Happy New 2008

Let us all gather round and cheer,
With a drink of wine or an ice cold beer

Perhaps you're like me and don't drink the swill,
Or your like my grandparents who live on pills.
Maybe this world seems harsh at times,
Or its just that most of us just like to whine.

I'd say that this is a great place to be,
It all depends on how we can see.

True we've had bad things in the past,
But we know in our hearts that these will not last.

If we try our best to be simple and pure,
There's nothing our hopes and dreams cannot cure.

So, I don't know the value this is worth,
But lets all try to be happy and heal Mother Earth!

Christmas in Stockholm

We celebrated Christmas together at home this year, Hannah, Emma, Caroline and me. The weather was nothing to write about, generally grey and quite close to zero out side…no sign of the Swedish winter, no snow, no frost, not an icicle insight. In side, we had at least decorated the flat with Christmas lights in the windows and on the balcony, plenty of candles and a Christmas tree. I put up the tree, then Hannah and Emma decorated it on Sunday evening on the 23rd. Christmas Eve is the big day in Sweden and Germany, so we decided to stay with this and open presents in the evening. We started the day with the traditional Swedish morning dish of warm rice pudding with cinnamon. At 11 we drove into town and went to the German church in the old town for their Christmas service. This added to the German content for Christmas and I think Caroline was very pleased we all went along with her for this service, filled with children and a nativity play. In the evening we ate quite a Swedish dinner with pickled fish to start with and then cooked ham, red cabbage and a creamy potato and anchovy pie. Then we all sat down and opened the surprisingly large collection of presents which lay under the tree.
Christmas day was mostly spent preparing the Christmas dinner, with our 6kg turkey. We sat down to eat in the afternoon to eat our traditional English Christmas meal with roast potatoes, parsnip, sprouts, bread sauce, stuffing, and of course the turkey. After a short break, we all went to the cinema together to see a film, The Golden Compass, with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
I think we had a good Christmas together with a decent mix of traditions… and it was another first, celebrating Christmas with Caroline and the girls. Now we just need to find a way to use up all the leftover turkey and ham!

Planning a special trip

Some time ago, Caroline asked me if we could go on a long trip together. A special trip, one that will allow us to travel and explore and discover some new places, together. We discussed this subject from time to time, where to go, proposing locations and routes, as well as how long to be away. Soon we decided that Asia would be our destination, and after some negotiations with my boss at work, we decided on a six week adventure in Jan/Feb 2008.

Our plans focused on visiting Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, with perhaps Laos, if our route would make this possible. Having decided the slightly cheaper multi-stop alternatives just weren’t worth the effort and trouble, we booked a direct flight from Stockholm to Bangkok, Were flying with SAS and even chose the seats we will sit in, via the online booking system, that’s cool! Our flight leaves Stockholm on Wednesday the 3rd January, and returns on the 15th of February.

Some weeks later, and we have spent ages trying to plan which route to take. The main point of concern is if we will try the slightly more complicated direction from northern Thailand over Laos and into Vietnam or Cambodia, or to fly up to Hanoi from Bangkok. We have several options, and at this point in time, we don’t know which way we will go. So we will start by taking the route north in Thailand and see how things turnout when we get there. It’s our plan to spend around a week there at first. We want to try out some cooking lessons and massage courses, that we’ve read about and sound like fun.

So here we are, just two weeks before we will leave… still lots to sort out, things to buy and bags to pack. But after a complex and emotional year, we’re both really looking forward to the trip and our six week adventure together.

My first Lucia

It's Lucia on the 13th of December in Sweden.
This day was regarded as the shortest day of the year in former times. The celebration can be traced back to St. Lucia, a martyr who lived on Sicily in the 3th century.
Nowadays Lucia comes as the "Queen of lights" in a white dress with a crown of candles. She is accompanied by lightbearers and they sing the Lucia-song and some other songs to announce the returning of the light and to herald Christmas time. This day is obviously very important for the kids and it's celebrated in many families in the morning at home, in day-care and kindergarten, but as well in schools and at work.

For my first Lucia, Richard and I went to see a Lucia-concert in a big church. "En resa från mörker till ljus" - A journey from darkness to light.
There were two choirs, one dressed in black and one dressed in white and they started with a few songs in the dark church, apart from each other, until Lucia came in with the lightcrown. The singers in white followed her with candles and they lit all the candles in the church and mingled among the dark choir. They even lowered down two huge candelabra from the ceiling to light their candles, what had quite an dramatic effect.


It was a beautiful concert and I had goose pimples several times, sitting in this church that was only lit up by candles and listening to all these nice songs.
I really liked the Lucia-day and I am happy to add this celebration to the special days in the year.
It's nice to celebrate te returning of the light. It's kind of comforting to know that the days become longer again, even though it's not very noticable for a while. But in the meantime we just light some more candles to make the darkness a bit more cosy :-)

Swedish for immigrants

School's out - for this year, at least!
The last three months I've spent a lot of time on learning Swedish. I started in September with a course in Folkuniversitet as I couldn't start straight away here in the local Sfi-courses, that are free for people moving to Sweden.
There I started in October, and as I wanted to make progress more quickly, I continued going to Folkuniversitet. So I ended up having courses every day for a few weeks, what kept me quite busy.

