From icy roads to beautiful beaches

During Christmas Eve 2009, Russell and I were battling icy Texas highways on our way to the impromptu (because of road conditions) but decidedly more perfect place where we were engaged.

The initial stress of that evening led to great joy.

For this year's Christmas, after moving to a place with constant winter snow and ice, we decided to take a needed break from the    -20 C/-4 F weather in Sweden and travel to Malta, a little island just south of Italy where we savored the sun and warmth of the Mediterranean.

While the island was small, there were still plenty of things to do, such as some ancient history lessons at the Tarxien temples, which date from 3,600-2,500 BC, and the Hypogeum, or underground cavity, dating from around the same period.

To get to these locations, we rode the public buses, which were old but certainly had some character:

All I could think when we were in these buses was "Hop on the Magic School Bus!" After singing this to myself the entire trip, I noticed that the very last bus we rode was named "Maltese Magic." How perfect is that? The system was quite unorganized, which no doubt added to the adventure. One bus driver, while on the route, asked the passengers, "Does this bus normally go left or right here?" But we always arrived where we needed to go and paid the crazy cheap price of 47 euro cents per ride.

One of the best things about our short holiday was waking up each morning to see the sun rise over the ocean, just outside our hotel room's balcony:

Hooray for nice, winter rate hotel rooms. We also enjoyed one-hour massages that were 20 euros less than the summer months.

On our final day on the island, we visited Mdina, a wonderfully preserved old city on a hill overlooking the green landscape. While we were there, we had the decadent chocolate cake, known as the best cake in Malta, from Fontanella Tea Garden. Go to this link to see the amazing view from Fontanella.

After walking through the alleyways and streets of Mdina, we took what we were told was a 10-minute walk (which actually, at least by our pace, was an hour) to the Dingli Cliffs. The journey was worth it when we saw the scene:

We're now back in Sweden where it's -9 C, but the break did wonders to help us get through the winter months before the lovely summer returns again.

While we were so sad to not be able to come to the USA for Christmas (as we'd like to have at least two weeks of vacation available to fully enjoy our time in Texas), we are really looking forward to seeing everyone there in June or July.


Happy New Year to family and friends far and near!



Note: I'm working on posting more, but I know it's been an ebb and flow between the intensive work for my master's program. Right now, I'm off to continue writing an essay. To keep up with my posts, subscibe using one of the tools on the right side of the homepage.

A Swedish perspective of the United States

Note: I wrote the brief article below for a global journalism class and wanted to share it here. Since the assignment was supposed to be short, it's not an in-depth perspective, but is still a collection of viewpoints by Swedish citizens.

People all over the world have opinions about the United States, a so-called superpower trying to inject ideological and other influences throughout the globe.


But what do citizens of Sweden, a place that hasn’t been invaded by U.S. military forces, think about this country?

Dag Blanck, who wrote a chapter in the 2008 book The Americanization of Europe [edited by Alexander Stephan], concluded through research that anti-United States viewpoints by Swedes have been fairly weak compared to other European countries. Reasons Blanck gives for this include historically strong ties between the two countries after a large portion of Sweden’s population, 1.3 million people, emigrated to the U.S. between 1840 and 1930, and also Sweden’s position of neutrality in war-related conflicts.

While there may be less negative sentiment, Swedish people still have certain viewpoints on U.S. foreign relations and cultural influences.

Many people in the world have perceived President Barack Obama as campaigning for dramatic changes in U.S. policies. Christine Beckman of Karlskoga, a Swedish language teacher for 15 years who has researched communication between different cultures, has a different perspective on this president’s goals.

“I think many Swedish people believe whether it’s Obama, Bush or Clinton, it doesn’t matter – it’s all the same and won’t change,” Beckman said.

Anders Avdic, an assistant professor in informatics at Örebro University who has lived in and traveled multiple times to the U.S., is realistic but more encouraged by the Obama presidency.

“I am still rather hopeful and positive about Obama, but I understand it’s not an easy job,” Avdic said.

The professor is mostly satisfied with the presidency, but still disagrees with Obama’s views on strengthening the U.S. role in Afghanistan.

In November 2008, when Obama was not yet an elected president, K-G Bergström, a political commentator for SVT, gave his opinion on Obama’s policies. While many Swedish politicians voiced their support for Obama during his campaign, Bergström believed Europe would be disappointed by certain Obama stances such as supporting the death penalty and choosing not to remove U.S. troops serving overseas.

Along with politics, U.S. television, music, literature and other culture are strongly infiltrated in other countries. In Sweden, it’s almost impossible to not find U.S. music playing on the radio, shows on the television or movies in the theater. Avdic sees the U.S. culture as some of the “best and worst” of influences.

“There is a huge amount of excellent culture from the U.S., and a lot of crap, too,” he said.

As long as the Swedish public radio and television are still around, Avdic said he isn’t worried about the U.S. culture.

Beckman also doesn’t think Swedish culture will be diluted by the U.S. influence, but she wonders how anyone can define the Swedish culture without considering outside influence by Germany, France and many places throughout the years.

