Minnesota bound.... Farewell Sweden!

Friday, April 3 – Going home today!! It has been an awesome adventure but I’m really ready to go home… I can’t believe I will see my family in a few hours. Not looking forward to the long flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis but I know it gets me closer to my destination. 8-1/2 hours on an airplane is a long time…I spent a lot of it reading the Stieg Larsson book that Jens & Jessica gave me at the Farewell Party (got through page 492 but couldn’t quite get to the end…) It was strange to say one last "goodbye" to Christina and Bo - - they've been such a part of our adventure that it was strange to think that we might not see them again! Bo may be coming to Minnesota in two weeks for our District Conference if things work out AND we know that we'll see the Sweden team a couple of times during the month of April as they visit our area.

Going through the first security check, I ended up losing my lingon berries that I had bought for Tyler – I was pretty bummed about that but everything else survived the trip.

We arrived in Minneapolis way ahead of schedule and ended up waiting just outside the gates for ours to open up. Our group was wayyyyyy in the “back of the bus” – I was in row 42 of 43 if that tells you anything. Going through customs didn’t take as long as I thought and Kara was the only one of us who ended up being pulled aside for additional screening mostly because of the bag of flour that she had been carrying since Alingsas.

We said our goodbyes to one another at the top of the stairs just outside of customs because we knew it would be crazy once we walked out the door… and it was. I was SOOOOOO happy to see Kevin and he got the chance to meet several of the group that I had been traveling with.

The ride home was pretty uneventful but rather than going right home – we stopped up to the golf club for the season opening party to see some of my friends. After a warm welcome, a few of my friends came home for a final, final beverage for the night --- Royce and I finished my trip the same way it started; with a shot of ackavit. It’s been a great adventure – but it’s also great to come home to such a warm welcome!!!

Saturday morning started relatively early - - even though I stayed up until at least midnight on Friday, I was WIDE AWAKE at 4 AM. I finally gave in about 6:30 AM and got out of bed and started to unpack… Zoe, my cat, was right beside me the entire time – she missed me too! This about wraps up the blog - - thank you to everyone who has been following me on this fantastic adventure! I’m looking forward to starting to work on my scrapbook soon… take care!

My last posting from Sweden....

Thursday, April 2 - - Well, really it's already Friday April 3rd and I'm ready for bed / about 75% packed to head home....

It's been a VERY busy last couple of days - we've had something going EVERY NIGHT but it's been fun...

Here are some pictures and a quick explanation before I call it a night - - see you all soon!

On Wednesday, April 1st - we had a tour of
Volvo Technology where Dawn Yoshimura works... I was REALLY excited about this visit because it was only the SECOND time during my stay that I've heard ANYONE mention the word "lean." Dawn and I talked quite a bit and plan to keep in touch. After our tour of two locations, we went by bus / tram to visit a local artist that she knows and then to her flat for dinner. Bo, Christina, Lars and Lena joined us.

Thursday, April 2 - today, we had a late morning and met at a school near where I'm staying. This school has children from ages 6 to 15 in the same building. I was impressed with the space they have for the classes as well as some of the programs they are working with to help the kids understand what happens in other areas of the world. After that, Anni took me shopping for a cd to bring home to Tyler - - the artist is Nils Landgren and he's a well-known Swedish Trombone player!

At 5 Pm, we all met at Bo Westling's house, he's the District Governor, for dinner. Christer, the team leader for the group heading to Minnesota on Monday stopped by and chatted with us for a few minutes before we had to leave for the Opera. Anders from Partille was able to get us some seats for the dress rehearsal of Katja Kabanova and they were REALLY good seats - - like front row, overlooking the orchestra!! It was hard to follow the singing and story line since it was sung in one language and the tel-e-prompter was in Swedish. Basically, it was a girl has tough life, mets the man of her dreams, can't leave her husband because of a domineering mother-in-law and eventually is so distraught that she's jumps off a bridge and drowns....

After that, I joined Anni and Jan at a party they were attending at a museum. We left there shortly after midnight and now, I'm ready to crash.... for those of you back home in USA - I'll see you soon!! For my new friends in Sweden - - I hope to see you again sometime!