How to get fat in Sweden

What??  With all the biking, daily farmer's market, etc. how could that possible happen....to ANYONE that lives here?  Before I provide you with a few simple steps on how to "bulk up" here in Scandinavia, I want to take you back to April when we first moved here.  After a couple of short weeks in Sweden, I thought (mistakenly) that it would be so easy to stay in shape!  After one week, my jeans were already a little bit loose.   Granted, I initially spent 8 to 10 hours a day unpacking, I rarely left the house, and we ate rice and beans, pasta or sandwiches for dinner every night.  Combine that with more walking and biking, less eating at restaurants and a sparkly new gym membership- I began to understand why most people here are in pretty good shape (and assumed- perhaps incorrectly- that I could easily be like "most people")

My friend....for now

All that being said, I now realize that staying in shape was not quite as easy as I initially thought...or hoped.  Here are a few simple steps that could help a person get "fluffy" in Sweden (if one were so inclined).   Step 1-  Make Friends.  Yes, the Swedes know how to entertain (and I'm not referring to fermented fish or meatballs!).   Since settling in, we have been invited to the homes of friends for fabulous dinners, drinks, or fika (or coffee break).   Sometimes afternoon fika would flow into dinner and drinks!

You might find these at fika!

Sometimes a week of sensible eating and regular workouts could be unravelled by a weekend evening with friends, eating yummy food and enjoying a few glasses of wine.  On a side note,  I must say that our Danish friends are also wonderful hosts (therefore equally responsible for my not-so-loose jeans!)

Step 2- Learn your way around the grocery store.   With some help of Google translate and a couple of Swedish friends, I am now able to navigate (reasonably well) through a couple of the main grocery stores.  I've also made friends with my small oven....for the most part....and don't burn things as frequently as I did the first month here.   Now I am able to make some familiar foods from home and we are not dependent on the aforementioned sandwiches, pasta, and rice and beans (although those meals are still in the rotation!).  I do try to cook reasonably healthy things, but we are no longer enjoying the "prison diet".

Pretty good stuff...but not every day!

Step 3- Invite out-of-country guests to stay with you.  Okay, I'm not sure that I should refer to my parents as "guests", but when I have people in the house (family or otherwise), I feel obligated to ensure they are well fed.  I also invited friends over on several occasions so that my parents could meet them.  It goes without saying that if I'm having guests over that I MUST feed them.  A few culinary highlights included taco night, enchiladas, banana bread and apple crisp.  I made meatballs as well...but not from scratch!

Homemade apple crisp- try it with ice cream and vanilla sauce!

Also, it's only natural that the parents wanted to try out some of the local establishments for fika, lunch, or dinner.   I went out for coffee more in two weeks time than I had in five months.  And, as you might imagine, it wasn't just coffee....I sampled some really yummy kannelbullar (cinnamon rolls), carrot cake and a pie made out of local berries (I have a feeling that those items do not qualify as the Breakfast of Champions!).  Before the parents visit,  I had rarely gone out to eat and I didn't know which local places are the best (there's no Panera or Jason's Deli).  So it was a little trial and error.   However, we did find a pizza place in town called V.E.S.P.A. that is quite good.  My family and close friends could tell you that I might DIE without pizza.   Needless to say, even all of the extra walking around town couldn't possibly offset the smorgasbord which was the last few weeks!

Now, please understand that I am exaggerating (a little) about bulking up....I'm sure you will recognize me the next time you see me and I haven't had to buy bigger jeans just yet, but it's certainly not as easy as I thought it would be to stay fit in Sweden.  However, I'm so grateful that we have friends to hang out with, that I can navigate through the grocery store and I'm certainly thrilled that we had our first visitors.   I wouldn't trade any of those things for smaller jeans!  I guess I will just have to work a bit harder during the week.

A little more of this....

And a little (I said a LITTLE) less of this!

Pimp my ride

Most of you that have been following along are aware of my renewed friendship with my old (but reliable) bicycle.   As well as things have been going well with my BFF, I realized that she needed a couple of "enhancements".   First of all, now that the weather has suddenly turned to fall (which I guess in Sweden means 60s with some rain), I notice that my awesome backpack, and sometimes my pants, get splattered from the puddles when I'm riding in the rain (I know you're probably thinking, "Then just don't ride your bike in the RAIN!").   Fortunately or unfortunately, in my quest to adapt to the more active Swedish lifestyle, some riding in the rain is mandatory.   So I took my bike to the shop to get some mudguards installed over the tires.  I would go to great lengths to protect my precious backpack!  In all seriousness, for as much as I ride with a backpack, I'm thinking of upgrading from the IKEA special to something a bit more stylish!

Not fancy....but hopefully functional!

As a quick tangent to the mudguard upgrade, I finally broke down and purchased some rain pants today.  Yes, I'm serious.  I bought waterproof pants to wear over my regular pants to protect them....when I'm riding my bike IN THE RAIN.  As I write this I'm guessing most of you think that Michelle has been kidnapped and replaced with a Swedish alien!   Suffice it to say that I am now well prepared to accompany the kids back and forth to school in inclement weather without getting soaked.  It is duly noted that DRIVING would also accomplish that!

Ok...back to the bike.  I realized that in addition to the mudguards, the old Rockhopper also needed a kickstand.  Since it's a mountain bike, I guess they are not standard issue (and are considered both lame, and possibly dangerous, to the serious trail riders).  And up until now....I never really missed it.  The main reason being, of course, that I really didn't ride my bike that much.  And when I did ride it, I could just lean it up against a tree.  Now, however, I take my bike all over the place and sometimes the bike racks are full.  Can you imagine such a thing?  And you can't just lean your bike anywhere that seems convenient.

