This past week has been very busy, but I loved it all! I am now staying with the Hedlund Family on the island Örland. It takes about two and a half hours to drive the length of Örland but only ten minutes to drive the width. Jill, the mother, use to work at the 4-H Farm in Kalmar (Kalmar is only about 15 minutes away, it’s just across a really big bridge from Örland). They have hosted four other IFYEs in the past also. Jill now works as a personal secretary for a company in Kalmar. She has four kids that all live at home so I’ve gotten to meet and hang out with them. Robin (21) works at a chicken factory for the summer and he is looking to go to a university to study engineering. Victor (19), works with elderly people and people with disabilities to help them with daily tasks, he is also looking to go to a university soon. In Sweden they don’t have to pay tuition to go to a university, however it is very expensive to live in the towns that have them, and they are all difficult to get into. Jessie (17) has been really nice and has done a lot of taking me around on her day’s off. She has a summer job selling cotton candy at a zoo. Felicia (12) loves, loves, loves horses and has been kind enough to lend me her room for two weeks. 

Because all of them had to work Monday-Wednesday, Jill made plans for me to attend another 4-H Camp, only this camp was for kids 7 to 12 years old. So, late Sunday night I met up with another 4-Her from Kalmar, Douglas, who I had actually met at the other camp to ride up to the camp near Vimmerby. He was going to work at the camp as a leader. The camp was about two hours away so we arrived in the middle of the night and just went to bed. The only thing exciting that happened on the trip was that we ran over a dead deer, but no harm was done to us or the car. We were just thankful it wasn’t a moose!

I can’t tell you how thankful I was that this camp was inside!! The district 4-H program has just purchased this old school and turned it into a camp facility. It had a gym, kitchen, rooms to sleep in, and then a school yard with a play ground. They had also brought some rabbits and chickens for the kids to play with and take care of while at camp. There were only 5 kids at this session of camp and 4 leaders (5 if you count me). So the kids were very well looked after! They said numbers were way down this year, but they weren’t sure why.

First thing Monday morning we had introductions. I was very impressed that the kids were all able to tell me their name, about their family, and what they liked to do, in English. They also seemed to understand me for the most part. The kids worked very hard and secretively all morning working on a skit for their talent show which would be later in the week. In the afternoon they taught me several new games that we had to play inside because it rained all day. It did clear up a bit in the evening so the kids could go outside and run around for a bit. Things were pretty relaxed, the leaders are all between 19 to 24 and the kids are old enough to just play on their own, so it was nice to just kind of hang out and not have to do a lot. 

Tuesday was a bright sunny day! In the morning the kids all had 4-H School. They each had a booklet that the leaders help them fill out. Sadly it’s all just Swedish to me so while they did that I helped another leader, Carolina, come up with questions about 4-H and each of the leaders to do their traditional, I guess you could call it a scavenger hunt. It was just like the night hike and questions we did at the big camp only much much shorter and easier questions. The kids did this right before lunch. After lunch we took the kids to the neighboring farm so the kids could pet the animals. They also helped teach me the names of animals in Swedish, I’m going to be fluent any day now. I also really enjoyed going to the farm because the farmer’s son was dating a girl from Texas and she was there. She is in Sweden studying at a university. It was nice to talk to her, she is the first person I’ve met from the states sense I’ve been here. Later in the afternoon we went on a walk in the forest where I tried some wild blueberries, this green clover looking plant and this root that tasted like really bad liquorish. Then we went swimming in a near by lake. That night the kids played this game called Callie Cows. It was like a board game combined with a scavenger hunt. They rolled the dice and landed on a number, then they had to run around outside find the number and memorize the word on the back of it. They then had to come tell us the word, to prove that they found the number, and then they had to complete a task before they could roll again. Some of these tasks were as easy as singing a song or making a paper airplane but some were more difficult like cracking an egg on their forehead or writing a poem about the camp. The first one to the number 50 won. The kids seemed to love it! We had a campfire and roasted hot dogs for supper. We also had smores which they said they learned how to do from another IFYE from the U.S. We sang some camp songs and then went to bed.

The kids spent all of Wednesday morning working with the animals. They cleaned out their cages, fed them, and played with them. Rabbits are very popular here! After lunch the kids worked to clean up their rooms and the inside of the school. When they were finished we went to the lake again, but it was much too cloudy and cold for me to swim! The kids also started to teach me more Swedish, they think it’s really funny to hear me say things. Kelsey (my cousin) gave me this book of useful Swedish phrases before I left, which has been really useful for some entertainment. I will read things in Swedish and then they have to see if they can understand me, like I said, I’m going to be fluent any day!! Jill and Jessie came and picked me up that night. The camp continued until Friday, but it was the perfect amount of time for me to be there to experience the camp, but then to go home and get to know my new host family!