The End of the First Week

As of yesterday evening, I have now been at Holsby for a full week. I feel like I'm pretty well settled in a getting used to the routine here. I've met tons of new people from variety of places and cultures but don't feel close to anyone in particular yet. All your prayers are greatly appreciated.

The lectures on "God's Big Picture" have been interesting but not really earth-shattering. It's an overview of the Bible so that we can fit everything else we're learning into that overview. The key idea for the class is that the big theme of Bible is the Kingdom of God defined as "God's People in God's Place under God's Rule and Blessing." We just starting talking about God's covenant with Abraham.

Scenery on the way to the Migrations Board

Yesterday afternoon, most of the North American students went to the Swedish migration board to get out fingerprints and biometric data taken for our student visas. Since it went much quicker than we expected, we had about an hour to wander around a 'bigger' town, about an hour from Holsby whose name I've heard but actually don't know how to spell. Most people went shopping, but it turned out to be a really nice day so I went for a walk/wander with EJ. We had a really nice talk and found some random nuts and berries which we are going to try to identify (don't worry, we didn't each any!); we think some of them are chestnuts.

Is this a chestnut tree? 

Today, Friday, is work day. This morning we were each assigned a variety of duties, mostly cleaning but also wood-chopping and a 'special project.' I was assigned to 'gardening' which actually meant pulling out the flowers which are going to die soon because of the frost and weeding the garden. The sun came in and out but it didn't really warm up. We had schnitzel for lunch so now I actually know what the song "My Favorite Things" is talking about :) . After pots and pans duty, my roommate Sarah, Hannah, and I biked into Vetlanda. My particular mission was to find some Kleenexes since I've somehow developed a cold, despite all my precautions and attempts to get rid of it. I guess there's just no replacement for getting enough sleep. In Vetlanda, we found a grocery store and explored it for a bit. Then we rode around downtown, explored a bookstore and found a place to eat dinner. The ride home was sunny and windy and a little chilly.

Pizza for Dinner!

The pizza diner

A beautiful garden on the bike ride home from Vetlanda

On the way home from Vetlanda, we spotted a hobit hole!

Now I think I'm going to head over to the Bik and see if I can join a game of some kind.
TTYL.