5 Things I Have Yet to Find at a Grocery Store...

So after moving to a country with only a few hundred thousand less people than my home state I realized one big thing.  I came from the land of choice and variety.  Americans are very spoiled consumers. We have more grocery stores which equals more brands.  If you don't like something,  chances are good you'll find another brand or company that you really enjoy. Anyway the amount of things I wish I could find is higher than I would like. I have a serious sweet tooth and I had to make new favorites, but here are 

5 old favorite treats I can never find at the store:

5. Fresh Apple Cider. I really missed going to the Orchard this past Fall, but even if I couldn't make it to the Orchard I could pick some up at the store, but I didn't find any real cider here, just glorified apple juice. 

4. Hot Fudge. I craved a sundae a few times. Unfortunately I haven't found it. That rich Saunders taste is a favorite in my family and I made a believer out of Anton's dad too!

3. Cool Whip or similar product. I love this on pumpkin pie and saw several recepies posted by friends on Facebook that listed this as an ingredient. 

2. Canned Pumpkin. Pumpkin Pie, bread, and cookies oh my, is totally missing from my life.

1. Chocolate Chips. Do I need to say more? Actually chocolate chip cookies exist, even several brands, just not chocolate chips. Weird right? 

I don't really eat much of this anymore because I'm on a weight loss train,  but when I arrived here I was 8 months pregnant. It was really hard going through the Fall season without the canned pumpkin and Cool Whip! I had to stick to my newest addiction ginger snaps.  Now I am a celery connoisseur. I'm sure there will be more lists! Until next time...

Tjugondag Knut or St. Knut's Day

I bet you were worried I was MIA since I haven't posted in a while... or if we're fb friends you've may have noticed things have been rough for me lately. Well things are getting better and I am writing this post in good humor and an attempt at humor. If you know me you'll get it. I wish I was an amazing comedian, but generally I'm just your average bear. Although like most people, I have my moments. Today my 3 month old found me hilarious! Glad I could make someone laugh out loud.

Today in Sweden it is Tjugondag Knut or St. Knut's Day. It can also be referred to as Tjugondag Jul or Twentieth Day Yule, twenty days after Christmas. There is a historic story behind the day of course, and I'll share a glib of what I've learned, but that is not why I'm sharing this, I'm sharing it because of the current followed traditions that Swedes share.

The history of St. Knut's Day is actually Danish, which I find funny because the only two countries that supposedly celebrate the day are Sweden and Finland, well and there are possible parts of Norway. Anyway a Danish Duke or King was murdered by his cousin for his title, a civil war broke out, and Knut was later Sainted. The thing is this all took place originally on January 7th in the 1100s but the celebratory day later moved to January 13th.

Today's tradition is the ridding of Christmas in the country. This means that everyone has to throw out their Christmas trees and put their decorations away until next Christmas. Apparently at baby cafe/ children's group (one of my next topics) today they are having a little tree throwing out party. I'm not exactly sure what they do with all these trees, but I guess I'll have to ask. At the party there will be candy, as well as singing and dancing around the tree. Sounds like a good time to me and a good excuse to clean or pack up one's decor. I'm sure they'll have fika too.

Some people will use the tree as fire wood, but unless you live in a house, you are not likely to have a fireplace. I told Anton I thought it was barbaric for Swedes to use all these real trees for Christmas, what's wrong with a fake tree that you can put up every year? I know the smell, look, and feel of a real Christmas tree is different, but I thought it was a perfectly good waste of a tree that can stay in the ground and create oxygen for me to continue existing. Anton's family is pescatarian, meaning they only eat fish, seafood, and eggs in the form of "animal" protein. They recycle, have compost, heck his dad has a beehive, and they harvest the apple tree in their yard. They are resourceful people who seemingly like to reduce their waste and impact on the planet, a cause I am so for. So I was perplexed as to how they could have a real Christmas tree every year. Until Anton explained it to me. His parent's house is heated by firewood, they do not have a central heating system (which I knew), so using the tree as firewood afterward works out fairly darn well. So in my book that seems reasonable. But think of how many people just throw their trees outside not to be properly reused?! What a waste I say! Anyway today's goal is to wrap up the season until next time. Looks like Anton and I have some Christmas packing to do!

You may now may ask what the historical significance has to do with the current traditions. To that I say, I have no idea and if someone could really explain it to me that would be great! I mean how do you get from the death of a Dane to singing and dancing around a Christmas tree before you throw it out? And why is there candy? What kind of candy anyway? I mean why not candy, but still, it doesn't seem to make complete sense. The only real link I have heard is that there is a saying that goes, "Knut drives Christmas out". I guess that explains it all somehow. I like to think the purpose of this day is another way for Swedes to celebrate the holiday season longer since they don't generally make a big fuss about Halloween and do not have a Thanksgiving.

