How many pancakes can you eat?

My mother-in-law is visiting and today she made Swedish pancakes. Wait, let me rephrase that. She made a mountain of Swedish pancakes. I stopped counting when I had had 8. The Daughter was in seventh heaven (she might have had 10....) and the Husband just kept eating quietly.

It's too bad you can't ship Grandmom's Pancakes from Sweden.

Swedish pancakes - American pancakes 1-0.

Domestic flying

This week the Husband spent a day in Dallas. He flew there in the (early) morning and came back in the (late) evening. I'm usually the traveler of the family, but I usually never fly domestic - well, only as a way to get to my international flight.

I can't help it but it's still sounds pretty cool that "you're off for the day to Dallas". Sure sounds more fun than "I'm off for the day in Luleå" (not that there is anything wrong with Luleå). Or actually that is not a good comparision - since Luleå is what, about an hour's flight from Stockholm. It's a three hour flight to Dallas from here. Hm... let's see... three hours from Stockholm would take you to... Madrid? But somehow I think that it's less common that you "are off for the day to Madrid" if you live in Stockholm.

Sometimes the same distance is a different distance - can be shorter or longer depending on where you live...

The Husband flew the domestic airline Southwest Airlines.

Speaking about Swedish habits...

Today a report from the Swedish Red Cross on the hugging habits of Swedes came out and was reported by the major Swedish newspapers. Nine out of ten Swedes embrace somebody at least once a week. Women between 30 and 44 are most active huggers.

AP picked up the story on the active hugging Swedes and interpreted it as; "While Swedes have a reputation of being reserved, a new study shows they'll hug just about anyone except their boss".

The report had no comparison to other countries - is this a lot of hugging compared to for example Americans? Now that would be interesting to know...

I'm a hugging Swede. I've been in a lot of embarrassing situations when I've tried to hug people from southern Europe who at the same time were trying to kiss me on the cheeks while at the same time sort of keeping the distance, having no intentions of the closer contact a hug usually means... Which usually has ended in some weird wrestling situation when no one knows exactly what's going on... except that it was not what was intended...

An eyeopening book about Swedes?

I accidentally found a book at Borders today - Culture Smart - Sweden - A quick guide to customs and etiquette. I got curious and just had to buy it. After all - sometimes I do feel like an alien even in Sweden these days and maybe I need a quick refresher course.

I interestingly read things like;

On quality of life: The Swedes love their homes, and this is apparent the moment you enter them. Candles softly glow, lightning is subdued, and fresh flowers lend an air of cheeriness. The whole effect is cozy, welcoming, restful and harmonious, for the Swedes, when not outdoors, happily spend a lot of time at home (p.84).

I immediately felt the pressure... I'm I living up to this despite being a Swede abroad...? "Fresh flowers, air of cheeriness"? Gosh - I might need to hire and interior decorator!

On invitations home: To be invited into a Swedish home is a real honor. Guests usually bring a gift of flowers, candy or wine. When giving flowers, the Swedes like to pretend that they are straight form the garden, and will remove and hide the florist paper before knocking on your door (p. 78).

My gosh! I've always removed the paper (which usually is wrapped around the flowers to protect them) because I think it's nicer not to give flowers wrapped in paper - never even crossed my mind that anyone would perceive it as trying to fake that they were from my garden (I lived in apartment building in down town Stockholm...).

Swedish conversation has an exchange pattern all of its own, and foreigners, especially those from North America, tend to go wrong by offering too much information too soon. The conversational comfort zone of a Swede follows a certain cadence: brief question followed by a brief answer. The length and strength of the response should match the question (p.70).

Holy cow. Are we really perceived to be that slow...

Culture Smart seems to be a book series about different countries, "attitudes, beliefs and behaviors" - and there seem to be one for the US too. I might have to get that one and compare...

I love eBay

I'm not a big "eBayer" - but I have an account (did come in handy when I bought six non-refundable tickets to a Jerry Seinfeld show wrong city... Eugene, Oregon and not Sacramento, California... don't really know how that happened - but in the end I managed to sell them, even with a totally unexpected profit, using my eBay) and I've done a couple of purchases.

