American Football?!

Today was the first real day of my walking club!  We did our usual 10K around Djurgården with several miles tacked on to the beginning and end to get to and from our homes.  We had a great time and beautiful weather!  We had many new members in our group today, new immigrants to Sweden.  It was great to meet so many fun new women and to be able to offer support and advice.

I also walked much of the distance with a Swedish woman who has just moved back after living in the US for the past 12 years.  When we asked her what she will miss the most about leaving the US, she said, "Shopping at Whole Foods and having a garbage disposal!"

We topped off our walk with a wonderful lunch at one of my favorite cafe's.

Max finally made it home from his class trip late this afternoon after several train delays.  He had a FANTASTIC time and was none too eager to have the trip come to an end, although he is completely worn out. 

 He didn't take any pictures, of course.  But he did go deep sea fishing off of a fishing boat.  His class then cleaned and prepared the fish for the hotel staff to cook for their meal one night.  He went platform diving off of 8 meter platforms into the North Sea.  He received his certificate for the Polar Bear club by going swimming the sea each morning at 6 a.m.  He went hiking.  He went to several museums.  He ate junk food and fooled around with his friends.   His roommates were from South Africa, England and Serbia.  He also discovered that he LOVES playing American football!  He said they would play for hours during their free time in the afternoons.

With almost 60 8th graders and only 4 chaperones, this was certainly not an American style field trip.  But, except for one girl getting a fish hook in her hand and there being one small fire in one of the boys' rooms after they cooked their microwave popcorn for too long - everyone came home unscathed!