T-5 Days till Finland

Week 32:

Hello Everyone.
I know I said the coming weeks would be more entertaining but we aren't quite there yet. Not much happened during this week other than some more Innebandy practice. If I have mentioned the amount we train with Innebandy for the '99 (I am with the '99 in IBG) we have three training sessions in school, two of them are 8-11 (Tuesday & Friday) but we usually train 8:30-10:30 so we are able to catch the bus. Then Wednesday we have it from 13:15-15:45 and then after we occasionally have the little kids who we teach the game of Innebandy to.  I believe that's what it is for...but I find it funny since the little kids speak Swedish to me and I have to get my classmates to come over and answer their question since they do not understand English considering they are so young. Another funny thing about this is that Viktor told our team (of 6 kids) that I am from Canada and speak English and there was this one kid who just stared at me whenever he was on the bench (I found it funny). In addition to our training during the day, we also train in the evenings. We can have two to three practices a week. So I train a lot compared to a lot of the sports in Canada.
To understand what happens in regards to my schooling I will explain. In school I do not do any of the assigned work since the teachers do not want to mark my work.  The grades do not count in Canada, so in their opinion it is pointless. Also some of the subjects are similar to things I have already learned in Canada and then there are some things that I have never learned. So that is the other problem. The online course from Canada also did not work out for Native Studies considering the videos we had to watch would not allow me to access them since I have a Swedish IP address and you need to be in Canada to be able to watch a lot of the videos. Due to this issue I had to drop that course even though it was actually very interesting and I was enjoying it!
The good side of having a lack of school work is that I have more time to research cameras.  I would like to buy a new one as my Canon T1I is about 7 years old now and I would like to get more into photography like my Uncle. I will link his Flickr page so you can see some of his amazing photos! Right now I am looking at a Canon 7D Mk2 which is about $2,249.99. I would like to get the camera with the 18-135mm lens. So donations will be accepted by Shelley if you would like to help me out :').  On a serious note, I do like photography and Sweden is an awesome place for pictures since the nature is amazing and unique compared to Ontario!

Uncle Jamie's Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmorphyimages/albums

My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuck.campbell/

School Schedule (Left box beside VISA put in TE15 then Press Visa and that is my class schedule): http://www.novasoftware.se/webviewer/(S(iiabnkylaszbag55bi2sdz55))/design1.aspx?schoolid=21900&code=64878

The Grey parts are the IBG (Innebandy) and this is my new schedule since I switches to Teknik

A Penalty....

Week 31:

Hello blog followers and everyone who just thought they would see how my interesting life is going. Last week not too much happened. To start off Monday we had the day off so the Vasaloppet could get cleaned up more before we went to school. I just chilled at home that day and that night we had Innebandy so I went to that. On Tuesday in IBG we went cross country skiing which was actually pretty hard since the snow was melting so it kept sticking to our skis and was making some of us very annoyed. Then the rest of the week was more school and Innebandy practice at night.
Saturday HJ had a game. I played and it was a very close game against Sala.  I may have gotten a penalty which should have been 5 min. Just informing you all if a guy is running with the ball along the side boards and you think it would be a great opportunity to hit him...you should not do it.  Even if it is very tempting, DON'T!!!  You are not allowed to hit against the boards I figured out...OOPS! The game had to go to OT and Dennis sniped one to finish the game. So we are slowly improving...toward the end of the season. Then Sunday not too much happened we just chilled at home! The coming weeks should be more entertaining!

Vasaloppet Week

Week 30:

Hello Everyone! This week's blog should be longer since I will explain a lot in this post about Vasaloppet week and also what I did last week. 

To start off I will explain what the Vasaloppet is. On the Vasaloppet website they say, "Vasaloppet is the world’s oldest, longest and biggest cross-country ski race. It has a rich history and tradition; hundreds of thousands of skiers have tackled the 90 km stretch from Sälen to Mora since the start in 1922. Rigorous training and careful preparation is needed to complete this 90 km challenge. It is a race with classic technique along a magical landscape, followed by two million television viewers in Sweden alone."  The route that the skiers race was inspired by a notable journey made by King Gustav Vasa when he was fleeing from Christian II's soldiers in 1520. So now you see why it is such a big event in Mora and the Cross-country community. 

The races takes the participants through nine towns along the way to the finish which is in Mora and they start in Sälen. This race alone can bring 15,800 skiers and this year they had a total of 16,502 signed up but the maximum amount that can go in the race is 15,800 racers. The first racers usually cross the finish line after 4 hrs of racing.  They start at 8 am so they get to Mora by approximately 12 pm. So yes, the first heat of racers are extremely quick to finish a 90 km race in only 4 hrs. 

After searching for 20 min on the Vasaloppet result page I found the first Canadian who finished.  I found his result on page 84 of listed participants! His name is Daryl Remmler with a time of 5:38:36 which is a difference of 1:30:36 from the first place winner.  Our first female was Christiane Clavel and her time was 6:12:16 with a difference of 1:54:20. One person who I should also mention is a fellow Canadian Exchange Student and Ontarioian who came over with Rotary! His name is James Allen and he did the Vasaloppet in 8:36:35, and from what I could tell from his Facebook post he only trained for 3 months and finished in a great time!  

The Vasaloppet race is the last Sunday of our Sportslov break which is a week long. Before the big race they have nine other races, four of which are the 90 km but they are not as big as the Vasaloppet. So our Sportslov break is from February 26-March 8th and this allows sports clubs to make money since the Vasaloppet will sponsor the Clubs but they would like work in return during the Vasaloppet week. So on the 26th I had a 5 3/4 hour shift to load skiers onto buses to get to the start line. My next job was on the 28th which was 7.5 hrs, the two of us would stop traffic if there was any when the skiers were crossing the road and then we would fix the tracks after the car passed. We actually got many compliments from the skiers as they went passed regarding our nice tracks and what a good job we were doing. That was good and always nice to hear since every time the cars drove over we had to remake the track. I then had the week off with a few practices for Innebandy during the nights and on Saturday (March 5th) we had a game! We won the game 5-3 which gives us our second win of the season. I hope we can end off the season strong with winning the last three games! On Sunday the 6th I had my last shift since it was the Vasaloppet. I had to do parking with 14 other guys from Kais Mora. We had an 8 hr shift we needed to do and we were great at it. We also practiced our tennis skills when there were no cars. That made for some fun when we were doing that while waiting for cars! Finally, on Monday I just relaxed at home and went to Innebandy practice! I will post pictures below from Vasaloppet and all that fun stuff. 

Vasaloppet Website Link (English): http://www.vasaloppet.se/en/ 

The Vasaloppet Route

The top 25 Males 

The top 25 Females

All the Canadians (James is at the top)

Not Much to Talk About When You Get the Swedish Flu......

Week 29:

Hello! This will be an EXTREMELY short blog post mainly because I was sick all of Week 29 but also not too much happened.
Saturday I just stayed around home that day. Sunday I started to get the Swedish Flu(it is not really Swedish), but I went skating on our lake in front of the house with Åsa and Tomas which was nice. During the week we only had a 4 day week since Winter Sports Week started Friday and ends Tuesday, March 8th. So basically I was sick the entire week and did not go to school.  Wednesday I attempted it and lasted about 2 hrs and then Inez had to save the sick little Canadian before he died. On Friday I started to feel better and I had to work a shift for a ski race since there are many races before the Vasaloppet next Sunday!  I helped putting the skiers on buses for 6 hrs (6:15-11). I will tell you about the Vasaloppet in Week 30's post! Until then you will have to wait!
P.S.  The days now have about the same amount of daylight as you guys in Ontario

World Cup & Week of Rest

Week 28:

Hello! This past weekend and week was better and had a little more action in it then there has been in since a few posts ago.
To start off on Saturday not too much happened. I just chilled at home and did not do much but take the pills that help with my ankles (I had to take them three times a day for a week) but Sunday was more entertaining! On Sunday I got up early at 7:10 and got ready for a day of a little travel and something that was a first for me. I got on the bus from Mora to Falun to go and watch the World Cup for cross-country skiing. When I got to Falun a host mother of an exchange student there picked me up from the bus station (it is Tita's host mom who also got us the tickets). We went from the bus station to go get papers since she was in charge of the prize money for the winners! After we stopped there we went to pick up the girls from the house. **Quick information** in Dalarna Region we have five exchange students who are Gertrud from Estonia, Tita from Mexico, Joëlle from Switzerland (the french part) and Vianney from France! So we had to go to the house to pick up the three girls. From there we then headed to where the races where which is Lugent (where there is also two ski jumps). The female race started at 11:30 and the Norwegian ladies swept that! All three podium places were Norwegian females, proving that the Norwegians are very good cross-country skiers. Then we waited till 14:30 to see the males race! From first to third place was a Russian, Italian and a Norwegian (still a Norwegian on the podium). Our Canadian who was the highest was Devon Kershaw in 28th place and our top lady was 39th and she is Emily Nishikawa. Needless to say, cross-country skiing is not Canada's greatest sport! We shall stick to Ice Hockey! After the Males finished which was about 15:10 Joëlle and I got a bus to the main station and I left Falun at 16:10 and got to Mora at 17:40! That was my fun filled Sunday!
During the week not much happened! I rested from Innebandy the whole week since the Doctor here said to rest for one week. School was also quiet, however I am just doing an online course which is Native Studies.  A huge thank you to Mr. Morrell and Mrs. Tarbush for allowing this to happen and getting it organized for me.
Hope Week 28 was a bit more entertaining then the past weeks! Some pics are below from the race!

Start of the Males Race

One hill of many for the skiers 

Both of the ski jumps

Same hill as above 

Many people come from different places (I did see some Japanese people #Committed)

Semla!

Week 27:

Hey Everyone! Not much happened during Week 27 but I will tell you what did go on.
On the weekend Martin and Emma came home! So they stayed in the "apartment" and they kicked Maja out of her crib for the weekend. This is also the point in time where I was introduced to Semla. Semla is a bun with whipped creme in the middle of it. The bun is only ate in the month of February. It was different than I would be use to but I am open to try new things and it actually was pretty good! On Sunday night Mora played AIK in hockey. I tagged along with Martin and Tomas to watch the game. I thought they were going to get killed since AIK is a very good team but Mora put it to AIK and won the game 6-1 which upset AIK. A little interesting tidbit about AIK, in English it translates to "All Is Welcome Club".  Anyway, that pretty much sums up the weekend.
During the week I went to school and also unfortunately after Wednesday night I had to take some time off Innebandy. Early Thursday morning(3 am) I woke up and my ankles were in so much pain I thought I broke both of them. Not really sure what is going on with them but assuming that I have some inflammation in there for some reason.  I thought it would be a good idea after this to rest for the remainder of the week, so I had to practice off Thursday night and Innebandy in school Friday morning because I did not want to wake up in that much pain again. This was the entertainment of Week 27.
Week 28 will be a little more interesting with an interesting trip I will go on this weekend and Week 29 should be a very long blog post explaining the Vasaloppet! So stay tuned for that along with pictures from the big events!

Lake Siljan!

Week 26:

Hello Everyone who follows my blog and the people who just drop in to stalk my life! This week had a good ending to it which I will get to later in the blog but I will start with Saturday and Sunday! Saturday during the day not much happened it was a very laid back day. However, during the night Maja, some of her friends and I had a get together I guess you could call it! It was a good night since I did not get to bed till 4 am Sunday morning. I can not complain considering I had a lot of fun! Sunday I slept till about 11 and when I got up not too much happened. We mainly ate a lot of food and Åsa and Tomas got home at about 18:00 that night.
Onto the week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday not much exciting happened since I was really tired. I went to Innebandy practices and school too! Thursday night I had to try the skates we wear on the lake since I would be needing them. They are very thin with the blade and you put it onto a cross-country ski boot. The back drops down when you are lifting up your foot and you can not cross over in them. I also had Innebandy practice that night.  After Innebandy practice I went to watch a game. It was two school teams Ski gym (cross-crountry skiers) against BK Beris. Ski Gym did not do so well losing to BK Beris 3-2. BK Beris also had very nice hits on Ski gym. There were a lot of people watching last night and each team has their own cheering team too, so it was a pretty entertaining game. Friday in the morning the IBG 99 (which I am in) went skating on Lake Siljan. It was actually very nice to do and it was a different experience since the big lakes do not freeze so it is kind of hard to skate on them. Friday night I do not think much will be happening!
This has been Week 26! I will post pics when I get home!

Sunrise on the ice

Skating

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