It's amazing what you can find on eBay. Historically I've found things like a identical replacement favorite stuffed kitten from Animal Alley for the Daughter that they've stopped selling in the store once she realized it was her favorite, special hooks for the stroller and other things I wouldn't even know where too look for otherwise.

Now I'm waiting for my IKEA footstool cushions that I bought on eBay on Saturday. Turned out that IKEA had discontinued the fabric we have for our sofa chairs when I went to IKEA to get foot stool and cushions in the same fabric and I was in a bad mood all afternoon until I decided to at least check on eBay. Who knows. And guess what - some seller who is specializing in discontinued IKEA slipcovers and cushions had two new cushions in the right fabric still in it's original plastic packing.

A visit to the hospital

For the first time ever, I have first visited the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), visiting one of my Swedish friends who suffers severe effects from a ruptured appendix two weeks ago.

I was completely shaken afterwards, had to sit in the car in the parking lot and calm down (and I'm not even afraid of hospitals) before I could drive home. It was such a shock to see this extremely athletic and busy woman, hooked up and being so very, very sick.

If you ever feel unexplained lower abdominal pain that just doesn't go away, please see your doctor. And if you feel fine - just enjoy your day - things can happen so quickly and unexpected.

During my only stays in a hospital here, giving birth, I was well prepared, had learned all the words, expressions of labor and delivery and was extremely ready. I felt safe, and I felt I had control. I can't imagine what you go through when you so unexpectedly get sick being an alien - and have to take it all in in a second language. I'm not even sure I would know how to say "sprucken blindtarm" (ruptured appendix) in English.

Cookie Sunday

Every year I make two big gingersnap cookie doughs, put up all the advent decorations, turn on the Christmas music, chill the julmust and invited people over to come make them. It has sort of become the start of the Christmas holiday celebrations.

(And every year I regret it around the 587th ginger snap cookie. No, actually not - but that's when my back is usually starting to protest).

The first year we did this, I had to go online and try to figure out some important word such as "bikarbonat" (baking soda) and "kryddnejlikor" (cloves).

When we're done, we divided up all the cookies. Now I have two big jars of home made ginger snap cookies. They will last through Easter...

Stocking up on Julmust

I went over to IKEA this morning, getting "julmust" at the Swedish food shop for tomorrow's "Gingercookie Bake Party" with our little "Swedish school".

"Julmust" is this very Swedish soft drink Swedes drink for Christmas (and Easter, but not to the same extent). Julmust outsells CocaCola in during Christmas in Sweden.

I love julmust. In December. During any other month it's sort of disgusting.

Seems I was the first person getting a whole box of julmust at our IKEA... 24 bottles... "All of them?", the sales assistant asked. I had already gotten weird stares for buying all the frozen "polarkakor" (soft Swedish bread). And I mean all....

Which bridge?

Growing up in Stockholm, you're used to bridges (there are about 40 of them, connecting the 14 islands).

But it still is sort of big to get the chance to choose from only two bridges.

Golden Gate or Bay Bridge.

We can take either one to get back home after our Thanksgiving celebration. Bay Bridge is way quicker. But Golden Gate sure is a nice bridge.

How to do Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving here in the US but even though we've been here for over 8 years now, we really don't have a "relationship" with the Thanksgiving Holiday. When our American friends are busy and stressed out cooking huge Thanksgiving meals and gathering the family members (for good and for bad), we only have a nice four day holiday to look forward to, without any obligations. We have yet to cook one of the huge turkeys ourselves (even though we've had great friends that have had us over for the real thing during earlier Thanksgiving holidays).

But with our kids growing up here, Thanksgiving is going to be part of their childhood traditions and memories (even though it was not part of ours) and already the Daughter is asking about turkeys and what about the Indians.

Next year she will be in school and maybe it's time for us to start getting into the real Thanksgiving tradition.

Our local paper had a great guide in yesterday's edition. A complete hour-by-hour guide on exactly what to do to get to that huge Thanksgiving dinner done by the early evening. The guide even tells you when to take a shower and it seems that you can have a glass of wine around 1 pm to start the festivities.

