Traveling to Sweden

As it turns out, saying the words, "we're moving to Sweden for a year" is far different than actually moving to Sweden. We have, however, arrived safely and we love our new home. This posting is a long one, but I think it’s only because it’s the first. I'll start with the journey...

August 4th we woke up in my childhood home in Howard, SD...we drove to St. Peter, MN to collect our bags and transportation to the airport (and one final session with my hairstylist...not sure what I'm going to do without Brenda!) and were on to Minnneapolis/St. Paul international Airport. We were met at the airport by brother Dan and his family Suzi, Lily and Lauren. We spent a little time with them before heading to our gate holding back the tears. Signe started crying (we wondered when this would happen) and I explained that "I'm very excited about going to Sweden, Signe, I'm just crying because I won't see my brother for awhile"...she snapped back through her tears, "he shouldn't have come - I'm worried about school, I can't speak Swedish, why are we doing this?"...her fears all came pouring out on the way through security. We ARE glad they saw us off...along with the rest of our family before we left SD. Eleven months will fly by.

Our direct flight to London left at 9:45 pm. The kids were completely jazzed about the airplane, the older couple in front of us (Brits) looked like they were going to die being seated in front of a family with 3 kids. Jorgen was checking out all the technical things about the airplane and wondered what the steering wheel looked like...I knew he was committing it all to memory and that I would be seeing a fabulous Lego plane soon. Our flight was nearly 9 hours, Jeff and I each slept - fitfully - for about 1 hour. Jorgen slept all but about one hour and the girls each got several hours of sleep...cozied up in their special blankets from home. Upon arrival into Heathrow, the gentleman in front of me turned around and said, "your children were brilliant"...and I had to agree. But wait...

Heathrow airport is my least favorite airport, so far. That's the good news. By the time we arrived, Jeff and I were exhausted. We knew that there would be some logistical challenges on this leg of the journey...traveling with 20 pieces of luggage (10 checked bags, and 10 pieces of "hand luggage") and three children. We had to leave terminal 4 and get to terminal 3. We couldn't take the luggage trolley on the train connecting the two, so that meant moving 700 lbs of luggage and 3 kids in a timely fashion onto and off of train while "Minding the Gap" (yes, the gap between the train and the platform. Getting between the terminals, we had to get our three luggage trolleys through the "lift" (elevator) 4 times. The high point of that whole scenario was the people who helped us. The woman minding the train in Terminal 4 reminded me of the crazy sister in the movie Notting Hill...looked and sounded very much like her. She was so pleased that we listened to her that she went out of her way to help us...even calling ahead to Terminal 3 so someone would have luggage trolleys waiting for us on the platform. A nice older man helped Jeff and I move the bags on and off of the train while his wife kept an eye on the kids (who were really squirrelly, at this point). They reminded me of Mom and Dad (not the goofy kids, the nice couple)...I knew the lady whispered to her husband, "give them a hand" and he kindly obliged...I could totally see Mom and Dad doing that.

Once in terminal three, we found our airline...which, as it turns out, was priced well because we had to do everything ourselves, including tagging the luggage! Once there, we dropped our luggage and headed to security. Here's where our children became not so brilliant. Emma was first through, followed by Jorgen, who set off the alarm. I was right behind him, but the guard said we needed to pat him down once I can through...Jorgen freaked out when the man reached out to grab his arm. He started screaming...yes, screaming, and calling the security guard stupid, while throwing his boarding pass at him. I quickly came through and held him while the female security guard came over and "checked his tickles" while he clung to me screaming out of control. In the meantime, Signe and Jeff came through and Signe realized that, during the process of getting through security, a couple of her key chains hanging off her carry on got lost or broken (for the record, I suggested she not hang them on the outside of the bag as there was a good chance they would get lost...proving, once again, that Mother is always right). She started sobbing, out of control. She wanted to go back and demand that they give her the broken pieces. I was still trying to calm Jorgen down and then Emma pipes in with some teenage attitude about how they were mistreating our luggage. At that point, Jeff and I had had enough. It was the low point of the trip, to say the least.

Heathrow is grossly commercialized. You're forced to walk through a massive duty-free shopping area en route to seating. We found a spot to sit and we waited...people watching, drawing, antagonizing each other (mostly Signe and Jorgen). At this particular airport, they don’t assign gates long before the flight boards. So, at 6:10 pm, I was getting nervous about not knowing where our 6:45 flight was leaving from. It was hard to understand the speakers and the assignment board simply said, “Please Wait”. I’m the kind of person who likes to have my ducks in a row, my friends know that I always have the route mapped ahead of time and am typically that annoying first person to arrive. Waiting was driving me crazy…and I hadn’t had a cup of coffee in well over 24 hours. Finally, at 6:15, our gate was announced, we all trucked to Gate 9 and were boarded and ready to fly by 6:45.

