inwardsun.outwardsmile

I have moved into the old house with Johanna and Maja; the other Swedish staff.

Soon, the new chef will come to live with us too. Saves money on rent but perhaps a little tight on personal space.

The house was abandoned or someone died, I don’t know. The door sign with an elder couple’s name still hangs by the porch and the furniture in the living room is untouched, like an old fifties museum. You can almost sense the presence of the people that used to live here. The countless hours they sat in silence looking out the window, at cars passing by. The sound of the coffee pot on the stove.

But now it’s us three “jenter” and the table cloths have been removed, the porcelain cups have been filled with exotic spices and in the window a basil plant is growing next to a promising avocado seed.

It is peaceful here if you ignore the sound of car mobiles passing by or the chimes from flocks of sheep early in the morning. My bed is small and hard and the bright light in my bedroom is the same at midnight as it is at noon, hence why I don’t sleep much.

We take borrowed bikes to work. Bikes that either has a steering wheel too low, a saddle too high or squeaky brakes, but it only takes fifteen minutes to the centre so we manage.

When we first moved in we checked that there was hot water in the shower. There was. Steaming hot. We didn’t check for cold water. Apparently that bolt is broken. We shower at the camp site until it’s been fixed.

We don’t have internet access in the house and we are still unsure whether it is worth the cost of a mobile connection for just two months.

Until then, we drink our tea and talk without computers running.

We hope it will help us connect to nature better.

Maja seems to be in the right element already. First day she went out and picked herbs on the lawn for tea, made roasted seed musli and bought flour to bake bread.

Johanna is sweet. First day she and I went for a walk. I had already been here working for 10 days and I couldn’t wait to vent all my thoughts about this job. I feel like I SUCK, I declared. She stopped, but her hand on mine and looked me in the eyes and said: You do NOT suck!! And I knew we would be friends. She is funny too. She puts carrots and peas in her porridge.

I joked and said it could be our peace sign salute – peas and porridge!

A friend of mine from Stockholm, Andreas, is here to stay with me for a couple of days or whatever his plan is – couch surfing and hitch hiking around Lofoten. He lives in Aspudden and does his daily shopping at my old supermarket so it’s like a little breeze from home that has found its way here. Makes even the rainy days seem brighter.

Thanks for reading!