“As long as human beings from different parts of the world have met, they have influenced each other,” she said.

For now, while still critical, these Swedish citizens have a more accepting perspective.

 
 
© Copyright 2010 by Angela Chambers Jenkins

Eco-friendly basketball?

Hockey, soccer and other games dominate the Swedish sports scene, while basketball has a long way to go before establishing a strong following.

However, last night, I experienced the Svenska Basketligan (Swedish Basket League) thanks to an invite by new friends Holly and Gabe. A crowd of a few hundred people cheered on the game between the reigning national champs, Norrköping Dolphins, and our very own Eco Örebro.

Clad in green uniforms, Eco, according to the team’s website, makes a claim that they are the most environmentally conscious team in this league.
UPDATE: Thanks to help from a Swedish person (in comments), I was able to find where the environmental policy was on the website, and read about how the team has "planted rainforest equivalent to the amount of emissions caused by the team's travel."(note, this is the rough Google translation). They also have strict waste separation at events and sell only organic tea and coffee. I did a search to see if there were any other such movements on other basketball teams, but all I could find were basketballs made from recycled materials.

Trying to be more environmental is of course a good thing and a particularly strong focus in Sweden and Scandinavia. My global journalism class is going to Finland in November for a media and climate change course, and multiple professors at my university are working on climate change-related research.

Eco put up a good fight but lost to the Dolphins. It was still within 10 points, which is pretty good since they were playing the championship winners, so I have a feeling I’ll go again, and perhaps buy one of those shirts with the greenery surrounding the logo. Russell, whose obsession with American football is followed by basketball as a close second, was pretty sad to miss the game since he was in Germany for a business trip. He proposed we make a fan group called “Eco freakos,” but that’s still up for debate.


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Stockholm in photos

After living in Sweden for almost four months, I finally took a train to the country's capital, Stockholm, with Russell last weekend. Other than going to the famous Vasa museum, we didn't have anything specific planned, and decided to go on foot and discover the sights as we explored. Below are some highlighted photos from the trip.

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Newlywed adventures in a Swedish kitchen

Russ and I love watching “Masterchef Australia” and aspiring to one day create culinary perfection, but that day hasn’t come. This goal becomes more of a struggle when you go from cooking in America to Sweden.

On Russell’s birthday, I decided to make a pot roast. Cooking roast beef in an oven for half a day in Texas produces a wonderful, succulent meal. Cooking roast beef for the same time in Sweden creates a dry, chewy, “I’m sorry your birthday meal isn’t good” result. Why? Our assumption is the difference in meat quality. I know, I know, I should have known better, but when you see it in the store and it looks like it could be good and you've been craving it for a long time....well, you get the idea.

But we continue to persevere and experiment with different ingredients that go beyond our former bachelor/bachelorette food groups. Yesterday, I came home from the university and heard Russ coughing in the kitchen. I asked, “Are you OK?” This was shortly followed by breathing in a strong smell and my own coughing. Between gasping for air, I asked Russ what was going on, and he said he had (through his coughs) cooked a chili pepper in a pan, causing some kind of pepper gas to emit in the air.

We think this has something to do with not taking out the seeds before cooking, but if anyone has a better explanation, please let us know. We finally opened some windows and the balcony and were able to breathe a little easier. Russell had the strongest whiff directly in his face from the pan, so he was sniffling the rest of the evening. I’d share one solution he tried to help alleviate the problem, but he repeatedly asked me not to do so on this forum.

How was the food? The spices Russell used on the pork actually tasted pretty good, albeit a little too overpowering for my taste. I only got through half a chop while Russell ate his in full along with my half. Every time I kissed Russ during the evening, my lips burned a bit. You can imagine the jokes he made about this.

If Russ is able to reduce the seasoning and not cook the seeds, we may have a great meal on our hands. Sometimes, like any budding chef, you have to learn the hard way. Let’s just hope next time, no gas is involved.

First week in a global newsroom

Journalists from across the world converged in Sweden last week as we all started a master’s program in global journalism.

Our 25 students come from Germany, Ethiopia, Romania, Russia, Pakistan, Uganda, Poland, Armenia, Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Vietnam, Egypt, two (including me) from the U.S., Sweden, and I’m sure others I’m missing. Most have journalistic or language-related experience, such as the man from Egypt who has spent time converting English to Arabic, or the woman from Vietnam who worked for the Vietnam News Agency.

We’ve only had our introductory class so far, but already I can tell this is going to be an interesting group for many thoughtful discussions.

Whenever I'm asked where I'm from, I say the U.S., which gets a generally acceptable response from most, but when I mention Texas, I'll either get an outspoken person say, "so, you're a red-blooded Republican from Bush country" or another who just stares at me awkwardly. Let's just say I've had many a conversation about the various viewpoints that (to many, surprisingly) can be found in this state.

This semester we're taking two courses, an intro class called “global journalism, global media” and another called “online investigative journalism.” Toward the middle of the semester, we’re going to Helsinki, Finland, for one week of an intensive study course and then will return to complete the work on this class.

