Advertisement
Published: January 17th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Emma at the top
Climbing the rocks that she loves (photo from September...she's grown 2 inches since then!) We are officially halfway through our stay in Sweden. I have lots of feelings about that. Jeff and I were talking last week about this "adventure" and I posed the question, "If one of your colleagues was considering a sabbatical overseas and asked if you thought it was a good idea, what would you tell him/her?". It's a tricky question, but not a trick question. We both have had more than one moment where we would have gladly packed our bags, cut our losses, and headed home.
When we're faced with these feelings of frustration, sadness or longing, we always have to head back to square one and the reason we made this decision. When we looked at Jeff's next sabbatical opportunity in seven years, Emma will be in college, Signe will be in high school and Jorgen will be in junior high. We felt the timing would never be better for the kids to have this experience, especially Emma and Signe. When you're 5, home is wherever your family is, so we knew that Jorgen would have a good experience, as long as we were all happy. Kids can have a great, fulfilling life without an overseas adventure, we
Beloved school
This was on their first day in August. know that because we both had tremendous childhoods and never traveled very far out of our regions. My parents took us on one exceptionally memorable trip to Disney World when I was three, but that story is a book in and of itself. Imagine driving from South Dakota to Florida with 11 - yes, I said ELEVEN - people in one vehicle! That was back when there were no cell phones, iPods or portable DVD players. Just think.
We want our kids to have this opportunity because we're both relatively anxious about leaving our comfort zones. We want them to know that MN isn't the center of the world - although it's a place we're proud to call home. The exact day that Jeff and I had this conversation, someone asked Emma about living abroad. She said, and this was completely unprompted and she hadn't heard our conversation, "I think I'll be braver when I get back home". Jeff and I both looked at each other and knew, in that moment, that we've done the right thing.
Knowing what we know, halfway through, would we do this again? Yes. However, it hasn't been easy. Many times we've heard,
Home
Getting ready to head around the neighborhood. "traveling in Europe is so easy". It's true that so many countries are so close and trains go everywhere...but easy? Not for us. For all of those countries, there are different languages, different currencies and different systems. Booking anything is a challenge for us - many websites are only available in the native language, many don't take our credit cards. Everything is expensive. We knew that would be the case, but the reality of 5x3 meals a day (while traveling), 5 x airfare/train fare/ bus fare, 5 x site entrance fees, 5 x hotel rates (European hotels charge per person). It all adds up and up. Still, we look at these experiences we're having as priceless.
Last night at dinner, our conversation centered around our time being half up. I asked everyone what the missed most about HOME and what they like best about Sweden. I told them friends and family are given, so they couldn't use those answers. The answers are as follows:
Jorgen : Misses jumping off the swing into the leaves and riding around the block on his bike. He likes the candy. Hmm.
Signe: Misses our house, tire swing, woods and big yard
The car...
...and home. (I guess that's home). She likes school (the fact that they get to have cooking, sewing and wood shop make it extra special!) and she likes the candy, too.
Emma: Misses her bed, the snow, our neighborhood and homework (this will come back to haunt her, I'm sure). She likes climbing to the top of the rocks at the sea and the candy.
Jeff: Misses noon ball (and all team sports - even though his 35+ team rocked without him this year) and his old bio-diesel driven Mercedes. He likes the running and biking paths, and has called it a "runner's paradise". He also prefers the environmental attitude and absence of SUV's.
Me: I miss my comfortable bed and furniture and impromptu gatherings with friends (that doesn't count as friends, right? Wait a minute, it's MY blog, if I want to say I miss my friends, than I can.). I miss my friends. I miss my hairstylist. I miss my Kitchenaid stand mixer (I could get one for a mere $600 here - same model as my reconditioned one that I bought for $75 at home!). I miss Target. I miss Midwestern beef. I miss the space
The Scotts
A big bunch to miss. in my home. I miss my friendly neighbors. I guess you could call me Mrs. Miss! I love the simplicity of Sweden. I love the fabrics. I love the sound of the language, it still sounds like music to me...and I don't need to understand it to love it. I love the sea and the smell of the air. I haven't had a problem with my sinuses since we left home and am convinced it's the fresh sea air. I love Gunnel and the friendship she has extended to me and my family.
We're gaining daylight quickly, the sun has made appearances the last couple of days. We look forward to trips to Paris, Berlin, Norway and Copenhagen before this adventure is complete. Jeff will journey to Norway with his Mom and Aunt Joan in May. We anxiously anticipate Kristen and Jeff's running of the Stockholm marathon and Kristen and Rob's corresponding visit the end of May. We're not done here...but we are half way.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.04s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0212s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Susan
non-member comment
halfway
We celebrated our "halfway day" yesterday, too, with a cake in which I misread the Italian recipe, so it turned out more like a brownie. I convinced the girls it was just like our half-year here -- mixed up! We agreed the second half would surely be less mixed up, now that we know our way around. I love to hear your perspective; yes, this is why we're here. But we miss home, too.