Spring pictures from Dörarp

We just had a long weekend, Thursday was a public holiday for the ascension, when Jesus went to heaven. And the Friday in between is called a "squeeze" day that 95% of Swedes have off because it is between the public holiday and the weekend. Wednesday we went out to my parents place to watch the local soccer club play their first home game for the season. We stayed the night in Dörarp and went for a long walk on Thursday before Grandma and Grandpa had us over for lunch. Of course I brought the camera and photographed what a wet Swedish spring day might look like in the surroundings of where my parents live and where I grew up. I have yet to do this in Älmhult where we live now.

First out is he church where wedding bells will ring in about a year. Tomorrow I will send in the booking form for the 21st of May 2011 at 3pm. I will need a confirmation back from the church that it is available before it is set in concrete for any wedding travelers to continue with their plans.

Everything is starting to bloom, this is a tree of some sort where the leaves are just starting to grow again after the winter.
A boat coming out of winter hibernation =)
And another one, the lake is calm and almost like a mirror.
Someones holiday home in a beautiful spot with a fantastic view over the lake called Vidöstern. Not the same lake that my parents live at.
Another tree called Rönn
A little slug out on a spring walk in the wet weather
A typical Swedish gravel road
A flower called Vitsippa that is blooming at the moment and there are hundreds and hundreds of them together like a white carpet, absolutely beautiful, and they are everywhere. I will try to get a photo of it.
The lake Färsjön, which is the lake at my parents place.
Early stages of blueberry I think.

My new bike!

I am a bit excited because I bought a new bike yesterday. I got myself one of these. Unfortunately it is raining today, like the whole day, like heaps and heaps and heaps, so there wont be any riding for me. Luckily I took it for a spin yesterday with Jonas (my brother) in Ljungby after I bought it. I was a bit unlucky here in Älmhult, the 2 shops I went to completely ignored me and no one had the slightest interest whatsoever to help me so I thought for myself - Poooh you, I am going elsewhere. And so I did, I spent my money in Ljungby instead on a bike made in Sweden, in the region I am from called Småland. Support the local was something I started thinking about in Adelaide and will continue doing over here. Isn't she a beauty!!

The rest of this rainy day will be spent indoors, I am making my second sourdough bread, which will be the 4th bread since we got here. I am also starting another sourdough with wheat today, the first one is rye based and easier. I went to IKEA and bought two new glass jars to keep the sourdoughs in, at the moment the one I have is kept in the glass jar to the coffee percolator that was in the apartment and that we don't use cause I got another one from mum and dad as a welcome home/house warming present.

I have got a head ache from grinding my teeth while sleeping and am a bit sore in my neck and shoulders so I will have to let the knitting be for now. I have done more than half of the scarf now and it is sooooo soft. Maybe I should have used a size or two smaller needles to show the pattern better but that's too late to change now, and it is soooo soft.

Toodeloo!

So here it is! Boring but better than nothing...

Ok, here they are! The pictures of our new, and somewhat temporary, home. And the first one is of me in the kitchen, IKEA of course =) There is one of Stephen outside our door in the house, there are 3 units on the upper floor and another 3 underneath. The bike is Stephens, also somewhat temporary, transport to and from work. It is originally granddads bike, which dad inherited and now Stephen is borrowing until his own bike arrive in the container.

Anyway, we have 2 bedrooms and an open kitchen/dining/lounge and a large combined bathroom and toilet with our own washing machine.

I have started another knitting project now, a scarf made from Alpaca yarn I bought at York Peninsula. I have all the inspiration in the world for knitting and baking and doing all sorts of stuff but unfortunately it is lacking when it comes to update the blog, hopefully it will come back soon.

Photos of my relatives, mainly for Pauline =)

First out is Ellen, 5 years old and my youngest cousin.

This is grandma Sonja on Dads side and Jill, Ellens mum, who is married to dads brother.

Here is Ellen again, an adorable little girl, I have hardly met her before as I have either been to uni or in Australia. We had a lot of fun and played almost the whole evening once she got over her initial shyness.

Here is Stephen and grandpa Kurt, also Dads side

Not a relative but a very nice dessert that is more than welcome in the family =) Sponge with whipped cream and fresh red currants.

Grandma and Jill again and in the background cousin Max, btw all these people are from dads side of the family now I dont have to mention that again.

Mummy!

Me and Ellen playing, I tickled her and told her to sit still which is kind of hard when you are 5 years young =)

Dad in the background and his younger brother Johan to the right, and Johans son Pär to the left.

Auntie Kerstin, dads younger sister, Johans older sister, and cousin Max's mum.

