Perhaps the secret to a good night’s sleep these days is staying up until 1 in the morning. At least that way I only get up once more in the middle of the night and am apparently able to fall asleep again quite quickly, even if my brain starts waking. That’s what we did last night because we were at a double-birthday party in Malmö and didn’t get home until after 1 am. I had a really nice time, which surprised me, because I wasn’t really looking forward to going, and I spent quite a lot of the evening talking to someone that I haven’t talked to much or felt I had a lot in common with. We had some very long, very interesting conversations during the course of the evening, and I came away feeling like the evening, and my part in it, was a success. And I got a compliment on my hair, which makes Barky happy.
This was a group of “scout” friends that grew up with Anders. Some of them lived in Oxie as well, and some joined in later. By the time I met them, 30 years ago, they had all been hanging out together since they were teenagers, or at least in their early 20s for the latecomers. We’ve spent a lot of time together over the years as well, with various parties and dinners, usually crayfish or midsummer or New Year’s Eve, but also birthday parties like last night’s and our collective children’s milestones like graduation. So we see each other as a group maybe 2-3 times a year. There are some that I find easier to talk to than others, but all of them are really nice, fun, people, who have helped to make my life in Sweden smoother and welcomed me in with no reservations, which is a really nice feeling when you’re an immigrant to a country that is full of people notoriously (and stereotypically) hard to “infiltrate”.
Because I have a Swedish husband and kids and a job here, I’ve found it easier to assimilate, and of course, being a white, English-speaking person from the US has meant that my immigration experience has been much easier and more integrated than if I had come from Africa or Eastern Europe, say, or the Middle East. I don’t have religious issues or skin color or language barriers, so I’m very privileged in that regard. And having a built-in group of friends that came with Anders has also helped. Even if we didn’t see them on a really regular basis, all of the couples in this circle have welcomed me, and been genuinely interested in my thoughts, opinions, experiences, and progress. They’ve answered questions, and remembered things about me and my family that astound me.
One woman last night remembered where my mom and sister had moved to, and several of the places I have lived. Another woman told me that during a trip to Normandy this summer, she and her husband talked repeatedly about me, and my father (because he was military) and how our living in Europe, and my moving to Sweden, colored their insights into how Americans helped Europe during WWII. I was a little taken aback because I don’t really think a lot about that kind of thing and that connection, but it also made ME look at it in a different light. I had a great conversation with 2 of the women about food culture and breakfast staples in different parts of the world, and how you don’t think about the fact that food you grew up with and consider normal might be considered weird by people from another country and vice versa, until you travel or move abroad or meet someone from somewhere else and are faced with it.
Did you know that in The Netherlands, people routinely eat breakfast rolls with butter and chocolate sprinkles? In Denmark, the chocolate is a super thin slice that comes in packs of either milk or dark. In Sweden, people often eat breakfast rolls with marmelade on top of cheese? Or sliced pickles on liver paté? Kids here in Sweden eat cereal with milk like kids in the US but none of the adults I know do. At work, when you go down for breakfast rolls which are served in the canteen, you always get cheese, but toppings might be a choice between sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, orange marmalade, grated carrots, hummus, or alfalfa sprouts. Not together, mind you, just one of those choices with your bread, butter, and cheese. In Swedish, the things you put on sandwiches, regardless of whether they are spreads or meats or whatnot, are called pålägg, which literally translates as toppings. På means “on” and “lägg” means “put” (or “lay” as in “lay on”). If you’re an English speaker wondering how to pronounce that, it’s PO-LEG.
At my company, we get the added luxury of meat with the breakfast fika on Fridays so your choice with cheese might be salami or ham, or the aforementioned liver paté (which ALWAYS comes with pickles). In the winter, at least at home, Swedes tend to go for oatmeal or semolina porridge (mannagrynsgröt). I hated porridges and oatmeal and cream of wheat as a child, and have never been convinced to try them as an adult. Eck.
This post is all over the place.
It’s Sunday, nearly lunchtime, and we have no plans today (I’ve already watered the indoor plants, sent a message to my doctor regarding a new prescription, and messaged my FB friends regarding a jewelry repair question, which were the 3 things on my to-do list for the day), though Anders is working on preparing the walkway between the house and garage for the installation of storage batteries in the storage room on Thursday. He’s dug up a 2-feet deep channel from the fuse box on the outside of the house, across the walkway to the garage and all the way down to the storage room door. Altogether I think he dug over 4 meters in distance. He’s laid a wooden “bridge” across the gap so we can still use the side door (where our house alarm control is) and get to the car without having to jump over it. Today he has to figure out which conduit he can use to run the cable they’ll need from the fuse box on the outside wall halfway through the house to the router by sticking a cable in and apparently pushing it until he can see where it comes out. Good thing he’s an electrical engineer and knows what the hell he’s doing. He told me last night that the old phone conduit should still be in place and could be used for this since it’s not being used right now, and that it’s orange where the others are white, so he can easily tell which one it is. I just laughed because I have no idea what he’s talking about and would be completely lost if any of this was my responsibility.
He’s also currently preparing to pickle all the cucumbers that were ready this week (10-12), and already has 2 glass jars in progress from the past week. And there are more cucumbers coming in the garden, good grief! Pickles out our ears!
Otherwise, it seems like a good day to start a new book, maybe start a new crossword puzzle, continue figuring out how to edit and enhance photos, and maybe, possibly, probably, take a nap later. I’ve already had my breakfast several hours ago which included a breakfast flatbread with butter, ham, cheese, AND sliced cucumbers (plus a little salt and pepper), because I’m a rebel and why have one pålägg when you can have them all?
Mood: awake and okay with life
Music: Perlo—On My Head
This was fascinating. I would have loved to hear that conversation about food. Julie and John are both huge cereal eaters, and I haven’t touched it since I was a kid. It always gives them something to eat, I guess. And it’s pretty common in this house to eat ice cream sandwiches for breakfast, but not sure how universal that is😂
I haven’t really eaten cereal since I was a kid either (not counting rice krispie treats), and I didn’t eat breakfast at all for years. I do miss eggs and bacon sometimes though and those breakfast casseroles.