We’ve had some orientations for all international master’s students, not just my program, that in some ways made me feel like a starting undergrad. We were taken step-by-step through processes like how to research in the library, how to set up your student account, and so on. But, in this case, it makes sense because much of the system is in Swedish, and so we need the extra guidance to understand.

Another orientation topic was Swedish customs. A constant custom of discussion is fika, which is a break or meeting with others, socially or professionally, for coffee and a pastry. This typically is in the mid-morning or afternoon, but really can be anytime. It was amusing to me how very important the Swedes made this custom.

Tomorrow I have intro to the global journalism program, Part 2. On Wednesday, it’s an intro to the first course. And, finally, we begin with our first official class on Thursday.


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Translated worship

Wearing headphones in church has always seemed disrespectful until we attended our first church service in Sweden Sunday.

A kind woman who first greeted us with “valkommen” and then “oh, engelska” led us to the back two rows of the church where headphones were placed over the pews. We were told someone would translate the message from Swedish to English through these devices.

The church wasn’t large, so it didn’t seem like all the internationals were segregated to the back of the congregation as one might think. We were the first who sat in these rows, but by the time the service started, almost every headphone was in use. A man from Australia who moved to the country with his Swedish wife said sometimes there aren’t enough to go around.

The music wasn’t translated from Swedish. By the end, though, we recognized the music of one popular worship song. In this moment, I didn’t feel as out of place as I sang the words in my native tongue.

There is something beautiful about listening to a new language worship and find faith in something bigger than our individual selves. Witnessing this made me feel closer to a people I still have much to learn about.

It was difficult at times focusing on the message when I couldn’t stop myself from trying to understand the Swedish while also fully understanding through the translation. I hope I get better at this as time goes by.

While it was a good experience to take a step toward finding an area church, there were a few key things we didn't agree with in the message. The Australian said there are other churches in town that offer a translation. We’re going to check these out and see what works for us. The best solution, of course, is to continue to work on our Swedish so we may not miss anything that’s lost in translation. Until then, it’s nice and a very Swedish thing to make foreigners and everyone feel included, which, in my opinion, is also something a true follower of God would do.

Why I love Örebro

I’ve been living in Örebro for more than a month, and I now understand how appealing the city was to Russell when he first visited last September.

For someone who has always lived in cities where driving everywhere is the norm, walking to stores just around the corner is a welcomed change. And, since we don’t have a car here, we regularly walk and bike to longer distances on the other side of town, which can only mean good things for our health.

History: Örebro was founded in the 1400s. Interesting, unique buildings fill the city, which is paved with cobblestone streets. A 13th century castle sits in an islet in the middle of town. We’ve come a long, long way from McMansions and celebrations for 100-year-old sites.

Strawberries: This is seasonal, but right now there are several outdoor vendors selling this delectable fruit all over town. You can smell the fresh hint of the berry everywhere you go.

Kaffe: There has got to be one coffee (kaffe) shop for every 100 people in this city of 150,000. As an admitted coffee addict, I couldn’t be happier. The best part is, none of them are Starbucks.

Nature: A river runs through the city and a beautiful, peaceful nature preserve and lake are just a 30-minute walk from our apartment.

Shopping: I’m still discovering the various kinds of stores here. There have been a couple times when I’ve walked into a store and realized it’s part of a bigger mall I hadn’t seen before. Russell says since Örebro is the county seat, many of the surrounding cities come to this town for shopping, making it a marketplace hub. I’m not complaining.

Recycling: As I mentioned in a previous post, an apartment dweller has no problem finding a place to recycle here because it’s downstairs in our building. In fact, it’s expected that you separate your paper, plastics, aluminum, compost, etc.

Language: One of the best experiences is learning a new language. Yes, it’s easier for us because most people speak English. But I have no desire to be the lazy Americans who never knew the little nuances of the culture because we couldn’t communicate in the native tongue or read the local newspapers. Every time I talk to someone in English and the conversation is semi-confused, I get a twinge and wish I could say what I want to in Swedish. I’m working on it.

The cereal aisle is judging us

Don’t expect to find Lucky Charms or many other sugary cereals when visiting a Swedish grocery store.

Most of the cereal is Muesli, which is crunchy, unsweetened oats with raisins or another dried fruit. There are several varieties of this stocked on the shelves. Other than Muesli, you can find Special K, corn flakes, multigrain Cheerios or high fiber selections.

Yes, there are Coco Puffs and Frosted Flakes, but these are typically in a small box, and there are very few of them on the shelf compared to the healthier choices.

I went shopping with Christine, our Swedish language teacher, so she could help me differentiate between the various kinds of cheese, flour, spices, and so on. She said Swedish people tend to frown on eating too many sweets, especially when it comes to their children.

Now this is of course an admirable thing. In the U.S., there clearly is a major childhood obesity problem that Michelle Obama and others are trying to solve.
 
What’s interesting, though, is Swedes must really love gummy because there are aisles dedicated to many different kinds of this sweet in grocery stores and movie rental shops. Christine explains that kids can fill up bags with this once a week.

