International Travel with a Toddler

Playground fun in Budapest!

Everyone wants to know what it is like to travel with a +12 month old.  Either people are convinced that it cannot or should not be done for the sake of the parents or for those traveling around them.  Well, I have two answers to that line of thinking: 1) Parents put up with a whole lot of discomfort for the long-term benefits of having kids -- traveling is the same thing.  You will be greatly inconvenienced for about 5 hours but then it's all over and it is a lot of fun.  And,

Medieval times

When our friends from CA came to visit us, Eric and Erica, we were excited for some super fun medieval/viking fun.  Eric has been watching Game of Thrones on HBO and was super pumped to see some of the landscape in person.  Having never seen Game of Thrones, we were just excited to show Stockholm and some of the neighboring areas to our friends.

Eric and Erica are professional travelers and

@Sweden gets some heat this week

Sweden has been in the news recently and not in a good way. It is always interesting to read about the country we are living in and have it mocked by one of my favorite comedians, Stephen Colbert.  Curators of Sweden hands over the @Sweden Twitter account every week to a new Swede for them to tweet their experiences and show the world their perspective on life.  It has been really interesting to follow and we have been loyal readers of the various "curators" of @sweden since we moved here.  My personal favorites were the lesbian truck driver

You probably don't want to read this

(DISCLOSURE: if you don’t feel like reading about mens bathrooms out here, I suggest that you find the latest cute-Calvin blog instead, sorry.)

I think I mentioned it before, but the bathroom situation here in Sweden is kind of odd. Instead of having one “Mens” and one “Womens” bathroom with different stalls, sinks and urinals inside, they just have individual rooms with toilets and sinks – sometimes identified by sex, sometimes not.  I rarely run into a urinal – but have actually seen Fenway style “troughs”

Why do we drink? A Detailed Analysis of Beer vs Coffee Consumption in Sweden vs USA

One odd thing I’ve noticed here is that Swedes drink A LOT of coffee, but only caffeinated.  I’ve never seen a decaf option in any of the work coffee machines, and there is only one option in the grocery store, compared to a whole aisle of caffeinated coffee.  When I’ve asked about decaf before, coworkers just laugh at me and ask what the point is. 

On the flip side, these folks drink a lot of non/low alcohol beer, which people in the states would never do (unless they were pregnant ladies I think).  They just drink n/a beers here because they like how it tastes with their meal.

So, based on this input, Americans drink coffee for the taste, not the caffeine, and Swedes drink beer for the taste, not the booze.  Does this mean that Americans like coffee more than Swedes and Swedes like beer more than ‘mericans?  This doesn’t seem right at all, but I can’t think of another way to make sense of it

Only thing I can do is go native and find out what these “work-day” beers are all about…

"Daddy" means everything

...and I mean that in the most literal sense!  At first, he just attributed the word whenever he saw dogs, so we thought he was trying to say "doggie."  THEN, he said it very slowly (daaaadeeee) in front of Jon and we rejoiced with pride that he had correctly attributed the word to his actual daddy.  Then we started to realize that he was saying daddy when he was looking at me too and it started to dawn on us that he is just calling everything, and everyone, daddy.

I broke up with dagis

(Dagis=preschool=daycare)

I was so excited for Calvin to start preschool (or dagis) here in Stockholm.  We had successfully navigated the application system and attended an open house.  I even blogged about (here) a comparison between my experience with the US daycare system and the Swedish system.  All systems were "go" we just needed to complete inskolning or in-take.

Now, to my credit, I was really sure, no positive, that this time around, we were going to do the daycare thing up right.  Calvin was 12 months old, able to toddle around and get himself from place to place.  We are struggling a little bit with his weight and getting him to eat any food that isn't a fruit, but we're working on it slowly but surely.  I figured that he would see the other kids eating chicken and think it was a good idea too.  The 4 days of in-take were supposed to show me how he was going to interact with the other kids and the teachers.  That was not how our experience went down.  I'm going to put this into bullets to keep myself on track but you'll be able to see the warning signs when I did.

Day 1 of in-take -- 9am-11am

• Hang out with Calvin and 2 other kids and sang some songs with the teacher
• I noticed that the doors between the classrooms were kept open and the kids were crawling or walking between rooms
• Numerous times, other teachers would pop in and ask if I had seen so-and-so
• Noticed one girl was sickish looking and was being rocked by a teacher
• Calvin loved playing with all of the toys but I was with him by myself with him for about 1 hour (where are the teachers?)

The only interaction I saw between a teacher and Calvin all day

Do you see the sick girl in the back? I do...

Food?

