Davis Skateboarding

Davis skateboarding - he is only 2.5 years old!

If this does not make you want to come visit Sweden...WHAT an amazing day!

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Fellow ex-pat says farewell!

We welcome our first guest blogger and fellow ex-pat to the Swedish Spoons blog. Joe, Kristen and their family came from Atlanta four years ago to Stockholm. She was one of the first people I met in Sweden when we arrived 15 months ago.

Each year, in the Spring edition of William's school newsletter, the editor asks a family who is leaving to write a farewell article. Dwight and I thoroughly enjoyed Kristen's story and thought is would offer an interesting perspective to our blog readers. We will miss the Fosters and wish them well as they settle into their new home in Charlotte, NC.

Four fabulous years for the Foster Family

By Kristin Foster

It is a beautiful day today. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. The wind took me by surprise when I stepped out in a sundress and sandals and I had to hurry inside for a quick change of clothes. Who knows? It might just snow today. Stranger things have happened than a snowstorm in May. I distinctly remember my first Spring in Sweden when a late snow snuck up on us just as the Masters Golf Tournament was being played in sunny Georgia, our home state. I think it says something that my first thought when I sat down to write this article has to do with the weather. It is just about impossible to talk about life in Sweden without discussing it. We praise it and complain about it. My Swedish friends seem to feel responsible for it. They nostalgically recall years of winter wonderlands and perfect summers. Even I remember the weather of 2005-2006 as picture-perfect. The movers came last week to assess our packing needs. It is starting to feel real. In six short weeks we will be back in the US and our experience in Sweden will be over. Admittedly, I am ready to be closer to family and old friends. I'm ready to settle-in to a more "normal" world where people stay put. That said, I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm starting to get a bit emotional. We have formed friendships that will last a lifetime. We have skied and danced around the midsummer's pole quacking like a duck. We've cruised the archipelago and kayaked on Edsviken. We've ice skated, rode horses, played rugby and danced. We've travelled through Europe, drank good wine and ate delicious food. We've sledded and drank hot chocolate out of thermoses. We've donned kilts and Starboy costumes. We've lit fires on dark November afternoons and snuggled in for the day. We've learned songs about pepperkaka. We've developed a fondness for kardemum kringla and strong coffee. We've given our children a chance to be independent: riding bikes to school solo and walking to "town" alone to do the recycling. We've slammed schnapps at a Julbord. We've seen a moose and picked mushrooms. We've opened our minds to new ways of thinking. Life as an expat is amazing but not always easy. As a community we have shared an experience that most won't understand. We deal with the lifestyle much like we deal with the weather. We pick it apart, criticize it and wish for something different. In the meantime, we have a great time in spite of ourselves! We will miss this community more than words can say. I'm even starting to think that I will miss the weather. O.K... maybe that's pushing it!

Crunchy or Smooth?

My dad used to have a saying; "never trust a man who won't take a drink."

Now if you know my dad, you know he is not much of a drinker himself. Although he will have an occassional beer, but that is usually after arriving at my house after having battled Atlanta rush hour traffic (if any of you have never been in Atlanta rush hour traffic, it would make the Pope drink, take my word for it).

No, the point of his saying was not that a raging alchoholic should be trusted implicitly. Rather the point is there is something non trust worthy about a "tee-totler."

Think about the old American Westerns. If you walk into the saloon all dirty and dusty and I slide you a whiskey down the bar...and you DON'T drink it, then you are a man with something to hide. I should fill you full of lead on the spot lest you shoot me in the back.

Same with peanut butter. I can tell all I need to know about a man by offering him the simple choice: crunchy or smooth?

If you say smooth, that is 1-2-3 strikes and you are out! Who eats creamy peanut butter? I bet Brutus ate creamy PB.....so did Lee Harvey Oswald and it's a well known fact that The Grinch and Bear Bryant were creamy PB eaters. (By the way, the Entire New York Yankess baseball team eat creamy PB).

No, real men eat crunchy and its that CRUNCH that makes a man a man.

