Family in Stockholm

As promised, I've got some photos for you. My dad and mom arrived on a Sunday morning at the beginning of April and stayed in Sweden for two weeks. I was lucky to have a chance to feel the comfort of family in a place I've come to love so much.

I had to work the first week my parents were here, so they spent their first several days visiting my classroom and showing themselves around Stockholm and the surrounding area. During the second week of their trip, we rented a car and drove west to Karlstad, the area of my Swedish ancestry. We stayed at a cottage on Lake Vänern and spent our days there chatting, reading many books, eating lots of soup, snacking on licorice, drinking tea, sitting by the water, and walking through the woods (mindful of the ticks, of course). We also were able to share a cozy meal on a rainy afternoon with some of my dad's Swedish family.

I suppose this visit is old news now, but the memories are still warm and bright in my mind and I wanted to share with you some images from our time together.  

Our cottage for the week.

Down the stairs from the cottage: a sauna.

View from the wrap-around porch.

Dad, making potato-leek soup on our first evening at the cottage.

Sunny living room.

...with a cozy fireplace.

Another view of our lovely lakeside sauna.

We headed north in our rental car to explore Sweden... and found ourselves in the land of the dalahäst!

Before...

...and after.

Carl Larsson's house.

Swedish countryside.

Barn near our cottage.

Hiking through the Lake Vänern woods.

Signs of spring!

Last sunset from our porch.

 

Water, Water Everywhere

Hässelby Strand is a suburb to the west of Stockholm, about a 30-minute train ride from the city center. It’s not a luxurious place to live. Hässelby’s distinguishing features are tall, white apartment buildings, a train station, an awesome Thai takeout place, a few overpriced convenience stores, and two schools. 

But there’s natural beauty here for the observer who has the eyes to see it. Massive pines, graceful aspens, genial apple trees, and big slabs of granite adorn the terrain. Best of all, I can stroll downhill for about five minutes and end up by the water—Hässelby Strand means "Hässelby Beach."

Hässelby Strand in September.

I haven’t lived in many places yet, but wherever I end up, I’m drawn to water. Growing up in western NY, I was able to enjoy the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, immense gorges formed by glaciers, and our own little Chautauqua Lake. In college, I visited the river in a nearby ravine whenever I needed to get away from my daily routine. While in Edinburgh, I was enticed by the rocky craigs, which overlooked the shimmering Firth of Forth. In San Francisco, I could walk ten blocks and have a face-to-face meeting with the Atlantic Ocean. Living in Honesdale, I often packed up a book, blanket, and picnic lunch and spent the afternoon at a nearby lake. 

Edinburgh, Scotland

Zoar Valley, NY

San Francisco, CA

Meadville, PA

Bodies of water make me feel calm and secure. I like the open space and reflective qualities of water. I like the range of sounds it makes. And I like that water can take on multiple forms.

Currently, the water near Hässelby happens to be in its most solid form. Over the past seven months, I've taken comfort in the steady seasonal changes of my little beach. I took a walk down to the water one bright Sunday afternoon and was surprised by how many people were out on the ice, enjoying the sunshine and the unique sensation of walking on open water. 

Lonely docks.

Family picnic on the ice.

Look at that blue sky!

The Familiar

Trudging through the snow this evening, I think about how annoying it is that my socks are sliding off my feet inside my boots. I ponder what leftovers I will have for dinner later on. I notice the purple-gray color of the sky. I think about doing laundry. I am not thinking about how desperately I miss my friends, or how to get back to my apartment, or how much I feel like an outsider.

I feel at home. 

After living here for six months and becoming familiar with my surroundings, I have the luxury of focusing on the small things. This is not to say that I don't still feel like an outsider on a regular basis-- without the language, without the cultural knowledge, and without a smart phone, I still play the part of "confused American" quite well from time to time.

So, some news! I’ve decided to stay on another year. My reasoning:
•  I’d like to explore more of this part of the world, and another year in Stockholm will allow me to do that.
•  My job is fantastic. My co-workers are great, my principal is supportive, my kids are awesome. Of course, there are some things I would change about my work. But overall, I’m pretty lucky.

