I'm so happy that I update as often as I do, this is my diary that I want to look back to later on.

But even though I think I write a lot, there are so much stuff I haven't written about!

Yesterday I had been in the US for 5 weeks. That is totally crazy! 5 WEEKS! When I think back of the first day here it feels like forever ago. The family is now my family. 

When I think back I remember some things I noticed by then. Like that each person in this family have their own smell - it can be a perfume or the clothes, but I remember I thought of it and sometimes I still do. Lori smell of her hairspray I think.

 

I remember the first time I saw Arno's lunchbags - in metal with different parts for different food. I had imagined a brown bag or something... Now I'm used to it, and the daily question is what to have in it..

 

I didn't find their brush for handwashing the dishes, but then I saw this blue sponge that they use. Now that is like the most normal thing for me.

 

They have a gas stove here, which felt pretty odd in the beginning, but now I use it like an regular stove.

 

Fahrenheit can be a little wierd sometimes (we have a thermometer with both), but a couple days ago Mirea said that she thought celsius make more sense to her since freezing point is 0, and -32 or something in Fahrenheit. I totally agree! But I still try to learn some degrees in F. 74 is 20- something?

 

The first week here I almost went crazy about my room. My roof, the different furnitures (2000-style which I'm not a huge fan of), the BLUE wall and the blinds. Ofcourse I still think it's ugly, but now when I'm used to it I don't really care anymore. It is one of my biggest interest to decorate so I will do what I can, but I won't pay a fortune for it. I plan to buy a cheap canopy at IKEA, and I will also print some pictures from my time here to decorate the blue wall. As it is now i'm decorating the walls with clothes to make it more cozy ;)

 

The food was a whole new world to me. They have a list of the most usual things they buy and I remember how I struggled with finding the things. Ofcourse it's still hard when it is new things, but now I know the regular things and I try new things by myself. Today I bought greek yoghurt, thousands islands-dressing and sweet chili-sauce. It feels good to add things I like and I do like to try new recipes as long as I do it my way.

I still haven't found creme fraishe though... but Emelie said she'd seen it, so I guess I will have to keep looking!

 

The americans order a lot of things directly to their homes. There's almost always things outside the door, big cartons. Today there were 5 in different sizes I think. Julia says her mother order lot of things too, so I guess that's very common here.

 

At first I thought the cars were huge, but now I'm kind of used to it. I still think it's a waste of gas and irresponsible for earth, but now I don't react when I see those cars anymore. By the way - one gallon is about 4 dollars here, ca 28 kr in Sweden. Don't really know how much a gallon is but maybe you do.

 

It feels kind of bad saying it, but I don't think of home at all. I haven't been homesick a bit. Ofcourse I'm aware that you people aren't with me, and once I got a small wave when I thought of "elljusspåret" at home, but I can happily tell you that I am doing fine so far. Still, this is only the first & the best month, but I like to enjoy the happiness! And you should be happy that I am happy here!

 

I am also happy about all the things that are the same as home. Like the tv for example - criminal minds, cold case, MTV, disney, how I met your mother and movies. I haven't really thought about it before, but now I'm thankful for the programs I usually watch, it feels good to relax and "go away" (gosh, how I make everything swedish/english!) in a show that you know from before. I watched Teen Mom a while ago!

The same with the music - now I'm listening to Dolly Parton, old music I haven't listen to since I don't know when.. It's amazing that you can listen to the same music! And it feels so good to sit in the car and turn the radio on, and they're playing my favorite song for right now - don't wake me up, chris brown. That is fabulous!

Or, when they played Aviici. The volume was on the highest!

 

In my first time here I got sooo frustrated with all these polite phrases they used every day!

You can't go in to a store without having the cashier ask you "how are you?". So, if you have been to five stores that gets kind of annoying.. But now i'm used to it, always answer "good, how are you?" without even thinking.

The parents in the family are also very polite, always say "good morning, how are you?". First I wondered how I was supposed to survive this, but now I don't feel that way anymore. I am not very polite, even though Lori says I'm always in a good mood (feels so good to hear!) and I don't think I ever will be polite, but I can always answer nice.

 

That was a little about how my time here developed from then until now!