It was interesting with all these different people in these courses. I was always very curious to hear why they had come to Sweden and how they feel about living here. I was astonished about how many people from all over the world actually have fallen in love with Swedish people and decided to come to live here. Like me, with the only difference that my sambo (swedish for "living-together-with-person") is not Swedish ;-)
Anyway, it seemed as a lot of them have to cope with even more changes than I have to, coming from countries in Afrika or Asia. One guy from Sambia was about to see the first snow in his life...
I learned very soon, that I have quite an advantage with German and English in the background. I can deduce a lot of Swedish words from German, and English too, and some Grammar rules are quite similar. Not for the people coming from Thailand, China or Sambia, that's for sure. A lot of them need to learn another alphabet first of course, what makes it certainly much more different to learn a new language. And then the pronounciation - even more tricky. First of all for the people from Southeast Asia, they struggle really hard. I was pretty sure before, that this was only a rumour, that Asian people are not able to pronounce a proper 'r', but saying 'l'. I was often sitting next to a Thai girl in one of my courses who I could barely understand. Until I figured out that I have to replace some of the 'l's with 'r's in her words. ;-)

As I eventually started with the Sfi-course, I felt already a bit advanced, at least compared to many of my classmates. I had a few weeks "introduction course" until they divided the people in our group in different levels. I could join all the courses in the highest level of difficulty and after three weeks I did a test, some kind of pre-test for the nationellt prov, that is the completion of this course. This test was supposed to be one week later, but I wasn't expecting to be ready for that. But as the first test went so well, I thought I could give it a try.
It was a written part including an listening comprehension part for several hours and an oral part, that worried me most.
But I did well :-) No mistakes in the written part and the oral part was not bad either.
I basically run through the whole Sfi-course in four weeks. Not bad I guess, compared to others who spend there months or even years. I had almost the feeling I became some kind of a "model-immigrant" because of my successful studies. Several times I could hear my name in combination with the words "nationellt prov" and "noll fel" and "jätteduktigt" (= very good) ;-)

However, that have been some further steps in my learning-Swedish-project. I am about to get a feeling for the language and I understand already quite a lot. But it's not enough. I am planning to continue my courses in the middle of February, when we come back from Asia. Until then, I have to make sure, that I won't forget half of what I learned so far again. Therefore a Swedish book is already on my list of the things to pack and Richard and I should plan a daily Swedish hour during our trip.

My advent calendar

On the 1st of December, Caroline asked me to go and check out something in the living room! I was so surprised when I entered the room… the ceiling candelabra was decorated with a hanging advent calendar for me. She had made all the small packets, some with gifts, some with special messages and numbered each one. I would open them one by one during December… what a very special advent calendar it was.

Thanks Caro.

The earliest Christmas market ever!

This weekend we have been to Öregrund, a small place at the sea ca. 150 km up north from Stockholm. We had booked a hostel for one night and set off Saturday morning. The night before it had snowed for the first time, and everything looked like slightly powdered in white.
As we arrived in Öregrund we took the ferry to the close Island Grasö, as we couldn't go to the hostel straight away. The Lady from the hostel told us, she would be visiting the Christmas market at the hostel on Grasö, and so we decided to go there too. Even though we thought it might be strange to go to a Christmas market in the beginning of November.
But in the end it was not so christmassy as we expected. A few stands of locals selling all kinds of homemade stuff like jam, cookies, sausages and knitted socks and fancy Christmas decoration.

In the evening we could choose between two places to have dinner. Everything else was closed. Places like this just seem to go to sleep during wintertime. We then had a nice and cosy evening in our hostel that we had just for ourselves.

On Sunday we took a long walk after a great breakfast with ham and eggs, before we set off back home. It was so nice being outside, cold but sunny. On the way home, we stopped in Uppsala and had a look in the huge cathedral there. The largest church in Scandinavia with a long and interesting history.

A short but nice trip, and once again I got to know a bit more of my new country.

Mission without success

One of the very swedish things to do at this time of the year, is probably going out in the woods to pick berries and of course, mushrooms.
On this Saturday it was cold, but with blue sky and sun, so that we decided to wrap us in warm clothes and to try our luck.
It's not very much that I know about mushrooms and I have never been out to pick them myself. So Richard was in charge to find a good spot and to explain me, what signs and hints I should watch out for.
Equipped with plenty boxes and bags we started our mission. We left the path and made our way right across the trees.

But we were not very lucky. We found lots of nice things in this beautiful forest, like places covered up with pretty moss in different colours, but not a single mushroom. At least none that looked in any way eatable. And no berries either.
We might have been just a couple of weeks to late. But it was a nice excursion anyway, with a yummy picnic, sitting on a big stump and enjoying the late autumn sun :-)

Week away

I’m away from home this week on a business trip in Jönköping and Poland. Two rail exhibitions in the same week… someone should really plan these things better so they don’t coincide. Jönköping was ok. We were involved with a big event with the Swedish rail group, and organised a dinner and visit to an ice hockey match for some 120 customers and partners. That was actually quite good fun and only the 4th time I’ve seen a live hockey match in Sweden after all these years here.
Now I’m in Gdansk in Poland for another rail exhibition and head back to Stockholm tomorrow evening.
Caro has been on her own with the girls all week, and as far as I can tell from my phone calls, she’s been coping well with that, as I thought she would actually. It’s obviously another first for her in the process of living with me and the girls. It’s a new experience for her to live with two teenage girls in the house and I think she is doing a great job of getting acclimatised to that.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing them all and to see Caro tomorrow. She’s coming to the airport to collect me… mmmm, I get hugs and kisses as soon as I land :)

Swedish autumn light

I think I am more a summer girl, but I love the autumn too on days like this week. It's sunny and a clear blue sky! Many trees are already coloured and everything is bathed in a beautiful warm light of the sun that is already quite low.
I love riding my bike back home through Haga Park, the huge Park just around the corner from where we live. I took some pictures today.

