First Rehearsal

Friday's icy view from a staff room window.

Earlier this week, I found myself in a crowd of 400 Swedes who were warming up their voices with a lively round of “Vintern Rasat,” a song about the passing of winter into spring. My first choir rehearsal was characterized by laughter, confusion, and the comfort I feel when making music with other people.

I decided to join a choir because I miss being a part of a musical ensemble. I don’t have my French horn or guitar with me here, and as corny as it sounds, I feel as though part of me is missing when I don’t have weekly rehearsals of some sort. The group I’ve joined is the biggest choir in Stockholm and they prepare for two concerts a year.

The school auditorium where we rehearse is a sizeable, circular room with a lofty balcony and tall windowpanes that look out over snowy Rådmansgatan. Sage green and cream curtains hang around the windows, and the walls and ceiling are decorated with elaborate gold swirls.

Walking into the auditorium and feeling extra-aware of my lingual limitations, I scanned the alto section and then sat down next to a girl wearing a plaid shirt. Is it strange that I associate plaid with friendliness? Probably. Lucky for me, my plaid-to-friendly correlation proved to be true— and she has lived in Australia and Canada, so her English is excellent. She translated the director’s instructions when necessary and patiently helped me with the pronunciation of some tricky Swedish lyrics.

One of the pieces we’re preparing is a gospel tune sung in English. The best part of the evening was, without a doubt, watching 400 people work really hard to sing with an American accent. It was a positive moment for my self-esteem.

Although I learned a new song on Monday about the end of winter, spring is actually nowhere in sight. It’s been bitterly cold over the past week or two, and the heat in our apartment seems to be on the fritz—I woke this morning to find the temperature in the kitchen to be 12 degrees C. Brrr!

The wintry weather goes right along with my Narnia unit, though. After a few months of ESL-style classes, we’re finally getting into some literature—and I think the kids are liking it. Teaching from a novel provides a little more depth to my lessons, and a novel like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" offers endless activities, conversation starters, grammar reviews, character studies, and vocabulary builders. We made snowflakes last week! (With a dash of characterization discussion, thesaurus practice, and friendly competition, of course.)

Props to my dad for making me the best lamppost Hässelby has ever seen!

The Familiar

Trudging through the snow this evening, I think about how annoying it is that my socks are sliding off my feet inside my boots. I ponder what leftovers I will have for dinner later on. I notice the purple-gray color of the sky. I think about doing laundry. I am not thinking about how desperately I miss my friends, or how to get back to my apartment, or how much I feel like an outsider.

I feel at home. 

After living here for six months and becoming familiar with my surroundings, I have the luxury of focusing on the small things. This is not to say that I don't still feel like an outsider on a regular basis-- without the language, without the cultural knowledge, and without a smart phone, I still play the part of "confused American" quite well from time to time.

So, some news! I’ve decided to stay on another year. My reasoning:
•  I’d like to explore more of this part of the world, and another year in Stockholm will allow me to do that.
•  My job is fantastic. My co-workers are great, my principal is supportive, my kids are awesome. Of course, there are some things I would change about my work. But overall, I’m pretty lucky.

•  Fika.
•  I’m just beginning to form real relationships. I’ve been surrounded by friendly folks since my arrival here, but I’m finally developing meaningful friendships with some wonderful people.

•  I'm determined to learn Swedish.
•  I like the idea of putting down roots somewhere. My Meadville/Edinburgh/San Francisco/Honesdale adventures all felt very temporary, and while I don’t know how long I’ll stay here, it’s nice to know where I’ll be for another 18 months.

My holiday break, by the way, was lovely. It was full of friends and family, food and happy fat cats. Here's visual proof:

I apologize for not being committed to this little writing project. I have received several pushy/curious e-mails from my few faithful readers expressing concern over my lack of blog posts. Warranted or not, this made me feel important. Since you made me feel important, I am back at it, with all sorts of important things to say. Prepare yourselves!