Day 2 of in-take -- 9am - 12pm

• Met some other moms and kids -- Calvin played with them and got ran over a few times by the older kids (no big deal)
• Spoke with the Director of the preschool who was holding sick girl from Day 1 and as she told me that she had a recurring fever proceeded to say that "I would never enroll my child here unless they were 18 months old.  They will just get too sick because it is up to the parent to get their child if they have a fever.  One girl has had an eye infection for 4 days now and she keeps getting dropped off."
• Spent more time playing with other moms and kids (again, where are the teachers)
• Had 20 minutes of singing in a play room with a slide.  Calvin started climbing the slide and nearly fell off.  If I hadn't been there, he would have fallen on his head as the teacher was distracted with the other kids
• Lunch time -- kids are served pasta and chicken and food is placed in front of them.  To entice them to eat, the teachers squirted ketchup on their pasta.  
• Calvin sat there and cried.
• We left...

So, I was mulling the above information over in my head and combined it with some other things that we had to take into account.

1. The school was going to close in July (as most of Sweden does) and we are moving out of the area mid-July so Calvin would be changing schools.
2. Calvin would really only attend the school for a total of 30 hours for the entire month with upcoming visitors and trips in June.
3. The director of the school said in no uncertain terms that their school isn't designed for 12 month olds.  He should really be older before attending dagis.

Between the safety, health and nutrition factors listed above, I didn't think that enrolling him for 1 month was really worth the stress, worry and affect on his schedule.  The school enforces 1 nap a day (12-2pm) and getting him adjusted during in-take was a real struggle.  It was clear, I had to break up with dagis. This relationship just wasn't going to work out.

When I went to the school on our 3rd day of in-take to break off our agreement, Calvin took the longest nap ever -- a total of 4 hours for his morning nap.  RECORD BREAKING!  He was so exhausted from only getting 1 nap a day that his body was trying to catch up.  I think that we will need to transition to 1 nap eventually, but right now, he is too young for it.  The school is really designed for older kids and their schedule, lunch menu, and fever protocols (or lack thereof) really reflect that.

Jon jokingly said, "So, when are you going to send Calvin to school?  Will he be home schooled until he is 10 years old?"  I hope not!  I really wanted this to work out for all of us.  My consulting work is really taking off and my projects are getting busier and busier. I need time away from Calvin (at least a few hours each day) to be productive at work.  He really loves interacting with the other children and being outside playing.  I just didn't think that his safety was going to be looked after appropriately and that is really my main concern.  I know he'll get fevers and that he won't eat their food at first, but he would adjust eventually.

Sigh...oh well.  I may be on the way to being an overbearing mom but at least I'm honest about it.

Time to teach Jon the Viennese Waltz

For one glorious weekend, Jon and I slept past 7am, stayed out past 7pm and drank beer with every lunch and dinner.  We indulged in too much pastry, ice cream, alcohol and fried foods.  It was a perfect weekend in Vienna. 

Dave and Joann took care of baby C while Jon and I snuck away for a brief respite.  It was the first time I had ever spent more than 12 hours away from him and instead of being really sad, I was thrilled. We really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and enjoy ourselves as a couple.  

For the trip, Jon put me in charge of finding things to do.  Fortunately, it did not matter that I did absolutely no research on the city before we landed.  Vienna has the most beautiful buildings around every corner and tons of lush green gardens and trees.  All we really needed was a map and good walking shoes. Done and done!

I wanted to see the old ferris wheel at the Prater that looks very Wellsian.  It was built in 1897 and still moans and creaks like it was built in 1897.  Apparently only half of the gondolas/caboose thingies were rebuilt after it was damaged in WWII.  Two of the gondolas were dining cars and all of them had the most amazing views of the lush blooming trees in the park beneath the wheel.  

Wiener Riesenrad ferris wheel

Views from atop the ferris wheel

inside the ferris wheel

We looked out across the city and saw these swings whipping through the stratosphere at amazing speeds.  I think there was even faint screaming off in the distance.  Jon looks at me with wide eyes and says, "Are those the swings from that bucket list email?"  A few months ago, we had received one of those long emails from my Aunt that has pictures of all of the most amazing places in the world.  At the top of the list was the Vienna Unchained Carousel -- or in other words -- this ridiculously high carousel of swings that will induce nausea upon sight.  Jon asked me if I was up to the challenge.  Umm...you can't pass up a chance to fulfill someone's email bucket list, right?  I mean, if these swings are so awesome, then we definitely need to check them out!  And yes, I thought about what would happen to Calvin if we died...don't worry. Our families know what to do, blah blah blah. LIVE LIFE PEOPLE! 

Just got off the tallest swings in the world

Terrifying!

The ferris wheel/unchained carousel was amazing.  It was terrifying, thrilling and fun. Note: if you have flip flops or flats on, take them off before you go up. My shoes would have flown off in a heartbeat and probably killed someone.  The swings rise up to about 400 ft and they start whipping at a ridiculously fast rate.  I was so paralyzed with fear that I couldn't look up or down.  Did I mention I was afraid of heights?  Sometimes you just have to do things regardless if you are scared. It was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life.  One woman actually took a video of herself on the swings (which they explicitly say not to do) and her experience was pretty much like ours.  At one point, she is screaming, "This is terrible" but laughing the entire time.  Our ride was at 10pm so it was pitch black and the lights were beautiful.  If only I had the guts to look down...

