LearnSweden Blog

Let the Future Sing

     

How often do you have the opportunity to hear international children's choir music in Stockholm Sweden ? Well not enough. This whole week you can take advantage of this opportunity to participate as active listeners to Let the Future Sing. The festival is arranged by Adolf Fredriks School of music. You don't even have to plan ahead. You can buy your tickets at each concert.

Some of the performances this year are by:

Estonia

Romania

Hamilton Children's Choir of Canada

Pro Musica Girls Choir from Hungary

The Right to Roam

Allemansrätten (Everyman’s Right) is an old tradition which guarantees each person the right to enjoy nature without restricting access to it.

    

You are allowed to pass over any ground, field or woods, as long as you respect the land and the owner’s property. Please, however, do not camp too close to a private home, you can only camp at a place for just one night, but you must put up your tent in a place so you can’t see the owner’s house. You may not walk in a fenced in area, or in cultivated farmland. If you should open a gate you must close it behind you. You are not allowed to pick protected flowers and you must always take your litter with you.

   

   

   

     

Always make sure that if you want to have a campfire that it is allowed and make sure it is completely put out before leaving. Often times after a dry spell it is forbidden to light a fire. This tradition doesn’t just pertain to the land but to the sea as well. You can travel by boat over any water, and gather wild flowers, berries, and mushrooms from anywhere.

    

   

   

Sweden has 26 national parks which have been selected because of their areas of superior natural beauty but you can find incredible green areas within cities as well. In Stockholm you can enjoy wonderful walks and bike rides in Djurgården but for the true nature seekers why not take an excursion to Ekoparken.

Ekoparken is the world’s first national city park stretching in a 7 mile arch from Ulriksdal Palace to the archipelago islands of Fjäderholmarna. This green lung area is so large that you need a full day of some serious hiking to explore it on foot. If you can wait until winter, however, you could do a bit quicker perhaps on skis or on long-distance skates.

There are quicker ways to see the park and that is by boat. The Brunnsviken Runt is an inexpensive boat trip. On it you will see three royal parks; Djurgården, Haga, and Ulriksdal, and the palaces of Ulriksdals Slott, Gustav III’s Pavilijong, Haga, and Rosendals Slott. So enjoy your right to roam.

Tale of a Travelling Kitchen

    

19 Students, 3 teachers, many canoes,backpacks, and tents ......now how do we feed these people? Very easily ! Along with us is our natures kitchen. Nearly every Swede has one for such occassions. You just take it from your backpack, put the parts together.....in the right order, I might add and then voila, you have your travelling kitchen already to use. Just fill it with T-röd or methanol and strike a match to it. This little burning flame is good for tea, coffee, and anything your stomach can think of.

    

                      

                       

                       

     

    

Look at all these talented nature's pantry chefs. Oh .....and don't forget to clean up.

       

    

   

Out in Nature

       Just south of Stockholm in Södermanland lies a crystal clear landscape just waiting to greet us.

 

     

        

        

        

       

       

Spruce it up!!!!!

      

Spring is here and we are back out in the forest. Everywhere you look there are light green spruce needles sprouting out on the trees. Did you know that you can eat these ? My father has always told me how healthy they are. They contain so many vitamins and nutrients that one needs to be healthy.

I always eat these needles in the spring time and of course I am very healthy.......

     

While canoeing with my students last week, I tried to get them to have a taste of the little needles but alas without success. "Eating trees?" they said in a worried voice. But I must tell you that my own children love them so I have good company while eating trees.

       

If you have the chance to find some spruce near you please just give it a try and enjoy it....this sour, and healthy snack completely chocked full of vitamins.

     

Today's blog and photos brought to you by Per Svangren.

A Little Canoe Time

    

Every year the eigth graders of Botkyrka Friskola take a canoe trip from Åkers Styckebruk to Gnesta. In all, it is a journey 28 kilometers long....if you go straight....but as many are new to the world of canoeing the distance becomes much longer.

  

19 students and three teachers embarked on this two day waterway event. We were lucky because the weather was just perfect. Sunny and warm with a few clouds, no wind and just a little rains at the very end of the trip.

  

The first day saw us camping in a fantastic place near the water.

    

      

I must admit that during the whole trip that we made a lot of stops for eating, portage of the canoes over roads and just plain resting.

                         

                         

The lakes and rivers were so calm that is was an easy ride for us. It was so lovely riding over the calm water, hearing the birds and watching the beautiful nature passing by without a care in the world. Unfortunately, the water was too cold and so there wasn't any jumping into the water for a swim.

All came back home having a nice time but completely exhausted.

     

    

Today's post and photos are by Per at large.

Wallander on Masterpiece Mystery

While taking care of my father over the weekend I discovered that Kurt Wallander, the fictional character created by Henning Mankell, in only a way that Masterpiece Theater can deliver.

Every May Masterpiece Theater takes on murder and mystery for the summer with their Masterpiece Mystery series. Starting everything off is the Wallander Series.

