Our stuff arrived!!!

All our goods arrived today. This means that now we have ALL our things in one country!!! This was never the case before.

I skipped Swedish-class today, I just wanted to go home after work and see our boxes and of course start unpacking! I can´t wait to unpack - it feels like birthday and channuka together. I haven´t seen the things I packed for a year.

Many of you probably remember how stressed out I was last year when I started packing. It was just too much, I had a burn-out from work and the weekly travelling back and forth to Hungary (Mr J.S. and I lived in different countries for 18 months) took its toll on me. On top of it I also planned our wedding and had some medical issues (which were probably a result of all the stress). Seeing all these boxes now in our new home, I can´t help but think back and remember how I felt, how weak I was and how much happend since. Today I went to my former blog and read a bit what I did a year ago, I remember every feeling of each moment. I am so grateful I wrote it all down in my blog!

But, now it is time to start the unpacking - kitchen will be first!

Problem solving the Swedish way

Once again I was astonished how the Swedish government is solving problems.

In Sweden you can pay cash when you enter a bus or a subway. Meaning there are no machines where you can buy tickets. Either you have a yearly or a monthly card or you buy single tickets in advance or you can pay when entering the bus or subway. Of course this lead to many burgleries, often bus drivers were robbed at night.

At a certain point the bus drivers had enough and went on strike! Yay - we all used the public transport for free. Which of course annoyed the people with the monthly and yearly cards....

Since yesterday there is a new solution to the problem! Instead of installing expensive machines at every station, they raised the ticket price when paying cash. And they didn´t raise it by a bit, no no, now a ticket costs double the price. only if you pay cash. This is their way of convincing and forcing people to pre-buy tickets and keeping thives away. New is also that you can buy your ticket with your mobile phone via text message, the ticket is one third more expensive than if you would pre-buy your ticket. If you pre-buy your ticket you get it even cheaper than the previous bus price! So, guess what I do; I follow their wish and pre-buy my tickets :)

I find this a very innovative solution, definitely cost saving. But I am not sure if the burglery will stop, since now the thives could get double as much.......

friendships, boxes and snow

Thanks a lot for all your supportive and creative ideas regarding my last post. Finding new friends is really hard, meeting new people is pretty easy and most people are talkative, but to find the people you connect with and have a lot in common is a lot more difficult and will probably take a long time.

Last night I went for a drink after class with some people from my previous Swedish course. It was fun, we talked, shared our experiences with the Swedish culture and how we are trying to integrate. You always have a lot to talk to people which are in the same situation and are experiencing the same cultural differences. But is this enough to build a friendship? How often can we go for drinks and talk about how we found our jobs and what we did before we moved to Sweden? And do I want to hang out with foreigners or should I integrate more with Swedes? Of course it is a lot easier to find friends among foreigners as they are also looking to find friends. I met a nice Austrian girl in my second Swedish course that I took back in November, we’ve been taking the same classes since and I feel that I really connect with her. Soon we will go out with our husbands and hopefully they will also get along :)

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic and your comments helped me a lot too. I came to realize that I don´t want to hang out with people for the sake of hanging out. I want to go out with interesting people that I and Mr. J.S. have things in common with. It will take time to find new and old good friends and that’s ok, we are in no rush :)

What else is new? Oh, our goods have been collected in Switzerland last week and will hit the road by truck tomorrow. 33 boxes will arrive here next Thursday. I can´t even remember what I packed in those 33 boxes. I know that about 9 boxes are my kitchen stuff. And about 2 boxes are photo albums and decoration material. Some are clothes, some are shoes, about 10 are Mr. J.S. computer stuff, or at least that’s how I labelled them :), but 33 boxes? That’s a lot of boxes!!! But at least then we will have ALL our stuff in one country again. I better find space for 33 boxes as we don´t have a storage room yet (we are on the waiting list for one…) Guess I will be going to IKEA again and buy an additional wardrobe. I anyhow need to buy some other stuff for the apartment. Good that my sister is coming tomorrow!

Other than that there is still a lot of snow and it looks like it is going to stay for a while. Stockholm looks like winter-wonderland, which is beautiful and romantic, especially since during the couple of hours that we have light, the sun is shining!

Weekend update and a question

The floor is done! I can´t believe it, but we really did it!

Friday we took off from work and finished with everything! It helped that today (Sunday) was my MIL ´s birthday and we hosted the dinner. Well, everything needed to be ready by today!

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary! I can´t believe that already a year passed, so much happened this year and it felt like 3 years, but on the other side it felt like yesterday. This was our civil wedding anniversary. Our Jewish wedding was in July, which means we are celebrating twice :) Why two wedding?

