Swedish Christmas

It’s starting to look like a warm lovely Christmas over here! Red and white paper stars are hanging from every window in Sweden and the advent calendars are being opened every day by my anxious little kiddos.  They are so excited to get up each morning because children’s television in Sweden has a special advent television show every day.  Each morning at 7:15, Fanny and Lovisa are so excited to watch this Christmas series.  Borje says a new one is on each year, every day until Christmas starting on the first of December.  And, kids can buy an advent calendar that matches the one that they open each morning on TV.  Borje says I should write and American version of "Julkalendern" because it really is a very, very cool Christmas tradition!

Stockholm has a ton of lovely Christmas markets and I had a very nice time last weekend shopping at one in Gamla Stan with friends.  They had a gambling game in which you put a coin in a slot next to a number and if the giant wheel landed on your number, you would win a giant candy bar.  My French friend Sam, kept playing.  And three times the wheel landed on the number just after hers.  She might have grabbed a candy bar and ran for it! After wandering the Christmas market, we sat down for a perfect Fika in the coziest café I have ever been in.  Best hot chocolate in Sweden too. 

"Tomten", Santa Claus', for sale in Gamla Stan

I sent off my Swedish Christmas package the other, with a note on it that said, “Do not open until December 24^th!” I’ve always wanted to write that on a Christmas package.  It’s filled with lots of Swedish Christmas goodies for my family at home.  This week, my mom sent me an email that said she’d just sent my Christmas package and that inside are presents for me to take to South Africa so that Tebogo and I can open them on Christmas eve just like if we were at home in Wisconsin, I almost cried of Christmas happiness! She’s the best mom ever!

Today, I was very happy to get a box of Christmas goodies in the mail from my grandma-but I think I gave Fanny one too many.  She was hopping off the walls today.  But it was worth it-she had to try a cut out cookie that wasn't pepparkakor!

Recently, I’ve started helping out a couple of days a week in Fanny’s classroom-just to keep myself occupied without spending money.  The differences between Swedish and American elementary schools are interesting.  School systems are much more laid back in Sweden. For example, kids have recess starting at 1:30 until their parents pick them up around four or five.  And, today I joined seven of the kids on a field trip into the city of Stockholm.  The kids were given a chance to explore a large square Christmas market on their own, with a buddy.  I was surprised we didn’t all have to stick together the whole time and I kept thinking about Pine Lake Camp’s risk management sessions.  The kids had a chance to buy something small to take home-Fanny chose chocolate and a balloon shaped like a mermaid.  I always have an amazing time hanging out with those kids and it can be the only chance I have to speak Swedish beacause every adult in Stockholm can speak fluent English so my Swedish skills are hardly necessary.

Window displays at NK-Stockholm's Harrod's

I am looking forward to one more week of ice skating at Kungsträgården, Swedish class,  pepparkakor, and kiddos Christmas concerts before I head of to Johannesburg!  

Skating in Stockholm with Ellie from England

November

So, over here, nobody really cares about Thanksgiving, which makes sense because it’s an exclusively American holiday.  Fanny wasn’t even that into tracing a turkey with her hand but I think she did it for me anyway.  There was no way that I was going to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner for the family on my own, so I made a pumpkin pie.  Which was a lot harder than it sounds. I went to three grocery stores on my island and none of them had any canned pumpkin.  The three workers I asked all said they had never even heard of it before.  But I had promised the girls an American pumpkin pie! And I already had all of the other ingredients! So, the next day I had to go all the way downtown to the English shop, which also has some American products as well.  I spent about six dollars on a can of pumpkin.  And I was so happy that I found it, that I bought three cans.  I better start baking. 

November near my home.

The kids loved the pie and I’m really thankful for that.  It was a little hard to be away from home on Thanksgiving, but I didn’t cry the whole day so that’s good.  Home also doesn’t feel so far away with Skype.  I’m also so thankful for the opportunity to travel to and live in Stockholm for free.  So even though it can be lonely sometimes, I have to remember that it’s worth it for this amazing chance to see a new part of the world.

