valmonbubu in sweden

I could see on their face that they are Romanians!

2010-06-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

If your little girl wants to try anything from here (jumping mattresses, Mary Go Rounds, the small train, the Boat of Pirates….) please, let her go! She goes for free! (Her mom can join her, as well). We’ve never charged Romanians, wheever we were…you’re ours, common!

It’s not hard to recognize us as being Romanians… especially for a Romanian guy…we look more sad and concerned than all the other people…

I graduated a Psychology college. I wanted to become a teacher but the salary was 600ron/150E per month and the transportation was not covered…how could I managed to live with that money? So, here I am, driving a truck in Sweden…but not for a Swedish salary…

We’ve been here (Sweden) for a month. We’ve been hired through a Romanian company for 6 months…we are working so hard; we can hardly sleep for 4-5 hours in the night…and they pay us so bad; we cannot compare our salaries to the Swedish ones. But it’s better than staying home (Romania), working for almost nothing.

It takes 10 hours to put up or down a “thing” like this (huge Mary Go Round type machines for the temporary fun parks). We are a team of 16 people…there are 4 Polish guys and the rest are Romanians…we spend 3-4 days in a place and then we have to move to another place…it’s tiring!

Ironically and tragically in the same time, I’m writing this post in the first day of massive strikes in Romania. It’s very hard for us to think of what’s going on back home; it’s hard not because of the distance, but of the difference between the ways the two countries/governments (Romanian and Swedish) are treating their people. The difference is also between the ways the two peoples ask for respect and gain their self respect…I’m getting very pessimistic when I consider the option of going back to Romania after Kopparbo…I only wish to visit Romania, maybe to spend vacations there…

The paragraphs above are pieces of the conversation we (mostly Vali, because I was in the Doggy train) had with 5 Romanians working for a Swedish company in a park of fun we visited last weekend…They were hired through a Romanian company, therefore they are not paid very good. They will work in Sweden until the end of October…

We were very happy to meet these guys…Bubu felt strange hearing Romanian language spoken by other people than us in Sweden. She said ‘Mommy, it’s very weird to hear this language in Sweden!’ ‘Well, they are Romanians like we are, Bubu, and they speak Romanian’. They were happy to meet us, as well. They were interested in our experience, of course (how did we get here, what do we work, how much do we make). Unlike us, they were by themselves, missing their families. There was one sad guy looking after Bubu all the time because he has a little girl, as well, but he couldn’t take her in Sweden. Oh, how lucky we are…

Yes, Vali felt them as being Romanians. He first went by himself to look around the place (Bubu and I were busy in another park…) He came back saying that there are Romanians working for the Mary go Round machines. ‘Have you talked to them?’ ‘No, but I could see on their faces…’ As they said, Romanians look tired and sad among the other nationalities…no wonder why we left Romania, no wonder why people are protesting back home, no wonder why we lack self respect and energy to ask for respect from our leaders…

Yes, we feel so good here that I only want to visit Romania!

posted by Monica

"I don't want to win, i don't want to lose"

2010-05-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

...this is a line from the lyrics of the song that will represent this year Sweden to the Eurovision Song Contest. The song is called "This is my life" and is played by an almost unknown (till now) young singer named Anna Bergendahl. I began to learn to appreciate the song and i kind of like it a lot.

I find in the line that i use in the title of this post, so much from the identity of the swedes and their way of seeing life: nothing should strike or bother you, nothing must be extraordinary, keep things simple and do not change too much unless is really needed.

And not too much work, not too much food, not too much noise...keep things moderated.

Like we spent our first wek here:
- We did quite a lot of work at Kopparbo, but not hard or under pressure,
- we visited some places in the sourrounding,and we saw a beavers' house, foxes, rabbits and about ten musses. (elks)
- saw a scout contest in Borlänge, from the group called Stora Tunna and met Hampus and Gustav, volunteers from last year
- we did SH shoppings in Falun ( i have now a Sverige T-shirt)
-and most important for us, we have our first accound in a swedish bank (we are so proud of this)
-And Bubu played a little in the parks, Monica got to practice more driving.

So, nothing extraordinary, but things that makes us feel good, simple happy and protected. We did not win, we did not lose...we experienced and learned more.

Did i make you courious to listen to the song that represents Sweden at Eurovision contest? Do it, i am sure you will like it...and vote for it!

Kopparbo/Sweden-new start, same good old times

2010-05-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's been more than 7 months since we left Kopparbo and Sweden with the thought and hope to come back...and God helped us and here we are again. For a new start, a new experience, same whishes.

It was a long and exhausting trip, more than 30 hours from our home town, to Budapest and after that to Goteborg and finally to Kopparbo. But we made it safe and sound and we got late at the camp site.

Because of this trip i did not have the time and energy to see myself and my girls at Kopparbo, so i had no expectations. We left behind our beloved families to which we got so close in the last months, our native places and head to NORTH.
We knew how it should be, but never expected to be that easy. We felt that we were away only for few days...and we are coming back to a great place that we would call it home.

Everything stayed the same: the kindness of random people, the joy and simple happiness of everyone from Kopparbo, Kimmens' and Lars Eric's fatherhood, Annelie's friendship, the beauty of the whole place.

We got back in bussiness right away, as it was the opening of the camp, so together with other twenty people we set up the place which is now ready for visitors. We carried boats to the lake, set up new holds on the climbing towers, set up the pioneers' track, fixed almost everything....only in two days. A lot to do, a work that makes you tired but happy-tired.

...You know, usually they say about movies that continue a first succesful part (like "reloaded", or "returns") that they are never as good as the first one. We are convinced this won't be the case for us. We are happy to be here, and play the main role in this movie which is our life. We even got new lines to speak out, so i plan to learn "bra svenska", learn to drive the tractor, never be late for breakfast and prepare at least one meal. Monica is determined to drive the bus, speak more swedish and cut the grass... for Bubu, everything can stay the same: much fun everywhere.

