Our first week in Stockholm has been great. We have had some fun learning moments and experiences. It has been exciting trying to figure things out and I have loved exploring the area. There is so much I want to do and see and to do a lot of it I can't wait for the warm weather, it is freezing!
So, we've been here in Stockholm for over a week now! Funny how it seems longer than that--most likely because we've felt like fish out of water for almost the entire time. The other funny thing is we must look like it too, because it seems that everyone can immediately tell that we're not from here, even before we speak English. BUT...we're getting used to it and loving the experiences here so far! I thought I'd share a few:
So, we've been here in Stockholm for over a week now! Funny how it seems longer than that--most likely because we've felt like fish out of water for almost the entire time. The other funny thing is we must look like it too, because it seems that everyone can immediately tell that we're not from here, even before we speak English. BUT...we're getting used to it and loving the experiences here so far! I thought I'd share a few:
Grocery store
One of our worst enemies so far is the grocery store. I think it's because we started off on the wrong foot. There's a small grocery store about two blocks away from our apartment, so we ventured out on our first day here to get some food to fill the fridge. Our first mistake--going right when everyone else was getting off of work. You see, the way that it works here is that people don't seem to buy a load of groceries that will last them for a week. Rather, they drop by the grocery store on the way home from work every couple of days and buy a couple of bags of stuff that will get them through the next two days. What this means is that the grocery store is crazy right around 6 pm with people that are in a hurry to get in and get out. Couple that with the fact that the aisles are so narrow that barely two people can fit in them, and you're in for a serious mess of people.
Now imagine Billy and me, along with the two kids in the stroller, ready to hit the grocery store to buy our week's worth of groceries. The first challenge was figuring out how the carts work--when we got into the store, we noticed all of the carts were locked together. Unknown to us, apparently you have to deposit some money to unlock the carts, and the money will be returned to you when you return the carts. Not knowing how to read any of the signs, we couldn't figure this out. Luckily, there were some small hand baskets, not nearly enough to hold our week's groceries, but they would have to do.
After getting into the actual store, it didn't take long for us to realize that everything was in Swedish. Yes, we should have expected it, being in Sweden and all, but didn't really think about it. So, we started trying to guess what everything meant. The only problem was that, while we would sit and discuss what we thought something was, we were clogging up the aisles with our stroller while everyone cursed at us in Swedish as they tried to make their run through the store. OK, not sure that they cursed at us, but certainly could tell that we were American. It all came to a head at the milk section, where we sat for probably 10 minutes or more trying to figure out which milk to buy. We couldn't tell what was whole milk, skim milk, goat milk, or cow milk. After having a laugh attack while thinking how stupid we looked there, I finally asked someone in English for some help. In fact, we probably asked 6 or 7 people for help while we were there, and all but one spoke English and were very helpful.
Anyway, we finally made it out safely. We have since returned, and been much more successful since then. The only other incident was on Saturday night. We went around 7:45, and noticed that there weren't very many people there. As we got closer to the end of our trip, we noticed that there wasn't anyone else there. "Nice!" we thought, "this is the time to come to the store!" Well, once we got to the counter to check out (around 8:20), we noticed that the clerks were counting out their registers and there was a security guard in the doorway. Apparently the store closed at 8:00--they had just been waiting for us to finish! Likely thinking "Great, here are those crazy Americans again, don't have a clue what's going on and that we're supposed to close." We're trying to improve our reputation there.
Electricity
Sorry for the rambling about the grocery store--now to Billy almost dying. Since the electricity is different over here than in the U.S., we had to buy some adapters and converters to be able to use anything that we brought with us. I needed to use my hair dryer after showering one morning, so I had Billy come show me how to plug it into the wall using the converter. So, he came in, plugged the hair dryer into the converter, and then went to plug the converter into the outlet. There was a huge spark at the outlet and suddenly the power went out! Billy didn't say anything, and since it was dark, I couldn't tell if he was hurt or not. Luckily he didn't get hurt, but there was a huge black mark on his hand where the spark had hit him. The shock had tripped the fuse, so luckily he didn't get hurt. He went in and flipped the electricity back on. I guess that the hair dryer was a little too powerful for the converter that we got! Hopefully it still works when we get home, but it might be fried.
Laundry
There is one laundry room for the entire building here. You have to sign up for a block of time during the week and that is when you can do your laundry. The nice thing is that you get the whole laundry room to yourself for those three hours. The bad thing is that it really does take three hours to do all of the laundry, even with three washers. For some reason, their washing machines take forever, as do their dryers. The other challenge--carrying laundry up and down to the laundry room while towing two kids along, one that can't walk. And, getting to the laundry room involves going down the elevator, going outside and walking to another door, going through that door, and then getting to the laundry room.
Sun
The sun came out on Friday. I didn't realize that I missed it until suddenly I noticed something was different. After realizing that it was because the sun was shining in my windows, it made me happy. And then sad because I realized I hadn't seen it for a week, and I hope this isn't normal. It's been cloudy and cold since we got here, and I already can't wait for spring (which happens sometime in May, I think).
Church
We went to the Stockholm ward on Sunday. Kenslee was sick the first week, so I stayed home with her while Billy went, but he went to a ward that is closer to where we are living right now. The ward was great. There's actually another American family in the ward. The husband is working here for the U.S. Embassy, and they have three little kids. Unfortunately they live kind of far away, so I'm not sure we'll be able to do much together during the week. Maybe.
Since they speak Swedish during the meetings, they have these little headsets that you can wear, and the Elders translate into English for us. There are two sets of missionaries serving in the ward, one companionship of Elders and one of Sisters. There is also a senior missionary couple that live in the ward. They're great--they don't know any Swedish either, and helped us out a lot to make sure we were comfortable. Overall, I think the ward will be great, and I'm looking forward to meeting more people.
Kenslee has been so cute about the different language. She knows that they're speaking a different language, and seems to assume that it's Spanish. While I was sitting in nursery with her, the kids would speak in Swedish, and she would say "Hola". It is so cute, she thinks she is speaking with them. She also will count to them in Spanish. She does this while we are at the grocery store also, just to random people that she hears speaking Swedish. She makes me laugh.
Kenslee has been so cute about the different language. She knows that they're speaking a different language, and seems to assume that it's Spanish. While I was sitting in nursery with her, the kids would speak in Swedish, and she would say "Hola". It is so cute, she thinks she is speaking with them. She also will count to them in Spanish. She does this while we are at the grocery store also, just to random people that she hears speaking Swedish. She makes me laugh.
Billy on the beach
OK, this is not what it sounds like--obviously the beach is way too cold right now to visit. "On the beach" is something they say at Billy's work for not being staffed on a project. When someone is not staffed, then they actually don't need to come to the office to do anything, so the most likely place to find them is "on the beach." Anyway, Billy has not yet been staffed on a project here, as they're waiting for a few to start up. It has been nice as it's given us some time to settle in and also see a lot of Stockholm already. We have taken little excursions through the city every day, and it's been a lot of fun.
