Christmas Markets and Other Stuff

Hej,

I have promised to tell you about the Swedish Christmas Markets and other things Christmas here in Sweden.

First, we had our first snow today.  Actually it was quite beautiful, but Mother Nature cannot decide today if it is snowing, raining or the sun shining.  We have had all three multiple times so far today and it is only 2:30.

Side Yard with Snow

Back Yard with Snow

On to the Christmas Markets.  We had plans to attend Christmas Markets over the last couple of weekends along with going to Malmo for some Christmas shopping, but the weather has not been cooperative at all.  We were going to head to Malmo this past Saturday, but it was again another horrible rain/wind storm.  So we stayed close to home and went to a Glögg party.  Unfortunately, everyone cancelled due to the weather, so David and I were the only ones in attendance at our friend, Carmen's house.  Carmen had warm glögg with raisins and almonds and she made homemade Luccekatter's (A pastry with saffron made specifically this time of year for St. Lucia Day which is celebrated on the 13th of December)  All of this is normal Swedish Christmas traditions.  Here is a picture of the cakes:

David and I have learned that our idea of Christmas Markets are much different than what we are experiencing here.  David and I went to another Christmas Market on Sunday.  It was located again in a beautiful spot along a river in a town called Gemla, about an hour from our house towards Växjö.  The place is called Gransholm Herrgård.  A large house that has been turned into an antique shop.  Each room was set up nicely in a Christmas theme.  I would give you a link, but it is all in Swedish.  I did take some pictures to share with you:

The front of Gransholm Herrgärd



Nativity Scene



Second half of Nativity Scene

Christmas Table









There was some cheese to buy and some robes and scarves, but really nothing else.  We are really used to the Kristkindlmarkt in Chicago where they had homemade crafts, food, pastries, candy, etc. Really, this is what we have been expecting.  The Christmas Markets here are in beautiful places, but they are not a place to go and buy many Christmas gifts.

I was mixed up last week on the date of the Christmas Market in Älmhult, so it is this coming Wednesday in our town square.  I will let you know how it is and if it is any different.

At this point, I am not sure what we are going to do next weekend, but hopefully, it will be something fun and I can report on it to you.

Also, I had a meeting today and if all goes well, it looks as if I may be teaching English starting in January.  So please keep your fingers crossed!  My Swedish lessons are going well.

Have a wonderful day and I will check in with you again soon!

Love,

Bridgette

Taco Story

Hej,

I know you are all are expecting some Christmas Market stories and updates, well those are coming later this week.  So I thought I would brighten your day with a taco story.  No, I have not burned any taco meat lately, just a funny/interesting story.

So, a few weeks back when I was working at IKEA my friend, Hanna, asked what we had for dinner the night before.  Not thinking anything about it, I replied, "We had tacos."  Then she asked, What did you have on your tacos?"  I was thinking to myslef, this is a strange question.  I dutifully answered, "We had cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.  David did not want any chopped onions, but sometimes we have onions."  Hanna looked at my strangely and I wondered why.  She explained to me that they (her and everyone she knows) eat tacos with red onions and cucumber.  I then looked at her strangely.  I had never heard of eating cucumbers on my tacos!  A couple of weeks later, I was telling my Swedish teacher this story and how strange I thought it was.  She then proceeded to tell me that the kids in Sweden think that tacos are a Swedish thing, not from Mexico or Latin America.  I understand this comes from their parents cooking tacos for them on Friday nights because it is easy.  No one has ever told them where tacos originated.

David and I have been laughing about this story a lot, one, because we think that having cucumbers on your tacos is a bit different and two, because the Swedes eat cucumbers on everything!  Yesterday, I was at the story buying some frozen corn and I came upon this package:

Yes, it says that it is perfect for tacos!  I am perfectly sure that corn on tacos and cucumbers is really good, but it is just funny thinking about going to Taco Bell and getting a taco with cucumber and corn!  See, it things are quite the same, but different in other parts of the world!  When we moved here and I first went to the grocery store, I was quite impressed with their Tex/Mex selection and quite surprised that they had taco shells, flour tortillas and tortilla chips.  I thought for sure that we were entering a worldly society, but little did I know that many think Tex/Mex is Swedish!

This is probably not as funny to you - but I hope that you find it at least interesting.

I promise, the Christmas Market stuff is coming in the next couple of days!

Adios,
Bridgette

No Christmas Market :(

Hej,

David and I were all set to go to Växjo yesterday, but unfortunately a very bad rain and wind storm came through and our plans had to be scrapped.  So instead, we stayed home and organized the garage a bit.  When the owner of our house left, he left quite a bit of stuff in the garage and it was/is a big mess!  I have never met anyone who has so much junk!  He has brand new things in sacks that he never removed from the sack.  He is not organized and it makes a mess just trying to find simple things.  For example, he had some shelves here that needed to be put together.  David and I searched and searched for the shelf pegs and could not find them, so we went over to IKEA and bought 60 pegs, costing about $20.  Wouldn't you know, when we got back home, we found them in a cup sitting on a shelf.  Neither one of us looked in the cup, who would of thought they would be there.  We looked at everything else on the shelf!  Oh well, lesson learned.

