Jury duty

I got a jury summons today - summoned to appear for jury service on January 26. This is the second time I get called. So now I've spent some time going online and reporting - again - that I'm not a citizen. You are not allowed to be a juror if you're not a citizen. I don't know the statistics - how likely is it that you named gets called? Last time was May 2007 - it's only a year and half away - could it be that often that you might get called?

I must admit, I'm a bit curious what it would be like...

(photo from United States Postal Service (ie "Posten"), who released this "Jury duty" stamp in 2007 to "draw attention to important social causes")

Trettondagen and Poppe

January 6 is always a holiday in Sweden. It's supposedly religious - but as far as I remember, none I knew did anything remotely religious - just enjoying one more holiday day over the Christmas break.

One memory I have from my childhood was watching a theater play, filmed the summer before, with a very known (and old...) comedian - Nils Poppe. He was known to always improvise and change the lines and sometimes the whole esemble were laughing and trying to keep track. Really silly... I remember that I really liked evening - even though it's a little bit of an "old fashioned" way of doing theater (the theater is an outdoor play). We got to stay up late to watch - and eat left over candies from Christmas.

I found some on You Tube... and it really brough back memories... this play was done in 1985.

Quick cops scaring old guests

On New Year's Eve we were having a good time with our friends when we, at 9.30 pm, saw three cars drive up to our neighbors' house across the cul-de-sac. Our neighbors were supposedly in Utah for the Christmas holidays and as far as we were informed, weren't expected back until January 2 or 3. None of the cars were our neighbors'... We tried to call over to the house just to make sure everything was in order, but when nobody picked up the phone, despite a bunch of people obviously being in the house, we started to wonder. After contemplating for a bit, we decided to put in a low priority call to the local police office. Just that we knew the house was to be empty and suddenly there were three cars there - all arriving at the same time late on New Year's Eve. We made sure it was a low priority call.

And still - 6 minutes after I hung up the phone, the police car pulled up to the drive way. Amazing. This little city of ours must be the slowest of them all. I'm very impressed and feel very safe.

Everything seemed to be in order and the day after - our neighbors' parents - came over to say hi... They had decided to use their son's empty house with some of their friends on New Year's Eve, fleeing other houses full with kids, to enjoy a more quiet evening in company of friends.

Our prospective thieves were a group of eight retired grandparents who just wanted a little piece and quiet (and since they all are mormons they don't even drink alcohol)... Not too much action for the police to handle there.

When our neighbors returned we apologized for scaring the guests of the house and we all got a good laugh - and promised that we will exchange cell phone numbers and give each other more clear instructions on when and who someone is visiting when we've informed each other that we're travelling.

On the other hand - someone must keep the bored police officers busy. Even on New Year's Eve.

New rules for Green Card holders

The Department of Homeland Security will start fingerprinting and taking photos of green card holders, just like other visa holders, starting January 18. It is called an expansion of the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology Program (US VISIT)" and the reason seems to be to identify permanent residents and noncitizens with fraudulent documents. I don't know... maybe it's easier to forge a green card than an American passport - or is this the first step to start fingerprinting even the citizens?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out next time I travel and how much longer it will take to go through immigration at my usual point of entry into the US, Chicago O'Hare, when I travel to Sweden next time.

A new dishwasher

We had to start off the new year by heading out to Sears to get a new dishwasher. Our old one, that came with the house and never really cleaned the way we wanted and was impossible to run if you wanted to have a normal conversation downstairs, started to make very, very weird noises and we were just waiting for it to start to fume smoke all over the kitchen.

We knew it was about to happen - but maybe not so quickly. So I spent yesterday quickly researching dishwasher - energy savings, sound levels, number of cycles and by the time we came out to Sears we at least had a overview on what was out there.

We were lucky to run into a sales person that really knew what she was talking about - and started showing us different models. They even had a couple of dishwashers installed so you could hear them and see what was going on inside.

And it seemed we timed it well - sales are going on and they had free shipping and haul off of the old one. They will actually deliver the new one on Sunday. So we only need to do two days with take out - haha!

Happy New Year!

2009. Where did it come from? And where did 2008 go? It feels like yesterday - or at least just a couple of months since we celebrated New Year's Eve last time with the same good friends in our house. I guess time flies when you're having fun. Or are just way too busy... Hm...

We had a very nice ending of 2008 - even though I just can't get over the lack of fireworks and celebrations outside at midnight here on New Year's Eve. It just isn't the same here. And why would you want to watch a ball drop DOWN?? Shouldn't it be fireworks going UP?

Oh, well.

The good thing about celebrating New Year's Eve in California is that you get to celebrate it twice. At 3 pm (midnight in Sweden) and midnight. There is no such thing as too much champagne on New Year's Eve (we squeezed in the New York midnight too just for the heck of it). And thankfully my brother called at 3.10 pm from downtown Stockholm so at least I got to hear the fireworks.

