Back in the Saddle...Well soon enough.

J and I arrived back in Sweden last Friday, after a 36 hour ordeal. Here's the rundown:

1) Air Canada changes our itinerary from an 18 hours and 15 minutes journey to a 22 hour journey. Instead of waking up at 8am or so, we wake up at 4:30am.
2) After a 9 hour layover in Toronto, which is not very far from my hometown in Ohio, we take off an hour late due to snow and ice.
3) Nearly 2 hours into our transatlantic flight we're told we must turn back to Toronto due to some failure in the plane, nothing to worry about, but it's unlawful to cross the ocean with whatever failure the plane had.
4) After arriving back on the ground at 10:30pm or so, we're told the plane will be fixed and we'll take off again at 12:30. (By this point I was so tired by getting up so early and waiting in an airport all day, I just wanted a hotel. Logic won out and I decided to stick it out just to be able to get home).
5) Boarding was to happen at 11:50. We don't board until 1:00 or so.
6) Take off at 12:30? Take off at 2:15.
End result? 36 hours home #1 to home #2.

Luckily they re-scheduled everyone's connecting flights in Frankfurt while we were in the air, and the rest of the traveling was smooth sailing. Lufthansa was great. Air Canada, although very nice and apologetic, I will never fly with again. Too many strikes, sorry. One thing they failed at majorly was keeping us informed. In my exhausted state I was nearly hysterical with frustration and anger. The staff was also not helpful when we asked about getting a hotel instead; they were just concerned whether we needed our baggage off the plane or not.

Sorry for the rant up there at the top, I guess the world isn't always peaches and cream! I've decided I won't fly Air Canada again, and not only because of that whole ordeal. I just don't like the routes they take. They like to go, from Gothenburg, to Frankfurt, Germany which is about a 1hr 40min flight. My KLM alternative is to Amsterdam which is barely over 1 hour. On the other end of things, the Air Canada flight then from Toronto to Columbus is in a tiny 2 prop plane which is bumpy as hell if there's any wind whatsoever (making my tummy very unsettled) and that flight takes about 1hr 30min. On the other hand KLM goes from Detroit to Columbus, on a nice jet, and takes only 25 minutes. Sorry Air Canada, but you lose.

As it's Thursday evening, I still feel jet lagged. I've just been so off this entire week, so I apologize for not posting any time sooner. It's been nice to have the week off to get settled back into the Swedish way of things. My Korta Vägen program starts again this coming Monday. I hope I'm ready to be in school again. Having nearly a month off has spoiled me. I have, though, been reading a book in Swedish this week. Since I missed the last 2 weeks of the term, and furthermore a big group project, my teacher assigned me the task of reading a book and writing a summary on it. Easy enough for me, as I already love to read, and also enjoy reading in Swedish.

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays! Happy New Year!

Holidays

As you all know, J and I have been in the States since the 11th. We've been so busy running around I honestly have not had time to post. Since I have a short window this morning I decided I'd quickly keep you all up to date on our happenings.

We arrived in Ohio on the 11th, no problems with the 3 flights it always takes between home #1 and home #2. I got some sort of stomach bug that I think I picked up in Canada because I was sick for the first day and a half but it was nothing a little Pepto Bismol couldn't fix. We set off right away towards shopping and meeting up with friends, family, etc. On Thursday evening we were able to go downtown to the Ohio Theatre to see The Nutcracker, a ballet to the tune of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. My grandma used to take my brother and I there just about every year when we were young. I wanted J to experience it. There were definitely changes to the ballet, like they do every year, but it was quite enjoyable.

This past Sunday we took a mini trip to Chicago and arrived back to Columbus then on Wednesday. I had to go to Chicago for a day for my interview in order to receive my residence permit for Sweden, but I didn't get to spend any actual time in the city. It was literally fly there, go to the interview downtown, and then take the L back to Midway and fly back to Columbus. This time, however, J and I stayed right downtown on Michigan Ave. at the Hard Rock Hotel. We had a splendid view.


We visited the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, the Skydeck at Willis (Sears) Tower, and the Hancock Center's Observatory (our favorite view of the city, although it's shorter than Willis Tower). We also just strolled along a lot of downtown and also attempted to shop, which proved to be a failure as there were crowds and the prices were absolutely outrageous ($170 for a pair of Levi jeans?? Please!)


J's feet - this is the Willis Tower Skydeck where they have glass boxes you can step out onto and look down about 1500ft to the ground!


This is the view of the city from the Hancock Center at night, too bad the glass reflected the lights from inside. Still a beautiful view, though.


Chicago decorates the streets wonderfully for the holidays!


Panorama from the Shedd Aquarium/Field Museum area of the city.


