Today we have tried two new winter activities: ice-skating and cross-country skiing. In the morning we went to the outdoor ice rink in Mölndal. We had lots of fun and Bec did really well, after about an hour both our feet hurt quite a bit and we called it quits. After lunch we got ready for our next adventure: cross-country skiing. After a bit of trouble with the skies we got on our way, Bec was struggling a bit in the beginning but after a while she went allright, on our way back the sun had already set and the lights along the track gave a cosy feeling. Tonite we’re going in to the city, probably for a bit of pool and a few beers.

A snowstorm has moved in over the south of Sweden and is getting closer to Gothenburg. One airport has had to shut down for about 5 hours and lots of cars have run off the road. The snowfall here is getting heavier and heavier and it’s forcasted a couple of decimeters of snow Hopefully that’s correct because then Bec and I can go cross country skiing this afternoon. Right now we’re going out for a walk.

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We now have almost 1dm of snow outside and it’s still snowing. I went with Bec down to a store and bought a toboggan so we could go out and play in the snow. We had heaps of fun and hopefully the snow will keep coming.

Today I went with Bec to Slottskogen in Gothenburg, it’s a big park in the center of the city wich also has a little animal park with native swedish animals. We met Oscar there and walked around for a while, it was very cold though. The best part (except the hot chocolate afterwards) was to see the king of the swedish forest: the Moose.

Today I’ve been to the dentist and removed one of my wisdom teeth. It’s been growing forward towards the other teeth instead of upwards so if I didn’t get it out it would start hurting the other teeth. Because it was positioned as it was it was impossible to pull it out so it had to be removed surgically piece by piece. After a few hours when the anesthetic wore of it was really painful but I’ve got some hard core painkillers so I’ll survive. In two weeks it’s time for the next one…

Bec has got a little portion of winter in Sweden the last days. We have been out walking in the snow which was really nice but the last two days it’s been more like normal weather with just a couple of degrees above zero and rain. We’ve built a Gingerbread house, which is a Swedish tradition, to make a link to Australia we used Bec’s familys farm as a start for the design. On Wednesday we went to Liseberg, an amusement park in Gothenburg that has a Christmas market and lots of nice lights everywhere, we had a nice time and Bec tried “Glögg” (Swedish verion of Glühwein) for the first time. It was raining a fair bit unfortunately so when we got home we where pretty cold. We turned on the sauna, this was Bec’s first sauna and she didn’t last very long. Thursday Bec met Christofer and Beatrice, two of my really close friends. They made us a really nice dinner and we had a very nice time, we’ll probably sped new years together as well. Today we went into the city to look in shops and go and see the movie Narnia, which was really good. We also met up with Oscar who I haven’t seen for quite a while so that was fun. Now it’s time to decorate the christmas tree…

This morning I went to the airport to pic up Bec, the plane arrived on time and her flight hadn’t been too bad (even if flying for 30h isn’t the most fun you can have). It’s so great to see her again and she got along fine with my parents and my sister as well. Today we actually got a bit of snow here, on Bec’s first day in Sweden, we took advantage of the opportunity and went for a little walk up to a lake near by which was frozen and we could even have a little walk on the ice. For someone used to the hot and dry weather that’s common in Australia being here in the cold and the snow is pretty strange, on top of that it only daylight roughly between 09.00 and15.00 so quite a change from what she’s used to. Today she’s been very tired but hopefully she’ll feel better tomorrow.

Yesterday I did my last day at the removalist company I’ve been working for the last month or so. It hasn’t been as tough as I thought it would be even if I’ve been pretty tired some days and most of the people working there have been really nice. The reason that I’ve finished is that Bec is arriving from Aus tomorrow morning and I want to spend the whole five weeks she’s here with here. She’s pretty nervous (but also really excited) about coming here, both because it’ll be the first time that she meets any of my friends or family and also because it’s her first trip outside of Australia. I hope the flight isn’t to boring and that everything works smoothly, she should be about to land in Bangkok soon to transfer via Helsinki to Gothenburg.

In 5 day Bec is finally coming to Sweden, it’s very exciting since she hasn’t met any of my friends or family yet, it will also be lots of fun to show her around in Gothenburg and Sweden. Right now she’s just finished packing up everything at our house in Jan Juc (I’m not too sad to have missed the house cleaning) and on Sunday she gets on the plane and arrives here on Monday morning, hopefully there will be a bit iof snow here then.

The last week I haven’t really done much except working, after moving furnitures in 8 hours I’m usually pretty tired at night. I’ve been out for coffe with two of my old friends, Christina and Marie, it’s always fun to see them even if it doesn’t happen very often.

Today the Australian embassy in Berlin finally granted my prospective marriage visa. It’s taken a little while to organize everything and it feels really good that it’s over, (I just have to send them my pasport to get the visa) now I can travel and work pretty much however I want so no more need to adjust mine and Bec’s life around Australian visa regulations. This also means that I can go with Bec to Thailand as planned on our way back to Australia in January, I’m really lokking forward to mine and Bec’s first trip abroad together and it’ll be nice not to travel alone across the globe for a change

Today I probably had my toughest day at work so far. Moving an apartment from level 3 to level 2 + storage in the attic. 7h of walking up and down stairs carrying stuff made my legs get a little bit tired (usually there’s a lift to use but not today) but I’ll get a very nice and tight bum

My visa to Australia should be on it’s way if I can only get a hold of my case manager at the embassy. I’ve arranged the only thing she told me I needed during our first meeting so everything should be in order and hopefully I’ll have the visa in my hand before Christmas.