I was born in Stockholm, Sweden and moved to California in 1999 but have always kept Stockholm close to my heart - not only due to the fact that I travel a lot to Sweden because of work.
When you have your heart and soul in two places you can look at those places from different perspectives discover things you haven't noticed before. Things that felt "alien" now feel normal and the other way around.
It took me about 3 years to think that taking away the plates before everyone was finished in a restaurant actually is pretty practical and polite and not a sign of lack of manners and not rude. Now I get annoyed in Europe when you have to wait and wait for your plates to be taken away... I used to think it was crazy you could never hear any international news on your evening news here - now I have a hard time to keep up with what is happening in California, the eight largest economy in the world.
I still dream about the actual invention of a beam machine so it would be easier to travel between Sweden and California and not the 18-24 hours it takes today.
I started this blog in 2006 as my outlet on my thoughts and contemplations about life in California. The avatar is actually me - it's a drawing given to me as a gift by close friends, made by the cartoonist Gideon as a parody of my interest in the Apollo program - long before we knew I would end up like a real alien - but not in outer space - but across the globe.
When I'm not working, enjoying my bilingual family I try to find time to take photos, browse through books in in bookstores, drink hot EarlGrey tea, following the news on CNN, collecting books about the Apollo program trying out new gadgets - and trying to figure out how to be a Swedish Alien in California.
