Hej hej!!
It's been ages since I updated, I am aware... life goes on as it did before, with school, work, and the occasional incidence of food poisoning...
Well, what have I been up to since Christmas break?
Since me and Fredrik didn't have too many responsibilities in the first week of January, it was pretty hard to adjust to the time change. Eventually we got round to it, as soon as things started getting going in terms of school and various programs. I had a short (less than two week) unfortunate experience with a 'job coaching' program on the other side of town, for which I earned a little bit of money but was really just useless. After that I found out I was accepted to the Swedish course I had been waiting on for several months. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until the first week of June will now be spent speaking, reading, writing, and researching, with the goal of getting a passing grade on the 'TISUS' test, which allows entry to Swedish higher education and is required for some jobs (equivalent to say Grade 12 Swedish). Since Biotopia can only offer me weekend shifts, I really think this course is the right choice for me.
I am working at Biotopia about 3-4 weekend days a month, with the occasional filling in for sick people and extra work during their spring break etc, and I have that same schedule until June. After that things are unclear, but it could be that it continues that way and I need to look for another 'day job'. We will see what opportunities arise!
Fredrik is still working hard on his master.
Now... what else interesting has happened lately? ...
My classmates are just as mixed up as last time. We are only about 12 in the group, and the age range is about 18-45, countries of origin including Belgium, China, Spain, Iran, Cz Republic, Cuba, Hungary, Russia, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Kurdistan... I'm actually the only North American this time. One of our course sections requires a group essay, and I seem to be the only one in the group with university experience so we shall see how that goes... :) our topic is on Swedish food habits and traditions, so it should be interesting at the very least!
My post title today is in reference to the fact that in January, Uppsala received 14 hours of sunlight. Today is the first 'sunny' day most people can remember from the last two months... it's amazing what a difference it makes. It has been 'warm' in Uppsala, no snow for the last three weeks, only a bit of dirty water on the roads and tons of leftover gravel. I have to rinse my shoes every other day, it's impossible to keep anything clean. I keep getting told by Swedes that this means next winter will be veeery cold so we will see how that goes...
Not much more to say about January. Chilly, dark, wet, and schoolwork. And my computer finally kicked the bucket, so now I have a real Swedish keyboard (no options there). I can't figure out how to get the spell checker to check English... and I, like everybody else apparently, HATE windows 8... even more because I don't know the Swedish words for 'Control Panel' and all that.
We did manage to go skating quite a few times, though! There was a period where the weather was consistently around -5, so we bought skates on sale and went out to the bandy arena, which is free to skate on for the public during certain hours. One day a few weeks ago, Fredrik and I went with our friends Joe and Judit and rented long distance skates, to skate on Fjällnora's lake. You can go farther with less effort than on using regular skates, but we took quite a long trip of 10km so were very tired at the end.
Two weeks ago, Fredrik and I drove to the summer house in Örebro. Gudmund (Fredrik's dad) has decided to keep the new kitchen warm over the winter, so nothing was shut off and we could safely have hot water and electricity :D so it was very nice. It was still freezing in the livingroom, as the radiators in there are many many years old, so Fredrik had a fire going for at least 10 hours a day. Since Örebro is much farther inland than Uppsala, there was quite a bit of snow there, which made for a cozy cabin weekend. Fredrik discovered an old board game in the cupboard, Finans (like Monopoly but Swedish and from the 80s) and we must have played it for 12 hours total over two days! We visited Britt-Marie (Fredrik's mom) on the way home and I borrowed some old cookbooks to use for our Swedish food paper.
We also did a bit of digging in the attic. I found this picture of 9 year old Fredrik...
Last weekend, we celebrated Valentine's day and our 1.5 year anniversary by spending the day in Stockholm! Did some touristy things like went on a guided tour of City Hall and wandered around in Södermalm, the 'hip' part of Stockholm. The city hall is a strange place, it has a room covered in gold and very strange mosaic illustrations, including a 'lady Stockholm' who looks like Medusa. We had time to visit with both Adeeb, my classmate from UBC studying at KTH now, and Max & Angelica. We went with them to the Nordic Museum, fairly standard historical museum but it's been ages since any of us visited a museum so it was quite fun.
