281 days and 10 hours to go!...

The day has started with a letter in the mail that has brighten up my day... and, rather appropriately, I was intending on telling you about her today. :-) But one thing at a time... and so I'm now taking you back to the past 2nd of June.

On this day, we left our temporary Swedish home in Skummeslövsstrand and headed for Varberg, for lunch with a rather special penpal of mine.

Claudia - that's her name - received us in her heartwarming home, with her adorable son and husband, with a wonderful lunch. After our lunch, they took us out to see what Varberg has to give... and it's plenty. It's a beautiful seaside city, reminding me much of my own home town. It felt like I could combine there the best of both places, which was such an inspiring idea.

Do you remember my ramblings on having penpals? Well, this is yet another example on how reaching out and investing on human interaction can be a hobby that pays off way beyond your imagination. We were received so well, all of us, by Claudia and her family that it felt like we knew each other for years and years and we were just re-visiting old friends after a long period of absence.

After our city visit, we went back to Claudia's home, to chat a little, look at some pictures and have some coffee - or should I say fika? :-) As I mentioned earlier, I was so spoiled this year for my birthday. They also got me a birthday cake - and one with raspberries - my favourites!

And then the evening came, and it was time to return back to base... which we did, feeling so warm inside and cared for and light. Tack så jätte mycket för allting, querida! :-)

And today I got another letter from Claudia, who's doing good and enjoying her Summer days. Her letters have been coming in English and Spanish, but this time she wrote in Swedish - a good way for me to practice she thought (and I agree!) and a good opportunity for some sofa time with Mr. B. while reading it. So, my day started off with a glass of Nyponsoppa, that Mr. B. prepared last night, a cup of coffee and a long letter in Swedish - not bad for a daily practice, is it? :-)

283 days and 11 1/2 hours to go!...

Monday morning, the first one of this newly started August... So far, there's a fresh breeze that greets us once in a while, but that surely won't last. The sun is shinning in full blast and, soon enough, the temperatures will be going up up up...

It has been an interesting weekend... Little Miss B. got her last swimming-class for the swimming-school-year of 2009/2010 on Saturday morning and then, after some shopping and some cleaning, we hit the beach almost in the evening, but in almost the right time - the sun was still out to allow a dip in the sea water and there were almost no folks out and about on the beach. Just the way I like it! :-)

On Sunday it became official that we still have a living-room, a pantry and a hallway - the mess was cleared and it's now possible to walk about in these divisions of the house without having to climb over piles of junk that belong to the kitchen. And, after a bit of a movie afternoon, there was even time to try out our new oven... :-)

On the top of the page number 583 of Vår Kokbok, you can find the recipe for (the not so Swedish) "Halvmjuka Tjocka Chokladrutor", a.k.a., Brownies. :-)

Easy to make - especially when you're baking in a cooking-show style, with someone having already laid out all the ingredients for you - and quite tasty! And I guess that was step nr. 1 on my crazy half-imposed mission of cooking my way through this Swedish cook book. :-)

But back to our vacation recollection and back to the 1st of June... :-) As you know, or should know, the 1st of June is the International Children's Day, but also one of Mr. B. name's days. :-) So, even though we were away from our routine, I had some presents up my sleeve... or, rather, stashed in my suitcase. ;-)

The 1st of June was also the day we went to meet my friend Mica. :-)

Well, Mica started off by being a penpal, someone with whom I'd exchange letters and e-mails and eventually grow a friendship out of it, but it did go crazily fast as we both felt such a connection right from the start. So she pretty much has been a dear friend from the start, which I finally had the privilege to meet face to face this past June. :-)

For those of you who are learning a new language, I'd strongly advise that you get yourself a penpal that speaks that language. Not only you'll have the opportunity to practice the language, if you're in that stage of learning, you'll also have the opportunity to have a support to clear some of your language doubts, get to know the other person's culture and habits and, on the plus side, eventually get a friend for life. :-)

