One Week - End of June in Sweden

Dear Blog

I am here again, writing to you, telling you my stories, my adventures, my life. I went to sleep late last night, and woke up late. Now I'm watching musiv videos, very cool stuff, hopefully this stuff is playing in the U.S.

Andre always eats ice cream... always!

We first finished painting the girls room a nice yellow with white closet doors. Then we left town and went to Fjalbacka (I should fix this spelling later). We saw many boats, had a excellent, fresh raaspberry tart. Delicious. I also had a cactus lemon drink.

Then we climbed this small mountain, and Andres and I had an adventure on the top. Jumping holes, climbing rocks, and just having a good time.

We got back to ground eventually, and did a little bit of shopping. I got aa nice Sweden Futball Jersey.

Now we're home, I'm kinda out of it. So sorry for the lack of writing, but hopefully I'll be back tomorrow. Good night blog.

- ET

Two songs I heard tonight that I'll try to remember: Damn, I wish I was your lover (older stuff) Don't know what the name of the song it, but it says "love me wherever you are"

6 Monday, back to the grind... for some of us

Dear Blog

Title is kinda funky, but you know, some people have to go back to work (except for us on vacation). So my mom and Menena went out shopping. Andres and I started to paint the girls room. It had a flower pattern wall paper. However, the colors were a little bit dark, so to lighten it up, Ximena bought some nice yellow paint. The closet doors will be white. So, we only got one coat up today, but it's starting to look much better.

After a hard day of work for us, and after a long day at Jerry's job for Jerry, we all went to the beach, Sånnas, and had a great time. Another one of those first times in my life moment which was jumping off a high platform into the lake. Now I wasn't so worried about the deepness, but the freaking height I had to jump from, which I guess translates to how far I sank and deepness. You could almost see over all the tall trees standing on that platform, so the only way to do it is not think, run and jump. Awesome! So I did it 2 more times. The next time, I wanted to take a better picture, but I couldn't get the timing right, so I prematurely jumped, and yelp or yelled as I was falling. The last time totally sucked. I was running, and right as I squatted to jump, my feet slipped forwards. I saw my feet in front of me and my hands waving out in front of me.... I was flat in the air. I hit the water, POW! My whole back slapped the water, and it stung! Well, it only hurt for about 5 minutes after I got out the water, but enough to where I didn't want to dive anymore. But I'm soo glad I did it! Even Ximena came out swimming with us... I'm not sure if that was a first for her, but it was still nice!

After this, we stopped a few places around the area that Jerry knew. We saw some nice stones, tables, and more beautiful sunsets and lakes. Then we took a drive in hunt for an elk. I never seen an elk, and I was hoping that I could see one tonight, but I did not. But we saw a few bambi's which I think are plain deer. I have a picture of one, but it's very far away.

Well, at night, we got home and had some very nice food. Homemade soda using water, syrup, and carbonation machine and I had Gorby's, a potato bread and meat with chili sauce. Good stuff.

It's late, and I will sleep after a nice long, but relaxiing day for me! I miss my girlfriend, and I wish she could be here with me.

- E.T.

5 days... already?

Dear Blog

Today was a fantastic Sunday here in Sweden. Well not just Sweden, but in Norway as well.

So today, we all drove to Norway to Fort Fredriksten Festning. It was a fort built after Norway has separated from Sweden. In fact, it was this fort where the king of Sweden was killed (a quibble between brothers, but it was never proven that one brother decided to kill the other). The ironic part was that it was a Swedish button that was found in the king (Norway was poor and shooting random items with gun powder). It was a beautiful fort, I thought, since the grass was green, and the cannons are kept up (painted and all). It was the five of us there, Andre, Jerry, Mommy, Ximena, and me!

Andre was laying back, and he said, "I can't believe I'm relaxing on a cannon, much less relaxing on a cannon in Norway!" My mom replies, "Isn't life wonderful?". I think it is! It's so hard to appreciate life living day-to-day. It's kind of the reason I want to create my own entity, or my own video game. Sure, you can say I program everyday, or you can say I'm placing pieces in place to complete my dream. Look at me even here, I'm sitting on the edge of a fort. It's just magical and mystic to me. I just never imagined this would be something that I did. Life is precious.