Since yesterday was 1st Advent (the first Sunday of Advent) the stores were opened from 3:00 - 7:00 pm. The residents of Älmhult also put all their lights and Advent candles in their windows. It does look pretty, but to me it is kind of funny, because it seems that if they don't have their lights up they might be punished. One of our neighbors was gone for the weekend, they were not home 5 minutes before they had all their lights hung and turned on. Sometimes it seems that there is some idea here that they must comply with society or else they be deemed an outcast. One of the ideals that made us like living in the States was the differences between people, religions and how we could celebrate those differences. I think people are afraid here to be different, which is really sad.

So as many of you know, we are experiencing less and less daylight as the days get shorter.  The sun is coming up closer to 8:00 am and setting around 3:15 now.  By 4:00 pm it is very dark.  It certainly is a change from what we were used to.  I did not understand the abundance of reflective clothing here in Sweden or the need for it, now I understand.  You will see runners, walkers, cyclists wearing reflective vests.  You see men wearing big, reflective green winter coats.  Since it gets dark so early and so dark, you have to make certain that people can see you.

Another interesting thing we have found living here in Sweden, many of the ideals and such remind us of living in the States during the 1970s.  For example, they have a law here that you have to put snow tires on your car before December 1st.  So everyone has two sets of wheels and tires.  I am not sure if they have heard of All Season Radials. Where we live in Sweden does not get feet and feet of snow, it is probably comparable to Chicago in the amount of snow fall and coldness.  We are towards the southern part where it remains warmer.  So, I do not see the point in getting another set of tires, because if it is that bad, I will not be driving.  Additionally, it seems like a waste of resources to have two sets of tires.  We do not really drive anywhere during the week at all.  David rides his bike to work and if it is too bad, he will just walk.  We do not have our tires yet and I am certain we won't have them until after December 1st since David is going out of town for the rest of this week.

Another example of living in the 70s is the fact that we do not have garbage disposals here.  I cannot tell you how much I miss that little feature.  As I have stated here before, the store hours are also reminiscent of the 70s.  Malls are new here just like they were new in the States in the 70s.  I cannot believe that they have just started opening malls probably within the last 5 years.  There are other examples, but many times David and I feel like we have definitely stepped back into our childhoods.  Sweden is modern as far as technology is concerned, but as far as day-to-day living it reminds us of the 70s.

I have some more to tell you about, but I will save it for later this week!  Also on Wednesday, Älmhult is having a Christmas market, so I will try to get over there and take pictures and let you know about it.

Take care,

Bridgette

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family in the States!  I hope you all have a very blessed day!  I am certainly blessed by all of you.

Obviously, Sweden does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so while you are all visiting, eating and shopping, David will be working extra hours and I will be working at home!  No turkey for us, probably leftover hamburgers!  I am making a nice dinner tonight, so we will have our celebration tonight (if Italian food counts).

Not much has been happening here.  We did go shopping this past weekend and found some new drapes for our bedroom and some new cleaner, whiter roller shades to replace the ugly ones that were in the kitchen!  They have improved the room 1000 times over!  I have been busy measuring and hemming the drapes for the bedroom, they are also an improvement!

This upcoming Sunday, we are going to go to another Julmarknad (Christmas Market) in Växjö.  It takes place on the grounds of the culture center.  I will take pictures and share with you next week.  Also, Sunday marks the start of the Christmas season here because it is the First Sunday of Advent.  No, in general, the Swedish people do not go to church, but 85% of the people in Sweden belong to the Church.  Sweden is really more of a secular society.  Anyhow, because it being the start of the Christmas season, many of the stores will be open for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon.  I understand they will also decorate their windows nicely. I will report on this next week as well.

Enjoy the rest of your week and may your weekend be filled with many nice thoughts and lots of good memories!

Much love,
Bridgette

Random Thoughts Four

Hej,

Here is my fourth list of random thoughts on things Swedish:

1. Dry Cleaners/Work Pants - In my town of Älmhult, there is no dry cleaners.  I have not seen them in other towns, so at this point, I am not sure they exist here in Sweden.  The Swedish are practical people and I think that they do not buy or wear clothes that need extra care such as dry cleaning.  They even have these "work pants" that you can buy at the grocery store.  They are quite ugly, but I have seen both men and women wearing them.  They do not wear jeans to work around the house or yard, you must have your "work pants".  No, I am not buying these pants, I will wear my jeans!  They wear jeans to the office and out, but they are not working pants.  Perhaps this is because jeans are very expensive here and it would be silly to ruin a pair of pants doing work around the house.

2. Store Hours/Bank Hours - This is probably a hard one to understand, especially if you are from the U.S. and know that many of our stores and banks are open an ungodly amount of hours each day.  Well, here in Sweden, most stores are open from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, except on Saturdays when they close at 2:00 pm. Two exceptions are the grocery stores are open usually from 7 or 8:00 am - until 8, 9, or 10 pm and the mall stores which stay open until 6:00 pm on Saturdays.  Many smaller stores, especially in Älmhult are not open on Sundays.  However, the bank is only open from 10:00 - 3:00 pm, except on Thursdays when they stay open until 5:30, get this - they are not open on Saturdays!!!  Since the stores are not open any extra, it makes them extra busy on Saturday mornings when everyone is rushing to get all their shopping done.  If you work, I think Saturdays are really the only time people have to shop.  You can save a lot of money because you can't spend it anywhere!

