Bubbling with Swedish

Hello,
It's the end of another week and today is Saturday. Hanna has her 5th birthday tomorrow and we got home later this afternoon after her kiddie party at a local play place-- the kind with climbing structures and special room for the party food etc. She had 5 of her friends from school invited plus an older cousin and Liv for a total of 8. We enjoyed the afternoon and while it can be pricey to do these things, it sure makes it nice when we don't have to cook, clean and plan and then clean up after it all! Considering our living situation now, there weren't many party options for a small group of wild ones....
Mattias cooked salmon and baked potatoes tonight. We ate the fruit salad and chocolate cupcakes leftover from the party for dessert. He is getting the girls ready for bed as they are wired and tired from the day. Tonight is the finale of the Melodifestivalan--a kind of European contest that will decide who is the most entertaining singer/performer in Europe. Tonight Sweden is deciding their candidate. I haven't watched before but might consider it entertaining to check it out.
Both Mattias and I had a busy week. He was in Uppsala for two nights. He enjoyed a corporate team building event with an evening of go-karting. Little did his team know that he was a former go-kart racer while growing up so this event was just up his alley! Back home to settle more things on our pending new house. We got in there this week to remove some more items from the house and garage, vacuum, and absorb the atmosphere. We discovered new things about the house and took some more look/see's to get the work ideas in place. We are doing some verbal problem solving and hope to get it in place quickly once we settle the financials of owning the place.
I had a great week at school and as they say in Swedish, "Min huvud är bubblar med Svenska"!-- or my head is bubbling with Swedish! The program is really fantastic for three reasons-the method they use at the Kungsbacka Komvux called Suggestopedi; our teacher who is a bundle of energy; and lastly, the classmates. We are all gelling now and have a fun time while learning Swedish. I have been lunching with the Americans/Australians and Romanians, but lately enjoyed a girl's lunch with Yvonne, from East Germany and Farida from Russia. We tease Farida as the "Swedish police" as she enforces that we must speak Swedish while in class and out on breaks. She calls herself "Little Stalin". Another day I broke away from the American and Australian group to have lunch with the Asian ladies from China and Thailand. It is very interesting to hear people's background stories and learn why and how they got to Sweden.
Tomorrow we have a family meal as both Hanna and cousin Linus share the same birthday. He is turning 7 years. It was suggested that I bring calico baked beans and coleslaw to share with the bbq chix and spareribs. There was rumour of some sort of Princess Torta for dessert. Yummy!
More later,
Carrie

Weekend in Stockholm

Mattias and I are rounding out our trip to Stockholm this weekend without the girls who are with Farmor. We are here for part business, mostly leisure. Mattias and I took off to attend a special event for Astrid Sylwan, an up and coming artist (but pretty well established) who has received a significant stipend to travel to New York City for a month to meet other artists and absorb the culture for inspiration. Or at least that's what I think you'd do with a stipend! The stipend was from Carl-Axel's foundation and was presented by Carl-Axel and the artist, Peter Dahl. Peter is a modern day Picasso (literally), and between he and Astrid, it made for an interesting evening to be surrounded by such talent!
Friday and Saturday, Mattias and I had free days. We are staying at Carl-Axel's pied a terre overlooking the city. We got to sleep in and take a coffee and late breakfast in the apartment. On Friday we spent time exploring Södermalm neighborhood where the apartment is located then to dinner at Carl-Axel and Åsa's house some blocks away. We ended the evening by going to a great little British Pub just a couple blocks the opposite direction of the apartment. We thought we got a good bargain on a pint of lager for a little over $10.00 a pint! Saturday, today, we got up and took to the town by foot. Our first destination was Svensk Tenn and it took some time to wind our way out of Soder, through Gamla Stan, past the royal palace and up and down the path by the water. It was a busy shopping day in Stockholm and as suspected, Svensk Tenn was packed with visitors fawning over the ever lovely Josef Frank designs. We had a great time window shopping and rested our legs by having a delicious Lebanese lunch. We took the Tunnelbana back to the apartment and picked up Carl-Axel to go to a building supply store that had a number of kitchen and bathroom exhibits for inspiration. Later in the evening we walked back to CA's house and had dinner, this time joined by Ulla-Britt.
Sunday we'll head toward home but first stop and visit a Herrgård that Mattias' Uncle is interested in purchasing. They want our opinion on the property so we are happy to help out. After, we'll continue driving and try to visit Mattias' Mormor, (Grandmother), and have a coffee and some treats perhaps.
This week Mattias will be back in Uppsala for work and I will have child duty alone for a couple of days plus back to school on Monday for myself.

More later,
Carrie

Weekend happenings

I'm sitting in bed typing this blog and planning to hit the hay early tonight. A friend and I took the train in to Göteborg last night to meet up with 22 other English speaking moms and Mattias drove into the city to pick us up late. We met at a Thai restauarant on Vasagatan and enjoyed a delicious build your own meal buffet. There were four of us whose kids go to the same school and another gal I had previously met for coffee so I knew a few people, but the rest I met for the first time. We are all English speakers and for the most part, married to Swedes, although there were a couple of Swedish natives who lived in the U.S. It was another cultural affair with ladies from England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the U.S.

Last night, Liv went to a pajama birthday party for a school friend and had a nice time. Hanna stayed home with Mattias and had an evening with cousins while their folks were also out on the town. It was a gorgeous sunny day today. The cousins slept overnight and Mattias cooked an American pancake breakfast with bacon and real maple syrup. Afterwards, the kids played outside on a newly discovered area around the house. Hanna had a play date with a friend and Liv went home with Linus and Johan for more playing. I met the parents of Hanna's friend and had a coffee at their house before leaving Hanna, and then joined Mattias at our potential new home. Mattias and his friends were at Rolf's house divvying up more of his household belongings. It is getting emptier and now we can see better the work we will need to do to get it to our liking, get an idea of furniture placement etc. We are still sooooo excited about moving in and can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have asked the neighbor to help me with the garden. Rolf was a master gardener so I have big shoes to fill and don't think I can do it on my own. If I understood her correctly, Ulla told me that when the birch trees begin to form buds is when I can prune the rose bushes...oh, so much to think about and the work will follow!

We have another busy week ahead but Mattias and I will take some days together in Stockholm at the end of the week. I will share more about that later.

Off to sleep,

Carrie