Family weekend

This weekend, my Mother, Sister and her daughter Veronica came down for a visit. My mother came first, unfortunately when it was raining cats and dogs in Amsterdam. But we had a great time anyway, strolling, having a drink at a café and in general just being together.

Saturday, Femke’s family came over and we had an enjoyable dinner together, combining a house-warming party with my 40th Birthday. Femke cooked some lovely food and it was nice to see our two families mingle.

Family visit, friends, and moving to Amsterdam

My sister and her family.

Wow, it was a while ago since my last entry. So much have happened. The biggest thing first: we are moving to Amsterdam! Femke got a new very interesting job at AWEPA, and will be starting there the 2nd of June. So we are packing up here in Jerusalem. In fact, our last day here will be next Saturday, the 17th of May. Femke will fly directly to Amsterdam while I will go to Slovenia for two weeks of work first, and then fly to Amsterdam from there.
It is going to be so exciting to live in Amsterdam! At first, we will stay at Femke’s parents place and with friends, while looking for an apartment.

What else? My sister (Camilla), her husband Bobbo and their two kids, Veronica and Martin, are visiting us here in Jerusalem. It feels great to have them here and to be able to show them our life here, before we are moving. Lots of walking in the old city of Jerusalem, nice food and excursions to Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. Right now, they are in Eilat for some snorkeling and relaxing, but tonight they will come back here, to continue to the airport and then fly home to Sweden.

Otherwise, we have been very social lately, trying to see all our friends here before leaving. The day before yesterday we met Anna, Cham & Paz, Brian and a few others for drinks and food at the Legacy Hotel. The night before that, I had a drink with Ric. And yesterday, we drove to Ramallah to go out together with Yara. We ended up at Sangria’s and then Stones and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The other night, Mary, a Dutch friend of Femke’s family, came by to visit us during a holiday in Jerusalem. It’s always nice when friends from around the world comes to say hello.

This weekend, we are planning to go to the Med and the beach, and then next week, we have a little farewell party and then we´re off!

Glass blowing in Småland

Yesterday morning, we flew to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to have lunch with Femke’s mother. Femke also managed to do some shopping (surprise!), before it was time to fly North to Sweden. We slept in Tyringe (where my Mother lives) and this morning continued to Småland. Lot’s of forest, with trees covered in ice, frozen lakes and in general a beautiful winter landscape. What a contrast to Jericho the other day!

In Småland, we stopped for a fika in Växjö, then visited the famous glass factory in Kosta, where they hand blow the famous art glass of KostaBoda. Unfortunately, they stopped blowing glass just a few hours before we arrived, but we enjoyed the exhibition of beautiful art glass. To see the glass being produced, we drove 15 minutes further to Åfors Glasbruk, where the glass ovens where glowing hot and the blowers busy. It is such a treat to see craftsmen (and craftswomen) like this, creating masterpieces out of melted sand.

Outside, I couldn’t help but to try out my new camera (Nikon D300) on the stream passing the factory. I still have a lot of tweaking and practicing to do before being one with the D300, but it is a great piece of equipment.

Now, we drove back to Kosta to check out the Christmas market. We had nice sausages grilled over open fire and in general marveled at the beautiful light decorations that were set up everywhere, including the frosty trees.

In the evening, we drove to the little city of Nybro, checked in at a hotel and then went for “hyttsill” – a traditional meal inside a glass factory. Being Christmas time, they had a tasty Christmas buffet that we devoured together with snaps (traditionally spiced vodka called akvavit). There was a lot of people, and all joined in, singing the snaps-songs that goes with the tradition. Afterwards, they had a rather provincial (but still somewhat funny) Christmas show.

My Mother Christine and Femke, having a fika in Växjö

Frozen lake in Småland

The stream outside Åfors Glasbruk

The stream outside Åfors Glasbruk

Glass art from KostaBoda

Glass blowing at Åfors Glasbruk

Light decorations at the Christmas market in Kosta