So, we are here to work as best as we can, have fun and make a great experience and we plan that this second movie to be better than the one from last year.

So, do not miss this movie, it will be a success!

Last post: Hej då Kopparbo! Hej då Sweden! Vi tackar för allt!

2009-09-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

I have often used the game that participants are asked to say one word that best describes how they feel after ending an activity, a program or an experience.

I thought that this can be a good way to write our last post on this blog, as our time in Sweden comes to its end after four great months. Sometimes I feel I can write whole books about it, sometimes it feels like words would be meaningless...so I chose this middle way:

KIMMEN, LARS ERIC, ANNELIE, INGRID, LEIF, BLACKIE, Markus, Henric, Elin, Malin, Pia, Hampus, Gustav, Ida, Esther, Theresia, Tom Eric, Tour Andreas, LENNART, Sandra, Kurt, Lillian, Anna…

SMEDJEBACKEN, SÖDERBÄRKE, LUDVIKA, FÅGERSTA, BORLÄNGE, VÄSTEROS, FALUN, Nyköping, Stockholm.

ANN-SOFIE, GERTRUD, MATS, LINDA, JANNE, BRIGITTA, BIRGER, JERKER.

Frukost-8, Lunch-12, ficka, middag-18

Pjonärspåret, Samarbete, Klatterväg, Kanot, Hinderbarna, Smedja, Naturrum.

Dala Camp VII, Dog Camp, Scout groups, school groups, Czech people, Dutch people, French people, Scottish people, Danes, Norwegians, Finnish…

Intendentur, chain saw, måla STAKET, skrappa STAKET, gräs maskin, ropes, huge tents.

Muss!, fish, struts…

Fishing, Playground, Paddling, swimming pool, movies, Ice age, Alice, Aristocats, coffee on the boat, Midsommar, Framtidsmuseet, mines, ICA.

Köttbollar, Lax file, Kycklingpyt, Lingon, Saft, grill korv, pankakor, ost, bregott, hårtbröd, havregryn, Kaffe, milk with strawberries, kantarelle.

Five yammies, Oacaoaca, Nejugodmorgon, Shabalala, thingyes, elephant meat, Furnicateunderthecommandoftheking, who’s the b....

Good roads, endless forests, clean lakes, beautiful cities, long summer days, friendly people, blond women, common sense.

Freedom, Joy, Gratitude, Family Love, Patience, No stress, Growing bigger and smarter, Home, Lot of friends, New world, Hope for future.

For everything I described so far we want to say a sincere “Vi Tackar så mycket!”

I used 175 words and several tears. Kopparbo, Sweden, VAR REDO, we are coming back next year. Hej då!

From BuBu’s great wisdom

2009-08-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Our Swedish experience will soon come to its end. We feel that Kopparbo camp was a great place for us and we have been experiencing new things that helped us discover us better and grow. We also feel that our presence here was important both for our family and for the Swedish people that are connected to the camp.

These four months at Kopparbo camp helped us achieve a great deal of a different kind of life experience. By far, the most important achievement was Bubu’s transforming from a quite shy girl and mamma’s baby into a brave, courageous and open mind young lady. There are as well some important physical changes about her as she has become now taller, bigger.

But what it strikes us most all the time is her perspicacity and sharpness that leave us with no words whenever she says something. We put together some of her “pearls” that made people around her burst into laughter (and made me want to have another baby).

1.It is a big difference!
BuBu: I think there is a big difference between Romania and Sweden…
Vali: Yeah, what would that be?
BuBu: In Romania I don’t have my own lake!

Comment: Bubu fell in love with the water, when the weather was good she would have been gone swimming even three times a day. Last year she didn’t even wanted to go in and now she can swim really well (using a swimming ring, of course).

2.What do we do with Mom?
Vali: Bubu, would you like to take Annelie with us when we go back to Romania?
BuBu: Yes, sure, but what do we do with mom?

Comment: Annelie, our Swedish colleague and friend here at Kopparbo, was so nice and lovely to us and especially to Bubu and her behavior made Bubu think of the possibility of taking her with us in Romania.

3.We don’t talk about it!
Vali: Bubu, when we go back home you will have to go to the kindergarten so mom could go to work.
Bubu: Stop it! We don’t talk about it! Not now! Not ever again!

Comment: Bubu going to kindergarten has always been a delicate issue. The “don’t talk about it” attitude was always the response and she continued to use it in any other kind of situation that she did not like. Yet, recently, she said to Monica that she would like to go to a kindergarten that would be close to her work place.

4.I have bigger eyes!
Sitting around the table in the kitchen, having lunch. Bubu is pointing out of the window, saying to Ida:
Bubu: Look, there’s a big pig behind that three!
Ida: Where is it Bubu, I can not see any?
Bubu: Well, I think I have bigger eyes, that’s why I can see it and you can’t.

Comment: Ida, one of the volunteer that worked at Kopparbo this summer, was so close and friendly to Bubu all the time…and mostly, she was really patient and taught Bubu some Swedish and played with her a lot.

5.Stupid...I’m sorry! Stupid...I’m sorry!
We are all in a canoe, paddling on our way back to the camp after spending few hours on the lake. Bubu continues to put her hands in the water getting more wet, even after her mother had told her before to stop doing it.
Vali: Can’t you understand? You get wet and you will start crying because you will be cold.
Bubu: You’re stupid! (“prost” in Romanian)
Vali: What did you say? How dare you to say such a word to me? That’s a really bad word; you don’t say this to anyone!
Bubu: I heard Mom saying this word before.
Monica: Dad is right; this is a really bad word. I am sorry to have said it.
Bubu (to Vali): Stupid...I’m sorry! Stupid...I’m sorry!