After the fort, we stopped in a small city in Norway at the border to Sweden. It was dead! I think it is illegal for stores to be open on Sunday. We drove around and found a park with an ice cream parlor open. We sat in the plaza, sort of commented on how quiet and boring the town was, and left. I think our overall opinion of Norway (the two cities we've been to) is that it is super expensive, and not as exciting as Sweden.

We took a nice drive back, and then it was dinner time. We BBQed! That's right! We had a huge thing of pork, slabs of red meat, and ribs. All came out really good. The fire was started by taking a whole cardboard box, teared it up, placed it in the grill, place charcoal on top, and set it on fire. The only bad thing about this is lots of air has to be provided. At first, you see me blowing air with a cardboard coke box. Well, I was smart! I found out that a remote control helicopter can provide a continuous stream of air, and it took no time to set those coal ablaze.

As every night, we play on the computer (yes, including my mom), all shared by wireless through a 3G phone. I find it funny, but fantastic. Now, it's 12:20AM at night, and I will sleep. Have a great afternoon USA!

- ETdoFresh

4our days in Sweden!

Dear Blog

I'm glad to be writing to you again from Sweden. It's 1:00 AM, and its probably going to be darkest as it's possibly going to be tonight. Sun will probably start coming out in about an hour. It's just insane. Anyway, as always, I'll tell you about my day.

Well, everyone woke up so that we can do some shopping and checking out of the area around where we are currently staying (Tanumshede). We left our nice red house and our first stop was the second-hand store. It was a place where my mom and Ximena have found many plates together. It's really cheap for very nice expensive plates. For example, we saw one plate for 50 Kr at second-hand store, and it was 150 Kr at a tourist shop (7.6 Kr / Dollar). I also saw a glass from New Orleans!

After the second hand shop, we decided to go to Norby Shopping Center (a mall here in Sweden where Jerry works). So it was really cool. There was lots of stores, including one of the biggest candy stores I ever been too. Wow, they had candy as big as my torso (well maybe half as thick, haha). Then we saw Jerry in Dressman, but by the time I took this picture, he was already out of his work clothes.

From the mall, we went to the lake to have a picnic. That was a nice trip. Andre and I decided to do a little exploring in the forest. When we got back, the both of us stripped to our underwear and we jumped into the lake. This was the first time in my life I ever jumped off a rock (or any surface) into water not knowing how deep it was. Took a lot of courage from me, because I was scared to death. But luckily Andre was scared too (I think), which gave me the courage for the both of us to experience something like that. Excellent trip. I was soo suprised how Ximena was able to navigate the forest part between the water and the car. It was bumpy, rocky, woody, holey, everything imaginable, and Ximena just marched through everything and made it to the lake and back (while pregnent!).

Then Jerry and Ximena thought it would be nice that they would take us to rocks with paintings from the Bronze Age (1800 - 500BC). It's great to know that age old culture exists everywhere. In one of our stops of viewing culuture, I learned that the ants made hills 100 times bigger than those I've seen in New Orleans. Seriously! Check out the picture with Jerry and Andre, and behind them is an actual ant pile. It is more than half of a human size. Amazing.

After seeing the paintings on the rock, we went to a small viking resort with viking houses and structures. It was really cool. We actually saw where vikings stayed, and it was almost livable as is (if you could do without electricity, and make you own fires, and kill your own animals). But still awesome.

We got hungry, stopped by the fisherman's market for shrimp, and bought 2k shrimp and 3 loaves of bread for about 200 Kronas. We made sandwiches with a mayonnaise, garlic, lemon sauce (shown in purple tube). Fresh bread, shrimp, and this sauce... yum yum! Maybe we should make some in New Orleans in a restaurant. Or maybe we already have it... I don't know

As it is late, I think I will go to bed while the sun is still down (but it's still light enough to see). Good night!

- ET

3rd Day to Olso, Norway

Dear Blog,

It's my 3rd day outside the country, and today we went to Olso, Norway. This is the capital. It was about 2 hours away and that means I got 2 hours extra sleep this morning (and so did Andre).

When we got there, we walked down the major street (forget what it's called now). We saw some shops, people, and at the end, there was a royal palace.

