sweden

evening stories – part 1

Every night, our son is looking forward to bedtime. Not to sleep, but to hear me read books and tell stories. When we came back from Sweden I brought a suitcase full of Swedish children’s books, most of which I got when I was a child myself, so now we have a newly stocked library […]

evening stories – part 1 Read More »

crystals of joy

I have come to love Japan, the nature, culture, food, the people – I feel at home here. But sometimes there is a little part of me missing Sweden, thinking of my old home with a twinge of longing. I have my parents there, my sister and her family, my dear friends, there is the delicious

crystals of joy Read More »

swedish

How our son has grown during our time in Sweden, and not just in size – I think we all felt it, his parents as well as his grandparents. He has become even more independent and also fully embraced a life where the spoken language is Swedish. Thinking about the years my son and I

swedish Read More »

back to normal

It has been four years since the mask wearing days started, and thus time for a pandemic year review. Or maybe I should call it a post-pandemic review. The pandemic is supposed to be over, the covid cases are still sometimes reported but little by little life has started to go back to the way

back to normal Read More »

interiors from sweden

When we arrived in Sweden it was already time to prepare for Christmas. Almost as soon as we had settled in, my son wanted to go by himself with grandmother and grandfather to buy a Christmas tree. When they came back they had picked out the most beautiful pine tree and we decorated it with

interiors from sweden Read More »

winter

What a joy to arrive in Sweden just before Christmas and be welcomed by not only farmor and farfar, granny and grandpa, but also by snow and some proper winter. It has been a wonderful couple of weeks we have spent in Sweden, and I plan to share some impressions in the next few blog posts

winter Read More »

astronomy

Ever since we last autumn started to talk about going to Sweden this winter to visit farmor and farfar, grandma and grandad, my son has been interested to know more about Sweden and especially where Sweden is and why it is always dark at our place and bright day is Sweden when we are doing

astronomy Read More »

hot tea

I had almost forgotten how wonderful it is to drink a hot cup of tea (or several) in the evening after my son has gone to sleep. During the long hot Japanese summer, drinking hot tea has been the last thing on my mind (although for hot coffee, somehow there is always a time and

hot tea Read More »

celebrations and sweden

Recently we went to Tokyo for a shichi-go-san (7-5-3) celebration of our son’s cousin who turned 7 this year. 7-5-3 is a traditional Japanese celebration for the growth and well-being of children, at the ages of 3 and 7 for girls, and 5 and sometimes 3 for boys. Our sons loves his cousins and hasn’t

celebrations and sweden Read More »

images of sweden

I have only started to collect my impressions of our son’s first trip to Sweden. Finally he could meet all of my family – my parents, my European brothers and sisters and their partners and children. It was the first time for me as well to meet a nephew and a niece, so it was

images of sweden Read More »

as bad a match as they come

Before going to Sweden I was intrigued by the requirements of the Japanese government to be able to return to Japan, seen together with the possibilites in Sweden to follow those requirements when it came to o PCR-testing. Japan still basically requires a negative PCR-test (for a few more days when writing this) in order

as bad a match as they come Read More »