Well, I suppose that is what it must look like when you take a gander at my poor husband's raw and sore hands! They have been like this for the last two months and steadily getting worse. We have seen three different doctors and got three different diagnoses and treatment plans and spent a literal fortune on creams and tablets. The worst part of it is that he was in constant pain. He described it as a thousand needles poking into his skin. He (and therefore me!) has been unable to sleep through the night, making us all feel rather tired and grouchy. And by late last week he was pretty much disabled - unable to hold a coffee cup, dress himself or comb his hair.

At first it was thought he had a fungal infection, then they thought psoriasis but now they admit that they have absolutely no idea what it is, but the dermatologist suspects that it is aggressive and infected. So finally he prescribed antibiotics, a very strong cortisone cream to be used twice a day with a softening cream in between and rather surprisingly, an old fashioned bathing regime in a diluted solution of Condy's Crystals. He has been doing this since last Friday and so far the results have been nothing short of a miracle. I really hope that this continues as it was looking like he would not be able to sail at all this year and he was climbing the walls in frustration.

In the middle of all of this, Sandy (of the "Aussies in Holland" fame) and her husband Ad came for a visit. And yes, we made a splash in town!

This is the obligatory shot that foreigners always want to have when they see the "Slut" word here in Sweden. It actually means the end or the finish in Swedish. You would often see it in the shop windows when they are having a final clearance sale. I do remember being somewhat amused by the large "Slut" signs I saw plastered over shops just after my first Christmas here.

I guess the exclamation marks at the end of this particular sign made it irresistible. It actually is a car sticker used here by those opposing the building of a highway from Stockholm to Nynäshamn - an issue that has divided the community in this town. Those who want the highway to make the journey safer, faster and help develop the region use the slogan "Väg 73, Nu!!!!" (Highway 73, Now!!!) and the opponents who want to keep the old road use "Väg 73, Slut!!!"

Whatever the reason, Sandy spotted it and thought it was very "us". I wonder what she meant?

She had emailed me to say she was taking the night train from Berlin on Wedneday 21st, arriving in Stockholm on Thurdsay 22nd at 12.40 and I said I'd meet her. I was supposed to be in town on the Wednesday but cancelled as Lars-Göran was feeling so unwell and I spent the day washing, cleaning, shopping, doing my Swedish homework and getting the boat ready as we were going to sleep there while Sandy and Ad slept in out apartment. I had planned to eat last night's left over Nasi Goreng after class and make up a snazzy Swedish smörgåstårta that we could keep for dinner on Thursday. I thought I was very organised.

All was going well until about an hour before I had to be at my 6.00pm class, when I finally had a minute to log-in to the net for the first time. There was a letter in my inbox from Ad. I thought it was a confirmation of the train time the next day. Imagine my horror when I read "We are in Stockholm. Where are you? Tried to ring but I can't get through." I almost fainted! They had been in Stockholm for nearly 6 hours!

I frantically tried to call his mobile but couldn't get through. I answered the email, hoping they might go to another internet café. Boy was I in a panic. I cancelled my Swedish class and started running around like a headless chicken. About 20 minutes later the phone rang and it was Ad. He was calling from a public phone as his mobile wouldn't work in Sweden. I told him he was 24 hours early! But I managed to blather out instructions to the train they needed and told them I'd meet them at the Nynäshamn station when the train arrived here.

I threw together a quick Matjessilltårta (a typical Swedish herring dish) and salad as I didn't think they'd appreciate leftovers for dinner. Then down to the station to meet them.



In my rush to get them to the right platform and train, I had forgotten to mention that only the first four carriages go all the way to Nynäshamn. Yep, you guessed it, they were not on the first four carriages! But when they unhooked the other carriages at Västerhaninge, the conductor hurried them off to the about to depart other half of the train. They DO tell you this information, but only in Swedish.

After all of that they finally made it and we spent a fun couple of days with them. We went down to the harbour, where Ad did the typical Dutch pose with a beer bottle (can't trust these low-landers to behave)



And Sandy found a bit of graffiti to pose in front of - I like the little crown myself, it adds that bit of class :)



Then we visited the booze shop where Sandy could marvel at the fact that all the alcohol is behind glass cases and we have to queue up and ask for the grog by number (I'll post about that another time). She also got told off for taking a picture there. I'll have to be more careful when I do it (mental note: no flash...)

