IKEA

I went to IKEA for the 2nd time this week with Mireille. I went one time with Fredrik, and we went on a Sunday afternoon, so it wasn't very enjoyable, way too crowded! But going on a Wednesday night was really enjoyable! I wanted a lot of new and smell good candles! I bought 4 new candles, a star shaped string of lights and Mireille bought me a blanket and a mirror!

Other than the IKEA trip, this week has been pretty boring. I have stayed home with Caitlin everyday since Wednesday because she is "sick".

Today Fredrik went to the doctor for his 2 week checkup after his surgery. They took out 15 stitches out of 3 incisions. He doesn't have to wear the cast anymore, just a plastic thing to protect it, and he can take it off when he showers and 4-5 times a week when he does his exercises to help his hand get back to the way it was, or close to it anyway. We are both so happy he doesnt have to wear the cast and he can start getting his arm and hand back to normal. He does have a plate and some screws in his arm, and the doctor didn't know if that would set off the metal detectors at the airport (what kind of doctor doesn't know that?), so that is something we can deal with later, I guess! But I'm really happy for my buddy!

The Swedish word of the day is "Håkan" which is Fredrik's dad's name! :) It's pronounced "Hoakan". :)

what I did

What I did this weekend was...

Enjoy a delicious "American" meal of buffalo wings, celery and carrot sticks, and baked potatoes made by Fredriks dad. He is so nice and treats me really well! It was so nice of him to go out of his way to make me a home cooked from home meal!

I went to the Cirque Du Soleil "Saltimbanco" with Mireille, Caitlin and Tara. It was so much fun and I really enjoyed it. I've never seen anything like that, and it was really amazing! I would totally see it again and definately want to see another Cirque du Soleil!

Celebrated Halloween with Fredrik and his sisters house with some nice people! It was a lot of fun dressing up with Fredrik for the first time! :) His sister had great decorations and really good and fun Halloween snacks!


On Sunday we came back to Lerum and celebrated Caitlins 12th birthday with some yummy Thai food and a delicious cake. Later in the evening Fredrik and I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Caitlin to take to school on Monday, and from what I hear, they were a huge success!

This week I have already been to Tara's school to teach English to the class. I am actually teaching 4 different classes. I take turns going to each class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lately, I have just been introducing myself, and the kids wrote questions and have been asking me them. They want to know all kinds of funny stuff. And they definitely always calls Kansas "Canada" and they always want to know if I have met any famous people. Funny questions. But I am really enjoying it. It's a lot of fun to just be around kids and talk to them like that.

The Swedish word of the day is "fråga" which is "question" and is pronounced "froaga"...and "questions" is "frågor" pronounced "froagor". I'm wondering if anybody has any frågor about Swedish or any special words in Swedish? I know you do! :)

My fiance wants me to eat blood...

...a very creepy title...I know.

But really, he does. He wants me to eat blood pudding. Now I was going to write a whole entry about this and in doing some research found another blog from an American living in Sweden and his version is so funny and really captures how I would feel if I had done this myself as well. So I will let you read it and see for yourself.

READ THIS!

The Swedish word of the day is "vampyr" which is, yes, "vampire" and is pronounced kind of how it looks. Again, that "y" sound is really hard to make, so usually my way of faking it is making a weird "ewwyyyrr" sound at the end. I tend to laugh when I say words like this, because it's pretty hard to take myself seriously saying vampire in Swedish, especially when it looks like that.

Random Facts

Wow, it's been awhile! Sorry!

1. In Sweden, the table etiquette is not even parallel to that of which we use in the US. They use the knife in the right hand, fork in the left (upside down style). Unlike us Americans who rarely use a knife, and if we do, we switch it back and forth, not able to hold a knife and fork at the same time. I have adopted this method of eating and it's so simple, you take much smaller bites, and really...it looks much more elegant! But often, to my surprise, napkins aren't present at the table as much as you would expect. I'm very used to having a napkin and putting it in my lap right away.

2. Movies in Sweden are expensive and that price is based on the length of the movie! Also, seats are assigned. No going early to get the seat in the middle with the rail in front so you can prop your feet up! The worst part about this is, if you buy you tickets well in advance and DO get that great seat, there is a high chance that somebody will be sitting in your seat hoping you won't show up! Ugh, it's so annoying!