In a future post soon I would like to share additions and corrections to past posts. I would also like to answer questions people have asked me too, so if you have a question, feel free to share it, or if you are curious about a specific topic, let me know. I am most likely happy to oblige. Also I would like to add photos to my blog to make things more colorful, so I am hoping to make that happen within the week. Thanks for reading :)

Tierp - Where the Birds Fly Upside Down

So I knew my last post might flop because it was raw, honest, and skewed from my experiences. I hope I didn't lose any readers because of one opinion piece. Anyway this is what I originally was going to write about- Tierp, the city I live in. The day after I arrived here from my move, I was 8 months pregnant and craving to nest. Well strollers and car seats were tops on my list. When we were in the second baby store I told the saleswoman there I understood little Swedish and asked to speak in English. We talked for a while and I introduced her to my partner Anton, who I told her was a Swede. She instantly switched to Swedish, which made me sad because her English was very good. One question she asked us was where we were living. We told her Tierp and she said oh the town "where the birds fly upside down". I had no idea what she was talking about even though this was not my first time being in Tierp. Anton said some places have sayings like that about them. Neither of us were quite sure what to make of the saying for Tierp.

Anton has lived in this area for 3.5 years. He used to have an apartment on the outskirts of town. According to the Swedish Statistics in 2010 there were a little over 5,500 people who lived here (Ypsilanti, where I'm from, has a population of four times that of Tierp). I'm sure it's grown since then. New apartments are being put in here. A month after I moved to Sweden, we moved into a place in the city to have room for our growing family. We like our place. When I look outside my kitchen window I see a playground, a large dirt parking lot filled with large green metal recycling bins, ICA (a grocery store), and some others shops in town. I like living basically in the center of town. The pool and baby cafe are only three blocks away, everything is in walking distance here. If you think it's too far or you're lazy, you could always pick up the bus. Tierp has four small grocery stores, four pizza joints, a few salons/hairdressers, a couple of florists, banks, and gyms. There are two second hand shops and nice library and several other shops and boutiques here. At night our parking lot is practically empty, on weekday afternoons, it's packed. It's sort of nice to see the hustle and bustle of a smaller town from day to day. I like having to walk to go places. It's nice to have the change of pace from having a car to drive everywhere, from now having to walk.

Before Rosalind was born, I used to hear a weird sound outside. I don't remember what it sounded like now or even know if I could describe it. During Fall I would look up in the sky and see massive amounts of birds flying around. Over a hundred black birds flying in seemingly coordinated shapes in the sky. This might sound unbelievable but it was like they where moving to a music only they could hear. It was odd and unreal. And guess what... boy oh boy did it look like they were flying upside down. I would say my mind was playing tricks on me, but I witnessed it more than one occasion I would say three or four times in total. I'm sure other people in town here have seen the birds and their strange behavior. I'm guessing that's why it's called the town where the birds fly upside down... but I could be wrong.

A mobile at baby cafe in Tierp, yep definitely upside-down.

Machoism Not Learned in Sweden

So I was all ready, set, go on another topic. I decided after reading  part of an article I wanted to write about something I find serious, which is machoism.To help cause any less confusion, this is based off of my opinions, feelings, knowledge, and experiences. Do not take everything I say as fact. I apologize if you feel like I am preaching to the choir after reading this... or maybe I'm not. We should all want better for our communities.

I believe in equality and being kind to others. I believe in marriage equality and I am not alone. Whether you agree with me on gay rights and equality is a moot point when it comes to respecting others, even when you don't agree. Over a year ago I read a letter written by the ever so intelligent Chris Kluwe, who at that time was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings. The thoughtful letter was written in response to a Maryland delegate who shared some not so progressive and insensitive statements on a professional athlete's publicly shared belief to legalize gay marriage.What a catch right?! I mean a professional athlete who is smart and stands up for gay rights, not to forget is seriously handsome to boot. Well he was fired most likely for his continued public support of marriage equality. Where machoism comes into the story is how some of the other Vikings treated Kluwe and what they said to him because of his support. They shared their macho attitudes and intolerance for a couple of gay men kissing, etc. He remembered his coach saying, "We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows." In my opinion statements like this should never be made aloud even if you're evil enough to think them. Article Link


Another example of machoism I have come across recently is extremely graphic. A newscaster on Fox news was caught saying how he'd give it to this missing girl one can only assume he was supposed to be reporting about. His language was explicit. He was fired thankfully. The fact that to a good chunk of men that it would have been okay for him to have said those things to other men off camera is what really bothers me. To me, men like these exist when they do not have firm parents who teach their children respect for others and equality of gender. Why do some parents feel the need to teach their sons how to "man up" when all they are is just an adolescent? And since when is teaching the degradation of women to children ever okay? Some may argue that peers have a big impact and I agree. However because of how my parents raised me and now being a parent myself, I am shocked, ashamed, and do not participate in the type of behavior or words used in this video. Video Link

