Final days in Sweden and return home

Hej it's Eric! It is hard to believe that a month has passed and most of us are back at work today. I decided this evening I would update the blog with what could be our final post.

Tuesday, May 29, the team had our last individual vocational day, this lasted most of the day. In the early evening we had a guided tour of the Örebro Castle. It was a great opportunity to see many of the public spaces (such as the ballroom and dungeon). Peter Larne and the Örebro Rotarian's hosted a farewell dinner at one of the members summer lakeside home. It was a wonderful send off event.

Our final presentation was at noon on Wednesday, May 30. We had the morning and afternoon free to do last minute ‘panic’ shopping. We were treated to a champagne reception with the County Governor at the castle. The evening was spent with our host families and packing.

Our flight left Örebro at 6.05 a.m. on Thursday, May 31. We arrived in Copenhagen and had a fairly tight timeline to catch our Newark flight. Pete is staying in Europe and visiting a friend in Germany. The rest of us had an 8.5 hour flight to Newark. Following a two hour mechanical delay, we were greeted by family and friends at the Omaha airport around 6.00 p.m. CST. This made for a long day, total travel time was somewhere around 18 hours, many of us were up for over 24 hours with little naps on the plane rides!

Our first GSE presentation of our Sweden experience is June 22 at the Lincoln South Rotary Club. I am looking forward to the opportunity and hope to share what we learned.

Special thanks to all of the program coordinators, hosts, Rotarian's, Rotary Foundation and families and friends that made this awesome opportunity possible.

The mall of Örebro University. College education is free in Sweden.

Joe presenting Peter Larne Husker gear at our going away party.

Anders and Annelina Johansson where able to join us at our going away party. Anders and Annelina were from Lindesberg and were part of our welcoming committee. It was nice to see them at our farewell party. Left to right: Cassie, Eric, Pete, Kristi, Annelina, Joe and Anders.

I will think twice about complaining about the cost of gas. The 95 is the normal gas at 12 SEK per liter -- that would about 48 SEK per gallon (I know, not exactly, but close) -- that's about $6.86 a gallon.

Örebro's water tower.

Pete and Joe at our farewell party.

Jenny provided us a tour of the Örebro Castle.

One of the many large ballrooms in the Örebro Castle. Groups can rent this room for parties and dinners.

A view of Örebro from the castle.

This is one of the floors in the castle. It is amazing to see the workmanship from years ago. This is all stone.

The county governor lives in the castle and opened his private residence to us. This is one of the many rooms we were able to see.

The County Governor is in the middle of this picture.

The Swedish Judical System and our lakeside barbecue

Sunday we spent time with our host families and had a barbecue at Usken Lake -- about 45 minutes outside of Örebro. We enjoyed our time with our host families and had an opportunity to take a short boat trip around the lake.

Monday (May 28) we had an opportunity to visit the Swedish judicial system in Örebro. We spent time at the Police Authority, with the Public Prosecutor and the district court. The Swedish judicial system is very different than ours.

Sweden has a national police force were policy decisions are made in Stockholm and then carried out in the counties. While there is local police presence, there do not work for the local city like they do in the US.

The court system, with exception of trials that involve charges against the media, are not held with a jury. There are four judges, one who has professional legal training and the other three are political appointments.

Two Rotary Club Presentations today -- one at 7:30 this morning and the other over lunch.

Monday evening the Wadköping Rotary Club treated us to a "singing picnic" in "dragon boats" in Oset. It was a good time and the team enjoyed themselves.

On another note, my new camera (that I purchased a few weeks ago in Sweden) slipped right out of my hands today at the police station. I stood there and gasped as it hit the ground. Camera #2 -- dead. However, I was able to go back to the Clas Olson (the Swedish chain store I bought it from) and they were able to exchange it. Special thanks to Dan (my host) for taking me to the store and opening the conversation with their customer service department.

Pete, Kristi and Cassie enjoy their time on Lake Usken.

A view of shore around Lake Usken.

Örebro from my host's back yard. It is a beautiful city.

Cassie at our 7:30 Monday morning Rotary meeting.


A water fountain outside the Örebro castle.

The view of Joe's head and the girls from where I was sitting in the dragon boat.

A view to the back of where I was sitting on the dragon boat.

We rowed our dragon boat to a nature preserve. It was really quite nice.

Since the weather was not cooperating, we had an indoor picnic.

We are in Örebro

We are back to where we started our great Sweden trip -- Örebro. It is a city of about 130,000 people and is the home of Peter Larne (Rotary District 2340 GSE Chair), Sven-Erik Paul Sahlén (Swedish GSE Team Leader that visited Nebraska in April), and Magnus Petersson (Swedish GSE Team Member). It has been nice to meet new friends while seeing old ones.

