Beijing

Day 1: Arrival

We arrived in the afternoon and were surprised by how clean, modern, and organized the airport was. We grabbed a cab and were given a pamphlet explaining the taxi rules and fees for China. Very helpful. 15 minutes later we checked into the SAS Radisson and rested in our nice (albeit ugly) hotel room.

We soon left our hotel in search of food. We found a McDonald’s about a block away from the hotel and ordered two “NBA” meals. The bill came to about $5 for two big burgers, big fries, and big cokes (none of which we could finish.) I was definitely starting to like China! The meal also came with two tubes of toothpaste and two “finger sweatbands” which said “Los Angeles Lakers.” We kept the toothpaste and left the finger accessories on the table for someone else to enjoy.

On the way back to our hotel we discovered a huge Carrefour, where we filled our basket with several bottles of water, crackers, and even some coke and ice tea. I think the grocery bill was about $2 total!

After resting, showering, and watching a bit of BBC World (which I for some reason become addicted to whenever we stay at a hotel,) we made plans to meet our friend J, who lives in Beijing. He took us to a “hot-pot” restaurant where you cook raw meat and vegetables in hot oil on the table in front of you. We tried some interesting things…I’ll spare you the details. The best part about the restaurant was the people working there. As soon as you put something on the back of your chair (coat, purse, etc.) they ran over and put a “chair cover” over it. It was funny to watch. One of J’s friend’s put her coat on the chair, which was promptly covered. Next she took off her purse and hung it over her (already covered) chair. The staff didn’t hesitate before putting yet another “chair cover” over her purse. Maybe you had to be there, but it was funny.

My first impressions of Beijing: It’s huge, much bigger than I expected. There are people, cars, bikes, rickshaws, etc. EVERYWHERE! There are also huge skyscrapers everywhere you go, and there are more being built everywhere you look.

Day 2: Exploration

We woke up early and enjoyed a full, Swedish style, breakfast buffet. Next we grabbed a cab and headed over to J’s apartment. Finding a cab proved to be very easy in Beijing, especially from the hotel. You just tell the doorman where you want to go, and he hails a cab for you and gives directions to the driver in Chinese. Before you know it you are flying through the crowded streets of Beijing, clutching the “Oh-shit! handle” (because many cabs don’t have seatbelts,) and praying for your life as the driver swerves in and out of lanes at full speed, just missing a few bikes and rickshaws along the way. By the way, the cabs are cheaper (and faster) than taking the city bus in Gothenburg.

After meeting up with J and his friends M and S (visiting from Seattle,) we hailed a couple of cabs and headed to the “Hutongs.” The “Hutongs” are an ancient part of the city, with old housing and no pluming. It was definitely different than the hustle and bustle that makes up the rest of the city! We wandered around the alleys and the huge park for a while, before stopping for lunch. After lunch we climbed up the “Drum Tower,” where we were lucky enough to see the drums beaten on the hour. We also had a great view of the city from atop the tower.

Next we headed over to a market near J’s apartment, where I bargained for a cute pair of “puma” shoes, and a present for E’s birthday. We finished the day with dinner at a nicer restaurant (this time we paid about $5 each for our meal, including full pints of draft beer.)

Day 3: The Wall

We got up early and headed over to J’s where we met the others. J had rented a mini-van and driver for the day who drove us out to the wall (it took about 1½ hours.) The scenery changed dramatically as we left the city and headed for the mountains. As we neared the wall we drove on small, windy roads. The driver was nice, (although a crazy driver!) and he gave us a little bit of info about the wall upon arrival. According to our driver, one person died per meter of the wall during its construction. The wall is roughly 6,000 km long. (For those not prone to the metric system, that would be 6,000,000 people.)

We took a ski lift up to the wall and hiked for about 2 hours. I didn’t realize that walking on the wall would be so much work! There are a lot of stairs and some parts are extremely steep. We hiked about as far as tourists were allowed to hike (and a little more,) and then headed back to where we started. It really was amazing to walk on something that had so much history behind it!

I have been to a lot of tourist places, but this is one was especially interesting because the majority of tourists were Chinese. Apparently a lot of Chinese people had vacation while we were there, and many of the tourists were from other places in the country. In fact, at one point a young man (perhaps 20yrs old or so) came running after P. He must have chased us for a while before he caught up with us. He came up to P, and completely out of breath, and smiling, held up his camera. He wanted to have his picture taken with us! According to J, this young man had probably never seen a white person in his whole life. That really makes you think about how big the world really is, and that we westerners are only a small part of it.

After a couple of hours on the wall we took a “toboggan” back down to the bottom. There was a long slide (about 400 meters long,), which zigzagged its way down the hill. We were given a “toboggan” (basically a plastic seat with wheels and a hand break), which we used to slide down the mountain side (on the slide/track.) This was definitely not what I expected to find at the Great Wall!

When we arrived back at the hotel we received a message from the front desk explaining that we needed to switch rooms due to a maintanance problem. We complained a little and were able to get an upgrade to the 11th floor. The room was the same size, but the bed was huge and the furniture was much nicer than the furniture in our first room.

Day 4: The Forbidden City

P and I got up early on Thursday and headed to The Forbidden City. Basically The Forbidden City is old Beijing. It’s about 1km squared and is protected by a huge wall (20 feet tall maybe?) According to my travel book, The Forbidden City was where the emperor, along with many others including all of his concubines, lived. I’m sure that there is a lot of history behind the city, but to be honest, I’m really no expert. We did, however, buy “The Last Emperor” on DVD, which will hopefully provide me with some better insight. (That is since Hollywood is so good at portraying the truth and movies are 100% factual.) Anyway, we spent the morning wandering through the city, checking out the old Chinese architecture, the gardens, the alleyways, and of course, the Starbucks. (I’m not kidding; there is a Starbucks inside the Forbidden City!)

