I made a mistake! I told you that there was nothing new in Älmhult, well I forgot that we have a brand new IKEA store, a new traffic light and another traffic circle. Funny thing about the traffic light, it has been up for a month now and I have actually only seen it on once and had to stop. All of the other times it is off. Not sure why, but it is what it is. Älmhult is starting to get with the late 20th century. No they have not yet made it to the 21st century since they are still backwards on so many things.
The new IKEA store is nice, it looks exactly like the new store in Colorado. Everyone is so excited by it. I had the opportunity last week to go to the store at 7:00 am while Country Managers and their colleagues came to tour the new store. I was amazed at how many people found it so cool. They were running around taking pictures with their phones and such. I guess I am a bit cynical, but all the IKEA stores look the same, yes, some are smaller and some are bigger, but the concept is the same. I think it is pretty neat that I have had the opportunity to have visited both the newest stores in Sweden and in the States. However, when people ask me what I think about the new store, again I say it is nice, but it looks the same as all the others. Sometimes their response is that they have not seen anything so big. However, there are stores in Helsingborg and Malmö that were built in the last two years and they look the same as the new store in Älmhult. I cannot figure it out, both places are not that far away from here and many had to go to these stores to get merchandise that the Älmhult store did not carry before November 2nd. I cannot explain it. Here is a picture of the store opening. I also just found out that the store has the very first escalator in Älmhult. Pretty amazing!
Yesterday, we went to Thanksgiving Dinner at another American's house. There was 14 of us with 4 children. Most everyone was from the Philadelphia area since that is where IKEA's Service Office is located. We had a very nice time and dinner was excellent. Yes, there was turkey, ham, lots of vegetables, including the famous green bean casserole, cranberries, and pecan pie. No, I did not eat the turkey or the ham and no green bean casserole, but David was happy to have some turkey, since he never gets it at our house and said the green bean casserole was good.
I was also happy to hear that many of the people we were with are experiencing the same struggles and fighting boredness as we are. Again, it is difficult to live in the middle of the forest when you are used to the bigger cities in the States. Right now, we are all struggling with the lack of daylight since the sun is not coming up until 8:00 am and it goes down at 3:00. Then add gray and rainy to it and it feels darker yet. By the time the Winter Solstice comes on the 21st of December, the sun will be coming up at 9:00 and going down by about 2:30ish.
David and I booked our trip for Christmas today. We are going to spend 5 days in Rome. Since, we live in the middle of the forest, we will have to leave the day before and spend the night in Copenhagen, since on the weekends the first train out of Älmhult is 8:53 am. There is no way we can make it to the airport for a flight that leaves in the morning. Always, an extra cost in time or money, but at least we get a vacation! We have never been and are looking forward to seeing some new sights and being in Rome for the Holidays. I think it will be pretty cool. Not sure yet, if we will join the millions at the Vatican to hear the Pope speak, but I will let you know if we decide to do it.
Talk to you soon.
Have a Happy Day!
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