My New Year's resolutions - Part 1

I don't normally make new year's resolutions, but for this year, I was thinking about two things I wanted to change. My coffee drinking habits was one of them.

My relationship with Coffee is fairly new. It wasn't until William was almost one, that I became a daily drinker. Until then, I would have a cup (usually something fu-fu with whipped cream) when going out to a cafe or visiting friends. My actual addiction started when my team at work started making french press coffee in the mornings. For the first month or so, I could still go without coffee on non-workdays. But after a while we started having coffee in the afternoons too, and I was hooked.

Now, I know 2 cups of coffee a day is not the end of the world. What I didn't like about it, was that I was addicted. If I skipped my coffee, I would get a head ache, and usually by the time the head ache had set in, drinking coffee didn't kill it. Most of the time, it is not difficult to get my coffee fix, but when traveling or being too busy with house projects (or whatever else we were doing during the 3 month haze leading up to our move), it's not always convenient to make/get coffee.

The thing about me and coffee is that I don't drink it for the caffeine. I actually don't think the caffeine has any affect on me. I drink it because it tastes oh-so-good! Another thing about me and coffee is that I have to have something sweet with it. A piece of chocolate. A slice of pie. A cookie. Something sweet. I don't like coffee with breakfast really, since I don't eat sweet breakfast. Coffee and oatmeal doesn't really work. However, a bagel with cream cheese and a good cup of dark roast is wonderful!

Moving to Sweden, where the majority drink a lot of coffee, I found myself drinking coffee on both of our daily fika breaks at work. Having fika is a way of socializing, and it always involves a cup of coffee or tea and usually some pastries to go with it.  However, coffee is more often "enjoyed" in Sweden, than "downed" like it often is in the US. 

So, my new year's resolution regarding my coffee habits was to skip my morning coffee. If not every day,  then often enough to where I didn't depend on it. It didn't take long to get over the withdrawals, and now I only have my afternoon coffee on most days. I can have a morning coffee when I want to, but not have to have it. I will have to call this a success.


    

Living in Sweden observation #17

There is a line outside systembolaget (Swedish government run liquor store) before they open at 10 on a Saturday.

Replacing what was left behind

As I already mentioned, we didn't bring a whole lot of stuff with us when we moved. Other than clothes, books, personal items and some home decor, we really didn't bring much else. We left all our small kitchen appliances behind. There were especially 3 kitchen appliances that I LOVED and would have wanted to bring:

1. Green Apple Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer, that I bought myself only one year before the move
2. AllClad Waffle Maker that Chris had gotten me for my birthday a few years ago
3. GE blender with a glass jar, that provided us an endless supply of smoothies

Almost 6 months after the move, we still had not bought a single kitchen appliance. Our rental house came with a microwave, we've used our manual whisk when whipping cream, or mixing cake batter and our hands to knead pizza dough and we've even done without a toaster. Finally today, after some research, we went out and bought an Åviken 905 double waffle maker and a Wilfa BL1200 blender and so we had waffles and smoothies for lunch.  Yummie!

I wish I could get a new Kitchen Aid mixer, but it will have to wait. They are so much more expensive here. If it wasn't for the fact that you either needed a converter the size of a shoe box weighing a ton or replacing the motor of it to make it work in Europe, I would have brought it.

Next purchase on my list, is something I did not have in the US. A bike. We bought Chris a bike 2 weeks after getting here, that I've been riding all winter, but now I need one too, so we can go on bike rides together.

"It takes a year"

Someone said it takes a year to get settled in when you move to a new city. (Does moving from the US to Sweden qualify?). I didn't believe them. Now I do.

My (new) boss said that people always under-estimate the amount of work to move - otherwise no one would ever do it. He is so right. It's been almost 6 months and we still have ways to go.

It takes a year, if you're lucky. Or it takes more. Better not think about it.

Preschool in Sweden

Just when we thought it was never going to happen, we got a spot at a preschool! It wasn't our first choice. And at first, we weren't sure we wanted it. But, the more we learned about it, the better it seemed, so we decided to give it a try. Considering William has never been in daycare/preschool, this was kind of scary. At the same time, we knew William wanted to get out more. Meet new friends. Learn new things. He just started this week, and so far we haven't left him there alone, but we are ready to. So is he. It's only 3 hours a day, so it is pretty easy. It's a great start for us. We feel pretty comfortable leaving him there. Living in the states (Arkansas) we never even considered sending him to daycare/preschool.

There are fundamental differences between parenting/schooling in Arkansas (USA) and Sweden. The biggest difference, that I will never get over, is the practice of spanking. Considering spanking was outlawed in Sweden the year I was born (1979), it seems very old-fashioned and I think it is utterly wrong! One of the main reasons we moved back to Sweden, was that we think it is a better place for kids to grow up. I hope letting William start preschool here in Sweden will be good for him, and for us. And that it will reassert our decision to move back.

Springtime in Luleå

As luck has it, I was able to score an internship in Luleå, and got to go visit my family at the same time. I brought William along, so he could stay with mormor and morfar while I worked.

Spring and summer are my 2 favorite seasons in northern Sweden. Since we moved to the states, we had only visited Luleå in either the summer or for Christmas. Actually, I don't know when I was last in Luleå in spring, but might be about 10 years ago. This time was exactly as nice as I remember it. Tons of snow. Lots of sun. And plenty warm enough to play outside. I got to go sledding with William and my niece Ella, go "kick-sledding" and have a picnic on the Bay of Bothnia with William and my mom and go cross-country skiing with my dad.

We also had timed it with my little brother's university graduation. Our visit couldn't have been better.

Weekend visit to Copenhagen and Malmö

This post is very late. More than a month late. So I will be brief.

William and I took a trip down to see our friends Mette and Rene and their kids Sebastian and Nicoline in Copenhagen a weekend in March. Mette was my first friend in California, when I was there as an au-pair in 1998. Last time I saw Mette, seven years ago, she was pregnant with Sebastian. It was really cool to see her with her kids, and for them to get to meet William. I love visiting Mette and Rene. The atmosphere in their place is always so calm and welcoming. Breakfast is my favorite part, since they get fresh bread from the bakery for breakfast.

After our short visit in Copenhagen we met up with Chris in Malmö and stayed one night at a hotel. Chris had gone down to Malmö for a skate contest. We did all our travelling by train. I love being back in Europe and being able to use public transportation. It's so easy to take the train places, and William loves it too! Hoping to do a lot more of that in the future!

First time seeing turning torso :)