Blogs from Halland County, Sweden, Europe - page 4

The date is moving closer, backpacks are retrieved, money is being changed. Happy faces...soon we will be swapping -12 degrees for +30! Zoë has some separation issues with her dad who is going to Brazil tomorrow, but that will pass. Zeb will bubblewrap his skimboard today and I need to send this link to even more people. ... read more

We've been here now for two full months,I'm having a hard time resolving within myself how those days can feel like forever and hardly at all, all at the same time. I want/need to stop counting the days until we go "home"- don't quote me on that - but I'm going to try. Last week we had incredible weather, what we in Minnesota would call Indian Summer. In Sweden, it's referred to as "Brit Summer" (and I may have that wrong)...call it what you want, just give me more! As I look out the window, the trees are starting to turn. I LOVE Minnesota in the fall, hands down my favorite season...and I'm missing it. However, Sweden is doing it's best to make us feel at home. It's so beautiful to see the crimson leaves creeping ... read more

We've been here for one month now, and weekly church is about my only social interaction. Sure, I see the teacher at school, I wave at the neighbors, I see the ladies at the grocery store, but church is the only outing I choose to take each week. So we go. As I said in an earlier blog, not a lot of people attend church here. Ours is a small church that serves a large community of people and there has been room at each service I've attended. There has also been a different priest (as they are referred to here, not pastor) preaching each week. Roland is the newest pastor, and we've gotten to know him through a couple of meetings. It could be the highest priest in all of Sweden preaching and we wouldn't ... read more

How can I be feeling pride and serious anxiety, all at once? We just walked the girls to school for their first day. They've been excited about starting school, ready to make some friends, more than anything. We've been talking and trying to prepare them for this for months. The question, however, is how do complete amateurs prepare kids for something they themselves know nothing about ? Neither Jeff nor I ever changed schools. My classmates were my classmates nearly my entire life, and so were his. When a new kid came to school, it was a huge event and I can remember the years that those people entered my life. Kim and Denise in the second grade...what a year that was! Our classes were small, the teachers changed infrequently and we knew everyone's families and ... read more

At last, we've had sunshine all day today. Since arriving, we've had overcast skies and rain at some point each day. People have assured us this isn't typical weather, but I was getting suspicious...and a tad depressed, to be honest. But today was glorious. Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with a potential Dag Mamma (sounds like dawg mama and translates to day mother). Eva is a young grandmother type who's been doing home day care (dagis - sounds like doggies) for about 20 years. Her blue Swedish home sits on a hill about a half mile from our place and she has 3 other boys in her care who are near Jorgie's age. The first thing that I noticed was her wall full of books and I, selfishly, though, "alright, someone I can borrow ... read more