This instruction manual puts IKEA's to shame

Yesterday, the kids and I attended an Elves Workshop at the Waldorf School of Orange County in Costa Mesa.  There were lots of fun hands-on activities for the chilrdren, and one in particular merits a mention here.  In one workshop, kids had the option to:

a) Build a crystal snow globe - Elin picked this (phew!), or;
b) I was desperately hoping to avoid this:  Build a reindeer out of a towel and some accessories - Johanna picked this.  I tried convincing her to pick option a, to no avail.

Johanna and I before we gave up on following the undecipherable instructions below.  Judge for yourself:

And the finished product after massive help from a 10-13 year old volunteer Waldorf helper:

Abbas

Take me to church part 2

Back at Nobbelov church today for more pancakes, or "pannkaka" as they call them in Swedish.  Not a pretty sight.  Quality control was lacking today - see picture of burned pancakes below.  Who would serve such a thing to a customer??  And mine weren't exactly kosher either.  They were dry and crispy around the edges.  I'm deprived of pancakes at home.  Most go to the kids.  So I suppose beggars can't be choosers, but this was a little over the top.  I will try again tomorrow with my fingers crossed.  For the record, the church volunteers are a friendly and hospitable bunch.

This amazing 7 year old Icelandic girl - the one on the right in the picture - who has befriended my 5 year old, can speak 3 languages fluently:  Icelandic, Danish, and English.  Her English is almost entirely self taught via YouTube.  The first time I heard her speak, I thought she was at least half American.  Her father told me she picked up Danish in a few weeks after she moved in with her mother to Denmark.  Below is a drawing she made of her plans with my daughter today.  Her father's fiance said she was excited to see Johanna and do all the things she'd mapped out below that morning.  Simply amazing!

Take me to church!

6-30-2015:  Every time I visit Sweden, I take away a memory or two that lasts me a lifetime.  Some are good, some bad, and some downright depressing, enough to make a grown man cry; like the time I filled up my father-in-law's gas tank to the tune of $100+.  This visit was no different.  Here's what I'll remember for as long as I have my faculties together:

For the past few summers, I've been eating yummy pancakes for 20 Swedish Krona - $2.40 at the current exchange rate - at the Nobbelov Church in Lund, built in the 12th century.  Every summer, they hold a kids arts and crafts program  from Tuesdays through Thursdays, and today was the first of this summer season's.  At 12 p.m., the church bells ring for a few minutes, and the volunteer workers drop everything and mosey their way into church like zombies.   For breakfast/brunch, they serve coffee, tea, fruit juice, cookies, pancakes and a couple of other miscellaneous breakfast items I can't name.  The attendees are old people and mothers with kids, but every now and then a father shows up.  I go to church for pancakes only.  Just today, I had two plates full.  Swedish pancakes are really crepes, but they call them pancakes.  I spoke to a church Choir leader today, a lady in her 60's.  She said she'd just come back from NY for her son's 30th birthday, and the pancakes there were very "thick".

The last time I came to Lund was a couple of years ago.  On our visit downtown this year, there must've been a beggars' convention in force.  There was one in every corner, and sometimes just a couple of stores apart.  These are the Roma.  They come from Bulgaria and Romania primarily, and their numbers have doubled in just one year.  I'd never seen any in Lund before.  This is a sad state of affairs, and downtown Lund isn't quite as desirable as it used to be.  The Swedish government has been seemingly powerless to stop them.  "We have seen this group grow every year. This is about discrimination and poverty in their home countries, which don't live up to their responsibilities. It's difficult to predict the future, but I think we need to get used to the thought that this situation will continue to be the norm," said Marina Johansson, representing the Social Democrats in Gothenburg's municipality."

And can someone please import these to the U.S. supermarkets???

Handbaskets with wheels - what a concept!