ασπρομαυρο φορεμα μακρυ
4 years ago
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Day 3.
I'm sorry that I didn't post any pictures yesterday. I stayed up until 02.50 on Wednesday morning reading my school work, and got 3 hours of sleep before Leia woke us up. Then I read and wrote like crazy yesterday all day before going to my first English class. (Which was unbelievably confounding.) So then I ended up passing out on the couch last night about 22.00. :/ :D
So here are the pictures from yesterday!
So here are the pictures from yesterday!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Happy anniversary..
..to me. :P
7 years ago today I arrived in Sweden.
My life hasn't been the same since. :/ :))
For better and for worse.
In moving here, I gave up my life in the US. I gave up any career that I would have had, and friends and family, never knowing if I would see any of them again. I gave it all up to move to a small Socialist country that has a gray sky for at least a good 7 months of the year. To live in a place where I would have to learn a new language from scratch, start over my education, impossible for me to find work, and very difficult to connect with the people and make friends.
But I gained a wonderful Swedish husband that provides for me and is a fantatic father. :)
I've followed him all over the country, and back again. We've moved so many times for his needs of schooling and work. Once, in the beginning, we considered a move to Falun, for me to get my Masters degree in English, but that was short lived. We have finally "settled down" somewhere, even if we've only been here for 2 years and 4 months - it is the longest we've lived anywhere in a single town. Sometimes I get a bit jealous of him, that we've always moved around for his needs and never having to worry about mine. Also that he's gotten every job he's ever applied for, even rejecting some along the way, even rejecting offers that he never even applied for. While I send out masses of applications for anything I might think I could have a chance at, and no one even batting an eyelash in my direction. It can be a bit frustrating at times, and a bit disheartening.
I never even considered visiting Europe, especially Sweden, much less live here now for almost a forth of my life. :) Now I call Sweden home. Everynow and then it feels like I am on a prolonged vacation, and some days it feels like I have always lived here.
I face daily frustrations of not understanding people, or not being understood. Not sure of where my future will be (where we will end up) or if I will ever find work. I'm waiting for the day when Leia's level of Swedish will surpass mine. :)
Sometimes I think people on both sides of "the pond," as us expats call it, forget what it entails to move to another country. With the intent to live there forever. To leave everything behind, and everyone you know, to try to start a life in a new country, knowing only 1 person there. The type of stress and depression that can come along with it. The loneliness that can come along with it. Moving to another country can cause a person to lose their identity, to forget who they are, because they can not continue to normally be themselves. Personally I have become quieter and more reserved, not nearly the outgoing person that I was in the US.
Of course it isn't like that all the time! But it can be very trying at times. :)
I love my life here and I've experienced so many things that I never would have otherwise. I love when my parents can visit us and I can share with them so many things and places they never would have otherwise enjoyed.
I do sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had never met Fredrik and we wouldn't have stayed together during a very long distance 4 year relationship, and if I never would have moved to Sweden. But I don't like to think about it for too long, because I hate to imagine life without him.
7 years ago today I arrived in Sweden.
My life hasn't been the same since. :/ :))
For better and for worse.
In moving here, I gave up my life in the US. I gave up any career that I would have had, and friends and family, never knowing if I would see any of them again. I gave it all up to move to a small Socialist country that has a gray sky for at least a good 7 months of the year. To live in a place where I would have to learn a new language from scratch, start over my education, impossible for me to find work, and very difficult to connect with the people and make friends.
But I gained a wonderful Swedish husband that provides for me and is a fantatic father. :)
I've followed him all over the country, and back again. We've moved so many times for his needs of schooling and work. Once, in the beginning, we considered a move to Falun, for me to get my Masters degree in English, but that was short lived. We have finally "settled down" somewhere, even if we've only been here for 2 years and 4 months - it is the longest we've lived anywhere in a single town. Sometimes I get a bit jealous of him, that we've always moved around for his needs and never having to worry about mine. Also that he's gotten every job he's ever applied for, even rejecting some along the way, even rejecting offers that he never even applied for. While I send out masses of applications for anything I might think I could have a chance at, and no one even batting an eyelash in my direction. It can be a bit frustrating at times, and a bit disheartening.