And we did get to enjoy that smörgåstårta and beer!



We also managed to get her on the train and off to Göteborg to scare them all at the ANZAC Day dinner there. It was lovely to finally meet up as we have been emailing and phoning each other for a couple of years now. And she was very much as I imagined her to be.

Now the weather has turned sunny again and the call of the sea is overwhelming. Today it looks like this:



It is definately calling. And as we have the public holidays coming up for Walpurgis, the birthday of King Carl XVI Gustaf and also the First of May, I think we might sail off for a day or two and see if some sea air and sunshine will help out "swamp man".

Vi ses, senare!

It's a glorious sunny day again. This year has been the warmest and sunniest spring I've ever had in Sweden. Today was the 3rd day in a row that I heard birds singing outside my balcony in the bushes. It's also been warm enough to go out without gloves, scarf and/or hat and even (gasp!) to leave my jacket open in the afternoon! How liberating!



L-G's hands, however, are still really sore, so I've forbidden him from doing any more work until they improve dramatically. As I said to him yesterday, if they don't improve, we can't sail this summer. That was a bit of a wake-up call to him.

Yesterday we went off to Södertälje to help out a friend who has just purchased a boat that needs a little work on it. It is a 90 minute bus trip from here, stopping at every farmer's gate along the way. However, as the bus wends its way along the countryside, it was lovely to look out and see the emerging spring sights - birds in the woods, horses and cows sunning themselves in the fields, new green growth everywhere. And of course the inevitable Canada Geese!



They might look cute and harmless, but they are pretty much universally disliked here in Sweden. They were introduced here a few years ago in one of those misguided programs and now they have bred in plague proportions threatening the local grey goose and generally making a mess. That seems to be their biggest sin - they leave a lot of bird poop. Huge mounds of it all over the grass, making most picnic areas impossible to enjoy. Some councils have the bright idea of moving them. I'm not sure of which bright spark thought of that one - as someone seems to forget they have wings! Doh! What a big surprise when the same birds you drove away yesterday reappear in the park today. *grin*



Like to stay at this hotel? It was the first thing I saw when I got out at the station. I always laugh when I see signs like that. I said to L-G that it was refreshing to see that they were honest about it being a "bad hotel". He just rolled his eyes, as he knows that I know that bad means bath in Swedish. But still it looks odd to an English speaker.

It was warm and sunny in Södertälje. But look at that tree! And you thought I was kidding when I said Swedish Easter decorations were tacky. Can you imagine how long it would take some council worker to put all those feathers on that birch tree? And it is not an isolated case. Lots of trees are decorated like this. The mind truly boggles at the thought.

Anyway we spent some time with our young friend who is very excited about his new boat. Randall is an American musician living in Stockholm and he is going to equip his boat to sail to the Mediterranean this summer. The boat is really cute - a 6 metre called a Hurley 20. This boat is in need of some TLC, but L-G thinks it's a sound boat and was a brilliant price. We took away some bits and pieces of rigging in order to arrange for a rigging expert here to make up some missing parts and we've advised Randall about things that need to be done. The boat goes in the water on April 22nd (the same day that Sandy arrives here!) and I guess we'll go and help put on the mast, rigging and sails and help him get the boat the 34 NM to Stockholm where he can work on her more easily.

It's my stepdaughter's 20th birthday tomorrow and we are having a family party for her on the weekend (tomorrow I have to go into town and buy her something!). I was thinking about the sheer number of words that the Swedes have to describe family relationships. Here in Sweden you can tell exactly who you are talking about. In that way, English is a bit poor, really. We talk about niece, nephew, grandparents etc but in Swedish those words depend on exactly how that person is related to you. So your brother's son is brorson, that of your sister systerson — and then there is brorsdotter and systerdotter for your nieces.

With grandparents, it is even more specific. The word for father is far and mother is mor. So you get farfar, mormor, farmor and morfar depending on whether it is your mum or dad's parents.

Great-grandparents are much the same farfars far, farfars mor, farmors far, farmors mor, morfars far, morfars mor, mormors far, mormors mor. Confused? That last one sounds like a Kylie Minogue song.