Now for some things coming up! March 6th Fredrik and Britt-Marie and I will go to Rieti, Italy, to visit Fredrik's old exchange pal. He and his wife recently had a baby, so it was time for a visit :) We found some tickets for about $100 per way to Rome. I'm not sure how much sightseeing we will do, but I'm very excited!!
Three weeks after that, Fredrik and I will go to Trondheim, Norway, to visit my friend/old roommate Monika from UBC. She and her boyfriend came to visit us in November and have offered their living room floor to us :)
Now it's 140 days until Mattew comes to visit ! It's really sneaking up... someone needs to remind that guy to make some kind of plan :)
Today in class, my teacher complained that there was no Swedish word for 'paper cut'. Finally there is something that doesn't translate the other way around! Swedish has lots... lagom, fika, skadeglädje, hemmablind, they all require about a sentence or more to describe in English what they are all about. I am now starting to have problems translating phrases like 'at all costs', because the correct Swedish equivalent is 'to any price', which makes sense, but it's quite difficult to remember because it's so similar. And I'm also learning strange expressions like 'it's sticking him out of the head' (loosely translated) which means something along the lines of 'he thinks he's better than us'.
Here is a funny video on some strange Swedish expressions..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMlopaYEPZs
Here is Big Steve's take on learning Swedish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynJ7dBfhIM
A final bit of good news, Biotopia wants me to finish the translation project I started for them during my internship, and will pay me for the hours I work on it, on top of my normally scheduled shifts :)
It's been ages since I updated, I am aware... life goes on as it did before, with school, work, and the occasional incidence of food poisoning...
Well, what have I been up to since Christmas break?
Since me and Fredrik didn't have too many responsibilities in the first week of January, it was pretty hard to adjust to the time change. Eventually we got round to it, as soon as things started getting going in terms of school and various programs. I had a short (less than two week) unfortunate experience with a 'job coaching' program on the other side of town, for which I earned a little bit of money but was really just useless. After that I found out I was accepted to the Swedish course I had been waiting on for several months. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays until the first week of June will now be spent speaking, reading, writing, and researching, with the goal of getting a passing grade on the 'TISUS' test, which allows entry to Swedish higher education and is required for some jobs (equivalent to say Grade 12 Swedish). Since Biotopia can only offer me weekend shifts, I really think this course is the right choice for me.
 |
| fro-dough during Biotopia's theme 'Baking with yeast' |
I am working at Biotopia about 3-4 weekend days a month, with the occasional filling in for sick people and extra work during their spring break etc, and I have that same schedule until June. After that things are unclear, but it could be that it continues that way and I need to look for another 'day job'. We will see what opportunities arise!
 |
| bird feeding theme in the Biolab |
Fredrik is still working hard on his master.
Now... what else interesting has happened lately? ...
My classmates are just as mixed up as last time. We are only about 12 in the group, and the age range is about 18-45, countries of origin including Belgium, China, Spain, Iran, Cz Republic, Cuba, Hungary, Russia, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Kurdistan... I'm actually the only North American this time. One of our course sections requires a group essay, and I seem to be the only one in the group with university experience so we shall see how that goes... :) our topic is on Swedish food habits and traditions, so it should be interesting at the very least!
 |
| hard to tell whose office is whose... |
My post title today is in reference to the fact that in January, Uppsala received 14 hours of sunlight. Today is the first 'sunny' day most people can remember from the last two months... it's amazing what a difference it makes. It has been 'warm' in Uppsala, no snow for the last three weeks, only a bit of dirty water on the roads and tons of leftover gravel. I have to rinse my shoes every other day, it's impossible to keep anything clean. I keep getting told by Swedes that this means next winter will be veeery cold so we will see how that goes...
 |
| right before it all melted. |
Not much more to say about January. Chilly, dark, wet, and schoolwork. And my computer finally kicked the bucket, so now I have a real Swedish keyboard (no options there). I can't figure out how to get the spell checker to check English... and I, like everybody else apparently, HATE windows 8... even more because I don't know the Swedish words for 'Control Panel' and all that.
