There was four or five of us standing around on Goulburn Street tonight, waiting for the early class to finish before we could go in.
As we looked – collectively – at the wndow, we saw notices for the Swedish film night, and for the Swedish church in Sydney.
“Did you go to the church fete?”, someone asked the group.
I responded in the affirmative, declaring I’d won some books as a prize, which was exciting.
One of the guys from class and I also chatted about having seen a Swedish film in the lead up to Christmas.
After about a two month break, and having not had the discipline of weekly classes, I sensed a certain nervousness in the group as we stood outside and waited.
But as I looked to the other side of the glass, I was reminded of how far we had come.
On the other side of the glass, there was a group of new learners, whereas we were up to level four or five now, I can’t recall.
And the most fundamental difference between classes last year, and tonight’s class was that we chatted more.
The group was smaller, just five of us – Grant being away – and so we were able to engage more in conversation.
It wasn’t just a case of a quick answer to a question and then on to the next person. There were follow up questions. And we needed to have something more to say, which I personally found very exciting.
And we also chatted more about social and cultural things. I mentioned, for example, my forthcoming holiday, and the Swedish film being screened this weekend at Dendy Opera Quays.
And we chatted about social events which happen at Cafe Svensson tonight, including the upcoming coffee and bun evenings on Wednesdays. As the Swedes go into lent, they eat a particular type of cream bun called, semla. According to Wikipedia,
…the semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off and insides scooped out, and is then filled with a mix of the scooped-out bread crumbs, milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar.
It kind sounds and looks like it might taste like one of my childhood favourites, a cream horn.
So it’s very exciting and fun to be back at Swedish class.
Homework for me for next week includes writing about my preparation for Sweden, and how I would prepare to record a radio interview in Swedish while I’m there.
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