In most countries in Europe state and religion are separated, meaning that if you want to get married, you have to get married civil. If you wish you can get married religiously too, but in any case you have to go first and sign the official papers. Usually people get married civil the day or during the week before the Chuppah (or church), but in our case we decided to get married once in each country. So the civil wedding was a year ago in Sweden. It was snowing like crazy, my whole family flew in on Thursday night, we got married on Friday morning, it took exactly 32 seconds and then I had a new name..... In the evening we had a Shabbes dinner at my MIL. It was nothing big and yet a big change in my life. The chuppah and wedding party was last summer in Switzerland, where Mr. J.S. family flew in and we celebrated again a whole weekend long. This winter was very mild so far, almost no snow, but last evening around 6pm it started snowing and when we went for our anniversary dinner we had like 30 cm of fresh snow on our car :) We felt like a year ago - it was fantastic!

Today we cleaned and cooked and at 4pm the whole family came over for dinner. The apartment looks really great and I am so glad we changed the floor to a wooden floor, even in the kitchen, where everybody told us not to do it. It looks amazing and I LOVE our apartment. There is lots left to do, lots of details, lamps and curtains are missing etc. Luckily next weekend my sister is coming and we will go to some furniture shops together, I can´t wait to get her advise on how to decorate and what to buy.


Tomorrow I am starting my Swedish language course again. I am very much looking forward to that. On one side it is very helpful to have lessons to improve my language skills and on the other side it is a great place to meet people. Our social life was very poor so far. My husband doesn´t have friends here anymore, he lived abroad for almost 6 years and after a while he didn´t keep in touch. I have one friend here that I know since my childhood, but they have two children and we don´t meet too often. I am used to have lots of friends and meeting friends often. So far I didn´t miss not having friends here too much, we were busy deciding where we want to live, then we were busy finding an apartment and then we were busy renovating and furnishing it. We are both very family oriented and spent most of our free time with Mr. J.S. family. But now I feel the time has come for us to build a social life and meet new and old friends. My husband will call up some old friends and I hope to build some friendships and strengthen some of my Swedish class. I am not ready yet to mingle with the Jewish community here, I feel like my husband should first make some calls and talk personally to some of his old friends before I start to be active int he community. I am sure it is just a matter of time until I feel comfortable and until we meet some of his old friends.

But anyhow, how do you meet new friends in a new country? Any ideas?

why I hardly blog and comment these days.......

Because our apartment looks like this right now!It is a construction area and it is driving me nuts, so we work night and day (besides our full time jobs, visits from family and the gym) to finish the floor as soon as possible.

Yay - my baby-sister visited me!!!!

Yes, it worked out, she got a free ticket and only had to pay for airport taxes. (She got the ticket through a friend of my mom who works for this airline.)

It was a fantastic weekend! As I said in my title she is my baby sister (I have two sisters and one brother). She is only 17, in her eyes she is totally grown up, she is studying to become a hotel manager, working at a 5-star hotel in the event department while studying and earning her first money. But for me she is my baby sister and will always be. She is very cuddly and hugging, so we were like glued together for 2 days :D.

It was her first airplane travel all by herself. But I think my father (who brought her to the airport) was more nervous than her. He actually told the check-in lady that she might need a stewardess to show her the way, he also told all the people around that this was her first travel alone and that SHE is very nervous. She tried to tell him to stop in hebrew (Aba, maspik!!!) but it didn´t help. But then again, my father is always nervous when anybody in the family is flying, yet he is always saying that WE are nervous.

We basically did what we would do on a normal weekend in Zurich. Go shopping, more shopping, yes, still shopping, eat sushi (back at home we would do them together, I introduced her to sushi a year ago and now she is a sushi-lover just like me), hang out, cuddle on the sofa. Talk about boys and all that goes with it. Share the latest gossip. She would go out, I would pick her up. Once she´s back home we would eat some chips or chocolate or ice cream, talk some more, hug some more. And than say "laila tov". Luckily Mr. J.S. has a baby brother too, same age, 4 months older. She joined his friends, she knew them from previous visits and they all had a good time. It didn´t feel like she lived in another country, a 2.5 hours flight away. It felt like a normal weekend where she stayed over and would just go home.

Saying good-bye was sad, she cried, I didn´t until I was back in the car. I will see her in April, when I go home for Pessach, but it just isn´t the same!

Lucky me, I get a visit of my other sister in 2 weeks!!! She also got a free ticket from my moms friend. So, I have lots to look forward too, I can´t wait to see her. She is not a baby, even though younger than me (29) she has a kid of 10 years, works as an managing director for a non-profit organisation and is studying for her post graduate. She is a tough cookie and I am glad to call her my sister and my best friend.

I wish you all a good new week, with lots of sunshine and little snow (it just started snowing here, so I guess we will get some Winter after all!)

Shavua tov

Wedding anniversary gift

Next week, 20th January, is our first civil wedding anniversary. Yesterday I received an early anniversary present. Mr. J.S. bought me a GPS/Navigation system!!!!

