Jet lag sucks.

On Wednesday morning we climbed the Empire State Building, marveling at the sights of New York from all points of the compass; enjoying the beautiful weather - the sun, the breeze, the presence of  a VERY famous person that nobody seemed to recognize and yet he traveled with an entourage of five (5!) security guards.

The kids were super excited that we were finally on our way to Sweden to see their grandparents and cousins; Amanda has finally realized that morfar (my dad) does in fact NOT live at the airport awaiting our arrival but that he simply comes to pick us up when needed - and it was needed this morning. We will be living out of suitcases for most likely three months and need to carry not only clothes for all occasions but also all paperwork that makes up a life: birth certificates, marriage certificate, insurance and bank papers, jewellery, the wii, laptops, ds games, stuffed animals, contact lenses....the list goes on and on. I still miss my shoes btw; if we're lucky I'll see them again at the end of September... A lot of luggage, a lot. And while the Newark - Arlanda flight is convenient and quick, it does not give a good nights' sleep. Hardly any rest at all actually. Luckily we did not have to haul our luggage on the bus to the car rental shop with two very tired children in tow and fight the morning commute. Thanks dad.

Seeing the sights in NYC and driving through summer Stockholm on our way to my parents house on the island of Färingsö could not be more different. Beautiful art deco architecture and brownstones gave way to fields and meadows, cows and horses, Volvo and Saab's, blond people EVERYWHERE! My parents live as mentioned on an island, a short walk away from lake Mälaren. To say that they have green fingers would be an understatement; plants grow everywhere. Lavender is planted around the house and the two green houses, there are flowers of every kind and style wherever there is a place to grow them, there are tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, melons and grapes, asparagus, raspberries, blackberries, herbs, currants -black and red, apples, plums, cherries, rhubarb - in the summer they are pretty self sufficient when it comes to fruits and vegetables and it is a pleasure and a joy to come here and cook and eat during the summer.
Our children are like most kids picky when it comes to food, especially greens, and they get most of their natural vitamin intake during the summer. Non processed, only fertilized by the compost and the occasional bag of horse and cow manure.

Summer in Sweden is magical but hard to understand if you are not born here. How can you go to bed when it is still as light as day? Marcus was so tired he was in tears and thought that when I said it was eight o'clock and bed time, it was eight o'clock in the morning and time for breakfast. To humor him I made him chocolate milk and a sandwich but he fell asleep even before the bread was ready. Jet lag sucks and the nine hour time difference between Phoenix and Stockholm is just cruel. When I couldn't keep standing midday I took a 2 1/2 hour nap; I'm pretty sure I'll be paying for that tonight. I'm just hoping the kids will sleep through and I'm not stuck playing Yahtzee or hearing the pling plong from the ds, or reading Dinner with Olivia - again.

“But mama”, she said with tears streaming down her face while cupping my face with her small hands, “choose Arizona, why didn’t you choose Arizona?” 

An emotional last day and night in Arizona gave way for a day of travelling and arriving to New York City. Wow. How I have missed a big city. The smells, the sound, the never ending action and commotion. Big eyed we strolled around experiencing the city and the myriad of people of any shape, color and age - how refreshing after Scottsdale! After dinner at an excellent Italian restaurant (family friendly according to the concierge; yet not a crayon in sight and, modestly priced according to the same guy and yet almost double of what we would have paid for in Arizona) with the "best pizza ever!" (according to the pizza expert young Mr. Persson) we fell into bed, exhausted.

This morning we woke up to Alicia Keys singing "New York" in stereo: from the TV as we watched GMA, and live through the hotel window as she was singing at Times Square only a block away. We strolled down to the same square and found the police all over the place trying to get a guy in a red shirt down from a lamp post, protesting from one thing or another. 

Coffee and croissants at Starbucks made our breakfast and we took the no. 1 train to Battery Park and the Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty ferry. It was hot and we had to queue but so very nice to experience the city from the sea and see her close up. We never bothered to wait in line to climb up but enjoyed the view of her and the surroundings from down below. 

Did I mention it was hot? But nice hot, humid hot, hot that you can actually enjoy even when you are not in the pool. Coming back, nicely sun burnt we had some more New York pizza for lunch and made our way to the 9/11 site. Eerie. And so very sad.

