We've been rediscovering Gothenburg this month, enjoying city living in a rented apartment while we wait for our container to arrive back sea from the USA. The weather has been beautiful and we have made the most of being car-free by walking and taking public transport around the city. The girls have explored the sights, shops, parks and nature, while Jonathan has been very busy back at work. This week we have had to say goodbye all the wonderful people we have become friends and neighbours with during the past three years. It has been sad, but many have promised to come and visit us in Sweden, and hopefully one day we'll make it back to visit Atlanta. It has been an incredible three years which has changed our lives.
We are flying back to Gothenburg, via Amsterdam, arriving on Sunday, and Jonathan will start back at work on Monday! School ended on Friday with many hugs, tears and goodbyes and now the huge task of sorting and packing is happening, before we fly back to Sweden on Saturday. Our container may take up to two months to reach us back in Gothenburg, so we've been packing plenty of luggage to take with us on Saturday.
Today we attended the 5th Grade promotion ceremony, where each 5th grader was 'presented' by their teacher and awarded various certificates. Kerstin received quite a few awards, including the Visual Arts award and the Citizenship award, which she was voted for by her classmates. The principal gave a short speech and the students sang two songs - one in French and one in English. Afterwards there was an informal social gathering at a local outdoor venue complete with food trucks! Wow, time flies! This wonderful young lady has really grown up during our three years here. She is celebrating her birthday with a (final) giant chocolate chip cookie cake and a sleepover party at the weekend.
With the sudden very hot weather, snakes are being spotted everywhere - even on the school playground and around our street. We saw a snake on the path down by the river today and our neighbours have declared that snake season has begun!
This weekend the temperature was over 30 degrees for the first time this year, so it was time for the pool premiere, even though the water is still very cold! With only three weeks left living here we are making the most of the warm weather!
Today we went to see Kerstin present at the 5th Grade Exhibition, which is the culminating event of the IB Primary Years Program. The students were divided into interest groups to inquire into the central idea of "Our individual and collaborative actions leads to local change". They worked in small groups during the past two months, focusing on varied topics such as homelessness, pollution and equality. Kerstin and her group were interested in animal endangerment, particularly saving the sea turtles, and they worked together to research and take action.
Today we crossed off one of the final things on our list of places to go in Georgia as we went to the zipline and treetop adventure course at Historic Banning Mills, a rural resort, one hour drive south west of Atlanta. The girls completed the first lower treetop course in 15 minutes, while others were taking up to an hour. However, the second higher course was much harder, in fact the girls said it was the most difficult course they have ever experienced, and interestingly no one else was attempting it while we were there! Jonathan had to go up with them as they weren't old enough to go alone, and he had to help clip and unclip their pulleys when they couldn't reach. The course looked terrifying to me, reaching heights of up to 20 metres off the ground, often with huge stretches to reach across. The girls persevered and completed the challenging course despite finding it really tough in places. Sadly, there's not much time left for many more adventures around Georgia as we are now counting down until we move back to Sweden in 5 weeks time.
After Moab, it was time to drive southwest into Arizona and through Monument Valley which was another spectacular landscape. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is situated within the Navajo Native American Reservation, home of the nation's largest Native American tribe. Monument valley was used as a backdrop for many wild western films but is sacred land for its residents.
The Navajo National Monument is an incredible site; well preserved cliff and cave dwellings dating from around 1250 to 1300 AD and built by Ancestral Puebloans. It takes a day to walk to the remote cliffs and hikers need a special permit, but visitors can walk to an overlook to see the dwellings across the canyon, framed in a sandstone arch. After that it was a couple of hours drive on to the Grand Canyon where we entered the South Rim from the east and got our first glimpse of the canyon from the Desert View Watchtower. |
AuthorsSusan, Jonathan, Kerstin & Claudia Archives
September 2017
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