Category: general

16
Apr
2007

ONCE FOR YOURSELF AND ONCE FOR YOUR CHILD

I said, I don’t know how to get started again. I don’t know where to begin. It seems so trivial to just write a diary-log of my days, what I did, where I went, what I bought. What I ate. It’s more fun and it means more to me when I write things that seem to reflect the inner surface of my shiny and distracted brain. Things that I want to read about when someone else writes them. Things that make me smile or think or go “huh, that was cool.” My mom said, write about your family. Write about...

06
Apr
2007

HAPPY HAPPY

The air here smells right, the water here tastes right. My body remembers Michigan. There are red-breasted robins and grey squirrels and black squirrels in the yard. There are 2 pairs of cardinals flitting around. There are deer walking through the woods…the snowy woods. We have been shopping 4 of the 5 days we have been here, for clothes, for books, for CDs, for food, for STUFF. We have been to a hockey game and our presence meant that the Detroit Redwings won 3-0 (we have the Magic Power). We’ve had our pictures taken and we’ve been up at 4...

03
Apr
2007

TRAVELING ON APRIL FOOL’S DAY

After a long, exhausting but uneventful trip, 45 minutes in the Customs & Border Protection line, a claim form filed, several increasingly upset calls to the delayed luggage call center, a return from the automated phone line from hell that kept dumping me out with a busy signal after keeping me circling for an infinity of “Press 1 for…press 2 for…”, a shopping trip to provide a change of clothing and toiletries for all 4 of us, and nearly 48 hours of worry, our 4 missing suitcases should be arriving some time this afternoon.

31
Mar
2007

GOING OVER, GOING HOME

I remember the night before a trip there was always this breathless feeling of excitement in the pit of my stomach. We usually went on car trips, my dad packing the big station wagon the evening before, laying out blankets in the back and putting all the baggage around the edges so that we had a place (when we were still kids and mandatory seatbelt laws were still to come) to stretch out or play. Sometimes we would get started early in the morning, before the sun was up and the world was quiet, the air still chill, and our...

31
Mar
2007

GETTING READY

laundry – 3 loads 2 loads 1 load send final translation project scrape tank and change water in aquarium clean bathtub drain empty wastepaper baskets water plants buy last present collect cameras – batteries – cards select activity books for kids fill kids’ backpacks pick up kid’s department dust and vacuum house go for a walk in the spring sunshine, buy pansies at the nursery, clean up the front garden beds and plant them in pots empty fridge set timers put “ingen reklam” sticker on mailbox call farmor and farfar with flight info check michigan weather online one more time...

29
Mar
2007

A FEELING THAT EVERYTHING MUST END

I found out yesterday that something I’ve been fearing for awhile has come to pass: our choir leader is moving on after the end of this term. I think it’s been a long time coming, and it seems to be a common propensity of choir leaders: the urge to move on after a couple of years, whether from boredom or being too busy with other things or feeling like they just can’t develop any more where they are. Kind of like being a military brat, I think. 3 years in one place is about the limit. I’m really sad about...

27
Mar
2007

WHEN IT WORKS

Now THAT’S what a women’s club meeting SHOULD be like. Electric atmosphere, pleasure in seeing friends and smiling new faces, a record attendance turn-out. An inspiring and interesting guest speaker talking on a subject we could all relate to (intercultural relations and how to find your way as an expat), people coming up with ideas, people volunteering for things, people laughing in good spirits, a high-pitched hum of chatter after the official meeting ended and a record-setting profit at the media sale. I bought a game (Lingo…ever heard of it? Ever played it? Is it any fun??) a book of...

26
Mar
2007

FULL SPEED AHEAD TO SPRING

Getting compliments on my hair from colleagues all day long Having to eat sushi for lunch because there were no salads in the vending machine and the lunch-of-the-day selection was nasty Leaving work early while the sun was doing a bang-up job of imitating a summer day Getting the word from my doctor to stop the skin treatment medicine I’ve been on for 4 months because it has done its job Playing hookey for an hour after the doctor’s visit to speed shop: groceries—done! Presents—done! Even going back to work and working for another hour which allowed me to thwack...

25
Mar
2007

ONE THING OR ANOTHER

Suddenly, it all starts to catch up: the amount of things I’ve done in the past few weeks, the amount of things still to do before we leave, the phenomenon of Spring drowsiness, the additional fatigue engendered by daylight savings time ending and the fact that I didn’t get to sleep in…I mean, REALLY sleep in at all this weekend. But the translation project is nearly done. My part is finished, now it’s only the proofreading from Anders and I’ll be able to deliver the project this week. And Malmö Redhawks won the hockey game in overtime yesterday; despite a...

21
Mar
2007

NO STARS ON THEIR BELLIES

Equinox, schmequinox…you couldn’t tell by the temperature the past couple of days that Spring is just around the corner. It is, isn’t it? Just around the corner? I might have to go find it and DRAG IT BODILY HERE. Regardless, walking in the crisp air is invigorating and each time I go the faster I get. The past few days have got me to the point of realizing that my hard work is beginning to pay off: feeling that my pants are getting baggy, putting on an outfit for work the other day only to realize that the shirt was...

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