We were living in Tokyo in September, 10 years ago. We were ready to go to bed but wanted to check CNN before just to see if anything major had happened and boy had it. We watched  in horror as the second plane flew into the South Tower and mayhem broke out, tears streaming down my face. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much that night. Everybody knew someone who had been there or knew of someone who knew someone..... As much the attacks destroyed it didn't only bring America together, it brought the world together creating an awareness about as Amanda said when I tried to explain it to her: "The bad guys".

My choir in Phoenix, Carolyn Eynon Singers (www.carolyneynonsingers.com, have been invited to sing at the memorial service in NYC this fall; I so wish I could join them if they decide to go. I already left my heart in San Fransisco and now a piece of my heart is in New York as well..

Our day continued...

We made our way to the subway and back uptown to Rockefeller Center were we met with Ulf's former colleague Derek and his lovely wife Helen for drinks. How very civilized to sit down at a nice place and having absolutely perfectly behaved kids!

It could have been the promise of checking out the Lego store across the street afterwards...

Strolling back to the hotel we passed the only Nintendo store in America....need I say that we had to make a stop there as well. Marcus was in heaven and impressed the store clerk with his swift fingers and ability (at the mere age of eight) to play, to just get it! 

An hour or so later, a quick shower at the hotel and a nice dinner followed with steak and seafood and then it was time, we couldn't avoid it, we had promised and there was no turning back: We went to Toys R' Us. Extremely happy kids with amused parents (we had wine with dinner after all); we went on the ferris wheel (inside the store!) and all!

Nobody had trouble sleeping - wonder why?

But what if..

Our cat is an acquired taste. He looks funny, acts weird and is in general quirky.

We had decided not to have a pet; we worked a lot, traveled often for long periods of time and we wanted our freedom. I also had two cats in Sweden, rooming with my parents.

We lived in Singapore at the time, on a mountain (more of a hill really) lush with jungle plants. Snakes were abundant and whenever a pet disappeared, they were most probably a meal for one of the sliders or pythons. Alongside the reptiles there were cats aplenty, a steady supply of protein for the snakes, natures way of making sure everyone is fed, and a nice feature for all tourists and locals enjoying the outdoors or taking the cable car to Sentosa. Often throughout Singapore you would see abandoned kittens, more often than not scabby and sad creatures and it would break my heart seeing them. I had SPCA on speed dial and would call Ulf in tears whenever I had to leave one behind.

One morning I was out jogging and I heard a soft meowing from the side of the road. There sits this teeny, tiny creature begging for help, all alone in the world. He was clean and had no signs of disease or scabs and I just could not resist. I was thinking we could put signs up to see if there was anyone willing to take him in.
Ulf had still not left for work and sighed and said: "But Sara, we said we weren't having a cat." I told him of my plan to find him a family but he surprised me and said: "But Sara, what if they can't take care of him as well as we could?"
It was a done deal then. I took him to the vet who estimated that he was about three weeks old, clearly something was wrong with him, he had a wobbly walk and shook his head from side to side, he was starving and devoured a can of cat food on the spot and basically - he didn't give him much hope and wondered why on earth were we taking him in.
How could we not? He moved in with us, slept in a shoe box between us (so we wouldn't roll over and crush him in our sleep), he used the top of the box as his litter box and we toilet trained him to perfection; to this day he has never had any accidents, not even on long flights. He drives us crazy with his meowing, no more soft and beggingly, now loud and demanding. He cries like a baby whenever he wants something. He bites my feet and ankles; demanding the same attention I used to give him before the kids arrived. He sleeps in our bed, trying to reclaim the spot between me and Ulf but is being pushed away as soon as Amanda comes wondering in the middle of the night.

He once got lost in the gutter between our balcony and the neighbors', he has been in a fight with a bob cat, he has survived two babies and four intercontinental moves and should have been given air miles on each trip. He has tunnel vision, selective hearing- all caused by a bacteria in the brain (probably why his mom left him in the first place), sits like a human and loves us unconditionally. As we do him.

A piece of crap..

Packing day no. 1 over and so am I. Over and done with the whole business of organizing, planning, sorting out, throwing away, saying good bye..

Packing up is emotional and overwhelming, memories of all our travels get wrapped up and put away, to be seen next in two months or most likely more. While we have some sad pieces of furniture we also have great art and a lot of fabulous china and glassware collected over the years.
As mentioned, the last time we lived in China we rented furnished. We had all we needed but it was very basic and it was impossible not to go out and look at more, once you got the hang of it. Shopping was a sport, and the participation fee was very, very low.
Close to our house there was an old hangar, right in the middle of the city, a hangar filled with "antiques". Some of it old, I'm sure, but a lot made to look old because that was what everyone was looking for. As much I wanted my pieces to be "real" and genuine, I basically went for what I liked, like with wine, sort of.

