Spring has sprung!

...and it sure doesn't mess around when it decides to show up!  The weather for the past few weeks has been absolutely gorgeous, sunny, and warm....the flowers are blooming, baby lambs are being born, and I'm actually getting a little bit of a tan from spending the past week outside during Easter vacation.  It's amazing how much better and happier Sweden becomes when springtime finally shows up.  In more good news, the daycare where I had an unpaid internship has hired me to work 20 hours per week, possibly up to 30, through summertime.  It's a huge difference not feeling like an unemployed crabby pregnant burden on M and having so much to look forward to this summer.  Here are a few photos from the past couple of weeks:

A brand-new lamb born on the farm on M's parent's island.

I've been getting crafty in anticipation of the baby Sweedie.

 M's new boat, Vixen, is all spiffed up and ready to start his new company.

Every day the buds on the trees are bursting bigger and greener.

You know spring is here when the forest is carpeted with blåsippor.

 More fuzzy buds.

View over the fields on the farm where we live.

Vitsippor everywhere!

Routines

I haven't been inspired to write much here lately, mainly due to the fact that I've gotten really busy with school and work, and everything seems to have settled into a predictable routine.  Now that my Swedish is at a passable level and things don't seem so foreign to me it's not quite as exciting to write about as it was when everything Swedish was fresh and exciting and strange and funny.

It's also not my favorite time of year weatherwise...although I'm thankful we've had some bright sunny days and plenty of snow to cover up the gray and mud...it's still COLD, COLD, COLD.  Sometimes I feel like I'll never be warm again and the need for hot sun on my skin feels worse than any pregnancy food craving.  The days are getting longer though, and I just have to remind myself that it does actually warm up here eventually.  Although when people say, "The cold just makes you appreciate the summer more," I want to snap back, "I DO appreciate the summer...I appreciate it so much I'd be happy to have it ALL THE TIME."

Anyway, I've started a barnskötarutbildning course at our local adult-ed center, which will give me a license to work in Swedish preschools.  There always seems to be a need for more preschools here and since I've been around little kids all my life it seems like a good fit.  The preschools here are kind of like a mix between daycare and school...the kids are 1-6 years old and there are lots of fun activities for them.  I take one full day of classes per week along with 3 full days of working at the preschool with 1-3 year olds.  They're hilarious and adorable and fun, although I seem to have forgotten the vast quantities of the boogers and poop that come along with young'uns.  My coworkers at the preschool are wonderful and it's great for my Swedish to be speaking all day.

Since I was homeschooled I don't have the best point of reference to compare the Swedish preschool to the ones in the US, but I can say that the quality of food here is amazing.  All the kids eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day, the meals are made from scratch in the kitchen (mmmm, fresh baked bread), and I have yet to see a single sugary item served to the kids.  I also like the fact that Swedes seem to emphasize teaching kids at an early age to do everything themselves instead of our US mentality of "Wait, you're too little...let me help you."  Even the tiniest of kids serve their own plates of food, help clean up after themselves, and participate fully in the elaborate process of putting on and taking off winter clothes.

In addition to the preschool I'm still teaching English to older school kids three times per week, plus taking Swedish as a Second Language B.  This is the last step in the free Swedish classes that we immigrants are allotted, it's a distance class that's pretty intensive and mostly centered around reading and writing about ancient literature in Swedish.

I also need to upgrade to a Swedish driver's license by April which is nothing short of a gigantic and expensive pain in the ass.  The Swedish system is a little strange when it comes to foreign driver's licenses....I'm allowed to use my US license for the first year that I live here, but once that year is up they don't seem to recognize the fact that I've been regularly driving a car for exactly half my life.   I have to start from scratch and take all the tests and lessons from the beginning.  Luckily I have driving theory books in English, but I also need an eye exam, slippery driving course, and a drinking and driving course before I can take and pass both practical and theoretical tests, all of which cost a pretty öre.  Hopefully I've gotten started early enough in the game to take each step as it comes and not try to get everything done at the last minute, we'll see how it goes.

My little viking in the oven seems to be cooking up nicely as far as I can tell...my queasy days have subsided and the only symptom I've been having is a weird taste in my mouth all the time...super annoying.  We have an ultrasound next month but we're not finding out if it's a boy or a girl.  I think it'll be fun to keep it a surprise and hopefully a little extra motivation to get the little bugger out when the time comes in August.

M has been away at sea for the past six weeks but is returning home on Wednesday.  He and his brother are starting their own boat company this summer which will also be an exciting new project in our lives.  

So that's my life right now...work, study, eat, sleep, repeat.  Not too exciting, but I have a feeling I should be thankful for these calm and semi-monotonous days while they last....

Get outta my way

Okay.  I really like Sweden.  It's beautiful, clean, organized, intelligent, etc, etc, etc.  I feel really lucky to be able to live here.  But there's one aspect of Swedish culture that I don't think I'll ever get used to and that's the general coldness and (what I perceive to be) rudeness of Swedes to each other in everyday situations like getting on a bus or standing in line at the grocery store. 

In the US (at least in the places I've lived), people generally approach strangers with a friendly and kind attitude.  They hold doors open for each other, politely wait for elderly folks to shuffle past, and offer up a smile, helping hand, or kind word without hesitation.  When I was living in Texas before I moved here, the friendliness and hospitality went all the way to eleven...strangers standing in line would strike up conversations, joke around, and ask each other all kinds of questions.   In Texas it's possible to actually make a real friend just by talking to the other person at the mechanic shop while waiting to get your car fixed.

In Sweden, no way.  The general attitude of Swedes out in the world is to look straight ahead, don't talk to anyone you don't know, keep a tight-lipped grimace, and for god's sake don't open a door for anyone while you go about your business.  Once you're formally introduced to a Swede they will light up like a 4th of July sparkler and become incredibly sweet and friendly, but until then, good luck breaking that cold Swedish exterior. 

Standing in line here is a hilarious experience which can easily drive you crazy if you try to be too American about it.  In all places where you have to wait to talk to someone behind a counter you'll find a number machine that keeps everyone in order.  When no number machine is available, Swedes turn into packs of cutting-in-line, selfish children nervously eyeing each other to make sure no one gets in front of them.  I once saw an older man literally RUN across the grocery store when a new cash register opened up so that he could be first. 

Riding the bus is also a far cry from an exercise in neighborliness.  You do NOT look at or talk to the person next to you.  You stare straight ahead, send text messages, listen to your ipod, or read the newspaper.  Trying to strike up a conversation with the person next to you will get you a confused look of "who the hell do you think you are" because Swedes Don't Do That. 

Anyway, this phenomenon wasn't quite so annoying to me during the bright, beautiful Swedish summertime, but when the weather turns dark and dreary it sure would be nice to see some smiling faces out there.  Since I'm not the most outgoing person in the world I can't be too hard on the Swedes, but right now I'm missing me some loud, funny, good old Southern US hospitality.

Howdy, stranger!

First we've had snow dumping down for several days straight, and today the sunshine finally made a much-needed but brief appearance on our wintry wonderland:

 I'm really glad to see the sunshine, but also a little disturbed that my first reaction to sunshine now is to run outside with my camera and take photos as if an alien has landed....hmmm.

The Darkness has arrived.

Here's a typical November weather forecast along with sunrise/sunset times that are rapidly shrinking our hours of daylight:

Usch.  Yuck.  November is by far the worst month in Sweden, weather-wise.  The newest vocabulary word I've learned by hearing people talk about the weather recently is ruggig, which literally means "gruesome."  No kidding...here's hoping for some nice frozen snow to lighten and cover up the cold, sopping, cloudy, muddy mess that is Sweden at the moment.