 4th of July dinner.  Ede's mom is actually from America and met her husband studying abroad in high school.  After graduating from high school she moved to Sweden, went to college, married and they started their family.  They cooked out hamburgers, and served chips, baked beans, and watermelon.  It was really delicious.  After eating dinner Ede's dad entertained us by playing his guitar while the family joined in singing.  They are like a Swedish Von Trapp family! ;)  Here are some pictures from the evening...

One of the most memorable experiences from the night was watching her dad play the "Star Spangled Banner" on his trumpet outside on the balcony. Apparently it's a tradition of his to do that every year on the fourth.  Hope the video below works!  If not, here is a picture hallmarking the performance! :)

Walking around in Vaxjo

Vaxjo is Ede's hometown, which is located on the southern part of Sweden (it's about 5 1/2 hrs south of Stockholm).  A little history about Vaxjo is that in Swedish it means "road by the lake".  "'Vag' means road and 'sjo" means lake, and then later on it was combined to one word and the spelling changed to "Vaxjo".   The city received this name because when people would give directions to the marketplace, what the area was formly known for, they would say 'follow the road by the lake'.  Later the official name was given, and now the city is approximately 700 years old.  On Wednesday we actually went to their town market and shopped.  The market occurs every Wednesday and Saturday, and sells just about everything you might expect from clothes, to meat (primarily fresh fish), to cute trinkets, and actually a wide variety of kid stuff.  Here are a couple of pictures taken at the market.  I've realized after looking back at these pictures that I could have done a better job taking them-sorry!

We ate Swedish style pizza for lunch.  They always eat pizza with a knife and a fork.  Also, traditionally in Sweden everyone gets their own pizza to eat!  Definitely a lot of food, but the pizza was really good.

That afternoon we went to a local historical state church, which I've heard many stories about through Ede regarding Sankta Lucia.  Her high school professor gave Ede an extra copy of a Sankta Lucia ceremony a few years ago that Ede gave to me, so it was neat seeing the church "in person" that I've been seeing in the video all this time.

That night we had dinner with Ede's aunt and uncle at their house.  They served a traditional swedish meal and dessert, which were both delicious!  If I was thinking about my blog instead of thinking how hungry I was at the time, I would have taken a picture of it for you.  The dinner was a meat and vegetable dish, and the dessert was Swedish cheesecake.  It's not what we think of as cheesecake, the main ingredient is made from curds.  I probably wouldn't have tried it if I knew that ahead of time, but I'm so glad that I did.  They served it with strawberry or blueberry sauce and ice cream.   My favorite part of the dinner was before they started eating the uncle began singing a Swedish prayer, and the rest of the family joined in singing.  It was really beautiful.

After dinner Ede, Carmen, and I took a walk around the city lake (the lake that I was referring to earlier).  The lake isn't that big, maybe 4 miles?  There were several joggers, bikers, and fellow walkers that were going around the lake that night too.

I don't think I've mentioned yet that in the summer Sweden mostly has daylight.  So it's like an Alaskan summer.  It was nice getting to enjoy more of the evening outside without having to worry about it getting too dark.

This was the end to the first full day in Sweden.  Tomorrow includes glass shopping, a moose safari, a castle, and celebrating the Fourth of July!

Thoughts after realitively no sleep

Here's my top five interesting happenings from airport travel today, none of which are in any particular order.

1).  Anyone that knows me should be unbelievably impressed that I packed everything I needed for the month ahead in a carry on suitcase and a backpack (my close friends and family are gasping I'm sure!)  I have to admit that I'm a little impressed with myself too!  Due to being selective in my packing, please don't judge me for wearing the same clothes in nearly every other picture that you'll see on this blog.  :)  Also, those of you that know I like a little jewelry, should know that I only brought three things: 1 pair of earrings, watch, and wedding ring (I think I hear more gasps?!)  

2).  Facebook friends have already heard number 2, but for everyone else....I was somewhat surprised when the TSA agent in Tulsa asked if I was military because of using words like "sir", "please", and "thank you".  I didn't even realize I was using said words until he pointed it out, just makes me wonder why this isn't the norm?!

3).  I'll preface #3 by saying I'm notorious for learning lessons the hard way. I definitely made a careless, hopefully not costly mistake with my passport and plane tickets.  I was under the impression that it was perfectly acceptable to travel with your maiden name on your passport if you had the marriage license in hand.  I've learned the hard way that if the passport includes the maiden name then all the airline tickets should also include the maiden name because if I've heard it once today, I've heard it too many times to count that "the passport name must match the ticket".  I was almost not allowed on my connecting flight from Chicago to London due to this problem, and have been told that I might be rejected in other countries.  I'm wondering if there is anyway to get my last name changed on the rest of my plane tickets, or if its too late at this point.  If you have any ideas, please share!

4).  International flights with personal tv's are a life savor when dealing with insomnia.  I watched two movies, and then watched the navigational system that showed where our plane was in relation to the world.  Pretty interesting!

5).  On the flight from Chicago to London I sat next to an English couple traveling back home after visiting the husbands family in Missouri.  It wasn't until we landed that we began talking.  The wife shared some interesting ideas of things to see and do when I come back to London at the end of the month, but what I was most impressed with was their thoughtful hospitality.  The husband gave me his business card and said to call if I needed anything when I'm back in London in 3 weeks.  I certainly hope I wouldn't need them, but the gesture was really sweet and certainly comforting.

I've made it to Ede's house and her hometown is so adorable.  I think we are about to go for a walk to the river that runs through the town in just a little while.  By this point I'm trying not to sleep, but I'm starting to feel and look like death.  I need a good shower and some good sleep tonight.  I'll try to post some pictures later tonight or tomorrow. Until then! :)