Anya was dressed in grunge style for Spirit Week today. I was allowed to be fashion consultant, since I had lived in the Seattle area in the late 80s and early 90s (as well as beyond) when grunge was huge, and Seattle was considered the capital of grunge music. However, she wouldn’t let me take pictures of her.
She did let me take pictures at the end of the day when she was baking chocolate chip cookies.
The fall colors were beautiful on the way to work today, which is just a little bit of a compensation for having to wear warmer clothes and rain gear.
I am slowly getting settled in my office. Today, I got a new chair! Its the nicest chair I’ve ever had!
I brought some of my art from home to fill the blank office walls. Take a look at the mat on this framed map of Africa.
I bought this original 1806 map print when in London last year. It already had the mat on it. Then, I had it framed in Bellevue. It is a hand colored map that has little geographical resemblance to reality in the center of the map; the center was unexplored! For example, there is no Lake Victoria. The label on the ocean in the lower right of the continent is the Ethiopian Sea. It is interesting to me in many ways.
After work, Anya and I went bicycling for recycling. Recycling is very important in both Seattle and Sweden. However, here there is a significant deposit to claim by turning in bottles at the recycling center at the entrance of grocery stores.
Each bottle or can is individually rotated and scanned to read how many kroner it is worth. Two bags about the size of a kitchen garbage bag brought $5.60. That’s a good incentive to recycle. It spits out a receipt so that the money can either be taken off a purchase at the store or get cash. (I believe the latter is true, but I always just use it to reduce my grocery payment.)
In the evening, I attended the last episode of Tro, Hopp och Kärlek, (meaning Faith, Hope, and Love) the reality TV show. The youth pastor at church was one of the featured bachelors looking for love. One of the previous youth pastors was on the show last year and actually ended up marrying the woman he met on the show. They were also there tonight. I didn’t understand much of the Swedish, but a colleague told me that it actually was a good representation of some wonderful values within a Christian relationship. The media here in Sweden often paints the church in a caricature and a bit negative at times.
These priests wanted to use this opportunity to be a blessing for others, so they used it as a fundraiser to help with food programs in Malawi and Ethiopia, where there are some major food shortages currently. This was one more aspect of the compassion and global concern that is often overlooked in the media portrayals of the church.
The Swish payments by phone are everywhere! You can even make a donation to the fika (coffee/tea and goodies) after church by Swish. And now I can! Today, my colleague, Maria, helped me navigate the Swedish of my new online banking system, pay my apartment rent, and set up a Swish account. I have a working debit card and a Swish account! Now, I’m not dependent upon others to pay my bills!
So, while I advance in banking, I feel so out of the loop in language and sometimes in the community. Anya was baking cookies and not interested in going to the event tonight, so again, I go alone and most often, sit alone.
With blessings,
Beth