All of my gym clothes except my über short running shorts need to be washed, but I still want to go to the gym after work, so I went shopping over lunch. I've never been much of a sweatpants wearer, but the temperatures are dropping so I thought I'd give sweatpants a try.
I'm at work, so I need to skip the story telling and get straight to the point. Swedish sweatpants are not baggy! Yes, I did try on multiple sizes to make sure it wasn't just me. I know Swedish men like their tight-fitting clothes, but every once in a while something like this provides a shocking reminder that this really is a foreign land.
In case you're wondering, I bought a pair. I'm trying to talk Miranda into turning this into a Swedish fashion blog (all the rage here over here), and if she agrees, a picture of these sweatpants might find its way into a future blog post.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Fall happenings
There isn't really too much to report on these days, but we did host a few open houses for our landlord recently (he is selling when our lease is up). We're a little bummed to be moving again, because moving is never fun, but glad to have already found another apartment in Uppsala for December through May. Anyway, our place cleaned up pretty nicely for the showings, and I always feel inclined to take pictures on the good days.
In other news, now that the fall season is officially upon us, Scott's busy season at work is starting to kick in. My slow start to the semester (which was just one class) is also wrapping up this week, and I'll soon begin the next new round of courses. To celebrate/combat the cool weather, I picked up a "new" coat at one the second-hand stores in town and a new hat and scarf from H&M. My husband, meanwhile, has been mainly gearing up for this fall weather with a handsome new beard to protect his face while biking.
(And yes, he really did pull two bananas from his pockets just before I took this photo.)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
I bet the Norwegians are rewriting a few Swedish jokes
Stockholm made international news today due to a daring heist at a "cash depot" involving explosives and a helicopter. The story spread by CNN makes the Swedish police look fairly incompetent, much more so than the story published in local news, but it's a big headline that sounds like something out of a movie, so I thought I'd share. It really is kind of funny, just how easily the police were knocked out of the equation.
Also funny how the follow-up story isn't about catching the robbers, but rather the worry about how Swedes will get cash from the ATM on payday (even though financial transactions in this country are 99.95% electronic). Oh these Swedes, they love their stability and security.
Also funny how the follow-up story isn't about catching the robbers, but rather the worry about how Swedes will get cash from the ATM on payday (even though financial transactions in this country are 99.95% electronic). Oh these Swedes, they love their stability and security.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Back to our regularly scheduled program...
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 1 | ||||
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| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2 | ||||
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Saturday, May 9, 2009
New Picassa Photos
Five new albums in Picassa, hopefully a few more before the end of the weekend. Hope you enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mirandaandscott/
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mirandaandscott/
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Funny is a funny word, to me at least.
I had pretty much given up on this blog, but a friend told me that he still checked for updates faithfully, so I decided to give it another go.
There’s no need to write too much about our recent adventures, there will be time for that. Today’s post is dedicated to a fairly normal word, funny. I’ve never thought of funny as a funny word. I mean, weird is a weird word because it breaks the i before e rule, but funny? It’s just normal. It’s pronounced like it’s written, and I doubt it has ever been misspelled. There’s just nothing abnormal about the word.
We’ll come back to the word funny in a bit…
As we’ve mentioned, Swedes have nearly mastered the nearly language. They are proud of it, and as a long-term tourist, I’m quite thankful for the fact that they won’t hesitate to speak English with me when I need a crutch. Ask any of our many tourists and they’ll all tell you how wonderful it is being able to speak their native language with a Swede…it makes everything (except learning Swedish) infinitely easier.
So back to the word funny, there are two words that a native English speaker has never confused that I have heard misused on multiple occasions: fun and funny.
You can imagine my surprise when I was chatting with a coworker who was looking to move from a data crunching position into more of a client-facing position and he said, “You know, I really want to get out and meet clients. That’s the funny part of the business.” I had never heard a Swede make such a blatant mistake and not catch it. He then went on to stress his point by repeating how “funny” it was to consult and sell to clients. I was at a loss…this guy knows English perfectly. Do I, the guy who will never be as proficient in his language as he is in my language, correct him, or just let him run with his mistake?
This conversation took place after a year of living in Sweden, so I thought it must be an isolated incident, but no, I have heard the mistake made a large number of times since then. How can an entire country of near-perfect English speakers have a problem getting two such normal words straight?
In the end, I blame ABBA. I was going to blame the song writer, but the entire group performed the lines “Money, Money, Money / Must be funny / In a rich man’s world”, so I guess they should all get equal blame. I know, it could be funny to live in a rich man’s world, but I really don’t think that’s what they meant when writing the lyrics, so I’ll squash that rebuttal before I continue. Obviously they were referring to how much fun it would be to live in a rich man’s world. If they really needed a rhyme for the word money, couldn’t they have used the word funny in a way that made sense?
To be fair, Swedes know that ABBA’s lyrics aren’t anything to brag about, but considering the fact that every Swede born after the disco era has grown up listening to ABBA, you’d think parliament would pass a law requiring the nation’s English curriculums to dedicate a day to explaining this blatant misuse of the word funny.
That’s my rant, and my explanation for why I think funny is a funny word.
