Sköldpaddan och jordgubben

We're still pondering why the word "semester" in Swedish is the word for vacation. Haven't figure it out yet. Regardless, I'll start my post with a picture of just above the house we're currently renting in Gordes, France (house in the left of the picture looking into part of the Provence agricultural area) Kids are out of school for their  höstlov , or "autumn break" from school. We flew from Stockholm to Paris on Sat., Oct. 26th to meet Chris (who gave a talk at the Sorbonne on  25 Oct.) and Chris' parents, Linda and Steve. We managed to rendezvous with everyone in the Charles de Gaul airport train terminal and take a high speed train to Avignon (southern France). We then rented a car and drove to the hilltown of Gordes (in the Provence region). Fun to see Linda and Steve, enjoy exploring and poking around, try different French foods (Stephen says he's always liked French cheese), send the kids on pastry runs, and otherwise soak up ...

                     Grona lund during Halloween                                         is frightening . _____________________________________________________________________________________________ This is the advertisement for SEKTEN. Grona Lund is a amusement park. Grona Lund sets up a lot for Halloween.  I went with my friend Julie who had been living in State College about two years before, so I hadn't seen her for 2 years. At Grona Lund for Halloween, they had spider webs everywhere and there were pumpkins. Even in the bathroom, there was spooky music playing and when you washed your hands, the mirror glowed red and a fake skull appeared. Grona Lund also set up new haunted houses. They already had the house of nightmares which was supposedly really scary; we alwa...

In Futuraskolan, each grade has its own different style. To me, it looks like my sister in fourth grade has practically no school work, and watches movies and gets out of school early. In seventh grade, the classes had homework, and were more challenging. In eighth grade, it is like a whole new school. There is lots of homework, and it is much more difficult than the seventh grade. When I moved to eighth grade, the main thing that I thought was going to be better was that during lunch, I could leave school, and do whatever I wanted to.  In eighth grade, there are more challenges and also more freedom. As well as being able to leave during lunch, now my gym class meets at a gym thirty minutes from the school. I take my bike, get on the train, and walk to the gym by myself, all to get to class. In my other classes, some of the more challenging aspects include learning all the different parts of speech in English, how drugs impact and relate to to the nervous system and t...

Two blogs in a day... a lot happening. In between travel, work, school, and fun stuff, fall has swiftly crept up on us. The leaves around here have been fantastic- many shades of orange, yellow, and a bit of red. Two weeks ago, Chris, Stephen and I took a hike into our nearby open space. Found the top of a hill and 500-1000 bce (before current era) burial ground, pictured below. Wandered through a magical forest of trees and leaves. Yesterday, I had some time to walk our neighborhood- fall has progressed quickly and the leaves are coming down. Saw a  3 meters high pile of leaves in one of the city parks- wanted to jump in! Oxberget is the name of the old burial ground- it's the green space near the "v" in Vartan (in the water near the compass rose). This site is maybe 10 minutes from our apartment? Stephen show us the Oxberget hill near an orienteering mark. Oxberget burial mound (quite old) Scenes from our wanderings...  Fall c...