We welcomed 2011 with a reunion of the family. Alll our children and their families were in Sweden, making this yet another rare full gathering of the family. Moleko and family visited us for two weeks to celebrate New Year and for the children to experience a snowy winter. There was plenty of snow!

We had been planning to visit our friends Eva-Carin and Claes Norrlöf in Murchas, near Granada in Spain, but never seemed to find the time until March this year. We had a splendid time. Soon thereafter, Julia was engaged by the IMF on a Rwanda work assignment. We took advantage of the trip to go on mountain gorilla trekking, which turned out to be an amazing experience.

As life is a challenge, after the mountain gorilla trekking we ventured into yet another daring experience. We had thought about, but never decided, to participate in the annual Makgadikgadi Pans Walk. We had planned to go on the three-day walk but changed our plans when our friends in Botswana, Ross and Puseletso Kidd, informed us that they would visit us on their way to Canada. Luckily Stellan Bengtsson, one of the pans walk organisers, tipped us of the pioneering of a midnight walk. We registered and joined 23 other walkers for what turned out to be a beautiful moonlight walk. Julia completed the full distance, 95 km, in two consecutive nights, which took 22 hours to complete. Per only walked the first night. As we write this, Julia's feet are itching for going on next year's walk!

Prior to venturing into the walk, we stayed two nights at Planet Baobab where we joined a group in search of meerkats on Ntwetwe Pan. We were lucky as we, after some struggle, found the meerkat family that lives on the pan.

Yet another surprise was an invitation for Julia to be part of an opera production The Carmelite Sisters "Karmelitsystrarna" at The Royal Swedish Opera "Kungliga Operan" in Stockholm. She was selected together with three other African extras "statister" as the director, Johanna Garpe, decided to have a production that reflects the modern society of mixed races. The show cast 7 times in October-November and will continue with 4 more casts in February next year. The opera has received very positive critiques, was sold out and received standing ovations. Karmelitsystrarna took away the opportunity for an IMF assignment to The Gambia.

We also spent spent time with friends in and around Stockholm. Two years ago we joined three couples in Sigtuna who meet monthly to enjoy homemade soup together. Each couple hosts the "meeting" on a rotational basis, with the others bringing bread, cheese and a cake for the dessert. This year the meetings extended to a boat trip to Åland and walk in Stockholm.

Per was elected chairperson of his photography club, Stockholmsbild, and Julia chairperson of the Botswana-Sweden Friendship Association (BOTSFA), early this year. The BOTSFA activities have kept us both very busy as Per continues to be webmaster for the association and organises the association's informal get-togethers. To celebrate Botswana's 45th independence anniversary, 30 members of the association and friends of Botswana took a day's boat trip to Åland. The Botswana Ambassador to Sweden and her staff (together with their families) were part of the cruise.

In addition to Ross and Puseletso's visit, we were very happy to see Julia's former IMF colleagues and friends from Washington DC. They visited us as part of their midsummer celebration in Hedemora, Sweden. That gave us the opportunity to catch up on this and that. Julia also caught up with other former IMF colleagues on missions to Sweden. Sigtuna is only 15 minutes' drive from Arlanda airport, which makes it easy for us to get short visits from friends or meet them in Stockholm.

We picked lots of wild berries and mushrooms and enjoyed babysitting our grandchildren, folk dancing (Per) and toastmasters meetings (Julia).

Wishing You a Happy and Peaceful 2012