Three years have past since moving back to the States after living in Sweden for 5 1/2 years. Some things about my experience in Sweden have left indelible marks on me. I still think words in Swedish and have to translate them back to English. It’s funny when I do it as it doesn’t really [...]
Archive for the ‘Sweden’ Category
Indelible Marks
Posted in Family Life, Food, Sweden, U.S. on January 19, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Maybe we should move to New Jersey
Posted in Family Life, Food, Sweden, Travels, U.S. on October 1, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Swedish meatballs, mmmmm, yummy! My kids have a holiday from school and so we decided to visit Ikea. When I told my boys, the youngest started shouting, “we’re going back to Sweden!!!!!!” I felt so bad when I had to explain that we are actually going to New Jersey, another state, to go to Ikea. [...]
Rest in peace my friend
Posted in Musings, Sweden on September 2, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Earlier this month, one of my friends from Sweden, Susan, passed away after an intense battle with breast cancer. Susan was young, in her 40′s, and left behind two young children and a husband. I first met Susan at church in Sweden a few years ago. We immediately connected as we discussed the challenges of living abroad. [...]
Reverse currency conversion
Posted in Sweden, U.S. on February 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
As any person who has lived abroad knows, a great deal of one’s time shopping is spent converting the local currency to the home currency to determine if the price is reasonable. I spent a good five years doing this. When we lived in Israel, it became really complex juggling three currencies in my head. [...]
A day in which our heroine gets overwhelmed by the American Retail experience
Posted in Sweden, U.S. on January 22, 2008 | 5 Comments »
I feel like I’m writing this as a Swede moving to America. You really can adapt to anything! A few weeks ago, I felt totally liberated as we gave away or threw away everything we owned in Sweden except the items that filled our 12 suitcases. As we face the upcoming move to a new [...]
A day in my town
Posted in Musings, Sweden on December 1, 2007 | 2 Comments »
The early morning rush of getting four children dressed, winter clothes put on, backpacks ready, snacks prepared and out the door is always hectic. It is my turn to take my oldest two boys and two neighbor girls (plus the toddler in the stroller) to school. I spent this time “encouraging” the kids to walk faster [...]
Packing and cleaning
Posted in Family Life, Sweden on November 27, 2007 | 2 Comments »
So today DH and spent the morning working intensively on our packing. We are making good progress. Most of what we are doing now is going through all our stuff, sorting it and then making the final decision about what goes. Don’t you think that would make a good reality show? What stuff makes the [...]
A letter to a stranger
Posted in Family Life, Sweden on November 21, 2007 | 1 Comment »
To a stranger that will probably never read this letter, Today, as you took less than a minute to lend a hand as I struggled to push my bicycle and bike trailer with two small children in it up the hill, your spontaneous act of kindness lifted my spirits. You see, my day had been [...]
Lucia
Posted in Sweden on November 18, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Each year in Sweden, in the freezing darkness of December, small children and their parents get up extra early on December 13th to celebrate Lucia. This old custom is a beautiful one. It hearkens back to the days of saints and legends of a beautiful young girl, carrying food to persecuted Christians in the catacombs. [...]
Cultural Clash
Posted in Sweden on October 27, 2007 | 6 Comments »
I realize as I type this post that I won’t be painting myself in the best light, but what is a blog for if to be honest? Today I took my kids to the swimming pool. The baby had fought sleep the whole day and finally sank into an exhausted stupor in her stroller. I [...]
