Hey då till Östersund och hey till Gävle

Sunday we said hey då (good bye) to Östersund and hey (hello) to Gävle. This was our first good bye and they sent us off in style with a great good-bye party on Saturday evening. The party was held at Kristian Sjöström home. There was a great view of the mountains, excellent food and lifelong friendships. Thanks Östersund

Here is a picture of the Group at the party.

A special event happened at this party also. If you remember from the previous post Jessica talked about our evening and supper at the local pub. During this Lars talked about the beer academy they have. Jessica wanted to become a member but Lars was not sure if ladies were eligible. After some discussion with Björn it was decided she could be a honorary member. This include an official pinning ceremony. Here is a photo of her with Lars, Björn. Congratulation Jessica, its a long way from home to attend meetings, but you could always have them send beer and you could Skype in.

I have not had time to share about my host families from the first week so here it goes. My first host family was Björn and Bigeitta Wibom. Björn is a retired Swedish military coronel and Bigeitta is a anesthesiology nurse. Here is a picture of Björn on my left and my next host family on my right. Bigeitta was called in to the hospital and was not able to attend the party so I did not get a picture with her.

My second host family was Lars Sahlen and his daughter Anna. Most of Lars ceraer was spent in the grocery distribution business. He is partially retired and has his own business that helps others people who want to start their own business. Anna is a journalist working as the editor of the website http://www.minabibliotek.se/ a site for six of the municipalities around the Umeå area. I think you can figure out who is who.

Sunday morning it was off to the train station for the 10:40 train to Gävle. As most of you know, I love trains, however hauling as this luggage on and off is getting old. The room for luggage on the train is not made for suitcase you pack for a month, but we have made due. Know one seems to have gotten upset with us yet with all this luggage, but we förstå lite svenska (understand little swedish) if they do.

We arrived in Gävle at 13:59 and were greeted by two members of the local Rotary. We were taken from the train station to the home of Peter and Ingela Broström to have Fika and discuss the weeks upcoming events. I have an exciting week, I will be spending 3 days at Sandvik http://www.sandvik.com/. I an really looking forward to this experience. They have a lot planned for us, so it should be a great week. It was off to our host families from there.

Until next time.

Mike