Lots and lots of news.

 So its been many months since the last time I updated, and I know that I said that I would be more diligent about updating often, but then life happened. Lots of things have changed, and lots of things have happened at once. And somehow I managed to make it through without blogging.

First things first, I have fully embraced the Swedish culture, and I think that was the best thing that I could have done. That started way back in December, I joined in a Luciatåget. (Lucia Train) for those of you who dont know what that is, here is a link. That basically explains the whole tradition of Lucia. That happens every year on the 13th of December. Unfortunately, or fortunately in my case (Since I wound up being in a wheelchair due to a surgery with complications on my toes during the majority of Lucia rehearsals, and was still in it on performance day.), this was a competition Luciatåg, which meant that the public could vote on who would be Lucia. I did not win, but that was completely alright, because by being in the train itself, I accomplished my goal of embracing the culture, and making new friends. I made one friend who is now one of my closest friends here in Sweden. She is just absolutely fantastic, and has been such a huge help to me adjusting to the culture here. You can see my entry video here. In this video I basically explain in Swedish why I want to be Lucia. Here is a video of one of the rehearsals. And here are some pictures:

Me and one of my best friends here in Sweden.

During the time right before my surgery Anton and I adopted a dog.
Terrible timing, but thats just how everything worked out. She is definitely the best dog in the world in my opinion. We went through an organization called Dinas Ark (found here). What they do is they take dogs from Romania, who are adoptable and give them a chance at a better life in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. They work with shelters and foster homes down in Romania, to have good contact with the dogs, and to help the dogs find their perfect forever home. I can personally say that the company is fantastic, and I commend all the work that they do. Just a few months ago, they held a fund-raiser so they could do sterilizations of dogs down in Romania, because there is a HUGE population of street dogs there.Over 3 million. So every single one that they can sterilize helps lower the population in the future. But enough about that; now its time for me to show some pictures of our little dog Moly. (Yes thats MOLY with 1 "L" Pronounced MOLLY)

After all of that it was Christmas. That was a great time for me. I got to meet more of Anton's family, and experience a traditional Swedish Christmas. Its very different from home, but I like it. Its very cozy. It happens a day before Christmas back home, and its definitely not as large as Christmas back home. Whereas back home you would expect to see houses decked out in elaborate Christmas decorations, lights and inflatables, here things are much simpler. Although I can't say that it is a bad thing, I do definitely miss my ridiculous Christmas decorations. I also missed my family, and our Christmas food. Although Swedish Christmas food is delicious, nothing compares with the Christmas food that I grew up with.  I am really disappointed to say that I could not make corn casserole. I searched at least 4 different stores, and absolutely could not find corn bread mix or creamed corn here. So I will have to find some online and get it sent here for the next holiday get together. 

My next blog post will get you 100% up to the present time, and also to the future about my plans for summer. Sorry about this being so long awaited. I have now set specific times in my schedule for me to blog at least once a week, so there should be more regular blog posts from here on out. Thank you all for your patience with me in getting these updates out.