Stockholm

Sonja and I took the kids to Stockholm for a couple of nights and got back late last night. We took the fast train from Gothenburg, so it only took 3 hours to get there (that's approximately 133 trips walking up and down the aisles with Julian in case you were wondering). This is a picture of him NOT trying to grab the computer cords of everyone in our car.

We had a tiny hotel room in a great location (Norrmalm) that had a summer deal of about $110/night including a huge breakfast buffet (with lots of herring). The room was so small that we kept getting looks from people at breakfast wondering (I think) how we all managed to fit. It wasn't too bad, actually. We just scooted the two twin beds together for Ava, Sonja and I to share, and then we put JJ's crib in the other 4 sq. ft. of available space in the room. No problem!

Stockholm, built on 14 islands, is grand and busy and gorgeous. It was founded in 1252, 400 years before Gothenburg, and you can tell. There's nothing like the Old Town (see pic of me and Julian) in Gothenburg, and the old buildings and streets are really beautiful, if very touristy. Anyway, what did we do? We visited a couple museums ("No, don't touch that tapestry Ava!" "Ack, don't sit on that priceless chair!!"), rode around the city on some boats, ate lots of ice cream, played in some parks, and walked all over town. Ava totally amazed us with her ability to walk/run all day with no complaining. She is a great, and very chatty, travel companion. Julian was really good, too, and was pretty happy to chill out in his stroller as long as we were outside and moving around.

I have to say I really liked Stockholm, and I'm sure there would be more work opportunities for me there, but after seeing the city I'm very happy that we didn't end up there. I'm liking the slower pace of things and the friendly West coasters in Gothenburg.

Coolest place

It was an eventful, if rainy, weekend. There was Midsommar, a big deal in Sweden that requires people to eat copious amounts of potatoes, herring, and strawberries and dance around maypoles, preferably with flower wreaths on their heads. Then Adrian turned 42 (Happy Birthday Honey!) and Julian went from taking 1 step to walking across the room within 24 hours. Love that little Frankenstein walk they do!

And then we went to the coolest place today called Nordens Ark, a wildlife sanctuary for endangered animals about an hour up the coast from us. Now I know it doesn't sound exciting, and I was fully prepared for a sort of lame day out, but even in the drizzle it was amazing. It's a huge, beautiful park cut out of a forest and filled with tigers, wolves, wolverines, snow leopards, owls, otters and reindeer (see picture of sad, creepy-looking one below. I guess they mate in the spring and then give up all pretense of trying to look attractive until next year).

The kids, fully decked out in their awesome Swedish rain outfits (so practical, do they have these in the Northwest?), loved it.

Little Man Walking

Cultural notes

I wanted to meet Sweden with an open mind. So before we arrived I decided to try to disregard peoples' generalizations about Sweden or the Swedes. (Not that there were that many generalizations to disregard since lots of people we told thought we were going to Switzerland, and the rest said "Oh, Swedes are so nice!") Having no familial or other connection to Sweden I thought it would be best to just wait and see what cultural surprises awaited us. So, having been here a whopping 7 weeks, here are some of the things we've noticed:

• Swedes like to take a number for everything. At the library you take a number to return your books. At the little store up the street, you take a number to pay. It's actually very practical because then there's never any confusion about who is first in line and therefore no need to ever say to anyone "Hey, buddy, you cut!" which would be MYCKET un-Swedish.
• Swedish technology is awesome. At the tax office, you walk in and a guy with a mobile tablet asks how he can help, then taps away, gives you a number (of course) and Bob's your uncle. And when you get a prescription, the doctor just sends an e-prescription to all pharmacies and within 15 minutes you can pick it up at whichever location you like.
• Swedes loves their sweets. Man! Ice cream, bulk candy, cinnamon rolls, muffins, chocolate. They love 'em ... multiple times a day.
• Swedish food is tasty but pretty basic and not varied. Potatoes, fish, sandwiches, strawberries. Ho hum. We are spoiled in San Francisco.
• The concept of "lagom," translated something like "good enough" or "adequate," is a very Swedish idea and pops its head up in lots of places. For example, you don't wear super showy clothes, because a Gucci handbag would mean that you maybe have a little too much extra money, and that you are trying to stand out, a no-no in many ways. This can create some weird internal strife when, say, you want a promotion at work -- I mean you're not supposed to stand out, but you want to be recognized for your performance at the same time. What to do??
• There's no cheap labor. This means manicures cost $50 and a cleaning lady will cost you $600/month. I'm all for a living wage in principle, but you should see my poor feet and the state of our kitchen! I really hate cleaning.

Ava's social calendar

Ava had a very busy social calendar this week. First there was a BBQ at Traci and Mark's where there was some naked jumping in the trampoline (that's Ava and Oliver) while eating ice cream. This was right before Oliver did a belly flop on his cone and all hell broke loose.
Then Zackie and her daughter Allyn were visiting from California with Dan, Adrian's old colleague at Tibco, and we had a fun day at the park (this is Allyn, Ava and Micah, from Portland) followed by movie night at our apartment. Ava and Allyn totally hit it off and although she couldn't remember Allyn's name and kept calling her "my friend," did say that she was "her best friend in the whole wide world."

And yesterday we went to Rosalie's 4th birthday party, which was like the best party ever because they had M&Ms, cake, jello AND a pinata. Plus, the party favors included a candy necklace. Suuuuuuuuugggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaarrr hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh!!!!!!! Later in the afternoon we went to another BBQ. Ava was so tired by 7pm that she walked from the bus home with her eyes closed. I swear. I tried to get a picture with my camera but Adrian thought that was kind of mean, so I have no proof.

New digs

This week we signed a contract for our new apartment. Hurray, a permanent place to perch! (Even better, we had tenants move into the Rudden house a week ago, so we're no longer in danger of needing to eat beans on toast for the forseeable future.) We'll move into our new place on July 1. It's a little pricier than we hoped, but it's huge by Swedish standards at 1500 sq. ft. and the location is pretty darned awesome. Just 2 blocks from "The Avenue," main library, art museum, amusement park, etc. Oh, and an olympic swimming pool, because then I'm REALLY going to start exercising, ha ha.

These pictures are admittedly really really horrible since they're from our 5-minute viewing of the apartment and everyone kept wanting to rush us down to the laundry room (not super nice, so ???), but they're all I have. The first is a view of the the street, Sodra Vagan, from the front of the apartment (we're on the 5th floor). The others are some interior shots from the entryway. It's called a 5-room apartment, but basically it's a 2 bd/1.5 bath with an extra work room thing off the kitchen that will be an office, guest room thing we think. We have two teeney balconies that I guess are a big deal here, though I don't know what you do with them except poke your hand out to see if it's raining or if you need a fleece or not. I'll email our new address out soon.

I think we need a boat

Of course we will never get a boat because, as I learned working at boats.com, only crazy people with too much money own boats. However, after visiting the island of Marstrand about 50 km north of Gothenburg on a perfectly clear, 80-degree day, I can see how one might go crazy and purchase such a thing. Then you could toodle off to a little rock outcropping in the archipelago and get sun-burned while eating sausages and drinking beer. Fab!

Money, work and taxes

It took a few weeks to really realize how high the cost of living is here. It's the food prices, of course, but also gas ($8/gallon), parking a car in the city ($150/month), and rental housing (around $2000/month). The whammy is when you combine the high cost of living with the high taxes and you realize your expendable income dropped to about $3.40, which will buy you half an ice cream cone.

We had a few sleepless nights a week ago when we figured out what Adrian's take-home salary would be after giving 40% to the government. We decided that it makes sense for me to work. If I don't, there just wouldn't be the expendable income that would allow us to travel around Europe a lot, which was one of our reasons for coming to Europe in the first place. Adrian's company TIBCO (or Spotfire here in Sweden) said they would help distribute my resume around. So I tried to put together a good resume and have been doing some of my own networking as well, so we'll see. I'm looking forward to working in Sweden and all the cross-cultural confusion that will come with it!

Also, I found out about an expat tax break (25% of Adrian's income would be tax-free), so that should help, too.