Sälen

Merry Christmas everyone!!
I hope everyone had an amazing christmas! I think I left off on Sunday. Well on Sunday morning we got up really early like 6:30 and went to a near by church for a little service that mostly consisted of songs. It was good but I was soooo tired. If it would have been later in the day I would have appreciated it much more but oh well it was what it was. So when we got back I went back to bed hahaha, they probably thought I was lazy but what can I say I was tired! haha. Anyway so the rest of sunday we went skiing and met up with Eva, Aileen, and Maria (some friends of Ann and Håkan, Aileen goes to my school and I will be living a block away from them when I change families.) On Monday we met up with Eva and their family again but we went to ski slopes that they were staying at. (Sälen is split up into like three sections and Eva's family was staying at the second little section of slopes.) So we went there. I traded in my ski's for a snowboard and the whole time we were there Aileen taught me how to snowboard. I have some pretty awesome bruises to prove it too haha. My butt is really sore and my knees but other than that I'm doing pretty good. That night we went back to their place and had dinner and did a gift game, it was kind of like a gift exchange except that not everyone got a gift. I won a candle and hand warmers from the game so it worked out good for me haha. Then today we slept in really late, well I did anyway haha. Ann and Matilda went cross-country skiing this morning and Håkan checked to see how the slopes were. He said they were so icy that it wasn't really worth it. So we didn't do any skiing today. So we just chilled all day long. In the afternoon we got our swimming stuff together and went to a really really nice spa here. It was soooo nice and relaxing, they had sauna's and warm rooms and the best showers and everything. It was awesome! So that was super fun to got to. Then we came back and ate dinner. So that has been my day today. We were planning on heading back home on Thursday but Håkan said that if the slopes are bad  again tomorrow then we will just head back home tomorrow so we will just have to see! Well I hope everyone is doing great! I am doing awesome and having a good time!
Love,
Micah

Christmas Eve

Hej Hej!!!
God Jul!
Merry Christmas!
Well things are awesome here. We made it to Sällen yesterday night. It was a long trip which mostly consisted of sleeping and watching movies on my part. When we got here it was dark so we ate and went to bed. In the morning around 7:30 or so we got up and went to rent skis and ski passes. (For some reason it seems like swedish people like to get up really early every single morning even on vacation! Come on when Americans are on vacation they sleep till like 9 or 10 and go really slow in the morning. Nope not swedes they are up and at it at 7 or 7:30 in the morning. But thats just from my point of view haha) Anyway so we went skiing from 9 until 1:30 and then went to the little house/cottage and had lunch then chilled for a long time. At about 5 we brought out all of the christmas gifts and opened all of them up one at a time.  I got a lot of nice stuff. I got 4 really yummy smelling candles, chocolate, a christmas book called Tomtarnas Julbok from Rigmor, a book called The Emmigrants from Ann (its about a family of swedish people emigrating from sweden to the U.S. and all of their trials), a Wyoming water bottle!!, a Pippy Longstrump shirt haha, a swedish cowboy and indian movie from Ann hahaha (long story), socks, mittens, leggings, pedicare kit, piano book, ornament,  and another book (by Elder Uchtdorf!)! So I had a pretty successful christmas hahaha. After opening presents we played a game and then went out to dinner (another Julbord, the best one I have had yet!) It was really good but I am really really full now haha. Then in the morning (early haha) we are going to the church for a christmas service and then probably go skiing some more! So I am doing pretty awesome here! Having a good time. It is really cold but good. haha. I would say the skiing is better in Wyoming but its ok here. I should have but on some ice skates to go skiing rather than skis haha. It like ice up there and if your lucky you might hit a powder patch for a few seconds but oh well it doesn't matter. What matters is that I am here with the family and having a good time and getting to know them better. I hope everyone has a really great Christmas Eve! And have a very Merry Christmas!
Love you so much!
Micah

Hej Hej Hej

Hej alihopa!
Hur mår ni? Jag mår jättar bra, tack! Alla är bra här. Jag ska till Sällen med Ann, Håkan, Matilda, och hundarna på fredag! Vi kommer att vara där till nästa torsdag. Jag är mycket glad!
haha alright I'll let you in on the swedish.
Hello everyone!
How are you? I am very good thank you. Everything is good here. I am going to Sällen with Ann, Håkan, Matilda, and the dogs on Friday. We will be there till the next thursday. I am really excited!
Well I got out of school last friday. It was a pretty fun last week of school. We didn't do much. On Thursday I took a test in religion so it wasn't that hard. After the test I went with the rest of the school to Förslov to watch the third years put on the play "Grease". It was pretty good. They did really good, and they are pretty awesome singers. And that was pretty much all for thursday. Then Friday, the last day of school, was really easy going. The whole school went to the Båstad church and had a little ceremony there where the priest and the the student body president and the principle said a few words. Then we went back to the school and had fika with pepparkakor and kanelbullar, and Glög. (Ginger-bread cookies, cinnamon rolls, and a swedish drink called Glög) It was yummy. Then we went back to the classrooms and played a few games. It was pretty awesome. We played charades, which my team won haha even with me. We also played a really fun game called knee to shoulder. It's where the teacher has little slips of paper for example one would say hand to ear and a person on the team would have to hold the little slip of paper with their hand against someone else's ear. The point of the game is to hold as many slips of paper as you can without dropping them. It was pretty fun, but harder than you think. After the games school was out. Ann picked me up from school and we went straight to the Skummeslöv church for rotary and had another little ceremony there. Then everyone got in a car and went to a nearby village and we ate lunch at this really cool and cozy restaurant. We had a Julbord there which directly translated means Christmas table. Which is what it was. It was a big table of all the traditional swedish christmas dishes. It was really good. I stayed away from the plain "Sil" but I tried the "sil casserole". "Sil" is pickled herring, so its basically rotten fish. But it wasn't too bad in the casserole haha. So rotary was really fun. Saturday I just ran errands all day with Ann so that wasn't too terribly exciting. But that night I went to the ward christmas party. It was really really fun. Sister Vistaunet  and I sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with actions in front of everyone. They loved it. We did a gift exchange and danced around the christmas tree which is traditional in the swedish culture. It was really fun. For christmas I gave the whole ward a Remember book. They really liked it. On Sunday I went to church and helped with the primary program but there was only one primary girl so the young women (all 2 of us young women) and the missionaries helped out. I played two of the songs and then had a 2 minute talk which was all in swedish. I was so nervous for my talk but it worked out good. Everyone said that they were really really surprised haha. So that was super fun. After church I went home and baked Peanut butter Chocolate chunk cookies for Monday. Then at 5 Carl-Johan (my second host dad) came and picked me up and I went to his house to meet his kids. I had already met his wife. They have 3 boys, Phillip (13), Sebastian (almost 10), and Nikoli (5 or 6). It was really cool to meet them. They are really awesome. I got a tour of their house and saw where I would be staying and everything. We had dinner, tacos! It was awesome. For christmas I gave them one of the books about Wyoming which the boys absolutely LOVE! So I sat down with them and showed them all of the stuff in the book while eating the cookies I had made. We watched Handball and played a board game so it was a really really fun night. I went by their house today and dropped off some leftover cookies and Katrina (my 2nd host mom) said that Sebastian had taken the book to school with him and showed all of his friend haha made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside haha. I didn't go home that night until 10ish. It was really fun. Then monday I got up early and went to school with Ann which was always fun. That was pretty much all I did then. Well I started deep cleaning my room so it looks a lot better now haha. Mom and papa finally got around to cleaning off the spider guts hahahahahaha. And I went to the Chiropractor again and am feeling a little bit better. And now today! Well I slept in till about 9:30 then I went out and it was SNOWING!!!!! There wasn't very much at all but still the point is that it was snowing. But when Ann and I took the dogs out for a walk at about 1:30 all the snow was pretty much gone so it was kind of sad but you could still see some in the higher parts of Båstad across the bay. So I went by Carl-Johans and dropped off the cookies and then I came back cleaned some more and here I am writing this blog! Oh ya I forgot to mention that I made some of Papa's amazing Cracker Roca! It turned out awesome! And also we have made plans for me to move houses on the 2nd of January in the afternoon since I have a chiropractic appointment in the morning haha. And on Friday like I said we are going to Sällen to ski for the week of Christmas and won't be back till next Thursday. So I am pretty excited for that! Well thats the update from down here. Hope everyone is doing great! Have a very very very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I love you all bunches and am really missing you and thinking about you during this season more then ever!
God Jul och Gott Nya År!
Love always,
Micah

Pictures!

 My hair cut!

