at the request of one of my most loyal readers....

I'll write just a quick note before I head home for Christmas. My flight is leaving from Stockholm at the wee hour of 6:30, which means i'm getting up around 3 am in only a few hours. But i'm packed and have my passport handy, and it'll be nice to be tired on the flight so maybe i can sleep a bit. I could never travel so often as some business folks do, but I can't help but get that excited travel-feeling in my belly and stride through the airports feeling like i'm seeing the whole world coming and going at once. PLUS, i'm going home to my family, and this is the best feeling of all. I've been gone since the end of the summer, and i'm feeling quite ready to simply BE with the ones i love most.

December has been a busy month, and we've celebrated 3 birthdays in this house in a matter of weeks. Alexander (now 3), Hanna (50.....huge awesome surprise party), and Fredricka (sweet 16). In Sweden the birthday kid (and adult) gets an early morning delivery in bed of breakfast and presents, and everyone jumps on the bed to watch you open them. This must be the best way to celebrate, at least from a child's perspective, because there are no long waits to open the presents. :) In addition to the birthday parties, we have been visiting friends here and drinking lots of glögg (hot wine) and eating lots of pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies) and Lussekatt (saffron buns) and other swedish goodies.

Today I was delighted to attend a real Christmas smörgåsbord, called a Julbord, at a beautiful turn of the century Swedish mansion. The whole Klum family plus Erik were invited, and I have never seen such a spread of food. I can't believe i forgot the camera because it was all so gorgeous and special. There were 6 kinds of herring, 6 kinds of salmon (all with special sauces), a huge spread of sausage and ham and other meat, pickles, beet salads, potatoes cooked 10 different ways (of course!), omlettes, bread, cheese, etc, etc, and a lovely dessert spread and typically good coffee and christmas beer. We sat at a long table with candles and a view outside, and halfway through our meal a Lucia procession entered our room and we were serenaded by 6 girls with beautiful voices in white robes with red sashes and candle wreathes on their heads. Saint Lucia day was actually on the 13th, but it is a Christmas thing in general, and it was very lovely to see. Alexander was spellbound and when they left our room he kept asking for the "anglarna" (the angels) to come back!

Well, i'm off to finish the last packing details. Lots of gifts are tucked into my suitcase and other fun Swedishy things to share with family. Of course I'll miss Erik so much, and I'll miss my other favorite boy Alexander (though he's promised to call, and i can't wait to hear his little Swedish voice on the telephone). God Jul!!

snowy, sunless days sow seeds of spring-longing

Ok, i'm not sure where that little diddy came from. I think i just wanted to ryhme, because actually I'm content and mostly delighted with the winter weather here in Sweden. Typical late November weather here is cold, cloudy, rainy (with some snow), and a 3:30 sunset. December should be better, with more snow brightening the landscape and with everyone wanting to be huddled inside around candles and fireplaces anyway. On December 21st the days start getting longer instead of shorter, and i'll be ready for it. The darkness makes me sleepy and gives me low-energy, and that can be tough. And mostly I just can't wait to place little seedlings in the ground and grow a garden again.

I feel i have some rather random things to say so i'll just dive in. One is that i wanted to say a late happy birthday to the beloved Astrid Lindgren, who turned 100 a couple weeks ago. In reality she died a few years ago, but her birthday is always celebratd in Sweden and other parts of the world. She created the books about the strong-willed and strong-muscled Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstockings), who if you don't remember, was able to lift her horse above her head with ease. :) Pippi was a little too bold for some of the readers in the man's world of the 1940s into which she was born, yet it's not surprising that she was born in Sweden since this country is still in many ways leading the world on issues of gender equality. (They were just voted number 1 in an annual ranking by a Swiss group which evaluates countries on the basis of gender equality. In case you're interested, the top countries after Sweden were Norway, Finland, and Iceland (go Scandinavia!:) Yeman was last, and the US was 31st, after Cuba and South Africa....hmm)

Anyway, Astrid Lindgren wrote many more wonderful children's tales which are worth reading and which I myself have on my long "have to read" list.

While I'm on the topic of children's books from Sweden I want to mention the artist of the beautiful painting at the top of my blog. His name is John Bauer and he illustrated many of the fairy tales that came out of Sweden one hundred years ago, which are unsurprisingly about mostly trolls and other forest creatures. I love how literature reflects the local, simple, everyday things which are common for each place it comes from. A Swedish story about little red mushroom children who live in a blueberry forest may seem exotic to an outsider but to anyone who has walked the paths of the forests here can easily see where these writers get their ideas. :) You can see more of Bauer's painints here if you're interested: http://bauer.artpassions.net/

December looks to be an exciting month for me, with the highlight of course being my trip home on December 17th, which will last for 3 long (hopefully) weeks and be filled with family, friends, and contradancing calvin's dance shoes right off his feet. But before then comes the start of Advent on the first Sunday in December, where everyone begins to light the advent candles and perhaps open a little gift every day before christmas. On December 10th the Nobel Prize ceremony comes to the palace in Stockholm where the king and queen of sweden hand out these famous prizes and all of Sweden watches a live broadcast of the gourmet dinner and ball held afterwards. On December 13th is Lucia (i'll tell more later), and in between all this there is lots of food and sweets.

