I know I haven't posted any posts recently, that's because I've been pretty busy. Hopefully that trend will change soon.

Anyway, just 30 minutes ago I experienced my first earthquake ever. Almost immediatley the information was updated on the Internet and told us that is was a 3.4 Richter magnitude, which isn't very much, but when we looked at the map we saw that it happened litterally right under our neighborhood, wit a depth of 7 km.

At the time of the earthquake we were sitting down having dinner, and it struck us with surprise. The windows were shaking and the ground vibrated. My first reaction was shock, and my intuition told me to search shelter under the dinner table, since that's what we've learned in school. But everything happened so quickly that it was over before I reached under it, and I sat up again with a fast beating heart.

After this earthquake it is easier to understand the panic people get in situations like these. If it would have went on for a longr time I don't know what I would have done. Anyway, I'm fine and it was an interesting experience!

Some recent pictures

Our lovely christmas tree, decorated with every ornament we could find in the house, everything from balls and lights to ginger bread men and sugar canes. As many gifts as possible were put under it, the rest were on the side.The Ginger bread house was bought at IKEA, allready baked and in ready pieces, we put it together and decorated it with icing, M&M's, marshmallows, sugar canes etc. Really pretty!

We often light a fire in the fire place, it gets really warm and cozy.

Mary Sue, Josh, Kieran, Mary Sue's sister Chris and her family, Dick, Sarah and Julie went to a restaurant, owned by a friend of Mary Sue and had breakfast. Kieran and I had one of those delicious German apple pancakes with creme fraiche and strawberries (and maple syrup).

During the entire break, Kiearn and his friend Richard (a new made friend from across the street) were out skatebording all day long, they barely eat during the day because they wre so busy. Kieran showed me some cool tricks.

I ended up at the beach when I went for a walk. Lovely weather and the water didn't feel too cold. I definatley want to go back there soon, hang out, maybe have a picknick. Have you ever heard of Toms shoes? For every pair of shoes you buy another pair is donated to a child in need in Ethiopia. They are very simple, fabric shoes, but I love them. I've got a pair for christmas, like those in the middle of the picture. If you want a pair you can either buy them in the pop-up store on Abbot-Kinney until the end of January, or order them online. My shoe size is European 39 which is equivalent to the American 8.5.

Christmas 2008

Because of the diverse population with a broad variation of cultures and religions you have to be careful to not offend any of them by openly express your opinion. For example no one of my teachers were allowed to have Christmas decorations in the classroom in view of the other religions that don’t celebrate Christmas, such as the Jews and Muslims. Another example is the stores that wish the customers “Happy Holidays” rather that “Merry Christmas”. Among the families that do celebrate Christmas it is celebrated mainly on Christmas Day. But my host family (who doesn’t celebrate it for any religious reason, but more as a cultural tradition) spent both Christmas Eve and Day to eat the traditional food and open gifts.

At Christmas Eve I woke up and my first thought went to my family in Sweden (I feel like I have to clarify because I call my host family “family” as well). I didn’t know what time it was when I woke up but since I my body is set on a certain time from when I was going up to go to school I assumed it was about 7 am. 7 am here would mean 4 pm at home, “Donald Duck’s Christmas Eve” had just passed, and they were probably watching the first half of “Can you whistle Johanna” before they would have to leave to go to church. The whole morning I followed my family’s Christmas celebrations at home and I felt really homesick, more that in a long time.

I spent some time cleaning my room, listening to music and just hang out. The previous Sunday, when I talked t my family we decided that I would call them at 9.30 am PST because church would be over and they’d be home again. So I had a long talk with my family, we talked both before and after they opened gifts and to my surprise, my packet with Christmas gifts had arrived a couple of days earlier!

In the afternoon I helped Mary Sue to cook, as anyone else who has to be in charge of a Christmas dinner for over 25 people she was very stressed and appreciated a couple of helping hands. Before dinner Chris, Dick Julie and Sarah Dewitt, Mary Sue, Julie and I went to two different homes for the old people to sing Christmas carols. There were some songs that I had never heard or I didn’t know the lyrics, but I did my best.

Later on the guests started to come. There were Grandma Ruth and her friend Barry, Julie and Jack, Mark, Theresa and Jena, Chris, Dick, Julie and Sarah, Diane and her two kids, Susan and Liz, Anne, Annette, Dave, Casey and Nolan and two other people I didn’t know. This was quite unusual for me since I’m used to a Christmas Eve with only my closest family, and my aunt and her husband. And unlike the “smorgasbord” at home we were served cheese fondue, bread, grilled shallots with a dip, fresh oysters, smoked oysters, shrimps, crackers and cheese, artichoke, and long “king crab” legs, each at least 40 cm long. So seafood was the main staple of the meal.

After dinner, at about nine or 9.30 pm we started to open our gifts. They did it differently that I’m used to, not one at a time but a couple so everyone could open at the same time and be more efficient. I got a Clinique face wash from Chris (my old one I lost in the security on the airport in Washington DC when we were there because it contained 3.3 fl. Oz. instead of the allowed amount of 3). She and Dick also gave me new slippers, soft and cozy, which I love! I got two pairs of shoes, a sweater, gift card from iTunes, a check with 75$, two books and a couple of other things. In the end the living room was completely filled with wrapping paper and ribbon and the kitchen was a mess after the dinner party. Declan and I helped Mary Sue and Josh to clean up, I went to bed and felt asleep right away.

On Christmas Day morning Santa had come during the night and filled out stockings with more, smaller gifts, and we all opened ours. Additionally there were some gifts under the tree, obviously too big to fit in a stocking. Among them there were two gifts for me, it turned out they contained a pair of vans shoes and an old digital camera. This second hand camera was a symbol of the camera that was being shipped to me, ordered from the internet, but was delayed of some reason. The camera was from mom and dad and I thanked them as soon as I spoke to them again, but Thank You again!

After the breakfast, bacon and eggs for each one of us, Swedish glögg and my saffron buns (which didn’t turn out as they were supposed to, but everyone described politely how wonderful they were) we (family and relatives) went to Jack and Julie’s house to have Christmas Day dinner. Yesterday Jack had been recording when we practiced our Christmas carols and he had interviewed both Sarah and Declan about their job respectively school, so we watched these recordings. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to see my self and hear myself in a recording like that, it’s embarrassing. I made the Yorkshire pudding for dinner, a popular and traditional part of the English Christmas meal. It tasted a bit like Swedish pancakes, and pretty much similar ingredients. At night we watched two movies, The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original from 1950) and Men in Black 2.