 Lucikuter

Lucia is a Swedish holiday on December 13th. There is a girl dressed up as Lucia. As you see in the picture she wears a wreath of candles on her had and a white gown with a red ribbon on around her waist. She is followed by maidens who also where white gowns but only carry one candle. She is also followed by star boys who wear white gowns and pointed hats with a golden star on the top. After the star boys  there are little children following behind as little elves singing christmas carols. The maidens hand out lucikuter to all the people on the street. This tradition symbolizes bringing light to the  swedish winter since it gets pretty dark pretty fast. It's really cool. I can't wait to witness it. And on Tuesday I get to be a maiden in the Lucia tråg (the Lucia train)!

Hej Hej!

Haha Hej everyone!
haha I am so bad at this. I'm sorry. Well things are going awesome here. Last Saturday I went to Helsingborg with a couple from Rotary. They took me to a Julmarket (Christmas Market) It's a lot like a craft fair just a little fancier. It was at a really old house with cottages surrounding it. It was more of a museum walk than a christmas market. It was really fun though. I love history so it was all good. In the beginning it was raining pretty hard but it cleared up really quick and then just as we were leaving it started raining again. So we were pretty lucky! I didn't buy anything but I got a picture with some accordion dudes. It was cool. You know in Wyoming there's a lot of Native Americans, but here there's a lot of gypsies. At the market I saw tons and tons of gypsies. So after the market I went home for about half and hour then I went to Halmstad to the church. We were having a ward activity and we watched 17 Miracles. It was a really really good movie about  the Willie Handcart Company and Levi Savage. Before the movie started I bore my testimony on the pioneers. It went good. I also made Muddy Buddys (Puppy Chow) for snacks. It was yummy, and everyone else seemed to really enjoy it.  Then sunday came, but I didn't have to play the piano. There was another lady that offered to play. She was a concert pianist, so it was really good. Well monday, tuesday, and wednesday were pretty normal. Just went to school. But on Thursday I got my hair cut. They cut off like 4 inches. I like it shorter but not too short. It looks nice. Then directly after the hair cut I went to a Rögle hockey game. They played against Malmö so it was a really intense game. And we won!! We beat them 4-2. It was awesome! So now Rögle is moving up into a higher bracket of hockey. It's awesome. When I got home I skyped Devin and talked to him a bit. Friday I went to school. Then at about 5 I went to the church to help bake Luciakuter. Its a really good bun like thing that is shaped like an S and has raisins on the ends of the S and it has Saffron in it. I don't know if thats how you spell it or not but sounds good to me haha.  They are for the ward  christmas party. I am pretty excited! Well only one for week of school. I think I might be going to Kristianstad today if I feel any better. Since the falling off the horse accident I felt fine but its coming back to haunt me so my back and neck are killing me and I have a pretty bad cold. No fun. So I don't want to go and get everyone sick but I want to go because it might be the last time I see the girl from Argentina because it is  her goodbye party. She leaves in January I think. I don't what I'm going to do. Just go with the flow I guess. Anyway. Only one week left of school and then I will be out for 3 weeks. I will leave on the 22-29 to go skiing up north. Then I will come back and have another week. I think I will be changing families probably in early january. I am pretty excited! hope everyone is healthy and happy!
Love,
Micah

Ingenting

Hej Hej,
Well not much going on today. I just had school today and it is raining and windy so to much going on. I am doing better at swedish. Everyone keeps telling me I am getting better. Its crazy that Christmas is almost upon us in about  3 weeks. CRAZY! Well thats really all for today!
Love,
Micah

Ketchup again! haha

Alright so let's ketch-up. So Thursday was thanksgiving. Here was my menu
Dinner:
Turkey, bread-stuffing, green-bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce
Dessert:
Chocolate pie, pecan pie, apple cider
I made everything from scratch, even the bread stuffing and cranberry sauce. None of it was from a box or a can, well other than the green beans haha. It all turned out really good. I'm glad its over though because it was a little stressful making everything. But we all had a good time. "We" meaning me, Ann, Håkan, Matilda, Sebbe, Magnus, Anki, Viggo, Lycka, and Begita. It was a really nice evening. On Friday I went to school with Ann which is always fun. After that I went home and chilled. That evening I went with Matilda and Sebbe to the movies and watched Breaking Dawn (Twilight) That was really fun. It wasn't my favorite movie out of the series but it was good. Then on saturday I went riding with a friend from school. I rode Mumin, a pony. He did good until then  end and then he got spooked and jerked sideways and I lost my balance and fell off. Good thing is that I don't have a concussion I'm just really sore everywhere, especially my neck. But I had a good time other than that. On Sunday I went to church and had a good day there. That night we had Class 3 Hurricane winds. Monday you could see all of the tree that had been uprooted and fallen over. It was a really strong wind. Then yesterday I skipped school and went to Ullared with Ann and her sister Siv. It was really cool and there were tons and tons of people. It was the swedish black friday. So we spent the day there. It was fun. Today instead of regular class time we had dancing all day. There was swing dancing and which I missed because my bus never showed up. (Mom it wasn't because I was late, the other girl at my stop was still there so i didn't miss the bus it just never came) There was also Zumba and a choreographed dance. It was really fun and plus there was no school so it was even better. haha. Well thats whats been going on in my life. Hope everyone is happy and healthy!
Love,
Micah

Hej hej

Hej everybody. Well things are going really great down here. The Copenhagen temple was really great. I had an awesome time. We rode there on the ferry and then we went to the temple which looks like a government building but it is really beautiful inside. It was amazing I had a great experience there. Cool thing happened. There was a guy talking in Danish and I heard something like, "Jag kommer från USA". Without even thinking I was like "oh hey me too!" It was an older guy and he just looked at me a little stunned then he asked where I was from and I told him Wyoming then he asked where in Wyoming and I said Lander and he was like, "oh ya I was there last summer for a motorcycle trip. Nice place." Oh my gosh I was sooooo excited that someone first of all knew where Wyoming was and had been in Lander! It made my day even better. Turns out he lives in Salt Lake and served a mission when he was young in Denmark. So it was awesome to meet him. After that we all ate lunch and then hung out in Copenhagen, went to the LDS Bookstore there and got a few things including a book there. (Wartime Memories of Werner Klein) I suggest everyone read it. Its sooo good. It's a church book but its amazing. So after that I went to church the next day and the sister missionaries came over after church and ate dinner at my house which was way nice. Monday-Thursday was just school, nothing exciting except that on Thursday I went to a craft fair with Ann and Matilda in Halmstad. It was the BIGGEST Craft fair I have ever gone to. Jaunita, Mom, and I could probably shop there for a whole day. There was a 3 story barn there that was filled with stands (by the way the fair was at the Halmstad castle, which is smaller than other castles but still its a castle.) Then there were stands all over the place. There was another 2 story building filled with stands. It was amazing. I could definitely go back. So that was the highlight of the week. Today I went to school with Ann and helped with the class which was pretty fun. After school we came home ate lunch and then some guys came over to install a little water spout that makes it so it is bubbly water (gas water) so thats pretty cool. While they were there Ann taught me how to knit a hot pad from yarn. It is really fun and relaxing. Its crazy the skills that i have learned here but i like it. So Ann and I have been knitting the rest of the day haha. So thats the update! Hope everyone is doing great! Love you bunches.
Love,
Micah

Something Bizzare

Hej everyone!
Well everything is going great here! I went to the chiropractor here because my back was killing me. You know how they do their little analysis's by having you do certain movements. Well I kind of expected this but I didn't expect him to ask me to take off my pants and shirt. I was in shock for a moment then I said, "oh ok I can take of my sweatshirt and coat and belt but I'll leave the shirt and pants right where they are. :)" I said it with a smile and in a way that was so straight forward that there would be nooo argument haha. It was quite ackward after that. I was definitely on my guard the WHOLE time after that. I respect that different chiropractors have different methods to how they adjust someone but this guy had a lot more of a physical approach to his method. Not too much but he was pushing the envelope sometimes. I felt tons better afterwards but I don't think I will go to him anymore. But one thing that I have found is that chiropractors have really soft, warm, squishy hands. Like my daddy's!!! What else. Well I went to school with Ann today. Afterwards I went to the stable and went riding with another girl. I was on a really cool horse. His name was like Nurioso or something that. But he was really good. I had a pretty good time. And tonight I went to a dinner at the nicest hotel in Mellbystrand. It was an amazing dinner. We had goose and it was soooooooooo delicious. I loved it all. But I definitely had the weirdest thing that I have had in Sweden. I ate "svartsoppa" which directly translates into "black-soup". This soup was pretty much cooked goose blood. I knew that before I tried it but I'm an exchange student so I had to brave up and I tried it. Surprisingly it was pretty good. The weird thing was that it tasted and smelled like ginger. It was really really nice to talk to everyone. Well I get to get up at 6 tomorrow morning and its almost 12 now. I get to go to Copenhagen tomorrow with church to go the temple and look around Copenhagen for the day. I am pretty excited! I hope all is well in Wyoming. Enjoy the snow for me! It's chilly here but no snow yet!
Love,
Micah

On the beach!

