There aren't that many world wide known Swedish products left to be proud of as a Swedish Alien. IKEA is of course still going strong. But SAAB is owned by GM, Volvo by Ford. Eriksson makes their phones with Sony and ABBA will never reunite.
But so far you have been able to hit the bars*, knowing you most certainly would find a bottle of Absolut Vodka and be able to show off this very Swedish product to your American friends.
I have a the latest edition of Swedish Elle (well, at least it was new before it had to cross the Atlantic, by now it might be old in Sweden..) by my favorite reading chair and I read an article about the Swedish singer Marit Bergman. She is one of those artist that kicked off "a.c-my-move-to-California" - so I actually have no "relationship" to her at all. I wouldn't be able to tell any of her songs or identify her in line up of artists. It feels a bit weird... this pretty big Swedish artist that I have no idea about.
Anyway - she lives in New York now and I've written about this phenomena before,- here is a long feature article about her life in Brooklyn and - not a single line on what kind of visa she is on or how she is able to stay past her 90 day visa waiver...
Well, I'm happy for her what ever visa she is on - she seems to enjoy it a lot.
Me and mom went to IKEA... to buy pottery... on a Saturday evening. Oh, my. I'm getting old. Anyway, we found great pots for the patio, clean, stylish, off white - exactly what I hadn't found at HomeDepot earlier in the day.
I was surprised to run into a crowd of shoppers. IKEA on a Saturday night in California is obviously not quiet and lonely, but a busy place, filled with young people filling up the shopping carts. So maybe I'm not getting old at all - only more cool?
When standing in the long line at the check-outs(getting flashbacks from IKEA in Kungens Kurva outside Stockholm...) my mom said "well, wasn't it pay day this last week?". This is a comment that can only be made by a Swede, used to everyone getting their salaries on the 25th of each month, thus the weekend after the 25th is not a good weekend to hit the stores with everyone else with thick wallets (or these days loaded credit cards).
Here you are usually paid biweekly and it could be either week and day of the week. So the shopping crowd at IKEA on a Saturday night could not be explained by unusual thick wallets. Seems it just a cool place to go on a weekend night. And we were there!
The TSA has responded to the "nipple incident" (see post below) and the woman's request for an apology:
"TSA has reviewed the circumstances related to the screening of a passenger with body piercings that occurred recently in Lubbock, Texas. It appears that the Transportation Security Officers involved properly followed procedures in that incident. They rightly insisted that the alarm that was raised be resolved. TSA supports the thoroughness of the Officers involved as they were acting to protect the passengers and crews of the flights departing Lubbock that day.
TSA has reviewed the procedures themselves and agrees that they need to be changed. In the future TSA will inform passengers that they have the option to resolve the alarm through a visual inspection of the article in lieu of removing the item in question. TSA acknowledges that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets the situation in which she found herself. We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."
I sure wonder how long they've been working on this release, published on their website. They must have worked hard to omit the word "apology" sticking to the importance of "procedures".
The closest they get is "regrets the situation in which she found herself".
As a frequent flyer I have spent lots of time in airport security - and more after 9-11. And even though I have found my "flow" to get me through as quickly as possible, going through security is probably one of the worst part of flying. I don't mind heightened security - after all - I'm going to be on that plane. But the feeling of being treated like unworthy cattle is hard to shake off sometimes. You can check id, x-ray hand luggage, have people remove their shoes and still say "hello", "welcome", "have a nice flight".
Male TSA* personnel, refusing to inspect the small piercings after a hand held metal detector beeped, even as the woman offered, but instead giving the woman pliers to take them off. The woman is asking for an apology and I, for once, almost wish she would do like so many Americans do - sue!
Since when can nipple piercings be considered a threat?
And how come you can go through security with hardwire in your bras - but not with nipple piercings? After all, the hardwire is long, sharp and could probably do some harm if you really wanted to. Or how can men have belts with large, metallic buckles. After all, a belt could probably be used to strangling someone.
I love California, but there are a few moments when it's hard to live in a Northern California house. My mom brought the latest issue of the Swedish interior decorating magazine Sköna Hem, and I'm drooling over it just as much as over Swedish chocolate.
This issue of Sköna Hem had a feature article about a "funkis"* appartment in downtown Stockholm, and boy, how hard it is to live in a "garage with house on top" when you see the pictures...
Check out the pictures from this place here! Look at the view... isn't it to die for... ?
Maybe I have to take a trip to the new Scandinavian Designs store this weekend to ease my mind. I wonder if you can ship a "funkis" building from Stockholm...?
(* "Funkis" as in "funktionalism" - in English architectural "functionalism")
When we were looking for a house, one of the criteria besides having a "in-law cave" (guest room downstairs with separate bathroom) we gave to our real estate agent was "walking distance to something". We wanted to be able to leave the house sans car and actually get somewhere. A store, a coffee shop, a plaza - something. This isn't necessarily automatic around here and in the city we live, you really have to look in a few, specific areas to full fill that criteria.
