A Day in Denmark

Last week, some friends asked if we would like to join them at Bakken, an amusement park in Denmark.  The answer was an obvious "YES"!  Before we got going, I checked out the park's website....we were in store for a fun day.  To see more, go to  http://www.bakken.dk/  It didn't take much more than an hour to get there....and even the trip across the bridge from Sweden was big excitement for the girls!

I have to admit I was a little bit nervous as we approached the park, seeing the lines of cars waiting to get in (I later learned that the park had just opened).   Relax...I thought to myself...it's all part of the experience!  We got set up with wristbands for the rides....one for each of the kids with us (Malena, CeCe, Ellen and her classmate Axel) and one for my husband.   He was kind enough to accompany the younger children on some of the rides....and perhaps he would try out a few others!  (wink, wink)

The kids had a blast!  And in spite of the throngs of people waiting to enter the park, the lines for most of the rides were surprisingly short.

There were rides for the smaller kids....

Mini Dumbo...yahoo!

 and for the bigger kids...

Ellen, Axel....and Jeff

and many that were great for everyone!

The Danish tea cups!

Malena even tried out a couple of small roller coasters!

Brace yourself....

Another highlight of the day (besides the people watching and seeing my husband ride the "big kid rides" over and over again) was enjoying the Danish ice cream!  This may have been one of the best ice cream cones I have ever had (and that's saying something!).  I was shocked to see the girls power through these monsters while getting surprisingly little ice cream on their clothes.  Their faces?  Now that was a different story!

This is the "small" cone

After about 5 hours and many, many rides, we were ready to head out of the park and move on to a slightly quieter venue for dinner.   We drove north to Rungsted Harbor and ate outside at a restaurant called Crostini.  The weather was beautiful as was the the view.  After dinner the kids enjoyed walking along the pier and took leftover bread from the table to feed the birds.

Great view from our table

Since this post is getting a bit lengthy, I will simply mention that our family decided it would be more fun, and potentially faster, to take the ferry back across to Sweden.   Another new experience....and a story to save for another day!

A few more house photos....family room, etc.

Since I received some pretty good feedback on my post about our kitchen (at least that you enjoyed seeing the pictures), I wanted to move on to the next couple of rooms.   For those of you who had seen either one of our former homes, you will recognize the furniture.  Here in the land of Ikea (simple, clean lines, etc.), I still laugh to myself when I see our gigantic (but comfy) couches taking over this room!

A little crowded, but cozy

I also love that we have a wall of bookshelves in this room....it is great for books (obviously) but also for photos and a few other decorative pieces (I REFUSE to call them knick knacks!)

One more "feature" of the family room is a fireplace  (It sits opposite the TV...about 25 feet away).  The heating system here is not very efficient (that's probably an understatement), so the winter heating bills can get crazy expensive!  I guess the fire can really help keep things toasty....but I will be happy to wait until October or November to see it in action!

Now....between the dining area and the family room is what I will refer to as the cat's room otherwise it is just a really large entry way that houses a piano.  There is also a half bath off this space and a small closet (containing mostly clothes and wine).  And yes, even though the cat's food, etc. are not worthy of a photo, her stuff is in here as well.  This space isn't extremely functional, but it does open things up a little bit.  

The rarely used front door

View from the front door through the family room

One last thing about this living room extension....it's also where we have the stairs going up to the four bedrooms.  Under these stair is where the majority of my storage space exists (we have no basement, the closets are at capacity, and the garage/carport is just not appropriate for some things).  For weeks, this area was the bane of my existence....ugly and full of boxes, Christmas decorations, etc.

My view from the kitchen- bleh!

However, with some help from Ikea and my friend Hanne (who can sew!), this is now a more attractive, functional space!   

ahhhhh.....so much better!

Well, there you have it...a brief tour of our main living space.  I will save the girls' toy room for another day...it wasn't quite ready for pictures :)

The Turning Torso- Malmö

Since we are living here now, I first thought it may be a bit of a stretch to put this under the "Travel" category.  Then I decided that all of our field trips, big or small, will get some love!

As we were driving back from a chilly and rainy attempt at the beach on Saturday, Malena asks, "Can we go to the twisty tower?"   What she was referring to is a building in Malmö called the Turning Torso.  We opted to make the quick side trip (Malmö is only about 20 minutes away) and enjoyed some slightly better weather as well.