Today I went sledding with Alexander and Erik, and I felt seriously like a kid again, where you are so excited about what you're doing you never take a walking (but only running) step and you find you can't get your words of delight out of your mouth without shouting them. It was a beautiful clear day, below the freezing point, and with a lovely icy snow on the ground. Now it's dark, and i think i'll go light some candles and work on my knitting.

nordic winter arrives

Last Saturday the first significant snow fell in Uppsala, and though I hope to have at least a few, ok even just one, more slightly temperate fall day before it's cold till April, the snow was still beautiful to behold. Alexander and I have been talking constantly about "när snö kommer, ska vi lager en snögubbe!!" So we dressed ourselves warmly and built 2 snowmen outside.....they were pretty amature since we were too lazy to gather anything more than sticks for the body parts, but i'm sure we'll have plently more opportunities to improve our skills in that department. The weather has indeed been cold, and dark too. Now it's dark by 4 pm, which is quite an adjustment. I'm used to darkness signaling the end of the day, but now there is still 7+ more hours of DAY left after it gets dark before it's time to wind down, so you can't just shut down when it gets dark and quit being productive. However, candles make it cozy, and i think Swedes must go through more candles than any other country....when i walk down the street at night and glance through the windows of houses there are always candles burning at the kitchen table. And I am understanding better now why on a beautiful day, every person here heads outside to talk advantage of the sun and warmth....it's not an every-day experience.

There is still one apple tree in our garden here which is laden with apples still and putting up a worthy fight against the frosts. Erik and I have made a lot of äpplemås to freeze which will be gratefully eaten all winter in the mornings with yogurt and museli. We have been having fun lately, whether it's our daily routines or a weekend trip. He comes and plays with the kids and I often, and Alexander truly loves "ERIT!!" We read in the evenings, or he reads and I knit. I just plowed through 2 wonderful novels, Gap Creek and A Thousand Splendid Suns. The former set in rural SC 100 years ago and the latter taking place in modern day Afganistan. I highly recommend both. It's so amazing to travel the world through books and learn about different cultures and time periods. Erik and I just started a great new book together called Living Spirituality by Greg Laugherly of Swiss L'Abri. We also found a lovely international church here to attend, and it seems every Sunday there is a visiting pastor from Africa.....a couple weeks ago a man from Zimbabwe spoke, and it was hilarious to see his enthusiastic, flamboyant style translated into Swedish by a typical reserved, hands-in-his-pockets Swede. He tried his best, and it was certainly humorous. :)

Last weekend Erik and I heard an amazing concert by Anders Widmark, a pianist who takes old Swedish psalms and creates experimental jazz masterpieces out of them. We bought cheap student tickets but somehow landed on the front row, literally 8 feet from the piano and able to see every beautiful movement of his hands on the keys and see the almost pained expression on his face as he played. It was heaven for any piano-lover, and I had such a sense of the creativity that is flowing through this world and which, despite all the talk of a meaningless, random universe, seems to scream of purpose and beauty and source.

I miss all of you back home and think of you so often. In just over a month i'll be flying home for Christmas and will stay for a glorious 3 weeks. There is nothing like traveling, despite the exciting discoveries, to make one appreciate home and old relationships.

Råmjölk and Wrinkled Farmers

We (me, erik, his brother klas) went downtown sat. morning to check out a weekly market, which now that i've been i'm ashamed to have never been before! Not that it is a super steller amazing market, but it is more than i realized uppsala had, and here i've been all along....oh where oh where do i get local food....and every week the farmers were at this market. duh! anyway, it was mostly old people (interesting comparison to the US where farmer's markets are spilling over with young farmers) selling a few things on rikity tables, but i was delighted nonetheless. beets, potatoes, carrots, carved wooden butter spreaders crafted by the potato grower's barnbarn. (grandchild.....barn=child, get it?:), eggs, dried flower boquets, lots of mushrooms.....and at the end of the market's row of tables on an almost unnoticable crooked sign which i nearly walked by i read: Råmjölk. what?! raw milk in sweden? (i had just inquired about the legal status of raw milk recently and was told i'd need to go directly to the farm for an undercover transaction) i asked the wrinkled woman behind the sign how much and eagerly handed over my money. she handed me a one liter store brand carton covered in masking tape, wrapped in an old flour sack. I walked away feeling like i was carrying a very valuable, contraband substance. I loved the simplicity of the packaging....and how she felt no need to adorn her tasty milk with a fancy glass bottle or a carton with a farm logo on it. instead she reused....a step above recyling, and something we all need to do more of. (by the way, check out www.realmilk.com if you're interested in reading more about raw milk) And to finish the story, the milk was delicious, full of healthy cream, and i enjoyed the last drop this morning with my granola.

It is getting cold in Sweden, and I'm now fully realizing just how far north i am living. It snowed last week! It didn't stick, but the puddles were frozen for a few mornings last week. Brrr....although layering is fun, and i'm loving wearing striped socks atop cotton tights under a dress which is underneath 2 sweaters and a scarf.