Slow days

I've had a couple of slow days between Christmas and New Year - taken time off work and staying out of the office and away from the computer. I spend way too much time in my office and if I should make a New Year's resolution it is to spend more time elsewhere.

I really like this "pause" between Christmas and New Year's. In Sweden it means that you are usually off or take time off (if you're working in an office) and none is really expected to be in touch during the time between Christmas and New Year's (and Swedes celebrate Christmas for three days). It's a nice way to catch you're breath for the next "work semester".

I've been busy cleaning out Christmas and reorganizing the living room - and having to drive to the Mothership (aka IKEA) twice since I didn't look too close to what items the nice IKEA guy was loading on my cart at the self-service area. I actually managed to screw up the second time too - but my nice guest coming for New Year's Eve sent their teenage son to the IKEA in Palo Alto and have loaded the missing door on their truck and will bring it here - so I didn't have to go back a third time. There actually is a limit to the number of times you can go to IKEA in a week- mothership or not...

Merry Christmas - God Jul!

Today is the big day if your Swedish. Julafton - aka Christmas Eve. Today is the day when everything happens - Christmas Day, the big day here in the US, is just "the day after". Today is the day you have the big Christmas meal and when Santa comes to visit (and subsequently all the Swedish dads are running unexpected errands and always miss out on meeting Santa). And when you watch the traditional "Disney show" on the main broadcasting channel at 3 pm and later - my favorite - Karl-Bertil Jonssons Julafton.

Today we will try to enact our traditional Swedish Christmas Eve - far away from Sweden, eating a Christmas meal put together with some fantasy, and the Husband will have to run an unexpected errand and thus miss Santa - and we will watch recordings of the Disney Show and Karl Bertil Jonssons Julafton.

God Jul och Gott Nytt År to all readers and visitors! I hope you have a great Julafton wherever you are!

A little sample of Karl-Bertil Jonssons Julafton:

My favorite Christmas movie

Speaking about Christmas movies, Love Actually is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I love the music and have the soundtrack, I love the different stories entwined - and sometimes you are just in need of happy endings - lot's of them. I've seen it several times - and can just watch bits and pieces now and then - but always watch it from beginning to end at least once during Christmas time. It always puts me in a good mood.

Here is a fan who have put together a personal little compilation of some of the scenes from the movie - and I just like the theme song a lot!

It's a Wonderful Life

A couple of years ago I was flying back from Sweden to California right before Christmas. On my second flight, from Chicago to California, I was surprised and a disappointed when they started showing an old black and white movie as the main feature movie. "Can't they afford new movies", I sighed to myself. I was tired and bored and decided to watch it, even though I wasn't in the mood for an old movie.

I kind of liked the movie - it's a cute little story about a man who loses everything and is on the verge of suicide on Christmas Eve, when his guardian angel shows up and show him how important he is to his family, friends and neighborhood.

It was only later that I realized that this is a very known "Christmas movie" and is shown around Christmas ever year (which made easier to understand that United Airlines would have it as their feature movie on a domestic flight right before Christmas). It actually wasn't originally made as being a "Christmas movie" and did pretty bad at the box office - but now is more of a cult movie that is seen around Christmas over here.

Here is the original trailer:

Counting down to Christmas

Despite it being a pretty bad fall in terms work load and travel - I'm pretty much ahead on Christmas to my big surprise. Someone said "if you want something done give it too a busy person" and maybe that's the way it is. Preparing for Christmas just gets part of the rest of the stuff to get done. Anyway, I'm happy. I like Christmas - I grew up with magical Christmas and I'm trying to recreate the same feeling for my kids. And now I'm just as excited as they are to meet Santa on Wednesday, haha!

Christmas break

Today was the last day of Kindergarten for my Daughter - and for us as parents. We're slowly getting the grip on how this school thing works. We've had our first parent-teacher conference and gotten the Daughter's first "grades". Since she speaks a different language at home, she is part of the ESL program - English as a Second Language - and she seems to be doing great. Can't say I still have a clear view of exactly they're doing - if not just testing and seeing the progress, but we're slowly learning. We're happy she is doing so great - and even though she had actually "cracked the reading code" last spring - she is now really starting to warm up to reading in English (which is much harder compared to reading in Swedish).

And yesterday we were so proud when we got to attend a little awards ceremony in the classroom. The principal handed out awards to six of the students in her class for "kindness" and "responsibility" and the Daughter got to go up and get a "Responsibility Award".

So, so far, our Kindergartner experience has been really good - thanks a lot to the Daughter herself. Now it's Christmas break until January 5.

On repeat in my head...

I love listening to Christmas music all December (driving the Husband absolutely nuts). I have a lot of Christmas music and a couple of different play lists - but every year it's one song that gets stuck and keep playing in my head even after the music has been turned off. I have no power over which one it is - could be a choir song or a pop song. Last year it was Christina Aguilera's The Christmas Song - Holiday remix - which made me dance around the house and increase the tempo of all Christmas preparations.

This year the Christmas song that seems to be stuck in my head is.... Dolly Parton's Hard Candy Christmas...