Hope you all have some lovely sunny autumn days! Go out then and enjoy all the colours, marvel at the long shadows of the trees, find some conkers and smell, it's autumn :-)

First trip back to Köln

A long weekend in Köln, long planned in advance as I wanted to be there for my friend Friederike's leave to her 7 months trip around the world. I arrive Thursday evening. My friend Katja picks me up and soon we are on our way to Köln-Nippes to meet Tatjana in a restaurang. Now only Friederike is missing to complete the great four. She is still at home, busy with travel preparations, but we need her with us. We command that he has to take a taxi to join us and soon we are united again - after three months!
Friday, I finally manage to visit Tatjana in her new shop that she has just opened in the beginning of August. I haven't seen it so far and I am absolutely curious how it looks like! And of course it looks fantastic, just as I expected ;-) I spend a couple of hours there, watching her dealing with the customers and it's very obvious that she loves it! The shop is very pretty and nicely renovated, selling fruits, vegetables and some other selected yummy items like wine and italian desserts. A little paradise!
Later on I go to see Andrea. We spend a cosy evening in her kitchen, eating and drinking together and catching up with whats happening in our lives.

Saturday morning means packing! I assist Friederike and try to advise her what to take and what to leave. I can remember well how difficult this was for me when I went travelling... We argue a bit about the amount of pants and socks, but in the end there is even some space left in her backpack - good job ;-)
After that I meet Steffen for a late breakfast in one of my favourite cafés in town. He has his computer with him and he shows me pictures from his trip to Canada this summer. Now Canada is even higher on my travel-list!

In the evening Friederike has invited some friends to a pub and many many come for some Kölsch and to say good-bye. It reminds me of my saying-goodbye-evening three months ago...
Some close friends and I are taking her to the airport early in the morning. Friederike is sad and tearful, but eventually she goes courageously through the security and disappears into her great adventure...

Tatjana and me have another mission on this Sunday. We have a performance with Lamäng, the playback theatre group I have been a member of for the last 2,5 years. One of our members Albert celebrates his birthday and we are playing for him and his friends. I have been a bit unsure whether I would manage to just join in again after some weeks without rehearsal. But we are all in a good shape and the audience delivers great stories for us to play! We all have fun and I really enjoy to perform with my group.
After a calm and cosy evening with Katja in her flat and another night, it's already Monday morning and I have to pack my bag again. I have still one bike in Köln that I want to take to Sweden on the plane and it has to be prepared and properly packed for that. Fortunately I have my friend Cornelia to help me, as it turns out to be a bit more tricky than expected... But eventually, after overcoming several hurdles at the airport, we manage to get rid of the huge package and I catch my plane back to Stockholm.

Both my bike and me arrive safely in Arlanda and Richard already waits for me to take me home. Well, yes, it feels more and more like home here. My first trip back to what was my home for a long time has been really good. I enjoyed it very much and I managed to see nearly everybody who is important for me.
But I am also very happy to be back here! And that's probably a good sign, isn't it?!?

Together in Poland

A new chance for us to travel together again, as I have to go to Poland for a sales conference in Warsaw and we have the chance for Caroline to come along with me. We fly to Warsaw on Saturday morning and arrive before lunch at the hotel. We throw our bags in the room and head out as the suns shining. We walk along the main street which is a pedestrian shopping street full of shops and café’s. We pass many of the churches along the way, which are all busy with weddings. It’s fun to go into one of them and see part of the wedding service and all the guests. We reach the old town and see a little of the main square and the old houses before we head back to the hotel. In the evening we eat out in a popular lounge bar and restaurant called the Living Room, nice. On Sunday we take breakfast in bed and enjoy a lazy morning while the rain stops outside. We take a walk in the city, have lunch and checkout the new shopping centre by the central station. In the evening we try an old restaurant in the old town and test some traditional Polish dishes. On Monday my conference starts and I get an introduction to the Polish railways while Caro gets her hair cut and relaxes. In the evening she joins me at the conference and after a mingle we go on with the other company representatives and the Swedish trade Council to a restaurant for another traditional Polish meal, but this time with more courses. Tuesday was the last day of the conference, which ended just after lunch. In the afternoon we had a few hours to walk into the centre again and visit the imposing Palace of Culture and Science, a huge building complex which was a gift from the Soviet Union from the 1950’s. The view of the city from the panorama level on the 30th floor is worth the small entry price to get a feel for the layout of the city. We head off for the airport and catch an evening flight to Stockholm… all in all, an interesting trip and a fun weekend together away.

This is England

Emma, Caroline and I went together to see the film “This is England” on Sunday. The film is set in the north of England in the 80s, and is about a young lad who’s Dad has died in the Falkland’s war and is being bullied at school. He meets a gang of skinheads, who befriend him and take him into their small gang. Life starts to look up and he enjoys their company and adopts their style. When an ex-gang member returns on the scene, things start to go wrong in a big way. At this point the film turns sharply in direction and the gang have difficult decisions to make as the nationalistic ideals of the new leader threaten to destroy the statuesque.

The film made me laugh at times, but is quite disturbing in many ways. It’s filled with great actors and loads of great northern accents… one to recommend, if you can take the bad language and sometimes serious violence.

On my way home

A week away and I’m looking forward to getting back home… longing for my girl and her warm embrace. Caro’s been alone all week and I know we will be spending the weekend together, catching up on together time and all that.
After a very busy week here in Chicago and Pittsburgh I’m at the airport and trying to phone, mail and MSN all at the same time before boarding. Having run for the plane from Pittsburgh to Chicago and caught it!, I am for once at the airport in time here in Chicago. Plane leaves in an hour and a half… eight and a half hours flight… landing at 7:45 tomorrow morning.

