New Year's Eve in Stockholm vs California...

When New Year's Eve approaches, I kind of get a bit "homesick"...

There is nothing better than New Year's Eve in Stockholm. No matter how you've spent your evening (at home, on a dinner party, in a restaurant), at midnight you hit the street to watch the firework show. There are fireworks every where (yes, sometimes a bit scary, but usually the champagne kind of take most of your worries away)!

Now that's the right way to end a year and start a new year. With a big boom!

Fireworks are forbidden in California... Except the "official" ones in each city, in some public place somewhere. Where you have to get to by car, find a parking space and yada yada...

On our first New Year Eve here we got really disappointed. We thought that we were in for a huge show. After all, most things are bigger in the US, so why not the fireworks on New Year's Eve.

As midnight approached, we poured the champagne in our glasses and walked out on the balcony in huge anticipation.

Only to see....

Nothing.

The only fireworks you could see was on TV. And the big ball falling (shouldn't it be going UP?) in New York. Three hours earlier. A rerun on New Year's Eve.

No, if you want to experience a real New Year's - you should spend it in downtown Stockholm.

(I found this beautiful picture on Flickr - taken by Dave Gorman, taken from Gondolen in Stockholm on New Year's Eve last year, see all the people on the street!)

A little Swedish - American meeting

Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt (and former Swedish Prime Minister) meets US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the White House this fall.

Tiny country meets huge country in a small handshake.




Different titles, same job. "Minister of Foreign Affairs" and "Secretary of State" is both "utrikesminister" in Swedish.

New Swedish words...

When you're an alien you have to watch your native language so you don't end up speaking like a person stuck in the past. Like something out of a movies from the 50ies.

So now I've studied the New Swedish Words 2006 as reported today by The Swedish Language Council.

I'm now up to date .

I think.

There is this word... "Rondellhundar" (maybe translated as"roundabout dogs")...

WHAT is that?

Last time I drove a car in Sweden was... December 2005. And I didn't see any dogs in any roundabouts.

Did some googeling. Found some answers.

And this picture.



(picture from "The Picture of the Year 2006" collection, as published in www.svd.se).

The Governator in bed

California, the fifth largest economy in the world and the largest state (population) in the US is run as you know by Arnold Schwarzenegger since a couple of years (and who's name I still have to check how it's spelled...).

Also known as the Governator.

His popularity goes up and down, but he won the November re-election easily and at the moment his ratings are up.

Right now he is running the state from the bed. He broke his leg last week when skiing.

I wonder if we would see pictures of new Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt from a hospital bed.

"The same procedure as last year, miss Sophie?"

Every New Year's Eve year since 1976, you can see this TV program in Sweden known as "Grevinnan och Betjänten"(in English the title is "Dinner for one"). The program was recorded in 1963 and is the most recurrent TV program in the world.

I saw this program every New Years Eve (almost as important as the Donald Duck show on Christmas Eve...) until I was big enough to have other plans on New Year's than to be home watching TV...





Not only Swedish Television shows this program on New Year's Eve - if you happen to spend New Year's Eve in for example Germany, Switzerland and Austria (as well as a bunch other countries), you can catch miss Sophie celebrating her 90th birthday having her butler James be the stand in for her dead friends Sir Toby, Amiral von Schneider, Mr Pomeroy and Mr Winterbottom and get more and more drunk...

What is it about this program that makes millions of European tune in every New Year....?

iPods 20 years ago...

Ok. So I spent a couple of days figuring out iTunes and loading up my new iPod.

Tiny bit easier than messing around with cassette tapes like I did when I got my first "music machine" - a Sony Walkman WM.

I still have it.

I don't have any cassette tapes to play though.

It was huge when my mom got it for me for Christmas, probably 20 years ago. I was so coooool! I still smile when I see it, remembering the feeling.

(But the coolest kids in school they had the yellow sport version. The one you would have if you had to... hm... listen to music in the rain).

A Walkman was for some reason called a "Freestyle" in Sweden.

You sure wonder what the Swedish Language Council thought about that.

The King has spoken

The good thing about being a citizen of a kingdom is... is... hm... well, you get to hear the King's yearly speech on Annandag Jul (today!).

It used to be called "The King speak to the Swedish people abroad". But now it's just "The King's yearly speach". But this year he spoke a lot about aliens!

Freely and quickly translated from his speech:

The emigration from Sweden to North America, in the 1830ies and forward, had significant meaning to our country. More than one million Swedish people emigrated. Some came back with new impressions and new knowledge. The emigration is the foundation of the relationships with North America, that have given us pleasure and benefits of for over hundred years. It has strongly effected on each side of the Atlantic. When the Queen and I inaugurated the new Embassy of Sweden, House of Sweden, in Washington D.C we saw clear evidence of this.

This is what the Swedish King look like. His name is Carl XVI Gustaf. He seldom wears a real crown. Too bad - I think he would look good in it!

You can listen (or read) to the Swedish King here! Only in Swedish however...

2 years ago today

Today is "Annandag Jul" in Sweden. "Second day of Christmas". It's the last of the three consecutive days of Christmas celebration, a celebration that you spend a long fall waiting for to arrive. The peak of winter.

