It happened today on the bus to Lulea, hence the reason for taking the bus. We made a stop and I knew someone would be sitting next to me. I moved my things out of the seat on the aisle and a young strawberry blond hair wrapped in a scarf, bright-eyed Swedish female looked at me and said, “May I sit here?” That was what I understood rather plainly anyhow. I replied, Sure. Minutes later she had her hand over her eyes because the sun was in them, the sun that I had not seen in three days. I grabbed the curtain and blocked out the blinding sun. She said thank you, in Swedish, after a small laugh, I replied, If I could speak Swedish, I would say you are welcome. She laughed and said, Sorry. I asked her how she knew, when she got on the bus that I did not understand Swedish. She replied that she did not know. So, I asked her if she had asked me, “May I sit here?” She said that was what she asked but it was in Swedish. I asked her to say it again and when she did it did not sound close to English at all.
We had a nice talk for the remainder of her presence about the spiritual path. I had been calling it the higher path but that would imply that one following one of the other is either better or lesser than the opposite. Such things should not be directed toward our family members.