We walked all the way down, and saw that the palace was being protected by these royal guards. We took pictures, and we walked completely around the palace. Then we all got tired, and found a city-tour bus to take us around the city. We saw huge cruise ships, religious buildings containing a dragon and a cross when Norway went from mythology to christian, opera houses, etc.

Then we got off the bus, and went into an old trainstation that was converted to a bar/restaurant. It was a nice place, with great food, but Norway is sooo expensive. Well I guess most of Europe is expensive to me, but Sweden is cheaper by far.

Then the trip back, Andre and I got another 2 hours of sleep, and then we played soccer. I like soccer, but I guess none of my friends really ever played. Well, I hope to play some more when I get back to the States.

We had a nice dinner when Ximena and Jerry came back from the store. Ximena made her own cola, and it was good! I also had a Gorbe, which is a swedish dish that has meat, onions, and a savory sweet sauce encase in a potatoe dough. Delicious. Then we talked about many things, like Norway vs Sweden, countries and their cultures with the older generation (live in a home, or live at home), etc. Well it was a great night, and I was glad to talk to Colleen before she left on her trip, and I get to go to bed now. See ya later!

- ETdoFresh

Day 2 in Sweden

Dear Blog,

Just sitting down after some Soccer or Futbol. Andre and Jerry are really good. Way too good for me. Anyway, we woke up and went to the city of Gothenburg. It was very nice place. First we rode in the car from Tanunshede. I saw some nice sites, and got some good rest.

Then we had to leave Jerry because he was there for a work meeting/reunion. Anyway, we walked the mall, and ended up at a boat ride. We saw lots of the city, and saw different architectures.

Then after this boat ride, we walked to the park. It was beautiful, with a botanical garden, and fountains, etc. We had some coffee/tea and ate biscotti made with actual rose petals. It was very sweet, but also had a somewhat fruity taste. Then we walked over to the mall, checked out a few stores, and ate at McDonald's. It's amazing how many people here actually speak english. I am trying my best to learn the language, but I'm not doing to well in it. I try!

We also visited some naval boats of Sweden.

Jerry met with us, and we started to head back home. I got some more sleep, and we made it home! We ate some salad and some fish. Great stuff. We played outside with a R/C helicopter just like my roommate Stephen had. It was fun! Then I played some soccer also, but geez, I'm out of my league. Chilean and Sweedish guys in this house area really good.

Happy Birthday Abuelita!

- E.T.

First Day in Sweden

Dear Blog,

Today we woke up early and we left for Sweden. We started flight in Austin, nad flew to Washington D.C. (4-5 hours). I slept half of this flight and read iWoz. Then we flew across the ocean to Copenhagen, Denmark (7-8 hours). I finished iWoz and it was an amazing book. I also talked to a girl living in L.A. going Norway to visit home. I don't really talk to people on flights, but I guess this was a first for me. It really did make the flight go by a little more quickly. I also saw Watchmen. That was pretty cool also. Then finally, we took a flight to Gothenborg, Sweden (about 1 hour).

As we landed I took a picture of Sweden. Not really high quality, but I thought it was still cool

We were picked up by Gunnar who had a sign that said "El Sueco" (The Swede). Pretty funny sign. And he drove us about 1.5 hours to Tanumshede. It was great to see old family, and meet new family. We had some lunch, met the family, and we were off! We went down to a small city to the west where we saw many boats, had ice cream, and had a nice tour of nice views.

Then we went to the top of a mountain and saw the whole city. We really had a great time. There has been also many cool facts that I found out. Linux was made by a guy from Sweden and Finland. Also, the guy who made Skype was from Sweden. Also, I hear that Sweden takes care of their people. In addition, if you send your child to school, Sweden pays you for wanting to better your children, hence bettering the nation. This just seems absolutely amazing to me. But I hear that the country may get "boring" if you live here. It's like having the most amazing steak you ever had, but over and over again. For me, I'm still having a great time, and boring has not entered my vocabulary yet. But right now, it's really late for me since I've been up since 8AM June 23rd and it's 4:22PM June 24th right now. So I want to go to sleep. But, the sun is still out! It's 11:22PM and there is still sun! It's insane, I hear the sun comes back out 2-3 AM. Crazy! Oh yeah, weather is perfect. But the water may be a bit cold. Well, good night, I'll write tomorrow.

- ETdoFresh