The official transfer from the Arvika to Örebro hosts took place at Karlskoga, home of Alfred Nobel. Nobel is famous for his work with dynamite and the majority of his estate was left to fund the Nobel Prizes. We were able to tour his home and workshop to learn more about the final years of his life. One interesting thing that happened at the end of this tour was our Arvika host, Fredrik Ekman, pulled two letters out of his coat pocket and showed it to the museum staff. These were original letters from Nobel to Fredrik's relatives that he has had in his possession for over 30 years. The museum staff was amazed at this rare find.

Friday, May 25, the team had vocational days. It has been nice to meet professionals who have similar jobs to us and learn how they manage their work. The evening was spent at one of our host families home and then we attended a theatrical production at the Hjalmar Bergman Theater. Even though the entire program was in Swedish, it was a great opportunity to see and experience something different.

Saturday morning was spent with our host families. In the afternoon, we met with the District 2340 GSE Team who was in Nebraska in April at Magnus Petersson's home. We played Kupp (a traditional Swedish lawn game), enjoyed a fine dinner and time with our new friends.

Cassie meets Alfred Nobel. This was our tour guide at the Nobel museum

Joe shows off the variety of lapel pins he has collected on our trip to our Arvika hosts. From left to right: Fredrik Ekman, Roland Flack and Joe.


The Örebro Castle.

We attended a theater performance. Left to right: Kristi, Magnus Petersson (Swedish GSE Team Member and Pete's host), Pete, Joe, and Cassie.

Cassie with her host. I ran into them when I was walking around the city center with my hosts.

Örebro's Saturday morning farmer's market.

Cassie, Kristi and Susanne Nordberg (Swedish GSE Team Member) at Magnus Petersson' home.

This is the victory photo of Kubb. The piece of wood in the foreground is the king figure that the Swedish team (in the background) accidentally knocked over. This caused the American team to win (it's like they knocked the 8 ball in, in pool--otherwise we would have more than likely lost). Kupp is not an easy game to describe in a few words, but I will try -- basically, each team has knight figures separated by a king that are about 20 foot apart. You take turns throwing an object at each others knights with the goal of knocking the other teams down. At the end, you knock down the king. The team that knocks down the other teams figures first wins. It was a lot of fun to play.

We had time to visit with the GSE Sweden team and their family members. It was nice to meet everyone. Left to right: Torbjörn Nilsson (Swedish GSE Team member), Torbjörn's daughter, Myla, and wife, Marie, Joe and Kristi.

District 2340 (Sweden) and 5650 (Nebraska/Iowa) Teams. Front row (L to R): Eric, Torbjörn Nilsson, Cassie; back row: Magnus Petersson, Susanne Nordberg, Pete, Kristi, and Joe. Lotta Sylvén was not able to join us (we spent lots of time with Lotta and her family in Arvika) and Sven-Erik Paul Sahlén had already left.

Our days in Arvika (Post from Pete & Eric)

Arvika has been our western-most city visited in Sweden. It is a city of approximately 25,000 people. It's main employer is Volvo Wheel Loaders, Thermia, and Coffee Queen. Each of us had an opportunity for two vocational days this week, which was most informative. We thank everyone who took time out of their days to be with us.

Tomorrow, we are off to Örebro, but not before a quick stop back in Karlstad for a lunch Rotary meeting presentation, and another stop in Karlskoga for a tour of the Nobel Museum.

Dick Johansson, the third-generation owner of Klässbols, provided us a tour of the factory where they make pure linen textiles. They are most known for their table cloths and napkins they make for the annual Nobel prize dinner in Stockholm.

Here are Fredrik and Roland, our Arvika hosts, ourside the Thermia factory (they produce heat pumps).

One crazy fika? Fredrik Ekman, Arvika's GSE Coordinator, hosted the team for coffee and cakes (called fika in Sweden) at his home. Fredrik's family has a miltary history so Cassie and Pete tried on some of the head gear.

Tuesday evening, our team was treated to a sail boat trip from Roger and Lotta Sylvén. Lotta was a GSE team member who was in Nebraska in April.

A view from the island to the mainland.

Cassie and Kristi on the isalnd we sailed to.

Kristi and Joe on the sail boat.

Captain, Roger, and Co-Captain, Anton (Lotta & Roger's son) took us on their 38' sail boat.

Wednesday morning, we visited Brunskogs Hembygdsgård, a living museum just outside Arvika. They have brought old buildings in from around Sweden to preserve the country’s history.

For lunch, we had Nävgröt med fläsk och lingon (translated: porridge with bacon and lingonberries). This was the ‘normal’ meal the working people would have eaten. We enjoyed it with mixed reviews. It is definitely a heavier meal than we are use to.

Sandvikengården & Arvika Host Family Time

Hej! It's Cassie here...It sounds like I'll be doing most of the posts while we are in Arvika! Today is Sunday and we have now been with our host families for just about 24 hours, we left Sandvikengården on Saturday but before we did we were able to enjoy some of the scenerary and activities at Sandvikengården.