On of my first great finds was a buddha statue, a lady buddha. She's been with us now for 14 years or so, travelled the world, looking a bit worse for wear. She has a big crack in the front and I worry that she will split apart one day, the dry weather of first Annecy and now Phoenix has not done her any favors.

Once a bought a tall cabinet which is by all means pretty but really a piece of crap, the doors are loose and won't close properly. The "antique' paintwork is missing inside and on some edges and before I started to store incense inside of one of the drawers, it really didn't smell that great.

I had it delivered to our apartment, it was too tall to take in a taxi, and the whole working squad stopped to stare and ask questions when it arrived. "How much did you pay?", "How old did they say it was?", What are you keeping in it?" - it went on and on. I couldn't figure out then if they thought I was stupid for buying something that was made to look old but clearly wasn't or if they genuinely like it because it was new.

I can't wait to see how China has changed. Will there still be street stalls for noodles and dumplings? Will there still be special bike lanes? Will people stop and take your picture while at Tiananmen square only because you are not Chinese? Can I still find my China in the middle of all new technology and noveau riche-ness that I've heard is so prominent?

The princess and the pad

Packing, sorting, organizing; what to keep, what to throw away? In an attempt to excite the kids about China we look at everything around us to see where it is made. Most of the time the things we are looking at are of course Made in China. Just like Marcus, I might add, something he doesn't find too strange at all. Perhaps because he still doesn't know what it means exactly....let's see how long we can keep it that way...
At the moment the kids are more excited about going to New York City for a few days ("Mamma, there's a huge toy store there!") and to go to Sweden to see family and friends.

I started thinking that maybe it is time to buy a new mattress for our bed; it has travelled far and been used in many countries after all. In China, back in the day, we rented our apartment furnished - in theory. The reality was that the apartment was brand new and had not yet been furnished and I, lucky me, was given an allowance to furnish it. The budget was as limited as the selection of furniture stores. "Real" stores didn't really exist, instead I was given, by our nice realtor Joanna (now a mogul in the world of real estate in China), a list of warehouses where I would find furniture. I gave the list to a taxi driver that I hired for the day (the list was all in Chinese characters of course) and he took me to one place after another. In these gigantic buildings in the middle of nowhere in this humongous city, there were stalls, stalls where people sold their goods. A chair here, a table here, a chest of drawers over there and beds - too short for a normal sized Swede and thus had to be custom made, here and there. With the help of a friend I managed to make my selection and we could finally move in - only to find that the mattress on our custom made, extra long, bed was made out of cement. It was so hard it was impossible to sleep comfortably. Go figure, since in the old days, the Chinese used porcelain pillows!
I set out to find a mattress pad of some sort to make it softer, more sleep able. At a small store on Dongzhimenwai I found a small mom and pop store where they sold everything under the sun and sure, they could make me a mattress, even as big as our bed! After a sleepless week or so, I went to pick it up. It was thick, it was soft and I was sure we would sleep like a prince and princess!
One month later, our mattress was as thick as a bedspread and no fluffing it helped. I think we went through four or five of those mattress pads during our stay. Luckily we were young and didn't sleep much those days anyway and hopefully, we helped the store make a  few RMB...enough to send their children to school for life or so...

Stinky feet

At last nights' party I was asked how we will live in China; what our new house or apartment will be like because surely it won't be like here in America?! Well, my contact in Beijing, Stacey - another world traveler originally from here (thanks Lisa!) said that they had to move all the way to China to move back to America. I.e. in China they finally got a house and standard of living similar to what they would have had if they had stayed in Arizona.
I can't tell for sure until we get there, of course, but judging by realtors' information and different housing compounds' websites; we won't have to downgrade. There are big villas with two or three car garages, communal areas with numerous playgrounds, swimming pools, ice skating rinks (!), supermarkets, spas, nail salons, book stores, pharmacies - western and traditional, and of course; Starbucks!