3. Mail Delivery - The mail is delivered from Monday - Friday.  If you get any packages, you have to pick them up either at the Post Office, before 10:00 am or after 3:30 pm or they will leave your packages at the ICA Maxi (grocery store).   Larger packages get delivered this way, smaller packages will fit in your mailbox.  Our mailboxes are lined up in a row along the street.  The newspapers are also delivered to your mailbox, you don't get them on your front stoop.

4.  License Plates - I forgot to tell you when we bought our car that the license plates come with the car - you do not change license plates with new owners or states like in the U.S.  I think that when the cars are delivered to the dealerships, they have the license plate already attached.  When the car changes owners, they just change the registration.  This appears to be a more efficient and less wasteful because you are not always having to dispose of old license plates.

5. Number Lappers  - The Swedish people are not very good at queing.  You cannot just line up and everyone knows who is next.  No, you have to get a number when you go into many of the stores and that is the order in which you are helped.  I have actually had an old women race pass me into the Apotek (pharmacy) to make certain she got a number before I did.  No big deal, she did not leave any sooner than I did!  Even when you go to the grocery store and there is a line and they open another register, they will not say, "Oh, you were her first, go ahead!"  No, they will just run over and get in the new line.  I have also seen older men hang out at the front of the store near the checkout lines so when they open another line, they are right in line, even though their wife may still be finishing the shopping.  They kind of hold a spot so they don't have to wait with the rest of us little people, who believe in letting those who are their first go.

6. Waffles - The waffles here are very sweet!  They do not use waffles for breakfast like we do, they are more of a treat.  The first time I had a waffle here, they served it with a fruit jelly and lots of whipped cream.  They looked at me strange when I asked for just a little of each.  By the time I was finished with it, the waffle was melting, like cotton candy does.  David and I bought a waffle iron a few weeks ago and we used the recipe that came with it, it called for  1 1/2 cups of sugar.  My waffle recipe calls for 1 tablespoon.  We now make our recipe from home, we do not like our waffles that sweet!

7.  Candy - Speaking of sweet, you would not believe how much the Swedes like candy!  I have never seen so many people eat so much candy.  They like the gummi like things, like gum drops and they love all the candy that sticks to your teeth.  Even their dark chocolate is much sweeter than we are used to.  The grocery stores have huge displays of loose candy to buy by the kilo.  The selection is much larger than I have seen in the U.S.  I think at one store they have about 3 aisles devoted to candy, loose and packaged.

8. Breaks - As many of you know I spent three weeks working at IKEA.  I did not realize how regulated Swedish society is to the clock and their breaks.  When it is time for break, they drop whatever they are doing and go for break.  These are mostly office workers, not people working on an assembly line.  When it is 12:00 - they all scramble for lunch.  There is no such thing as taking a later lunch, no you must go at 12:00.  I think many of the people also eat dinner at 6:00 pm.  It is hard for David and I who are used to eating and taking breaks when we feel like it, not necessarily when everyone else does.  One thing that I learned, this is when you can socialize with people, during the break time.  Otherwise, you are mostly required to be in business mode not socialization mode.  No, we do not necessarily eat dinner at 6:00, we do it when we feel like it.  I am more a person that likes to do things when I feel like it, not because the clock is telling me to.  One funny story, when I was working, one of the girls that I was working with, the minute the clock hit 12:00 or 5:00, she was done!  She was not giving a minute more, even if she was in the middle of ironing a sheet or building a dresser drawer.  She could not understand why I worked longer or did not take a break.  Yes, I got paid for all the time I was there, so it was not like she was not going to get paid for doing extra.  This is just not part of their society.  Quite different from the ways we know.

Life is definitely more interesting here in Sweden.  I am finding it a challenge to learn all these little rules, but I am not letting it rule my life.  I am just being me and making certain that I am a good ambassador for the U.S.

I will come up with another list soon!

Take care.

Love,
Bridgette

Catch Up

Happy Monday ~ I have lots to catch you up on.  As you know, I have spent the last three weeks working temporarily at Ikea of Sweden.  The purpose of my job was to help prepare an exhibit that will be seen in the next several weeks by Country Managers down to the Store Managers.  I spent my time ironing sheets, duvet covers, and curtains.  Additionally, I sewed curtains, duvet covers and built furniture.  I also learned how to install lights on top of PAX wardrobe units and how to hang curtains from suspended ceilings.  I truly had a great time doing all of this work and at the end of the three weeks, the exhibition was looking absolutely stunning.  The Country Managers arrived over the weekend and starting today they will see all the new products that have been created.  On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, David will give the same presentation on the new mattresses 12 times to 12 different groups of Country Managers.  I am glad that I am not him!