If you're a Swedish reader and would like to do a real American Thanksgiving Day - here is the complete guide! You just have to find a 16 pound (approx 7 kg) turkey first...

8 a.m.

• Make gelatin or fruit salad. (Do this a day ahead if you have time.)

9 a.m.

• Bake pies (day-ahead option)
• Select background music and load the CD player (day-ahead option).

10 a.m.

• Set the table and arrange flowers (day-ahead option).
• Fill an ice chest with ice and add beverage
• Prepare stuffing ingredients, but keep wet ingredients separate from dry and set aside.

11 a.m.

• Fill the coffee pot and get it ready to start.
• Bake rolls, then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. When cool, wrap them in foil packets (day-ahead option).
• Cook giblets and reserve broth for gravy and stuffing (day-ahead option).
• At 11:15, take the turkey out of the refrigerator so it can warm a bit before it goes into the oven.

Noon

• Prepare the turkey for the oven. Begin roasting at 12:15 (roast four hours at 325 degrees for a 16-pound unstuffed bird; plus 30 minutes of standing time before it can be carved).
  
• Make fresh cranberry sauce and place it in the refrigerator (day-ahead option).

1 p.m.

• Shower and relax for a few minutes before guests arrive.
• Open the first bottle of wine.
• Prepare appetizers and place them on serving platters. Eat a few yourself to keep you on your feet all day.

2 p.m.

• Assemble candied-yam casserole and set aside (day-ahead option).
• Assemble green bean bake, but wait to add the French-fried onion topping until the last minute. Set aside.
• Whip whipping cream.
• Fill cream pitcher and sugar bowl (day-ahead option).

3 p.m.

• Peel and boil potatoes for mashed potatoes (day-ahead option).
• While potatoes boil, assemble the shrimp cocktails and place them in the refrigerator.
• Combine stuffing ingredients and place the stuffing into a casserole dish; cover with foil and refrigerate.
• Place any condiments on the table, including butter
• Turn on dishwasher.
• Take appetizers away from party guests so that they will be hungry for dinner.

4 p.m.

• Rally your helpers and assign last-minute tasks.
• Take the turkey out of the oven at 4:15.
• Add last-minute items to the oven to heat: pan of stuffing, yam casserole and green bean casserole (with onion topping).
• Open wine and place beverages on the table.
• Unload dishwasher.
• Turn on CD player.
• Unmold gelatin and place it on the table.
• Make gravy with pan drippings.
• Place shrimp cocktails on the table.
• Mash potatoes (day-ahead option).
• At 4:45, place foil-wrapped rolls into oven to warm up.
• Light candles.
• Carve turkey at 4:45.

5 p.m.

• Place the food on the table.
• Check your menu to make sure you didn't forget anything.
• Turn on the coffee pot.
• Count your blessings and pass the feast.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I'm cold!

Not only do I have a cold, I am cold too. We woke up this morning to temperatures around 0C (37F) and our Californian house was cold! We had not checked the weather report (as usual, weather is pretty uneventful around here...) and had missed the "cold front" passing by. The heater was not turned on and the thin walls and single glass windows had let a lot of the cold air slip through.

During breakfast we turned on the (fake) open (gas) fire to get some instant heat to warm us up.

The sun is shining and will keep us warm during the day (day temperature will be in the low 20s), but when the nights are cold here, the house sure get chilly if you don't turn on the heat!

And when you're body is used to indoor temperatures around +25C and the temperature suddenly is +15C - I'm COLD!

When the night temperatures hit zero (C), I sure prefer a Swedish, wooden house with radiators below every window and triple glass in the windows...

Amercians on the road

Today is the start of the Thanksgiving weekend, one of the major holidays of the year here. 38.7 million U.S. residents were likely to travel 50 miles - that's more than four times the Swedish population on the road....

4.9 million Californians are expected to travel for this year's Thanksgiving, 3.8 millions by car.

We're 4 of them.

But we're not going far - "only" 82 miles. We will try to beat most of the traffic by traveling tomorrow after breakfast. The 82 miles usually takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes, we'll see about tomorrow... And we plan to return on Friday when most of the people will be busy shopping on Black Friday...