Away from home, in the US

It was only a matter of time after the summer before I would need to be away from home on a business trip, and here I am, away in the US again for a week. Caroline is at home alone in Solna for the first time since she moved. We're both having to get used to a new set of feelings and missing each other. And Caro has to cope with being alone in her new Swedish home. Its not so easy I’m sure, not having her friends around the corner for support, but I think she’s getting to know Stockholm now, so I hope she’s managing being alone.
I flew to the US on Tuesday and started the trip in Chicago. I think it’s a nice place and I have some time on the day we arrive to do a little trip round town with Bo, a guy from work who’s with me on this trip, and who hasn’t been to Chicago before. We take in the city views in our hire car and it’s a hot day. The lake looks great in the sun and such a contrast to the high city skyline. We eat a steak for dinner, as you do in Chicago, then we go into the Hancock Building and take the lift to the 94th floor and the observatory level to see the city by night. Cool to view the city skyline at night.
Wednesday, and an intense customer meeting, which I’ve been preparing hard for. It goes unexpectedly well… what a relief, it makes the trip well worth while so far. Then its lunch, and a drive to the airport and we're lucky to catch the earlier flight to Pittsburgh. We land at 19.00 and drive straight to the PNC Park to see the last half of the baseball game! Cincinnati Reds vs the Pittsburgh Pirates, it’s a fun thing to do and it’s another first for Bo.
Time for bed now… only 2 more days to go.

In the search of elks

As I am living now in elk-country, time was ripe to see some real elks. The only elks I saw so far had been lying on the ground in Skansen (an open-air museum in Stockholm), sleepy and lazy, and I didn't get the chance to actually see them in full size. And it's not like they were running around here everywhere in the countryside, even though I might have assumed this before I first came to Sweden... ;-)
Therefore we decide to make an excursion to Kolmården which is the largest zoo in Skandinavia and 150km south of Stockholm.
They have a regular zoo-section there and a part where you can drive through with your own car - the safari park.
We get a ticket, read the safety instructions and soon we are on our safari ride. First we enter the section with the Skandinavian animals....but what's up here? All elks and deers are lying on the ground. We stop for a while thinking about how we could activate the lazy bunch... but then another elk appears in front of us. It approaches the others and all of a sudden all the others jump up and move around. Finally - several elks in full size and so close!! We sit in the car, excited like children and watch the scene. One elk even crosses the road right in front of us and yes, they are really huge, and beautiful, at least I think so. They have a very pretty head with big eyes and a sweet soft nose.
The ride through the safari park continues being adventurous. We pass the animals of the Savannah where a giraffe nearly manages to stick her head in our car, we pass a bunch of sleeping lions lying one meter away from the car and we drive through the part with the big brown bears and the wolves.
After our safari we stroll through the zoo and visit the rhinos, penguins and the monkeys and we watch a dolphin show. It's a nice day and the weather keeps up until the end so that we just manage to get back to the car before it starts to rain.

I was seeing elks - in full size. Mission completed :-)

A walk through Millesgarden

This Saturday we are planning a bike trip to the Island Lidingö to visit the sculpture garden of Carl Milles, a very famous Swedish sculptor.
The garden is beautiful with loads of amazing sculptures in all sizes, many fountains and a great view over the water.
The weather is really nice with clear blue sky and we are incredibly in love with each other that day :-)
We stroll through this amazing park, enjoy being together and of course we have a nice fika in the sun...... just a perfect day!

Difficult decisions

The second week I ease up a bit. Richard goes back to work on Monday and being on my own during the day is doing me quite good. I now have lots of time to rethink my study plans. I talk to several of my friends to hear some different opinions. I am so unsure what to do and I feel like I could never make up my mind about whether I should cancel it or not.
But I realise more and more that I don’t want to go to Maastricht, that I am concerned that this project is just too much.

But how for god’s sake am I supposed to cancel this? This cunning plan!
The more I think about it the more I realise that this cunning plan is not fitting me anymore. Now as I’ve moved here, now that I am living here I get more and more the feeling that the most important thing should be to actually BE here and to concentrate on getting used to here.
One of the points that attracted me most in the beginning was that my move here would be a bit more a step-by-step thing. I would not have to cope with everything at the same time. Well, but things change and being here doesn’t scare me so much anymore. More scary seems to be going away again soon having to cope with even more changes. And what outweighs even more is he fact that my integration here will be delayed for at least half a year.

Apparently a clear decision, isn’t it? But strange resistances are keeping me very hesistant. It somehow really hard to accept that I might have resolved too much. And even harder, to actually allow myself to take my time to settle down here.
To convince myself that I won’t be lazy sitting around and neglecting my professional advancement I sign in for a psychodrama course in Köln. That’s a good plan, I am really interested in psychodrama and I get the chance to be in Köln regularly.

Unfortunately the course is cancelled two weeks later... I’m very disappointed but at the same time I think maybe it’s not the right time to do something somewhere else than here...

Survival of the first week

The first week I feel completely upside down. Not one day goes by without me crying for at least once.
On Tuesday we try hard to sort out the kitchen, to have at least one room reasonably tidy before we leave for a short trip to Malmö on the next day. It’s not easy, of course all the cupboards I open are full with stuff. So a big sorting out is necessary and we have to decide about nearly everything whether we want to keep it (if it’s double, mine or his) and where it should be. In the flat, in the attic, in the bin or in some boxes for whatever.
On most things we agree quite easily but nevertheless the whole process quite puts me under pressure. My need to unpack boxes as quickly as possible (as I always did when moving, probably having my things around knowing where everything is gives me back some security) can’t be met as I need Richard’s help in every corner, apart from my wardrobe we bought a couple of weeks ago – it’s wonderfully empty :-)
So I get quite impatient from time to time, even though I know that he can’t sort out in three places at the same time. I’m sorry for being quite tense and stressed in these days even though he is doing such a good job trying to make space for my stuff everywhere. But it’s not easy to move from a flat of my own into a already inhabited flat and I realise that this is really a challenge, especially not even having a room for myself.

In between the whole unpacking procedure we spend two days in Malmö as Richard needs to be there. The first day it’s nice weather and we rent some hotel bikes to explore Malmö for a while.

