This was the first year that started to feel like the pandemic might, just might, be over. Until Anders tested positive for COVID…twice (!) in the space of 2 months. He had no symptoms at all the first time, and nearly none the second. Karin also managed to get it twice, and Liz is pretty sure she also had it the second go-round. Good thing we all got our boosters!
In between bouts of COVID, Anders and Karin managed to fit in a week of skiing, up north in Sweden, and Karin went up again a couple of times to see her girlfriend who was working for the ski season. Liz went with Debbie and Camilla to the planetarium in Copenhagen for a day out. The three of us had many fun day trips during the course of the year, including several castles in Skåne and various art exhibitions and markets.
After starting up in-person activities at the end of 2021, the AIC continued and we hosted Pie Night at our place in March and several other fun events in the spring and throughout the year. At the beginning of May, we celebrated Anders’ 60th birthday with a family week in Rome. Great fun as Liz was the only one that had ever been there, and it was so long ago for her that it was pretty much new for all of us. We saw all the sights and ate all the pasta!
In July, we had a visitor from Liz’s extended family, one of her second cousin’s kids. It was fun to show Cassy around the area and we managed to have dinner with Liz’s other second cousin’s family: Cate, Magnus, and Sydney. Karin also had a week in Greece in the middle of the month as well as working at Roskilde music festival in Denmark, and Martin took the entire month of July off and flew back to Detroit to hang out with friends.
But the best part of the year was at the end of August, when the four of us hopped in the Tesla and made our way to the island of Bornholm, where we met up with Liz’s brother John and family, Liz’s mom, AND Liz’s sister! Since we hadn’t seen any of them since before the pandemic started, it was quite a joyous and tearful reunion, and great fun to finally meet John and Simone’s daughter Kaya who was born in 2020.
We spent a week on Bornholm, doing and seeing pretty much everything the island had to offer, and then we headed back to Sweden with Linda and Sarah in tow. They stayed with us for another almost 3 weeks, but even so, it was too short! We managed to cram in all kinds of fun things while they were visiting, including hosting a crayfish party.
This year’s resolution for Liz was to do art every month, and she only has December left to do. She and Martin got on a jigsaw puzzle kick and have spent the year finding and putting together lots of hard and pretty puzzles. Liz ran again for the board and kept her position as VP Membership in the AIC for another year, and continues as Senior Corporate Graphic Designer at Axis. She also quit Livejournal, and with the help of her friend Russell, got her blog transferred over to lizardek.com! Martin got his job at TUGG restaurant back after his summer vacation, though he is looking for something non-restaurant-related for the future, along with apartment hunting.
Anders started a new job after 15 years as a Technical Trainer. He moved over to the Field Service Engineer department at Tetra Pak, and is quite busy now, and traveling a lot more, albeit mostly in Sweden. It’s quite a difference to have him gone so many evenings now! Karin extended her job at Axis until November 9th but on November 20th, she left Sweden to head off to the Alps as a ski guide for LionAlpin. She trained in Austria for 3 weeks, then moved to her base in Canazei, Italy, where she will be at least until middle of April 2023. 5 months, and gone for Christmas!
This month, Martin hits the quarter-century mark, turning 25! He and Liz spent the day at Copenhagen Zoo, and then joined Anders for a nice birthday dinner in Lund. It’s so nice to be able to travel and see people again, and we definitely have more plans for getting over to the US in the works. We hope that your year has been a vast improvement over the last couple as well, and that you are all happy and healthy for the holidays.
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Mood: relaxed
Music: John Denver—The Christmas Wish