Hej everyone!
So I just got back from doing one of the coolest things ever. Claes (my host dad) is learning to be a glider pilot, so I went with him today to his lesson. It was cool watching them. Then at the very end I got to go up in the glider with the instructor. I didn't drive the glider but I was flying in it and that was enough for me! It was so cool. For those of you who don't know what a glider is, it is a small skinny plane with really long wings, it has no engine. So another plane hooks up to it and then when you get up to a certain altitude you detach yourself from the cable that the other plane is pulling you with. After that you just glide on the air and float around and go in circles and everything. Its really cool. I had tons of fun. It really pays of to use the excuse of being an exchange student, that way you get most everything for free and then when you say your american its even better haha.
Hope everyone else is doing great.
Love,
Micah
P.S. The other instructor took some pictures that he will email to Claes so I did get some pictures! :)
Monday, May 28, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Breakthrough
Wow what a day!
So today was a nice day, Rigmor Göte and I went to Resele where Bror Oscar my Great-Great Grandpa was born! It was so cool I was awed the whole time. I took tons and tons of pictures. I took pictures of everything, literally everything I saw. It was such an amazing feeling that I can't explain, to be there. It was so amazing and I wouldn't trade that little time for the world. Any of my family that is reading this (*cough* Grandma and Grandpa Irene) NEVER may I repeat NEVER give up a chance to go to that place while you can and see where your ancestors came from, you will learn so much not only about your ancestors but about yourself and what makes you who you are. I can't stress how important it is that you, John and Evelyn Irene, should go there. It's a once in a lifetime thing. And don't worry about language barriers I have a good friend who can speak swedish now haha. Anyway so that was amazing and the high light of the whole trip. So I learned alot there. After we visited the house we went to the actual town Resele which isn't too far away. There we got ice cream and looked at head stones in the towns graveyard. There is a place in the graveyard called an "All Mans place" (I think thats what it translates to from swedish). Its a place where if you are unable to pay for a nice burial site you can be buried in this place. So its pretty much a giant grave for the poor farmers. Rigmor thinks that is where my great great great grandpa Johan Olof Irén is buried. But nobody knows for sure.
So before I came to sweden we were unable to get past my great great great Grandpa Johan Olof Irén in our family history. I can tell you, today, after 2 hours of research, we are past Johan Olof Irén (born 1846). We are now to my 14th great Grandfather Givlögs (no idea how to pronounce that) born in the 1470's or so. PHEW! It feels so so so so so amazing to finally get something done with family history. But there is a catch in all this amazing news. We are pretty sure that Olof Olofsson is Johan Olof Irén's father but we don't know for sure because Olof and Stina were not married when Johan was born, so its not set in stone. The point is that my 2 hours of research could be a waste of time and we could still be stuck at Johan Olof Irén, but I have a deep feeling that its not, I feel as if Olof Olofsson really was Johan Olof Irén's father. So I am scooting right along trying to tie up all the loose ends in our family history and doing pretty rockin awesome (I have even passed Rigmor in family names! haha) So be ready when I come home family, get your baptismal cards ready! Well it's about 11 pm here and I am exhausted so I am going to bed but I thought all of you would like to hear of my discovery!
Love,
Micah
So today was a nice day, Rigmor Göte and I went to Resele where Bror Oscar my Great-Great Grandpa was born! It was so cool I was awed the whole time. I took tons and tons of pictures. I took pictures of everything, literally everything I saw. It was such an amazing feeling that I can't explain, to be there. It was so amazing and I wouldn't trade that little time for the world. Any of my family that is reading this (*cough* Grandma and Grandpa Irene) NEVER may I repeat NEVER give up a chance to go to that place while you can and see where your ancestors came from, you will learn so much not only about your ancestors but about yourself and what makes you who you are. I can't stress how important it is that you, John and Evelyn Irene, should go there. It's a once in a lifetime thing. And don't worry about language barriers I have a good friend who can speak swedish now haha. Anyway so that was amazing and the high light of the whole trip. So I learned alot there. After we visited the house we went to the actual town Resele which isn't too far away. There we got ice cream and looked at head stones in the towns graveyard. There is a place in the graveyard called an "All Mans place" (I think thats what it translates to from swedish). Its a place where if you are unable to pay for a nice burial site you can be buried in this place. So its pretty much a giant grave for the poor farmers. Rigmor thinks that is where my great great great grandpa Johan Olof Irén is buried. But nobody knows for sure.