Of Preachers and Cops

God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh ~ Voltaire

Ever noticed how people in the law enforcement business always sound so formal when they are talking on television? To wit, “The suspect entered the premises and proceeded to assail the victim as the witness appeared too non-committal to the aforementioned incident... wha? Who talks like that? Unless you are Thurston Howell III, how many times per day you think you would use the word aforementioned?

There are another group of people that talk in "uber-formality" - the religious community. I was in church on Sunday and heard the following prayer, “Dear Lord. Please remain with us in our day and in our lives. Keep evil from us. Help the afflicted (afflicted?). Lord we know we are full of sin and we are here today to ask you to purge these impurities from our life and help us to remain vigilant in our quest to follow in your footsteps. Now I am not here to blaspheme and Lord knows (woops!) I need as much church and prayer as the next guy, but this is the 21st century. Do we really have to talk to God like we are…I don’t know…filling out police report?

I decided that when I pray from now on, I am going to keep it real. And just to prove I am a man of my word, I will leave you with my first blog prayer:

Dear Lord. How is it going? Things are pretty good here. Sweden is a nice country and my boys are doing good. Thank you for them by the way...they are miracles… but I guess you knew that. By the way it is still amazing that you gave your son to us. Don’t ask me to do that. I couldn’t. Seriously…don’t ask. God. Lots of people I know have Cancer. Help them. Help US to help them. Give our research guys a nudge in the right direction. The world would be a better place without the “C” disease. Lord. Help Christians and Muslims find some common ground. As long as we are at each other’s throats, the world is going to be a less fun place to be. Ok? We can talk about world hunger tomorrow. Good talking to you and I mean that.

Your pal and sometimes prodigal son,

Dwight

PS – I have been a bit inspired by a book called “Lamb” – The Gospel According to Biff.

Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815

William turns 6 in Sweden!

It seems like just yesterday when we were celebrating William's 5th birthday in Atlanta at Chuck E Cheese and getting ready to move to Sweden. Now we have settled into our new home and William is a year older!















It was amazing to me how many of his new friends were able to come to Nickies (Stockholm's version of Monkey Joe's). It was a treat to have his party on his actual birthday even though we were sad that dad was traveling to Barcelona that week. I was able to send Dwight photos and video using Ericsson phones and networks so he got to "experience" it virtually.





William had a wonderful time jumping with all his school mates. As the kids were all sitting down to eat rice crispy treats with orange spinkles (by request from William), I was amazed to see 25 children from 17 different countries! They all were chatting in English which is a second language for at least half the group and then I captured the kids singing the Swedish version of "Happy Birthday to You".

We will always remember his special birthday party in Sweden!

William skiing fast in Switzerland

Why are Europeans so pushy?

Trust me, being an American Ex-pat during the Bush administration was not the easiest thing in the world. People don't find out you are American and pat you on the back and say nice things about you. We take our fair share of criticism and some of it is probably deserved.

But one thing Americans DO that I like (scratch that....LOVE) is respect personal space.

We just got back from a great ski trip in Switzerand and if I have but one complaint, it is about the pushiness of people in mainland Europe. It doesn't matter if you are going to the restroom, getting on a plane, standing in line to get on a lift...Euros don't respect lines and they push to get everywhere. WHERE IS THE FIRE EUROPE?

The US may not have the charm of Europe, but one thing it has is convenience and ability to provide customers with personal space. It has been a long time since I had to litterally push someone back like I was in first grade, but that is what I found myself doing at the airport in Geneva. He didn't really seem to mind...and why should he? Pushing and shoving to get ahead in line seems to be the "norm" over here (I should make a footnote that Sweden does not fit into this category. As a rule the Swedes are far more orderly and respectful of lines than the rest of the continent).

And pushiness is not reserved for the young men...old ladies are particularly pushy. Would it be bad to give a forearm flipper to granny?

I suppose all these populous countries mashed up together causes some sort of "space issues" but whatever the reason, I don't like it.

