Swedish cheese slicers

We packed up our apartment for moving, the boxes have been shipped, our luggage is overflowing, and we fly back to the States tomorrow. Could this be the last blog post on Swedish soil? And I titled it "Swedish cheese slicers"?!?

Yesterday consisted of hauling the remains of remains to the second-hand shop...those random purchases we made while here, stuff that was useful but we had no space for in the luggage, stuff that wasn't very useful (yup, this guy was brought back to his original home!) And after we lugged our stuff to the donation room, out of habit, I poked around the kitchen section of the second-hand shop, on the look out for a cheese slicer.

I don't know if these are typical in the States or not, since we had one at our house growing up (but my mom is Swedish). But they are the best tool! The family I nannyed for had a dozen in their kitchen drawers alone. I wanted to bring a few back, just in case they are tough to find, so for the last several weeks, I have been looking for a few cheap ones to slide into the checked baggage.

No luck. I can NEVER find these at second-hand shops, which must mean Swedes never donate cheese slicers. Often, you will find whole, beautiful sets of Rörstrand dishes, entire sets of silverware, or lovely Kosta Boda glassware in the city mission store, but I have never seen a simple plastic-handled cheese slicer, much less the nice wood-handled ones! Relatives pass on, and their heirs go through the household, deciding what to keep and what to donate: 'The Höganäs pottery goes to Myrorna, but let's hang on to Mormor's cheese slicers.' ?!?

Stu has coveted the Viking cheese slicer since we saw them in the tourist shops in Gamla Stan, but we never managed to buy one. Not to mention they cost more like $30. His little horns would probably bend trying to get through a hunk of Vermont White Cheddar anyway.

So you have to buy them new. No biggie. I picked up a generic one up for a few dollars at a Öob. Nothing special. But it is the strangest phenomenon that with all the other kitchen crap you can find there, I have never spotted the elusive Swedish cheese slicer in a second-hand shop. Let's hope US Ikea has a source!

Ack! 3 days left!

Wow, how the time flies. How do we really only have 3 whole days left as Swedish residents?!?  I would like to note that on July 19th or thereabouts, we received notification from the immigration office that we could legally stay in the country until August 31st. Thanks, Migrationsverke, a whole week and a half before we ship off for good. Couldn't have told us in June, when our other visas expired and we HAD to make exit plans?!?

Not that we could have really afforded to stay much longer than we are. We haven't secured jobs in the States (not for lack of trying...Stu is throwing CVs out there like candy on a parade float!)  And we've been in "Goodbye" mode here, which means lots of lunches, fikas, dinners and drinks out to spend a last few hours with the lovely friends we've met here.

Our apartment is pretty bare. We had to pre-pack this weekend to figure out the last of it...we had roughly 6 suitcases worth of stuff and only 4 worth of capacity. Thankfully my giant, pregnant belly is a weeding device of it's own: can't pull it up or down over the bump? In the pile to Myrorna!

We have a few other things to donate, but we just got news in the last few days that our landlady wants to rent our awesome apartment out for at least 6 months (she had told us she would sell, and we should get rid of everything extra we have purchased.) Her renting is good news for us IF she can get someone in on August 1st, so that we don't have to pay rent on an empty apartment. And at 10.000kr (~$1,600) a month, we would very much appreciate someone having that kind of flexibility. So much so, we would leave them those extra plates and cups and lamps and all that useful stuff we accumulated while living here the last 2 years. Trust me, it is worth it!

The weather is sunny and 70-something, and we are enjoying the last of our time here. But we are also pretty excited to leave. Three days!?!?!

Girl with the Dragon tattoo trailer & Harvard

The Hollywood version of the first Millenium series book looks shiny and racy:




I liked the Swedish version just fine, but I will definitely go see this one in theaters. (Which happens in December, and we will be living back in the States!)

And apparently, Harvard will have a class dedicated to Swedish crime fiction that will have several lectures dedicated to Stieg Larsson's work next school year!

Dalarna

Oh my god, we have 10 days left living in Stockholm. TEN DAYS!!!!

We spent this past weekend out of Stockholm, bittersweetly trying to squeeze in friends and a little Swedish summer before we leave for good. Our excellent friends AnnaSara & Andy invited us and Melissa & Kevin to their family "estate" near Furudal, in the middle of Sweden in the region of Dalarna. I say "estate" because there are a gazillion houses and buildings on their property, and the family seem to be related in some way to all of the neighbors.
What's great is that these houses are the cute little 'Faluröd' red & white cottages that you see in all pictures of idyllic Sweden, and they were all in view of a big lake.
And it is Dalarna, which means the furniture in their house and in every other establishment we went into is *awesome*...I have always, always loved the traditional folk designs of the region, and just learned this weekend that it is called Kurbits.