Holiday is in the air - everyone is getting ready for a long family weekend!

The lovely things you can find online

Sometimes when I go through my favorite blogs, clicking on links, commentator profiles etc, it's like going on a trip around the blogosphere, having no idea where you'll end up, learning new things, read interesting topics.

Today I found a blogger's Flickr album with pictures from Stockholm. I have no idea how I ended up on her Flickr page - but I just loved the pictures! I watched them a slide show a couple of times and they really inspired me! Exactly the type of pictures I would like to able to capture, the "everyday" details of Stockholm...

Click on the picture below to go to blacksapphire's Flickr page to enjoy some really beautiful pictures of my hometown!

Stieg is coming to the US!

One this year's most exciting reading experiences (in terms of mystery books) have been the Swedish author Stieg Larsson's triology about the magazine Millenium and the people around it.

I just finished the third book - the book that was to become Stieg Larsson's last (he passed away way too early). I like his idea that the female main character, Lisbeth Salander, is loosely based on Pippi Longstocking, the famous Swedish children's book character by author Astrid Lindgren that every Swedish kid still have some sort of a relationship with. Lisbeth Salander is what "Pippi would have been as a grown-up".

Now the books are heading west. The publisher Alfred A Knopf, part of Random House has bought the rights to the books. How great! Now I can give books from Sweden to my US friends.

A cold weekend

I've had a slow weekend, the germs finally hitting me, one week after the rest of the family. Didn't get it as bad as the Husband, but not I wasn't good enough to do something fun.

When taking my AlkaSeltzer cold medcine I realized that I have no longer any idea on what cold medicine to take if I would catch a bad cold when in Sweden... I know exactly what I want and what works best of all the things you can get here (24 hours a day mind you, no state owned pharmacies that closes down at 6 pm and are closed on Sundays...).

Magnecyl??

I better do like a normal tourist and bring my own medicine...

"Finns det svenskt kaffe på hotellet?"*


(*only funny for those Swedes that know their "Sällskapsresan").

The yearly Swedish Christmas show

A very Swedish phenomena is the yearly "Christmas Calender" TV show (julkalender). For 47 years the Swedish Television has broadcasted a special TV show in 24 episodes, one for each day in December with the grand finale on Christmas Eve, December 24.

I'm a huge Christmas fan and thus a huge fan of Julkalender. Last year we let the daughter watch Trolltider, the show from 1979 which is usually voted "the Best". Every day in December we turned on a new episode on the DVD player. (hm... actually I think I was the one who enjoyed it the most...).

This year's show, seems to be a more of a traditional "Christmas story" than the last couple of years' shows and since they broadcast it on the web the plan is to tune in online every day. And the grandparents that is visiting in one and a half weeks have been asked to bring the accompanying paper calender to open every day. I'm all excited - almost as if the Daughter is in Sweden! No snow outside - but at least the Christmas show on TV inside.

Read more about this year's show here and see a video clip about the show here.

(Picture from SVT.se)

Car doctor appointment

We had to bring my car to the car doctor today. The battery and charging was behaving strange and it was time for the regular maintenance - like rotating the tires and doing the oil and what ever they do to a car at the car doctor... Do they get shots too?

It's a logistical challenge to bring and pick up at car for service. You need two cars going there and one car but two drives picking it up in this country without widespread public transportation.

Anyway, you car almost becomes part of you so you really miss it when it's gone (not only because you get STUCK!)... here is my little car below El Capitan in Yosemite.

Going to Stockholm

In 2,5 weeks I'm off to Sweden again. The last trip of the year and only for seven days. Besides working I'm picking up essential things like saffron, Lucia-gowns, and hopefully some Swedish Christmas spirit.

I wonder if I will be able to walk around town in my new Merrells of if I need snowshoes for that.

We had +23C today. And no clouds in sight.

Snow in Stockholm

There are days when I miss Stockholm a little less... when I don't mind at all being far, far away. Days like today, when the first snow reportedly arrived to Stockholm. And amazingly enough always create a total chaos...

In my part of California we don't ever have to use snow shovels and no snow plows have never passed by early in the morning and we never wake up to that... white, soft, total silence that comes after a night of snowing.