After we had felt like we’d seen the city, we decided it was time for lunch. We started walking in the direction of what was supposed to be a shopping district (according to the mini-map in my guidebook.) As we neared a big shopping street, we were stopped by a cheerful young Chinese man who said, “Hello, Welcome to Beijing!” Since we had met very few people who spoke English (especially so clearly,) we turned and said hello back. We started to continue on our way, but the pleasant man continued talking and explained that he was a student and studied English. His “English” name (in school) was Kevin.

Kevin: “Where are you from?”

P: “Where do you think we are from?”

Kevin looked straight at P and said, “Sweden?”

P: “What?! How did you know that?”

Kevin: “I studied in Uppsala, Sweden last summer. Hur mår du?”

P: ”Wow. Yeah, we know Uppsala. Where do you think she is from then?”

Kevin looked at me. “America?”

Stephanie: “How could you know that?!”

Kevin: “I guess I could hear it in your accent.” (I had hardly said a word.)

Kevin seemed friendly and harmless, so I asked him if he knew a good place to eat nearby.

Kevin: “Sure, follow me.”

We walked for about 2 minutes.

Stephanie: “So, what do you study?”

Kevin: “Art. Actually, my school is right here. I can show you some of my work.”

Before we knew it we were inside a nearby building, meeting Kevin’s Professor and looking at his artwork. Of course we ended up buying some. We hadn’t really planned on buying any artwork, but it wasn’t too expensive and I do like it. We bought a series of 4 paintings, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, painted on rice paper and mounted on silk. Very Chinese.

After buying the art Kevin brought us to a Chinese restaurant across the street and helped us order. The food was good, the portions were big, and the bill came to about $4.00.

After lunch we met J and his friends at the Silk Market, where we found great bargains on pearls (china exports 95% of world’s fresh water pearls,) ties, and knock-off designer clothes.

Day 5: The Heavenly Temple and Bar Street

We met up with J and his group and headed over to The Heavenly Temple. This is where the emperor used to come to pray for a good harvest. [Apparently bad weather (or a bad harvest) was reason enough for the rest of the country to overthrow the emperor and promote someone else.] The temple is still used today by Buddhist monks. The temple was interesting enough, but there is still one thing that I just don’t “get.” Around one temple (I think it was the temple of treasure) was a wall. While I was looking at the archutecture, the Chinese people kept going up to the wall, facing it, and screaming at it! I’m not sure what that was about.…

After visiting the temple we decided to head over to the Pearl Market, but decided to stop for lunch along the way. The best we could find was a KFC (This was the first time in my life I ate at KFC, I’ve always avoided it before.) Anyway, after enjoying my chicken sandwich I decided that KFC might be a safe place to use the bathroom. I headed off to the ladies room in hopes of finding a western toilet (in other words, a sit-down toilet.) To my dismay, there were only Asian style toilets, but I really had to go, so I decided to go for it. To quote my guidebook, “Westerns sit, Asians squat.” That is to say, an Asian toilet is basically a drain in the ground that you pee over. Some are a little nicer (like the one at KFC) and are flushable.

I’m afraid I still don’t get how you are supposed to use these toilets. There are no handles in the walls, the floors are disgusting (so you can put your hands down for balance,) and if you don’t do everything just right then you might miss the drain, if you catch my drift. I did manage to use the facility and stay clean, but all I’m saying is that it wasn’t easy. I guess the people who use those toilets have very strong thigh muscles. Moving on…

Later that night we met up with J and S again to experience some Beijing nightlife. We headed over to “Bar Street,” which was just that. We ladies had a great time out on the dance floor, while P and J stood by the bar and hung out. The drinks were cheap. The shots only cost about 80 cents and the bar boasted a large menu. The shots had pretty weird names though. Actually some of the names were really gross and I won’t repeat them here. I drank a delicious shot which was made up of baileys, kalooha and vodka, but unfortunately it was named after a practice that is against my religion…Anyway, we had a great time. “Kudos” to S who found an excellent ladies room in a nearby bar. It even had disposible toilet seat covers.

Day 6: The Dirt Market

We got a bit of a late start on Saturday, since we were out relatively late on Friday night. Also, P wasn’t feeling to well. He had already felt a little sick on Friday, so going out probably didn’t help matters. But he was a good sport. Anyhow, after sleeping-in a little we met up with J, M, and S and headed over to the “Dirt Market.”

The Dirt Market is an outdoor market, and is only open on Saturdays. It was very different from the indoor Pearl and Silk markets which mostly sell jewelry, electronics, and “designer” clothes. The Dirt Market was more of a cultural experience. The vendors were people who came from the country and sold hand made goods, antiques, jewelry, and art. It was fun. I liked some of the artwork, although my favorite pieces were far too big to bring home. J however, decided to buy an early wedding gift for P and me, and let us choose a painting. We chose a smaller version of one of the bigger paintings that I had really liked. It’s very cheerful and colorful. It’s a little bit abstract, but is of a field and sky. I know just where to hang it too.

I wandered around the market a bit, and found a little something that I wanted to buy three of (presents for someone so I won’t say what it was.) Anyway, I looked at the different designs and finally decided on three. I asked the Chinese woman if she would give me a better price if I bought three. She gave me a lower price and I agreed to it. I paid, and as I started to leave she stopped me. She bent down and picked up a fourth “thing” that she had seen me look at. She handed it to me and smiled. It was a gift.

