So, no excuses now.  Angus is off to dagis (dahgiss) which is day care essentially. He will be in three days a week (Tues, Wed, Thurs) and Oliver is well settled into skolan.

I would like to say that I have a ton of exciting things to report on since my last post in September, but it is surprising how day and weeks and months go by, without any really notable adventures!

So Oliver started school at the begining of Ocotber, the day after we moved into our permanent housing.  The poor kid was really needing a challenge in his days - and he got it!  His transition into swedish school was extremely smooth, he started in a "special" class with other children new to Sweden. This is basically just to get their chops down and begining to think in another language.  Also, there are children who have never experienced school before as there is a large refugee and immigrant population. I have been told that even the parents do not know how to read or write in their own languages before coming here.  Needless to say that Oliver flourished quickly and really embraced the language.  Only 4 months really and he now only spends one morning per week in his special class and is now in his regular class the rest of the time.  I am so proud of him and his ability to pick up a language so quickly.  I know, I know - you say "But Holly, all children pick up new things quickly, they are little sponges" and I say, but yeah, I am actually experiencing it with my won child and I am astounded!  I really know that we did a good thing by taking this opportunity.  I understand fully the desire to want more for our children than we had ourselves.  And I had it pretty good.

Oliver has made great friends quickly and everyone naturally lives in this area - so there is a lot of play happening out of school time out in the neighbourhood. The beauty of living here, is that Oliver has a very large range of places to play and has the run of several small parks near our home.  I don't have to go out with him - he is safe everywhere around here.  Imagine a time when we were just 7 years old and playing in our neighbourhoods and walking to and rom school on our own.  It was really hard for me to get used to, but now it feels natural.

One of many Oliver stories:
The school nurse met with me to talk about Oliver's immunizations and general health, etc.  The school has a pediatrician assigned to it. The school books an appointment for you to go and see this doctor where they do a more thorough "inspection". Oliver's appointment was for last week. The doctor was a wonderful man, asked lots of questions and spoke to me in English and Oliver in Swedish.  Oliver understood every word and responded appropriately to the questions about school and his life - IN SWEDISH. Remember this is only 4 months from starting to learn...the we were off to the lab to give samples (not the kind you like getting in the mail).  Oliver, who has historically been and amazing little man and not afraid to get blood work done, decided that it was all too much for him and was not happy to have his arm poked.  The nurse explained to him that there are special patches that he could put on his arm ahead of time that would numb his skin and then he wouldn't feel the needle at all.  Would he be interested? Yes, of course he would.  So, she put these patches on BOTH arms - just in case one did not work as well as the other and we waited for an hour to let the patches do their thing.  The nurse spoke entirely in Swedish with Oliver.  He understood EVERYTHING, yet again.  Proud momma moments, it was truly an amazing thing to be witness to.

Before Christmas, we spent most of our time getting settled into our new home and area.  Figuring out the best places for groceries, getting Oliver settled onto school and day to day living. A couple of trips to IKEA, and one trip at the beginning of October to a ridiculous outlet mall about 1 and a half hours drive from the city. This I did with some other ladies and absolutely no children. I wish I could convey to you in descriptive detail what it was like - but I can't. it is something like 5 football fields large, a few levels, everything you could image - like a Wallmart Supercentre times a bazillion or so.  Seeing is believing. People come from all over with their motorhomes,  camp for a week, shop EVERYDAY to load up said camper vans, etc and then go.  The deals are amazing - the lineups horrendous and there is absolutely NO WHERE to go to get away from carts and people.  After one day and only 5 hours at that I decided that I really didn't need to go back...ever. But, time is forgiving and I think we are planning another excursion again soon...sigh. Here is a link to the website - if you are brave enough...open it up in google Chrome and it will translate the page for you. 

                       http://www.gekas.se/shoppa/karta-varuhuset

We had a brilliant Christmas - very quiet, and had some friends for a bit of a post Christmas party on boxing day.  Next year, I think we will be better at understanding what Christmas is all about here - the Swedes really do do Christmas well. It was beautifully lit up everywhere.

