Tagged: americanabroad

03
Jan
2016

A WEEK AWAY

I finally finished reading The Goldfinch today…I’m probably the last person on the planet. It was REALLY good, and hard to put down, while I was supposed to be hanging out with family I never see. I thought about it all the time I wasn’t reading it; definite sign of a good book! It’s our book group book for January but we’re not meeting until the 21st, so I should probably write down some of my thoughts about it, since my memory is sieve-like these days. We got home last night after another grueling day of driving. We left rather...

17
Aug
2015

THE BEST KIND OF DISTRACTION

Just like our vacation, which had both good (traveling, sightseeing, relaxing) and bad (John in the hospital) elements, this weekend was the same. My mom called Thursday with the news that my Aunt Kathie had passed away. She was diagnosed at the end of March with an aggressive brain tumor. Even knowing the outcome, I still wasn’t expecting it to happen so fast. I guess if you have to go, fast is the way to do it, but UGH. Cancer sucks. The visitation was yesterday and the funeral today. I was very sad that there was no way I could...

17
Jul
2015

COBBLESTONES, BRIDGES & SPIRES: PRAGUE

We tried to plan a trip to Prague several years ago. I’ve always wanted to go, though I’m not sure why. Prague doesn’t have the same call for my heart the way Edinburgh does, but I’d heard so much about it, all good, that it was high on my list of destinations. The kids were much younger then and the more research I did, the more I realized that the Prague I wanted to visit wasn’t necessarily one that my children would want to go to…and we ended up changing our plans that year. But, it’s always been in the...

20
Jun
2015

HALF TIME

Yesterday was midsummer. The longest day of the year, and in Sweden at least, the official start of summer. The temperature? 12 degrees Celcius. The weather? Buckets. Clouds. Umbrellas. Gusting. We spent the entire day with the friends that we usually spend Midsummer with, starting at noon (!). We haven’t always spent midsummer with them but of the past 19 midsummers we’ve probably spent at least half. They are a group of old Scout friends of Anders’ and their wives and children. Nowadays, some of the children are disappearing from the get-togethers. My kids would have been some of them...

04
May
2015

MEANDERING

I just finished reading All the Light We Cannot See and it was SO good. So so very good. In fact, I might start over reading it again. Or I might do that thing I do (and you do, too, admit it), which is download and devour everything he’s ever written. Which is another novel and 2 collections of short stories. I’m actually a little wary about the short stories, because I’ve found that, much as I love them, they don’t seem to stick in my brain the way full-length books do. And then I buy them again, forgetting I’ve...

13
Jan
2015

THERE’S NO NEED TO FEEL DOWN

This past weekend was my 18th anniversary of moving to Sweden. 18 years! Every year I am equally boggled by how long I have lived here. If you add on the 6 years I lived abroad as a child, that makes 24 years total I have lived abroad. Considering my age, which no one should be considering, that means only 2 more years and I’ll have lived half my life overseas (note to skeptics, I checked the math with my husband). Half my life! Martin: Why are you using Firefox and not Chrome? Liz: Um, I don’t know Martin: *under...

07
Dec
2014

HOME SWEDE HOME

I bet you thought I’d NEVER get back! It actually felt like longer than 2 weeks away. Weird how time distorts. I had a lovely week of vacation at my sister’s new (temporary) place in Connecticut, just hanging out and enjoying the American bounty of Thanksgiving and family. Sarah and Mom and I binge-watched the entire first half of Season 1 of Outlander while it snowed outside. We avoided the malls on Black Friday but ventured out Saturday and things were just as crowded. Eek! Mom and I left Sunday for Boston and I had a good week working and...

26
Nov
2014

NOTES FROM CRUISING ALTITUDE

I’ve been chasing the sun across the Atlantic. It’s been a 4.5 hour long sunset, the sky stippled orange, layered with yellow and topped with deep evening blue above a bubbled deceptive surface of clouds. Clouds all the way across the sea…i am glad to be above them in the clear sky. How dark it must be below this endless expanse. We’ve had only a little turbulence and I’ve had only a little sleep. According to my phone it is only a little after 9, long after the sun would have slid beneath the planet’s curve back home. Flying is...

23
Nov
2014

DREAM ABOUT THE DAYS TO COME

I’ve spent the day relaxing and packing, for the most part. Even after talking to my mom and sister a couple of days ago as well as a colleague in the States, I still have no idea exactly what to pack for the weather. The forecast for the Boston area as well as Hartford, CT, where my sister is, jumps around all over the place temperature-wise. From 11-12 Celsius to 19 (!) to 3-4 at the end of the week. ยด I don’t want to fill up my suitcase with winter clothes, so I really hope that it doesn’t snow...

23
Oct
2014

AMERICAN IDIOTS

A woman I know, who is a member of the AWC here, despite having moved up north in Sweden several years ago, emailed me yesterday to tell me about something that had just happened to her asking if anyone else in the club was having the same issue. One of her banks, where she and her (also American) husband have their savings accounts, had written to them telling them that since they were American citizens, the bank was closing their account. Sweden recently signed the FATCA agreement with the U.S. As of July 1st, 2014, Swedish banks are obligated to...

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