The Christianville Spirit
The Spirit that Sparkles
October 7, 2015-TCS # 468
Welcome Back, My Readers! We are finally back on My Newsletter’s Weekly Schedule and I am Ready to Roll! So, About That Trip...One Word, It was Awesome. That is All! Hehe, Just Kidding! I am going to tell you all about it. You See, A Couple Months Ago before The PTLS Conference, My Mom told me that We might go to Stockholm to Speak about PTLS; Keyword here, Might! The Reason being because Fine Doctors of a Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden wanted to have a Little Conference about PTLS, problem was, They did not know a whole lot about PTLS. So, They called Doctor Lupski and asked for Him to come, and At That Moment, He could not. Anyway, so Doctor Lupski recommended My Mom to come speak, Surprise! It is Solid!, and So Begins a Destiny-Changing Adventure. So, It started with Us leaving Home at 2:11Pm on a Monday, I have been seeing Lots of 11s before This Point so I knew It was Destiny. I believe that Nothing is ever a Coincidence, It is always part of Our Destiny. I feared that I may not be able to handle it, but, Surprisingly It felt Natural, It felt Right. We got to walk through The Terminals of DFW as well as London Heathrow while We waited, and On to Stockholm, We go! It is a Cloudy Day as We arrive in Stockholm, It has been Quite a Long Day of Traveling, not to mention Very Loud and Annoying People sitting behind us from Dallas to London, Overnight. But, None The Less, as Long as I looked Outside in the Sun or did activities to keep me moving, I stayed Awake. Reading and Writing, not so much! My First Impressions of Sweden was Quite Awesome, Very Green, Lots of Trees, and Cleanliness. We land in Stockholm, Go through Customs, and Our Trusty Friend, Monica is standing there with a Swedish Flag on a Stick saying “Welcome to Sweden!” as The Doors open. We then Rode a Bus to Our Hotel near The Hospital that We were speaking at. Kinda had a Mishap of Failing to Press The Stop Button over Our Head when We got to The Hotel, so We had to stand a while at a Nice-and-Clean Bus Stop to Pick up Another Bus to take us to Our Hotel. Oh, and Did I mention, That it was Raining that Day. This is An Adventure, Remember! Sometimes, The Oddest Things to happen on A Trip always Tell The Best Stories! Anyway, After We got settled, a Little Confusion with Our Room and who’s It was, We headed out to Dinner with Monica and Her Lovely Ex-Pat Friend, Nancy. We went to Place that at The Time, I could not Pronounce. (It was Trannen, by the way) in Odengaten. I’m not sure if My Mom tasted Her Food because of Asking so Many Questions about Concerns for Our PTLS Family Members, She was getting as Much Information as Possible. Meanwhile, I was Enjoying My Meal. I have to say that They had The Best Swedish Meatballs of This Whole Trip! Odengaten, That was My Focal Point of Knowing where I was. Because The Streets in Stockholm had Very Long and Hard Names to say, I just remember “Odengaten” and then, I knew how to get back. First Full Day in Stockholm was Sighting Seeing with Our Friend, Monica. We visited The Stockholm City Hall where The Nobel Prize Banquet is as well as The Awesomely Awesome, Gold Room with in fact, REAL Gold. It is Awesome to Walk the Stairs of The Footsteps of Nobel Prize Winners who are Very Intelligent People! My Mom was learning alot about Sweden’s Healthcare and Education compared to The US from Monica.