Later, after lunch, P decided that he should head back to the hotel and rest. I went with the others and did a little more shopping. When I got back to the hotel P wasn’t doing too well, so I went to the Carrefour to see if I could find something for dinner. (Keep in mind that we had nothing more than a hot water boiler to cook with.) I ended up buying some Chinese Cup o Soup. :) It turned out to be just the right thing for P’s stomach, and the price was right and about 40 cents per cup. Now that’s cheap eat'n!

Day 7: Tiananmen Square

This was our last full day in Beijing, and I was not about to leave without visiting Tianamen Square! We went relatively early as to avoid the afternoon heat. What is there to say? It’s one big square. We walked from one end to the other, and took some pictures of Mau’s portrait. It was fun and relaxing, I’m glad we had a chance to see it.

Side note: Before continuing on our way, we stopped at a kiosk to buy some ice cream. The kiosk was small, with a couple of freezers for the ice cream, and a fridge with cold drinks. There were about seven people working there. It was like this everywhere we went! There are so many people working at every place you go to! : End side note.

We checked our guidebook and saw that the big western style shopping mall was close by, so we decided to walk there. Everything always looks much closer on the map! We had a nice walk though, and took in the city scenery. Once we found the shopping mall (huge!) we decided to eat lunch at a Chinese fast food place. No one spoke English, but we managed to order by pointing at the menu. At some point P pulled out a plastic fork to eat his noodles with, and everyone was giggling at us. We were laughing too though, it was fun.

Next we met up with J and company in the “hip” art district. The art district is located in a much quieter area of Beijing, were old factories have been turned into art galleries. There were a bunch of cafes too. The buildings all looked old and run down, but the place had a sort of “hip” vibe to it, and well-dressed people were wandering around with expensive coffees.

After exploring some of the art galleries, we had our last dinner in China. It was very yummy. Definitely the best green beans I have ever had, and whoever came up with the idea of dipping bananas in caramelized sugar deserves a medal!

Before turning in for the evening J took us to a few DVD stores. I think we ended up buying about 25 DVDs! Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!

Day 8: Farewell

Our flight wasn’t leaving until the afternoon, so after breakfast we headed over to Carrefour where we spent the last of our money on a steamer, a juicer, and some Chinese liquor.

We packed up, headed back to the airport, and hade a safe and uneventful flight home.

Final Thoughts:

We had a fantastic trip! Beijing was much bigger and more developed than I had expected. The people were very friendly too! I would definitely go back and would highly recommend a Beijing visit to others. Actually, I feel like I’ve got the “Asian bug.” I want to go back! I’m definitely looking forward to our upcoming honeymoon in Thailand!

Fun Run?

It’s five o’clock on Tuesday afternoon. P and I got back from Beijing late last night and I’ve worked a full day today. I’m starting to feel a bit tired now and wouldn’t mind going home…but unfortunately I signed up to run the “Vår Russet,” which is a ladies only 5km run. I did the run last year and thought it was really fun. I signed up to run this year (on my company’s team) before booking the tickets to Beijing…talk about bad timing. I can’t believe that I’m supposed to run 5km two hours from now. I barley made it up the stairs to my office…. If I weren’t doing this with co-workers than I would definitely go home and sleep instead.

Anyway, Beijing was awesome! I’ll try to give a day by day run down later this week…

Signs that you think too highly of yourself

1. You travel often but haven’t filed a travel claim in over two years. This means that you are out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars (but are apparently not effected by it,) plus this screws up the travel budget. One day you decide that it’s time to send in your claims and bring your 2 years worth of claims in to the Administrative Coordinator, forcing her spend a full day entering your data into the system and double checking tax rules.

2. Two administrative coordinators spend a great deal of time and energy in February arranging for a group trip to Washington for a conference in May. Your confirmed travel itinerary arrives in April and you make a big stink about how you are not sitting next to your colleague on the plane. Of course you never specified that you wanted to sit next to this colleague when you made your booking in February, but you are still quick to point out that the admin. Coordin. did something wrong. You do this by sending a rude email (whining about this problem) to the other admin. Coordinator, who doesn’t directly work with you and who did not make your travel arrangements in the first place! (That would be me.) Meanwhile, you don’t take into consideration the fact that the admin. Coordin. to whom you are whining booked all of her people in economy, while you insisted on sitting in business! (But hey, what’s an extra few thousand dollars when it’s not your money?)

Right, so I’m just really glad that I’m not the admin coordinator who works directly with the guy in scenario #2. Apparently he’s gone through 4 assistants in 6 years. I’m busy enough with my 30 doctors; this guy is so not my problem. (Although I did change his seat assignment for him just so the other girl wouldn’t have to deal with him again.)

Anyway, 1½ hours left until I start my vacation! Look out Beijing!

In other fantastic news…the contract hasn’t been signed yet, but it seems that P will very likely be starting a new, awesome, qualified job when we get back from our vacation! No more evening shifts, no more weekend overtime, and helloooooo raise! I can’t wait to celebrate with him when he gets home from work tonight (at 00:30.)

Rights, so I’ll be back on April 8th, blog to you then!

Have a nice what now?

It’s 4:30pm on Thursday. Not an especially exciting day.

My office is closest to the elevators. Colleagues have been walking past my office and wishing me a nice weekend (presumably on their way home) for the past hour and a half. Weekend? Am I missing something here? Tomorrow’s not a holiday, what’s with all the weekend talk?

On that note, I think it’s time to head home. Have a nice Thursday evening!

“Student Loan Interest Reduction Worksheet 4-1.”

Well, the taxes are done. I spent most of my time trying to figure out how to use the “Student Loan Interest Reduction Worksheet 4-1.” Except in the end it didn’t matter because I owe 0 taxes (and you can’t claim a deduction if you owe $0!) Anyway, here’s what doesn’t make sense to me:

You should fill out this worksheet if you are filing form 2555.
(OK so far.)