Fiday morning we all went for a canoe ride after breakfast. I (Cassie) sat on the bottom of the canoe while Pete and Eric took me around the lake. I must say they did a pretty good job, and I didn't get too wet! After we got back from the trip around the lake we called Lotta (one of the team members on the Sweden GSE Team to Nebraska & Iowa). Lotta along with her two children and mother came out to pick us up and brought us into Arvika. Here we did a little shopping and enjoyed walking around the city center. We also were treated to Fika at Lotta's house. Here Pete demonstrated his cello skills...I must say this was very impressive. Friday afternoon we all met our host families at a BBQ at Sandvikengårdens. We had a lovely meal and it was very nice to be able to meet and interact in such a relaxed atmosphere!

Pete helping to guide our canoe in the right direction!

Joe and Kristi enjoying a morning canoe ride!

Pete, Cassie & Eric out on the water.

Someone's summer home on the lake we were canoeing.

On Friday, our team was able to meet up with Lotta, one of the team members from Sweden that came to Nebraska in April. Here's Lotta with her children Lina and Anton.

Pete showing off his cello skills!

Saturday was a relaxing day...morning brought rain - good thing we canoed Friday. The afternoons were spent individually with our host families. I'm not really sure what each of the team members did, but I came home and unpacked a little, shared family pictures, had a delicious dinner and then went for a walk. The remainder of the evening was spent talking with my host family.

Sunday: Kristi & I enjoyed a late morning church service with our host families. This is the first time I've been able to make it to church while in Sweden. Though it wasn't a Catholic Mass, I did enjoy myself and still felt touched by the holy spirit! After church, we picked up Eric and Pete and went out for a little miniature golf. I think all involved had a great time! We parted ways for dinner, but met up again all host families and team members for fika at Hilde & Håkan's house to review the upcoming weeks schedule! Looks like we are in for another full week...two days of vocational visits and at least three presentations!

The non-Rotary team members enjoyed an afternoon of minature golf with Kristi and Cassie's hosts. Here we are getting our gear!

Left to right: Lotta, Josephine, Lina, Kristi, Hilde, and Eric.

Here is some of the team enjoying an afternoon of miniature golf in Arvika with our hosts. (left to right: Kristi, Hilde (Cassie's host mom), Eric, and Lina (Kristi's host sister).

Pete was so excited to see ice for drinks at Hilde & Håkan's house! We really haven't seen that much ice, this was a special treat for us!

Kristi and her host-sister, Lina.

Ready or not...Arvika here we come!

Norway, what a great country

Just a few updates today – joint post from Cassie and Eric

We checked into Sandvikengården outside of Arvika last night. It is a church camp/conference facility (check out the favorite links to see more about this great place). We’re right on the water and all of us have a few days to spend together on our mid-tour rest.

Today we went to Norway for their National Day which celebrates their constitution and independence from Sweden. It was great to experience this day and to compare it to our 4th of July. The celebrations included a children’s parade (which they call ‘train’), laying of flowers at one of their national memorials and seeing everyone dressed in traditional Norwegian attire.

We’re just posting a few pictures tonight as we’re battling internet connection issues. Hopefully more to come tomorrow.

Our 'cottage' at Sandvikengården. Left to right: Pete, Joe, Kristi and Eric (Cassie is taking the photo)

Cassie in front of the very large lake.

A choir that sang the Norway national anthem and other memorial songs in front of a war memorial.

A children's drum corps in Norway that started the parade.

Two things to note here: The clothing (everyone was dressed in traditional clothes) and the flags (they were EVERYWHERE!). It was exciting to see people so excited about their national day.

The marker at the Norway/Sweden border.

Final day in Karlstad

Today was our final day in Karlstad. We started off with a tour of Karlstad’s Fire and Rescue and 112 Center (equivalent to our 911). Have you ever seen a Volvo Fire Truck? We also got to take their boom into the air – If I recall correctly, it goes 30 meters (about 90 feet) up. Then the firefighter allowed us to take control and play with the controls. It was great fun, until Joe started rocking the basket. Needless to say, we all made it down to terra firma safely.

Following that, the fire truck taxied us (yes, we all piled into a Fire Truck) to the harbor for our rib boat tour of Lake Vänern. The best way I can describe a rib boat is that it is like one big jet ski with saddle seats. We flew across the water and had lots of zero-g time. It was an awesome experience. Then we had lunch in Kristinehamn, a town about 20 miles away, and saw a Picasso statue on the shore.

Even though it was a beautiful day, the water in the lake is cold so we had to wear these nifty red jumpsuits. I felt like Ralphie's brother from The Christmas Story.

Karlstad has been a lot of fun and again, we have met many great people. Tomorrow we’re off to Norway to celebrate their constitution day then we have a few days off. We’re staying at cabins so I don’t know what kind of internet access we will have.

The boom fire truck that we went up in.

A view from the top

32 Meters up!

Cassie, Henrik (our fireman guide) and Joe operating the bucket.

That would be Pete and Kristi down on the ground. I took this from the top level the boom was extended.