Johan, Jill, Ellen and Stephen, we are having a coffee at their place, "the ranch" =)Ellens Shetland pony Rapid having a nice roll in the dirt

Ellen is about to go horseback riding on Rapid, apparently he is not as rapid as it sounds =)

Walking the pony around the ranch =)

A very proud little girl

There are a few cousins on dads side missing, and also Mums brother and his family. But that have to be in another update cause I dont have any photos of them yet. Next update will be pictures of the new apartment in Helmut, sorry Älmhult!

Nightie night, now I am gonna sleep tight!

Sunday night

It is Sunday night and Stephen starts work tomorrow. I should really put up some photos here soon, I did bring the camera to mum and dads yesterday and dad changed over the Australian plug to a Swedish plug on my camera battery charger. The plug is now white. With a black cord. Pretty. Not.

Anyway, the photos are in my camera at least and tomorrow, being my first day as a house wife =), I will upload them. I promise! And then I will do all the other things on my to-do list such as apply for jobs, wash up the dishes, cook dinnner etc.

Short but sweet and full of promises for tomorrow, good night!

We have arrived at our final destination

We have moved in to our apartment now, 2 bedrooms and a combined kitchen, dining and lounge area. Perfect size and just what we need at the moment, and we have our own washing machine! It is more common in apartments that there is a communal laundry and you have to book to use the washing machines, then you spend a whole evening after work doing laundry, or maybe half a day on the weekend or so.

We both picked up a cold on the way over here, Stephen took it with him from Japan and then shared with me once we got over here =) Luckily I had my interview first! It went well I think and I couldnt have done it better in my own opinion so if I dont get the job it is because I am not the right person for the job. And this Wednesday I have another interview with IKEA.

Last night we caught up with Marie and met some of her friends here, they were really nice and I think we will see them all again, at least I hope so. Today we went shopping in Kristianstad with Marie. It is a town an hour away from here that had plenty of shops, it was a bit cold and windy though, not the best weather for shopping. I can imagine it will be a very nice spot in summer and I am sure we will go back for more as I didnt buy anything today but Stephen got himself some stuff which is kind of unusual.

Tonight we are going to my parents for the "welcome-do" with the relatives. It will be very nice to meet them again.

Sorry that there are no pictures just yet but I havent gotten around to get the camera out and we are just about to leave to go to mum and dad so hopefully next time!

Day 3, final Tokyo impressions

Ok, this is what Tokyo is for me:

• All men have suits and ties, and they must work late as they seem to go out after work when we have dinner at 7pm or later
• All they drink is Suntory drinks, whiskey and soda with lemon seems to be THE drink. Stephen really didnt like it which means it must be pretty bad.
• Everyone is really friendly and polite, I feel a bit like the clumsy, big, rude european chick that leaves a mess behind and wears runners instead of nice little heels with sparkly things on.
  
• It is not at all as expensive as I thought, maybe because we are not paying the flights here... But still, it is not as expensive as I thought.
• There are shrines and temples everywhere and the city is very nice and clean, no litter but also no bins, strange...
• We got an umbrella when we left tonights restaurant, very nice of them, again they are very polite!
• You can go everywhere you possibly want either with train or subway = very good organisation. Maybe not the best signage but good enough to find your way if your sense of direction is somewhat accurate (and not like mine, but thats when Stephen comes in handy =)

Thats it for Tokyo, Sayonara and good night, I have to pack my bags, because tomorrow another adventure starts!

Omega 3 intake - tick

Tonight we had sushi for dinner, it was very nice but it kind of all taste the same, with the difference of wasabi or no wasabi.

We spent the day going to Karakuma which is an hour south of Tokyo I think, by the sea. There we saw the big Buddha statue and walked and walked and walked! My feet are kind of sore...

And, believe it or not, I still havent bought anything apart from food and drinks. Nothing, zero, nada! I am sure mum and dad and my brother will be very impressed with that!

It is a bit weird writing in English, as if I am writing for a whole new audience that doesn't know me and I have to kind of introduce myself again.

Anyway, here are some photos of today's outing. I have also found a pattern of a scarf, or shawl if you like, that I am gonna knit from the alpaca yarn that I bought somewhere in the vicinity of Stansbury on York Peninsula when we went there with Stephens parents before we left Australia. A bit sad maybe that I look for knitting patterns while on holiday in Japan but I just happened to check in on one of the blogs I follow, in swedish I'm afrain and mainly about knitting, and there it was and I knew straight away that this is the one for my alpaca yarn!

Anyway again, here are the photos =)


The beach in Kamakura, a bit smoggy and not at all as nice as it could have been.

The sky was full of these birds, hawks as you can see on the next picture...