In the end we didn't too bad for being Northern California. Withing walking distance we have for example ColdStone Creamery (the best icecream), Starbucks (no need to specifiy...), Borders (bookstore with café) and WorldMarket (store filled with stuff from all over the world... like Swedish Fish and Droste chocolate).
Since my mom managed to catch some sort of "jet-lag-flu" and have been in bed for almost a week (out of the three they are staying), this has been great for her poor husband who has been taking daily walks around the neighborhood. He has never done so much shopping in years... he even bought shoes - voluntarily and alone!
Tonight we tuned in to American Idol for the first time this season. American Idol, which Swedish version is called "Idol", is on its seventh season here and so far two contestants (of the top 12) have been voted off the show. The grand finale is May 21.
We weren't really watching, just had the TV turned on. It wasn't really until the last performer came on that I kind of focused on the screen and listened. Contestant David Cook was performing and he was doing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, in a version created by Chris Cornell, and I really, really liked it.
I went online and checked out David Cook's earlier performances in American Idol - and I really liked them too. Maybe I have to tune in next week (or just go on YouTube a couple of minutes after the show has broadcasted on the EastCoast, three hours earlier than here in California) to check out his performance. That is if he is still on the show next week...
The Swedish daily magazine Dagens Nyheter today writes about the "invasion of Swedes" in the US due to the low dollar exchange rate. Well, we haven't seen any crowds so far here in our part of California - even though we do have two Swedes in the house currently.
For other friends and family that might consider coming to see us (+27C on the patio today!) and like to shop, DN did a little price comparison, to help convince you, now is the time:
Ipod touch (32 gb) In the US: 2973 SEK ($491) In Sweden: 4495 SEK ($742)
Levis 501 In the US: 235 SEK ($39) In Sweden: 900 SEK ($148) Xbox 360 Premium (20 gb) In the US: 1800 SEK ($298) In Sweden: 3200 SEK ($528) Canon EOS 400 D In the US: 3250 SEK ($537 ) In Sweden: 6000 SEK ($991 )
(Not only is the dollar currently weak, but somethings are really ridiculously expensive in Sweden... )
So if you were thinking of buying an iPod, a pair of Levis jeans, and a new SLR camera - the total price difference is almost the plane ticket...
Today is the big Easter day in the US. Easter Sunday. For us, who have been "celebrating" since Thursday, we're kind of done with Easter by today (and being Swedish - we actually have one more day to go - tomorrow is a holiday too - Annandag Påsk, second day of Easter...).
About half the stores are closed today, which is really unusual here. It only happens a few times a year.
We thought we were going to do a more "American" Easter this year - include a visit to the Easter Bunny, and doing a little egg hunt.
But we were too busy and ended up with Swedish Easter witches, European paper eggs filled with candy and "Easter twigs" (påskris). Again. Next year...
Sacramento is the capitol of California. Governor Schwarzenegger flies here (from L.A.) every day to work in the State Capitol. It is an old "gold rush" city, established in 1839.
In Sweden the Thursday before Easter is called "Skärtorsdag" (which if you stretch the translation could mean "pink Thursday"). It is the day when the "påskkärringar", "Easter witches" fly to Blåkulla according to old folk tales. So in Sweden, this is the day when kids (usually girls...) dress up as witches and hand out homemade Easter cards and collect candy in return. The closest thing to a Swedish Halloween...
We let the Swedish kids around here dress up as Easter witches, but we spared our American neighbors the shock of getting totally unexpected visits from scary witches wanting candy... they got to "fly" around our back yard instead and taking a break eating semlor.
I found Easter pasta at World Market the other day. They also had the paper Easter Egg we usually give in Sweden! I already have a bunch so I didn't need any - but it was nice to see. World Market really is a great store for aliens - you can find all sorts of nice things in this place. Ours is withing walking distance.... and they do have European chocolate...
The pasta was ok - especially the Daughter liked eating small rabbits. Hm.
Today my mom and husband arrived for a three week stay. They arrived 24 hours late, getting stuck in Paris (which wouldn't had been so bad had it not been freezing cold and they were dressed for California). And the Husband is returning back from Scandinavia too - he will arrive only an hour late according to the latest flight status.
So tomorrow the house will be filled with three very jetlagged grown-ups, one very tired grown-up who has been driving around Northern California alone with two kids in the backseat to pick up jetlagged people - and two very happy kids that want to play intensely with dad and grandparents.
I have a private e-mail address on my own domain. I've protected it vigorously since I got it in 2002. Never let anyone but friends have it. Never, ever using it online on any kind of website.
