From a Mother's Heart: It's Time to Amend our Constitution

It’s Time to Amend our Constitution

Rachel Stenback

Statue made from weapons, symbolizing nonviolence, in Cambodia

As the Christmas season beckons, only a week away, our country has been horribly reminded of the seriousness of our gun problem, as we all read horrifying accounts of innocent little children in Connecticut who were murdered, shot multiple times. As a parent, I can hardly even think about this incident without feeling sick; I desperately wish my own little daughter would never need to learn about such horrors. At soon-to-be three years old, she knows nothing of this evil in the world yet--guns. I wish I could protect her forever.

And so these are my credentials, why I am writing this: I am a mother, a parent; I will also be a teacher, and of course I am a concerned citizen. However, I am not a lawyer, nor am I a politician; perhaps that is why I am not afraid to share these thoughts, even though I know that many people would initially disagree.

I strongly feel that the only way to enable this country to evolve into a land where every man, woman, child, and visitor is safe is to amend our founding document, the Constitution. Why do I feel like the only one who is saying these words—“amend the Constitution”? Why are people so terrified of these words? It’s time to speak them. It needs to be said, because the time has come to amend the Constitution. I realize that my international experience has probably influenced my way of thinking (about 10 yrs in Sweden and 3 in China); but I am glad that it has. The fact of the matter is, I felt safer than anywhere else when I lived in China, much safer than in the US, and I think an international perspective is necessary in order to view the problem of gun violence objectively. (See articles, below).

Countless people cite their Constitutional right to own a gun based on this document, as if they believe it is set in stone. It is, however, a living document, one that has been amended several times throughout our country’s great history. Women now have the right to vote, for example, and slavery is now prohibited, thanks to changes throughout the years. When the Constitution was written in the late 1700s, and the 2^nd Amendment, the United States was a very different place than it is today. Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, writes: "The Second Amendment is, of course, very much part of the American fabric. But the intent of the founders was that the amendment protected the rights of citizens to bear arms in a militia for their collective self-defense. Today, we are not likely to need to organize local militias for our defense now we have something called the Pentagon." (See link to his excellent article, below).

 

Also, the guns to which the Constitution refers were much larger, simpler weapons; there was no police force for protection and the people wanted to ensure they could protect their families by themselves. This was a noble thought, but one that has since been twisted as desperate people cling through ignorance to their belief that only a gun will bring them security. Who can honestly believe that our Founding Fathers would be happy or proud if they knew what had become of our country now—the country with the most deaths by guns in the entire world? Compare, for example, to Japan, with almost no gun deaths at all, in the interesting article below.
In this current situation, there is no way to keep guns out of the hands of those would use them to harm others, such as the mentally ill or criminal. The shooter in Connecticut, even if he would have been deemed mentally ill and therefore not been able to purchase a gun, simply would have done just as he did, taken the two weapons that were already there in his own home through his mother, and used them.

Once and for all, amend the Constitution.  It has been done before to better our nation, and it is time now again. Amend the Constitution so that guns may only be found in military and law enforcement, except clearly registered hunters with hunting rifles, who must keep them much more carefully locked up (such as in Sweden).

Only when this happens will desperate parents finally be able to breathe a collective sigh of relief, because finally they will be able to send their little children to school again without the pain of fear in their hearts. Finally, malls, streets, nursing homes, street corners, and all other public places will be free. No more will convenience store owners be terrified every time a person opens the door at night. I do not mean that violence will magically disappear after guns are confiscated; of course not. We need to work to deal with long-term solutions to poverty, hunger, isolation, depression, mental illness, and drug and alcohol use that can lead to violence, since violence will still be present. But without guns, the desperate, angry, or mentally ill people will not be able to so swiftly and horrifyingly slaughter so many people. Had the killer in the Connecticut shooting only had access to knives, for example, he certainly could still have managed to kill his own mother and perhaps injure a few people at the school, and that would have been very sad. But certainly many of the precious lives lost, those of the “beautiful children” as President Obama tearfully stated, would have been saved.

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I recommend these interesting articles: Here is an excellent opinion article which brings up the fact that the US gun problem is actually a national security issue with a lot of thought-provoking statistics. Read it!

 Article comparing Japan (with almost no gun deaths) to the US (countless deaths)

And also this one, simply a chart over gun-related homicides in the developed world, also through the Washington Post

And finally, an opinion article from the NYTimes

 

 

Light in dark December with Saint Lucia

"December 13th is the date when children across Sweden dress up in white sheets, set their heads on fire (they actually don't, they just put flaming candles in their hair) and parade through the city singing Christmas carols. Welcome to Lucia, a slightly weird but beautiful winter celebration, deeply rooted in the heart of every Swede." These are the words of Kalle Bergman in a good article in the Huffington Post article about Lucia with recipe.

