Holidays

Bonne année! Gott Nytt År! Happy New Year!!

Readers, I apologize for my lack in writing. I think I took the word “vacation” too literally this time and am paying for it now: motivation and work accomplishments have been at a minimal these past few weeks. But I am trying hard to get back on the wagon, or the horse, or whatever the saying is….

Anyways, there is much to tell, most importantly about my holidays and my first Swedish Christmas.

Yes, I have just returned from experiencing my first Swedish holidays and friends, I have to say, I’m hooked.

First off, the whole event of Christmas is completely and totally amplified in Europe in general: markets, ferris wheels and decorations galore. While I found Göteborg to not be so over-the-top with the street décor and such (with the exception of Liseberg which is a winter wonderland) the traditions definitely proved that Sweden can be the capital of Christmas (after all, Santa Claus does live there, or is it Finland? Or both?...)

Tradition is alive in everything: from the food you eat to the spontaneous singing and drinking during dinner, the annual Disney extravaganza and the exchanging of gifts.

So let me start from the beginning:

First, Christmas in Sweden is not really celebrated on December 25^th, it is celebrated on our Christmas Eve, the 24^th. It commences with a visit to church in the morning—a shorter version of the real thing, with a nativity scene and special presentation for the children. Afterwards it is back home for perhaps some fika time (coffee and chit chat) while dinner is prepared.

At 13h00 (1:00pm) dinner commences. It is a literal smörgåsbord of Swedish cuisine: sill, Christmas cheddar, julvort, köttbullar and beet sauce, pate, eggs and kalles kaviar, ribs, skinka, knäckebröd and shot after shot of snaps. Dinner goes in a pattern of: eat, drink, sing, repeat.

After dinner at 15h00 (3:00pm), Kalle Anka’s Christmas special is on. Kalle Anka (Donald Duck) is a necessity for a Swedish Christmas. It is pretty much a compilation of the most classic Disney cartoons and films all wrapped into one hour-long display. None of it has to do with Christmas at all, actually, but it was a great treat of nostalgia for me. A great article on it can be found here: http://gawker.com/5433951/if-you-lived-in-sweden-youd-be-watching-donald-duck-cartoons-right-now

At around 16h00 or 17h00 (4 or 6:00pm) Dad (Tage), steps out to “get the papers.” As Maude and Jonatan and I were sitting around the Christmas tree awaiting his return, we were surprised by a knock at the door. Immediately Jonatan and Maude shoot a glance in my direction, and my heart skips a beat. Could it be? Is it really him? Tomten???

I crept to the door, and as I cracked it open, low and behold, SANTA was there. “Hello. Merry Christmas. Are there any nice children here who are expecting presents?”

We of course welcomed him in and he then went to work distributing the gifts to everyone. Another tradition in Sweden is creating special rhymes and riddles as Christmas cards. Each present gets one and it is written to the receiver as a sort of “hint” as to what the gift is.

After all the presents were handed out Santa (Tomten) had to be on his way. So many other houses to visit that night! (It is my theory that Sweden celebrates Christmas a day earlier than the U.S. because Santa starts there (as he lives there) and then doesn’t get to America until later).

Tage returned shortly after. Darn it! He missed Santa again!

The present exchange was of course much fun. We all made away quite well with our loot. Perfumes, colognes, books and a shakti mat (the rage in Sweden now) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/world/europe/25stockholm.html?_r=1&ref=world

That evening it was more Christmas television specials with Svensson, Svensson and then it was time for porridge. Another customary Christmas food, porridge is eaten in the evening at the end of all the festivities, and the lucky one who finds the almond inside gets to make the wish. Well of course I forgot about that part and scarfed down my whole bowl, thinking that crunchy part was perhaps some uncooked grain and I should just swallow it whole to be polite. Everyone stared at me as I licked the last part clean, wondering where the “wish” they had so carefully planted in my portion had gone. Yeah, I had done so well up until then! Drinking the snaps, singing the songs, eating all the fish! And then I freaking ate the almond. Oh well, I guess there will be next year :)

The rest of the holiday was just splendid. We spent a lot of it at Jonatan’s aunt’s house with his cousins, uncle and grandmother. I was able to hit some of the after Christmas sales at Torp with Linnea and Josefine, and even practiced my Swedish a bit. I am able to understand more and more now, and was even able to talk with Jonatan’s grandmother a bit! (ok for like 1 minute…)

Anyways, my stomach and soul is overflowing with julmust and glogg now. Pepparkakor are coming out my ears and I have gained at least 8 kilos. No joke.