Yes...Europe is charming and we love our time here, but all these "in a hurry Euros" could benefit from a week long "slow down and learn some manners camp." Americans are often criticized for not being well-traveled. I must say that most of these push Euros have either never been to the US or they find some manners before they come over. I can't tell you without a doubt that if you tried to push your way to the front of the line at the Atlanta DMV or maybe at the Silver Skillet you would get your @ss whipped real fast.

Dudes from Alabama probably shouldn't ice skate

Listen...I grew up in Alabama. I know my limitations. I know almost everything about the history of SEC football, I can hunt, I do like Budweiser, I played baseball with limited success....I grew up with warm weather, water skiing and yes...I like Lyndard Skynard.

So what the hell am I doing on a pair of ice skates? Elizabeth gave them to me for my birthday in November. At the time, I said "thank you" but I really meant, "huh?"

I held them up like a stinky diaper...thinking "what am I supposed to do with these?" Then William reminded me how useful an ice skate can be if you are say...stranded on a desert island in the south Pacific (the mind of a child is truly amazing). Yes...this is true, you never know when you will need to crack open a coconut or rid yourself of a worrisome tooth....so I kept the skates.

Over the following weeks, I could have sworn the skates were looking at me...teasing me, "aren't you man enough to put us on and glide around the ice on us?" I sneered at the skates and out loud told them if they knew what was good for them, they would keep quiet lest they end up being "accidentally" thrown in the trash.

But as the weeks went by and William got better and better on his own ice skating I decided to try. In my mind I was thinking about how I was going to type at work with a broken wrist OR how the doctors were going to laugh at the "Dude from Alabama that was ice skating and almost broke his neck!"

But I gave it a shot and after a few shaky laps around the rink (pitch) I let go of the rail and sailed out onto the ice. Epiphany...ice skating is pretty fun.

Today we actually went onto a frozen lake with the kids and had a blast. William, mom and me were skating and Davis was being pulled in his sled. What a neat experience and I learned you are never too old to learn a new trick and also...yes, dudes from Alabama can INDEED ice skate.

PS - One has to wonder how many people from the deep south have been making laps on a frozen pond in Stockholm, Sweden? Probably about as many as Swedes who can quote the lyrics to "Country boy can survive."

Christmas Card 2008

http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4e6a517a4e444d784e5877784d4459784e444d304f513d3d0d0a&sb=1

Prague

Last weekend Elizabeth's parents were in Stockholm so we decided to make the short flight over to Prague. Elizabeth had visited before when backpacking across Europe, but it was my first trip.

Simply put every good thing you have heard about Prague is true. It is one of the most amazing places we have ever been. It is not every day that someone from Alabama gets to walk across a bridge that was built in the 13th century.

Being in the old town is like an adult version of Disney World. The architecture is awe-inspiring with spire tipped onion dome rooftops dotting the skyline. We have posted some pictures here that will give you an idea of what we saw during our 4-day trip.

Of course all the boys want to know how the beer was and yes..it was very good. I normally don't drink a lot of pilsner-style beer, but this is what the Czechs do really well. It is also the original home of Budweiser which you will be reminded of early and often in the city.

For those interested in history, Prague has as much as any place on earth. Nestled between the old Austrian and Germanic empires it has undergone many changes in regional boundaries, religions and kings. Most recently in 1989 Prague students held a non-violent protest against the then Communist regime. The students gathered in famous Wenceles square and halted their march at the feet of the police. Soon after they were beaten with clubs. While the government run press buried the story, home-made footage emerged the next day and incited bigger demonstrations through Czechoslovakia. Within weeks the Communist regime tumbled and new democratic era began.

I was a student at Auburn University during 1989 and all I could worry about was beating Alabama on their first ever trip to the Plains. No doubt both events were important. :-)

About the only complain I have regarding Prague is the customer no-service industry. In most restaurants the waiters collect your order while speed-walking past your table. An hour or so later they return and throw your food on the table. But the food is cheap and I will never complain about having to pass my time drinking excellent Czech beer!

Enjoy the pictures!