The Lindahl News: Abroad Edition

Due to Wes's teaching schedule, there are available times during the week to get out and about. We asked the "locals" for suggestions on nearby destinations (Jonkoping area) to see beauty and nature. And they delivered! Both heights were within a half hour - in different directions - of our school location. Both were beautiful destinations! 1. Taberg It was easy to drive to the summit of this mountain/hill; little hiking was involved. Let's be honest, we were told this is a great place for fika or a meal. First, the views...   Now the fika out on the overlooking balcony.  Wow-wow-wow!           See that outside corner table on the left? That's where we sat. The rain had stopped by the time we got there and here's Wes enjoying his cup of coffee and our shared treats. 2. Vista Kulle Quite by accident we discovered this hiking gem.  We actually were looking for the "Apple Valley"...

The first week of classes is now one for the books here at SVF!  It was so exciting to have the American students arrive on Sunday night, August 19.  Many of them hadn't slept much more than a few winks since their departures from the US...and still they impressed me with their flexibility in  dealing with the unexpected plane connection delays, cumbersome luggage and lack of sleep. I'm going to now break the week down by what happened on each day of the week. (I told the group I was going to be writing a blog about our experiences, and they approved of their pictures being shown here.) Sunday, August 19   A meal.  Dorm assignments. Games in the gym. Monday, August 20  The student body gathers in the auditorium to hear (via headphones and a great translator!) a welcome address by President Anders Georgsson and meet various staff members.  The music presnted was fabulous and even included a Stevie Wonder song Lo...

There's a beautiful, small island which is accessible by ferry off the coast of Granna. After Anne and Jed left, we decided to return to this gem and rent bicycles to explore the island further. The island is 8.7 miles long and 1.9 miles wide. According to legend, a giant named Vist created the island by tossing a lump of soil into Lake Vattern so that his wife could use it to step over the lake. Stepping isn't the name of the game for us...we are pedallers this time!  We rented our bikes and were off. We saw the castle and the large church when we visited with Anne and Jed, so we passed by these this time on our way out and about.  The island has some quaint homes painted in that red color we love as well as homes in a mustardy yellow and the ever-popular white. They were charming. Luckily, the roads were pretty flat and unpopulated, so I could stop to take pictures along the way to the northern side of the island. We came upon this beautiful ch...

Do you recognize the cute couple standing next to us? The day after we returned from our trip to Norway, our daughter and her husband joined us in Jonkoping! We had four days together and our time was sweet.  What did we do? We ate. Salmon dinner in our apartment. We ate kebab pizza here due to the closure of EVERGREEN for renovations.  Yum! A picnic lunch on a ferry to an island. At IKEA where there are still boiled potatoes on the menu. We explored. The downtown of Jonkoping and the bus system. The castle ruins on Visingso Island.   The SVF campus where Anne and Jed had been students in the past.. We played games. Rook and Gin Rummy 500.  Check out the cards we bought in Norway with mittens and ski poles!  We enjoyed this beautiful city. Note:  There may or may not have been tears when their bus pulled away and we were two again. It was simply wonderful to have our first visitors! ...