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Adventure to Vollsjö Mill

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You don’t meet many people who are passionate about historic windmills. (I don’t, at least.) This weekend was the exception.

I first started talking to Cecilia about the windmill in Vollsjö sometime last fall over Twitter. At the time, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the 140-characters-or-fewer messages I was reading—Does this woman really own a windmill? How? WHY?

In the following months, a few things became clear: she is an expat living in the countryside of Skåne (the southernmost region of Sweden), she is learning Swedish, and yes, she owns a windmill.

From the way Cecilia tells the story, her family’s life story sounds a lot like a romantic comedy mixed with a historical period piece. Add a few vampires into the mix, and you’ve got a best-seller on your hands: multinational couple with family moves into historic building with the best of intentions, weird stuff starts happening, VAMPIRES! And of course there will have to be a girl with a dragon tattoo.  (I made up the last stuff. That was not part of Cecilia’s story.)

On our way to Vollsjö Mill. Photo: Kate Reuterswärd

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Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

April 11, 2012

Feather-crazy, bedazzled twigs: The true story behind the Easter Feathers

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In the United States, where I’m from, Easter is a pretty child-safe holiday.

You eat chocolate, you paint some eggs, your clothing suddenly becomes pastel, floral napkins mysteriously show up on your table… nothing that would be out of place in your average daycare. The whole thing is quite tame for a holiday based on commemorating the brutal crucifixion of a religious leader 2000-some years ago.

My kind of Easter decorations: slightly saccharine, totally innocuous baby chickens! Photo: Kate Reuterswärd

In Sweden, Easter is similarly tame on the surface. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find some pretty scary stuff.

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Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

April 6, 2012

Happy, In Love, Content

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This morning I woke up three times. Once at 7, because the radiator was emitting a high-pitched whine; once at 8, when Simon got up; and finally around 10:15, because I was having a dream that I was eating a chocolate fudge cookie. The horrors, right?

From what I can tell, Catholics are few and far between in Sweden, although I haven’t put that much effort into finding them, either. In the absence of a community here, I am selectively observant of the religious traditions I grew up with, one of which is giving up something for Lent. I gave up eating sugar for the prescribed 40 days, and even though I’ve made multiple exceptions for various birthday events, I am (for the most part) holding strong in my sugar-free existence until Easter.

One of the exceptions to the sugar-free Lent... Photo: Kate Reuterswärd

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Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

April 1, 2012

9 Swedish Words that Should Be Incorporated into English Pronto, Immediately, Now

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The English language has a lot of words… maybe even the most words of all the languages in the whole wide world. I can’t be totally sure of that because I haven’t counted myself, and even if I had, I probably still wouldn’t trust my count. I’m the kind of person who gets a headache and has to lie down if I think too hard about how Daylight Savings Time works.

Nonetheless, that’s what reputable sources (ahem OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY cough) tell me, and I’m sticking to it, despite claims to the contrary from certain Swedish acquaintances of mine (cough MY HUSBAND I really have to get some cough drops) that the Swedish language actually has more words than English.

Apparently Fredrik Lindström (Notable Expert on the Swedish Language) told him that the English language’s claim to having the most words was a myth. Having not seen the clip myself, I’m going to just keep on saying that English has the largest vocabulary in the world until Fredrik Lindström or Horace Engdahl (another Notable Expert on the Swedish Language) personally consent to an arm-wrestling match or convince me otherwise.

All the same, the English language could always stand to add a few more words to the list.

In the time that I’ve lived in Sweden, I have encountered some words that are just so amazingly perfect I want to buy them coffee, ask them out on a date, and then somewhere down the line ask them to spend the rest of their lives with me. And if they agreed—oh, how happy I would be!!

Marry me, Swedish. MARRY ME?!?! Photo: Kate Reuterswärd

Here’s the catch, though: it’s likely that no one outside of Sweden would understand my Swenglified English. Then everyone would think that I’m a stark raving lunatic (as usual), poke my eyes out and cast me out of society. (It’s happened before.)

My solution is, therefore, to spread my favorite and most useful Swedish words to the rest of the world so that I can keep using them and everyone will understand what I mean.

Ideally, of course, all the words that make me laugh (here and here) would make it on the list, too, but I’ve actually narrowed down the list to only the words that cover some concept that we don’t have a word for in English.

Biggest vocabulary or not, there’s always room for a few more words in the English language. Read more »

Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

March 29, 2012

B-List Signs of Spring

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Before I lived in Sweden, spring was a time of year that I looked forward to and enjoyed. End of story.

Now that I’ve lived in Sweden, I have a completely different relationship with spring. Spring is renewal! Spring is rebirth! Spring is a season in which winter clothing is joyfully and deliberately shed, one layer at a time! Spring is something to be savored and rejoiced in.

In that vein, I first learned about “vårtecken,” or “signs of spring,” about this time last year, when I was coming out of my first Dreadful Swedish Winter. I was instantly enchanted by the concept.

Vårtecken lead to “vårkänslor,” or the feelings of happiness brought about by the coming of spring, and therefore I am all totally obsessed with finding and cataloging different signs of spring in order to reassure myself that yes, winter is really and truly giving way to spring! 

Normally, people understand the word “vårtecken” as including a variety of spring flowers, different birds returning from their winter residences on the Mediterranean (jealous), and an obsessive interest in the weather/hours of sunlight.

One thing I just learned from the Sustainability blog here at Sweden.se is that you can actually become an official, registered observer of spring (that’s “Phenology Observer,” to you) and report your findings back to the Swedish Meteorological Institute, which is totally awesome. If I knew anything about nature, which (sadly) I don’t, I would be so there.

Leaving tradition behind, however…

I’m going to go ahead and take a quantum leap in the common understanding of vårtecken and say that there are way more signs of spring than just those found in nature. In celebrity gossip terminology (a field of knowledge in which I have a deep and abiding interest), sprouting crocuses and budding wildflowers would be the “A-list” signs of spring. Everyone recognizes them and can name their last five romantic partners gets excited about them.

But what about the B-Listers? They’re people signs of spring, too! You know, the rash of bedazzled twigs and seasonal soft drinks and (ahem) important birthdays!

Since I am well and truly obsessed with spring (thanks a lot, Swedification), I just had to make a list, and here it is, the “B-List Signs of Spring.”

Feathers, feathers, everywhere! Photos: Kate Reuterswärd

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Kate Reuterswärd - Expat

March 24, 2012