Life in the Land of the Ice and Snow
Infiltrating Sweden one cinnamon bun at a time
Every day I walk on the edge of a nature reserve near our neighborhood. For 3 years, now a pair of Mallard ducks have made their spring/summer residence in a large puddle near the sidewalk. Technically, this puddle is almost a small pond and I’m not going to ruin their home by pointing out that … Read more
Hello, my name is Heather and I’m addicted to the 3D printer. The hand I’m currently typing with has a burn on one finger and a mysterious rip in the skin on top of my hand. I am a victim of 3D printer injuries, yet I cannot bring myself to stop. It’s important that I … Read more
You think I’m joking when I say everything about in Sweden is about Abba, but here is today’s homework in Swedish class. It’s all about two men named Björn and Benny…..
Sweden celebrates Easter Monday so we have another day off. I’m not sure why we celebrate, but I don’t complain about extra holidays. Anyway, instead of a basket of eggs or candy, children (and lucky adults) receive paper eggs filled with candy for Easter. I just came across this article. Nice try undercover dentist, but … Read more
Well it’s a 4-day weekend here and the chocolate-eating has begun…. for the adults at least. As usual, during weekend afternoons, we tell the kids that they need to rest in their rooms for an hour while we get out chocolate and coffee and watch an episode of Downton Abbey. We have the chocolate arranged … Read more
Well, it’s Easter Thursday again here in Sweden, so I feel it is my duty to inform you once again this year that Sweden will be filled with little witches demanding candy and then flying off to their blue hill. Yeah, I don’t get it either, but it equals candy, so yea! On Thursdays, the … Read more
The family got a new toy this week. A 3-D printer. So far we’ve made a weird circle thing and a tiny robot. The kids (and the adults) are quite fascinated. I imagine this will be like the VCR was to my generation. “Wow, you can just record a show and you don’t have to … Read more
I’m 39 years old. Just as I popped a piece of gum in my mouth for Swedish class, the teacher announced “No gum!” Really? We’re all between the ages of 25-50. I think we can refrain from sticking it under our desks. Amazingly, my old skills of hiding my gum returned quickly and I kept … Read more
I currently have two television shows I’m following: The Walking Dead and Downton Abbey. Yes, I’m a gal of many tastes. I think if you’re going to follow any shows on t.v., you have to make sure you don’t confuse them. Luckily, I’m able to realize that Downton Abbey is probably not the show where … Read more
Our Swedish teacher asked our class of students from all over the world today what we thought was different about Sweden and Swedes. She was bombarded by shouting: “They all drink coffee. All the time! They never stop drinking coffee!” “Everything is white – the walls, the furniture. These people are obsessed with white!” “They’re … Read more
We are soon staying in an apartment on vacation through AirBnB – a website where people can rent out their apartments. I was just checking the one we chose to learn more about the area. The host writes: “You have awesome possibilities to have a nice dinner, or drink something in a bar or make … Read more
Our assignment today was to write a movie review in Swedish. Everyone else was picking all these girly “Under the Tuscan Sun” type dramas. I picked The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It’s great because I’m learning lots of useful phrases like “he wears a mask of human skin.” (människohud) I’m not sure if we will have … Read more
Today in Swedish class, we had a list of vocabulary words. One girl didn’t recognize the word “genius” in Swedish and asked what it was. As the teacher was answering her, I heard a guy in the back mumble, “It means, not you.” Once again…. even as an adult, school is exactly the same as … Read more
Got my tax form from the Swedish government today so that I can file income tax. The form already says what I made. If I think it looks good, I just check it off and send it back. If I’m too lazy to go to a mailbox, I can send a text message that it … Read more
It’s waffle day here in Sweden. Yes. There is a day for waffles. Embrace it. Be Swedish today wherever you live.
As I said last week, going to school as an adult is pretty much the same as high school. The teacher’s heels click down the hall as she walks to the room, I got caught spacing out when she called on me the other day, I’ve already identified the jock and the A+ student, etc. … Read more
Our 6 yr old says that old people die because their eyesight gets bad and then they have to squint up their eyes to read the sign that says, “No Smoking,” but since they can’t see well, they read it as “Smoking” instead and so they smoke and die.
This is what my 6 year old thinks synchronized swimmers are. I think they should consider re-branding themselves this way.
I’ve been studying important Italian phrases on the Rosetta Stone language program. Today’s lesson irritated me a bit. Let me translate: “I need a new umbrella. WHY do you need a new umbrella? Because my umbrella is broken.” Oh, I don’t think I need to learn that last line. If I’m standing out in the … Read more
This is the one day of the year my husband probably regrets marrying an American. I’m not sure about other places, but our tradition has always been that if you don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s day, then you get pinched. So every year on St. Patrick’s day, I wake him up in the morning … Read more