I have no orientations sense at all and wouldn´t find my way around Stockholm without him by myside. I guess he got a bit tired of me being so dependent on him and always being my chauffeur. So my, navi as I called it, was in action today. It was fantastic and I can´t imagine driving without it ever again.

I am very scared of driving on high ways, I don´t like the speed and I don´t like changing lanes etc. This was not always like that. When I made my driving license with 18 all was fine, when I lived in the Swiss alps I would drive up and down the alps, use the highway and usually drive over the speedlimit. And then something happend, I can´t put my finger on it. It wasn´t one accident particularly. I was hit by two cars in different accidents, while I was standing at a red light when I lived in Israel. But that can´t be the reason, since I wasn´t driving on the highway and I am not scared of driving in the city. Since my 4 years in Israel I don´t like to drive anymore. So, my guess is, that the crazy driving style of the Israeli´s scared me so much that unconsciously I am scared in all countries.

When I lived in Jerusalem, a friend of mine told me that she would never drive outside the city, she would never drive to Tel Aviv even, I was shocked by this and couldn´t understand how somebody with a driver license would say such a thing. And now I feel the same way. When my hubby was in Oslo for work I wouldn´t take the car to work myself, I rather use the subway and walk...... how could I become like this?

Well, by buying me this navigator my hubby wants to give me support and help me drive again. Today, I drove home from work, with him by my side of course, and it wasn´t fun, evening traffic and crazy drivers, but I drove and we arrived safely. So, I guess I will just drive more often, until I gain confidence again, I don´t know what else I can do. Any suggestions?

On other news: our 17 boxes from Hungary arrived, I could hardly believe that they all arrived! So, I have been unpacking and sorting and trying to find place for everything. Next week the movers will go and pick up our stuff in Switzerland, which will hopefully be delivered 2 weeks later.

Today we joined the gym, it is just across the street from our new home and we both HAVE TO go there at least twice a week. We both gained some weight and weren´t slim from the beginning, so now we have to loose weight, eventhough we hate to work out. They all say that you come to a point where you will have fun with it, I don´t believe that and so far I never reached this point, not even when working out. Soon the golf season will start, so at least then we get a workout with fun.

I booked our tickets to Switzerland for Pessach. I am so happy that we will be in Zurich this year, I love Pessach with my family. It is double great as my sister in law is pregnant and it is the first time we´ll see her and my brother and sis-in-law will also be in Zurich and not in Israel as in previous years, so for once we get the whole family to be together!

My sister is probably coming for a short weekend visit this weekend and if I am lucky my other sister will come the last weekend of the month. I miss them soooo much and can´t wait for them to come here. The other day I was at IKEA with hubby and all of the sudden I got so extremely sad, I couldn´t hold back my tears, Mr. J.S. asked what was wrong and I said (sobbing with tears running down my cheeks) I miss my sisters so much! He wanted to send me to Switzerland the same weekend, but that wouldn´t help as I want them to be here and choose new things for our new apartment. So I truly hope it will work out for them to come.

So, any suggestion about my driving problem? Anybody been in the same situation? I am grateful for any advice.

I am old

Yesterday night I came to realize that I am old, you can also call it grown up, but for me it feels like I am old.

We were in bed, I was reading a book, Mr. J.S. was watching something on the sports channel and I felt like in one of those TV series. The only thing missing were reading glasses for me! I felt like we are grandparents and not newly wed´s!!!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty much life changing. We bought an apartment, furnished it with matching furniture, decorated it cutely and soon we will renovate some stuff. I am even pre-cooking lunch-meals for Mr. J.S. to take to work!!!

All this is so grown up. My life until 15 December was always filled with spontanious actions which would change my life, move here and there, furnishing with whatever we could, never spent money on really nice furniture as you never know how long we are going to live in the place. Never bought anything expensive, spent money on travels only, etc.

So on one side this feels amazing, I am where I wanted to be and am living my dream. On the other side it is shocking, I am grown up now, I am one of them - I am part of a smugged married couples!

Is it just me or does everyone have a moment in life where they feel that NOW they are grown-ups???

L´chaim to a new episode in life!!!

Ten years ago….

Exactly today, ten years ago was one of my biggest days in life.

I made Aliyah!

Here´s a bit of history:

My mom is Swiss by birth, but made Aliyah in 1968 at the age of 18. My father is Israeli by birth, born in Teheran and made Aliyah as a baby. Now here´s a short story how my parents met.

It was not in Israel! My father used to work for ELAL security in Switzerland and lived at my grandmother’s apartment; she would rent out rooms to young Israeli’s. My mom lived in a Kibbutz and came home for a visit. She didn´t meet my father at home! My mom and dad went to the same Jewish student party that night and met there, not knowing that my father is sub-renting a room at my grandmother’s house. That’s how they met, 3 weeks later my father proposed and a year later they got married in Israel. For economical reasons they decided to stay in Switzerland for a couple of years and go back to Israel when they made some money. Sadly they are still living in Switzerland and I think they both regret they ever left Israel.

