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!)

Fika Time! By GSE Sweden Team member Heather Williams

Hej! Yeah, that's Hello in Swedish... pronounced "Hey"... I'm already speaking the language...lol... and this is my first official blog! Tuesday, April 20th started bright and early! Sunday and Monday were behind us and a bit of a blur after traveling by plane, train and automobile over 16 hours, through a volcano to get to Ostersund, Sweden. A city of about 70,000 in the Northwest region of central Sweden. The team and I were still in denial that we made it and to be quite honest we were all not quite ready to leave our lives at home. A slight delay would have been fine but this is what we signed on for... but a whole month! Missing work... yes, I'll miss work! And missing loved ones... old and new ones!
My host "mom" as I'd like to call her for this week is a lovely lady named Eva. She is a retired journalist and we have found quite a few things in common... for those of you who know me, I often try to find the similarities in us and celebrate what makes us all one people. Eva lives in a lovely 3rd floor apartment overlooking lake Storsjon. Here is where the lake monster "The Storsjoodjuret" is said to have lived for over 400 years... a distant relative to the Loch Ness monster, perhaps... for more detailed information than a fine historian like myself can describe here, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storsj%C3%B6odjuret. You'll also find more info. on Östersund and Frösön (yes, the keyboards here have ö on them... lol!). These are the two cities we visited today.
Eva and I have an early breakfast and walk over the Frösöbron bridge into Ostersund... about a mile to the tourism center where we meet up with the team. Happy to be reunited, we start on our adventure with our first stop being Hornsbergskyrkan (yes, this is one word... don't even bother!) Lutheran church. Everyone is Lutheran in Sweden... we talk about volunteerism as it applies to church and other areas and the priest shares that volunteerism is very low in Sweden and that almost everyone who does anything for the church is paid... which of course was interesting for me coming from the non-profit world where our work is based on volunteers. We tour the church and are lead to the basement where a locked cabinet holds old scripts. The priest pulls out a small book and hands it to me. I open the cover and see I am holding a hymnal from 1628! Need I say more?! Thought not!

After our church tour, we continue our history lesson outside where the "Frösön stone" Runic script sets. This stone dates back to 1050 and is the first written documentation of Christianity in the country. The stone pictures a Christian cross, a snake who's mouth is eating it's tail and a bondage symbol which tells of the bridging of Östersund to Frösön.
From the church grounds we mounted up... ok, we weren't riding horses... we jumped in the Volvo... and headed to the country side of Frösön to have "Fika" which is the customary break time in Sweden, in the morning around 10:30am and again in the afternoon around 2:30pm... we liked the sound of this and warmed up very quickly to the idea of "Fika time" as I like to call it. Any occasion to drink and eat chocolatey goodness is cause for celebration in my book! And speaking of warming up... it's a little cold here... who would have thought we would be longing for the warm days that spring has been bringing us back in WI.
From "Fika time" we visit Frösö church which is one of Frösön's major tourist attractions, a medieval church that recently had its 800 year anniversary. For more info. visit http://frosokyrka.se/.
Ok, let me remind you that at this point in the day... it is not even noon yet... 11:30am and we head back to Östersund where we are to give our first rotary presenation. We meet with the district governor and see many of our host "parents" along with meeting many new rotary members. Lunch is delicious and the presenation was well prepared and delivered (pat on the back team!).
From lunch we head to the Mittuniversitet (University) which is one of three campus locations in the province. Here we find that college education is free! Ok, so taxes are 50% of income but FREE people... you know what a term like that means to us Americans!
Our tour continues to the Town Hall of Östersund where we receive more history lessons! Our brains are a little on overload at this point but 2:30pm... and you know what time it is!! "Fika time". More coffee and a bite of chocolate is just what we needed to stay awake through a very interesting discussion about local government and industry... including a detailed plans implemented by the city and government to regrow jobs and industry when the military moved from the area just a few short years ago. We asked for the power points slides to add to our presenation for when we return... stay tuned for that!
We then proceed to visit Elisabeth Viggeborn, a private business owner and rotary member, she is our last stop for the day. Elisabeth owns Revent, a specialty golf travel company. She books clients to the finest golf courses in the world and has been doing so for over 10 years. We have interesting and engaging discussion about private businesses versus public, healthcare, benifits... so much more than I am prepared to get into here now that it is 3am Swedish time!
We wrapped up our discussion and headed back to the tourist center where our host parents awaited. I took the walk home with Eva... stopping at a few shops along the way... shoes people! Gotta check out the goods! Lol! You know I'll be sporting at least one new pair when I return home!
Eva and I return to her quaint apartment, she makes a lovely dinner of chicken and potatoes... we drink red wine and I share today's adventures and we talk of our lives... work, family... and of course, men! We finish talking around 11pm and then I am blessed to get in touch with loved ones at home and catch up some work... don't even say it... I've gotta do it and God bless the Iphone and thanks to my Swedish "mom" for use of her computer and internet!
Sleep comes a little bit harder when you're so far away from home (or was it all that coffee today?!) but it is time to rest now my loved ones and friends. We are up at 7:00am and off to climb a mountain... that so sounds like me... yes, I know. The team and I will take turns updating the blog so you'll hear from me again soon. Until then... Conquering Sweden, one day at a time! 28 more days to go people!
Hey Adjö... pronounced "Hey Do" (yeah, that's right... more of the lingo around here! Lol!) By the way, yes... everyone thinks I'm Swedish here... from the time I got on the airplane through today when a man on the street asked in Swedish if I was the cutest girl he had ever seen or if he was drunk, to which my "mom" answered "Both!" and we continued on our way! Lol!)
Much love,
Heather