It's become more and more common for Swedish people to leave the darkness for the sun over Christmas. This year more than 200 000 Swedes (out of a population of 9 millions) left the country.

Two years ago today several thousands celebrated their Christmas far away from home, in Thailand.

542 never returned home.

I didn't know anyone who was in Thailand at the time. But I followed the horrible news reports closely those days two days ago, both Swedish news online and American news on the TV. 542 is a small number in comparison to the enormous number of people that lost their lives that day (33 Americans are believed to have died in the disaster). But it's a huge number for a small nation like Sweden.

Today this is of course one of the major news reports in Sweden.

Santa stopped by

After watching a recorded version of "Kalle Anka" on Julafton (Christmas Eve) yesterday, Santa himself stopped by (too bad my husband missed him!!). He had traveled far and couldn't really speak, he claimed his beard was tickling him - strange that he isn't used to it...

He brought lots of gifts for the kids present, and an iPod for the mother.

So here I am, downloading the latest version of iTunes, getting ready to figure out how to podcast Swedish Radio programs and listen to in the car (when I can negotiate not having to listen to "The wheels on the bus") and when on walks (when I don't have to explain why birds can fly) and when doing things around the house (when I don't have "help" by a toddler).

Hm... I wonder when I actually will get the chance to use it...

Anyway! www.sr.se* - here I come!

Being an alien isn't too bad when you live in this age - the wonders of new technology can make you feel just at home, where ever you are!

*Swedish radio's great website!

Don't call a Swede at 3 pm tomorrow!

Swedish people may have different Christmas Eve habits (and Christmas Eve is the big day for Swedes), like at what time they eat the big Christmas smörgårsbord (like a late lunch, or an early dinner), or when Santa arrives or if it's mandatory to write rhymes for your Christmas gifts.

But not matter what the routine is, at 3 pm, almost all turn on the TV and watch...

Donald Duck*.

And have been since 1959.

Last year 3.514.000 people watched. That's almost like 40% of the population.

The major Swedish newspaper wrote about this phenomena yesterday, and found an expert who claimed this is about feeling safe... And being nostalgic and being traditional.

Yes. We will turn on our recording of the Donald Duck program tomorrow at 3 pm. Swedish Aliens are probably even more nostalgic about this really silly program.

*The Donald Duck (Kalle Anka in Swedish) is really a version of an American show from 1951 called "The Walt Disney Christmas Show". Nothing particularly Swedish about it. At all.

A great night out!

I went on a well needed "girl's night out" tonight. We went to a new place in our neighbourhood, not knowing much about the place beforehand. It turned out to be really, really nice. Nicely decorated, European food (no "cheese burger" in sight!) - and live music!

And of course - the big screen TVs showing sports...

What is it with Americans who can't enjoy food or a drink without close-ups of sweaty men? Is this the only way for American woman to get their husbands out of the house once in a while?

Anyway - it really was a nice place and the live music was absolutely great (we were actually almost thinking of hitting the floor dancing, but then thought better of it, after all, people were eating...).

When we left, we passed by the smokers, standing outside. No smoking in Californian bars or restaurants (or other public places for that matter). Being a non-smoker myself - I LOVE this. You can come home after having a meal in a restaurant - and not have to take a quick shower, trying to wash the smell of old ashtray away.

I think I can stand the big screen TVs as long as smoking is not allowed. You can turn your back to the TV but not hide from the smoke...

(While I've been here in the US, a non-smoking law came into effect in Stockholm as well - but big screen TVs usually is only found in real sports-bars).

A taste of paradise?

I wonder if that was what they were thinking, naming this Swedish box of chocolate*...

For an Alien - it's at least a taste of Sweden...

I got four boxes at IKEA.

I think today is considered ok to open the first. It is only 36 hours until Christmas!


*Paradis (without dark chocolate) is the younger sibling to Aladdin (with dark chocolate), a box of chocolate that was introduced in 1939 (!) and is the most popular box of chocolate in Sweden. The favorite pieces are "Trillingnöt" and "Gräddnogat". If you're lucky, you can pick up one at the Swedish Food store at IKEA around Christmas.

It's getting brighter!

Tomorrow is the winter solstice! It's the shortest day of the year. From then on it can only get better (ie brighter...).

The closer to the equator you live, the less you really care about this day. But if you grew up in Sweden, it kind of matters...

Tomorrow the sun will rise at 8.47 am and set at 2.47 pm in Stockholm*. That's six hours of daylight. Six. You go to work/school in darkness and come home in darkness.

Makes you really interested when the days will get longer...

*If you're above the artic circle, like in Kiruna, the sun won't rise at all tomorrow. 0 hours of daylight.

A recyclable Christmas card

A electronic Swedish Christmas card arrived with e-mail.



(it was from www.svd.se Christmas Card page)

It's Christmas time...

1984.

I had just turned into a teenager.

We had just gotten the TV channel Music Box from Great Britain on cable (which has HUGE (and very, very rare) in Sweden in 1984!).

I sat in front of the TV to catch this video. And "Last Christmas" by WHAM that came out the same year.