But Swedes also have words that we don't have in English and this was what I was getting at. In English, I'd be the step-mother of L-G's kids. That has evil sort of Cindarella connotations. While they do have that formal word styvmor, there is also plastmamma (literally, plastic mother) and finally, my favourite, bonusmamma, which means exactly what you think it does.

The Swedish word for Good Friday translates into English as Long Friday, which somehow seems far more appropriate. Unlike Australia, there are no traditional hot cross buns (unless you make them yourself) - however there are certain superstitions attached to Easter here in Sweden. .

One of those traditions is påskkärringar or Easter witches. But not in the Halloween tradition. Swedish witches are rather cute and charming as you can see:



This is my friend's daughter and her best friend, dressed up in the traditional witch outfit, ready to go around town. This was a big event here yesterday. Years ago, people believed that witches were especially active and their black magic especially powerful during this week. On Maundy Thursday (skärtorsdagen in Sweden), they were thought to fly off on broomsticks to consort with the devil at Blåkulla (blue mountain) to visit Satan, returning the following Saturday. Many people lit bonfires (påskeld) in the evenings and shot guns into the air to scare the witches away. Easter bonfires are also the custom in the western areas of Sweden, where villages vie to see who can make the biggest one. The custom of shooting also lives on, albeit in the form of shooting off fireworks (påsksmällare).

On Easter Eve, Swedish girls and boys dress up as witches and hags, wearing headscarfs and skirts and pay visits to their neighbours. A sort of combination Halloween-Easter thing. Some leave a small decorated card, an Easter letter (påskbrev), hoping for a lolly or money in return. This isn't a black pointy hat, green face witch, by the way. These Swedish witches have babushka headscarves, red circle cheeks, freckles, and multicoloured skirts and aprons. I think it's absolutely charming!

Because I live in a small place, it is much more the done thing than in the bigger cities. We had a couple of groups of kids ring our bell, with every one of them dressed to the nines in their witchy clothes and makeup, carrying brooms and baskets, handing out cards, and even SINGING! By contrast, one of my friends in Göteborg said that kids arrived at her door in normal clothing and just hold up a lolly bag and yell "PÅSK!" (Easter) at her, expecting to be given something. All I can say is that he's lucky they didn't come to my door!

Other Swedish traditions are also a throwback to earlier times. They seem to have been adapted for modern life. But quite by surprise, the word that springs to mind is tacky.

Just take a squizz at what I'm "admiring" in the local supermarket. You'd be forgiven if you thought I'd stumbled into some Mexican market or Thai tourist place. I mean when you think Scandinavia you think minimalist, clean lines, good taste. So what are these hideous sticks with fluro feathers all about? And what on earth do you do with them?

"Bin them" leaps to mind instantly. But I digress. What I am looking at is called påskris. Literally translated, that means "Easter Rice" - yeah, whatever... Anyway, they are birch twigs. Many years ago on Good Friday, people in Sweden used to beat themselves (and others) with birch twigs as a reminder of Jesus' suffering. Apparently, it was done while they were still in bed (thus that kinky reputation the Swedes enjoy) and was practiced until mid 18th century in many regions.

Today, in these more enlightened and less violent times the Swedes have made this more lagom and acceptable.

These days, they are adorned with multi-coloured hen feathers and hung in bunches on doors as you see pictured here, or in vases outside of every home and business in the place. They have now become symbols of the growing life soon to come with the approach of spring. Later they are brought indoors and in the indoor warmth they bud and you get a display of greenery in a few weeks. I can't tell you if that happens as I've managed to resist the urge to purchase these strange twigs. My Swedish husband also thinks they are tacky, so we remain firmly on the outer as far as påskris is concerned.

Other Easter decorations mostly are about chickens and yellow seems to dominate the colour scheme. One must have pots of daffodils (called påskliljor - literally Easter Lilly) and eat lots of eggs done in every conceivable way. I must say though that the egg cup holders with chicken feet that abound at this time of year make me feel queasy. The yellow theme extends to all food, with saffron being liberally applied to both sweet and savoury dishes in order have that easter theme.

