This is the 2nd crayfish party this fall for us. The Swedes love the crayfish. I think it is a little too much work for a tiny bit of meat….but I guess the main point is spending a few hours with friends, wearing the funny hats…singing the crayfish songs (oh, yes…they do have crayfish songs!) and socializing.
One of the benefits of living in an urban setting is convenience. This cafe is only a few steps out of our front door. They make the best “semlor” in Jönköping, and the owners recognize us and ask about my family in the USA. I think it is really a charming place. It has been in the same building for 90 years!
One of the inconveniences of living in an urban area is the graffiti. Recently I noticed someone “tagged” our beloved cafe!
I am not too sure who “pdh” is…but I am on the lokout for him-her.
I do have my suspicionss about this one however….
Shie, is there anything you would care to admit?
We are getting closer and closer to “the day.” I snapped these pictures during a “fika” today. I think Mir looks great especially considering it is getting harder to sleep at night. I am so proud of her!
Yesterday we talked with our Dr. and confirmed that our baby is quite stubborn. It is sitting quite comfortably on it’s behind and dosn’t really want to turn downward. We all think it is best to do a C section in this case. So, on Sept.10th we are going to have a new addition to our family! We appreciated your prayers and thoughts, and we are both very comfortable and happy with this decision.
As for the name…So far we like 2 boy names and 3 girl names. It is so much fun to dream about which one we will finally settle on. I wrote all 5 names down and scrambled the letters. Here they are…
AAAEEIIIOOYWHHHLLLLLMMNPSST
Maybe someone can make something of this…maybe not. In any case we can’t confirm anything until Sept 10th…
Sweden have been very busy covering the big “scandal” in wrestling. In short, a Swedish wrestler was judge against on unfair grounds making him loose and out of the finals. Last minute he shows up for the bronze competition and wins. He gets the medal and then throws it on the floor and walks out. He looses the medal and is no longer allowed to wrestle for life.
We have finally moved on. And now as I type we are watching the highjump finals. In my opionon the only chance for gold. But competition is fierce.
Sometimes you run out of words. How do you share grief? A big hole that can´t be filled up. Tears falling down and that awful selfpity that goes with it.
A good friend of mine just passed away. My boss just called me at home to share the news. I suppose the best way to explain how I feel is to share what she meant to me.
She let me into her life. She shared her upbeat smile everytime I met her. She was one of those who with her intense caring eyes made you feel like there were nothing else more important than to hear you. She was very opinionated but had no problems changing her mind if she saw that another way was better. She was direct and cleared up misunderstandnings if needed. She was loving and stubborn. We had our disagreements but never lost respect for each other.
She was my manager when I first came back to Sweden. She was my aloe vera after all that had happened at my old job sites. She helped me out during my first time as a manager, guiding me while my boss was on parental leave.
She passed away far too young leaving children behind, the youngest about 13 years old.
Monica I miss you deeply, and wish I would have spent more time with you!
Olympics - the best part of summer
I love the olympics. It is a great time for watching those stranger sports I don´t normally follow or pay attention to. I never watch gymnastics or fencing. Swimming is not one of my favorite sports neither is canoe or kayak. But now I watch almost all of it. The theme music, the best of the best all wanting to do their all. Trying to set new records. Everyone gathered at the same place at the same time. It´s fun!
Today Sam and I watched the US, China basketball game. It was so funny hearing the Swedish commentators. They seemed so starstruck by the players. As soon as LeBraun was on camera one of the commentators just got so excited. “He is just a wall of muscles, did you see that dunk, he shot that from way downtown.”
Sweden doesn´t have many chances for medals but today we got the first one, Silver in biking. The footage from the event has been replayed over and over again. An unknown athlete has become a celebrity in Sweden.
Then there is the amazing ahtletes like Michael Phelps. He won his first gold today and he is trying to get 8 of them. He just might do it too.
I left work early on friday and was able to watch the opening ceremonies live on TV. I have vacation this week which means I will be able to get to see all those uncommon sports. Best of all… over here it is all on public television so NO commercial breaks. Just sports!
I thought it might be time to clean out my camera phone, and find something to blog about….so here we go!
This is a picture of a friend’s wedding. It was actually my first wedding in Sweden. It was very simple, but beautiful. They had it in their backyard and just invited friends and family over. Here is a picture of the priest, I really thought it was cool that she wore a traditional Swedish dress.
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This is my favorite tree. It is only a few blocks from our apartment, and I love walking by it in the evenings.
