Biking to dinner

As a family we used to go out quite often in Florida, but we haven't done that much since we first arrived in Sweden mostly because it costs a lot more money here. So a couple of Fridays ago, we decided to go out and Thomas suggested this Malaysian place that he had been to before when he was on business. 

In Sweden if you would like to have one drink with your dinner at a restaurant, then you arrange transportation to/from the restaurant. If you are above .02 BAC then you can lose your license for 6 months (Florida's limit is .08 BAC in comparison). So basically you cannot have 1 drink and then drive so if you have a car there is always a designated driver. 

Many people ride their bikes into town to dinner as a cheaper alternative to taxis. That's what we decided to do, but first we had to prepare. Thomas still didn't have a bike yet so that day he went shopping for a bike. Luckily most sporting stores are getting in all their winter sport gear so bikes were on sale. We rode our bikes to meet him downtown to pick up his bike because we also needed to shop for lights for all of our bikes since we would be eating dinner later and it would be dark when traveling back home after dinner.

We went back home to get dressed and ready then we bundled up with gloves and jackets...

We rode our bikes to the restaurant and locked them up...

Ready to go into the Malaysian Butterfly!

We had a delicious dinner of curried beef, a stirfry chicken meal, and a shrimp meal and sampled each others. It was delicious!

Thomas inside paying the bill. It wasn't very busy inside, I think a lot of people chose take-out from this restaurant. 

It was quite a long afternoon getting prepared with what we needed to ride our bikes into town just to go out to dinner but it was worth it!

How's the weather??? School life in Sweden is very different...

Well it's September and the weather is getting very cold already, though everybody tells me this is a warm autumn so far. The average highs are right around 60 and lows around 40.  Early last week I noticed yellow leaves falling from one tree we have in the back yard (we mostly have evergreens all around).  It kind of surprised me that the leaves were already falling, but I guess it surprised Ben more, because one day he was looking out our kitchen window toward that tree and he said, "Oh, now I see why they call it fall!" I thought that was funny because I never realized he had never known a true fall.

Well a couple of weeks into September the weather was still cool, but sunny and mostly nice, my boys of course are mostly the only ones still in shorts, but I watch the weather and make sure it won't get too cold so I let them have these last few weeks before they have to wear pants.  When the sun is out here the weather seems so nice no matter what the temp, but as soon as it's rainy, it's dreary and feels much colder.  

At school even in the rain, they still have recess and the other day, Alex didn't wear his rain coat out for recess and he got soaked through.  They have these drying systems the boys told me about, so he was able to put his shirt in there to dry while he only wore a jacket. (He'll learn to wear his raincoat next time).  Even Ben said his socks were soaked that day (I have offered to buy rain boots, but so far they haven't taken me up on it).

It seems the Swedish people don't stop for the rain, and so Thomas was working late one day this week and had the car, so Ben and I rode out to the soccer fields on our bikes in the rain and there was still practice, so I dropped him off.  I had a few groceries I needed so I continued on in the light rain to the grocery store, then headed home to get dinner ready, then headed back out in the rain to pick up Ben from practice.  (He loved playing in the rain by the way.)

School is very different from the states.  Mainly, there are schedules, but it seems like most things change often depending on extracurricular activities the teachers often plan.  It has been pretty stressful trying to make sure our kids are where they need to be at the right times especially Alex.

I already blogged about the early dismissals he had the first weeks of school, one for the teachers to meet to plan the camping trip, and once because they had no music teacher so they sent the kids home.  I also blogged about how there are no permission slips even for the overnight camping trip that Alex's class went on.

So this week was pretty hectic as far as having Alex get to where he needed to be.  We received a notice telling us on Tuesday the 6th graders were to meet at BJ arena at 9:00AM by bike so they could go back to school after.  (School starts at 8:00, but that doesn't seem to be important here on these special days).  They planned a track and field day with events for all the kids. He didn't know where that was, (and I couldn't find an address anywhere online, and I had to drive Thomas to another town that morning), but he found a friend that met him at a location he did know so they rode together.  After their day, they did go back to school for a little, but since the end of the day is usually PE and they did track that morning, of course they were dismissed early instead of PE.