The team infront of our taxi to the harbor. From left to right -- Pete, Cassie, Kristi, Joe and Eric.

Here's our boat!

Like our fancy red jump suits? It was nice to have these on becuase the lake trip was a bit cold. Left to right: Cassie, Eric, Kristi, Joe, Peter (the boat captian) and Pete.

This is the best photo I had to show how fast we were going. Check out Pete's hair...

And, of course, our illustrious leader, Joe enjoying the ride

The Picasso Statue

Last Night in Karlstad

Hey it's Cassie here...I wanted to take this time to post some pictures. I know I haven't done any yet. Eric did a great job summarizing the day for all of us, so I'll share a little about what I did tonight. After we left the church in town, Mats (my host dad) took Pete and I on a little tour of PEAB (Mats' company), and then we took Pete home. Once we got home and had a chance to relax we ate dinner (salmon and cuscus...not sure how to spell it!). Mats, Oscar (Mats' son), Simon (Oscar's friend) and I met up with Pete, Jari (Pete's host dad) and Olivia (Jari's daughter) at the local "fun plex" where we took in a little bowling and some video game simulated golf. Below are some pictures from our night!

This is Jari

Pete found a new mode of transportation in Sweden!

Pete taking his hand @ a strike! Check the form!

And THIS form!

Pete and Mats waiting their turn while bowling.

Here's Cassie trying to get a strike!

Pete golfing

Karlstad history and culture

Today we had a guided tour of Karlstad. The town was founded over 400 years ago as a port center to collect taxes. Karlstad is also home to a Selma Lagerlof, a local author who won a Nobel prize for literature. Our tour guide, Kiki (short for Christina), was dressed like one of the townspeople from the mid 18th century.

This afternoon program provided us an opportunity to visit the Swedish National Church. Until a few years ago, the church was part of the government and you were automatically a member if you were born in Sweden. The national Parliament was responsible for all church decisions. This has changed, and now you have to agree to be a member of the church. The church is not state funded anymore. The Sweden National Church is Lutheran. Sweden is very open to different religions and beliefs; however, most people are still Lutheran. The church plays an important spiritual and social role in the community.

A few interesting differences between US and Swedish churches:
1) The Swedish National Church is responsible for cemeteries. The national government charges all people a .25% cemetery tax on income to cover the cost of plot, opening and closing the grave and transportation. The family is responsible for all other arrangements.
2) The state collects a tax from all the church members and provides it to the church. While church membership is optional, the parish we visited today had 21,000 members out of 24,000 people that lived in the parish.

This evening was spent with our host families. It has been nice to stay with people and learn more about the typical Swedish society. My host family took me to their country house about 20 minutes outside of town and then we had a nice driving tour of Karlstad.

I did learn that reality TV is alive and well in Sweden. They have a local reality show called the Farmer Looking for a a Wife. This sounds similar to The Bachelor in the US. They take girls from across Sweden to different farms for several weeks to learn about farm life with the farmer. Once a week, one person is kicked off the show until the farmer has a wife. I guess it is a very popular show, with 1.5 million Swedes tuning in – not bad considering there are only 9 million people living in Sweden.

Swedish meatballs for dinner tonight – yum!

The 'sugar castle' that was built as a wedding gift for a very wealthy family. It is now condo's/apartments.

Our team with Kiki, the tour guide. It was windy outside. Left to right: Joe, Kiki, Pete, Kristi, Cassie and Eric.

The church in downtown Karlstad -- one of the old buildings to survive the 1865 fire that took out most of the town.

My host family cabin in the country. It is very nice -- sleeps six. It was built in the 1850s.

My dinner tonight -- Swedish meatballs with pasta boiled in milk (tasted like mac and cheese).

Karlstad Vocational Day - From Cassie

Hej! Cassie here...I know I haven't posted anything yet, but this is really the first time I've had the opportunity to post anything. I'm sorry, but I won't be posting any photos...Pete has my memory card reader! Today I went to an advertising agency (Partners Reklambyra). It was very interesting to see how a Business to Business Ad Agency works and I tried to compare it to how HDR works with our advertising. There were some similarities...more on the values and working for the customer and always putting the customer first, and different things like that. But it was hard to really compare it since they only do advertising and it's all for outside customers...unlike HDR, where we focus more on how we will promote ourself to our clients and prospective employees. I did enjoy myself and was given an assignment while I was there. I was asked to find some advertising competitions that focus on the B2B advertising industry and to also see if I could find somewhere a listing of United States B2B rankings (similar to what HDR gets from ENR). Fortunately before I left the company today I was successful and I think I gave Nils (my host at the agency) exactly what he was looking for! When I have a chance later, I will add some pictures that I took of the agency!

End of our Vocational Day @ The Bishop's Arms

Hey all, Today each of us had our vocational day. I think we all learned even more about our respective vocations! I'll let others elaborate if they wish. Here are a few pics from the pub tonight.

