Christmas is coming!

I love Christmas. I love presents. I can admit it! But I don't like the cold northern hemisphere weather and anyone who is anyone knows that Christmas = sun and beach and days of eating, drinking and being merry.

But when in Rome and all that.

So Nico and I took a trip to Aachen for the Christmas market. This was my 3rd Christmas market in as many years. The first was Prague and the second was Budapest and the third was Aachen. Different countries but very similar Christmas markets. Lots of people, mulled wine and sausages. And very, very chilly.

Mmm, mulled wine...and maybe too many sausages judging from the chins hanging over my scarf.

The city hall marked one end of the market.

And the cathedral the other.

When we were driving home we decided to go the the 'drielandenpunt' where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet.

Unfortunately I couldn't get my legs around the pole to be in all three countries at once.

This place is also the highest in the Netherlands. All peaks around the world are indicated and it's no different here. Silly tourists taking photos are also noticeable.

It was a tough climb.

Yep, all 322.5 METRES of it!

Happy week leading up to Christmas to everyone! And here's to the next one being in warmer climes!

Spammed!

Could my wonderful gmail account actually let spam into my inbox?

That was my thought this morning when I logged on to my email and saw the sender 'Colleen' and the subject 'Offer Letter' and an attachment.

Against my usual 'delete it' instincts, I opened it.

It was indeed an offer.

USQ has let me into their MA in Applied Linguistics starting in March 2007 and with a 'Commonwealth Supported' place, which means the good old Aussie Government will pay 2/3 of the fees for me. This doesn't mean, however, that they will get my vote in the next election!

So gmail has pleased me once again for not letting in any spam. (Unless of course I fail all my courses then this post will be changed to an 'I hate spam' post and I'll have everyone imagining that I never even contemplated doing an MA.)

Naughty or Nice?

5th December marks 'Sinterklaas'.

If you've been good all year, you get some presents, like the first letter of your first name made out of chocolate and a poem written about you to make fun of your idiosyncrasies.

If you've been bad, you get a bundle of sticks or a bag of salt.

But if you've been really, really bad, you get thrown in Zwarte Piet's gunny sack and taken back to Spain where Sinterklaas lives.

Hmm?

I might have to give Sinterklaas the head's up and tell him all the really, really bad things I've done this year!

Sinterklaas and his un-PC helpers arrive in the Netherlands by steam boat in late November.

A couple of the hundreds of Zwarte Piets.

Sinterklaas also has a horse, Amerigo (and a police escort here in Eindhoven). I forgot to leave a carrot out for Amerigo last night. That trip to Spain is looking more promising!

Presenting Leiden!

Most impressive city in the Netherlands? Most beautifully preserved architecture in the Netherlands? Most breath taking views in the Netherlands? Windiest city in the Netherlands? Best tour guides in the Netherlands?

After spending a late afternoon / early evening sojourn in Leiden, in my humble opinion, yes is the answer to most of the above! I'll let you decide on your own yes's and no's.

I did it!

Phew. With a day to spare I am officially a winner of the 'write a 50 000 word novel in 30 days' NaNoWriMo challenge. Final wordcount: 50 067. Words worth reading: *shudders*.

Achel

That's the name of a quaint little town in Belgium that we rode to today.

Yes, we rode our bikes to Belgium today!

We left at about 11.30 this morning and got back about 6 this evening. The ride was about 70kms round trip. It was mostly through beautiful forests with the occasional 'fiets cafes' for all the cyclists and walkers.

Of course, as I hail from a big and borderless island, it's still exciting for me to cross into another country by car or on foot or by bike!

Ahhh...the novelty will never wear off, I'm sure!

That's me and my trusty steed just in Belgium.

And here's the border police...

In Achel there was a castle that had been built in the 12th century. Unfortunately they had renovated it a number of times since then which included painting and plastering over the original brickwork.

Close up you could see underneath some peeling paint and the original brickwork was beautiful.

I won't even tell you what we ate for lunch but think of about a metre of bread with a sausage, some onion and sauerkraut. Mmm!? Of course we started lunch with a yummy dark Belgian beer. Now that was gooooood!