It's a cosy town with a friendly and lively atmosphere and a very pretty centre with loads of restaurants and cafés.
In the evening we go out for dinner and while talking about our plans again my doubts concerning my Maastricht plans pop up. This time quite insistently. I slowly get the feeling that I maybe shouldn’t expose myself to another big change in such a short period of time. Another foreign country, another living situation, more new people...
The next day we try to explore Lund as we don’t fly back until the evening. It’s pouring with rain all day so that we are not keen on walking around very much. But it seems to be a nice little town.

The rest of the week we are busy with diminishing the amount of boxes in the flat. And we are doing quite well! For a change and to see something else we go to a barbeque at Aaron’s on Saturday. I feel strange and a bit alien, even though it’s a nice gathering.

It's been a tough week - but I survived it.

Last leg of our trip

The drive to Sweden was easy, driving through Denmark and then taking the long bridge which joins Denmark with Sweden. Passing into Sweden, an emotional moment for Caro, as we cross the bridge, and she entered Sweden for the first time… with the intention of staying in Sweden. There was a policeman just after the road toll station and he waved us down to talk to us. We wondered if he would want to look in the van… hoped not, as it was so full that things would fall out if we opened the doors. He asked if we had been shopping in Denmark. No I said, were moving my girlfriends things from Germany to Sweden. He looked at Caro and said “Welcome to Sweden”. That was nice… we drove off feeling personally welcomed in to Sweden. We drove to Karlskrona, one of the towns on the south east coast of Sweden and check into a hotel for the night. We celebrated my birthday with a meal and a lovely night together in our cosy big hotel bed. The next day we drove the last 500 km to Stockholm and arrived at the flat in the afternoon. We had some help to unpack the van from Josip and Martin, and this went very quickly. Soon we had a flat full of boxes, but we were home, and together. Caroline was very emotional and in the end it was all too much, she broke down and cried in my arms. She was tired and confused, but she had me and I was there to hold her and listen and love her for being here. The next day we began the job of unpacking.

A trip to Sweden

After handing over my flat and a last ride to the dump site we eventually leave Köln with the van on Saturday morning. Our destination is Kiel where we spend the night at my friend Anika’s house. I feel quite good and not as confused as I expected.
As usual the A1 up north is quite busy and just before Hamburg we manage to miss the turn to the Elbtunnel and end up driving all the way through Hamburg city.

But eventually we arrive in Kiel and spend a relaxed evening with Anika and Daniel.
Both Richard and I are very tired but it’s his birthday at midnight and I really want us to stay awake somehow. Can't wait to give him my present... ;-)

The next day we continue our trip. We arrive in Puttgarden in good time to catch a ferry to Denmark.
The actual leave from Germany by ferry I experience in the toilet... but anyway I could feel it that now, I am leaving my country.

After leaving the ferry we drive through Denmark until we reach the Oresundbridge.... the link to Sweden. But where were all the happy feelings as we eventually cross the bridge and enter Sweden??
I more feel confused and melancholy than enthusiastic.


We make it until Karlskrona after another 500km. We find a nice hotel and later on we go out for a birthday dinner at a restaurant in town and Richard finally gets his birthday card. It’s the first and a very special birthday as we are on a very special trip together.

The next morning we manage to hit the road pretty early. The last 500kms and I am even more contemplative at that day. The nearer we get to Stockholm the more confused I feel. How can I already miss my friends and my life in Köln? Shouldn't I be happy?

We arrive in the afternoon and Hannah welcomes us. It’s really nice and warm, perfect welcome weather! But nothing helps and finally I burst into tears. I hardly can keep me from telling Richard that he has to take me back again....
Of course I stay and we unpack the van and I finally feel slightly better when I view
my beloved kitchen cupboard in the kitchen and how wonderfully it matches with the wall colour.

Now I am here. With much more different feelings than expected - but I am here.

Thanks that we arrived safely.

Saying goodbye to Köln

The last few days in Köln were good fun. We spent some time packing boxes and wrapping paintings in bubble wrap. Josip was helping us and we wanted him to see a little of Köln during his stay, se we went out on the bicycles to see the city. It was quite warm and the sun came out for us. We rode round the town and Caroline showed us some of the places she knew well from her days at university, while she did some of the last tasks on her to-do-list. We decided we should include the cities Cathedral, the Dom, on our tour, which has been on Caroline and my list for ages too. The sky cleared as we arrived in the square and we parked the bikes and went in. It’s an impressive building and we climbed the endless steps to the top of the tower. It provides a fantastic view of the city and Caroline was obviously moved with the view and the moment, the last chance to see her city from this magnificent building, at least for the time being anyway.
On the Friday we moved the van to outside the flat and began the serious work of carrying boxes and loading the van. Lots of Caro’s friends turned up to help and soon I had a full time job in the van loading all the boxes and furniture. It was obvious it was going to be a tight fit and every possible space was filled in the van from floor to roof. In the end we had to leave a few things behind, but we managed to get everything important in. After cleaning the flat, we changed and went to Caro’s favourite bar, the Mexican, to meet her friends and say goodbye. It was a really fun evening with everyone turning up and chatting. They made me a Josip very welcome and spoke English all evening with us. Caroline was both happy to see them all and at the same time, sad to be leaving them. We got home quite late and went to bed to sleep on our mattresses and sleeping beds on the floor of the empty flat.
Josip got up early and left on his motor bike to ride bad to Sweden. We left a little later and started our first leg of our drive to Lubek. We stayed with her old school friend Anika and her man and family. It was a special evening as at midnight it was my Birthday. Me and Caro stayed awake and Caro gave me a wonderful present in the first minutes of the morning on my Birthday, it was a painting she had made especially for me… what a surprise, it was fantastic. She’s such a special girl and knows so well what I like. It was a perfect evening.

Last days in Köln - as seen by Caro

After moving out of my office in school and organising the last things there I am really off work now. Then the last week at home is quite busy. There is a lot to do and many people to see once again too. I have the girls around for the last dinner in my flat and we go out for a cocktail afterwards. Sunday afternoon my friend Markus is arriving. I am very pleased that he actually manages to come to visit me before I leave. We take the bikes and start a real Köln tour around town. We visit the large building sites on the riverside, ride into the Old town, have some Kölsch here and there and just enjoy „our“ town ;-)

On Monday I start packing boxes and in the evening then my old friend Alfred pops in. He is on his way back from Essen, where he just bought a new car. I take him to my atelier to pick up my last painting there. We go out and have a glass of wine together and have a good chat about his plans to get self-employed. I really like talking to him and I can sense that he is glad about my positive feedback. In the morning he sets off home, with a big painting of mine that he wants to buy. That’s cool as I won’t have space for this one anyway. I know that he really appreciates what I paint and therefore I am sure it’s in good hands.

After he’d left I continue my packing... still so many things in my flat.

Tuesday morning is as well the time when Richard and Josip are setting off with the van towards Germany. We get in touch from time to time to check how the trip is going. They share driving and manage to do the 1500km in one go – and arrive at around 5 o’clock on Wednesday morning.

The next days keep us busy with packing and organising the last things. I can even pick up my brandnew yellow bike!
The boys are a great help, even Josip is working all the time. He is so easy to get along with and such a nice person, I really like him. Wednesday afternoon Richard and he are driving down to the Nürnburgring to go on the track there with Josip’s bike.
We manage to do some „sightseeing“ as well. And I can again say good-bye to my city from high above as we climb up the 506 steps of the Dom!


Eventually it's Friday afternoon and we pack the van – quite a tricky project! We have less space then I expected and Richard is doing a very good job in packing it as effective as possible. But nevertheless a few things have to stay – the tv, storage racks and some plants... bye-bye.
After packing we clean the flat spick and span and eventually we are ready for the Mexican. I invited some friends to come around for a last Kölsch and very many pop up! It’s good to see them all on this evening. The good-byes are affectionate, a lot of big hugs and some tears too.

Is it really true that I am about to leave my place in only a few hours?

To the Nürburgring

Wednesday 27th June.
Checking the weather showed there was rain forecast for the following days. Josip and I decided that we should take advantage of the dry day and set off for the track. This was our plan for his Kawasaki, to go the Nürburgring race track and complete a few laps of the famous long circuit, called the Nordschleife. This 20km circuit is famous for its twisting path through the hills of the Eifel region south-west of Cologne. Josip and I left Cologne after lunch in the van and drove the 1 hour journey up into the hills. We stopped on the way to fill-up with extra petrol for the bike, which was strapped down in the back of the van. At the circuit we joined the waiting group of cars and bikes for the days open track session. You pay in advance for the number of laps you want and get a magnetic ticket which enables you to enter the track for each lap. We prepared the bike and Josip was first out, well it’s his bike! I took some pictures of the waiting area and the cars there. The lap time record for a bike is just less than 8 min. For un-accustomed novices like us, it takes about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on traffic. Josip returned from his first lap full of enthusiasm and surprised by the complexity of the circuit. The track is so twisting and un-predictable for a new comer. He went out on his second lap and I got ready to do 2 laps. When he came in I got on and set off on my first lap. It’s the first time I had ridden his Kawasaki on the track and it took a while to get used to the position and setup the mirrors. With all the porches and bikes on the track at the same time, it seemed pretty important to see what was coming up fast from behind. The track’s pretty daunting compared with the circuits I’ve been on in Sweden. The corners take every possible form, on hills up and down and every possible combination of camber and shape. With only a few laps to try it out, it’s not possible to remember all the turns and so much was again unexpected on my second lap. Anyway I did the 2 laps and it was good to have experienced the track that so many want to tryout. The session ended early because of an accident involving some bikes, so we had to settle for 2 laps each. But we were pleased to have had the chance to test the Nordschleife circuit. We packed the bike into the van and drove back to Cologne. Caroline was waiting for us and we cooked dinner and ate in the flat, chatted and then went to bed in good time as we were all tired.

On the road to Köln

Tuesday morning, 26th June, and my alarm goes off at 8… time to get up and get ready for the big trip, to go to Köln to collect Caroline and all her belongings and bring her and everything back to Sweden. Josip collects me at 9 and we go to the Statoil garage to collect the van. My friend Josip is driving with me on the way down and were taking his Kawasaki with us, more on that later. We throw our things into the van, plus my old sofa, which gets dumped at the tip on the way. It’s soon going to be replaced by Caro’s nice red sofa. We load his Kawasaki into the van and by 11 were on the road, on our way, only another 1400 km to go! We share the driving and have a plan to do the trip all in one go. Hit some rain in the middle of Sweden, but it cleared up as we got nearer the coast. We changed drivers every few hours and stop only for fuel and snacks. Its not long before were in Malmö and driving over the enormous Øresund Bridge, linking Sweden to Denmark. Its very impressive with its 8 km cable bridge, 4km artificial island and 4 km tunnel. Its two pylons are 204 m high and the highest in Sweden. We cross Denmark quite quickly via the islands and bridges and cross into Germany as it starts to get dark. As one is driving, the other tried to sleep a bit, but it’s not so easy in the front of a van. I called Caroline and told her we will arrive in the early morning and she was pleased to hear that we had made good time and was preparing for us to arrive. We filled up for the last time on the autobahn just before Cologne and drove into the city at about 4 on Wednesday morning. Josip and I were very tired and pleased to be parking the van and ringing Caro’s door bell. She was also sleepy but very please to see us. We all went straight to bed and had a long and much needed sleep.

Kiruna midnight sun

For some strange reason the heavy-haul railway industry decided to have its conference and exhibition in Kiruna. Kiruna is in the very north of Sweden at a latitude of 67.53 degrees North (the Artic circle is 66.33 degrees north). I suppose the fact that they have one of the largest Iron Ore mines in the world can contribute to the choice of location, so here we are to present our products to the industry.
I have never been quite so far north and as to be expected, there is daylight 24 hours a day as its summer and above the artic circle. Midnight sun is quite a special feeling. Having soon seen most of what can be seen in Kiruna, I decided to hire a car with my colleague and go and see some of the Lapland countryside. We drove over the mountains to Narvik in Norway, a 180km drive which takes 2 hours from Kiruna. It’s very pretty and the combination of snow covered peeks, reindeer, sun, snow, rain and great views make the drive well worth it. This view is of what’s called “Lapporten” which means door to Lapland.
Now I’m tired after 4 days here I’m and looking forward to going back to Stockholm and the coming weekend with Caroline, who’s coming to visit from Friday evening to Sunday evening.

Montreal in the rain

There are times when it would be nice to not have to travel. This week seemed like one of those weeks, with a short notice trip to Canada and the USA turning up just when I wanted to be at home. Having been away for two evenings last week in England, and missing Hannah and Emma at the weekend, as they were at a weekend leader group with their church group, I wanted to be able to spend time with the girls. I took my bike and joined them for a picnic with their group on Sunday afternoon. It was sunny and I shared their picnic food and we at least had some time together before I would be away in the week. It was a week since I was in Cologne with Caroline and I miss her already. She should have been in Stockholm, but due to an SAS strike, her flight to Stockholm was cancelled. I managed to divert there on the way back from Madrid and we had a special weekend together in Cologne. My flight to Montreal began early on Monday morning (I hate these early starts) with a flight to Frankfurt to connect with a direct connection to Montreal. I was pretty tired when I checked into the hotel and managed to mail and call the contacts in there in connection with the planned meetings. I took a stroll in the light afternoon rain, around the old town of Montreal, which I guess has been restored and looks very interesting. The old stone buildings and cobbled streets give it an old English look and the area is used a lot as a set for filming. I found a bar with its own micro brewery and had a few beers and a meal before getting back to the hotel to sleep. The next day was taken up with a meeting all day. I was driven to the airport and took an evening flight to Chicago. I like Chicago, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it. I worked and did some shopping for me and Caro and managed to get a place on an earlier flight home. There is a direct flight from Chicago to Stockholm and I usually try to get this flight to avoid a connection on the way home. I was a bit late to the airport and the queue to security was unbelievably long. I managed to jump the queue a bit and only had a few minutes to speak to Caroline in Germany before I had to go to the gate. Called Hannah too and said I’d be home a day early. Caroline sounded as if she’s missing me as much as I’m missing her. It will be another week before she’s in Stockholm for a weekend and I am really wishing time will go by quickly, we have so much to talk about and I miss her not being by my side. I’m on the plane now and just writing this before I try to get some sleep. Looking forward to getting back and having a few days at home.

Helsinki becomes Madrid

I’ve been in Helsinki since Sunday at a transportation exhibition. I have so much on at work at the moment, so I would have happily avoided being away, but it was all arranged in advance, so here I must be. I had this feeling that it would be a tough week and as the e-mails poured into my laptop I had more and more to do. Being away from the office can be a real pain sometimes.
Helsinki is not my favourite city, its ok but the food nothing to write home about and it can be hard to find places to go to in the evening if you’re not a local.
Now my business partners in Spain need me in Madrid, so I have had to leave the exhibition early and fly to Madrid. Just arrived at the hotel in Madrid and am tired and ready for bed. We shall see what Madrid has to offer. I have to fly home on Friday, Caroline is flying to Stockholm on Friday night and I have to be there to meet her.

Caro's party weekend

I was flying to Cologne a day earlier than usual, as I wanted to be there for Caroline’s Birthday and her Birthday Party. For a change I took the SAS flight to Dusseldorf. It’s a turbo-prop plane and it takes a little longer. It was arriving an hour late and Caroline collected me in her friend’s car. It’s a longer drive but with light evening traffic were home in 45min.
Caro opened the little presents I have with me for her and she seemed very pleased and happy with this moment together… another first, a birthday together.
On the Friday morning Caro was working at her school and I went to meet her at lunch time so I could see the place she’s been at for the last few years. We got home after some last minute shopping and we made the final preparations for the party in the kitchen.
Soon all her friends are arriving and immediately there’s a very friendly atmosphere in the flat. It’s interesting to meet all her friends, who all seem very keen to meet me and talk to me. Most are speaking very good English and after a few drinks they relax even more and I have some really good conversations with some of them, which surprises me with the language differences, but we manage just fine.
There are some immediate differences between a party in Germany and Sweden. First the drinks are supplied free by the host and the guests bring food. This is almost always the opposite in Sweden, as drink is so expensive I suppose. Second the guests have their shoes on in the flat! This never happens in Sweden. Funny how these small cultural differences are so intriguing. There is so much good food and we only manage to eat half of it…lots in the fridge for the coming days.
In the evening we visit various art exhibitions and gallery open days as part of an art event in Köln. We go with Mattis and it’s nice to see and meet Caro’s art teacher too. I enjoy this art world and like the art too.
Sunday is an easy day with a bike ride to a flee market, a “fika” and lots of good talking about all sorts of things and planning for her move to Sweden. Home to Sweden and lots of things to look forward to over the coming months with Caro’s move to Sweden in June.

Ducati at Barkarby

The sun was shining, so what better to do than go out on the bike. Today was mc day at Barkarby airfield, where several motorbike makes were on display and available for test. Hannah and me and my friend Josip rode over to see what was happening. There were some queues for the more popular bikes, but we decided the Ducati 1098S was well worth the wait. Both Josip and I tried out the Ducati on the short test track. What a bike… loads of low end power and great exhaust tone and easy to lift the front wheel with a twist of the throttle. Hmmm a nice mc but expensive… the TT600 will have to do for now.