The weather didn't exactly cooperate, but despite the rain, we still managed to pick blueberries in the forest and eat smultrön (teeny, tiny, super sweet Swedish wild strawberries), make flower wreaths, we fika'd (and fika'd and fika'd) swam in the lake (well, not me. I'm a wuss.) we climbed through the pastures and forest, visited Dala horse factories, AND, to boot, I drove a Volvo through Swedish wilderness. Seriously, it doesn't really get much more Swedish than that...we just needed snaps/aquavit and more singing. It was such a great weekend.

Our camera is in and out of commission so I don't have pictures of the cute little fäbod we visited or the lakes or blueberries, but I got some great pictures at the Dala Häst factories at Färnus and Näsnus, where we watched them turn chunks of Swedish wood into cute little orange horses. I bought a green one:

 

Home, not home

We're back from our big ol' contesting, mediterranean Europe touring, wedding crashing, babymoonin' vacation through France and Italy. We had a late flight out of Rome, and after a dirty, sticky hot day of dragging our butts around that too-busy city, waiting for the time to head to the airport (seriously, the last 6 hours felt like we were on Survivor), we were SO happy to be HOME. In Stockholm. To our impossibly comfortable bed, our awesome little apartment, and absolutely perfect Swedish summer weather.

But its only 'home' for a few more weeks! Then 'home' is back to the DC area, where we will be living with my mom until we figure out the next step (i.e. where jobs take us).  Which is great...I love DC. And going 'home' to mamma's (meaning: the suburbs) still means we have a ton of friends really close by. But it is weird. I am going to miss my Swedish bed, and having our own lovely little place, and 74 degree sunny days, especially when its generally 94 in Virginia. And I'm going to miss a whole lot more, too many people, places, things, and ideas to list. Not so many people get to say they just picked up and popped over to live in Europe for a few years, and I feel so lucky that we got the chance and the experience. And had a great time doing it!

Jordgubbar

First Swedish strawberries of the season! (for us, anyway).

They call little kids (or friends when you are older) 'gumman' or 'gubban', which is little old woman or man. Jordgubbar translates to little ol' 'earthmen' or 'dirtmen', kind of. I think it's cute. 

36 hours in Stockholm

Maggie & Patti are visiting from Ghent & Utrecht! It is utterly gorgeous in the city. They'll be here for the long holiday weekend, and we're going to fit in some of the things on the NY Times "36 Hours in Stockholm" list...I've never been to Junibacken!

Moving!

It is decided. We fly back one-way to DC on July 26, moving back to the States officially!

I hadn't bothered to apply to a single job in Stockholm this year, so I wasn't expecting amazing job offers on my end. Stu had some great leads on jobs here, but none materialized as solid offers by our self-imposed deadline. So, with our residence visas expiring June 30th, a whole 2 weeks after Stu graduates, we figured, why drag it out? Holy crap, June 30th is in 28 days! Thankfully, we could apply for short-term extensions to finish the move (and keep health insurance!)

We have a super summer vacay planned, with a week in France (including 5 days in Paris, which are fully paid by  major int'l company Stu is competing for!) then a week in Italy, with spending time with lots of friends in between. Then a few last weeks of decadent Swedish summer before the big move.

This weekend, we've got friends visiting, but starting next week, we start packing! I've already posted a ton of stuff for sale on Blocket (anybody in Stockholm looking for a pull-out couch? Some great Ikea chairs? Lamps? Coffee pot? Other random household goods? Here's a link to pictures of some of the stuff: https://picasaweb.google.com/lagom.sverige/Collages?authkey=Gv1sRgCPz1p8bS2vSvWw&feat=directlink#)

Uggg, another overseas move!  We got so lucky coming over--it was cheap, the company was good, everything turned up on time and intact. But of course, that shipper is out of business and I don't expect it to be nearly so cheap on the way back. And to boot, I'm preggers, and we don't have jobs, and DC is hot & miserable in the summer. I hate moving.

But I am still so, so, so excited to move back. I've been pulling for this for months now. We have had such a great two years in Sweden, but it just feels like it is time.

But what will happen to the blog? 

subway rant

Warning, this post is rife with generalizations.

