Christmas Update

Well Christmas Eve turned out to be really nice! The family exchanged presents, and I was expecting to just get a few from Jonas' sisters and one from his mom... but they really included me and gave me quite a lot! It was nice doing it at night because it went much slower, and each gift was really examined and appreciated. The rhyming was fun too... trying to guess what each present was. Of course, I didn't get any of the rhymes in Swedish. Anyway here is a summary of some of the gifts I was given:

A super cute cupcake tin with cute cupcake ingredients
Cute knee high white fashion socks
Body Shoppe bath set
Best American Cookbook (in Swedish lol)
Shimmery body lotion
The nighty I mentioned already
Tea
And Jonas' grandma gave us money! which I hope to spend in Berlin

Anyway after presents we had desserts and played a fun card game... although it was in Swedish I was pretty good! Came in second :)

Today I'm skyping with Matt and my family... I am looking forward to both! Thank you everyone for my Christmas wishes!

God Jul and Merry Christmas!!

Hi everyone! So I have been in Bastad since Sunday after I took my last exam. Jonas and I had a very interesting bus ride from Jonkoping to his moms. We sat in front of this guy who was making these weird grunts and nasal noses... WHILE he was saying 'satanic' chants... needless to say it was a strange beginning to this holiday break.

Yesterday we put up all the Christmas decorations, which is typical to do the day before (not the day after Thanksgiving like we do!). Jonas and I trimmed the Christmas tree and made a gingerbread house which is on display (pictures to come later).

So today is Christmas in Sweden, or they at least celebrate today. So the festivities started by watching a very old Disney Christmas special that is aired every year. It had all the happy clips from movies like... Cinderella, Robin Hood, Lady and the Tramp, Jungle Book, short Mickey and Donald Duck clips... and the list goes on and on. It was funny because they have dubbed all the cartoons in Swedish, which they usually don't do. We had a Christmas fika while we watched. Next I helped prepare the Julbord (Christmas table, with all the food for dinner) The dinner was in stages and here is what we ate that I can remember (well, what was on the table... I didn't eat everything) Round one: Herring (in many different forms) and crisp bread, red beet salad, cheeses, sausages... Round two: Salad, shrimp, thin salmon (looked raw, didn't eat it) weird eggs... probably more that I'm not messaging and Round three: meatballs, ham, yummy apples, special potatoes, sausage and who knows what else! Anyway, I've been very selective of what I eat these past few weeks in preparation for the wedding and super small jacket I have to fit into! So my dinner really was... shrimp salad, apples, a taste of herring and a piece of bread. VERY EXCITING I KNOW!

Now we are preparing to exchange gifts... so I will have to update more later. But as of now... Anna showed me the gift she got me, a very cute nightie, but she wasn't sure if I'd want to open that in front of everyone else! One tradition is you give a rhythm along with the gift to the person it is for, kind of as a clue.

I will write more as I experience more. I miss home very much and Christmas is no where near the same!! I love you all and hope you're having a very merry time with family and friends. See you in 16 days!!

Luke and Lincs Talky Blog

Hey :) so Luke and Linc (two friends from home) have a video blog that they update each Thursday. They have a goal of getting 100 followers by New Years, please follow their blog and help me help them!

http://lukelinc.blogspot.com/2009/12/talky-blog-sette.html

festive weekend

Hello all :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday preparations, I miss Christmas shopping and ugly sweater parties. (Yes they have Christmas, but I'm low on the cash flow so I'M not Christmas shopping, and I've thrown too many events at my apartment the past month to throw an ugly sweater party). Anyway, I had a pretty enjoyable weekend. On Friday a group of people went to Harry's (my work) for 'after work' a free dinner buffet and then we headed over to Joel and Amanda's apartment (Joel... Tommy Lee from Bday party) to watch the Swedish Idol finale. Apparently their final is the largest in the world. It was pretty good, the guy I thought would win did. The song that was the winners first single was pretty good. I don't know if this link will work in the States... but check it out: http://www.tv4play.se/noje_och_humor/idol?videoId=1.1390994

Okay I think its really good!! And don't be alarmed by his tight skinny leather pants and blonde hair, its normal here. LOL but anyway while we were waiting for the results to be announced we were switching between that and the Noble Peace Concert being hosted by the Smith family (as in Will Smith's family) that was really good too! I also was able to watch President Obama give his acceptance speech will receiving the Noble Peace Prize. I'm not sure if they aired that at home or not... but it gave me pride to watch :)

So today is 'Lucia,' I woke up at 7am (keep in mind I went to bed after 3am after work) to watch the ceremony. I had to ask Caroline (because Jonas couldn't really tell me) who she was. Lucia was a Christian in Italy (so why is she being celebrated in Sweden... I wondered the same thing) who helped the poor. Anyway she was persucuted for her beliefs and burned at a stake and stabbed. So now she is portrayed wearing a headpiece of candles to represent the flames and wears a red sash around her white robes for the blood from the stab... yaaa so anyway she is accompanied by a choir (all holding candles) in a church while she enters walking through praying. Anyway I was told it was really nice... but it was kinda boring and early... I also went to church with Caroline and her parents who were visiting and another girl. I had to wear a goofy translation headpiece so I could understand the sermon. The guy was sitting two spots away from me so I was joking with Caroline that he should just whisper in my ear... LOL yes, I was the only English speaker there. But it was cool to attend a foreign service.

