pippi!!!

Now i'm in Vimmerbe, Sweden. This is the home of Astrid Lingrin who wrote Pippi Longstocking. She is the number 2 most translated author after Shakespeare. her books have been translated into more than 90 languages! :D



A beautiful bus stop in Sweden! it was next to a gorgeous lake...



a statue at Astrid Lingrin's barn that was supposed to inpire thought. did it work?



the ginormous door!!! hehe



all the buildings were from stories from Astrid Lingrin's books. this was the big room! FUN!!!



Some lovebirds on a cute lil' bridge... these paths and things were SO adorable!



Jonathan walking through the woods...



this was in Astrid Lingrin world... i was on a shelf! :D with Jonathan from Sweden...

Sodertelje Sweden

We were on a ferry boat, kind of like a small cruise ship, from finland to sweden. it was a lot of fun! :) when we got off the boat we had all day to spend in stockholm! it was a blast. that is such a beautiful city.



in a square next to a rose garden. gawgeous...



this was inside a cafe we were at... (still stockholm)



just walkin' in a park...



we had lunch on those steps by the harbor! YAY STOCKHOLM!



an archway in the middle of stockholm sweden...


We got to our host families in sodertelje. i stayed with a castmate's family with her, abby, and mitch a staff member. we had a blast!!!



abby, maria, maria's mom, and her sister annika at a lake 2 minutes from our house! it was gorgeous!



Chillin' in the hot tub <3



This was our group of kids from high schools around the area. that was our CI for this city. most of them had immigration backgrounds, so we worked with them to see that diversity is a fantastic quality. we were the COBRA'S! clap clap SSSSSS!



this is maria and abby at maria's crayfish party!! it was SO much fun! :D

oi suomi!

the parliament building is helsinki


the museum of modern art


going for a walk with dad, skipper, and the bros.


robert on the tramp in the backyard


at a monument for a famous finnish composer w/ robert and roomie jalee!!!


robert and sebastian on the tour boat :D


dad and mom! :D YAY!


a cathedral next to the water with real gold tops!!! there are only 2 people in the entire world who can restore them too!!! crazy!!!


a random red boat :D


the cute lil town i was talking about!!!


another part...


my dessert at an outdoors restaurant with heat lamps (without the ugly red light) to keep you warm while eating. they also had blankets on the backs of the chairs unless you got cold. i ate reindeer!!!! :S it was really yummy actually...

love!!!

updating from suomi (finland)!!!

its been a while, eh?

well now i'm in espoo, finland (es-poe like edgar allen). its so gorgeous here! it kind of reminds me of colorado in a way, except that there's a sea in my backyard! how sweet is that?

so anyway... about thailand... it was quite an experience. honestly, sleeping on a mat, dumping a bucket over my head for showers, not having soap or TP in bathrooms, and eating stuff i would normally eat for dinner for breakfast has totally taught me how thankful i should be about the things i already have. i got to finland and have a BED!!!, and soap to actually clean myself!!!, i ate cereal for breakfast, and i knew what everything i was eating actually was at dinner!!!, its incredibly how much you take for granted. even today when i went to wash my hands and had soap, paper towels and warm water it brought me into a better awareness of how lucky we really do have it!!

so i've been in finland since thursday?... i think :S. i really really love it. my host family rocks! my host mom owns her own business and my host dad was a navy officer who taught the divers (rescue divers, bomb-blower-upper divers, etc.) and he sure looks like it!! haha, and my host brothers are amazing alpine skiiers. you should see all of their trophy's.... and the bike that robert won, and you should really hear sabastian play the piano. i love it. OOH the best part!!! they have a yellow lab!!! just like ben at home... i miss him. hehe. they're so fun, and i've learned TONS from them. they have a lot of stories about finland and just funny things that have happened to them. its awesome.

i worked in schools for my Community Impact. that was fun. i met an alumni named Riikka who is a doll, i really admire her. she actually studied in maine even though she's from finland and is now a teacher.

we had our first european encore!!! it was incredible!!! the show was awesome, even though i really messed up a couple times :S...

today my host family, jalee and i went on a tour boat for our free day and rode around the islands around helsinki, then we went east to a tiny little storybook village with authentic cobblestones and adorable little houses. then we went to a friend of the family's who is hosting 2 other uppies and had tea and dessert. we also played some ping-pong, dodgeball, and blow-ball all in one. :D i LOVE

we came home and got in a finnish sauna and i just got out. saunas are SO popular here! its really interesting.

by the way... if you have any questions or comments or anything you can email me at pink_hunny_7@hotmail.com
we also have a cast blog at www.castc2007.com
hope you enjoy!

much love
--callie

Thailand pictures

THESE PICTURES ARE BACKWARDS. START AT THE BOTTOM. DO IT.


at the airport on the way to finland... where i am right now by the way. Espoo to be exact. my host family is AMAZING!! they have so many stories! :D

our first cheeseburger in almost 2 weeks! it was wrapped up all cute and perfect.

a cute little thai man who hit on us! haha. he was super nice.

the strings that are tied around our wrist are supposed to bring us good luck, happiness, and safe travels. its a laos tradition that they do in the north of thailand

planting trees at a Monks' meditation center

a restaurant on stilts next to a lake!

a buddhist temple at the top of a hill in nampong

i ate half of these. no joke! they weren't that bad!

part of my host and extended host family in Nampong

we kinda had a flour fight... whoops...

we had cast olympics with the boys town boys a few days afterward and did sack potatoe racing, stilt walking and coconut shoe running!

after the cobra villiage we went to a temple where we lit inscence, knelt and made a wish. we then blew out the inscence and lit a candle. we put the tiny gold flake on a statue and walked around that big white spiky looking thing 3 times. then we went to a building where we got our fortune told. mine was really good. :)

this was at the Cobra Villiage outside of Nampong Thailand. this lady had the snake IN HER MOUTH. there were cages all around this stage with tons of snakes. they also had monkies in tiny cages and a black bear in a cage that was only 3 times his size, with only cement floors. there was a huge discussion afterwards about animal rights... at the cobra villiage they also had "cobra boxing" with men who just hit at cobras and stuff. it was disgusting...

in front of the habitat house we put our sweat and blood into, literally. there were zero modern tools at the site. we worked in rain and shine barfoot in at least 4-6 inches of mud. we used baskets to haul sand and rock and hand mixed our cement. we built this house for a tsunomi victim...

in front of the chalang wat temple

a hilltop view of Phuket

squid, eel, huge scallops, crab, fish fillets, clams, hermit crabs, shrimp, prawn, deep fried seaweed, and much much more... scary...

a cute lil pineapple slush at a restaurant literally steps from the beach... ( a different one! )

snorkling with beautiful coral, tropical fish, and seashells, peaceful cabanas, dancing in the rain on the beach and coconut milk, is there anything better?...

singing on a boat on the way to Coral Island. BEAUTIFUL!

a buddhist altar on the beach

aoife from ireland holding a local child at the Sea Gypsy Village

a beautiful mess

the traditional band at the welcoming dinner in Phuket

after the satree phuket school kids welcomed us to Thailand...

a random HUGE statue in the Bangkok airport