Joe & Kristi after a long vocational day. We were ready for a drink & some food!

So was Joe!!! Here he was having a snaps with his host, Magnus Bergek.

Kristi & Cassie helping Joe finish his meal!!!!

Hey, It's Pete. Since Eric posted a few down below, here are a couple of pics I also took yesterday when I went on a ride to a nice coastal area of Lake Vänern with my host family. This is a popular area in the summer for residents to sunbathe on the rocks by the water.

Västerås to Karlstad

Today we left our Västerås families and transferred to Karlstad. It is a smaller town about two hours away next to Lake Vänern – the third largest lake in Europe. Karlstad is the City of Sunshine – let’s hope our good weather continues. Tomorrow morning we have a breakfast presentation followed by vocational days.

A few pictures snapped today while I was walking with my host family.

Karlstad's city center.

A view of one of the rivers that is across the street from my host families house. In the distance is the Stadshotellet.

Final days in Västerås with a Stockholm rendezvous

A few more photo's from Stockhom and Västerås.


A photo ouside my bedroom windown take at 2 a.m. last night. Notice the twilight -- I can tell we are in the north -- it reminds me of my trips to Alaska.

A fun picture of "The Team"

Tina (The Sweden GSE Coordinator) and me -- she let me borrow one of her husbands coats since I left mine with my host family.

Kristi trying on some Swedish sunglasses.

Outside the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

Joe in front of the Skultuna pub -- where we had the Rotary meeting.

Cassie and Kristi with King Karl the IX -- authorized the Skultuna brass factory.

Stockholm Weekend & Farewell Party from Västerås!

Hey, it's Pete and it's late. So, I'm sorry that, YET AGAIN, I have posted these pics in reverse chronological order. But there are so many pictures and so little time to post them all!!!!! Oh well, we will do the best we can. Here are a few for now and the rest of the group have many more. It's late on Saturday night and time to pack up for Karlstad. It has been so much fun, yet hectic at the same time. We are wrapping up our time at Västerås and heading to Karlstad tomorrow!

This weekend was most exciting for our team. We were treated by the Rotary District 2340 to a weekend in Stockholm! We took the train from Västerås Friday early afternoon and spent the afternoon wandering around and shooting plenty of pictures. Saturday morning was spent on a bus and boat tour of the city which was most informative and provided plenty of opportunities for pictures.

We would like to give a HUGE thank you (TACK!) to the Västerås Rotary Clubs for their hospitality! We had a wonderful stay here and were made to feel like we were home! Saturday night was spent at Tina's house for a dinner party! All host families were there so it was a great, great time. Again, we cannot thank all of you enough!

This is Tina, our GSE Coordinator's house. She hosted a farewell party for us tonight after our Stockholm trip.

Here's our group after dinner outside Tina's house.

Pete with his gracious hosts, Thomas & Annette Wistrand.

Here's another picture of our dinner party tonight.

Just after the bus & boat tour we were fortunate enough to catch the end of the "changing of the guard" ceremony at the royal castle.

This is old town Stockholm! There are so many buildings with these tiny walkways!

Here's Pete just outside the Royal Palace.

The Grand Hotel: Most dignitaries stay here. They hang their guests' country's flag each day.

Drottninggattan is the main street in Stockholm with all the shopping, bars & restaurants.

Vocational days and the Vikings

Yesterday (Wednesday, May 9) we had our vocational days. Joe spent time at an insurance agency, Cassie had several tours of an architectural/engineering firm, publishing company, an advertising agency and a chance to join her host mom Pia Norlander on a photo shoot; Kristi went to a construction and architecture firm; Pete met a realtor; and I (Eric) went to Fryx – the equivalent of a middle school that focuses on dance and music. We all agree that the day was very interesting and we enjoyed learning more about our professions in Sweden. Pete had one of the most exciting experiencs. The day he was with the Realtor, they sold the most expensive house to date in Västerås, which was $1.25Million USD

This morning we went to Teknikbyn – a technology park in Västerås. This is similar to the University of Nebraska’s technology park. They work with entrepreneurs and the local university to grow ideas into companies. We presented to the Västerås Aurora Rotary Club (morning club, meeting started at 7.15).

Following that we had lunch with two rotary members and then went to Anundshög to tour Viking ruins and burial sites. The ruins are hundreds of years old and there are parts that are thousands of years old. It is very exciting to be surrounded by so much history.

This evening we have another presentation to the Skultuna Rotary Club and tomorrow we are off to Stockholm for a day.

I purchased a new camera (my contribution to Sweden’s economy – they have a very high sales tax). Following are a few photos I snapped around town today.

A view of the river that goes though Västerås.


I posted both of these flower photos just for Jan (works with me). Spring is in full force... just like Nebraska a month or so ago -- before the hard freeze. The downtown area has lots of flower beds like these.

A very old church -- nearly 1,000 years old. A Swedish king (King Erik the 14th) is buried inside.