Today, I started my Swedish Lessons!  I will be taking them 3 times a week for 2 hours each time.  I can now tell you my name, where I am from, where I currently live and ask how you are.  However, I am not comfortable doing it quite yet.  I have a lot of practicing to do.

The winter darkness is starting to set in.  The sun is coming up between 7:45 and 8:00 and setting by about 4:00 right now.  By the winter solistice, we will only get about 6 hours of light a day.  I will let you know how it feels and such.

This past Saturday, David and I went to a Christmas Market in the afternoon.  This was the last weekend that it was going to be close to us.  The Market was located about 30 kilometers from our house and it took place on an old estate/farm called Huseby Bruk, which was very nice and along a river.  The cost was 80 Kroner/person to enter, about $14 in U.S.  However, the booths were located in the old buildings on the estate and there was not much room to walk through and browse.  I was hoping to get some gifts to bring back at Christmas, but I was somewhat disappointed in their selection and the fact that you could not get through the buildings.  I am a bit claustrophobic and do not like to be in tight places with a lot of people.  We did see some interesting things, like a choir singing Christmas songs in a set up that looked like the Whack a Mole game.  All you saw were their heads.  We also saw a lonely Santa Claus, he did not have much action.   One thing you would notice is there is no drinking of alcohol at these events, because Sweden has a very tough DUI law, basically, you cannot drink more than 1/2 glass of wine and be safe from getting a ticket or put in jail.  Also, the Swedish people do not really eat at these types of events, like perhaps you would see in the U.S.  The whole atmosphere was quite mellow and subdued. Here are some pictures of the estate.  As you can see the sun was setting and it was dark when we left.  We arrived about 3:15 and left about 5:15.

 

 

Here are the pictures of Santa and the Choir:

I forgot to show you the dresser I made for the exhibition.  Remember, I was making making a dresser in any way I wanted to show how you can be creative with this dresser (Tarva) from Ikea.   This is my finished product:

I had another idea, but when I received these glass knobs that I purchased, I wanted to just highlight the knobs.  They really brought out the golden color in the wood.  If I can, I will show you the other finished dressers as well.  They came from all over the world and were quite interesting.

On Sunday, I finished making curtains for the kitchen, so we will no longer be on display for the walkers and bicyclists to look at.  Actually, it makes the room softer and not so hard looking.  In doing all this, I decided to replace the curtain in my bedroom, so now I am on a search for new curtains!

Hopefully tomorrow I will share more random thoughts about Sweden with you.

Vi ses (See you)

Bridgette

Fall Pictures From Sweden

Here are some fall pictures from around Sweden. Enjoy!  This is a lake we drove by near Ljungby.  You are seeing the reflection of the trees and clouds in the lake.  Yes, it was that still!

Here are some pictures of the moon as seen from the front of our house last night.  It was rising as the sun was setting.  Pretty cool!  The sun is rising about 7:30 in the morning and setting by 4:15 in the afternoon.  These pictures were taken about 3:45.



Swedish Culture Class

As many of you know, last Tuesday, November 1st, David and I attended our Swedish Culture Course.  The course was 6 hours and had quite a lot of interesting information in it.  We reported to class at 9:00 am and the first thing was to participate in fika and come back to the room to watch a movie.  What is fika you ask?  Fika is a Swedish break where they provide "sandwiches".  When I say "sandwich", it really is half a roll, usually a whole grain roll, with a bit of butter and a piece of cheese.  Then they provide either sliced cucumbers or sliced peppers (paprika in Swedish), depending on the day.  The fika we had at the Swedish Culture course had many more selections, they had fruit, yogurt, cheeses and "sandwiches".  Ikea provides fika twice a day at their offices, usually a sandwich in the morning and fresh fruit in the afternoons.

Anyhow, while everyone ate we watched a 10 year old movie on why living in Sweden is so great!  They interviewed people from different countries, including a couple from the U.S. on why they liked living in Sweden.  The movie was interesting, but very dated!

Our instructor was from Britian and has lived in Sweden for 11 years.  She married a Swedish man that she met abroad and subsequently moved here.  She understands the frustrations of dealing with the Swedish ways and helped us feel more comfortable with our surroundings.

She then explained some of the history and interesting facts on Sweden.  I will try and share them here with you and help you understand more about Sweden and their people.

Even though Sweden looks like a very large country, it is bigger than the State of California, only about 20% is really inhabited.  20% of Sweden lies about the Artic Circle and 60% of it is located north of Stockholm. Sweden only has about 8% of their land that is available for farming. 56% of the country is made up of trees and forest along with 36% reindeer!  Yes, there is such a thing as reindeer, but I am not sure if they fly!  With so much of the country made up of trees, no wonder timber is their largest industry.  Water and steel (iron ore) makes up the rest of their natural resources.  Sweden is also very large in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals (Astra Zeneca).

Roughly, 9 million people live in Sweden, the majority of them live below Stockholm.  Stockholm is the largest city at 1.4 million, with Gotenberg coming in second at 700,000 and Malmo with 360,000.  In 1900, 90% of the population lived in the country and today 80% of the populations lived in towns.  Quite a difference!  Yes, it is where the jobs and life are really located, which brings people to the city.

