personal

an ordinary wednesday – part 2

Coming home from our long morning walk (read here), it was high time to make lunch. Our 20 months old child is now capable of bypassing all child locks in our house; he easily enters the kitchen part of our living room, he easily opens the child locked kitchen drawer, he finds his way to …

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an ordinary wednesday

Lately I have met challenges that really has forced me to bring out every ounce of creativity and patience that I have been able to find. My son is so curious, he is quite independent and he has the will of his mother, so as soon as the day starts, I start trying to balance …

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stairs

Being a beautiful day, my son and I decided we should go exploring together. Just as I was about to prepare our picnic lunch, our son’s grandmother called and said she had prepared some lunch for us today; wow! So it was with homemade onigiri bento that we set off on our bicycle heading for …

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growing up

Getting older with a small child in the house is like getting the chance to once again grow up, to explore the world and see the universe with eyes not affected by the life lived. Almost everyday I marvel at the marvel our baby is – as if it is second (if not first) nature …

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a new child

Never did I think that suddenly there would come a new little life into our world; we have a small piece of soil, maybe a meter wide and a few meters long, between our parking space and the house and this little unused walkway has now become our little Japanese garden. For half a year …

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swedish christmas

Being in Japan for the winter holidays for the third year in a row, both my wife and I miss, apart from seeing our close relatives of course, the Swedish Christmas smorgasbord. My mother makes the most beautiful meal with all the seasonal delicacies including my favorite, pickled herrings, and I can only hope that …

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stars

Today I have finally realized that there are stars everywhere. I woke up this morning by my sun (I was going to write son, and when I reread my text I saw that I had written sun instead, but in this case sun works equally well if not better so I leave it like that) …

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adventsfika

I could not resist to follow up the last post with a story of how we have enjoyed our lussebullar, saffron bread. The second of Advent we climbed the mountain at the foot of which we live. Ever since we moved here I have been looking up at the mountain, wanting to stand on its …

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traditions

Having given up our hope to go to Sweden for Christmas, we decided to try to do what we could to keep a few Swedish Christmas traditions alive here in Japan instead. In Sweden, December is dark and cold and the light in the darkness for me is literally the different lights we use when …

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the big and small stories of life

The last week was special in many ways. The beyond earthly beautiful funeral of my wife’s dad moved me a lot and has left a big impression in me. There was something very honest and beautiful in the way his life was celebrated and the way his afterlife was prepared, and I feel honored to …

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a special grandfather

I first met my father-in-law three and a half years ago when my soon-to-be wife introduced me to her parents and I explained my desire to marry their daughter. Since then I have felt part of the family and I am so grateful for my parents-in-law including me in their lives, accepting me as their …

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science lesson

I never thought my baby would teach me science before learning to even speak; I thought I was the one that will finally make good use of all my science education when my son is growing up and needs a conversation partner when it comes to matters of physics and mathematics. Actually studying together after …

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