wheweee

It has been a BUSY past week! Let me tell ya!

Last Tuesday I checked out the apartment. It is so great! I love it!

So Saturday we signed a contract! It's ours! Wooohooo!

Fredrik's mom and I went out and bought a 10 place setting set of dishes. Includes big plate, small plate, bowl and coffee mug. It was all less than 50 dollars! Whaaat! ;)

Saturday we bought TWO dining tables with 12 chair, a huge mirror almost as tall as me and a half dresser for all less than 2000 SEK. Which is less than 300 bucks! Sheesh!

Then Sunday we went to IKEA and bought a TON of kitchen stuff. Bowls, spatulas, canisters, strainers, wine glasses, beer mugs, water glasses, etc etc ETC! It was so fun!

We have been waiting to do this forever! Buy all the things to create a house TOGETHER! We love every second of it!

The furniture is being delivered to our house today! Can't wait to take pics and show you all!

We get the keys either today or tomorrow then we can move in whenever we want! We probably have to wait a week and a half because we are borrowing a big truck...thing from Fredrik's sisters boyfriend. He is getting it from work, so we have to wait! ;( But it's nice to get some help! Since we helped them!

Work is good! Right now I'm so excited about the apartment it's hard to get through the day! I want to be moving stuff and buying stuff! ;)

The Swedish word of the day is 'trött' which means 'tired' and is pronoucned 'truhtt'.

i know jag vet

I haven't written in TOO long! It's just been a BUSY week! Starting work really took a lot of time out of me! I am so dedicated to it, I think about it like...90% of the time right now! I love it! It's going really great. Getting a good start on what I expect from myself, the other teachers and the kids. It can be frustrating being a new teacher in the middle of the year, but all in all, I am making really good head way. I can see where I am going and it feels good! More to come on some of the exciting stuff we are doing in the classroom! It's a lot different than teaching Montessori, but, I am getting used to it. ;)

In OTHER good news! I just got back from looking at THE apartment and it's great! SOOO we are going to sign a contract and we have a place to live for at least a year! YAY! It's not 100% official, but it's darn near close! It's so exciting! It's a lot bigger than we need, which is funny, because we have like...uhh...NO FURNITURE! Haha! One couch, a bed and a TV! Gonna be faaaannncyyy! So more to come on that as well!

Fredrik has been working late this week, which totally sucks. We see each other when he gets home from work at 11:30 pm and when I leave for work at 7 am. Yuck! But it's one week of that, then one week of early. He is currently searhing new jobs, hope he finds something more normal and closer to home. He has to travel over an hour to get to work! Yuck! Makes this wife nervous when it's snowing really hard! So more to come on THAT!

Man we are busy over here. Working hard, getting things done. Now on to the fun stuff...decorating an apartment! Now if only we could win the lottery next! :)

The Swedish word of the day is "äntligen" which means "finally" and is pronounced "entligen".

no word

on the apartment yet. Sheesh. It makes me anxious too! Fredrik insists I calm down, but man o man, I want that apartment! So we will see! We are still looking at other options. We shall see!

This is my LAST WEEKEND totally free of work. I start Monday! Yikes! I'm very anxious, excited and nervous!

Not much else is going on in our lives. Just getting down to real like business. It's just a normal life we are about to start and man, it feels good!

I have been doing a lot of cooking because Fredrik and I have had a lot of time alone. I love it! I made homemade biscotti, homemade pizza, chili, mozarella biscuits, cookies! Not all I make it really good for...weight loss, but hey, a happy person is better than a skinny person! Right!? ;)

Hope you all are having a good first week of the new year!

The Swedish word of the day is 'mat' which means 'food' and is pronounced 'mot'.

2011 post!

The first post of 2011! I hope everybody had a great one! We sure did! We spent it with friends and fireworks. So much fun!

I have one week left of 'vacation' and then I start work! I am so excited to start! It's hard to believe my life is shaping up and becoming a 'real' life! Haha!

Now the apartment. We are kind on a list for an apartment that is only a 5 minute walk from where we live now! We are just waiting to go see it and hear the final word if it is ours. I think about it ALL THE TIME! I want it so bad! It's just a simple 2 room apartment, but it's really perfect for us right now! I want it! Dear readers, hold your thumbs! I sure do keep you busy!