Enter the amount that you get from this worksheet onto line 33 of form 1040.
(Yeah, I’m with you; let’s take a look at the worksheet.)

Worksheet 4-1 line 4. “Enter any amount you entered on the dotted line next to Form 1040, line 36.”
(OK, let’s see what I entered on Form 1040 line 36.)

Form 1040 Line 36 reads, “Add lines 23 through 31a and 32 through 35.”

(Wait a minute! I need to enter line 33 in order to enter line 36. But I can’t enter line 33 until I’ve completed the worksheet, and I can’t complete the worksheet until I’ve filled in line 36! It doesn’t make sense!!!)

Solution: Don’t enter the student loan interest reduction because it won’t change anything anyway!

In other news, I’m currently wearing contacts! I can see! It was so weird watching TV without my glasses last night! Also, I’m not used to seeing my self so clearly in the mirror! Usually my reflection is either a little blurry, or I have glasses covering my face! That’s all for now! Yay that my taxes are done!

Two Things In Life Are Certain…

Could this BE more complicated? Forget the wedding. The most complicated thing in my life right now is filing my US income taxes! I have foreign earned income (on which I have paid taxes to a foreign government) and after reading “publication 54” am fairly certain that I am tax exempt. Unfortunately however, I still have to file. It’s such a puzzle! I finally figured out that I needed to read publication 54. Then, half way through the publication I read, “Now refer to publication (970) if the above circumstances apply to you (which of course they did)…I feel like I’m going back and forth between publications like a “Choose Your Own Adventure!” I haven’t even started on form 1040 yet…The only good news is that I get an automatic two-month extension because I live abroad.

Not much else is going on right now. Work is incredibly boring this week; I have far too little to do. I’m not sure why, this is pretty unusual. Yesterday I ordered some stuff for the wedding. EBay is becoming my new favorite place to shop! I ordered a whole bunch of cute “wedding” disposable cameras for only $2.40 each! Trust me, that’s cheap! Especially since I used my Swedish credit card and the dollar is not doing well right now. (Very good for me as long as I have foreign income and shop in the US! Very bad for Americans who want to shop in Europe! Sorry guys!)

After work today I will finally go to the optician to get fitted for contact lenses. I’m VERY excited about this! For those of you who don’t see me daily (OK that’s all of you) I’ve become a constant glasses-wearer. If someone had to describe me they’d say, the petite girl with the dark hair and the silver glasses. It will be SO nice to dump those! Plus I will be able to wear sunglasses while driving again! :)

Yesterday I learned that my future last name means “brave” in Dutch. (It’s also an old word meaning “swift” in Swedish.) I like the Dutch, because when you put it together with my current last name (future middle name) I become “The Brave Embroiderer!”

Bumps and Bruises

Three blogs in one week! Either I’m on a roll or work is slow this week. OK, I won’t lie; work is very slow this week! We have a four-day weekend coming up since Good Friday and Easter Monday are Public Holidays in Sweden. Actually, it seems like almost everyone decided to take today off as well, this place is nearly a ghost town!

I had planned on sticking out the day, but I’m starting to rethink things. The rethinking mainly started about 30 minutes ago when I hit my head on a shelf in my office. I was bending down and then stood up fast, not thinking about the evil shelf looming above me. The corner slammed into my forehead, it was so hard I think I was really close to blacking out! I took some Tylenol, but it still hurts and I can feel the bump already starting to grow…

So the pain, combined with the fact that I really don’t have much to do, also combined with the fact that once I leave I can start my long-weekend, has made me reconsider my decision to stay until 5. A free afternoon is starting to sound really good! I have been coming in at 7:30am for the past two weeks, that’s gotta count for something!

Yesterday was a good day. First I won two tickets to Universeum in a company drawing. (Universeum is a hands-on science museum here in Gburg that I’ve heard is really cool.) Then I went home, talked to P, and found out that the yearly car service that we need to do will cost much less than we had anticipated. And finally, I got my Swedish tax declaration in the mail and found out that I’m getting a big fat refund! Enough to cover our hotel room at the SAS Radisson in Beijing, woo-hoo!

BTW, I should take a moment to praise the Swedish Tax Declaration system. You basically get your declaration in the mail, all filled out and finished, and all you have to do is sign it and send it back! Then your refund magically shows up in your bank account (or if worse comes to worse, you have to pay!) Anyway, why can’t it be that simple in the US? I spent 40 minutes on the phone with IRS last week trying to figure out how to declare my foreign income to the US. The person with whom I was speaking was obviously reading from a script.
Whatever, those are my thoughts for the day. One more hour and I’m out’a here, I think that the Tylenol is starting to kick in

In the buff

Yesterday I went to a spinning class after work at the company’s gym. Obviously one needs to change into clothes (and shower) before and after the class, which is fine. I like to get in, change clothes, and move on. I also tend to cover myself with a towel when walking to and from the showers. I’m certainly not prude, but I am American. Swedes, on the other hand, seem to be much more comfortable with the naked factor. They walk around the locker room nude, and have long conversations sans undergarments. I mean it’s one thing to talk to your friend while changing clothes, but isn’t it a little bizarr to just stand there, full frontal, without making a move for your clothes, and carry on as if you were in the office? –This being said, my boss (a woman) was in the same spinning class as me yesterday. That’s all fine and dandy, but somehow the idea of seeing my boss without her clothes on (or her seeing me!) makes me a little uncomfortable…

While were on the subject of Swedes, I have another observation. They are obsessed with candy! I mean really! We’re talking the loose candy that you buy by the pound and scoop into a paper sack. It’s Easter weekend and all I hear about it how much candy everyone is going to eat! Although the candy obsession seems to loom on us throughout the year, holidays are the worse. I can’t have a conversation (usually with a woman) without hearing about how big their candy craving is. I know that we eat badly in America, but I’ve never (knowingly) been around adults who are so candy obsessed! Just an observation. In case you’re wondering, the Swedish word for candy is “godis” which is pronounced: “goodies.” It’s definitely the word of the week…

In other news, I picked up my Chinese visa from the Chinese Consulate today! We leave for Beijing in 3 weeks! I looked through my passport and realized that I’ve almost completely filled the pages. This strangely gives me a feeling of accomplishment, like I’ve nearly finished a book. I could order extra pages, but I decided that I’ll just wait until August when we’re back from our honeymoon. I’ll need to get a new passport in my married name anyway.

