The last couple weeks have been full of action here in Sweden. After the Klassen parents visit, I began to make a serious push to finish my chair. My chairs have been a difficult for me. My design is pretty untraditional, so the construction process has also been pretty untraditional. the back legs of the chair curve in all directions and there really isn't a reference point to build from, so there has been a lot of adapting. But overall, I am happy with them. I am going to return home with them disassembled and packed in a small box.
On Saturday night our friends Luca and Sara had a going away party for us at their place. Our friend Egla also came. We had dinner and spend the evening chatting around a warm fire. The five us represented five countries - USA, Canada, Holland (Luca), Sweden (Sara) and Lithuania (Egla). Two others also in the house made it seven as they were from Japan and Denmark. It has been really nice to make friends from around the world. We talk a lot about visiting each other.
Our friend, Egla (whose name means Christmas Tree!) 
We brought Pumpkin and Chocolate pies.
On Sunday, Mom Best came to visit. It has been great having her here. She's living in our house for the week. We picked her up in Kalmar on Sunday after we took part in a very Swedish tradition - Julbord (or Christmas Table). Our friends from church invited us to a country hotel, where we experienced a true Swedish smorgasbord. The meal consisted of many trips to a buffet. The first trip we filled our plates with different dishes of herring. The Swedes take their fish very serious! There must have been 30 different herring dishes! After the herring, came a trip to the hot and cold meat bars, complete with fantastic meatballs, kropkakkor (remember that story?), delicious bacon (mmm...) and many sausages.
On this night I partook of the meat of 5 different types of animal - fish, cow, pig, bear and moose. Yes, moose. It tasted moosy. After a few trips to the meat buffet, we finished with a careful, studied visit to the spectacular dessert table. Custards, cakes, pies, parfaits, fresh fruit and candies. All very good.
Monday night Luca came over and we all sat around the table eating popcorn and chatting while my brownies baked in the oven. When the brownies were ready we moved to the movie room (our bedroom), where we sat in our special movie seats (our bed), and watched Ratatouille on our big movie theatre (our 15" laptop). This is a typical evening for us and Luca. She has become our special movie watching friend. We were happy Mom Best could join us.
In the morning we woke up to fresh falling snow. The last couple days have been very clear and crisp, with just a little snow. Great weather for short walks.
Oh, I must mention a couple other things that are newsworthy. Being parents-to-be as we are and living in Sweden, where the baby strollers are ridiculously nice, we have long been wishing to have a Swedish baby stroller of our own. Of course we couldn't possibly afford such a nice stroller...or could we? With new ones going for $600-900 we began looking on Blocket, the Swedish version of Craig's List. We found a used one for a fraction of the new prices and made contact with a really nice lady named Agneta Gustavsson. We were not sure how we would get to her house, because the bus didn't go there, so she offered to drive a 1/2 hour to the island just to show it to us. Of course, we loved it - it's the perfect stroller - than she suggested that we pay less than she was asking. What a nice lady! So, to honor this nice lady, our firstborn, if it's a girl, will be named Agneta.
Monday night Luca came over and we all sat around the table eating popcorn and chatting while my brownies baked in the oven. When the brownies were ready we moved to the movie room (our bedroom), where we sat in our special movie seats (our bed), and watched Ratatouille on our big movie theatre (our 15" laptop). This is a typical evening for us and Luca. She has become our special movie watching friend. We were happy Mom Best could join us.
In the morning we woke up to fresh falling snow. The last couple days have been very clear and crisp, with just a little snow. Great weather for short walks.
Oh, I must mention a couple other things that are newsworthy. Being parents-to-be as we are and living in Sweden, where the baby strollers are ridiculously nice, we have long been wishing to have a Swedish baby stroller of our own. Of course we couldn't possibly afford such a nice stroller...or could we? With new ones going for $600-900 we began looking on Blocket, the Swedish version of Craig's List. We found a used one for a fraction of the new prices and made contact with a really nice lady named Agneta Gustavsson. We were not sure how we would get to her house, because the bus didn't go there, so she offered to drive a 1/2 hour to the island just to show it to us. Of course, we loved it - it's the perfect stroller - than she suggested that we pay less than she was asking. What a nice lady! So, to honor this nice lady, our firstborn, if it's a girl, will be named Agneta.
Also in the news: I have decided to come home early, with Barb and Mom Best. We will leave here Saturday morning and fly out from Copenhagen in the afternoon before arriving in Seattle 9 hours later. We will stay in Abbotsford a couple weeks before going to Calfornia for Christmas.
Baby update:
haha... the stroller story is classic... the picture of you guys was perfect too! :-) agneta klassen has a wonderful ring to it. :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope you guys keep updating your blog when you get back and it baby time b/c I love that I am getting little tid bits into your life so often. it doesn't feel like its been FOREVER since i've seen you both last (even though it has been FOREVER)!!! I LOVE BLOGS!! They bring families together!!
See you guys at christmas!
Which one of the three is the baby bump?
ReplyDelete