June 14, 2010 0

Giving It Another Try – P90X Day 1

By rklarsson in P90X

Back in the USA, Robert and I started doing P90X. We made it through 30 days and then his back started hurting from some of the exercises. Rather than risk him hurting himself more, he decided to stop. Thus, without my workout buddy, I began to be lazy and eventually stopped doing it.

Then, we moved in March and I know I shouldn’t make up excuses, but life lately has been very busy. Now that we’re in the summerhouse, I have decided to give P90X another try. The only obstacle in my way is that I don’t have my pull up bar here. We had to leave it behind in the USA because of luggage weight issues. I’m hoping to find one here, but until then, the pull up exercises will have to wait.

Today was Day 1, Chest & Back, and I still have the ab routine to do. I also managed to walk/run about a mile, so not too bad. The terrain here is a bit hilly, so it’s a little different than running in Karlstad around the neighborhood where everything is level.

If you’re interested in my starting workout levels, see below. The first number is the amount I was able to do the first round. The second number is how many I did the second round. If there’s for example, 1+4, then I was able to do 1, take a pause, and then continue to do 4 more. A number x 5 KG, is the number of reps at that specific weight.

Standard Pushups – 8, 6+1
Military Pushups – <1, <1
Wide Fly Pushups – 9+2, 5+1
Decline Pushups – 5+3, 5+1
Heavy Pants – 16×5KG, 16×5KG
Diamond Pushups – 5+4, 5+1
Lawnmowers – 16×5KG, 16×5KG
Divebomber Pushups – 3.5, 3.5-4
Backflys – 11, 11.5

The heaviest weights I have right now are 5 KG, so eventually I’m going to have to get more. It’s at least a start. If I end up having to do P90X a second round, it’s not a big deal.

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June 13, 2010 2

New Home, Just for the Next 2 Months Though

By rklarsson in Sweden/Swedish

So, our second full day in the summerhouse has arrived. The weather is a bit better today than yesterday, at least we actually got to see some blue sky and sunshine.

Not much else is going on, other than relaxing and eating. I thought it’d be interesting to post some pictures of the camper than Robert, Bea, and I are calling home for the next 2 months. Enjoy and have a nice Sunday!

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June 11, 2010 0

Long Day

By rklarsson in Sweden/Swedish

It’s been a long day, but a fun one. This morning I went to my nephew’s school ending celebration and got to hear a lot of classical Swedish summer songs. There was a kid in one of the classes that looked like the son in “Two and A Half Men.” During the last song, he was really into it, singing loudly and swaying back and forth. My mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and I really got a kick out of it!

Afterward, I was a bit tired, so I was able to catch a quick nap before Robert came home and we had to head to the end of the school gathering to get my grades, so I can hopefully get the SFI bonus. The SFI bonus, in a very brief summation, is for those who have completed various levels of SFI. They get varying amounts of money, so long as they pass the course, as well as fulfill several other criteria. It’s a pilot program only available in a 13 communities throughout Sweden. Luckily, Karlstad is one of these. If you’re interested, you can read more about it at this link.

Unfortunately, I was only able to stay about 5 minutes because we had to get home and pack to leave for the summerhouse.

After receiving my grades, I had to go back to the school and hand in my SFI bonus application. Even though I turned in my application, there’s still some more information I have to get  to the lady. To qualify for the bonus, you have to have entered Sweden on a certain type of residence permit/visa. Apparently, these different types of permits all have different codes depending upon your reason for being issued a permit. It says to look on your acceptance letter or something of the sort to see what code you have. I never got any kind of letter, only my passport back with my residence permit inserted. Thus, I ended up having to call Migrationsverket (Immigration) and find out what code my residence permit acceptance was based on. They, then, have to mail the information to me, which I will mail to the lady in charge of SFI bonus applications. Quite a mess, but it’s a new program, so it’s to be expected.

We finally got home, packed, and headed to the summerhouse. The weather has been rainy all day, but hopefully we’ll get to see a little sunshine on Monday.

At the moment, I’m sitting in the camper, listening to the rain pound on the metal roof and watching our cat explore every nook and cranny. She’s adapting well to life in the boonies.

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June 10, 2010 5

Results

By rklarsson in Sweden/Swedish

So, the official SFI final test results are finally in and I passed, but not only did I pass, but I got a VG (equivalent of a B), the highest grade that you can get in SFI. I’m doing the happy dance here and looking forward to a relaxing summer vacation!

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June 9, 2010 0

Skolavslutning

By rklarsson in Sweden/Swedish

Tomorrow is skolavslutning, literally translated “school ending,” but better explained as the last day of classes. Technically, our classes finished up last week followed by 3 test days, but tomorrow, we’ll be getting the final results. I’m hoping for VG/väl godkänd (equivalent of a B), but at least want G/godkänd (equivalent of a C), meaning that I pass the class. Generally speaking, the highest grade that one can get in most classes in MVG/mycket väl godkänd (equivalent of an A), but strangely, the highest grade that you can get in SFI is VG (B).

I took the final part of the test, reading comprehension, this past Tuesday. As far as I understand, our SFI group was the guinea pig group for the computer test. The entire section of the test was done on the computer, but disappointingly, once you answer a question, you can only go forward and not go back, as you can normally do with a paper test. Thus, I felt this was a serious issue with the computer test and one that I felt cost me the answer on one of the questions.

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