Wednesday was also a hectic day because there are these special classes on Wednesday's where Alex has chosen soccer for the year so for an hour or so each Wednesday, he has practice with his classmates on these heated soccer field so even in the winter they will have practice.  The problem is the schedule says 1 hour (ending at 3:00PM), so I scheduled this English class at 3:40 on Wednesday's at another location (if you speak a different language than Swedish, the schools give you an hour a week in lessons no matter what the language is so Alex and Ben can keep up with English grammar and writing).  Well last week, Alex's soccer didn't end until 3:30 so he was late for English, so this week I asked him to talk to the Soccer teacher and find out what time class should end and he said 3:15.  It worked out that Alex talked to him about the class and just let him know if practice ran late he would have to leave and that worked out perfectly).

Thursday was probably even more hectic in terms of knowing where we were all supposed to be and making sure Alex was prepared for his day.  We got this letter home that said Thursday was interschool soccer day and that Alex was to be at the bus at the train station at 7:50 AM.  The part that made it hectic was I didn't know when he would get home.  I happened to be in the school the day before dropping off Alex's cleats he forgot and raincoat and ran into his teacher and asked when he would be getting back from the soccer trip and she said she didn't know that she wasn't going, it was the PE coach that was arranging it.  It turns out, they would get back when they lost and didn't progress anymore in the tournament...

Of course that was a pretty rainy day and Alex had to pack extra clothes to stay dry, food for lunch and soccer gear.  I think I have already blogged about Swedish people eating very hearty lunches always, so I sent Alex that day with a sandwich and fruit and a few cookies, but when I asked Alex what the others brought for lunch he told me most had pasta dishes, or warmed chicken dishes (in a Thermos) or meatballs.

I had Swedish class that afternoon, so Ben had to come home alone from school, and I waited at class until Alex texted that he was headed back to the station and I could come get him and I left to go get him.  It all turned out well, but it seemed impossible to plan.

So Ben's class is a little more routine I'd say, however, today is running day which means that they run a 5k in the forest today first thing this morning, then they can bring a snack, and after they must shower.  They have also walked all the way into the town center on another day to go to the library (and we were informed about it, but we never had to sign a permission slip). Many times they also walk to a nearby forest for PE. 

Ben has a change in schedule next week though.  We received letters home a week ago asking the kids to pick a specialty and they were going to have it all day for the first four days next week.  Apparently, instead of allotting say 50 minutes per week of a special, like art, or cooking (yes they do that here), they use all the same amount of hours at once and the kids have whole days filled with these specials of their choice.  Ben chose cooking and arts and crafts so two days next week will be one then the other two days will be the other.  On these four days next week, school gets out at 2:00 instead of 1:40.

For Alex's PE today, he will be running on a trail far from school but passed our house so he texted me earlier (yes, they are allowed to have their phones with them at recess, but off in the classroom), that he will be able to stop by the house on the way to the trail to drop off his backpack so that directly after the run, he can come home.

These are just examples of the different kinds of things that we are encountering at the school so far.  My boys are really enjoying it so far, and going with the flow, though it has been an effort to figure somethings out, in the end when they have done it, they love it and are very happy!

Sox has arrived! Our first guests!

Thomas was back in Florida for a couple of days and stayed with my parents, when he returned, he brought our dog, Sox, back with him!

Thomas flew on Lufthansa from Orlando to  Berlin then on to Stockholm. The boys and I went to pick them up at the airport and we were so excited to see them get off the plane.

The boys waiting for Thomas and Sox...

After waiting for Thomas to clear customs with the dog, he finally walked out of the secured area with Sox by his side...

She did great on the flight! We were worried what condition she would be in when we got her, because it isn't guaranteed that they will take her out to let her pee during the layover, so after about 20 hours of travel, she had no accidents in her carrier and she was so excited to see the boys.