Comment: NO COMMENT

6.It’s your fault!
This is one of the mornings when Bubu wakes up and she can not see Monica in the room. We are both still lying in bed, I just opened my eyes and Bubu spoke out her first words for the day.
Bubu (almost crying): Where is Mamma? Why is she not here?
Vali: I don’t know where she is. I just woke up.
Bubu: It’s only your fault. I did not want to come to Sweden.

Comment: After her last line, I suddenly burst into laughter. Of course she did not mean it because she likes the place as much as we do; she was just upset because her mother was missing. Later on I had another little talk with her:
Vali: Ok, you said it is my fault to be here in Sweden and because you don’t like we go back home tomorrow. So, today you have to pack!
Bubu: Stop it! We don’t talk about it!

7.She is my mother and my wife!
Bubu (to Vali): Take your hands off Mom. She’s mine!
Vali: But she’s mine too. She is my wife and your mother. She belongs to both of us.
Bubu: No! She’s my mother, and my wife!
Comment: Bubu loves her mother. From what she keeps saying, she loves her until planet Pluto and back. In Romanian, Bubu’s line is so much more fun: It sounds like that: “E nevasta mea si sotia mea si mama mea si ma-ta mea si Popeasca mea!”

8.I’m not your baby!
Vali (to Bubu): Oh, my sweet baby…
Bubu: I’m not your baby! I am mammy’s baby... She made me.
Vali: But I helped her too…
Bubu: How?
Vali: …You should go and ask her.

Comment: Bubu knows from Monica everything about everything. Even how babies come out from their mothers’ bellies. She does not know yet how they get there.

9.Now, we make more money!
We have tried to explain to her that we need to earn more money, so we can buy things that we need. For this, it will be necessary that Mom gets a job also. In order for Mom to have a job, Bubu has to go to the kindergarten.

One day at Kopparbo, Monica and I were preparing a piece of land to be spread with grass seeds. Bubu takes a shovel and says:
Bubu: Now, as I am helping you here and all three of us are working, we will make more money!

Comment: I could not do any work for the next 10 minutes. Neither Monica could.

10.They can not hear us anyway!
Few days ago we went to the closest town and had a walk around. Eventually, we went and visited a cemetery, attracted by the beauty of so many flowers and really nice graveyards, totally different from those we are used to back home in Romania.
At some point, Bubu is shouting after me because I was at some distance from her.
Monica: Hey, we should be quiet here. We are in a cemetery and we are not supposed to speak loud.
Bubu: But why?
Monica: Because it is not nice. There are dead people here.
Bubu: But they can not hear us anyway!

Comment: Bubu has a “killing” sense of reality. Later on, after looking at the graveyards, reading names of persons and the ages when they were alive, Bubu realized:
Bubu: From all these people here, I only know Jesus and Grandma Viorica (! my mother). I do not know anyone else.

11.I tried!
Bubu (to Vali): Can you bring me a chewing gum?
Vali: I think you should ask Mom if you are allowed…
Bubu (to Mom): Mom, can I have a gum?
Monica: No, you barely ate something today and you already had chewing gum so far.
Bubu (to Vali): That is true, but I tried!

Comment: SHE IS SMART!

Letter for the moose who jumped in front of my car

2009-07-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Dear moose,

You should know that it was not nice at all from you to do what you just did the other night. Who taught you that you just can jump in front of my car and scary the hell out of me?

I definitely did not expect that! I was driving carefully back home to Kopparbo after having a nice time with Ann-Sofie’s family, Bubu and Monica were singing and having fun in the back seats of the car, when you considered it is a right time to jump in front of the car.

Is it because we did not really know how big and powerful you can be? Was that any kind of punishment for us because we disturbed your peaceful dinner? Or you tried to kill yourself? But why would you do that? Swedish forests offer you a nice home. I just think you are very stupid. Beautiful animal, but stupid.

So please, read carefully my letter and take into account that your stupid action might have sent me and my family to the hospital, at least. We appreciate your beauty, we try not to bother you, but you have to promise you will not do this again. Also, read my letter to your friends and let them know that we do not really want to die in a car accident produced by a moose. It is just not funny at all.

Let’s do that: I will tell everyone what beautiful creature you are and you tell your friends what I have just asked you. Do we have a deal?

Facts about moosses (just to keep my share of the deal!)

The animal bearing name Alces alces is known in Europe as elk and in North America as moose. The name elk is connected with several earlier European variants—Latin: alces, Old Norse: elgr, Scandinavian: elg, and German: Elch—all of which refer to this animal.

In Europe, moose are found in large numbers throughout Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Finland and the Baltic States. They are also widespread through Russia. Small populations remain in Poland (Biebrza Nat. Park) and Belarus.

On average, an adult moose stands 1.8–2.1 m high at the shoulder. Males weigh 380–720kg and females weigh 270–360 kg.
A moose's body structure, with a large heavy body suspended on long spindly legs, makes these animals particularly dangerous when hit by motor vehicles. Such collisions are often fatal for both the moose and motorist. Generally, upon impact the bumper of the car will break the moose's legs. The main body of the moose will then collide with the windscreen, often with disastrous effect to both motorist and animal. In a collision of this nature, a car's airbags may not deploy or be of much use if they do. These risks led to the development of a vehicle test referred to as the "moose test" (Swedish: Älgtest, German: Elchtest).
Moose warning signs are used on roads in regions where there is a danger of collision with the animal. The triangular warning signs
common in Sweden, Norway and Finland have become coveted souvenirs among the many German tourists traveling in these countries, and authorities have had to issue warnings that it is dangerous and criminal to remove these signs.