On the way out of town we spotted a shop so we had to go in. What a great thing that this is what they sold...

You can't go to Belgium and not buy a few chocolates! So now I'm off to enjoy them with my tea.

A bit slow...

And the 30th of November is how many days away?!

I'm going to be adding my word count to this little widget every day (or more than once a day if I'm really procrastinating). The date above won't change (editing a post doesn't change the date) but those numbers will!

Not so simple equations

1. What's 50 000 minus 2037?

2. What's 30 minus 10?

The answers are:

1. The number of words I have to write.

2. The number of days I have to do it.

At least I know I'm good at procrastinating.

NaNoWriMo. I love you.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, a few days ago it was happy birthday to me!

And even though I turned 31 I am still quite spoilt.

These were all my birthday presents along with all of the emails and well wishes and a JT CD which isn't in the photo because it was pumping through the stereo! I'm such a pop princess sometimes.

Nico took Friday off and after chatting on the phone to my parents for about an hour, we went to Nijmegen for lunch. Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands but then depending on who you ask, Maastricht is the oldest! I love both of these cities and it's true that both are really old! Nijmegen is on the Rhine and it is still a busy waterway for transporting goods. We saw a bunch of cars on a bunch of boats coming from Germany and quite a lot of traffic as we dined at the water's edge in a 'gezellig' restaurant.

After lunch we drove to the largest National Park in the Netherlands: the Hoge Veluwe. In the middle of the park there is the Kröller-Müller museum which holds the best collection of van Gogh paintings. It was donated to the state by an old, rich shipping magnate family who acquired a huge collection of art.

You can drive to the museum or you can use, for free, one of these:

Of course we took the bikes. It was a 10km ride each way and I have never seen so much wide open space in such a small country before.

The first kilometre or so was on a cycle path in the middle of a forest. We were surrounded by huge trees in all their autumn glory! This led into low lying scrub and shrubs which then turned into sand dunes and what looked like a mini desert?! After a while we hit forest again and in a clearing in this forest was the museum.

We wandered through the museum at a snail's pace. There was so much to see and so few people! There were sculptures and paintings from all over the world. There were also letters and diary entries from the family. And of course there was a cafe where we got a nice warm cuppa and an appelgebak!

In the evening we met Jane and Edwin at the Effenaar in Eindhoven for a couple of drinks.

It was a very happy birthday for me.

NaNoWriMo November

Today marks the last day of freedom.

From the 1st to the 30th November I will be attempting to write a 50 000 word piece of fiction.

So will a whole bunch of other people around the world as part of the National Novel Writing Month.

Why?

Why not?

The main rule is that you start on the 1st and you finish on the 30th.

The reward is that you actually do it.

Will I write anything worthwhile? A bestseller?

Highly unlikely.

But if you're really lucky, I'll post some of what I write on here!

So if the blog is empty for the next month, you know it's because I'm pulling my hair out trying to finish my very own novella!

Dutch Home

The Words on a Page

I've always enjoyed books more than films.

I love that blank pages get filled with lots and lots of words.

What I love even more is that those words convey so much: drama, comedy, life, death, love, hate and everything in between.

And even more than that I love that I get to play a part in all of it. A great writer for me allows me to get caught up in their world. Maybe they envisaged their main character with red hair, but for me he has black. Maybe his colleague reminds me of a guy I once knew at school and so he takes on some of those quirky traits that my long lost friend had.

There are always extra dimensions in a book that each reader imagines in different ways.

There are no sounds or images in a book, just words on a page.

I like films but usually I'm not as moved as often as I am with a book.

So a really rare thing happened last night when I watched Shooting Dogs.

It's not a pretty film. It is based on one of our generation's most shameful events and our chosen inability to react to it: the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.

And what's perhaps scarier than those events (and the failings of world governments and of the UN) is that we don't seem to learn anything from it.

I'm usually a believer in the good of humankind but then I'm confronted with something like this and I wonder.

What is wrong with us?