Some of my classmates (left to right): Martin, Sebastian, Anna, CW, Oliver, Johanna, Me, Gabby, Louise in Stockholm

Frieda, Robi, and I

Find anything odd about this picture? haha

Crazy Rest

Hej everyone!
Well I am coming to the end of my Höstlov break. It is pretty much an Autumn break. Monday and Tuesday all I did was chill and sleep most of the time. On Wednesday I went on a run and was really active. Another cool think that happened on wednesday was that a newspaper reporter from Laholm came by and interviewed me so that she could write about me in the Friday paper. It was pretty awesome. Then that night I skyped mom and papa which was really nice. On thursday morning I rode the train by myself to Malmö which was about an hour and a half train ride. It was pretty boring but when I got there I met up with Frieda, from Germany, and Robi, from Argentina. We walked around Malmö and went to the Malmö museer. It was a humungo museum. There was all kinds of stuff from Germany history, to early nomad bone, to 50's clothing, to art gallery, to animal exhibit with live fish and reptiles. It was majorly big. It was awesome. So we spent most of the day there. It was tons of fun. I think we were there for about 3 hours. After the museum we went to MAX which is a swedish fast food place, pretty much a swedish version of McDonalds. The food was........ok.  After that we hopped back onto the train and came back to Mellbystrand. They stayed the night at my place and then Friday we just hung out, slept in as much as we could, went on a walk along the beach. Basically we took it easy. Then they left at about 2ish. I then went with Ann to the stable and helped her there then we went to Ängelholm. We went to a little memorial at the cemetery where her parents are buried. There were candels everywhere from all the other people. So we went and lit candles on Ann's parents graves. After that we went to a short musical sermon in the little church nearby. I didn't understand anything so I wasn't paying attention and started nodding off. I about totally fell asleep while the priestess person was talking. I kind of felt bad but oh well. After the sermon Ann and I went to Ann's cousins house for dinner. I finally tried Sil that night. "Sil" is pickled herring. So it's basically rotted fish. Everyone has told me that it is disgusting but the way the lady made it it wasn't to terribly bad. But I definitely would not want to eat everyday. After dinner at their place Ann and I met Håkan, Matilda, and Sebbe and went to the Rögle hockey match. I got VIP again haha :). It wasn't a very exciting match though except for the random fights that broke out all the time haha. But Rögle lost pretty bad but I have a strong feeling that the other team was cheating pretty dang bad. But it was still cool to wear my jersey and watch them. On Saturday I wasn't feeling real great. My back has been literally killing me so I found a Chiropractor that I might go see on Monday if he's good. I sure hope so. So anyway Saturday I just chilled and tried to rest my back as much as possible. But I went to church today which was really good. Now I have an official calling. I am now officially the ward organist hahaha. Ya I was a little shocked but oh well the Lord must want me there for a reason so of course I accepted. :) I also got interviewed for a temple recommend. So next saturday I am planning on going with the rest of the ward to Copenhagen to the temple! Pretty excited! Well that my life right now. School tomorrow...yyaayyy!..haha (i hope you could notice the sarcasm haha). I hope everything is going great with everyone!
Love,
Micah

A Crazy Weekend

Well let's start with Friday. So last Friday I went to Falkenburg for Rotary District Conference with all of the other exchange students. Rosie from Oregon, Marc from South Africa, and I stayed at a couples house. They were older and super nice. Rosie and I stayed in a little cottage close to the house and Marc stayed in the main house. District Conference was really good. The goal of the exchange students was to raise enough money to purchase a Shelter Box with lotteries and selling Shelter Box pins. So we just did a lot of things together and hung out. So that lasted till about Sunday. Then on Sunday Ann and Håkan picked me up and took me to Malmö to a concert. There were a lot of different artists. There was one group of about 10 kids from South Africa that came and sang. The concert was really good even though most of it was in svenska. I really liked it. After the concert we came home and I still had to pack for my trip to Stockholm so I didn't get to bed till about 12 or 1 a.m. and I had to get up at 4 a.m.. haha fuuunnnnn. Anyway I got on the bus in Båstad at 5:30 and we had an 8 hour bus ride to Stockholm. It was really long but I slept most of the way. So we got there at about 1:30 and had about 2 hours to get settled into the hostile we were staying in. Then we went on the bus to the city center. We hung out for an hour there then we went to the Riksdag building. That is where all the laws are made for Sweden. That was really cool to tour through. It would have been even better if I could understand. Also it would have been nice if I wasn't starving and worrying that my stomach was going to roar like a lion in the middle of a room that echoed it. But that didn't happen thank goodness. So that took about 2 hours then the teachers gave us 6 hours of free time. OOOOHHH MY GOSH!!! 6 hours of free time is a little much for me. So me and a couple of other girls went to a little café and ate something. We really didn't do anything. But on the way home it was the very first time I had ever ridden a subway. It wasn't extremely exciting but it was ok. We did a lot of other things. We went to a newspaper place and got to see how they produced papers. Also we went to the Stockholm castle and toured through that which was awesome. They said there were about 800 rooms in the castle of more! :0! That's     a lot. We also went to the Armory where they keep everything from the past kings and queens. I think that was one of my favorite things. We went to TGIF to eat and then we went to a theatre. The actual theatre was amazing. It was beautiful but they play was horrid. Not only was it in swedish one of the guys went nude on stage. oh my gosh! "welcome to Sweden!" aaahhh! Once in pants were off and his hands were going to his underwear I closed my eyes. It ruined the WHOLE experience of the theatre. It was horrid. What else did we do?? hmmm. One of the nights Gabby, a girl in my class, and I went to the movies and saw Abduction with Taylor Lautner in it. It was relieving to watch a movie in english. On the way back we stopped at a candy shop and I got to watch a guy make a candy cane. It was really cool. I had a really good time in Stockholm, bought a lot of things. So we got home Thursday evening. On Friday night I went to the bishops house and stayed the night there and the next morning I went with his wife, Senja, to the bishops sisters house and babysat her 6 month old boy twins and her 1 1/2 year old daughter. They were really cute and we made sugar cookies the whole time. It was really fun. After that we went back to their house and worked on decorating the house for the Halloween party that night. I dressed up as Peter Pan. So I wore a lot of green and had a name tag that said My name is: Peter. Then on my belt I had a pan. So I was Peter-Pan. haha. It was really fun. So everyone came at 5 to the party. The party was mostly just socializing. We went to the forest behind their house and did a tiny spook alley. It wasn't too scary. So that was really fun. It was a ward party but Ann and Håkan came. They had a good time from what I could tell. I know I had a good time. So we came home and I went to church this morning. I had a really good. So that is kind of the load down of my crazy week. I hope everyone is happy and healthy!
Love,
Micah

Back to Normal....well kinda'

Hej Everyone!!!
So let's update you again. Things are going pretty good here. Your probably curious as to how good my swedish is coming along. Its coming along pretty great. I can understand ALOT more than I can say. If the person speaks slow enough then I can somewhat understand. I still need people to explain every now and again but overall it going really really great. I just have to work on replying. Hmm what has happened this week. Well this week has been pretty normal. Classes, friends, etc. I guess the only thing that was somewhat big this week was a friend very very close to me passed away. It was devastating to hear of it but I know that I will see her again so that makes everything much better. Other than that everything has been pretty normal. So tomorrow I am going to Ann's school. After that I will meet Rosie (the exchange student from Oregon) in Båstad and we will catch a train and head to Falkenburg for District Conference for Rotary. I made some peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies. Its chocolate chunks because they don't have chocolate chips here for some odd reason. Anyway. So Ann and Håkan will pick me up in Falkenburg on Sunday and we will head to Malmö for a concert, I don't know what kind of concert but I'm excited. Then we will come home and I early in the morning at about 5:30 I will head to Båstad and get on a bus at school along with my classmate to head to Stockholm for a week. So I won't be back till about Thursday night. So this coming week is going to be CRAZY!  But it will be an awesome crazy week. I hope everyone is doing awesome! Love,
Micah :)