Alice in the Wonderland –the theme of Bubu’s Swedish experience

2009-07-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

For a month or so Bubu has been watching Alice in the Wonderland (in Swedish) on a daily basis…sometimes twice a day. It can be early in the morning, when mamma and daddy are taking breakfast in a different building and Bubu is too sleepy to join the Kopparbo team; it might be later during the day, when Bubu is getting bored or tired of climbing or of watching other people climbing (because mammy and daddy are in charge with this activity); or it can be in the rainy days, when we have no energy or funny ideas to entertain our daughter. After watching it for so many times Bubu is able to sing several lines in Swedish (this movie has beautiful songs) and to speak Swedish words or phrases that are not familiar to me, but that are useful so I have to learn them, as well. Bubu watches this movie every day because she likes its songs, she is fascinated of the ‘non-sense’ of the characters’ actions, but most of all she likes Alice –‘because she is beautiful, she sings very nice and she is so brave to travel by herself in such an unusual world’.(Alice is beautiful even if she is not a princess…it’s very nice that Bubu likes a ‘regular’ girl; she is not crazy about princess anyway, but we expect that time will come).

It took me some time to realize that Alice in the Wonderland is not just a children’s movie for Bubu and for her new life. There are many things in our life here that are similar to the movie and so many changes in Bubu that makes her to be like Alice in certain ways.

It’s not hard for me to say that Kopparbo is a Wonderland for Bubu (and for Vali and me in many ways). This place is so safe, beautiful and vast that Bubu feels very confident to explore it and most of the time she does this without me. Vali and some of our volunteer colleagues are her favorite companions. Vali is the best partner for swimming in the deep waters of ‘our’ lake (of course, Bubu is using a floating ring, but when we started to bath in the lake she wouldn’t have left the shallow waters, where she could feel the ground under her feet; now she is swimming next to Vali, where the lake is very deep), for drawing, reading and singing in Bzzz’s house (a small wood house where Bzzz stayed when she had visited us) and for riding her three wheel bicycle to Leif’s house and back (half a kilometer far from the house we live in). Then, she likes to take the meals next to Malin (one of our volunteer), to roll in the grass with Ida, to play tricks on Hampus (Bubu is filling up his boots with grass or she is hiding his hat) and to lay in the grass like a lizard with Ester. I can finally say that Bubu has begun to detach from me and to become independent and brave among new people and places (just like Alice is brave in her non-sense world; the way Bubu gets along with all these new people and the way she communicates with them it’s a non-sense for me…but it’s important that she is willing to communicate and that she can understand some Swedish in a very non-rational, emotional way).

It took such a long time…perhaps we live in the proper environment now. Of course, we met these great people, the Kopparbo team, that are so patient, friendly and good to us (especially to Bubu); they make this great environment for us; they teach us the calm, patient and relaxed Swedish way of life which is so healthy for our family. This proper environment brought Bubu and Vali very close to each other; Vali helps Bubu to explore this new world and to get the physical and the moral confidence that she is safe and strong. This father-daughter relationship started only here, at Kopparbo…it happened that the theory of the father’s role of helping his child to adapt to the environment worked in the opposite direction –the environment helped the child and her father to discover themselves and to start a close relationship. I’m so happy for that and so thankful to everything that Kopparbo means.

Remember how Alice is suddenly growing up after eating from a mushroom? We have the feeling that Bubu must be eating from a miraculous food every day. She is growing physically a lot. But more than that, she does lot of things by herself, just like a big girl (she can put all the cloths on her, she can take a good shower, including hair washing, she can take the things she needs without asking for help, she can stay by herself for a while and find her own ways of keeping herself busy).

Alice’s constant searching of the way home is also present in Bubu’s Swedish experience. She talks about our turning back home almost every day; sometimes she talks about it crying, because she misses her friends and our families (we noticed that she is getting into this sad mood when it’s raining a lot so that we cannot play outside and explore the surroundings); other times she talks about it very proudly –‘what would Doinita/Georgi/Nico/Ioana/Briana…(a long list of people and pets can go on here) would say about me doing this and that all by myself?!; some other times she talks about going back home with the regret of leaving behind the Swedish experience (we don’t have a lake with such clear waters back home; we don’t have so nice playing grounds in Pucioasa or in Lupeni; streets and playing grounds are not so clean back home; we don’t have the climbing towers back home…the list of what we don’t have is also long). Anyway, her way back home is constantly ‘interrupted’ by the good moments she is having in Kopparbo or Smedjebacken and by the good people she lives or she meets with. These are making Bubu a wise and brave Alice.

Vill du leva livet glatt, köp en Riesen svart!

2009-07-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

…if you want to live happy, buy a (Riesen) dog!

This was the motto of this great week we had at Kopparbo.
We were part of the biggest dog camp in Europe as one of the organizers told us the other day: 160 caravans, 340 persons and 200 Riesen Schnauzer dogs turned the quiet Kopparbo camp into a real small town.

For 25 years this sweet crazy people came in the same week of the year to share their passion on their dogs. As I found out, this is what motivates them when they go to their jobs; they just live for this camp.

At first, I was looking at this people with such kind of irony, just because I had the feeling that they look so stupid with their dogs and it seemed to me that people are owned by their dogs, and not the other way. They walk and stop every other meter just because the dogs want that, they wake up early because the dog is hungry, gather their pup and carry it around, keep the dogs in their leashes while their children are running away from them.

It seemed kind of stupid…but it was stupid of me to think this way. We discovered some great people that just have a great hobby, know how to have a great time together. I think that they just have some extra love and energy to give to their precious dogs which are part of their families.

