On American Traditions

July 4 came and went without much fanfare in our family. We spent a relaxing couple of days with our friends, Klara and Diego, at their family's summer house near Kämpinge, a beachside community along Sweden's southern coast.

Neither of the words "fourth" or "independence" came up, but Ruby wore her nationalistic garb and we barbecued and enjoyed the company of good friends and beautiful summer weather. 

Those are traditions worth holding onto.

Fun things to explore at Klara's.

Digging in the sandbox ...

... and at Kämpinge beach.

There were these nostalgic, little wooden cabanas along the beach. Klara
said they were family-owned and passed on through the generations.

Ruby couldn't see the point in them - if no one was going to open them up.

But she and Diego managed to entertain themselves otherwise...

Happiness is a child on summer vacation ...

and motherhood.

Klara and Diego

Ruby and me

Midsommar 2013

Oh oh oh, I'm becoming more and more Swedish as I lose myself in the summer! Well, here are some belated photos of my Midsummer celebration (June 20), which this year I celebrated at the school where I've been studying Swedish.

The teachers organized the celebration for the students - fun with cultural assimilation! There was flower gathering, garland designing, Maypole decorating, dancing, games, strawberry cake and fresh strawberries. 

Ruby came with me and was excited to see "Mama's school" and my classmates were equally excited to meet my mini-me.

Festive, joyful, awkward dancing around the Maypole ... it was hard interpreting
 the Swedish dance instructions while simultaneously moving our limbs.

The Asian delegation. ;)

Ruby wearing our co-designed garland...

... which I thought it turned out well, if I do say so myself.

Interestingly, eveyone's self-made garlands seemed to suit their 
personalities perfectly. Here's Nanjin with her sweet and sunny daisies.

Miaoting and the ubiquitous Swedish poppy, 
so vibrant and colorful.

Ramy still working on his ... but his choice of clover
blossoms, so stubbornly cheerful, were apropo.

Embracing Swedish tradition...

... and Swedish food traditions. 
(Note the cake and cream disappeared first.)

Later that day, Ruby celebrated the summer solstice in her own way.

Svenska för invandrare/ Swedish for Immigrants

Things to note about the Swedish language: scanty usage of commas and capital letters, and affinity for really long compound words. Example of the latter: arbetsskadeförsäkring is actually 3 words linked together: arbets=work's, skade=injury, försäkring=insurance; in English they remain (which makes sense to me!) individual words: worker's compensation insurance.

As some of you may know I was finally enrolled this past January in the Swedish for Immigrants (Sfi) class that the Swedish government provides free for all newly arrived residents. I love this manifestation of Swedish socialism! Theoretically it is available within 3 months of arriving and registering in a kommun/county, but for a registration snafu and unusually high number of applications in the area, my enrollment took a bit longer. 

But once in, it was all good. I opted for the daily class, 5 days a week/3 hours a day. I was fortunate to have a really great language teacher, and a positive group of people to study with. It was great having the formal structure of the classroom lectures and study materials, and just as importantly the camaraderie of other folks with similar experiences and frustrations regarding language, assimilation and being a stranger in a strange land.

In May, my teacher signed me up for det nationella Sfi-provet, which is the nation-wide test to see if one has mastered enough of the language to be conversational and manage social interactions on a daily basis. To put it in a different context, if I were to pass the test and consequently the class, then I'd be eligible to continue studying in a different course - the equivalent of middle school level grammar. It's actually better not to put it in context, as when I think of it that way it's somewhat deflating...

Anyhow, several of my classmates were signed up for the test as well. And although we all have college degrees (and many of them have master's) we somehow giddily regressed into a high school mentality of cramming and stressing about the graded outcome. But I was so glad to have my classmates laughter and support.

So the test day was June 19. It was a day and half affair: 2 reading portions, 2 writing exercises, a listening comprehension portion, and 2 oral exercises in front of a instructors (first describing a given theme and then discussing another theme with a classmate). At the end of it all I was quite uncertain how it would turn out, as most of the listening exercise felt like ... well, a completely foreign language. In fairness to myself, some of the recorded speakers I believe had regional accents which made them all the more unintelligible. 

But in the end, I passed with a decent score. I'm going to miss my class and friends, as after passing the test one is immediately booted from the course to make space for new immigrants. But I have a lot more practicing and studying to do before I can feel comfortable with the language here. And luckily many of my classmates and I have plans to keep in touch and continue studying together.

So wish me luck as I stubbornly trudge down that long road ahead towards being tvåspråkig(= "two-languaged")/ bilingual. Ruby's already sprinting ahead of me.