TheBigStory in a Nutshell

Hej everyone I'm back!!!! Sorry I haven't posted in a loooonnnnggg time things have just been extremely busy. So where to start. Last week a class of German kids came to our school for a week. One of the germans was actually an exchange student from the U.S., California so she stayed at our house for the week that they were here. Her name was Alex and we had tons of fun. I think that's the most I have laughed since I have been in Sweden. It was so much fun. We did a lot of things with the Germans. We toured around Båstad. I think one of the funnest things we did was went to Hovs Hallar and repelled off a cliff that was about 8-10 meter high. It was really fun. On Thursday we went to Väla, which is the biggest mall in Sweden in Helsingborg. That Friday night we had a party at the school. We had a nice dinner and just kind of hung out. I learned a lot of things at that party on more than one count. But it was fun. The Saturday after I went to one of my friends and we watched a movie and chilled. It was lots of fun. That Sunday I played the piano at church which was kind of nerve racking since I had never played a lot of the songs that they wanted me to play, so I just played with my right hand only. It turned out really good. So the Germans left on Tuesday :(. I was really lonely with Alex here but I lived. So on Friday I presented my Wyoming presentation to my class. After school I went on a run and then at about 5 Ann, Håkan, Matilda, Sebbe, Aileen, Eva, her husband, and I went to Ängelholm to watch Rögle play. It was an extremely intense game. Rögle was doing good until about the 3rd period then the other team scored a few time and we had to go into overtime, about 2 minutes into overtime Rögle scored so they won! The ending score was 5-4! I was soooo happy. And to add to the excitement I bought a Rögle jersey and scarf along with it. I love it! So it was a really good night. Then today I went moose hunting. At first I thought it was going to be about 6 maybe 7 people. Nope totally wrong. 25 guys and me. hahaha. It was so much fun though. Most of time I was walking in the line to push the moose to the hunter. We had lunch then I got to sit with one of the hunters and he shot a 2 year old female moose. It was pretty cool because he said I was the hunts mascot haha. So today was a really good day. I hope everything is going great! I will try to be better at writing at least every other day. But I am pretty buys at the moment so I'm sorry if I do miss some  days.
Love,
Micah

Catching Up

Hej everyone,
Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Things are going great here. Last weekend I went to Ӓngelholm and hung out with Rosie, another exchange student from Oregon, I stayed the night with her. Then we went to took a bus and train to Osby to visit Dem, another exchange student from Colorado.We made pizza that was super super good. We hung out there stayed the night and the next day we just hung out and drank hot chocolate and watched movies. It was really fun. I didn't get home till about 7:30 pm. I had a really really good time hanging out with everyone. It's fall now, the leaves are changing and there's a little chill in the air. Well Monday a class of Germans came to our school. There is a girl that is an exchange student in Germany from California. Her name is Alex and she is staying at our house while they are here. She is really cool and I like to talk to her. Other than that not much is happening. Tomorrow there is a school party. So we'll see how my first school  and swedish party goes. Then on Saturday there is a mascarade party with our school and another bigger school. So I'm pretty excited for that. Well I guess thats all for now! Hope everything is going great!
Love,
Micah 

Hej!

Hej everyone I had an awesome weekend. But....I kind of have a ton of homework right now to catch up on since I have a test tomorrow so I will have to tell you all about my weekend tomorrow. haha
Have a Fantabulous week!
Love,
Micah

Another day in my life

Hej everyone! Things are going fantabulous here. School was pretty regular today. Nothing exciting happened. Today it was a really really nice day. It was nice and sunny. When I got home I went on a run with Maya and some how Bianca got through the gate and came after us. Good thing we hadn't gotten far or crossed any streets. So I had to carry her all the way back so she didn't run off or anything. So after we had brought her back Maya and I continued. It was a good run and the beach was beautiful. After my run Ann and Matilda left to go to Matilda's training for jumping, but I didn't go because I had a lot of homework. So I was home alone for about 3 or 4 hours. It wasn't that bad. I stayed busy with everything and I cleaned my room and dinner. So I had enough to do for the most part. Well I'm really tired since last night I didn't sleep very well because Maya slept on my bed and she kept wanting to come up and sleep on one of the pillows which was not working for me haha. So I hope I will sleep better tonight! Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

HOCKEY!!!!

Hej everybody!!! Well today was a really good day. I had a lot of fun in school today for really no reason it was just fun. For lunch we had this casserole thing that looked like it was soup that had sat for two days and then they decided to bake it. It was actually pretty good though. I think the chef thinks that I am a usual American because he always gives me like a super sized piece of everything. I like it when its pie but when its something like today....gosh its just weird. haha oh well what can you do but just say tack. I think the most exciting thing about today was that I got to go to Ängelholm with Håkan to watch a professional Hockey game. To start things out I was a VIP so I got to sit in a VIP box and have dinner which was really good. It was a 3 course meal with salmon, roast beef, then a blueberry muffin. It was really really good. The hockey game was sooooo exciting since Ängelholm was playing their rival Malmö. It was so cool. The crowd was really crazy. There was sooo much noise but it all added to the adrenaline. I am official hooked by hockey. I love it. I could never play it but I LOVE to watch it, especially swedish professional hockey. We were rooting for the Ängelholm Röglans which have become my favorite team as of right now, but they lost. They lost in the last 5 minutes of the game. They just gave up it was really sad. haha oh and to add the wonderfulness of the evening. Begita and Ulf and Magnus and their daughter Linda were in a VIP house just 4 doors down so I went and said hej to them and they gave me a little yummy orange pie. So I mooched off of them a bit. It was so much fun. I love hockey. But now I have to write a spanish paper that is due tonight before midnight and it is about 11:30 right now haha. Oh well. I'll get it done sometime. haha. I hope everyone is doing awesome! Stay safe and healthy. Don't do anything I wouldn't do (that gives you a lot of options. haha :)
Love,
Micah

Horses Again!!!

Hej Hej! Just so you know I do know how to spell Hey but Hej is how you say hello in Swedish haha just so you know. So anyway, today is Sunday. I went to church today with Jonas (Camilla's husband) and Agnus. Church was really good. When I got home there were 2 guys in the front yard destroying the bushes in front of the window. And I mean totally ripping them out. When I walked inside the attic stairs that I didn't even know existed were pulled down. Håkan walked into the house and I asked him is he was tearing down the house haha he just laughed. He and Sebbe were outside installing some lights outside on the porch. Now there is a big huge heap of branches and bush in the front yard. Skyped with Rosie (another exchange student in Ängelholm from California) today. At about 3 Ann, Matilda, and I went to the stable and took care of the horses then I got to ride a little pony name Mumni. He was a white and lazy pony but it was really fun to finally ride a horse again and it was cool to try out an enlgish saddle. It is not as weird as I thought it would be but it was just a little weird. I had a really good time. It also turns out that there is this girl that is trying to teach her horse western and she is trying to learn western so she might call me and have me help her. I think that would be soooooo awesome! So things are going great! Hope everyone is doing fantabulous!
Love,
Micah

Saturday!!!!

Hej everyone! Well today was a good day. I slept in till about 10 or 11 and it was WONDERFUL! After breakfast/lunch I went with Matilda to Sebbe's house. I got some really cool pictures of the place that I haven't downloaded onto my computer yet but I will post them on here when I do download them. It's still awsome to think that that place is 300 years old. It's crazy! Anyway after that I came home and ate a little lunch. Everyone left except me so I just chilled for about an hour. Then when Ann got home I went on a nice run down to the beach with Maya (the dog) since it was a really really nice day today. I had an amazing run. When I got home I took a shower and helped around the house and then we ate dinner. After dinner, which was swedish meatballs, Ann and I watched "Mamma Mia" on the TV and then I am here typing this post! That was my day! Hope yours is going well and will continue to be great!
Love,
Micah :)

PEANUT BUTTER!!!!!

Hej everyone! I'm doing great here. My cold is better now so I'm feeling great! I'm trying to think what I haven't told you about. Well on Wednesday I think it was, the school introduced all the students to Mac Book computer laptops. So I now have two laptops. I have a Mac Book with a Swedish  keyboard which will make typing in swedish tons easier. It's a really really nice computer I like it. I'm actually typing this post on it right now. :) On Thursday I went to Zumba with Lovisa (Ann's cousins daughter haha) She's about 20 years old and really fun to be around. Oh ya and I got a package from Mom with Reese's and Peanut butter and white chocolate truffles. I will never take peanut butter for granted again. Never. It is sooooooo good. Yes, they don't have peanut butter here other than cooking peanut butter, but it's not the same. I had my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich here and it was AMAZING! haha. What else......tonight I watched 127 Hours with Ann. It's the movie about the guy who caught his arm in the rock and was there for like 127 hours and ended up cutting off his arm. I couldn't watch the part where he actually cuts off his arm. I'm too squeamish haha. Anyway it was a pretty good movie. I hope everything is going FANTABULOUS!!!
Love,
Micah

HEJ I'M BACK!

