Plethora of random happenings

Hi Everyone,

Let's see. I have a few random tidbits to share.

First off, we were on the bus yesterday and a dog got on with it's owner. I realized that this is a very pet friendly environment. Dogs are allowed on public transport (train and bus), stores, and restaurants. It is up to the owner's discretion, I guess as to where they go. It is nice to have the option to go out with your dog and not worry about access and what to do with them if they are not allowed.

Another unrelated matter is how Saniya is adjusting to school. She is slowly learning the language. As Rob and I learn, she learns as well. So, it is coming. We are hoping the short term awkwardness, isolation and feelings of being different, in general, will be beneficial later in life. We hope that she (and Rowan) will be comfortable in her skin because she gets that everyone is different, can learn other languages easily, has empathy for others that are different, and an appreciation for cultural diversity in general. The same for Rowan, but it is a little different for him because he has no initial frame of reference. His acclimation will come when we return home and everything is different for him in the U.S. It is interesting to see Saniya really learn that there are so many different people and cultures around the world. To live where they are speaking another language and celebrating different tradition really shows her that Americans are just one type of many different people on this earth. The play group in our complex is all children from other countries and there is a theme each week. This week was a Russian mom with two kids that taught them traditional Russian children songs on the piano. Last week was on Japanese children rhymes. So, she is doing great considering the crash course in global diversity she was thrown into.

What else, Christmas is so big here. They are really into it. There are so many traditions. The day is celebrated on the 24th and Santa (Jultomten) comes to the door and brings presents. There isn't the whole stocking/chimney thing, I think. There is a Julbord (Christmas table) which has very specific saffron buns, a weird fish that is cooked with lye (yuck) and other things I am not sure of yet. Also, there is mulled wine called Glogg, and the ginger bread cookies and decorating gingerbread houses is huge. Oh, and these candied almonds that we tried from a vendor yesterday. Yummy. Rowan kept sucking off all the candied part and spitting out the nut. He was so into it. They light candles each week in December until the day arrives. Also, there are lights everywhere and outdoor holiday craft markets all over. It is interesting to have it be a holiday with none of the commercialism we have in the U.S. There are no pressures to buy this or that. No, "have to get the latest for the kids" drama. No, blaring neon at the markets, malls or TV commercials. It is just decorative, festive and steeped in tradition. It is great!

Also, I know lot's of you have asked if we did Thanksgiving here. We didn't do any Thanksgiving at all. I think it snuck up on us and by the time we realized it seemed like more energy than we had to make it come together. We will try for next year though, when we are more settled with living here. It is a tradition we should keep for Saniya and Rowan, I think.

Maybe that's it for now. Rowan has four words. mama, dada, hhhhoooottt (in a breathy voice) and done (said it the first time this morning!). What a pile of work that little cutie is right now.

Rob is leaving for France for work next week until Thursday night, so I will be flying solo in the parent category, and computerless. Other than that we are happy and healthy, and as always, tired but inspired.

Yasmiene

Happy Thanksgiving

Yaz is at her language class and I'm stitting here thinking about turkey and stuffing. We didn't celebrate it this year and it has been interesting to think about what is going on in the US of A. I hope everyone is having a great thanksgiving.

Gobble gobble

Rob

Hablamos Español

A few things to cover so you know what is going on in the life of the meatballs. As I'm sure you all know the Nobel Prizes are given out here every year. December 10th is the banquet at the city hall. Some good news is that Roger Kornberg, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will be visiting our lab on the 11th. Of all the labs at the Karolinska he is visiting us and one other lab. It should be a great opportunity for us to speak with him. His work regarding transcription is quite fascinating and I would refer you to an amazing paper Structural Basis of Transcription: Separation of RNA from DNA by RNA Polymerase II
to read at your leisure.

We have also made plans for our Christmas holiday. We will be going to Barcelona to enjoy the warmer weather, longer days, and late night walks. We have finalized almost everything so now all we need to do is look at things we'd like to do and see. We'll be there for a week.

On the homefront I will be starting Swedish language classes next week. Yaz has been going for a couple weeks already so we will try to speak only Swedish to each other. Yaz got here Swedish ID yesterday so we are well on our way to becoming Swedish. We are going downtown today to see Santa. He will be arriving in carriage to open a department store and unveil the Christmas windows. I wonder what I'll ask for this year. I've been told Santa doesn't come down chimneys here, he just comes to your front door. Seems like a much better way to deliver presents. What if you don't have a chimney?

Although I try to keep politics out of the blog, let me just say that it is refreshing to see things change. Too bad it took 6 years and many unneeded deaths.

We're out the door to see Santa, so until next time.

¡Adios Amigos!

Rob

Halloween och Snö

Just thought you would like to know that the shortest day of the year is quickly approaching. A mere 6 hrs of sunlight. On Dec 22nd the sunrise is at 8:45AM and sunset at 2:48PM. It only gets better from there. And it's not Fairbanks, AK with 3 hrs 45 mins of sunlight. Eugene gets 3 more hours than in Stockholm.

We celebrated Halloween here and although the amount of candy obtained was measured in grams instead of pounds it was a fun time. The next day we got hit with our first winter storm. Somewhat of a surprise to have snow in November. It has since disappeared and we are enjoying cool sunny days for the past week. How's the rain treating you?

Rowan was a prince and Saniya a princess.

Rob

Rowan plotting intrigue at court

Royalty

Contemplating the use of torture

The party

The princess

SNOW!

MORE SNOW!

