Tagged: americanabroad

18
Sep
2011

DOUBLE-DRIVE-BY

This is literally the first time in 2 weeks that I have had the energy or the time to get online and post something. It has been go go go since I got to Massachusetts. This is our last evening here; Mom and I fly out tomorrow from Boston, she home to Michigan, and me home via the Atlantic Ocean and a layover in Amsterdam. (which I just spelled Amsterdamn and then Amsterdamm in my attempts to finish the sentence…drrr). I have had a very productive, very fun 2 weeks and extra quality time with my mom, plus a GREAT...

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...

18
Apr
2011

MY WORK HERE IS DONE

We have been asked to cat-sit for our across-the-street neighbors this weekend, but due to allergies and preference we will be taking care of the cats in their house instead of bringing them over to ours. Cats seem to be much more place-sensitive when it comes to this kind of thing; dogs, it seems, are more particular to people. It’s embarrassing to admit I can’t remember the wife’s name. She’s really nice, and I know her husband is named Håkan and her little boy is named Jonathan. The cats are named Nadja and Alice and they are simply lovely, and...

12
Feb
2011

PLANT A SEED OF FRIENDSHIP, REAP A BOUQUET OF HAPPINESS*

Last night we had the 5th anniversary of the beginning of our Wonders dinners together, my friends and I. Debbie was the one who thought of it; she wanted a mentor group of friends that were all living and staying here in Sweden to be a unit where we could help each other, support each other, be there for each other. She asked us each individually to be a part of the group: Angie, Kelly, Emily and me. We were friends before, all of us, for several years, and this was partly a way of finding our way back to...

18
Jan
2011

IT TAKES GUTS TO GET OUT OF THE RUTS

I forgot to make note of my moved-to-Sweden anniversary until I was reminded by blue_eyed_girl‘s post today. I moved here on January 11th, 1997. Anders has already arrived a week earlier and the day before I got here, his sister had a baby boy, who celebrated his fourteenth birthday last week. Crazy how time flies. With the 14 years in Sweden and the 6 years I lived overseas as a child, I’ve now spent 20 years of my life overseas. I figured out in the car on the way back from the birthday dinner for Henrik that in another six...

06
Nov
2010

HOME AGAIN

Italy is beautiful even in the pouring rain. And in the fog, and in drizzle and under cloud cover. We didn’t manage to meet up with Bethany, alas, alas, but we had a great five days of fun exploring in a whirlwind of foccacia, walking, rainclouds and tourist traps. The sun came out the last 2 days and lit things up with a stunning vengeance. O! Bella Italia! My phone died the second day and our travel charger didn’t work at all so we were without phones for most of the week and without internet access for all of it....

30
Oct
2010

REMEMBER ME?

Oh HAI! I haz a blog! Drrr… So, yeah, that happened! And lots of other stuff, too. Two weeks in Boston, working like a maniac and shopping/eating/playing every evening with a maple-syrup-drenched Vermont weekend which involved a much-too-short visit with Christina and my aunt & uncle went like a FREAKING FLASH! I literally cannot believe I am already back in Sweden. As the plane was taxiing to the terminal after a very smooth landing in the dark dark morning of Nordic a.m., I thought, “I just did this in reverse, like yesterday!” Only it was two whole weeks ago! We...

15
Oct
2010

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

What I really want to do at the end of a week like this is collapse, muddy & exhausted. But the adrenaline rush of the last several days…weeks, heck who am I kidding: MONTHS keeps me buzzing long after I should have. The to-do lists have been decimated, both at work and at home, and even though there is ALWAYS something still to be done, it will just have to wait: work, for Monday, and home, for when I get back from Boston. I’ve been so busy this week that I’ve not had a lot of time for noodling around...

23
Sep
2010

THINGS YET TO DO

I have lived in Sweden for nearly 14 years. Is that right? Did I count correctly? I moved here in January of 1997, so if I take my gloves and shoes and socks off and wiggle my toes and ignore Mr Numbers’ malicious grin and start on my pointer finger with January 1998 and add 99, 2000, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11…it means that when January 2011 rolls around 14 years will have gone by since we moved to Europe. We’ve done a lot of things since we moved to Sweden. We’ve been to...

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