Lucia in Uppsala Cathedral, 2012

Kalle Bergman continues to describe Lucia and its history in the article: "Lucia is weird partly because its origin is a medieval patchwork of folklore combined with pagan, Catholic and Lutheran traditions from Italy, Sweden and Germany. The Catholic roots come from Sicily where Saint Lucia was killed for her beliefs and subsequently celebrated as a saint... on the 13th of December. Pagan, because the winter solstice was considered an especially dangerous time in 16th century Sweden. Evil powers were at play, and even the animals were believed to be able to speak during the winter solstice. Actions were taken to keep ghosts and goblins away, and the Chrismas pig was supposed to be butchered before this day."

Here are a few more articles about Lucia if you are interested: Lucia Traditions and from the Washington Post, here.

December is a very dark month in Sweden. Depending upon where in the country you are, you may or may not even see the sun. In the far north, it is dark most of the winter. Hours of daylight in Sweden (table of daylight hours).

Perhaps because of the darkness all around us (except thankfully now we have crisp white snow brightening Uppsala, and lovely frost-covered trees) Swedes are quite obsessed with light. And what better way to acknowledge the love of light, and all that it symbolizes, than with a festival dedicated to light: Saint Lucia (Sankta Lucia).

As the article above states, the 13th of December is Lucia in Sweden. Generally in the morning, at home, the children will wake up their parents and present "fika" (special saffran-flavored rolls and other treats like gingerbread cookies) and songs. And all over in society one can find Lucia celebrations. I am very excited to attend Yaminah's Lucia at her daycare. She comes home singing Lucia songs so I know they have been practicing for a while now.

Collegium Cantorum's Lucia Concert 2012

In Uppsala's beautiful Cathedral we have a traditional Lucia celebration on the Sunday of the week of Lucia, which was today. My choir, Collegium Cantorum, joined the girls' choir (Flickkören) for a lovely Lucia program. We sang traditional Lucia songs, and some nontraditional, beautiful songs, including "O Magnum Mysterium" by Lauridsen. We started the program with eight sopranos singing "Det är en ros utsprungen" from the balcony and then we gradually moved to the very front of the church, everyone dressed in a white gown and carrying a candle, following the girl with the candles on her head, the Lucia.

Here are a few videos of the last songs we sang during our concert. Note that Tomas filmed these from his chair, while holding Yaminah on his lap, so the filming is a bit so-so, ahem...but at least you can get the idea! (Note: it took forever to upload videos so I have reduced their size a lot, but hopefully you can still see something!)

 

 

 And now, the recessional...

 

 

And then on December 13, we were very excited to attend Yaminah's Lucia at her daycare. They had been practicing for weeks, as I mentioned earlier. Parents and grandparents gathered to watch the daycare children, most dressed in white gowns or some as little santas or other Christmasy things, gave us a Lucia program. The singing was so much fun to watch, I have to share it with you! Unfortunately, you will hardly be able to see--it was nearly totally dark inside so my phone did not capture much--but you can listen. And yes, the girl's voice you probably hear singing quite loudly, is Yaminah. Afterwards people told us that she had done a great job (she seems to know all the verses to every song and sang out, to say the least). One other mother said, "She is like a pop music star already!" but I am pretty sure she meant that in a positive way. :)  Maybe you can get a sense of what the program was like when the cameras flash--chaotic, with one little child running back and forth and making funny noises, but lots of kids singing and just looking adorable. Here is our little Lucia.

 

 

Lucia...a time to stop, celebrate the light within winter's darkness...and a time to think ahead to Christmas. I wish you a bright December, full of light!

Busy. Student. Mother. Wife. Time.

Who wouldn't wish for a few more hours in a day?

The last time I wrote, we were about to leave MN after spending seven weeks there. I should say, seven warm, relaxing weeks. I am very grateful Yaminah and I had that much time there (and Tomas about a month) since now, my life is pretty much the opposite.

Now, I am back to school, and Tomas works a little more than full time (Sunday nights he also works at a youth center), Yaminah is in daycare (although we try to keep here there as short as we can, but she is usually there from 8:30-4 PM). Our life now, like for many other working/studying/otherwise busy busy families, is a kind of a puzzle, where all the little pieces need to fit together as well as possible. For us, right now things are honestly pretty crazy. I am studying teaching classes full-time and C-level Chinese full-time. I knew it would be hard to do when I started, but I wanted to give it a try, and so far, Chinese and teaching classes have been on opposite days, and I have even had a day or two a week for studying at home. I love studying Chinese, although it is very time-consuming right now and difficult to memorize all the new characters and translate difficult texts from Chinese to Swedish. So I hope to make it work. In order to do this, Tomas does most of the cooking and cleaning, which he proudly points out every so often, while still admitting that my picking-up skills are still very much required to keep our place looking nice. I call myself a studying machine, jokingly, since after Yaminah goes to bed most nights, I sit down to study again, and I also have to study on weekends. Sometimes I am so efficient, Tomas says I make him nervous! (Anyone else out there sometimes brush their teeth while going to the bathroom, to save time? Without touching anything of course. Or maybe I shouldn't admit that... :)

In any case, plus with two choirs right now, I know this sounds like I am in over my head, and I suppose I am. But...the reason I am doing this is to try to study as much as possible in as short of time as I can. I am in a hurry to have a teaching degree (I am done in June!) and so if I could also study Chinese, I see it as a bonus. And sometimes...being in over one's head, if for a limited amount of time, can be exhilarating as well. But I do admit that I am counting down the weeks until Christmas vacation (and I try not to let images of Christmas float into my head to distract me from studies too much). In any case, in less than three months it will be Christmas, and Tomas and I have a three week break. Part of me can hardly wait.

