"I get by with a little help from my friends!"

Saturday I managed to recover from my hangover to go to Gitte (I spelled her name wrong last time, something like Gidda maybe?) and Antony's going away party.  We all went to the woods where some "you know scout boys" (Gitte) built some cool bridges, campfire spots and chopped fire wood.  We had beers, sausages, vodka and chips.  It was a good time.  The party was me, Gitte & Antony, Kirsten, Anniina, Yuka (except according to facebook his name is Baron! I am serious) and the girl who is visiting that finished school last year and I can't spell her name.  It was really nice and chill. That is such a great group to hangout with and I feel like one of them already even though I have just met them.  Gitte and I both agreed that it is sad that I am just meeting them and they are moving away to Denmark! Oh well, I am supposed to go visit them one day :)  We were also joined at the party by Yuka's two animals:

Dia

And Rrrreemmmmbbbbullllaaaa or something... The cool cat I met the other day that acts a lot like a dog:

It is eating the dog's pig ear, but did catch a mouse during the party...

Sausages!! (Yuka's is kind of sad looking)

And after a few hours we had to make it back to Orrefor's proper.  We were all pretty drunk but excited! We accidentily left Dia stuck on an island so the girls waited while Yuka and Antony (the only one with a light) went back for her... While we were waiting we looked like this...

Its not pretty:

Yes, they are laying on the ground in the forest...

Anniina is trying to call the cat who we could hear meowing from the woods but couldn't really see.

Kirsten and I were the only two really standing at this point...

We then all walked back by cellphone light... singing songs in various languages as loudly as possible.  Gitte and I tried to sing Beatles songs b/c everyone should know those right?  Not like the absurd and hilarious sounding Finish songs right?!  Sadly, we could never really remember more then about 3 lines of each song.  When we finally made it out of the woods and back to Orrefors we decided to go to Kirsten and Anniina's where we were promised wine and pancakes!!! Hooray pancakes... my new favorite food I think.

Anniina is the cooking queen.  She used this gem to make lactose free, glutton free, sugar free pancake DELIGHTS!

Gotta respect a woman in the kitchen with red glasses! and that egg whisk!

This is Anniina by the way:

There was lots of laughing and in general goofing off.  It was wonderful.

Kirsten is either always laughing or telling a funny story.

Gitte and Antony... who knows what they are talking about.

And someone passed out a little early, but she wearing her new shoes and yes, leaning against the fridge:

I went home before everyone else and from what I hear it was a good idea b/c everyone else was painfully hungover today.  I think it was the combination of beer, wine, vodka, juice and pancakes and sausages... All wonderful on their own but together can cause a riot the next morning!

On Sunday I went to the store with Rosanne which was exhausting and I ambitiously got the ingredients for Chili Con Carne... what was I thinking?  But on a good note I got 5kr for all my empty cans!  Then we hung out for a while and I finally agreed to go on this trip this afternoon.  I didn't know what it entailed exactly but I was hoping not too much physical exercise... It was me, Yenni, Martin, Christian and Mortin (all Danish guys) off to Aboda Klint!

There is Yenni on the left then Christian, Morten, Christian again b/c he moved and then Martin.

There was this cute restaurant on the top of these rocks and you looked out over the area and all the water.  It was really cool!

Looking back up towards the first picture.

Then we climbed this monstrosity.  It is 21 meters of hangover hell.  But worth it!

Starting at the bottom...

View from the top...

And the view out:

The little red building is the restaurant where we were looking from earlier.

At the very bottom was this lovely swimming/camping area.

You can see the tower on the right side just barely.  

Christian, Yenni and Martin went swimming.  It sounded like the water was pretty cold but they all enjoyed it... crazy Scandinavians!  We had a little picnic of tea and cookies and they threw around a mini American football which was pretty funny.  It was a good thing to do since it was so warm and nice outside... except the pictures make it look really overcast... oh well.  Take my word for it, it was nice out :)

Afterwards, Yenni and I made the chili con carne and it was DELISH and I have enough left over to feed a whole army! It was nice to have some good warm cooked food after a day out like and especially for her since she went swimming.  I was feeling pretty good at this point since I had slept in the car on the way back! It was 8 o'clock and I was finally feeling like a normal human being!

