swedenusa

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!

1. When the bus comes right when I do - so I don´t have to wait.
2. The smell of newly fallen rain on the hot ground.
3. The laughter of children streaming in from our open window.
4. When I just sit down to relax, turn on the tv, and a show I really like just starts (and I didn´t even know it was going to be on).
5. When I wake up and the sun is shining.
6. Daylight savings - fall back - and I can sleep in one extra hour.
7. The smell of jasmine on our evening walks.
8. When I stand in line in the grocery store and the baby in front of me is smiling back at me.
9. The smell of coffee outdoors (it just smells so much better).
10. Coming home after working out.

Last Saturday I took the bus about 1 hour away to the town where my sister lives. My nephew turned 4 last week and we were going to celebrate.

My week had been stressful and I hadn´t had time to buy the birthday gift I was planning to give. Instead, my nephew joined me in the toy store and he picked out what he wanted. He loves cars. I think he has about 600 of them at home but he can´t get enough of them. It is so cute because he will remember who gave him what car. I also got him a necklace because he also likes shiny sparkling things and will at times ask his mother if he can´t have her jewelry.

Sam wasn´t able to join us for the party so I asked my nephew to pose with the cars.

After a little fika we stopped by an indoor playground. The little baby in the picture was very intrested in my nephew and followed him around all the time, who in return enjoyed spending time with his new little buddy. He kept handing him balls and playing with him. 

I think he is one of the most patient little boys. We were walking around in a lot of stores and were all getting very hungry. I just had to go into a small little store that had maternity clothes (my town has a very limited selection). My mom, sister and I were all saying how cute the clothes were and holding up different items. And then my nephew stated in a soft happy voice: “What a cozy store this is.”

After a wonderful supper out on town we returned to my sister´s apartment and made a traditional Swedish strawberry cake. My nephew got to help out with all the layers.

That was one yummy cake! And what was his wish? I Believe it was for a robot.

We decided that I am too far into the pregnancy now for moving to a different apartment, though we are in need for at least one more bedroom. It is a bit small anyway and with a new little person and when people come to visit, it gets more than snug (and it might not be so cozy).

For the last few years we have had yellow on our walls and we are so tired of living in it. I think Sam once said, this yellow is like vomit to me. Since we know we are going to stay for about one more year in this apartment we went out and bought some paint and Sam started painting. The living room is all finished excpet for the new pillows we need to get and the art we need to put up on the walls.

It might look red on these pictures but it is not red. It is a purple tint but with more red than blue in it. We love the color and the hallway is next!

Last Tuesday I was packing my bags for a trip to Bulgaria the following morning. It was not easy trying to find clothes I still fit into that are “conference-worthy”. It is hard to know what kind of dress code is acceptable in a different country. The criteria for packing were comfortable, not too warm since it is warm in Bulgaria, dressy but not too dressy. That is difficult on any given day, but when pregnant this seems like a task you can´t succeed in!

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Located in the southeastern part of Europe it was part of the Sovietunion block. Its own country but alligned very heavily with Soviet. I thought for sure there would be lots of amazing old buildings and part of an old down town like most European cities, but sadly almost all of that is gone. It has been replaced by eastern block-buildings that haven´t been repaired since the time of Stalin. However, me and my boss did go down town (about an hour walk!!!) and took some touristy pictures.

(Click on the pictures to be linked to a youtube clip of national dancing. They had this show one evening at the conference.) 

The people were friendly but knew very little English making it difficult to communicate. Thankfully I was traveling with Dr. Blix (yes related to the former UN inspector with the same last name) and he knows German and Russian. Most Bulgarians apperantly knew those languages.

The reason for traveling to Bulgaria was an international conference about methadone and bupenophrine treatment for heroin addicts. I was going with my boss, a medical doctor at our county hospital and a psyhiatric nurse that I work a lot with. There were people from about 40 different countries including the US. But I won´t bore you with conference details (though I found that part very interesting).

It is difficult for me to write anything positive about the city. Upon arrival the five star hotel did not have any reseravations for us. We ended up in another hotel but there were no places to eat arround that neighborhood. My boss and I walked to a nearby gas station and bought some sandwiches and a coke.

Overall, the food was not very tasty to put it nicely. There were 350 people at the conference and one night we were going to a local restaurant with traditional Bulgarian food and dancing. It was sort of comical as we all walked down the sidewalk in a long procession. We had local specialties like lamb, but it had been boiled for a very long time and it was not flavored. No spices! No herbs! I had to add my own salt!