We have had a quiet beginning to the new year as well.  I had signed up months ago to begin swedish classes but first had to get Angus into his daycare - so I could go to school.  He started on Thursday last week.  I wish I could say that I am happy for the time to myself before I start school - but really, I miss him!  I am sure I will get used to this alone time.  But for now, I pace and bake/cook and clean and watch the time.  I know he is having fun "playing" with his friends and new toys - but he is not with me! I am missing his cute little face and voice. I will say though, that I appreciate the time I do have with him all the more.  Such a precious little morsel :)

I don't know yet when I actually get to start my lessons - but it had better be soon!  I will be going nuts at home soon! I do have some great friends here now and we do go out as often as possible as we are mostly moms and stay at home wives/partners. I have more of a social life here than I ever had back in Canada.  I have joined a Professional Women's Group that meet once a month with a new topic, also a group of Electronic Arts ladies (mostly spouses) meets once a month for drinks/dinner or whatever we feel like doing. And then we are ofte meeting with other families and friends to do things like outdoor skating, park picnics, etc. Busy busy busy and yet - not.  It is all very calm and peaceful.  I could get used to this lifestyle.

Tim has been working away - he had plenty of time off at Christmas and also a week off last week while Oliver was on his "Sportlov" (winter break).  We had planned to go on a wee adventure out of the city - but wound up all getting quite ill.  Them's the breaks!

Otherwise we are all doing very well - I still don't know how to post pics - but I know most of you are on Facebook and have seen more than you want, likely!

Until next time!
puss och kramar (kisses and hugs!)

Our days...

Sorry for the delay in posting - we have been sort of busy...I could have made the time to send an update - but I chose sleep instead!

We are doing well here.  We have finally found our permanent housing and on October 1 we will be moving into our apartment! We are VERY happy about this, as you can imagine as all of our shipped goods are arriving on the same day :) I can't wait for MY kitchen, MY bed, MY everything!!! It is a 3 bedroom apartment with 1 1/2 baths and is about 100 sq meters.  This is a much bigger size than the apartment we are currently in, and it has a proper bathtub.  You don't realize how nice a bathtub is to have, until you don't have one for a couple of weeks....

I am waiting for a phone call from Oliver's new school that is in the neighbourhood we will be moving to.  Oliver has not started school at all yet, as he had to wait for his personnummer from the Swedish government which he now has.  They are supposed to call today, hopefully we will get him registered soon as he is going a bit crazy hanging around the house all day.

Tim is settling in at work, the first week or so was a bit harried with new people starting all over the place and a project in the process of being started, etc. The company has hired a private Swedish language teacher for us. There are 7 of us in the class 2 nights per week. We found a lovely sitter for the boys, she is a University student from Germany studying primary education. She was an Au Pair in Canada and in Australia, so her English is quite good (although she thinks it is not great).  She also does not charge an arm and a leg to watch the boys, the Swedes are VERY expensive.  She charges 80 SEK / hour (about 12/hour CAD) while others where up to 200 SEK/hour (30/hour CAD!!!) ridiculous!

Our day typically consists of relaxing mornings until Gus goes down for a nap around 11AM. Then Oliver gets hard to work on his home-school work and I try and work on my Swedish or tidy up the house.  We have to be VERY quiet, because this place is so small - Gus would wake up if we talked in normal tones.  Oliver and I sometimes do some yoga- but haven't made it part of our routine yet.  When Gus wakes up from his sleep, we have some lunch and go get groceries - always, our fridge is TINY and so we buy what we need for supper each day. It gets us out of the house!  We try to play outside on our way to the stores.  There are lots of parks nearby and a HUGE forest just behind our house.  There are 4 grocery stores near us and so we change it up each day depending on where we want to walk.  The Coop (said cooop, like mooo not co.op) is along a regular road, the Hemköp is very close to us but does not offer as much - it is more of a convenience store.  The Willys is through the forrest which we like, but is uphill most of the way there and last is the ICA (said EEKA, not I.C.A.) which is a 25 minute walk - but a full on grocery store.