The steeple from the church. Because there is a king buried inside, you can see a crown on the top.

These two ducks were waddling around the city square today.

The team at Anundshög -- an ancient viking site. Left to right -- Cassie, Kristi, Ursala (our wonderful tour guide), Joe, Pete and Eric.

A viking 'stone' ship. Thought to be a burial ground.

Stones that mark the "Erik Road".

Ancient viking stone that says something along the lines of 'this is the Erik road' and who paid for it.

Elba Island Dinner Party & Sauna

Tuesday evening was spent on the island of Elba. It has a restaurant on it and we thank our gracious hosts Thomas & Annette Wistrand (Pete's host family) for the wonderful dinner! The weather today was rainy off & on, but cooperated with us for the dinner & sauna. These pictures are in reverse chronological order, so if you'd like, scroll down and work backwards! Tomorrow, we all have our vocational visits and are most excited for that! We will continue to keep this blog posted to let everyone know the fun times we are having here in Västerås!

Cassie & Pia on the sauna raft after a nice 10 second dip in the 50 degree water! Pia is Cassie's gracious host and also a professional photographer in Västerås!

Here is a view of us from the sauna raft.

After dinner we headed to the sauna! This is a Scandinavian tradition and the water was running right around 50 degrees and definitely felt like it after we jumped in to cool down!

Here is a view from our dinner table looking out over Lake Mäleren. Not a bad view, ey?

And, ofcourse, Joe & Eric on the other side of the Koala Cafe!

Cassie, Kristi, & Pete sitting about 20 feet up on the Koala Cafe art piece on the island of Elba! This was created by Mikael Genberg, a famous Swedish artist. He also created the Otter Inn!

Here we are on the way to the island, Elba. This is actually a hotel! It is the Otter Inn. There are 2 beds underwater and the fish can look at you!---kind of like an inside out aquarium!

Kristi & Cassie were in charge of making sure the libations were in order for tonight's dinner party & sauna at the island of Elba!

Life in Västerås

I have received a few emails asking me how the weather and food are in Sweden.

The weather has been really nice. The Swedes tell me their weather is comparable to our weather in Nebraska. Right now, it’s in the 60s during the day and I would say the 40s at night. The sun comes up very early (too early for me to actually know when) and sets around 9 p.m. Our first couple days were beautiful clear blue skies. The past few days we have had a few short rain showers.

I since I love seafood, I can say the food has been wonderful. For the most part we have had a lot of fish dishes and potatoes. Yesterday at the Rotary Club meeting they had a wonderful salmon (I think it was raw) cut into thin slices and the main course consisted of fish (more salmon) shrimp and mussels. We continue to have lots of Fika (cake and coffee) – at least two times a day.

Yesterday we had a guided tour of downtown Västerås. It’s a beautiful city bordered by a large lake. We saw the castle that housed, the cathedral and old town. In the afternoon we toured Mälarenergi – the city owned power plant.

An important difference between this plant and the ones in the US is this plant generates hot water in addition to electricity (electricity is considered a byproduct of hot water generation). The power plant pipes this hot water all over the city and people tie their heating systems into it. The homes here do not have their own heating source. They did this in the 1960 as an effort to reduce pollution. Since the hot water pipes are under the street, it also melts the snow in the winter.

Today we met with a representative from the county government at the Castle. The county takes care of coordinating large scale activities and reports needs and progress directly to the government in Stockholm. Then we went to the Stadshus, city hall, and met with their city attorney, someone in charge of tourism and education. The city government is responsible for all the needs of the city – including education.

It has been a great experience so far. It is interesting to learn how others address the human service issues.

Last night we met Suzie Nordberg who was a member of the Swedish team that came to Nebraska last month. It was nice to see a familiar face and spend some time laughing about our and her travels.

Suzie and her boyfriend were also extremely helpful this blog. When I logged in the first time to update the blog, all the instructions were in Swedish. Google (who owns BlogSpot) must be reading the IP address I’m connecting from and tying to anticipate my needs by chaning it to the local language. Now, you can change it English, but the problem was I couldn’t find the button to do it since EVERYTHING was in Swedish. Thankfully, Suzie was able to help me! TACK SUZIE!

I don't have any new pics to post -- since my camera is ad astra. Here are a few that Cassie gave me from her CD. I'll try to get more tommorrow from rest of the team.

This is a photo of several lamps that were displayed in one of the houses we visited.

Cassie in the Nora chruch. The guide says it 'wasn't very old -- only about 150 years'. Guess it is a matter of perspective.

The paper mill we went to in Frovifors had a very large collection of beer cans from all over the world. Pete was in hog heaven over this and is taking a photo of a Harley Davidson can.

Kristi and Cassie at the iron ore mine.

Tuesday afternoon we visited Stadshut (City Hall). What a view of Lake Mäleren from atop the bell tower.

Right after the banner exchange, we gave our 2nd presentation. Left to right: Cassie, Krisit, Eric and Pete.