We still have only had 2-3 days of rain since spring...

Our favorite ghost

Since he was newborn, the Son's favorite lovely has been a stuffed Spöket Laban- one of the most known childrens' book characters in Sweden. Not at all planned, it was actually his big Sister's but it was the thing that best helped hold the pacifier in place and now he can't sleep without it.

"Spöket Laban" (the Ghost Laban) is the story about the little ghost Laban and his adventures in the castle Gomorronsol (Goodmorningsun) with his friend Prins Bus (Prince ... Naughty??). The first story about Spöket Laban was the result of the authors' youngest son scare of ghosts in the late 50s.

Being a Swedish alien I really cherish that the Son happens to have a Swedish character as his lovely and is of course even more keen to find things with Spöket Laban on (just as things with the Swedish characters Pippi and Bamse are worth more than gold in the alien world) (if you have kids that is, grown-up Swedish aliens usually get just as happy to get some Marabou chocolate and Wettex wash cloths in the mail).

So I was so happy to learn that there now is a Spöket Laban concept store in Stockholm! During my last visit to Stockholm I went there and had to stop myself from emptying the store. It's a cute little store not far from the new shopping galleria in the former tax building (Skatteskapan), at the intersection of Skånegatan and Katarina Bangata on the island Södermalm.

They also have an online store and the store owner promised me that they would start shipping internationally (they carry everything from the authors Sandberg&Sandberg - Spöket Laban, Lilla Anna, Tummen and Pysen, clothes, toys, linens and games).

The visit made my suitcase significantly heavier when returning home from Sweden and I can't wait for Christmas Even when I, oups, I mean the kids, get to open their Christmas gifts...

Have a nice day!

I went to do some quick food shopping and sometimes this is really a good way to get in a good mood. As soon as you see or pass a shop assistant inside the store, they always say hello, "How are you?", and smile and ask you if you need help.

When you're standing at the check out, they say hello, help pack your bags, ask you if you want help outside. If there is a line, they always call for back up and they make sure the next person inline get the new, open check-out counter, and not the person last in the line ("I can help you over here, miss")

And - they always say goodbye using your name. They check the name on the receipt (if you use a credit card, or memorize the name if you pay with a check), and say "well, have a nice day Mrs XXX!"

Small courtesy that sometimes just make you happy!

(and I don't care if they mean it or not, at least they say hello and goodbye compared to the Swedish normal grocery shopping experience...)

Really ready for walking

Today I finally found time to head over to Rei, a major sports chain, to look for walking shoes and trekking poles. I have a bit of an "arch" problem with one of my feet (which got worse after a scary fall on the island in Stockholm this summer), so if I'm walking longer distances, I need something to protect it (I do NOT want to end up with heel spur (hälsporre) again, it took me three cortisone shots and almost six months to really get that healed a couple of years ago...).

So I spent the afternoon trying out walking shoes (no, they're really not that pretty or cool... why can't they come in some more fun colors... or is it that you have to wear "earth colors" when walking... oh, well). I walked around the store several times in different shoes, had a great sales assistant who helped out like only an American sales assistant can and finally got these Merrell Chameleon Arc shoes. I also added a special insole that helps with arch problems - and when I took my first walks with the sole in the shoes, it felt like I was just floating around in my shoes. Almost flying!

I'm so happy - I've thought about getting good shoes for years. These I'll bring to Sweden and use for all my long walks when I'm in Stockholm (just put my office shoes in the bag). I don't know how many kilometers I walked during my 10 days in Stockholm a couple of weeks ago. It was great - but boy did my feet hurt!

I also got trekking poles too so now I'm all set for some Nordic Walking!

Meet my colleagues!

When you work from home you have to be happy with whatever colleagues you can get. Some you like, some you don't.

I usually start out the day with the company of Meredith and when it's time for a second cup of tea Kelly shows up. Rachel arrives after lunch as does Martha (who I'm actually a bit afraid of). Last but not least, The Oprah.

They really never listen to what I have to say, they just keep on blabbing. But then I usually have my back turned to them and focus on my own business. These open office spaces can be tiresome sometimes. But in the end of the day, I'm happy they're, keeping me company. Have a nice weekend girls!