Oh, Christmas memories...

More fun to be Swedish at Christmas!

At least of you're a kid (or a Christmas freak...).

Swedish kids gets to meet Santa in real life! He comes to the house to give the gifts in person on Christmas Eve. No one really knows why he choose the Swedish people to grace with his real presence (and not just visit shopping malls like here in the US). Maybe Sweden is on the route down from the NorthPole on his way to deliver the rest of his gifts in the stockings over night and he doesn't want to start the workday with the chimney climbing, but rather use doors first?

The whole day Swedish kids wait, and wait, and wait, until that knock on the door!

Usually he only knocks on the door when all the Swedish dads simultaneously had to run an urgent errand. You really wonder where all the dads do when Santa is visiting - hanging out in the nearby pub, drinking Christmas Ale?

The sun always shine

It's sunny today.

That's cool.

I don't have to rush outside, to do... something!

I've calmed down.

The first few months here, we were almost stressed out by the sunshine. When you're Swedish, you need to take care of what sunshine you get (even in summer), make the most of it. No indoor time if the sun is shining outside! It took months until we finally calmed down... ok, so the sun shines most of the year... no need to rush outside. It's ok to stay inside and do indoor projects.

This is very hard if you're Swedish... but now we got the hang of it...

The forecast for the big day of the year, Julafton (Christmas Eve) on Sunday is "partly sunny".

Got to figure out how to make the living room dark at 3 pm in time for "Donald Duck".

(oh, we do have seasons in the part of California where I live, the temperature can actually get pretty cool at night in the winter months and we do have pretty big storms passing by (from the west) between say November and March, but the sun always returns, sometimes in between the showers or at least the next day).

A Swedish highway by nigh

Driving on a Swedish highway is nothing compared to driving on an American (actually it's not really fare to compare - 9 millions vs 300 millions and great public transportation vs non-existent public transportation).

The first time you drive on an American highway you're terrified (well, unless you've taken a little drive on the German Autobahn of course). Cars will pass you everywhere and sometimes you don't even know how many lanes there are (compared to Swedish highways where three lanes is rare...).

And the highways are always busy... Day and night. Not constantly congested like during rush hour but there will always be cars on the highway.

Not like in Stockholm...

This is the major highway in Stockholm (E4) at 1.27 am this morning.

Not too busy...

A cyber take over!

Is the King of Norway trying to use cyber warcraft to take over Sweden? Maybe he has infiltrated the Google team... This is a funny story in today's Expressen (evening news magazine in Sweden).

And sure enough!

Seek "Norway" in Google Earth and it seems as if King Harald V is the king and not King Carl XVI Gustaf!

Get the popcorn ready!

If you can't find anything on your 100+ American channels to watch and happens to know Swedish, you can now tune in to SVT Play, a new feature where you can see almost anything on Swedish Television including historical material!

Is this great or what!

A Swedish "TV-YouTube"!

Imagine how much money we Swedish aliens will save not having to buy airline tickets to go back to Sweden get a dose of "På Spåret", "Vetenskapsmagasinet" or "Allsång på Skansen"!

Now, the big question is... what about the "tv-avgift"*...


(*TV-avgift = mandatory "tv charges" for everyone in Sweden that owns a TV, collected by the authority "Radiotjänst i Kiruna"... an old public service system...)

The Swenglish language

I've been taking a class in multilingualism (preparing for my kids to manage learn two languages at the same time).

I happend to run into The Swedish Language Council's website (Svenska Språkrådet) as a good source to keep updated with the development of the Swedish language.

It's actually nice little website (boring and stiff layout, but interesting content).

They had a list over "unnecessary" English words used in Swedish and suggestions on what Swedish words to use instead. I read this page with huge interest, afraid that my Swedish is a tiny bit (...) mixed up with English expressions (that sometimes have no real equivalence in Swedish).

Some of the suggestions makes perfect sense... some of them just feels... I don't know...

Here are a few examples (sorry, will only really make sense for Swedish speaking readers...).

emoticon -> humörfigur (I can agree that "emoticon" is a very English word, but "humörsfigur" just sounds really silly...).

HD-tv -> skarp-tv (well.. hm... no...)

lounge -> sällkskapsrum (sounds like something in a home from the 50ies, the room where you could never actually enter unless it was Christmas Eve)

skateboard -> rullbräda (good way get fewer boys to end up in the hospital with skateboard related injuries - what 13-year old would want to have "rullbräda" as a hobby...).

smiley -> smilis (is this really a Swedish word??)

van -> familjebuss (not only is it hard to get husbands to want a van in the first place (end of freedom etc etc) but if they have to call it "familjebuss", the sales of minivans would diminish...).

Yeah! I'm the person of the year!

And so are all of you!

In the upcoming issue of Time, they announce that this year's "Person of the Year" is "You".

An extract from Time's cover story:

Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. There's no road map for how an organism that's not a bacterium lives and works together on this planet in numbers in excess of 6 billion. But 2006 gave us some ideas. This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It's a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who's out there looking back at them.

(read the whole story here - I really like it!)

Compact parking for "big" cars...

