The last hurrah!

Today is the first day of our last session. 34 1-week villagers and 4 families arrived during a cool and rainy afternoon at Sjölunden. We did our best to keep the energy level high- we blared Swedish pop music over the speakers, hung blue and yellow flags everywhere and served delicious cardamom breads and coffee to our guests. But it wasn't until all the villagers had arrived that the program came to life! We sang Pippi Longstockings, ate meatballs with lingonberries and then finished off the evening with a troll story at the fire pit. Så härligt!

This week we are a smaller staff, just 12 of us are working this session. Among our staff are 2 counselors who I first worked with in 1993. Lisa was a counselor and folk dance teacher that year, which was our last year at the old site (Maplelag- now a site for our Spanish village). Now Lisa has 3 children, the oldest of which is a villager. What fun to reminisce about 1993 which was our first year on staff for both of us! Tonight we realized that Pappa Björn was also on staff with us that year, although he only worked a week. So this week is especially fun as we try to hunt down pictures from that year. If we find any good ones, we'll be sure to show you!

A final thought... in the last 2 days we noticied that the leaves are starting to turn color in the cooler weather. Here's a photo of my clogs in the fall leaves.

Our last full day...

It's a bittersweet day at Sjölunden today. It's the last full day of the 2 and 4 week sessions. I cannot believe how fast these last 2 weeks have gone. It's feels like I just wrote the blog about the older villagers arriving. This morning I sat with all of the 2-weekers while they took a few minutes to write down their reflections about the session. We did this exercise on their 2nd day at the village too. But today it was particularly beautiful. The sun was shining and we listened to Swedish jazz music while we wrote down our thoughts on the goals we set 2 weeks ago, and what we have accomplished this session. I encourage all parents to ask their villagers about what they wrote in their CLVisa's today.

The bell has just rung for our last lunch together. Tonight we will enjoy a banquet. Our 4-week credit students will enjoy the chance to celebrate their accomplishements. Sjölunden is the only place in North America where young people can earn high school credit for studying Swedish. Our 37 students have done a wonderful job using Swedish day in and day out. This morning they made 'studentmössar', the Swedish graduation hats. You'll be able to see pictures of these hats on our website tomorrow.

Wish us well tonight as we dance at the disco, and then watch a slide show of the session. We are all experiencing the excitement of getting to see our families and friends again, but also the sadness of having to leave this very special place. But as we like to tell the kids, we don't say 'hej då', but rather 'vi ses', because we will see each other again before too long!
Vi ses!
Magda

Midsommar at the village

It's Monday and we had a very exciting weekend at Sjölunden! Many of you were here for International Day on Friday. We began the day with the dedication of our first 2 buildings at Sjölunden: the weaving studio and our very cute boat house. We also have steps that lead down to the lake, and at the bottom of the steps is a lovely little spot to sit and drink your morning coffee...ahhh. That afternoon our villagers joined hundreds of other villagers at Waldsee for the International Day festivities. We wore bright yellow t-shirts and were easily the most visible group at the festival! We sang a song together with our Danish friends during the closing program. Unfortunatly I only got to see pictures of these events because I was in a wedding down in the Twin Cities that afternoon. But what I have heard from the kids and from the staff is that it was a simply wonderful experience! I am so proud of our village!
Yesterday was Midsommar at the Village. In the middle of our 2 week sessions we have traditionally celebrated Midsommar as a day of rest and relaxation. Midsommar means no language groups, no scheduled activities, and no classes for the credit students. We start our morning with breakfast in the cabins. Each cabin puts in an order for 'stug-service' and then arrives at the kitchen to pick up their basket. They eat on the porches of their cabins. It's a very calm and enjoyable experience for both villagers and counselors.
Later we prepare our Maypole and dining hall for the festivities. We take cabin pictures, and dance around the Maypole before eating our huge 'Midsommar Smörgåsbord'. That afternoon we enjoy extra long free time, and a village-wide game of Swedish baseball (brännboll). That night we have a picnick, followed by a camp fire. Last night I saw the girls cabins jumping over fences and picking 7 different flowers. In Sweden, girls pick the flowers and jump over 7 fences before placing the flowers under their pillows. Legend has it that they'll dream of the man they are going to marry!

Big Kids

The big kids have arrived! Yesterday was the first day of our older 2-week session and 47 young people arrived ready to learn Swedish. I am really impressed with all our new villagers who are here for the very first time. It takes courage to start learning a new language and to come into a village like Sjölunden. It can be pretty intimidating, with so many kids who have been here for SO many years. It makes me think back to my own first summer at camp. I originally ended up at Swedish because the German camp was full! And so I arrived on the first day after customs had closed. I was the last kid to show up. I was 13 years old and had never heard a word of Swedish in my life. I had never seen a Dalahäst, nor had I heard of St. Lucia. I didn't know what mormor meant, and I had never worn clogs before. When I got to my cabin there were no more beds left, so I got to sleep on a couch in the cabin.

Within the first few hours I began to get the hang of things. And then for evening program my counselors Nica and Ingrid told us we had to make up our own cabin song. Then they played a song for us and it was noneother than ABBA! I knew ABBA because my mother was a fan. But I didn't know that they were Swedish! From that evening program on, I knew that Sjölunden was the place for me. The first evening of the older session always makes me remember how scary the first day at camp can be, but also how wonderful it is when your cabin pulls together to create something new. Last night our cabins created cabin songs and I saw many new faces laughing in the light of our campfire. What a wonderful sight!