Falu Gruva

Week 10:

Hello! This post will hopefully be a little longer and interesting then last weeks!
The week was normal with the usual going to school and some evenings of Innebandy afterward.  Friday I did not do too much, but I tried sushi for the first and last time! I thought I would enjoy it but you definitely need to have a liking for stuff like that. In saying that, I did not like it that much but I tried to eat all of it...which lead to me not feeling good for half an hour but I got over it and did not die because of it!  Praise the lord!!!  After supper Friday, Tomas, Maja and I went to watch Kais Mora (Females) play a game at Unihoc! They won by a score of 9-4 (if I recall correctly) but in the beginning it was a close game till we started getting the lead...then they just kept going.
Saturday was more action packed. YFU students had a Region meet with all of the other students in the area. In my area we only have 5 students, so it is a little small compared to the Stockholm region! The meet up began with a tour of Falu Gruva which is a very old copper and gold mine that they use to mine.  They still do use the mine because they get the red paint colour from the minerals there. The red paint I am referring to is on all the houses over here to protect the wood. We went 67 m under ground and we got to see how the mine was mined, as well as all of the different areas in the mine. However, before we went in the guide told us about "The Lady of the Mine". In the old days they took this very serious and it was said that you could die if you did not follow the rules. The Lady of the Mine does not like yelling, swearing or whistling while you are in the mine and before we were allowed to enter, the guide had to greet The Lady of the Mine. There was also a collapse of the mine in 1687.  This is why it seems like an open pit because that is where the mine was until it collapsed. The great pit that opened was over 100 meters deep(300 feet). So when we first go there I thought it was an open pit mine but then the guide told us about the collapsed and then it all made sense! The mine logo is the Female sign with a box around it, which in miner terms is the symbol for Copper! Since 2001 it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site as well as a museum. Our tour finished at 1330. Following the tour we went over to a school to eat and have meetings (Exchange students and the host families talked in separate groups). After we were done there at 1700 we were on our way home!
On Sunday morning I helped Åsa, Tomas and Grandpa at the cabin putting wood there for the winter since Martin goes ice fishing there (I plan on going with him this year) and he stays over so it would get cold if you do not have wood for the fire! We also had fika at the cabin and I got a few pictures of the cabin to share with you!  I hope you are enjoying my pictures and that it allows you to get a feel for what life and things are like here.
This concludes everything that happened through week 10 and I am now into week 11 with only 32 more weeks left...and no, I am not really counting!

The mine (Part that collapsed) 

Next few are inside of the mine!

This is what we walked on for most of the tour 

One cavern of the mine 

This bucket is how they transported rock from the bottom of the mine to the top easier

Mines also would hold on with one foot and one hand and go down
to their section of mine and would swing the bucket and jump to the land 

Stairs to behind the bucket where the water pumps are for moving
the bucket up and down 

Rock...I know it might be hard to tell

Ventilation door 

Lowest part of the mine we were allowed to go (64m underground) 

Outhouse at the Cabin 

Area around the cabin (All trees) 

The small lake 

The spare rooms 

Small pano out front of the cabin 

The cabin 

The "Driveway" 

Stairs down to the boat house 

More trees 

Living room 

Kitchen 

Sled/Spare room up top