Ok, so a Nissan Titan does not fit in a Californian compact parking space. But actually most other "normal" cars do.

When we got here we bought a Jeep Cherokee (that was my husband's decision, he always dreamed about cruising around in a Jeep in California).

Coming from Sweden, we thought a Jeep was a pretty big car.

Until we lost sight of it in the parking lot.

A Jeep Cherokee really is a small car. At least here. Put a Jeep Cherokee next to a Nissan Titan truck and you'll see. You really need to remember where you parked your car, because you won't see it when looking out over the other cars.

For years I avoided parking in empty compact parking spaces. I was sure our "big" car wouldn't fit... Until we realized that a Jeep Cherokee is pretty compact... at least in California.

The "department store IKEA"...

I had to go to Target today to pick up a few things. Target is like... hm...almost like Åhléns in Sweden (not like the big Åhléns in downtown Stockholm, but the smaller versions). There is a Target almost everywhere (or a Wal-Mart which is more or less the same).

Going to Target is also like going to IKEA.

It's impossible to go there thinking you're going to pick up one or two things.

You always end up spending $100 or more and fill a shopping cart. With things you didn't know you needed.

Hm.... I wonder if that's why the shopping carts are so big...

A new word in English... #1

Ventriloquist (buktalardocka)

Don't know if that word was on an English glossary test I missed in school, or I just forgot. I bumped into the word today in a book and had to look it up.

Not sure when I'm going to get it into a conversation now that I know it ... but then you never know - might need it next time when making small talk at the hairdresser's!

Tipping time...

I'm long overdue a visit to the hairdresser (why do I always wait until my hair is a complete mess, why do I never take up the offer of making my next appointment when I'm doing my hair... oh well...).

The pros of going to the hairdresser:
- a couple of hours on my own
- reading magazines I never normally read
- hopefully looking better when I walk out the door than when I walked in

The cons of going to the hairdresser:
- having to look myself in the mirror for a couple of hours
- having to make small talk with the American hairdresser (they are great at making conversations, but for a stonefaced Swede, this is sometimes very stressful... someone you don't know is talking to you for hours...).
- figuring out the tip...

In Sweden you don't tip your hairdresser (at least not I... maybe I should have...?) so this I find very tricky... I'm always stressed about this part... Tipping is kind of mandatory and if you like your hairdresser and want to come back you want to make sure she (or he for that matter!) is satisfied with your tipping (you don't want to risk end up looking like Sinaed O'Connor next time you come).

But how much?! I always feel I'm over doing it, not to do something wrong (and so far, I've gone back to a few and managed to look pretty ok coming out of there, so I guess I'm doing it fairly ok).

This time I'm going to research before I go there!

The answer from Google the God: The standard tip for a hairdresser is 15% according to The Original Tipping page (why haven't I checked out this page earlier!?).

Time to call for an appointment!

"Jeg går en Tur"

20 years old. Norwegian. Pretty cool! (and don't you just love listen to Norweigan??)



(Jeg går en Tur - A self portrait by Lasse Gjertsen)

Do Not Call !

Before we registred on the "National Do Not Call List" a couple of years ago, the phone would almost ring off the hook. You could go crazy from getting disturbed all-the-time!

I'm amazed that the telemarketing business is as big as it is - I don't know anyone that would sign up to something offered by the phone. But some one must be out there or there would be no calls.

Unfortunately charities are exluded from the list, they can still call freely (and not risk getting sued). And they do. But now we only get telemarketing calls a couple of times a week. In theory I don't mind charities calling, but I do mind the manner in which this is done...

I'm usually the one answering the phone but they usually want to speak with my husband (for some reason, maybe they know that he is "easier"?).

Anyway - this is a normal conversation with a charity telemarketer:

Me: JaCal speaking! (Swedish I am...)
Telemarketer: Is Husband there? (What happened to "hello my name is YY etc"?)
Me: Who's calling please? (trying to be nice, at least the first five seconds)
Telemarketer: This is Angela (usually always a female... calling for my husband... without giving her name voluntarily)
Me: Calling regarding what? (a little more stern now)
Telemarketer: Is Husband there?? (annoyed by the gate-keeper wife)
Me: What are you calling about and from? (very firm by now)
Tele marketer: I'm calling on behalf of the Sheriffs' Deputy Pension Association (or something similar) and I want to thank Husband on his donation (husband has never given donation, especially not over the phone).
Me: This is the third time today you've called, can you please, please take us off your call list (angry)
Telemarketer: "Click"

They are hanging up on me?! What kind of a sales call is that? But I guess they have another 10000 calls to make before the end of the evening.

But to be fare, I usually hang up on them. If it takes more than 3 seconds for someone to answer my "hello", I hang up, or if they get into a lengthy explanation on what they are calling about (I wonder if telemarketers learn how to talk without breathing, not giving the other person a chance to break through....).

Life is too short to spend time listening to telemarketers.

Can you survive on "Lussebullar"??

Lucia Day is, part from seeing the Queen of Light and her entourage the big day for eating lussebullar. Lussebullar are wheat buns, spiced with saffron (thus the yellow color) and decorated with raisins.

