From Skis to Bicycles

It is an exciting time in Växjö for us right now. There are many changes happening this time of year that show us a glimpse of what is to come. We are transitioning from a season filled with sledding, skiing and bundling up, to a season of more sun, less snow and ice and more bicycles! In the winter Swedes do a lot of playing in the snow but are a little less social and inside more. Even though we will not be here in the summer we are lucky to be here to see the transition into summer. Already we see more people outside. Especially, older couples and families getting their gardens (yards) ready, trimming bushes and trees. We see a lot more bikes out. When we first arrived we saw kids all over with sleds and now, we are not seeing sleds but a lot of kids on bikes!

Our neighbor Anders trimming an apple tree. Today seemed to be the day to trim trees because we saw piles of branches all over in people yards as we walked. A lot of the trees in people yards and around the city center are trimmed very short every year.

This transition is interesting because it seems to have come faster here than at home in Duluth. One week ago we were bundled up with all our snow gear diving into winter sports. Last Saturday we went down hill skiing with our neighbor family. They took us to a place called Hanaslöv in Alvesta, a short 12 kilometers away. It is a ski hill with only three or four runs, but the perfect place for Jasper to strap on skis for the first time. Yes, that's right Jasper went down-hill skiing! At first we thought we would just bring him sledding but he insisted on trying skiing, so we let him. He loved it! (and did really well) He spent most of the time in between Adam or my legs so we could guide him down the hill. Though Adam let him ride solo for a few feet or so at one point. Jasper got the hang of walking on flat ground with skis and also got to go up a tow rope. This was quite an experience since neither Adam nor I downhill ski much anymore. The funniest part was when I was rushed onto the tow-rope, after not using downhill skis since middle school, with Jasper for the first time ever skiing with a child. Needless to say, it did not go as I had imagined. Straight away, Jasper's ski got caught under mine and we got tangled going up the tow rope AND getting off. I remember, on our second time piled up on the hill, I was laughing and trying to get up, but couldn't because Jasper was trapped among my legs and skis and poles. Jasper was crying and shouting "I'm stuck I'm stuck" over and over, laying on the ground like a helpless fish out of water. Meanwhile, people were just staring at us, going past on the tow rope. Eventually, after 5 minutes of Adam and the rest of the gang wondering if they should come help us, we got up. Adam said he did us the "favor" of not filming it. That was the most drama of the day and all of our other skiing trials went much better.

Jasper and Adam getting ready to ski!

 

If you look really close you can see a bright blue tiny dot that is me hovering over Jasper trying to get us untangled and ready to go down the hill.

Jasper and my one and only run together.

After skiing, we did a bit of sledding on a really big hill. This was the biggest hill Jasper had ever been sledding on. We would trek all the way up the hill and walk back onto a path in the forest. You could sled down the path and it would then open up to a very wide hill that was fairly steep. We had a lot of fun with this. The hardest part was pulling Jasper up the hill on the sled. The neighbor boy Oscar, who is 5, saw that I was tired and wanted to take Jasper up the hill for me and push him down. Oscar does not speak much English but I was able to communicate to him that he should only take Jasper half way up the hill. However, the language barrier did cause a bit more drama for the day. When they got to the middle of the hill, Oscar was going to let Jasper go when there was people in the way (remember he is only 5) but I got him to hold on. Soon after, the people moved, but since we were waiting for a bit, Jasper stopped holding on. Possibly, you can imagine what happens next, Oscar thought that the people being gone was a clear signal to go but Jasper was not ready. Oscar enthusiastically pushed Jasper sharply down the hill and Jasper did a backwards somersault off the sled. Some words were said between the boys but I am not sure they understood each other. Jasper cried and Oscar tried unsuccessfully to speak to him in hope of cheering him up. Oscar realized this was not working and decided, he should just fall onto the show and roll around making funny sounds. If you know Jasper, you may know that things like this will cheer him right up. Children have the easiest time communicating with each other when they don't speak the same language. This second drama full event was done and over very soon and we moved onto the next event.

Next stop was a group of small fire pits at the edge of the ski hill. We all had a lunch outside around a fire. There were many friends and family's with the same idea. The funniest thing about it (to me) was that EVERYONE brought hotdogs and hot chocolate. Adam and I did not know this was "the thing" to do so we just packed, cheese, crackers and fruit. However, thanks to our kind Swedish neighbors, we got to participate in cooking and eating hotdogs with everyone else. These were the first hotdogs we have had in a long long time. It was very interesting to me when our neighbor, Maria, asked me if this is something we did at home. I thought hot dogs were mostly an American thing, but she did not seem to know we roasted them over a fire and ate them at all.

Anders (in the black and white jacket) cooking hotdogs on the fire for everyone, with his middle son Philip watching from behind.

Jasper and his buddies Oscar and Philip

We have now been here 3 weeks and the longer that I am here, the more I realize that the people here are similar to people at home and probably similar to a lot of people around the world.  The longer I am here I am also recognizing that not all Swedes are the same either. Of course! Even though they dress alike and a lot of the houses are painted the same, you can find infinite sub-cultures in this area alone. One thing that is very similar to Swedes and our little family is we like to bike!

Since we went skiing we have done a lot of outside playing. After two weeks of overcast skies, we have been graced with the sun's presence almost every day this last week. It has been pleasant for us and has also changed the environment. We see the snow melt, more moving water, and more birds! The snow has melted enough that we went for our first family bike ride today! Jasper got to ride on the back of my bike for his first time. We felt truly blessed as we happily rode around in the sun, down the well-designed (and numerous) bike paths of our neighborhood. We look forward to the coming of spring, more biking, flowers, birdwatching and exploring Sweden. At this time next week my mother, father and grandmother will be coming to visit us in our cozy little cottage!

Jasper deciding what trail we should hike in a forest near our house. This trail is called the quiz trail because you can have a group of people go out for a hike and answer questions along the way. There were no questions up when we hiked it but it was a really nice forest with very large stands of spruce trees.

There were a lot of fort shelters made in this part of the forest that we saw as we hiked. This is were Jasper and I were going to live and sleep.

Getting ready for out first family bike ride!

 

Tills nästa gång! (until next time)

Not a very big night life in Växjö at this time but there are still plenty of warm places to go inside and have a bite to eat and a beer!

One of the downtown cemeteries. This grave had a large tree growing on it. Out of death comes new life.