Russell’s co-worker Peter says he will get ice cream with his children, but only every Wednesday.

Now, it seems Swedish people are eating in the healthiest way I know: having good-for-you meals most of the week, but allowing yourself sweets in moderation. All the fad diets where you cut out everything sweet just don’t seem to work. We can certainly learn a valuable lesson from the Swedes.

Caught by the super

We have an amazing recycling system at our new apartment, unlike at my old Texas residence where this service wasn't offered and fairly difficult to find around town.

Instead of just a big dumpster, our trash room (or "soprum") downstairs has a different bin for paper, plastic, cans, compost, newspaper and even old appliances. If you don't separate your garbage in the separate containers, and someone finds out, you'll supposedly get in some kind of trouble. I assume a hefty fine.

And so, when all of our belongings arrived after the voyage from Texas to Sweden, we had a ton -- and I mean a TON of paper that was wrapped around every piece of furniture, picture, you name it, to keep it safe during the long trip. We've already taken down at least five loads of this stuff plus boxes and jammed it into the bins.

Each time we've gone back to take yet another load, we're amazed at how fast the last over-stuffed containers have been cleaned. We think, "wow -- they are really efficient here."

Today, however, as we brought even more of the never-ending paper to the soprum, we met the sweet old man we've run into many a time at the apartment that we now know is the super. The first time I met him, he told me a detailed story about when he went snorkeling near Florida after he found out I was from the USA.

When he saw us with all the paper, he said, "Oh, I was wondering where all this paper was coming from." Apparently this poor old man has been loading his car up since Friday with our paper and taking it to the recycling center or whatever they call it since the trash collectors don't come during the weekends. He said he was so happy to see us so he could explain the issue.

He also translated a note he posted near the soprum's exit that said everyone must tear down their boxes or the rent will go up -- apparently because of how much more work the trash collectors will have to do.

With guilty looks on our faces, we told him we'd take our paper back up to our apartment until after the trash collectors came. But he was still such a nice man and insisted repeatedly that he'd take care of it. I still feel a little guilty.

It really was better the super was there so we could get this explanation for yet another Swedish thing we didn't know. Learning all the little nuances of living here is what keeps things interesting.

Another day in Sweden, another important lesson learned.

Early rising European explorers

The first time I felt like a European resident was after driving a mere three-and-a-half hours to Oslo, Norway, this weekend from our home in Sweden.

We left our apartment at 5 a.m. Saturday, and because we're in Sweden during summer, the sun was brightly shining in the sky. This departure was one of our first compromises as a married couple, deciding on a middle point between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. If you know us, then you'll also know which one of us picked each time.

Absolutely nothing is open at 5 a.m., and the earliest thing to open is McDonald's (in some locations) at 7 a.m. Almost everything else doesn't open until 9 or 10 a.m. and is closed by 8 p.m. This is Europe, a place where America's "when I want something I can have it now" philosophy doesn't apply. If you want to go to the bank, for example, you better get there between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.  (or 14.00, as we more commonly say here). Otherwise, you have to schedule an appointment.

Multiple radio stations at this hour play a continuous babbling brook sound, or the same song is playing on six stations in a row. Must bring our own music on the next trip.

Oslo has a population of 500,000 people, which makes it the largest city in Norway. Compare this to Dallas' 1.3 million (or 6.45 million for the metro area), and it's only the ninth-largest city in the USA. But this is the life of a northern/Scandinavian dweller. Sweden has a mere 9 million people for the entire country.

Oslo feels very similar to our Swedish home, just on a larger scale. The town square has an Apotek (pharmacy), H&M, O'Leary's bar and many other businesses we have. The words are in some ways only slightly altered, such as to say thanks in Norwegian is takk, and in Swedish it's tack.

Vigelandsparken (Vigeland Sculpture Park) in Oslo

Since Oslo is next to the sea, we naturally visited several museums dedicated to exploring the waters, including a Viking ship museum. Our favorite part of the trip was getting to go inside the Fram, the strongest wooden vessel that has sailed further north and further south than any other surface vessel in the world.

We also enjoyed the Nobel Peace Center, which was a nice continuation of our visit last weekend to Alfred Nobel's home in Karlskoga, Sweden. We both spent a good 2 hours learning about all the South African Peace Prize winners and the exhibit about the most recent winner, President Obama.

We're now planning our slightly delayed honeymoon to Barcelona in mid-August before my school starts. Thanks to Ryanair, we'll fly there for $100 USD each. Right now, we're looking for a good hotel to stay in and other activities to do. If anyone has any ideas, please let us know.

Vad heter du? and overcoming inhibitions

Last night we watched the World Cup at a local bar called Pitcher's with some of Russell's co-workers.

The Swedish natives asked about our Swedish language lessons, which I had finished only two, one-hour sessions at that point. After telling them I only knew the alfabetet, siffror (numbers) and names of en familj, they were still willing to practice with us. I was a little reserved and didn't take advantage of it as much as I should, and now I regret it.