Breakin' the law!

As pathetic as it might sound, I was quite happy to pick up my new "ride" from my friends at Ekman's Cykel, with it's shiny new kickstand and mudguards  (for now, I'm holding off on the new paint job and fancy rims).

Maybe the TV will be my next upgrade!

Not surprisingly, it was windy and threatening rain when I went to pick up the girls from school with my (new and improved) BFF, so I even threw on the new rain pants as a precautionary measure.   I was quite a sight (but I wouldn't  hold your breath waiting for the photo!).  Hopefully now I'm prepared for at least the next month or so of crazy Swedish weather....I have no idea what the winter will bring!

Will this be me in December??

Our first visitors!

Okay friends...another quick entry...with relatively more photos than text (perfect for some of you, I'm sure!).  After having the whole family together here for about five months now, we had our first visitors arrive last week.   My mom and dad (Nana and Papa to the girls) made the 8 hour flight across the Atlantic!

When I picked them up at the airport in Copenhagen, I was able to stand and watch for them as they left the customs area.  My only regret was not having a little American (or perhaps Swedish) flag to wave at them.

This little guy came prepared to greet his Danish family!

After an overnight flight (with a few cat naps) they were a bit tired.  But they were soooooo excited to see the girls!  So I tried to capitalize on that energy and plotted to keep them awake all afternoon (I thought this would help them battle through the jet lag).  We arrived at our house, where the girls were waiting, and spent some time just relaxing.   Then I dragged them out for a walk to the park and to see the girls' schools.

Push me really high!

The next day the P's accompanied me as I rode the girls to school (thanks to our friend who loaned us a bike!).   Yes,  I forced them to quickly acclimate to some Swedish-ness!

Trying to keep up!

While the girls were in school, the folks and I rode (yes, on bikes) into downtown Lund.   As expected, they were charmed by the old architecture and cobblestone streets.   We had coffee (yes, I'm starting to drink coffee!) then stopped at the outdoor market for some fresh berries. Yum!  I also found out this market continues all year round, with the exception of maybe a few weeks where the weather is really awful.   

A beautiful day in Lund!

I have a feeling that I will learn a few new things about Sweden while acting as my parents' tour guide, especially because my father is very inquisitive.  "How old is Lund?",  "What is this building used for?", "What do the locals eat?" were just a few of his many questions during our brief trip into town!  Luckily I have the Internet to help address his inquiries!

On Saturday, I squished the kids and my parents into the Audi wagon and headed to Malmo (the hubby opted out of this trip as he isn't keen on riding on the roof rack!).   It was a beautiful day, with clouds rolling through only briefly, and the parents were able to see the Turning Torso and one of the girls favorite parks.

Mom, Dad and the girls in Malmö

CeCe showing Papa her climbing ability

After a couple of hours walking around, we headed to a friend's house for a barbecue.   It was a very relaxing first few days with the folks.  Now Mom and Dad are off to Paris and London...returning at the end of the week (Lund may not seem quite as exciting to them after their adventures this week!).

Eiffel tower vs.

Charming city of Lund?

My money is on Lund....but only because two of their grand kids live here!

What's in a name?

If you don't have much time for reading, this entry should be right up your alley!  It was brought to my attention (politely) that all of my posts do not have to be long, involved stories and can, at times, be just a short little blurb (ok...indulge me for at least a few paragraphs) discussing my day, perhaps a yummy restaurant I visited, or some interesting "Swedish" thing I encountered.

I find myself intrigued at how informal it is here when it comes to children speaking with adults.   Back in the states, the girls would typically refer to our friends and other adults as "Miss", "Mrs." or "Mr." So and So.   A few special people (you know who you are) are called "Auntie" or "Uncle".

When we moved to Sweden, of course the girls started meeting new people (many of them grown-ups).  We did our typical  "Miss" and "Mr." thing and people looked at us like we were out of our minds (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but certainly it seemed a bit unusual to them).  We were informed that kids typically just use the adults' first name.   OK...I guess I can understand that...if I heard someone calling for "Mrs. B..." then I would be looking around the room for my mother-in-law.

However, I didn't think that this informality would hold true at school....OF COURSE we would address the teachers with Mr., Miss, etc.  Nope.  First day of school....we met Emy and Stefan....the girls' teachers.  Really?  Shouldn't the kids show a little more respect?  But after watching the children (not just my own) interact with their teachers, it really didn't seem have any effect on their behavior...for better or worse.

Interesting.....

Something happened this week, though, that really made me think about this whole hierarchy again.  Malena had a dentist appointment and I, as you might expect, went into the exam room with her.  The hygienist did some preliminary checking then told us that the dentist, Jacob, would be in to check her teeth.  Jacob (who looked all of 23) came in and introduced himself to Malena (as Jacob, not Dr. N.) and completed her check-up.  Teachers, dentists, doctors....all on a first name basis....how interesting!

Before writing this, I did a little (and I do mean a little) research on this topic and I guess I really shouldn't be surprised.  Sweden has an environment of equality (at least when compared to the U.S.) and professional titles are not frequently utilized.  It is very much a culture where people don't think they are better than anybody else (or perhaps they do, but they just don't say it out loud!).  However, I still don't have a good answer for why the kids are on a first name basis with their teachers.   Oh well....I will go with it....as long as my girls still refer to me as "Mom".