The Easter Frenzy!

So Easter break has arrived and so it's time to celebrate my first big holiday event Swedish style! Back in Australia, it has become tradition for my family to go camping with a large group of friends for the week, enjoying each other's company next to the beach, and filling the days with activities organised by the camp site itself. Here in Sweden though, I imagine it would be rather cold to go camping this year. Snow somehow still covers this whole town (April...and it's STILL here! I'm starting to doubt if Piteå really does experience Summer). Luckily I still love the snow though! The town has been decorated with cute and colourful decorations just as can be seen in the picture above, brightening up the town.

This week my family has joined in the festivities with some deorating themselves.  Coloured feathers and a theme of yellow fills the house in celebration of this event. They have also spent some time in their Summer house, celebrating the beginning of Spring - or at least, the extra hours of sunlight we are now experiencing. We now also have daylight savings, where the clocks are moved forward an hour and thus giving us an extra hour of light in the evening. During my time at the summer house, my host mother and I had a chance to try some cross country skiing. I can say I have most definitely improved since my first attempt! Although, this might be because I was on a completely flat and smooth surface this time. My host mum and I had a bit of a race on the skis, and it was a pretty close match, but I struggled through in the end, taking the victory! She still beats me on the sparks (kick sled) though. My host family also hosted a night to celebrate Easter at their house, and this is where I first heard of the traditional 'snaps'. Here in Sweden, it is particularly common to have small shot glasses for special occasions filled with a very strong spirit. However, unlike a shot, this alcoholic beverage is not meant to be drunk in one go. It is Swedish tradition to sing traditional drinking songs throughout the meal - and there are thousands of them! The most common one known as 'snapvisa'. You can check it out by clicking HERE! At the end (or sometimes during the song), everyone takes a sip from their snaps. 

Anyway, my Saturday was spent with my fellow piano accompanist and official tour guide of Piteå - Tomas. He had been invited to share an Easter dinner with some lovely people, hosted by Birger and Siv in a place known as Stenudden. Here we were greeted with some amazing waffles, and later, a large and delicious dinner - oh Sweden, you really do know how to cook. Here the 'snaps' tradition was also apparent, with everyone singing along, or sometimes just listening when someone sang a new snap no one else really knew. Like I said earlier, there really are thousands of snaps - you could never know them all! I was also introduced to påskmust (´Påsk´ meaning 'Easter'), which is a drink I can only describe as a sweeter version of coca cola. The funny thing about this drink is that it doesn't quite disappear after Easter...it just changes name. For Christmas it is known as 'Julmust' (Jul meaning Christmas) and for the rest of the year it can be found, labelled as 'Festmust' (fest meaning party). The evening continued with lots of Swedish music - luckily they had printed out the lyrics so I had a chance of following and joining in myself. I am also proud to say I now know my second Swedish song - first being 'Happy birthday' - known as 'Vem kan segla förutan vind'. This piece is known by practically everyone in Sweden, and it wouldn't surprise me if they knew it better than their own national anthem. I also had a chance of painting some eggs, because, why not? Egg painting was an activity I had also tried out with a friend of mine, Marcus! So obviously, I was a professional when I painted at Birger and Siv's house. 

20:00 and still bright as ever!
Summer must be on its way :)

So this has been my Easter break so far! I still have a week off from school, and I have plans to head off to Kåbdalis for the day with my host family, catch up with some fellow exchange students and check out some more new areas around Piteå with Tomas. So all is going well in the land of the Swedes!