Food Food and more Food

I have a lot to say about food today, hence my title.  We are finally settled in enough for us to start eating at home and cooking again.  Tonight was taco night, Steve's specialty.  He is always in charge of making the tacos in our house.  They are quite yummy!  It was so funny when the kids said that tacos taste better in Sweden.  The shells definitely tasted different.  I checked the labels, no hydrogenated oils!!!  I believe I read somewhere that Europe doesn't allow hydrogenated oils (trans fat) in their foods.  I love this place!!!
As I mentioned yesterday, my trip to the grocery store was long, but successful.  The store I like is in the train station.  Since I ride the train 6-10 times a day, it's quite convenient.    The produce here is very different from the produce back home.  For one, it's fresh and not sprayed with every pesticide under the sun.  The size of the fruit is much smaller, telling me it has not been modified in any way.  Check out the strawberries.

They are so small, and SO delicious.  I am addicted to them because they're really sweet!  The pears are also quite small, perfect size for the kids.  Smith loves pears!  Lactose free dairy is so popular here.  I guess Europeans have more lactose allergies than Americans.  I did hear that people with Italian decent have a higher chance of lactose allergy than others, that might explain my family's issues.  :)  Whatever the reason, I am thankful.  I was even able to have a glass of chocolate milk yesterday.  I haven't had chocolate milk since I was 5 years old.  I better watch out... the calories are still in.  The yogurt here has a more bitter taste than I'm used to.  With the sweet fruit and touch of granola, it's starting to grow on me.  I've heard that Swedes like sour (not spoiled) milk in their cereal.  I don't think my boys will ever go for that.
Speaking of my boys.... they are surprising me each day at lunch.  I had mentioned that the school provides a hot, catered lunch each day for the students.  All three of the boys LOVE the lunch.  Today they had sausage, potatoes, carrots, milk and salad.  It's awesome because they are not starving after school and begging me for junky carbs snacks.  The protein and fat in the food is holding them over until dinner time.  The fruit baskets at school are still a hit too.  All three ate bananas and apples throughout the day.
My final comment on the food for today....eggs.  I'm not sure why, but the eggs here have a different taste.  They are a bit creamier.  I like them, but the boys seem to always complain when I make them.  I haven't told them that I too taste a difference.  They aren't bad, just different.
After dropping the boys at school this morning, I came back for a run.  The weather once again was beautiful.  Sunny skies with a warm breeze and temps in mid 60s.  I decided to run near the water today.  My knee is really bothering me.  I'm not sure what I did to it so I thought the pretty scenery might distract me from the pain I'm in.  It worked for a while, and then the pain took over and I had to return to my "strength station" in the park.  Here are some pictures I took while running over the bridge.  Once again, the pictures don't do it justice.

I'm struggling again with the lack of friendliness here.  I like to wave and say hi to people when I pass them or if I'm sitting next to them on the train for example.  But, that is not practiced here.  Out of habit, I'll sometimes say hello, and in return I'll get nothing.  I also noticed that people don't chat with children or even smile at them.  Chase and I were coming home from school on the train today and he was in an exceptionally cute mood.  He was saying the sweetest things, smiling and carrying on conversation about his day.  I looked at the two ladies sitting next to us and they were looking at us with stone cold faces.  Usually the train is very quiet.... until we get on of course!  

My phone dilemma continues.  I still have my US number.  We bought a roaming plan for 30 days in hopes that my personal number would arrive by the end of this month, which would then allow me to get a new phone and a local number.  Since we all know that is going to take at least another four weeks AND I've already used up the minutes on my monthly plan,  I took a trip to Telenor to work out a new service plan.  Without going into detail, I bought prepaid minutes which will give me 30 days unlimited text and 600 talk minutes.  I pay, he puts the SIM card in... my phone is locked from AT&T.  So.... I am still without a phone until I get AT&t to unlock it.  Never a dull moment!!!!  

I'm realizing today that I'm not alone with all of these hiccups and bumps in the road.  There is a great network of moms that I'm getting to know.  Everyone is so helpful and very friendly.  A lot of my new friends are American, but there are quite a lot of women from other countries as well.  It has been so fun talking to them and hearing about everyone's journey and how we all ended up here in Stockholm.  There are many ways to get involved in the school and also stay busy with the various groups within this larger group.  For example, Friday mornings everyone meets for a walk around the city.  I'm looking forward to being a part of this so I can continue to meet new people and see new sites.  A few of us arrived in the same week, you can spot us a mile away, we are the moms with bags under our eyes and confusion on our faces... but we are here and making it work!  Next year at this time, we will have graduated to Swedish veterans.  

I forgot to take a picture of all three boys on the first day of school, so here's our 2nd day of school photo.  This was taken next to our building at 8:00 this morning.  The boys had a great second day, they are continuing to meet new friends, and seem to really love their teachers.  I hope I'm still writing these words in two months.  

Here are a few pictures of Chase on his cool playground at school.   This is where I drop him in the morning.  He plays until 8:30 when the teachers take him to his classroom to start the day.  

Chase seems to think our apartment is Sweden.  Today he was on the train asking when we were going back to Sweden.  The boys were trying to explain to him that Sweden is a country and we are in it everywhere we go. That conversation led them to talk about different countries they want to visit while we're in Europe.   At that moment I realized how this experience is going to expose my little three year old, seven year old and nine year old to things that many people will never experience in a lifetime....