Merry Christmas!! Feliz Navidad!!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! For the past week we've had a house full of O'Connells and we've been loving it!! We played tourist in Stockholm and then took a boat from Stockholm to Helsinki and back. Today the boat docked at 9:00 am and we've all felt like the solid ground was swaying beneath us. Other than a little seasickness we've had a bunch of fun, and it's so great to have family in town for the holidays.

Here are some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2220354&id=12816218&l=ea8bd744d5

More pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2221632&id=12816218&l=7976b9a2bb

SNOW!

This morning I looked at the forecast for the next few days. All of the days there are to be ungodly low temperatures and maybe snow. But the unsettling thing was that on the picture for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, there's a sunshine being partially covered by an igloo. I know when there's a cloud in front of the sun, that means partly cloudy, but wtf does an igloo mean??

Last night I told Ray "This is more snow than I've seen in my whole life put together. But then again, I'm from Atlanta so I've only seen like 4 inches of snow total." And Ray says "Yeah, and 3 of those were in 1993!" Haha!
But seriously, it's been snowing for about 18 hours at this point, and there are at least 5 inches on the ground. I keep imagining the havoc this would cause in Atlanta or maybe even Raleigh, and here it's just so NOT a big deal. These Swedes are just going along like nothing has happened... apparently they don't see the half-foot of snow on the ground. If it wasn't so cold I'd go out and tell them about it.
Now personally, I've never liked snow. I don't like rain or cold, and snow is just the lovechild of those two. I've never like the song 'White Christmas' because snow was always the last thing I dreamed about for Christmas... I mean really, who wants it to get that cold?? As for the song 'Let It Snow, Let it Snow, Let It Snow," well I just switch that one off as soon as it comes on. I genuinely do not like snow, never really have, and probably never will. Supposedly snow is peaceful, but the way these flakes have been falling is more along the lines of... angry? ferocious? It is really coming down out there. And it is such a weird sensation for me to be sitting here looking at the window and this much snow and know that how long it's been going on. And also, these Swedes lied to me. They said that once it snowed the white would make everything brighter. But they were wrong- it's just as dark and dreary as ever. And speaking of dark and dreary, we've only been getting about 6 hours of daylight here, and Monday is supposed to be the shortest day of the year with even less than that. Sunset will be at 2:30 pm or some obscene hour like that. If there's one thing I like less than snow, it has to be this darkness. It's oppressive, it's depressing, and I really really hate it. Just thank God that after the shortest day of the year the days start to get gradually longer. They'll probably up to 8 full hours of 'sunlight' by the time we finally get to go home. (I say 'sunlight' because it's not actually sunny, it's just not technically nighttime.) The one thing being here has taught me is that I had it so good before. I already knew that things were going fairly well, but after being here I have to say that they were really fan-damn-tastic!

Booze (like everything else) in Sweden is RIDICULOUSLY Expensive

Sweden costs too much money. As previously stated, everything here is too dang expensive, and there are just no compensating factors for that excess. I really can't understand what right Sweden thinks it has to charge so much money for everything. I am afraid that living in the modern communism is turning me into a bit of a conservative, or at the very least strengthening my love of the free market system. Here there is no competition. Prices are pretty much standard. You can go to a seedy, dirty pub and pay $9 for a pint of beer, or the nicest place in town and pay $9 for a pint of beer. It literally makes no difference. There's no such thing as drink specials either, mind you. And it's not just with alcohol, it's pretty much everything. Honestly the best, fairest ratio of what you pay to what you get is at McDonald's. (God bless the USA!)

We bought the above-pictured booze in London at the airport, and all I could think was, "Ha! Take that, Sweden!" Maybe it's the cold or the oppressive dark, but I am starting to feel a little belligerent and vindictive towards all things Swedish. I really can't wait to get home and really overdo it on all things "American". I'm gonna eat burgers and watch football (NOT soccer) and drink MGD and be real happy with myself the whole time. Ikea can count me out as a customer, and I sure hope that some other car manufacturer can step of their safety ratings, because Volvo is no longer an option for me. And if I so much as hear ABBA I'm likely to just up and start throwing things.