25 bottles of beer...

and a couple of bottles of wine.

It's been a weekend of eating and drinking with friends.

Friday night saw us going out with Jane and Edwin to celebrate that Jane and I are finally gainfully employed...at the same language school in Vught.

When I went to reserve the table for the evening I was ready with my Dutch sentence: Ik wil graag een tafel reserveren voor vanavond voor vier personen om half acht.

The guy at the restaurant stopped me halfway through in English.

I asked him if he would speak in Dutch: In Nederlands?

He quickly replied: I don't speak Dutch.

Me: Neither do I.

Him: I'll get a Dutch speaker for you!

Out comes another guy who speaks Dutch so I can reserve in Dutch!

We met at 7.30 and got the 4 person house special which included lots of yummy Indian delicacies.

Yum.

Then last night we had Patrick and Sam over for dinner. Patrick and Nico know each other from their university days. Sam is the American half of Patrick who speaks rocking Dutch and funny southern US English.

We spoke about grammar, Campina, separating milk, kosher milk, lexis and many other nerdy things while appreciating white wine, red wine and a few bottles of beer.

Feelin' the lurve, all y'all.

Would you marry any of them...or grammar?

OK, you had to be there.

The aftermath.

NEWSFLASH!!

Australia's next top models have been announced!

And the winners are...

The one on the left came in second as she just couldn't strike the same natural, photogenic poses as the one on the right.

And especially for all you readers, here is a photo that they tried to withhold from the press as it just doesn't show the same level of beauty as their official release above.

All my friends are getting married!

What is it with all the engagements and/or weddings?

First it was Tomas and Jessica in Sweden.

Then on the other side of the world in Brazil, Fabs and Michele tell me they are planning their wedding for next May.

Brenda and Mehmet got hitched in Turkey. They managed to do everything in about a week or two...the proposal, the planning, the ceremony and then fly to Malaysia where they will be living for a while!

And last night Edwin and Jane announced that Edwin had popped the question, Jane had said yes and the church is booked for next July.

So why are all my friends getting married?!

Did they all catch a bouquet recently?

You know winter is on its way when...

it looks like this at 8 o'clock in the morning

brrrrrr!!!

Ik kan lezen als een 3 jarig kind!

(I can read like a 3 year old kid!)

Yep. That's my most current reading material. But hey, what takes a Dutch kid about 3 years has only taken me about 3 months!

Learning or the Land of the Nerds?

Some people like to learn languages, others music, others martial arts and others should learn how to write interesting blog entries!

I'm a fan of learning but that could all come down to the fact that I like to be a teacher's pet! Well, I claim that I just don't like to be the dumb one in class but others assure me that I just want to be the 'T.P'.

So maybe this is the reason I attract other, ahem, nerds.

Last night, Anke, Jane and I met at a cafe to discuss how to modify adjectives and the rules for forming comparatives and superlatives in Dutch.

But look, we also had a few rounds of bokbier...does that knock off a few points from the nerd scale and put a few on to the cool scale?

Well, it's a busy day today. I have to continue watching these morning programs for kids, I mean people studying Dutch, and then I have to do some homework for my class tonight. Actually, I have done all my homework so I'll just do some extra to give to my teacher...

Dinner Date

Nico went to the Czech Republic for work last night, so my new found friends, Jane and Edwin, invited me to their place for dinner.

Good food, good wine...well, ok, it was a bit fruity, good stories and photos, a good film (Finding Nemo on their home cinema. No, I don't mean a wide screen tv, I mean a mini-cinema) and good company.

I need to work on my adjectives.

And just in case you're wondering, they really aren't that weird!

11%

That's how much of the world I've seen. Only 89% to go!!



create your own visited country map

Short? Who, me?

Today I tried to shop for clothes for the first time since I've been here.

It has (again) been reinforced to me just how challenged I am in the height department.

At some of my regular-shopping-shops in other faraway lands, they have leg lengths of 'short', 'regular' and 'long'.

In the land of the gigantors, they have 'regular', 'long' and 'extra-long'.

I saw some other short girls in every shop I went into.

