Thanks to “this time last year” photo reminders, I’ve been reflecting on the amount of change we’ve experienced in the last twelve months. The loss of my Mum, new directions at work and moving from the UK to Sweden. I don’t know how we’ve done it all.
Looking back on all this makes me feel strong and industrious. But also someone in need of a month long nap now we’re on the other side and feeling settled in our new place. And the chaos is by no means over because a whole new set of challenges now lay ahead of us. Post move related paperwork and to-do’s, trying to stay healthy during a global pandemic and Brexit to name a few!
More Swedish study. A local supermarket was giving away Pollinerings Skolan (pollination school) booklets containing nice illustrations and information about plants. It doesn’t contain a huge amount of text so I picked one up as a translation project for learning the language.
I feel proud of us this week because we’re both very shy about speaking Swedish but know we need to be braver. We’ve been interacting with people at tills and ordering basic things in Swedish. Celebrating small victories!
I’ve been a bit of a nap monster lately. The sofa is the best spot and this blanket is always my go to (the third one I ever made).
Still continuing with my self portrait project. I’ve moved out of the bathroom cave and into the rest of the apartment. I took this photo and then realised I hadn’t plucked my eyebrows in over a month. Oh well.
We received some great news this week so I picked up some prosecco called Plex. Chosen because it has the same name as the software we use on the media centre at home. Getting ID’d at the till was a bonus; I probably looked a little too pleased handing it over.
The day we bought takeaway pizza for lunch and ate it on the balcony. Potato and three cheese (one of which was gorgonzola) is my new favourite topping.
The first avocado stone has sprouted. Meet Gerald! He’ll be transferred to a pot once the first leaf arrives. Aside from that, the balcony and apartment are greening up nicely.
Our first TBE vaccinations are done! I looked down at the plaster on my arm thinking it was covered in a strawberry pattern… then I realised they were actually ticks. Yuck! I’m not sure what happened when we got outside but we sat down and laughed at eachother hysterically for almost 5 minutes, then stood up again and walked home. Neither of us can remember what was so funny.
Another week down! I’m not sure how we’re almost half way through the year already.
That is a lot of change for a year, love seeing your photos and fun to find new ways to learn the language. It’s great to see what life is like there from your perspective!
It really is and I didn’t appreciate how much until I sat back and reflected on everything — something I haven’t had a chance to do with being so busy. We are still staying in most of the time at the moment, other than trips to the supermarket to buy tasty things and a longer walk somewhere quiet at weekends.