On a (vaguely) related note, I've noticed that Sweden is like the polar opposite of Latin America. And let's be honest, I LOVE Latin America. It's not just the weather that is so vastly different in the two places, but it's their very cultures. Swedes tend to be reserved and stand-offish, and Latinos are warm and open. Latin food is roughly 100000 times better than anything the Swedes can come up with (and about 1/100000000th of the cost). Religion is a big part of Latin American culture, and a large part of that population is Catholic. The so-called "Church of Sweden" is Lutheran, but religion seems to play a minor role at best in Swedish culture. Swedes are absurdly punctual, Latinos (and me) are not so much. Seriously, a Swedish train that leaves at 12:00 is already moving at 11:59. It just seems that overall here the culture is much more regimented (think assigned movie seats) and in countries where our experiences have been so much more pleasant (Guatemala) things are just more relaxed. I understand that some people might like the structure and efficiency of the Swedish way of life, but, as for me, I'll take the warmth (both cultural and climatic) of Latin America any day.

Londontown!

I love the UK so much. If England was a man I would leave Juan and marry him instead. Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I really really really really do love London. We just came back from 5 days over there, and it made me realize what a bad deal we're getting here in Sweden. A couple of key realizations: 1. The UK is not known for it's cuisine. If British food seems good, you know Swedish food must be really really really bad. 2. London is one of the more expensive cities in the world. If London prices seem cheap, you know Sweden must be absurdly expensive. Honestly, where does Sweden get off charging these sorts of prices? What is it offering me in return for this ridiculously high cost of living? Nice weather? No. A cool city to be in? No. Anything at all? No! At least if you live somewhere like London or New York it costs a little more, but hey, it's London or it's New York, so it's worth it. But I digress. The point is that when I went to London several years ago with my family I concluded that God must've made the weather in England so crappy simply to prevent overcrowding- it is a pretty small island after all. And today, returning from London, I stand by that conclusion. London really is one of the most amazing places I've ever been to. One good thing to come out of this Swedish experience is that we got the opportunity to visit London, and it was only a two hour flight.

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2218567&id=12816218&l=8fba75a2f3

Visitor!

Our friend Jaime came to visit us this past week. It was really nice to have someone to hang around with, and I got to play tourist in Stockholm. Good Practice for when the O'Connells come next week.

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2217651&id=12816218&l=3a73f411e6

Stockholm

We went into Stockholm today after about 6 weeks of saying, "Hey, we should go to Stockholm this weekend." Here are some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2215429&id=12816218&l=b2b8504e19

It was so nice to be in a big city. They had Pizza Hut, so we were able to get delicious, real American pizza, which I've been wanting ever since we got here. We also found an Irish pub called "O'Leary's" and I made some crack about how if it was called "O'Connell's" we'd have to stop in and check it out. Sure enough a couple of blocks away, there was an "O'Connell's Irish Pub". :)

Konrad Nattclub

Yesterday there was no pounding bass from Konrad Nattclub, the nightclub on the first floor of my apartment building. Since they typically jam every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, I was pretty hopeful that they had gotten shut down for running drugs, or something. No such luck. They are definitely open today, and instead of simple pounding base, I can now hear and distinguish actual songs. This only leaves me to believe that they were closed yesterday installing more powerful speakers, which should definitely decrease my ability to sleep on whatever nights they choose to be open. The good news is that they are using these more powerful speakers to play hit songs from my high school days. I just heard "Where the Party At" by Nelly and Jagged Edge, then they played Usher's famous "U Remind Me". These songs make me feel old, as does my desire to walk downstairs shaking my fist, demanding that they turn this noise off, and asking if they have any idea what time it is.

Assigned movie seats? Believe it!

There's a movie theater just across the street from our apartment, and seeing as how American tv shows are in English with Swedish subtitles, we thought we'd try our luck at seeing an American movie. So we walked over to the theater, where movie tickets cost about $13, but popcorn and a Coke only cost $7, so that's a plus. The plan was to check with the ticket salesperson and make sure that we wouldn't be stuck in a theater for 2 hours watching something that had been dubbed in Swedish. That didn't quite work since the lady selling the tickets didn't speak hardly any English. Juan was able to point and gesture and get tickets to the right movie, so we decided to take our chances. On the way into the particular theater the man who tore the tickets said something to us, and we were going to just keep walking, but curiosity got the better of us, and we asked him in English what he had said. He politely informed us that "the movie will be starting in a quarter." We figured he meant 15 minutes, and walked on in, picked out some seats and settled in to wait for the movie to start. A few minutes later some confused looking teenage Swedish girls are standing at the end of the row and one of them says something to us in Swedish. I tell her that I'm sorry but I don't understand. Her friend says something to her, and all I understand is "igleska" or English, and then the first girl says "um, I think you are in our seats." Juan and I were both a little confused, so he pulls the tickets out of his pocket, and sure enough, there are seat numbers on them. We apologized to the girls, told them that we're not used to that, and moved to the appropriate seats. It was definitely what you'd call a "cultural experience". I don't think I've felt that out of place the entire time we've been here. But I mean really... who assigns movie seats? Apparently Swedes do.