So before I came to sweden we were unable to get past my great great great Grandpa Johan Olof Irén in our family history. I can tell you, today, after 2 hours of research, we are past Johan Olof Irén (born 1846). We are now to my 14th great Grandfather Givlögs (no idea how to pronounce that) born in the 1470's or so. PHEW! It feels so so so so so amazing to finally get something done with family history. But there is a catch in all this amazing news. We are pretty sure that Olof Olofsson is Johan Olof Irén's father but we don't know for sure because Olof and Stina were not married when Johan was born, so its not set in stone. The point is that my 2 hours of research could be a waste of time and we could still be stuck at Johan Olof Irén, but I have a deep feeling that its not, I feel as if Olof Olofsson really was Johan Olof Irén's father. So I am scooting right along trying to tie up all the loose ends in our family history and doing pretty rockin awesome (I have even passed Rigmor in family names! haha) So be ready when I come home family, get your baptismal cards ready! Well it's about 11 pm here and I am exhausted so I am going to bed but I thought all of you would like to hear of my discovery!
Love,
Micah
Saturday, May 19, 2012
My schedule
Hej!
So as I said in the last post my schedule has been crazy lately so I thought I would give you a layout.
May 14th
Camping with class
May 15th
Camping with class
May 16th
Camping with class get home late evening
May 17th
Fly to Sollefteå
May 18-24th
Having fun in Sollefteå with family
May 25th
Fly back to Halmstad get home around 10 pm
May 26th
Go to Rotary Camp in Mellbystrand
May 27th
Mellbystrand Camp
May 28th
Go to school
June 8th
School ends
June 28th
Eurotour begins
etc.
So ya things are going to be crazy for a while haha
Oh well keeps me out of trouble for the most part. So if I dont post like usually you know a little more about why :)
Love,
Micah
So as I said in the last post my schedule has been crazy lately so I thought I would give you a layout.
May 14th
Camping with class
May 15th
Camping with class
May 16th
Camping with class get home late evening
May 17th
Fly to Sollefteå
May 18-24th
Having fun in Sollefteå with family
May 25th
Fly back to Halmstad get home around 10 pm
May 26th
Go to Rotary Camp in Mellbystrand
May 27th
Mellbystrand Camp
May 28th
Go to school
June 8th
School ends
June 28th
Eurotour begins
etc.
So ya things are going to be crazy for a while haha
Oh well keeps me out of trouble for the most part. So if I dont post like usually you know a little more about why :)
Love,
Micah
Sollefteå
Hello Hello!
