Autumn at the village

Hejsan alla!
It's been a couple weeks since I last wrote. In that time we had a successful 1-week session which was followed by 2 days of packing and cleaning Sjölunden and Salolampi. It was difficult to say good-bye to the villagers, and even harder to say good-bye to our wonderful staff. I feel truly fortunate to have been able to work with such a wonderful group of Swedish teachers from across the United States, Canada and Sweden! Let's hope that they all come back next summer! Tack för iår!

Some of you know that I began a new position this fall at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, a school located about 1 hour north of the Twin Cities. As an Assistant Professor, I'm teaching 2 sections of an intro to education course, and 1 section of 'World Languages Pedagogy'. I was delighted on my first day of classes to see that I have student who spent his summer teaching Spanish at El Lago del Bosque! He recognized me immediately! I will be subjecting these future teachers of French, German and Spanish to the occasional Swedish lesson during the semester, to remind them of how it feels to be a beginning language learning. Also, I feel it really is for their own good. I mean, who doesn't need to learn Swedish?

Speaking of learning Swedish, if you're looking for some good websites to keep your Swedish up, check out my favorites:
www.aftonbladet.se (a popular newspaper, with a tabloid feel)
www.dn.se (the largest Swedish daily paper, definately not a tabloid)
www.svt.se (the television website- I love the show 'sommartorpet' where they renovate an old Swedish sommer cabin. Gosh, it sure would be fun to have an old Swedish summer cabin...but I guess I'll settle for our new Swedish cabins in Bemidji!)

I hope everyone has made a smooth transition back to school!
Vi hörs snart igen,
Magda

Exciting Weekend

Hej allihopa!
Wow- now that's what I call a weekend! It all started on Friday with International Day. We hosted a dedication ceremony recognizing the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation's generous gift of the first cabin at our new site. We named the cabin 'Visby', after the medieval walled city on the island of Gotland. Our site plan showcases the look of a Swedish coastal village, and have decided that the cabins will be named after Sweden's ancient cities of Visby, Birka, Sigtuna and Gamla Uppsala.
The ceremon was lovely- the villagers sang, I received a large key to the new cabin, and we got the most exciting news about our building campaign to date. We received a pledge of $1 million to build our main building at the new site! This gift will come over the next few years, so we aren't going into the ground just yet, but it sure is great to know that a dining hall is in the works! I am simply amazed at the generosity of our supporters! Our new main building will be called 'Uppsala'. This is fitting as Uppsala is an academic and historically significant city in Sweden. It is also just north of Stockholm, and our current dining hall at the Finnish village has always been called 'Stockholm' when the Swedihs program is in session. We are very excited about adding 'Uppsala' to this site!

Yesterday was Midsommar here at the village, and we enjoyed a relaxing summer day. We slept in, ate breakfast in our cabins, and prepared the site for Midsommar. We danced around the majstång and ate a huge smörgåsbord. Then I even found some time to go sailing while the villagers napped in their cabins. Last night we played Volleyboll and Brännboll, and finished the day singing around the camp fire. The credit villagers enjoyed some star gazing before bed as well.

And so now it's Monday, and while things are a little calmer since we are back to our normal schedule, there are many fun activities in the works for this week. Tomorrow our credit villagers are going to visit the Italian village for a Viking invasion of Sicily! The two-weekers will stay here and celebrate Christmas. On Wednesday we all have restaurant night together, and we are looking forward to our Greek meal!

Keep watching our website for pictures and updates! I'm sure you'll be interested to watch our invasion tomorrow. Now where did we put all those viking helmets....?

Opening Day

49 kids! That's a lot of new villagers filling our dining hall tonight. Today we began our biggest session of the summer, and things are certainly busier around here. Half of the kids that arrived here today are completely new to our program. We're working hard to help these kids feel welcome. I remember my first summer at Sjölunden. I was 14 and didn't know a thing about Sweden. I'd never seen a dalahäst, nor had I heard of St. Lucia. Everything was new, and I was really nervous. But from that first night my counselors made me feel welcome, and our cabin worked as a team to write new lyrics to a favorite old ABBA song. That turned out to be a wonderful summer that changed my life forever. I hope the villagers who arrived today have the same positive experience as I had. Our staff is sure working to make sure that this happens!