There is a long story behind why we the Swedes eat lussebullar at Lucia (part from "Lusse" being kind of a "petname" for Lucia...). I tried to find it online, but couldn't (didn't work too hard, I was busy eating lussebullar and only had one hand...)

Anyway, I LOVE lussebullar. Today I've had... hm... many...

Lucia!

Today, December 13, is the traditional Lucia day! I love Lucia! One of my favorite days of the year.

Lucia, the Queen of light, and her maidens come early in the morning, before dawn, bringing light into the darkness. Lucia is dressed in white with a crown of candles on her head, and she and her entourage sing traditional Lucia songs.

If you want to see the Lucia pageant that was sent this morning on national Swedish television, click here!

The IRL experience is best... but if you're an alien, you'll have to do with the cyber-Lucia!

A beautiful smile

On Christmas Eve 2002, four years ago this upcoming Christmas, a Californian woman, 7 months pregnant named Laci Peterson disappeared from her home. The search for her was major news here in California and it was something about the whole story that just stuck with me.... I was also pregnant at the time.

The pictures of Laci's wonderful, beautiful smile where everywhere.

She was found a couple of months later in the San Francisco Bay, her unborn son a couple of days later.

If you live in California, you lived with this story the past few years. First the search, then finding them, then the trial of her husband and the verdict...

Tonight when I was finishing up making Christmas preparation, Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, visited The Larry King Live show, that by accident was turned on the TV in the kitchen. She talked about life after Laci and preparing for the fourth Christmas without her.

Sharon Rocha wrote a book about her daugther, published last year, now on the New York Times bestseller list for non-fiction.

I haven't read the book. Yet. I don't dare. I know I will cry the whole time. Maybe later.

I still get chills when I remember Laci's mom, Sharon Rocha, speech from Laci's memorial that was broadcasted live on the major channels...

Different perspectives of the world

I remember the first time I saw a map with a different perspective than the traditional "Europe/Africa-centered" maps...

I didn't know my mental map of the world was so firm, because I thought this map was so... wrong... Hey, suddenly Australia was to the left on the map... And as European I suddenly realized that in most maps, we're always in the center.



Sometimes it's not so bad to look at the world with a little different perspecitve... How about this?

The word of the year

Merriam-Webster announced the word of the year here in the US last week and it is truthiness!

Truthiness... I kind of like that!

1. truthiness (noun)
1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)
2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)

The other words on the top ten list were:

2. google
3. decider
4. war
5. insurgent
6. terrorism
7. vendetta
8. sectarian
9. quagmire
10. corruption

(and I actually understood 9 out of 10!) (had to check "quagmire"...)

(and I tried to google to see if I had missed the Swedish word of the year... but seems so far no one knows...).

The number of suitcases

Sometimes I wonder how many suitcases it's normal to have. We have several shelves in the garage filled with suitcases and bags in all sizes.

Is this a side effect of being an Alien or is it just a suitcase addiction?

(oh, I know my husband would claim it's my addiction... but then he seems happy enough when he always can travel with the perfect sized suitcase or bag)

And we use them all. Not at the same time, but a combination of a few of them every time we travel.

Usually the bags are half empty when going east and overloaded when going west.

A truck ride

I was a passenger in a Nissan Titan yesterday. Despite 7 years here, this was actually one of my first rides in a truck.

I don't know much about trucks (other than I think they're pretty ugly) so I can't compare. I have no idea if this is larger or smaller than the other larger trucks or not.

But let me say this. The Nissan Titan is huge.

HUGE.

Don't try to park this car in a "compact" parking lot (very American thing, don't think there are such a phenomena in Sweden...), like we tried to.

Half the truck will still be outside the parking lot...

The party of the year?

December 10 is the day when the Nobel prize winners get their prize from the Swedish king in Stockholm. It's a long, pretty boring ceremony, except for the winners I guess.

It's more fun to see the live TV from the Nobel party, that takes place in one of the most beautiful buildings in Stockholm, Stadshuset (the City Hall). All night Swedish Television will have live reports from the party (well, just like they do from the formal ceremony earlier during the day).

The Swedish King, the Queen and the Crown Princess, the Princess and the Prince are there, celebrating with all the winners and their families. The big talk is about the dresses the women are wearing and the food they will get served.

If you would like to have a little mini Nobel party dinner, you can always make reservations at the restaurant in the basement of the Stadshuset, Stadshuskällaren (actually "basement" might be a bit of an understatement - check out this picture). Here they serve food from the Nobel menus all year long.

And you don't have to wear your ball gown.

Unless you want of course.

Heavy Sunday paper

I think our Sunday paper broke the record today - close to 3 kg... (approx 6lb for those of you who keep holding on to the lb-thing).

I think I read... 20% of it. Well, most of it is ads anyway. Lot's of sales going on. Actually there are always sales going on come to think of it... this is "the week before the week before Christmas sale". Or something.

I really do prefer paper newspaper, but I'm glad that I can read news online. I want to get an idea on what's going on outside the state and the country. And despite 3 kg, there just is so much going on in this huge country it's hard to fit international news.