Easter in London and visiting family

Wednesday 4th April
The plan was to fly to London and meet Caroline at Stansted Airport… but not all plans workout. Emma and I were in good time to arrive for our Ryanair flight, only to find that it was delayed from 18:00 to 23:30! Called Caro to let her know the bad news and that she should find her way to Michaels flat without us. Me and Emma did some work, listened to music and read books for hours and eventually left Sweden at midnight. Our late arrival in Stansted meant we took the coach into London and Michael collected us outside Liverpool St. Station. It was very late when we got back to his flat and Caro was waiting for me in bed… hugs… very tired… long sleep.

Thursday 5th
What a sunny morning to wake up to in London… our first trip to London together. The Easter weekend is looking good with about 18 degrees warm and no wind. Take it easy and chat and then Michael, Emma, Caroline and I take the walk along the river to Canary Wharf. It’s so sunny and Caro is looking good and happy and is relaxed chatting to Michael. We have a pub lunch outside with another first; me and Caroline share our first fish-n-chips at an English pub…mmmm delicious. In the evening we all cook together and have a very casual end to the day.

Friday 6th
Mum, Ross and Zoë come over and we have lunch together on Michael’s sunny roof terrace. We take a walk in the other direction along the river and visit a Borough Market, which is a great farmers food and produce market where we buy some Italian ham and Swedish salmon for evening snacks. Caroline seems quite at ease with my family who are all making an effort to chat and get to know her. Hannah arrived in the evening from Stockholm, having left later than us as her school holiday is the week after Easter. Michael’s assistant cooked dinner for all seven of us and we enjoy eating around Michael’s big dining room table in his almost fully renovated flat.

Saturday 7th
Hannah and Emma go shopping on Oxford Street. They just love being big sisters shopping together in London and seem to find all that they want there. Caroline and I go into London on our own. We sit on the top of a double decker bus and enjoy the views of London. We decide to take a small picnic to Green Park. It’s quite warm and mainly sunny and we pay for deck chairs in the park and eat and chat in the spring sunshine. Then we walk past the palace and through St. James Park to Westminster. We all go over to Zoë’s new house for dinner.


Sunday 8th
Having borrowed Zoë’s car, Hannah, Emma and Caroline and I drive up to see my Dad. We make it in a few hours and get to the pub at lunch time. We have a drink and chat to him outside the pub. The girls are very please to see him and he’s looking well. He practices a bit of his German on Caro and she’s please to see he can still remember it so well. We have lunch in the pub and then take a walk in Ashby and look at the remains of the village castle. On the way home we stop at my Auntie Carol’s and have an unplanned afternoon with dinner at her place. Carol’s pleased to see us, even though it’s a short visit, we have fun talking and looking at some old photos of us and her family.

Monday 9th
We drive down to Elstead to see Penny and Less and their family. Its good to see them all and we go to the pub for a drink and lunch, where we meet Viv and Graham. It’s nice to walk on the common with Caroline and have some moments to share this beautiful English countryside with her. It’s again warm and sunny and I’m reminded what a lovely part of England this is and how I remember this area so well. We have a big family dinner at Penny’s and then drive back up to London.

Tuesday 10th
Caroline and I take a short trip into London and I get some books and a German/English dictionary and CD language course. I have to get started with my German and need some help. We take the train to Stansted and fly “on-time” home to Sweden together with Emma. Hannah is staying in England for the week to visit her friend who is living there.

Weekend in Köln

Had a great weekend with Caroline in Köln… every weekend with her is great. After a long flight from Hong Kong, I was so pleased to be in her arms again. The Saturday was spent with her girl friends as it was Katja’s Birthday. We had a really good brunch together and then went for a walk along the bank of the Rhine. I like them all very much and even though I know they are a little sad that I’m sort of taking their Caro away from them, they are very warm and caring girls. I’m looking forward to them all coming to visit us in Sweden in the summer. We had a pub evening with Katja and her friends.
I left on Monday morning to catch a train to Frankfurt and then my plane to Rome. I will be there until Thursday for another rail event. Hmmm… two weeks away from home, now my heavy case is getting boring to move around.

Hong Kong part2

It’s been an interesting and fun week in Hong Kong and a whole heap of late nights. In addition to attending the rail conference here in HK, I have a lot of work on in other parts of the world, which requires my attention despite the time difference. The conference ended at around 5 or 6 most days and after this, Olle and I generally returned to our hotel first to get some work done. I spent a few hours answering e-mails, calling the office and partners etc. Then we took a sauna up at the top of the hotel and had a few beers. There was also a small pool, but the water wasn’t warm, so we used this as a cooling down dip between the sauna and a beer. Then out to eat at restaurant and taste some more Chinese food. Back to the hotel and time for the last batch of e-mails as the rest of the world wakes up. I chat with Caroline is she’s in and a Hotmail message for her…then to bed… getting pretty tired after 4 days of this. I did manage to fit in a little additional shopping, getting some things for Caroline and a shirt, a pair of shoes and some DVD’s for me. Which trip to the East is complete without some low priced copies (sorry film industry, I just can’t resist it).
Finally its Friday and a few extra hours sleep. We catch the airport express from Central on Hong Kong Island, which goes direct to the airport. Now there’s only a 12 hour flight from HK to Frankfurt between me and my girl.

Hong Kong

This is the first of two weeks away from home. I’m in Hong Kong working all this week with some customer meetings, a rail conference and spending time with Olle, our guy based in Singapore who’s also with me here this week. Were staying on Hong Kong Island and the hotel has a good view out over the water and the Kowloon Peninsula. I like visiting Hong Kong… it has an interesting mixture of old and new and a crazy fast pace. I have just bought a small digital Camera. I’ve been meaning to do this for ages as I’ve been borrowing Emma’s for ages on trips like this… so I finally did some haggling here in HK and here are some of the results. Typical views of HK with its impressive skyline.