They too were shopping bag-less.

A tall friend used to sing 'Short people have no business...' to me. I'm sure it was playing on the inter-shop radio station today.

It's a tall-girl-world!

Donations of short clothes and platforms are now being accepted!

What a week?!

I think it was that mostly sombre photography exhibition last Sunday and the change in weather (yes, I'm in the Netherlands so I must include a comment or two on the weather!) that had me not so motivated on Monday morning.

That or my lack of things to do.

Or so I thought.

I knew I'd be getting my So-Fi number on Thursday so I started looking for work and updating my CV. Fun? No. Time consuming? Yes.

But it has paid off...kind of.

I had an informal interview on Tuesday with an English woman who has her own small school here in Eindhoven. Interested in hiring me? Yes. Any work at the moment? No.

Then I was contacted to do some online teaching for a company I taught with in Turkey. The interview is this Tuesday. Interesting? Yes. Many hours? No.

And then the nuns called.

'The nuns of Vught' AKA Regina Coeli Language Intstitute, woke me up on Tuesday morning to invite me for an interview on Friday 13th! What kind of nuns are they?!

Well, the short answer is, they aren't nuns.

A few hundred years ago religious types were allowed to be involved in mainstream education. And then they weren't. So the nuns who ran and taught at a school for girls had to find something else to do. And what do you know? They got into language teaching. They were good at it too. They taught languages to the Dutch secret service and a lot of diplomats.

Now they perform their language teaching miracles at a cost of 2390 EUROS PER WEEK!!!

Except the nuns don't do it now. Just these foreigners who turn up in the Netherlands and live somewhere near Vught, somewhere like Eindhoven.

And then apart from all the job hunting I met an Aussie. She's 30. She's here on a working holiday visa. She's living in Eindhoven. She's been here about 2 months. She has a Dutch boyfriend. She's studying Dutch. She has an interview with the nuns on Friday 13th.

No I didn't meet myself.

She's from Melbourne.

So we went out for a drink on Friday. I'm trying to swindle her out of her vegemite. Good night out? Yes. Successful swindling? Not yet!

It was Nico's birthday on Thursday but he had some work bonding session on the day so I didn't have to bake and fawn! His parents came over on Saturday with bundles of gifts and he spent the rest of the day ripping cds to his shiny new MP3 player and making 'Senseo' coffees.

It was also his grandmother's 95th birthday! We went to her soiree last Tuesday with about 100 family members. She actually remembered me from when I met her for about half an hour more than 3 years ago! Young? No. Alert? Yes!

And to end the week(end) on a high note, the sun was shining today so we went for a 47.5km bike ride! Good exercise? Yes. Did my newish gel seat prevent the 'discomfort' in my rear end? NO!

World Press Photography

We went to see the World Press Photography Exhibition yesterday.

It's an annual travelling exhibition of the best press photos.

I've seen this exhibition quite a few times in the past and love to go check it out when it gets to a country that I'm in.

It is always impressive, but as you can imagine, the press is often more about 'bad' news than 'good' news. This year there are photos from the much publicised war in Iraq, the less publicised 'conflicts' in the DR Congo, Togo and Guatamela, the aftermath of the tsunami in SE Asia, the earthquake in Kashmir and Hurricane Katrina. The photos are very confronting and if you do have the chance to go see it, you might want to take some tissues.

But it isn't all like this. There are good things in the world and one of these good things is sport. There are great action shots from the Sahara Marathon, the horse races in Australia, bull fighting in Colombia, Nada Kusti in India, the Philly Roller Girls, boys in Afghanistan playing football in an empty swimming pool...

If you haven't seen the exhibition yet, check if it's due near you:

http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/index.php?option=com_calendar&task=view&catid=95&selectedItem=51&Itemid=83&bandwidth=high#51

If you have missed it, you can always check the photos online:

http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=blogsection&id=16&Itemid=137&bandwidth=high

12.13 (85) - 12.12 (84)

If you're an AFL fan, you'll know exactly what that means.