I grew up, always thinking that we will go home soon. It was like living with packed suitcases and just waiting for the moment to return to Israel. (Of course we didn´t actually have packed suitcases). Every year we went for Pessach, Summer break and the high holidays to Israel, we stayed with my cousins and aunts and uncles and of course grandparents and all the time we referred to Israel as our home. It was a fantastic childhood!

But the years went by and we didn´t make Aliyah, so I decided to take it into my own hands and make Aliyah alone (well not completely alone as I had many friends making Aliyah at the same time), maybe the family would follow then! My father came with me to Israel on 5^th January 1997, first we stayed with our family for a week and then we went to Ulpan Etzion where I stayed for 3 months. I spoke so good Hebrew that the guards at the gate thought that I was a teacher, unfortunately my writing skills were almost inexistent. I felt like living my whole families dream. A Swiss TV team asked me if they can film me for a documentary movie, of course I agreed. They interviewed my mom as well and when they asked her if she wasn´t afraid that her daughter is living in Israel, her answer was: “I was more afraid with 3 children in a Jewish school in Switzerland!”

I lived in Israel for almost 4 years. There is no real reason why I returned and yet there are hundreds. My parents got divorced after 25 years of marriage, my siblings took it very hard and my brother called me a couple of days after they told them and said: it’s hell, you have to come home! Needless to say, I was on the next plane to Zurich.

I actually just planned to go to Switzerland for a couple of months, to be with my family and use the time to work and make some money, gain distance from a boy I broke up with and then return. I kept my apartment, my furniture, most of my stuff, etc and only sublet my room (I was living in a rental apartment in Tel Aviv with roommates). Well, I never went back for good, again for no real reason, I got a well-paid and interesting job, stayed longer than planned, enjoyed being around my family, felt that my family needed me and at the end I resigned my apartment contract in Israel.

The funny thing is that I was never able to make the big move of all my stuff back to Zurich. Every time I went to Israel and every time one of my Swiss friends would come to visit, I/they would bring things. Most of my furniture and electronics I sold. At the end only books and some photo albums were left. Until this day they are stored at my best friend’s house. Somehow it makes me feel good to know that I still have something left in Israel, not sure how to explain this feeling.

My brother made Aliyah a couple of years later, but returned 8 months later engaged with his (now) wife. Same reasons as my parents; make some money and then return. They lived in Switzerland for 3.5 years now, they are awaiting their first child, she adapted very well to Switzerland, both have great jobs and they travel 2 – 3x a year home, to Israel. Some things never change.

I feel very melancholic today. Ten years ago, it´s a long time and yet I don´t feel much different today than I did on the day of my Aliyah... Again I am in a new country, trying to make it work, it is not Israel and not comparable to the feeling of Aliyah, it´s different, I am married now, owner of an apartment, planning to start a family, I guess I do feel a bit different….

Welcome & here we go again!

Welcome to my new blog!

I guess many of you know me from my previous blog which I stopped on 31 Dec 2006.
I know, I know, it was just 2 days ago. The reason why I stopped is that I felt that I was too much "out there". Too many people I know, friends and family, were reading my blog and I started to feel unconfortable with the situation. My life during the past 3 years resembled more a roller coaster than anything else and blogging was a great source for me to process all the things, good and difficult, that were going on my life. But now I hope that my life will be a bit calmer and I can relax a bit.

For my new readers, here a snapshot of the past few years:

July 2003: I meet Mr. Jewish Smörgåsbord, a Jewish Scandinavian living in Switzerland
September 2004: Mr. JS, my boyfriend at that time, moved to Hungary to study Medicine and I start to travel back and forth every other weekend.
February 2005: Mr. JS, still my boyfriend, comes back to Switzerland for one Semester
August 2005: Mr. JS asks my to marry him and I say YES
September 2005: Mr. JS, now my fiancé moves back to Hungary to continue his studies and I start my weekly travels again
January 2006: I quit my job in Switzerland in order to follow Mr. JS
January 2006: we get civil married in Sweden (law in most European countries to get civil married and if you wish you may get religiously married too)
April 2006: I move to Hungary to follow my legal husband (:D)
July 2006: we get married under the Chuppah in Zurich, Switzerland (my home country)
September 2006: we decide to leave Hungary for a semester and try life in Sweden
December 2006: we decide to stay in Stockholm, buy an apartment and try to live a good life.

Well and here I am now! Very happy, very exited, in a new country, with a new apartment, a new job and now also a new BLOG!

Hope you will join me on my new chapter here in Sweden!

(and now I have to go and help Mr. JS help screw together an Ikea sideboard.....)