Birthday, Boys, and (lack of) Turkey

Astrid representing in her Ohio State sweatshirt!

Making lussebuns (pronounced lucy buns) with Lina and Astrid

First, I must apologize for not writing sooner. So sorry, I honestly don't know where the time has gone. I know many of you have asked that I write more often, so from now on I will make it a goal to write at least once a week. And thank you for the comments!! LeeAndra, I love the thought of you filling the snack jar in my honor, and thank you for the birthday wishes - you're so sweet! I definitely miss the snacks in the KC office, they have a serious lack of snacks here (other than the birthday treats that people bring in which are usually gone in an hour or so). Carol - of course I'm kind of your daughter too, I've always considered your parents like my third set of grandparents! I'm glad you're enjoying the blog, I really do like writing it, regardless of what my inconsistency of writing may represent...

Right, so some clarification - apparently "strong chat" is not a commonly used phrase in England, only among Dasha and her friends. But we say it all the time and it's spreading... Some other new phrases/words that I've learned in the past month:

Naff = lame, but only applicable to nouns (I think? Still not quite sure on how to use it so I just say lame)

On the pull = on the prowl. Like when you're out, looking for a hook up.

Camp = flaming gay. Not necessarily gay though, just a descriptive of a very effeminate guy.

Thank you to everyone for sending me birthday wishes by email and facebook and other medium. It was very thoughtful of all of you and meant so much to me! For my birthday, I dragged my friends to a sports bar that played American sports to watch the Ohio State-Michigan game, which was awesome b/c there were loads of Buckeye fans there, and also some Michigan fans for me to gloat to when we killed them! We then returned to the flat to play drinking games and the original intention was to go out to a club but I never actually made it out after so much consumption...but everyone went without me. Heard it was a good time. Also, the afternoon of my birthday, Andrea's dad was in town from Italy and he made us an Italian feast for lunch - pesto and tomato sauces from scratch, prosciutto and parmesan salad, and red wine. It was so delicious and I felt so spoiled!

My grandma got me tickets to Coldplay for my birthday - I'm so excited!! I felt like Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when he opens the golden ticket when I opened the envelope with the tickets. So I'm going this Sunday with Dasha - Coldplay in London, I've died and gone to heaven!

The weekend after my birthday I took off work on Friday and went to Stockholm to visit my very good friend Lina and her boyfriend Mattias and their baby girl Astrid. Astrid was born last Christmas Eve so this was my first time meeting her. She was so adorable - it was so much fun playing auntie all weekend! She's very active - always on the go and checking something else out. She's literally on the verge of walking, she'll stand and you can see it in her eyes that she's thinking hard about the walking bit, but just hasn't quite done it yet. Her name day (kind of like a mini birthday) was on Thursday, so I brought her some gifts - two from my parents direct from the States (they know Lina as well) being an Ohio State sweatshirt and her first English book, Good Night Moon, and I got a Paddington Bear for something from London. On Friday we went to Astrid's daycare and sang songs and played with the rest of the kids. It was a little different than a regular daycare - the parents actually stay with the kids here, it's like a massive play date. It was very fun though, although I didn't know most of the Swedish songs. They did sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and The Itsy Bitsy Spider, which I sang along with in English. Saturday Lina and I went shopping, and went to this boutique that sells clothes by up-and-coming Swedish designers, so everything is handmade and one of a kind. I bought this incredible blue-ish faux python clutch, I'm so obsessed with it! Saturday night we visited Lina's mom's side of the family for their Christmas get together, which was fun and it was so good to see Lina's mom. At home we made lussebuns, a very Swedish traditional Christmas treat, and then I taught Lina, Mattias, and their friend Andreas to play the card game Stop. They loved it - they were addicted within two rounds! I had such a good time, I love Stockholm so much every time that I go, it occurs to me each time that the Swedes have so many things right. Like the subway - it's so much cleaner than the London or NYC subway, and the trains are so smooooth - you literally don't even have to hold on when they start and stop. If you weren't hanging onto anything on the London tube you would most certainly crash into someone else or go flying to the back of the car.

Speaking of London transportation, I was riding the bus to work the other day and saw this message written on the glass wall of one of the bus stops that we passed:

"I wouldn't have time to write this if my bus wasn't late.

As usual.

The London transport bosses are incompetent jackasses. We must not tolerate it any longer."

Hilarious! I laughed b/c I had just spent twenty minutes waiting for my bus that is supposed to come every 7-12 minutes. I love not having a car but it does suck being subject to the inconsistencies of public transportation. By the way, my car still hasn't sold, so if anyone fancies a 1999 Toyota 4Runner, I've got one - it's the best car ever, and it's really cheap now!

Thanksgiving was the Thursday before I went to Sweden, and it was quite depressing waking up and going to work like it was any other day. I did have a "Thanksgiving" lunch with a guy I've been seeing, which consisted of a goat cheese appetizer, bangers (i.e. sausages) and mash, and a chocolate orange dessert. The bangers and mash was the closest thing to Thanksgiving style dinner that I could find on the menu, but I did leave feeling like I needed to be rolled out, so the desired effect was achieved. I think I've mentioned before the lack of good turkey in this country - I'd never realized it was such an American staple. My mom told me that they almost made the turkey our national bird. Can you imagine?! Good work forefathers on choosing the bald eagle. Much more ferocious.

About the guy I've been seeing. I have to be sneaky about this, b/c we work together and it's a bit of a secret (well, not a bit, it is definitely a secret), and we're having fun keeping it that way. It's like a contest to see how long we can keep anyone from knowing, or I guess it may just go to shit and then know one would know the difference. We meet at secret locations outside of the office to go out - very stealth-mode and so fun! :) I don't think I've mentioned it before, but I'm fairly certain that my blog is monitored by at least the GTUK marketing and PR people, and perhaps the US as well. On my second entry (about my first day at GTUK) I actually spelled out the name of the firm, and apparently that triggers some notifications to be sent to these people. So on my second day here I had a little slap on the wrist for writing about drinking at lunch. I had to alter what I had written a little - it was a very "big brother is watching" moment. Thus the ambiguity in the following sentences. Anyway, this guy is very sweet and we've been having loads of fun - he's definitely seen the extent to which I can be a lush after my birthday and still likes me. He's English, but doesn't wear skinny pants and pointy shoes. My fear of this look on guys has so far only manifested itself on continental Europeans that I've met/seen. He's quite tall, which is nice when I kiss him, and he's full of hilarious one-liners that kill me, although sometimes they're lost on me b/c he'll reference some English thing that I have no clue about. It's fun - I'm learning culture while dating. And he's ruthless about making fun of Americans, but in a harmless way - constantly mimicking my accent and making jokes about hot dogs. It's quite funny actually, the things he comes up with. He asked if my middle name was Britney. It's been a fun few weeks, to say the least.

Right, it's quite late so I'm off. Promise to write again within a week. Love you, miss you all, and I'll see most of you in a week and a half or so!! Can't wait to come home for Christmas!

xoxo,

Heather