Erik and i have been going to Hågaby (a village of sorts with solar panaled houses and a wonderful feeling of community living) every Sunday afternoon now for lunch and free music. It is wonferful and so interesting to hear how much music with southern-roots is played and loved here in Sweden. (gillian welch covers, banjos, folksy-sounds, songs with lyrics about places i know) I feel like i'm home a bit when i am there. and the food....we pay more than we normally would for this meal on sundays because it is so amazing. all ekological, homemade, vegetarian (though i think healthy meat is good for people, still, it's important to eat tons of veggies anyway) I got so full after this meal i thought i'd pop. a delicous root vegetable soup with a dollop of goat's cheese, foccacia bread with olvies and salt, a million fun salads: cooked beets with a yogurt sauce, chick peas with red onions and herbs, shredded carrot salad with seeds of all sorts, vinagered cabbage salad with feta cheese, hummus, brown rice, etc etc!

ok, time to end this. the sun is out and i feel seriously like i'm sinning when i am inside in sunny weather! klas calls erik and i "slaves of the sun" because any time it's shining, we are pulled outside and must bask in its light. so maybe we are, but with the dark, cold winter coming, we need to absorb all we can now!

the other side of things...

I am feeling a bit dishonest lately....a bit guilty of showing only the rosy side of my life. Which is in fact, like everyone's life, often unrosy. Of course. For one example, the above picture shows a sweet little boy with his bear getting ready to go on an environmentally-friendly trip to his daycare. In reality, he was probably whining about having to leave the cozy, warm house and head out in the too-cold-for-early-september-morning for a windy bike ride. And though I love to cycle more than I can say, at the same time I'm sure come winter I won't feel so romantic about heading out to face head on whatever weather the day has brought.

Shall we dive straight into other topics which need some balancing words? Learning Swedish is a constantly entertaining experience, one where I can nearly feel my brain enlarging as new words enter my vocabulary through my eyes and ears and when they exit out of my mouth in confidence, the feeling is uniquely satistfying. At the same time, I wish i could read the paper without a dictionary in hand, the trouble of it causing me to give up halfway through the first paragraph of an article. I hate having to say "talar du engelska?" so often, espcially when it's something so simple like the comment of a friendly fellow dog-walker. And once they explain in nearly perfect-english (like every swede can speak) I think, "i KNEW that!" It's easy to feel left out and like even in march I still won't be able to understand the rapid, slang-infused vocabulary of people my age.

Sweden is beautiful, but in some ways not as charming as the rest of Europe. It has its industrial parts, its cars and big roads, its modern buildings and ugly space-looking houses built by modern swedish designer architects in the 70s. Sweden has a beautiful past of farms and self-sufficient living, of raising sheep, spinning wool, and masterful carpentry-work made from the bountiful forests of birches and asps. Yet in some ways it feels like Swedes today have forgotten this not so far away past and embraced head-on an identity of a modern, fashionable, industrial country. And sometimes I think I'd fit in better with the past. :) One more note on the scenery....young Swedes have a strange desire to paint graffiti on everything from the sides of buildings in cities to the otherwise cute playgrounds scattered everywhere here.

Either it is the cold weather, the consise nature of the Swedish language, or the fact that I'm comparing things to the sugary sweet hospitality of the American South, but people can initially seem a bit unfriendly here, a little standoffish. It's uncommon to get a "hej!" from a stranger sharing the same walking path as you, and I miss that daily human-interaction from even people you don't know personally.

And finally, living in another family and being a second mom is not always easy, and I often quote to myself my self-created mantra of "an au-pair's work is never done." It's hard to expect neat blocks of "on work" and "off work" time when you are living with a family who lives a typically busy, slightly crazy at times, life. And even if I wish they ate all organic food, whole grain bread, and composted more, it's not my family and one day I'll be able to make all those choices.

All in all, I love Sweden, I love my au pair family, and I want to have an open-mind about both the good and bad parts of a new land. I just felt obliged to balance my other blog posts for all you readers out there who were starting to think things were too perfect. they're not. so there.

fall has arrived

I'm afraid I have fallen short of the aspirations I had for blogging so faithfully and reflecting so thoughtfully on my life here. But partly I feel that I really live in Sweden now, and therefore, perhaps in a good way, I no longer feel that my news is terribly exciting or worth reporting. However, I shall write a few words now and try harder to be consistent for those of you who are waiting to read something from me.

The picture shown above is not there because i have been knitting so much, but more as a representation of the strong desire I have to be knitting and hopefully as an inspiration to myself. :) There is an amazing knitting store in town called Yll och Tyll...check it out at http://www.yllotyll.com/ if you are knitter.....you'll appreciate their amazing collection of wool and tasteful hand-knitted sweaters for sale.

I am really settling into my life here, and I truly enjoy it. The days are cool now and the leaves are turning, and I'm eating apples all the time because i can't resist them when I go for walks and notice them so perfect and red lying on the ground underneath these old trees....still faithfully producing such unimprovable fruit. I started my Swedish course on Tuesday, and I'll have it twice a week in the evenings for 6 weeks. I like my class....it is a really diverse group of people from all over the world who are just as unsure of this new language on their tongue as I am, so it's a lovely unintimidating environment to learn in. Actually, my teacher asked me yesterday, "hannah, är den här kurs för let till dig?" which means "is this course too easy for you?" and i was glowing and smiling so big inside that i'm sure she must've detected how proud i felt. :) I'm staying in the class though, because it's important to learn the right things from the beginning, but I am feeling thankful for the wonderful teacher I have had the past few weeks named Alexander Klum, age 2.5. Seriously, he has taught me a lot and I am at a fun place with this language, where I notice real improvements every day and I can get away with not having to say "talar du engelska?" in every conversation with a Swede. Just a couple interesting notes on Swedish....it is a easy language for English speakers to learn because it is also Germanic and the syntax is very similar to English. Plus, the Swedes like to be concise, so phrases are short. The words for grandmother and grandfather are wonderful because there is a differentation made for your mother's mother and father's mother, for example. Mor means mother, so mormor means your mom's mom, and farmor is your dad's mom. Same with farfar and morfar. Their is also sondotter and dotterdotter to explain your grandchildren as your son's or daughter's daughter, in this case.