We finished off our first night with a big beer in the Bier Garden.  Guys were tapping their Jaegermeister mini bottles and shouting at each other in German.  The entire night was raucous and rowdy.  Jon took a shot before we left just so they could do their glass tapping and yell at him.  What a night!

Bier garden

The next day we slept until 7:02am which is a new record for us since Calvin was born.  And yes, I know how pathetic that sounds but believe me, we call that "sleeping in."  We headed in the general direction of the heart of Vienna and just let our curiosities determine what streets to walk down.  I did absolutely no homework so every time Jon asked me about the name of each impressive building we saw, I just shrugged my shoulders and looked in the guide book. I'm not even sure if these captions are correct! Hah!

In front of the royal palace

This baby cupid butt made me miss Calvin a little bit

We meandered through the city and just wandered from one beautiful street to the next.  I thought people were exaggerating when they said that Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  They weren't.

St. Stephansdom

Hofburg Imperial Palace

Outdoor market

Our own little wine tasting

Wine in the sun. What could be better?

Beer, wine or wierner schnitzel? All of the above!

How to gain 4 lbs on vacation

How to gain 10 lbs on vacation

Post dinner beer garden

Weiner schnitzel!

Snappy sausage and pommes frites

Lunch beer? Yes please!

The wait staff are very well dressed at this cafe

Requisite Gustav Klimt art is displayed everywhere

Beautiful coffee setting at Cafe Sperl

Guinness Book of World Record holder street performer

Center square

We'd go back in a heartbeat!

Fashion Flubs in Trendy Stockholm

Being out of touch in the fashion world is nothing new to me.  I have my solid colored shirts, jeans and I'm good to go.  I've been living in the same walking/hiking shoes/boots for the past 10 years or so (much to the horror of my fashion conscious friends).  I will constantly opt for comfort over fashion, so I was hesitant to comment AT ALL on fashion in Stockholm which is notoriously unique in its stylings.

Personally, I find some of the fashion here to be absolutely hideous and trashy.  Jon thinks that "trashy" might be overstating it a little but I think that's because he enjoys watching these young Swedish women prance around in short shorts.  I can't blame him really either.

A few things to note -- the older people here (i.e., senior citizens) really know how to dress snappy.  Their clothes are always clean and pressed and have that old timey feel to them.  Kind of like when women used to get dressed up to go to the bank back in the 1950s -- except they still do that here.  It's like we never left the 50's -- well, for them anyway.

Ok, onto general fashion trends...

Stripes/Nautical 

This makes sense because we are surrounded by water.  People wear boat shoes around but most people opt for bare feet on their boats.  These are my kind of people! I can get behind the striped look. It's pretty cute.  Also, most women here range from size 0-4 so they can get away with stripes every day.

80's attack

I was just a newbie when the 80's fashion was in full swing, but I distinctly remember bright neon clothing, Molly Ringwald flowered hats and blousy shirts and high-waisted pants.  Not only have Stockholmites decided that the 80's should be relived but they have apparently brought back only the most hideous styles.  I saw a woman wearing a neon blue windbreaker today...not kidding.  Just when you thought it was safe to go outside, you run across a pair of stirrup pants! Shriek!

Booty shorts with black hose

If you are anyone besides a professional MODEL, you CANNOT pull this off.  Some of the teenagers at the high school across from our apartment have decided that ripping giant streaks in their black panty hose makes them look rebellious.  Instead, they look quite trashy.

Visible underwear

I thought the point of undergarments was to hide them beneath your clothing. Instead, bras are a new accessory and feature prominently through your very-thin-I-can-see-your-bra shirt.  Clearly, this is a summer-only type style here in Stockholm and I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I'm leaning towards trashy but depending on the outfit, it can come out looking quite cute.

Sweatpants

I'm not sure who told these ladies that sweatpants were acceptable to wear anywhere except a college campus at 8am, but they should be informed immediately! I'm all for comfort but there is a limit people!

Hammer time pants

It's Hammer-Time! This is a fashion-don't if I ever saw one.  Nobody's crotch should ever become a walking hazard.

Mom Jeans (high waisted AND tapered)

OK, ok, Stockholm has probably the highest density of moms per capita, so you would think that they could get a free pass on this one.  But NO! I've seen very very young non-moms sporting the mom jean look causing my jaw to gape open in amazement.  You mean you are wearing these intentionally and not by some oversight because you were distracted while raising your family for the past 2 decades???!?!? What other excuse is there?  No 17 year old young lady should be wearing mom jeans at the beach! For heaven's sake! Have some sense of decency!  And mom-jean shorts...well, just forget about it!


So, that's it for now. I'm sure there will be more fashion atrocities that I find humorous in the near future.  Walking around Stockholm is interesting (to say the least) and the people watching is entertaining for hours.  Who needs to read books or listen to music when you can watch the most interesting fashion choices stroll by, smoke cigarettes and push baby strollers.