This is our new apartment! Mir and I are really excited to move in! It might be a little trickey doing this with a newborn, but we are determined to make it work. Which reminds me…If anyone wants to come visit us between Oct 1 and 14th…you are more than welcome!
Experiences and thoughts on preganancy
Here are the things people never really tell you about preganancy or maybe it was just me not really hearing it. I always thought preganant women looked beautiful. I never realized that they might feel the complete opposite.
Changes
Of course the body changes, everyone knows that but some things are conveniently left unsaid. Of course everyone knows about morning sickness, that one I never experienced. I haven´t felt ill at all. Most people talk about how joints hurt and it is difficult to walk because of the ligaments getting loose by the hormone relaxin. Still have been spared that one! I still bike to work everyday and take walks almost everyday.
But did you know that women get more hairgrowth during pregnancy. It goes away after the pregnancy, but seriously who wants little fuzzy hair on the belly? I am lucky accordning to my midwife because I don´t have one of those fuzzy lines under the belly button, you know that most guys have (raggarsträng - in swedish). But still! Nobody told me this before I got pregnant.
And the flatulance. I had no idea that pregnancy would mess with you in that way. Loudly and smelly. No way of holding it. It can create some funny and some embarrassing moments. I am happy to say that the worst period of this seems to be over for me!
Heartburn has just recently gotten to me. Not too badly though, but still. Not only the flatulance, but now also the burping!
Sadistical comments and unsolicited advice
It is funny how others (even people who don´t have children) seem to think they are experts on pregnancy. I had an unmarried very single guy tell me the other week that “MOST go over their due dates by 2 weeks their first pregnancy”. I just pretended I had never heard of the fact that you CAN go past the due date. Of course I didn´t correct him with the misuse of “most”. Besides, why do so many people feel the need to tell you that you will go past the due date when you just want the baby to come and be done with the pregnancy. It leads me to think that most people are sadistically inclined.
Women feel a special need to talk about their own pregnancies with you too. I have heard countless stories about how their babies moved in their belly, what they reacted to etc. Sure, this is intresting for me to hear but often these women talk all about their own experience without even once asking a question about what I am currently going through. That is what gets me. I am sure I will be exactly the same. I think I have put in my dues for me to act the same way!
(please do comment though! I would love to hear about your stories on this subject!)
Touching
Thankfully not many people have reached out and just started to touch my belly. What really surprises me is that it is mostly people I don´t know that will do it. A manager at work did that once but no more! Since I quickly started rubbing her belly back. I think that chocked her a bit.
Becoming food
I quickly realized that I should stay away from wearing just one color. It sort of makes me look like some kind of food. I wear all red and I look like a strawberry, all blue - blueberry, and my personal favorite - white - marshmallow.
I am thankful that I haven´t been sick or in pain. That things have gone very smoothly for me. I still think that other pregnant women look beautiful but I myself have a difficult time feeling attractive. Try it - a burping round fuzzy marshmallow looking gas ball.
Well, the day approaches and we finished another project in anticipation for the little one. Thanks “Grandma” and “Grandpa” for the crib! Mir bought the rat because she knew how much I loved it. By the way, all the pillows and blankets are a bit premature for a newborn, we just wanted to make the picture look even AWESOMER!
Last weekend Sam and I decided to go on a mini-vacation. We figure it might be a while before just the two of us get to go somewhere. Sam looked at the map and thought that Kalmar would be a good idea since he has never been there. At first we thought we should visit Gothenburg but quickly realized that all the hotels were booked for “the boss” concert. Yes Springsteen celebrated 4th of July in Sweden!
I know I must have been in Kalmar but I can´t remember since I was a little kid. You have to go through the city in order to cross the long bridge to the summer island of Öland. On our way there we made a stop in the “province of glass”. It is one of the things Småland is known for and there are glass blowing all along the way towards Kalmar. We made the mistake in stopping at the largest tourist trap store instead of the smaller a little less known places.
Kalmar was beautiful the Saturday we got there. We walked around a lot! We had booked a nice 4 star hotel in the center of town. BAD idea! We were all happy until about 11 pm when we realized that our window was not insulated well enough to keep the loud drunks screaming and singing out. I think I finally fell asleep at 4 am. I tried to contact the receptionist but there were none there! 4 star! I wonder what criteria they are using.
On Sunday we took a tour at the castle which was a short walk from our hotel. Kalmar was not as beautiful on Sunday, maybe because of how tired I was and grumpy at the hotel. If you go to Kalmar, don´t stay at “Frimurarhotellet” (yes, the freemason hotel). It might look amazing at first, but don´t be fooled!