Thank god for the internet!

(a good source for international news is BBC World News ).

What visa does an astronaut have?

So the Swedish astronaut is in the air (or rather - space) for a little 12-day visit to the Space Station before returning to US soil.

And now I wonder... will astronaut Fuglesang have to pass through immigration when he comes back to Florida? ("Welcome to the US, Mr Fuglesang, what countries did you visit prior to arriving in the US"). Is there a "Space Visa"?

Or maybe immigration does not just apply when you arrive from space...?

A Swedish astronaut

IF the Discovery will launch in Florida tonight, there will be a Swedish astronaut on board - Christer Fuglesang. He's been waiting years and years to get some space time (and almost became a Swedish joke...), and now it seems it's all ready to go. Great! Imagine waiting that long and finally getting to for a ride in space!

I've been twice to the Kennedy Space Center, where the launch takes place, and I love it! The launch pads are huge! Missed launches both times I was there (they hardly ever takes place on the scheduled time...), but it's still a great place to go. Especially if you're a fascinated with the ability to go to space (I have a little weird interest in the Apollo program...).

Wouldn't it have been so cool if they would have gone to the moon today instead of 1969! Imagine the pictures! Online feeds! The sound!

Oh, well, a camera on the Discovery shuttle isn't too bad either.

4 hours 31 minutes until launch!

It's raining in California....

(Someone asked about what a (weather) Doppler radar map is. This is the National Doppler Radar map, a map of the location and intensity of precipitation in the United States. It is made through the compilation of over 140 local Doppler radar maps. The color of the precipitation corresponds to the rate at which it is falling.)

A traveling Alien...

We're updating our insurances right now and with that comes a lot of questions. Such as "do you plan to bungy jump or take up wrestling as a hobby". (I do not).

One interesting question for an alien European is "do you plan to visit any countries outside the US in the next five years?".

- "Ehhh, YES!"

Or the question "which countries outside the US have you visited the past 10 years?".

Hm... "think, think, think", as Winnie-the-Pooh says. Ok, I brought out the map not to forget a country.

Sweden (of course...), Finland, Austria, Estland, Turkey, Thailand, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Mocambique, Portugal, Great Britain, Mexico.

If you live in Europe is kind of hard NOT to cross a border once in a while. And if you happen to have family working internationally, well, a couple of other contries gets added pretty quickly.

(and if the question had been about the last 15 years the answer would have been a few additional countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Gambia)

The insurance lady worked hard to write down the countries on the single line on the form...

Words that are hard to pronounce #1

Pneumonia.

Gaah! What a word! Almost impossible to pronounce... Why did so many friends around me here have to catch that this fall... couldn't they have caught... chicken pox?!

Are you finding the answer?

When you use Sitemeter you can see how visitors end up visiting your blog. The past week, I have had visitors here in my little cyber corner who used Google to search for the following....

• "On being an alien" (hm... well, they've sort come to the right place, if they don't mean those little green aliens from outer space)
• "Annika Betnér" (who???)
• "Sweden America comparisons" (yup, write about that a lot!)
• "kleenex oval" (yes, I did have a post on Kleenex)
• "Alien in the window on Christmas" (I'm really really curious about this one, someone is planning to hang an alien in the window??)
• "Alien in half gallon" (in what I wonder? water? coffee? diet coke?)
• "How long do you cook korv" (WHY is this very un-cooking blog a match to this question... have I even ever written about korv??)
  

(And I wonder if they are coming back or if it was just a one-time visit... )

Welcome all, no matter what you searched for!

Taking studio pictures

Talking about photos, we takes tons of pictures and almost change our digital cameras like other changes underwear (they tend to slow down a lot after 10000 pictures). I love living in this age when sharing pictures and experiences is so much easier with the internet. Especially when you're an alien and are far away from friends and family.

But part from the daily pictures we take and share on daily basis, we also take studio pictures yearly. It's become a tradition and now when we've done it for a couple of years they're really fun to have and to compare. This is a standard gift to the grandparents every year (and we hope an appreciated gift) (oh, well, they will get them anyway).

Taking studio pictures here is easy and fast. If you go to a shopping mall you usually always find a Picture People (but DON'T order anything online from their SmileStore!), Sears Portrait Studio or JCPenney Portraits. You can even go there spontaneously if you just happened to at the mall.

I don't know if this is more common in Sweden now, but I only remember that taking studio photos was something you did when you graduate or got married. But things might have changed.

Here you take studio pictures at Christmas, Halloween, birthdays or any other occasion. We've actually started to try to go take studio pictures when family members visit. Pictures with family members are so valuable when you're an alien and I love that it's so easy and convenient to take them!

(or is it because I get to be in front of the camera and not in my usual place, behind it...).

Canceled Christmas gifts... (or the Smile Store sucks)

About two weeks ago I ordered Christmas gifts from the Picture People (Picture People is a photo studio you can find everywhere where you go take pictures of you kids and you family). We take yearly pictures there of the kids and this year we decided it would be fun to give some fun stuff using the kids pictures.

I choose standard shipping - 4-6 business days.

