Prepare yourself for a long and rambling post...

Hello everyone! I am so sorry I didn't post the last few nights! I am a horrible blogger! But to make it up I have lots of pictures and have no idea what to write about...  OH! My lip is pretty much completely healed!

Thursday:  I was in the hot shop all day.  Mia and I worked on those little mugs some more.  I managed to start making them bigger which Stig-Allen said was good because "people are thirsty at Christmas!"  Then she had to leave because her son was sick or something and so I worked with Rosanne (yay) who had her friend (ex-boyfriend but still friend) with her at school.  He got to witness us cursing at our failures and loudly celebrating our successes which I think he found pretty humorous.    After lunch though, Rosanne had to go to the cold shop and work with her class.  I continued in the hot shop and make whiskey glasses! It was super hard to get the thick bottom on the glass which is necessary because Stig-Allan says you should be able to "feeeeeel that you have been drinking whiskey here (points to arm) the next day!" and we all laughed and said that mostly we felt it "heeeere" and pointed to our heads.  Here are some pictures:

Glögg mugs!!!!

So cute! 

Whiskey glasses!

Should have a thicker bottom but it is still pretty nice :)

Friday I worked with Stig-Allan as my assistant and we worked on making creamers (the little jug your pour your milk into your coffee with).  They are similar in size to the glögg mug with a similar handle but made very differently.  That surprised me some, I figured they were made more similar but apparently not.  After lunch i worked with Nick (the other American) and we worked on making a Swedish foot.  That is a blob of glass on the bottom of a bowl or plate or something like that is made flat.  Very similar to the American Cookie Foot, but Micke says this one isn't cheating.  It is really hard to get them centered and then flatten them nicely.  Several of mine turned out completely wrong.  I was doing them on bowls and Nick was making plates with the foot.  We made a few and I think had a pretty good time.  It was nice to try something else and we were the ONLY ONES in the hot shop! ALL DAY! We didn't run out of glass, or have to weave in and out of other students or watch for flying glass! It was such a luxury!

After school I went for my weekly riding lesson! Sadly, I got Lady but it turned out to not be soooo bad.  I was very interested in how it would be to jump Lady... since, if you remember, you have to "treat her like a lady."  It turns out she likes to jump more then dressage (oh no! I have something in common with Lady!!!) and was much more pleasant to ride.  We ended up jumping a little course of six jumps in a row.  I got to be in the group which jumped big (well relatively... about 2'9") jumps! And, Lady didn't refuse a single time during the lesson and I have seen her refuse with other riders.  I got a lot of "braaa theeerrrrreeesa"s which was nice and I noticed that Pia is telling me to fix new things, not the same ones over and over.  So, that makes me feel like I am improving a little.  Also, after watching the Swedish and American riders in the WEG (World Equestrian Games) I can see how Pia wants me to sit and ride which was interesting.  Here is the adorable and very fat cat that kept me company before my lesson:

Look at that nose... so cute!

and look at that belly!

After riding Rosanne picked me up and we went to Kalmar for some sushi! I was super excited because I haven't had any sushi since I left America!!! Can you believe it??? Me either!  I was sitting in the car thinking of all the wonderful rolls I wanted to order and miso soup and soy sauce....  We managed to find the restaurant where I ordered a 12 piece plate.  Here you order the number of pieces you want and they give a set number of some roll and nigiri and stuff.  So, I didn't get to pick out specific rolls but it was still really good (and some miso soup)!  I got some salmon,  a crab/salmon roll and then some avocado and one tofu piece (which was much better then I thought it would be).  Here is a picture of my lovely plate and my matching lovely sushi ring!! Sam sent me the ring a while back in the mail and it has made me crave sushi so much! 

I have had a very nice weekend in Norrköping visiting my Aunt, Uncle and two cousins.  I will have to tell you more about it later since I really need to go bed and get ready for another wonderful week of glass blowing!!!