3. They subtitle everything! Dubbing can be quite common in certain childrens shows, as the children aren't developed in English enough to understand the text or the actual spoken language. But if something is in English, it will always be subtitled. I find myself reading the subtitles and sometimes will exclaim "that isn't what they said!", so often, the subtitles are a lose translation of what the dialogue is really saying. Hmm...But with that, Swedes are really great at speaking English, and most aren't shy about it at all! I love it! :)

4. Name days. Here in Sweden everybody with a fairly traditional name has a "namnsdagen". There is usually a male and a female for each day. Sadly, I don't have a name day. :(

5. The boy wears a wedding band during the engagement, as some of you might have noticed, Fredrik is wearing a band. At first, I didn't really like this idea, but now I think it's nice. I'm not the only one feeling all happy and new with my new ring. Fredrik (as much as a boy can) gets to feel happy and new with me! Equality equality equality! That's the Swedes moto! :)

6. You have to pay to park EVERYWHERE! The movie theater, the mall, the liquor store! It's crazy to me! But Swedes patiently and ever so willing abide by this rule. And it's usually quite expensive to pay! And maybe, coming from a smaller town, I'm just used to not having to pay and in a larger city is necessary, but man, it's a real drag getting out of the car, going to get your ticket from the machine, then going back to your car to put the little paper in your window. Small things, small things. :)

7. Swedes love curtains and window dressings, but more often than not, they serve no real purpose, other than to look pretty. Now with the sun going down around 4:30, the houses are very well lit up, but walking around outside you start to notice you can see right into everybody's houses! There is no attempt to hide your living room or kitchen from the outside world! You can walk by a house and look into a kitchen and nearly see what they are cooking for dinner! Don't get me wrong, the curtains are usually really nice looking and match the motif of the house, but they serve no purpose!

8. Swedes love candles and lights and lamps. Back home, I'm used to the overhead lighting system, here it's more of a lamp and candles everywhere system. It's really nice and for me, seems more like a romantic looking setting, but is definitely less invasive than a huge overhead light overwhelming the entire room. This is particularily nice when you are having your after dinner "fika" and the lights are low and you are eating a nice piece of sugar cake and drinking a coffee..mmm. :)

With this time of year, I'm sure I will be finding many more new traditions and customes and fun new facts I can update you all on. I'm looking forward to seeing how Christmas goes around here! I already found out they celebrate on December 24th, and on the 25th, when we are all celebrating, they are recovering! And obviously, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, so we will see how they like my Thanksgiving celebration!

The Swedish word of the day is "ljus" which means "candle" or "light" and is pronounced "yus".

more fall festivities!

Today Caitlin and I made pumpkin spice cupcakes, with the cute paper cups Sarah sent me! They are perfect, I'm so proud of them! I made the butter cream frosting and sprinkled pumpkin spice on the top! I think they are the best cupcakes EVER! :) We also carved a pumpkin! Caitlin calls him Grumpy...sooo, he's grumpy! Then we went to the Vatten Palatset, which is the indoor swimming pool. I didn't swim, but it was nice, I took one of the books Fredrik's sister's gave to me and I read 150 pages! It's good, good job soon to be sister in laws!

Fredrik seems to be in high spirits, and very sure he will be joining me and the girls tomorrow to see the movie we arranged to all go see together. We will see! He's just too sweet to not go. I know he doesn't want to let me down. I just wish he could get this surgery so I can feel better about his bones not rubbing together and healing wrong and him being in pain! Ugh!

Swedish word of the day is "pumpa" which is "pumpkin" and "pumpor" which is "pumpkins". Both sound how they look! :)

Hint taken, Sarah!

Thanks Sarah! :) But it's been a busy past few days! With a surprise birthday party for me, bowling, pumpkin carving and Fredrik breaking his arm! :)

Yes, Saturday we went bowling with Hanna and Andreas (Fredriks sister and her fiance). After we went to his parents house for dinner with his sisters, their boyfriends, and his parents. After dinner, they cleaned up and when we went back to he table there was a surprise dessert waiting for me! AND presents! :) Ann made me a chocolate cake, even with writing on it! Usually here, you just eat "kladdkaka" or "sugar cake" which is soooo delicious, but my cake was awesome! And his sisters gave me 2 books, a really nice scarf and a card. His mom and dad already bought me 3 pairs of shoes a few weeks ago, but got me a really nice card (that is even in English!) It was so nice and thoughtful, and really made me feel loved and a part of their family! I really love the new extension of my family, I'm really lucky!