I've been reading a bit from the small English book sectoin of the town library, and I finally finished book 4 in the series The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg. If you love anything Swedish, read these books!! They tell the story of a family who emigrated from Sweden to Minnesota in the 1850s and after following this family for 4 books I feel like I practically know them and of course I shed a couple tears when......well, i won't spoil it. I just started reading How Green is my Valley about a Welsch family in the 1930s, and I still feel so lucky to be able to read fun fiction after 4 years of being an English major where you have so much to read that there's never time for your own choices.

More to come later....I hope you are enjoying this time of the changing of seasons....i think fall feels: slow, crisp, cozy.

The End of Suburbia

It struck me the other day how living outside of the US really gives one a unique perspective on it. I have another place now to compare to the American way of life, and this helps fight the tendency we all have to consider our own habits and lifestyles as the "norm" that we should always be entitled to have. This is especially important for those of us who live in developed countries and whose lifestyles are dependent on consuming as if there are no limits. Recently I started a course here in Sweden called "Global Challenges and Sustainable Futures." It has been amazing so far. The class consists of 50 students from probably 20 different countries, down to earth people who all want to learn about important issues facing us today.

We saw a film on Wednesday called The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream, and I highly recommend it if you can find a copy at the library. A trailer for it can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHr8OzaloLM. I won't say more about it, just that you should watch it!!

This issue of stewardship, of how we treat this lovingly created world, has been on my mind a lot lately. Since the industrial revolution, we have seen nothing but growth in the direction of bigger, faster, globalized economic growth in Western countries, but I cannot believe that this lifestyle will last forever. For more reasons than the obvious one of limited sources of non-renewable energy, we need to start living on a more local level: in regards to food production, shortening our commutes to work and school, and reviving local industry which has been lost in many places when Walmart moved in. Wendell Berry writes in his essay "An Argument for Diversity:"
In a varied and versatile countryside, fragile in its composition and extremely susceptible to abuse, requiring close human care and elaborate human skills, able to produce and needing to produce a great variety of poducts from its soils, what is needed, obviously, is a highly diversified local economy.

Anyway....more on this later. let me know your thoughts!

an update

Well, it looks like i've become a little lazy with the blog and i really have no great excuse. My life has become a bit busier lately, and the internet hasn't been working, so i guess those count for something. As Calvin said in response to this (imagine an overdone southern accent): "Darn Swedish internet service! I just knew it couldn't be as good as the 'Mericn kind."

I can't believe I have been here for a whole month now! I feel some days quite settled here, and other days it still feels so foreign. I have been living and working with my au pair family for 2 weeks now and we already love each other so much. I can't imagine having a better family. We really fit together, and as Hanna Klum (the mamma) said the other day, "what if you were the type that wanted to go out to the casino in Stockholm in your spare time?" Instead, I work in their garden and bake them apple cakes, which suits both of us so well. Alexander is too cute for words. Even though he has no idea who I really am or why i am here, he completely embraces my presence in his life, and asks for "hannawhite" when I am not home. :)

I have been cycling a lot, and now I'm borrowing Hanna's bike with the baby seat on the back so I'm sure I'm mistaken for a young mom, especially when I'm toting Alexander around on the back. :) I'm also manuvering my way around these Swedish highways in their manual car, which I am still quite a newbie at, and it makes the confusing signs and traffic rules even more complicated. But that is nearly the extent of my stresses here, so I have nothing to complain of.

I am taking Swedish for beginners through the folkuniversitet (literally's the people's univ.) which will begin in September, and I am looking forward to studying Swedish in a more formal way. For now, I am just picking it up as I go and jotting down some words on a list we've started specially to help me understand Alexander's vocabulary. I also found a course entitled "Global Challenges and Sustainable Futures" offered at Uppsala University for free which will meet every Monday night this fall and I hope will give me some intellectual stimulation. I hope it will also connect me with some like-minded students here to have friendships with.

A couple interesting notes beyond my everyday life.....it seems that Sweden is all about learning. There are countless ways to keep learning once one is out of college. Beyond the folkuniversities, which offer music, art, language, and other courses, unique to Sweden is something called a "study circle." This is a very informal, inexpensive gathering of 10 or so people who are interested in learning the same thing. I suppose one of the people in the course is more knowledgable than the rest, but as far as I know it is very much a group-learning experience. So if you want to learn to say, speak Italien or knit, you can join one of these circles! It seems like a nice idea to me, and a way to keep aquiring knowledge and skills of all kinds as you grow older.

Another note...in Uppsala people heat their homes and run the city busses on "biogas", a product produced when everyone's trash is burned. So they solve both the problems of waste/landfills, and the overuse of fossil fuels with this system. Nice.

The days have been lovely here.....the temp. is around 75, the blåbär (blueberrys), ligonberries, and mushrooms are in the forests available for the taking, and the apples are delicious and in abundance. Tomorrow Erik and I will go to a worship service being held in the forest. Once a year Uppsala has a kind of "skogen dag" (forest day) and in addition to this service there are some family activities going on. The forests here are amazing....the above picture is typical of here (white birches), but there are also forests with lots of pines, firs, and moss-covered stones. Today I took my hammock into the woods for a nap and when walking around afterwards in a sleeply state, I felt almost as if the forest itself eminated a sort of tranquil, fairy-land like potion on it's inhabitants. I can easily imagine now where all the great children's writers from Sweden got their inspiration for their books filled with scences from nature.
More later....Hej då for now!

a preview into my au pair life

I have met my family. My new family, that is, the Klums, who I will be living and working for this year in Sweden. I have become so used to living in Erik's house and enjoying a vacation-lifestyle with his family that I've almost forgotten one of my major purposes in coming here. The days of soaking in the sun and doing whatever we what whenever we want are over, yet I am full of excited anticipation over this new phase in my life here.

Erik and I rode our bikes over to my future home last Sunday afternoon to have cake, coffee, and conversation with Hanna, Mats, Jonatan (13), and Alexander (2.5). Fredrika (16) is away with a cousin for the week. It was a delightful 2 hours together, and Erik and I rode away on our bikes grinning from ear to ear and exclaiming about all the things we'd been thinking but had contained in the presence of the Klums. Let me explain. This family has to be one of the kindest and most wonderful in Sweden, and are only warm, loving, and welcoming to me. Here I am, coming to work for them, taking care of their most dearest possesions (their children) and yet they seem only concerned with making my time here a comfortable and enjoyable one. They gave us a tour of their new home, which is actually an old home from the 1930s which they are renovating enough to make it livable but still keeping its character. The floors, wooden ceilings, old iron door fixtures, and secret-looking hallways and windows are gorgeous. My room is in a little house attached to the big house, but with its own entrance and own small kitchen. Hanna asked, "here, why don't you pick out the paint color since it's your place?" Outside my door is a small white wooden table with two chairs "for your morning coffee," and "you need a bike? oh, we can fix up one of ours for you." I went to sleep smiling that night just thinking how God often gives us beyond what we need.

That was a pleasant, calm time together, spent in grown-up conversation, getting to know each other and talking about my future work for them. On Tuesday I got a real idea of what my work will include: me and the 2 boys spent the day at this huge indoor/outdoor pool in Uppsala with hundreds of crazy swedish children and potential hazards (drowning, slipping on the hard floor, etc). I realized then just how important it will be for me to learn Swedish quickly, because little Alexander has no idea I do not speak his language, and only gives me blank stares if I try a few English words on him. Just trying to get his bathing suit on him was difficult, because there I was in the changing room, searching my brain for the word "bathing suit" and the words needed to convince him that we were at this really cool pool and if he'd only put his suit on we could go swim! In just a few hours I learned countless new words as he was bubbling over with comments about all he was seeing. (he LOVES to take baths apparently, so this was the ultimate water experience)

I will move for now into the Klum's old home, just a few houses down from Erik's, while we await more renovations. This will make the transition from Erik's basement to a whole 5 minutes bikeride away a bit easier, I suppose. :)

coffee in the rain

To all who read my humble blog, I hope you're enjoying the news from Sweden. I could write forever about all I am seeing and thinking, but I'll try to keep this succinct. My days here so far have been nothing but lovely. The weather has been in the 60s and 70s, with an open, sunny sky and huge, soft clouds. I adore the Swedish countryside and don't think i'll ever grow weary of drinking it in.

Erik lives in an ideal location. In one direction you can walk to the small grocery store in 5 minutes. (which we do almost every day to buy the ingredients for dinner:) In another you can hop on your bike and be in the beautiful city of Uppsala, and in another you can walk straight into fields of wheat and dark forests with endless paths. A car is only needed in rare circumstances. Everyone, from the elderly to children to the punkiest 20-something, rides a bike, complete with a large basket for your groceries and other items, and a little bell to ring when you want to pass another cycler.

We have been spending the days having slow breakfasts on the porch, taking walks in the beautiful forests (they really have a magical feel about them....i'm sure i'll spend a whole blog on them later), riding bikes to town, and we have even been swimming! yes, for about 30 seconds today I endured the cold northern waters, and I thought longingly of the lakes at home which have such a perfectly mild temperature. Erik, Siri, his Mamma, and I took the car to a little "beach" today, spread our blankets on the grass, and had a lovely time lying in the not-too-hot sun, reading and drinking the dark coffee we brought along. (because we were eager to get to our desination this morning, the coffee and mugs were tugged along with us:) I couldn't quit smiling at the beach today, just watching all the Swedish children, blond and half-naked, engrossed in their child's play; climbing trees, finding oysters, freezing in the water. Sweden is really a family-country. There are always places provided for children to be; little tables at the cafe, a spot in stores for playing, and plentiful playgrounds.

Yesterday Erik and I picked all the red currants from his mother's bushes, and after eating a delicious pie made with a few of the berries, we froze the rest for the winter. We have now picked and eaten wild strawberries, rasperries, blueberries, and currants. The blueberries here grow nearly on the ground, not at all like at home on large bushes, and they are smaller and more tart. Other food news: The Swedes do love their coffee, and I've enjoyed the daily after-dinner cup, though I'm not yet able to drink it black. The yogurt here is very delectable, and somewhat of a cross between a plain yogurt and a sweet one. With a little jam in it in the mornings it is perfect.

My Swedish is coming along, and I'm being patient for the day when it subconsciously flows out of my mouth. Every day I understand a little more of the conversations around me and I am saying what I can in Swedish. Soon I will move in with my au pair family and I would like to speak mostly Swedish with the children, so that will improve it a lot. It is a humbling thing to not understand every word spoken around you, and I think it can be healthy to be able to relate to how isolated so many people in America must feel (illegal immigrant or not) when they don't speak English.

One more bit of news...the other day Erik and I biked to the organic food/home store and I purchased lettuce, spinach, and radish seeds and am hoping to get a small harvest before the winter sets in. I planted them in pots and it feels good to again watch things grow. I miss our garden at home and the huge harvests we were getting just as I left.

More news later....hej då for now!

p.s. the picture is from Stockholm where we spent the day on sunday

first day in sweden!!

There is so much to say, and i'm not sure where to begin. i am well, and i write from erik's house in sweden. i had a safe and uneventful flight here on malaysian airlines, which comes with strange meals and flight attendents who wear traditional dresses and green eyeshadow. erik was waiting for me when i arrived in the beautifully scandinavian-designed stockholm airport. we ran to catch a train out to uppsala, and his mamma picked us up in town in their blue volvo station wagon. She is very kind and we're communicating in small ways through her english and my poor swedish.
My first impression of Sweden as the train passed through the countryside was that it really is as "Swedish" as I could have imagined. Does that make sense? The houses really are wooden and painted yellow and red, and flowers abound, and birch trees dot the landscape, and there really are berries everywhere! The Brattbergs home is so darling, with lots of light wood and white walls and books and houseplants. Everything is small, and European. We had a late breakfast when we arrived of delicious "ekologisk" (organic) yogurt, with homemade current jam and museli. And Erik made an awesome round loaf of bröd (bread) yesterday and we also had that with butter and good cheese. And coffee of course.
After lunch we took a walk and not 100 meters from his house are these wide open fields of wheat and pastures where sheep graze and several acres of community gardens.....which just made me drool and i loved seeing what is growing here. unfortunately, i didn't see many (ok, any) tomatoes, but there were lots of potatoes, dill, lettuce, onions, greens, flowers, and herbs. There are countless paths everywhere, and bikes abound. Klas, Erik, and I walked to the grocery store before dinner, and I knitted while the boys cooked a delious meal of salmon, asparagus, and boiled small potatoes all smothered with a buttery leek sauce. Siri came over after dinner so now i've met everyone in the family. More than ever I can't wait to improve my swedish, and I feel it will come quickly as it is all around me.
A few more interesting notes....there are little playgrounds everywhere, and wild apple trees, and the soil is dark black, and the sun set around 11 last night! There will be more news and some pictures to come. Today Erik and I will bike to town and see Uppsala! For now, coffee calls. I love and miss you all!

lists

I don't know about every else out there, but I love making lists. Activities and events of all kinds make it on to my lists. Nothing is too insignificant to be written down. The daily "to do" lists are always nice, and it feels satisfying to cross each item off as the task is completed. The meal list and grocery list is a fun one to pour over, with cookbooks strewn around to get ideas from and with the garden's bounty always in mind. I'll admit I've gone too far. In eigth grade, my first in public school, I even wrote down what I wore each day so that I could reference my list and not commit the crime of wearing the same outfit within too short a time span. Thankfully I'm over that fear and now when I find a new combination to wear I can't seem to move on and I up wearing the same thing for days. :)

These days I'm working on my packing list for Sweden, and this is indeed one of the most exciting to make. As I write my list my mind drifts to all the exciting times ahead of me and the new places I'll get to see and smell and taste and feel. I must plan for several months, in a new climate, in a fashionable society, keeping in mind that it's not a third world country (i can buy things there if i forget something, for goodness sakes!) yet remembering how expensive it is (don't forget all the basics then have to fork over extra for shampoo and undies!). I want to keep it simple, yet not constantly wish when i was there that i had brought such and such book or picture or drawing supplies. For all you world travelers out there, what are the essentials included on your lists? What are the special luxeries you always like to bring along? And advice is welcome!

children's literature

I am already in love with Elsa Beskow, though we've just become acquainted. She was a Swedish author who wrote and illustrated children's books in the first half of the 20th century. Since I met my Swedish boyfriend Erik and am now soon moving to Sweden myself, I have become mildly obsessed with anything Swedish. I know the grass seems (fill in the blank: greener, more special, beautiful, interesting, European) on the other side, but it really seems that a lot of what comes out of Sweden is just plain wonderful. A friend of mine named Janke, a fellow lover-of-all-things-Swedish, first introduced me to Beskow, and she showed me the old copies of the books (translated into Dutch as she is from Holland) that she read to her children. The books drew me in. Elsa Beskow's illustrations are simple and breathtaking. Her stories are rooted in nature and inspire children to romp around in the woods and use their imaginations.
I happened to find an old copy of Pelle's New Suit in the library the other day. It tells the tale of a little boy who shears his pet lamb, exchanges weeding in his grandmother's garden for her to spin the wool, chops the tailor's wood so he will make the suit, and in the end Pelle says to his lamb:
"Thank you very much for my new suit, little lamb."
"Ba-a-ah," said the lamb, and it almost sounded as if the lamb were laughing.

This story gives children important lessons about the process of making clothing, and it shows them the value of exchanging labor for labor instead of always paying money. Pelle didn't spend a dime on his new suit. Instead, he spent the whole day helping his grandmothers and neighbors, working hard and lessening their load in exchange for their skills (carding, spinning, weaving, sewing) on his suit.
Elsa Beskow has written many adorable children's books; check out Peter in Blueberry Land and Children of the Forest to see more of her work. Her books are definitely already on my (future) children's booklist. :)

the detailed hospitality of l'abri

I imagine most people, like me, have felt the desire at some point in life to take time out to really rest... in every sense of the word. To feel no guilt in taking the time for quiet reflection. To consider what you are living for and what you really believe in the deepest part of you. Rarely is this yearning able to be realized, for we are always in the middle of a million things, and people need us and school and work calls us to continue plugging away at our lives at a faster pace. L'abri fellowship, a shelter for weary souls situated in the Swiss Alps, provides those who come with a unique opportunity to rest and reflect, and the atmosphere there is a large part of l'abri's ability to facilitate such rest. I am so thankful for the few months I spent at l'abri last fall, and I often remember those months with an impossible wish to be instantly transported back to that place and time. I won't for a moment pretend that 35 people living in one chalet isn't often loud with bursts of laughter and ping pong tournaments and hectic with meals for hungry 20-somethings involving pots of soup so big you could drown in them and 7 loaves of homemade bread. Yet, even with the hectic times there exists at l'abri a feeling that sitting and reading for several hours if desired is entirely appropriate and not at all a waste of one's time. Or that spending an evening knitting and listening to someone read aloud is a perfect idea, or that stopping for long, meaningful conversations during the day should occur regularly. In fact, though in our day to day lives we often experience guilty feelings for indulging in what may not be "official" important work, l'abri makes activities like sitting and talking with friends while sharing nibbles on a bar of chocolate seem like one's calling.

I think this aspect of life at l'abri is brought about partly by the way small things are given attention. This shows that nothing is too insignificant to deserve our time and effort. When I first arrived, weary from a long flight and a gorgeous train ride that forced my sleepy eyes to stay open, I was shown where I would sleep and I was struck with the neatly made bed I was directed to with a towel folded on the foot of it with a small piece of swiss chocolate on top of that. Someone had taken the time to prepare for my coming, and I felt welcome because of their effort. As I made my way into the main gathering room at l'abri, I was invited to join the other students for tea time, which i soon learned was a twice daily occurance. No matter how much work there was to be done, at 11:00 am and 4:30 pm, hot tea (black and herbal) with milk, sugar and cookies on the side, was served on a little cart which was wheeled out of the kitchen. Whoever was on work duty gathered at Chalet Bellevue to relax for 1/2 an hour. A ping-pong game often followed tea, and usually someone picked up a guitar to strum a little or sat at the piano to play. This first tea time immediately struck me as something to note for my future...something to include in my own life own day.

One of the first meals I helped prepare at l'abri was memorable because of the details involved. Every evening meal involved candles lit and the table set just so, but this late september evening we finished preparing the food early, so my friend merrie and i were sent on the important mission of collecting wildflowers for the table. As we hiked along the small roads and trails alongside the steep cow pastures, listening to the tinkering of cow bells and carefully searching for the last few flowers before the frost, I felt that there was nothing more pressing to be doing, nothing more urgent or significant than gracing the table with flowers. I imagined that Edith Schaeffer would have done just the same thing when she was there managing the meals. I believe that Edith largely created this atmosphere at l'abri of detailed hospitality, which most importantly involved caring about individual people. This is true hospitality. No matter what material things are able to be offered to a friend or stranger, a listening, caring ear and a loving word is what we all need most. L'abri managed to provide both listening ears and an atmosphere where beauty was valued, and for that i am thankful and inspired to do the same.

The Revolution will not be Microwaved

I stole this title from a book by Sandor Katz, the talented author of Wild Fermentation who has recently published this second work. I am only on page 32, but already I have learned so much and his enthusiastic writing propells me forward. The book is about food, to say it succinctly, but its message reaches in its relevance to nearly all areas of our lives. He takes a close, and therefore often disheartening, look at the current state of food production and consumption in America. But he also tells the stories of grassroots movements which are making incredible changes in the way some people are eating.

I have been interested in food and in the organic farming movement for several years now, and I have spent 2 summers working on small scale, chemical-free veggie farms. When I first entered this world I experienced a huge epiphany that as I dug my fingers through the healthy soil and ate the strawberrys from plants I had carefully placed in the ground, went something like wow, i can really grow food all by myself! this isn't so complicated....plants want to grow, and....mmmm...this [insert: pesto, tomato sandwhich, stawberry rhubard jam] tastes amazing!! i am so dirty but i feel so happy and fulfilled and i have the skills to actually do things!