Anyway, back to Mica... :-) We were about 299 kms away from where Mica lives, which is near Skara, and, to be really honest with you, though I usually don't mind driving and even enjoy it, I confess that I was scared senseless of picking up someone's car, twice the size of the one I'm used to driving, and take off in a foreign country for that stretch of road. But then again... what don't we do for our friends? :-)

Half panic stricken, half muttering to myself, we hit the road. Mr. B. was in charge of photography and road-map reading; Miss B. was in charge of the often blurted out "Are we there yet?" and also of the occasional bursts of singing. :-)

The landscape was amazing and the driving painless. All of a sudden, my fear was conquered and I was feeling on top of the world... when it kind of dawned on me that it wouldn't be such a piece of cake to drive if all was covered in snow and we were in the peak of Winter rather than closing in on Summer. Huh! That's me! When one problem seems to be scattering away from my mind, another one immediately settles in. :-P

Around lunch time we stopped by the side of the road, just by a lake, to have something, with a wonderful view as a background.

Later on and upon arriving in Skara, we made a pit-stop in MacDonald's... Finally, I got served something that claimed to be espresso coffee (yay!!) but that tasted far far far away from it (yuck!), but, hey!, bonus points for trying! ;-) In addition, it was also a rather enlightening moment, in which we were surrounded by more than 10 sparrows who were desperately trying to have a go at my burger, much to the despair of Mr. B., who was getting more and more uncomfortable with such sight. :-)

And then, after he had played hero-of-the-day, Mr. B. decided to take a change and pretend he knew what he was doing with the road map, which resulted in us being kind of lost for about an hour, only to, after a few phone calls, end up on a clogged road... It seems like this June was "put-asphalt-on-your-road" month in Sweden and so that's what people were doing as we approached Mica's home. After some waiting around, in the vain hope that the two trucks that were parked side by side clogging the entire road would move, one of the construction workers suggested me to drive, kind of tilted, on the side of the road - "Are you kidding?!" - and so that's pretty much what I did... :-S

After a lovely dinner with Mica and her family, in which I was even entitled to a pre-birthday cake (with passion fruit and everything!! :-)), we had to get going, because another long stretch of road was waiting for us. But before that, we made a quick stop in the center of Skara, as I wanted to see the "pants" (Mica, if you're reading this, you better explain about the pants!)! ;-)

To explain, some months back, I managed to lay my hands on a book I've been most curious to read. In the Summer of 2002, Mr. B. was reading a trilogy about knights templar and the beginning of today's Sweden by Jan Guillou.

The first book in that trilogy is called "Vägen till Jerusalem" (= Road to Jerusalem) and I manage to grab hold of it in Portuguese, but not of the remaining others. On the other hand, I did manage to get the movie that was made out of those books - "Arn, the Knight Templar" - and so I could get the whole picture of what happens next.

I have heard many comments, good and bad, about both the author and the books/movie, but I choose not to take a position. I read the book in Portuguese, so it's hard to judge the quality of its original writing. On the other hand, it has been my first and, so far, my last book by Guillou, so I have nothing to measure it against. On the plus side, though, is the fact that it's a historical novel, which I love, and so the fact that I can get historical facts out of a novel is something I truly appreciate. On the other hand, Guillou, though half-French and half-Norwegian, both Swedish and French by nationality, was born in Södertälje, which, for good and bad, is where Mr. B. comes from, and, by that same reason, holds a special place in my world. For more information on Jan Guillou and his trilogy about the templar knights, here goes a few links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Guillou and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arn_Magnusson

Back to that first book I read, it starts off with a passage that takes place in Skara's cathedral, so, obviously, having it so close, I had to take the time for a quick visit.

Skara's small historic center is beautiful and the sunset was amazing... And, soon enough, it was 10 p.m. and we were headed "home", facing the other 299 kms to our destination. Soon enough darkness installed itself and a small rådjur (= roe deer) decided to pop by and stroll down the other lane, to both delight and scare me.