Girls posing with the "Twisty Tower"

The Turning Torso is the tallest building in the Scandinavian countries.  It is mainly a residential building, and visits to the top are restricted to a couple of weeks during the summer (tickets are required...I think I will have to look into this!).  Here's a link to a little more info on this unusual building in case you are interested  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Torso.

A closer look

We visited the TT (aka Turning Torso or Twisty Tower) during the day, but the building looks amazing at night, too!

Which of these things is not like the others?

Since the Turning Torso is right near the waterfront, the girls got to enjoy a little more time near the ocean.  I think they are really enjoying the open spaces here.

That's it for now.  I hope you enjoyed the first "Travel" post!

So what does your house look like?? Part I- The Kitchen

I have been promising to post pictures of our house for several weeks now, and here is the first installment.  Before I begin this first, of several, posts showing the home, I must clarify one thing.  This is actually not "our" house....we are renting this home during our time here.  However, it's much simpler to continue saying "our house" and "my house", so that's how I will proceed.  That being said, if you see things around "my house" that look like they need improvement or that aren't quite my style....keep in mind that I probably can't do much to change them.

Now back to the post at hand...In my adult life (or semi-adult life, if you include the college years), I have moved from tiny kitchen to almost non-existent kitchen to tiny kitchen to HUGE kitchen....I have seen the spectrum!   Our kitchen here is somewhere in between and I have to admit that I'm learning to like it....at least a little bit.  It's open and bright with a reasonable amount of counter space.

Here's the view as you enter through the carport/garage

The refrigerator and freezer (straight ahead) are bigger than I anticipated, and there are enough cabinets to hold all of the things that the we shipped over here.  My main complaints are 1) the tiny oven (mentioned in an earlier post) and 2) the small microwave (in addition to being undersized, its timer is only "approximate" AND it has a door that obscures the view of the food inside. That is not a good combination!).  I guess my baking motto will have to be "adapt and overcome"!

Object in this photo is smaller than it appears

The kitchen does have open cabinets which hold the majority of our dishes, which is a bonus.   This feature also helps makes the kitchen/dining area appear a little larger...at least that's what I'm telling myself!

Kitchen opens up to dining area

It's also very Swedish to have plants and/or flowers in the windows.   I have typically been much more comfortable with plants of the silk variety, but I'm trying to keep things alive the best I can.

Please don't die!

One last thing about our kitchen (and the house in general) is that it is REALLY close to the street (as in "make sure you're wearing a bra while you do the dishes" close)!   Please keep that in mind if you're planning a visit :)

I hope you've enjoyed Part I of the house tour...hopefully I will have more to add soon!

A follow up to "Rough Day in the Kitchen"

For those of you who saw my pathetic attempt at an angel food cake in a previous post, you are probably wondering if I would have the courage to move on from such a tragedy.  You will be happy to see that after 1) some coaching on how to use my crazy little oven and 2) a trip to the grocery store to find cake flour (thank you, Google Translate), I was able to rise to the challenge and make a much taller, much less brown (ok burnt) creation.  I even topped it with fluffy white frosting....the kind that tastes like marshmallows.   Here is the finished product....

Angel Food Cake version 2.0- yum!

Trash Talk

When we moved here and were learning about all of the nuances of our temporary home...different electrical outlets, tiny oven, etc.,  I thought that the one thing I wouldn't have to spend much time on was the trash.  Boy was I wrong!   I assumed that the two big garbage cans outside were just like the ones at home...one for "regular" garbage and the other for recyclable items.

Ahhhh....just like home

Sadly, we all know what happens when one assumes, and I was in for yet another Swedish surprise.  Upon opening the large garbage cans I found EIGHT different compartments for different kinds of trash and recyclable items!

Yep...the other one looks exactly like this one...just with different Swedish words inside

We have a specific place for plastic, metal, paper, clear glass, colored glass (I'm not making this up), food waste, etc.  The food waste even has to be put in special little paper bags, which aren't much bigger than a lunch sack.  Hasn't anyone here heard of a garbage disposal???

To make matters worse, garbage pick up is only every two weeks (for some things) or every six weeks (for others).  Don't ask me what gets picked up when...I just know that the cardboard section is always full and that the garbage truck wakes up the entire neighborhood!