15 years ago, after three months at the Gloria Plaza Hotel, we moved into one of the first apartment complexes for foreigner who were not diplomats. After three months in a hotel room and also, coming from Stockholm where we had both lived in tiny studio apartments, we thought we would drown in all the space. Two bedrooms, big living/dining area, tiny kitchen and even a balcony. It looked so good on the surface and the location was fantastic, walking distance from Sanlitun and easy to get to by bike both to work for Ulf and school for me. We had a combined washer/dryer; the worst invention ever, a small counter dishwasher, air conditioning and a chance that for the very first time in a long time, use all these appliances and also cook a meal in our own home. And we did, we cooked a meal, we did laundry, we did the dishes and as it got a bit warm, we turned on the air conditioning and BAM! All the lights went out. We located the fuse box but had no clue what to do about the problem and was very reluctant to put our fingers in there, among all the wires with instructions in Chinese.
Our friends Jennifer and Joe lived in the same complex, one building over, and since Joe spoke Chinese, we called him to ask for help calling the management office and the maintenance people.
It took a little while before they arrived; two or three guys, I can't really remember, drunk as skunks. It was a slow night, they had been playing cards, sipping the local fire water and arrived to our place happy, screwdriver in hand. After a little tour of our home, to check out how big noses live I'm sure since the fuse box was located right inside the front door, they scratched their heads, asked for a chair, took their shoes off (BIG mistake, HUGE! The smell lingered in the apartment for hours afterwards...), stepped up on the chair, opened  the fuse box and WHAM! smashed the screwdriver into it. We were stunned, expecting the guy to come flying off the chair, hair standing up and glowing from within but no, surprisingly that did it! Suddenly it all worked again!
Happily they went back to their card game and we never used more than one appliance at a time during the year and a half we lived there.

Partay!!!

When Ulf left Sweden for his first six-month assignment in Singapore, his departure coincided with his 30th birthday; thus a big party was in order. We borrowed the communal party room on the ground floor of Uncle Otto's apartment building, right smack in the middle of Stockholm. Family and friends were invited, many whom I got to meet for the very first time. In the tiny kitchen of Ulf's studio apartment we made a vicious Thai curry and rolled enough Indian kofta for a small army. Huge pitchers of Singapore Sling were made and we even got to borrow a life-sized paper model of a Singapore Airlines hostess to welcome people at the door. The party was a huge success, of course, and when Uncle Otto in his striped old man's pj's came back to announce that we unfortunately had to move the party elsewhere, we went to Pelle's apartment to continue. We made a 9.79 second break to watch Ben Johnson win the 100m finale of the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta and afterwards devoured spaghetti with garlic and ketchup and finally left after Pelle himself fell asleep in the bushes.
When walking through the beautiful night in summer Stockholm together with a real African prince and his girlfriend we snatched bread from a bakery a finally took a taxi home.

When we left Beijing for Singapore, tequila was a main feature and we ended up dancing on the tables in a bar in Sanlitun. I can't remember much of the going away party in Singapore, ahem...that can only mean that that was one hell of a party.
When we left Japan, we spent our last night in a hotel in Tokyo, going to a baseball game and having dinner at Nobu, where we met Nobu himself - again!
Leaving Hong Kong for France, was a much more quiet affair. We had a quiet soiree in our apartment with the baby sleeping and wonderful Meng, our helper, keeping an eye on him while we ate cheese and drank wine in honor of our new home country.
When leaving Annecy, France we celebrated our new home country the US of A with chicken wings, chips and salsa and pitchers of margarita on our Americana decorated patio, complete with flags, cacti and cowboy hats for the whole family.

As Ulf is rolling meatballs and I've finished slicing up the gravlax, we are hoping that tonight's party will be epic and that someone will finally end up in the pool by the end of the night. It is bittersweet saying goodbye; easier to leave than be left behind. We are embarking on a new adventure, knowing that Arizona will always be home a little bit and that we can always come back to visit and have somewhere to stay. But, after tonight's party...perhaps we should avoid this particular neighborhood....

In vino veritas, in beer the truth...?

Big shopping and organizing day ahead. So far 22 yes's (meaning maybe 40?) and 53 who has still not answered. Not that I think it will be necessary; but does BevMo except returns?
Also need to get the car valuated, figure out what I can make for the party from what we have in the pantry, make gravlax, borrow a table, go to the gym, do laundry and hopefully, maybe squeeze in an hour by the pool and entertain the kids.

