IIIIIIIIII'MMMMMMMMMM BBBBBBBAAACCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!

Missed me?!?! I bet! We're all moved and getting settled in. Our new apartment is so nice and in a really great area. We are a 4 minute walk to the subway in one direction and a 4 minute walk to the water and nature in the other. While it is much smaller we are learning to live small and neat. HA!

Unfortunately, in true moving fashion, it took almost a month to get internet service and once we had that, our computer's motor is broken. Needless to say I won't be able to post pictures until it's fixed but Anders' company was kind enough to let us borrow a laptop so we can at least have access to the internet.

The weather in Sweden is warming up every day with the temperatures reaching the low 80s. The sun is 'setting' around midnight and rising only a few hours later...and we still have a couple more weeks to go before we hit the longest day of the year. No wonder Swedes complain about the winter - the summer light is endless!! It is certainly amazing and I am so happy to be experiencing it finally. But I have realized that I may need to invest in some curtains for the summer - ha!!!

Even more fun is that I have found someone to run with. One of the girls from my Swedish class is into running and wants to run the Stockholm Womens 10k at the end of August. We've been doing all our runs in the trails near our old apartment (remember the cross country tracks?!). It is so beautiful and the trails are laid out in 1k, 3k, 5k and 10k. There are the occasional red chipmunk that we see but yesterday morning we literally ran into something a bit larger - a moose!!! We had just rounded the corner to start the second half of our run on a smaller trail. The trail just fit the both of us and Reagan, with brush, flowers and little trees growing on each side about 6-7 feet tall. All of a sudden this very VERY large head pops out from the brush and sets into the trail, no more than 20-30 feet away. This thing was HUGE besides the fact I've never, ever seen a moose up close and personal before in my life!!! Amazing! Reagan was estatic and all to eager to meet her new friend. I, on the other hand, was not too thrilled since only the night before I had learned on the Animal Planet that captive deer (yes, I know they are different, but still) cause more deaths than any other captive animal (including lions, tigers, etc.). Now that I've done some research, I can't really find anything negative about moose (they are called elk here) except when you hit them with your car it can cause extreme damage if not death. Since they are friendly, if we ever see this moose again I think we will just run past. The funny thing was it wouldn't budge for us. It just stood in our path, staring at us. In fact, when we tried to approach, thinking it would turn around, it actually started walking towards us. Maybe it was use to humans, was curious about Reagan, or had babies to protect. Either way, we decided yesterday morning wasn't the day to find out. And to think, it was the same running trail as my cross country track and snake experience - who knew Sweden's nature could be so exciting!!! HA!

We're running again tonight but in the more popular section of the forest so we shouldn't see anything wilder than another human. And we all know those are more dangerous than moose!!!! :-)