Stockholm Nights

Before I came to Stockholm, my research on the city included research on the nightlife here.  Many websites said that Stockholm has one of the best nightlife’s in the world.  There’s the Spy Bar where Swedish celebrities flock, Mosebacke overlooking the city is the perfect place for a cold beer on a summer night, and for God’s sake, we are living in the middle of the vodka belt! I practically thought that vodka would run from the faucets! I was excited to see what kind of clubs the city had to offer!

However, now that I’m here I’m wondering how anyone can ever afford to get drunk.  It is astronomically expensive to get yourself a Friday night cocktail here! For example, last weekend a friend (Jessika, Germany) and I went to this bar called Pet Sounds in Södermalm. One cocktail, though extremely delicious and funnily named a ‘Moscow Disco’, cost me 102 crowns. That is roughly about 15 U.S. dollars.  For one drink!!!

I’m going to tell you a fairy tale.  In a land far, far away…a land of snow and cheese and football called Stevens Point, Wisconsin, there is a magical place. It is a place where all of the students studying and writing hard go to dance the night away. The magical place is called Graffitti’s and a good time is always…well usually…had by all.  Every Thursday, all of the young ladies of the kingdom of Stevens Point can go to Graffitti’s and pay one dollar to drink out of a magical refilling cup for the whole night.  It could be the best deal in drinking history.

I kept thinking about that ‘Moscow Disco’ and how it was delicious, but if I had used that 15 dollars on Thursday nights in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, I could have partied hard for 15 consecutive weeks.  Here, I can’t even get two drinks for 15 dollars! Not that I’m not having fun here…

In front of the obelisk in Sergels Torg

I Love Fanny and Lovisa!

At the beginning of this trip, I asked myself, “What’s more fun, a cabin of nine girls who speak too much English, or two girls who barely speak any English?” So far, I’ve come to find both are equally fun. 

Fanny and Lovisa are so great, and cute, and pretty, and nice.  They love me and I love them.  Sometimes, we don’t understand each other but we make it.  I’ve found that even though I rarely understand what the girls are saying, they are just as funny as some campers I’ve had at camp that cracked jokes in English.  For example, Fanny just got a saxophone and she LOVES it.  She honks on it all the time.  Today, Borje got home from a business trip to Japan and Fanny and Lovisa ran outside to greet him.  Fanny brought her saxophone with her.  She didn’t say hello, she honked at him as loud as she could.  Susanna and I watched and laughed at her from the dining room. 

The other wonderful thing about these two girls is that they are helpful and loving.  Lovisa’s school had a bake sale so I offered to make cupcakes with her.  I found a recipe, put it in the metric system, and we baked together.  She kept saying, “I love this! I love this!” and “I like you!” It was so much fun.  And what made me so happy was that she was really helpful about cleaning up.  She washed dishes and volunteered to take out the garbage.  I was so proud of her. 

I also have a lot of fun taking Fanny to and from school every day.  She is the kind of little girl that notices everything.  She’ll stop to pull a leaf off a tree, to try to catch grasshoppers, or to look for fish.  I’m happy that she’s curious about nature, all I’m saying is it takes me 15 minutes exactly to walk to her school. With her it takes a full half an hour.  But she is so cute, I always want to let her kick pine cones for as long as she wants. 

This week, Fanny stayed home from school “sick”, so I got to hang out with her or a few hours.  I made her some Swedish pancakes and we played a Hello Kitty version of Uno and Fanny was cheating! I had to look up the word for cheat in Swedish, ‘Du  fuskar!’ To which she replied while smiling slyly, “Du fuskar!” Then she beat me at Pippi Longstockings memory four times.  This is the only trouble I’ve had with her, which I really don’t consider trouble. 

Look at these little Swedish cuties! They are dressed
 like this for their school's 100 year anniversary.

After meeting a few other au pair girls by now from all over the world, I’ve really realized that I am lucky to be living in the perfect family.  Lovisa and Fanny are fun to be with and pretty easy to take care of.  A lot of girls are stuck with whiners and spoiled brats.  I’m really loving this easy and fun job!

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

My first week in Sweden was a little weird.  I was excited to get to Stockholm so I didn’t have to sit on my parent’s couch anymore.  One week of that was more than enough for me.  But, since I only work about four hours a day, I found myself sitting on my bed almost as much as I had been sitting on that couch in Rosholt.  It felt unnatural to not know anyone my own age in the country. 

