swedenusa

There is this cute little boy at our church in MN that just loves Sam. Of course they have the same name so it makes it all a bit more magical. When we lived in the US we used to spend some time with him and his adorable older sister. We would sometimes take them to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Of course, that is the first thing that they want to do now that they saw us again on Sunday.

Chuck E. Cheese’s is a pizza place for kids with all the arcade games and hoop games you would want. We spent an hour and a half there, of course we didn’t eat anything just played the games. If you ever walk into one you would know why! It smells really bad from the sweaty kids and the fatty cheesy pizzas. It just doesn’t give you that feeling that things are clean there.

However, we love spending time with these kids and it was a couple of precious hours.

Afterwards we went to an Old Navy store. Woooahhh! The sales are great! I bought 2 pairs of pants, 3 short sleeved t-shirts, 2 long sleeved, and 2 dress shirts. ALL for just 21 dollars! Hello!!!! That is only about 140 swedish kronor! All brand new clothes! Incredible!!

I still can’t upload our pictures so I am borrowing these pics from the web!

We made it to Minneapolis after a very long trip. It started at 4 am when we got up in Skene where mom had taken good care of us. She drove us to the airport where our plane departed at 7am. Frankfurt airport is one of the worst airports I have been in. Smoking is allowed! It is just nasty air. Hey… if people want to smoke, then that is fine, but don’t make everyone else have to share the experience.

About 20 hours, 6 passport checks, 3 security checks (yes I had to take off my boots and have a lady feel my sweaty feet and massage my calvs which she said was complimentary) and 3 aircrafts later we landed safely in Minneapolis. It feels like we have done so much already. We spent some time on Saturday evening with my brother and his wife and a friend of ours who also spent the night with his son.

After 24 hours my head finally hit the pillow! There is no way anyone could do all the things that the guy in 24 does. I know what it feels like!

Today we went to Twin Cities Church. It was so great to be with our friends. It felt good to be in our home church! We all went out for lunch after the service. I tried to upload some pictures but with no success. I will try to figure it out later.

 Oh… we also went shopping today. New York & Co of course, Express for Sam! And then Target. It is unbelievable how cheap things are in the US. The sales and coupons makes clothes super cheap and make-up is about 3 times more expense over in Sweden.

I didn´t think it would but the snow started falling on Saturday and it has been snowing a bit everyday. I took a picture out our window sort of at the same picture that I took during the summer. The summer picture was taken at midnight. This one is taken just before 5pm. No sun! But it is really pretty. The snow-covered branches!

This has been a sentence that has been repeated a couple of times last night and today. We head out of Jönköping on Friday night to spend the night in Gothenburg. Our good friend is letting us use her apartment, while she is in France. We leave Sweden early early on Saturday morning to land in Mpls in the evening about 17 hours later.

Yeah! We can´t wait to be back. It is going to be so great to see our friends and family again. Next week at this time… we´ll be closing in on Chicago.

Well, we are leaving for the States in one week!  What do you think about this music video?

Just thought I should share som pictures I took while taking a walk on Christmas Eve with my family. It was such a pretty day and the frost put a magical spell on the landscape.

We have not had a cold day like that since, though I am sure it is coming sooner rather than later. Today it has been extremly windy in Sweden. By 2 pm about 200 000 people were left without electricity. That is a lot of people in a country of only 9 million.

We have been staying indoors pretty much all day because they are warning people not to go out. In downtown one person got hurt today from a falling tree…

So, what better to do than to look through some pictures and blog. We have electricity so lets enjoy it blogging!

I love nature! I wish we could go out for a walk. We are just couped up at home waiting for the wind to die out!

Ever wondered how the “bet” turned out, when I was to read one of my husbands books and he got to read two of mine. Well… I finished the book I had to read. Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz. If you like clowns you should read this book to find out the truth. If you, like me, have always been suspicious of clowns you should read this and realize that your suspicion was true all along.

The night Jimmy was born his grandfather made 5 predictions on his death bed. The 5 predictions came in the form of dates when extra evil events would force themselves on the grandson. The book is Jimmy´s story of these days.

My favorite character is the grandmother. She loves to take care of children and tell them stories. Often the regular fairy tales but with a twist of what she thinks is reality. The 7 dwarves were evil and the wolf really did eat the hunter as well, no rescue for little red riding hood. A grandmother just as mean as Dr. House!

Well written, I would definetly recommend it!

My favorite TV show is House! On Tuesdays at 9 pm I am glued to the TV watching channel 4. It is about this doctor named House. He is always sort of grumpy, mostly mean, always right to the point, never sugar-coating anything. His specialty is infections that nobody knows what they are. Of course, he has a team around him which adds to the drama. It is not very reality based but hey… I LOVE this show. What´s not to like about a mean cranky doctor with a bum-leg causing him to be addicted to vicodin. In Sweden we are still on the first season so please don´t spoil it!!!

Any one else out there liking this show or something else?

Seriously, I mean…It is fun to be outside and ride my bike….but it kind of feels surreal to have green grass at this time of the year!

I like this pic because I got Mir to pose for me. Also because there is a great fika spot in the background. Bernards Konditori I think it is one of the oldest spots in Jönköping. 

In Sweden we have a double tradition with Santa. The traditional myth in Scandinavia is the gnome looking creatures called “tomte”. They take care of the farm and help tend the animals or the ones out in the forest help the animals in the forest. Sort of like vets. People have to treat them right with treats and stuff or they can get mischeivious.

This has become mixed with the Coca Cola Americana Santa Clause. So the “tome” now looking both a little bit like the grey gnomes and a little bit like the coke Santa, usually comes to visit our homes on Christmas eve… that is after an adult realized that “the milk is out” and has to go to the grocery store. Unfortunately that poor adult misses “tomte” coming with his sack of gifts to the kind children. Yes the children gets to meet “tomte” and he makes sure they have been kind and deserves gifts!

This year we changed the tradition. Tomte didn´t come to us, we went to the tomte. There is a kids song in Swedish about a poor rabbit that knocks on the tomte´s cabin door. The tomte then of course saves the rabbit from the hunter. The tomte, according to the song lives in a little cabin at the edge of the forest. So… naturally we had to go to the edge of the forest and knock on the tomte´s door.

The kids were at awe. You should have seen them! After recieving a gift each they just sat right down on the ground and started opening them. They were totally convinced they had visited and met tomte at his own house!