Then I went to Kirsten and Anniina's for some hungover Rocky Horror Picture Show!!! They were all draped over the living room watching the movie and eating chips, totally slugged out.  I quickly settled in and joined the "party" and I brought some candy! I had totally been way more active and alive all day then any of them.  But it was nice to spend the evening slugged out with people equally as tired and spent! Made me feel a little less useless and pathetic! haha.  AND (!!) Gitte gave me her old cross country skis! She said there isn't enough snow in Denmark! I can't wait to try them out and maybe I will see a MOOSE in the snow!! I will have to take some pictures for her and send them to her when I finally get to use them!!! I felt really cool walking back to my house with some skis thrown over my shoulder.  I even saw some people so then I felt even cooler, not just me being alone and cool feeling.  Now I have to go and pass out... Another glorious week of school starts tomorrow! Hopefully with more glory holes! 

Haha a glorious week with glory holes! 

oh, I crack myself up.

Do these remind anyone else of David the Gnome or the Smurfs?

Happy Birthday MAMMA!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMMA!!!!

I hope you have a great day and year... and many more to come!! I wish I was there, but this is the next best thing, and we have a video chat date later.  I was going to give you one of the flower bowls I have been working on but some of the flowers are kind of crap so I am going to do a better one! Its not like you were going to actually get it today anyway.  Also, I am going to learn to make beads this week! 

Here are some of my favorite Mamma pictures.  I know they are random and  some of them she isn't even in but they remind me all the same.

Mamma and Kari, her Icelandic horse, this summer:

Mamma and her new friend she met last summer in Valdemarsvik.

Enjoying the her old childhood summer home with her sister's family

Mamma and I both love these guys:

She made me take this picture last summer of one of the many curvy streets in Stockholm.

Raven Pottery in front of the ocean... doesn't get much better!

Ice cream!

Alex, Mamma and I this summer at the beach:

Mamma is always up for new things... this case it is Beer Pong!

She and Pappa made wine at home one year... maybe 2006 or 5?

Mamma and her giant dog Arlo!

A Nessie she made:

Mamma and Arlo this summer... The wings were my idea and they just went along with it because they love me.

And, this summer she got re-married to this guy, who is also pretty great:

Thank you for being so supportive and encouraging with everything, especially this great adventure I am on! I am lucky to have such a great Mom that I can get along with so easily and understands me so well! Keep on keeping on the same way you have been... its worked great so far!!! Happy Birthday again and I hope you have some great chocolate cake today!!! 

Love,

Theresa

"The way to heaven is on horseback." - Unknown, but could be anyone who has ever sat on a horse really...

On Friday I spent the morning in the hot shop blowing MORE molds! I want to do something else next week.  I am not perfect but I am bored and I am pretty damn good if I do say so myself!  I listened to music and jammed out to some Old Crow while making the schnapps and water glasses.  It is hard to be awake enough to blow glass at 7:30 AM!

In the afternoon I went to the cold shop.  It is nice to break up the days some and it was so quiet in the cold shop compared to the hot shop!!! I worked on the flower cutting I was doing before and did a new pattern.  It had curved lines which are REALLY hard! But I did it and next week will do more practice at the curved lines  I was making the leaves and had a really great flower and slipped on the wheel and messed it all up and yelled out "F*CK!" pretty loudly and then looked up and started to apologize but no one had noticed b/c they all had ear plugs in! Haha good to know for future cursing.  Here are some pictures of what I have finished:

You have seen this one but now it is finished! I like it a lot! I can't believe I can do that!!!  Tove said next time I should make the leaves a little bigger maybe.

This is the new one.

Those curved branches are the bottom were SOOO hard to make!

The bowls together... 

I was thinking of giving the one on the right to my Mom for her birthday (Sept 11) but it is not nearly as good looking up close.  So, she will have to get something else for her birthday.  BUT everyone should wish her "Happy Birthday!!"