Hej everyone! Sorry I haven't posted for the past couple of days. Well you haven't missed much. On Saturday I went to Matilda's horse competition and Sunday I was sick and Monday I stayed home from school because I was sick so ya you didn't miss much of my life here in Sveriege. But I did go to school today (thank goodness for DayQuil, its my hero for today!) I had a good day. The best thing happened today. For school they gave us MacBook Pro's. So I have my regular laptop and a Swedish laptop. It is soooooo nice. We spent like 2 hours with a guy who showed us how they worked. It was really awsome. When they called me up to get my laptop I was expecting to hear Meekah or something like that but this guy totally messed my name up. He called me Meesha. I don't know how he got that out of M-I-C-A-H but he did. haha it was really funny. Today I "hoovered" my room haha. Ann asked me, "do you want to hoover in your room?" I was a little taken aback haha. Then she showed me the vaccum hahaha I got it now! haha. I don't know what I thought it was but I was a little wary if you will. haha. Well things are going pretty good other than being sjuk (sick). My swedish is definitely getting better. I just have to try and speak more which I am doing more and more. I hope everything is going great wherever you are!
Love,
Micah

Finally Pictures!

Having fun in the Varberg (Var-by) Fort Musuem with the joker hats haha :)  The Varberg Fort was built in the 13th century. Thats where I saw the Boxtin man that I think I talked about.

Skyping Day

Well today I actually got up when Ann knocked on my door. But its kind of funny when I don't wake up right away and I accidentally sleep in like half an hour or something then I have like alot of time to spare but when I get up on time I'm always rushed in the end. I think I'll just sleep in anymore haha. (Mom and Papa are laughing right now haha :) Just a thought haha. Anyway. School went really good. I had a fun time today. It was just a normal day but it was good. When I got home I took the bike and rode to MAXI and picked up some "healthy" goudies. I think people usually use it for trail mix but I got all of the chocolate coverd nuts and yummy white chocolate and other yummy stuff like that. I brought it home and shared because I am awsome like that. After half an hour Mrs. Moss skyped me and I talked to her first class. It was really good. I showed pictures and everything. After their class I had about an hour to do whatever. Then I skyped her next class and talked to them for a while. Then I had half of my dinner and I talked to her last class. It was really good. All the kids seemed really interested. I saw alot of kids I knew and a ton that I didn't know. Things went really good but it was long. I had tons of fun! I hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah
P.S. It rained again today! haha. rain is starting to get just a wiiii bit old now. But hey at least I can actually use an umbrella here unlike Wyoming otherwise you get struck by lightning or at least thats what my parents always told me so it's a little weird for me to use an umbrella haha. :)

En Vanlig Dag

Today was kind of just a regular day. Nothing really exciting happened. We had P.E. today which was really fun because we did boxing. I had tons of fun. Other than that everything went like usual. I came home went to MAXI with Ann and came back. Ann and Matilda went to the stable to take care of the horses at 6 and didn't get back till 8:45 so I was home alone and had a wonderful TV dinner consisting of tomatoes and a microwave pizza and milk and hard bread. It was pretty good. So I haven't been up to much today. Tomorrow I skype Mrs. Moss's classes so altogether it will be around 2-3 hours of skyping tomorrow!haha. Well I hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

Bring on the Mac' n Cheese!

HEJ EVERYONE! Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Yesterday I just went to church which was really really fun. When I got home Ulf, Begita, Magnus, Anki, Viggo, and Lykka came over and had dinner to celebrate Ann's birthday that was on Tuesday. It was really good and we had a lot of fun. Today I woke up 45 minutes late so I took a really really quick shower and got all ready and had pretty much 45 minutes to spare. (so much for hurrying haha) Anyway so Ann wanted me to read this book and I was almost finished with it so I thought since I had so much time to spare I would go into my room and read the book and maybe finish it. Well I was reading and I was watching the time. So it got to 8:55 when I usually leave according to the clock in my room. So I got all my stuff and walked into the kitchen and looked at the clock to realize that the clock in my room in 5 minutes behind. I ran down to my bus stop but I had already missed the bus by like 5 minutes by then! I felt like an idiot calling Ann and trying to explain why I missed the bus. I'm sure she thought I was an idiot too. Anyway she took me to school and I had already missed my first class and my second class had already started so I just waited patiently. After that school went like usual. When I got home nobody was here so I skyped Rosie who is in Ӓngelholm. It was fun. Then Ann got home and she decided that I could make dinner. So I whipped out the Mac' n Cheese. It was awsome. They thought it was soooo cool. They loved it. I don't think Matilda really liked it but Håkan and Ann did so thats good! My swedish is coming along men mig svenska inte bra. haha. I hope things are great wherever you are!
Love,
Micah

Golf!

Well today Ann, Håkan, and I went to a really cool fort that if by the sea about an hour away from Mellbystrand. It's a really really cool place. The actually fort was built early 13th century, so a long long long time ago. Inside the fort they have a museum and I got to see the Bocksten man. I guess the guy lived in the Medival times and was killed and then thrown into a bog. But the acids from the bog preserved him body for a really really long time. When in the late 1800's a kid was plowing or something and the plow caught a piece of fabric. When he looked at the fabric there were bones inside and a head full of hair. That is how the Bocksten man was found. His actually bones and clothing are in the museum and I got to see them and they are as real as they come. It was really cool because when they found him he had 3 poles stuck through him. But all of his clothing and hair and some of his skin was still in contact. It was soooo cool. After that we went to another little town and had ice cream. When I got home Matilda, Sebbe, and I went out to play golf, which was really fun even though I lost epically haha. I hope everyone is doing great! It was nice skyping jessie and Helen! Love you guys so much!
Love,
Micah

ZUMBA!

Today I had a really good day at school I had P.E. and played volleyball the whole time. It was a really good day over all. It rained most of the day. Oh and by the way I didn't tell you but here in Sweden we drive on the same side of the road as in the US. Anyway. When I got home Ann and I went to Laholm and we did Zumba. I don't know if they have in the US but it is really really fun. You exercise by dancing to music but not like ballet or any of that kind of dancing its more like......well I don't know how to explain it. But it is really super fun. We had a great time and were really sweaty afterward. So today I would say I had a really really good day. Tomorrow I get to go to Ann's school so I won't have to go to my school tomorro! I'm sort of excited! Well I hope everyone is healthy and doing great!
Love,
Micah

Just a Regular Day or is it?

Well today its Ann's birthday. It wasn't a good morning for her for reasons that I am not going to share but it just wasn't. But I went to school and had a really really good day there. The kids are becoming more comfortable with talking to me and everything. Its really nice. Matilda picked me up from school and we went and took care of the horses. After the horses we went to MAXI to pick up the things for dinner. I came home and made the pinini's for dinner. They didn't turn out at first like I wanted them to but they eventually worked. We had one extra person that I didn't know about but thank goodness I had enough. Everyone loved the pinini's so that was really really good. I am really exhuasted but I had a good day over all. I hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

Wilderness Camp!!!

