This weekend ROCKED!

This weekend was so much fun! Even though I didn't feel well most of the weekend, it was still awesome. Saturday afternoon, Mom and I ventured out into Skövde without a local guide. This was an adventure to say the least. We didn't really do much besides walk around, but it was still so nice to see the streets full of people and see some of the local sights. We walked through one of the parks, through the town square, and even into one of the cemeteries. It was very interesting to me to see how different cultures bury their dead. I guess I can thank Dr. Sanford and the Anthropological Archaeology class I took at MW. In all sincerity, it was beautiful to see burial sites that are taken care of with such pride as the ones I saw were. In the States, it's rare to be able to actually plant flowers on a grave anymore. Here in Sweden, most of the burial sites had beautiful flowers and plants planted on them. Also, many of the sites had very small pebbles covering the grave. Most of these pebble coverings were combed some even in a design or pattern. I think I just really appreciated the fact that there was that much respect still had for someone who had passed that so much time and effort would be put into maintaining their final resting place. It really was beautiful. Anywho, back to Mom and me being tourists... The picture above is actually a picture of the towne square of Skövde! :) This town is so pretty. The colors here just aren't seen in the States! I really like this picture of a local church. Look at how blue the sky is! It's insane!!!!


So after Mom and I were done being tourists for the day, Lina picked us up to head to Annelie's apartment for a traditional Swedish dinner. Traditional it was! We had delicious Swedish MEATBALLS! My friends back in the States told me this was the one thing I absolutely HAD to eat while in Sweden. They were AMAZING! They even let me help make them! I think they thought I was nerdy for being so excited to help make them, but whatever :). Here's what they looked like! :) Oh, Annelie told me to put in here that they're supposed to be round... but they aren't haha! I reassured my teammates that I don't generally take pictures of all of my meals, but I had to let folks back home know that I ACTUALLY ate legitimate Swedish meatballs :)
So here is the final product! Swedish meatballs and sauce (which I sadly don't know the name of), potatoes, and Lydon berry jam... so good! I think I may have a new favorite dish! the best part is, it wasn't all that difficult to make! I mean, granted, I couldn't read any of the ingredients in the cookbook since it was all in Swedish, and I couldn't measure anything since I don't yet know my metric conversions, but still! So easy! HAHA! This was a great way to prep for my first games the following day here in Sweden!

Waking up at 5 am is never my favorite thing to do... especially when I'm already having trouble sleeping. That being said, I was actually very excited when I woke up and realized it was my the day of my first game with a new team! We traveled nearly 3.5 hours to Enköping to play at 12. This meant leaving our field incredibly early! I pitched the first game while Priya tossed the second game. Both games had their intense moments, but thankfully we were able to pull out two Ws! It felt so awesome to be on a team again, better yet, a supportive team! My mom was a little too adorable after the game wanting a team photo. Being as this was probably her only chance to get a team photo, I don't think anyone minded. Everyone has been super great about letting her come with and enjoy Swedish life as well. Thanks guys! Anywho, here's a picture of your 2010 Skövde Saints although we're missing a couple of players here.