9.11.2007

S-E-A...what?

Today I had my second Swedish class. It was quite an adventure (again) getting there, as this time I drove the car to the bus station and only had to catch 2 trains to get to my stop called Radmansgatan, which means King's Garden in Swedish. Anyway, driving here is easy for me - they drive on the right here, Janet! - but it gets a little sticky when I'm not sure exactly where I'm going, and then you throw in morning traffic...gets a little hairy. So I get to the bus station alright -but not before I committed the cardinal sin in traffic and cut off about 45 cars cause I didn't know if the big line of them is where I was supposed to be; turns out it was - and go to pay the 30 kronors for the parking pass, and I realize that I don't have the change for it. Not a problem, I can use my bank card. Well. I swipe the card, and the screen starts beeping and does NOT give me a ticket, and everything on the screen is written in Swedish. Which I can't read. At this point I've got about 20 minutes to jump on two trains and run to the school, so I decide that I don't have time to translate word-for-word from my Swedish/English dictionary and race to catch the train. But good news, I didn't get ticketed!
Class was good, we're currently learning the alphabet and how to tell time...and counting. Kind of sounds like kindergarten...
Tonight my friend Anna, who's an au pair across the street for Klara's friends Lovisa and Fanni, came over and we talked for an hour or so. She's a really cool girl, came from Serbia and speaks Swedish, English and Serbian fluently. That is amazing to me...I haven't even figured out how to say "goodbye" in Swedish yet. But her and I just got memberships to the gym (sounds like "yim" here), and we're going to go to the AEROBICS class tomorrow morning! In honor of the event I'll be breaking out my Reebok hi-tops and shiny Lycra pedal pushers. Haha, kidding...I'm just excited to be getting some exercise.
Funny side note - Sixten (my youngest boy - he's 3) LOVES this Sheryl Crow song and knows all the worlds. I'm not sure what song it is, but it says something like, "I'm an American girl...I was born in the South...I've got a big mouth..." Okay, it's not in the order but it's something like that, and when we get in the car he always says "En please!" - I make him say it to me in English, though, so then he takes a deep breath as he thinks about it and then says "One please!" By the way, Klara's favorite song? "Man-eater" by Nelly Furtado. Kasper's is "Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani. They're so cute :)
Alright, bedtime is calling my name, and I have to go work out in the morning, so I need to get my sleep. Need all the energy you can get for aerobics, right?

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