Au-pair reunion in the works

So looking forward to May 9th to 13th when we have our au-pair reunion in Denmark! In '98-'99, we were au-pairs in California and we've stayed in touch ever since. We've visited each other in Europe many times before I left for the US. Now, we all have kids. Actually, Irina, Grit and I had our first babies all within a 2 month period. Mette's kids are a bit older, 5 and 7. Grit and Milo visited us in Arkansas in 2010, but this will be the first time I see the other kids. This is also the first time all of us get together since 2003 or 2004, when we had our last reunion in Gothenburg. That time we included our boyfriends. This time it's just us mamas and kiddos. We've rented a house in Nykøbing/Falster, near the beach. It will be interesting to see how the kids communicate. One American-Swede, two Danes and two Germans.

Living in Sweden Observation #16

You get maternity/paternity leave retroactively when you move to Sweden with children. Received a letter today stating we have 480 days to take before William turns 8. Score!!!! Got the best of both worlds!

Living in Sweden Observation #15

Nobody talks about football!

Swedish observation #14 (by my friend Logan)

Don't eat the Ikea cake. It's shit cake.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21676069

This is just one of many food scandals surfacing in the last couple of weeks. The biggest one lately is horse meet in processed food such as meatballs and ready made lasagna. The funniest one was the meat pie in Iceland that was found to contain no meat at all.

Living in Sweden Observation #13

The daycare / preschool situation is complicated! How do you find the right one? And if you do, how long will you have to wait to get a spot?

Old friends

I know I didn't move back to Sweden with any kind of notion that I was moving back to my old friends. Heck, we didn't even know anyone in Linköping. This is brand new territory. However, I did think that I would be able to get together with friends occasionally. A weekend trip here. Some weekend guests there. I certainly thought I would have gotten to see several of them by now. The only ones we've seen, we saw while visiting Gothenburg in January. I know we've been busy. I know people are busy. They have their lives. We have our lives. Still, I feel a bit disappointed. My oldest friends, living closest to us, are not around.