She must have been exhausted from the travel because she slept the entire 2 hour car ride back to our house.  But when she got there she made herself right at home!

The only thing that happened to her was we were trying to show her all around the house and went she went to go down the staircase to the basement area, it has curved steps with a narrow side and she stepped off that side and missed about four steps before she caught herself.  She is terrified of those stairs now and she won't even go up them now...

Luckily, there is another staircase up that leads into the kitchen and she got smart enough to use them when she wants to go up or downstairs.

Bringing a dog to Sweden wasn't as difficult as I initially thought it could be, the first thing I thought was we would have to quarantine her, but thank goodness, that wasn't the case.   Here are somethings was had to do to get her...

1) She couldn't fly to or from an airport that was 85 degrees or hotter (or 45 degrees or colder) during the time she would be on the Tarmac, so it was challenging to find flights that were early or late enough in the day to take the risk of Florida temperatures being too warm;

2) She had to have been microchipped and have a current rabies vaccination;

3) She has to go to a vet within 10 days of travel and have special papers filled out saying she is ok to fly and then the papers have to be signed by a vet at the USDA for exporting her;

4) She needed a special carrier designed for travel and bowls that attach to her cage so they can give her water;

5) She needed reservations on the flight because they only have so much room for pets in a special place in cargo that is air conditioned, there was already another pet reserved, so Rosie had no space this time:(;

The night we came home with Sox, Thomas' parents made the 6 hour trip from Norway to see us.  It was beautiful weather on Saturday so we went for a long walk around this lake and of course we brought Sox. 

Along this lake, my friend here had told me about these various grilling locations that they have fire wood to use and you just have to bring matches and paper to start a fire, so we brought along hotdogs and stopped for a picnic!

At the end of the walk, there were even a few animals that they allow us to bring apples and crackers to, so we had some bruised apples we brought to them...

And of course the weather was good enough for ice cream so we all had some!

That night was even pretty enough to sit outside, though the next day the weather wasn't as nice so after Thomas' parents went to Ben's soccer game, it started raining...but it was a great weekend and it was so nice to have company and show them our new town.

Norwegian Confirmation Weekend

This past weekend, we traveled 6 hours back to Norway for two very traditional Norwegian Confirmations. Thomas' cousin and his niece (both 15 years old) were being confirmed on the same weekend.

In Norway, confirmation is a huge celebration of the individual. After they spend the year in classes for church they end with a special church service and then a reception for family and very close friends. 

The Norwegian women that attend the service or reception wear a special dress called a bunad.

Here is a picture of Thomas' nephew, Adrian, his sister Anne-Lise, his niece Ida, and his mother Kari. 

These bunad dresses are traditional for the Norwegians and they wear them to special events, such as weddings, baptisms, confirmations, and on their National Holiday, May 17th. (Like our 4th of July). Bunad dresses vary depending on the region of Norway that you have ties to (ancestors), and the dresses that Thomas' family is wearing comes from the Lillehammar area. 

I looked it up on the Internet and learned that there is a special Bunad Council that dictates how official bunads are to be made and it was quite interesting. They are made of wool and all hand embroidered. They are meant to last a lifetime, so they make them to be expandable for some growth. Because of all the criteria they must meet to be official, they are very expensive and can cost $5000. 

Small children often wear look-a-likes, because they grow quickly out of them, but for an occasion like a confirmation, it is a great time to get one because then you probably won't be growing much anymore. 

Ida had her dress made this year and it was quite exciting. She had to have her fittings in Lillehammar (2 hours away) since this is the region she was getting her bunad from.  At Christmas time she brought us into the shop in Lillehammar where her dress was already being made. So this was obviously a long process because she just got the completed dress in September back in Lillehammar. 

Also notice the jewelry they are wearing. It is typically handmade silver or gold. And their dresses usually have a purse attached to the dress that also follows the same embroidered pattern as the dress as you can see in the picture above. 

Onto the confirmations...

Saturday was Mikael's day and it was a small church so only the parents and godparents attended the service. After Thomas' aunt and uncle held the reception at their house. The table was laid out beautifully for about 27 people with place cards and all...