A few weeks ago, I got the awesome chance for a friend to come stay with me here in my little cottage. It was so fun to show my friend Emily, who is staying in Krakow, Poland for the semester and whom I know from college, around the town.  We bummed around in Gamla Stan and had a delicious and expensive fika, a Swedish coffee break. We went to the world’s biggest Ikea and had the cheapest lunch in Sweden.  And I finally had some Swedish meatballs.  At nights we relaxed with the Big Bang Theory and caught up on gossip from home.  It was so much fun that next weekend I am going to visit her in Poland for the same thing. 

World's biggest Ikea!

December is going to be a very exciting month for me.  Next Thursday, I am off to Krakow, Poland to visit my friends Emily and Agnieszka, I haven’t seen Agnieszka since she was a foreign exchange student at my high school during my freshman year.  The weekend after that, I will be having a Christmas party with friends and going to the Stockholm Lucia Concert with my host family.  Also, I will be seeing Paul McCartney that weekend! Then, just one weekend after that, I will be heading to South Africa to see Tebogo Moremi and the stars on the other side of the world!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet

Trick or Treat Smell My Feet

Halloween is definitely not as big of a deal here as it is in America.  The costumes are all store bought instead of being picked out carefully at thrift stores and the kids don’t go trick or treating until November 5^th.  But, I wanted to show my girls a little bit of the American Halloween spirit so on Friday we carved pumpkins, went trick or treating, and watched “Hocus Pocus.” 

Fanny and Lovisa were so excited that day during dinner I was wondering if they had taken drugs.  They ate dinner faster than I’d ever seen, and got into a fight about which costumes they would wear.  They both ended up being witches anyway. Both were cute anyway.  Then, Lovisa wanted to make Zombie fingers out of marzipan and m&m’s and Fanny wanted to make them out of sausages. Susanna said Fanny had been asking to make them out of sausages all day.  After that, I went and hid out in my apartment and 10 minutes later the girls came trick or treating.  And Fanny sang the “Trick or Treat Smell My Feet Song” and I gave them way too much candy.  Then, we went to the au pair’s house who live across the street, Bonnie from Texas, and she gave the girls each a pumpkin cupcake and a chocolate cake ball.  Fanny was so excited about the cupcake that she ate some of the paper.  I showed her that she had eaten some paper and then she and Lovisa couldn’t stop laughing.

We made it back to my house and watched “Hocus Pocus” and ate all of our candy.  Fanny didn’t make it through the movie and Lovisa loved it.  And it was their first movie watched completely in English!

So, Halloween was perfect for the girls but for me, it wasn’t as awesome as Halloween in Wisconsin.  For one thing, not many people dress up, and if they do dress up, they just paint themselves like a disgusting zombie.  I didn’t see any clever or cute costumes.  Philippa, Rachel, (both from England) and I went to one of the biggest clubs in Stockholm called Sturecompagniet.  And not a single person was dressed up.  The club was awesome though, great music and rich people, but we just weren’t drunk enough to have a great clubbing night that night. 

So, I went home early, but there was some construction on the tunnelbana so it took me over two hours to get home.  I sat on the train for a half an hour before it started moving, and that was after a previous 15 minute walk, 10 minute bus ride, and 30 minute wait and ride on the subway.  Then, two people sat next to me and started gossiping in English so of course I listened in.  Then the guy, an extremely skinny, pompous, girly looking Swede said, “I’m actually surprised at how efficient it was to get home.” I wanted to punch him in the face.  Then, we finally got to the end of the line and those two only had to wait six minutes for their bus, and I had to sit in the station for 34 minutes before mine arrived.  Then it took a 20 minute bus ride and 10 minute walk, all in sagging tights, for me to get home. I swear I am not getting on public transportation for at least a week. 

