Evie got her license today!! She rocked her driving test and returned victorious! By the time her license actually comes in the mail she will be in Sweden, and she can’t drive there anyway (Rotary rules), but all that aside — she passed the test and is now legal to drive on her own!
I think I’ve fallen behind on blog posts about Eve. Oops! She’s got big things going on too!
We found out that she’s going to Göteborg (aka Gothenburg) in August. She’ll stay with a family who lives in an apartment right in the city. They have three kids: a son who is grown and out of the house, a daughter in her last year of schools, and a daughter who’ll be doing Rotary Exchange in Chile. They have a cat and a dog and a “weekend house” by the water. Eve is pretty psyched about all of this. Rotary in Sweden did a great job reading her application and finding her a good fit. She’ll be attending a trade school (that’s how it works there) with a focus on animal care. She’s thrilled about that. And today we learned that she’ll attend a week-long orientation camp with other exchange students after she arrives. She’ll have a week with the host family, then a week at camp, then school will start. They want her there by August 1st!
Last week she had a video call with her Rotary Exchange coordinator, the person who will be her Rotary contact over there. Today she did a video call with her host parents. She has been texting with the daughter of MY host sister, and with a young woman who helps with the Rotary Exchange program in Sweden. I’m amazed at how different her experience will be, thanks to advances in technology. I’m sure there will be pros and cons to it, but right now we’re experiencing a whole lot of pros!
She spent last weekend at an Outbound Rotary Exchange event where she got to hang out with other outbound students and some inbound students in the area. It was a big house on a lake in NH and she had a great time with the other kids.
Eve is an entirely different person this year. For the past few years she has *hated* school and spent her time with some mentally toxic people. This year she has a much better, much more positive friend group, she’s taking classes that she enjoys, she’s made some connections with teachers, and overall is a much happier human being. When we first started talking about Rotary Exchange it was, in part, because she was so miserable at school. I’m hoping that she’ll be able to enjoy this upcoming year in Sweden, then return home to the same group of friends and positive school relationships. I’m sure they’ll be some bumps in the road, but I’m so happy with how much better she is doing this year! I can’t wait to experience this foreign exchange adventure with her, from the comfort of my couch. :)
Last weekend a local school hosted a Queer Prom and invited all of the LGBT…+ clubs in the area to attend. The SAGA club at Hartford decided to go. Eve and River and their friends all went and had a blast!! The host school covered the costs and Hartford provided a bus and photographer. The kids just had to dress up and show up. :)
It was such a fun and positive experience. Everyone was so supportive and happy. I was smiling from ear to ear. :)
Happy birthday to this beautiful human being.
We had a pretty low-key day. I had to work, but the kids were home and Alan came down for the day. Lex and B’Lake had to leave at 3pm for a robotics event, so I came home at lunch time for the birthday celebration. I never got around to making a cake, but we have plenty of sweets around here these days and Alan brought her a birthday cupcake. She got a new laptop, an awesome hiking backpack, flowers, and more. She was pretty happy with the birthday presents. :)
The boys left at 3pm, I got home around 4pm, then Eve, Alan, and I spent the afternoon/evening watching silly TV and eating sushi. It was a good day.
We spent the day today at a Rotary Exchange Student event. Each of the outbound students presented on their designated countries, we learned about insurance, the visa process, and more. Lots of nitty gritty. Eve wore her blazer (and jeans!) and did the most entertaining presentation. Not necessarily the best, but definitely the most in-depth and funny. She got lots of compliments afterwards. :)
I was hoping for more placement information, but they don’t actually have that info yet, so we continue to wait on that. In the meantime, lots of paperwork to do!
Have I mentioned that my girlie won Student of the Month for ELA? Her teacher said she is an enthusiastic, creative writer, always eager to share with peers. “She is a shining example of what it means to be a writer.” 🤗
The One Act is back, with Eve on stage and Lex on lights! What a brilliant duo. The show was called Variations on a Theme and was a series of variations of how a scene at the train station could play out between a guy and a girl. The guy was at the station and each scene was him imagining a different outcome. It was cool and deeper than I was expecting as the guy worked through his feelings about their relationship coming to an end. I enjoyed it.
The cast will perform one more time at a Festival in April when many different high schools come together to perform their One Act plays. It should be interesting. Eve is excited for it. Lex will be at an FRC event that weekend, so he won’t go to the festival.
Eve had a plan with a friend today. She drove herself to Hanover (with me in the car!) and I dropped her off at the boba tea place to get a snack then go to the game store. I felt weird leaving her alone, and commented on it. As I spoke the words out loud, it occurred to me that in under a year she would be alone in a far away country! I’d better get used to her being in Hanover without me!
Time can slow down just a little. Please and thank you.
Eve and I had an awesome day shopping on Boston yesterday. We aren’t big shoppers in general, but I was finally ready to buy new living room furniture and I couldn’t find anything perfect around here. We drove down to Ikea with a list and all the enthusiasm. We tested all of the couches and many of the chairs and tables at Ikea, both because we wanted to buy them and because my sciatic feels better when I sit down. LOL. So we did lots of chair testing while I waited for the meds to kick in. We got some little stuff and a BLÅHAJ (Swedish for “blue shark” and something Eve has been wanting for awhile), but didn’t love any of the couches.
Then we went to Starbucks (I needed a pick-me-up!) and Target for some clothes for Eve. She never asks for new clothes, so when she does I say YES! 😄
With caffeine, snacks, and meds in my body, we headed to Jordan’s Furniture, a store that is even bigger than Ikea and a true shopping experience. They even has an IMAX theater and an “Enchanted Village” thing and lots of other random “experiences,” plus furniture!! We explored for awhile, until we found the perfect couch!! It was soo soft and comfy and we both loved it. A nice sales guy from Southie came over and helped us getting it all ordered. It took awhile and I was running down, so I went out to the car to get our Starbucks beverages and buy a little snack at the fancy Jordan’s snack bar, while Eve stayed with the sales guy and discussed colors and end tables. She was an AMAZING partner in the furniture shopping process. She advocated for the practical when I wanted to luxurious, she was chatting with the guy and held her ground when the guy tried to upsell us on stuff, and she kept me going. Also, she’s just a fun person to have around!
We ended up buying two couches and two “cocktail ottomans,” which are the big, firm, padded ottomans that are popular these days. We didn’t find any end tables that we loved, so we’ll buy those somewhere else. We were going to get two chairs to put under the TV, instead of the couch that’s there now, but both of the couches we bought are bigger than what we currently have, so we decided to hold off and see how it all fits in our space first. Once we have the new couches and ottomans in place, we can decided what else we need. Jordan’s will deliver the furniture too us sometime in late February or early March. That will be a fun day! (hopefully the cat and dog don’t immediately “claim” them!)
When we finished furniture shopping at 7pm, we stopped by Petco to buy new (bigger) shells for the hermit crabs, then stopped at the Olive Garden for a little dinner. We got home at 11:30pm! We were both exhausted, but it was an awesome day. I can’t wait for the new furniture to arrive. :)
I’m lucky to have this girl in my life. <3
Meet Eve’s newest friends — hermit crabs! She has been talking about them for awhile, but I told her I maybe it’s not the best time to get a new pet since she’s going away this summer. Instead she talked to her bestie who offered to “babysit” the hermit crabs for a year while Eve’s away. LOL. What are besties for?!
So on Friday we went and bought some hermit crabs. She named them Herman, Sherman, and Jessica. Your guess is as good as mine as to who’s who. She’s pretty psyched though.