Things I Miss About the Good Ol' US of A

As we have now been gone away from America for just over a month, I thought it wold be a good time to reflect on the things I miss the most about home.

Juan saw me writing this and wishes me to include the things he misses. They are as follows:
Cheap stuff
Shopping on the internet
Ross Dress for Less
Marshalls
Running outside- It's just too cold here
"Oh and having a car, that was kind of cool"

Now, as I was saying, here are some things I miss about home:
Famly
Friends
Target
Ross
Marshalls
TJ Maxx
Taco Mac
Beer that doesn't cost $5-$7 per pint (especially Miller Lite)
Understanding what people are talking about
An apartment that doesn't have a nightclub on the ground floor
Latin food
My Civic
Warm weather
Being able to read labels so that I know what I am buying at the grocery store
Afternoons at Sweetwater
Saturday nights at Opera
Waffle House
TV with more than 20 channels, none of which are in Swedish
Dollars- I just can't take this brightly-colored currency seriously
English measurements (cups, tablespoons, etc) I mean seriously, wtf is a deciliter??
Bojangles
Chick-fil-a
Biscuits
Express
Raleigh Farmer's Market
American Pizza- the other day we had "pizza" that was smothered in kebab meat and sauce, with no cheese
Going to football games
Baseball games


The list goes on and on, but two other things that I really really really miss are my little babies...

Finally Some Pictures

Here is a link for pictures from around Västerås:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2210603&id=12816218&l=909a612e2e

Sveriges Television (Swedish TV)

For some reason Swedish TV reruns American sitcoms all the time. Right now Everybody Loves Raymond and Married with Children are both running. You're also really likely to find any of the following on TV after work hours: Friends, Scrubs, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Seinfeld, What I Like About You, or Two-and-a-Half Men. I've seen a couple other shows as well, like Oprah, Tyra, Ellen, and Miami Ink. It's strangely comforting and familiar. The only difference is that Swedish subtitles run across the bottom of the screen, and all the commercials are in Swedish, other than that I could be at home in Raleigh or Atlanta watching my own TV. Funny what becomes comforting thousands of miles away from home. The other night there was a terrible movie about male escorts or something on TV, but it was set in Atlanta, and the scenery stirred up an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.

Settling In

We've been in Västerås for just over a week now, and I'd say we're as settled in as we're going to be. This weekend we went to Ikea, which seemed like a pretty Swedish thing to do. For some reason there are 2 chairs and a table in the bedroom, and no dresser. Seriously? Why would I want to sit in the bedroom? There's not even a TV in there. I would much rather have a place to put my clothes. The chairs have had to fill that role for the past week, but that's just not even going to cut it for the short time that we'll be here. There is a fairly sizable closet, but no other clothes storage place. So we figured Ikea could take care of that, and off we went. Ikea is one of the few places that we can't walk to, so we got to experience the bus system. We had sort of laughed when we saw a girl sprinting after the bus the other day, but once we missed the bus and realized the next one wasn't coming for 21 minutes, that girl didn't seem so funny. Either way we made it to Ikea, and got most of what we needed. The only thing we're having real trouble finding, are large plastic cups. The apartment came stocked with dishes, but the glasses that were included are about twice the size of a big shot glass, and it's just not even enough to get through dinner without about 4 refills. Also, despite the converters we brought, my hair dryer and flat iron just won't work here. According to Maria, who's been living in England for over 2 years now, those things just burn out if you try to make them work. So I had to search for that, but was able to find some passable replacements. Of course they cost nearly twice as much here as they would have in the US, but they work here, which is what counts.