Well I went to my Rotary Wilderness camp this weekend. It was awsome! I had soooo much fun. To start I met Paulo (from Brazil) in Halmstad and rode the train for the first time to Helsingborg where we met Vince (from New Zealand) and went to Kristianstad (krishansta) It was really exciting but then it got kind of boring. But it was really awsome new experience. When we got to Kristianstad we met up with all the other kids which was somewhere around 12-15 kids. We then got into cars and went to the place where we were going to camp that night which had portapotties there. It was a really cool area. We then went on a hike to a really really cool water fall. Svenn (somewhere in the states), Liam (Michigan), and Zach (from Australia) stripped down to their underwear and swam in the water which was freezing! We then had fika and a few games at the waterfall. After that we hiked back to where the Rotary leader lived which was sooooo amazing. you are walking in the woods and then all of a sudden BAM! house. But it is sooooooooo gorgious there. There is a little pond and then a gated garden of flowers and a big yard all surrounded by the forest. It is like my dream yard. Its amazing.  There we played a few more games. I got to shoot a .22 and got a 7 out of 10 score on my shooting. Then I got to try Ax throwing! Ax throwing is SOOOO awsome! Even though I had to use like the smallest ax it was sooo awsome. I almost got a 5 (score ring on the log we were throwing at) but i only got a 4. But I was pretty dang proud of myself. It was so cool. We ate dinner there. Hamburgers. I think I have had more hamburgers here in Sweden than I have in the US. But it was really good. During dinner we decided that my power animal is an Owl. I know haha. After dinner we went back to the camping ground and set up all of our sleeping bags and such. Then we built a fire and the people that had never had a s'more tried one and loved it. It was really fun to just sit there and talk. Liam brought his guitar up there so most of the time we were all just singing songs. People just kinda started leaving to go to bed. But only about 6 of us stayed up till 3 a.m. myself being one of them. At about 3 we decided to go to bed. My feet were soooo cold that night. And I couldn't curl up and warm them because my sleeping bag was way skinny so I couldn't move my legs at all. So I probably slept a total of about 2 hours that night. That morning we had smårgosar. Breakfast sandwiches. It was yummy. During breakfast a photographer and reported came and interviewed us. After breakfast a leader showed us what was in a shelter box. We set up the really big tent that is in there and it was really cool. Our project here in our district is to raise 5,000 kronar to buy a shelter box and send it out to a country in need. It is an awsome program and I support it 100%. After that activity we went and played Burnball which is a really fun game that is kind of similar to baseball but a little different. Burnball wrapped up our wilderness camp. So we ate lunch and everyone packed up to go back to Kristianstad to catch their train. My train buddies were Matt (from Nebraska), Paulo, and Vince. We bought our tickets and had an hour to chill. So Matt, Paulo and I decided to go into town and go for fika. So we wandered around and decided to go to this little shop that had goodies. I got a little chocolate ball that was sooooo amazing! So while Matt and Paulo fought about how much they hated each other I enjoyed my little chocolate ball. After fika we went to go wait at the train station for our train, and met back up with Vince. We got on the train and I told Paulo that we were getting on but he must not have heard him so I went back out and told Paulo we were leaving and he came on and started freaking out on Matt for leaving him. It was kind of funny but bad. So Paulo would not sit by us and crashed on the seat behind us. He slept half of the way to Helsingborg but when he woke up Matt apologized and everything was good after that. After we change trains in Helsingborg the train to Halmstad was way packed so we had to stand all the way to Laholm. I got off there. But before I got off Matt and I and maybe Paulo decided to meet up in Halmstad next weekend for fika so I'm looking foward to that. Håkan picked me up and we came home. So that was my weekend. It was pretty fun. Hope everything is going amazing in Wyoming!
Love,
Micah

SPORTS DAY!!!!!

Today was a pretty awsome day at school. I got to sleep in a little later this morning which made the day even better haha. Then Matilda drove me to the swimming pool. There everyone from the school did swimming races. The temperature was about 54 degrees farenheit (however you spell that) and the water was cold so it was really chilly but fun. After that we had an hour to walk to the soccer feilds and get ready to play "football" haha (soccer). We ate lunch at the fields and then my team played the first game. We lost so we sat out the next game but we played two games after that in which we won one of them. It was really super fun and everyone had an awsome time. But I think that the teachers were a little more pumped about winning than the kids on their team haha. So school was pretty awsome today. After I got home Ann and I went down to Helsingborg and did a little shopping. I finally came to the conclusion that I am NOT a shopping person! I know mom and papa are laughing right now but hey it is what it is. Things can change haha :)...And when we got home we ate some barbque ribs that were amazing. Now I am packing to go to my wilderness camp with the other exchange students tomorrow. I'm excited!
Swedish is coming along. Little by little. I am able to understand more but still not totally able to put it all together. I have decided that Swedes don't purposefully, but do, make things waaaayyyy too complicated. Also I have decided that some Swedes have no concept of personal space. They just crowd right in. Its kinda ackward but I'm getting used to it. Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah
P.S. I won't be posting anything tomorrow because I will be on the wilderness camp. So don't think I am dead or anything. I'm alive and doing well!

Little Kids!!

Today I woke up at 6:30 a.m. haha :). It was pretty awsome. I then went with Ann to the school that she teaches at with kids around the ages of 6-12. I had to give a presentation about Wyoming to all the kids that are 12 years old and that Ann teaches english to. I thought I did pretty amazing in my presentation and I had a way fun time doing it and being the one in charge haha. All the kids were really good. I had to answer some questions from them. Most of the questions were just "how old are you?" "Do you have brothers or sisters?" etc. Just really simple questions. But there were some that were like "What do you think of Barack Obama?" I asked the kids to raise their hands if they thought that he was cool and only two or three kids raised their hands and then I asked who thought he had some problems and over half of the class raised their hands. I asked one kid why he thought he was bad and he said, "because he's a chocolate." haha I know it wasn't good to say but I don't know it kinda caught me off gaurd. That kid was taken out of the room haha, he got a talking to. The kids thought that it was soooooo awsome that I could drive and that I talked and went to school with Indians. haha. After my presentation I went to recess with the kids and looked around. They have a pretty nice playground. And the crazy thing is that its not even fenced in and there's a forest right by the playground and every now and then you would see a kid pop out of the forest like nothing had happend. It was so weird that there wasn't a fence or anything and there were only 2 teachers on duty and most of the time they were just talking to each other. It was crazy! After the recess I played a game with 4 kids every half an hour. You could really tell which kids pay attention and try to learn compared to the ones that don't try to learn english. Man are they going to have a wake up call! After the game there was lunch so I went to lunch with them and I had carrots for the first time I have been here! It was heavenly! haha. After lunch Ann took me back to my school. I had lunch again with them and then I went to Swedish class and then to Math class. Only two classes today! I'm cool with that. After school I went home with Ailin. (Eileen) For dinner we had Louvise over and I made some really good potatoes. I also used the rest of the dough to make sugar cookies for dessert so that was good. After dinner Matilda and I went to the house that Sebbe is reconstructing. It is the most awsome house ever. Well it doesn't look that awsome but the way awsome thing is that that house and the buildings around it like the barn and chicken house is older than the United States! How crazy is that! I think Sebbe said its around 200 or 300 years old. It is sooooo cool. There are still original chains and everything in the barn. I'm dead serious it is the coolest thing ever. And Sebbe said that when he first bought the place that he went into the chicken house and there were skeletons of chickens laying around so the previous owner must have died and just left everything. But it really is the coolest thing ever. I told Sebbe that he was going to unbury a dead guy when he starts digging to put in insillation. He just laughed at me. Wouldn't that be freaky but cool if he did though. :0 I think it would be AWSOME! Well I gotta go to bed. Tomorrow is Sports day at school! haha. Hope everything is going great!
Love,
Micah

Rain Rain and more Rain

Today it has been raining ALL day. Rain is starting to get a little old now. Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I was really tired. School is going good. I still don't understand anything for the most part. I had spianish on Monday but I don't think I will be able to do spanish because it is hard enough to learn Swedish. Its really hard to learn swedish and spanish at the same time. So hopefully they will be able to find something else for me to do. Oh and just so you know my pie turned out pretty great! I was very very happy about that. For today it rained all day like i said earlier. School was pretty good. I had P.E. today but it was odd because we had to walk a few blocks away for it. Its kinda odd to not have teachers watching your every step. For P.E. we did cardio and it was hard because there were 20 kids in a room about the size of my downstairs living room. It was really really hot in there. But then you went outside and it was pretty cold and you got drenched to go with it. It was awsome! So at about 3 school got over so I went out to wait for the bus. I waited there for about 30 minutes and decided that the bus had forgot me. So I walked all the way back to the school to see the bus sitting there. Are you kidding me? I guess the bus didn't take anyone. So I got a ride from Thomas. When I got home Ann made me waffles haha :). They were really good. Then I got a package from mom which made my day. Well that was pretty much everything for today and yesterday. I have decided that Swedish people do not go easy on the brakes. Holy cow they don't use the brakes until the very last second. I think thats why everyone wears seatbelts so they don't fly through the windsheild. But oh well, whatever floats their boats. Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

Church!

Well today Kamilla and her husband and daughter (Agnus 1 yr) came and picked me up and we went ot church in Halmstad. It was really really fun. I saw the Sister missionaries again. All together there were about 15-20 member there. Half of them being kids under the age of 3 haha. It was a noisy sacrament but it was pretty fun. I had to have people translate for me but they were happy to. I went to Young Womens first and there were 2 other girls. It was really cool because I introduced myself, where I was from, my age, my hobbies, and my favorite scripture all in Svenska (swedish)!!!!! I felt so proud of myself! After YW I went to adult sunday school and then I went to Sacrament. The stake president was there so it was pretty good. There was only one person passing the sacrament and it was a man because there are no boys to pass the sacrament. After sacrament we had dinner in the Relief Society room. It was a pot luck and it was really really good. I had a great time getting to know everyone. When I got home Ann and I rode bikes to the stable and watched Matilda train. It only rained on us once while we were riding over there. I rode with Matilda back in the car and Ann and Hakan took rode the bikes back since Hakan wanted to ride the bike. It was a BEAUTIFUL sunset tonight! It was awsome. I got some pictures of it that I might post later. Well that was my. Oh wait! I made my creation and it didn't work out as well as I had planned haha. But we will how it sets up over night. Cross your fingers! Hope everyone is doing great!
love,
Micah

Another Rainy day in Sveriege!