We'll not much else! Happy to have spent 5 days solid with my honey! He is working nights this week though, and we hate that! He leaves at 1pm and gets home at 11pm! Boo! But he does have Thursday off because it is some Swedish holiday. ;)

The Swedish word of the day is 'lägenhet' which means 'apartment' and is pronounced 'legeenheet'

mellandagarna

the middle days. In Sweden, there are HUGE sales this time of year. The days in the middle of Christmas and New Years. So Fredrik did some research and we went out and bought ourselves a new LED suuuuper flatscreen TV! We love it! We put it in the living room for now, so everybody can enjoy it! Fredrik's dad says we can leave it behind once we find an apartment, though!

Speaking of apartments, Saturday Fredrik and I did some research and found some nice places, emailed the people, and I was feeling really good about it. One of them is already given to somebody else and the other one we haven't heard from. It's REALLY frustrating! We just want our own place to live! But here in Göteborg there just aren't enough places to live compared to the amount of people who need places. It really sucks, when we can afford to live on our own and DEFINITELY want to live on our own. Oh well, just have to be patient and maybe something great is headed our way.

Christmas was great. We celebrated Julafton at Maria and Pontus house, Christmas day at our house and Annandag at our house. Yesterday I made a turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, cornbread and Kansas dirt cake. It was delicious! I love making that food! I know the Swedes usually aren't too impressed and usually like to stick to their traditional food, but it sure does make me happy to eat it!

We don't really know what we are doing for New Years yet. Last year we went to Anton and Sofias, and I think we might do that again! I hope! It's really fun!

Hope you all have a great New Year! 2011, hopefully, has great things in store for you and me! I know 2010 was wonderful! ;)

The Swedish words of the day are 'gott nytt år' which means 'happy new year' and is pronounced 'gott nytt ohr'.

a person again!

with a person number! I have been waiting on my Swedish person number and it finally came yesterday! This is basically Sweden's version of a social security number, but it's WAY MORE IMPORTANT! You have to have this number to...breathe!! It really is quite an important number and now that I have it, it opens a lot of doors for me. I opened a bank account last night, and I will be able to get my contract from work, etc. So I was quite relieved to get it!

Not much is going on around here. Just anticipating Christmas! I have been working out HARDCORE because I know there are at least 3 days in a row I won't work out. It will most likely take away all the work I have done in the past week! I have lost 4 kilos! Which is about 8 pounds! I can hardly believe it! I hope it continally goes down and isn't just some first week water weight thing. ;)

I'm getting very excited for Christmas. It's so fun because we actually get to celebrate 3 days! Julafton, Christmas Day and Annandag (boxing day). Annandag is my day! We get to make turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and all that good Thanksgivingy stuff! I think Swedish Christmas food is...ok. But it isn't Christmas food to me! I need my turkey!

The Swedish word of the day is 'kalkon' which means 'turkey'.

Mer jul ge mig

give me more Christmas! Cause I love it! Mer Jul, is one of my favorite Swedish Christmas songs. It's a little creepy sounding, but it's so good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23gu1Oxw6gA

Give it a listen!

Today we decorated our fat Christmas tree! I've only had a real Christmas tree a few times in my life, and I really like having one. It's so fun to have a different shaped tree every year! Last year we had a pretty skinny tree, this year it's nice and fat!

Things are starting to get really Christmasy around here. The snow is falling, it's REALLY cold and the shortest day of the year is a few days away! The sun will go up around 9;30 and go down around 3 and the sun only goes a little bit above the horizon the whole day. It makes for a very short day!

This week we will celebrate Julafton (Christmas eve day) with Fredrik's family at his sister's new house. In Sweden, you celebrate on Julafton not Christmas day! It's weird, but just means we get to celebrate 2 days! And we get to eat a Julbord (Swedish Christmas table) and traditional American Christmas Day food! Of course, I always make Fredrik watch The Grinch on Christmas eve and A Christmas Story on Christmas day!

AND Friday at work went great! I got to know some of my fellow teachers and get to know the school a little bit better. We did a lot of lesson planning and I learned about some of the things they do in the school. There are so many interesting people working there! People from all over the world! Poland, China, England, Mexico, another American, a lot of Swedes and a lot of Swedes who have lived abroad. It's so interesting to met people who have experienced life aboard, as well! Hearing other peoples opinions about America is also an interesting thing. Most of the time it's pretty postive! Which is nice to hear, because as an American, we often hear a lot of crappy crap about our country!

I want to wish all my readers a HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEK! This is one of the best weeks of the year! Leading up to Christmas is almost better than Christmas itself. It's such a great time to smile a little extra, hug your hubby a little more, appreciate what you have and be excited for what you might get! It also is a time for me to REALLY appreciate my home and my family. I miss them so much, so so very much!

The Swedish word of the day is 'familj' which means 'family' and is almost like we pronounce it! Faimly is universal. :)