Being married with a geek, I have a system making it possible to create a unique e-mail addresses for every place where I leave my email, like jacalicas_gap_email@mail.com if I would sign on up or order something from GAP (but still getting the e-mail in my regular inbox). This way I can track spam and just delete the specific e-mail address and thus avoid spams from at least one source. That's how I know for example that someone hacked Borders e-mail server - because I started getting spams on the unique e-mail address I had only used on their website... So you can't even be sure big retailers are protecting your e-mail.
So, for almost exactly 6 years I've had my private e-mail. Today I got my first spam. And once you got your first - the fight is over. You're going to loose. Once your e-mail is in the hand of a spammer, that's it.
That's why I hate these "I'm just forwarding this" e-mails when people include all their friends e-mail addresses openly, in my case, my very own, private one. Those e-mails will be sent around, everyone's e-mail adresses available and sooner or later, they are going to picked up by the spammers. They might not be considered spam, but they will turn into spam eventually.
Now I'm going to mourn my absolutely, perfect and spam-free e-mail address.
When I did a university year in the US a very, very long time ago (1992 - before e-mail, PDAs, cellphones and Facebook... imagine that!) the exchange rate between the dollar and the Swedish krona (SEK) was 5.20. Meaning for each dollar I would have to come up with 5.20 SEK. When I moved over here it was 11 SEK... That's a "bit" of a difference. When we were buying our house in 2003 and moving funds from our old savings account in Sweden to the US, we were so happy the dollar exchange rate was "down" to just around 9 SEK...
Right now, the dollar exchange rate to the Swedish krona is almost touching 6 SEK.
I've said it before now really is the time to come visit... at least if you have Swedish kronor in your wallet.
I'm a "schlager"* fan** (to my Husband's horror) (but hey, he still married me...). Every year the European countries will send one "schlager song" to compete in the grand finale, Eurovision Song Contest, broadcasted live all over Europe. So every year, there is a domestic competition, the "Melodifestivalen" in Sweden, on who will get to compete for Sweden.
Since I was a kid, I've been watching the "Melodifestivalen" and the Eurovision Song Contest, giving the competing songs votes, commenting on performances, mostly thinking the wrong song won.
That is, until I moved here. The first few years I lived here, you could only listen to these programs online on Swedish radio. And you sort of have to see it too... even though it should be about the music and the songs rather than the artists, you need to see the performances. It's like listening to the Oscars on the radio...
Yesterday I watched Melodifestivalen online. Since it was in the middle of the day, I hooked up my laptop to my iPod amplifier in the kitchen while having lunch, letting the kids dance and eat waffles. We had a blast. Even though it feels weird to watch it with sunshine.
The important question afterward is always - did the right song win (the tabloids will use a lot of space trying to answer this question the next couple of days)? Well, I didn't really have a favorite, but the song that won probably will have a decent chance in Belgrad, where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held this year.
Here is this year's winner - Charlotte Perelli with Hero;
*A definition of schlager according to Wikipedia: Typical schlager tracks are either sweet, highly sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes. Its lyrics typically center on love and relationships, and feelings.
** I admit... I have a "schlager-playlist" in my iPod...
It's Friday night. It's been an intense week. I have a big deadline on Monday, the Husband is in Scandinavia, my mom is arriving for three weeks on Monday night. And it's been the "crazy week after daylight savings", meaning kids are confused about bedtimes.
When I came downstairs to the office after everyone shorter than 110 cm is asleep to finish up some work (yeah, great Friday evening...) I see on my news section on my iGoogle that a possible tornado has hit downtown Atlanta tonight.
So I want to check the news. I usually watch news online these days, but tonight I decided to actually turn on one of the five TVs we have in the house. There are several news channels in this country, CNN, CNN HeadlineNews, ABC News, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS News, and other specialized news channels. So there is not lack of possibilities to watch the news whenever you want to.
But with +100 other channels in our channel lineup it's almost impossible to find them... Because they are not sorted by name, but by channel number and a short abbreviation for the channel. Gaah. Fox News is 360 FNC.
CNN is 202CNN.
So I'm watching CNN right now. Easiest to find. One day I'm going to make a list of all the NewsChannels so I can browse them when something happenes.
Now I'm going to hope that the damages are not too bad in Atlanta...
(The picture is a screen picture of CNN's Live on CNN - a way to watch their news live from their website. Easier to go to www.cnn.com than to find all the remote controls needed to turn on a TV in this high tech house).
Jon Stewart, host of the ComedyCentral show The Daily Show, did a little piece on the "shame parade", the "bringing your spouse to the press conference when you resign" that I wrote about below.
There aren't that many world wide known Swedish products left to be proud of as a Swedish Alien. IKEA is of course still going strong. But SAAB is owned by GM, Volvo by Ford. Eriksson makes their phones with Sony and ABBA will never reunite.
