Packing for London.

And just wanted to check in and let you all know I am still alive and doing well.  Its about 10:40 in evening right now, and tomorrow morning at 6:30 my host dad will be driving me to the airport where I will be meeting up with my child development class and going on a week long study tour to London! I'm so excited. I've heard from my camp eagle ridge friend Brownie that there is something called a sweet potato falafel wrap that is available around London, and my mind exploded when I heard this. Two of my favorite foods together in one wrap?! Oh yeah, and Big Ben, seeing a performance at some big time theater blah blah. But anyway... SWEET POTATO + FALAFEL = mind blown.

Tonight I made dinner for the family, and I didn't realize how wonderful it would taste to eat something familiar. I made chicken and dumplings, my favorite dish that my mom makes back home. Of course it wasn't as good as hers and the dumplings were a little bit flat, but all the love was there and I think that's what matters. Lennart even said it was good, which left me beaming because Lennart doesn't seem to like most anything. Not cheese, not most sweets, but he loves bagels. I was flattered that he ate it, and even said, "its good!" in English to me. He told me the chicken was really good, but could use a little salt. I'll remember that. After dinner as we sat around drinking some wine that Jan got out, Anne Marie said she was waiting for the casseroles that she sees all the time in America movies when a tragedy happens. "Just something different," she called it. This made me laugh. A casserole? Something different? I guess its all relative.

Things have been going really well here. Last weekend me and Abigail met a genuine pirate man. He had a gold tooth. His friends and even some strangers all knew him as "the captain." When one of his friends tried to remember his real name when I asked, he suddenly remembered and said, "David!" He got a slap from the captain.

This week I went to the botanical gardens in Copenhagen with Rachel, a very sød (sweet) girl from Knox. So while I'm being lazy right now and don't want to go into an extensive entry, I'm going to show you some pictures instead that will hopefully warm up your day. Except for the lucky ones Paraguay not currently suffering from some form of S.A.D.

It was WARM inside the place we went to. And it smelled like a heavenly mixture of fresh soil and light flower fragrances. I wish I could somehow capture these smells and share them with you, because they they were heavenly. I know, the smell of dirt, heavenly? But don't knock it til you try it.

 And just for kicks, I thought I'd share what a commute home looks like.

This is on the upper level of one of my usual trains home. I remember thinking, hm, this one has single seats? Hm, everyone looks really well dressed and is being quiet? And then the lady came to check my ticket and made me leave because I had accidentally sat down in business class. Oops.

my mittens! thanks aunt sue, for giving me the gift of warm hands.

And here is the picture I will leave you with. If I'm contacting you via internet, this is most likely where I'm sitting. WOW right?! You're so glad you're being enlightened by this blog entry. I know I know.

Ok ok last ones for real now. These are other people's pictures from the short study tour we took to Western Denmark a while ago, but I just wanted to show Aunt Sue how much I've been appreciating the warm jacket and mittens she got me before I left.

Its like they magically turn me into a model/ movie star, am I right?!