The Experience of a Lifetime

My heart is overflowing with gratitude.  Today a student in my class had his birthday and some of our classmates prepared a surprise fika for him.  We are a couple dozen people from all over the planet who have come here for various reasons and who have a myriad of stories and perspectives.  We have our rawness in common, though, so even though most of us barely know each other and can only communicate in our limited Swedish, we feel familiar and affectionate enough to celebrate one another like this.  Naturally, I expected and hoped for my life to change and become enriched by the Swedish people, culture and language, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined the privilege that the diversity and camaraderie of my SFI classmates would prove to be.  I feel incredibly blessed to have this unexpected, invaluable and enjoyable opportunity.