Tagged: americanabroad

12
Sep
2012

BRAIN DRAIN

There is something about the autumn light that just gets me buzzing. Driving home, the sky was such a clear blue and the lowering sun was beginning to tint the bottom of the clouds pink and coral. Everything looked extra-3D somehow; more real, brighter, ALIVE. The leaves haven’t begun to change yet, as we haven’t had any real frosts to speak of but the foliage looks thinner somehow.The trees are dark, dark green and the edges of the roadsides are tawny gold. Years ago, I was a mad fiend for Trivial Pursuit. Of course, back then EVERYONE was. It was...

09
Sep
2012

UP & OVER & BACK AGAIN

There that pesky rascal Tme and his buddy Real-Life went, skipping along hand in hand and dragging me with them willy-nilly! So much for my good intentions. I flew back over the Atlantic last night, landing in darkened, quiet Reykjavik for a midnight layover and then soaring into Copenhagen just ahead of the rising sun at 6 a.m. this morning. My flights went perfectly smoothly which is always a plus and I read until my eyes blurred, dozed for a couple of hours and listened to my Spotify playlist all the way home. My key was nowhere to be found...

15
Feb
2012

OVERFLOWING

Some weeks are just so FULL, you know? Full of getting up, and getting going, and getting others going, and working. Full of obligations and reminder notes and to-do lists and appointments and errands. Full of compliments, and pleasant surprises and phone calls from friends, and feelings of accomplishment. Full of horrible mistakes and freezing weather and, thankfully, FIXING the horrible mistakes. Full of teeth brushing and bedtime stories and back scratches and laundry (really full of laundry) and throwing meals together, and driving Karin to and from practice. Yesterday I had my salary “discussion” with my boss. She made...

11
Jan
2012

15 YEARS IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

15 years ago I landed in Sweden, on January 11th, the day after Anders’ sister’s second child was born. We went straight from the airport to the patient hotel to see her and the baby. Last night, after we toasted Henrik’s birthday, talk turned, as it does every year, to the fact that it was an anniversary for me, too. I wonder if Henrik gets sick of hearing about my moving to Sweden every year on HIS birthday. Anders and I had been married 6 months. I had been to Sweden 3 times: a visit during Christmastime while we were...

25
Nov
2011

KICKING ASS & TAKING NAMES

I got the rhythm. I am rocking the joint. I am powering through my to-do lists like a champion productivity QUEEN. I am getting things done. As Megsie said, I AM ON FIRE. Yee-ha! In front of me on the desk are 5 little slips of paper. One is the list of people coming tomorrow and what they are bringing. One is the list of people signed up for the cookie exchange on Monday. One is a nearly done to-do list of things that needed to be taken care of this past week: 2 things are not yet crossed off...

14
Nov
2011

GETTING WHAT I’M SETTLING FOR

Being born a military brat can be both blessing and curse, but for me it was largely a blessing. Moving around so much simply opened my mind and made me aware of the fact that there were other possibilities out there than the one proscribed by my own family and upbringing. For some people, I know, moving so much is simply hard work: always being the new kid in school can especially filter a child’s experiences of an already potentially fraught time period with much more anxiety and stress. For me, it was liberating, though leaving friends and a place...

02
Nov
2011

NOT EVEN 15 MINUTES OF FAME BUT I’LL TAKE WHAT I CAN GET

I had a phone call early this morning as I was getting ready for work. Karin had spent the night at a friend’s house (she & Martin are on Fall Break) and Anders had just left to go pick her up and drive her to an all-day soccer tournament somewhere. I figured it was Anders calling to remind me about something. It was Sveriges Radio, the local public radio station broadcasting from Malmö. They were wondering if I would be agreeable to being on the program in FIVE MINUTES to talk a bit about Halloween and trick-or-treating, since I’m apparently...

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...

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