Happy Easter to all!

Champagne Glasses and Chocolate Cake

It’s Monday again. It’s always Monday. Then again, it’s always Friday too. Time really seem to go faster the older you get. I generally wake up on Monday morning thinking, ”crap it’s Monday, 5 work days until I can sleep past 6am again. Where did the weekend go?” And then, just like that, 5 days have gone by and I’m thinking, ”Geez, Friday already? Where did the work week go?!”

I can’t say that I did anything of major significance this weekend. P had to work overtime on Saturday, so he was long gone by the time I rolled out of bed at 8am. I could have slept longer, but some mornings there is only one thing better than sleeping late: Getting up relatively early, making a pot of coffee, curling up on the couch and knowing that you still have the whole day ahead of you to get stuff done. I managed to watch 3 episodes of ”Sex in the City,” do Pilates, vacuum the entire apartment, clean the kitchen and bathroom, and take a shower, all before 11:30am! Then I headed into the city to run some errands and take in the beautiful weather.

Although P had to work, I decided to go to Josephssons and start our registry. I’ve only registered for stemware so far, since I want P to come with me to finish the list. I just wanted to get started since the store was offering two Orrefors Champagne glasses as a gift for registering there. It was a limited time offer, so I wanted to sign up before we missed getting the free glasses! Anyway, in case anyone is wondering (and I’m only putting this out there because people are starting to ask!,) We are registering for the same place settings both at Macy’s in the US and Josephssons in Sweden. (Denby) As for stemware, we are only registering for it in Sweden, but it can be bought in the US as well. We are registering for Orrefors ”Intermezzo.” (Champagne, Red wine, White wine and maybe a few others, although I think that those first 3 are the most important.) Anyway, although you can’t purchase stuff online from Josephssons, you can see the updated list online at http://www.josephssons.se/ . Or go to the following link and enter our wedding date to get our list (called ”önskelista” in Swedish.) http://www.josephssons.se/Public.aspx
The woman at the store said that you can always call the store, buy something from our list over the phone, and either have it sent to us or they can set it aside for us to pick up after the wedding.

But for me, the wedding is not about getting presents! I just want to have a wonderful day with by new husband, and to celebrate it with my nearest and dearest. So I hope the above doesn’t sound greedy or tacky; that is certainly not my intention.

I almost forgot to mention the highlight of my weekend! P baked a chocolate cake for my birthday (since he wasn’t around on my actual birthday.) Wasn’t that the sweetest thing?

Two Orders of Peking Duck

It’s been forever and a day since I updated this blog! Shame on me! Work has been really busy though, and things have been pretty busy after work too…I know, I know, excuses, excuses.

Anyway, today is Friday, things are quieter than they’ve been in ages, and I have plenty to say!

Things seem to be pretty on-track for the wedding. We finally secured a photographer, my dress is in (1month early!,) the bridesmaid’s dresses are in, and I have plenty of ideas for all the small details that we need to take care. I hope to make the invitations over the long Easter weekend, so those should be going our over the next few weeks.

Monday was my Birthday, that’s right, the big two-six! I can’t say that it really felt like my B-day though. P had to work all evening. We met for lunch, but there was no cake this year. He did, however, give me two wonderful presents. Present number 1: The Friends Box Set (all 10 seasons!) Very excited. I’ll get started on it just as soon as I finish up Sex and the City (which I got for Christmas.) These DVDs make for perfect entertainment while I’m working out on the exercise bike in the living room. :) I actually received present number two on Sunday (the day before my birthday,) although I don’t think it has quite sunken in yet…We’re going to China! In one month!

We were at the annual travel fair last Sunday (huge!) Tons of travel companies, airlines, hotels, and 90 countries were represented. We saw an add for a trip from Gothenburg to Beijing with Scandinavian Airlines (our preferred airline, actually.) The price was really good. I mean two tickets to Beijing were going to cost less than one ticket to Spokane. I mean really cheap. You could only purchase these tickets at the fair, so we decided to check it out (expecting them to be sold out.) Nope, we could get tickets on the dates we wanted at the cheap rate! So we impulsively bought tickets to China! Happy Birthday to me! Maybe it was a little nuts, what with the impulsiveness, the wedding being less than 3 months away, not to mention the expensive honeymoon in Thailand…but on the other hand, the tickets will never be this cheap again, we got time off from work, we have no kids and no mortgage, and we have an American friend in Beijing who speaks the language fluently! How could we pass this up?

So great wall of China, here we come! One last trip as singletons. The next few months should be very busy and exciting! China (first week in May.) Scotland (wedding 4th weekend in May.) Mom comes to Sweden (2 week in June.) Rest of family and guests start to arrive in Sweden soon after. Wedding on June 23, and a honeymoon in Thailand in July!

It’s nice to have things to look forward to!

