Hej Hej,
This story is about my 10 - day trip to Sweden over Whitsun this year (2008) - as I promised you, I will try to tell you everything I experienced during these days.
First of all I want to say that I loved it to be back in Sweden - it always feels like coming home after a long time. Nonetheless it was quite hard to see Sweden´s beautiful landscape thinking of grandma, who will never be there again. I spent some time sitting at the lake, just following memories.
But let´s start at the beginning: Some of you might already know that I am planning to go to Sweden in July for about 3 month to work there for a German outdoor tour - operator. The last 10 days should give us the opportunity to meet the other team members and to learn everything about our summer - job.
My trip started on Thursday 8 May, when I arrived in Berlin after a 5 hour journey by train. Sören (whom I already knew from a meeting day in January) and me met each other in Berlin in order to do some last buyings in a shop for outdoor equipment and to have a nice evening in Germany´s Capital.
After a short overnight stay in one of Berlin´s Hostels we left for meeting all the others in the InterCity Hotel where we had a final seminar on different aspects of our journey. We talked about expectations and how to behave on our 18 - hour bustrip to Sweden, as we already took guests with us. In fact we have been about 25 team members and about 25 guests. ;-) Friday afternoon we finally left for Sweden.
As you can imagine, nobody slept in this night - all of us were so excited because of the journey together with so many new people. 2 times we had to take a ferry - from Rostock to Denmark and then from Helsingör to Helsingborg. This was the first time we felt something that could be called - 'holiday feeling' - when we stood on the ferry, watching the sunset. The next morning, when we followed the numerous curves through the Swedish forests along various beautiful lakes, we had another impressing encounter with 2 moose standing beside the road. Must have been a happy omen.
From the moment of our arrival in the Outdoor Camp Höglund near Lennartsfors at the lake Foxen, we had so many things to do that time flies. Every evening I looked back and wondered how the day could have gone so fast.
We stayed in tents, which was an interesting experience, due to temperatures at zero during the nights (my sleeping bag is good for temperatures about 10 degrees above zero ;-)) So we started to develop various creative ideas to have it warmer at nights, like bottles filled with hot water hidden in the leg area of our sleeping bags. Moreover, the showers were almost open - air ;-) and everyone of you who has been in Sweden before, could imagine how the toilettes looked like! The washing place was also outside with cold water from the lake ;-) 10 days I have seen no closed and heated room. It was wonderful ;-) Believe me - I have been there only 10 days and I was almost unoriented back at home! ;-) Don´t know how it will feel like after 3 month. Some of us, who will be the outdoor tour - guides for the guests in summer even lived 4 days completely outdoor, with the lake as their only washing opportunity. Luckily the first 3 days we had wonderful weather with sunshine, but as I said, temperatures fell down below zero. And our poor ORL´s (outdoor tour guides) had to practice the right behaviour in emergencies, such as capsizals ;-) I can tell – they got wet more than one time ;-)
Although we had breakfast every day at quarter to 8, most of us woke up with the sun (and went to bed few hours after the sun ;-)). The whole day was filled with hard work, funny group activities and cosy meetings at the campfire. Beside some seminars regarding topics such as conflict management, contact with guests and with each other, we had to prepare the camp for the summer. That means pitching and striking up to 80 tents to check them, clean boxes for the equipment, check the outdoor equipment, to take the stock, to hash firewood.....
Though this hard work we ever found time to have fun. One afternoon we went for a canoe trip to visit the other outdoor team members. They welcomed us, drumming and singing and even made cakes in a self - made brickearth- oven. In the evenings we always met at the campfire, roasting marshmallows or self - made bread and 3 times a day we had our meal together. We had a great kitchen crew - thanks to MArtin and MArkus (meal made by MAMA), who spoiled us with pancakes for breakfast, 2 warm meals a day and many surprises around the campfire. All in all the whole team was great - no conflicts, everyone worked as hard as possible and no day passed by without laughter. Even being exhausted while doing the most primitive work, everyone was in a good mood.
Unfortunately, we did not see much of Sweden, but the day outside canoeing on the lake compensated for the hard working days. It is a real silent and quiet spot. You can wait for hours until seeing the next human being and one lake follows another. The Camp itself is situated in the middle of a large glade next to the lake.
The 10 days have been absolutely great and exciting. When we said goodbye until the summer all of us felt something like wrench - and I can imagine that it will be much harder after a whole summer. For me it was the first time that I saw another place of Sweden than the one I know since 17 years and together with all the other people it has been a completely new experience. I really look forward to be back in summer. ;-)
As I am afraid that I won´t have access to the Internet I might not be able to visit the Community - but I promise, I will write to you! I think I owe you many postcards, don´t I??
;-)
Hälsningar och kramar
Denise