And that's how we left Mica... and we've missing her since... :-)

286 days and 12 hours to go!...

The weather widget on my desktop claims that this morning we have 22ºC outside and, for the third day in a row or something, I'm left wondering if it has drank heavy loads of some sort of inebriating drink. When it announces 30ºC is often around 40ºC outside, where I live, and so those phony 22ºC will surely be a totally different reality today as well, considering how much I'm sweating and how little amount of clothes I have on.

My morning started off in a most stunning way... For the first time in 3 months I woke up with fingers that move and not some sort of claw for a hand that cannot grasp things. I can feel other changes, though some of the swelling and much of the pain is still lingering around my joints. I guess that's the result of an appointment with a new doctor that, according to Mr. B. looked like Robby from LazyTown (the things he watches!...), but that, despite being part of a class of workers that I have an immense difficulty in liking, was down-to-earth, didn't try to make me feel like an idiot and (oh well, I'll have to say it...) was rather cute too :-) - and he didn't even have the "mandatory" red hair! ;-)

And so, I'm back on the horse and ready to tell you some more about that long gone trip to Sweden... :-)

On the 30th of May, its last Sunday, was Mother's Day in Sweden. I don't know if I've told you before, but here, in this house of ours, we have really peculiar traditions. One of them is to celebrate Father's Day twice a year - on the 19th of March, for the Portuguese Father's Day and the second Sunday in November, for the Swedish one. As for Mother's Day, we celebrate it 3 times a year - on the 8th of December, the old Portuguese Mother's Day, the 1st Sunday in May, for the current Portuguese Mother's Day and the last Sunday in May, for the Swedish one. So, this year I got to celebrate the Portuguese Mother's Day in Portugal and the Swedish Mother's Day in Sweden. :-) I must say it was a rather calm and nice day, in which I tried my skills as a driver on a rather big Hyundai, rested on the porch reading and then got treated to some shopping in Maxi and some MacDonald's food. Oh well, it could have been worse!... ;-) Even though - I really must air this topic - MacDonald's food in Sweden is rather bad. I'm not a big MacD apologist, but still, so far, their food seems better served around here.

Later that day, we went for a stroll on the beach, but it was soooooooooooo cold! What was remarkable about that particular small trip was the fact that one can drive on the beach! Shocking! For anyone who knows are regular beaches down here and up in the North of the country, it's obvious that sandy beaches really aren't driving on material.

That night, we headed home with some newly acquired movies (part of which was my Mother's Day present) and had a cozy movie night, in front of a lit fireplace (in the end of May!!!!). And we also had a bit of a cozy snack, involving many things, of which I want to mention plättar med äpplemos, as I had never tried it before. :-)

On the 31st of May, the following Monday, the concept of "scaring your neighbours" got a whole new meaning... Well, what happened was this... I woke up, found some of my relatives on-line in MSN and then had this crazy idea, while we were video-conferencing, of showing them the house. And that's how I walked out the front door, walking backwards (to give them a forward view...), in my pyjamas, onto the lawn and into view of a maximum 30 Kms/h driving by car, with some puzzled looking passengers, attentively following the moves of a peculiarly dressed foreigner, speaking gibberish into a laptop as she carries it at about shoulder height and as she holds up one arm while she grabs some sort of cably device (the internet connection...). And Sweden was never the same again... :-S :-)

Later on, we went for yet another stroll on the beach and for something to chew on. By the beach, there's this restaurant/kiosk that was supposed to serve me something I truly love to eat when I'm in Sweden - tunnbrödsrulle. What I got served, though, totally knocked me off my socks... :-S It was a so called kebabrulle and it looked like this...

It was enough to probably enough feed me for a week! :-S But I shouldn't complain, I guess, as it was rather tasty. :-)

Well, something I've been up to since that trip, though, is something else I wanted to share with you...

