Life in the Land of the Ice and Snow
Infiltrating Sweden one cinnamon bun at a time
My 10-year old travels by himself on the subway to school each morning along with many other 10+ year olds. I usually walk him to the station each morning to see him off. At first, I worried that he and the other children would be confused and nervous traveling on the subway alone. But on … Read more
I knew it! It’s always the elk. You can’t hide those antlers in a security video!
Today I had to deliver news to my kids that no parent wants to have to say…… Oh wait, I meant that no parent in 1970 wants to say. “The Beatles broke up.” A Paul McCartney song came on the radio this morning and my youngest son said, “That doesn’t really sound like the Beatles.” … Read more
Right?
My youngest son was asked to do a short book report the other day on any book he wanted. He chose the book about sickness and diseases that he got from the doctor’s office. I remember that he read that book for weeks after he got it. I had thoughts that maybe he would become … Read more
This is an actual ad from Pizza Hut in the newspaper in Stockholm. I think it’s funny but I wonder how well it would go over in the U.S.? I’m interested to see if this is going to go the religious way in further ads or the musical way. I’m waiting for “Red Sauce Story,” … Read more
This is what I thought was being played on the radio back when I was about 8 years old. “Wouldn’t you like to ride in my beautiful baboon?” I would fall into hysterical laughter every time it was played. I think we’ve all been victim to misinterpreting a song. A friend of mine used to … Read more
I’m trying to learn Italian at home with the Rosetta Stone program. Rosetta Stone is a great program for learning languages because it covers listening, writing, reading and speaking, though the speaking part isn’t really so great. The trouble with speaking on Rosetta Stone (at least on my computer) is that the microphone and tone … Read more
The other day, my husband and I walked down to the post office (a ten minute walk) to pick up some packages. Before we left, we told our television watching 8 and 10 year old that we were running to the post office and would be right back. They looked directly at us and said, … Read more
It is often said that your brain works to solve problems while you sleep. In fact, there are many famous stories of people waking up with wonderful ideas or solutions to problems. Salvador Dali’s famous melting clocks painting “Persistence of Memory,” came to him in a dream. Paul McCartney woke up one morning with the … Read more
I was exhausted Monday and decided to make my grocery list for the next day right before bed. Here is the list I made, which I did not look at until I was in the grocery store this morning: Red beets Spaghetti Tomato sauce Onion Milk & stuff “Milk & Stuff?” I stood there quite … Read more
This was on The Local today. Umm…. I don’t think the world was asking, nor do they care to know.
I follow the Stockholm Police Twitter account on my feed to keep up with what’s happening. They’re very good at reporting what’s happening around town. Today a major street by our neighborhood had to be shut down temporarily because a moose wandered onto it. Being a Texan, even after 15 years in Sweden, it’s still … Read more
As I was pulling on my American flag underwear this morning, I started to think about how strange it is that people get so upset about “desecrating the flag” while at the same time, they buy American flag underwear. I also started to wonder if the U.S. was the only country who did this, but … Read more
I work two part-time extra time jobs here in Stockholm, so sometimes I check to see if there might be a third extra time job I might be able to do. Checking job ads here gets very distracting though. Let me give you today’s examples along with my comments: German-speaking debt collection agent (“Geld! Schnell!” … Read more
Today I learned about “Snälltåget,” or “The Nice Train” in English. I think it’s been around for a while, but I only happened to notice it because of a coupon offer to travel on it between some Swedish towns. Apparently it’s an older model train where you have little lamps at your table and they … Read more
I’m going to eat a hamburger today from a place called “The Burger Boat” even though it’s a barge. This bothers me. Burger Barge would have sounded just fine AND been accurate. I wouldn’t call a food truck a food CAR. Sorry, I just need my restaurants to be correct. This is why I have … Read more
I was standing at the top of the waterslide behind an 8 yr old and his 4 yr old brother waiting for my turn. The 8 yr old instructed his younger brother on how to properly go down the slide and when he did, the older brother turned to me with a knowing sigh and … Read more
Sure, the green nail polish felt summery and fresh until the lady at the party offered me a napkin so I could “get that avacado dip off” my nails.
