I am going to address my second set of six topics that I wrote about here. There have been a lot less questions and commentary on this set probably because it has more to do with my personal experiences than comparisons or differences from Sweden to the US. If I don't get too bogged down or daunted by writing these particular types of posts I will continue with them. It takes a lot of time to prepare these answering/updating posts, but it also clears my mind of comments and questions I have received on old ones. Unfortunately I don't think this one will be as entertaining as the last, but I suppose I can make an attempt.
Post #7 Tjugondag Knut or St. Knut's Day
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| St. Knut |
I received word that not everyone in Sweden really knows much about these celebrations or if they do, they do not necessarily celebrate them. I had a couple people tell me more history about St. Knut, which I am too lazy to relay. Actually I do not remember much of it. To refresh your memory, this day is the riding of the Christmas season in Sweden and people throw out their trees this day. Sometimes there is dancing and signing around the tree and candy for kids. I say why not add this holiday into one's repertoire of holiday celebrations, it certainly makes life more enjoyable!
Post #8 5 Things I Have Yet to Find at a Grocery Store (Sweets Ed)
This definitely has changed since I wrote the post. When my sister was here visiting she brought with her Nestle chocolate chips and Saunders hot fudge. And when we were in the English shop, we found Libby's canned pumpkin. I obviously don't expect Michigan (Saunders) hot fudge here, but any brand would suffice. So I have three out five on my list right now, which isn't too shabby. I made pumpkin bread when family came to visit and it was little under baked, but it made me happy and reminded me of growing up and my mom making different breads at home, usually banana though. It's funny though because in the US we call it bread because you make loaves, but here it is considered cake because it's sweet. I have since made banana and zucchini breads also. Anton said that the banana was his favorite. I suppose it was usually mine too because I ate it and made it the most often in Michigan, but right now all I want is the pumpkin!!!
Post # 9 Erin's Visit to Sweden
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| My favorite picture of Erin & Rosalind |
When Erin was here things were like a whirlwind. We were go all the time, even in our down time I felt that way because we only had a week together. I could share all the details from Erin's visit, but that would take too much time and lot of you would get bored. I know because of work reasons, Erin cannot come back here for a while and maybe even years. It's really hard not being able to raise Rosalind with Erin everyday. I want Erin's positive influence and happiness to be a regular part of her everyday life. Who knows one day maybe we will live with her again. A girl can dream. For now skype is our best friend. I am so grateful to google and fb chat also, so I can talk to my sister everyday!
Post # 10 Baby Cafe
A lot of people really dug this post, probably because of the super cute pictures. I can't get enough of the one of Rosalind, making that righteous indignation face towards her dad. Priceless. So I will share it again here. :) Also I forgot to mention before that at baby cafe Rosalind's favorite part is the song that has a sheer and bright flower type blanket that goes over her moving up and down to the music. Some of the other babies are scared of the blanket because they don't understand why this thing is being lifted up and coming back down to so close to their faces, but our little Rosalind loves it. We do it at home sometimes. Another thing I forgot to mention is that they did Christmas pictures of the children. They had a professional photographer come in a take photos in their nice outfits. I'm not sure how much they charged for the pictures or if it was covered by baby cafe, but I'm guessing there was a small fee. We have continued to try and take her weekly to baby cafe so she learns to socialize. I really want her to be a very open, friendly, and generous person. It's hard to find people like that here, but I'd prefer she'd be more American than Swedish in that aspect. Fortunately for me, Anton is so much more like an American in behavior than a Swede, at least with people he knows. I said to him, "you will always be more American than I can ever be Swedish!" That gives me hope for Rosalind to be more outgoing.
Post #11 My Swede Calls Me Boo
I was not too thrilled that this post wasn't more of a hit with my American peers, but I did only post it on Valentine's day. I should have re-posted it so that more people would have read it after the holiday. The reason I really wanted the people I know in the US to read this one was because it was about Anton and I want my friends to get to know him a little better. By the way he just said mmmmkay! He also read my post and thought there was an error in this sentence, "...maybe he will fess up.. ". He didn't know we use fess up as the short for confess. Of course my close friends have met Anton and now we have mutual friends, he still has not met or spent a lot of time with most of my friends. Anton is a Swede in the US a lot of the time, meaning he is not too loquacious and appears to be an introvert. I suppose I am less lively here than I am in the US, then again maybe not. I would have to ask Anton and my friends what they think. I have two friends in town, Pernilla and Alina. Pernilla is someone you want to know, not just because of her general knowledge. She exudes natural positive energy and liveliness. P (my nickname for her) is kind and generous. She is the one Swedish woman I have met, that I would call outgoing other than maybe my future mother-in-law. I swear everyone seems to know her. She is one of those very few people you meet in life that everyone likes. She also is my go to gal for questions on all things Swedish. (I cannot always trust everything Anton tells me. Also he often doesn't know the answers to my questions.) We both love games and cookies. I am going to be her personal cookie smuggler.
Alina is the sweetest. At first it was really hard for me to get a real impression on her because she seemed guarded. I soon learned that was not the case at all, that she was just like any other new mom and tired from chasing a baby! I actually have a lot of commonalities with her, like our age, we are both first time moms, we worry a lot, we both went to beauty school, and we both don't speak Swedish... yet. Alina is adorable, she can be sassy and bold and when she is, you like her all the more for it. I like that they are both just themselves with me. I think they are because sometimes I feel like we confide in each other on everyday stresses, concerns, and mommy talk. They also read my blog posts when they have time and I think they laugh at my jokes! It's nice to have friends. So back to my original thought. I want people to know more about Anton because he's really an interesting guy. He is Swedish at heart so you don't get him, until you're in. One of the reasons I discussed his English capability was because I imagined some of my friends who haven't met him wondered about it, so that was the motivation for this original post.
Post # 12 Everyone Speaks English There, Right?
Hej du, ja du! I know nothing, maybe a few words. So maybe I didn't stress this enough in my post, but yes many people do know English, (it's actually impossible to live here and not know any English at all) but people here are ashamed, scared, or nervous about speaking English, just like I am with Swedish. I understand! How can people not think I understand, do they not realize it goes both ways with my Swedish?! The thing is, I feel like all these people keep expecting me to learn Swedish magically. Sure I can learn words and maybe a couple phrases, which I do know some, but I honestly believe I cannot learn it without SFI. To me, you cannot learn a language without classes or possibly Rosetta Stone (which costs an arm and a leg). I will try to stay open to learning Swedish, but the bulk of my knowledge will not arrive until I can begin those classes. Part of me is excited for it and part of me is scared, but I feel like the only way anyone can expect me to live here for longer than a year, is if I take the SFI program. I know Anton was hoping I would go back to school and apply for that PhD, but then how would I learn Swedish? I think that is just asking for a person to break down, too much on one's plate at once. Also if I'm honest with myself I'm not ready to commit to a PhD program yet.
Rosalind is growing like a weed and quickly outgrowing her bouncer and swing. I wanted to get her something she could grow into. Unfortunately my first choice from Amazon UK cost as much in shipping as it did the item, so I had to figure out an alternative. I looked at babyland.se a site I had looked at several times before I even moved here but never ordered anything from it. It's one of those sites you want to order everything from. I found a cool blue car rocker/ walker and ordered it with free shipping! It was more than I would have liked to spend, but in my opinion necessary. Rosa has to feel like she does several different types of things and change it up all day long. She isn't one of those babies who can do one thing for hours, besides sleep, and even then that has it limitations.