Banks Without Cash

Last week was rough.  For some reason, I was more emotional than normal and frustrating things kept happening.  For example, I was putting away dishes and making dinner at the same time.  I was feeling awesome because I only had to make sausages, mashed potatoes, and a salad.  I was thinking about how easy my job is and how awesome of a job I was doing at it.  Then I went to put away a ceramic jar.  And I dropped the top of it and it smashed on the floor.  ” They got the jar from their summer home.  Fanny hugged me and said, “It’s ok, Kacie” but I still felt like I might as well catch the next boat home for being the worst au pair in the history of the world. 

But, I took some deep breaths, calmed down, reminded myself that the kids are still alive and that’s all that really matters, and finished dinner.  The night wasn’t the best, but other au pairs have done similar things and felt the same way I did.  One of my friends shrunk one of her boy’s sweaters in the wash, and another girl I know gave one of her kids mushrooms, which he’s allergic to.  Everyone makes these little mistakes.

I thought I could recuperate from that night.  But, the next day I went for a walk with my British friend Phillipa and we later met up with Jessica the Canadian in Lidingö Centrum.  It was lovely and the only thing I needed to do was take some cash out at my bank’s ATM.  So, we popped on up to the ATM.  I put my card in, checked my balance, and was so happy to see that I had saved 2,000 crowns that month, which is about $250.  I turned and talked to my friends about how I couldn’t believe it and by the time I turned back to the machine, it was beeping red and swallowing my card. We went into the bank to try to get it back, but the lady said that it was gone forever and that I’d have to get a new one.  She said that since it was in there too long, the machine swallowed it to make sure no one got access to my card.  Phillipa said, “That doesn’t happen in England.” 

Then Jessica, “Not in Canada either.”

And I said, “Or in America!” Since I was already at the bank, I figured I could just take out some cash anyway for the weekend.  But the lady pointed at a sign on the desk that said, “This bank does not handle cash.” WTF? IT’S A BANK! 

We left and outside of the bank I started to cry.   After breaking the jar, I didn’t want to tell my family about another stupid thing I had done.  My friends comforted me and made me feel a lot better.  When I got home, I told Susanna about what happened.  She was sympathetic, I don’t know why I ever thought she wouldn’t be, it had happened to her once before but the bank was still handling cash.  Because our bank isn’t handling cash anymore, she is thinking of switching to another one.  

But, now I have a new card and all is going smoothly.  Susanna even told me I am the most experienced cook they’ve had so far.  She said Börje thinks so too.  I told her, well I know a lot of people who wouldn’t believe that! I am thinking of making cooking my new hobby because of that!

PAUL MCCARTNEY IS COMING TO STOCKHOLM AND I HAVE A TICKET TO SEE HIS SHOW.

Today I fulfilled one of my life’s greatest dreams.  I bought at ticket to see Paul McCartney in concert in Stockholm on December 10.  It’s been a dream of mine since high school to see the cutest (and most talented) Beatle perform but I never expected it would come true in Stockholm, Sweden.  The ticket cost me $180 for a terribly high, and far from the stage nose bleed seat but for those of you that know me and my best obsession, that is a small price to pay to see the best performer and musical artist alive. 

I found out that Paul McCartney was coming to Stockholm today in my Swedish class.  I gasped and couldn’t breathe for a second.  My classmates and teacher laughed at me, but I begged the Brazilian girl to tell me more about the concert.  She told me she was going to the concert with her boyfriend and that it was on December 10^th.  Tickets went on sale on October 14 so I started to pray that there would be some tickets left.  At this moment, our teacher turned on the radio and it was playing “Help”.  I knew that this was a cosmic sign.  For the rest of class I could think of nothing else but how to get my hands on a Paul McCartney ticket.  And, if I hadn’t switched Swedish classes because of the bad teacher and annoying classmates, I never would have found out about the concert.