My saving grace, however, is our area recycling center- SYSAV!  They will take just about everything here (except fireworks and car parts).  It's nice to swing by when you have a little extra trash (or when you have finally finished unpacking and have bags and bags of paper left behind).   Just like your trash cans at home, SYSAV has a place for everything.  Don't bother translating this sign, I simply want to give you the idea.

But most importantly there is Area #9.  This is the magical place where one can unload anything that isn't plastic, metal, paper, etc.  (it's also known as the "I'm sick of sorting though my trash, so just throw it in here" place).  Thank you, Area #9!

Anyhow....sorry for the TMI on trash....but I had to share!

The Girls' New School

When my husband and I were planning our move to Sweden, we registered the girls at an international school in town.  As a slightly overprotective mom (who had never lived more than 2 hours from where she was born), I felt comfortable knowing that the school uses English as the main language.  However, as our move date approached, we began to reconsider our options and thought about putting the girls in a local Swedish school.  Many people (parents included) assured us that the girls would acclimate quickly and have a much better opportunity to learn Swedish if they were thrown into it.

Once we arrived, we did some research and found the Foreskolebuss or what I like to call the "School on Wheels".  Each day the children arrive at the school and then head out on the bus (which is not like any bus I remember as a kid!).  Yes, the bus has a kitchen, a bathroom AND seat belts!

The children often spend days exploring in the woods, but will also take trips to the sea, museums, theater, etc.   The children are outdoors every day (with rare exceptions from what I understand), so they must have weather appropriate clothing at the ready.  It is very different from what we are used to, but the girls are enjoying it and their teachers are great (they speak English to the girls as needed).

As it is normal practice in Sweden to have a parent stay with the children for a time when they start school,  I was selected to ride along on the bus with the girls for a couple of days.  It was an opportunity to see how things are done and also feel comforted that the girls are going to be just fine.  It also gave me a chance to take a few photos!

The universal language of rocks!

Enjoying the Animal Park

For the record, not all local schools in Lund are like this (Malena will be in a regular classroom in the fall), but there is something to be said for giving children fresh air and the chance to explore!

Rough day in the kitchen....aka "Know thy Swedish Oven"

For those of you who don't know me well,  I have to tell you that I LOVE to bake....cookies, cupcakes, brownies, etc.  Nothing fancy, but I enjoy making treats (and my daughters like to "help" their mom!).  That being said, I have been a little intimidated by the idea of baking since we arrived.  First of all, it's a little tricky finding all of the ingredients I am used to (no chocolate chips to be found, baking soda is scarce, etc.).  Then there is the whole Fahrenheit to Celsius conversion thing.  It's not horribly difficult to manage, it's just one more opportunity for error.  And then there is my tiny little Swedish oven.  It looks very cute and unassuming (it's too small for my big American cookie sheets), but it got the best of me yesterday.

We had dinner plans with friends, and I was planning to make a lovely angel food cake to bring for dessert.  I was using my favorite cookbook, my good old measuring cups (not those crazy metric things) and relatively simple ingredients.  Unfortunately, my oven has SEVEN different settings and I did not fully investigate how to select the correct one.  "How hard can it be?"  I think to myself....and select one at random.   That's when things went terribly, terribly wrong...

When it was almost time for the cake to be done, I noticed a slight burnt smell and was a little concerned.  I then opened the oven and there it is...a very brown, very (very) flat angel food cake.  I almost cried!

With no extra time to whip up something else, I was forced to grab a store bought apple pie and ice cream on the way to our friends' house and then confess to them my failure in the kitchen.  However, I will do some research and try this cake again....stay tuned!

Me? Write a Blog??

Yes...I am starting a blog.  After shocking friends and family with the announcement of our plan to move to Sweden, I'm hoping this whole blog thing comes as relatively minor news.  The main reason that the blog idea seems like a good one is that it may be the best way to chronicle our time here. I will share info on our travels, our family and just day to day things which are new to us.  Facebook and emails have been my main means of communication thus far, but they each have their shortcomings.  Emails generally have to be crafted individually (except the one announcing my attempt at blogging- EVERYONE will get that news!) and it's tough to keep track of who has heard which stories.  Facebook is nice for a cute pic or quick update, but not the place to share all the quirky things about living in Sweden (and not all of my friends/family want to join the FB community).  So here I go!  Since we have been here about 4 weeks, I may backfill some information as well as keep everyone posted on the new happenings.  Thanks for checking it out and please sign up as a "member" if you would like to keep up with us! 

First visit to the sea (in Falsterbo)