A word that is missing in English #1

Väninna!

It's a great word for "girlfriend" (or "woman friend" but that sounds so... hm... old? or "female friend" but that sounds to me like your talking about animals... "the female monkey is bla bla bla").

And "girlfriend" can be both a friend or a girlfriend girlfriend if you know what I'm saying.

A "väninna" is just a "väninna" period.

So tonight I went to IKEA with a "väninna"!

A great ending...

This morning I made a long list of things that I was to finish today. By 5 pm I hadn't even started with any of them...

So I decided to go to IKEA with a Swedish friend instead.

A much better way to end a day that didn't turn out the way you had planned (and I can just recycle the list to be tomorrow's list and we all like recycling...).

Anyway - my IKEA finally had Marabou!! Only the small rolls - but still!

The woman in the food store, looked curiously at me, unpacking all this weird Swedish food combinations (a frozen limpa, skorpor, nyponsoppa, pärlsocker etc) but it wasn't until she saw my name on the credit card that she asked shyly if I spoke Swedish (still in English). My name is a name that is pretty Swedish, but still could not be (especially if I were an American from say Minnesota).

But I guess the combination of the name and the shopping basked with weird Swedish food gave me away... She was Swedish too - so we talked a while about the importance of the IKEA food store (imagine to WORK there as a Swedish alien!?!).

Why are we so shy about this I wonder? Same thing always happens to me the SAS check in counter in Chicago every time I fly to Sweden. The service representative has a name tag with a name that could be Swedish, I look very Swedish (tall and blonde and blue eyes, a living Swedish stereotype... ) (if only I was thinner too...) but until the point where you show your passport the conversation continues in English... Hm... maybe next time I'll just start speak Swedish and see what happens.

Anyway, me and my Swedish friend talked about how we feel at home at IKEA and when we parted we were happy as we had been out on a big, fun night down town... when we had just got a few bags of tea lights (just kidding) and chocolate (oh, and the rest of the 5 bags of stuff you didn't knew you needed...).

It's probably cheaper to have a girl's night out down town than at IKEA....

Mrs Husband...

I wonder if I'll ever get used to be called Mrs Husband Lastname...

The Swedish woman in me cringes every time I see this in written.

I just got a letter today to Mr & Mrs Husband Lastname. What happened to me??

I wonder if you get official letters to Herr & Fru Make Efternamn in Sweden?? (I've only been married here so I don't know).

I don't mind being called Mrs Lastname in the store, it's kind of cute (even though I wasn't sure who they were talking about the first time... "have a nice day Mrs Lastname!" Who??) (or maybe I was so unused to someone wishing me a nice day....) even though Mrs" sounds so.... old? (will I ever be older than 22??).

Is it only me who always think of "Mrs Robinson" when I hear "Mrs"... ?

Anyway. On most official forms here you have to state if you are a Miss or a Mrs. Or sometimes a Ms.

A Ms can be both a Miss or a Mrs. So if you want to feel "older" than a Miss, but younger than a "Mrs", I guess "Ms" can be your title of choice.

It's easier to be a man. Then you're always a Mr.

What should be our third language??

When we need to keep secrets from our kids, we can't , like parents in Sweden (at least before the kids are in school) speak English and they won't understand us. Perfect when you want to discuss the presence of ice cream or other secrets.

Our kids knows English (well the youngest isn't really speaking yet, but is trying hard). Soon better than us.

So English is out as our "secret language".

Ok. Let's see. What languages are left. The husband took German. I did not. I took Spanish. He did not. We both took French. He for six years and I for four. That's a total of 10 years education in French...

10 equals the number of correct sentences (short!) we can say in French. And none includes the word ice cream.

My favorite comedian on speaking French you learned in school:

Something we don't have to worry about

Sometimes you're reminded about some of the advantages of living in Californian when reading Swedish news online.

Icicles are not really a big issue here...

(the picture is from one of the major Swedish newspapers and the headline says "The Icicles are growing")

Fast food days

Ok, so since we've been playing HGTV* all weekend we've relied on fast food to get us going between trips to the HomeDepot, using the drill, trying to find the hammer and keeping the kids away from the chaos.

We're not really eating fast food (we actually eat pretty "Swedish", thanks the husband who is the chef in this house), despite what many of our friends in the "old country" seem to think about eating habits in the "new world".

When we eat fast food, we stick to the same thing.

Carl's Jr's Six Dollar Burger.

They call it the first "sit-down restaurant style burger at a quick-service restaurant".