Every other time I’ve had to make friends, I’ve been in a very easy situation to make them.  College: 200 friends accessible in dorm.  Summer Camp: 20 friends working with you.  Study Abroad: 29 friends travelling with you.  This is the first time I’ve had to work a little bit to meet some people. 

Thank God for the internet.  I met a ton of au pair girls because of Facebook, and scheduled times to meet with them through the website.  When I imagine how hard it would have been 20 years ago to make friends as an au pair without the web, I imagine that I wouldn’t have been so ready to leave all of my friends and family at home for a year.

Not only has the internet helped me make friends in Sweden, it’s the only thing that’s kept me in touch with friends in Wisconsin, and everywhere else they’ve migrated to after college.  I can talk to my boyfriend every day, skype with friends all over the world for free, and receive uplifting emails from my mom.  Our generation of travelers, willing to leave everyone they know behind, is lucky because we don’t really have to leave everyone completely behind. 

I’m happy and I’m finally getting some friends here.  They are so many lovely girls here from all over the world and I love getting to know all of them.  I can’t wait to make some great life friends here. Here’s to you Jessica of Canada, Jessika of Germany, Lindsey of Florida, Lisa of Finland, and Sarah of Germany; let’s have an incredible year. 

Disco Birthday

Lovisa turned 10 years old the Friday after my arrival.  On the day of her birthday, we had Swedish pancakes and she opened her presents in her bed.  She got a computer, but her favorite present of all was an ice cream maker. 

Susanna told me that Lovisa was excited because her party was going to be a Disco Party (Perfect since she got a “Hits for Kids” CD, including Snoop Dogg’s “Sweat”-only in Sweden).  Susanna told me about how she had been searching for a Disco ball.  She told me, “Last year we just borrowed a friend’s but I figured we might as well get our own.”

So, Susanna began her search for a Disco ball.  She invited me into Stockholm with her to pick up the apparently, in high demand, Disco ball.  We went to a store that sold every electronic from headphones to karaoke machines.  From what I could guess of the Swedish conversation, she asked if they had a Disco ball.  The young man working behind the counter found a Disco ball, but it had someone else’s name on it.  Susanna had asked on the phone previously if she could reserve a Disco ball, but the worker had told her that it was against the rules.  She was disappointed.  The man working said he could call another store further in town and they would save her one.  She finally got the Disco ball on Friday morning, taking a second trip all the way into Stockholm.  I didn’t realize Disco balls were in such high demand in Sweden!

Lovisa’s Disco birthday party was so fun.  Borje grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, which Lovisa’s nine guests ate with sauce in a tube called “American Sauce”, it was pretty much the sauce that McDonald’s uses on Big Mac’s.  I thought it was funny, since there is no bottled version of the stuff in the states. 

Later on at the birthday party, the girls were listening intently to one girl at a time while they all gorged themselves on different candy variations of Swedish fish. I thought that since they were listening so carefully to one girl at a time, that they were possibly discussing different games to play.  I asked Susanna what they were talking about.  She said, “Babies that have died.”  Susanna and I laughed and laughed.

After all of that trouble for the Disco ball, the girls didn’t even disco.  They played a Swedish version of hide and seek outside.  I just love that kids all over the world do the same things to entertain themselves. 

I thought I'd never have to drive a stick shift...

Borje was a lot taller and thinner than I thought he would be.  But of course he would be slim, he’s a cardiologist.  He pushed my cart, loaded high with my luggage.  We walked to the car and drove the 45 minutes to my new home.  Our island, Lidingo, is adorable!  The house is green and looks like a dollhouse.

Borje gave me time to take a nap and unpack in my perfect little apartment. I finally have a bathroom all to myself.  After getting settled in, I met Borje upstairs and we went to the grocery store.  And I had to drive the stick shift to get us there.

I thought I had made it through life without having to drive a manual car.  Now I have to learn to drive one in a foreign country.  Borje took me for a ride in the manual Volvo on my first day in Sweden.  I like to think it was my jet lag that made starting the car so confusing, but I think I would have been that bad at driving it last week in Wisconsin too.  Borje is a reassuring and patient teacher but he kept saying, “You’re too fast on the clutch!  This is a car…it isn’t the moon landing!”  I couldn’t stop it from jolting all over the place and I am lucky that I was able to stop myself crying all over the place. He said, "Take it easy, take it easy!"