Now I feel a second epiphany coming on. As I become more educated in what is good for our bodies and souls and planet and as I gain more experience in the garden, I feel more sure of the absolute importance and central role that good food should play in our lives. In the past, everyone was involved in the history of the food on their plate. Less than a century ago people could not have comprehended the ease in which we can purchase and eat food today. Everyone had a garden, and people bought what they couldn't grow mostly from local farmers. One ate seasonally: radishes in the spring, tomatoes in the summer, and home-canned vegetables and potatoes in the winter. There were no semi-trucks bringing New Yorkers raspberries from California in February. Now we have been apparently freed from this drudgery of farming. We have the luxury of fast food restaurants around every corner and an endless supply of oil and cheap labor to bring us everything we want to eat at all times. I too enjoy convience and flexibility in my diet, but I sincerely believe that each of us should return to our agricultural roots in some degree or another and become participants and not merely consumers when it comes to our food.

There are so many reasons to start caring, grow a garden, and buy your vegetables in season at the farmer's market. I'll just mention one today to keep this blog from becoming a short novel. Our health is an obvious reason. Did you know that in 1989 the money Americans spent on healthcare surpassed what they spent on food? This alarming trend has continued to grow. It is not a surprising statistic when we consider that conventional, widespread agricultural methods today involve genetically altered plants and large amounts of pesticides, designed to kill plants, insects, and soil organisms. Is it shocking that cancer rates have soared the past 50 years as our use of chemicals in every day life has increased? And it makes sad sense that our food has few nutrients left in it when we realize that our food is laregly eaten in processed form and when "fresh" is still shipped from miles away and is days and weeks old when consumed. And beyond our own health we must consider the health of those involved in bringing us the out-of-seaons luxuries. Tomato pickers in South America who bring us this late-summer vegetable in the winter are often women, including pregnant and breast-feeding mothers who transfer pesticides from their hands to their babies, resulting in birth deformities and serious health problems in their young children. To end on a positive note, where changes are made and people in an area being eating more local, organic food, the results are real and exciting. Some schools in the US have school garden programs and connections with local farms, and when children are served fresh, local food, perfomances soar and behavior problems dwindle.

Stay tuned for more posts about food as I dig through this book and get inspired by the tomatoes growing in our garden at home.

un café, s'il vous plaît

This being my first post and my first blogging attempt ever, I feel a sort of pressure to write in these few paragraphs something which perfectly defines me, or at least something serious in nature. However, I came across this photo of me and two friends at a café in Geneva, and ever since I cannot get my mind off of the subject of coffee, specifically my coffee experiences in Europe. So I will give in, though this does not mean that coffee, per se, is the defining element of my life. On the other hand, it is of utter importance, and in the last several months I have grown increasingly picky in my coffee tastes and in my desire for the perfect experience surrounding its consumption.


While living in tiny Huémoz, Switzerland last fall, I came to know and love the perfect cup of coffee which was served at any café I would enter. First to note is that not once when entering a café was I served coffee in a paper "to go" cup. Instead, the delightful sound of the clinking of real cups and saucers would greet my ears when I stepped inside, and I feel that drinking out of authentic dishes really does add to the enjoyment and flavor of one's drink. These cups were never too big either, as the above photo exemplifies. Good, strong, almost creamy in nature coffee never needs a extra tall grande whatever size cup to prove its worth. Each café had unique cups, usually white but with a small, cute design of some sort painted on it. Beside the coffee on the saucer would always lie something special and small, either a tiny biscuit or even better, a piece of Swiss chocolate.

Since returning from Europe a few months ago, I began to be immediately dissatisfied with the typical coffee I was served here in the States. Too big, too watery, no cute cups, no cute foreign waiter who comes to you while you relax at your table, and no chocolate. Even when I tried to make that perfect cup of coffee at home, it just wasn't the same. I wanted something like a cross between a very strong, rich espresso, and a regular coffee. To my rescue came my wonderful Swedish boyfiend Erik, who without knowing of my dire situation, purchased a stovetop espresso maker for me for no special occasion complete with a milk frother and espresso grounds (from Sweden, so I got to look at the cool writing on the can for the....umm...2 weeks that it lasted). All semester long I never ceased to be delighted with my new morning ritual. Roll out of bed, get dressed for class, and head to the kitchen to get my espresso started. After the water and grounds are placed in the maker, it is set on the stove and after a few minutes the dark gold comes flowing into the top part of the beautiful silver contraption as a result of steam pressure. I heated whole milk on the stove to froth and add to the espresso so as to bring the creamy side out of the drink and squelch any bitterness. I know I'm a little wimpy to add milk to my espresso. In Italy I got such disappointing looks from the café workers when I would request cream.

But drinking coffee is about much more than the flavor on your tongue. Just as important is the social factor involved. Though coffee is always enjoyable in solitude, there is something so perfect about slowing down, sitting down with friends, and enjoying a few minutes of chatting over coffee. Granted there are days we don't have that luxury. But I believe that it should be more common than not to have those moments during the day where we set aside our work and enjoy the sweet fellowship of friends, only made better by the parfait café.