I never even considered visiting Europe, especially Sweden, much less live here now for almost a forth of my life. :) Now I call Sweden home. Everynow and then it feels like I am on a prolonged vacation, and some days it feels like I have always lived here.
I face daily frustrations of not understanding people, or not being understood. Not sure of where my future will be (where we will end up) or if I will ever find work. I'm waiting for the day when Leia's level of Swedish will surpass mine. :)
Sometimes I think people on both sides of "the pond," as us expats call it, forget what it entails to move to another country. With the intent to live there forever. To leave everything behind, and everyone you know, to try to start a life in a new country, knowing only 1 person there. The type of stress and depression that can come along with it. The loneliness that can come along with it. Moving to another country can cause a person to lose their identity, to forget who they are, because they can not continue to normally be themselves. Personally I have become quieter and more reserved, not nearly the outgoing person that I was in the US.
Of course it isn't like that all the time! But it can be very trying at times. :)
I love my life here and I've experienced so many things that I never would have otherwise. I love when my parents can visit us and I can share with them so many things and places they never would have otherwise enjoyed.
I do sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had never met Fredrik and we wouldn't have stayed together during a very long distance 4 year relationship, and if I never would have moved to Sweden. But I don't like to think about it for too long, because I hate to imagine life without him.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Goodbye, Erik.
A few weeks ago, Fredrik's farfar passed away, his paternal grandfather, and Leia's great-grandfather. Yesterday was his funeral service.
The three of us drove 2 hours East to Örebro and attended his beautiful service. Of course it was an emotional day, but it was also very peaceful at the same time. Fredrik's grandfather, Erik, passed away peacefully in his sleep, in his own bed. I only hope to leave this life so simply.
How does the saying go.. "There is nothing like a funeral to bring about a family reunion.." ?
We were able to see some family that we haven't seen in many years and it was very nice to see them.
Leia behaved very well. We were pleased with her behavior, knowing that she could have been difficult to deal with. But she behaved and was a good girl. This was her 2nd funeral now, before even turning 2. (I was Leia's age, just having turned 2 years old, when I lost both of my grandfathers.)
As Swedish tradition, everyone pays their respects during the funeral service while walking past the casket and laying a flower, typically a rose on the coffin. Soon after entering the church, Leia's great-grandmother, Ulla, gave Leia a tiny bouquet of picked flowers, for her to lay as well. I was a little afraid that Leia would be uncooperative and decide to keep the flowers for herself.. But she did well and laid her flowers down. She made a flinch to snatch them back, as she desperately loves flowers, but she retracted her hand and left them for her great-grandfather.
Erik was a fun man to talk to, and he loved speaking with me in the English that he knew. :) Every time we would meet, he would tell me the same stories over and over again, and I loved listening to them. And no matter how many times Fredrik would tell him that I understood Swedish, he would persist in speaking with me in English. :)
We'll keep our fond memories and share them with Leia when she gets older.
The three of us drove 2 hours East to Örebro and attended his beautiful service. Of course it was an emotional day, but it was also very peaceful at the same time. Fredrik's grandfather, Erik, passed away peacefully in his sleep, in his own bed. I only hope to leave this life so simply.
How does the saying go.. "There is nothing like a funeral to bring about a family reunion.." ?
We were able to see some family that we haven't seen in many years and it was very nice to see them.
Leia behaved very well. We were pleased with her behavior, knowing that she could have been difficult to deal with. But she behaved and was a good girl. This was her 2nd funeral now, before even turning 2. (I was Leia's age, just having turned 2 years old, when I lost both of my grandfathers.)
As Swedish tradition, everyone pays their respects during the funeral service while walking past the casket and laying a flower, typically a rose on the coffin. Soon after entering the church, Leia's great-grandmother, Ulla, gave Leia a tiny bouquet of picked flowers, for her to lay as well. I was a little afraid that Leia would be uncooperative and decide to keep the flowers for herself.. But she did well and laid her flowers down. She made a flinch to snatch them back, as she desperately loves flowers, but she retracted her hand and left them for her great-grandfather.
Erik was a fun man to talk to, and he loved speaking with me in the English that he knew. :) Every time we would meet, he would tell me the same stories over and over again, and I loved listening to them. And no matter how many times Fredrik would tell him that I understood Swedish, he would persist in speaking with me in English. :)
We'll keep our fond memories and share them with Leia when she gets older.
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