Despite the unreasonable electricity and small glasses, I have decided that I would really love this town in the summer. It's just so cute and yet still feels like a big city. It's a neat place to walk around and just be in, but the cold and the gloom definitely puts a damper on things. Still I think I could deal with the cold and the gloom if I had my Fuser with me. It's amazing how attached I have become to that little puppy without even realizing it. I know to some people it might seem dumb because he's "just a dog", but I miss him all the time. I had held out hope that someone coming to visit might be able to bring him over, but this apartment says no pets are allowed, so I'm dogless until late March. That is by far the hardest thing to adjust to. I guess being in Raleigh I had gotten used to being kind of far from the family, and here I can still talk to them really often, so that's not as hard. I also don't care that I don't have any idea what people are saying around me most of the time, I've already adjusted to that. It's just weird that not having Fuser here with me should be so hard. I guess I just always thought that having the pups constantly around was kind of a nonevent, but not having them around makes a world of difference.

Västerås

Yesterday we took a 6-hour bus ride from Oslo to get to Västerås, (pronounced VEST-ter-ohs) Sweden. It's a little weird how crossing borders in the EU is no big deal. I didn't get a stamp in my passport in Norway, and there was not even a mention of it when we crossed the border into Sweden on the bus.

Anyway, once we got here we met with a lady who showed us our new apartment and much to my pleasant surprise it really does look a lot like an Ikea showroom! They even have the same coffee table we had at home. It's actually bigger than where we lived in Raleigh, which was a real shock. I'll put up some pictures later once we get everything unpacked and it's a little less of a hot mess in here.

The town of Vasteras is really cute and we're right in the center of it, so that's pretty cool. There are tons of shops and restaurants really close. The grocery store and movie theater are about a block away, and H&M is about 3 or 4 blocks. Juan's office is about 5 or 6 blocks away, and the train station is just a bit further. All in all, everything is pretty convenient, and for the stuff that's not there are buses and trains to make everything really easily accessible. It's so cool to be able to walk to anywhere I might need to go. In Atlanta and Raleigh I was really dependent on my car, and this is a nice change. Of course it's in the 50's outside now, and I might change my tune once the temperature starts dropping...

The people here are a lot less stylish than in Oslo. I guess that's because anyone who can afford Oslo can afford to dress like a model. Here I've seen a ton of goth teenagers and some real unattractive piercings. Also, I've been mysteriously mistaken for Scandinavian by people both here and in Oslo, which is funny because everywhere else I've traveled I'm always so obviously "gringa". I suppose it's because of my glowing pallor and the stud in my nose that I just blend right in, but several times already people on the street have asked me how to get somewhere in either Norwegian or Swedish. I just tell them that I only speak English and they're real nice and tell me what they were saying anyway. Yesterday at the grocery store there was a latino couple. It took me a minute to realize that they weren't speaking English and I actually understood them. I guess I have gotten pretty used to not knowing what people are saying around me, which is a little disconcerting. I guess I should get to it and learn some Swedish.

Oslo Fjørds and Björns!

We got to Oslo around 2:00 pm yesterday. After settling into our hotel, we wandered out into the streets to find a place to eat. Because the weather was cool and sunny we decided on a cute little pub with some outdoor seating. We ordered a personal-sized pizza, a calzone, and two beers, and the total for our order was nearly $60. Turns out Oslo is among the most expensive cities in the world. A Coca-cola at 7/11 (yeah, they have 7/11 in Oslo) is just under $5, just as a point of reference.

Last night I fought off sleep as long as I could and ended up passing out around 7:00 pm local time. Juan tried to make me stay awake longer, but when that didn't work he responded by falling asleep too. I guess he showed me. So now we've been awake since 4:00 am. That's 10:00 pm in Atlanta and 8:00 in Guatemala, so we got to call and talk to the parents, and then we meandered upstairs for Norwegian continental breakfast. That breakfast consisted of an assortment of grainy bread, ham slices, swiss cheese slices, and hard boiled eggs... yum!

So then we set off to the Swedish embassy, where they say we need passport photos for our work visas. The Swedish lady tells us that there's a place to get them in the train station, and we head off in that direction. On the way we pass a portrait studio with a sign that says "passport photos!" so we go on in and tell the lady what we need, she snaps a few shots, hands us the photos and says "Its 500 Kroners". In my head I try to estimate the cost in dollars at an exchange rate of 5.8 K to $1 and I think "wait, WHAT??" But Juan just pays the lady and we leave. A few minutes later we realize we just paid $80-something for passport photos... ouch! But then we figure that Oslo is just real expensive so we try to just shrug is off. Shrugging it off becomes impossible, though, once we pass a photo booth that takes passport photos for 60 Kroners- that's $10! I think I speak for Juan too when I say I'm still really peeved at that photo lady. She got us real good.

Anyway, we then continued on through the city, which is actually really beautiful, and we took a boat tour of the Oslofjord. It wasn't quite as dramatic as I had been lead to believe, but it was still a really cool boat ride. After that we wandered around some more and went to about 3 different H&M's and then popped into a grocery store for a bottle of water. In the grocery store we observed a couple guys open an small, empty suitcase and start loading beer into it. The situation looked a little sketch, but I tried not to assume the worst. But then Juan Carlos saw the fools walk right on out the store just like that. Who steals beer? I mean I know Oslo is expensive, but come on.

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2207983&id=12816218&l=252f816f0b

Frankfurt

We’re sitting in the airport in Frankfurt now, and let’s just say Guatemala’s La Aurora Airport is like 1000 times nicer. We had to take stairs outside from the plane to the ground and ride on a bus for about 20 minutes to get into the terminal. We stopped for a quick bite to eat and observed several Germans enjoying beer with breakfast. Juan thought I had made up breakfast beer, but let’s be honest- I am hardly that clever. I mean I have had a few good ideas in my time, but breakfast beer is just a whole other level of genius.

Anyway, aside from my irrational terror and takeoff being delayed almost an hour, the flight from ATL to here really wasn’t bad at all. I think I managed to get about 3 hours of sleep since we were the only two people in a four-person row and I was able to lie down. Poor Juan Carlos had no such luck. Allegedly I used all the pillows and he couldn’t get comfortable. Now we have an hour-and-a-half layover before a quick two-hour flight to Oslo. Juan found a cute little B&B right in the city center and we’ll stay there until Sunday so I can take the LSAT at the University of Oslo on Saturday. From there it will be off to Vasteras, Sweden to get to know our new home. Juan’s company set up an apartment for us, and his boss said it’s a “doublet”, whatever that means. I’m really curious to see what it looks like. I’m picturing a tiny little place straight out of the Ikea catalog. In fact, I’m kind of picturing all of Sweden as just one huge Ikea showroom, with sleek modern furnishings as far as the eye can see, and streets chock-a-block full of Vovlos and Saabs. I think I’ll be real disappointed when things turn out otherwise, but we’ll see.

Up In The Air...

That title refers to the plans, not us... yet. Turns out the date for the trip got changed again. We now don't know when we're leaving or exactly where we're going. If Juan's work visa doesn't get processed in the next couple days we'll leave on Monday or so to go straight to Norway for me to take the LSAT in Oslo. From there we'll go to Sweden assuming Juan has a work visa. Updates will follow once there are any...

Bouncing Baby Fuserdog

This "luxurious Walnut Creek apartment" is kind of small and as such there's just not very many places to throw the ball where Fuser and Alfie (Foofie and Alfie according to my favorite 2-year-old cousin) won't come running back with it in about 2 seconds. So Juan Carlos decided to trick the puppies by throwing the ball out of their reach... or so he thought. Joke's on him, though, because Fuser jumped right on in the box. Fuser 1, Juan 0.

Schpoople!

I hope I get to meet Fjurg Van Der Ploeg and maybe even play a game of schpoople with him!

1.	Schpoople
	A sport where the objective is to knock the other player down with a ball and stomp on another ball

"dont be sad peter thats why its called schpoople"

Stuff Swedes Like

I don't know if Swedes like this stuff or not, but it is all Swedish. I'm just trying to learn about my future home, so here's a list of Swedish things:

• Ikea
• H&M
• Volvo
• Saab
• Björn Borg
• ABBA
• Svedka Vodka
• Absolut Vodka
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic
• Swedish Fish
• Swedish Meatballs
• Swedish Massages
• Ace of Base
• Smörgåsbord
• The Cardigans
• Lingonberry
• Ingrid Bergman
• Greta Garbo
• The Hives
• Eagle-Eye Cherry
• Alfred Nobel
• ABB
• Tiger Woods' wife

Preparing for Sweden

Some people might think that getting ready for a trip means packing, but really it consists mostly of looking for fun Swedish videos on YouTube. Enjoy!

The Swedish national anthem.

Everyone, even Swedes, loves Disney.

Saving the best for last!

Mice!

There is a mouse in the luxurious Walnut Creek apartment. I guess that’s a good sign that the Sweden trip is approaching! T-25