Crayfish Party

Have you ever been to a party where you were fishing for lobster-like creature? Well I have and it was with my Rotary Youth Exchange Officer. And it was my first time meeting home too. It was pretty fun. I never would have done anything like that. 

I got a e-mail from my exchange officer saying he would want me to come meet his wife and other Rotary people and go fishing. He didn't say what we were fishing for. But I had an idea because the Swedes love crayfish. Almost as much as Maine people love lobster fresh from the ocean. I agreed willingly and had my host parents come with me.

We came to this beautiful field like area. With a newly added pond. We drove up to where my exchange officer was. He was smiling and saying hello with hugs. I met people from all over Sweden at the party. The people from Stockholm were very fond of me. They couldn't believe that I was doing something like this. They asked if I was homesick. I said no I just miss a few things but I can get them over here. Then they asked about my parents and how they were doing. I told them that they were excited for me, as well as missing and wanting me back home. 

I sat around and saw what they were having a cook out on. I thought that is probably the most redneck thing, but very clever. They had a barrel cut in half, a metal grate that looked like it was for a window, and thin piles that helped hold the barrel up. I had to take a picture because I had never seen anything like it before. 

It was such a beautiful sunset. But once it was starting to get a little bit darker, we came out to play. My exchange officer asked if I was ready for an experience and a half. I replied I came to Sweden to make experiences that I would never forget. He smiled and said good. 

We walked around the small creek and into the woods looking for where the crayfish cages were. I was asked to pull the first one. It had 10 crayfish in it. All of them were very large. Everyone was getting excited for the crayfish. We continued and went to 20 traps. We caught 88 crayfish from 20 traps. A few had hardly any crayfish in them. The last one, though, had sjuton (17) crayfish. And I was the lucky one who got to  take the cage in.

After we walked back through the woods, we stood around the little fire, had a small Fika, and talked about crayfish and me. It was 10:30pm before me and my host family left to go back home. I loved going out and something new in Sweden. I can't wait for what I do next.