"I think we're related!"

I was visiting my grandma in Iowa when I was 16, and we went at one of my favorite restaurants, Green Gables, (famous for its ice cream sundaes). The somewhat elderly waitress engaged my grandma in a lengthy ancestral conversation discussing various relatives and family trees before concluding, "I think we're related." My grandmother's city is very small, (~800 people), so the chances of this being true were pretty high, but my sister and I, having been raised in the populous San Diego, found this quite hysterical and entertaining. It got even funnier when my grandma told us after exiting the restaurant, "We had that same conversation a year ago!" We just about died laughing.

The reason I bring this story up is because today I talked with one of my Swedish relatives on the phone. His name is Anders Dahlren, and he is 72 years old. The town names here make me think of medieval times--Anders of Alingsas. Rachel of Skovde (pronounced "Huv-day"), haha. Anyway, he has been calling both of my Skovde Saints coaches for the past several days to check on me, so I gave him a call. He proceeded to list dozens of names of relatives of mine scattered throughout Sweden. He estimated that there are 50 relatives in Stockholm alone! It got me very excited at the prospect of meeting as many of them as possible, and I hope to do so when my grandma, aunt and sister come to visit at the end of July.

As for today, practice was canceled due to rain. Bummer. I went to the gym, did a mini Scrap-a-palooza (that one is for you, Mom!), ate lunch, read, and went for a run. To avoid going completely stir crazy, I went to the tourist building (pictured below--I liked the name of it). The woman gave me lots of maps, so this will give me some inspiration for future excursions! The weather just needs to get a little better so I can get outside.

 

I also did laundry for the first time today in this terrible, terrible, awful contraption. It is very tiny, very confusing (all the directions are in Swedish), and incredibly loud. Just wanted to show a picture so you can partially understand.

I'm settled in for the night now, and I'm excited because I'm headed to Leksand tomorrow, (a town 4 hours away) to help the national team run a clinic. Helping at this clinic will also punch my ticket for a trip to help coach the national team in its tournament in Prague in July!! Lots of exciting things coming up!