Dialed in on so many levels

Let's see. My big focus is on language immersion of late. I have been going to Swedish language classes for the last two weeks. It is so great! I think that taking the train, by myself, and learning something, uninterrupted, is as golden as the course itself. Although, the class is good and I am learning a great deal. It is very similar to English. The pronunciation is the variable. My teacher relayed, when the Vikings were at their height, around 800 AD, they would go to Britain and could converse with each other because the words were so similar. Then, after the Normandy Invasion with France, different words were introduced and you can tell if it is French because it does not sound like English (of course). Interesting, like "knee" is knä pronounced kah-n-a, and "foot" is fot pronounced fut, and "knife" is kniv pronounced kah-n-short i -v. So, it is fun to learn and also not too stressful because the entire population (mostly) of Stockholm speaks English. As well, it is good for Saniya to have us learn as a family. I think it is an important part of living in their culture and embracing it. She is learning in school, but she learns differently. I haven't figured out how yet, but she is one to listen and observe and then begin speaking all at once. This is how she learned to talk, so I think it will be the same. She says, "nej", pronounced ney and means "no", constantly. Yeah! Not. Rob switched to my class location for language study. It is a more accelerated school, with a better commute, so he begins next week. Rob is great with retaining information so I think he will pick it up faster than all of us. I spent 8 months in Central America and Mexico and was proficient in Spanish. I have lost it in the last few years. Rob spent three months there and still remembers most of it. Hmm...

Also on the "dialed in" mode, we finally got cell phones! Amazingly, these are the first cell phones we have had for personal use. I have had them for work, but never for myself, and Rob has never had a cell phone. We are so old school. It was time to update, I guess, with two kids and no car and being in this new place and all. Actually, they are incredibly cheap here because this is the cell phone mecca of the world. It is one of their premiere industries and has given an incredible economic boom to Sweden in the last 10-15 years or so. Cell phones were developed here and they still have a big hold in that market.

So, here are our #'s in case something happens:

Yasmiene cell 011-46-7-04610434
Rob cell 011-46-7-04584270
Home (no answering machine) 011-46-8-7369875

The funny part is that all of the instructions for the phone is in Swedish so we still haven't figured out how to retrieve messages or even leave a personal outgoing message. Haha. We hope to call and ask the provider for help in the next few days, but then we have to figure out the # as that is Swedish as well. Ah, the joys of being a foreigner. Anyways, we will do that in the next few days, so if you do call you will know that it is us. Also, we will put up some Halloween pixs of Saniya and Rowan, and of when it snowed, in the next few days! The snow melted after a few days and now the weather is sunny and windy. It is a crisp Autumn again.

Yasmiene

What else...and it's Snowing!

First off, the exciting news is that it is the day after Halloween and it began snowing this morning! There is a white blanket, lots of wind gusts and general blusteriness in the air. It is exciting and a bit nerve racking. There is so much winter attire to acquire here. The amazing amount of rain gear and snow gear the children need. We are also in the midst of buying a stroller with winter equipment which is a cozy down sleeping bag that fits in the stroller and a rain guard that covers the entire stroller. I think we are also going to get a double stroller with the same equipment. It is interesting to not have a car and live in a city. The stroller becomes your car, of sorts. Anyways, we will keep you informed on our vinter (winter in Swedish) escapades.

Two things are on my mind: Children and Dual incomes.

So, this is definitely not a ploy for donations, but I thought I would share the economic aspect of living here. The cost of food and clothing is about double that in the U.S. There are lots of "Made in China" things that are about the same as at home. But, to buy shoes, strollers, clothes, bicycles, just everyday stuff and definitely food is all about twice the cost at home. It is also, more unusual than in the U.S. to not have a dual income. There are long parental leaves for child birth and incredible benefits for disability so their is definitely two incomes in almost all households. If one is at home with a baby even for a year, or year and a half they are still receiving their entire paycheck until they return. So, the society works with dual incomes. That is how it is structured and that is the expectation.

The dual income family in the U.S. seems need based. Although our government does not foster this in it's system, the reality is most families have 2 incomes. Why are we not recognizing and accommodating this for today's families? In Sweden, it is an integral part of their society. It is expected that both parents work. Then, they provide for this structure in government through affordable child care, job security, extended parental leave for child birth and disability, available and free health care and free education (all education including university is totally free). I think that is why there are so many women in science here. The system expects women to remain in the workforce and fosters a family in which that can happen. Women have equal access to education, so will have a career, and then have the infrastructure to remain in the workforce during their childrearing years. This is so huge to not have to decide on a career or family, but to have both!

Also, not to gloss over that this is a socialist society with huge taxes. So, it is not a fantasyland where you keep all of your paycheck and get so much back from the government. Low income pay 30% in income tax. Food is taxed at 12% and non-food items at 25%. But, there wages are higher than in the U.S. so I think it evens out.

Another note is on the safety factor with children here. I was walking Saniya to school the other day because Rob went to work early. I noticed all of the children going to the elementary school across the street. They were all walking into the school without parents. They were getting off the bus or walking from their house alone. These were young kids, like 6-8 years old. I don't remember that in the U.S. It felt like when we were growing up and had more freedom to play outside alone. The long car line to drop off and pick up your child here, I think, would be unheard of. Kind of different. It made me like the idea of raising my children in a culture that feels safe and fosters that in children.

So, take care everyone and enjoy the Fall! I think our Fall may be over and Winter has begun! We'll see....

Yasmiene