I have heard countless times how closed-off Swedes can be in public--in the store (don't expect to be helped by the salesperson!), in the street (don't expect a smile, much less even eye contact), on public transportation (watch out for giant swinging bags that will hit you in the head while the person passes you, and don't expect an "excuse me"). I'll admit that if Stu & I stay in Sweden through this pregnancy, I am dreading that 9th month on the tunnelbana. And I am already super sure I will never be offered a seat on a crowded bus.  But what has been bugging me lately is the inability of people in Stockholm to get ON to the subway car like considerate human beings!  Swedes are generally awesome at standing in an orderly line, or taking a number form a little box to preserve their sense of order. You see it everywhere: the pharmacy, the bank, the alcohol store, the computer parts place.  Well, almost everywhere. They don't queue for the free bus to Ikea...that is a free-for-all.

But on the subway, people stand like giant, squat buffalo directly in front of the doors before they open, totally oblivious to the fact that there are a dozen people who need to get *off* the train before they can on. They could stand a little to the right, or maybe a little to the left. Stockholm train doors stay open for a decent amount of time...they aren't going to miss it! And several of them will stand like buffalo together, making you have to elbow your way through them to get off the train. Ah, it irks the crap out of me! I don't remember the general population of subway riders in Washington DC being that difficult. Or New York, or Chicago, or San Francisco (granted, they all have their "charms", but at least there is some general common sense.)

Okay, I think I'm done now. It feels better to get that off my chest.

Taxes!

Done!

I procrastinated 'til the last possible day to file, but as of 15 minutes ago, it's done!  I actually didn't even really file...I 'own' a business (which just means I work freelance, but in Sweden, you basically have to incorporate a company to get paid piece meal.) But since I didn't get it going until last September, I opted for an extended first tax year and only had to fill a bunch of boxes in the online form with zeros. Still, I dreaded it. And since Tax-Swedish doesn't easily translate with Google, I had to have some natives walk me through the basics.
Next year, I'll be on the hook for paying a small fortune. 54%+ of my earnings? Fun!

Odd shoe observation

Swedes take their shoes off when they enter private residences. It makes sense in a country that experiences 6 months of winter, since snow boots can bring in so much crap. We do it at home, too. And I think even after we leave Sweden (whenever that may be), it'll be one of those cultural things that stick with us. So hygienic!

When we were heading home from a walk yesterday, I was surprised to see a woman take her sneakers off as soon as she walked *into* a gym! She was one of those people who runs to the gym and then proceeds to work out, so she didn't have a gym bag with her as though she was going to actually change her shoes. Isn't it odd? Stu & I don't work out (gyms are just too expensive) so this is new! Does everyone take their shoes off to enter a gym to work out? Why bother, if you are just going to put them on again to run on the treadmill? I think that is a cultural thing that won't come back with us...

P.S. it is 8:30pm and its not even fully dark yet. We finally made it! The weather has been stellar lately.

a Swedish wedding

We attended our first marriage ceremony in Sweden on beautiful, sunny Saturday! Technically, we attended Part I of said wedding, since the couple is planning a proper wedding on Midsummer in the groom's hometown in France (and yes, we are going to that too! Woohoo!)  But since the bride is Swedish, they had a legal ceremony and small celebration here in Stockholm.

It was at Stadshuset, the city hall. And the wedding room is just lovely--up a grande staircase, large and round and covered in warm tapestries.
The whole of the ceremony took about 6 minutes. And the bride and groom just answer "Ja" rather than "I do" or something more formal to the question of loving and caring for the other for the rest of their lives. It felt like an odd let-down. "I do" is so specific in English to marriage, but "Ja" is just plain old "Yes." Like, "Do you promise to take out the garbage tonight?" "Ja."

And the reception was fun and homey, held at the bride's parents house in Nacka. The groom has said to us several times that it doesn't feel like the "real" wedding, since they are doing it again in 2 months (his family didn't even come to Sweden for the ceremony.) But the bride said she spent more than 3 days preparing food for the reception, so I think the groom should be careful of her over-hearing his thoughts...why would a bride slave for 3 days in the kitchen for something that wasn't "real"?  But he IS taking her last name (she has a great Swedish last name and his is unpronounceable French) so she won a big battle. Stu & I are still trying to figure out our last name, and we'll have been married 3 years this fall...

March 17th

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Again, I was the only one on the subway, as well as the only one in class, wearing any green whatsoever. It makes me feel *so* American (oddly, not Irish!) But any American kid has it banged into their brain that you must wear green on March 17th, or face the consequences...you will get pinched. And kids pinch hard! They are going for black & blue to shame you for your lack of green. I guess it has stuck with me, because both Stu and I left the house with plenty of green on this morning.