The people in Sweden are physically beautiful. The whole “Swedish Bikini Team” perception is accurate. Our flight attendants, both men and women, were gorgeous. The flight into Gothenburg was easy and quick…we flew into the sunset, a beautiful way to arrive in our new home. We disembarked on the tarmac…yep, low budget airline, and felt a certain familiarity right away. It was cool out and Southern Sweden closely resembles Northern Minnesota and most closely Bayfield, WI and the Apostle Islands, in my opinion. It’s rocky and lush. The airport reminded us of flying into Sioux Falls, SD and it was an oasis. We were through customs and baggage claim within 20 minutes and were greeted by our friends Mark and Carina who carted us off to our new home about 30 minutes away. On the way home, we stopped at a gas station to pick up some milk for breakfast (there don’t seem to be many 24 hour grocery stores). The kids were excited (it’s after 10 pm in Sweden) and were checking out the candy display. Emma asked Mark, “which candy bar is like a Snickers?”, Mark pointed at a bar and said, “the Snickers”! Whooohoooo, we have Snickers!

Our home is very comfortable, smartly built and has lots of storage. We settled right in and the kids want to stay forever, if we can get all of our family and friends to move here. I’m not ready to relocate permanently, but I do feel very safe and comfortable here. Comfortable in the house, that is. The minute I walk out the door, however, I’m clearly a fish out of water. I spent over an hour and a half at the market the first day we were here. Unless something was obvious, I had no idea what it was. I did o.k. in the bread and produce section, but once we got to the baking supplies, etc., I was lost. I’m lacking in math skills and hadn’t had coffee since we left Howard on Monday morning, so just getting an idea of price was more than my over tired, over whelmed, decaffeinated brain could process…I spent $175 on 4 bags of groceries, and those were just the basics. I nearly had a breakdown at the checkout when I went to use my credit card and they asked my security number. This is a regular old VISA, no PIN number needed in the states. However they were demanding numbers from me, I gave them my birth date and the last 4 digits of my social security number - I knew that wasn’t what they needed, but I didn’t know what else to give them! There were 5 people lined up behind me and there I was, the stupid American holding up the line. It was at that moment that I realized I couldn’t carry the groceries home by myself. There was no knight in shining armour riding in on a white horse to save me, so I asked if I could take the cart (which you have to pay for in the parking lot!) and she agreed to let me take it the half block to our place. If Emma and Carina hadn’t shown up in the parking lot, I might still be sitting there on the curb crying! That was Wednesday.

Thursday morning Jeff ventured to the city to get an idea of where his workplace would be. He met Mark, who showed him around. Jeff says I’ll love Gothenburg, so I’m looking forward to a trip there. While Jeff was off to the city, I needed to get some fresh air. I left the kids and headed to this sea that we’ve heard we live just a half mile from. I followed a walking path (they’re all over!) and finally did end up at an inlet overlooking the sea. Again, it reminded me of Bayfield. I climbed some of the rocks, sat down and had a good cry. This wasn’t a “feeling sorry for myself” cry or a sad cry, just simply a good cleansing cry…which I rarely have. I looked out over the rocky islands and the sailboats and just asked God to fill me with his presence. I also asked him to send me a friend, or just a sign that we’re doing the right thing. There were no lightening bolts, and I didn’t hear God’s voice. I made my way back down the rocks and headed home. Along the way, I met an elderly woman toting her groceries home. She smiled at me (this is very unusual) and proceeded to start speaking to me in Swedish. I looked at her and simply said, “nej Svenska…English?”, she smiled, shook her head yes and said “English.” and proceeded to continue speaking to me in Swedish. I just smiled and nodded and she ended her conversation with “thank you”, rather than the Swedish, “Tack”. I’m not sure if she’s the friend God is sending me, I’m open to anyone. I do feel like her presence and warmth at that time was just the sign I needed, though. I also feel, whole heartedly, that we’re doing the right thing for our family.

Friday morning we went to the girl’s school and were greeted with friendly principals for both! We were all much more relaxed after our visit there. It’s a really nice school campus and they provide everything the kids need, including the school lunch. We were also told that “the boy” could go to 15 hours of “dagis” or day care each week…FREE! How about that? They had already arranged a visit with a “day Mom” in our neighborhood who had lived in the states and had only 4 children in her care. It sounds like the perfect set up. I hope to take a Swedish language class while Jorgen’s doing his thing at the dagis.

Friday afternoon we traveled to Kungsbacka on the bus, we were desperately in need of a toaster, a blow dryer (Jeff wasn’t desperate for one, but Emma and I were!) and a converter for our computer cords.. It was about a 25 minute bus ride through the country side. The thing that Jeff and I both commented on is how much open space is here. It’s undeveloped, few crops and even fewer strip malls! We found a mall in Kungsbacka, right near the bus stop and tourist info center. We found what we needed and saw that shopping malls are the same here as in MN, it’s just all in Swedish and is much more expensive!

Today (Saturday) I’m trying to figure out the washer and dryer. You would think it simple, but I can’t read any of the words and the symbols don’t make sense! Who knew washing clothes could be so difficult! I’m just glad I didn’t live in the washing them in the creek days!

As I mentioned earlier, the kids love it here. The two younger ones just returned from the park…they can walk by themselves because its close enough that I could hear them scream if they needed me. They left Emma behind because some older girls showed up and Emma was going to just hang out and try to make a move towards making some friends. If anyone can do it quickly, it will be Emma.

We’re adjusting to the time change alright. I was doing well until today. Signe had a touch of the stomach flu last night and finally threw up at 2:30 am. Just like life in the states, the laundry needs to be done, kids still get the flu, and friends are being made at this very moment.

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