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