Traffic was terrible. Cars everywhere. Streets were badly kept - pot holes. The sidewalks were worse! Trees hanging over them so that you had keep walking bent over, or cars would use them as parking. There were deep holes everywhere so I was looking more down than up. Then… the streetdogs and all the graffitti everywhere.

The city is sort of situated in a pot with mountains all around making it a very smoggy place. Smoking was allowed everywhere, in the hotell lobby, anywhere in restaurants, in the cab, airport, well… everywhere!

To be fair, I think I would have been able to enjoy myself much better if I wasn´t pregnant and worried about everything. I didn´t know what kind of food was sitting in front of me, second-hand smoke is scary, smog and potholes seem much more dangerous right now. The heat and hills are definite obstacles. I did enjoy the conference and I am very thankful I could go!

I am making a little time jump back to a week ago. This all took place in Lund last Saturday when our friend just came to Sweden. We had left Copenhagen on Friday, spent a night at a hotel and then we were in Lund all day Saturday.

We started out at the old cathedral. They had a 30 minute organ concert and we listened to som Bach. It is beautiful with old pipe organs specially when they hit those lower notes. Then we started our walk through down town Lund.

First we stopped at the market where we bought straweberries and fresh cherries to bring with us out to the sea.

After walking out a long pier we starting munching on our fresh from the market fruits.

Three brave souls dared jumping into the water. Sam dipped his toes, me and Alex decided to stay safely far up on the beach gaurding all of our belongings!

The day ended with a great supper; Exotic plank with all kinds of fruits, chicken and cold cuts. Alex and Rebecka both showed us their drumming skills. Nathanael and Andy jammed a while together. This clip (just click on the picture below to go to youtube) is just at the beginning before they really get a hang of playing together. But it is still fun to see them and everyone else.

We had a great time with the family and created some wonderful summer memories in the beginning of May!

We picked up our friend at the airport in Denmark and hopped on the train to go to Copenhagen. We spent about 6 hours walking around the city. From the Central Station, past Tivoli, down Ströget the big shopping street and all the way to Nyhavn.

Copenhagen in the summer is such an energetic town yet laid back and people are just soaking in the season. We had no plans or agenda except for getting the feeling of the city and do what we felt like doing or going.

We stopped on the way and had our late lunch. The weather was wonderful. Sunny, not a cloud on the sky and about 74F or 24C. There were people out shopping, sitting at the cafés and restaurants. Street musicians were playing jazz in every corner. Copenhagen is known for its great Jazz.

There were street entertainers. We stopped by this lady that sort of stod still like a statue. Once you put som coins in the bucket in front of her she rang a bell and let you pose by her for a picture. Later on we realized she gave Sam bunny ears.

Towards the end of the day I was very tired. The baby has started to “lean”. It is hard do describe it. Like it is sort of pushing out on one side. It is uncomfortable and I sort of have to push back. Strangely enough the baby is always doing this on the same spot every time.

All in all, we had a great day with a lot of wonderful experiences. It has been like summer over here the whole weekend but tomorrow it will drop back down to mid 50´s.

Today we are starting our journey to southern Sweden. First, tonight we are going to pick up my mom´s car. Tomorrow we will drive down to Malmö and take the train over the bridge to Copenhagen (Denmark) to pick up our good friend Nathanael who is flying in from the US. We will be spending Friday in Copenhagen, Saturday in the Swedish city Lund and then head back to Jönköping!

Hopefully we will have some pictures up after the weekend.

We just realized that I can really take advantage of the pregnancy just by making some adjustments to how I phrase things.

Just because you are not hungry right now, are you really going to make your ENTIRE family go out into the kitchen and cook?

Are you going to make your ENTIRE family go and get juice at the store?

Are you really going to watch this show when your ENTIRE family wants to watch something else?

Are you going to hog that blanket and let your ENTIRE family be without?

Are you going to eat all that when your ENTIRE family has to share this?

The possiblity are endless and we were laughing a lot while making up different scenarios. I think I will really use this from time to time!

Yesterday Jonas & Shie had their little Esther. Mother, baby… and dad are all doing great. When I talked with them on the phone after the delivery Shie was all excited and sounded like she normally does which surprised me since she had been doing hard labor for 12 hours. Jonas on the other hand had been holding his daughter (who was sucking on her own little hand) and sounded very tired and relaxed. I even got to hear Esther crying in the background.

Keep an eye on Jonas & Shie´s blog for more info and pictures in the near future!