personal

a future career

Moving to a new house has meant a lot of IKEA furniture. Coming from Sweden and moreover from a town very close to the first IKEA store, I have grown up with IKEA furniture so using the hex key to assemble a bed or a set of drawers makes me feel like I am back […]

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battle of wills

When I saw the image of the bicycle on the used items sales site, it was love at first sight. When imagining what bicycle me and our son would be riding around on, a pink ladie’s bike never came to my mind, but seeing this photo took me to a very happy place, and following

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a different midsummer

Being the first summer living in a house with a little garden in Japan, being father of a son having just turned one, I wanted to make a little Swedish imprint in our daily Japanese life and celebrate Midsummer together. Midsummer is a big festivity in Sweden, and apart from eating an drinking, the Midsummer

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equal treatment

Moving from a small apartment to a two stories house means a lot of life changes for a small baby. When dad goes up the stairs, our little son becomes very unsettled and wants to go with me to check that I am not leaving. When mum is going out to get a delivery at

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the snake in paradise

All week I have been searching for a few moments to write a few lines, and I have not until now found that chance. In reality I would have liked to have a lot of time to write story after story – it has been that kind of a week – but for now a

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one color to rule them all

I had almost given up my efforts to keep my clothes clean from yellow stains; instead, a few months ago, I narrowed down my home wardrobe to a few pieces that I did not mind too much getting all stained from everything having a baby in the house brings with it. Thinking about yellow in

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exploring new worlds

Our son has started to walk. From one day being able to stand on his own to the next happily walking across the room with a toy in his hand – the speed of learning of a child is incredible. I wish I could mimic him as well as he is mimicking me – imagine

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i am lamp

Our son has really started to show an interest in learning new words, and he understands more and more – when I ask him if he wants to go out in the baby car, he gets really excited and starts to crawl towards the front door. When I tell him that we shall vacuum the

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help at home

The vacuum cleaner is a powerful home appliance. Not only does it clean floors, carpets, air cleaner filters and camera bags with cereal from a little accident during breakfast this morning, vacuum cleaners can also inspire both awe and fear in babies. When I was a child my younger brother really disliked the sound of

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a photographer in the family

I like to call myself a photographer. Before moving to Japan I worked with photography, and apart from my art photography, I still manage to do the odd photo jobs here. My family aside, writing and photography are my passions in life. I remember when I was a kid and my dad showed me his

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my swedish wife

Lagom is a very useful Swedish word. It means something like “just right” – not too much, not too little, actually not too anything, simply lagom. When my wife asked me tonight how much rice I want, I said lagom. When my wife asks me how big piece of birthday cake I want, I say

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a warm hand

My stomach is always cold. My wife’s hand is always warm. My wife is always quick to fall asleep. I am more of a slow-sleeper. Like so many other differences between me and my wife, these ones also turn out to be a perfect combination, in this case for me – when I have my

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