If not, I won't enforce the rules of AFL on you, I will just let you know that the team I support, the Sydney Swans, were not on the winning side in this year's AFL Grand Final. It would have been excellent to have won two in a row, but the West Coast Eagles were too good this year.

Nico and I went to Amsterdam last night so we could be at "Coco's Outback" pub by 6.30am, yes, you read correctly, to watch the game. It was THE place to be to watch the live telecast of the Grand Final in the Netherlands. As we were walking there in the wee hours of the morning, we wondered if anybody would actually be there!

When we arrived, we realised that there are a fair chunk of Aussies living in or visiting the Netherlands and most of them were West Coast supporters and all of them had turned up at Coco's. It was like being back in a packed and rowdy Perth pub! In true Aussie fashion, most people were drinking Crownies and Hahns. After all, it was 2.30pm at the MCG in Australia!

It was a good game, despite the loss, and a true blue atmosphere at Coco's mate!!

Cheer, cheer the red and the white!! Looking pretty good for 6am!

Scary Eagles' supporter!! Note the tense Swans' fan in the middle.

Some of the Eagles' fans post-match.

Is it possible...

That the tax office in Eindhoven employs competent people?

I tried to call them so they could call me back (see previous post), but my Dutch wasn't quite good enough to understand the endless recorded message so I had no idea which number to press. So Nico called them...oh dependency...when he was on his lunch break at about 1pm and they called me at 3.10pm! Yes, the same day!

Although the lady was a bit thrown when I answered the phone with a hello (not done here) she was very friendly and helpful and made an appointment for me to get my So-Fi number on the 5th October.

And I thought the tax office was only competent when you owed them money.

And a friend of mine thought I was becoming cynical in my old age.

Red Tape Part 2

Well, I had my appointment at the 'stadskantoor' today. At least it was on time. I didn't have to wait around at all. The man was at desk 11, ready and waiting, with lots of papers.

I gave him my small mountain of papers which he photocopied one at a time. He actually took one document, went and photocopied it, came back, asked me for the next one, went and photocopied it, came back, asked me for the next one...you get the picture.

I now know why they allow 45 minutes for this appointment!

I think they have 4 copies of my passport now.

But it was all relatively painless and he put another sticker in my passport that said I have applied for a residence permit. All the photocopies will be sent to the IND who will take 3 to 4 months to process the actual residence permit. But in 10 days I should get a paper saying that I have applied for it?! I thought that's what the sticker was for?

He seemed to be on the ball so I asked him if I could apply for a So-Fi (tax) number which I need to be able to work.

Oops. This was not his area of expertise (reminiscent of "computer says no" for all you Little Britain fans).

At least he admitted he didn't know and told me to call the tax office.

Now the tax office is a whole other ball game. You have to call a number and give them your details and they call you back in 2 days to arrange, yes, you guessed it, an appointment!

At least I'm learning the art of sitting-around-because-I-can't-work-but-I-can't-do-too-much-because-I-don't-know-when-I-will-be-able-to-work-and-have-to-keep-an-eye-on-my-ever-decreasing-savings, I mean, patience.

When the weather is good...

Why not make Sundays the cycling day?

This time we went through a very posh town and ate a very not-posh 'uitsmijter'...kind of the Dutch version of an English breakfast made up of 2 slices of bread with cheese, ham and fried eggs piled on top and some salad on the side. It's huge and quite disgusting in that good kind of way.

We also rode through a lot of country-side and passed by a lot of farms...

...and my city-girl thoughts were: "Whoever coined the phrase 'fresh country air' has obviously never been to the country and breathed in that fresh, sweet smell of cow and horse manure".

After a long-ish ride (my gel saddle is still not attached to my bike) we stopped at a 'fiets cafe' for a drink. These are cafes for 'fietsers' = cyclists, though every man and his dog on bikes, in cars or on foot were there. And I do mean every man and his dog. Dogs were the second largest group there after adults while children came in third.

We rode back into Eindhoven where 'The Gypsy Road Show' was on at one of the many squares in town. The performances were staged in one of the pubs and in a tent which was set up for the event. The performances were all...wait for it...gypsy! Great music and dancing. A lively Sunday session!