I am incredibly homesick for Sweden yet again, but it is less than a month now until my next visit.

Coming up in the Life of Liana: more France, a trip to Bruges and PARIS!!!

Bisous!

New Years in Gothenburg

Jag saknar dig, Göteborg

I'm having a Sweden withdrawal day. The people (duh), the streets, the sounds and just the overall energy. Especially that of Göteborg. Håkan Hellström can always give that to me, if only for just a few minutes.

I'm trying to be creative for some more blog posts, and am attempting at starting HubPages to write even more, but the words just aren't coming....

Inspiration, where are you??

Wherever You Go, There You Are

So here I am. I know it has taken me a while to start this thing (having been in Europe about a month now), so I apologize for my tardiness and hope you all will understand I was a bit distracted these last few weeks ;)

To sum up what you have missed: Swedish McDonald's is still the best in the world, Swedish women are so hot they can't keep there hands off each other (literally), and Swedish men really probably are the best partners due to their "enlightened attitudes toward equality and gender roles" as The Local has reported http://www.thelocal.se/21098/20090804/ (I can't cook, clean, or do laundry the Swedish way--yet! But I want to learn!).

Jonatan and I had a great time doing what we do: eating, relaxing, laughing ;) And I was truly sad to leave when it came time. Goteborg is a beautiful, welcoming city and I enjoyed exploring it a bit more on my own this time (as Jonatan was in school. which was ok, because now I am totally comfortable taking the buses and trams all by myself. and shopping all by myself too, the most important thing).

I even joined a club while I was there: The American Women's Club of Goteborg http://awcgothenburg.com/ and was able to connect with many interesting women living the expat life with their Swedish partners in this coastal city. Good contacts to have!

Jonatan and I also got to share the most exciting weekend together: meeting the twins! Alexandra (Jonatan's sister) and Felipe (her husband) welcomed their first children into the world one month ago: Victoria and Valentina. They were the most beautiful babies and spending time with them and the family was very heart warming (I still need to work on that svenska though...I'm starting up that Rosetta Stone again).

But sadly, I had to eventually say hej då to Sverige and bonjour to France (though I hope to get back to Sweden soon! And not just because I had to be an eno gab on my flight out and leave half of my luggage there because I am an idiot and don't check baggage allowances on flights within Europe until two days before I leave).

So now I am in Lille, my new home for the next 7 months. I admit, yesterday, after travelling from Goteborg to Oslo to Paris and then finally to Lille, I was a bit of a poop. I was nervous, anxious, stressed, lonely and my heart was hurting a lot. But, thanks to the most generous friends, I had a place to stay and a tour guide during my time of transition.

And Lille really is an exquisite city. The past 24 hours I have felt a bit off balance and have been trying to search for that passion and admiration I usually feel for anything French. It is slowly coming back, especially after I devoured a tarte au sucre and a gourmandise from the original Paul (boulangerie), but I am hopeful that once I am settled I will yet again be mesmerized with the certain magic this place holds for me (like the food, shopping, architecture, history, language, culture and art and not the beaurocracy or the pain in the *** it is to do pretty much do anything practical here. but whatever. this is definitely only temporary that I will be here, so I might as well just focus on the good stuff and enjoy it ;).

I have so far set up a French cell phone number for myself, tried unsuccessfully again to contact the teachers at my schools in Valenciennes (for those of you who don't know, I will be teaching English this year in 3 French public primary schools in the city of Valenciennes, about 30km outside of Lille), and met up with about 10 other American teaching assistants in the same boat as me. It really is great to be able to meet with people going through the same thing as you--especially when it can be so frustrating!

Anyways, I enjoyed a tasty steack avec sauce deux poivres et frites this evening at Aux Moules http://www.auxmoules.com/ and a big Belgian beer with my fellow assistants.

Tomorrow it is off to discover Valenciennes, desperately search for a place to live and maybe write and discover more of this new place. And it's not bad. It may be missing a few places and people in particular that I would like to have, but it's alright. I think I will enjoy it just fine. Afterall, how bad can a place be that sells chocolate covered waffles? Not bad at all...