Well this morning I was woken up at about 6:30 in the morning by a major thunder and lightning storm. It was soooo loud. It was kinda scary but I lived. A couple of times the thunder was so great that it actually kinda shook the house. It was really really cool. It rained like crazy all day. But in the afternoon it got a little bit better so Ann and I rode bikes to Maxi and got some ingredients for a dessert that I am making. The dessert is kind of a creation. I have no recipe so I am just kinda putting things together but I think it will turn out great. Today has been kind of a lazy day since it has been raining all day. But tonight Ann, Håkan, and I went to dinner with Ann's 2 cousins and their spouses and one of their daughters. It was really nice and we all had a really good time. I had a lobster soup which was a little odd but it was good for the most part. Then we had some sirloin and for dessert we had a weird pudding thing and ice cream. I have decided that swedish people really like to light candles and also to eat ice cream which they glass. Well that was pretty much my day! Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

Game Day!

Hej everyone!
Well today at school all we did was play games. The first game we played we had to fill up a tube with holes on both ends. We then had to pass it down the line of our teammates to a little dish and put the water in it and then start over again. It was harder than it sounds. My team didn't win that one. For the next game everyone on my team had to put on snorkling masks that had been duct taped so we could see anything. Our teacher put us into a random circle and we had to put ourselves into another circle from oldest to youngest. The next game we had to pick 4 people on our team and they had to put as many marshmallows as they could in the mouth without eating them and still be able to say "funny bunny" it was pretty funny. We also played musical chairs with the snokling masks. It was a pretty fun day. I also met with the sister missionaries today. It was really really nice talking to them. Hope everything is going great!
Love,
micah

Rock Video

Today for school we got into groups with the 2nd and 3rd years and made a rock video. We had to make a music video to the song We Weren't Born to Follow by Bon Jovi. It was kinda funny everytime that they wanted me to do something they say "Meekah do..." haha I guess you have to have an American accent to pronounce my name right haha. It was a good day. I had a headache afterwards cause of concentrating so hard but it just goes to show that I am trying to figure something out. When I got home Ann had to leave so I was home alone for the better part of the evening but thats ok it gave me time to rest my brain haha. It was also really cool because the sister missionaries in Halmstad contacted me and they are going to come by tomorrow evening so that I can meet them. Pretty excited haha :). OH MY GOSH!!!! DEVIN COMES HOME TODAY!!!!!! I have been thinking about it all today. Even though I'm not at home I am still uper-duper-super excited! LOVE YOU BUNCHES DEVIN!!!! Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

Second Day

Well today was the second day of school. Itw was kind of a hard day today because I don't understand anyting  so it is really really hard to be in class and concentrate. It is really hard but I keep trying. Today at school we got into groups with 2nd and 3rd years to make a rock video. My group is about 5 girls and 1 boy. Afterwards we split into our classes and went over some worksheets that I couldn't really do since they were all in swedish. After school today I had a headache because it was just sooo much concentration. But its all good. Tonight I met my Bishop and his sister. So I will be going to church in Halmstead on Sunday! I am excited. Well thats realy all for today. Have fun!
Love,
Micah

First Day of School!

Well today was the First day of school which so happens to be my birthday also haha. So now I am 16 and able to date but not for another year because of Rotary Rules. Its kinda crazy to think that I can actually date now haha and drive by myself! which is also against rotary rules haha.
Well anyway back to the important stuff. School was good. We started at 9:30 and ended at about 2:30ish. It was really good. There are about 25 kids in my class and more boys than girls. Everyone is really nice they are just all shy to speak english haha. There was one girl there who was from Washington but now lives in Sweden. I didn't understand anything anyone was saying so I just sat in class and smiled haha. At 12 everyone went down to the cafeteria which is a restaurant and we sat at a big table and ate a 3 course lunch. We had shrimp in a dill sauce on bread. Then we had meat and potatoes and then for dessert we had a cheesecake kind of thing. Between each course two teachers would introduce themselves. It was really good and fun. After that school was out for the day. So I think that the first day of school was a success. It was funny. The principal had to bring me home haha. Everyone kind of looked at me weird when he asked me if I was ready to go haha. Oh Well. When I got home I made a cheese cake for dessert. At about 7pm everyone came. Everyone as in Anns brother Ulf and his wife Begita. Cal and Cathrine my 2nd host parents. My rotarty representative and his wife and then Sebbe and Matilda. It was really good and we all had a really good time. I ate crawfish for the first time so that was fun. I had another 3 course meal for dinner. We had crawfish then chicken rapped in bacon with cheese on the inside and salad then for dessert we had my cheesecake. For birthday presents I got a sweatshirt and a couple of books and some body wash (they must be saying I smell bad or something haha jk) and a bracelet. It was really good and we had a great time. Everyone is still amazed at my piano playing. Its nice to have an audience who really and truely enjoys your talent haha. Well it was a good successful day. Hopefully tomorrow will hold success too. Hope everything is going great! Love you all.
Love,
Micah

Lighthouse

This morning I made French Toast for everyone (Ann, Håkan, Matilda, Sebbe, and me.) It went good and we ate all of it so they must have liked it. After that Håkan Ann and I went to a little town about an hour from Mellbystrand and we hiked to a lighthouse that was around there. It was a really really pretty view. It was a harbor by the ocean that was surrounded by cliffs. I will have to post pictures later but it was really pretty. We saw some cows but they looked more like Yacks. It was pretty cool. I had a fun time and I got my excersise but now I am really tired. Well tomorrow is my birthday, it doesn't seem like I'm really going to be 16 haha. School starts tomorrow also. I am kinda nervous but I know everything will work out. It will be pretty awsome. I can't remember what I did yesterday for some reason. NO WAIT! I do remember haha. I went to Båstad and helped Ann and Matilda help with a Pony jumping competition. It was really boring except that I got to yell out to girls and Ann would make fun of my American accent haha. It was pretty funny. The girls would look at me kinda funny when I would try to pernounce their name haha. After that we met up with Ann's sister in law and her sister in laws sister in law haha. It was really good. We went to the beach and played in the sand with Anki (the second sister in law) had two kids Vigo (4) and Lika (1 1/2). They were really cute and it was really fun. Well hope everything is awsome!
Love,
Micah 

Rotary Meeting!

Well yesterday (Friday) I went to my first Rotary meeting. It was pretty awsome. It was mostly old guys  but a few young guys and one woman other than Ann and myself. It was really nice to talk to everyone. There was one guy go had really really bright pink pants on. It kinda made me giggle. It turns out that that guy is going to be my 2nd Host Dad. haha. Carma! The meeting went like the rotary meetings in Lander just that we didn't sing a song and no money fund thingamajigers. The speakers were from KRIS which is an organization that help Criminals Returning Into Society. Since I didn't understand pretty much anything that they said I just sat there and tried to pick out the words that I did know(not many). It rained most of the day, so it was pretty cold. Afterwards we came home and did nothing for a little while. Finally Matilda and I went and got Sebbe and we went to the movie rental place and got "How Do You Know" and tons of gudis which is where there are isles of candy and you just pick out what you want and put it in a bag. I think we got 3 bags 1/2 filled up haha. It was awsome! We stayed up pretty late and watched the movie. It was a slow movie so Matilda fell asleep but it was nice to do something.  Hope everything is FANTABULOUS in little ol' Wyoming!
Love everyone bunches,
Micah :) :)

Shopping

I think today I shopped so much that my feet are swollen haha. I really didn't shop all that much but I fought enough :). This morning I made French Toast for Ann who had never had anything like it. She really liked it so it's one point for me haha :). Ann and I went to Halmstead and looked around the market place. Also we went and exchange some money so now I can actually buy stuff. I got a little back so I can carry all my stuff, it was on sale. It was really cool in Halmstad because there are shops all over the place. Its kinda like an open air mall. We went into a really really big church but Ann said that it wasn't really all that special like some. But I thought it was awsome. After we got home I opened the package that I got from Mom and it was really nice to get a sweatshirt of mine! After we had lunch Hakan came by and picked me up and we went to Halsingborg. We went to go and get a internet thingy-majiger for the computer. I looked around in the biggest Mall in Sweden. It was pretty awsome but really really big. After that we went to IKEA and looked around. When I get my furniture I'm getting IKEA. Its way cool. So I have been all over and shopping the whole time. Its been a good day. Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

RAIN!!!

Well its really late so I'll write about the rain tomorrow!
love ya,
Micah

BROWNIES/CAKE!