This year, we are skipping out on Irish pubs. We learned our lesson last year. Instead of going to a bar, though, we are going to barTEND. We are helping out a friend at an art opening event sponsored by Absolut Vodka this evening, so Stu and I will be slinging Cape Cods instead of swigging guinness. If you happen to be in Hammarby Sjöstad, stop by! But be sure to wear green, because I am American. And I will pinch.

Picture post: lights in the sky

When up north, we had one night of the Aurora Borealis. It was too cloudy the rest of the trip, but that first night was pretty phenomenal. My friend Anabelle is a fantastic hobbyist photographer and spent more than an hour standing, sitting and laying in the snow to catch a few pictures of the lights in the sky. And I borrowed a few to post here:

The ice fishing hole...doesn't it look like the surface of the moon?

Stu, looking rather like an ax murderer

So the northern lights are caused by charged particles colliding in the ionosphere, and get stronger the closer one is to the magnetic north pole (though they happen south of the arctic circle as well). Wikipedia helpfully informed me that it is named after Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn, and Borealis, the Greek name for the north wind. We saw them starting at about 6:30pm, not too long after it was completely dark. They seemed to grow and shrink in green, gold and little bit of purple over the following 2-3 hours, but by 10pm, the sky had clouded up and the show was over. I am so glad we had that first night, though. 

[All photos: Anabelle Lacroix]

A weekend above the Arctic Circle

We were more than 150 km above the arctic circle!  We spent several days in and around Kiruna, one of the very north-most towns in Sweden. We flew up and took an 18+ train ride back, and packed the time in between with cross-country skiing, alternately roasting and freezing in the sauna & ice-cold lake water, mushing dog sleds through the forests, being completely mesmerized by the golden green northern lights, eating reindeer in a Sami teepee and running through the Ice Hotel. As my Finnish friend said, we were doing the most touristy things, but they were *so* *much* *fun*! We had a great weekend. The weather was a perfect -5c and sunny.

I posted most of our pictures in the slide show below (minus the aurora borealis pictures...our camera is crappy in low light.)

We traveled with a group of my friends--five ladies and Stu. He was a good sport, especially when we were gossiping about how cute our dog-sled guide was (a bit like a Norse Brad Pitt.)
We stayed at the lovely Camp Alta in a giant, cozy cabin. We tried out cross-country skiing over a frozen lake, where others were ice fishing. I have never ever been on skis before. Once I got the hang of it, it was super! Especially with that insane Lapland wind blowing...you could really get up some speed without doing a thing. Except when it was time to go back, and we were skiing *into* the wind. I think my eyelashes froze.

The camp had a large sauna, and we made friends with another group who liked the room super wet and super hot. Everyone (except me, of course, 'cause I'm a wimp) jumped into the trapdoor in the sauna floor into the ice cold lake water below to cool off. They all loved it, but I would have either a) drowned b) bobbed out as a popsicle, or, most likely c) gotten sick.

Friday morning, we took a dog-sledding tour...38 km of beautiful Lapland countryside. We were 2 people per sled, hitched to 5 dogs. I don't really know what else to say about it, but I absolutely recommend doing this if you head up north, because it was amazing. The dogs were fun, the sights were great, the ride was exhilarating, the lunch was delicious, and the guide was cute (as afore mentioned.)

We spent an afternoon in Jukkasjärvi, running through the Ice Hotel (literally running...it was like a playground!) The rooms are really clever, beautiful works of art, though I basically affirmed that I don't need to *sleep* there. Which is fine, because at $400+ a night, I can't really afford to sleep there. I think the Ice Hotel deserves its own post, to come later...
But in Jukkasjärvi, we visited the Sami church and had reindeer sandwiches in the teepee. Which was a little weird, since the Sami Museum it was attached to is also a reindeer preserve. But we were fortified for the walk back to the Ice Hotel, walking on top of the huge frozen, solid Torne River, enough to get a few cocktails at the Ice Bar (You pay more for the glass made of solid ice, so they get cheaper the more cocktails you have, so we had to make the price worth it!)

And we had a great trip back on the night train from Kiruna to Stockholm. We had a short lay-over in the small town of Boden, which randomly had the best American-style diner and giant burgers and steak fries. To demonstrate just how "authentic" this place was, they actually asked how they wanted the meat cooked, which is something no other Swedish restaurant does when you order a burger (they just don't get it in this country.) Boden's Suzy Qs...such a boon! The rest of the trip, we watched movies and ate junk food and drank cheap wine-in-a-bag, and I feel a little grainy today because of it.

