Kungsbacka

myself with Krister and Barbo, with their house
in the background.

The West Coast of Sweden


Following on from our few days in Stockholm, we caught the train and headed west across Sweden, to Kungsbacka, which is just south of Göteborg. From east coast to west coast took just over 3 hours, in a train travelling at 200km /hour. It was a very pleasant and easy way to travel.

We were met by my two host fathers from my time in Kungsbacka. Krister and Håkan were there with two cars to transport the five of us and our luggage. From the moment they met us on the platform, we felt so welcomed. 

Barbro, with Håkan and Ulla Lignell, my second
host parents

During my exchange year, I spent most of the time with Krister and Barbro Egner and their children, Mikael, Kerstin & Karin. Krister and Barbro have now moved out of Kungsbacka to a small town called Åsa, which is where they had their summer house. Summer house has been renovated beautifully and is now their home all year round. 

Gemma with Malin Lignell, Kerstin and Karin (both Egners,
my host sisters in Sweden)

The time in Kungsbacka / Åsa again was all about people. We did no sight-seeing, instead preferring to renew relationships and catch up on the last 12 years of our lives. To our surprise, and delight, three of my "host siblings", Kerstin, Karin and Martin took a day off work to spend with us. Kerstin and Martin are both teachers, at the same school, and this was the PD week before students start the new academic year ... so not an easy time to ask for a day off! 

We had a wonderful day with them and their children, then later in the evening, their husbands/wives, with the main activity being crab fishing in the Kungsbacka fjord. This involved stretching out on the jetty, reaching underneath the jetty, pulling mussels off the wooden boards, cracking them open, attaching them to a peg on the end of a long piece of string and then dangling them in the water. To our amazement, the crabs came running! We caught heaps of the things - like about 40-50! It was so easy, lots of fun and great excitement. One of the children ran around with the net to scoop the crabs in and they were placed in a bucket for safe keeping. These crabs were all too small to eat, but if you go further into the fjord, you can larger ones. Finally, all the crabs are tipped out and there is a crab race to see which one makes it back to its natural habitat first. What great fun!

the crab fishing process

The simple fishing line - peg, with crab still
attached

The crab race is underway.

We had managed to leave our good DSLR camera in Stockholm, so much of the time in Åsa was spent closely following the DHL delivery service and working out whether it would arrive before we left Åsa or not. Thankfully, it was delivered to the small service station one hour before we were due to depart! The nick of time!

On both nights in Åsa, Barbro and Krister hosted dinner for 20+ people. It was a lovely way to catch up with everyone but a great effort for them all. That is a lot of food to prepare! It seems summer just ended in this part of Sweden, and the weather cooled each afternoon; there were showers of rain just before a couple of meals, but each time, we were able to eat outside - important with such large numbers. The food was yummy, healthy and just want we craved. The company was great and each evening, Martin Lignell pulled out his guitar, so the music was superb!

part of the table for one meal .....

There was ice-cream eating in the afternoon!

One of the things that constantly amazes us on this holiday is how children across the world can all communicate through play. Despite language barriers, give the children anything simple, such as snow, water, swings, balls, frisbees, or board games and they seem to be able to occupy themselves and interact together for a significant amount of time. This has amazed us with both French speaking Canadians and Swedes. Our children have loved playing with other children - after so many months together, they love meeting other children and regularly ask if they can just "play". These three days in Åsa were no exception. These photos show some of the things the children found to do. Occasionally they asked an adult to help with translation; or there was a teenager who had some English, but overall, they played together so well.

Crab fishing was a great ice-breaker
for the children

some croquet ....

and iPhones are universal...

 frisbee...

some twister ...

building a new kingdom.

Just like in Stockholm, we had a great few days of talking, remembering and laughing. With relationships renewed and dreams of visitors to Canberra, we farewelled Sweden and wandered our way down to London.