After school I went to Nybro with Rosanne and had a coffee.  It was really nice to just chill away from Orrefors.  There is nothing wrong with Orrefors but all there is here is the Factory, the School and our building.  You get kind of bored with it.  We talked girl talk, about boys, people we have met at school and how important it is to eat pastries! Then she drove me to the riding stables!!!!  Here is a google map if you want to see it. 

Here are some pictures to make up from last time forgetting the camera:

This is the pony bard/office/bathroom area with the indoor riding arena behind it.

This is looking back towards the road into some of the paddocks.

Yes, those are stone walls (!!!)  that they still use for fencing.

This is the pony barn I was talking about last time.  You can see how many stalls there.  They are all full even though you can only see butts sticking up at the far end.

The end closest to me is full of ponies this size.... FREAKIN' ADORABLE!!

The horse barn for school horses and privately owned horses.

So, I go up to Ingrid, who I met with last time when I get there and she goes "I am glad you did actually decide to come!" which seemed a little odd.  She has told Pia that I am coming and what to expect (I am just American... not a bat shit crazy monster!).  She shows me the print out that shows I am to be in a lesson with 4 others and I am riding a horse called Wagner.  And I go "OK, great... Wagner!" and she goes "yeah, here we pronounce it VVAAAGGGGner, he is dutch."  So we go get the tack and his brushes and go to the horse barn...

Meet VAAAGGGGner:

"he is kind of grumpy around his stomach so we should tie him up" Ingrid says.

Yes, look at those knee pads on that saddle! It is the polar opposite of my little saddle... BIG, knee pads, high back... BLACK!

But, Vagner won me over... and he got all of apples that I had brought for him.

I mean look at that face! How can you resist him???

Who does he remind you of???

Sticking his nose into everything????

Yes, me too, my Justin!!!  

This is where we rode because it was rainy outside.  It is pretty big but I think I got spoiled at SBC because at first I was thinking a whole lesson's worth of people couldn't fit in here!

So, I am tacking up my Justin look-a-like... except the body... and really he is nothing like Justin.  And this other guy who is getting ready for the lesson tells me that Pia (the teacher) would like us to get on ASAP since it is her son's birthday or something.  I was a little confused.  So, I grabbed my helmet and followed this guy and his horse, Lady, out the door.  I expect to mount in the ridhuset (riding ring) but no we get on outside and ride into the ring... the doorway of which is not much bigger then a normal person's door... OK a little bigger but not a whole lot... Luckily Vagner is an old pro and we squeeze through.  We go in, I introduce myself to the teacher, she is like "so how much Swedish do you know??  hmmm, OK well we have to make the best with what can do..." which made me a little worried that she was unhappy to have me in her lesson.  She seemed a little grumpy at first but definitely got more chatty and easy to talk to after a little bit.  We trotted for what felt like an eternity (I must be out of shape), Vagner rides like he looks... a kidney bean with a giraffe neck.  So I was to sit ramrod straight up and back, hands up, solid contact (luckily the word for that is same in both languages) and make him trot his ass of.  When ever we would do something difficult for Pia to explain she would call me to the middle and I would watch everyone do it, tell her what it is called in English and then go do it myself and catch up with the lesson again. It worked out well.  The only thing that was very confusing was talking about a half-halt.  Then we got to jump a gymnastic!!!! We went one at time through a 4 to a 4.  For those of you who are non-horsey I would jump a jump, canter 4 steps, jump another jump, canter 4 steps and jump a 3rd final jump then canter away, gallOp as it is called here.  Vagner is very good, he gets a little strong at the end and the first time tried to leave a whole stride out! But I did it again and got him to do it right and I think Pia was pleased that I could do it.  Yay, she doesn't think I am a complete beginner!  She said that my upper body is a little fast over the jumps (what's new about that.... whoops!) but my arms and hands were great (THANKS KIT!!!).