I think pictures of hamburgers usually are grouse and disgusting, but I just have to include a picture of one. This is fast food you can actually eat and not feel completely.... hm... fat? unhealthy?

Carls' Jr started 1941 in Los Angeles and still is pretty focused to California...


(*HGTV = Home&Garden Television channel, programs about, "decorating, remodeling, home improvement and gardening ideas" - 24/7 )

Work weekend

Phew.

We're doing some major changes in the house and this weekend was the big crescendo. A 48 race to get the house "livable" before the start of the week (and good thing we claim Monday is the start of the week and not Sunday...).

We're lucky. We live 5 minutes away from HomeDepot. Home Depot is pure heaven for those who love to fix and renovate their homes. And a necessity for the rest of us who just need the strangest screws, nails or gear to finish projects we started.

HomeDepot is a HUGE store with everything you need for almost anything.

I get a headache when I enter.

Anyway. It's open until 10 pm (and if you go there when the Sunday football game is on - you'll have lot's of space to yourself).

We've been there four times in the last 48 hours.

In my iPod right now....

Ok, so I guess I will be forever stuck in the 80s when it comes to music... The music just brings me back in time, is great and fun and just the BEST!

I love "big" voices - and Alison Moyet sure has a HUGE one.

In Europe the group she belonged to before going solo was called Yazoo, but in the US it was called Yaz. Things like that only worked pre-internet.

This was and IS one of my favorites... (not the best music video maybe - but then this IS the 80s..., just close your eyes and pump up the volume and lean back an enjoy!).



(and it works great during labor...).

A little sing-a-long in the morning?

Yesterday I "talked" with some of my online friends about the American phenomena to sing the national anthem before the start of sport events. Since most of us haven't been living in Sweden in a couple of years we were not sure about if this is a Swedish phenomena as well (and at that time were not regular visitor to these events anyway...).

I have vague memories of the Swedish anthem being sung at least before the start of ice hockey games?

The Americans are pretty good at creating big events, especially sport events - and all of them starts with the singing of the national anthem. Usually there is a lead singer, standing out in the middle of the arena, singing a cappella.

The American national anthem is actually pretty tricky to sing - lot's of high and low notes. But who could better handle this than Josh Groban...

Try to sing along to this one if you can!

No pea soup for me today (or any other day...)

Today is Thursday. Traditional "pea soup and pancake" day in Sweden.

I wouldn't mind the pancakes. But I'm skipping the pea soup. Yuk.

The most famous Swedish pea soup eaters are the eighteen members of the Swedish Academy, founded in 1786 to advance the Swedish Language (and is also the institution that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature).

They meet at beautiful the restaurant Gyldende Freden (founded 1722) in the Old Town in Stockholm every Thursday.

I wonder if they get pancakes afterwards.

The ultimate WAH machine...

Maybe I need something like this in the new office we're organizing... I'm working from home and this "little" machine has everything you would want... It has a scanner, copier and fax machine as well as an LCD screen and a DVD player, speakers AND an espresso machine.

Send something to the printer and pick up a cup of coffee while you're there.

As Konica-Minolta says, "this device has the perfect balance of work, rest and play".

Only two minor things... it's HUGE and I don't drink coffee...

I have to wait for the BizHub that can brew tea. Or make hot cocoa.

And get a bigger house first.

What a great day!

Today was one of those days I was pretty content with being in California.

It's January, but the sun was shining and it's nice and warm. Spring is in the air. Only some trees drop their leaves here, and for the palm trees it's always summer. The birds haven't left (though I'm no bird expert, I'm sure that birds come and go here as well, maybe not to the same extent as in Sweden were most birds (the smart ones) leave for Africa when winter comes) and will nest soon.

I took a walk up to the plaza, saying hello with a smile to the people I passed by (as you always do here), making nice small talk with people in the stores, saying good bye with "have a nice day!".

My English was smooth and people understood me.

In May I will probably start mumble here about Stockholm again... it usually passes when September comes.

A pretty good day actually!

Yummy Californian chocolate

And speaking about chocolate - it's not as good as Marabou - but a good runner up:

The Californian chocolate brand Chirardelli.

It's one of the oldest American chocolate companies. They have their own "Ice Cream and Chocolate Shops" around California and their main own little mini "theme" park, Chirardelli Square in San Francisco.

Their signature chocolate is the SQUARES chocolates - little 1,5 cm*1,5 cm squares that you buy in bags... solid or filled... yummy!

