Our week in Mariestad, Sweden - backblog (from 29 June, 2009)

Time is going by so quickly in Sweden. We’ve already been here over a week – we’ve visited my family up north and have come back to Skane – but I feel like we just got here. The weather has been amazing. We got a couple of days of rain, and for the rest, the sun is shining, it’s a comfortable 25 degrees, and there’s a nice breeze.

We left for Mariestad last Sunday, and got there late in the evening. Monday I called up my old friend Gilla who had a baby last fall and went to visit her in the afternoon. We also managed to make a round around town, bought some underwear for the boys (I had forgotten to pack August’s), and had ice cream by the fountain. In the afternoon we went to visit Gilla and her daughter, and then we spent the evening with my brother and his family; dinner on the terrace, play around the garden (tennis, tag, biking), and then a glass of wine, still in the sun, even though it was past 10:30 pm.

Tuesday we went swimming in the lake with some of my old friends and their children. It was fun to see them; that they haven’t changed much, but that time has gone by. Last time we were together like that, none of us had children. Now we had to keep track of six little ones while trying to catch up! In the evening we helped my older brother and his wife put their boat in the water and “park” it in the harbor, and afterwards we went for ice cream by the guest harbor, where lots of vacationing boat families were enjoying the warm summer evening sun.

Wednesday I dropped the boys off at my mom’s work and went to, first, have coffee with an old friend from school, and then pizza with another friend from when I was young. I also managed to get a bit of shopping done. In the late afternoon we went out with the boat. We brought snacks, the boys did some fishing and even swimming from the boat in the middle of the lake. It was probably no more than 15 degrees in the water, but they didn’t seem to care. They had good fun, and my brother and his wife had good fun watching them! William caught five small fish with his net by the harbor.

Thursday we went to visit my aunts and uncle, and then again spent the evening with my brother and his family; had dinner outside on the terrace, played in the garden (or at least my brother and the boys played) and enjoyed a glass of wine on the couch after all three boys had gone to bed.

Friday we went into town, ran around a few shops and then went swimming before spending yet another evening with my brother and his family, as well as my mother. My brother came home from work early, and the two of us shared a Swedish light beer on the terrace, calling it ‘after-work’. Light beer is a beer that only contains about 2% alcohol, hence qualifying it for sale in regular grocery stores.

On Saturday, my younger brother and his family came up to visit, and we all spent the day together – one big family get-together. The boys were so very excited to have such a large part of their Swedish family present, and I realized that this is something extraordinary to them. Growing up, I took our family gatherings for granted – aunts, uncles, siblings with their families, cousins, grandparents, etc. – I have a large, close family, and we often got together for any possible occasion. When we left in the evening to go back to Skane, we had barely pulled out of my brother’s driveway, when William sighed and said “I miss them already, mama. I wish we could live here.”

With another week left, I’m hoping to visit another friend who lives down here, get some shopping done, enjoy the nature and fresh air, the food and drinks available, and spend a lot of quality time with my mom and godfather.