Dutch 'circle' party

"Circle parties are a uniquely Dutch version of hell – which level, I’m not sure, but on the enjoyment scale they fit somewhere between doing your taxes and going to the dentist."
Kevin Lowe, http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=6&story_id=158

Not my words, as you can see!

But the Dutch circle party is a much talked about topic on any expat-in-the Netherlands website. Fabled though I thought they were, I actually attended one on Saturday night. And although I didn't find it like doing my taxes or going to the dentist, I did find it quite odd!

A 30th birthday party. Low key. Fine. But that everyone sits in a circle, starts off with a coffee or two and doesn't really move from their seats all night astounded me!

Maybe it was because during the two years I spent in London before coming to the Netherlands, the majority of parties I went to were held by mad Brazilians and sitting down for more than a few minutes was absolutely out of the question. Maybe I just got used to pints of caipirinhas and all night dancing and thought that all parties were really like that?

Although I enjoyed my initiation into this unique Dutch phenomenon, I think I might seek out some Brazilians while I'm here...

Succes!!

No, I haven't forgotten the last 's'...it's the Dutch spelling and it means 'good luck'. And that's what I'm wishing myself as I embark on another Dutch course!

For about 3 weeks in August I did an 'Intensieve zomercursus' in Amsterdam. It was a small class with all really good people from Afghanistan, the UK, Brazil, Russia, Nigeria, Egypt, Finland...and me. We studied about 4 hours a day that extended into five thanks to all the coffee breaks we took. I got to know the city with some of my classmates but did I get to know a lot of the Dutch language?

Well, yes and no.

There was a huge concentration on grammar and anyone who knew me throughout my DELTA course will know that I am a fan of Michael Lewis and anyone who knows of Michael Lewis will know that being pounded with grammar is not the way to learn a foreign language! And it was good to know that my belief in the 'chunks' and the 'lexicalised grammar' of language is the right one!! But enough...that will only be of remote interest to very few (if any) people.

What was my point?

Did I learn much Dutch? Well...I learnt what felt like a lot of grammar rules but didn't have enough practise with the language. So by the end of the course I had lots of pieces of paper but I still couldn't really say much to anyone!

So I found a Dutch course here in Eindhoven at the university. My class consists of PhD students...and me. I've only been to one class and although this class is bigger I had more chances to use the little Dutch I know in those 2 hours than I did in 2 days of classes in Amsterdam.

It got off to a great start!

I also found a group of foreigners...now, I don't usually seek out organised groups, but desperate times...

If you've read my first post you know that I can't work yet...and although I thought I'd enjoy being a lady of leisure, I don't really like that it's an enforced lady of leisure that I am being. Kind of like an enforced exile...it's not as fun as an exile by choice.

Anyway, this group organises, among other things, a Dutch practice group at a local cafe/bar. I went along on Tuesday to check it out. There were 8 people there...American, Portuguese, British...and me. There was also the Dutch husband of the organiser who acts as a dictionary, lucky fella. The theme of the week was 'games' and to be honest, I'm not much of a board games kind of girl so I had my doubts...but, it was really good! We spoke a lot of Dutch and it was really refreshing to go out with a bunch of new people.

Count me in for the next one!

So before you know it, I'll be speaking like a Dutchie.

Ha!

Succes!!

A Sunday cycle

Why I think the Dutch love to cycle:

1. It's flat.
2. There are cycle ways everywhere, and I do mean EVERYWHERE...
3. There is a cycle network across the entire country - all routes are numbered and maps are displayed throughout the network.
4. Cyclists have priority everywhere!! And when they don't, it's acceptable to take it!
5. It's flat.

So off we went for a Sunday cycle. Because the weather has been so good there were a lot of people out cycling. Young, old, families and their pets. People often cycle while they 'walk' their dogs, but the more spoilt / lazy puppies get their own little basket attached to their owner's bike. This also applies to kids who are too young to cycle on their own...you see them in seats at the front or the back, or even a kind of cart attached to the front or back of the mum or dad's bike. The Dutch do love to cycle.