And it was inspiring for us to see so much good mood and happy spirits from everyone while they were having some beers, singing around the camp fire, competing in silly funny games, but also in the dog contest, parades or trainings. This people were mostly from all over Sweden, but also from Norway, Denmark and Finland, the four sister countries, but I could feel that the passion for their dogs makes them like one happy family. In one of the drinking songs I could understand some guys from Finland singing: “I do not remember if I am Finnish or Swedish, I only remember that I like alcohol and women.”
For us, it was definitely one of the best weeks at Kopparbo.
We met so many new people, great ones like Theresia. She was here as the chief cook for the dog camp and we admired her energy and openness. Her husband is from Norway and he is going there every other week to load a truck of fish from the North Sea. (I might have the chance to go with him also).Bubu played a lot with her little son Tom Eric.
Bubu found herself a little five year old girl to play with, named Amanda. They had such a great time together, we could feel that she was really happy this week, because at some point we realized she is missing a lot playing with little kids of her age. But Amanda came right in time. We know that Amanda also liked BuBu and before she left she came to hug her and give one of her books as a present. It was really nice.
Even it was a little bit more work to be done, for us it was a great week. Also we got to know better our new colleagues, Hampus, Esther and Ida. They are all great young people and we feel that we make a good team here.

The dog camp is almost over and we already made hopes to see some of the people next year in the same camp. By the way, there are high chances to come back next year, we do not want to be really happy now until we know for sure.

But there’s one aspect that we really have to mention: this place looks almost as clean as it was before this 300 people and 200 dogs settled down here a week ago. Can you imagine how it would look like if 300 Romanians would spend a week together? I can only picture a lot of trash everywhere… at least a mountain of trash plus 300 manele songs in the same time!

This is one extra reason to be thankful for being able to experience living in a civilized country with civilized people. It linked me again to one of the comedy shows of the great George Carlin in which he was making fun of those who want to save the planet. He had a great line: “The planet is fine, the people are fu_ked”! But we learn every day.

How much do you weigh on Sun?

2009-07-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

If you go Framtidsmuseet (The Future Museum)in Borlänge you can find out what is your weight on the planet Mars or on Sun..we went there last week when Bzzz was here and had a great time together with our colleagues from the camp.

I visited this museum for the first time while my two week trip to Sweden in January
this year and i really wanted to bring my girls over there. It's a nice funny way to spend one or two hours discovering a lot of interesting things that could chalenge both kids and adults.

You can pass through a past-to-future house in which each room is different according to the time fashion and habbits, you learn about planets and solar system, find a lot of curiosities about human body, animals, scients in a really funny way, you can even fly a plane.

Did you know for example that each human being has in total 96 000 kilommeters of veins(if we were to tie them)?.. and if we were to transport them we will need 3 trucks!

Monica ans Bzzz tried the MindBall: a competition in two where you win if you can send a ball to the other person, small wires are conected to your head and they dedect the activity of your brain. If you succeed not to think of anything you can send the ball to the other person and that's how you win.

BuBu tried games for little kids and of course, slides.

I was never worried about my weight but i got a little bit nervous when i realized that i have 2510 kilos...but that would be on the Sun. So i tried more and i found that i weigh 219 kilos on Jupiter, 33 kilos on Mars and only 15 kilos on Moon.

It was great! If I were to choose the planet i want to move and live it will definetly be... Sweden!

This weather is good for the potatoes!

2009-06-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

It has been really warm and sunny for the last 7-8 days, right after MidSommar, the summer weather spoil us every day and night. Temperature goes up to almost 30 degrees in the afternoon and close to 20 in the nights. This is perfect weather for taking the canoes, cross the lake on the other side and have nice bathings and lay on the little beach there.
As Swedes say it here, especially Leif, this weather is good for the potatoes!

BuBu is crazy about the water, she will stay in all day long. Last year at the seaside, she would scream only because some ball went in the sea...now she is screaming if we have to leave. such a huge progress).She wakes up in the morning and her first question is: "When do we go to the lake?". I think the potatoes are happy about it.

Huge event for us: Bzzz is here for a week, so BuBu is happy, Monica is very happy and i am even more because all three of them are happy. That's really good for the potatoes. We will be spending a nice time together, Bzzz can speak some romanian after 4 months (i mean more than talking with her family on the phone), visit some places and have fun with our swedish friends here.

Also, the volunteer team grew bigger here, we have new people that joined us at Kopparbo. So we met so far Markus, Henric, and recently Pia, Elin and Malin. More people here, more fun, more work that can be done, which is really good for the potatoes!

By the way, before the weather became so nice, we had 5 days only with rain and it was really cold, we barely saw some sun. But people here were smiling in the mornings and kept saying that the weather is good for the potatoes.

First few times we have been asking arround and try to understand why is it good for the potatoes. What is that special about them? And we understood that is just a nice way of accepting the weather like it is, there's nothing you can do about it so we'd rather do what we can do and do not complain.
Later on we realized that there are not even to many potatoes growing fields, they mostly import it from other countries because the land is not really good for them.

So, i think that even in the winter time, when the snow is half of a meter, Swedes would say that the weather is good for the potatoes.

Well, i think we have learned something new and useful which is very good for our potatoes!

Why Swedish Midsummer is more important than Christmas

2009-06-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Midsummer

Ask a Swede what the most important holiday of the year is and Midsummer will come up as often as Christmas. Get older Swedes talking and their eyes will well up as they reminisce about community spirit, songs, barn dancing and the mystical atmosphere surrounding the Midsummer gatherings of their youth. Sure, there was a lot of drinking, fistfights and frolicking, but everyone shook hands in the end.
For younger generations, Midsummer is mainly about heading out to the summer cottage and celebrating with a group of friends or family. Midsummer Eve always falls on the third Friday in June so people can enjoy a long weekend or kick off their summer vacation. Celebrations often continue long into Midsummer Day, when people are mainly recovering from the “festivities” of the previous night.
In modern Sweden, Midsummer's Eve and Midsummer's Day (Midsommarafton and Midsommardagen) were formerly celebrated on June 23th and 24th, but since the 1950's on the Friday between June 19th and June 25th and the following Saturday. It is arguably the most important holiday of the year, and one of the most uniquely Swedish in the way it is celebrated, even if it has been influenced by other countries long ago. The main celebrations take place on the Friday, and the traditional events include raising and dancing around a huge maypole. One typical dance is the frog dance. Before the maypole is raised, greens and flowers are collected and used to cover the entire pole.

