Forests of Doom

it seems that i will be staying here in Råslätt. unfortunately the other options have not really worked out which has been a bit sad but theres not much we can do about that. coming from a family with the motto of having plans within a plan, i will stay here until at least the end of september and then i will reevaluate whether i want to continue staying here and if not, then i'll just go travelling. there may be a language cafe thing here that i could help out with with the Red Cross apparently and perhaps teach english there which would be great, so we'll just have to see.

and i guess i've just been trying to figure out how my relationship with God works. its been kinda different being here, so many of the people here know why they're here and what they're doing and obviously thats a good thing for them but i dont think that's everyone's experience. like for example, some people think that there's a reason for every single thing that happens so me being shut down by three separate organisations/churches, there must be some sort of God's will behind it all but honestly i dont believe that. crap stuff just happen sometimes. things dont go as planned. plans fail. so all i know is that God's happy enough for me to be here in Sweden/Europe but as for the rest of the details, its a bit of trial and error. i dont really know how you guys feel about that and maybe when i'm older and wiser i'll feel differently, but for now, this is where i stand.

ok, so touchyfeely stuff aside, i'm actually very cautious of what i write on this silly blog cos naturally you want to write almost like a journal type of thing but then you have to take into account everyone who may be reading. for example if this had been a real diary, i would have substituted 'crap stuff' for a different word.

so the last week or so i've been trying to finish my online TEFL course. i started it in oz but never really had time to do it, and now i have 1 mth before it expires so i'm being very disciplined now.

the day before we were invited over to someone's house for dinner, which was lovely, really good tunisian/algerian/swedish food as made by an american lady who's married to a swede who has worked in tunisia/algeria.

before we went to dinner we had a great excursion out to the nearby woods, and sweden is well-known for its natural beauty and so we went mushroom-ahunting as jean explained to us which were edible and which were deadly. its the end of summer but we also managed to find some blueberries and lingonberries so snacked along the way.

last night, we had time to cook the mushrooms and later on that night katie was feeling really dizzy, like couldnt walk straight dizzy and asked us this morning if we'd had the same effect and we deduced that she had been the only one who'd eaten a special type of mushroom. then since she was sharing ailments i thought i would show her this little spot on my leg cos there'd been something in my skin the other day and i didnt know what it was and then she was like i think it might have been a tic (festering in swedish. they really tell it like it is dont they, that sounds a lot more severe than what it is i hope) and then i realised i actually had another one and so i had the fun game of putting it out of my leg preferably without leaving any part of its nasty body behind. and note for mum yes i will keep an eye on it, the people here have rang the clinic up for advice and said it should be ok so i'll keep you all posted if i begin to see any changes eg i begin to mutate into a half insect woman.

sweden 2, australian girls 0