Sweden Other - 2

I have been eating a lot of Anna's gingerbread cookies lately.....in the evening with a mug of hot tea - yummy. I'm missing Sweden right now and thinking about when I should go again. Since it's such a long plane ride and I have so many friends there and family to catch up with I need at least two weeks. Last time I went I extended my stay because I didn't have enough time.





It's Thursday today....Throwback Thursday. My Mom has these two pics of me on display back home.



I'm not sure how old I am in the first pic.....five maybe? And the second like 18-19. I did my first real photo shoot and they (hair and make up people) made me up like that.

It's been raining almost all day today. Earlier I cooked and ate a whole cauliflower, well Chhaya wanted some too. The result? Very stinky and powerful gas. I decided to stay home, feeling lazy and in need of ME time. Although this would had been a good night to cash in on the "Ballrumbler" dances. That is a rare and very popular treat, you grind your butt into another persons lap and let out a fart that vibrates through the recipients body. Costs extra, of course. I usually charge $60. They sell like hotcakes.
So I'm at home. I took a bath, washed my bedding, about to continue reading my new book that is very sad by the way. Ahhhhh.....my bed is so comfortable.....



Thinking about calling my Mom and some friends in Sweden. They held elections there yesterday (every four years) and there are some big changes. Not that I am too surprised, the ruling party Moderaterna got replaced by the other large party, Socialdemokraterna. It's been between those two ever since I was a child. The third largest party is now Sverige Demokraterna.



Many in Sweden are not happy about that. Or at least they pretend they are not happy about it. Nobody wants to admit to voting for them, it's considered shameful and you might get called out to be a racist. Although plenty of people obviously did vote for them since they got enough votes to be the third largest party. I understand why Sverige Demokraterna are growing. You can't ignore certain very important issues like immigration and all the stuff that comes with that. It does not make you a racist because you want to limit immigration to a small country like Sweden, it makes you a REALIST. I am a REALIST. I spent some considerable time discussing politics when I was in Sweden this summer. I have friends from other countries and people that were born in Sweden by Swedish parents.
Remember, I was not born in Sweden. Even my immigrant friends or second generation immigrant friends understand why Sverige Demokraterna are growing. What I find extremely baffling is how the ruling party Social Demokraterna say that they are not going to work with Sverige Demokraterna, childish behavior in a very grown up arena. You have to work together now and reach decisions, they are the third largest party, voted in by the people - democracy! What party would I had voted for? Djurens Parti. They advocate for the welfare of animals and the environment. I believe in taking care of the animals and fight for their welfare and take care of the environment. Without the animals that feed us and clothe us and the trees, vegetation, clean oceans and rivers and clean air we are nothing. Human beings will never get along. I love animals. Defenseless beautiful souls coexisting with the greedy brutes - us humans. Human beings will be their own demise.

I am very very homesick today.....not feeling that great at all. I know that going somewhere on vacation is way different than actually living there because I was complaining and being bored with everyday life when I lived in Stockholm too. That's normal I think, especially when you are in the midst of winter. But NOTHING.....NOTHING is as boring as Kenai. At least for me. I'm sure Kenai is a perfectly fine place for a lot of people but not for me. I'm not going to expand on the Kenai is a boring place topic any more this time around. I am homesick and that's that. I miss my friends and actually DOING stuff because there are plenty of things to do in Stockholm and I also miss walking around in City. I put some new stuff from Sweden in the kitchen window......



What else can I write about? O yeah, I had to get a new passport while I was in Sweden. Therefore I had to get measured.....I was curious to see if I had shrunk since the last time but I I'm the same.



And I was also curios to see what I weighed in actual kilos. There is an old scale at the gym here in Kenai, the kind where you have to move the little weight around to balance it out.....
I don't know how to use that stuff and I don't know what I weigh in pounds either......so I stepped on my brothers scale and it said 61.9 kilos. Now I know.



Well.....I'm going to start my day now. I have a few things on my to do list.

As a child I grew up with ABBA, Pippi Långstrump, Bamse, Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter, Trazan och Banarne, Vi på Saltkråkan, Pojken med guldbyxorna and also Mumintrollen.
I love Pippi, she is my heroine. So on my trip to Sweden I got some Pippi stuff that I will show later but also for the first time some Mumintrollen stuff.....or Mumin like you can also say. Mumintrollen is about a troll family created by Tove Jansson. I remember thinking that Mumintrollen were kind of sad and a bit scary to watch when I was little, there was a character called Mårran and I was scared of her. Besides that Swedish children's TV when I was growing up was great and very pedagogic and educational, I learned a lot from watching Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter and Pippi Långstrump is a wonderful role model for girls I think. When I arrived to Sweden from Poland as a child I spoke no Swedish and I got teased a lot and from that I became shy and very insecure. I was the only foreign born child in first grade and that was not fun I quickly learned. In second grade we moved from Tumba to Handen and I got to know new friends like Carmen that I am still friends with today. I quickly learned Swedish from reading a lot and in the end I got mostly high grades on everything that had to do with writing and reading Swedish. And later I studies other languages like most kids in Sweden do. School went on and I grew out of being insecure, thank goodness. Now I feel super confident and strong.
Well, here is my Mumin stuff. A tray that I will keep on the kitchen counter so I can put car keys and sun glasses on it. Some postcards, coasters and Mumin on key chains. I think I will attach those to one of my purses.

I love stories about Santa and the connection to the fly agaric. Back in the day mushrooms were depicted on many Christmas cards. I think it's pretty and I also like mushroom ornaments for the Christmas tree. I am also fascinated with all things of the underworld......faeries, mermaids, trolls, gnomes.....the stuff faerie tales are made off.
In Sweden there are tons of folklore about trolls, princesses and faeries. And Santa comes from Lappland, where Sweden, Norway and Finland meet, where the reindeer roam. At least that makes the most sense to me, that Santa is from there.









It snowed a lot here today. It is so pretty outside and I miss Sweden when Christmas is around the corner. All the traditions.....julbord, glögg, a walk through Gamla Stan, Kalle Ankas julafton, Lucia, adventsljustake, julstjärna......I don't want to think too much about it and get sad. It's quiet and dark outside. Chhaya is in love with the electric blanket, she doesn't want to move from it. The house is decorated and looks beautiful. I'm content and pensive. Right now I wish I was under a thick but soft blanket in front of a hot wood fire stove somewhere, listening to somebody delivering hours of faerie tales while sipping on hot chocolate.

I'm 12 years old. I love horses. The best thing I know is to be around them, pet them, clean them and when I can afford it......ride them. I want my own horse, that was my dream when I was 12. Life was easy. I was happy most of the time.



Shortly after that picture was taken, we moved from Stockholm to Växjö. I was not happy at all about having to say goodbye to my friends, start a new school and make new friends.
Say goodbye to my favorite horses at the stable Skutan that I would go to all the time. But I made new friends, good ones too......the kind you have for life.