After my fourth lesson, I was finally getting a hang of driving the stick shift, but I still don’t trust myself to drive the car alone.  But, I keep thinking, if this is the hardest thing I have to do this year, it will be a good year.  I am going to beat the stick shift! Like my mom says.  

Scandinavian Airlines

So here I am, sitting at gate M15 waiting for my flight to Stockholm and it is pretty quiet at this end of the airport.  So, I put on my Dan Barker customized Swedish playlist to get myself pumped up for the journey. 

My mom and I cried when I headed for security.   It made the security guard yelling in the most condescending voice I’ve ever heard seem like an even bigger asshole.  He yelled at people who obviously didn’t’ speak much English, “It’s hard to believe, but if you listen to us you might get through faster!” Maybe this part of the airport just seems quieter now because suddenly I am not only in a long distance relationship with my boyfriend, I am in a long distance relationship with everyone I know. 

But really, if I dig under the part of me right now that is nervous and a little scared, I find the me that knows I am going to meet more than enough cool people to hang out with…and those little girls have one cool au pair, because I’ve got a bunch of tricks in my Kacie Poppins bag.

This airplane was awesome! The economy extra was like first class that I’ve seen in some other planes!! There were hand towels in the bathrooms, recliners on each chair, single screens for each chair and the best thing, was that hardly anyone was on the plane!!!  I had a row of three completely to myself so I had all of my stuff sitting comfortably with easy access on the seat next to me.  I also felt very cool pulling out my MacBook on the plane.  Also, the pillows were actually covered in cloth!!! Miracles, Miracles!!!

I brought my Camelbak water bottle on the plane. But, when I went to drink it, it wouldn’t stop shooting water in my mouth because of the changed air pressure in the air.  It squirted me on the face and shirt, and I just laughed and hoped that no one noticed. 

The nice and adorable steward who complimented me on my laptop bag in Swedish (I think, unless he was asking me very nicely to put it under the seat) gave me a mysterious black napkin wrapped in plastic.  But when I opened it, it was a very nice shoe bag.  Inside of the bag were an eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, and earplugs.  I think he has a crush on me.  Anyway, I’ll treasure all of these things as souvenirs forever!!!!!

I watched a few good movies, slept maybe an hour and a half, and when I was waiting for my bags, a blonde American girl from Iowa started a conversation with me.  She was friendly, but a little annoying (maybe only because I was so tired) but her conversation made me happy because I knew I wouldn’t have a hard time meeting friends if I had made one already.

When I got to arrivals, Borje was there already waiting for me.  

Summer

It’s finally time.  In exactly a few days, I will be on my way to Sweden for one entire year.  As I pack and sort and worry, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on my summer.  A summer that I expected to be smooth and fun and easy.  But, my best friend TK was killed by a drunk driver on June 25^th and I met an incredible South African boy that thinks I am pretty wonderful too.

At midnight, on June 25^th, I got a phone call from a friend telling me that a good friend of mine had died, he kept seeing it on Facebook.  I said, “You have to tell me, I don’t have the internet.”  He said it was Theresa Kroes and that she was killed in a car crash.  I wanted to cry but couldn’t, instead my stomach felt sick. I didn’t sleep the entire night.   

 TK was my best friend.  We met on my first day of college and she helped me through the cafeteria procedure and thought I was funny for not understanding it.  That first year, she taught me to make coffee in my dorm room and we watched episodes of Full House every day on her futon.  We spent Valentine’s days together and visited each other’s home towns in the summer.  We share the same middle name, Jean, and my favorite compliment is when people told us we could be sisters. 

Once, I went with her to spend a weekend at grandparent’s cottage on Lake Winnebago.  It was October so it was too cold to swim and almost too cold to have a campfire.  We listened to Michael Jackson the entire drive there and bought Mike’s Hard Lemonades.  Before bed, TK told me there wasn’t any heat in the cottage.  We decided to pull a Little House on the Prairie to keep warm; so we put large rocks in the campfire and heated them up.  We slept with the rocks in our beds next to our feet.  We thought it was so funny. 

TK was so good at the piano, but she never bragged about her talents.  She was excited, nervous, and anxious about the future but she lived completely, happily and contentedly in the present. 

When she died, Tebogo was there for me every second.  I think that’s when I realized it was so much more than a summer fling.  And at the beginning of summer, that’s all I was really looking for.  Meeting Tebogo this summer was bad timing, but I really needed him too.  Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. 

So, though I am heart broken to not be able to tell TK about my Swedish adventures, my heart soars when I think about seeing Tebogo for the next time.