4 time academy award winning British actor Kenneth Brannaugh bring the scruffy Swedish sleuth to the screen in a three episode mini-series.

Though the series started on May 10th you can watch it online or you can purchase your own copy.

   

 

For those of you who aren't familiar with Kurt Wallander, he is an inspectorwho lives in the town of Ystad Sweden, in Skåne. As a young police officer, he was nearly killed when a drunk he and his partner were arresting stabbed him with a butcher's knife. Wallander was once married, but his wife Mona left hm and he has since had a difficult relationship with his only child, LInda, who just barely survived a suicide attempt when she was fifteen. He also had issues with his late father, an artist who painted the same landscape 7,000 times; the elder Wallander strongly disapproved of his son's decision to join the police force, and frequently derided him for it. Inspector Wallander has a couple of close friends because of his lifestyle. He has an on again off again relationship with Baiba Liepa in Latvia.He drinks a little too much and is a food junkie,and has anger management issues. He also has a problem with his blood sugar and diabetes.

As time goes on he wrestles with a man he shot and killed by accident in the fog and constantly questions if he should have become a police officer at all.

Check out our June issue of our LearnSweden e-zine to learn more about Henning Mankell and Inspector Wallander. To sign-up for our e-zine please go here.

Small Herring Season

In the middle of May and you really feel that summer is coming. Days and nights become warmer and warmer and you are able to spend your first late night outside. Barbequing or just relaxing in the sun or sitting in the warm evening after the sun has set. For many Swedes, this period also means the start of the fishing season. The ice is gone from the lakes and it is time to take out all of the fishing gear and go fishing in the lake or in the sea. If you have a boat and can set sail for the sea or you can fish from a bridge one can find a lot of herring just now. This is also a very easy fish to catch, if you find a shoal of Baltic herrings. Just let the fishwire weigh down in the water, with up to five hooks on it, make some bobs up and down and if you are lucky you can pull up five herrings at the same time. Just continue with this and you will soon have enough for both the cat and for your own dinner or dinners.
This is a good recepie of fried Baltic heerings
 
1 kg Strömming, (Baltic (small) heering
1 1/4 dl Ströbröd (Bread crumbs)
1 1/4 dl Rågmjöl, med salt och peppar (Rye flour  or wheat flour together with salt and pepper)
75 g Smör  (Butter)
1 dl kaviar (Fish roe aka caviar)
 
Clean the fish and put fish rou on the inner side of one filée and put an other filée over it and press them together
Turn the heering into flour, salt and pepper
Fry in butter until it will become golden brown
 
Serve with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam

         

        

       

      

      

Eurovision

Saturday, most of Europe was sitting in front of their televisions to see the Eurovision Song Contest. This is a fifty year old tradition. Every year countries from all of Europe try to win the title of the Eurovision song contest. This year 42 contries were trying to win. After the semi finals, only 25 countries were left and were in the finals. For three hours we saw a fantastic show, live from Moscow, Russia, who were the winners last year.
This year Norway was the favourite and they won. They got votes from all 42 contries and won with such a high score, that it made hisotry with an all time high.

     

These were the results.
 