The first place we headed to was a village called Nuenen to see a water mill made famous by a van Gogh painting. In 1884 he painted a series of watermills around Nuenen. He lived in this village from 1883 - 1885 so a chunk of his work is based around the area. We couldn't get right into the grounds of the mill because it is actually on someone's private property but there is a plaque with information at the front and an uninterrupted view of it.

Of course the Netherlands is more famous for its windmills and when you're out cycling in the countryside you come across quite a few...

As I mentioned before, there are cycle ways all over the country. You can find them at the sides of busy roads, small roads, canals, rivers, lanes...everywhere. Here are a couple of the ones I like...

We stopped at a couple of small, local cafes for some drinks on the way. I must admit...it was good to get off the bike for a while...my bum was so sore!! When we got home in the afternoon I could hardly sit down!! I just lay down on a matress and drank cordial for a while! I think I'll have to invest in a gel seat for my bike as I think I'll be cycling quite a bit here.

Swedish wedding

Last weekend (2nd Sept) we went to Tomas and Jessica's wedding in Uppsala, Sweden. Tomas worked with Nico in London for a while and then the four of us became friends. Like Nico and I, they lived in London for two years, from about mid 2004 to mid 2006. They now live back in their flat in Uppsala with their 2 very fluffy (and 'chubby') cats. To the right is a picture of them just after the ceremony, while the guests were still throwing 'rice' at them!

Some traditions are the same as what I have seen in other weddings, such as throwing the bouquet to all the unmarried women (guess whose hands that landed in!) and throwing the garter to all the unmarried men.

Other things were quite unique...but I don't know if this was all very 'Swedish' or all very 'Jessica and Tomas' or a combination of both.

• The bride and groom walk up the aisle together...no giving away of the bride. Thank you oh forward thinking Swedes!!
• At everyone's place at the table there was a kind of booklet. In the booklet it had songs to be sung at the reception as well as a brief description of everyone at the wedding. Thank you Jessica for translating everything into English in all the non-Swedish speakers' booklets!
• They played a game where Tomas and Jessica sat with their backs to each other. They both had a shoe of his and a shoe of hers. The MC's asked a bunch of questions which they had to answer by raising either the shoe of Tomas or of Jessica. An example was 'Who would get up if they had a baby and it was crying at 3 in the morning?' The aim was of course to see how many they answered the same. They got 14 out of 23! Thank you very much to their 2 friends at our table who interpreted every question for the 7 non-Swedish guests!
• Every time Jessica went to the toilet all the girls had to go and kiss Tomas, and when Tomas went, all the guys had to kiss Jessica. I remember Tomas commenting that this was his favourite tradition...
• The next day we went back to where they had the reception and they opened all the presents and read all the cards! Like the day before, there was so much good food and, this time, lots of strong coffee!! Thank you to Tomas and Jessica's family who prepared all of this for all the guests!

One more thing that I have to mention about this day was the fantastic job the MC's did. They were two friends of Tomas and Jessica; one guy, one girl. They were really entertaining and informative. And of course they went out of their way to translate everything for us.

While we were waiting for the bridal party after the ceremony we had some champagne and they then did something in English which was mainly for our benefit. They told us about different Swedish wedding tradtions from different parts of the country. A few I remember were:

• The bride couldn't sew her own dress because the number of stitches would represent the number of tears she would cry during her married life.
• The father of the bride used to have the power to marry a couple.
• The wedding party used to follow the bride and groom into the bedroom to check that they slept together!
• A man could pay for his wife to prevent her from being stolen by another man, but that would happen anyway, so the original guy had to pay another sum to get her back.
• In the part of Sweden we were in, a few drops of rain on the bride's veil was good luck.
• The person who says 'I do' the loudest is the one that will call the shots in the future...I only heard Jessica's 'ja' in the church???

It was a really great weekend and the ceremony and reception were really beautiful.

The bridal party

Bride, Groom and Brothers

Rafael, Tomas and Nico

Nico and I

And again