Stress

I couldn’t get to sleep last night. I didn’t feel too well yesterday and I was really tired, but it still took me a while to get to sleep. I guess I’m a little stressed. Sometimes I feel like I have the wedding thing under control, and sometimes I feel so overwhelmed. I’m basically doing everything, all planning, everything, myself since I live overseas. Unfortunately I haven’t made too many good friends over here who I can ask for help…I get plenty of advice from collogues at work, but advice isn’t planning. Anyway, I’m feeling a bit stressed today, but I’m sure it will pass.

I am considering going home for a week in the spring though. The tickets from Europe to the US are pretty cheap in April. It might be worth it just to go home and get some help with some stuff, plus I would be able to hit some stores…. I sure miss Michael’s and Target!

We’ve now decided not to go to Bali. I did a little bit more research and found out that it’s not necessarily the safest place. I knew about the nightclub bombings, but the ”kidnapping and poisoning” that the State Department warns about sound pretty serious. The decision became final when I realized that Indonesia has been hit pretty hard by the bird flu. Now we’re thinking Thailand (like everyone else in Sweden.)

I think we’ll be going up to Bengtsfors this weekend. I have some serious wedding planning to do.
I hope you all had a nice Valentine’s Day! I didn’t get to see my Valentine yesterday due to miss-matched work schedules, but he did leave a beautiful bouquet of long stemmed roses on the table for me!

Far to go before I sleep

The skies are clear, the sun is shining, and the air is cold! So much for our unusually warm February! Yuck, I hate being cold! At least it doesn’t seem like it will snow. (Knock on wood!) Snow doesn’t belong in a city. It becomes slushy, dirty, and a real pain to walk in. As the Swedes say, ”Shlaskit!” (phonetic spelling.)

Other than the cold spell, things are going pretty well up here. I expanded my position at work by taking over for girl who went on maternity leave. (BTW, maternity leave means at least 1 year off in Sweden.) Anyway, I now have loads more to do. I feel that having more to do actually motivates me a lot, and helps me to be more efficient. I’m really happy with the extra work load; I feel so needed!

Earlier this week I was very excited to hear that people are starting to book their flights to Sweden! My mom will arrive on June 7th, and then my dad, sisters, and my sister’s boyfriends will arrive on the 17th. One of my best friends T, (also my MOH) and her boyfriend are planning to book their tickets this week. (They may have done it yesterday.) Also, my brother and his wife hope to finalize their plans by the end of the week! In case you’ve lost count, that’s 10 people from WA state. I am also expecting my Aunt and Uncle from Rhode Island, and possible my grandmother from Mass. I’m also hoping for representation from DC for a total of 15 Americans. Looking to Europe I am expecting friends from Scotland, France, Belgium, Austria, Spain, and Germany. The Swedes will be out numbered!

I can’t begin to explain how excited I am that people are coming all this way for P and me. I will definitely need to buy some waterproof mascara!

Anyway, speaking of wedding stuff, I am now dealing with the problem of finding a DJ. …oh and ladies, potential bachelorette party in Gothenburg on June 21st. I will help T to plan it (it’s tough for her since she’s not from here!) and then she will get in touch with you. It is so crazy to think that many of my very good friends, all of whom I met during different parts of my life and in different cities (or countries) will all be in the same place at the same time!

Hope to see you all in June!

Great Minds

Happy Monday! It’s cold in Sweden. Winter has finally hit us (boo!) We had a nice weekend though. I spent Saturday morning giving P a haircut. He a got an electric razor/hair cutting kit for Christmas (not from me!) Anyway, I’ve never given anyone a haircut before, but it actually came out pretty well! OK, it took about 2 hours, but we saved 300 SEK! That is, 300 SEK which I promptly spent in the next part of our story entitled, P and Steph go shopping.

There are tons of sales going on right now, and the great thing is that all the winter stuff is on sale (and it’s still winter!!!) So I picked up a couple of nice sweaters at 50% off, followed by the most beautiful jacket I have ever owned – 40% off. OK, even at 40% I’m not going to admit how much I spent on the jacket (a lot,) but I love it, it’s really warm, and am sure to wear it for many years. Besides, I haven’t bought a new winter jacket in over 3 years, and I did receive some money for Christmas. (Have I justified this expense yet?)

P and I had planned to go to the grocery store after shopping. As we headed back to the parking garage I checked my watch to see if we would be able to stop in at Ikea before they closed. After watching me check my watch, P said, ”You want to go to Ikea?” I had never said a word about going to Ikea, how did he know???

20 minutes later, we were taking the obligatory lap through Ikea and looking for the dark brown wooden hangers that we had come for. I was also keeping and eye open for the mirror department. I had been wanting a full length mirror forever (wouldn’t it be nice to know if my outfit matched before getting to work!?) Anyhow, the next thing I knew, P went up to a salesgirl and asked her where the mirrors were. Again, I never said a word about mirrors, how did he know?! Perhaps we’ve reached a stage in our relationship where words are no longer necessary?

So it’s Monday morning, and still 1½ hours to go before lunch. I had a terrible stomach ache when I woke up this morning. (I don’t usually get stomach aches, or sick for that matter.) Anyway, it hurt so bad that I traded in my morning coffee for tea (this is big, people!) It’s mostly better now, but still hurts a tiny bit. What’s that about? Also, (back at work) I received two phone calls from a co-worker who works at another site. She has a knack for saying things that ruin my day. I’m glad that I usually don’t have to talk with her on a daily basis!

That’s it from my end. P works day shift this week, which is good for two reasons: 1) I actually get to see him in the evenings, and 2) it’s his week to make dinner.

I hope it’s warm where you are!

