Advent Sunday

Today is Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. To celebrate Swedes keep four candles together and light the first one today at Breakfast, lunch and dinner. A new candle is lit on each Sunday leading up to Christmas.

Today is also the day the Swedes decorate their homes, and put electrical candlesticks or stars in their windows. Apparently it’s rare to see houses with Christmas lights and big Santa’s or moving reindeer in their front yard. I guess that’s how they keep the electrical bill downJ Straw goats are also a common decoration. Have you started your Christmas decorating yet?

I’m off to the rink to cheer the Vikings on, Go Vikings Go! I hope everyone’s having a good weekend! Can’t forget ..Go BC LionsJ

Julmässan (Christmas Fair)

I am more than ready for Christmas now! It was a beautiful Christmas market inside the Kalmar Slott, lot’s to look at and the 3^rd biggest in Sweden.

Here are a few pictures as promised:

Kalmar Castle

Inside the castle

                  

Roasted nuts

Court yard

The bottom half of the castle was filled with food to taste, of course we had to check that out! All the homemade jams, fresh bread, roasted nuts, fancy cheeses, and meat. Now usually I’m not one for trying random meat, (keep in mind my Dad hunts and I grew up on deer and moose meat) I can tolerate it but it’s not my favourite.

As we were walking by we saw one of the booths sampling and selling sausage, the Swedish man at the table cut us off a piece and insisted we try it, so of course being polite Canadians we do. I start chewing the mystery meat, as I continue ..one of the girls asks “so what kind of meat is this?” the man calmly replies with “HORSE” and points at the picture of the horse on the label of the meat package. I manage to get the meat down without gagging, you have to be kidding me I just sampled HORSE, who eats horse! I guess next time I will stick to my guns, no more sampling street meat for this girl!

Christmas Markets

As of November 25^th most Christmas markets in Sweden are officially set up. The markets are one of my favourite parts about European Christmases! Toasted candied almonds, traditional Christmas cookies, Christmas decorations, and many other handmade items are usually found at all markets. Along with beautiful light displays and traditional Christmas music! Christmas markets in Europe are very traditional and each town has their own.

Last year we took in a few different Christmas markets, here’s a look back:

Kerstmarket in Valkenburg, Netherlands
Most amazing Christmas Market, held in old caves and tunnels which run underneath the town
http://www.christmasmarkets.com/Holland/valkenburg-christmas-market.html



Streets of Valkeburg



Inside the caves



Winterland Christmas Market in Amsterdam with my cousin Meagan





Holland's traditional Santa Claus "Sinterklaas" and his elf "Zwarte Piet"



The Christmas market in Kalmar is starting tomorrow here’s the best part..its INSIDE the Kalmar Slott castle!  One of the girls and I are going tomorrow since the guys will be gone all day. Pictures to comeJ

Nybro’s Christmas market starts on Sunday as well, it will be a weekend full of Christmas markets!

Updates from the week

 

I know I’ve been slacking on posting lately, partially because not much has been going on.

Wednesday night the boys were gone for an away game, a couple girls and I went to see the new Twilight movie “Breaking Dawn Part 1”.  I’m not a huge Twilight fan.. to be honest I’ve only seen the first movie and read parts of the first book, I wasn’t sure what to expect I was going in blind. It turned out to be pretty good, even with the Swedish subtitles. The die hard Twilight fans I was with, loved it even more! So all you North American Twilight fans check out the new movie.

The weather here has been decent, a little frosty in the mornings but no snowJ No snow makes for excellent bike riding conditions! I’ve been checking the forecast in both Calgary and Kelowna; I’m definitely not missing the -16 degree temperature Calgary’s currently sitting at and all that wet, fluffy stuff my hometown just got. Hope everybody’s driving safe I know Sweden will be getting it soon.

With a couple weeks left in November I’m already getting into the Christmas spirit. Unfortunately I can’t start decorating until after December 3^rd! I promised Tyler last year that as long as were together we will celebrate his Birthday and then decorate for Christmas! It’s his special day so we will do it right, after all it is the BIG 25!

The countdown is on for the Canary Island, only 29 more sleeps.

Hope everybody’s having a good week, enjoy your weekend and stay warm!

Glögg

After the hockey game tonight I experienced Glögg for the first time with some of the girls. You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about….well; Glögg is an authentic Swedish spiced warm wine, generally served with raisins, almonds, and Ginger biscuits with blue cheese. Glögg is a popular hot drink during the Christmas season and it’s yummy!

You can buy ready to heat and serve Glögg at the Systembolaget (liquor stores) here in Sweden, also it’s easy to find non-alcoholic Glögg at almost any stores this time of year, including Ikea!

Here’s a recipe I found online if you’re interested in adding a little Swedish tradition to your Christmas: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/swedish-glogg/detail.aspx

Swedish Glögg might even be sold at Ikea in CanadaJ

                                         My first Swedish Glögg experience

                                         Glögg being heated by a candle

Take a number!

The other day while we were waiting at the immigration office it hit me, over the last couple months I’ve learnt that Swedes hate standing in line, instead you take a number and wait until your number is called. They do this EVERYWHERE banks, government offices, travel agencies, at the bakery, post office, health clinics ect. It’s a great solution.. I mean I’d rather sit, read a magazine and wait for my number to pop up on the board than impatiently stand in line, wouldn’t you?

Of course every system has its cons, the trouble is when you don’t realize the store has a number system or you can’t find it, you search frantically for the silly number dispensing machine and let me tell you, they can be hard to find! Or sometimes someone decides they don’t need their number, or a person accidentally pulls too hard and instead of getting one slip they get four or five (okay maybe this only happens to me!) but overall the Swedes have a pretty good system.

When in Sweden: remember before heading to the counter, check for a ticket dispensing machine, and a screen displaying the numbers!

Göteborg (Gothenburg)

From one side of the country (Southwest) to the other (Southeast), we are back! It was a fun filled weekend, and the weather cooperated too.

We spend all day Saturday walking Avenyn Street, checking out some stores, and toured the top of Gothia Towers to get a view of the big city. Saturday night we took in a Swedish Elite Series hockey game, Frolunda Indians vs Linkoping. Sunday morning we went for a long walk, saw some more sights then caught our train back to Nybro.

Gothenburg is a beautiful city, and I can’t wait to go back!

                                            View from Gothia Towers

                                             Meatballs for breakfast:)

                                            Central Station in Gothenburg

                                                       Our hotel

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Växjö at the Migrationsverket (immigration office), getting my picture and fingerprints taken for my resident permit and personal identification number. You need your Swedish Identification number to do a lot of things in Sweden (renting movies, booking train tickets, buying insurance for a car, signing up for activities in your community ect). No Blockbuster cards here, yay for renting Swedish movies :s

I hope everybody had a good weekend, with an extra hour to sleep in!