Monthly Archive: June 2011

29
Jun
2011

ALL OF US ARE FOREIGNERS SOMEWHERE

I don’t think about the fact that I’m a foreigner and an immigrant very often. I’ve assimilated quite well here, and frankly it wasn’t all that difficult. I’ve got lots of advantages in the immigrant deck of cards: I’m Caucasian, I’m educated, I speak English. I come from the US and I came because of a Swede. I’m not a refugee, even though I’m jokingly classed as a “love refugee” by a certain subset of expats. I have a job so I can contribute to taxes that keep this country running. I learned to speak Swedish quickly and fairly easily....

28
Jun
2011

COUNTING DOWN, OR UP, DEPENDING ON WHICH WAY YOU LOOK AT IT

When Anders first suggested Iceland for our summer vacation trip, I wasn’t all that enthusiastic. It’s expensive. People mostly go there for the scenery and outdoor activities. It’s small. But the more I’ve learned and read and heard, the more excited I’ve started to get about it. I’ve seen Jeanine’s photos and heard colleague’s accounts and it sounded lovely but what was there really to do for someone who doesn’t do bathing suits and isn’t thrilled at the prospect of horseback riding or nature hiking for days on end? I’ve heard Iceland compared to the moon and heard that it’s...

23
Jun
2011

VACATION STATE OF MIND

My entire family is on vacation except for me. Martin has 8.5 weeks. Karin has 10 weeks. Anders changed his scheduled vacation time and took next week off, so he has 5 weeks off as of today. I’m still working next week (and as we speak, actually) but then I have 4 weeks off. And it’s a 3-day weekend right now (as soon as I quit working, already). But still. 10…8.5…5…4…I think I’m getting the short end of the vacation stick.* It’s 9 pm and the sun is still high in the sky. It’s shining right through the bedroom windows...

20
Jun
2011

DON’T LOOK INTO THE LIGHT

Sometimes it’s good to take a break, even when it’s unexpected, and even when the very thought of it makes you a little twitchy. Our Internet has been wonky for ages. We can either be online on the PC OR the iPad OR the iPhone OR the Internet-TV OR the laptop, but not more than any one of them at once. And we have to constantly disable/enable/disable/enable the Internet on the PC. It’s incredibly annoying, but at least when it stops working COMPLETELY, you have to go and do something else, right? I’ve been hacking away at the to-do list...

14
Jun
2011

BUSY ON

Pay bills, including money to klasskassa Buy teacher gifts for Debbie & Inger Get dryer fixed Search for and buy new or used trampoline WALK WALK WALK Start WW again Send email to regional speakers requesting bios Get presentation title from Laurie Renew Swedish passport for Karin File US taxes Send reminder invite for regional to all clubs Check with Cate about Embassy speaker Email Kamila about ad for company donation Email Tobbe about recycled printer for program & ad Start program layout for regional Schedule a long-overdue massage Book hostels for Iceland Plan Iceland itinerary Replace wilting/dead pansies with...

11
Jun
2011

INVINCIBLE SUMMER

Things that I am grooving on lately: Looking: Swedish summer! Listening: Sara Bareilles — Little Voice Reading: Bill Bryson — At Home, A History of Private Life Drinking: Schweppes Pear Lime Fusion Eating: mozzarella & tomatoes, red seedless grapes Flowering: Paradisbuskena (Paradise bushes! latin: Kolkwitzia Amabilis), it’s called Beauty Bush in English, and it really is incredible. Giant bushes FULL of these gorgeous deep pink flowers Karin took this photo of the farmhouse behind us. It’s falling apart…no one has lived in it or taken care of it for a couple of years now. The green-covered mound to the right...

06
Jun
2011

AFTERNOON ON A SUNNY SUMMER HOLIDAY

The breeze is ruffling the parasol—it’s making flapping sounds like the wings of some large captive bird. A delirious dance of wind and rippling fabric. The eges of the parasol are frayed; it’s almost always windy here and they’ve had several summers’ worth of windy workouts. The sun has heated the wooden boards of the deck to a degree that makes them unpleasant to walk barefoot on. The wood is bleached to a soothing gray and darker knotholes contrast with marching rows of shiny nailheads. Dandelions, grass and clover stretch illicit green fingers up between the planks. Karin just came...

04
Jun
2011

ENTERTAINING MY BROTHER

I wasn’t going to post today because I didn’t really feel like I had that much to say, but my brother is stuck in a hospital room 3.5 hours from home with his wife, who is under observation to make sure her contractions have stopped, so they don’t have a 6.5-week preemie. They had just started their vacation when she started having the contractions and ended up in the hospital. He has books to read (in German) and a TV in the room (in German) but not much else, and Simone can’t even sit up so they’re pretty stuck. She...

02
Jun
2011

HOLIDAYS, CASTLES, ANNIVERSARIES, SHOWERS & A QUESTION

It’s gone a week, nearly, and suddenly it’s June. And I’m beginning to have that panicky feeling of “where has the year gone?” It’s nearly half over! Eeek! Christmas will be here before you know it! Haaa! Anders comes home tomorrow from his 3-weeks of jaunting. He’s home for a week, then gone for a week then gone for the weekend, then gone for a week. THEN he’s on vacation, and we still haven’t bought tickets for our trip to Iceland. I don’t even know if we can really afford it. There seems to be no end to the things...

June 2011
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