New country, new blog

For anyone who still follows Frozen Start, please go check out my new blog at angelachambers.wordpress.com.

We're now living in Belgium and aren't so much newlyweds anymore, so it's time to create another format. Thanks for following, and I hope you'll do so again using the email form in the new blog. 

Since I'm not completely engrossed in a master's thesis any longer, I hope to update much more regularly! 

Why Stockholm feels more like home

If Stockholm is trying to woo me, it's doing an excellent job.

On the eve of our search for an apartment in the Swedish capital, we attended a concert by one of my favorite musicians, Adele, and also ate incredibly delicious Jamaican food at Back A Yard.

Growing up close to a big city, I know I've been spoiled by having various cultural and culinary options close by. But it's for these reasons that even in the few times I've visited Stockholm, it already feels more like home.

This is an excellent realization considering we'll be moving there in just a little more than a month. Today, Russ and I went out for celebratory drinks after finding an apartment we like in what's considered the really-difficult-to-conquer Stockholm housing market. Thankfully, this one was at a reasonable price compared to others we saw.

One was incredibly nice but way out of our price range, and another was an odd, converted flat that used to be part of a bigger apartment. The entrance to this one was fun yet humbling, though, as you open the first-floor door and see some winding steps that you go up to the apartment's door. This was most likely where the servants used to enter in the once bigger, bourgeois living quarters.

We are particularly excited about fulfilling a desire Russ and I both have: actully living within a large city and not a suburb of a city. The closest we ever were to this before was a little downtown area that was part of a big suburb. Not exactly the same as Stockholm. Easy access to concerts, salsa dancing, theater, and so on will now be just a walk or subway ride away.

The month ahead is going to be busy while focusing on school and also preparing for the move, but I see this as a great opportunity for Russ and me as one of the many transitions we've been through together in our first year of marriage.

Unexpected Swedish adaptations

An experience buying something online this week caused a new and quite odd turn of events for me.

The price was in U.S. dollars and, unlike when I first came to Sweden, I found myself converting in my head back to Swedish kronor to better figure out the value of the price. When I realized I was doing this, I had to take a step back, thinking, "Wow...have I really been buying things in kronor for so long that my 20-something years of purchasing with USD suddenly doesn't compute as well as this new currency?"

For at least the first four of the nine months we've lived in Sweden, I found myself converting the kronor into USD to better understand its value. To all of a sudden be thinking the opposite is a very weird feeling for me. Don't get me wrong, I still of course understand USD, but working daily with Swedish money has clearly taken on a new meaning.

Another unexpected adaptation was when I was in my Yahoo email, and I was thinking in my head I need to click the "Radera" button, and then realized, oh wait, that's "Delete." Since I started using a separate university email account, everything on this one is in Swedish, and this apparently has caused me to think of radera before the English word delete comes to mind. So strange.

I've always been one of the lucky ones to have oily skin growing up, and have even up to the time we left Texas last year had to get prescriptions from the dermatologist to help with this problem. For the first time in my life, I made an appointment with the dermatologist today for issues with not oily, but dry skin. Again, an unusual experience for someone transplanted from a hot and humid climate to this dry, cold weather.

Also on the weather topic, when I was living in Texas, I many times tried to find shade from the sun. In Sweden I crave the sunlight and do whatever I can to be out in it when it's available. We've now entered a month when the sun is not only brighter, but also out for a much longer period. I can tell I feel less drowsy and have more energy than during the darkest winter months.

Since we have an incredibly convenient place to recycle (our apartment's trash room. aka soprum), I've noticed how we're recycling a significant majority of our waste rather than throwing it in the regular trash. Now, when I'm in a place where there is only a trash and not recycling bins for my paper, plastics, etc., I feel a pain of guilt if I throw away my empty plastic water bottle, as one example. Coming from a place where there isn't any convenient place to recycle for apartment dwellers, and even many living in the burbs, I never have felt this way before. Oh Sweden, how you are giving me more of a environmental conscience.

Despite these realizations, the root of who I am is still there, just with a few additions. And most of these things, learning how to really grasp multiple currencies, understanding a new language and seeing the value of recycling, are all ways I'm developing in a positive direction beyond my own native understandings.

We're moving...

...within Sweden!

To Stockholm, specifically, the beautiful capital of Sweden where Russell will begin a new position (with the same company he's working for now) in March.

We won't move until late May, though, as it would be difficult while finishing the second semester in my master's program. Thankfully, Russ will only have to go to Stockholm a few times a week before we move. But, the 2-hour train ride isn't so bad, especially when there's electric outlets and Internet connection.

For my school this fall, I'll have to come to the university a couple times each week as we'll have more individual rather than in-class work. Next spring, we'll dedicate the entire semester to writing our thesis, so that's even less time I'll need to be at the university. However, for all of the wonderful friends we've made in Sweden so far, we will certainly want to keep in touch and visit as much as we can.

This move is beneficial for both of us, as Russ will work at the headquarters for a division of his company, which means working close to important people, and I'll have a better chance of getting a job post-grad school in this major city.

And of course, there are several other benefits, such as living close to the international airports, and also all the many wonderful things to do, eat, explore, and so on.

The contract is for three years, so I'll hopefully have at least two years to work internationally, and then from there, as a (yikes) recent 30-year-old, we'll decide what we want to do next.

U.S. Postal Service's Swedish shipment snafu

When sending something via the USPS, I normally have confidence that the item will go to the correct place, unless there's a wrong address or insufficient postage.

Even less likely is the possibility of damage to the letter or package, as I've only seen this happen once in my lifetime -- that is, until now.

The scrap of what once was an envelope with a card was sent in the USPS envelope it sits on in this photo:

Followed by the bolded "WE CARE" is an apology message from the USPS Plant Manager, with statements such as, "We are aware how important your mail is to you. With that in mind, we are forwarding [this useless piece of envelope remains] to you in an expeditious fashion."

Before this arrived, my mom called and said the rest of the letter, including the ripped card, was returned to her. Why, after sending my mom the actual card back, did the Plant Manager think it was necessary to send me this scrap internationally, I have no idea, especially when the USPS is in such financial trouble. I may have pinpointed one of the problems.

My mom predicts that someone (a postal worker, a greedy passerby, who knows) ripped open the card, thinking there was a gift card inside (there wasn't), but this mystery has yet (and probably never will be) solved.

I'm not completely blasting USPS, as 99.9 percent of my mail has arrived properly, and I understand, as the above envelope says, the "202 billion pieces of mail" sent each year by them may cause an "occasional mishap." OK, this is a little more than a mishap, but we'll let the company PR language slide this time.

Unless I'm added to the USPS black list, I look forward to receiving fully intact mail in the future.

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!