Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Beating the laundry room blues

Tonight is washing night, an event that I struggle with - it's not so much that I mind doing the laundry, but what I do have a problem with is booking the three-hour slot to do it and then going back up and downstairs, backwards and forwards, between the washes, moving the clothes from one machine to another until they are finally dry.

I guess that means that I am lazy. Most probably. However, there is one thing here that makes laundry day that little bit easier - and that is the drying cupboard. I think they must be particular to Sweden (I have certainly not seen them used in either England or Denmark), but I want to spread the word of the drying cupboard.

Rather than bundling as many items as possible into a tumble dryer and then retrieving small crinkled little parcels of cloth, you can lay them out flat on the shelves of the cupboard or hang shirts up to dry. Then you just switch the machine to the correct temperature and it gently blows warm air on your clothes until they dry. Bliss!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

New banner

As you can see, I have put a new banner up, which I was really proud of when I created it. But I have had some problems making it fit across the whole page on the blog. If anyone has any advice on what I can do to solve it would be greatly appreciated!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Back to reality with a bump

Now that everything is unpacked and I have begun to find my feet in the new office (although, luckily, not a new job), I have found that I am in a similar situation to seven years ago: starting over again in a new country and knowing very few people.

Alright, this time I am here because I came with someone, but he has been in Copenhagen for the past three years and many of the people he knew here have come and gone.

So I just need to get out there and meet people; hence, this weekend's main activity of searching for social groups here in Stockholm and signing up for any and everything that seemed even slightly interesting. Back in Copenhagen, the only one that I stuck with was one for young women that had attracted me with its regular cafe evenings and cocktail nights. The majority I have found for Stockholm, however, fall into two categories: business networking, or serious expat organisations with committees and annual membership fees.

Here are some that I have found:
English Speaking Community Club: a social and cultural organisation that has a couple of events coming up soon. (200kr annual membership fee.)
Eurocircle: a number of European networking groups in a large number of cities. I am not sure how active the Stockholm group is though...
Expat Contact: four expat groups (Paris, Los Angeles, Milan and Stockholm) for professionals aged 21 to 45. Another that might or might not be active.
International Friends of Stockholm: a forum for discussions on topics such as issues when moving to Sweden, out and about in the city, meeting up, resources, and tips on learning Swedish. (Registration required.)
Lost in Sweden: Another forum with similar topics but also a debate forum. A couple of the topics can be viewed by visitors, but the rest require registration.
Swedish-British Society: A cultural society founded in 1919. Has a Youth Section for 18 to 35 year olds. (250kr annual membership fee, plus a 100kr joining fee for new members.)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The last piece in the admin puzzle?

Last week I completed what I hope is the last piece of admin to be registered in Sweden by applying for my ID card.
I had heard all different stories about the paperwork needed both for me and the person supporting my application, who must be a Swedish citizen. There is also some confusion about whether an ID card from a bank is an "official" identification card, or if only those from Svenska Kassaservice are "official".
But I decided to take my chances on getting a card from Nordea. I took all sorts of paperwork with me - confirmation of my "right to reside", personbevis from the tax office (a form needed to apply for official items), work contract, personbevis for my boyfriend as my "sponsor" - but they only asked to see my personbevis and my boyfriend's ID card. It seems that the procedure varies from place to place and from person to person; it is better to take too much than too little...

Saturday, January 05, 2008

"The advantage of living abroad..."

"The advantage of living abroad is that, coming in contact with the manners and customs of the people along whom you live, you observe them from the outside and see that they have not the necessity which those who practise them believe. You cannot fail to discover that the beliefs which to you are self-evident to the foreigner are absurd."

Of Human Bondage - W. Somerset Maugham

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The Danish language

Norwegian comedy series "Uti vår hage" has its own take on the Danish language, which should be appreciated by anyone who has lived in Denmark and tried to learn the language - hilarious, imho...

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

A rather rainy walk


Today we decided to start the New Year with a long and bracing walk through Hagaparken (of course, like thousands of others, my resolution for 2008 is to get fit and lose a bit of weight...).

Unfortunately, however, we did not time it so well with the weather and it sleeted on us the whole time that we were out, melting the little smattering of snow that we had had last night and this morning. So, I took the executive decision that it was too cold and miserable and we came back home without getting to see the Copper Tents. Better luck next time, I guess; they are sure to look better in the sunshine anyway.

Happy New Year!

I wish you all a very happy 2008 - may the year bring you all that you desire.

K xx