(These woman are all on NBC through out the day, Meredith on The Today Show, Kelly on Live with Regis and Kelly, Rachel on The Rachel Ray Show and Martha on The Martha Stewart Show and finally Oprah on The Oprah Show.

Being an alien...

When you live far away from a Swedish passport office, renewing or applying for a passport is a complicated thing. You need to apply in person and pick it up in person. Same goes for kids, so you have to drag your baby or child back and forth to the embassy or consulate. And it's getting even worse in the future, when only a few consulate in the US will have the special photo machines needed to make passports.

We're lucky enough to live within car distance to the Swedish consulate in San Francisco - and don't have to fly the whole family to another state, hours away.

The Swedish Consulate in San Francisco actually sends the passport paper work to the Consulate in Los Angeles. Who then sends it to Sweden somewhere. Why? No idea... maybe they like shuffling paperwork? Anyway, getting a passport as a Swedish alien literally takes months.

We applied for the son's Swedish passport in the end of August. 7 weeks (!) later, we learned that the Los Angeles office had not approved the photos of the son and new photos had to be sent in. To San Francisco. Who then will send them to Los Angeles. Who then will send them to Sweden. Then the passport will be sent back to Los Angeles and then to San Francisco. Where we have to go pick it up.

I wonder who looked at two photos of a 15 month old baby for 7 weeks, before they decided that" nah, not good enough..."?

I doubt we'll see that passport before New Year.

Nowadays you're supposed to be able to get your Swedish passport in Sweden even if you're an alien (which was not the case before, when you HAD to go to your local embassy or consulate). But still I hear of fellow aliens having problem with this. The most hilarious story is a friend who, by the police at the local police station and passport unit, was referred to "The Swedish Embassy in Stockholm", since she was an alien and they claimed they therefor could not renew her kids' passports. They seemed genuinely surprised when she told them there were no such thing...

Not that we, luckily enough, are desperate to use that passport. Both kids have dual citizenship, having been born here, and both have American passports (which usually takes 6 weeks and can be applied for at the passport office at the local post office in our own city) and the son has actually been in Sweden three times as an American so far.

The CSI train

The Husband has the flu so I put him the guest room and have the bedroom all to myself (not as bad as it seems - it has a queen size bed and is far from night awakening kids - so I would say it's actually "moving up") . I have turned on the TV, just "for background", just like I used to do when I lived on my own. I'm not really watching, it's just turned on.

Right now the channel that happens to be on shows CSI. CSI something somewhere.

Sometimes it seems I'm the only one in this world who has not jumped on the CSI train. Even in Sweden, I have friends that go home at night "to watch the new CSI".

I haven't hardly watched a full episode ever - half an episode here and there, like tonight, the TV just turned on in the background. But maybe I'm missing something spectacular? Seems the rest of the world think so... And I'm not sure I get this... are there several CSI shows at the same time but in different cities? Or is it the same that just switches cities.

Oh, well, I just saw the Brooklyn Bridge so I guess the one that is on TV right now is CSI NY?

Personality according to Amazon

When I visited Amazon.com today to look for something I decided to take a peak what their recommendations were for me. Amazon.com gives recommendation based on previous view history and purchases. I like this function - it speeds up my searches and makes me find new, unknown related items. I've been an Amazon.com fan for years, and most of my online purchases comes from there (except clothes).

I wonder what kind of personality people would think I had based on these items that all were on my "We have recommendations for you" page today...

Social networking

I like online social networking. Since working from home for years now and being an alien far from family and friends and being depended on technology for contacts with the outside world, I've been exploring all kinds of new services that show up. I'm curious by nature and just have to try them out!

I'm on Facebook, use Twitter, tried MySpace, keep my LinkedIn account updated, signed up at Ning, Plaxo and Orkut just to try them out. I'm active in different forums and host a community. I blog here, have a private blog and a professional blog.

My major problem with social networking is I don't have enough online, curious close friends or family members to try these things out too... (and online social networking sort of is defined by having friends in the same interface...). Maybe I'm just too curious.