Here are some photos of our semester's end, knytkalas(=knot party)/potluck.

That's our very likable and encouraging teacher,
Julia, in the foreground serving fresh honeydew. 

Thalia, Ramy and Islam

Najnin 

Nations represented: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Romania, Poland,
Ukraine, Russia, China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Great Britian,
Greece, Mexico, USA, and of course Sweden. 

Dilek and Thalia 

Mitra and me

Tayfa and Robert

Miaoting and Daehan

Springtime (and I) have returned!

Sorry for the long delay. I've been mentally absent for a while. Perhaps it was the long Swedish winter, perhaps it was all the flus/head colds/Noro-virus episodes we had, perhaps it was my long-awaited enrollment into the Swedish for Immigrants language class. In any case, the past months have been interesting and pre-occupying. But here I am. I survived my first Nordic winter and am now enjoying spring.

Winter did arrive right on cue, first snow of the season was on December 1st and ended just as punctually with the last snow on March 29. And within a few weeks of that final snowfall the transition to spring was complete. So neat and prompt, like the Swedes.

Testing the ice on our neighborhood pond. March 30

Ice fishing. March 30

First blooms in our backyard! April 17

Crocuses popping up everywhere! Then the daffodils and tulips followed.

Had to limit Ruby's flower gathering in Stadsparken, Lund. April 20 

Loving the spring sunshine. April 20

Thanksgiving

... is my favorite American holiday, and one I sorely missed this year. To combat the homesickness, I decided to host a small Thanksgiving dinner this past Sunday for us, my Swedish father-in-law and his friend. 

I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner only once before, during my second year of college with a group of transplanted students. It was a potluck and my roommate, Laurie, and I had only to prepare the turkey and gravy (my pre-vegetarian days). Both of which were delicious and edible due to the intervention of friend Jeannie, who stuffed the turkey (ewww) and de-lumpified the gravy.

Since then I've always been lucky enough to be invited to Thanksgiving dinners. So this Sunday was a fun challenge, and I have renewed appreciation for all you Thanksgiving chefs. I started the food preparation at 7pm the night before and was pretty much in the kitchen until 6pm dinnertime on Sunday. But it was overall enjoyable, and Roger was a great sous-chef and fountain of optimism as I fretted about the ...

tofurkey. Yep, in trying to find a vegetarian entree to replace the Thanksgiving turkey I came across a homemade tofu turkey recipe that was to be a great replacement for the store-bought Tofurkey I usually bring home. This recipe is basically seasoned tofu, compressed and wrapped around bread stuffing. Although time-intensive, the dish wasn't so complicated. 

But each step of the way as the tofu made its transformation, my doubts grew about the palatability factor...

But have to say, the meal and coziness of the evening was a success. Everyone, myself included, enjoyed the diverse and complimentary flavors - savory, sugary, tangy and an all-pervasive butteriness. I mixed in a little Swedish tradition with the substitution of lingonberry jam for cranberry sauce, and a traditional applecake with vanilla sauce for pumpkin pie (the latter is not one of my favorites). 

Afterwards we were all full and awash in that warm glow of Thanksgiving contentment and cheer. Lisbeth said she enjoyed her first Thanksgiving, and I'm thankful for that. 

Our homemade tofu turkey ready for the oven.
I was fairly skeptical at this point.

The final outcome, an hour plus and several
bastings later. It looked ... odd, and I was
having misgivings about putting the
meat-eaters through this.

Proper presentation and nice garnishes
helped boost my confidence.

And in the end, the dinner actually turned out great - 
tofu turkey included. Compliments all around, from
 Swedes and Americans alike!

With Ruby as the exception, who ate only the tofu
and lingonberry jam and politely refused all else.
Picky, picky, picky ... and annoying.

Svensk äppelkaka: this baby has apples, cinnamon,
cardamon, almond paste and 1/2 pound of butter!

Höst/Autumn

As if on cue, autumn creeped up on Skåne beginning in late September, and within a few weeks the weather was that much more blustery, gray and wet. 

I've pretty much lived my life in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a few Southern California interludes. Now here in Sweden and experiencing this different clime, I've been captivated by the dramatic seasonal change - the softening of the light (the sun is traveling pretty low now), the glorious colors in the foilage, and the noticeable chill in the air.

For Ruby - she was particularly enthused about jumping into and running willy-nilly in the mounds of crisp, yellowing leaves that the wind piled up around Staffanstorp.

Ruby in her grandfather's garden. On this particular day, Ruby and I
ran back and forth through the house to confirm that on one side it
was raining, and on the other side - not raining! Then we got
completely distracted by the appearance of the double rainbow.