Things Are Moving Along

(Please Note - I wrote this last Friday, unfortunately, I did not post it right away, so I have added additional comments in italics)

Things are moving along getting ready to move to Sweden.  The Change of Address has been submitted, the magazines have been changed and the final appointment for the cats health certificates was made this morning along with our airline reservations.

We went to the East/West International store last night to pick up some converter plugs and some large-size suitcases.  We have six bags to get all of our stuff to Sweden.  It is kind of scary to know that all you can bring with you is what will fit in your luggage.  Somehow, we will manage.  I have been taking the afternoons off of work, so I can go home and organize what needs to come to Sweden, what is going to Allison's house in DC and what is going to go into long-term storage.

The other nights this week have been spent going to Carmax to see what they will offer us for the cars.  Surprised by the offers!  Less for my car which does not even have 31,000 miles and more than we expected for David's car, which has 71,000.  Hopefully, the Honda dealer this afternoon will offer more for the Honda.  One can hope! (No, the Honda dealer offered less!)

Tomorrow, we will be taking the 1977 Monte Carlo to the consignment place in hopes to get something out of it.  When we purchased it for Niq, when he was in high school as a project car, we did not expect that there was no market for 1977 Monte Carlos, no matter what the condition.  Niq did a great job in rebuilding the motor and making the car run.  The interior is beautiful and well taken care of.  Too bad no one wants this type of car.  Keeping fingers crossed that the consignment place can sell it quickly. (Got it to the consignment dealer without incident)

It is amazing how much there it to do and so little time to do it.  We are planning on leaving the 12th of August to start our drive to Washington DC.  We are going to see our daughter and son-in-law and to take some of her childhood memories to her.  The car will be packed to the brim!

My Swedish Adventure Has Begun

I am a bit delayed in starting this blog, because actually my Swedish adventure started on June 18th when I flew over to Copenhagen, Denmark and took the train to Almhult, Sweden.  Almhult is about an hour and 45 minutes via train from Copenhagen.  Almhult is the headquarters of the home furnishing store - IKEA.  The  purpose of this trip was to experience Almhult to see if it would be a place in which I would like to spend the next 3 - 5 years of my life.  Why would anyone want to live in Almhult, Sweden you ask?  Well, my husband, David, has been offered a new position there.  We have been living in Houston, Texas for the last 3 years as he did a special project for IKEA and North America. 
  
We had a week of appointments, meeting with Mobility, Human Resources and the Tax Accountant from PricewaterhouseCoopers in Malmo.

In addition, we had a great time meeting with David's co-workers for dinner and laughter!

Almhult, Sweden is a relatively small town, the locals will tell you that there are 3 traffic circles and one traffic light.  Besides being the home of the first IKEA store, it is also the town in which Carl Linnaeus, the botanist, was from.  The total population is about 10,000. 

The "kommun" of Almhult only has two hotels - the IKEA Hotel, yes IKEA really has a hotel, and Haga Park, there is not much choice as to where you will stay.  The IKEA Hotel was full, so we ended up staying at Haga Park.  Haga Park was very nice and the owners are lovely people.  However, it is a bit of a walk to IKEA and the first day there, we were in a downpour, as we were trying to get to IKEA for our first appointment of the week!  We looked like drowned rats when we arrived.  Why did we not drive?  Well, we did not have a car and Almhult is small enough to get around by walking or biking.  One must always be prepared for the weather in Almhult, it changes quite quickly.

I found Almhult to be a very interesting place.  It was nice to see the place that my husband has been spending about 2 months out of the year for the last 3 years.  He comes home with stories and it was nice to finally put all the places in perspective and see what he is talking about.  Additionally, it was an honor to meet all of his co-workers from Sweden as well.

It appears that we are going to be moving there sometime in August, so I will faithfully keep you updated on the Swedish Adventure, my ability to learn some Swedish, my job search and my everyday life living outside of the U.S.  I am excited to go forward with this adventure and I am hoping by writing this, I can give my readers a unique insight to my adventure, good and bad!