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This is for anyone who didn't get the e-mail. I didn't realize how long it was, so much for being concise!!

So here's installment #2 of my Swedish Log- and things are going just swimmingly! I've picked up a bunch of random Swedish words and sayings, everything from useful (Do you have= har deur (what it sounds like, not how it's actually spelled)) to not-so-useful (ladder= stege - I suppose I might need to use this at some point in the next three months, but I can't think when, and there are significantly more useful words that I wish I could remember instead). I'm living with Ingrid's family in their house on Jordhumlagatan street (which is the name for those bumblebees that nest in the ground), which is made up of Ingrid, her husband Mike, and their three kids.

The kids names are Assar, Vidar, and Freja, and they're great- super friendly, and Assar, the oldest, has been wonderful about translating for me when the two younger kids try to talk to me in Swedish. Ingrid and Mike (pronounced meek-eh) are also wonderful- Ingrid and I get along great, and talk softball all the time. Mike has discovered that I'm not that easily offended and makes fun of me whenever possible- which pretty much makes me feel right at home. All five of them have welcomed me into their family more than I ever could have expected. Enkoping is a great little town, with a small main square and tons of botanical gardens, as well as a small harbor that goes into a lake. Pretty much anything you need you can find here, except an English bookstore and a movie theater. Stockholm is only a 45 minute train ride away, however, so that's not really a problem.

As I said in the first e-mail, the team is very young, and some are very inexperienced, but Ingrid's done a great job giving them solid fundamentals, so I'm having a good- and successful- time working with the girls. I'm working with three pitchers on an individual basis as well, and I have sessions with our catcher, who's on the Swedish Junior National team and has tremendous potential (Hannah you'd love her- tough as nails and doesn't take any crap, she's excellent). I'm helping Ingrid plan and run practices, and we have pretty compatible personalities and coaching styles, so it's working out great so far. It's fun how involved everyone is here- practices are family events, and it's pretty normal to have boyfriends, brothers, sisters, and parents come to just watch. We had our first games today, against the worst team in the league. We won both very easily, and my first game pitching effort in a year didn't go too badly (10 strikeouts, but 2 base hits). By league rules international pitchers are only allowed to pitch in the first game, so I played third in the second and picked off two runners with Amanda (the catcher). I was assured that the other teams we face are signficantly more challenging, which will be more fun- though this was a nice couple of games to come back on, I suppose.

As you can see in the pictures (which I took especially for you, Caitlin) I went to an Ikea the other day with Maria, one of our best players and a good friend of Ingrid's.

I was a little overwhelmed, but I noticed it's definitely cheaper to shop at Ikea in Sweden than in the U.S. Maria has a three month old girl named Agnes, who's adorable- the two of them and Maria's husband Emil came over for dinner last night, which was chaotic, but fun! Most of the time everyone except Ingrid speaks Swedish unless they're talking directly to me (Ingrid's english is very very good so she tends to try and include me more), but I never feel like I'm being ignored, I just sit back and either zone out or try to pick up the conversation through body language or the occasional word that I know (which isn't many, but oh well).

Well, that's about it for now. Tomorrow I'm going to work with some middle schoolers on softball training- one of the girls on our team works with this group on a different sport every two weeks, and this week is softball week, so Ingrid and I are helping out. In conclusion, life is good, I'm having fun, and Swedish children are absolutely adorable. I hope everyone's doing well, God natt!