Nu är det jul igen...

Maybe you've heard the Swedish Christmas song that goes 'nu är det jul igen'. It translates as 'now it's Christmas again'. Yesterday was indeed Christmas at Sjölunden, and it caused our new Swedes on staff to chuckle. Imagine being served a warm Lucia bun on a warm July night. Or to dress up in red pajamas and a red stocking cap as you swat away the mosquitoes. Christmas at our village is truly special. Somehow we manage to decorate the dining hall enough so that you can almost feel as if you've been transported 2 seasons into the future. Watching Kalle Anka while eating rice pudding certainly helps too.

Tonight is restaurant night, and the kids have been talking all week about who they want to go with. They will all have to call in to make reservations for a table tonight. And our staff will transform from counselors into wait staff and pizza chefs. It's always an adventure! Watch for the pictures later tonight!

Staff Orientation

There are a few words being thrown around liberally this week at our staff orientation. Those words include 'på svenska' (in Swedish), 'roligt' (fun), and 'jätte bra idee' (really good idea). This week our entire staff is living at Bemidji State University and attending numerous workshops on how to teach language in the village. It's also a chance for us to get to know each other, and to begin to plan things like the first night in the stuga (cabin) and which activities we will offer during the first session.
Tonight we are having a song exchange, and we've been practicing camp songs all week to help the new staff get acquainted with them before they are expected to teach them. We will also get the chance to learn songs in Italian, Japanese and Korean. In fact, there are 9 other villages here, with staff from all over the world. But you can tell us apart by our blue and yellow clothing and all that blonde hair!

Time to get ready to sing!
Magda

Summer begins!

Hej allihopa! Summer is back, and so is my blog!
It's been a long winter here in Minnesota, and I'm excited about getting ready for camp. Are you ready? It's time to pull out the Swedish t-shirts and shorts, and gather all the magazines, books, posters and games I've collected during the year, and drive my little car up to Bemidji. We have 9 native Swedes working this summer, and so far 7 of them are in the Twin Cities. The last two arrive on Saturday. The 7 that are here are all helping out at the American Swedish Institute's summer day camp this week. I'm looking forward to meeting most of them tomorrow.

Today Annika came to my home to work on our Orientation schedule. We also talked about where we will house villagers and staff, and we are very excited about our new cabin! It makes housing so much easier! I posted some photos of the new cabin on the website, so I hope you'll go take a look.

I've seen a few of you during the year, and it's been great to keep in touch! I can't wait to see everyone else on an opening or closing day this summer. Keep checking this blog for updates about Sjölunden 2008!
Vi ses snart!
Magda

Fall colors at the village

I just returned from 4 days up in Bemidji. The fall colors are slightly past peak, but the views were lovely nonetheless. Kajsa met me there to spend a few days planning curriculum and programs for summer 2008 and beyond. But the real highlight was a trip down the path to see the progress on our first residential cabin. The walls are up, the roof is on and the windows are in. It's really amazing to see. And the boat house and weaving studio both looked just adorable in the fall colors. All that was missing were the people- but fortunately the Swedish Elderhostel group arrived last night and I'm sure the village is bustling with activity now. I only wish I were there to enjoy it. I have posted some new photos on our website, so be sure to go look.

Our next Swedish program is the spring Adult week in March, followed by the Family Fun Weekend in April. Be sure to enroll so that you can be among the first to use these new facilities.

I also wanted to mention that our new Twin Cities group for high school students, På gång, is actively meeting at the American Swedish Institute. Learn more, or join here: http://www.americanswedishinst.org/educate.htm#school_groups
I also noticed they have a facebook group, so those of you who are on facebook and are curious to see what they are up to, should check that out.

Vi ses!
Magda