After a day of public transportation, I could not convince Dwight to get back on a train to get into the city for the only English speaking mass I could find. So we had to brave downtown Stockholm via car, and yes, Davis screamed most of the way. Maybe he does not like the voice on our GPS system. Speaking of the GPS...you can only imagine how funny it is to hear Dwight yell at yet another piece of electronics.
We are both getting pretty adept at the "round abouts" but parking will always be a challenge. We circled the church three times before picking our spot.. We also did not knowing if our car would be there when we got back. As we walked along the water to St Eugenia's, I pondered all my many blessings. What an amazingly wonderful world we live in.
The homily was delivered by a bishop whose English was better than many of the foreign priest we meet in the States. We also ran into someone from Ericsson that Dwight works with. It is always nice to see a familiar face. Once in our car, we decided to drive back to Solna to our favorite restaurant for...PIZZA. They have incredible salads with shrimp, egg, cucumber, avocado, corn, red onion, pineapple and tomatoes. Davis ate everything except lettuce and onion. Dwight and I enjoyed a beer and when we asked for milk for the boys, the Middle Eastern Swedish speaking chef and owner went to his fridge and brought over a carton of milk.
I will digress to talk about the tiny cartons of milk and every other miniature food product in this country. During our first week, I went to a grocery store 5 times. After realizing that the each milk cartons only fills up a sippy cup 2 1/2 times, I finally started just buying 2 or 3 each trip. Each time I went out, I was able to find a larger store with more options but the proportion sizes stayed relatively the same. For the first couple of trips, I could not find any type of napkins or paper towels. I now understood when I asked Dwight to bring home paper products, he brought more thin, brown, toilet paper.
I have now found a "Willy's" which has peanut butter, dog food and yes, cheddar cheese (does NOT really taste like my favorite Kraft extra sharp). Another characteristic that does not change from store to store is that you have to buy your own bags which prompts people to recycle. I'm all for that except somewhere in between getting "lost" for the millionth time, trying to understand the very confusing parking regulations, Davis screaming and me, bundling up to face sub zero (C) temperatures, I tend to forget to grab the bags. Then I get into the store and decide to only buy one larger bag and put several items in the freebie bags at the end of the check out line. Inevitably these bags are useless. They are small and thin and will not hold anything more than 3 bananas. It was comical to see me manage the groceries, Davis and try to get my 5 Kroner out of the shopping cart coin deposit.
When I started this blog, we had been up since 6 AM and Davis had already pulled me into his room to go night-night (his morning nap is really just a continuation of night sleep with a meal in between). William is playing with Legos and Dwight is working. From our 5th floor window, I can see snow falling and all is calm in the Witherspoon flat.
We are both getting pretty adept at the "round abouts" but parking will always be a challenge. We circled the church three times before picking our spot.. We also did not knowing if our car would be there when we got back. As we walked along the water to St Eugenia's, I pondered all my many blessings. What an amazingly wonderful world we live in.
The homily was delivered by a bishop whose English was better than many of the foreign priest we meet in the States. We also ran into someone from Ericsson that Dwight works with. It is always nice to see a familiar face. Once in our car, we decided to drive back to Solna to our favorite restaurant for...PIZZA. They have incredible salads with shrimp, egg, cucumber, avocado, corn, red onion, pineapple and tomatoes. Davis ate everything except lettuce and onion. Dwight and I enjoyed a beer and when we asked for milk for the boys, the Middle Eastern Swedish speaking chef and owner went to his fridge and brought over a carton of milk.
I will digress to talk about the tiny cartons of milk and every other miniature food product in this country. During our first week, I went to a grocery store 5 times. After realizing that the each milk cartons only fills up a sippy cup 2 1/2 times, I finally started just buying 2 or 3 each trip. Each time I went out, I was able to find a larger store with more options but the proportion sizes stayed relatively the same. For the first couple of trips, I could not find any type of napkins or paper towels. I now understood when I asked Dwight to bring home paper products, he brought more thin, brown, toilet paper.
I have now found a "Willy's" which has peanut butter, dog food and yes, cheddar cheese (does NOT really taste like my favorite Kraft extra sharp). Another characteristic that does not change from store to store is that you have to buy your own bags which prompts people to recycle. I'm all for that except somewhere in between getting "lost" for the millionth time, trying to understand the very confusing parking regulations, Davis screaming and me, bundling up to face sub zero (C) temperatures, I tend to forget to grab the bags. Then I get into the store and decide to only buy one larger bag and put several items in the freebie bags at the end of the check out line. Inevitably these bags are useless. They are small and thin and will not hold anything more than 3 bananas. It was comical to see me manage the groceries, Davis and try to get my 5 Kroner out of the shopping cart coin deposit.
When I started this blog, we had been up since 6 AM and Davis had already pulled me into his room to go night-night (his morning nap is really just a continuation of night sleep with a meal in between). William is playing with Legos and Dwight is working. From our 5th floor window, I can see snow falling and all is calm in the Witherspoon flat.
3 comments:
love the entries! Adorable photos and it is great to hear about your daily adventures. One suggestion: either have two login names or sign your entries...that way we don't have to guess whether it is elizabeth or dwight doing the blogging (it's not actually that hard to pick up on..., but anyway.)
All is good in London. Navigated public transit all the way to the Isle of Wight for a walking vacation and even stopped in Wincester, the early English capital, on the way back. Good luck figuring your way around the metro trains. As long as the stops are near your destinations it is a lot less stressful than driving! What you gain in convenience you lose in freedom, as you mention.
Hugs from Milena and Thomas
I love the updates also.
You are having adventures each day you wake up!
Elizabeth...Im trying also to use bags for groceries. I cannot seem to get it either. Ofcourse Im so forgetful I make a list and forget that too....along with keys, sunglasses etc.
Anyway, maybe we'll both get it. I know I'll think of you next time I go to the store to buy milk!
Dwight...you need to write a book. I think you see things in such a unique way. We dont like public transportation because we were raised in a small southern town. Cars were the way to go.
I agree totally though...Im not going to run for a train or bus...and I agree that anyone who does needs to rethink things a bit.
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