Learning a new language, especially when you're surrounded by people who speak it perfectly, is almost like running naked through the park because every mistake is exposed. This is difficult for an editor who is used to constantly hearing and seeing other mistakes in the English language.

But of course, if you don't practice, especially in the beginning, then you're not going to get better. I may only know things like Jag heter Angela (my name is Angela) and Hur många syskon har du? (How many siblings do you have?), but with every day and every lesson, I improve. This reminds me of a phrase a true Indian yogi told me to repeat every morning: "I get better and better every day. Thank you, Lord."

Here's to many confused expressions to come...and then clarification!

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Sweden in photos: Week 1

I've offically been a Swedish resident for one week and married for two weeks. As I continue to reflect on these major but wonderful life changes, below is a small glimpse of the sights I've seen in this beautiful country thus far.

Standing next to some of the many flowers blooming during Sweden's pleasant summer

Cut flowers delivered by my wonderful new husband ( or man in Swedish -- easy to remember, no?)

The entrance to the university I'll work on a master's degree in global journalism starting in late August

Fountain at the university

A beautiful river runs through our new city

One of the squares in our new town's center

The city has a castle in it where the mayor lives.

Last weekend we visited the home where Alfred Nobel lived the last three years of his life. Next to this home was a weapons museum. We learned about the Nobel Peace Prize and weapons, all for the same ticket price.

Cardboard curtains and other minimalistic lessons

Our second week of marriage could be described as stereotypical if we hadn't moved to a new country.

As our belongings continue the voyage across the Atlantic, we must make do with an air mattress, a few plates and cookware Russell borrowed from work, and other basic necessities.

Air must be added to the mattress sometime in the middle of each night as we both slowly sink in the middle. Last night, though, we resorted to one of us sleeping on a bed roll on the floor and the other on the air mattress so we can get some somewhat untinterrupted sleep. Not so great for a newlywed couple.

The primitive curtains we created to block out the sun, which sets around midnight and rises again at about 4 a.m. in the summer, have evolved as the week progressed. First, we placed the bed roll in front of our bedroom window, but this still let in plenty of light. Then, Russell had the idea to hang two pairs of his jeans, place two throw pillows on each side of the window and then have the bed roll covering the middle. Better, yes, but still the light seeped its way in. And so, Russell came up with what he called his "best idea yet": using flattened cardboard boxes to cover the majority of the windows, but still leaving the jeans, throw pillows and bed roll. This was a true success!

We must work with what we have as we try to patiently wait for those double-sided curtains, our new bed and other wonderful things to ship from the USA. Russell, as he picked up some of the few possessions we have around the apartment, said it's going to be a little sad when everything gets here because we'll then lose the simplicity we've become used to this week.

As for my reaction to Sweden? Everything is still settling in, especially as we recover from jet lag, but so far, I have a more-than-positive view of my surroundings. More to come on this soon. I won't leave as many gaps between posts as I have recently, but I'm sure you all understand getting married and moving to a foreign country were taking most of my time. The Swedish adventure begins!

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Singlehood groceries

Last week, I reached a minor yet special milestone: purchasing my last singlehood groceries before marriage.

No more half gallons of milk or individual packages of anything.

I’m usually someone who enjoys cooking, but only when I’m with other people. Whenever I cook for myself, at least a third of it goes bad from either my boredom with the dish or the difficulty eating the meal made for four in a week.

Since Russell left for Sweden, we haven’t been making meals together, which means I’ve reverted back to my old ways. My bachelorette food groups include Lean Cuisines, sandwiches, cereal and fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes, if I get a little crazy, I’ll make eggs and pancakes.

As some of you know, I was still in the cooking mood a week after Russell left, and I made a wonderful meal of sautéed chicken with sundried tomatoes, black olives and basil. When I placed the chicken in the canola oil, some of it came up and hit my wedding ring finger, which resulted in a nasty blister and a trip to the doctor for a treatment and burn cream. The finger is still a little red and probably will continue to be so during the wedding.

Despite this unfortunate incident, I enjoy cooking, but my main love is baking. However, when you bake a batch of brownies or a cake all for yourself, this can only mean bad things for the waistline.

Of course, while the calorie count I’m taking in now may not be bad, I know there’s a much more nutritious way of living.

Here’s to marriage and fresh ingredients!

Americans, Swedish royalty to marry

Our marriage is a big deal to Russell and me, but it doesn’t quite have the clout as two fellow Swedish residents also tying the knot in June.
Princess Victoria will marry commoner (gasp!) Daniel Westling, who apparently was her personal trainer, on June 19 in Stockholm.

The couple has an official website created by the Royal Court, and The Local, which publishes Swedish news in English, has created a Royal Wedding Blog. Their faces also are on commemorative plates and stamps.

I can’t compare our wedding site to the royals, but we rule in personal touch. I don’t think Victoria sat with Daniel one night going through the best songs, photos and text to use.

The Royal Court website claims “Swedish Television has said that this is the biggest event that has ever been covered in Stockholm.” I admit, while our TV will still be on a boat somewhere in the Atlantic, I’ll find a way to watch.

