After Christmas we decided to continue further South and landed in New Smyrna Beach, FL. When we were traveling we learned that a good friend and mentor of Mattias in Sweden, Rolf, had passed away. He was very ill due to cancer and fortunately,we were able to say our goodbyes with visits to his home this past Summer and Fall. With this event, it felt like a good time to wrap up our trip a bit earlier than planned. That was a bittersweet ending to a wonderful few months of the cruising life, but the right thing to do. Plans had been a bit up in the air in regards to our whereabouts so before New Year's, the girls and I flew to St. Paul to make a final visit to my sister and her family. With us out of the way, Mattias took a couple of extra days on his own to travel further South to Ft. Pierce, FL. Once he arrived, he spent more time to clean out the boat thoroughly and got it ready to be lifted out of the water to put into dry storage. It will be later this Spring that Mattias and his brother will travel to the U.S. to get Windfall back into water and sail her to Ft. Lauderdale where it will travel by ship to either Denmark or the Netherlands. We will meet it there and sail it to Sweden some weeks later. Mattias arrived in St. Paul on New Year's Eve where we celebrated with pizza and beer and early to bed.
We spent the next several days in St. Paul, relaxing after our sailboat travels and getting ready for the next big trip--the final move to Sweden. We spent some nice, relaxing time with Kris, Elliott, Matt, Cam and Carl. The "big boys" were home from college and Kris and Carl had time off from school too. Remarkably, with a full house of nine people, my sister didn't go off the deep end and we all managed to find a nice place to sleep. The girls hung with the boys, played Guitar Hero 3, we had a sushi fest and got some bonding time with Riley, the dog. Kris was my shopping accomplice and helped me select some necessities including 9 pair of new shoes, in just my hard to fit size, and 4 for the girls among other things. Anyway, it has been a long time since I've done some power shopping and she was just the right person to take along.
On January 9th, we set off for Sweden! The flight over was not so full so Mattias and I each had a row with the girls and they were able to stretch out for a couple hours nap. We arrived after a 3 hour delay with our nine bags in tow. All of our other belongings been shipped this Fall and is still in the container in storage.
First week in Sweden:
The first week has been a busy one! It was only last night that we all slept through the night. For a while there I was wondering if a 3 a.m. snack and read would be a habit for us all!
With my Permanent Residency status, and the girl's passports, we got ourselves enrolled in the Swedish tax system, signed up for health care and schools. We are living at Mattias' Dad's home in Onsala until we move to our permanent home.
He has outfitted his guest house nicely for our stay and we are continuing to tweak it to our needs. Since he remodeled his own house, we have inherited a full size range and some extra cabinets in the kitchen. Today we removed a couple of beds to put in a sofa bed that will give us extra floor space and put in book shelves for storage.
We have enrolled Liv and Hanna in their respective schools. Liv started the Swedish Förskola Klass. Because she is only 6 years old, this is school before the "real school" starts. This year, they teach kids to socialize and get used to the classroom setting. They pretty much play and learn. The academics part start next year--so Liv has a couple of years on them academically, but can concentrate on learning Swedish and getting used to something new. This grade school does mixed age classes. Liv's class has 25 students from Year F, 1 and 2 and three teachers. Her F class group breaks out and then they are 10 students with one teacher. Her school has about 350 students from year F through 5 total. The F-class starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 12:30 p.m. and Liv eats lunch at school. There are "lunch ladies", but here the kids serve themselves. There is a hot meal served and bag lunches from home are unheard of, they get salad and choice of breads. For the most part, the menu looks great, chicken with curry sauce, oven baked salmon with dill sauce, and taco buffet for a few selections. I told her she didn't need to eat the blood pudding when that is served--but she said, what if I want to try it?!
On the morning we went to visit the school we got there and about 5 little girls took Liv's hand and showed her inside where the cubbies and classrooms are. It was so sweet! We entered the classroom and there were tea lights burning on the tables where the kids sit. (never would that happen in the U.S.)! It was still dark outside since we are so far North so it was pretty cozy! When were leaving, an older girl gave Liv a little cross stitch piece with Liv's name stitched on it--Oh my gosh, make my heart melt! Her teacher is a gem and so kind to the kids and parents. The kind takes rubs the kids cheeks and gives them hugs. I smile a lot since she speaks only Swedish to me but can catch some of what she says! Liv is loving it and making new friends and is not shy of speaking Swedish. Liv's cousin is in the same F Klass along with a girl who's mother is from Australia.
This region of Sweden, the Kungsbacka Kommune, has the highest population of children and families in all of Sweden. It is apparent in the daycare area where there are wait lists for several months and the kommune is required to provide something for you. A minimum of fifteen hours a week for a non-working parent, is paid for by the government, and if more hours are needed when you work 16 hours or more, the family pays only about $100.00 per month depending on income. Thankfully, we have been on the list since Hanna's birth and were able to enroll her into a dagis that her cousin goes to as well. It is called Ur or Skur, meaning, "Rain or Shine" and has a unique pedagogue. The kids spend the majority of their time outdoors, rain or shine, and do most everything they can do inside, outside,--play with dolls, workshop, eat etc.. Hanna will transformed from an inside comfy girl to outdoor girl before we know it! They do use the inside of the daycare on days of extreme weather and it has a great feel and will be engaging for Hanna as she learns Swedish and gets used to a new environment. We have a couple of weeks to go before the two week orientation starts where I will also be involved to some extent.
Mattias started his work and has already traveled to Uppsala back and forth by speed train. He will have a busy schedule the rest of January when he'll be doing some additional travel to Uppsala, Stockholm and Gotland.
Near the middle of February, I hope to start my full time Swedish for Immigrants course. The government pays for my schooling free of charge so I hope to "get my money's worth"! Once the girls are used to their routines, I am looking forward to getting my own. I will probably do some sort of work, but don't know what that is at the moment. First, the Swedish language...
There is to be a big storm coming this weekend. Lots of wind they say. We can see the ocean from the window and the tide has come in much more than normal and is very choppy. The sun is shining so that is a good thing! We still need to get out to so some more provisioning. Tomorrow we will celebrate Jan's, (Mattias' dad) birthday. I baked a carrot-pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting. Was originally craving pineapple upside down for some reason, but didn't have rum in the larder but had all the fixin's for the other cake. Hopefully it will be edible!
More later,
Carrie
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