One must also have the yellow serviettes, candles, tablecloths, curtains etc to match. Not to mention all of the little chicken nick.nacks. I think Lars-Göran would divorce me if I started doing all of that. I guess if I had small children around I'd be more into it. As it is, my bet is that he'll ask for pizza for Easter dinner (as he did for Christmas dinner!) but I'll do lasagne I think and maybe a saffron flavoured white chocolate mousse (just to pay slight homage to the Easter theme of yellow). But we will certainly be doing our bit to annoy Coca-Cola by drinking lots of that traditional Swedish soft drink Påskmust (identical to julmust, but with a yellow label!).

One surprising thing is that there are no chocolate eggs, no Easter bunny. It feels really strange at times to think of Easter without these trappings. The eggs here are large decoupage cardboard ones that can be opened and filled with loose lollies. I do miss those Cadbury Creme Eggs :(

So from sunny Nynäshamn I wish you a Happy Easter or Glad Påsk!

It's quite a busy time here at the Nordström household, with lots of work being done on the boat. She is now uncovered, the flag is hoisted, dinghy inflated and she's looking ready for the summer ahead.



There is a great sense of satisfaction actually uncovering her and feeling that it may be possible to take her out soon. And there is even time to sit in the shelter sunning yourself and dreaming of those long, summer days ahead.



While she still remains the lone boat on the pier, that will all change soon as the boats are due to begin being relaunched in two weeks time. However, the fishermen are out in force - still rugged up against the weather, but enjoying that first foray out in search of the elusive salmon and pike.



I went into Stockholm on Friday to meet up with some friends for a girls' night out. We went to Pizza Hut in Högtorget (not my choice!) and I was somewhat shocked to pay over 100SEK for a lunchtime pizza and regular pepsi max. That is around $20 for what I consider a $5.95 deal back in Australia!

The food however was not the object of the exercise, but it was more to meet up with a few girls here and chat about life. This is a photo of the girls - Kitty, Beverly, Hélène, Heather and Leslie.



One of the best things was that I was able to eat dinner without having to share it with Lambi! It's great to catch up with people occasionally. It's nice to meet different people and ones that you can connect with on different issues and circumstances. What I particulaly like about this group of people is that they are positive and upbeat. I'm really, really tired of the whingeing that goes on in some expat groups here. I honestly get exhausted dealing with negative people - I want to be supportive to people that are hurting or struggling, but to some extent my psyche is also fragile in a new country/people/system and I can't really hold others up right now. Having said that, nothing beats a huge gripe session, but that seems to have become almost the theme for my interaction with certain others - some get togethers can consist of whining from start to end no matter how I try to swing the conversation. I almost get defensive about Sweden, which is also something I don't want to do. I want to take it for what it is and deal as well as I can with it under the circumstances and simply get on with making a life instead of living with one foot in Australia. I almost feel more homesick after a session like that, less isolated maybe but not comforted.

People have asked me about how I come up with the weird websites that I post about on the forum. Things like the Farting Nun Organ or Circus of Disemboweled Plush Toys. Do I use Google and enter something weird into the search field? Nope. Or not always at any rate. I do want to point to a couple of others that I like to use.

One is Queryster. I quite like it as you can easily switch between different search engine results. It also has the same kind of features for finding news and images and blogs too. Play around with it and watch it take you on a great meandering tour of the web. And you can find great "must see" things like this video clip.

The other one I like is Stumbleupon. Hey, I even love the name as it perfectly describes how I approach a websearch. You need to sign up for it and you get a toolbar to add to your browser. This allows you to give a "thumbs up" sign when you get to a website that you like. It will save it as a bookmark for you as well. You also have the option to add a comment and also view what others have said about the site. You can also click on a button to be taken to a random site recommended by people who also liked the sites you. There is also a deeper social network that I haven't had time to explore yet. A lot of the sites I Stumbleupon are just the sort of sites I like.

And there are surprises as well. I stumbled upon a blog by an AA member in Norway - Jill Walker. I found her through the stumbleupon profile and saw that she had given a thumbs up to this. Small world, isn't it?

And I wanted to give another plug to an enterprising member of Australians Abroad - Randolph Kasprzyck, or Kasper as he prefers to be called. Kasper is a Sydney boy based in Östersund, Sweden. And , he is currently undertaking a solo, unsupported, expedition to the North Pole. Why? Because in the great Aussie tradition, he just decided to!

Kasper will be the 1st Australian and only the 3rd person ever to have walked solo to the North Pole. So I wanted to wish him good luck and urge everyone to cheer him on and take a look at his journal at Xpedition Capital.