 |
| Fredrik in his new skates at Studenternas IP (The students' sports area) |
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| a view of Studenternas IP |
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| nothing indoors |
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| looking nervous on hockey skates |
We did manage to go skating quite a few times, though! There was a period where the weather was consistently around -5, so we bought skates on sale and went out to the bandy arena, which is free to skate on for the public during certain hours. One day a few weeks ago, Fredrik and I went with our friends Joe and Judit and rented long distance skates, to skate on Fjällnora's lake. You can go farther with less effort than on using regular skates, but we took quite a long trip of 10km so were very tired at the end.
 |
| Fredrik, Fiona, Joe, Judit getting ready to go for a skate |
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| it was a bit tricky to figure out how the boots attached to the blades... |
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| definitely required help |
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| all done. |
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| about one third done... weather was windy and a little snowy so the paths were never clear |
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| good thing I brought hot chocolate to share. it was COLD OUT |
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| there was a guy driving a snow clearing machine around on the ice so we felt safe enough skating on the lake |
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| mmm nice and warm |
Two weeks ago, Fredrik and I drove to the summer house in Örebro. Gudmund (Fredrik's dad) has decided to keep the new kitchen warm over the winter, so nothing was shut off and we could safely have hot water and electricity :D so it was very nice. It was still freezing in the livingroom, as the radiators in there are many many years old, so Fredrik had a fire going for at least 10 hours a day. Since Örebro is much farther inland than Uppsala, there was quite a bit of snow there, which made for a cozy cabin weekend. Fredrik discovered an old board game in the cupboard, Finans (like Monopoly but Swedish and from the 80s) and we must have played it for 12 hours total over two days! We visited Britt-Marie (Fredrik's mom) on the way home and I borrowed some old cookbooks to use for our Swedish food paper.
 |
| the car got stuck in the snow bank... that took some digging |
We also did a bit of digging in the attic. I found this picture of 9 year old Fredrik...
 |
| what a cutie. |
Last weekend, we celebrated Valentine's day and our 1.5 year anniversary by spending the day in Stockholm! Did some touristy things like went on a guided tour of City Hall and wandered around in Södermalm, the 'hip' part of Stockholm. The city hall is a strange place, it has a room covered in gold and very strange mosaic illustrations, including a 'lady Stockholm' who looks like Medusa. We had time to visit with both Adeeb, my classmate from UBC studying at KTH now, and Max & Angelica. We went with them to the Nordic Museum, fairly standard historical museum but it's been ages since any of us visited a museum so it was quite fun.
 |
| caviar / shrimp salad for sale |
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| one of the last remaining old-style liquor stores, where you go to the desk and the staff gets you what you want |
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| inside the city hall, where the Nobel dinner |
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| the strange gold room |
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| not really sure why this is here or what it means. hmm |
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| went into a costume shop. |
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| the lineup for Valentine's day flowers... $51 for a dozen roses |
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| mm swedish-style italian |
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| Södermalm |
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| the view from Max's apartment building in Söder |
Now for some things coming up! March 6th Fredrik and Britt-Marie and I will go to Rieti, Italy, to visit Fredrik's old exchange pal. He and his wife recently had a baby, so it was time for a visit :) We found some tickets for about $100 per way to Rome. I'm not sure how much sightseeing we will do, but I'm very excited!!
Three weeks after that, Fredrik and I will go to Trondheim, Norway, to visit my friend/old roommate Monika from UBC. She and her boyfriend came to visit us in November and have offered their living room floor to us :)
Now it's 140 days until Mattew comes to visit ! It's really sneaking up... someone needs to remind that guy to make some kind of plan :)
Today in class, my teacher complained that there was no Swedish word for 'paper cut'. Finally there is something that doesn't translate the other way around! Swedish has lots... lagom, fika, skadeglädje, hemmablind, they all require about a sentence or more to describe in English what they are all about. I am now starting to have problems translating phrases like 'at all costs', because the correct Swedish equivalent is 'to any price', which makes sense, but it's quite difficult to remember because it's so similar. And I'm also learning strange expressions like 'it's sticking him out of the head' (loosely translated) which means something along the lines of 'he thinks he's better than us'.
Here is a funny video on some strange Swedish expressions..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMlopaYEPZs
Here is Big Steve's take on learning Swedish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynJ7dBfhIM
A final bit of good news, Biotopia wants me to finish the translation project I started for them during my internship, and will pay me for the hours I work on it, on top of my normally scheduled shifts :)
