Farewell Summer

A couple weeks ago we got one last summer day that was hot enough to swim, at least Dale and Olov thought so. Lisa and I dipped our toes in the water and returned to our spot on the beach. But regardless, it was a nice day to hang out by the water in downtown Stockholm. Dale and Olov even spent some time 'teaching' Jane how to build sand castles. Your secret is out now guys, the world knows your love of sand castle building. I can't be too hard on them though, who doesn't love to make sand castles?!

We also strolled through the summer Flea Market on Södermalm where Jane scored a nice vintage baby pram and she was over the moon about it.

Now that summer has gone the days here are getting quite short again and there is a definite autumn crispness in the air. It's a little bit sad to see summer go but autumn is my favorite and I'm excited to leaf peep in Sweden!
Love Always,
Matilda

Söderholm

For each visitor I try to plan something fun and unique to do with them. For Katie and Martin this was a weekend trip in the Archipelago. After indecisively flipping through the archipelago ferry guide book and calling several cottages for rent. I finally found a tiny cottage on the outer banks of the middle archipelago that would work just perfectly for us. We hopped on the ferry for our 2 1/2 hour cruise to our destination in which we played copious amounts of Euchre  and ooohh-ed and  aawww-ed to each passing island and sailboat. I will return and sail in these islands someday!

Once we made it to our destination, Söderholm, we quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed to the beach. Ok, this wasn't our rental cottage but it was about the same size! It didn't matter though, we were all in our happy place with plenty of zen time.

We took a short path from the cottage and found a private alcove with smooth rock 'beaches' and several sailboats moored up for the evening. The sun was starting to get low in the sky but the boys dove right in to the cold Baltic water. Katie and I dangled our toes in but didn't go any deeper then that. 

As we watched a gorgeous sunset on the islands we grilled up some delicious summer veggies and Euchred some more on the patio. 

Finally the sun went down and our blissful day in the islands was drawing to a close. I wish I could freeze time in that minute, it was such a peaceful and happy experience. 

Love Always,
Matilda

Walpurgis

Last Saturday, April 30th, was Walpurgis. This is not a holiday I had ever heard of since it's not celebrated in the States but all the Swedes were really excited about it. None of the Swedes I've met really knew what the holiday was for other then the unofficial-official end of Winter. What I've learned from my research on the internet is that Walpurgis is named after Saint Walpurga (and English missionary ca. 710 - 779) who was cannonized May 1 870 and in Sweden holidays are celebrated the eve the day before just like New Years Eve is celebrated the night before in the States. May 1 is also a Witches Sabbath dating back to the middle ages which was celebrated with drinking and dancing. Walpurgis in Sweden today is celebrated with a bonfire in a local park and the residents come together to watch the fire, sing folk songs, celebrate the end of winter, and maybe even drink and dance too. We had heard Uppsala, a college town an hour north or Stockholm, has the best Walpurgis celebrations but Dale and I were both sick from a bug we caught on our trip to Switzerland so we opted for the more calm local park celebration 3 blocks from our house at Vasaparken. When we got to Vasaparken there was a decent amount of people, mostly families with children. There was a stage with a classic/folk choir singing, some activities for kids, candy stands, and of course the bonfire ready to be burned. 

We bought some candy and sat down to listen to the music until the lighting of the bonfire occurred. Well, I bought some candy. There were all different flavors of this candy and it's a bit like licorice, maybe gummy licorice. Not sure how else to describe it, sorry. 

Then they lit the fire and everyone cheered and sang along to the songs.

Here's a new move for the blog, I made a video of the event for you all! I didn't edit it or anything, it's just raw footage but if I do more videos I'll work on my video skills. In the mean time you can get a feel for what the folk songs were like.

We didn't stick around too long after the fire was lit so I don't know how long everyone kept singing. But we had a good time at our first Walpurgis experience! Sunday was May 1st, May Day, and I'm told that in Sweden this is celebrated as the official day the Socialist Party protests. We didn't go check it out so I don't know what they were protesting but the rest of Sweden celebrates May Day by planting their garden. It snowed the next day so hopefully the gardens pulled through!

Love Always,

Matilda

Visitors in Stockholm: Part 1

I was a bit of a slacker about taking pictures in Stockholm while the girls were visiting, I guess I was just enjoying myself too much! So even though the girls were here more than two days I'll just be recapping in 2 posts. Dale had to work while the girls visited so it was just me and them exploring. I have heard much praise for Skansen, and open air museum on the island of Djurgarden and Nicola really wanted to see a Moose so we headed there. Most of the booths were closed this time of year but we still had fun looking at all of the Swedish animals and the examples of Swedish architecture. It must have been feeding time because all the animals were out and about, I even got this picture of an owl flying with a duck in it's beak!

We all agreed the Moose and Reindeer seem smaller here, anyone know why? Those are Moose in the picture above and Reindeer below with the Stockholm city scape.