The royals in Sweden, like in the UK, have little power. However, an interesting fact about Victoria is she’s expected to be the fourth female ever to become a ruling queen of Sweden. The last woman to have this title lived in the 1700s. An old, outdated law was changed in 1979 to allow the monarch’s eldest child to inherit the throne, regardless of gender.

Russell tells me from his Swedish sources that the last woman or two to rule were horrible, so the government decided to not allow women to have the throne. Like my mom said, that’s like saying we’re not going to allow males to become president anymore because we had a few bad seeds.

Victoria’s father has said he’d prefer his younger son to rule, and this is in a country where women are believed to have more equal rights with men than any other place.

Royalty is such an odd and foreign concept to me, but it’s also one of the many interesting things I will learn about living in Sweden. Less than one month to go.


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'What are you going to do?'

When we first started discussing the possibility of Russ accepting a job in Sweden, it also was necessary to think about what I could do for personal development while there.
I now have an answer to the “what are you going to do?” question: I’ve been admitted into the global journalism master’s programme at Örebro University in Sweden!
After some nervous what-ifs, prayers and obsessively checking the online site where the selection results would be revealed, I finally found out today.
Last week, some undecipherable numbers and codes were posted to the online site. Every university in Sweden has a different MR (merit rating) code system, and you’ll have a rating from 1 to around 1,000 posted to your online application. Since these numbers only make sense to the university, I’m not sure why they are posted before your admission status, other than to torture applicants.
But in any case, I’ve been admitted and look forward to working with professors and fellow students, who will come from countries around the world. In previous classes, there have been students from almost every continent represented.
When I was in India, I met with journalists to exchange ideas about how our profession is practiced in our respective countries. Now, I’ll have this on a much larger scale. Some of the courses offered include media and globalization, online investigative journalism, war and peace journalism and reporting Europe.

I was already excited about moving to Europe, but to have something to challenge and fulfill me academically makes the experience even more of a wonderful adventure.



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Countdowns

40 days: moving to Sweden
33: wedding
26: Russell returns to Dallas
24: ending my job with The Dallas Morning News (after almost 4 years)


Russell is on a business trip in South America and is spending two weeks in Chile, one week in Peru, then will return to Sweden for two weeks and come back to Texas a week before our wedding. Whew – it’s tiring just looking at the schedule, but I’m proud of him for what he’s accomplished in his career.

Russ has had some interesting experiences, both in getting to Chile and while he’s been there. He’ll share this with you all whenever his life slows down a bit.

I can’t wait to finally be finished with the planning and packing so we may begin our lives in Sweden. Until then, I’ve been busy checking things off my wedding and moving out of the country to-do lists, but in a little more than a month, I’ll blog as a new Swedish resident. Stay tuned.

We the jury

Yesterday, I was one of the lucky six picked from 25 citizens to serve as a juror for a day-long misdemeanor trial.

When I first arrived at the courthouse, I entered a room full of about 200 people impatiently waiting with a jury summons in hand. After about an hour, an employee came around to weed out those with an acceptable excuse, such as college students, and even a person who wasn’t a U.S. citizen.

One 20-something guy tried to be eliminated because he “didn’t believe in judging people,” but the courthouse employee didn’t buy it. Something tells me she’s heard more impressive excuses than this one.

When this first round was complete, bailiffs entered the room to divide us into different 25-person groups for each case. Like good kindergarteners, we formed single-file lines and were led to the restrooms for a quick break before entering the appropriate courtroom. Two state of Texas lawyers and one defense lawyer lined us up in assigned seats and asked us questions such as “would you be able to uphold this law?” and “have you or anyone you know been affected by someone driving while intoxicated?”

A DWI case. Oh goodie.

As one of the six picked, I spent the afternoon listening to how the defendant drank (supposedly two, then changed his story to four) beers while watching a college football game at Hooters, then got in his car and ended up hitting a car in a (thankfully) minor accident shortly after leaving the restaurant.

This may make me a tad juvenile, but I couldn’t help secretly giggling every time the state lawyers repeatedly said Hooters in a serious trial.

The defendant was biting his nails the whole time, clearly worried about the outcome. This probably had something to do with his alcohol level being recorded as 40 percent more than the legally intoxicated rate of .08 – and this was read by the “Intoxilyzer 5000” at the police station an hour after the accident.

What makes me laugh more than anything is the defense lawyer tried to make us believe that the “molecules” from the vehicle's airbag, which were in the defendant's system, could somehow affect his Intoxilyzer test. I know some people are gullible, but come on!

When we talked to the judge after we gave our guilty conviction, he told us that this was the defendant’s second DWI, and he’d now face jail time.

I think we made the right decision.