My point is that machoism is a learned behavior in the US, but one seldom learned here. Why is that? Well ladies and gents, it seems that women are actually valued as equals here. A lot of men do not seem to teach their sons here that women are just for sex or that it's okay to use smutty language towards a girl. Parents seemingly do not teach their boys they have to be tough and strong and treat girls as anything other than equals. Gender neutrality is a big thing. In the toy advertisements, they have boys playing with barbies and girl playing with trains, legos, cars, etc. Boys wear tutus if they want, they are given tea sets for their birthday, and can like My Little Pony if they want without an eye-raise. And you know what? That's they way it should be. Heck Anton is more of a feminist than I am sometimes. It's really a beautiful thing. Men receive an equal "maternity" leave here; 240 days which is about 8 months. Raising children is a respected practice in Sweden and from what I have seen and in my experiences, children are taught the same way regardless of gender. What father wants his daughter to be sexually assaulted or treated poorly by a man? Would you want your daughter to be viewed only as bed-mate? So why does machoism even exist? Ultimately I think machoism is a choice. A macho man generally thinks about himself, his needs, and getting laid by the hottest chick he sees. But that theme is so tired. Who really wants that disrespectful bad boy anymore? Let's face it ladies, nothing is sexier then a man who actually cares about your feelings, needs, and desires. A man who actually wants children and is excited to help you raise them. Hopefully you feel the way I do and you vow to raise your children better than that, you want them to learn above all love and acceptance.

Our own Swedish dad

Swedish Fika vs American Coffee Break

In the US, a lot of people don't have too much time for coffee breaks like they used to. They go through the McDonald's, Tom Hortons, Dunkin Donuts, or Starbucks drive thru to get their caffeine rush and maybe grab a few for friends or co-workers. If you are lucky you will make coffee plans with a friend once in a while and it will actually be plans to have a coffee. If you make plans to grab a coffee with someone you may or may not actually go out and order coffees somewhere. You may end up at a bar for drinks instead or somewhere for frozen yogurt. I used to make plans to go for "coffee" with friends all the time and we'd go to Denny's and order whatever we felt like, maybe even a full dinner, but maybe only half the time did we actually drink coffee. Here if you make plans with someone to have a coffee you have fika and everyone understands that you are meeting for fika.
In Sweden one of the first things you find different is the social custom or ritual of fika. Fika (Fee-ka) is both a coffee break, or strong Swedish coffee, or to drink a coffee, however it is much more than that. Fika is meeting up with a girlfriend to chat about your latest experiences, fika is enjoying some family time and joking around, fika can also be a solo experience when one doesn't have an abundance of time or cares to reflect alone. Generally fika has been a coffee break served with treats and spent with others. Today at fika, you can drink tea, like Anton's younger sister, or if you're a kid or me while pregnant, you could have juice. If you're really different like my future brother-in-law, you'll always stick to milk. Fika is normally served with buns, or a pastry, or chocolate balls, or cookies, or a platter with some of each. Sometimes fika is a short break at work, or sometimes it's a meal substitution, like it takes the place of lunch at Great-Grandma's house. You can have a morning fika, and an afternoon fika. If you're really wild you could have a night fika, but that is unusual according to my sources.Ikea offers fika for 5 kr, which includes strong unlimited coffee and a cinnamon bun. That is the cheapest you will ever find fika. Often people meet others or have family or friends over for fika. It is fun to entertain others for fika, and if someone invites you over, you expect fika.
I find it interesting that obesity it not a problem in Sweden, a country where they teach you to have a sweet tooth, where you have sweets everyday at fika, and most people are carb-a-holics... but that is a topic for another time.
I have been enjoying fika long before I knew what it was. When I was 18 and came to visit Anton in Sweden for the first time, we had fika regularly, but nobody told me what it was. I just assumed his mother loved coffee and tea, which she actually does (Anton says it's always tea time at the Toll family house). When I was here two years ago for my first Swedish Christmas, we had fika instead of lunch at Grandma's. The eating schedule would be brunch, fika, dinner, snack. This Christmas it was the same schedule and the same meals as two years ago, but it did not get old, rather it was something to look forward to. Fika here is something to look forward to too. Not just because you're allowed to have a chocolate biscuit everyday and no one looks at you sideways, but because the fellowship that comes along with fika is fun. In the US I would make time for my friends often and try to take a "coffee break" regularly, but it's difficult to do. Here it is just automatic. One tradition I will keep wherever we are is fika.