There’s no need to write too much about our recent adventures, there will be time for that. Today’s post is dedicated to a fairly normal word, funny. I’ve never thought of funny as a funny word. I mean, weird is a weird word because it breaks the i before e rule, but funny? It’s just normal. It’s pronounced like it’s written, and I doubt it has ever been misspelled. There’s just nothing abnormal about the word.
We’ll come back to the word funny in a bit…
As we’ve mentioned, Swedes have nearly mastered the nearly language. They are proud of it, and as a long-term tourist, I’m quite thankful for the fact that they won’t hesitate to speak English with me when I need a crutch. Ask any of our many tourists and they’ll all tell you how wonderful it is being able to speak their native language with a Swede…it makes everything (except learning Swedish) infinitely easier.
So back to the word funny, there are two words that a native English speaker has never confused that I have heard misused on multiple occasions: fun and funny.
You can imagine my surprise when I was chatting with a coworker who was looking to move from a data crunching position into more of a client-facing position and he said, “You know, I really want to get out and meet clients. That’s the funny part of the business.” I had never heard a Swede make such a blatant mistake and not catch it. He then went on to stress his point by repeating how “funny” it was to consult and sell to clients. I was at a loss…this guy knows English perfectly. Do I, the guy who will never be as proficient in his language as he is in my language, correct him, or just let him run with his mistake?
This conversation took place after a year of living in Sweden, so I thought it must be an isolated incident, but no, I have heard the mistake made a large number of times since then. How can an entire country of near-perfect English speakers have a problem getting two such normal words straight?
In the end, I blame ABBA. I was going to blame the song writer, but the entire group performed the lines “Money, Money, Money / Must be funny / In a rich man’s world”, so I guess they should all get equal blame. I know, it could be funny to live in a rich man’s world, but I really don’t think that’s what they meant when writing the lyrics, so I’ll squash that rebuttal before I continue. Obviously they were referring to how much fun it would be to live in a rich man’s world. If they really needed a rhyme for the word money, couldn’t they have used the word funny in a way that made sense?
To be fair, Swedes know that ABBA’s lyrics aren’t anything to brag about, but considering the fact that every Swede born after the disco era has grown up listening to ABBA, you’d think parliament would pass a law requiring the nation’s English curriculums to dedicate a day to explaining this blatant misuse of the word funny.
That’s my rant, and my explanation for why I think funny is a funny word.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Happy Birthday, Scott!
What a wonderful year it’s been. I could not be prouder of my dear actuary, who has accomplished and grown so much professionally, made tremendous strides in a new language, set a new marathon PR for himself, sampled a smorgasbord (literally) of new foods and beverages, pulled-off an intercontinental surprise proposal, and so much more. He also has proven to be a handy bike mechanic, world-class dishwasher and expert sudoku puzzle-solver, I might add. No surprises there. Surprises, rather, would include his two traffic run-ins in Stockholm…one involving an impatient driver, and Scott crossing an intersection, and the second involving Scott, his bike, and the tail end of a car’s illegal right turn. Hitting and/or getting hit by cars is so 2008 (just so you know, love).
In typical Swedish style, last night Scott and I baked a cake for him to share with his co-workers this afternoon, and I joined them at the office for coffee and cake. The celebration was a little more festive than last year, when we had picked up an oversized pastry from the grocery store in lieu of a cake shortly after I had stepped off my plane from the U.S. (Although that pastry was quite an amusing sight to see when it was lit with candles…just look back at our Picassa album.) This year, Scott’s colleagues were also kind enough to sing the Swedish birthday song for us. Or maybe I should say it was for me, because I’m sure the ever-modest birthday boy would’ve been fine without the fanfare. :)
So what is the very best birthday dinner one can have in Sweden? Chipotle-style burritos, homemade from the unofficial online recipes. Hopefully they will live up to our expectations! We’re also planning a trip to Uppsala’s indoor water park, and an evening of Melodifestivalen-themed celebrating with friends at our apartment on Saturday. It should be a fun-filled birthday weekend, topped-off with the arrival of my parents and another birthday dinner on Sunday.
It’s time to tend to the pinto beans now, so – happy birthday to you, dear Scott, and cheers to another exciting year ahead. Puss och kram!
In typical Swedish style, last night Scott and I baked a cake for him to share with his co-workers this afternoon, and I joined them at the office for coffee and cake. The celebration was a little more festive than last year, when we had picked up an oversized pastry from the grocery store in lieu of a cake shortly after I had stepped off my plane from the U.S. (Although that pastry was quite an amusing sight to see when it was lit with candles…just look back at our Picassa album.) This year, Scott’s colleagues were also kind enough to sing the Swedish birthday song for us. Or maybe I should say it was for me, because I’m sure the ever-modest birthday boy would’ve been fine without the fanfare. :)
So what is the very best birthday dinner one can have in Sweden? Chipotle-style burritos, homemade from the unofficial online recipes. Hopefully they will live up to our expectations! We’re also planning a trip to Uppsala’s indoor water park, and an evening of Melodifestivalen-themed celebrating with friends at our apartment on Saturday. It should be a fun-filled birthday weekend, topped-off with the arrival of my parents and another birthday dinner on Sunday.
It’s time to tend to the pinto beans now, so – happy birthday to you, dear Scott, and cheers to another exciting year ahead. Puss och kram!
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