Happy Winter Solstice!

Well we made it! December 22 officially marked the shortest day of the year here in Stockholm. With the sun rising at 8:44 and setting at 14:48, that makes a grand total of 6 hours and a few minutes of daylight... For everyone that is wondering, yes...every minute does count.

Winter Solstice also just happens to mark our 5-month anniversary of living in Sweden! So, in honor of that, I decided to compose a list of everything we found interesting/unusual here while getting settled into our new life. Who knows, it might be fun for us to look back at it in a few years and see how far along we have come.

• Stockholm is a beautiful city. Each day we realize how lucky we are to be living here. It's so nice to be close to the water and green at the same time...and to have seasons again. We can't wait to explore more.

• Yes, everyone...well nearly everyone...speaks English. Unfortunately for us, nothing is ever written in English. These past few months have been a crash course in important Swedish words from different foods to how to say elevator. That said, it would be very beneficial for us to learn at least a little Swedish so we can eventually stop feeling like foreigners and since Jacques will be starting preschool in Swedish very soon. It would also help immensely with phone calls when there is an automated menu...anything beats pressing random buttons until a human responds.

• Yes, Sweden is a very family-oriented country. For each child, parents receive a whopping 480 days of leave to share. Strangely enough, we also received parental leave for Jacques. They just deducted the ~100 days of maternity leave I took in Barcelona. Stay-at-home moms (and dads) can also benefit from parental leave. It's not a lot, but I make 180 sek (~$27) a day for staying home with my kids (without having employment in Sweden). I guess we have the high taxes in Sweden to thank for that =).

• In our first few months here, Alexis and I took much advantage of the Swedish healthcare system. We arrived in Sweden just in time to have a baby (Timothee was born ~5 weeks after arriving in Stockholm) and Alexis to have his appendix out (a few days after Tim and I returned home). We found everything in the healthcare system quite easy to navigate and efficient...in addition to that, even as newcomers, everything was essentially covered (except for a fee for hospital food).

Random observations:

• No one hangs curtains in their houses, even on the lower levels. This makes for an interesting show, especially at night, of everyone's life.

• Even in Sweden, IKEA is a great place to get a good deal on furniture and food. One of the most popular items are the the big ball light covers...they can be seen in almost every house. We have proudly inherited 3 from our landlords.

• Compared to Barcelona, there are very few dogs, and the grass in the parks are for the kids to play in not puppies to poop in.

• Gone are the days of buying gallons of water. Potable water in Stockholm actually tastes quite good.

First thoughts on Swedish winters:

• By law, snow tires on cars are required by December. This winter has been interesting because there hasn't been much snow. But, since temperatures hover right below freezing, every street and sidewalk becomes coated in a thin layer of ice. I've never seen anything before like it...the city is a skating rink.

• Temperature highs and lows are pretty much the same...at least you know what to expect and it's easy to dress for.

• We've only had a few inches of snow at a time, but so far, only big streets are cleaned and I have yet to see one shoveled sidewalk. It makes navigating with a stroller quite interesting. Which brings me to...

• Rumor has it that everyone has "snowtires" for their strollers...we might have to think of investing in a pair of those.

• Kids are always very prepared for the elements. In fall, every kid is dressed in rain pants and galoshes. In the winter, these are replaced by snow pants and boots. Even for a quick walk in town, the kids are prepared. Jack has adapted quite well to his new seasonal attire.

All in all, Sweden has been a huge change from Spain...but the initial adaption period for us has gone much more smoothly I think. I'm not sure if it's because the lifestyle in Belgium and the United States is much more comparable to the Swedish lifestyle (it's fun to have coffee shops on every corner again...especially when in dire need of warming up) or that with every big move you just get a little more used to what needs to get done to settle in. I must say, it definitely helps that we are able to communicate more easily than in our first few months in Spain (when we knew minimal Spanish).

That being said, we are really looking forward to the next year in Stockholm...and of course to each day being just a little bit longer. I can't wait for 18+ hours of sunlight in the summer...I think we'll develop a new appreciation for blackout curtains!