BEWARE OF HAWKS! We actually saw some of them swop down for food or whatever it was, not sure if the people nearby tried to feed them or not but it looked a bit scary.

The big Buddha, Daibutsu, a nice little walk from the train station in Kamakura. Full of (annoying, screaming, running around, little japanese) school kids and other tourists (like the group of scary German "Women on wheels" bikers who didnt look very much like women at all). The Buddha was built in 1252 to 1262 which is kind of impressive.

Continuing the nice little walk up and down and climbing over tree roots, plenty of exercise for us both and I thought it would never end =)


The view from on top of the hill over the beach we were walking along earlier in the day! It was quite a little hike we did.


A hidden away cemetery at the end of the hike which we didn't expect to see, a nice little surprise, very beautiful spot and peace and quiet. I almost felt like an intruder. The Japanese are very spiritual with shrines and temples everywhere.



Stephen with a well deserved beer with lunch after the long walk, I was trying to be japanese and had buckwheat tea to drink, mmmm... not, it tasted like it was good for me :/ I had a sip of Stepens beer and it was soooo nice! Apart from the beer drinking we have been very healthy eaters here, not counting the McDonalds brekkie. Or the potato chips. Or the donut with the Starbucks coffee. By the way there is a bloody Starbucks in every corner of every street here, incredible! But you don't see anyone with take away coffee apart from us. Maybe because there are no bins anywhere to throw away the bloody cup so you have to carry it around for ages. And no litter either which is interesting since there are no bins... And people dont talk in their mobile phones on the subway, there is a little lady in the speakers asking people not to because it is annoying for the people around. Today we saw a lady talking on her phone on the train and she was whispering and covering up her mouth not to annoy the people around her. Strange. But still they all sit with their mobiles and play with them, read the news or chat or play games or something. Pretty much all mobiles are the big flip style ones with lots of little charms hanging and dangling.

Thats all for todays update, ended up being a big one, now it is time for bed!

I guess it is time!

It has been a while and it is now time to change from Swedish to English as we make the move to the other side of the planet. At the moment we are having a mini holiday in Tokyo, thanks to Eyafjällajökull, nothing bad that doesnt come with something good as we say in Sweden. Might not make any sense here though. Anyway, I have uploaded some pictures here, I hope the link will work, otherwise let me know and I will fix it.

Stephen is loving it here and at the moment drinking beer and watching Japanese tv =) We are both quite tired from the trip, dont think either of us got that much sleep from when we left sydney at 9.45 pm till we reached Tokyo at 6.30 am, almost in the same time zone. But we have a really nice hotel, even if it took the non-english-speaking taxidriver some time and a few phone calls to find it. Internet is free and the room is big and tidy. Maybe the bed is a tiny bit on the firm side but that is not the end of the world.

We had a great dinner and at the table next to ours there was a Swedish business traveller chewing up the ears of the slightly bored but very polite Japanese colleague. We thought it was best to stick to our own and didnt reveal our Swedish connection, scared of being just as bored as the Japanese guy. Anyway, the food was great, some sort of fondue with meat and vegetables, a noodle soup, and then dessert and green tea.

We still havent planned tomorrow but I am sure we will find plenty of things to do!

Inlägg nr 300!

Och det kommer att bestå av bilder från helgens utflykt till Stansbury på York Peninsula med Stephens mamma och pappa. Bilderna kom visst lite bakvänt men det får gå ändå.

Stephens pappa Jeffrey koncentrerad på att få ordning på spöet

Stephen likaså

Utsikten från balkongen där vi bodde, inte illa!

Stephen är lite hungrig =)

Utsikten från framsidan

Piren eller bryggan eller vad det nu heter där man fiskar

Jeff hakar på nåt smaskigt på kroken

Far och son i solnedgången

Nån annan som prövade sin fiskelycka längst ut

Den lokala puben i Currumulka en bit från Stansbury, Det var inte meningen att ge Jeffrey horn, och inte är jag bra på photoshop heller...

Den lokala golfbanan, det vore nåt för mor och far...

En trappa ner i vattnet, det var dock ingen som badade

Pacific gulls hette dessa fåglar, stora fiskmåsar i princip

Jag fick pippi på att fota fåglar ett tag, ett av ganska många. Jag fick till det nästintill perfekta fotot på en gång men tyvärr ur fokus, efter det tog jag säkert 25 till utan att lyckas =( Jag behöver nog en ny kamera =)

Ingen fisk denna gången men Jeff är lika glad för det!

Utsikt från ovan av bryggan och parkeringsplatsen, man skulle kunna tro att det är mycket folk som kommer dit för att fiska när det är högsäsong med tanke på storleken på parkeringen.