I had a great time with the lesson and can't wait for next week! Except, next week we are doing dressage which I don't really do... It will be a little weird if I have to do it on Mr. Giraffe, I mean VAAAGGGner.  It wasn't until the end of the lesson when were trotting to cool off did he finally put his head down for a while to breath some oxygen... You know the oxygen is awful thin in the stratosphere!

The place is just like any other big riding school.  There are the people with their own horses that look down at you on a school horse, the people with their own horses that are really nice but a little crazy seeming.  The fat lady on a dressage horse whose backside is as wide as the horse's... trying to make the horse leap into the air when the lady could barely even leap onto the poor horse! The people decked out in all the right clothes, looking just so on their horses who can't ride at all.  Their are horses that are too hot but then when they go to jump can barely make it over the jumps.  Ponies who are adorable and amazing jumpers but unless you get them to the jump just right they wont go... but add in a few more body vests then you see in the States.

Then I got picked up from the stables by some friends who were on their way back from Nybro to Orrefors. I got home and Rosanne and I made dinner which was great! We had green beans, french fries (those 2 were my contribution if you hadn't guessed already) and some white fish.  Then we got ready for a small party down the road.  

At the party I found out that some of my new facebook friends from here noticed I have a blog and have read it!!! Can you believe that?!?!?! I was surprised and suddenly felt like they know me a lot better then I know them! Haha oh well.  BUT I did learn that I was wrong about Rickard (the one that looks like Bart Simpson and everyone calls him something with a B... Bosas or something I can never remember).  He is not old and he didn't work in the factory.  He is 21 (he claims) and has been going to this school.  Which makes him seem a lot more reasonable to be hanging out with all the younger people.  I also got know some more of the people at the school.  There is a Finish guy who kind of intimidated me in school with his tattoos and hat and etc but he is really nice named Yoka or something.  There is a Danish guy who is in the 2nd year Nordic program named Mortin who never talks and we mostly just awkwardly smile at each other when we get in the others way.  But I talked to him some too! We both agreed it was nice to actually get to know each other some finally.  He lives with this Danish girl, Josephine, who went to yoga with us the other day and is the 2nd year Nordic line too.  She was really nice and tried to help me in the yoga some when I had no idea what was going on.  There is the girl with the fingerstache who I still don't know very well but I think we drunkenly bonded some.  I drank half of Rickard's orange juice so I need to remember to get him some more! 

I left the party earlier then most and went home and passed out the second my head touched the pillow!  I had had a looooong exciting day. The sad thing was that of course I couldn't sleep in! WHY?!!?!??! what is wrong with me now!?!?! Did I get this from hanging out with Val too much this summer (she never sleeps in) and now am cursed for eternity?!?! I hope not! But I am going to go for a walk while it is sunny!  Thanks for all the good luck wishes with the riding!!! Have a good Saturday!

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes. - Andrew Carnegie

Well today was a normal Thursday... except that all day I thought it was Wednesday... 

I went to the hot shop in the morning and got to work with the students who I hangout with a lot outside of school.  It was fun to be in the shop with people who I can laugh and joke around with and aren't so serious or angry or weird or freaked out.  I made more schnapps glasses (imagine me with a cross eyed tongue out face while saying that).  I am at the point that, on average, every other one is a good keep-able one.  That makes me pretty happy.  I did forget a rubber band for my hair this morning so I asked Micke if there was one around the factory I could use... I had a bobby pin but it wasn't really cutting it.  He returns with this:

Yes, that is about 2 feet long not stretched.  When it is stretched I can put both my arms all the way out to my sides and it reaches from thumb to thumb.  So whats that?  Like 5 feet?!?!? So I wrapped it around my head like a head band twice then used the rest to make a pony tail and actually looked pretty cool I would like to say.  I may start wearing it all the time in the factory!