•  Fika.
•  I’m just beginning to form real relationships. I’ve been surrounded by friendly folks since my arrival here, but I’m finally developing meaningful friendships with some wonderful people.

•  I'm determined to learn Swedish.
•  I like the idea of putting down roots somewhere. My Meadville/Edinburgh/San Francisco/Honesdale adventures all felt very temporary, and while I don’t know how long I’ll stay here, it’s nice to know where I’ll be for another 18 months.

My holiday break, by the way, was lovely. It was full of friends and family, food and happy fat cats. Here's visual proof:

I apologize for not being committed to this little writing project. I have received several pushy/curious e-mails from my few faithful readers expressing concern over my lack of blog posts. Warranted or not, this made me feel important. Since you made me feel important, I am back at it, with all sorts of important things to say. Prepare yourselves!

Muppets and Molasses

The snow has finally arrived in Stockholm! More snow = more baking in Kristin-world, so bring on the frosted sugar cookies, gingerbread houses, mocha fudge, molasses cookies, peppermint bark, and maple truffles!

My students completed their unit exam this week, and as much as I’ve enjoyed teaching journalism, I’m excited to move on to the next unit after the holidays: we’re doing a novel and film study of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” There are so many fun things I can do with a novel study—and it will be good to act as more of an English literature teacher than as an ESL teacher for awhile.

It’s been such a gift that I have freedom with the English curriculum here. There is a set of national standards that the students must reach by the time they finish Year 6, but apart from that, there are very few guidelines regarding what is actually covered during lessons. So, while we learn verb tenses, literary devices, and the parts of speech, I get to incorporate things that I think are worthwhile and fun—including journalism, environmentalism, food culture, Sylvia Plath, and the classic film known as… “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” (What better way is there to introduce my kids to great British literature while simultaneously showing them an awesome American Christmas tradition and rewarding them for a semester full of hard work?)

Speaking of Charles Dickens, I spent this past weekend in London with my housemate, Katy. Some highlights from the trip:

·  Feeling the sun on my face and enjoying the 55-degree air.

·  Doing all sorts of touristy things: Seeing the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, the Christmas markets, and Trafalgar Square with its decked-out tree.

·  Sitting in the front row to see “Wicked”… it was so good!

·  Not having to use a map—Katy knows London, which made life much easier.

·  Understanding signs, menus, and train announcements.

·  Remembering what it’s like to be a pedestrian in a place where vehicles WANT to run me over. After living in Stockholm for awhile, where drivers are ridiculously generous to pedestrians, I’ve been lulled into thinking that crosswalks are generally safe places.

 

 

I want to share a super-simple recipe for molasses cookies that turns out so well every time. I’ve made a few changes to it after using it as a delicious procrastination activity countless times throughout college. This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 cup white sugar for rolling

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, 1 cup sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; blend into the molasses mixture. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour. (Make sure you chill the dough! I’ve tried skipping this step and the cookies turn out flat and weird.)
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

Stockholm Sun

Drinking my Earl Grey in the sunshine this morning, I thought to myself how lucky I am to be in a place where I can crawl out of bed, pop out the door still wearing my pajamas, and enjoy the crisp autumn air this late in November. We still haven’t gotten snow here, and while the sun is low and has taken on a very pale yellow color, it manages to show its welcome face for at least an hour almost every day. I’m usually inside teaching in the late morning when that happens, but today is a glorious lazy Saturday, and I couldn’t help but sit on a piece of granite and soak up that pale yellow light this morning. (Never mind that I was seen in my pajamas by two familiar fourth graders… ah, the joys of living so close to school.)

I’m teaching at a new school just west of Stockholm. The building itself isn’t new (in fact, it’s an uninspiring 70s-era gray structure with very heavy doors and frustrating window latches), but the entire staff was just hired this past spring and we all met over the summer. With 35 teachers from all over the world, the school has a remarkable and motivating atmosphere that’s unlike anything I’ve been involved with before.

Our little multi-cultural staff is having an American Thanksgiving gathering tomorrow afternoon (sans turkey, gravy, and stuffing), which will be a hodgepodge of delectable dishes, I’m sure. I’m bringing roasted garlic mashed potatoes and some sort of apple-raspberry-blackberry concoction involving brown sugar, butter, and oatmeal. Can’t go wrong there, as long as I add enough cinnamon, right?