It's just there... when I wake up, in the shower, when in the car... humming in the back of my head and the tip of my tongue. Oh well. Maybe I shouldn't put too much in to it.

Here is the original version from the movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"... maybe now it will be stuck in your heads too?

The Yearly Ant War

Every fall the ant invasion of our house starts. I'm not sure what it is that makes the ants wants to come indoors - but it usually starts around September and goes on all fall. We call it The Yearly Ant War. The first year in the house we were totally surprised, had no idea how to fight them and "lost" big time. The second year we were prepared and on top of things and did a pretty good job of bringing them on and every year since then we've been pretty good.

This year has been a bad year.

We have had numerous of ant invasions around the house, in all bathrooms, the Daughter's bedroom, several times in the kitchen and despite our fights - they keep coming back, no matter how clean we keep things, never leaving anything out for them to be eating. I just met a couple of hundred in the guest bathroom. Sigh.

I hate ants now. Truly hate. We have a perfectly fine garden where they are more than welcome to live - why do they have to come inside?

I just can't wait for the "ant season" to be over and get a break. They are not invited for Christmas.

Where are the knives??

I was out to lunch with the Husband today and ordered a chicken entree, served with rice (very good!).

And was given only a fork to eat with.

Sigh.

I will never get used to eating just with a fork. How are you supposed to divide larger pieces of meat with only a fork? I'm always trying to spy on the American around us and they always seem to handle this without problem whereas I feel like the most clumsy person in the restaurant.

I need a fork in my left hand and a knife in my right. I divide my food with the knife in the right hand, holding the food in place with my fork in my left hand and then carefully put the food on the fork with the knife and then into my mouth. I had been eating the European way too many years when I came here to ever be able to unlearn and use only just a fork.

I'm thinking I should not only carry an extra package of kleenex and a emergency Matchbox car in my purse, but a knife for lunches and dinners to use in places where they only provide you with a fork. Hm... I wonder what would happen if I ever would get pulled over and my handbag searched for some reason.. are you allowed to walk around with a cutlery knife in your purse... or would that be considered a weapon?

Electronical editions of news papers

I grew up with getting a newspaper in the morning. And ever since I moved away from home I've always found the budget for a newspaper - and even during my university year in the US I had one of the major Swedish daily, Dagens Nyheter, as a "Sunday paper" only delivered to my Illinois campus (now this was before Internet time - can you believe how old I am! - not sure I would have taken on the expense had there been alternative ways during a stretched student budget). One of the first thing we did when coming here was to order the local morning paper and we've had it ever since. At first none of the local news made any sense - but now we read it pretty "fluently".

Unlike in Sweden the newspaper comes every day - always. There are no "no newspaper days" during holidays - it's always there - waiting in the garage drive for us to pick up in the morning.

I read Swedish newspaper online every day - even though some days I just quickly check the headlines (and for each year here - more and more news stories start to make less sense). When reading Dagens Nyheter online an offer to subsribe to the e-edition (pdf-format) of Dagens Nyheter - a special offer to people living abroad. You can try it for one month free - after that it's 1700 SEK a year.

It doesn't really make sense - if I'm going to read something online - it should be with links, videos, pictures - reading a whole paper in pdf-format just feels... I don't know... old fashioned? The newspaper is already "old news" by the time you read it in the morning (but I still like my paper) - reading it in a fixed pdf-format would just increase the "old news" feeling.

But then, reading the news today that a Detroit newspaper will, as the first, but probably not last, to end daily home delivery and only be available in newsstands on certain days - maybe this is the way things will go. Their refering to increased ink, paper and distrbution costs.

But it sure would take time for me to live without a morning paper if that day comes.

Lussebullar

Today, on the real Lucia day, December 13, I did my yearly baking of lussebullar. These are for some weird reason one of my favorite thing during Christmas. They are a strange combination of wheat bread and saffron - and most Americans I know really don't like them at all.

I prefer to have them ready before Lucia - but there just wasn't time this year. But today I made 60 and they turned out perfect! I find it kind of tricky to get the American yeast and the flour to work according to the Swedish receipts but if I follow my secret notes that I add every year - and use Swedish saffron - they turn out pretty good.

The Husband is always happy to see me show up in the kitchen - since this is his normal domain - but sometime around December 26 I will retreat again and put the Kitchen Aid back in it's corner. I just need to make "vörtbröd" and "sandkaka" first.

"11 nights before Christmas", as they sing in one of the Lucia songs.

Lucia at IKEA

For the second year the kids participated in the Swedish Lucia procession at our IKEA. It's weird how natural it feels to see these cute little kids, all dressed up, pass by the bookshelf Billy and the sofa chair Poäng. Right at home... ;-) A lot of surprised customers looked like they wondered what crazy thing was going on...

I'm not sure how many part from family and fiends to the participants that actually were there watching the show in the restaurants (or just happened to be eat- but I really don't care. I really love that I get this opportunity to see a Lucia procession at least once. That is really one thing I can miss from Sweden.

We enjoyed it a lot (even though there might be a few better choirs out there, singing the Lucia songs.. even though this of course were the cutest). IKEA invited everyone for lussebullar (!) and glögg afterwards - very nice!

Water vilolation

Today we got a water violation by the city. It was stuck on our door at 10 am. The "water inspection unit" of whatever they are called claimed that we were watering on the wrong day.

A little background: our city is under a "Water Alert Stage 2" due to this year being unusual dry. So far we haven't have any of the big winter storms blowing by and if you want to go skiing up in the mountains there hardly is any natural snow (we never get snow around here). Water Alert Stage 2 means that the citizens are to be extra careful with water, only water on certain days and during certain hours etc.

We are dutifully following the schedule. Since our house number is "odd" we are to water our lawns and plants only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And so we do. And we (the automatic sprinkler system that is... ) also water in the middle of the night - well within the hours you are allowed to water (10 pm - 10 am).

However - since it is colder and hasn't been as sunny - by the time they inspected at 10 am - the sidewalk was still wet... several hours after watering the night before!! But still, the inspection unit claims we have watered on the wrong day... Not sure how we can prove they were wrong, our sidewalk wasn't "dry" until late afternoon... some 18 hours the actual watering.

I'm cold

After having pretty nice and warm fall weather it suddenly turned "winter". Suddenly wearing socks and double sweaters didn't seem crazy at all. I'm not sure what's normal, but it does seem a bit early. We've had pretty low overnight temperatures - waking up to +1-2C before the sun heats up the air - brr! Those are the mornings I wish I was in a Swedish, wooden, insulated houses with central heating and three-glass windows - and not in more whimsy Californian house with blowing warm air from the AC system is the only source of warmth.

Once the sun is up, it heats up pretty good. I'm on the same latitude as Gibraltar. And I shouldn't complain - soon enough it will be spring and warm and nice again. In the meantime, I'm sleeping in my long sleeved pajamas.

(No, I don't have a footed fleece pajamas like in the picture, but maybe I should? Picture is from Jumpin Jammerz who sells pretty funny footed pajamas for grown-ups if you like to feel like a warm and cozy kid again)

A mountain of cookies

In Sweden you make your own gingersnap cookies before Christmas - well, at least if you have kids - and the energy and time... I have lots of memories of making gingersnap cookies as a kid - and have wanted my kids to have the same experience.

What I didn't know before I started up this tradition when the Daughter was big enough to hold on to a roller - is all the work that comes with it... After all - a dough can produce some 250 gingersnap cookies and your kids usually are happy making... 5...? Meaning that my mom must have spent hours and hours baking after we happily left the table and ran off to new games. And a gingersnap cookie dough really never ends... it takes forever and ever and you heart shapes becomes more and more sloppy as you wondered what made you start this project in the first place.

My solution to that problem has been to invite other parents and kids to the Big Gingersnap Cookie bake out" - and after the kids are satisfied with eating raw dough and making a cookie or two - the grown-ups can continue the assembly line production of home made gingersnap cookies. In company of other grown-ups, drinking non-free-alcoholic glögg. After two hours or so you have 750 ginger snap cookies, are very happy and giggly and don't have to think about a roller in another 365 days. Great!

Christmas show

Today the Daughter had her Christmas "show" in school. The local PTA (now this is worth a whole other post...) had arranged for a "Jolly Holly Breakfast" and the whole school was performing (thus unfortunately making us miss the SWEA's Swedish Christmas market in San Francisco).

The kids must have felt like stars with all the paparazzis, oups, I mean parents with cameras and camcorders (wiping their eyes out of pride of their kids).

The Kindergartner sang two songs, very American Christmas songs, and they were really cute singing. We joined the other paparazzis and took tons of pictures and of course filmed the whole event. The Daughter mostly seemed paralyzed as many of her fellow friends - but luckily they had the music and some recorded song in the background...

Santa was there too and you could have your kid's picture taken for $1. The Daughter refused to go near him. She claimed it was not the real Santa since he spoke English...

Swedish and English

My son is way more exposed to English than my Daughter was at the same age. Every day he is out playing with the (English speaking) neighbor kids that didn't live here when she was a toddler and he is pretty fluent already despite us always speaking Swedish in the house.

And he is already mixing the langugages the fun way you can only do if you're bilingual.

"Låt mig gå", he'll scream when we pick him up to go inside from playing with his friends or we're stopping him from jumping up the kitchen table or some other height. "Låt mig gå" is his Swedish version of "Let me go". Now when he says "låt mig gå" - he sounds really cute, like a character from a black and white love drama from the 40s. What he means in Swedish is "släpp loss mig".

A new word in English #5

I went food shopping today. I'm usually never food shopping, that most often falls on the Husband, the chef in the house. When I'm food shopping he thinks I come home with weird and the wrong stuff, so he usually brings the Daughter. The Daughter knows her way around the store better than I. But, the Husband has back spasm (again... can you hand Husbands to some repair place under warranty??) and can't smoothly get in or out of the car.

On the list was ketchup. I don't like ketchup and haven't really paid attention on where in a US store you can actually find it. After walking up and down the aisles I found it and realized that it was in the "condiment" aisle. I have always wondered about that word and when I got back home I looked it up.

It's a pretty good word! Covers a lot of things in on word. Condiments = krydda, smaktillsats, kryddad sås in Swedish (according to Nordsteds Stora Engelska Ordbok).

Condiments.

So know I know where I will find the ketchup next time.

A visit to the Mothership

Tonight I headed out to the Mothership - a nickname for IKEA invented by one of my online Swedish alien friends. It's a suitable name I think!

I wanted to stock up on some Christmas decorations and Swedish food treats from the Swede shop. Unfortunately our local IKEA is a "smaller" one (they come in different sizes, if you're lucky you live by a "large"one) and they didn't have the advent candelabras I wanted.

I love the advent decorations we put up in Sweden - the candelabras and the stars in the windows, the candles holders. We have two more traditional wooden candelabras - but one is breaking apart and I thought it might be time to upgrade. The one in the picture would be so nice! But no... they didn't carry that one.

I did however get a cart of the traditional "julmust" to drink and five (!) Paradis chocolate boxes. That will take us through Christmas. I hope.

Learning about Ronald Reagan

On my recent trip to Washington during the election we had tons of meetings with different people representing different views and standpoints on American politics and the election. However most of them all mentioned Ronald Reagan as a reference point in US politics from some aspect (either for or against). I have never realized how much of a defining point in US politics he was and I felt a bit lost in listening to these references.

I can honestly say politics have been one of my least interests in life and even though I keep myself updated - Ronald Reagan was before my time. I can discuss my way around the Presidents since the early 90s - but anything before that is more of a white spot on the map part from the names and basic politics.

I never took political science at university (I was a communications major) and my main association of Ronald Reagan was that Alex P Keaton, played by Michael J. Fox in the TV-series "Family Ties" (I think it was called "Fem i familjen" in Sweden), was a major fan of him which was upsetting to his liberal democratic parents causing a lot of fun tension...

So - now I have ordered a Ronald Reagan biography DVD to learn more about this obviously dynamic president and what it was that made Americans love - or hate him. Considering that I'm still not in phase with the only (!) show I follow, House, I might get to this DVD sometime in time for the next election.

I love you

I come from a family where we don't really run around saying "I love you" very often. It's not that we don't mean it - we just don't really say it that much. I have never really thought about it that much. I would say the Husband's family is about the same. Neither me or my Husband end phone calls with casually saying "I love you" - and I think we're both fine with that. It's not that we don't do - we just don't say it all the time.

It's therefor kind of surprising to hear our Daughter, full of emotional feelings, state "I love you, mom" or "I love you so much, dad" all the time.

Now - personally I think there is a bit of a difference between the Swedish "jag älskar dig" and the English "I love you" even though the translation is exact. Somehow it seems easier to say "I love you" than "Jag älskar dig". "Jag älskar dig" feels somehow... bigger?? Or is it just me, the cold, reserved Swede?

And maybe the Daughter, being the bilingual little girls that she is, has a much easier relationship to the words than her parents have. I don't mind it at all - but it's kind of surprising to learn how to express deep and inner feelings better and more verbally by a 5-year old.

Black Friday

While I was having a 6.30 am phone conference this morning, things were heating up around the stores. Today is The Big Shopping Day here, also known as Black Friday. Yesterday's morning paper is the thickest of the year, filled with ads for all sorts of deals you can get today - especially if you like getting up early. Some stores opened at 4 am - and sure - you really could get some good deals, especially in electronics. Things even turned deadly... a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death with the 2000-something crowd crashed the doors at 5 am.

I prefer to stay home - check my promotion e-mails and slowly check through the online stores - most of them offer free shipping on Black Friday. Why get out into the crowds when you can sit home, find exactly what you want - and get it delivered to your door for free.

No turkey on Thanksgiving

With a family down with flu like symptoms and a unexpected work load from hell, our Thanksgiving celebration didn't really turn out to plan. But then we usually don't have that many plans.

Thanksgiving - one of the biggest holidays in the US - is a tricky one when you're an alien. I still don't have a real relationship with this holiday - and since we're both Swedish - we have no clear guiding. I have no clue how you get those huge turkeys ready. What I almost like most about it is that it's the start of Christmas... once the turkey meal is finished, you can start get your house ready for the next holiday - my favorite!

I'm so ready for a Christmas break after this intense and crazy fall - just bring it on!

A book that made me laugh

The Husband got a package in the mail yesterday - his "nameday" is coming up. He had totally forgot about the nameday and opened the package - way ahead. Anyway - his parents had sent him a book as a gift and I brought the book up with me to read before going to bed, way too late after a long night working - and I laughed so much that I got the hickups. Maybe I was just tired of this book is hilarious!

The book, "Den som spikar på Julafton har allvarliga problem*" is an odysse over notices (what is the translation for "snusförnuftig"??) that Swedes put up in the laundry room, the elevators and elsewhere, telling other people what not to do (or to do). The author, the Swedish comedian David Batra, has lived abroad and can have this very funny "alien perspective" on Swedes and their habits. He writes about Swedish behaviour on the street, when "interacting" with neighbors, in the laundry room and in the bathroom - and their communicating to each other with notes.

Too bad it's only in Swedish - or maybe it's good... maybe you really need to have lived in Sweden and read Swedish to see the hilarious (and sad...) part of all these notes - maybe it just wouldn't make sense otherwise. For a Swedish alien it's a must!

*Freely (and badly) translated "Those who hammer on Christmas Eve have serious problems" and it was previously published as "Den som inte tar bort luddet ska dö".

Mrs Smith

I volunteered in the Daughter's Kindergaten class for the first time two weeks ago. The procedure is that the child introduces her mom or dad to the class and the class then greet the parent who is going to help out. I was so set on being Ms JaCal and got the hick ups when I realized I was to be introduced as Mrs Smith (if that would have been my last name). I almost turned around wondering what other grown-up was in the classroom...

It's not that I don't like the more formal way and the way it gives respect - especially in school - but I have a hard time getting used to it. I'm starting to realize that maybe we should have taught the Daughter to call her bestfriend's mom Ms Emily and not just plain Emily... I don't want her to be known as the rude Swede down the street...

But on the other hand it really feels easier to use "Mrs" or "Mr" than the Swedish eqvivalcence... I wonder what people would think if I would come back to Sweden and start calling people Herr Andersson and Fru Svensson...

DVD region stupidity

I'm so tired about the DVD region stupidity. And my frustration increases every Christmas when I want to give DVDs as Christmas gifts to family members - and remember I can't. There are interesting National Geographic documentaries and and old movies with Audrey Hepburn from the 60s I know that our parents would enjoy. And a DVD is not too heavy to send across the world and it's small enough to make it pretty easy. But with no parents with a hacked DVD player - they can only see region 2 DVDs - in other words no DVDs from the region here in the US - region 1.

Why why why?? When you can listen to music, cassette tapes (if they even exist any more) and there is something called the internet - the world wide web. And the darn DVDs are the same size and format (unlike the old, different video systems).

Of course - you could, in theory, if you have someone around, like a inhouse geek or so, decode the DVD and rewrite it on a new, region free DVD - but that adds up hours of work - and I'm not sure that's the way the movie companies wanted the customers to solve the problem. Actually I'm not sure how the movie companies want the customers to solve the problem - except not buying DVDs for Christmas gifts at all.

Totally and absolutely annoying...

Gas prices

I don't really get this with the rising - and falling - gas prices. This summer it cost us about $70 to fill up the minivan - today it cost us about $30. That's a major difference. The prices fell substantially a couple of weeks ago - and I'm the only one who thought it was conveniently right before the big oil companies reported record profits... which I find sort of curious - but then - I really don't know about all that influences the price of oil.

Since I work from home and none of us have to commute - the change in gas prices haven't effected us as much as for those who really need their cars to and from work very day - and even worse for those who use their car for work all day. And with that much of difference - it's been a major economical aspect for most the last few months. And what will happen now - will they stay the same of go up? Or down? Who knows...

An invitation!

We got a wedding invitation today - so exciting (even though I still can't get used to the American tradition of addressing official invitations to Mr and Mrs Husband Lastname... what happened to me?? The Swedish woman in me has a hard time with that...)!

I'm so happy for the couple getting marry, the bride, our beloved nanny, is like family (if nothing else - it comes with surviving jetlag hell with two kids together) and I'm so excited for her having found such beautiful love. I've seen her dress and she is going to look absolutely gorgeous.

I haven't been in a wedding for long and I've missed so many living here - far from Sweden and not able to go back just for a very long day and night.

I've spent the evening checking out the wedding registry - which is really a very practical thing (and I'm not writing what we got for the bride and groom - she might be reading - vink vink). No agonizing what you're going to give and what they don't already have, no multiple ugly toasters - and the bride and groom actually get gifts they really want. I like it!

I miss my number

I had a doctor's appointment today, which included a couple of tests (and an unexpected tetanus shot... ouch). While sitting in the waiting room with all my labels for the tests and my paperwork, I suddenly realized I miss my Swedish "personal number" (the equivalent to the US social security number, which I just recently - finally - learn by heart).

Had I been in Sweden, it would have been that very familiar number that would have been on all my paper work. Now it was just my health provider's medical number on the papers (you use your social security number much less than you use your Swedish "personal number" in Sweden), which I, after the six years I've had it now still have no clue about.

And it made me wonder - will I ever forget my Swedish number... from not using as frequently... just like a pin code for a credit card you rarely use (it's only the last four digits that are unique in the Swedish number - the first six is your birthday - and that I hopefully will remember....) or how deep is it stuck in my brain? I actually do remember my first telephone number that we changed when moving in... 1983...? So some numbers stick around at least...

Car seats for kids without kids

In the middle of all November stress - I'm trying to get a new car seat for the son who is outgrowing his. And just as upset I was this summer when we got the minivan and there were not pictures of people in the cars - I am now when I'm trying to save some time and do all my research online. There are few, rare pictures of car seats with KIDS IN THEM! Isn't that the whole point.. ?

There are a few enthusiastic websites by regular parents who put up their own pictures of what ever car seat they have - but none of the car seats producers have pictures of kids in their car seats... One specific question I have is how narrow the side protection is - I really want my kids to be able to wear head phones - that way I can avoid having to listen to Dora a-l-l t-h-e t-i-m-e. See - very important question - and the only way to find out is to see an actual kid in the car seat.

This research is taking hours and hours - maybe I'll just give up and take the son to BabiesRus and bribe him with Goldfish and have him try them out. But somehow I have a feeling that is going to take hours and hours too...

Working and weekend

I've had a pretty hectic schedule lately, late nights working. November is always a busy month. But - I just had a full weekend at home - the first for a long time. And the weather was amazing - shorts and t-shirts and barefoot in the garden, hanging out with the kids, temperatures in the +20s... Now, that's what November should be all about!

Other fellow Californians did not have a very good weekend - the fires down in Southern California have been pretty bad and scary... oh, the challenges that Mother Nature puts on.

An ad for California?

If you are thinking about moving to California - maybe you shouldn't watch the video below... It was made in connection to the major Earthquake drill in Southern California... And living here you are almost thinking if you really should stay... ;-)

Taking notes

So last week I had a lot of meetings. Tons of meetings actually. So many meetings it's a bit of a blur... And my notes aren't really helping either. I have developed some weird language for taking notes... it's some sort of written... Swinglish... I hear English, speak English, but my hand is constantly trying to write Swedish... It would be really funny if I didn't need to really understand my notes.

I can see a trend in my notes. The beginning of meetings are more clear - almost all English - but toward the end it gets more messy. And by the end of the week, it's just a major mess.

I'm glad I used my Livescribe pen and have voice recordings to go with my notes. All in English. Very clear.

Sometimes knowing two languages really doesn't work in your favor.

Back from the east coast

After a very, very hectic and interesting week, I'm back in California from my east coast trip, my head full with thoughts and impressions. Not only did I meet interesting people, it also was a very historical time to be in Washington - you could feel the history being played out around you. On election day you met people everywhere with "I voted" stickers. In all our meetings we got first hand thoughts and analysis on the election result (and we met people from both "sides") and I really learned a lot about the life of a presidential campaign.

I didn't have a chance to update the blog (nor did I have time to visit fellow blogger Annika in Reston which I really, really wanted) - but now I'm back home, with a little more time on my hands.

As a substitute for posts the past week, I'm sharing a few photos that I managed to take "on the go".

Washington is full of official buildings.

Just when I was about to take a picture of the White House on a unexpected lunchbreatk, they closed "fence side" and we were rushed off - and my camera was focused on the fence and not the house... and I wasn't allowed to stay and take more pictures. Maybe the President (who wasn't seen much during election week) was about to take a walk in the garden.

The Capitol from from inside the bus. on my way from one meeting to another...
It's a very impressive building on top of a hill - and this picture taken on
a gray day doesn't make it justice.

Election night in House of Sweden - the Swedish Embassy.

The Swedish broadcaster TV4 was sending live from the embassy.

It's 11.01 pm and Obama is projected to be the next President by CNN,

one of five news feed that could be watched live at the embassy.

Obama is on stage in Chicago and everyone in the room is watching.

Back in New York before going back to California. A bird has found a

great place to view the Statue of Liberty.

I was in California on 9-11 and I haven't been in New York since. I wanted to visit Ground Zero and see it for myself. I was up in the towers in 1993.

A historic night

It was a historic night tonight. I spent it in the beautiful House of Sweden, the Swedish Embassy, by the Potomac River here in Washington. Seconds after Virgina had been declared Obama's and the polls on the west coast had closed, at 11 pm almost to the second, CNN called for Obama as the winner.

I'm not sure I will be able to sleep yet - the streets of Georgetown where I'm staying are filled with honking cars and cheering people - they all seem to be heading down to the White House to party.

A big day

It's time - the end of a loooong election period. I'm in the heart of Washington DC and it's the only topic here. People walk around with "I voted" stickers and for once all the bar's TV screens are not only different sports channels but actually also news channels.

I'm heading over to House of Sweden, the Embassy of Sweden for election night together with my colleagues. We'll see how long we will be there until we will know the results. It sure is going to be an interesting night.

The Nation's Capital

I'm spending the week in Washington DC. This is my third time here and I'm glad I've been here before since I'm so busy rushing between meetings that I only see things from the car...

Here is a picture of the Washington Monument and the White house, taking from inside a taxi...

A big country

So I spent all of yesterday traveling to the east coast - it's a long flight - and since you travel against time, it takes all day. I had a great window seat and I spent the whole flight listening to Swedish radio podcasts and watching this huge country pass underneath. Huge mountains, long river, deserted deserts, never ending fields, major cities - coast to coast. It's a huge country...

It would be fun to do a cross country driving some day.

Trick or treat and on my way

After a pretty intense week I'm once again in an airport. This time on my way to New York, continuing to Washington DC. The last few days have been full of preparation for yesterday's "crescendo" - The Big Night of Halloween. Big event in this country... especially if you're a kid. Even after 8 years I can't really keep up and we're soo behind in terms of decorations etc...

And after a week of fixing scarecrow outfits, clown face paintings, fastening hammers to carpenter outfits, it's over... the Daughter was so exhausted after this week she broke down in tears during trick or treating... it just became too much.

And actually for me, who doesn't like fall, I don't mind all the orange decorations and pumpkins giving way to a holiday much more my favorite - Christmas. Only a what - about 8 weeks... can't wait... especially for being off for awhile... this is a really intense fall. Time for boarding!

Competitive after school programs

Earlier this fall we signed up the 5-year old Daughter for her first real after school program. We had thought about it a lot and excluded soccer (we want those weekends for family time) and gymnastics (being of total Scandinavian descent, she is already a tall girl and will be the most clumsy girl in glass).

We both liked the idea of martial arts (body control, self confidence) - and after discussing with lots of my friends all over the world we settled on taekwondo and signed her up through our city's park and recreation program at one of the major institutes. It was a once a week class, divied in three sessions during fall. The Daughter liked it, the teacher was great - it was a success.

But after the first session, the city cancelled the class due to low enrollment. The teacher said that our Daughter was ready to start a regular class at the institute, a "white belt class" - but that is was a comittment to three times a week. Three times a week!? Is it just me - or do three times a week sound a bit too much when you're just five? The teacher commented that "well, you really have to go into to it"... Why should a five year old comit so much time on something we don't even know will be her interest in a few years time? And does that mean that after 5 there really isn't much of a point to switch after school program since all the other kids have already been devoted to the activity for years and are being way ahead? And what about doing other things than just one - there wouldn't be any time left (unless you would fill up every single day of the week).

I just can't have her go three times a week... we just have to start from scratch - and hope that she won't be hopelessly behind in whatever we choose - after all - she is getting old... almost five and a half...

"Fall back, spring foward"

Europe ended daylight savings time yesterday - but the US will use "summer time" for yet another week. This means, besides the confusion, that I will have one more hour in the morning when talking to Europe.

But things sure would be easier if the world could do this switch at the same time...

Swedish waffles

Today we used the new waffle maker I brought all the way from Sweden. It worked great - and getting a "double" was a real hit - both kids got crispy heart shaped waffles at the exact same time...

With sunny weather and +27C outside, we had the perfect Sunday lunch.

California from the air

After getting up at 4 am in Sigtuna and after an 11 hour flight from Frankfurt (yes, I made my connection, but only barely... the last person to be seated) - I finally approached California.

Lufthansa flies jumbos to San Francisco - but since they are older there are no inflight entertainment system like in the newer Airbus and Boeing aircrafts - only a few TV screens in the ceiling (I could see 75% of one from my seat) - and they showed two movies. In 11 hours...

But the reward is flying in over California... knowing it is +25C... and sunny...

And after being on the go for 26 hours, with a four hour stop over at SFO before catching my commuter flight east, I finally turned off the lights in my own bedroom, very happy to be back home with my family.

Click on the images if you want to see larger versions.

Napa Valley from the air.

The red Golden Gate Bridge.

San Francisco from the west.

San Francisco from the south.

San Francisco from the commuter flight going east.

San Francisco from the east, Bay Bridge in the front
and the Golden Gate in the back of the image.

The oldest town in Sweden

I spent my last day in Sweden in Sigtuna, the oldest town in Sweden (according to themselves - and they define it as the "oldest still active town that was not founded by Danes"). It sure is a pretty little town, you can feel Swedish history everywhere you go. For some reason I've only been here in fall - now in October, and a few years ago in December.

During a break of our full day conference, we got a guided tour of the town by a very enthusiastic Sigtuna native, dressed in viking clothes and she just mesmerized us all (aren't those guides the best!).

I really have to come back here in summer - it should be even more prettier then... maybe I should send the kids to attend the Humanistiska Läroverket, Sweden's largest boarding school, when they come of age...

If Swedes got to vote

If Swedes got to vote in the US election, Obama would be the new president on November 4, to answer a comment on my last post.

Not that web polls are very accurate - more than to say something about the readers who choose to comment - but this web poll on the major Swedish daily morning paper says a lot...

Out of 11527 readers on DN.se, 84% stated that they wanted Barack Obama to
win the presidential election, and 10% wanted John McCain to win.