The start of summer holidays
Summer in Sweden is short. It starts showing its face in May and explodes into life in June. The summer has to hurry to get things done before the nights turn cold in September and everything stops growing. At Midsummer, the Swedish summer is a lush green and bursting with chlorophyll, and the nights are scarcely dark at all. In the north, the sun never sets.

Swedes are fairly well attuned to the rhythms of nature. At Midsummer, many begin their five-week annual holidays and they, too, are in a hurry to get things done. Midsummer Eve is celebrated in the countryside — as always — and on the day before, everyone leaves town, everything closes and the streets are suddenly spookily deserted.

Maypoles and dancing
Midsummer is an occasion of large gatherings — and to be honest, many Swedes take advantage of it to fulfill their social obligations so that they can enjoy the rest of their holiday in peace. In many cases, whole families gather to celebrate this traditional high-point of the summer.

Swedes like the world to be well-ordered, so Midsummer Eve is always a Friday. People often begin the day by picking flowers and making wreaths to place on the maypole, which is a key component in the celebrations.

The maypole is raised in an open spot and traditional ring-dances ensue, to the delight of the children and some of the adults. Teenagers tend to stay out of it and wait for the evening’s more riotous entertainment.

Herring and boiled new potatoes
A typical Midsummer menu features different kinds of pickled herring, boiled new potatoes with fresh dill, soured cream and raw red onion. This is often followed by a grilled dish of some kind, such as spare rib or salmon, and for dessert the first strawberries of summer, with cream.

The traditional accompaniment is a cold beer and schnapps, preferably spiced. Every time the glasses are refilled, singing breaks out anew. Swedes like drinking songs and the racier the better.

Mysterious Midsummer
On their way home, girls and young women are supposed to pick seven different species of flowers and lay them under their pillows. At night, their future husbands appear to them in a dream.

Legend has it that the night before Midsummer’s Day is a magical time for love. It still is, in a way. During this night a relationship is put to the test. Under the influence of alcohol, the truth will come out; this can lead both to marriage and to divorce.

Also, Midsummer is associated with magic and fertility rites. The Midsummer maypole, a fertility symbol used to “impregnate” Mother Nature, was meant to bring a good autumn harvest.

How we celebrate
Well, as good “adopted” Swedes, we will start our day going shopping ( we buy things for the grill and drinks of course), then we go in Smedjebacken to see how people celebrate and be part of it. We are going to meet Linda and her children, close to BuBu´s age, and we have the party itself at Ann-Sofie’s house (where I lived for two weeks when I was here in January).
It will be fun to be out, with so many friends, good mood and happy spirit. And the good thing is it does not end in the same day, we have a little vacation till Monday, so 3 days to celebrate and enjoy summer in Sweden.

Back to summer weather

2009-06-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's been a while since the last post here. We are coming back with joy to let you know that it feels like summer again after 5 days of rain and cold weather. We were told that's the swedish summer, close to our autumn. But now, it is perfect.

Everybody feels much better now, especially because Midsommaren is coming soon (in three days) and this parctically the highlight in Sweden during summer. You can compare it to Christmas in the winter time. ( but i'll tell you more in another post soon).

What have we been doing lately? Well, more work in the camp with different groups of students and scouts, going out in the town so Bubu can play and have fun, visited an very old iron mine (started in 15th century), learnt more svenska, cut a lot of grass, seen like 20 movies, got a new volunteer colleague (Markus, such a nice friendly boy that likes football), making plans for close future.

Monica and BuBu are happy because there are a lot of nice beautiful flowers arround and they can pick some and put them on the food table, in our room, everywhere... .

National Day of Sweden-Sveriges nationaldag

2009-06-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

National Day of Sweden, or the Swedish Flag's Day (Sveriges nationaldag or svenska flaggans dag) is a national holiday observed in Sweden on June 6 every year.

The day was made into a national day by Riksdagen, the Swedish parliament, in 1983, before which it was just honored as "the Swedish flag day".

The tradition of celebrating this date began in the 1910s at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium, in honour of the election of King Gustav Vasa in 1523, as this was considered the foundation of modern Sweden.
Some question the validity of this as a national holiday, as it was not observed as a holiday until decades later. However this event does signify the end of the Danish-ruled Kalmar Union, so in a sense it is a marking of Swedish independence, though the event occurred so long ago that it does not have as strong of a presence in the social consciousness as does, for example, Norway's Syttende Mai (17th of may).

In 2005 it became an official Swedish public holiday, taking that honour from Whit Monday. This change led to fewer days off from work (more working-days) as the 6th of June will periodically fall on the weekend, unlike Whit Monday, which was always celebrated on a Monday. This has in turn led to complaints from some Swedish unions.

Flag of Sweden

The flag of Sweden dates back to the 16th century. It is believed to be inspired by the Coats of Arms of Sweden, which feature three yellow crowns on a blue background, and modelled on the Danish flag, the Dannebrog. King John III took the form of the current Swedish flag into use in 1569. Prior to this, a similar flag appeared in the Coat of Arms of John's duchy, which is today southwest Finland.

The Sweden Flag is one of the national symbols of Sweden . The flag of Sweden was officially adopted on June 22, 1906.