Returning to a bit of background: I teach about 150 sixth grade students in five classes of 30. Most of the time, I try to avoid sounding like a naïve and blindly optimistic first-year teacher (although that’s exactly what I am). But let me just say that my kids surprise me and challenge me and inspire me on a daily basis. They are awesome. For most of my students, English is a second, third, or even fourth language, which makes me feel pretty deficient in my mono-fluency. We’re currently exploring journalism—reliability of sources, how to conduct a successful interview, how their personalities have developed in relation to social media—and I find myself shaking my head when I think back to how I thought it was necessary to teach them the days of the week at the beginning of the year. These kiddos are capable.

…They are also curious. I’m living in an apartment next to the school along with another teacher, and we have NO privacy. Out sick without a voice one day, I realized the full extent of how curious our students are about who really lives in this mysterious apartment. Kids on the front steps, kids at the windows, kids leaning against my door. Yikes. The location is convenient, yes, but I can say with certainty that I will not be living here next year!

Today as I ambled along the beach with a friend (who hails from Finland but teaches French to Swedish students in English), we squinted in the low afternoon sunlight and listened to the cobalt water lapping against the rocky shoreline. As the sun began to set (at a prompt 2:50 pm), we walked home, and had some tea, and I felt—once again—very, very lucky.

A Swedish Education

There are about ten channels on the TV in my apartment. After coming home from a long Friday of teaching my lively sixth graders, I flopped onto my Ikea couch, turned on the TV for the first time in awhile, and found myself watching Öppna Kanalen (which means open channel—public television). No matter what country you’re living in, you never know what you’re going to get with public television. I am watching what is essentially a filmstrip featuring mediocre photographs of birds and flowers with their names written on each slide in Comic Sans font. Sweden is weird. And wonderful. And beautiful, and surprising, and, at the moment, pretty devoid of sunlight.

Four months ago, I moved to Stockholm to teach. But I’m learning a whole lot more than I’m teaching, I think. Even as I become comfortable with the public transportation system, the winding streets in the city, some common bits of Swedish conversation, and the unpredictable seaside weather, I realize how many things I have yet to learn about this place.

However, here are a few pieces of information I’ve assembled so far:

1.) “Fika” is a vital part of any work meeting or general gathering. Before, after, and/or halfway through a meeting, everyone drops their work, stops talking “shop,” pours a strong cup of coffee, and eats some sort of delicious baked good. I have never eaten so many cakes, cookies, brownies, sweets, pies, tarts, muffins, pastries, crumbles, and candies in my life. (My subsequent gym membership now has me using an elliptical while doing my best to pick up new Swedish vocabulary as I eavesdrop on others’ workout gossip sessions.)

2.) Schools are chock-full of germs. As a first-year teacher, I rarely feel like I'm NOT coming down with a cold.

3.) In my experience, Swedes are welcoming and open. Before I arrived, and throughout my time here, I’ve been continually advised that Swedish people may seem closed off and disinterested in making friends right off the bat. But I am amazed by the warmth of the culture that I’ve experienced while living in Stockholm. I realize I’m making some sweeping generalizations here, but I’m just calling it like I see it. It helps that the majority of the population speaks excellent English (this allows me to have conversations on public transportation about topics such as Nicolas Sarkozy and wild strawberries).

4.) “Allemansrätten” is a customary law that allows people to share the land. Earlier this autumn, I took a walk with a friend into a forested area so that he could show me the array of edible mushrooms that grow this time of year. I asked whose land we were on and he looked at me like I was crazy, shrugged, and bounded over a felled tree to point out a particularly bright (and non-edible) mushroom. Also, I can make applesauce using the apples that I picked during my walk home from the beach without worrying about being accused of stealing fruit from someone’s property.

5.) Stinging nettle… really stings. Kneeling down one afternoon to investigate a particularly fuzzy-looking plant that grows all over my front yard, I gave myself a quick and unexpected hands-on botany lesson. One of these days, I’m going to face that stinging nettle head-on and make some tea out of it, but for the time being, I’ll just eye it irritably every time I walk past.