1.Norge387“Fairytale”, Alexander Rybak
2.Island218“Is it true?”, Yohanna
3.Azerbajdzjan207“Always”, Aysel & Arash
4.Turkiet177“Düm Tek Tek”, Hadise
5.Storbritannien173“My time”, Jade
6.Estland129“Rändajad”, Urban Symphony
7.Grekland120“This is our night”, Sakis Rouvas
8.Frankrike107“Et s’il fallait le faire”, Patricia Kaas
9.Bosnien106“Bistra voda”, Regina
10.Armenien92“Jan Jan (Nor Par)”, Inga & Anush
11.Ryssland91“Mamo”, Anastasia Prikhodko
12.Ukraina76“Be My Valentine”, Svetlana Loboda
13.Danmark74“Believe again”, Brinck
14.Moldavien69“Hora din Moldova”, Nelly Ciobanu
15.Portugal57“Todas as Ruas do Amor”, Flor-de-Lis
16.Israel53“There must be another way”, Noa & Mira Awad
17.Albanien48“Carry me in your dreams”, Kejsi Tola
18.Kroatien45“Lijepa Tena”, Igor Cukrov
19.Rumänien40“The Balkan girls”, Elena Gheorghe
20.Tyskland35“Miss Kiss Kiss Bang”, Alex Swings,Oscar Sings
21.Sverige33“La voix”, Malena Ernman
22.Malta31“What If We”, Chiara
23.Litauen23“Love”, Sasha Son
23.Spanien23“La noche es para mí”, Soraya
25.Finland22“Lose control”, Waldo’s People
1.Norge387“Fairytale”, Alexander Rybak
2.Island218“Is it true?”, Yohanna
3.Azerbajdzjan207“Always”, Aysel & Arash
4.Turkiet177“Düm Tek Tek”, Hadise
5.Storbritannien173“My time”, Jade
6.Estland129“Rändajad”, Urban Symphony
7.Grekland120“This is our night”, Sakis Rouvas
8.Frankrike107“Et s’il fallait le faire”, Patricia Kaas
9.Bosnien106“Bistra voda”, Regina
10.Armenien92“Jan Jan (Nor Par)”, Inga & Anush
11.Ryssland91“Mamo”, Anastasia Prikhodko
12.Ukraina76“Be My Valentine”, Svetlana Loboda
13.Danmark74“Believe again”, Brinck
14.Moldavien69“Hora din Moldova”, Nelly Ciobanu
15.Portugal57“Todas as Ruas do Amor”, Flor-de-Lis
16.Israel53“There must be another way”, Noa & Mira Awad
17.Albanien48“Carry me in your dreams”, Kejsi Tola
18.Kroatien45“Lijepa Tena”, Igor Cukrov
19.Rumänien40“The Balkan girls”, Elena Gheorghe
20.Tyskland35“Miss Kiss Kiss Bang”, Alex Swings,Oscar Sings
21.Sverige33“La voix”, Malena Ernman
22.Malta31“What If We”, Chiara
23.Litauen23“Love”, Sasha Son
23.Spanien23“La noche es para mí”, Soraya
25.Finland22“Lose control”, Waldo’s People
1.Norge387“Fairytale”, Alexander Rybak
2.Island218“Is it true?”, Yohanna
3.Azerbajdzjan207“Always”, Aysel & Arash
4.Turkiet177“Düm Tek Tek”, Hadise
5.Storbritannien173“My time”, Jade
6.Estland129“Rändajad”, Urban Symphony
7.Grekland120“This is our night”, Sakis Rouvas
8.Frankrike107“Et s’il fallait le faire”, Patricia Kaas
9.Bosnien106“Bistra voda”, Regina
10.Armenien92“Jan Jan (Nor Par)”, Inga & Anush
11.Ryssland91“Mamo”, Anastasia Prikhodko
12.Ukraina76“Be My Valentine”, Svetlana Loboda
13.Danmark74“Believe again”, Brinck
14.Moldavien69“Hora din Moldova”, Nelly Ciobanu
15.Portugal57“Todas as Ruas do Amor”, Flor-de-Lis
16.Israel53“There must be another way”, Noa & Mira Awad
17.Albanien48“Carry me in your dreams”, Kejsi Tola
18.Kroatien45“Lijepa Tena”, Igor Cukrov
19.Rumänien40“The Balkan girls”, Elena Gheorghe
20.Tyskland35“Miss Kiss Kiss Bang”, Alex Swings,Oscar Sings
21.Sverige33“La voix”, Malena Ernman
22.Malta31“What If We”, Chiara
23.Litauen23“Love”, Sasha Son
23.Spanien23“La noche es para mí”, Soraya
25.Finland22“Lose control”, Waldo’s People

1. Norge
Alexander Rybak
"Fairytale" 387 poäng
2. Island
Yohanna
"Is it true" 218 poäng
3. Azerbaijan
AySel&Arash
"Always" 207 poäng
4. Turkiet
Hadise
"Düm Tek Tek" 177 poäng
5. Storbritannien
Jade Ewen
"It?s My Time" 173 poäng
-----------------------------------------------
21. Sverige
Malena Ernman
"La Voix" 33 poäng

I didn't know if I should mention this but  it was not such a good night for us swedes. Or was it? Well our neighbour won, Iceland (my favourite and Nordic neighbour came second and the third country Azerbadjan did have a Swedish singer, Swedish dancers and a song written by a Swede. So we as a country, were proud, even though our Swedish song, sang by opera singer Malena Ernman, just came on place 21 of 25 could still make us happy.
If you want to listen to the winner, here is the link, to use. http://www.dn.se/webbtv/kultur-noje/overlagsen-seger-for-norge-1.867905

To Scotland we go.......

     (Photos and text by Per Svangren)

      

Each year our seventh graders from Botkyrka Friskola go on a school trip to Scotland. We spend one week there, starting with half the week in Edinburgh and the other half in Inverness, up in the north. Though we are in Scotland, we have literally taken our school "on the road". There is still a lot of school work to be done, but most importantly the main focus is to speak English.

         

       
 It is so fantastic to see how our pupils can manage after seven years of studies in English. They can handle the language and say, and understand nearly everything.
What do we do? We visit a lot of museums, we do what we call A City Orientation, which is a scavenger hunt to discover for ones self Edinburgh. The most important thing is to find all the places where the answers are.

     

                         
In the evenings we do a lot of fun things, movies, musicals, ghost walks and so on.
The students work in groups and have one teacher with them, but the teachers are not suppose to be active, just follow and support and take care of the money the group has for food and activities. A visit to a Scottish school are in order, as well as, a few captured moments looking for Nessie in Loch Ness.
While exploring Scottish cities and countryside, trying our the Scottish food is also a part of the agenda. All in all we have the greatest time.