When Stefan moved here in 2002, he brought along a book that he later on had a blast reading -Mikael Niemi's Populärmusik från Vittula. As it was in Swedish, I never thought of even opening it, but some Christmases back, one of my brother-in-laws offered to me the book in English. So, by the time I pick up the book to read it in English, Mr. B. just asks me, very confused, why wouldn't I read it in Swedish. The answer was plain obvious, but somehow I just didn't want to spell it out for him and, deep inside, I had always wondered how hard could it possibly be?! And that's how, finally!, I picked up both books, in Swedish and in English, and have been reading it chapter by chapter, first in Swedish, then in English and am now reaching its final pages. :-) Yay me! And, by the way, Mr. Laurie Thompson, you didn't translate part of chapter 13 - why?! Just thought you should know! :-P

299 days 5 hours and many headaches to go!...

To say that I've been feeling tired is definitely an understatement... I've been feeling past exhausted! And, somehow, my will of learning that "mythical" language - Swedish - has kind of gone way away from my mind. I'm sticking to the plan, though not without a cost.

My entire house is now officially upside down and I'm still without a functional kitchen. By now, I'm eagerly waiting for some peace and quiet, so I can restore my own personal order to things and life.

I'll be back with some news, some time soon, when life restores its pace, but for now, I'll leave you with a peculiar image... It looks like some of Ahlgrens bilar have broken out of their packages and have had a wild party down at one of IKEA's parking spots. Hmm! One wonders...

303 days 12 hours and many pans and pots to go!...

I don't know if I've ever told you about my in-laws... Well, Mr. and Mrs. B-senior are a quite peculiar couple and, guess what?, they're over for a visit for the second time in 3 months. Considering that we live 4000 Kms apart, the opportunities to get together aren't so abundant.

What's so peculiar about them, though, is that it always seems like they're up to something... After having renewed their 2 kitchens, in two consecutive Summers, they have now driven all the way down to put mine into pieces and, hopefully, build it back up in a way that seems more inviting for me to step in and actually cook or bake something.

There's a funny story behind this kitchen-attack, though... Some months back I have declared that I wouldn't re-enter my kitchen with a cooking/baking purpose, until I got a new one, because this one feels like it's falling into pieces. My adorable husband, jokingly, passed on the information to his in-laws in their last visit and so that's how they came up with this wonderful plan for their summer vacation - "we'll just drive down for the summer and get you a new kitchen". The appeal of the idea was big, but for a person like me, allergic as I am to construction work in the house, this is a bit of a personal nightmare. Right now, my house is a jungle of boxes and bags and I'm taking refuge in the living-room sofa as the sounds of revolution reverberate from the kitchen...

And so the time stops...

I've been meaning to write for a few days... I've been meaning, but haven't got around to doing it yet. The temperatures here have gone up and above 40ºC, leaving me fatigued, sweaty and unable to move a finger, and, with it all, seemingly wordless...

It's Thursday morning and I'm sitting here waiting for my daughter to wake up and dreading the moment when she does so... This night, closing on midnight, our little Margarida - one of my daughter's hamsters - exhaled her last breath in my hands. I don't know if you know how it feels like sensing the last threads of life breaking away and leaving all the space in the world to silence, coldness and nothing... The familiar packaging being there but emptied, not the same. It's not my first time - but every time it's even more heartbreaking than the one before, up to the point that you feel like you won't be taking it the next time.

There's an emptiness inside me today, some sort of apathy. There's a knot in my throat and, at any moment, the need of clarity to explain that despite our middle of the night run to the vet, the meds and the fact that she seemed revived for a while there, she's not here anymore. For a 5 year old, it's like telling her she has lost one of her parents. For this 30 year old, feels like I've lost a dear friend.

310 days and 9 1/2 hours to go!...