We had our 2nd presentation today at the Tuesday Västerås Rotary Club Meeting. Joe & Sven-Erik, their club president, are exchanging club banners.

Here we are Sunday afternoon with our GSE Coordinator, Tina, in our space suits getting ready to have a look at the pig farm. (Left to right: Pete, Eric, Cassie, Joe, Kristi, and Tina)

Goodbye Lindesberg, Hello Västerås

Today we had to leave our first host families from the great town of Lindesberg and move to new families in Västerås. It is hard to believe in such a short time that we would be able to make such good friends. Everyone has been so nice, so thoughtful and very understanding.

Yesterday was a great day. Our friends at the Nora Rotary Club, a small town about 20 miles outside of Lindesberg, started our day by hosting us for a day of Nora history and culture. Nora is a famous for their trains and iron ore.

We arrived at Nora's train depot where we learned about the rail industry in that part of Sweden (originally used to transport iron). Our hosts provided a great tour of the depot and their fine collection of vintage rail cars and locomotives.

Then we took a short train ride to a small community outside of Nora where iron ore was mined. The Nora Rotary Club hosted us for dinner in a unique restaurant that is housed in an old dining railroad dining car. Following that, we had a private tour of one of the iron ore mines. Upon our return, we had Fika (Swedish coffee break) at a historic home and toured the city.

When we returned to Lindesberg, we took part in a Bicycle Party hosted by the Ladies Circle. This is a progressive dinner where multiple couples host different part of the meals at their home and then everyone ends up at a central location for a big party.

Pete and I hosted appetizers with Torbjörn our host. We served shrimp sandwiches, wine and aquvite! Two couples joined us. At the end of our course, we moved onto a different house for the main course and met two more new couples. Our final course was dessert at the home of our good friend Anders Johansson - however, it was his wife, Anna Lina and Joe (our teamleader) were hosting. A big party was held at the Golf Club until the wee hours of the morning. It was a blast (I even danced!).

We were greeted by the Västerås team today and whisked off to a hog farm. It was very interesting operation to learn about and how their animal laws are different than ours.

On a sad note, after one-and-half-months of faithful service, my new digital camera’s life is over. It took a nasty spill today at the hog farm and is no longer working. Sorry mom and dad – I’ll give you a detailed account of its death when I get back. I hope to figure out some sort of solution before then… I really don’t want to be without one.

A few funny things that I have learned or have happened:
1) only American’s wear white socks
2) Sweden has all kinds of unique things for sell in the grocery store – many of them come in a tube (like a toothpaste tube) such as mustard and liver paste
3) Joe taught the hog farmer a new word today “Honey Wagon” – used to deliver hog waste to the fields.

Tomorrow we have our first presentation. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Here are a few more pic's. I don't have any of Cassie or Kristi's from the party -- I'll try to get some and put them up.

The Nora train depot.

Joe walking with Hans, our host, at the Nora Train Depot.

View looking up the iron ore shaft to the sky at the mine outside of Nora.

The happy GSE Team at the bottom of the mine. Like the hard hats? (left to right: Eric, Pete, Kristi, Joe, Cassie)

Joe at the hotel that the Nora Rotary Club meets at.

The first stop for two of the lucky couples at the Bicyle party. Eric is in the middle. Pete is taking the picture so he is not in it. Our host, Torbjörn is on the far right.

We're heading to our next stop... Kristi was able to take this pic as we passed her and Anders. (left to right, Eric, Pete, Torbjörn)

Pete, Torbjörn and me (Eric). Pete and I stayed with him. I don't remember the random guy who decided to be in the picutre with us.

Eric, Joe and Pete.

Lindesberg Rotary Dinner

On the evening of Thursday, May 3, we had a wonderful dinner hosted by the Lindesberg Rotary Club at a café and artist studio just outside of town. The dinner consisted of trout roe, salmon, shrimp, salad and potatoes. We enjoyed a variety of aquavit (a Swedish flavored vodka), wine and a wonderful raspberry dessert. We participated in a Swedish tradition of singing while drinking our aquavit and have learned some new tunes to bring back to Nebraska.

Before dessert we had an opportunity to visit a ceramic artist who lives a few hundred feet from the place we had dinner. They live in a building that was built in the early 1700s to support the iron industry in the area. The building originally housed eight families and is made of unfired clay bricks (similar to adobe). The building was in disrepair when the artist purchased it in the 1970s and started renovating to make it her home. She operates a ceramics shop that had a variety of plates and bowls for sale.

We all enjoyed the aquavit – especially with her beer and wine chasers.

Today’s adventure took us to a paper mill were we learned all about the paper carton manufacturing process and Swedish history from the big bang to today. The paper industry replaced the ironworks industry in the late 1800s. The lakes and rivers in the area have a red tint to them due to the high amounts of iron in the soil and rocks.