Oh, well. Curiosity never did killed the cat!

On the other hand, cats don't spend as much time in front of the computer. Hm.

If you had a magic phone

Today a lot of new announcements were made from down in Silicon Valley. What about that Gphone? What is OpenSocial? I tried to read, view and keep up, as the curious person I am.

In the end of the day, the one thing that stuck was this cute little video that Google put on their own blog... American kids view on a magic phone.

I wonder how the same video, made in Sweden, would differ. After all, this is sort of the stone age country when it comes to mobile services. My nephew in Sweden, soon to be 4 years, has been video conferencing with my brother using his 3G cell phone for years...

Back on time

Ok, so now we have switched to "winter time" in California and are "in sync" with Europe again after one week out of sync. Now we have four months to decrease the number of clocks in the house with at least 50%. HOW can we have that many clocks in our house? We're only two people who even know the time? In our bedroom we have five...

I think 90% are done. The rest will just confuse us for the rest of the week, until all clocks show the right time.

Want to know what to do in Stockholm today?

Today is "All Saint's Day" in Sweden. A day to remember those who have passed.

If you don't have any plans and you're in Stockholm - here is what you are going to do:

Take the subway to Skogskyrkogården (line 18) (avoid taking the car if you can) and take a long walk around The Woodland Cemetery (Skogskyrkogården), Europe's largest cemetery. If you have never been - this is a MUST. It's an amazing sight - 10000s of candles and the tranquility of this beautiful place. Go at dusk and leave at dark. You will experience something you have never done before. Take my word for it!

If you don't know anyone buried there - it doesn't matter. Bring a candle and lit somewhere or walk over to our own Swedish Hollywood star, Greta Garbo's grave (map here).

I'm going to be really mad if you don't do it - those of you who are lucky enough to be in Stockholm over the weekend... (and not in northern California half a world away). So - off you go, readers in Stockholm, Sweden!

I have blogged about this amazing place before, last year and a couple of weeks ago (with a photo slide show). Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from All Saints Day. But no picture can do justice to the real life experience.

Baby names in Stockholm vs California

Even though I'm done naming children, it's always interesting fun to see the top-lists (and check how your own name holds up).

I just found a list on the most popular names in Stockholm. I quickly googled to find the most popular names in California... always fun to compare:

Popular girl names in Stockholm:
1 Emma
2 Julia
3 Alice
4 Ella
5 Agnes

Popular girl names in California:
1 Emily
2 Isabelle
3 Ashley
4 Mia
5 Samantha

Popular boy names in Stockholm:
1 Alexander
2 Hugo
3 William
4 Elias
5 Leo

Popular boy names in California:
1 Daniel
2 Anthony
3 Angel
4 José
5 Jacob

Conclusion? I've all those Emma's want to feel special (and not have 10 friends in the same class with the same name...) they can come to California and the Californian Daniel boys can go to Sweden!

The mood in Stockholm

As of tonight the mood of the people of Stockholm is more easily detected. You can "see" it on the five sky scrapes in down town Stockholm (from today until January 8). This is an online and real life art project - you visit a website and tell them your mood and the collective mood will turn into a color that will be projected on the sky scrapes. The website really is beta... you can't sign up in Swedish only English and lot's of other bugs - but hey, what a fun idea!.


Hm... my favorite purple means the people of Stockholm are in a bad, bad mood...

For us aliens, there is a live webcam so you can check out the mood of your old home town.

(Picture from www.emotionalcities.com)

Transatlantic travel

OK, 8 hours or 7 days to cross the Atlantic?

One day I would like to take a transatlantic cruse ship to the US. Arriving in New York just like all the immigrants from Europe did (even though the cruise ships don't stop at Ellis Island these days...) would sure be exciting (and after 7 days on a cruise ship seeing nothing but sea, you probably think anything looks beautiful!). But before I would be "home" I still would have a continent to cross...

Taking a cruise ship in stead of an airplane is actually not really more environmental friendly, you would have to take a train for that and so far there are no transatlantic trains.... (or a take sail ship... but they tend to be pretty small... and even though I rarely get sea sick, being the grand daughter of a sea captain, I wouldn't want to push it...).