A Tourist's Eye

For the past couple of days, Jeremy's mom and aunt came to stay with us. We tried to make their visit as authentically Swedish as possible, starting with a dinner of boiled potatoes, meatballs, and lingonberry jam.

For their one complete day with us, we crammed it full of Swedish things. We served heart-shaped waffles at breakfast, with jam and whipped cream on the side and a pot of strong coffee. After that, the six of us piled into one of the lab boats and cruised around the local archipelago. The sky was bright blue, the water calm. It was the warmest day we've had since we arrived in Sweden, just over 70 degrees F.  We plucked a moon jelly out of the ocean, passing it gently from hand to hand around the boat before returning it to the sea.

In the afternoon, we drove into town for a fika of coffee and pastries at one of our favorite local cafes. We cruised around the main drag, shopping for souvenirs and taking in the sights. We drove past the waterfront, busy with tourists eating afternoon ice cream cones, a forest of sailboats behind them at the docks. For dinner, we ate Sweden's Thursday night special: pea soup with fresh bread.

After dinner, we walked down to the dock and dangled our feet in the chilly water. Jeremy and the girls jumped in, swimming among the moon jellies and schools of tiny, silvery fish. Later, we sat outside on the top balcony of the white building, enjoying the postcard-perfect view and staying up too late with the sun that never seems to set.

Having visitors gives us the chance to better appreciate everything we love about Sweden. We experience things anew in sharing them with others.

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Being on sabbatical has its similarities to being on vacation. We are like tourists in that we're outsiders. We don't speak the language. We don't always know how things are done. We visit all the "points of interest" that the locals skip past.

Being here for an extended period of time is different, though. We do everyday stuff, like laundry, putting gas in the car, taking out the recycling. Sometimes we know things our local friends don't know, like where the new cafe in town is, because we are spending time wandering around exploring while the locals are busy working and living their lives.

I talked to a friend of mine recently who is traveling in Europe with her family, visiting four countries in quick succession. She's filling every minute of every day.

By contrast, we sometimes lay around and do nothing, go nowhere for an entire day. For entire DAYS. Because we're here for so long, we can afford to waste time. I can afford to spend my time writing about how I'm spending my time.

We're down to our last 6 weeks in Sweden. The list of things I still want to do is long. I don't know if everything will get done. I still want to go to the ABBA museum in Stockholm. I want to see the giant stuffed blue whale in Gothenburg. I want to see Malmö and Uppsala and a reindeer.

Guess I need to start acting more like a tourist and get busy.