Well things have been absolutely crazy crazy for the past couple of weeks. Last Sunday I got to talk to Garrett which was awesome. I loved hearing his voice and hear him speak crazy spanish with Devin, it was awesome even though I felt a little left out not being able to show off my new found language skills with them, but o well maybe another day haha. Then the next day, I think that was Monday the14th? maybe?. Anyway, last Monday I packed things up and went on a 2 1/2 day camping trip with my school class. They called it a Survival Camp but it wasn't even close to a survival camp haha. But it was fun. The 3 graders (seniors) were in charge of the whole deal. They split my class up into teams and we had to play games all day and which ever team had the most points at the end of the day got a "prize" So my team was awesome and we won the first day so our prize was a bag of chips and we were able to sleep "inside". It was more like a little hut without a door that we were able to sleep in. So we set up our tent and set it inside the hut. It worked good enough for us. Oh and just so you know, we had to buy all of our food, and my team bought 38 packs of Ramen Noodles to live off of for 3 days. Hmmm someone wasn't thinking haha. The next day we did alot of walking (If you want to look it up on Google Maps where we walked look up Torekov, Sweden and Båstad, Sweden, we walked all along the coast from Torekov to Båstad.) But my team won that day too, so that night our prize was a bag of chips, apples, and a 2 liter bottle of pop, also we were able to sleep inside and actually house, on the floor of course but still it was alot warmer that sleeping outside. At 3 in the morning the 3rd graders woke us up and made us pack up everything and go outside and meet the others for a Twister face off. My team won that so we were able to continue sleeping inside which was uper nice haha. On Wednesday my team won the finals and won tickets to the tennis tournament in the summer and also tickets to a restraunt. Brawn definitely won over brains durning that camping trip haha there was alot of brawn in my team. My team called me "the beast" haha. I am sure you can guess why haha. So I got home Wednesday night and then the next day I flew out of Ängelholm to go North to Sollefteå to meet my swedish relatives. It was about a 3 hour flight including an hour layover in Stockholm. I flew into Sundsvall which is close to Sollefteå. There I met my grandpas cousin Rigmor. To explain really quickly how I still have relatives in Sweden is goes like this, My great-great-grandpa was married and had a son in sweden but then he decided to move to the USA and left his son and wife in Sweden, promising that he would send for them when he could. He then moved to Wyoming with his brothers and remarried and had my great-grandpa. So Rigmor comes from the swedish marriage and I come from the US marriage. So Rigmor is my 3rd cousin. I have been here for about 2 days and I have met so many cool people and learned so much about my family. I have met my 4th cousins and their children who live in Sollefteå, but they spell Irene Irén. Here in sweden Irene is a first name and Irén is a last. They both sound the same but are different, and rén has nothing to do with reindeer. I saw a picture of my great-great-grandpa for the very first time and I can't explain the feeling I got to finally see who he was. It even brought a tiny tiny tear to my eye. I was also able to see a picture of my great-grandpa for the very first time in my life. My grandpa has always tried to explain his father to me and I had a image in my head of him and you know it was pretty close to the picture. The Irén family is originally from Resele, Sweden which is super close to Sollefteå so on Monday I am going to go and check that out, the original homestead is still there so I am so excited to see that . I can't imagine the feeling I will get when I am there.
It was kind of funny, I have never ever met or talked to or even seen pictures of my 4th cousins but when I went to their home I sat with them in their living room and it felt as if I had known them my whole life it was so cool. And then today I met my other cousin who is 21, Markus, and it felt so natural to be with him even though I had never even heard of him until they told me that he was coming over. He is really cool and I like hanging out with him. I get to hang out with him and his dad tomorrow. I love my family even more now, and I am so excited to learn more about what makes me who I am today. Oh and just for your information, Rigmor and her husband, Göte, don't speak any english so I am here for a week, speaking ONLY swedish. I am doing awesome!!!!! I will post pictures after the trip since I don't have my other computer. I hope everyone is doing awesome and I will try to keep you updated better haha.