After That, We walked through The City Center and had Our Traditional “Fika” in The Middle of Our Tour. In Sweden, You must have a Fika! By The Way, Fika in a The Best Term of Mind, is basically a Coffee Break with Family, Friends, Co-Workers, or All of The Above. You go to Work at about 8:00AM, Fika # 1 at Maybe 10 or so, Go back to Work, Lunch, Fika # 2, Work some more and, then Off around 4:30PM at least. People are Very Happy over There, No Stress, Everyone gets Free Healthcare & Education, Paid Paternity Leave, and At Least 6 Weeks of Vacation (ahem..Holiday Time). Swedes are a bit Reserved at First, They want You to prove Yourself, and Then, You are pretty much on Their Party Guest Lists for Life as long as You take Your Shoes off at The Door and You are Punctual (Swedes are Very Punctual). Jobs, You must Speak Swedish First before Getting a Job. It is Done, Swedish First and then, English. BUT, Once You have a Job, You are Set for Life as There is Too Much Paper Work to Fire You. Sweden is Very Clean, cleaner than Any City I have been to! Anyway though, We walked through a Swedish Department Store called Åhlens and It was Pretty Cool. I have to say that Their Dairy Section in The Swedish Grocery Store is Larger than I have ever seen! Next, We walked through The Farmers Market and Shopping Area near “Queens Street” which is a Pedestrian Roadway. That is another Thing, I should mention, Swedes Walk ALOT! In the 3 Days, We were there, We walked about 10 Kilometers each day (Equivalent to about 6 Miles). They Bike, Walk, and Take Public Transportation, It is a wonder Why They are One of The Happiest Countries and Healthiest Countries in The World! After Walking through The Main Drag of The City Center, We hopped on a Rail bus that took us to One of The Many Islands of Stockholm called Djürgården (This Name for Me, was Very Hard to Pronounce at First), I referred to It as “The Nature Island”, because in a way, That is What it was. It had a Museum/Zoo called Skansen, that is dedicated to Sweden’s Nature. We walked through Some Very Stunning Nature and That is Where Monica walks Every Friday with a few of Her Friends. I have to say, It was truly something to Marvel At. We did go to a Nice Restaurant there as well. We did walk near The ABBA Museum and Take Pictures there. After that, We said goodbye to Monica for The Night, My Mom and I hopped on The Bus to go back to The Hotel, We did get a bit lost for a second on The Way back but, Thank God for Google Maps app. The 2nd Day, We met PTLS Member, Josefine and Her Boyfriend as well as PTLS Members, Camilla and Her Daughter and We toured around. Again, I’m not sure if My Mom saw Everything because She was trying to learn from The Views of The PTLS Family Members living in Scandinavia.
This Time, We went to Gamla Stan (Stockholm Old Town) and Saw The Changing of The Guard at The Royal Palace. We also saw Another Swedish Department Store called NK and It had 6 Floors. After 2 Lovely Days of Sightseeing, It was Time to get to Business! The Evening of Day 2, We had a Nice Dinner with PTLS Family Members from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany while My Mom had a Business Meeting with The Doctors. One of The Doctors was Nice enough to let me taste Her Cured Salmon. The Next Day, was The Speaking at The Hospital to Swedish Geneticists. First, The Swedish Geneticist, talked about PTLS in Swedish (Again Things have to be done in Swedish first!) and Then, My Mom followed up with Talking about PTLS for 2 and a Half Hours. And a Break, Lunch, and Couple More Hours after that. I was So Beyond Proud of My Mom! She does really well speaking to such a Large Crowd like that! The Fine Doctors said that We are Welcome Back at Anytime. After that, The Next Day, We flew to London for Part 2 of Our PTLS Speaking Tour. Now, I have to say though, London Heathrow Airport is by far The Most Complicated Airport there is, Especially Terminal 5! At This Point in the Trip, I was so Overwhelmed for all The Excitement and Dreams coming True in Sweden that I did not know what to do with Myself! So, I had a little Meltdown on The Way to the House of Our UK Host, Delphine. But, after that, I was Okay. We got settled in and Calmed down a Bit and then, We went to Dinner at a Rooftop Restaurant in Stratford-Upon-Avon. It is was not just ANY Restaurant, It was a Restaurant at The Shakespeare Theater! It was So Awesome! Again, There goes My Mom asking Questions and Gathering Information. She really Learned alot! The Next Day, We had a Huge Gathering to share the Knowledge from The Doctors and All The Research My Mom has been doing, and Hearing Stories to add to Her Research. My Mom had a Phone Conversation with A Doctor from A Hospital there to set up something in The Near Future and One of The Organizations there. I found it Really Nice to meet all The PTLS Members that I have been talking with for Many Years. The Last Day of Our Trip, We took the train down to London and Met More PTLS Members as well as Seeing The Sights that We could see in One Day. The Major Ones; Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, and a “Proper English Pub”. After All that, We got on a Plane the Next Morning and Headed Home. All in All, It was an Awesome, Destiny-Changing, Dreams coming True, Super Fast, PTLS Business Trip!
Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Thank You (Takk Du!) to Everyone involved!
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