[ mitt svenska äventyr ]: Pytt i panna / bits and pieces of the last few months

I realize it's been several months since my last update... It's been full-speed ahead since mid-April!

Also I was convinced nobody was actually reading this, but Mom tells me otherwise :) And, I find myself sitting here with an hour and a half to spare.

Arlanda can schedule me for a minimum of 4 hours per shift, and today I was only needed for one flight. In that case, my day looks like this:

zzz

Wake up 2:30am, cycle to station 3am, bus to Arlanda 3:30am, arrive 4:15am, start 4:30am but my flight starts checking in at 5am, sit around and try not to fall asleep until then. Open at 5am, check in for 1h20min, head over to the gate and board until 7am. Now I'm here being paid with nothing to do until 8:30am when I get to leave... Time to grab a giant coffee. First time I've started work when the sun wasn't up yet.., it's getting darker already!!! Nooooo

Since I have sooo many useful things to be doing at Arlanda, here's a quick timeline of the last 5 months (!!)

April: Swedish class, working at Biotopia on weekends, 5-day trip to Vienna to visit fellow vancouverite Juliet. Job offer at Arlanda airport, accepted start in May.

Me with Carina (from my first semester exchange) and Juliet

Homemade weinerschnitzel courtesy of Juliet's Austrian boyfriend

Juliet's boyfriend Martin and our 1kg pork hock and bierkraut

thought this was plastic and someone left it as a joke... turns out salamaders like this are relatively common in the Austrian mountains?

beautiful hike through wine country (rainy... especially for us two from Vancouver)

May: 3-week training course at Arlanda, passed all the tests, dropped out of Swedish class but with extra assignments I can still pass at the re-exam in August.

June: busy juggling Biotopia & Arlanda. Offered two week job at the Uppland Foundation for translation, accepted (dream future job is there!) so wound up with 3 summer jobs.

If that wasn't enough, picked up an adorable black kitten to keep me company as all my friends move away (Thailand, Shanghai, England, Stockholm... You wouldn't think that's a big deal but I never seem to see them again!)

tiny little creature

WHAT IS THAT

comfy?

exploring the world... on a leash/harness with IKEA bag clips to reduce to size

kitty got dirty so she had a little shower...

making a mess

watching a scary movie

all grown up, but still sleeps with her lambie

helping us pack the wok pan

Sept 7: filtered pic that shows she's actually kind of stripey!

July: worked (a lot), crammed both Matt and Callem into tiny apartment, took train/bus to Åre - Sweden's most famous ski mountain. Hiked up and down beautiful mountains. Shipped boys off to Germany, worked some more. Shipped Fred off to Eskilstuna for two weeks to visit family/friends.

eating kebab pizza... pizza topped with shredded meat, garlic sauce, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce

adorable

adorable?

viking boys, definitely NOT posing! ...

Matt is losing

on top of Stockholm!

kanelbullar with Callem!

up at the top of Åreskutan!

reminded me of Whistler!

hiking around.

feeling like a mountain goat

Tegeforsen waterfall

August: bored at home alone, lots of shifts and coming home to an insane kitten. 5 days at summer place, picked lots of berries, onions, potatoes, mmm. 30+ Celsius for nearly 3 weeks (as of this week, COLD and rainy). Mimi escapes and costs me my savings for a midnight x-ray, turns out she is totally fine, miracle cat. 8 lives left I suppose. First cold of the inevitable season. Lots of planning for mom/dad trip. Finished translating Biotopia's species lists (project I started last October). Wrote Swedish final exam, no results yet. Signed contract for new apartment, we will have 5 ROOMS!!! (Ok, bedroom, living room, kitchen, hallway, bathroom... But still!!!!) planning for first ever euro camping trip (goal: Preikestolen) leaving Sunday for a week.

Bought a $20 tent, we will see how long that lasts...

Cat is coming with us. Her tent cost more than ours...? Mimi is now an official European citizen, she has a cat passport. She can now travel to Norway only; everywhere else requires a rabies shot which she doesn't have yet.

'Passport for companion animals'

Now for the upcoming stuff...

September: I start on a 75% schedule at Arlanda (I'm hourly right now). Mom and dad arriving on the 15th, lots of awesome things planned. Fred starts his last term of classes, internship and thesis coming in Jan. Moving sometime in the first week of Sept.

October: Turning 24!!! And my second month of scheduling at Arlanda, ending 26th with a possibility for extension (to be decided at a later date).

Well, that's that. Cat is growing at an impossible rate, as kittens do. She is very 'jobbig' in the evening, as we say in Swedish... meaning work-y (difficult). Sleepy and cute all day and psychotic come 11pm. She likes fish and ice cream, apparently. And food must be swatted all over the house before it can be eaten... ESPECIALLY treats. Those get an extra lap though the shoe rack before they disappear.

So, a little long-term outlook. Fred is finished his master in June next year. We have the new student apartment max until next December (2015), then it's either find an impossible-to-get non-student apartment in Uppsala, or more likely, move to Stockholm. Much depends on jobs of course, both mine and Fredrik's. I will continue my job search for the meantime, looking for something interesting that doesn't involve working 4am and weekends, hopefully something where I can earn enough to come back to Vancouver for a visit in the summer! The pay at Arlanda isn't great but still better than what I earned in Vancouver, enough to cover living but not much more.

My temporary residence permit expires in February, so in December I'll be applying for renewal/possibly for a permanent permit.

I think I covered everything! Will add some pictures at some point (done Sept 10 now)! XO to everybody.