We ate a delicious lunch and they had people close to Mikael give speeches. His father and his aunt said the nicest things about him in front of everyone. It is truly touching to hear (even in a different language). 

Here is Mikael with Adrian and Alex.

Ben in a suit...

The next day was Ida's day and we did go to the church. Thomas is Ida's Godfather. 

Outside the church (the same one both of my kids were baptized in) with Thomas' parents. 

Here is Ida outside the church right after the service.

After the service we headed to a restaurant for the reception. It also happened to be the same place both my boys held their reception after their baptism. Ida had a photographer there for her picture outside before the dinner. 

The godparents of Ida and the grandparents.

Cheers Ida (that's just apple juice).

The table inside was set again with place cards and we enjoyed, a salmon appetizer and then a chicken dinner.

During the dinner, her brother Adrian was the "Toast Master". There is a very common tradition of not only speeches, but also songs to be written for the confirmed. Her father, Thomas, and Edgar, the grandfather all gave wonderful speeches and we sung in Norwegian different songs written by her brother, mother, and grandmother. We were all given programs with the words and melody to sing it to. 

It followed by cakes and coffee. 

Similar to our weddings, there is typically a doll on top of the dessert. 

We said our goodbyes and headed out that night for our long drive back to Sweden.

Alex's hike/camping trip

Since the first week of school, the teachers had been planning a hiking trip that included camping out over night for Alex's class. 

The letter home with information about the trip said the purpose of the trip was to teach the children to enjoy outdoors and to lead an active lifestyle. The rest of the letter included logistics such as where they were to meet, what time, what to bring, and when/where they would return and a packing list. 

Some of this was interesting to me because the first obvious thing I noticed was there was no permission slip to be signed. It was also interesting that on the day of the trip, you don't go to school at the normal start time of 8:00, you meet downtown at 9:00 to start the walk from there. And you carried all of your equipment yourself (clothing and warm layers, snack type food, water bottle, toiletries- lunch, dinner and breakfast was provided), you did have the option to bring your sleeping bag a day early and it would be driven out. The following day, they were to take a city bus back into town and arrive at the train station at 11:45 and they were dismissed from there. (It's strange they didn't have the same starting and ending point so in case kids rode their bikes they could get home the next day). 

I had to shop for a sleeping bag (probably could have borrowed one, but it was something we might need in the future anyway), and the only kind available here are camping style. I have a picture of Ben showing one off...

I have to say, I was worried all week what the temperature would be like because it can get pretty cold here in September and we just don't have the right clothes yet, or know what the right clothes to buy are, so I didn't want Alex to freeze. 

Last Thursday they got to go and the weather was so nice. I dropped Alex and Samuel off and they went with their classes. 

A group of kids waiting to start. 

Their walk was 15 Kilometers (about 9 miles) and they had a great time! Alex didn't end up having room to sleep in a tent outside, so he was in some building with four others, but he heard it hit pretty cold outside. They had hot dogs for lunch, hamburgers for dinner. Some swam (the water temp is about 60 degrees here and feels freezing!), and if you carried your own pole you could fish at this lake they hiked to too. He had a great time. 

Gator Nation in Sweden!!! American Football!

This weekend was spent much like it would be in Florida. We ordered the ESPN game day package so we were able to get the Gator game and since it began at noon in the states, it was a perfect 6:00 game time for us!

Thomas was out of town (see, just like in the states:)) and I told Alex and Ben they could invite friends so the neighbors came over along with their mom, Catherina, as well as a classmate of Alex named Lucas. I wanted to share our game day traditions so I bought some

 snacks, and we put on our Gator gear...

Alex and Ben taught their friends the rules to the game and they watched for a bit...I think the snacks were the biggest hit:) 

After they were full, they decided to try playing football outside and had a game going for awhile! Then they came back in and just like good old times, they took to their iPads and video after awhile:)

Everybody had a great time and I look forward to hosting more Saturday Football party's at the house!