Off to the store

We're having people over for dinner and to watch Melodifestivalen tonight. What can we say, we've adapted? But accordingly, we're making food for more than our customary two, and had to conglomerate the ingredients with stops to Lidl, ICA, Coop. You know, good value-for-money, and to get us out of the house.

We were in a looooong line in a naaaaaaaaaarrow shop (befitting city living), and so checked out the other people in line. We couldn't help but notice the poor little girl screaming cutely at the top of her lungs. Yes, somehow it's cuter when it's in Swedish instead of our native tongue.

What I found remarkable was her father's response. He calmly walked her back to where she'd found the Pink Unobtainium and made her put it back. I really admired and respected what that took, and thought I'd award him my mental: Parent of the Day. He was like a Zen monk. And she quieted a little as he picked her up.

We had just been talking about parenting at a fika this week, and how sad it is that kids are drowned in presents every Christmas. And I get it, parents get sucked in to it. So this resistant father gets my Tip Of the Hat. My description doesn't give you the sense of the master bargaining skills this little girl was employing, "det är dåligt, snälla snälla snälla...ja vill ha..." but it was impressive. I am a sentimental sort, and I couldn't help but think that although she didn't know it, that little girl had everything she needs.

I guess it's un-Swedish to notice someone else's business in public, but having seen kids get smacked around in stores before, it's nice to see an example of the other side of the spectrum.

Collect 'em all

Yesterday  almost hit 0 degrees, so I went shopping. I bought a dress and tights and a pair of pants, and a completely unnecessary wooden Sweden.

I have a weakness for household items shaped like Sweden. Thankfully, Sagaform fills my weird needs...we own their big Sweden serving bowl (bought that sucker at a second-hand shop for 100:-!) and now, we own the cheeseboard.

I have my eye out for a deal on the Dala horse. I'd love to eat candy out of that guy! And the mini-Sweden serving dish would really just be to complete the set...I'm not sure what it's function would be if I already owned a cute candy dish Dala horse. I use the big one to serve meatballs, of course.

Sagaform Spring/Summer 2011 catalog

Picture post

I am supposed to be writing a 7-page paper exploring the possible legal issues in my upcoming graduate exhibition (7 pages!? Legal issues?!?!) Instead, I'm posting pictures of some of the weird stuff we encountered last week.

This guy is strapped in duct tape and bag-in-a-box wine bags, and these people are filling up using his thigh-spout. I think I'd prefer to buy my wine at the bar...

A little meatball wrestling, anyone? I feel it is obvious who would win a meatball-eating contest between a Swede and a Turk.

Some inspiration for my Artists' Books exhibition in May?

I'm more of a shower person, anyway...

I love guerilla knitting!

The handrail on the T-bana. Just in case you needed an invitation? 

Despite the presence of so much thick snow, Swedish dogs have great aim. Still managed to blast the trash can! And I swear, you can't walk 10 meters in this white city without seeing one of these little yellow pee points. I can't believe I took a picture of this.

Lappland deep freeze?

So we are planning a trip up to the very tip, top of the country in a few weeks. We fly into Kiruna, spend a night there, a night in Abisko at a national park, and then take the 18+ hour night train back down to Stockholm. We are going to sled with dogs and we are going to have (at least) a drink at the ice hotel, and dern it, we are going to see some northern lights! It may sound crazy in the middle of winter, especially when it has been so cold here, but if Stu and I move away from Sweden at the end of our studies, we might not ever do this again. And I really do think that the even-darker, even-colder north will make Stockholm feel like a southern paradise. It's all about your frame of reference, right?

But I just read an article that they are experiencing *record* cold up there. So cold that the electricity company cannot handle it...-42 degrees celsius (which, by the way, is about the same in farenheit...-40 is where the two meet!) The guy quoted says most people use wood stoves to keep warm. Yeah, with what alternative?!? Succumb to being a popsicle? How the hell does the power company stop functioning? That is their job. And this is Lappland...I get that it is a little colder than usual, but shouldn't they be prepared for that?  This is SWEDEN!

Eh, nevermind, they probably imported the utility equipment from France, just like the rail cars that can't handle Swedish snow.  But the cold weather is supposed to last another few weeks, just in time for us to visit. And thankfully, there will be six of us taking the trip together, so if the power craps out while we are staying up there, there are plenty of people to huddle together with for warmth.

the first step

I spent several hours today at the Konstfack library, doing thesis research. I had a synopsis deadline due today, which finally got me moving on writing. Slowly. Sloooooowly. Only a few dozen daunting more pages to go. But seeing this typewriter and motivational quote mounted to the wall outside the art school library helped a bit (even with the typo.)

Only a few daunting more months to go...