Wedding fun

Wedding dress shopping was fun. I’m really glad that I was able to do it with my mom, sisters, and maid of honor. Of course there are a few other friends who I would have loved to be there (and who I wish I could have in the wedding) but seeing as this is already a complicated event I decided not to overcomplicate things by involving people who live in more cities than necessary.

Anyway, back to wedding dress shopping. It took about three days for me to find my dress. Actually I tried it on the first day, but didn’t realize that it was the ”one” because the dress was really big on me. (The bridal shops only stock dresses in 8s and 10s, which is very annoying. It’s nearly impossible to be able to try on a 0 or 2 which means you won’t know exactly how the gown will fit until it comes 4 months later!) Anyway, dress shopping is really exhausting. First you choose several dresses that you would like to try on. The sales girl gets them for you and gives you an under slip to try on (which is very heavy and makes the dress poof out.) Next you stand in the dressing room wearing nothing but the under slip (and underpants of course) while the sales girl takes the dress out of the bag. She help you put it on, which takes a while. Then you go out and stand on the stage for a while. When you want to try on a new dress you have to wait for the salesgirl to put the old one bag in its bag before she will take out the new one. After going through this process with several dresses I was very exhausted!

One store I went to was at the mall. The store was great, but the location was terrible! The store had great big glass windows, and was on a corner where a lot of people walk by. I was basically on display for everyone to see. The little girls walked by and ooow and awwwed over me (which was kind of fun.) But then the high school boys walked by and made stupid comments…plus at one point I looked over my shoulder to see my fiancé peeking at me from behind a curtain!

That’s it for now.

Home Sweet Home

I just got back from three weeks of vacation in America. I thought I would be really jet-lagged today, but I’m holding up better than I expected. We left Seattle at about 7pm on Monday, and finally arrive at our apartment around 8:30pm on Tuesday. Anyway I slept through the night and wasn’t too exhausted when my alarm went off this morning. I went to work and told myself that I would go home early if I start to crash. But it’s 2pm and I think I might be able to make it till 5.

We had a great time on vacation. We spent about 2 weeks in Spokane, where we did a lot of wedding planning. We accomplished the following: ordered wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses, bought veil and shoes (including bridesmaid shoes,) bought wedding rings, bought tuxedos for P and both dads, bought vests for all ushers, chose wedding colors, bought all supplies for invitations, save the date, thank you cards, etc. We also confirmed the date with the priest, and P finally asked his friends to be ushers. So things are moving forward! BTW, the official date is now June 23rd (Midsummer!)

New Year’s Eve we headed up to Priest Lake, Idaho, where my brother’s friend has a lake cabin. There was about 10 of us at the cabin including my brother and his wife. We were really up in the mountains, in the middle of no-where Idaho! However, there was a bar open nearby and we decided to head there to ring in the New Year. There was a live band at the bar, which was headed by a Bob Marley look-alike. They played reggae all night (mostly Marley covers.) A good time was had by all, although I was a bit disappointed by the lack of count-down leading up to midnight. I was also disappointed when the band only played Old Langsyne for about 10 seconds before switching back to reggae. I was even more disappointed a couple of hours later when I realized that I had had a few too many drinks…

After Spokane we headed to Seattle where we rented a car and drove both down to Centralia to see P’s relatives, and up to Bellingham where we visited our old university. We also spent a lot of time with my friends in Seattle. Good times! (But the traffic there is horrible!!!)
Happy New Year!

I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)

[Chorus]

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

In 77 and 69 revolution was in the air

I was born too late into a world that doesn't care

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

When the head of state didn't play guitar,

Not everybody drove a car,

When music really mattered and when radio was king,

When accountants didn't have control

And the media couldn't buy your soul

And computers were still scary and we didn't know everything

[Chorus]

When pop-stars still remained a myth

And ignorance could still be bliss

And when God Saved the Queen she turned a whiter shade of pale

When my mom and dad were in their teens

And anarchy was still a dream

And the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail

[Chorus]

When record shops were still on top

And vinyl was all that they stocked

And the super info highway was still drifting out in space

Kids were wearing hand me downs,

And playing games meant kick around

And footballers still had long hair and dirt across their face

[Chorus]

I was born too late to a world that doesn't care

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

--Sandi Thom. Album, "Smile it Confuses People."

Deep Thought of the Week

I’ve been pondering this one for a while:

We have long corridors at work with offices on either side. (Reminds me quite a bit of my freshman year college dorm building.) My office is all the way at the end, so I often find myself walking down the hallway to get to the copy room, restroom, stairway, etc. Along the way to said destination I most often meet people who are coming from the opposite direction.

The hallway is empty except for the two of us. I know that he is there, but he is still really far down the hallway. Should I wave and say hello right away, thus being forced to hold my smile and keep eye contact until we pass each other? Should I let my eyes wander and pretend like I don’t see him until we are about five feet away and then look up, smile and say hello? And worst of all, what should I do when I am about to pass him for the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th time that day? Should I smile and say hello every time (even if I just did it 2 minutes before.) Should I ignore them and pretend to be reading the papers in my hand? Should I give him a disinterested nod.

It sounds like such a silly thing, but awkward non the less. Does this happen to anyone else?

Straying now from this very deep topic: Less than 2 days until I’ll be on my way home, and most importantly, on vacation!!! “Christmas break, woo-hoo!”

Lucia and Liseberg

Yesterday was Saint Lucia Day here in Sweden. I’m not exactly sure why the Swedes celebrate it, or how it came to be a Swedish tradition (it originated in Sicily.) But it’s a pretty big deal. School children dress up and have a special Lucia parade. ”Lucia” walks first with candles on her head. Next follow the ”maids” dressed in white gowns and holding candles, then come the ”star boys” who have cone shaped hats and star wands, and finally come the ”gingerbread boys.” They all sing Christmas carols and special Lucia songs.