Wedding orders vs. Swedish residency

Before the big move to Sweden, I’ve been surprised by how many things I’ve confronted in the U.S., a country where people get upset when their Internet connection isn’t lightning fast or the food drive-thru takes longer than 5 minutes, which require more than a month to complete.
The first was when I started searching for my wedding dress. I began the hunt in January, more than four months before the wedding. I called some stores to inquire about their dresses, and when they found out my date, they had shock and horror in their voice, saying it would be really difficult to get a dress in by that time. And then, when we went shopping for bridesmaid dresses, two-and-a-half months in advance, most stores had the same surprise in their voice, saying that we’d need an expedited order, which also means extra $.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but any business in the U.S. that takes more than three months to ship an order doesn’t need my money. Perhaps it’s just the “wedding” label attached that makes everything extended and twice the cost. Thankfully, though, I found alternative bridal shops that were happy to work within my timeframe and budget.
Alice (the cat) must go to a U.S. vet and get an approved antibody count to make sure she can fight rabies before entering Sweden. This, according to my vet, must be sent to Kansas State University to get processed, and the results will be sent back in four or more weeks. Why KSU is the only place that can do this, I have no idea. The forms filled out by my vet need to be shipped to the USDA in Austin for an official stamp, and this also could take a month.
I’ll admit I became a little annoyed with the Swedish Embassy in D.C. for telling me the wrong documents to fill out for my residency permit. HOWEVER, I received my case number today, and they plan to ship my documents to Sweden next week. This is after two weeks.
If it takes around a month to approve my residency permit – going from D.C. to Sweden and back to Texas – and more than four months to order a wedding dress, then there’s clearly something wrong with the world.

Litmus test

On Sunday, I returned from a blissful day-and-a-half with Russell in Nashville. We walked around downtown and discovered Printer’s Alley, which is now filled with strip clubs (apparently the publishing industry is doing worse than I thought). But we also had a wonderful steak dinner, and Russ salivated over the good-quality beef.
I’m glad we were able to have the time together between these months we’re apart before he returns to Texas at the end of May.

Printer's Alley in Nashville, aka stripper's alley

Last week I started reading Julia Child’s autobiography, My Life in France. I know I’m a bit behind the trend to read it, but I think now is the perfect time for me to seek spunky Julia’s wisdom because, in some ways, we have a similar situation.
Julia left California to travel across the ocean (not by plane, but ship – yikes!) with her husband Paul, who accepted a job with the United States Information Service in France. Julia said she could have stayed in California and married a banker (and subsequently become a drunk like her friends – ha). Instead, she chose Paul, describing him as a “painter, photographer, poet, and mid-level diplomat who had taken me to live in dirty, dreaded France. I couldn’t have been happier!”
And if Julia hadn’t chosen to go to France, there’s a good chance she wouldn’t have found her own passion – a love of food. I hope to discover my own passions while in Sweden, whether that is a continuation of my current interests and/or something else completely. This has occupied many of my thoughts lately, and while I’m doing my best to wait on the unknown, it isn’t always easy being in a state of transition between career choices and personal pursuits, relationship status and country of residence.
However, Julia wrote something that speaks true to our situation in many respects, and it gives me comfort:
“Travel, we agreed, was a litmus test: If we could make the best of the chaos and serendipity we’d inevitably meet in transit, then we’d surely be able to sail through the rest of life together just fine. So far, we’d done pretty well.”

Move to Sweden, learn Spanish

To my great delight, Russell’s boss wants him to learn not Swedish, but Spanish.


Since he’s working for an international company and will travel on a semi-regular basis, his boss thinks it’s more beneficial for him to know Spanish, an unfamiliar language to most of his co-workers.

This makes me happy because I have a certain fondness for the Hispanic culture. During college, I went on a study abroad trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, for four weeks and took a two-week travel writing course in Puerto Rico. We’re even planning to go to Barcelona for our honeymoon.

                                                                                     Guadalajara Chivas soccer game

While I can comprehend most Spanish, I’m rusty in conversing because I don’t practice the language on a regular basis. Now, I have the perfect partner to work on becoming fully fluent.

This weekend, when I see Russell in Tennessee (hooray!), I will bring him a Spanish-English dictionary and a book called “1,001 most useful Spanish words” for his trip to Chile and Peru to get started. When I move to Sweden, we plan to take Spanish courses together.

And then who knows, perhaps our next move will be to Spain or another Spanish-speaking country.

Civic duties

While listening to a co-worker prepare for his U.S. citizenship test this week, I was reminded about a letter I received for the first time ever last week – a jury summons.

I want to be picked because I’m a nerd who thinks it will be interesting to experience. Since I’m a journalist, I don’t know what the odds are of this becoming a reality, but there’s always hope.

This comes shortly after I filed my taxes and completed the 2010 U.S. Census. Is there anything else the government can get out of me before I leave?

You know you're in love when...

Some couples have arguments because they spend too much time together.

For Russell and me, we’ve had little spats because right now, we haven’t spent enough time together.

This may not make sense, but to those who know what it feels like to be away from the one you love, your sadness of missing each other turns into arguments that have nothing to do with being upset with that person, and more about the deeper reason – I just want to see you.

These moments remind me of how much I do love Russell. While we would prefer to be together, when we’re apart, I remember how good it is to have him around, how he makes me laugh, supports me and loves me. I never want to take this for granted.

