Glad Midsommar!

(to be fair this was taken a few days before last Midsommar, but the weather was so dreary and cold that day that I didn't manage any pictures. A little historical fiction improves everything!).

Sverige

I miss Sweden so terribly much now and then.  Not just abstract "Sweden", of course, but my boyfriend, my friends, his family, everything that is so lovely about living there.  I'm going in a few weeks so it is not a sad or desperate sort of missing, just a pleasant longing to be there that has me wishing for all the strangest things one can miss about a place. Aftonbladet, bike paths, queue tickets (kölappar). The things you never notice on an average day get filed away in your mind, and they build up such a strong and silent picture of what makes up a place, a presence you hardly notice until it's not there and you find yourself craving a newsstand sandwich in a plastic bag from Pressbyrån.

Certain kinds of weather make me think about places I have been. Misty fall days make me think of Montreal. Bright sunny mornings make me remember Toronto. And just now, this early spring weather seems to be inextricably linked to Sweden. I keep expecting to glance out my window and see the Fyris river glittering in the pale spring sun.

All winter I've been patiently waiting for the results of my application for a residency permit, but now it's really starting to itch.  I'm keeping all of my fingers and toes crossed one hundred per cent of the time, but this is getting difficult and I just want to know! I calculated back in November that the very earliest I would hear anything is in April, and I really am trying not to get to anxious for the calendar to flip but patience is not something I can ever claim to have.

Krav?

Some things seem to be much easier in Canada than in Sweden.  Finding a new apartment, for example.  No endless queues and trips to housing offices here, it's just a matter of browsing Craigslist and sending a few emails.  On the other hand, some things are much easier in Sweden - like finding organic, local food at the grocery store.

I went grocery shopping here for the first time in a month yesterday and was struck by how difficult it is to find local, organic foods.  The difference is especially striking when I've just come back from Sweden, where I can easily go shopping and come home with a (reusable!) bag full of only organic/sustainable-certified items, from milk to soap to coffee to toilet paper.  I spent a very frustrating hour wandering around the huge, huge local grocery store, finally coming to the conclusion that I would only find organic foods in the few aisles that were marked with green signs as containing "health" products.  I went home without ham because it was impossible to determine where the deli meats had come from - none of them had their provenance marked, and no organic options were in sight. Despite living in one of the most productive growing regions of the country, I was scarcely able to find produce that hadn't been shipped from the US, Mexico, or farther away.  Although apples are currently in season, for example, I found about 12 varieties of imported apples, and had to search to find the five local varieties, none of which were organic.  Why is it necessary to build such an enormous, resource-gobbling store and fill it with 20 kinds of apples? Isn't it enough to have a smaller, more manageable store that sells, for example, only the local apples? That doesn't make it an impossible task to hunt down a bag of organic lentils? I was struck by how miserable my fellow shoppers looked, but after twenty minutes in the store I understood why. 

I hate to turn into one of those people who are forever going around moaning about how much better things are in Europe.  But sometimes it really is true.  We have a long, long way to go here when it comes to environmental awareness, and making organic, local, sustainable food into a popular choice.

God jul, gott nytt år, god fortsättning!

önskas Dawn + Joakim + Katt

Dear Blog,

I haven't forgotten about you! I've been thinking about you almost every day! But I have just gotten back from a month away, without a laptop, on a wonderful holiday.  It was a bit impossible to make time from all the fun to borrow a computer and blog.  But I will begin regularly, starting tomorrow!

xoxo

Dawn

Uppsala i vintras

I really can't wait to be back here!

To Sweden!

Tomorrow I am leaving to spend a whole month in Sweden with my boyfriend and his family! So excited.  Weeks and weeks of kissing and laughing and relaxing and doing everything fun.  Plus I'm going to Edinburgh for a few days to meet some friends.  I can't wait I can't wait! The only terrible thing about flying so far is that I will leave tomorrow but it will be already fully Friday by the time I get to Stockholm, and already almost dark out! It's too long to wait!