My teacher gave me bad directions to a ticnet ticket booth where you can buy tickets for any events happening in Stockholm.  So, I set out to find this ticket booth because I wanted to be holding that ticket AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.   I wandered through Ostermalm, and Norrmalm, and T-Centralan. I ended up, after asking four people where the nearest ticket booth is, in a very big shopping center called NK.  It was like the Stockholm version of Harrod’s and I’m sure I didn’t look like I belonged there in my gray hoodie and 18 dollar Kohl’s boots.  After finally finding the ticket booth located at NK Press, I waited in a long line.  Then the cashier just told me that I have to call ticnet.  Or go to ticnet.com. Dammit. 

So, I trekked home in the cold rain though still not discouraged-and of course, had bad timing, missing every bus and train I needed to get back to the woods I live in.  I was going to buy the ticket online, if there were still any left.  On the first site I checked, no tickets. But on the second, I found one. $180.  A little expensive so I had to call my mom and ask if it was ok.  She said “Go for it.”  I am so happy that I did! I’ve been waiting at least seven long years to see Paul McCartney perform! And I can’t believe it’s happening in Stockholm! 

Living the dream!!!

Broken Ribs

This week’s been pretty wild.  And even though Borje broke seven ribs last weekend when he fell off of his bike, throwing things a little off of the normal track, this is the week I’ve started to feel most in the groove of being an au pair.  The kids love me and I’ve mastered the arts of flipping super thin Swedish pancakes and driving the Volvo stick shift. 

Fanny just keeps getting funnier ever day.  I started calling her Fanny Pack, you know, because of fanny packs.  So she started calling me Kacie Pack.  She also says, “Good night, sleep tight! Don’t let the bed bugs bite!” And she thinks it is the best sentence ever to be spoken in the English language.  I love that little kid. I think she is my best friend in Sweden so far.  The other day we were doing a puzzle on the floor and she started climbing on my back.  Susanna said a few things to her in Swedish that I didn’t understand.  Later, Susanna told me that she had asked Fanny to be careful with me.  Fanny said,  “It’s ok mom, because we are such good friends and we love each other.”

I also showed Fanny pictures of my three dogs in Wisconsin.  She loves them.  I told her, (in Swedish!) one day when we were walking home, “I miss my dogs” and she was so sympathetic, holding my hand and saying, “Oh Kacie, Oh Kacie.” with a little whimper of sadness especially for me. Then I told her, “I miss my boyfriend!” And she rolled her eyes and said, “Kaaaacie,” like it was the silliest thing in the world.

Goofing around on the way home from school.

Besides things with Fanny going well, I also feel like my new friendships are finally starting to grow in the right way too.  I’ve been hanging out with a Canadian, a Finnish girl, an Estonian, a few Germans, and a couple of pretty cool Americans too. 

Last weekend, I went to the Archipelago with a few friends.  The Archipelago is a group of thousands of islands just north east of Stockholm accessible by boat.  I was sort of in charge of this little outing, but I wasn’t quite sure where we were going or how to get there.  But I figured if we just got on the boat, we could pick the island we wanted to go to.  So, we got on the boat and the ticket man, who seemed to be very cranky asked where we were going.  I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know where we were going so I just said, the last stop.  He mumbled, “Ok so you want to go to Finnnakhalmnd?” I said sure and we all paid our 110 crowns.  On our way up the stairs, Meryt, my best Estonian friend, said in a panicked voice, “Is this boat going to Finland?!?!” 

For a good five minutes, we were convinced we were on the boat to Finland, which would take an entire day to get to.  After we got the courage to ask the nice couple in front of us if this boat was indeed going to the Archipelago, we could rejoice because we were indeed on the right boat.  We laughed about our silly, stupid thought that that tiny boat could go all the way to Finland for such a cheap price.

And the guy we thought was crabby?  Well, he was actually really nice.  He brought us a map of the island we were going to and when we got back on the boat after a wonderful day of exploring beautiful Finnhamn, not Finland, he didn’t charge us for the return trip.  We got our Archipelago excursion for half the price.  Yes, I think I am most definitely living the dream.

On the way to Finnhamn

Relaxing in the sun on Finnhamn with Bjorg
from Iceland, Lara from Germany, and Meryt
from Estonia.

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