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? 

Figuring out the future so soon?

Stu & I moved to Sweden to be full-time grad students about 14 months ago now. We came from the US with shiny student visas (and in my case, a spouse visa since I hadn't heard about school yet.) We knew even though our programs were two years long, Migrationsverket (the immigration board) would want to check up on us after a year to make sure we were passing and still had some money to live off. Since his visa was set to expire September 1, Stu recently sent his renewal forms in for what I think of as "Stockholm, Year II." He just got his approval today, meaning he can head to Migrationsverket office for a new picture in his passport, and should have no problems traveling to London when we take my dad there next week.

But we were surprised when reading the forms...apparently, they only approved Stu to stay in Sweden until June 2011. We had been going on the assumption that we would have a full two years here, and though we would graduate in June, we would have the summer to finalize plans our next phase, post-grad school. We even signed our lease at our apartment to end on August 31, 2011.

That may not seem like a huge time difference, but we have no idea where we will be heading as of June 2011! The timeline in my mind was to start looking at the job market next May or so, and we would both basically apply for anything and everything that we saw in Stockholm, several large UK cities, and the major cities in the US. In an ideal world, we would get the summer to travel again, knowing exactly what city we would live in by July and then could leisurely move to new digs (whether in Stockholm or abroad) in August, starting fantastic and well-paying jobs in September. But the economy hasn't exactly bounced back as high as one would have hoped, so I know the job hunt could be challenging.

In fact, though, we hope to get jobs here in Stockholm, to take advantage of the connections and networking our education has fostered, to enjoy living in this country while making a decent living wage, maybe take advantage of some of the amazing parental benefits while we were at it, and pay back into the tax system that has so generously supported us for what will be 22 months.

But leaving Sweden in June is too soon! We have to give our landlady 3 months notice that we will be leaving (so that's the beginning of April.)  I foresee April being the *busiest* 30-day stretch for us school-wise in nearly 2 years, without even thinking about applying to jobs, applying for new visas, moving across more large bodies of water, etc.

I think it's worth noting how dysfunctional we find aspects of the Swedish education system when it comes to educating foreigners. Sweden has always (and will continue until next year) made education free to everyone, whatever nationality. One would think that if the government is investing millions into human capital every year, they would want to make it as easy as possible to reap the benefits of their investments! To educate someone from outside the EU, bestowing masters or even PhD degrees, and then giving them NO time to find suitable work in this country before they are legally required to leave just doesn't make sense. One of the reasons given that the country elected to institute tuition starting next year is because "people come for the free education and then leave." But in reality, the government gives them no choice.

It's going to be winter here sooner than I'd like to admit, so maybe if I were writing this blog post 2 months from now, the tone would be different. As in "get me the hell out of here!" Working in San Diego *would* be pretty great, come to think of it. But the point is that it is too soon to think about it!  Ugg, how frustrating.

Praktikant-ing

I started interning at Moderna Museet on Monday. Whew, let me tell you...working 9-5 is exhausting. And I only did it four days last week! I'm a spoiled student, I know.

Moderna is on the little island of Skeppsholmen, so I take a 10 minute bus ride from my apartment down to Kungsträdgården, then have a 10 minute walk over the water and around the island to the administrative office behind the museum. Not a bad commute:

I have a huge cubicle (woohoo?) with a water view. I work with nice, competent people in the registrar's office, who are civilized enough to have a mandatory coffee break at 9:30 every morning. In fact, the whole museum together has 9:30 fika every morning. 

They put me right to work helping register the big exhibition that opens in October, Modernautställningen. 

And in doing this, I caught a few mistakes (I am surprisingly good at pointing out other people's mistakes. Of course I can't point out my own, because I don't make any. Poor Stu.) But because of it, one of the curators thought I'd be good to recruit to help edit and do some research for an upcoming exhibition catalog. It's kinda nice to be needed...I just wish they'd pay me for it!

It is already abundantly apparent that I need to learn more Swedish to take full advantage of working there. And of course, what follows: I need to get fluent to get a job! 

Thankfully I start a new svenska class next Monday night.

Coming soon: complaining about taxes!

I just got official, finally! I just got my paperwork for a visa change...and can now legally work in this country. I had been on a residence visa as Stu's spouse (or, as I much prefer it in Swedish, Stu's fru.) You can't work on that thing, you can only "reside." I didn't bother to change my visa status to student back in August because it cost 1.000:-, we had just paid for it a few months prior, and I am insanely cheap. But we always planned to get at least part-time jobs while here, and that's probably going to have to happen sooner, rather than later. And then, I can officially start complaining about high Swedish tax rates (okay, I do that already...we pay 25% VAT!) Speaking of...our US W2's should be coming soon. That should be depressing.

So I just got the notice in the mail that I am all set to get a real job, aside from what promises to be a painful trip to the Immigration office to get the stamp in my passport! Good thing, too, because it was all in-process when we traveled to London, and we held up the lines leaving and coming while they scrutinized my passport. They are EU, but have different regulations, so the passport check IN Sweden was much more rigorous than when we visited Italy. Strange? Yes. And no, they didn't give two flips about Stu's passport.

Anyway, happy day! And I turned in an exam and did a presentation this morning (both went well) and now am finally done with the first semester of this graduate program. We are going to friends' house for dinner tonight, and I am in charge of wine and dessert. I am thinking something chocolate to celebrate!

Now THAT is how you protest!