"April, april din dumma sill, jag kan lura dig vart jag vill!" is a cry heard all over Sweden today - April Fool's Day. The translation of that little line is: "April, April you stupid herring, I can fool you whenever I want!"

The custom of fooling people on the first day of April is very old tradition, dating from the 1600s. As legend has it, the origin of April Fools day comes from when the date of the new year used to fall on April 1st, and was moved back to January 1st. All those who continued to celebrate it on April 1st were referred to as April Fools.

There has been a tradition of funny newspaper stories appearing on this day and there is always a keen interest in picking out which is the fake story. I haven't read the papers today, so I don't know what the story is this year. Actually I do, but I'm too tired to type it out - though I can offer you the link in Swedish - Ny svensk upptäckt gör 3G onödigt

Some funny ones I came across on the net though were on Ryan Air where they advertised this deal! And on another site where they offered Scroll and Sniff Technology.

April in Sweden is also know for its cunning weather. One minute the sun is shining and the next it is raining...

But so far the weather has held as sunny, though quite cold. Even after all this time, I find it strange to be so rugged up even though it's sunny.

Those spring signs are appearing all over the place now, Just check out how much those sälg trees have sprouted. I love them! We used to call them pussy willow in Australia. I don't know if that is their real name or not, but they always seemed so exotic to us. Here they are incredibly common, but I still love them.

Hey! They match my coat's collar.

The other signs of spring are all around as well. Flowers are appearing in the woods and the bulbs are busy poking their way through the ground, in the lawns and in all of the gardens. The snowdrops are bursting out in flower and here outside of my apartment are a small bunch of early crocus sunning themselves.

It is always amazing to see this little bunch of flowers force their way up out of the gravel on the footpath near the wall of the building and open up to the sun each morning. They look so delicate and pretty, but they must be so tough to live in such a harsh environment.

One of the strange things about spring here is how dead everything looks after winter. It is so unexpected to an Aussie. I associate the end of winter/beginning of spring with lush greenesss. We have had winter rain, the grass and the evergreen trees are reflecting that bounty and with the rapid new growth and flowers the countryside looks vibrant, green and lush.

Not here in Sweden, where the grass has been lying under snow for at least 5-6 months and once the snow melts, it appears as dead looking, brown and quite ugly. Add to that the trees that are bare of leaves and also quite dead looking and the bare patches of mud and the early spring environment can be quite cheerless. What saves it is the blue skies, sunshine and the increased number of daylight hours. The sun rose in Stockholm today at 6:15 AM and sets at 7:32 PM. Already up to 13 hours of daylight and rapidly increasing. By mid-June it will be pretty much total daylight round the clock.

Today we headed up to Kista - the "silicon valley" area of Stockholm, just north of the main centre. My destination was here:



And "here" is what? Well, believe it or not,it's a school - Kista Mobila Gymnasiet. The major project in senior English is about Australia and I was asked to come and talk to them, offering an intoduction to the country and to inspire them. To do what, I wonder? *evil snigger*

So it was about the country and it's people as well as my own personal reflections - things you can't read in a book. What it's like to grow up in Australia, and to live there, something about the current political situation, what it's like to study in Australia, if it's possible to work etc. And also about what I'm doing here and about the Australians here in Sweden. And last but not least, about national stereotypes and the most frequent questions I get asked as an Australian in Sweden.

They were a great bunch of young people and I spoke for around an hour and a half with them. Funnily enough the most eagerly sought information was about Australian beer! I recommended that they try out the Dancin' Dingo bar in town and judge for themselves whether VB matches up to their expectations.

Several of them are considering Australia as a working holiday destination next year and a few want to study there as well. It will be interesting to see what they come up with in their projects. I'd like to go back and see how they view us.

So this is me in front of the classroom:



They listened, took notes, fussed over the dog and asked intelligent and sometimes funny questions. I was given a beautiful big bunch of my favourite coloured tulips as a thankyou.

Afterwards we went to visit a chandlery where Lars-Göran spent a heap of money on ropes, a new safety ladder and some bits for the boat. Then it was the long trip back home - and thus my tiredness. Old age is a pain at times.

I'll leave you with another quiz. Beat me if you can!


You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla