Last Day in Doha :(

Saturday was our last day, and Molly took us on a tour of downtown Doha and to the souks in the morning to get some shopping done. Downtown Doha is much bigger than I had expected it to be. There is a lot of construction here as well, like Dubai. Here is a view of the Doha skyline:

We had a lot of fun popping in and out of the little stalls in the souks where we bought all sorts of gifts and knick-knacks:

After getting some shopping done, we went to this Iranian restaurant which was pretty much made for me. It was so sparkly!

It was cool to eat traditionally and sitting on the floor with no table, but it really really hurts yours knees and bum sitting like that after awhile, I’m not gonna lie.

Sadly after that, it was time to go... :( It was sad to say goodbye to Molly, but hopefully (hint, hint) the Griffins can visit Blake and I in Stockholm on their way back home to the States one of these times!

If you want to see all of my pics from Doha, click here.

We Survived the Middle East! Huzzah!

Just to let all y'all (I have been hanging out with Texans this week and picked up a few old habbits) know, Blake and I are back from our trip to Dubai and Doha. It. was. amazing!!! We will have tons of blog posts and pictures in the next couple of days-ish.

In the mean time, check out Blake's 100th post-extravaganza! Here is a preview that he made for me when he bought me some absolute just because it was shiny (yeah, he gets me):

Wandering around

One of the cool things about where I work is that they are pretty social and always have fun things planned, and so I was excited to hear that they were planning on going "vandering" (aka-hiking) a few Saturdays ago. I was game, so Blake and I met them at the train station early Saturday morning. We took the pendaltåg (sort of like a train) to some stop south of Stockholm, then hopped on a bus for about an hour. We thought we were pretty far away from the city, but later realized that we werent that far from our old apartment. It was a little gloomy and cold outside (November in Sweden... go figure), but not too bad once you started moving.



I didnt know what to expect, but they said they were going to walk about 15 kilometers (9 miles), and to bring lunch and fika. Well, we blew right through fika, but when they stopped for lunch, they really stopped for lunch. We had brought a sandwhich, some coffee, and some pringles, while everyone else had full spreads of salads, they started a fire, cooked hot dogs and sausages.. they werent messing around:





They had brought "hot dogs" for everyone, so we tried one, but it tasted all weird and livery. Gross. It even had Dennis the Menice on the package! What lies!



The one really funny thing is that this girl in my office, Klara, and I had matching green rain jackets. Everyone thought this was really funny, considering we bought them on different continents and all...



I found out that Blake easily blends in with his environment:



It wasnt very hilly, but we were pretty tired by the end of it. At the end of the trip when we were waiting for the pendaltåg back home, I finally saw a little bit of wildlife- a woodpeckar. (Although it was 3 pm and naturally almost dark, so it is hard to tell in the picture)

Let's Call It Off

Here is a fun little game. I wanted to write about the election, but decided to avoid political subjects to avoid gloating (which I am bound to do), so instead of saying something that will offend at least 39.724% of my faithful readers, I am instead going to do a survey with my ipod.

The Rules:
1. Put your iTunes/ music player on Shuffle

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. You must write that song name down no matter what.

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
"Brandy Alexander” – Feist

I dont think people ask me that on a normal basis, but if they do I have a kicky little response now.

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
"I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" - Colin Hay

Aww.. thats cute. Y'all will never get over me! How sweet of you!

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
"Breaking It Up” – Lykke Li

Umm.. that's awkward for Blake. No comment?

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
”Point of Extinction” – Motion City Soundtrack

Wow. This one works. I am still not caught up with sleep after staying up until 6:30 am to watch the results the other night!

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
"Summer Skin” – Death Cab For Cutie

Maybe I should wear sunscreen more often...

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"To Give Love” – El Perro Del Mar

I concur. <3

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"TV”— Headlights

I am sure Lisa would agree for sure.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
“So Come Back, I am Waiting” – Okkervil River

Dad- this means you. Are you actually moving in with us in Sweden now that McCain lost?

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"In a Radio Song” -- Okkervil River

Actually this is pretty right on. I fantasize often about being a rockstar on the radio!

WHAT IS 2+2?
"The Stars of Track and Field” – Belle & Sebastian

Sure.. why not? At least it isnt 25.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"You and I Both” – Jason Mraz

It is like we have 2 brains and 1 body!

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"The Jessica Numbers"– The New Pornographers

Skip this one... they were bound to not all make sense.

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
”Ton Plat Favori”— Malajube

Maybe it is... I just dont speak french!

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"The Boy Done Wrong Again” – Belle & Sebastian

A boy? Hmm.. not likely. Doing wrong again? Yeah.. probably.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"The House Wins” – Ok Go

I think I won too... awww.. adorable... I know!

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"Wreck of the Day” -- Anna Nalick

Wow. That hurts. I'm not that bad, right? Right?!!!! I mean, I cant take back my vote now!

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"On Your Wings” -- Iron & Wine

Whoa, all this talk of weddings is freaking me out. Let's slow down here. Sheesh.

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Publish My Love” – Rogue Wave

Well, my motto is apparently to give love, so you might as well write about it to remember me forever. FOREVER! (Insert evil laugh here)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Austraila” – The Shins

I am very interested in going to Austraila! How did they know?

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"The Boy's Gone” – Jason Mraz

I got nothing...

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"Love and Some Versus” – Iron & Wine

Awww.. seriously, I am all about the love people!

WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
"Let's Call It Off” – Peter Bjorn and John

Awesomely appropriate for so many reasons! (Peter, Bjorn and John are from Stockholm!)

Anyways... give it a try and either send me an email with all your results, or just if you get some funny ones and want to share them as a response to this post!

Shiny New Apartment!!!!

So, if you have heard me talk about our old apartment at all, you know I didnt exactly hold a special place for it in my heart. The new place though, ohh.. swoon.. our new place. It is exactly where we wanted to live, in the heart of everything. No more hour long train rides into work, no more hearing our neighbors argue at weird hours of the day, no more just crappy, crappy apartment.

Here is a view of the new, super cute place:




Oh, did I mention that our faucet lights up blue and red?

Cool loft:

Alla Helgons Dag

As I mentioned in my previous post, Halloween is not widely celebrated in Sweden, and I am pretty sure it is because they already have a pretty huge holiday, Alla Helgons Dag, which is All Saints Day, on November 1st. A helpful co-worker of mine told me that we should go to Skogkyrkagården (a large cemetary) as the sun sets to see what it was really all about. So we set out on the short metro ride and noticed that we were not the only people with this same idea. I have never seen so many people and hot dog vendors outside of a cemetary... it was crazy. (Also, I think a lady was yelling at me in Swedish for putting my feet up on the seat on the train, but she was talking really fast, and Blake and I just smiled and nodded, so anways...) By the time we got there it was dark and there were just thousands upon thousands of candles along the paths and at graves:



The holiday is used to celebrate all the saints in the Catholic tradition, but Lutharens use it as a day to remember the dead. It was really quite amazing, it is hard to describe. So here are a few more pictures, and I added part of an article about the event that does a much better job than I ever will of describing the day.





"For many, Friday is a half day and on Saturday morning the main newspapers are not printed. As dusk falls on Saturday, All Saints Day, Swedes stream towards the country's graveyards armed with candles, matches, wreaths and flowers for the graves of their loved ones.The beauty of the candlelight blended with a soothing melancholy creates an emotionally-charged atmosphere. Small rural churchyards are visible across fields, dotted with flecks of golden light, while in towns and cities people murmur hushed greetings to those visiting neighbouring graves.

Probably the most spectacular place to witness the festival is the massive cemetery of Skogskyrkogården in the south of Stockholm. Chatty crowds drift from the train station, past hot dog vendors and candle stalls, as if to a football match. But as they enter the cemetery they are greeted not with the roar of a stadium but with a silence almost as overwhelming. Thousands upon thousands of marshal lights line the winding road into the churchyard, the glare becoming more and more intense until at the top of the hill in the centre there is barely space to walk between the rows of candles.

It is an awe-inspiring sight, but here and there real mourners, perhaps remembering a loved one for the first time, are a reminder of the day's meaning."

A Very Swedish Halloween

As most of you know, I happen to love Halloween, so I was intrigued to hear that they sort of celebrate Halloween. How do you sort of celebrate something, one might ask? Well, turns out the answer is to not actually celebrate it at all. I guess they didnt start celebrating at all until about 10 years ago, and it started to get popular and then just sort of fizzled out. At toy stores they sell a few costumes and decorations, and I noticed bakeries selling cakes shaped like pumpkins that were undoubtably made out of marzipan (gross!), but most people at my work forgot it was even halloween. My boss said that he took his kids out trick or treating (known as, "Bus eller Godis" in swedish) on Wednesday evening (the 29th). And a few people said they were going to a party in a week or so. So it seems to me that they miss the point that Halloween is supposed to be celebrated, well, on Halloween. Especially since it convienently fell on a Friday this year! Oh, Swedes!

I couldnt not celebrate Halloween, so we decided to have a few people over to carve pumpkins and drink hot apple cider. In total we had 7 Swedes, 3 Americans (including us), 1 German, and 1 Italian. I dressed up as a cat, because it happened to be the easiest costume I could think of. All I had to do was draw ears and tape them to a headband, and then paint some whiskers on. Easy-peasy. Blake bought some silly giant rubber ears that he wore for about 2 minutes, and we didnt even get a picture of them. I made some pumpkin themed recipes and we were ready to par-tay. Here are some of our guests, Ylva and Pär enjoying the fondue (notice it was served in a pumpkin... pretty awesome):



We only bought 4 pumpkins to carve, so the crowd sort of split up to share in them. We taught them the basics of cutting open the top and pulling out the innards, and them told them to carve whatever they wanted. They all seemed to get into it:







Karin and I made an Obama pumpkin (of course):



Ylva had some fun with nail polish and made a joker face:



Pär and Alina made a goal of trying to carve out the most pumpkin as possible in a cool random design, while Anna and the other Per with the help of a few others went with a goofy jack-o-lantern, complete with ears. I was pretty impressed with them all, especially for first timers:



Here is everyone (a few other people dressed up too, including a Swedish Chef!) and our creations: