Winter Is Here

Week 15:

Hello Followers! This week was not as entertaining as last week but it was still good!

Monday and Tuesday were the usual school with Innebandy after. Wednesday night I went with Christer, Åsa and Inez to Leksand to see Leksand play against Mora. I wanted to go to to Leksand since they have a much bigger arena than Mora.  I also wanted to go since when we were here in 2011 we went to see Leksand Arena but we only got to see how it looked as it was summer, so I wanted to see a game! Leksand has a very large cheering section compared to Mora and you can definitely see that when you first get in.  The cheering section is usually packed for games and it should have been for the game against Mora because there is a rivalry but there was less fans than they usually have. Mora played a great game and won 4-1 if I recall correctly. It was an upset for Leksand since they do not like getting beat by Mora...especially when they are on home ice. The rest of the week was the normal week.
On Saturday not too much happened. It was a very laid back day. However, Sunday I went to watch H2 Innebandy which is the higher level team compared to HJ which is the team I am on. I do not believe there is an age limit for H2 so the opposing team had a few guys who were a lot older than some of our players on H2. It was a dirty game for an Innebandy game and the teams did not let off on each other that much even after they were spoken to by the refs.  I believe the score was 11-4 to the opposing team by the end of the game. Then Maja and I went to Morfar's apartment to help Åsa and Tomas a little with getting it ready. After we did that we went to a village outside of Mora for a Christmas Market. It was an interesting thing to see since I do not believe we do that in Canada. Then Sunday night I went to see the Hunger Games.
It has gotten colder here but there has not been snow in our area.  The North has a lot of snow and the South has a little. The sunrise right now is usually 8:30 am and the sunset is at about 15:07 pm, so a little earlier than we have in Ontario. I do not mind it but it is definitely different when it is dark when you go to school and dark when you come home from school. But it is an experience that I will remember!

Leksand's cheering section

The cheering section as the players come on 

At That Moment Tucker Knew He Screwed Up.......

Week 14:

Hello Friends and the other people who I do not know and just drop in for a read. This week was more entertaining....especially after my incident on the weekend. I don't think it was funny but my (heartless) mother & aunt thought it was.
The week was the usual with Innebandy practices and all that fun stuff, but for our one Innebandy training in school on Tuesday we actually got to go to the pool and learn how to save someone who is drowning. We had fun since we got to go swimming and it was a change up from the usual training every week! Then Thursday after school I went over to a friend Richard's and played FIFA 16(a video soccer game, for those that do not know what FIFA is).  When you do not know anything about soccer or have never played the game it can be quite entertaining to play a match while trying to remember all the controls! I also had supper there before practice and we had macaroni and hot dogs, which I know all of you will agree is a great pre-practice meal!
To really put a spin on things, this week Friday was not the end of the school week. We extended our school week into Saturday since we had an open house for the Mora Gymnasium. The community and the students that are coming next year can come to see what happens and what we do in the school. They also get to talk to the teachers about the program and all that fun stuff! So our weekend was moved to Sunday and Monday!
Sunday I went to watch JAS(Innebandy). JAS is like the "All star" team were they have the good players from the club and the guys can be up to age 18(I believe this is the max. age).  It was a good game to watch and after I planned to go over to my friend Richard's again. This is where things got a little more entertaining. So there are two ways out of Unihoc (The Innebandy Arena), one is a steep incline but when you get to the top you can glide down it on your bike or the other way you need to pedal most of the way. So the three of us decide to take the steep hill. We all made it up perfectly fine. When we got to the top we slowed down to start going down the hill but yesterday(Sunday) when we were in the arena it was freezing rain out. We start going down this hill of course teenagers being teenagers, we wanted to go faster. We started pedaling faster but there is one point that there is a quick turn in the road and I thought to myself, "there is no way I am going to make the turn if that corner is as slippery as the rest of the road and I am not going to be able to stop...", so I start slowing down but I pressed the brakes too hard which caused my back wheel to stop and as the title says...."At That Moment Tucker Knew He Screwed Up...", I definitely did. The back wheel went to one side and I tried to get it back under me but it did not work so the bike and me hit the road and slid a good 8 m, since it was that slippery. Then as I am laying on the ground dying (not really but kind of), I see Fredrick slide right beside me....I thought to myself, "that is a little weird". However, he said if he did not do that he could not brake in time to not hit me. So, needless to say Fredrick is a friend for life because he saved me from being ran over by a bike. Then I got up and tried to turn around and yup, I fell again right on the same side I did before. When I got to Richard's, my right hip hurt a little and my jeans were white where I slid on them. Later when I got home, might I add by car because I was not biking again and let's just say my hip was swollen and it hurt to walk. Even today it still hurts to walk...so that was the weekend fun! And yes I do have pictures......
Hope you enjoyed that as much as my heartless mother & aunt did! I will post next week, hopefully without any added bumps or bruises!

The swollen hip

Pants got a little discoloured

Physical Training & Father's Day

Week 13:

Greetings Followers and those of you who jut drop in. Week 13 had some entertaining moments in it! During school, Innebandy is built into your schedule so you practice during school hours. I have 3 training spots in my school schedule which are Tuesday morning (8:30-11), Wednesday afternoon (13:30-15:45) and finally Friday morning (8:30-11). Tuesday morning was diet theory and physical training, physical training is where we do a workout. Well I do not usually get bothered by the workouts but this week was a little crazy. We had 6 different exercises and you do each one for 20 secs. six times each then move onto the next exercise. So after the first three I was done but there was three more to do! Just lovely! So, I managed to survive through the whole thing but then it turns out we have to do the whole thing a second time...let's just say when I was done I thought I was not going to be able to eat considering my arms really hurt and I had visions of not being able to lift my fork to my mouth.  So that was the Innebandy fun for the week with three practices during the evening too! Wednesday afternoon at 13:15 I had an interview for the CELP Co-op position! It was a good experience.  And really, how many people can say the got interview over Skype for CELP Co-op?! I think I am the first, haha!  I have another interview this week, so I hope it goes well. Thursday night Åsa left with her girlfriends to have a girls weekend near Orsa (I forgot the place they were at) so Tomas, Maja and I had to fend for ourselves...it was not that bad actually. Tomas is a good dad haha!
Sunday was actually Father's Day over here. Definitely a different time of year than ours but to celebrate Åsa, Tomas and I went to Farfar and Farmor's apartment.  
Quick Swedish lesson, in Sweden you usually distinguish between your mother's parents and father's parents. So Åsa's dad would be Morfar and Tomas's parents would be Farfar and Farmor instead of them all being Grandma and Grandpa! That is all I have for this week! So hope it is a good read!

Fall Vacation & A Bike Ride in the Woods

Week 12:

Hello all my Followers! Week 12 was interesting considering something that never happens in Canada happened, and I think it would be cool if it did. During Week 44 or the week of Halloween, Sweden has a vacation week. So obviously there is no school during this week which was weird since I am only use to having Thanksgiving Monday off during the fall months. But here is Sweden they do not have Thanksgiving, so that was also a little different! During fall vacation some students go to their home cities since some of the students that go to Mora Gymnasium are not from Mora. So those students go home during this week to visit with their families. I however did not have a lot going on throughout this week except some Innebandy practices and some of Åsa's family came over for a belated birthday party I guess you could say. Now, doing nothing all week is not my thing so I was hoping to go hiking on a mountain with Maja, but she had to work so that did not work out for me! So I decided I would go biking on Friday. I made a little video with my Sony action cam that I will put on the bottom of this post. It is 9 minutes of me biking so I do not think you will watch all of it but skim through it and you will see how a forest in Sweden looks since it is mainly dominated by the Lodgepole Pine (I believe)...either way it is still cool to see!  Before watching, you can turn the blog music off so that you can hear the music on the video.

During the weekend Tomas, Åsa and I went to watch the new James Bond movie Spectre and just so you know, a Swedish movie theatre is a little different than a Canadian. You can pre-order tickets but when you pre-order them you can pick where you sit.  so that I do not think we do in Canada, but I could be wrong. The movie was 2hrs and 40min long so it was a lot of Bond for your buck and also a lot of sitting! On Sunday Åsa, Kerstin and I (Kerstin is related to Åsa but I forgot how, I am sure I will figure it out soon) went to Grandpa's to pick mushrooms and some berries since everywhere you look there are always blueberries. So we were out in the Swedish wilderness for 1.5 hr I believe it was and then we had some fika before we left for home! That rounded off week 12...I can not believe it has been 12 (now 13) weeks!

Ice Hockey & First Star

Week 11: 

Hello Everyone! Sorry I did not post til Thursday but better late than never! Week 11 was not very eventful!

I had a couple of innebandy practices and school of course! But Tuesday night Inez and I went to watch Mora play against IK Pantern(I believe that was the team). Inez would never go to a game in Mora but since her "friend" plays on Mora she thought she would be nice and go and watch him. Surprisingly she was on time picking me up this time which is an improvement since last time she was late. So that made up for last time! We got to the arena and got our tickets. Inez was laughing at me since I paid with cash...they do not use cash here often.  Especially younger people so she thought it was funny. I did not think it was that funny but you know how Swedes have an interesting sense of humour.... or at least Inez does. We got to our seats and watched the game.  Mora did not play that good so the final score was 3-1.  During the second intermission I got a nice Mora sweater which I am not allowed to wear to the Stenis's at anytime. Inez would not even come into the pro shop since it is not "Leksand".  Inez and I also voted for her friend to be First Star during the intermission. Unfortunately after two votes he was 8th I believe. So sense I am the smarter one of the two of us, I told Inez to delete it and re add it...needless to say he went from 8th to 1st real quick. I'm not sure why, just an amazing thing that happened and it shocked Inez and I. So Filip Halvardsson was First Star at the end of the game! The bonus was that he was a call up, so it was 10 times better that he got it! 

Also on the weekend I was on a bike ride on the trails and I saw a rather large dog that was grey and had a long tail...I am sure it was a wolf since no one was with it and I was pretty far deep in the woods.  I thought it was cool to see it! 
That rounded off my Week 11! Week 12 is almost gone to and I am still hoping I might get to go hiking on a mountain! 

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 

Innebandy & Touring

Week 9:

Hello people that follow my blog and those who just come here to read it since you have nothing else to do!  I hope you enjoy my little updates!
Last week was more entertaining then Week 8 was. To start Monday I had to go to Immigration to get a card that will allow me to stay in Sweden for the rest of the time I am here. So Åsa and I were on the train at 6:20 am heading to Uppsala! It was a three hour train ride which had us in Uppsala for about 9:40 am after all the stops we had to make while heading there. My appointment was at 10:15 am so we took a cab and headed across Uppsala, arriving at Immigration for 10:10. We waited for about 15 min until I got called up. Åsa gave them our address and all that fun stuff and then I had to get my picture taken, as well as my index fingers fingerprinted. After this long 5 min appointment we were did not have to be back on the train until 14:20. So Åsa and I walked around Uppsala a bit and got to see some very neat things(there will be pictures below). Then we had lunch and went back to the station to wait for the train.  That was as entertaining as the weekdays got.
The other days were the usual school and Innebandy training. We also had pictures this week and we had to order our team clothing, which when you do not really know what size you would be it was a bit of a challenge and a lot of texting to Mom and Åsa to get their opinions...I just hope I ordered the right sizes :o .
On the weekend my Innebandy team had our first match (I did not play) but I watched...it was not a good game. The score at the end of it was 7-2. Maja had to work at the cafe at the arena so we stayed there till about 22:00, so two of the guys stayed back and we fooled around a little. I will post a video of Andreas trying to do a trick which never worked out in the end, but he tried. After we were done at the arena I thought we were going home... turns out we were going touring around town! Maja, Hannah, Andreas, Anton, two others and I were out driving around Mora till about 2 in the morning. Then we decided to go home with everyone where we ate for some reason and at 3 everyone went home. So I would say it was a very productive Saturday night! Sunday was laid back and I did not do much. I just toured on the trail we have near the house...I may have got lost since it is a little confusing. But I am typing this so I found my way home safely! I also face-timed with Uncle Jamie, Aunt Chris, Grandma & Grandpa Morphy while they had Thanksgiving dinner together at Uncle Jamie's.
Anyway, thanks again for checking in!  Feel free to say hello or leave a comment at the bottom.  It is always nice to hear from people back home.  Weekend 10 will be a bit more fun with a YFU meet up!  I'm looking really forward to that.

Kais Mora HJ is White 

Another pic from the match

One last one 

The A Plan (Special flooring)

The Rink

Wide shot of the A plan 

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