There was a camera crew of students from the University of Kalmar today in the hot shop.  They were mostly just annoying and slightly in the way until during the break they started doing this interview right in front MY furnace! I sat there for 10 mins thinking they would surely get the hell out of the way and they didn't even though all the students were standing around waiting.  So, finally I just went behind them right into their shot of the person they were interviewing and started gathering and working with glass.  It finally occurred to me that I am paying good money to go here...  The government isn't paying for me like everyone else and I am not going to waste it sitting here watching this crap.  I think everyone was a little surprised and pleased that someone actually did something.  I looked over at Åke while I was gathering and he gave me a big grin and thumbs up.  I feel like I am acting very American again... yesterday with going into the hotel rooms and today with just jumping in when I was tired of them being in my way... Oh well.

After lunch I was also in the hot shop with the first year gymnasium kids.  That was a little hectic and they would freak out if you came by them with a reasonable ball of glass on your pipe.  I really like it better working with people who know what they are doing... and don't put a million bubbles in the glass!! Also they are maniacs when they knock the extra glass off their pipes! I was standing really far away from the knock off bin, talking to Stig-Allen (older teacher) and all of a sudden this HUGE piece (ok not huge, like the size of a big piece of bacon bits) of glass flies over and lands on my collar bone! I am like "AHHHHH! HOOOTTTTT!" and Stig-Allen is like "shit shit shit" and finally manages to knock the glass off which was sticking to my skin burning the shit out of me!  I have a stupid mark (about the size of a pinky nail) on my neck now that gets rubbed by my shirts!! uhg! 

It is interesting how different people react to the frustrations of glass.  Some get mad, some get upset and cry or freak out on the teachers and some just stop.  I think I have unique approach in that I just keep going back and back.  I keep trying and trying and I know I will get it, I don't get upset, I get frustrated but I use it as drive to help me keep going back.  I want to do it so badly that I keep trying, I keep gathering and I keep plopping it down in those damn molds.  It isn't an age thing either, people older then me react like the people younger and vise versa.  I had noticed it a little as people had been talking about their bad days or difficulties or bla bla bla and my response is always "I made a few good ones and it keeps getting better so I am pleased"  Maybe I will respond differently if I get stuck in a rut one day... but luckily (knock on wood) I haven't had too big of a rut yet!   Today, Åke (aka Orca... except his name isn't like the whale and this is how you spell it in Swedish... I think my Aunt told me that weeks ago but I just figured it out and was like DUH!) asked me if I am always like a pig.  And I was like "what?!?!?! A PIG?!?!?" and he goes "yeah happy, smiling and bouncing?" and tried to pantomime how I act which was hilarious b/c he is bald and much taller then me! After I realized he wasn't insulting me with the whole pig thing I said "yes I am always happy when I am doing this!" and held up my blow pipe.  (who knew pigs are happy in Sweden?!?!)  Even when I make a few really crap glasses I happily bounce along to whatever song is on the Ipod while waiting to gather again at the furnace.  I knew I was happy but it was so great to have it pointed out and that made me even happier!  

After school I went for a jog.  I had a ton of energy still, I think b/c I am super excited about riding TOMORROW!  I went to this cool camping area nearby and took these cool pictures:

There is a little dam on the right of the red building on the right making this small pond.

This is on top of the dam.

Red shoes, black water.

This is looking back towards the first picture... classic Sweden to me.

Freakin' adorable pine cones!

After my jog I went to the hotel where they have the Thai buffet with some of the 3rd year Nordic students, some of the Finish girls and a girl who was graduated last year (she had stuff in that museum exhibit from earlier).  It was a lot of fun and we laughed so much that we thought we would die from eating so much and laughing so much.  I am really glad that these girls (the only guy they hangout with really is the englishman who is marries to one of the girls) like me and want me around! They are hilarious and soooo good at glass! I think they are having a going away party on Saturday for Gunner (maybe that is her name, Danish girl) and the Englishman, Anthony, in the woods at this cool camp area where you can make bonfires! Should be cool :)

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Tomorrow is my first Swedish Riding Lesson! I can't wait!!!! I will take my camera and tell you all about it as soon as I get back! Hopefully it won't make me miss Justin (my horse) even more, I don't know if I can miss him more!  Anyway, wish me luck!!!