Day 1 - Living the Swedish Life

Were do I even begin! What a day!! We arrived at the airport and Fredrik picked us up (Eva's Husband) then we came back to their beautiful new home to be greeted by the happiest dog in the world, Sydney! She was so excited to see us and to have new people to play with and honestly, I was missing Runi so it was lovely to play around with her. After Sydney calmed down, we got to meet Eva's new baby girl, Victoria. She is so sweet (may have vomited on me in the first hour or so of me holding her, but it didn't matter!) Mum and I had some sweet little cuddles, she is so interactive and loves attention!

We then started to really get into our new way of life, because we live in Europe now!! When we made some little bits of food for breakfast, I got so excited with the crispy bread and just the bread in general. It tastes so damn good!! Eva also had this amazing liver pate but it was like a spread, that just tasted amazing! Pretty sure between all of us we ate it all in one day. After we had something to eat, it was time for GIFTS! Mum presented Eva with the most beautiful baby blanket for Victoria. It was images of the gumnut babies and her name on the bottom. We have promised to send Eva and Fredrik some books of the gumnut babies. Mum also gave Eva a stack of Tim Tams (I was tasked with getting these but, like usual, I forgot, but it probably worked out better for Eva, because I would have only got one pack but mum got her FOUR! She then gave her a packet of jatz!! Eva loved these when she was living with us and she commented that her son, Vincent, loves salty biscuits so she wont give him any because he will eat the whole thing! We laughed and I commented "I wonder where he gets it from!"

We then started to make some traditional Swedish food for lunch! Eva made us work for it though!! Just kidding, we were more than happy to, she had her baby, plus we got to learn how to make a Swedish cheese pie, traditional for midsummer. Mum grated all the cheese and I mixed the eggs but it was really a joint effort.

When we were making the salad, I went outside to Eva's garden to pick some lettuce, and I remember thinking, when my feet were on the grass, no one else was around, uhhhh I feel connected and grounded. I had a big sense of gratitude come over me that I get to do this. I get to take 2 months, come to Europe and live like they do here, for a brief moment in time. I thought to myself, this is really special and I am so grateful to be able to do this, and considered various points in my life that have lead me to this moment. It was like a wave of calm had washed over me. After a few moments I found the lettuce I wanted to pick and took them for the salad.

It was such a beautiful day outside, so we took advantage of it and got to sit outside in nature. I think it was about 28 degrees, they considered it to be hot but I was really enjoying the breeze that was around, it was lovely.

After lunch, we headed to pick up Vincent. It was a 1.1km walk and I was so proud of mum doing this walk with us. Hell, even 6 months ago she would have said no, missing out on so much. She has a new found energy and experiencing things she never would have previously. I am so grateful she is able to experience things now, even something as simple as a walk around a sweet little village in Sweden. These are the things we miss out on, if we don't take the chance. When we arrived at the day care, there were a lot of bikes lined up, not behind a fence, just sitting there. In Australia, this would never happen! It shows how safe it is here and what a wonderful little community Eva and Fredrik live in.

Once we got back to Eva's, dropped off mum and the dog, we walked to the super market. At this point Vincent was still a bit cautious of me, but I helped him with a banana, so I must not be all that bad. He did offer me some but I politely shook my head, because he doesn't know english. It took me back to when Lekso tries to share his banana with me, and I really don't like it. It made me giggle thinking about when Danae and Les read this. Anyway... we walked off to the shop to get a few things for dinner and tomorrows BBQ (They bought one and Eva wanted us to teach her something to cook). When we were in the supermarket, to my amazement, we found what we needed for ABC chicken! So we grabbed it!

The other thing that I really liked was all the fish, and all things Swedish! It all looks so good and the kind of food I like! It's true what they say, abundance illicits joy! This was very true for me in this moment. When we were on the adventure home, Vincent was walking. When he got out of the pram, I put my hand out and he took it! I was in! He trusted me, I was in!! When we got home, we were playing in the front yard for about an hour and a half. He is OBSESSED with insects! He would literally stop what he does when he sees one, yells out "Insecta" and points at it, watching it carefully, seeing what it does. He has been told not to touch them because it makes them "sad" but I am not confident he has learned that lesson yet.

During our outside time, mum gave Vincent his little gifts. He was obsessed with them! Mum gave him his little finger puppets, a Koala and Kookaburra. He was flying them around for a long time and would not put them down. He told me in Swedish I couldn't have one. He did however learn how to say "Koala", "Spider" and "Flower" in English, AND he could say my name! Something Danae and Les have been trying to get Lekso to do. I tried to record it but whenever there is a camera in front of Vincent, he wants to see his face, so that wasn't terribly successful.

We then prepared the most amazing midsummer dinner, all together! It really felt like we were part of the family, preparing, talking, enjoying each others company, not to mention, playing with the kids! It was a lovely evening, and we sat outside enjoying our midsummer meal. Eva told us this is what they eat only on special occasions. I really thought it was how they always ate! Eva reassured me they don't and it's usually things like pasta, potatoes, easy things that take a short amount of time, because of the kids. But they did share they enjoyed having this because we are here.

That is it for Day 1, we went to bed and really hoped for a great sleep!
​Marissa xx