One good thing about being busy is that "the little things" become more valuable somehow. For example, the hour Yaminah and I have together before I bring her to daycare most days is such a nice one. We read books and play. And tonight we spent the whole evening together baking (delicious!) pumpkin cookies (actually pumpkin cookies with oats, cranberries, white chocolate, and sunflower seeds). After we finished baking the real cookies, Yaminah went into her room and promptly started baking pretend cookies in her little kitchen. She then became the Mommy instead, saying things like, "No, I will measure the baking soda, and then YOU can dump it in the bowl," and "Now when you put it in the bowl, you can count!" It was like hearing myself speak. Later she served me her pretend tea. First she wants me to choose which plate and cup I want of her tiny Disney cups from her Aunt Sarah, then she adds the tea, then asks, "Would you like milk? A little, or a lot?" And then finally I can drink the tea (and eat her pretend blueberry cookie).

The amazing cookie recipe can be found here. (I added a half cup sunflower seeds and used chopped dried cranberries instead).

Life is certainly about balance, and even when life is very busy, with little moments like these, even after four hours of Chinese class during the day, one can feel grounded again. How can a person NOT feel grounded and cozy-warm inside when the apartment smells this wonderful?

What little (or big) things do you do to help you feel grounded and bring balance to your busy life?

Fall, friends, home, and pumpkin

For the past few weeks, Yaminah and I have been relaxing and enjoying our extra time here in the States before we fly back to Sweden on Saturday. The gorgeous weather is one reason our time has been so great. It is hard not to love perfect, warm weather and blue skies.

But last week we had a cooler day, with rain even, and the evenings have definitely started cooling off. Inevitably when this happens every year, I start to get excited about fall, or at least, certain aspects of fall. Or perhaps it is that for some reason, fall is the season every year when I feel a little homesick for home. But on a beautiful, crisp fall day, when leaves have begun changing and the sky is a perfect shade of blue, and apple trees are heavily laden with apples begging to be made into all kinds of things, like French Apple Pie, I love fall. And fall in Minnesota is wonderful. Perhaps fall also makes me feel a tad nostalgic for the beginning of the school year, and memories.

In any case, on Saturday we fly back to Sweden, and there is one thing on my mind that I want to accomplish before we go, and that is: pumpkin. Eat foods with pumpkin...drink hot drinks with pumpkin. I have been on a mission for the past week, even calling Starbucks to ask when their Pumpkin Spice Lattes will be on the menu. According to one source, they might be available in the middle of this week. (Yay!) In that case, this weekend, before we go, you can find me at a Starbucks, enjoying my all-time favorite, Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Last night, thanks to Mom and Bruce babysitting, I went out with my good friends, Stephanie and Danell. We went to the Olive Garden and had a great time, laughing and talking, and then laughing some more. The food was also good, but except for the company, the best part was the dessert: Pumpkin Cheesecake. It tasted like a slice of Thanksgiving. I loved it, and I savored every bite. How is it possible to be nostalgic for something, at the same time as one is already doing it?

I suppose my obsession with being able to enjoy a Pumpkin Spice Latte before we go back to Sweden is actually a semi-subconscious attempt to prolong my stay at home, perhaps as if digesting a food item could bring a little piece of home with me when we go. Or...perhaps it is simply because it is delicious!

In preparation for supper tonight, with Darin, Brandi and the kids coming to join us, Yaminah and I made Pumpkin Cupcakes for dessert. They turned out great, so I thought I would share the recipe with you. View it here.

I can hardly believe the summer has gone by so fast, and that fall is just around the corner. As always, a beginning of one thing is also an end to another. Looking back, this summer has been great because it has been restful. But most importantly, it has been about spending lots of quality time with family, especially including David and Erin's wedding; staying a lot at Sarah and Scott's house; camping with Dad; staying with Mom and Bruce, plus being able to see close friends. Yaminah is now completely fluent in English as well as Swedish. One other reason I have loved this summer is that Tomas and I have been able to spend a lot of time with Yaminah, and I have even had nearly three weeks extra with her. We have had such fun, sleeping in, relaxing during the day, having pretend tea parties, taking walks and bike rides. It will be hard to go back to class and bring her back to daycare again, but it is inevitable; summer has to come to an end. And luckily, fall is the next season, and it is my favorite. And with fall there will be new beginnings again--the beginning of my (hopefully) final school year, and of course time with our Swedish family and friends.

Could it be that the lovely, pleasant aspects of fall--the pumpkins, spices, apples, colored leaves, blue skies--are a way to ease us into the following season, the cold, dark winter?

Summer Camping Adventures

My dad likes to go camping. My husband likes to go camping. Yaminah loves to go camping. And I like it too. So...for the past few years when we have come to Minnesota from Sweden for a visit, we have been going camping with Dad. This year, because Dad and Beth's basement flooded (meaning we had no place to stay at their house) we went camping twice.

Sometimes, however, camping can be a bit too much of an adventure for me. Last year when we were camping, there was an incident. I am afraid of lightning, (from another "incident" while on the Great Wall of China--that's another story) so I had told Dad and Tomas that I would only agree to go camping in a tent if everyone promised that if it started to storm, we would all go and sit in Dad's car. Well, wouldn't you know it...we were all sitting in the tent, trying to stay dry from the rain outside, when it started to storm. In the tent we had suitcases, a full, large cooler, amongst other things. I convinced everyone (including Yaminah, who thought it was a lot of fun) to move over to the CRV to wait out the storm. So there we sat, snacking and chatting and Yaminah having a great time bouncing around in the back seat, as we watched the wind pick up and pull the tent once, twice...until the wind snatched the tent and toss it away like a used glove, right before our eyes. When the storm abated a little, Dad and Tomas went out into the rain to try to salvage what they could of our camping gear.

In the end, the storm passed, leaving us with our nice, big tent ruined, but luckily for us, Dad had a spare 2-person tent along (he might call it more than that officially, but my version is, it was tiny). There I then slept with two grown men and a baby, with all the smells and sounds you might expect. Luckily, however, the next day of that camping trip the weather changed and we had a great day hiking and hanging out.

So, when we decided to go camping twice this year, I was a little nervous. Not only does one need to be aware of the dangers of storms and lightning, there is also a risk of bears (these are my concerns). Plus, how far away is the bathroom? We have a two-year-old after all, and when she has to go, one has to hurry...

But all of my fears proved unfounded this year. The weather was gorgeous (except quite cold at night on the second camping trip), and fortunately, there was no sign of bears. I wish I would have been able to sleep better though, but I was awake a lot listening to the lake, wondering if there were bears outside our door, or not sleeping because Yaminah decided to share my sleeping bag with me...but one cannot have everything!

Dad, Tomas, Yaminah and I went to Gooseberry Falls the first trip, (where the three of us swam in the pool below the waterfall--it was wonderful) and the second time we went to Split Rock, and Sarah, Scott, and David joined us as well. It was a lot of fun to have the siblings join us. Thanks to Dave, Yaminah was actually in Lake Superior (she loved it, and since then whenever she is in the bath, she says "Look, I'm swimming in Lake Su-PER-ior!") and thanks to Sarah, Yaminah tasted smores for the first time. When Dad went to bed, we stayed up and played two games of Settlers, with a roaring campfire (unfortunately a little too far away, but at least it looked nice). And luckily Sarah had brought a nice, warm blanket and we huddled together to stay warm. Isn't the purpose of camping, after all, to spend time together as a family?

Now I am looking forward to our next camping adventures!

Master Chef at the Gooseberry campsite, great spot #25

The view of Split Rock Lighthouse from our campsite

Yaminah proudly holding up her present from Grandpa. Bears are cute, on pillows...

Trying Smores!

In Lake Superior with Uncle Dave

Throwing rocks with Grandpa and Uncle Dave

A load of garbage

Right now I have something on my mind. It's a load of garbage.

Or, more precisely, when I allow it, I can fill my mind with images of piles, heaps, or mounds and stench of garbage, dumped along a village or town roadside in western China, with rats and other animals crawling around amongst the steamy heaps. Or, if I allow my thoughts to wander more, I can picture the kind, tiny old lady who patrolled the campus dumpster, waiting for something that might be worth some money, and then she would climb into the disgusting dumpster and remove whatever she found.

Garbage thrown over a hill in Chengxian, Gansu, China

Garbage is not pretty; and in many places in the world, it is a real problem. The difference between the towns where we have lived and seen garbage is that where many people in the west live, we cannot see the garbage problem. But that does not mean it does not exist. I believe "out of sight, out of mind" is unfortunately true.

In poor areas of the world, garbage is indeed a problem and recycling facilities most certainly do not exist. Therefore, the garbage may pile up in mountains of garbage that can spread pollutants and disease. It felt terrible for us to throw away recyclables in China; although we learned that certain products (cardboard, plastic bottles) were greatly appreciated by the older, poor population who collected them for some money. We began saving our bottles in separate containers and placing them outside the dumpster, and we learned that this was appreciated. But no separate recycling bins or collection facilities existed; those who wanted to make money simply had to find it by themselves by digging through the stinking garbage.

Now, it is easy for people in the west to complain about poorer areas of China or other countries, and think "thank goodness we do not have the same problems." While it is true that the United States or Sweden do not have heaps of smoldering, stinking garbage on poorer campuses or along streets or on river banks, "The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste." (Recycling Facts article). I am sure other western countries are not far behind.

The problem with this statistic, and what bothers me the most, is that we can do more. We have access not only to garbage removal, but also to recycling facilities. Granted, these can often be improved, but we have them. Even, as we learned today, my tiny hometown of Fertile, MN, has a recycling bin in town where people can bring all of their recycling and it will be taken care of. My stepfather, Bruce, even called the facilities today and learned how it works after a discussion we had (that really impressed me. :) I now know that in Fertile, Duluth, and the Cities, recycling can be all put into the same container and it is separated in the plant. This is unbelievably convenient. Where we live in Uppsala, in our condo building, Tomas and I recycle in different containers in our kitchen, and when one is full we bring it out to the recycling room in the area.

Why is this important? It is important to care for our environment; it is important to recycle also because it gives us a sense of shared responsibility and generally increasing of awareness toward environmental and global issues. Some items are more efficient to recycle than others; according to this article on recycling, for an aluminum can, "there is no limit to the amount of times [it] can be recycled." Whereas on the contrary, if an aluminum can is just thrown away, "An aluminum can...will still be a can 500 years from now!" Plastic is of course bad for the environment and in general needs to be consumed much less, but when we do buy plastic, we can recycle it. According to the same article, for each week's Sunday papers in the US, 500,000 trees are cut down. The article here has a lot of great, short facts that are important to read.

For me as a Christian, and a concerned global citizen, I feel especially inclined to recycle. Some Christian groups share these feelings. I found an interesting article in USA Today about a group of Christians who feel especially called to recycle. In Article in USA Today, Melanie Griffin, director of the Sierra Club, says that "More and more evangelicals are coming to believe creation care is an integral part of their calling as Christians. It is becoming part of their faith." Before Tomas and I were sent to China by Svenska kyrkan, the Church of Sweden, we learned that Svenska kyrkan is quite active in its promotion of the environment and global responsibility (including promoting Fair Trade). This impressed us and I felt this philosophy was truly in line with my own beliefs.

To me (and I know that people may accuse me of being extreme at times), it is an insult to the people in the world who lack access to garbage disposal and recycling facilities (not to mention water treatment plants! another issue altogether) that we do not take full advantage of our own local environments, and do the best that we can. I cannot imagine throwing a plastic bottle into a garbage can; this would disrespect my own local area, but also the kind old ladies who gratefully accepted them from our hands in China, instead of having to crawl through the garbage to look for them themselves, in order to collect whatever they could for bringing them in. Deforestation is a huge problem in many parts of the world; although this is not true in Sweden, I cannot imagine throwing newspapers or paper into the garbage. These can be recycled; to not recycle them, in my mind, disrespects the farmers and people around the world suffering from the effects of deforestation, drought, and floods.

If we are not doing our best; if we are not doing our part, who are we to criticize other people, in other countries? How can we improve our own environments if we do not recycle? And how can we raise our own children without informing them of both the great beauty--and simultaneous frailty--of our earth?

The next generation, and those to come, will certainly not only live in the earth that is left after us; they will also learn from our example. What example are we providing them?

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.
(Psalm 65:9-13) 

(More relevant verses, if you are interested, can be found here: Collected Verses)

Midsummer in Dalarna

Midsummer is one of the biggest holidays of the year for Swedes. Celebrated on Midsummer Eve, the longest day of the year, it is often spent with family and friends, and it involves eating things like herring, potatoes, and cake with strawberries. For a traditional festival, a flower-covered Maypole is also raised, after which people join hands and dance around the Maypole (to songs like "Little frogs..." and all kinds of other children's or traditional songs involving lots of action and jumping!) Ethnologist Agneta Lilja has written a very short text about the holiday here, including its origins: Midsummer Traditions

Since we are in Dalarna right now we celebrated Midsummer first with lunch with Tomas's family, with a traditional meal of very salty herring in thin bread, and then we went to the traditional festivities at Hembygdsgården in Dala-Järna. There probably thousands of people had gathered--and thankfully the weather was quite nice. First the Maypole was raised by a group of men, then there were speeches and folk music played by folk costume-clad musicians, and then dancing around the Maypole. Yaminah had a blast--she laughed and danced and never wanted to stop!

Many people wore traditional folk costumes (from whichever area of Sweden they are from) and especially the children are always adorable in folk costumes, and many people wore wildflowers in their hair.

Yaminah and her Great Grandpa Yngve--90 years apart

Yaminah dancing with her second cousin, Esther

Afterwards we were very happy to spend a fun, relaxing evening with my cousins Helene and Charlotte and their families, at our little house, for food, and Tomas's homemade cake with strawberries.

Yaminah ready to start in on the cake with her second cousins, Arvid and Naomi

Thankfully the cool breeze kept the mosquitoes away until late in the evening, and since it was so light outside, the kids were outside in the sandbox and playing lawn games until 11 PM, when we finally forced Yaminah to come inside and go to bed.

Happy Midsummer!

Summer is finally here!

A long, but fruitful, academic year has come to a close and now my studies are no longer the first thing that comes to mind when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I spend doing before going to bed, with a break for playing with Yaminah in the afternoon. We are up in our house in Hulån, Dala-Järna, a tiny little village in the province of Dalarna, Sweden.

We love coming up to our house, perhaps because it is not the "real world" here. When we are here we are not working or studying (usually); we see family, friends, and relax, and although we have only been here for a few days, we are already busy relaxing. (Is that an oxymoron? :)

So far the weather has been terrible, but today the rain let up and the sun came out, so this afternoon I mowed the lawn (and actually had fun--that tells you that this is not something I do very often), trimmed around all of our bushes and trees by hand, and then retreated to taking some photos. We realized when we were in China that it is very easy to take pictures whenever one is on vacation or visiting someone else, but we realized, when we wanted to show our Chinese students, that we had almost no pictures of our own town, city, house, or apartment. So today I took a few pictures. Call them "images of summer;" it is a welcome summer, even if the cold is causing people to complain and inspiring a fire in our wood-burning stove every evening.

Tomorrow Tomas is going to build a sandbox for Yaminah, and this weekend is Sweden's big holiday, Midsummer's. I hope to write more about that later with pictures.

I wish you a very nice summer, with time for family, friends, and time for resting. I know that it is what I need! I hope that you will find time to do whatever makes you feel happy and more relaxed...or perhaps inspired. We will be travelling a lot this summer, but for the next 10 days we are just going to be here, hanging out. My goal is to make time for things I love, including reading, walking, baking, blogging, dreaming, and of course for time with family and friends. In a few weeks I will also have a chance to travel, which I also love, but for now, I just want to be right here!

"Cozies & Their Successful Sleuths"

This semester I have been busy, as usual, but this time not taking any teaching classes. Rather, I learned that in order to become a teacher, I had to write a "D level" paper. Although I have already done one such paper within Ethnology, I had to do another within the subject of English in order to become an English teacher. (And there is a very long story behind this, of which I will spare you the details). So, this semester I have hardly had any classes at all, except for a few Chinese classes a week. Most of my time I have been studying alone, either Chinese, or preparing for this D level English paper, reading, reading, reading, and finally for the past few months, writing. It is the equivalent of half of a semester's full-time work, and it has taken a long time. But yesterday I finally turned in my paper, and I am so happy that I am finished! I received a good grade, and that is a relief.

I have received a few "requests" from friends who wanted to read the paper, so if you are interested in reading a 40-page paper on mystery's contemporary subgenre, here you are! Please drop me a note if you are unable to read this for any reason. As I learn how to blog, I am learning the technology as well.

Cozies & Their Successful Sleuths... English paper or here: Full D Paper for Web Publishing in PDF

I love singing in Uppsala's Cathedral!

I sing in Collegium Cantorum, one of the choirs in Uppsala's gorgeous Cathedral. Tonight we had a choir concert; we sang the program we will be singing on our choir tour to Austria this summer. I think it went very well! We sang old music, including "Komm" by Bach, Hear my Prayer by Henry Purcell (love it), but also new music, composed by members of our own choir, including a song for oboe and choir by Helena Hansson. I sang a solo in one of the newly-composed pieces, this one written by Mattias Sjöberg. I wish I could post the entire concert here, but if you are interested, here is my solo from tonight, in two parts because I was unable to manage sending it by e-mail as one large video clip. It is just recorded from where Tomas stood, using his iPhone, so the quality is so-so (you will need to keep your computer's volume pretty low). But you can at least listen. Or just listen to one part (not equally divided). Keep in mind I am an amateur, so it is not perfect, but it is fun! I love singing in choir!

Advice for my daughter

Subbing has its ups and downs, certainly. But today's class went great. I gave a presentation on China and we discussed education and poverty. And the students asked questions! What more can a future teacher desire? :)

After class I started thinking, as I walked through Uppsala and enjoyed the sunny day. I gave the students some advice, that they should work very hard to learn English well and that they should also study Chinese in the future. But then I started thinking about other things I would like to tell them. And soon, in my mind, my thoughts were transformed, and I caught myself thinking about what advice I want to give Yaminah, our 2-year-old, when she is older, and a lot of it applies to future students as well. Here are those random thoughts, unplugged, unedited.

Advice for my daughter

Think big; dream big. Be kind to yourself and be kind to others. Recycle, because we need to keep the earth beautiful for our grandchildren and their grandchildren. Smile at little children and strive to be the first person to stand when the bus is crowded or an elderly person comes on. Donate to a cause you find meaningful; giving is an important preventative measure against greed, which can lead to indifference. Travel, as much as you are able. Seeing the world first-hand is the best way to feel like a brother or sister to other people in the world. Nobody is perfect, but everyone can strive to consistently improve themselves. Never stop learning. And then don't forget to pray, because we are not in this alone.

Injustice

In many ways, today was a lovely day. It is Walpurgis Eve here in Sweden, and especially in Uppsala it was a full day. I imagine I will feel inspired to write about today, but not now.

Since I am feeling stressed because I am getting behind on my Master's level "D level" English paper, Tomas and Yaminah went to Nyköping to visit Jonny, Tomas' brother. I am therefore home alone, working late in the evening as usual, listening to my new music list on Spotify, snacking, and trying to stay alert as I read a new electronic book on mysteries.

Then I remember that I should redeem the gift certificate I received from Jonny for an online bookstore, so I begin digging around the desk for it. When I say "digging," it is because right now on my desk there are stacks of cozy mysteries, a lovely glass, calculator, telephone, computer, printer, pile of paid bills...etc. In the living room a pumpkin Yankee candle is keeping my olfactory sense company.

And then suddenly, from the John Denver on the music to the pile of unsorted mail, I am struck by the sharp and unfair unjustice in the world. For several years, Tomas and I have supported a few students through "Barnhjälpen," a Christian aid organization through which people can support children with need in order to enable them to be able to go to school.

We just received a new letter from Barnhjälpen. The girl that we have been supporting for the past few years, in a city in India, has been exchanged for a 4th-grade boy. This is not the first time we have had to change children. The note says (translated here:) "Replaces Jaya H who unfortunately could not continue beyond the 4th grade. Father died and mother needed her at home."

And here I sit with my piles of books, fancy crystal glass, computer, scented candle in the background...oh, and did I mention, new iPhone?...on my messy desk. The thought brings tears to my eyes. Why are there such great differences in the world? Why can't Jaya H continue past the 4th grade? I understand that survival is certainly her family's main concern, but I also realize that this is not only an issue in her city in India. We know that there are millions of children who cannot attend school in China as well, for example. What kind of a chance does a person have when they are unable to even finish elementary school?

The injustice of it all makes me sad, and angry as well. But it also makes me wish that all of the spoiled kids in our countries (in the west) who take their education for granted would be able to catch of a glimpse of the privilege they have. Even if University education in the United States is expensive whereas in Sweden it is free (but taxes very high), at least in these countries education is free through high school. This is certainly something that people take for granted.

Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" is now on, caught up to me on my new playlist. Ironic indeed.

"Replaces Jaya H who unfortunately could not continue beyond the 4th grade. Father died and mother needed her at home."

Happy Birthday...Hurrah

It's that time of the year again...for another birthday. But I am  not one who dislikes birthdays. On the contrary, perhaps I am a bit Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation-esque in the way I like to prepare for these occasions. (And Tomas' polite "don't you think you might be going a little over the top?" didn't worry me one bit; one only has a birthday once a year, after all!) I do think that birthdays are important--in my opinion, birthdays are a celebration of another year of life.

Yaminah, two years old, has been very excited about my birthday as well. For days she kept pointing at Tomas' closet, saying "Daddy secrets!" and when the big day arrived, she broke into "Happy Birthday" several times, and other times she just looked at me and said, "Hurrah."

First of all, I know that in many families with young children, people say "No more presents! Just for the children!" but in our family, we all love giving and receiving gifts and we have no plans of stopping. Well, perhaps I should replace "we all" with "certainly I..."  And I admit that whenever anyone asks, I usually (okay, always) have a wish list underway just in case someone needs it.

Of course, getting older is not what I like about birthdays (except that one can hardly deny that one keeps getting a little bit better each year; am I right? :) Well, at least some aspects of life keep getting better. Through my studies I have learned more this year, which is nice. A lot has happened within our family too, with Yaminah growing up more each day. But I did catch myself thinking, as I baked herb bread for my birthday party (don't look for a recipe however; that fancy bread is now safely in the compost after presumably failing with the yeast) something along the lines of "Wow, I must be getting older because I am so out of shape kneading this dough!" As I kneaded, and kneaded...and like I said, to no avail, since I am pretty sure I had killed the yeast right away. But then I paused for a moment in my hard labor and reflected upon the fact that I cannot actually recall when I last baked bread at all. Bread-baking has never been my forté (I am more of a cookie/muffins/cupcakes kind of person). So then I felt a little better and just realized that my lack of bread-baking skills has nothing to do with age.

As I prepared for the party, I thought back to previous birthdays and was alarmed by how few I can actually even remember. Of course, up until a certain age one can blame one's parents. But who can one blame after the age of 16? How is it possible that I have forgotten how I celebrated so many birthdays? Ahem, I mean...not that there have been so unbelievably many birthdays since 16... In any case, I think I need to start keeping a fun book of records. Only because it is fun of course; nothing to do with an advancing age.

This year I have actually been feeling nearly overwhelmed with my studies and realized that throwing any kind of a party at all would be a real challenge. But what else is night for, if not cleaning, planning, and baking? So I decided to invite a group of friends (sans children). What should my theme be, I wondered? Finding cute flowered napkins answered that question. The theme would be pink and red. I told Tomas and I am sure he was quite interested, especially when the day before the party he was going to Stockholm for a class trip for the day and I requested he look for pink and red flowers, and I asked if he wanted to bring a napkin with him to aid in his search. I might have received a strange look when he politely declined and thought he could manage without the napkin.

After cramming in studies and a flurry of activity (most of it very late in the evening when the little girl was sleeping), it was ready. We were nine people total who enjoyed a fun evening of conversation and laughter, and I must say, the menu turned out to be quite good as well. I managed a second batch of bread that turned out this time. And the recipe called for minimal kneading so no problem that my arms may or may not be a little out of shape, no matter what my current age might be.

Chocolate cake with raspberry mousse

The menu (which I realize is mainly appetizers and dessert--but these are my two favorite courses so I figured, why not?)

Welcome drink (nonalcoholic):
Apple Sparkler Drink

First:
Toast Skagen
Salad with fresh strawberries, walnuts, and parmesan

Second:
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup served with homemade herb breadsticks and shredded cheddar cheese


Dessert(s):
Delicious Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse
Peanut Blossoms cookies (for which I now use Natural Peanut Butter for added flavor)
Thumbprint cookies with homemade raspberry curd Homemade raspberry curd cookies (only in Swedish right now)
Brie cheese with pears

Apple Sparkler Drink

Herb breadsticks (recipe from Betty Crocker),
served in beer glasses from Fitger's in Duluth, MN

Peanut Blossoms

For decorations, I snipped a few of the gorgeous tulips Tomas brought home and put into baby food jars with pussy willow branches.

Our Easter, Swedish traditions, & tasty sweets

Today is Easter Saturday or "påskafton", which is when most Swedes celebrate Easter. (Swedes almost always celebrate holidays on the eve of the holiday, such as for Midsummer's and Christmas).
We are happy to have my mom here for Easter this year, and my grandfather, 92 years old, also lives in Dala-Järna, where we have our house, so along with Tomas's family here, we had lots of time for family.

Morfar, 92 years old, on Good Friday

For Good Friday we all went to church for services; "Easter Eve", today, we celebrated by having a morning coffee or "fika" at our little house for Mom and Tomas's family. For the fika I made Easter cupcakes from a recipe my beautiful new cupcake cookbook by Leila Lindholm. They are almost sinfully delicious, with freshly-ground hazelnuts, Nutella, cream cheese, and a bird's nest of marzipan, topped with tiny chocolate eggs. (Recipe here http://lifeandacupoftea.blogspot.se/p/favorite-recipes.html which is under tab "Recipes").

Easter cupcake

This afternoon we dressed Yaminah up, according to Swedish tradition, as a "påskkärring", or Easter witch. We went around to a few houses where Yaminah knocked on the door and gave the family a hand-drawn Easter card, and was very surprised and excited to receive some chocolate or fruit in return to put into her little pail.

Yaminah is our little "påskkärring"

For those of you who can read Swedish, here is a short, but interesting article about how the tradition of the påskkärring may have come about. http://www.vf.se/node/8915 and here the Swedish newspaper in English, the Local, writes about modern Sweden's Easter traditions as well: http://www.thelocal.se/3525/20110421/ Time Magazine even has a special article about strange Easter traditions, and the Swedish "påskkärring" or Easter witch tradition is presented. Some say that the tradition of påskkärringar is actually from a very dark time in Sweden's history, when people were terrified for witches and they were even burned. Now people think of påskkärringar as cute little girls and boys who visit people's homes, deliver an Easter greeting, and probably receive a few coins or candy in return. This reminds me a little of Halloween traditions at home in the States. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1889922_1890008_1889927,00.html

With a Master's in Ethnology, of course I can't help but feel fascinated by different cultures and the way they celebrate their traditional holidays. The most important thing is to be together, and spend time as a family. Many Swedes go skiing in the mountains for Easter. But Easter is especially interesting because it is a mixture of a Christian holiday--with beautiful church services all around the country, from all of the lovely, melancholy Good Friday music to joyful and uplifting Easter Sunday hymns--to cute little Easter witches with a dark history that spans hundreds of years.

Although I am interested in celebration of holidays, as a Christian I think the weekend has a greater, deeper meaning, one that has a real potential for joy and hope, even in today's world. Although I was unable to take a picture, you can imagine the simple cross of greens, embedded with red roses, that was an altar decoration at the Good Friday service yesterday. And although the colorful Easter eggs that Yaminah and her grandma painted together are pretty, I think the altar decoration simply, and cleanly, symbolizes the pure beauty of the meaning of Easter.

Yaminah and her grandma painting Easter eggs

Happy Easter!