On top of it all

Sunset at Lake Rudan
Originally uploaded by Steffe.

Sun shines above the Swedish clouds. Nearly three weeks of Christmas holiday is over and time to go back to Amster-bloody-dam. As a bridge between the linguistic regions I listen to the always fantastic Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund. ”Säg några vackra ord. Kom och trösta och säg till mig: kom, vi går hem. Kom ljug mig en saga. Jag vill hem för när något är slut, går man hem”, she whispers of going home.

These moments are always a bit moody, must admit. Although my home now is in the Netherlands and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, spending weeks with people I absolutely love and speaking MY language is always a bit difficult to leave behind.

So what happened:

- a nephew showing more and more personality

- woken up by a 4-year-old who jumps on the bed

- discussions among others on kids, signs on doors in Tokyo, TV violence, public transport, work, wasabi nuts, marriage, Idols, whether Finland is part of Europe, deadlines, Russian smoked cheese, Bant magazine, cucumbers, socialism, Sirpa, interviews, Turks, embarrasment, sex, Apple (not Chris Martin’s and Gwyneth Paltrow’s kid – the computer), middle class, President, happiness, KLM, Susan Kuronen, loonatics, Madonna, the level of tolerance among engineering students, immigration, Penelope Cruz’s butt, Putin, issues that turn you off quickly, SS-men, whether Norwegian is just Swedish written when drunk, whether you just have to tolerate irritating relatives, Dutch cabinet coalition, winning and losing, Jerry Springer The Opera, having a crush, farting, Normandy, bitter 40-year-old female journalists, taking over a Finnish weekly, power, PMMP, Schiphol, cynicism, divorce, older relatives, disastrous break-ups, Trivial Pursuit, sex tourism, after parties, fighting techniques, combining family and career, finlandization, a documentary on the biggest breasts in the world, narrow-mindedness, whether Carola Häggvist is scary, mental illnesses, taxation, booze, which bar to choose next, irritating flatmates, code of conduct when under the influence of alcohol and on whether this is really it and where to go from here

- a genuinely warm and beautiful Christmas with the family

- another viewing of ABBA’s ”Happy New Year”

- fish, scampi, vegetables, wine and in the end of the evening: less fear for getting old