There's apparently something about me that seems to be so unsuited for life in the real world... And part of that something has definitely to do with the concept of summer. I'm currently re-evaluating if I really like summer and, right now, I can say that I'm definitely not such a big fan. There's just something about night temperatures of 25ºC and mornings that start with 32ºC in the shadow that just are not for me. Saying that my energy levels, at the moment, are around zero is an understatement and the fact that it's boiling hot outside and that my house feels like it has turned into a sauna doesn't really help. On the other hand, the idea of sitting endlessly on my sofa, stark naked, sweating onto a towel as I sip on iced tea starts to seem more and more appealing.

The fact is that I don't function with extra-warm weather... I don't feel like going to the beach because seemingly everyone is there and I have had my dose of driving down to face lines and lines of cars, to then not find anywhere where to leave the car and, last but not least, to end up fighting for a nice spot on the sand, without being extra near to some suspicious googly eyed old man who ends up leaving me uncomfortable.

On top of it all, I'm not a smart dresser (and take that as you wish it to mean...) - I don't understand the concept of shorts and skirts and comfy sandals and all those items that are handy in this kind of temperatures... It's not until someone suggests - "Maybe a skirt?" - that the thought of a skirt actually crosses my mind :-S and, as for shorts, well... no comments... But this year I did good! I bought two skirts, a pair of shorts that arguably can be called shorts and even a dress! I'm now a proud graduate in "how to survive summer - a crash course on dressing codes". Very proud of his achievement, Mr. B even asked how I felt about finally showing some skin... :-S

But back to our previous topic...

One thing I forgot to mention to you was the amazing moonlight view as we crossed the Öresundsbro. It was really something! A big shiny white moon reflected on the water and lighting up the darkened space as the moon reflected its image on the calm watery surface. Such an amazingly peaceful view...

Another thing that I found particularly peculiar and that, somehow, I refrained myself from mentioning, was something that has become a bit of a private joke around the household... Remember my doctor incident? Well, the same doctor that had just seen me and prescribed the medication I was supposed to pick up in the pharmacy, passed us by after a while, happily walking down the road from the health center and sipping on a half liter can of beer. It was both a scary and a fun image of the Swedish medical system. :-) Maybe he has encountered a philosophy for himself - a can of beer a day, keeps the other doctors away. :-)

And, finally, I didn't tell you that, the day after we arrived, we finally got our bags... Apparently, they were flown from Frankfurt to Copenhagen and from Copenhagen to Stockholm and from Stockholm to Ängelholm and... well, and by the time the person was supposed to deliver the bags, GPS was unsure where to lead him - apparently, there seemed to be 2 Skummeslövsstrands in the south of Sweden - one in Laholm and the other one in Malmö! So, no wonder Mr. Delivery Guy was confused and lost, keeping us bagless for what felt like an eternity!

One of the things with being bagless is obviously the lack of clean clothes to change into, so we did a quick trip to Maxi to shop some essentials and also some pieces of clothing. As for the clothing shopping, I was on the brink of heading for the kids section :-S to buy myself something that actually would fit, when I finally came across a t-shirt that claimed to be an XS but that would fit inside a small family of pygmies. What in Sweden seems to be a small size, is easily a Medium to Large size here! :-S Small people suffer!

Anyway, the 29th of May was a Saturday and, despite being sunny and all, it was freezing cold! I found myself walking around with a woolly turtle-neck sweater and a fleece jacket on top! :-S

The day was spent around the house, taking walks, grilling, relaxing and reading - while Lil' Miss B went around torturing her oldest uncle, I dare say, enough to compensate all the time throughout the year that they don't spend together.

The evening was particularly fun though... The following day would be the last Sunday in May and, so, also Mother's Day in Sweden, so we set up to prepare cake and a picnic lunch to my in-laws, that would be leaving to Södertälje the following day.

Shockingly enough (or not!) it took us a few hours to cook that chicken and eventually I fell asleep some time around 1 a.m.. I'm not quite sure what happened afterwards, but the following morning, the cake was all ready and so was the chicken! :-)