We reserve the weekends for fun family stuff like IKEA, Universeum (like Telus World of Science), hikes, and more exploring.  There are plenty of things to do.

I have also found an English speaking moms group in town. It takes 30 minutes to get there on the tram, but it is totally worth it, just to visit with other moms, compare stories of living in Sweden and giving the kids a chance to play with other kids (and toys) for a couple of hours.  An absolute God-send!  I am grateful for it - no question.  I will start Angus in a Swedish playgroup when we move (preschool starts at the age of 1 here as most parents both work here) and start looking for a job myself.  You will not believe the cost for childcare here.  The absolute maximum you will pay for a child is 185 CAD per month....Unbelievable!  and that is if you are making over the maximum income amount.  They also feed your kid, real meals too - not PB and Jam sandwiches!  no more packing lunches as Oliver will also have a hot lunch every day in public school as well.

Well, pardon the ramble. It has been a long time since I gave you an update! 

I am waiting for Tim to show me how to include pictures on this blog, we have taken a few since we got here :)

Dirty Laundry...

...I mean literally!  So, I am in the process of doing laundry and Tim is out at the park with the boys - perfect time for an update!

Doing laundry here is quite a challenge. I found myself googling how to do laundry in Sweden as I try to streamline the process.  There is a normal front load washer - with a zillion different options for washing.  Cotton - hygiene, 30 degree, 40 degree, 60 degree temp, rinse, etc... It is enough to blow my mind!  The dryer looks like it should be normal, but it is not, not really.  It doesn't seem to dry clothes.  BUT there is this room, just off the laundry room that dries clothes - there are cables that run from one end of the room to another and a big ass industrial size box that blows (and I do mean blows) warm air into the room.  This room is a cement walled, windowless room with a heavy door and it works so much faster than a drier - even by north american standards!  I am in love, and assuming I am using it correctly (who really knows) I love the crisp clean clothes and bedding.  It's like pulling clothes off the line, without the bugs or the sun bleach...pretty neat! A couple of people have also blogged about their laundry experiences as well, idiot is one word that is used to describe how they felt when figuring out the system :o)

Looking for a home...

So we looked at our first potential home on Friday. The appointment was booked for the afternoon, so Tim was at work and I trekked off with the kids. Location barely known, those of you who know me, know that I am directionally challenged, and was a bit anxious about this trek.  The traditional Swedish row house community was out in the sticks of Gothenburg. It actually took about an hour by tram and bus to get out there on the highway from where we are currently living. Tim works about half that distance, so for him the commute would have been about 30 - 45 minutes depending on traffic. The rooms were smaller than any I have seen so far - I know this may be typical, but there is absolutely NO WAY our queen bed would have fit anywhere in that house.  Also, the wall coverings (wallpaper everywhere, yikes!!) were sketchy at best.  The room they were not going to recover was an entire room (not a feature wall, mind) of purple, lavender and black "paint splotches" all over - the owner really liked it - I tried VERY hard not to make a funny face.

Needless to say, this one was a no. We will keep on looking!

I know you all are doing well - I would love for you to keep in touch, often...

xox

  

Yikes...this surely is a test of patience!

We arrived safely in our "flat" rented to us by Tim's work. We get this place for about a month until we find a home of our own.  We cannot be too choosey in this however, as rentals are really few and far between here.  We hope to have enough room to invite our friends and families overseas for visits - or as Oliver prefers, sleepovers :)

It is very hard for me not to hit the ground running, language classes, look for a job, apartment, etc. I have to constantly remind myself to take it easy, we have only been here since Friday, and today was the first day we could do anything at all! We went to the immigration office, yippee! It was long, but not too long. I met a woman who is an american and has been living in the UK for seven years and now Sweden for one year.  She has not bothered to / or  had need to learn any Swedish at all.  While this is comforting, it does not really appeal to me, and from the feeling I get, I think the Swedes probably do not appreciate this either. It is now my goal to get going on the Swedish learnin' sooner rather than later.  Integration is important to me, I do not want to feel like this for long.  Also, I really had a time of it trying to figure out how to do laundry today!