View of some buildings from our hotel window. I love the tall rounded one. Sadly I don't know the name of that building.

One thing I did think was cool was how all of the buildings had names. I'm not sure if that's how it is here in Columbus, but it was neat to see!

We've been back and shopping and meeting up with friends and family again. This trip, as expected, is flying by. Before we know it we'll be back and celebrating New Year's with friends in Sweden.

It's wonderful to be back with family and friends for this time of year. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Snow!

The first snow of the year has come to Skövde! It's wonderful and enchanting! I was just outside on the balcony watching an old BMW run skidding and spinning (purposefully) on a quiet long, straight side street right outside our apartment.

How I'm going to miss our lovely views from this apartment. I really enjoyed the sunset view outside of our kitchen window earlier this afternoon.

But hooray for snow! It's so much more cheery and enchanting here with it. It also makes it feel so much more like December and Christmastime. I hope it's here to stay!

December already?

Is it really December already? Where did this year go?? I think the fact that tonight was the first time this fall/winter the roads actually iced over and were somewhat dangerous goes to show how I haven't really noticed how late into the year it is! Last year at this time we were buried in snow!

As it's getting late and J and I are extremely exhausted, this post won't be too long at all. I did indeed end up making another miniature version of Thanksgiving dinner for J and I last Sunday. It was tasty, and I made yet another pumpkin pie. This time it lasted all week between the two of us ;-)

What a weekend! Yesterday we didn't do too incredibly much. I went shopping with a friend from SFI and bought some new winter boots since my old ones from last year have actually been letting in rain water (oh Skopunkten, your shoes are cheap and comfortable but not the best quality!). In the evening J and I went to the same friend's house for some tacos/taco pie heaven, as well as to socialize with some more old SFI pals. We ended the night somewhat early, coming home at 10:30.

Why would we end a night with good friends at 10:30? Well, this morning we had to get up at 7:30 in order to get ready and drive to Gothenburg to meet up with a landlord and J's cousin to see J's cousin's apartment. He and his girlfriend are moving in together, and thus J's cousin's apartment is opening up at the end of February. It's definitely a downsize from our 3:a (2 bedroom), only a 2 rum o kök (or 1 bedroom apartment). Our apartment now is around 73 sq. meters, and this one in Gothenburg is 50 sq. meters. To make a long story short, we are moving to Gothenburg in the end of February! Hooray! It's so great to chance upon a first hand contract in Gothenburg. It's a very tough housing market there! On one hand I'm sad to be leaving my friends I have here in Skövde and the life I've been building. But on the other hand I'm excited for the opportunities in Gothenburg, not to mention the buzzing life of a city!

We came back into town by 2:30, and the day didn't stop there. We went shopping for some suitcases, a new printer, and then some dinner with J's parents. Then it was time to grocery shop as we were in desperate need of food for the week. We leave to Gothenburg again on Saturday, only to fly out from Landvetter very, very early Sunday morning to the US! I can't wait for this week to be over. It will be wonderful to be home again!

So I guess life is exciting and looking upward here in Sweden. I would love for some snow to be on the ground when J and I return from the US in a couple of weeks! =)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Many American holidays have almost no meaning to us Americans other than a free day from school and/or work. Thanksgiving, however, is not one of those holidays! Last year J and I celebrated Thanksgiving by means of me preparing the meal and then inviting two of our Swedish friends over to enjoy it with us, then out to a Soundtrack of Our Lives concert. Some of you who may have been following me since day one may remember a post about that.

This year I decided to up the number of partakers from 4 to 6! Big increase, I know. J and I decided it would be nice to be able to share Thanksgiving with his family this year instead of with friends (if we had chosen friends, then how many guests would we have had? The number could have easily gotten high, and that would be too stressful for me!). So this past Friday and Saturday were big cooking days for me. On Friday I came home from school and baked my first ever pumpkin pie (used my mom's recipe :-) ) and it turned out great! I made the crust from scratch and everything. (Sidenote: could not find a premade crust in ICA. Why do Swedes have premade and presliced cakes without icing, but not premade dessert pie crusts? The food selections here continue to baffle me). While that was in the oven I proceeded to concoct a loaf of zucchini bread, of course with walnuts in it. That turned out great as well! But I've had some practice there, I've made it before. Lastly, although a Christmas-time treat, by J's request I made some buckeyes. Last Christmas I had made some as well and they were a hit with his family, as they were again this time around.

Saturday was the big day. We decided to go out to J's parents' house in Tibro and cook the dinner there as J's sister, her husband, and two small girls were in town visiting. It's strange cooking in someone else's kitchen, but it's much more spacious than my kitchen (although mine isn't bad!) and so it was less hectic than I thought it'd be. The menu: Turkey, homemade stuffing (in and out of the turkey), mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans almondine, salad, cranberry sauce, turkey juice gravy, and zucchini bread. Of course as dessert were the pumpkin pie with whipped cream and a buckeye or two.


