Making the "moose"t of our trip! By Heather Williams

Our adventures continue in Ostersund.

Yesterday, we began our day at Mittuniversitetet (Mid Sweden University). Dr. Mikael Bäckström greeted us at the research center of technology where he is head of research, development, training and innovation activities in sports technologies. For more information on the University and the Sports technology research, go to http://www.miun.se/. His research is cutting edge and we sit and talk with him in fascination of the technology that he and his team are using and inventing to assist athletes of all levels improve performance and they are also world leaders in developing medical implants... and these are just a couple things they do... seriously, check it out!

We are then off to another rotary lunch and after, our team splits up and we were off on our vocational visits. I meet Ann, a member of the rotary and owner of Yogashala (http://www.yogashala.se/), a small Yoga studio in the heart of Östersund. She takes me on a tour of her facility and we talk about her business. Ann has a staff of 8, including herself and is fascinated when I tell her of our 200+ employees at my YMCA and all of the classes we offer. We talk of her coming to Wisconsin as a special guest instructor and we exchange contact info. and become friends on Facebook. I'm then off around the corner to meet Erika. She is the owner of Andrum, meaning "the breathing space" (http://www.andrum.eu/), a small spa that specializes in massage, body and facial treatments, personal styling and LPG which uses advanced technologies to reduce cellulite. Erika and I have a lovely visit as well and I return to the university where Sarah and I meet our new host "dad", Per-Eric... that's his first name, but we just call him Eric as all Americans do. Eric has two beautiful daughters... Elvina, a 15 year old, dark haired beauty... and Ellinor, a 14 year old pretty little petite blonde. We arrive at their home which is 24 kilometers outside the city... yes, in the middle of no where. Their home is quaint, beautiful, and we are quite impressed with the technological advances in the home, including a smart board projection system in the living room and a celestial ceiling in their dining room. Eric is the owner of http://www.pexcon.com/, a consultant company that works worldwide with consequences, emergency and crisis management, training and exercises. Their home is darling... very homey and Sarah and I instantly feel at home. Eric makes us dinner, he calls it spaghetti bolognese... I call it moose meat spaghetti, which he didn't tell us until after we were done... it was delicioso!

So, we end one night eating Moose... and the next morning, we are off to feed them. Do you see the problem with this? These Swedes! ;) We are greeted by Sune Häggmark, owner of the "Moose Farm". Sune previously worked in the public¨sector but now owns his own farm... so, in other words he went from dealing with bullshit... to moose shit! Lol! Sune even has begun a process of recycling moose droppings into paper which has been exported to many other countries and in Thailand they are adopting the process to make paper out of panda droppings and the same in Africa with giraffes. Holy sh*t!!

Here begins our photo shoot with the moose! Our attractive group with the beautiful countryside in the back and then our group again making the international greeting sign of the moose.
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Here are my team members and team leader, Wally.... oops, my bad... that's not Wally! Where is Wally??

There he is!! And you wondered about my confusion?!

Meanwhile, back on the moose ranch!

I found myself really bonding with these massive creatures...

I had my eye on one particular tall, dark and handsome moose gent...

... his name is Hälge... and we added each other on Facebook as well!


Our visit ended with Fika time and we were off! We'll be keeping in touch with our moose friends by logging on to http://www.moosegarden.com/, log on to see their live webcam.

And off again! Our next stop is the Mörsjö Deli. This new business was started in 2007 by Anna Godevärn. They produce thin bread chips made out of typical Swedish thin bread (http://www.morsjo.se/). They have been doing this for hundreds of years so the concept is not new but the idea to produce and sell in mass quantities is now patented by Anna in Sweden. We took a tour of the factory and were able to samples these delicious chips and take a bag with us. Unfortunately these chips are not available in the states but I'm bringing them home with me for my return party that all of my wonderful friends are planning for me! ;)

After snack time, we head to our final rotary meeting and presentation of the week. We present our sponsoring clubs flags and receive one each from the Östersund Södra (so.uth) Rotary club. They are quite impressed with our power point presenation... and is it any surprise with these fabulous blogging skills! ;)

After rotary we are escorted to the Jamtli museum (the provincial museum) http://www.jamtli.com/. Here we learned of the history of the region including the story of the Reindeer keeps, vikings and much more about the people and culture. From the museum we headed back to our host homes for the evening.

Being good stewards of wellness, Sarah and I returned home and did power yoga while the family relaxed. We then shared a wonderful dinner, conversation, and the family even sat with me til the wee hours to complete this quite lengthy blog!

Well, my friends... it is time to sleep. Tomorrow we will participate in a Nordic walk, sauna treatment and "cole-bun"... not quite sure what that is... but stayed tuned for more. On Sunday we leave Östersund and head to Gävle, a city on the East coast just north of Stockholm.

God Natt och Ha Det Bra

(Goodnight and Be well!)