Tagged: culturalquagmire

05
Apr
2019

WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT

I recently saw an article about common words and phrases that have racist origins and it really got me thinking about how language gets whitewashed (heh) with time. When I tried to find the article again so I could reference it more easily, it turns out that there are LOTS of articles online about such words and sayings. Many of them are so commonplace today with such a wide usage that it’s hard to believe they had an unpleasant beginning. One of my college roommates wrote not too long ago about a vivid memory she has of playing Euchre with...

26
Mar
2019

AUGH AND HMMM AND YAY

I was at the AWC monthly meeting yesterday evening, and it was the first time in 3 months that I didn’t have to run it because the woman that is our President is back from her 3-month sojourn in the US. She went home abruptly right after Christmas as her dad was dying, and ended up staying until this past weekend. She’s a powerhouse and we’ve really missed her, especially on the board. And especially as right after she returned, she got THREE messages, from ALL THREE of our Activities officers saying they are 1) stepping down immediately due to...

24
Feb
2019

LIZ IN LISBON

We were supposed to be three friends going to Lisbon but Camilla was super sick the whole week before and on Friday, 2 days before we were to leave, she called Debbie and I and told us she was probably not going to go since she was still so poorly. WAAH! What a bummer. She was able to get her airline ticket refunded but it ended up being just Debbie and I headng to to Portugal last Sunday. Despite our disappointment about Camillla’s absence, we managed to have a good time. I had so many people tell me how great...

08
Jan
2019

TRAVELS, PART THE FIRST

I’ve been clubbed by the hard hand of jetlag. I’ve been meaning to write a post since Saturday, when we arrived but due to countless factors, this is the first time I’ve actually gotten started. Reasons for not posting, besides jetlag: too many other things to do, sleeping, working, constant computer crashes, reading, catching up on other more important stuff, procrastination, and also, feeling as if the amount of things I have to write about is overwhelming. Despite all my good intentions, my road to posting is paved with excuses. It’s crazy how fast a 3-week vacation can go, but...

23
Aug
2018

LEFT OF CENTER, PLUS POTATOES

Karin is leaving in the morning (really more like the middle of the night, since her flight from Copenhagen leaves at 6 a.m.) for Greece on a last-minute cheap ticket deal with a couple of friends. They are going to Kos, which I know nothing about, but the name was vaguely familiar, a brain-remnant left over from years of Humanities and Art History classes, one presumes. She came home after work to finish packing and requested “a nice dinner” so I had the inspiration to drive to Eslöv to an excellent butcher that we patronize on occasion and buy something...

31
Mar
2018

GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL, SWEDISH-STYLE

High school graduation in Sweden is probably a bigger deal than getting married for most Swedes. Many Swedes, in fact, don’t bother to get married. They live together (sambo), have kids, and sometimes get around to getting married, and sometimes not. No one seems to care that much about it either way. But studenten (which is what high school graduation is called in Swedish), THAT’s a HUGE deal. Swedes typically go to school with the same set of friends for nearly their entire undergraduate time. In our little village school, as in most, kids stay together for grades 1-6, changing...

15
Jan
2017

VICENNIAL

Last week, I passed a major anniversary. It wasn’t my birthday. It wasn’t even my wedding anniversary. It was the anniversary of the day I moved to Sweden…TWENTY YEARS AGO. I was planning to write a post that day (Wednesday) but work was crazy and I clean forgot when I came home, even though I wasn’t doing anything special that evening. So it went by unmarked. Twenty years ago. When I passed my 10-year anniversary of living in Sweden, I wrote a post about it, because of course I did. I wrote a similar post when I reached my 7-year...

07
Jan
2016

THE GOOD COUNTRY

I had made a comment to Anders some time ago, that my VW Jetta seems to want to go around 140 k/h, and he agreed…his VW feels the same. He said it was because that is approximately the speed you drive on the autobahn and the cars seem to be engineered to that comfort zone. 🙂 During our road trip through Germany, I got to drive a couple of times on the autobahn, and I’ll tell you what: I loved it. Drivers in Germany drive like you’re SUPPOSED TO DRIVE. They go fast, they stay to the right except when...

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...

05
Nov
2013

IT’S OVER

Martin and Anders and I all watched the last episode of the last season of The West Wing tonight before he and the kids went off to the gym to work out. I was tucked into the end of the couch (my spot, much like Sheldon’s) where I get good support from the back and side. Martin was snuggled up against my left, hunkered down in the pillows, with a throw over his legs. He came home tired but wouldn’t admit to grumpy. I can’t believe we are done with 7 seasons, 22 episodes each, of my favorite show. I...

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