79% of the men work along with 74% of the women.  The 74% of women working is the highest percentage in Europe.  The ecomony here is based on a two-income household.  They have a very generous maternity/paternity leave up to 16 months with your normal pay.  You will be guaranteed a job when you come back to work, not necessarily the job that you had when you left.  Another interesting fact is that it is very hard to get fired in Sweden.  The employer has much documentation to do and the things you can get fired for in the U.S., like drinking on the job, you cannot get fired for here.  They will send you to rehab, before they fire you!  Employers are required to pay 3x your salary in payroll taxes, so they take all of this very seriously.

I was amazed to know that Sweden is the most honest country, they always try to do the right thing.  They complete their taxes on time, many with no errors and they have a very high voter turn out rate!  I find it very interesting that the Lutheran Church (A Calvinistic form of it) here is the State Church, but no one really goes to church, but 80% of the people belong to the church.

The affluence of Sweden has really happened in the last 100 years, mostly due to the exporting of cars (Volvo and Saab).  Swedish society is very tolerant.  Since they are a hardy people, they do not complain, even about work!  They feel if you complain you are weak and spoiled.  Up until about 20 years ago, Sweden was a very homgenous society.  Now, they are seeing an influx of immigrants from the Middle East, among other places.  Swedish people believe in jantelagen - average, not standing out.  They think everyone is equal and has a fair chance.  I guess that is why they all dress very similarly and keep up with fashion among each other.  Currently, the big fad here is where Converse sneakers and skinny jeans.  No, I do not have a pair of Converse, I do not think it is me.

In the 1930s a gentleman named Per Albin Hansson, helped turn around the Swedish society and basically changed the country to a socialist country.  He wanted to build a society to be like a family (folkhemmet) based on equality, caring, cooperation and helpfulness.

We have found out that many times the people of Sweden appear tolerant and open on the outside, but inside they still have those Calvinistic characteristics.  So far we think that living in Sweden has been an educational experience.  Attending this class also made us more aware of the action and attributes that we encounter when we are out experiencing Swedish life.

I think this is a lot of information for now, if you would like to have more information or would like me to explain something else, please let me know and I would be happy to.

Take care and I do have more to write soon!

Love,
Bridgette

Yes, I Survived and Passed Swedish Culture Course!

Hej,

No, I have not forgotten about all of you, just have been busy with my temporary job at IKEA.  The job is interesting in the fact that I am not sitting at a desk, looking at a computer all day.  Along with another girl, Hanna, we are responsible for ironing and dressing all the beds for the Bedroom and Bathroom Division showcase area.  This is not an easy task, we have to make the beds look beautiful, with no wrinkles, and tight enough to bounce a kroner off of!  I am enjoying the physical labor and the reward at the end to see all the beds so nicely made up.  Hanna is 18 and grew up here in Älmhult.  We share culture about the U.S. and Sweden.  Getting to know her has been a blessing.  I feel comfortable enough with her to ask questions about Swedish words, traditions, etc. and she can ask me questions about American traditions.  We are a great team!

David and I attended A Swedish Culture Course today from 9-3.  The class explained about the history of the Sweden and the Swedish people.  The instructor also helped to explain about why the Swedes behave the way they do.  Sometimes we find it very strange and frustrating.  I will go into more details when I write again.  I want to be able to tell you all what I learned today.

Also, on Sunday, David and I drove to Växjö to do some shopping.  On our way there we took a wrong turn or more accurately, we forgot to make a turn.  Well, we ended up driving through this beautiful nature preserve, which also had the ruins of a castle.  The cool thing about it was it was very foggy and the nature preserve was rich in a deep red color from the leaves of the trees. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking! Wouldn't you know, neither of us had our camera, so I was unable to take any pictures.  David and I plan to go back to explore and take pictures.

Otherwise, we are doing well.  David is off to Zurich tomorrow for one day.  I promise to write again soon and give you more information on Sweden and the culture.  You will find it very interesting and I cannot wait to share it with you.

Take care,

Bridgette

Life is Good

Hej,

All is going well this week in Älmhult.  This past week when I wrote of my silliness with the shower gel I forgot to tell you we had a nice Saturday outing to Ljunby and did some walking around the town and shopping.  Ljunby is about 60 kilometers from our house.  The problem with shopping on Saturdays, the stores usually close about 2:00 pm, so you have to get an early start.  Some of the larger stores outside of the town centers will sometime stay open until 5:00 or 6:00 on Saturdays, but it is definitely not guaranteed.

The week was relatively quiet until Friday, when I had to go to a spouse coffee in the morning and in the evening I went with a friend to a glass painting party.  The spouse coffee was for all the recently relocated spouses to meet and get to know one another and to learn more about Älmhult.  On Thursday evening when I was picking up David from work, I had the opportunity to make friends with someone else.  She moved here last weekend from Shanghi, where she lived for 6 years.  The great thing is, she is from Australia.  Her husband will be working in the same division as David, so it is nice to have another acquaintance in the same boat as I am.  She also attended the coffee.