Well today was kind of another one of those lazy days. I finished the book I had started back home. It was really good. For about half of the day I was home alone. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but its always nice to have someone around. When Ann got home we walked the beach and I found a really cool shell. She didn't think it was so cool but I thought it was pretty awsome, so I kept it. We then got home and ate dinner. After dinner the neighbor kids, Hannah and Antone (I think thats how you spell his name anyway.) they came over and we baked a chocolate cake. It turned out more like a brownie. But it was pretty good. Sometime inbetween eating it and making it Seb (Matilda's boyfriend) came over and it was really fun because he and Antone know really good english so they would translate for me and we talked alot. It was really nice. Everything is going great. Just going to go hang out with Seb and Matilda for the rest of the night. don't know what we are going to do at 10 at night. but we will see! haha. Hope everything is great in Wyoming. Love everyone,
Love always,
Micah

Lazy day

Today was kind of a lazy day. I was proud of myself because I kinda woke up at 9 a.m. but then I kinda fell back asleep so that didn't really work out for me. haha. First Ann and I went on a walk with the dogs. It rained last night but not to bad, so it was a little chilly in the morning but not too bad. We also went to Laholm and kinda walked around and then we went to the library and Ann got me some language CD's to work with haha...its hard to have it all at once. I also got a book while I was there to read if I had anytime. After the Library we went and got some bread and came home. I was home alone for about 2 hrs while Ann and Matilda went to stables and everything. I just watched TV and worked on some of the Svenska I had. I have a headache now because of all the noise and Svenska. Overall it was a lazy day and I wasn't all that busy but I guess that's ok everynow and again. Hope everyone is doing great!
Love always,
Micah

Båstad

Today Ann, Lillie, and I rode bikes all day! It is really really really flat here so its really easy to ride bikes for long distances without getting to extremely tired. We rode all the way to Båstad and looked at my school. It is pretty cool. Smaller than I thought it would be but not to bad. It turns out that there are 80 kids in my school all together. Kinda a big change from Lander. It was really fun to ride along the coast and to see the harbor. It was a really nice day today since it wasn't raining. The Swedish hate the rain. I was very excited to accomplish the words right and left today! haha. Very simple but a big step for me. The  pronounciations are the hardest for me since alot of the words are said in the back of the throat. So its a little ackward for me. Other than that the language is coming slowly but surely. It was really fun to see everything today and to spend time with Lillie since she leaves to go back to Spain for the winter :(. Talked to Mom and Colby and G-pa and G-ma Irene and Tyler and Lisa today which was really really good. Love everyone so much. Hope everyone is doing great in Lander.
Miss you so much,
Micah

FISH!

Had some pretty freaking amazing salmon for dinner. All she did was put salt on it and bake it, but it was amazingly tasty and tender and not one bone. She also had some dill sauce that could go with it that was way good. We also had some company over for dinner before they leave for the winter to go back to Spain. The girl (Lily) is going to college in England so it was really really nice to talk to her in english and not have to pause every 5 seconds to translate haha not that I don't mind stopping to translate. Well the dogs are konked out on my bed and its getting time for me to go to sleep. I hope everything is great in the U.S.. Don't forget lil 'ol me across the ocean.
Love always,
Micah 

Horses Horses and More Horses

Today the whole family (including the dogs) went to one of Matilda's Horse jumping competitions. There were a ton of horses. All those pampered horses. haha. There were no trucks at all. All the trailers were pulled by little volvo's. Oh my gosh that reminds me I saw a "cowboy" yesterday night at the restaurang that Matilda works at. haha. Or at least he calls himself a cowboy haha. I guess he went to Texas on a vacation and bought a cowboy hat and boots and a cowboy shirt. I wouldn't call him a cowboy but Ann was convinced that he was. I guess whatever floats his boat. Oh another thing that was funny today was that there was a horse at the competition that was a brown and white pinto. Haha the funny part was that they call a pinto an Indian horse hahahahahahahaha. They call it that because they think all the Native Americans in North America ride pintos only (from what they had seen on Cowboy and Indian movies.) Oh my gosh it took all my control not to burst out laughing. hahahaha. It made me laugh inside so hard I could have busted a gut. It was the only pinto there. I had my first hambuger here today. It was pretty good. Well I am having dinner with the neighbors today. I better go help Ann with dinner. Hope everything is going great in Wyoming. Keep me updated.
Love,
Micah

Meeting Everyone

Well today Ann and I went to Kristianstad where I met all of the other inbound students in my district. There are about 12 in my district. They are all really cool. Most of them are from the United States. Some are from Australia and Argentina and one is from South Africa. It was really fun to meet everyone. It was a really great day. We went to a gym and did alot of aerobics to music. We basically danced alot for excersise. It was tons of fun. In September we are going on a wilderness camp. I am so excited to see everyone again. It was really fun. Hope everything is going great in Wyoming. It's still raining here.
Love,
Micah

First Day

Well today was a good day. First Ann, Matilda, and I went to Halsingborg which is only about an 1/2 and hour away and is about the size of Salt Lake City. It was AWSOME!!! The buildings were amazing and the streets were super super skinny. There were shops everywhere. Clothing shops, shoe shops, candy shops, cafe's, etc. We looked in a few shops but not many. Matilda got some shoes. It has been raining all day. After Halsingborg we headed to the stables where Matildas horses are kept. Man, Wyoming horses are so different from Swedish horses in the way they are handled. Wyoming horses graze in a pasture while these horses sit in a stall all day long. I'd rather be a Wyoming horse. Swedish horses are pampered.
After taking care if the horses Ann and I went shopping for food. Holy Cow! Shopping here is sooooo different from Lander. First to get your cart you either put in money or you have a little key thing that you put into the cart that unhooks it from a chain that is on all the others. After you have your cart you walk into the store and you swipe your card that shows your a member. The machine will give you a number and you find the little scanner thing that has that number. As you go shopping around you scan the items you want to buy. Its kind of like a Safeway do it yourself scan except that you do it as you go throughout the store. It was super super cool. The milk is in cartons and so his the yogurt. Most of the other things are pretty much the same except that bread is made a little different. When you get milk you don't get Whole milk, or 1% or 2% you can get light milk, middle milk, or fat milk. haha. It was kind of funny. They also have rows and rows of bins of candy and you just get a bag and pick out which candies you want and put them in the bag. In the end you weigh it and the machine gives you a little sticker that has the barcode that you scan. When your done shopping you just go to a machine and drop off your scanner and then you go to another machine and you pay because the little scanner thing already told that machine what you bought. It was really nifty.
Another thing that I noticed is that the Swedish people  are VERY law abiding people, which is very good. They always go the speed limit no matter what and they always wear their seatbelts and they always scan every item that they want to purchase at the store. It's pretty nice knowing that the majority of the Swedish people abide by the law. And you very very very rarely see a cop around. It's pretty awsome.
Hope everything is well in Lander, Wyoming.
Love,
Micah

HEJ!

Hej everyone,
I made it to Mellbystrand, Sweden! I flew into Altlanta, GA and it was really really hot. It so turned out that my gate for my flight to Copenhagen was on the totally opposite side of the airport so I practically had to run all the way there. But I made it there on time and was good. The flight to Copenhagen was very long but good. The landing into Copenhagen was really really really rough and I about lost my breakfast but I didn't! :) My host family picked me up and I am now at my new house for however long. They have two cute little dogs that are very obsessed with a bounce ball. It is windy today and not warm but not cold. I took a 3 hour nap and it rained while I was sleeping haha. I am extremely tired but overall happy!
Hope everything is going well.
Love,
Micah

Flight Plans!

Hey everyone,
I got my flight itenerary. I fly out of Salt Lake City on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. I then fly into Atlanta, Georgia. At about 6:15 p.m I head to Copenhagen, Denmark. I will arrive in Copenhagen at about 9:45 a.m. the next day (Copenhagen time). There my host family would pick me up and take me to Mellbystrand, Sweden. So there's my basic plan!
Have a wonderful day,
Micah

Visa Finally!

I finally got my visa. Everything is starting to fall into place. Now that that is off the checklist its onto making flight plans. I hope to be flighing out this weekend! :) Exciting but reality has really hit now haha. Oh well it had to hit sometime or another.
Hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Micah

My Adress

Micah Irene c/o Ann Leeman
Fasanvӓgen 3
312 00 Mellbystrand, Sweden

Getting Ready

Hey everyone!
I haven't left yet but I am sure getting excited. The nervousness has set in a little but not bad. As of right now I have nothing packed but this is supposed to be the week for that. yaaaaahhhh :/. Not my favorite part. Hope everyone is doing wonderfully.
Love,
Micah