Welcome to Sweden

Way back in March, when it was still dark at night, a group of friends attended the premiere of Welcome to Sweden, a half hour sitcom written by Greg Phoeler (Amy Phoeler's brother).  About eight years ago Greg Phoeler moved to Stockholm to be with his real-life Swedish girlfriend.  The show arose from his experiences but is not a true-to-life story.

show poster under the red canopy at the theater

Our group loved the show because we could relate to the quirky things that come with living as an expat in a foreign country, specifically Sweden.  Yes, the things that are made fun of in the first episode are true (Skål)!  Certain words and situations (i.e. a sauna scene where too much skin was showing) had to be edited before airing on NBC because American broadcasting standards are a bit stricter than European standards.

The premier, hosted by the American Women's Club in Stockholm, was fun with a 20 minute stand-up routine by Greg Phoeler, a viewing of the show, followed by a Q&A with Greg, the actor who plays his girlfriend's father and the director. 

It will be interesting to see if you find it as funny as we did!

Welcome to Sweden - NBC,  July 10, 9pm

Greg Phoeler mobbed by a bunch of Americans and a few Canadians!

Happy 4th & 5th of July!

Friday, July 4 - It was a wet, chilly Independence Day on the east coast thanks to hurricane Arthur.  The town of Wolfeboro, NH postponed their parade until Saturday and moved fireworks to Sunday night.  We ended up skipping the Sunday night fireworks in favor of games and a leisurely dinner.  We've quickly fallen into the summer schedule of 9pm dinners. 

After a day of playing games and legos, painting, watching movies and soccer Audra and Gabby wanted to go swimming...  Uncle Marshall and Gordon were good sports and jumped in with them.  We also celebrated with traditional hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. 

 

Sofia has inexplicably developed an irrational fear of bugs, keeping her from enjoying some summer fun

Saturday, July 5 - a sunny, windy parade day.  Audra asked why the parade didn't start on time at 10am, apparently she's become accustomed to Swedish punctuality. The parade was vintage small town Americana, basically an hour and a half long rolling advertisement for the local businesses, very sweet.  Anyone can join the parade by submitting applications posted in the local newspaper by July 2.  The girls want to join next year!

Main Street - downtown Wolfeboro, NH

a rarity - the local bookstore celebrating 20 years

couldn't be more American than a big truck

patriotic pooches

New Hampshire Boat Museum

Wright Museum

Huggins Hospital float played 'Stayin' Alive' to promote CPR classes

the truck powered by sunflower oil broke down in front of us... it then become powered by 20+ spectators

a parade is not complete without a drill team singing "I just sunk my derriere, down into my own lawn chair'

traditional revolutionary outfits

parade of vintage Jeeps

the local gym spinning to 'YMCA'

American Father's Day

Sunday, June 15, 2014 - I decided I had to finish up one American holiday (Father's Day) before the start of another one (4th of July)...

Saturday evening the girls gave us a date night out.  I decided to share a popular GNO (Girl's Night Out) destination, not far from home, with Gordon - Strandbryggan Sea Club... where it's always crowded (but you can always seem to find a spot) and the rose is chilled.  When we arrived we found four horses tied up out front obviously belonging to the people at the bar in full leather chaps and cowboy hats.

Sunday, Father's Day, started off with the full breakfast and showering of gifts.  The rest of the day was reserved for boating. We loaded up, gassed up at Fjaderholmarna (the closest archipelago island to Stockholm) then picked up the Methven family - Emma, James, Josh, Ben and dog, Jessie at their little neighborhood marina about 30 minutes away.  We headed out to the archipelago, randomly ending up at Kalvholmen (1 of 24,000+ islands in Stockholm's archipelago). 

Sofia's gift to Gordon - a captain's hat for the boat

Gabby's gift to Gordon - learning about navigation

The boys and the dogs were begging to swim, which (for the boys) was short lived as the water was pretty chilly.  The Kalvholmen shoreline was too deep for Lucy to do any diving for rocks.  After a lovely picnic spread, provided by the Methvens, on the front of the boat everyone set off to explore the little island (I stayed behind and enjoyed the quiet). 

Gordon was by himself in Stockholm last year for Father's Day... I hope we made it up to him this year!

(photo credit: Gabby Castle)

Audra and Sofia with Josh (photo credit: Gabby Castle)

Sofia, Lucy and Jessie exploring Kalvholmen (photo credit: Gabby Castle)

(photo credit: Gabby Castle)

(photo credit: Gabby Castle)

Jessie and Lucy - dog tired (photo credit: Gabby Castle)

(photo credit: Gabby Castle)

the ride back home (photo credit: Gabby Castle)

USA

June 23, 2014 - For the first time in almost 11 months the girls and I are back in the U.S.A.!  The girls are so excited.  Everything they saw for the first 24 hours was met with squeals of "it's American candy, food, _________", and "everything is in English!"

Our first stop is New Hampshire where we'll bike, swim, paddle board, kayak, etc.  My intention is to catch up on a backlog of blog posts, which may or may not happen (clearly, since it's taken me a week and a half to write this short post!) because the best thing about New Hampshire is relaxing and not having to do anything at all! 

beautiful New Hampshire

Smallest statue in Stockholm

Järnpojke (Iron Boy), is Stockholm's smallest statue at 15 centimeters high.  Tucked away behind the Finnish Church on Gamla Stan, the belief is the boy has magical powers prompting visitors to leave coins or candy at his feet and stroke the top of his head.

Sometimes in winter he even sports a knit cap

 

Other superstitions according to Wikipedia:  

• Who runs 3 times around the sculpture counterclockwise comes certainly will be back to Stockholm.
• Who strokes head of the sculpture 3-times and makes a wish, the wish will come true in a year.
• Who leaves the sculpture a treat (money or candy), in the same year will have an addition to the family.  

I really wish I had known that last one... I guess we'll be getting a new four-legged member!  

Parking in Stockholm

I've become comfortable driving in Stockholm, watching out for bus lanes and pedestrian crossings.  With Mom and Dad visiting I learned how to navigate the parking too! Suddenly I was aware of parking lots and decks.  Even native Stockholmers find the parking confusing. Gordon's co-workers told him the first rule of parking is to wonder why no one else has parked in an open spot. 

Parking monitors are vigilant in the city... they travel in packs of 2 or 3 in their yellow vests handing out 1000kr ($150) tickets, they work on commission and are very good at their job. 

This sign means you can park, 24/7 to the left of the arrow, but you still have to pay. Boende means resident parking.

Once you are parked, find the closest parking machine, insert credit card, add money (usually 1, 5 or 10kr increments).  The machine will give you the time you are paid up to (end time).  Push the ticket button, place ticket on dashboard.

 

 

This sign means no parking from midnight to 7am on Mondays (street cleaning).

 

This sign means 'loading zone' do not park from 6am-5pm, Monday - Friday or from midnight to 3pm on Mondays (I think).

This has nothing to do with parking but I like the sticker someone added to the road work sign.