Ghirardelli is pronounced "Gear-ar-delly".

I just learned that from their website. Good thing to know. Because I would not have pronounced it like that... more [jjiirr-ar-dell-i]

USA

I miss hot cocoa days

Mmm. Cold winter day. Warm, red cheeks. After play in the snow or a brisk walk in the cold air, you come inside and make yourself a cup of hot cocoa!

Well, moving to California limits those days....

I still have hot cocoa powder in the kitchen. Chirardelli Double Hot Chocolate. Ready to go.

Who knows, maybe one day global warming will be global chilling...

Letter vs A4

So we're doing a little re-grouping in our house, moving the office from one floor to the other and reorganizing it as we're already making a complete chaos.

And when planning shelving and hanging folders to store work, projects, bills etc etc once again I go nuts over that the US can't follow what almost every other country (except Canada and Mexico who seem to be as stubborn as well) does - the international standard for paper formats!

All my US paper work are in "letter" format and all my Swedish paper work is in "A4". Letter is "shorter and wider" than A4 (or A4 is longer and thinner than letter").

So A4 papers can not fit in hanging folder for letter (to short).

Gaah!

The A4 is of course a very logical system based on the meter. The letter (or the only other "standard" size legal) is a complete random system based on the inch...

I guess we just have to go completely "paperless" and buy a faster scanner instead of doing paper storage solutions...

Villa, Volvo, vovve

In Sweden the average family goes by the name "The Svensson Family" (Svensson being a very common name) - or "medelsvenssons".

And we joke about that you know that you are grown up when you have "villa, Volvo, vovve (i.e "house, a Volvo and a dog").

When reading the Swedish news online today, I read about the yearly statistics report from Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån).

According to an analysis of last years statistical data - this is is the average Swedish family:

The average Swedish family lives in a detached house, worth SEK 770.000 (taxation value), in a metropolitan area. The dad is named Lars (39) and the mom is named Anna (42) and their last name is Johansson. They got married 1990 when Anna was 27 years. They have two kids, Emma, 12, and Johan, 15. The family eat 1,2 kg (2 lb 10 oz) sweets a week. They drive a silver grey colored Volvo 2000 (even though Anna would have liked a red car). They have a computer and internet connection, but not dog (read more fun facts here).

(picture from the front page of the SCB report)

I wish I had some "dunderhonung"...

Bamse is a well known figure for all Swedish kids. Bamse is the strongest and nicest bear in the whole world. His nice grandmom makes special honey for him, called "dunderhonung". When he eats that he becomes stronger than anyone!

I wish I had some right now.

I have to move some furniture and I just realized it's not even moving when I'm trying to push it.

Now, in what online store can you order some "dunderhonung" and Fedex it over night?

The IKEA version of the Swedish alphabet

I just noticed something I haven't thought of before.

When you search for products on IKEA's website, they ignore the use of our "special" letters, å,ä and ö. "Å" and "ä" is treated like "a" and "ö" is treated like "o".

Of course.

Because how would you find things otherwise unless you know the Swedish alphabet...

So if you want to search for "Bärbar tray" in the "Products A-Z" section, you'll find it between "Bandora table lamp" and "Barren Bathroom series".

The local alternative to IKEA

Since I'm on the IKEA topic I have to mention our second "heaven" - Scandinavian Designs. This is one of our favorite places - full of Scandinavian style furniture and accessories.

More pricey - and very much more complicated to assemble...

After you've assembled something from Scandinavian Designs, you realize that IKEA's instructions are VERY easy...

And I thought I was an IKEA fan...

We're doing some remodeling, switching rooms "functions" around the house. And since we're are Swedish this of course involved checking the IKEA catalog. In Sweden each household get it's very own IKEA catalog every late summer. Here you have to order it, or pick it up at the store.

Anyway, after spending a serious amount of time swearing over the useless unit inches instead of centimeters (actually IKEA do publish all the measurements in cm online even on the US website thankfully...), I stumbled upon a whole new world when being online googeling for IKEA...

There is a serious amount of websites dedicated to the "hacking of" IKEA stuff and lovers of IKEA out there!

Like the IKEAHacker website. Or IKEAfans.com. Or PositiveFanatics - the unofficial IKEA web journal.

None of them seems too concern about the existence of Marabou chocolate in the Swedish Food store however....

But you can find some really cool "hacks"... And answer polls such as "what was the first thing you bought at IKEA?". (I have no idea what my answer to that would be, I must have been like newborn the first time I was at IKEA like almost all Swedes...).