Sophialife

The next holiday which is coming up in the Christian calendar is Easter (here you really get the knowledge that the calendar is not the same for everyone in this world). As I hoped SACC (Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce)  is putting something together. It will be traditional Swedish food, games, competitions, face painting for children and other fun stuff. Hosted by SACC and sponsored by SWEA and The Swedish School of Los Angeles all Swedes and other people will gather at Will Rogers State Park Saturday, March 22 and there is no question about if I will be there :-P

Today it was sunny just like  weather.com had promised! I woke up and jumped out of bed. Made myself and D breakfast - drove her to her bus stop and started to do laundry. Then I ride the bicycle up to the gym (God know how fast =D) and I got my abs even tighter from a great Pilates class :-) Oh I love that gym soo much.

Afterwards I went for a lunch with Hannah and Emma at, guess what - Soupplantation (of course), then I went back home and chatted with my baby Linn. We have some crazy plans for my last month (we will for sure travel around the country) and it seems like my return date will be September 1st or 2nd, Because I should be in LA for M's Bat Mitzvah. So get started to plan my "Welcome home party". Time passes so fast, so it will feel just like a short while before I'm there talking to you guys. Another date is April 2nd or 3rd when I might go to Hawaii for a week. Isn't that just wonderful. Even if that stupid thing bothers me I love my life again! Obviously my dips are not that deep, I get out of them pretty fast or then I just know how to do :-)

That's not all - I have finally also my studying plans for the fall semester under control. It will be just on-line/distance classes. Physics B, Mathematics E and English C at NTI-Nordic Technics Instititute and Finnish 1 at another school and then French 3 on Värmdö. Pretty good, isn't it?  I did also get to know that the adults education, as we call it in Sweden, has so many different language classes. So when I get the time in the future I will study Spanish, Chinese, Russian, German and more Italian :-) I will also force myself to give myself time to take a Spannish class here - you really have the oppurtunity to use it, then you meet no-English speaking Mexicans here, all the time.

All since I talked to my mum yesterday I've felt so much better! Thank you mother! I was a kind of planning to attend a service at a Presbyterian church yesterday night, but because of the rainy weather I didn't feel it was worth it and cancelled. Anyways I went to bed pretty early and woke up this morning calm and relaxed. I got a ride up to the gym where I could see all the preparations for "The Oscar Awards". I went swimming for nearly an hour, walked on the step machine, stretched and did this amazing yoga class. I can't tell how good I felt afterwards and a ride even back home was wonderful. I had some lunch and now I'm sitting here planning on what to do next. I think, I might call somebody to see what's up or just walk myself to "The Grove". Tonight I should somehow supervise "The big happening" because I'm soo close to it. Maybe here now when my family allows television for a while :-) That would be nicer, then it might be cold and rainy at the time everything's going on.

  

I'm sorry, I'm sorry! D looks at me with fear. Then she starts crying, then she becomes angry and aggressive against her father who was next to her. Such a good reaction anyways, it's the same when it comes to the seatbelt - she realizes how wrong she has handled and doesn't know how to deal with it.

That was how her styling-my-hair ended. After brushing, lots of gel in my hair, braids, pony tails and other hair do's she wants to solve a problem - the hair which is sticking up. I was sitting, relaxed of having her pulling my hair when I heard some strange noises above my head. I reacted like my titel and she isn't used that I yell at her, At All, so everytime I do she takes it very seriously and usully says that she hates me (and I correct her that she hates when I yell at her). I gave her a short lecture and we discussed it like grown ups and I decided to give her lunch straight away to have her in a better mood. It took a while for her to calm down though. She's really smart and I love her so much, I can't even tell.

The rest of the day I have been sitting in front of this thing looking at pics on Facebook, phone called my mom, chatted with Linn and enjoyed a dinner with parts of this family I'm living with. I do really enjoy the talks we have Sarah - we have more in common than being big sisters.

Chio and I went to Ranjon Cañon today. Emma was supposed to come with us but needed to drive her pregnant hostmum to the hospital. What would happen in all our families if we wouldn't be here? Anyways we did great on our walk! Afterwards we ate a healthy lunch @ Soupplantation - I guess the restaurant with best value you can find here in LA for a casual meal out. Before we went home we bought some groceries at Ralphs and decided when/where to meet up tomorrow (we're taking an English class containing academic words and idioms). The rest of the day was calm and relaxing and I got to hear how much Deanna loves me again and again.

I do really love to be here and as an answer on her question if I miss home and my family the answer is that I love my life home, but I'm here right now and love this life and this home too, so I don't really want to waste time on missing anything. Honestly I will miss LA more when I come back I guess.

Such a great movie - even more dancing than in the first one. I'm sorry that you guys in Sweden have to wait until it comes overseas.