Two days ago, after 6 business days, I asked what was up with the order since I'm planing to go to my love-hate post office today to send out all our Christmas packages, including he photo gifts ordered from Picture People, and the status of the order still pending according to their website.

This morning, 8 days business days after ordering (!), and 36 hours after asking the question, I got an e-mail saying that my order was canceled since they had problem with their new partner.

Why it took them two weeks to realize this and only until I asked is a mystery.

And I don't care that they sincerely apologize and claim "that future orders will be processed in a timely matter" and that they hope that I "will give us another opportunity to serve you again".

No!

Because honestly - that sucks! If they had had e-mailed/called during the time I was expecting the items, but when they only communicate with me after the gifts should have arrived and after I ask them what is up - that just very, very poor service.

Read a Swedish book in English

One of few Swedish authors (the only one??) that writes in English (thus is translated back to Swedish) is Marika Cobbold Hjörne. She lives in England and has written five books so far.

I read her first book, Guppies for Tea, after hearing her talk on Swedish radio as one of the "summer speakers" (very Swedish thing, a daily summer radio talk show that goes on only during the summer and is hosted by different artists, authors, writers, or other interesting person).

I really, really liked the book.

And it's kind of interesting to read a book in English by someone who is Swedish!

One of my favorite Christmas movies!

December 6. Only 18 days to go to the Grand Finale! This is a great place to be if you're a Christmas freak - Christmas is everywhere!

I'm a sucker for Christmas movies... the more romantic and full of Christmas spirit the better...

When I saw Love Actually (in the movies - for a change - doesn't happen too often these days!) I had absolutely no idea what it was about. Maybe that's why I liked it even more?

Anyway, I've seen it several times and I love the soundtrack! I got it for Christmas the year after...

Love is actually all around...

And if nothing else, this Huge Grant (as the Prime Minister of Great Britain) - dancing scene is kind of funny...

Where are the knobs?

Today's newspaper had a ad from Lowe's and their '"dream kitchen collection". And since I dream about doing something about our kitchen I ate my breakfast, sitting in the kitchen, looking at it.

And noticed something I rarely see in real life kitchens.

Cabinet door knobs!

We don't have them in our kitchen and most of my friends around here don't have them. But they obviously exist. They're just considered an upgrade. A "dream kitchen" has door knobs. An ordinary doesn't.

I missed the door knobs the first few years. Now is kind of convenient to open the cabinet door holding you're hand where ever you prefer! A little bit of kitchen freedom!

I don't think you can find a Swedish kitchen without cabinet door knobs. Maybe the Swedes need the sense of order of knowing exactly where to put their hands when opening their cabinets?

I still dream about a new kitchen...

(With cabinet door knobs...)

You know you've been here too long.... (multilingualism #5)

... when you say, in Swedish, "jag håller mina fingrar" and "när man växer vattenmeloner".

(sorry Stjärna and A, just had to write this...).

Hello?

How come Swedish people answer the phone by stating their names and how come American answer the phone by saying "Hello?"?

What is the cultural background to this phenomena? Is it the American privacy issue (but then why do you have caller id - and sooner or later you have to state you who are anyway?)? Or is it explained by the Swedish wanting to be dutiful and correct?

I really have a hard time adjusting to the "Hellos", and stubbornly keep answer the phone by "JaCal speaking".

I'm thinking I'm saving everybody some time.

The American way:

"Ring"
- Hello?
- Hello, is Lisa at home?
- This is Lisa!
- Oh, hello, Lisa this is Mary!
- Oh, hello Mary!


The Swedish way:

"Ring"
- This is Lisa!
- Hi, Lisa this is Mary!

Simpler, easier, faster!

Do we have to move to Minnesota?

When reading the news today, the United Health Foundation reports that Minnesota is the state that tops he health rankings.

California comes in at a meekly 23rd place. More or less in the middle. Average.

Considering the last couple of days with sick toddler in the house, we might have to think about relocation.

Minnesota. Brr.

Hawaii comes in 4th. Hm. That might be a good option?

57 channels (and nothin' on)

The Bruce Springsteen song. So true. I have no clue how many TV channels we have. But they are many. But when ever I have some time over and decide to tune in, it's usually nothing on. Amazing. 100+ channels and nothing to watch.

The husband has solved that problem. We have a TiVo and use Sage on our media computer. I use Rick Kushman's advice and set the recorders to work for me. Hepp! Every time I want to watch there is something to turn on and I can fast forward through the commercials.

But it's when I turn on the TiVo or Sage that I realize how little time I, the normal media freak (pre-toddlers and pre-WAH), have to watch TV right now. I'm 5 episodes behind DHW, 8 episodes after Studio 60, I'm apparently recording Nip/Tuck and a couple of other shows, but haven't seen any episodes this season. This means I have about, what, a week of nonstop TV watching to catch up??

Maybe I should just go back to 57 channels and nothing on, at least it's not as stressful...

This country is HUGE

In case someone didn't know. We actually rarely have reason to travel within the US, mostly traveling too and from the country. But today the husband took off for Dallas for the day, which reminds me of the distances.

It's a 3,5 hour trip to Dallas from here. And then you're not even halfway through the country.