Our discussion with the fellow at the immigration office today suggested that we wait until we have our personnumbers before getting Oliver registered for school.  We will check with the school tomorrow, just to be sure - but Oliver will have to do some home schooling in the mean time - thrilled :(

A couple of things I have noticed over the last couple of days:

• After searching high and low for plugins (a girl has GOT to dry her hair) I decided I would have to dry my hair in the hallway at the entrance to our place, low and behold - Tim found a plugin for me in the bathroom cleverly disguising itself with a covered plate over it. Hard to explain really, but does make us open our eyes a bit more!
• Also, IKEA, IKEA everywhere...our entire flat kitchen to living room - who knows, maybe even the TV and appliances...
• Many, many more things, really i should start writing them down, as I forget at this hour of the night :)

Swedish word for the day: Ko (kind of sounds like kooa) means Cow.  Angus discovered a cow stuffy in someones car window, I thought it a great time to learn my first on the fly word!

Goodnight all, I hope my posts get more entertaining as time goes on! I also hope Tim pops on once in a while with his observations - he is a fabulous writer!

We're heeeEEEeeere...(the journey)

Wow, I can't believe it, but the Gibson's have landed in SWEDEN!!!

It is thrilling to be here, Tim and I remember a lot of what we saw when we were here, sans kidlettes in June, so really, it already feels homey in that I have already been here kinda way.

The journey getting here started when Tim and I said goodbye to Vancouver and our home in Cloverdale on Thursday, August 9 at around 4PM (the times become important later :)), we stayed in Kelowna (the kiddies had already spent the better part of the week with granny and poppa) with Don and Joan until early Monday morning (the 13th) with an 0850 flight time. We flew from there to Toronto, Gus' first flight and it showed. 4.5 hours of trying to keep a little mover still; he did finally crash for the last hour of the flight and was wicked good during take off and landing. Oliver was, as usual, a travelling dream.  I swear that kid should consider travel for a living.  Barely a peep from him! Of course, I am sure the unlimited TV on the plane was a help...our arrival time in Toronto was around 6PM TO time (goodbye three perfectly good hours!).  We made it to Burlington to Tim's Grandma and Pa's house by 730PM after a challenge in car rentals and one navigational oops.  A couple of days of R&R and visits with my sister Victoria and Tim's grandparents and Great Aunt Norma and we were finally on our way to Sweden.

Our flight from TO to London, Heathrow was actually really great.  We were on the overnighter leaving at around 930PM on Thursday (16th) and arriving in London at 9AM London time (that flight is only around 7 hours long, so again, some fabulous hours I will never get back!) Angus slept 90% of the way there in one of those funky little "sleep beds" they have and hello bulkhead seats!!! Both I recommend when travelling with babies.  The only drawbacks to the bed is that if there is any turbulence when the seatbelt sign goes on, you have to transfer baby back ontl your lap and strap him onto you with the seatbelt extender thingy.  This happened four times, ask me how much sleep I got...go on, ask! Oliver decided to watch a movie or two before tossing and turning and finally resting.  He claims to not have slept, but there was the thing about the drool spot :P

Okay, the flight was smooth, however - I do NOT recommend having a 7 hour layover in Heathrow airport, especially with three other cranky, tired, hungry - but not so hungry people.  It was LOOOONNNGGG - but we did it!  And at a quarter to 4 (PM) off we were, finally to Gothenburg. We got into town at 530PM, got through customs and immigration in a snap - they were not really as excited as we were about us living in Sweden - hopped into a cab and made our way to our flat.  (pics to come soon - there are some on Tim's Facebook).

Will post again soon with what's been going on in and around Gothenburg!