How are we going to celebrate the National Day of Sweden? Well, we will be busy in the camp because we have guests, but probably on Sunday afternoon we will go for a little sightseeing and take BuBu into a playground, of course.

Camp activities-teambuilding for students, parents and teachers

2009-06-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

We have learnt in these two weeks at Kopparbo camp that is pretty common for students to be part of some extra school activities in places like our camp here by the end of their school year.

Nothing new so far, except that this camp program (that in most cases last for one or two days) is outside of the school program and is totally organized by parents and teachers. In Sweden, the educational process is absolutely free (of course, parents pay taxes-big ones), but as long as it cannot include this kind of activities in the regular school programmes, parents pay for them from their pocket.
Parents plan the trip long time ahead, book the activities, plan their own activities and join their children in this program. They do it almost every year, and parents take turns to accompany their children. It is kind of an important classroom but also family event, so everything is so well thought through: budget, program, and timing.

The camp provides the facilities, accommodation and food, activities required and the trainers/instructors to facilitate the activities, but it is the adults (vuxna) who are responsible for the children’ security, their program, what they do over the night and so on.
It is also really cool ‘cause groups cook their own food, establish want they want to do and clean the rooms when they leave. To be noted, they leave the rooms exactly how they found them, ready for the next groups, and I mean here washing dishes, mopping floors, everything. This is part of their program.

Parents (föräldrar) and teachers (lärare) consider it a “must” for the students and also for them, like a little teambuilding retreat. No wonder that relationships are so close, parents know very well their children needs according to their age, teachers are considered second parents. You will not hear a child calling his/her teacher Mr or Miss, only by their first names.
Children spent precious time together, tighten the classmate relationship, and become better friends, like a small community. It was really cool to watch this evening adults in one team and children in the other team, playing Bränball, a family game similar to baseball, but played only for fun.
I know our system, as a student I was part of it. Parents and teachers encourage it all the time: you should have the best grades in the classroom, be better than your desk mate, and mind your own paper work. Students here are taught to study in a teambuilding medium, learn from each other, discover and develop their own abilities and skills through the other colleagues. It looks so simple!
I still have in mind a lärarina (lady young teacher), named Camila, one of the first teachers we met at Kopparbo. She was so close to her students, so kind and encouraging. You can only be a great student having such a teacher.

Most of them, both teachers and parents remind me of the relationship that creates all the time at our IMPACT youth clubs between leaders and participants. Sometimes I can imagine that the way they study at school should look like an IMPACT meeting. And coming to Kopparbo camp seems to be the celebration after a service project.

Oh, I already miss IMPACT so much! …and everything around it.

Var Redo: Kopparbo- Svenska Scoutförbundet

2009-05-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

"Kopparbo is the permanent campsite, training centre and the centre for an active outdoor life. The activities have developed over the years. Today it is one of Sweden's best sites of its kind."...those are the first words you may find if you go on the website of this great camp.

Here are some interesting datas about Kopparbo:
- it functions under Svenska Scoutförbundet which is The Swedish Scout Association
- it is as larg as large as 96 football fields
- the camp sites can accommodate approximately 5000 guests in tents
- the King of Sweden visited Kopparbo several times (himself being a true scout)
- thousands of scouts visited Kopparbo (there's a scout camp every 4 or 5 years), almost 800 scouts are expected this summer in a so called Dalacamp

Further than all these information, Kopparbo became our home home for this 90 days, and the people that we work with became our family:
Lennart (Kimmen-on his scout name)-is like a father, always asking what else we need
Ingrid-we feel her like having a mother role for us, always caring and protective
Lars Eric-is like a close uncle, full of jokes and good spirit
Annelie-is definetly our older sister (even she's younger than us), taking care of us and helping with everything
Leif-is the good neighbour(especially to fixing things), that you whish to have close to your house.
Blackie- is our family pet (a black intelligent labrador, Bubu's favourite member of the family)
..we do not know why we love them exactly so much: for being swedish or scouts, or maybe for both reasons.

In this little community, the scouts' spirit is everywhere. Here is a version of a scout pledge, both in english and swedish:

1. En scout söker sin tro och respekterar andras
A scout seeks his own belief and respects others'
2. En scout är ärlig och pålitlig.
A Scout is honest and trustworthy.
3. En scout är vänlig och hjälpsam.
A Scout is friendly and helpful.
4. En scout visar hänsyn och är en god kamrat.
A scout is considerate and a good companion.
5. En scout möter svårigheter med gott humör.
A scout overcomes difficulties in a good mood.
6. En scout lär känna och vårdar naturen.
A Scout learns to know and protects the Nature.
7. En scout känner ansvar för sig själv och andra.
A Scout accepts responsibility for herself/himself and others.

Pionjärspåret= Pioneertrack

2009-05-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

Many groups of students come at Kopparbo together with their teachers and/or parents to go through the famous Pjonärspåret. What is this in fact?

It is an interesting track built in the forest in 1979, consisting in lots of bridges made of rope and passings over ravines or rocks, or climbing big hills and it ends with a 5o meter cable swing.

It takes almost 40 minutes to go all over the challenges who have the goal of bringing back the memorial times of the old people who were living these places, or people coming from America in order to hunt various animals and take their fuhr. Kids learn in the nature and of course would experience how the traps for the animals worked, how huge cliffs were climbed on to the top, how people from old times used to build the bridges over rivers, how they used to make ladders from huge trees, or lift up big weights when building something.

It is educational, fun, exciting, both for children and adults.

All the three of us, guided by Annelie, had a tour of the Pjonärspåret. BuBu was of course really excited and not afraid at all and she was encouraging Monica several times.

We redescovered BuBu's climbing abilities and her desire to search for little adventures all the time.

Other fun activities we do at Kopparbo camp are:

- climbing
- canoeing
- bread baking
- black smithing
- fishing
- bathing
- camping
- teambuilding activities
- all sort of outdoor games
We will try them all, of course.

