In Sweden, we call it a 'kick'.

Guess who broke her arm and is home on sick leave for at least four weeks?

This moi.

Guess what happened yesterday!

I'd just finished the last lesson for the week, and the kids were filing out. I was just helping some stragglers with their questions when a parent came into the classroom. She'd bought me some tulips, because she felt that she'd been "an irritating" parent all week because of all the emails she'd sent me about her concerns for her son. Isn't that just the sweetest thing?

If you don't mind gruesome murders, I have a rec for you! Midnattssol is Swedish/French crime drama that takes place in my home town. It's pretty dark, but I really enjoyed it. Most of the dialogue is in English, but there is also a lot of Swedish, French, and even Samí spoken.

Although, just as an fyi, in reality the Kiruna police still have their old offices. They are not housed in a school. Because that would be completely bonkers.

I actually had a parent barge into my classroom today and rage and swear at both the kids and I. One kid started crying.

What. An. Asshole.

I fear I've begun to grow fond of my students. Today one told me that he was moving, and I actually meant it when I said that I would miss him.

Apparently time + exposure = affection

We went to Narvik yesterday. We were just gonna shop a little, have dinner, and be back home in time for bedtime.

Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. First we had to wait for one hour at the border for the plow car to return from Norway so we and 20 other assorted cars and trucks could follow it like lost little ducklings through the mountain pass, which was a warning sign in itself, because it wasn't like the weather would *improve* come night-time. Then, naturally, the road closed entirely.

Long story short, we ended up having to stay in a hotel in Narvik overnight. At least it beat option two, which was to head north and try the other border crossing, a trip that would have taken 6 hours.

I thought it was kind of sweet how the minister talked about Superman and Harry Potter in her sermon. She even mentioned Superman’s Jewish roots! She was trying to compare Jesus to them in their respective roles as superheroes. I thought the comparison was a little forced, but hey, she gets points for trying.

The choir was a lot better than last year. Apparently they've gotten a couple more altos to join.

I come home from work and running errands, and grandma is putting groceries in the fridge.

"I bought ground beef!" She said, happy as a a clam. "Since you have to go to a seminar at 6 and I have choir practice at 6.30, I thought we'd just eat some simple ground beef patties!"

I run up and put down my own bags, and go into the kitchen and she says, like it's a fucking huge BOON, "You can make as many patties as you like!"

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

That was just what I wanted after having been away since 6.30 this morning, to come home at 4.30 and hear that the one hour of time I thought I'd have to myself today, I'll have to spend making fucking beef patties.

And when I start making the fucking things, visually annoyed, BECAUSE FUCK ME FOR NOT WANTING TO COOK RIGHT NOW, she has the fucking gall to say "they don't have to be anything fancy, just use onions and salt and pepper."

Like using some god-damn seasoning is what takes time. But no, just tell me to make a kilo of bland and tasteless beef patties. That is sure to save me a valuable 30 seconds.

This is the kind of thing that irritates me about grandma. She pretends like she's not, but she's awfully presumptuous.

I should have known this day wouldn't be going my way when I somehow forgot to put on a bra this morning and didn't notice until I was bounding up the steps at work.

Part of me doesn't really mind the snow. At least it forced me to spend 1 hour outside doing physical labour today. Considering how little I work out, and how few hours of sunlight we get here each day this time of year, that's undoubtedly a good thing!