I've once had a friend who called and said, "Hey, I'm coming to the US in couple of weeks, I'm going to New York, maybe we can meet up?". It's a 6 hour flight cross country. It's like saying, "Hey, my friend in Stockholm, I'm coming to Europe, let's meet in Rome".

But it's not easy to grasp the distances unless you've traveled here. I have once driven across the country from Chicago to New Orleans (18 something hours by car). And taken the train from Chicago to Phoenix through Dallas (we're talking days...). Then you really get that this country is HUGE.

"Thank godness for Kleenex tissue"

They're not my words. It's Kleenex's own. But I agree! Life without Kleenex would be more complicated (especially with sneezing toddlers in the house).

When we got here I was skeptical. People seemed to have these boxes of tissue absolutely everywhere.

Now we also have these boxes everywhere... and stock up at Costco. I just counted. We have 8 open boxes in the house.

And the new, oval shaped ones are actually pretty nice looking.

The glory of 24-hour pharmacies!

I don't think I could ever move back to Sweden and get used to not be able to get hold of either over the counter or prescription medicine after 6 pm at the state owned pharmacy, Apoteket (the only place in Sweden to get medicine).

I just sent the husband to the Safeway Pharmacy.

It's 9 pm.

On a Sunday.

We were in desperate need of a refill of Children's Tylenol.

No problem.

Meeting an Angel on the Highway

Today we met an Angel.

We didn't see her. But she was there.

Fast lane. Minivan. 4 kids in the back. Car in front hit center divider in full speed. Started spinning. Stopped in the middle of the lane. Our minivan stopped 10 inches from it. Looking straight into the backseat of the other car. Two car seats. Twins. The two grown-ups in the minivan had both known for a few seconds that we might hit the car. 10 inches.

The driver of the minivan. Swedish mom. Have spent hours and hours on small, Swedish road, full of deers and moose. Did "slippery training" as part of the Swedish driving education, practicing hitting the breaks fast and not start spinning.

She's our hero.

But I'm sure there also was an Angel just above us, watching those six kids.

Meeting Santa and Lucia!

Today we will head for the Swedish Christmas Fair in downtown San Francisco. We plan to find lot's of nice, yummy, Swedish Christmas food (might there be some chocolate perhaps??). They are going to serve "open-faced sandwiches"! We will enjoy Lucia pageant and watch others dance around the Christmas tree (have to take some pictures to show Sara...), and maybe, after a little glögg, join in if they play "Små grodorna"...

Santa is going to be there so I'm going to spend the morning thinking about what I'm going to ask him for Christmas gift...

Craft Friday??

I was wrong.

Today is not an ordinary day for Californians.

They might not watch the "julkalender", but today is obviously crafts day!?

I had to stop by Michaels this afternoon. Michaels is a huge craft store, like Panduro in Stockholm times 25. I've never been a crafts person. Heck, my brother was better at knitting than I was. But you have to learn the hard way with a toddler in the house. Today the Swedish School is going to make "smällkarameller" ("crackers"). I was assigned to bring tissue paper and empty toilet paper rolls.

I was not alone at Michaels. Probably half or Northen California's population had decided that today was the day to stock up on crafts material. Now Michaels stresses me out when it's empty, so you can imagine my mood when it was crowded.

On top of everything I completely blacked out on the word "silkespapper" and after trying to explain it to a clerk that looked about 15 years old, looking at me as if I was... an alien (!), I had to call the husband who could find it (tissue paper of course!) online... Gaah!

Alien happiness #2!

Another Swedish Alien, Ulrika, e-mailed IKEA US to get confirmation on what was up with our belowed Marabou chocolate. She wrote the answer from IKEA in a comment to the IKEA post last week, but this is so important information I'm making a post of it.

The range of items at the Swedish Food Store in IKEA is serious business. Very serious.

IKEA wrote Ulrika: "We are not showing that the MARABOU chocolate is being discontinued,we are showing that we are having difficulties in receiving this itemfrom the manufacture. We recommend calling IKEA Baltimore at 410-931-5400 in two weeks, to see if they are showing any additional delivery information. "

Yeah! They better be right!

Maybe we Aliens should start a lobbying organization to keep the buyers at the Food Store on their feet and in tune with the desperate needs of Swedish Aliens around the world.

After all - WHO else are going to buy all their tea lights?

The start of Christmas!

For Californians today is December 1.

For Swedes today is the start of the "julkalender" - the "Christmas calender".

Each day until the grand finale of Christmas in Sweden, December 24, Christmas Eve, you can see (on TV) and hear (on the radio) this yearly program/show.

Oh, it's for kids...

Well, who cares. I'm a Christmas freak so I do Christmas calenders anyway.

Even though thanks to the internet we aliens can see and hear the yearly Swedish "julkalender" online, I (hrm, I mean, my daughter...) will watch the best "julkalender" of all times on DVD: Trolltider!

And while watching, we can eat the chocolate from our Christmas chocolate calenders - you can get them at World Market and Trader Joe's . The greatest thing for Christmas freaks chocoholics - one piece of chocolate a day!