After our return from the paper mill, we went to the Systembolaget – the liquor store that is ran by their government. Only the government in Sweden can operate liquor stores – it is evidently quite a monopoly.

This evening, Anders and his family are hosting us at a Swedish bar-b-que. I am having problems with trying to upload today’s pictures --- so I’ll put up more from yesterday.


The high school consists of several buidlings.



Our meeting at their high school. Left to right: Eva (our host), Kristi, Eric, Pete, Joe and Cassie.

Elementary school children in their lunch room.

5,000 miles and we are here

Three airports, three planes, and a total of 5,000 miles and the five arrived safely in Sweden on Wednesday, May 2.

Cassie and I realized that we did not have much about our team on the blog, so we thought you may find the following interesting:

Our Team:

Joe Roberts, 53, GSE Team Leader, is an Insurance and Investment Broker for Midlands Financial Benefits. Joe is married to Sheryl, and has two children – Sonya and Christopher, and one grandson, Tobey. Joe enjoys visiting historical sites, music, and sports.

Cassie Carrington, 26, is a Desktop Publisher with HDR in Omaha. Cassie calls Omaha home. In her free time, she enjoys quilting, scrapbooking, spending time with family and friends (especially Lou, the boyfriend), going to movies, hiking, traveling, and reading a good book over a cup of coffee.

Pete Jenkins, 30, is a Realtor with CBSHOME Real Estate in Omaha. Pete grew up in Omaha. In his free time, Pete enjoys riding his motorcycle, hunting and golf.

Kristi Nohavec, 35, is an Architect and Structural Engineer with Clark Enersen in Lincoln. Kristi grew up on a farm outside Dorchester, Nebraska. Kristi enjoys travelling, spending time with family and friends, cooking, and reading.

Eric Drumheller, 31, is Director of Community Relations at EducationQuest Foundation. Eric is originally from Gering, Nebraska and now calls Lincoln home. In Eric’s free time, he is pursuing his Masters in Public Administration from the University of Nebraska Omaha and enjoys traveling, dining out and home renovations.

We were greeted by Per-Arne Medin, the Governor of District 2340 at the Örbero Airport. He, along with Peter Larne, Sweden’s GSE Team leader, welcomed us to Sweden and provided transportation to our first casual meeting at the Lindesberg golf club. We met our host families at the golf club and went to our host homes. The evening spent getting to know them and allowed us time to adjust to the time difference (seven hours difference from Lincoln).

Thursday, May 3, we toured Björkhagaskolan (the equivalent of the American grade school) and the Lindskolan (equivalent to our high school). Our lunch was at the school’s restaurant where culinary arts student learn a trade. Following, we toured the school grounds and visited many classrooms. One distinct difference I noticed at the elementary school was students remove their shoes before they enter any room.

Following the school visits, we had coffee and rolls at one of our host families parents house on a lake outside Lindesberg. This evening we are having a salmon dinner at a local pottery gallery and workshop.

The quote of the day: “everything in America is bigger, even the rumors.”

New things experienced: aquavit (hard liquor), toasted by the host committee upon arrival, root mousse (a combination of mashed potatoes, carrots and yams).

Photo's are sponsored by our new friend Anders Johansson.


View from the last leg of our trip, on the Fokker 50 (and SAS plane)


Children's shoes outside of their library.





View of the lake where we had afternoon coffee.

Kristi and Eric’s first Rotary Meeting

Kristi and I had the opportunity to attend our first Rotary meeting. Joyce Schmeeckle, the GSE Coordinator, invited us to attend the Lincoln South Rotary Club meeting on Friday, April 20, 2007, at the Knolls Restaurant. It was a nice opportunity for us to meet several Rotarian's who were excited to learn GSE members were attending their meeting. Both Kristi and I appreciated the opportunity to see how the Lincoln South Rotary Club conducts their meeting and what to expect as we get ready for our Sweden trip. We both look forward to returning to share our experiences with everyone.

Here is a picture of Kristi and me at the meeting.

The two teams meet

Friday, April 13, proved to be quite an evening. We met the inbound Swedish team at the Upstream in downtown Omaha. It was very nice to get to know the Swedish team and ask them all of our questions. We hope they enjoyed the opportunity to get to know us. I know I feel much more comfortable with our upcoming trip.

Predeparture

Wow...hard to believe we leave in just 20 days! Seems to have come so quickly. On Friday April 13th the inbound team and our team will be getting together for a social activity. We are going to the Upstream in the Old Market. This will allow both teams to meet and interact in a very relaxed atmosphere. This will also allow our team to gain more information from the Swedish team before we leave. I will try to get a photo of the teams together and will post it here as soon as I have one ready.

As a team I really think we are coming together and building friendships that will last long after this exchange is over. We've had a few field trips already...the first was to JC Penney's at Westroads in Omaha to pick out our blazers. What a trip that was!

It has been a lot of fun learning about each other and we look forward to our upcoming trip.

Where will we be?

Our team will visit the three counties west of Stockholm.