Sunday, Fredrik and I carved our first pumpkin together! We named him Gert, which is pronounced "Jert" so it's fun to called it a Gert-o-lantern. So lame. But I think he turned out great! And it was so good to do something new with Fredrik, that he had never done before. He really loved the smell, picking out all the seeds, and cleaning them! :) He did a great job, and I think he likes the seeds. His family certanily likes them! I roasted them with garlic salt, worchestershire sauce, salt and butter!


And then there was today. Monday morning, the beginning of a long week with the girls off of school on fall break. So, I'm just down at the house getting some coffee made and my phone rings at 8am, and it's Fredrik's mom. Never a good sign. She tells me Fredrik has broken his arm playing soccer and she is headed to the hospital. Ugh. Can you feel more helpless! 30 miles away, in a foreign country, and not able to drive a car there! I nearly broke down crying! But, I trusted Ann to be there and to let me know what was going on. Finally, I talk to Fredrik and he doesn't sound too bad. He get's his x-rays, yes needs surgery. We THOUGHT it was going to be today so Mireille (my host mom) can come home early from work and I head into Göteborg. Call from Ann, nope, just get on the bus and go to the house, Fredrik will have surgery on THURSDAY! I repeat, THURSDAY! WHAT?! Oh, I was not happy about this. But there is nothing we can do. I just have to watch the person I love more than anything in this world suffer with his little temporary cast, while his bones rub on each other, for 3 days. I feel so angry about that! But he's so tough. He never complained! The only time pain showed was when he moved wrong and his face winced just a little bit. Other than that, he doesn't want help and doesn't want sympathy. This is a good sign for the rest of our future, because from what I hear, guys are real whimps when it comes to sickness and pain. But my man is tough, and a real trooper! So we will see how Thursday goes, and if all goes well, my trooper thinks we are still goin to Copenhagen Friday night. We will see!
Only he could look this adorable with a broken arm! The break is right where the tape is. From what he and his mom told me, the "big bone" is broken and laying over each other and twisted like a screw as well. This is one tough guy, I think!

The Swedish word of the day is "bruten arm" which is "broken arm" and is pronounced how it looks!

Is it too early?

I have already made my Thanksgiving menu...

Turkey (made the traditional way!)
Turkey gravy (made from the actual turkey drippings!)
Homemade sweet yeast rolls
Stuffing (sadly from a box!)
Grandma Miller's Creamed Corn
Sweet Glazed Yams
Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Roll

I know I am missing plenty of items most people deem as Thanksgiving "musts", but Fredrik's family, who I will be celebrating with, already thinks this is WAY TOO MUCH FOOD! But I'm cooking it anyway! I have to! We will be celebrating the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and there will be 8 of us. Funny that my first time making a whole Thanksgiving meal will be in Sweden for a Swedish family. If I mess up, they might not even know! ;) I think the turkey makes me the most nervous, all the rest is pretty simple. But a whole entire bird! Yikes!

On a more, time relevant note, next week the girls have fall break. SO I get to spend the whole week with them. Sheesh. So I have some nice Halloween activities planned. Here in Sweden Halloween is really not celebrated at all. Younger people might dress up and have a party amongst themselves, but really, no kids are out trick-or-treating and such. So we will carve a pumpkin, make some pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting (thank you Sarah for the pumpkin mix and Halloween muffin cups!) and Mireille was so kind to buy me the movie "Hocus Pocus" which will always be my favorite Halloween movie, and one of my best memories of my grandmother. And Sweden being the "out of date" country it is, we will see "Upp" in the theater, since it just came out a few weeks ago! So hopefully it won't be totally unbearable! Plus, my birthday is Friday! So I think Mireille has taken that day off so we can do some fun things all together! And Friday afternoon Fredrik and I go to Copenhagen for the weekend! I love this time of year! So much to do, so much cooking to do, so much to plan! I miss home, but it's really fun to introduce the American way of celebrating, and learning the Swedish way as well!

The Swedish word of the day is "meny" which means "menu" and looks like it sounds. Only the "y" in Swedish is sort of special, you have to purse your lips, like you are trying to hold a pen between your lips and your nose. It's a REALLY hard sound to masture for a non-Swedish speaker!