I can't sleep, I desperately need a haircut, I have some strange reaction to the eye mask that I've been wearing to get some decent sleep (not working obviously) leaving me with red, puffy eyes. I'm a beaut right now!

And it's hot, hot, hot in AZ again. Air conditioning is up and running at all hours, overriding the 90F (!) that the owners have had it set on during the day and 86F(!!!) during the night. Are they crazy?! I like the heat but there are limits.

I am not so stressed out by the move, yet. Give me a few days and I'm sure that will happen. Thank goodness we are moving during the summer = less things to carry, and that we have professional (let's just hope!) movers working for us meaning that not only can I not pack anything byself - I am not ALLOWED to! Yay.

The last time we moved to Beijing I arrived with a (one) suitcase, another arriving a week later in cargo which was way cheaper than paying overweight back in the day. Now we have a 40 foot container, two children and a crazy cat that needs to be moved. Hopefully it will go smoother than when we went to pick up the suitcase sent as cargo at the Beijing International Airport - during Chinese New Year. The time of the year when pretty much the country stops. We were sent down the conveyor belt where the bags normally comes up, in the underbelly of the airport. And having failed to find the precious bag there (filled mostly with Ulf's CD's) we were sent to another building (all of this without any documentation bar our passports - this was pre-9/11 obviously) where we rummaged through left behind and lost luggage.
We did finally get the bag, a working day or so later, and could add yet another unbelievable anecdote to our China files.

Adios...

Saying good bye is exhausting. Emotionally, of course, but also physically. We are running between appointments, trying to make all logistics make sense and also scheduling dinners, lunches and quick coffees all the while organizing a big going away party for Saturday. New invitees are added on the hour, every hour; trying to leave no-one behind. So many people to see and also so many things to do!
How to squeeze four years of living here into the few days left? Especially during summer when so many people are away anyway.

This is nothing new, of course. We have since we moved together in China almost 15 years ago lived in six countries and should be used to this. But how do you get used to saying good bye to everything that is familiar, that you know will make your children sad; children who cannot fathom the prospect of "keeping a few friends in each and every country"? They only know what is in front of them and no matter how much we tell them how great it will be in China, they are still sad to leave their friends, their school and all that is familiar to them.

"Can we move to Jamaica instead?", Amanda asked me this morning. Jamaica that we visited over Thanksgiving and fell in love with. Of course that seems easier to her six year old self than China that she knows nothing of.

I know that I will "keep a few". A few people from our life here will be in my life forever but time will tell who these will be...Not my choice, not their choice - it's just the way it will be, how it will happen. Staying in touch is hard, keeping a relationship while living on different continents is even harder. Life goes on and circumstances change, it's just the way it is.

Busy, busy, busy!

So many things to do and not enough time to enjoy the wonders of Arizona! I wish I could have a week of holiday; hang out with friends, swim in the pool, get a tan instead of lining up appointments and stressing out about all the things that need to get done.

We've been very happy living here. The weather is amazing, I even love the heat, we've met some amazing people that I know will be in our lives forever. The kids have grown from babies/toddlers to big kids, big American kids. The both proclaimed the other day that they couldn't LIVE without Pizza Hut and McDonalds. A quick google search later and they were happy; there is both in China AND the fact that the website was all in Chinese (duh) seemed to them pretty cool....

T - ...what exactly?

After many days, weeks even months of thinking we have finally made it official. We're moving back to China. Beijing to be more precise.
Ulf has resigned, there is no more hush hush and "please don't tell anyone", it's all out in the open and we are excited and we are truly looking forward to this adventure.

It feels a little bit surreal to move back to where it all started, where we moved in together after having known each other for less than one year, mostly a long distance relationship as well, in a hotel room at the Gloria Plaza hotel - or Kai Lai as it was called by locals.
I remember the day, February 1st 1997, vividly. I arrived in the morning, Ulf and the driver Mr. Xiao picked me up at the airport. It was cold, dry and grey; people on the streets all bundled up in old army coats and/or layers and layers of clothing. Our home for the next three months and the office were located in the very same hotel so Ulf was riding the elevator up and down, day and night. There were no such thing as work days, every hour on the day, weekend and weekday, was work day.

On my first night in Beijing there were other Swedes in town for business and we all went to for dinner. A live lobster was presented in a bucket and later enjoyed as sashimi - still moving, soup, salad - you name it. Only one of many delicious dishes which barely made it down my throat due to my inability to work the chopsticks.