We had so much fun looking at the animals we decided to eat them :) Ok, ok that might not have been the thought process but after Skansen we went to Östermlam Saluhall for a beyond delicious lunch or traditional Swedish food. We scarfed it down too fast to take pictures but oh man, we were in heaven! At the Saluhall we bought some reindeer meat and a moose sausage. After not finding much information online about how to cook reindeer meat I called up Mountain-Man-Mike in Colorado and he suggested we soak the reindeer in milk overnight and then cook it on the stove. We had read online that marinading the meat would hide the reindeer taste so we didn't put anything on it. Here's Dale with our reindeer meat in the middle of the pan and some pieces of the moose sausage around the outside.

Overall we decided the reindeer meat was good but nothing out of the ordinary. The moose sausage on the other hand, had a really distinct flavor to it and we all thought it was the better of the two. Although it was in sausage form so this could have skewed our opinion. Hopefully the Saluhall will have Moose meat one of these days so we can try it for a more fair comparison. Sorry Rudolf and Bullwinkle, hopefully Santa will forgive me!

Love Always,

Matilda

Apartment Hunting

We have 1 month until we have to move. When we first arrived in Sweden we began casually looking for our next place to live. In the last month I've been spending more and more time trying to find something and all day today Dale and I inquired about apartments. Apartment hunting in Stockholm is not fun. The Swedish government wants everyone to be able to afford to live in the city and so to make this possible they came up with a queue system and parents put their children in the queue as soon as they are born. It often takes 10 or more years to get an apartment in the city. When people do get the apartment they just turn around and rent it for almost triple the government subsidized rate. It is nearly impossible to find a first or direct contract from the actual apartment owner. Most ads we see are either from the tenant in the apartment or from someone who has sublet from the tenant of the apartment. It's a nightmare. Here is one article on the problem if you care to read more about it: http://www.thelocal.se/24910/20100210/

On top of all that chaos we are checking ads every day, sending our interest within hours of the posting and we are still being put on waiting lists just to show our interest in the apartment. Again, it's a nightmare. Not even to mention the scams that are out there. We responded to one ad only to be told we needed to wire over via Western Union an ungodly high security deposit before we could even see the place. Ummm, no. I don't think so. More nightmares. So, all day today Dale and I have been looking for an apartment in the hopes that in a month we will have a roof over our head. We aren't being picky at this point, any roof will do. And the people we meet all say they had to move several times in the last year just because of this problem. One girl said she has moved 7 times in the past 12 months. I hope that isn't what we have to do or I'll be shipping most of my already reduced wardrobe back to the states! Sigh. Send us some good apartment hunting vibes, we need them! This regulated housing system sure has us missing the free market housing of good old Colorado!
Love Always,
Matilda

Fika!

I can't believe I've lived in Sweden for over a month and haven't shared with you all the wonderful thing that is Fika! Fika means coffee break and it's an institution here in Sweden. At my work there is a morning fika at 9 and an afternoon fika at 15:00 (they use "military" time here) and it consists of coffee - no pastries at my office- and conversation. It's as much about the coffee as it is about the conversation, the social interaction. At Dale's work though, exists what I believe to be the finest fika in Sweden. They only do the afternoon fika and each week a different person is in charge. This person brings pastries, meats, cheeses, nuts, fruits, etc. He's a lucky guy right?! And Dale doesn't even like sweets! I'm a little jealous of his fika.

We've already grown so accustomed to this daily ritual that when we are out on the weekends we find ourselves stopping for fika at 3 pm, I mean 15:00, I'm still getting used to a 24 hour clock. Here's a picture of our fika this past Sunday.

We love fika! (and I love pastries!) This is a custom that just might stick with us.

Love Always,

Matilda

We made it!

Ok, ok, I know I'm a couple days behind in getting this posted but I've been trying to get settled and acclimated and all that. Forgive me? Ok, good! :)

We made it to Stockholm safe and sound! Snow storms have been tailing our flights but we had no problems. Here's our last picture on US soil:

Shortly after take off they brought around free alcoholic beverages, twice, and what I've always called a desert survival kit. But the food wasn't that bad and the free glass of wine combined with a sleeping pill had me snoozing in no time! Before we knew it, we were landing at Arlanda Airport. Here's the first picture on Sverige (as the Swede's call themselves) soil:

This picture was taken about 7:30 am and it was light out less then an hour later. Customs was a breeze, no paperwork, just stamp the visa and walk through. Our baggage came quickly and our taxi was right there waiting for us. Dale didn't sleep quite as well as I did and he was a little out of it so I sailed the ship and missed the taxi-driver-holding-our-name-sign photo op, but all's well that ends well and we were in our new apartment and napping before we knew it!

We spent the rest of the day going out to lunch and walking around town trying to get our orientation down and finding a grocery store to purchase some food essentials. Then it was off to bed fairly early to sleep off the rest of the jet lag.

Love Always,
Matilda