Today, I sent my passport and the 20-plus pages required by the Swedish government for my “planning to marry a permanent resident” visa application to Washington, D.C. The potential new senior editor at work is already starting to take on some of my duties. This weekend, I’ll begin the packing process. And in May, I’ll better know what direction my personal career and development in Sweden will go.

The once far-off journey is now becoming reality. I’m ready.

Assessing my assets

Last Friday, a man from an international moving company came to my apartment to look over my worldly possessions to determine what size pod is needed to ship our belongings across land and ocean from Texas to Sweden.


Since I live in an efficiency, there isn’t much there, and Russ had his own clean sweep before moving, so he also has little to ship. However, the biggest pain will be when I divide what’s going to Sweden and what’s not between my future in-laws’ place (where the moving company will pick everything up) and my parents’ house.

I think it’s time to start getting rid of things now. Anyone in need of a food processor, some lamps and various other things that won’t work without a converter in Sweden?

Plus, I need to make room for all those wonderful new marriage things from my bridal shower on Saturday. That chip-and-dip platter is well worth the extra weight.

Sweden -- to Tennessee?

Yes I’m as shocked as you are, but Russell’s first business trip will be to Tennessee. After going to the country music capital, he’ll take more high-profile trips to Santiago, Chile, and then Lima, Perú.


But the best part is I’ll be able to see him in Nashville during a three-day weekend in April. While going to Latin America sounds more appealing, especially since a good friend and future bridesmaid is in the Peace Corps in Perú, I’ll settle for the less expensive while planning for a wedding choice. Plus, since it’ll be five weeks since we’ve seen each other at that point, I can guarantee we’ll be more focused on spending time together than local sightseeing.

We’re now approaching the three-week mark since he left for Sweden on March 6, and it reminds me of when I was in India for a month this past February for a Group Study Exchange. An Indian we met told us about when he went on a GSE trip to Brazil, and it was during the third week that it got really difficult for him, especially since he wasn’t able to communicate much with his hosts. His hostess was playing the piano one night during that week, and he joined her, and then he started crying and she did as well. It was their way of communicating through music, despite the language barrier.

OK – so nothing dramatic like that has happened, but I will forever call times when you miss someone you’ve been away from for three weeks or more “piano moments.”

Creating the blog during our third week apart is significant because I have been missing Russell more and more as the days go by, and the blog helps make this journey seem more real to me when I’m still living and working in the area I only left for a long period during college.

So in a sense, the blog is my way of coping with those pesky third-week piano moments. But I’ll continue to blog in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned.

Alice in a new wonderland

Along with composing our love sonnet for the Swedish government, I also need to consult a veterinarian about the required paperwork for my cat, Alice.


According to the Swedish Department of Agriculture, I must follow all instructions for “dogs and cats from non-EU countries that have effective rabies control.” These include a microchip (check), rabies vaccination (check) and proof that the animal has enough antibodies against rabies (must look into this). I’ll also need to get poor Alice dewormed against tapeworm.

The last step is obtaining a veterinary certificate confirming that these procedures have been completed.

Some of you may think it’s cruel to take a cat all the way from Texas to Sweden. But for one, I plan to take her with me in the plane’s cabin and pay an extra fee (about $50-$100), and two, isn’t it better for her to stay with a loving family than be one of the many in an animal shelter?

I’ve also done my research to make sure she’s as comfortable as possible.

A quick Google search really can find you anything. I discovered a Web site with a “case study” about flying with your cat from the U.S. to Sweden. David, the site creator, uses Sweden for this report because “they’re one of the hardest European countries to import animals.” Hooray!

While I’ll need to confirm with my vet if these things are useful, the site has some helpful tips, such as using acepromazine instead of a sedative, which are discouraged for animals at a high altitude. He also notes that the deworming must be done less than 10 days before every entry into Sweden, so I better set up an appropriate appointment now.

I know Alice is a unique cat because she follows me around and wants to cuddle on the couch and bed. I hear this is an unusual trait for felines, so I don’t want to leave her behind.

Proving our love for a Swedish residency permit

After this independent, career woman agreed to not only marry him, but also move from warm Texas to Sweden for his job opportunity, I knew Russell must be my true life partner.


But before I can join him in Scandinavia, where he is already considered a permanent resident, I must convince the Swedish government that we are indeed engaged, very much in love and plan to marry in June.

The process begins by filling out two lengthy forms, including a full background of myself (upbringing, education, work, leisure interests, etc.). It also asks for details of when, where and how the referee (Russell) and I first met, as well as our plans for the future, such as where we’ll get married, live, have children, etc. I don’t think either of us is focused on the children aspect as of yet (give us a few years!), but I’ll do my best.

Along with my detailed account of our love, I also must include photographs of us together, a copy of our engagement announcement and other documents that say yes – we’re legit.

After my passport goes from Texas to Washington, D.C., and then to Sweden and back, I do hope the government is as convinced as we are of our commitment. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

-- Angela