Here is the end result. Thanks to J's sister for the picture!

All were able to enjoy! I was glad to have pulled it off for the second year in a row. I've only ever cooked these two Thanksgiving dinners (last year and this time around) all by myself, so I'm rather proud of it. I'm contemplating cooking a mini version just for J and I this coming weekend since we didn't keep any of the leftovers, J's parents' were excited to gobble them all up. ;-) But I would like to be able to enjoy some more of those Thanksgiving dishes. I'll be sure to post again if I decide to do so.

By the time we got home Saturday night it was around 11pm. I had gotten up at 7:45 that morning to do some laundry to be able to have something nice to wear to the dinner. So I was rather exhausted by the time we got home. Yesterday, Sunday, was the best lazy Sunday ever. I really needed it after all the work put into Thanksgiving. J and I had a couch potato day watching several movies that were playing on TV and playing against each other with a version of Scrabble on our smart phones. The game is called Wordfeud for anyone interested!

One year

As of yesterday, I have resided in Sweden for one whole year. :-)

On one hand it feels almost as if I've lived my entire life here, now that I'm so much more comfortable living here than I was a year ago. I used to be afraid to even go to the store alone for fear that someone might talk to me and I wouldn't at all understand. But on the other hand, it feels as if I just arrived yesterday. This year has somehow flown by. It's not as if I was super busy for the first part of it. The first three months I was doing pretty much nothing, in fact, until SFI began. Yet here I am, one year later.

I wonder what I'll be reflecting on at this time next year?

Pumpkins and time changes

Today has been one of those twilight zone type days. Every time there is a clock change I feel like I've been through a time warp - it's almost like when I travel between the US and Sweden. That's definitely a time warp feeling. But the time change today has felt like there is something extra to it. I think it's because it has suddenly gotten so much darker in the afternoon. Instead of it being dark around 6 or 7, today it was clearly dark at 5pm. It's nearly November, and the time of the dreaded darkness is upon us.

To cheer up a bit about the darkness, yesterday I bought a pumpkin from the local ICA and today I decide to introduce J to pumpkin carving. It seems he'd never encountered it before, and he wasn't too interested in getting all pumpkin-y either. So he just watched while I happily did all the gutting and carving. Here are the results!







I rather like my pumpkin. I also roasted the seeds and ate them while we watched a movie together today. It's been a nice, relaxing Sunday. J and I were planning to go to his parents' house to change the tires on the car to snow tires, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to it. The time change has zapped us of energy, which ultimately makes no sense since we gained an hour.

I've decided to prepare a Thanksgiving meal for J's family a couple of weeks from now. It will actually take place the weekend before actual Thanksgiving, but that's when J's sister's family will be in town. We decided we wanted everyone possible in his family to be able to be there, so I shall be cooking on the 19th or 20th of November. It's exciting to be able to share some of my culture with the Swedes since so much of the time it is me who is the one drinking in their culture. I also felt as if, as an American, I didn't have much culture to share. To my surprise, I do. Just for example, today I felt I was sharing culture with J showing him how to carve a pumpkin and telling him why we do it. I asked him if he'd ever even carved a pumpkin before, and if I recall correctly he said (in reference to Swedes in general), "We just aren't pumpkin people." It also made me think of how Swedes know almost nothing of how to prepare/eat sweet potatoes either. It's enjoyable when I get to share a bit of my background and culture. Again, the excitement of preparing Thanksgiving for J's family. :)

One last thing, J and I will be returning home to the States for Christmas! I've realized it'll have been a year and half since my family and J were face to face, and obviously since he's been to the US. We'll be there for about 2.5 weeks, it'll be nice to be able to have Christmas again at home, as last year I spent it here in Sweden. I think it would be nice to be able to alternate where we spend Christmas every other year. I didn't think I'd be able to visit again so soon after my summer visit, I'm very happy about it. It's also less than 2 months away!

Speaking of being happy about things, I'm still ecstatic about finally having a Swedish driver's license, as well as the fact that it doubles as a Swedish I.D.! (I picked it up on Friday). I learn daily that it's the little things in life that matter. Living in another country, I believe, makes one appreciate things that they never even thought about in their homeland. I never thought about the fact that my driver's license was my easy I.D. in the U.S. I got my license at age 16 and that was that. Sure, I was excited at getting my license, but that excitement went away quickly. Maybe it was being the age of 16 that made me not appreciate it for all its worth. But oh how I appreciate my license here in Sweden.