Love,
Micah
Well things have been absolutely crazy crazy for the past couple of weeks. Last Sunday I got to talk to Garrett which was awesome. I loved hearing his voice and hear him speak crazy spanish with Devin, it was awesome even though I felt a little left out not being able to show off my new found language skills with them, but o well maybe another day haha. Then the next day, I think that was Monday the14th? maybe?. Anyway, last Monday I packed things up and went on a 2 1/2 day camping trip with my school class. They called it a Survival Camp but it wasn't even close to a survival camp haha. But it was fun. The 3 graders (seniors) were in charge of the whole deal. They split my class up into teams and we had to play games all day and which ever team had the most points at the end of the day got a "prize" So my team was awesome and we won the first day so our prize was a bag of chips and we were able to sleep "inside". It was more like a little hut without a door that we were able to sleep in. So we set up our tent and set it inside the hut. It worked good enough for us. Oh and just so you know, we had to buy all of our food, and my team bought 38 packs of Ramen Noodles to live off of for 3 days. Hmmm someone wasn't thinking haha. The next day we did alot of walking (If you want to look it up on Google Maps where we walked look up Torekov, Sweden and Båstad, Sweden, we walked all along the coast from Torekov to Båstad.) But my team won that day too, so that night our prize was a bag of chips, apples, and a 2 liter bottle of pop, also we were able to sleep inside and actually house, on the floor of course but still it was alot warmer that sleeping outside. At 3 in the morning the 3rd graders woke us up and made us pack up everything and go outside and meet the others for a Twister face off. My team won that so we were able to continue sleeping inside which was uper nice haha. On Wednesday my team won the finals and won tickets to the tennis tournament in the summer and also tickets to a restraunt. Brawn definitely won over brains durning that camping trip haha there was alot of brawn in my team. My team called me "the beast" haha. I am sure you can guess why haha. So I got home Wednesday night and then the next day I flew out of Ängelholm to go North to Sollefteå to meet my swedish relatives. It was about a 3 hour flight including an hour layover in Stockholm. I flew into Sundsvall which is close to Sollefteå. There I met my grandpas cousin Rigmor. To explain really quickly how I still have relatives in Sweden is goes like this, My great-great-grandpa was married and had a son in sweden but then he decided to move to the USA and left his son and wife in Sweden, promising that he would send for them when he could. He then moved to Wyoming with his brothers and remarried and had my great-grandpa. So Rigmor comes from the swedish marriage and I come from the US marriage. So Rigmor is my 3rd cousin. I have been here for about 2 days and I have met so many cool people and learned so much about my family. I have met my 4th cousins and their children who live in Sollefteå, but they spell Irene Irén. Here in sweden Irene is a first name and Irén is a last. They both sound the same but are different, and rén has nothing to do with reindeer. I saw a picture of my great-great-grandpa for the very first time and I can't explain the feeling I got to finally see who he was. It even brought a tiny tiny tear to my eye. I was also able to see a picture of my great-grandpa for the very first time in my life. My grandpa has always tried to explain his father to me and I had a image in my head of him and you know it was pretty close to the picture. The Irén family is originally from Resele, Sweden which is super close to Sollefteå so on Monday I am going to go and check that out, the original homestead is still there so I am so excited to see that . I can't imagine the feeling I will get when I am there.
It was kind of funny, I have never ever met or talked to or even seen pictures of my 4th cousins but when I went to their home I sat with them in their living room and it felt as if I had known them my whole life it was so cool. And then today I met my other cousin who is 21, Markus, and it felt so natural to be with him even though I had never even heard of him until they told me that he was coming over. He is really cool and I like hanging out with him. I get to hang out with him and his dad tomorrow. I love my family even more now, and I am so excited to learn more about what makes me who I am today. Oh and just for your information, Rigmor and her husband, Göte, don't speak any english so I am here for a week, speaking ONLY swedish. I am doing awesome!!!!! I will post pictures after the trip since I don't have my other computer. I hope everyone is doing awesome and I will try to keep you updated better haha.
Love,
Micah
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Technical Difficulties
Hello!
So I was going to post videos for my mom for mothers day. It was going to be like a 12 days of Christmas thing but due to technical difficulties i was unable to post them on this blog. If you are really interested in seeing the video you'll have to contact my mom or Skype me. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Sorry,
Micah
So I was going to post videos for my mom for mothers day. It was going to be like a 12 days of Christmas thing but due to technical difficulties i was unable to post them on this blog. If you are really interested in seeing the video you'll have to contact my mom or Skype me. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Sorry,
Micah
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Mother's Day episode 1
Ok so I was unable to actually post the video but if you go to this address you can watch the video.
Enjoy,
Micah
https://plus.google.com/u/0/117177502455730912714/postsTuesday, May 1, 2012
Technical Difficulties
Due to technical difficulties there I was unable to post what I wanted to but check tomorrow and you will find what I was going to post today. Sorry. :(
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