Went out yesterday - it's crazy that I've been so intolerant to alcohol. A kind of too much out of control = intoxicated and some loss of memory. However it was a great night with some really sweet Americans - Thank you guys! We gotta get together more often!

I do love California more and more for every day. Yesterday Hanna and I went first to Huntington where we looked at all these good looking and talented surfers and had a great tasting thai lunch. Then we went to Newport but when we came there we changed our minds and drove to Laguna beach instead. Such an amazing afternoon walking on the beach, chatting about everything near and far.

Have you read the book or at least seen the the movie? That's my life - voluntary of course and I do love it but it's just so crazy that I could write a very cool interesting story about it. Together with some other au-pairs lives it would get big awards and be translated to more than thirty different languages. There are no problems it's just about finding a solution for different cases at the same time.

Like today I was driving all around LA and got to see many places. I started driving through Beverly Hills to Bel-Air then home, then the pet store, then to Emma and from there back home again. Then up to Hollywood for picking up the Catholic girl high school Immaculate Heart's "Candy grams" to The Cathedral ,boy, high school. So I got up on the freeway heading downtown LA where I needed to find the school by wrong-written directions. Anyways I find out the location, drove east instead of west, did a U-turn and after a while I was back in my neighborhood "Miracle Mile" where I tried to pump the car with gas - of course with the wrong credit card. Shoot! Anyways I'm packing now to head Orange county. I will spend almost four wonderful days with Hanna on beaches like Laguna beach, Newport or/and Huntington. Will be soo relaxing with a break.

Enjoy your Friday folks!

I don't think so - but sometimes even I need to fight for my opinion and knowledge!

Ohh it was just such a lovely day. I started the day making some Swedish pancakes I cut out to hearts for my hostkids. The red strawberry jam on top made it look even more sweet. I'm soo happy I'm appreciated here and even though the day was a kind of slow (all by myself) I enjoyed is as much as all my other days. Around 3.40 pm I went to my youngest hostkid's bus stop and when she came out she was carrying a goodie bag stuffed with candies and "Happy Valentines Day" cards from her class mates. Here in the states all the holidays are a big commercial deal, with that Valentines day. We went to Pan pacific park for eating afternoon snack. I had bought a cookie in the shape of a heart and when Deanna (in the age of six) got it she smiled. After we came home she completed, as always, her homeworks with care and we could make up performances contained circus, gymnastics and ballet. Even though it's in the middle of February we played Christmas music and the lovely spirit warmed up the house. I don't know how many kisses I got from Deanna (also called DeeDee) but at least thousands :-) Even her oldest sister got a very special surprise and I guess I've been smiling all night because I'm so happy for her. The parents did, also, go out for dinner by the time we enjoyed Papa John's pizza.



Happy Valentines Day everyone - I miss you all back there in cold Sweden! I would also like to Thank my family for sending me a cute heart with Lindt chocolate in it and my host family for the lovely heart & delicious chocolate truffles - both appreciated surprises! <3

This is a blog everyone can enjoy, both my family, relatives, friends, fellow-workers and people elsewhere. I will share my experiences, thoughts and feelings. For right now mostly from my life in Los Angeles. Here below you can follow a short introduction of me myself.

I was in 1988 baptised to Sofia, nowadays I prefer the spelling Sophia, on an island named Värmdö east of Sweden's capital Stockholm. My parents have both grown up in Finland so apparently I'm somehow also Finnish citizen. Anyways - all since I was born I have lived on Värmdö where I attended pre-school and my nine-year compulsory school. My secondary school on the other hand was located in one of the more central parts in Stockholm. The most important happenings in my biography might be obvious after a certain time but I would like to mention a few of them.

The absolute most significant thing I have been doing up to now is gymnastics. I quit quite a while ago but have been teaching kids for about five years now. The other thing is, of course, school. Always absorbed and intrested in improving it - both for myself and others. I did also have a unique alignment at secondary school - life saving. A huge experience then my class and I went trough both the physical and academic parts of life saving in fires, avalanches, ice, sea, car accidents, aircraft crashes, scenes of accident containing chemicals and much much more. We became so bonded that it was hard for all of us to separate after three years in the company of each other. The latest life experiences walk somehow hand in hand. Last summer I spent two and a half month in New Hampshire at a Special needs camp for all ages where I met people I otherwise never had met. People with different needs needed to be solved by a staff scattered in more than dozen nationalities. A demanding and intimate summer. That challenge made me thus start working as a personal assistent when I came back home and for a whole year I enjoyed working with a terrific girl who I will never forget. For now, since six months, I'm au-pair in Los Angeles, California. I will start where I am right here, right now but sometimes I might look behind and share some random memories.