The employee choir had their own special parade at work yesterday morning. It was really beautiful. If only I could sing like that…if only I could sing at all. Then the company had lussekatter (saffron and raison pastries that you only eat on Lucia Day,) and gingerbread cookies. It’s always a good day when you get free food at work!

After work P. and I went to Liseberg (which you may remember is the largest amusement park in Sweden.) They had it all lit up for Christmas, plus they have a Christmas market. I’ve been wanting to go since November when they opened for the season. (I’ve been driving past those lights on the freeway for weeks!) Anyway, we went and were disappointed that it cost 70 crowns to go in. (I thought it only cost 20 crowns.) But we were there and I had been waiting to go for so long, so we paid it and went inside. The lights were beautiful although we were a little bit disappointed; we were expecting a bit more for our money. Especially since it’s really hyped up. Anyway, it was pretty. We walked around, enjoyed the lights, checked out the piggies in the petting zoo and treated ourselves to roasted chestnuts and churros. Aye Carumba!

Tonight after work I get to go to yet another Christmas party! This time with my real employer (my contracting agency.) We’ll be at the SAS-Radisson, should be fun! Tomorrow is Friday and we only have a few days left until we leave for vacation!!!

Seriously?

P. called me at about 4pm yesterday to tell me that there were many delays due to flooding. It’s been raining for weeks, and I guess yesterday’s rain put the “water over the bridge.” All trains starting in Gothenburg and heading south were canceled. Plus, basically all roads in the city of Mölndal were shut down due to flooding. Guess which city I work in? Here’s a hint, it starts with an “M” and ends in “ölndal.” Mölndal is about 10 minutes south of Gothenburg, and by the way, I live about 10 minutes north of Gothenburg on the island of Hissingen. I decided to skip the freeway (E6) and take the highway instead (155), which is sort of a back road. It involves taking a bridge (see picture) over the river instead of the tunnel (which is the E6 goes through), the traffic can get really backed-up around the tunnel, so I didn’t want to chance it. Once I got out of Mölndal the traffic wasn’t too bad, I made it home in about 35 minutes (it normally takes about 20.)

This morning I was pretty sure that the E6 would be really backed-up, so I decided to take the 155 again. Everything went smoothly until a few kilometers after the bridge. Things started to slow down…and then stop. I took me about 2 hours to drive a distance that normally takes about 5 minutes. I drove in 1st gear for several kilometers going about 5 kilometers per hour instead of 90 km/h. Eventually my left leg started quivering as I struggled to hold down the clutch in my tractor-like, German mini-car (Opal) that I got from the workshop where I let my Saab yesterday.…finally I saw the giant glass buildings and factories that make up my company in the distance. Of course it was at about this point that I realized that the road was completely closed in front of me, and that we were being forced to exit the freeway and take back roads. What a morning. I left the apartment at 7:30 and made it to work at about 10am. Seriously.

Now I’m sitting here wondering how the heck I’m going to get home…

I’m also thinking about my honeymoon. I think we’ve narrowed down to two places. One that is all inclusive and looks like a really good deal. I’ve always wanted to go there but I’m not sure if it’s the ideal honeymoon location. The other isn’t all inclusive and it will cost more, but it look much more like paradise. It seems that in Sweden you are supposed to keep your honeymoon location a secret, so I won’t be giving out any info just yet. But here’s a hint: the two honeymoon locations that we are considering are on two separate continents. I neither live on, nor come from, either of those two continents.

Lazy Girl Creates English Blog

Well, it’s been a while since I updated by blog, and I guess it’s because writing in French just takes more time. And time is money…So I’ve decided to create an English blog too. This way if I feel like blogging (but don’t have much time) I can just do a quickie in English. ;) But I don’t want to give up the French idea, so I’ll try to keep that updated too…

So let’s do a weekend-update, shall we?

Friday night was the awesome company Christmas party. (In Sweden you can still say Christmas.) Anyway, the office parties started at about 1:30pm on Friday afternoon. Then, at 3pm, big coach buses were waiting to whisk us away to Lisebergshallen. (Liseberg is Sweden’s biggest amusement park and is located right here in Gothenburg. We were in a big theater. The park attractions are closed, but the park itself has been turned into a big Christmas market for the season.) Anyhoo, we were treated to champagne, chocolate, and a great show. Afterwords we went across the street to Svenskamässan (Swedish Convention Center) where we enjoyed dinner, loads more to drink, more entertainment, and lots of dancing. I think that there were about 2,500 of us there from work. :) I danced until 1am, at which time P. picked me up on his way home from work.

On Saturday P and I went up to Bengtsfors for a traditional Julbord or ”Christmas Table.” We dinned at a fancy mansion turned restaurant and hotel. The food was great.

On Sunday we hung out, ate ginger cookies, drank glögg (hot wine,) and discussed our wedding/catering problem.

This morning I had to drop off our car at the workshop again. We recently discovered that they didn’t do any work under the car like they were supposed to (after the wheel incident earlier this fall.) Anyway, they’re going to fix it now and we won’t need to pay another deductible or anything. So I brought my poor baby down to the workshop and was given a tiny Opal to use for the week. The Opal is really old and doesn’t have power-steering. It’s noisy too. Plus they didn’t put any gas in it. I already miss my car!

It was still very dark at about 9am this morning, and it’s getting darker by the minute now (current time: 3:09pm.) It has been raining non-stop since October and the weather has been unusually warm, often above 10 degrees Celsius! (40 degrees F? Not sure)
I can’t wait to leave for Spokane next Wednesday! It will be 3 fun weeks of vacation and wedding planning!