Well its finals week (like the rest of you) and its gunna suck. Good luck everyone, I miss you and love you! See you soon!!

Hipp Hipp Sopa

Kat, dad, anyone who I can usually get a laugh from... this is for you:

If I haven't already mentioned the worst part of my job... it's when we have to sweep all the trash from outside of the club (cigarette buds, napkins, hot dog chunks, beer cans). So Saturday night, myself and two of my fellow closet coworkers were outside sweeping and 4 times, 4 times, a van full of drunk people drove past us yelling.... "oooooooooooooh sopa!" I didn't really get it and finally after the fourth time Sophie and Alex explained that in Swedish the word 'sopa' means both 'sweep' and 'suck' as in... you suck. Get it? It's based off a comedy clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUE08pltk1s

I actually thought it was hilarious and I hope you guys do too. Enjoy my humility in Sweden. LOL

Celebrations.

Hi everyone! Well to begin, today has been one year since Jonas and I met... awwww. And how are we celebrating?? He's taking me to New Moon!!! But as most of you know... my birthday was Friday! I had a really great day, but it still didn't top last year, which I got to spend with so many people who I know care about me :) Jonas took good care of me all day. He surprised me with Ugg boots that I didn't even ask for (but NO girl complains about getting Uggs)! The first thing I thought of was Melissa and Kat, I feel like I can officially be in the club haha. The only problem is... his friend had them imported for me, and they are a size too big... but its the thought that counts and better too big than too small! He also got me a tanning gift card which I really appreciate, especially since I want to have some color for Whitney's wedding! We went out for a nice lunch... and then got ready for the 'Born in the USA party!' If you haven't seen the pictures yet, the idea was that everyone dressed up as their favorite American! I was really impressed with the effort. I created a 'American Goodie Bag' with treats from the states for the best costume (it was a twix bar, pringles, oreos and budweiser) The top three costumes were: Tommy Lee, Risky Business Tom Cruise, and Phoquin Phoenix. It was really funny because during this part everyone was really loud with ooohs and ahhhs and cheering after everything I said. But the winner was Tommy Lee, our friend Joel who had actually bought parts of his costume off the internet (annnd not to mention he had a sock in his pants... you get the idea) so his effort was rewarded and he shared his treats with the party. The apartment was packed with about 30 people, so it was crazy. A lot of people baked treats... a cheesecake, a peanut butter chocolate brownie cake (please her heart) a huge gingerbread cookie with birthday message and I made 30 cupcakes (without muffin tins... so they were every shape EXCEPT round lol) and it was all eaten! Not by me lol. After hanging out for a while, we headed to the student pub which was open for a special night. Usually they are only opened Wednesdays.

Like I said, I really enjoyed my birthday but last year meant so much to me. Almost every night that week, I spent with close friends celebrating. I just really miss you all and can't wait to see you in 5 weeks :) :) :)

Oh I should also thank Kelly for sending me a package in the mail, and my mom... but I'm still irritated because one of my mom's packages didn't arrive. Some of the girls at the party said it was probably because she put food in there... hopefully it will come tomorrow.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Puss och Kram, Alyson

YUCK!!! thanks enrique for the link!

Here is an article from an online Swedish newspaper written in English. My friend Enrique posted this on his facebook page. Stockholm is much more north than where I am, so our city has been even gloomier!!!

Stockholm suffers nearly sunless November

Published: 30 Nov 09 16:02 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/23568/20091130/

The month of November was one of the gloomiest on record in Stockholm, meteorologists said on Monday, as the Swedish capital registered only 17.5 hours of sunlight for the entire month.

The sun shone on average for only 35 minutes a day during the month, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) said.

In the past quarter-century, only the years 2000 and 1993 had darker months of November, with eight and nine hours of golden rays respectively, while the average for the month is 54 hours.

Because clouds trap heat and prevent clear skies and crisp temperatures, November 2009 was also one of the warmest Novembers in 25 years.

The average temperature in Stockholm was 5.6 degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit), compared to an average of 2.9 degrees over the past 25 years. Only the year 2000 was warmer at 7.0 degrees.

Stockholm, one of the northernmost capitals in the world, also has less sunshine in November because of the shorter daylight period, with around seven hours of daylight in November.

By contrast Sweden has long sunny days during the summer months, on average 292 hours of sunshine in June and 260 hours in July.