When I went to the glass painting party, I met a lady from France who has lived in Älmhult for 11 years now.  The glass painting is very similar to ceramics, you paint on glass and then you have it fired in the oven.  I made a plate, I hope it comes out well and then I plan on adding to it and having it fired again.  However, I did get some great ideas on things to do in the future, so I may be busy with this activity for awhile.

Yesterday, David and I drove to Helsingborg and took the ferry across the sound to Helsingör Denmark and then we had to take the train to Humlebaek.  We went to visit the Louisiana Museum.  The museum is a modern art museum and this weekend was the last weekend for the "Living" exhibit.  Here is the website: www.louisiana.dk and you can read about the artwork on display there.  I was hoping to see an original Andy Warhol of Marilyn Monroe and a Picasso, but they were not on display because of there other special exhibits.  The "Living" exhibit was quite interesting because it explored the megatrends of how people around the world are living.  So many are moving to the cities that they are finding creative ways to get the people places to live as well as green space, it also focused a lot on small space living.  Small space living is one of the concepts that IKEA works with and is a part of.  We learned a lot by the exhibit.

David's division asked me to do a special project to introduce one of the new items, so I am working in putting together, staining and decorating a chest of drawers in the way an American might use it.  I have some great ideas, so I will post pictures of it when I am finished.  The piece will be on display at IKEA of Sweden for several weeks.  Wish me luck that my idea comes out the way that I imagine.

Starting tomorrow, I have a temporary job helping at IKEA, so I will keep you posted on my adventures with that.  We have to see how well David and I manage getting ready to go at the same time in our smaller bathroom with only one sink, unlike our bathroom in Houston, where we each had our own space. :)

Hope you all had a great weekend and I will talk with you soon!

Love,
Bridgette

Yes, I am Human

Hello,

Yes, I am human and here is a funny story.  Buying items in Sweden can be difficult, especially if you do not read Swedish.  Yes, I can figure out butter, milk, and basic stuff.  The funny story comes in when a couple of weeks ago I was anticipating the fact that I needed to buy some new lotion.  David and I were at the store after a day of shopping and his patience for shopping tends to wear out towards the end of the day.  He wanted me to hurry up and I grapped the first thing that looked good.  We went about our shopping.

Last week, I finished my lotion and opened my new bottle.  I went to put it on and thought it was kind of strange that it was more liquidy than normal, but after all, this is Sweden and things are different.  Well, as I continued to rub it in, it turned white and disappeared into my skin.  Not thinking much about it, I thought that it was okay.  So I do this for a couple of days and when David got back from Poland, I told him about this lotion and the way it was behaving.  He looks at the bottle and tells me that I have been putting shower gel on all week!  Yes, I felt completely stupid and immediately rinsed off in the shower again.  The bottle was labeled "duschcreme".  Me, not speaking Swedish found out that dusch means shower.  Okay, so then next time I go to the store, I look for lotion again.  David looks at the bottle and confirms that it is indeed lotion.  However, we could not figure out why this lotion seemed much less expensive than some other lotion in another aisle.  We decide that it is lotion and buy it.  The next day, I go to put it on and guess what - it is shower gel again!  This time the bottle was labeled another way.   Apparently, they have several ways to label shower gel.  I guess this is another learning experience.  You have to understand that the way they lay out the stores here can be confusing and frustrating and obviously it is difficult to find exactly what you need.  I will learn and hopefully I will be able to find a bottle of lotion soon!

Another frustrating update - I have told you about how we cannot have items shipped from the U.S. due to the excessive custom and duties charged by Sweden.  Well, we did find out that we can order items from Amazon.com/uk and not have to pay the excess.  David ordered a book and it came without any problems.  Cool!  However, now we were trying to order a pair of boots for Dave and a cat feeder for when we go away.  Well, we have found out that many of the sellers through Amazon do not ship to Sweden.  We are back where we started, frustrated that we cannot seem to get some of the basic things we need.

Anyhow, life is treating us well and we have settled down.  We are getting into a routine and are starting to enjoy life a little better.  We do now have internet in our house and a wireless connection, so things are better!

Hopefully, I will have some more interesting things to tell you about soon.

Enjoy your day!

Love,
Bridgette

Randon Thoughts Part Three

Hej,

I woke up this morning with inspiration to write to you and to see a light frost on the grass outside.  Fall is definitely here!  Sweden is absolutely beautiful in the fall.  When you go for walks, there are fallen leaves on the paths and the sky and trees are an awesome sight!  The sky the last two days has been clear and very blue!  The sunshine lights up my house and makes it feel bright and warm!  However, the amount of daylight is starting to get shorter.  It will not be long before we only are getting about 6 hours of daylight per day.  That will be a big change for me.

Anyhow, I thought I would tell you some more about Sweden.

By now, you all know that merchandise, groceries and the like are very expensive here.  However, the one thing that is not expensive is milk!  Milk is only about $1.15 for a litre.  Compare that to the almost $4 for a gallon in the U.S. or the $3.69 I was paying for a half gallon.