You can find more pictures about Kopparbo camp activities, at http://www.kopparbo.com/photogallery/

Get to you back soon!

Swedish houses-little museums in the forest

2009-05-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went for a nice sightseeing of the area and we payed a visit to a 68 years old lady named Lillian. She used to be a scout and worked for a long time at Kopparbo.

She lives by herself in the forest and takes care of her beautiful house that really looks like a little museum in the forest. It's a little museum because the house was built in 1913 by her grandparents and used to be an important place in the community as they had a store where villagers could buy almost anything.

You can find so many old objects that could serve as museum pieces like tools for making butter and cheese, gardening tools, bottles of beer, mouse traps, almost anything.

Lillian still live in the house and takes care of the property, but only in the summer time, as it would be really hard to live the in the hard winters.

It was really impressing to see in one of the rooms a quite new computer seated on a furniture that is almost 1oo years old. In fact, all the house is like that, an interesting combination of old and modern. Lillian lives here alone and sometimes her children and grandsons visit her. She spends her time working around the house, planting flowers, gardening, going fishing, reading a lot and playing computer games.

But the main occupation is taking care of the house and her yard. This is something like a moral duty for her, and for all the swedes that own a house.

Swedish houses are like little museums: always clean, ready for guests, at least one special corner with old stuff or artsitic objects like artefacts, new technology is a must and all the modern facilities that makes your live easyer.

If you take a look at the house from outside you would say it's a pretty small house, but you have a shock once you get inside because you can not understand how suddenly rooms become so big, how so many things fitted in. We think that swedes are specialists in room management and using every single centimeter. (Even in our little room fitted three beds, lots of drawers and is still a lot of air to breath, and we were thinking that back home we would use two rooms for all it's in there.)

Also, swedes prefer to buid their houses on their own, it is something like a local culture. If they can not do it on their own, they tell the building company how it should be built.

Almost all the swedes have or at least want to have their house in the forest, it is part of their way of living, the desire for personal space.

We feel like we want to have swedish house too. DON'T YOU?

What Swedes know about Romania

2009-05-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

As a good Romanian, I was of course interested to find out what Swedes know about Romania and Romanian people.

This is going to be a really short post because I asked around and found out that they know almost NOTHING- nästan INGETING.

Young people have no idea about Romania. Adults have a little bit of knowledge. They heard or know a little bit about:

Dracula and Transilvania (and they ask where is precisely)

Ceausescu (they know it was a really bad guy)

Gypsies (that we exported to Italy and Spain); they are too polite to consider all Romanians like them

Hagi (just because they love football and respect someone who is valuable)

The fact that Romania is located in the Eastern Europe and we speak a Latin language

This would be all that an average adult (not a teenager!) would know about Romania.

As a good Romanian, I make sure they understand we have a beautiful (“honey and milk”) country, and I hope they won’t go there and realize I lied to them so bad!

We like Sweden because...

2009-05-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

Busses and trains (tåg) always arrive in time according to their schedule

The train controller helps you (hjälper dig) with directions, smiles at you, makes jokes and even carries your luggage. They have a cute system for opening doors (dörrar) in the train, called “wave and smile” which I think it’s a state of facts for Swedish.

Almost everyone speaks English (Engelska), so it is really easy to ask for any kind of information.

Swedish people appreciate it a lot if you try (försöka) to speak any Swedish (svenska). In fact they are happy and willing to teach you some words (ord).

You can drink (dricker) the water directly from the tap because it is so good. Swedish consider a really stupid thing to buy water. There are a lot of water (vatten) contests between villages, so they are taking really good care of it. Also, they tell you that you can swim (simmar) in the lakes and drink the water in the same time.

Swedes have really healthy food, no fat at all and cannot start a day without a good breakfast (frukost). Also, they would always respect eating hours.

They would use one key (en nyckel) to open a lot of locks. I was given a master key that opens 43 locks in our camp. And most of doors and gates are not locked because (därför) no one ever would go in unless has the right to do it.

Swedes trust you a lot. If you have a driving licence, they just borrow you the car (bilen), if you have rock climbing experience they allow you to teach others, if you can light a fire, you can prepare dinner.

When it comes to work (arbeta), they are serious, pragmatic and really practical. They expect the same, but they know to appreciate your hard work.

I feel so much comfortable to drive (att köra) in Swden because:
-Everyone respects driving rules (speed, priority)
-Streets are so wide
-You can not find a single hole in the road
-Other drivers won’t send you to origins or yell at you if you do a mistake

Sweden is so green; 80% is forests (skogar), the rest is lakes, even sometimes I feel is the other way.

Towns, streets, houses (hus) are so clean and Swedes love and respect nature (naturum).

Wildlife is everywhere. You can see at any moment a dear (djur), elks, rabbits, foxes and a lot of birds (fåglar).

Swedish people love children (barn). Teachers and (och) parents do everything they need to for them. There are playgrounds everywhere and facilities for kids.
We learned that if you slap your child you can even go to jail, there’s a law that says that.

Just because we get to do new interesting things like:
-Driving a bus (I am learning now to drive a tractor)
-Going with canoes and boats on the lakes
-Fishing
-Swinging on cables
-Learn to cook Swedish food and to eat it
-Meet a lot of Swedish kids with their teachers and parents

NOTE 1: What we just said we like about Sweden is what we experienced so far
NOTE 2: In the black brackets, you can find the Swedish for the last word before the bracket. It is meant to be like a little Swedish course.
NOTE 3: The list will stay open, I am pretty sure we will find other reasons to like Sweden
NOTE 4: We will start a list with things that we do not like in Sweden (it is clear so far)
NOTE 5: We will also have a list with weird things in Sweden