The global financial crisis has forced US government offices to make major changes over the past many months. Just yesterday, Congress passed a bill (which Obama will sign into law today) extending unemployment benefits to the nearly 2 million Americans whose benefits will run out by the end of the year (that includes me!)

In another example of how the Feds have had to trim expenses, the US Postal Service is closing about 400 service offices next year to cut costs, including one in the Florida town of Lantana (pop. 10,000.)  Residents there were so upset about having to drive an additional 7 miles to pick up packages, they convinced the city council to let Washington know how they felt.

By mailing more than 1,000 coconuts to Postmaster General John E. Potter in Washington, D.C., hoping to convince him to keep their post office open!  The coconuts arrived individually wrapped and stamped to the offices.

Who knows if it will lead the USPS to change their minds about Lantana, FL's office, but what an awesome way to stick it to the man!  I love it.

The USPS donated all of the coconuts to Bread for the City, a local foodbank and homeless aid center.  They blogged about the donation here. And they are in need of recipes, so if you have a good one, let 'em know.

Sun, sun, sun, sun, sun, sun!

Its been a rainy week, and I haven't seen the sun for days. But its out this morning!!  Thats worth posting about, I think.

I'm done with working regularly. And my last day as a "barnflicka" went out with a bang...the 3-year-old girl peed her pants in the living room before I could airlift her to a toilet. Not only did she pee her pants, but also her socks and the rain boots she was wearing. And then her 1-year-old brother tried to "help" me mop up the pee with his sleeves. How much fun did I have cleaning on Tuesday!?!?  She wasn't even upset about wetting herself, but she cried like a banshee because her last bite of pepparkakor (cookie) fell in her puddle. Fun times.
But to celebrate, Stu cooked me dinner all by himself and took me to see "Julie/Julia" (he got to see Zombieland, so I got to see a chick-flick about Julia Child, who is the awesomest. Its fair.)

I also started Swedish classes this week. Its called SFI, Swedish for Immigrants, and its free. In fact, Im told that the government used to *pay* immigrants to take Swedish language courses to help them assimilate, but not no more. The teacher is really enthusiastic and she speaks only in Swedish, which is great! So far, its a mix of cultures and ages in the class, but everyone speaks perfect English, so some of the horror stories I've heard don't seem to be pervasive. We'll see how it goes...

I'm thinking of quitting my job.

Well, I've actually decided to. And sorry if Stu has caused headaches with his philosophical musings...he is knee-deep in econ and accounting, and this blog offers a pretty good outlet. Otherwise, I am the outlet, and wine is just too expensive in this country...

Anyway, back to unemployment. I know, I know, its an entire TWELVE hours a week, give or take. And my schedule at Stockholm University is so light, I almost feel stupid in deciding to quit the only kronor we have coming in. But school is random, with a different schedule of classes every week. The entire month of November is all late afternoon classes (which means I can't work).

And as it gets colder (and its definitely getting colder!!) I can't help but dread having to bundle up 2 squirmy little munchkins who never even want to put their shoes on, much less coats, hats, gloves, etc. and then stroller them the 1.5 km to pick up the other little rugrat, then stroller the whole lot of them back in the cold and dark of December, January, February.

And not having a job that has me working from 3pm until 6 or 7pm means that I can start taking Swedish language classes in the evenings. And hopefully learn something slightly more useful than ¨graset är grönt¨ (the grass is green.) English is fine, actually, and the majority of people in Stockholm speak it and are happy to help me out. But its a personal goal to speak next-to-fluent Swedish by the end of this 2-year Stockholm stint, and I might as well get on with it sooner rather than later.

They are awfully sweet kids, and I like their parents very much. And my clothes have all gotten too big with all the chasing and strollering. And it feels kinda nice to hand Stu a small wad of cash as an 'allowance' each week. Maybe instead he'll get a gig teaching yoga here in Stockholm?
But I'm probably working regularly another month or so. And then back to unemployment. I missed it so.

Unemployment: Day 1

I'm still in pjs, watching bad daytime tv, and drinking a lot of coffee. Not a bad first day of being laid off. I have a big list, but I figure this first day, I should just not worry about any of that. Well, Im doing a load of laundry, so that counts for something.

We are moving to Stockholm in August, so I had intended to leave my nonprofit job in the middle of July, at the same time we go to closing on our condo & become homeless. But Friday, I was told my position had been eliminated as of May 31, 2009, and I could choose to work out the next two weeks or just be done (that was a no-brainer choice!) I stuck out the day, unlike the other 3 people who also got pink-slipped.
I got a tiny severance package, too, and am eligible for unemployment, so considering I was leaving anyway, we're not in a terrible situation. It was definitely a big surprise, but all in all, not a bad surprise. I feel a little like a statistic of the current economy. And I liked my co-workers, so it would have been nice to have a few weeks of happy goodbyes, rather than pitiful "I'm so sorry"s crammed into a few hours.

The Livet Just Lagom name is kind of Swenglish...a poor translation of Life, just right. "Lagom" in Swedish is almost untranslatable, but kind of means moderation or in the middle, but also just the right amount...that sweet spot where everything is just right. Stu & I love the word, and since we've been planning this whole Swedish adventure, its come in to play a lot! Like me getting laid off. I got an unexpected extra 2 months of vacation to prepare for the move, most of which I'll still be making some money.

I should probably get dressed now...I don't want to forget how, now that I'm living a life of leisure!