On the other hand, gas is very expensive here.  Comparatively, it is about 4 times the price in the U.S.  For ethanol, which is the cheapest gas, but all cars do not use it, the cost is about 9 SEK or about $1.40 per litre.  A litre is about a 25% of a gallon.  The more expensive gas is about 15 SEK a litre.  So it is not really prudent to drive too much.  Interestingly enough, the gas stations are not manned!  There are 3 gas stations in Almhult and none of them have employees.  You just pay for your gas with your credit or debit card.  In other places, they do have some 7-Elevens and Shells that are convenience stores with gas, but the majority of them are just pumps with no store or anything. 

The few times that we have gone out for burgers at a place called Max's, it was more than $20 dollars for two meals.  Max's is comparable to Wendy's.  We do have McDonald's here, but it is pretty expensive as well.  We do not have any of these places in Almhult.  Perhaps with the expansion of Almhult that is coming in the next few years, we might get something like this.  Speaking of restaurants, the Swedish people like a lot of sauces on their food.  Their burgers come covered in sauce, all the dishes at the restaurants are served with sauces and all the grocery stores sell all these sauces.  For example, a burger at Max's comes covered in this Thousand Island like sauce and ketchup.  You need a boatload of napkins just to eat it.

One other interesting thing I found here is that many of the larger stores actually have wrapping stations located near the exit.  So if you go and buy a gift you can wrap it right there at the store.  One of the electronics stores has red paper, one has a striped blue paper.  I have also seen them at the grocery stores!  Some of them are free, some cost 5 kroner to get 1 meter of paper.  They have all that you need right there to wrap a gift.  Here are a couple of pictures from one of the stores:

Quite interesting!

Life so far in Sweden has been a learning experience.  I keep looking for new experiences to share with you and I have to tell you, there are several.  So I will keep collecting and sharing with you.

Have a wonderful day!

The Forest is How Close?

Hi. I hope everyone is doing well! Things have been rather quiet this past week here in Almhult. After 7 weeks here, things are basically settled. The last thing is next Monday we will (fingers crossed) get DSL here at the house and we will no longer have to use the mobile broadband.

I have also learned that it is not efficient, monetarily to order or have anything sent here from the U.S. Last month, I had my daughter send a package of goods, kind of a care package, and it cost me an additional $60 to pick it up at the post office due to customs and duties. Then I received a catalog in the mail from Land's End and they said they ship to Sweden. Well, David wanted a couple of new shirts and a pair of boots for the winter, so I placed an order thinking that everything was included in the shipping and such. Well, needless to say, I was wrong again! I guess UPS left a notice or two in my front door, which we don't use and when I did see the notice, they wanted me to pay an additional $70 to pick up a package that was worth no more than $60. The boots were on backorder, so I contacted Land's End and asked them not to send me the boots and I am just now hoping that UPS sends the package back to Land's End. I am not certain on how Sweden determines the charges when the package comes here, but it is incredibly expensive. They can even charge you if you receive a gift and it is more than a certain amount. So please, do not send me anything! One reason I wanted to get some items from the U.S. was because things are obviously less expensive. Last week, I noticed my mascara was running low, so I decided to pick one up at the supermarket, well it was $20 (155 kroner). I will be restocking when I come home in December!

Otherwise, we had a great weekend here. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining down on us. On Saturday, my friend, Carmen invited to take me around Almhult to visit stores that I had not visited and to show me around. We had a great time, shopping and looking. Mostly, I looked. However, I did find a nice Christmas present for my daughter and some ideas for other gifts for my family. Saturday night we had Carmen over for an American dinner of North Carolina Ribs, packet potatoes, coleslaw and carrot cake.

On Sunday, David and I decided to go Geocaching on our bikes. We rode 9 miles and found 3 caches. If you don't know what Geocaching is, you can learn all about it at www.geocaching.com. Basically, we use satellites to find Tupperware in the forest or other places. Anyhow, we found these great forests that are just 1 - 2 kilometers from our house.  They were absolutely beautiful, especially with all the leaves changing colors.   When we were in the different forests we found ruins of old farms from the 1830s and 1890s out there as well.  Here are some pictures from this weekend.  I hope you enjoy seeing them.  I think it is amazing that we are so close to the forest. This area reminds us very much of Colorado. It is a blessing to be able to spend so much time outside in clean air, enjoying nature.

Swedish Horse Farm

Forest across from the Farm

Sign designating the different counties (We live in Smaland)

Inside a circle of beech trees looking up

Trail/Path through the forest

We have to take advantage of every opportunity that we can to get out and see the sights.  The days are starting to get shorter and the rain is coming more often.  Our Daylight Savings begins a week before the U.S.(October 30th), so the hours of daylight will start decreasing quickly.

Hopefully, I will have more to share with you soon.

Amazing!

Happy October 5th!  Today is my 26th wedding anniversary!  I can't believe that time goes so fast.

Anyhow, things are going smoothly here in Sweden.  Finally, something went easy for us.  We went on Friday afternoon to buy a car.  We had an idea of what kind of car we wanted because I had done some research on the Internet and found a couple of good cars at reasonably good prices.  The dealership is located about an hour away from our house.  When we got there, we found a salesman, no they do not assault you at the door, like they do in the U.S. We explained what cars in particular we were looking for, we found the ones that were advertised on the Internet and checked them out along with a couple of others.  We decided on the gray Ford Focus Kombi from 2008.  Took it for a test drive and then decided that yes, we wanted to buy it.  You will not believe that we were in and out of the dealership in less than ONE HOUR!  They use your person nummer and the information comes up on the computer.  We had a one page contract and were told we could come back on Monday or Tuesday with a check to pick up the car. (The check has to come directly from the bank, we do not have checking accounts here like we have in the U.S.)  Wow!  I could not believe that we did not have to spend the whole day at the dealership, negotiating and stressing over the price and all that usually has to be discussed.

Well, we came back on Tuesday, gave the check to the salesman he gave us a receipt and the car in less than 15 minutes, included in that time was the time he took to show us how a few things on the car worked.  So one hour and 15 minutes to buy a car - absolutely unheard of!

Otherwise, things are getting settled here.  On Sunday we took some time and went on a 6-mile bike ride around Almhult and shared a pizza at the restaurant located at the train station.  We are trying to enjoy the fall temperatures and sunshine before the weather changes.

I took some more pictures of Amhult to share with you.

Below is a picture of a map of Almhut and Almhult's Kommun.  Near all the towns, they have these type of maps located about 1 - 2 kilometers outside of the town.  They are located so you can drive your car up to them and see where you need to go.  This picture was taken at the train station/bus terminal.




Also located at the train station was this very old steam engine.

Here are some pictures of the other church located in Almhult.  This is the Mission Church and was built in 1894.  This church does have a cross located on its steeple.  I like how colorful the church is.

I thought you would also like to see the building that David works at.  The building is only 3 stories tall, but you would not believe how many people actually work in the building.  I also took a picture of the giant allen wrench located at the front of the building.  The allen wrench is really one of the symbols that relates to IKEA.

Hopefully, I will have more to post soon.  I will try and find some more interesting things to take pictures of for you.



Tuesday Updates

Hej,

I wanted to update you on some of the latest developments here in Sweden and what I have been up to.

We thought we were in the clear now that we finally got our personal numbers or person nummer as it is called here in Sweden.  Well, we were wrong!  David tried ordering the internet for the house and we have run into another glitch - we do not have a credit record with our person nummer and it takes a year to develop the credit.  So, at this point, I am not sure what we are going to do.  We are currently using a mobile connection, but it costs a bit more than having a connection in your house.

One good thing has come from getting our personal number, we were able to join IKEA Family.  It is a card that provides you with discounts on every day type products, such as body wash, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent and they also have specials in the store, I know they have some awesome backpacks and such.  You can sign up for one in the U.S.  Click here for the link.  For example, I was able to get some conditioner for 9 Swedish Kroner instead of 39.  What a bargain!  I am sure the bargains are similar in the U.S.  No, you don't need a person nummer in the U.S. to sign up for the card.

Last Thursday we went out to "After Work".  "After Work" is sponsored by IKEA here and is located at the Activity House.  It takes place on Thursday evenings from 5 pm to 11pm.  We met up with some of David's co-workers because there was going to be a live band.  The band did not start until 8:30, so we went out to dinner at Elme and then went back to see the band.  We had a great time and for awhile I actually forgot that I was in Sweden.  We had dinner with four lovely women, one from the U.S., she was living in Atlanta but is from Jamaica, one from Germany, one from Poland, but of Russian descent and another from Iran, but who has lived in Sweden for a long time.  That is one of the cool things about Almhult is that it is such an international place.  The band was rhythm and blues and they did a lot of covers from the U.S.

On Saturday, I decided to re-cover the kitchen chairs.  The chairs that came with the house were a bit nasty.  They had stains on the covers and they tried to cover them up with chair pads and it did not work.  Here are the before and after pictures.  I think they are much nicer.

Before with Chair Pad

Before without Chair Pad

 

After with New Cover

On Thursday we are going to finish up our paperwork with the Government and get our ID cards.  Then hopefully on Friday we are going to go car shopping!  I will let you know how successful we are with that.

Until next time.

Hej da

Promised Photos!!!

Hej,

Here are the promised photos.  I have also included a couple of cool pictures of a mushroom I found in my yard.  At first I thought it was an apple, but it was a red mushroom!

These were taken on Friday morning.  The next two were taken on Saturday morning.  See how much it changed overnight!

I took David to the train station yesterday afternoon, so I had a chance to take pictures of the Almhult train station and main street.

Train Station

Fountain and plaza across the street from the train station.

The three pictures below show Almhult's main street. The main street is called: Norra Esplanaden.

These two pictures show a couple of the side streets near the train station. Now, remember, Almhult is not that big and it is only two blocks from the train station to the main street.

One of Almhult's churches (kyrka).

The church was built in 1929.

This is the rooster on top of the church steeple!

Last, but not least, here are a couple of pictures of the front of my house and the neighborhood in which we are living.

This is the side yard and back deck.

The front of the house.  You can see the front door and part of the gararge.

Our house is located on the left at the end. You can just see our roof next to the gray house.