Owner: my life in hayes - living and breathing in San Francisco URL:www.mylifeinhayes.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:51:34 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Culture-shocks and everyday adventures in San Francisco, CA - and lot's of tips on how (not) to behave in a country full of Americans. Site statistics:Click here
Road rage in IKEA 2008-06-24 10:03:00 - I said I'm sorry - get over it, the woman says to me.I'm in IKEA and have just managed to avoid getting my head smashed in by a ridiculously long, heavy box of flat packed furniture which she drags behind her in a trolley that rolls sideways back and forth until it suddenly lunges towards me.- Woa!- I'm sorry, she says with a vacant smile, unaware of having almost killed me with her Ivar shelvi
Happy summer 2008 2008-07-20 02:26:00 I will hide away on a remote island off the east-coast of Sweden for a few weeks before entering civilization again. Although I will try to update the old blog a few times a week, I would still like to take this opportunity to wish you all a great summer, and if not before - I'll see you again late August when everything will be back to normal.Kind regardsCecilia Read more:Happy
Moving boxes 2008-07-15 12:27:00 22 years of my life have been laid open, sorted through and re-packed. Some of it is now stored away in a long-term storage space in the outskirts of Lund, south Sweden, but most of it are digging a very deep hole in the local skip. 22 years. Going through everything was painful. Mostly because of all the memories of that very angry girl who just wanted to get away. But also because of all the cra Read more:Moving
Differences 2008-07-14 13:43:00 So this is one of the many differences between the California west coast and my motherland:You hand over your credit card to a sales assistant. Reaction one:- I'm so sorry, madam, but we're not able to accept that particular card today. Do you have another one you'd like to try?Reaction two:- Don't take that.Followed by:- Could you write an autograph for me right here, madam?or:- Sign. There.Pleas
Terminal bloody 5 2008-07-12 00:28:00 You know that you have entered London Heathrow hemisphere when your pulse suddenly raises with about 300 bpm and a bloodvessel on your neck is about to pop. My son - in his buggy - gets stuck with a confused female traveler in the lift down to the Heathrow express, while the rest of us are left outside with the luggage, the doors closing even though I refuse to let go of the buggy until two ground Read more:bloody
Happy summer holiday! 2008-07-08 11:41:00 It's time for our yearly trip to Europe again, and the stress of packing is nothing compared to the stress we feel about the actual stay abroad. Jet-lag, a life in suitcases and the never ending feeling of constantly being in transit will stay with us for the entire seven weeks.It doesn't matter how much you plan and write itineraries and schedules and Excel-sheets, and how many nights we stay up Read more:Happy
More road rage, because it never ends 2008-07-25 07:16:00 Road-rage is alive and well in Sweden too, but here the perpetrators are not 18-year old college boys, nor are they men in un-registered white vans.They are 55-year old white middle-class men driving good sized family cars, in short sleeved pastel colored Lacost t-shirts and golf-shorts. (That is at least what I picture them wearing on the lower part of their bodies. I could be wrong. Then again,
Universal surfer moves 2008-07-25 07:06:00 California surfers throw themselves in the water and battle the waves no questions asked. They don't waste any time. Windurfers of the east-coast of Sweden do not throw themselves in the water as soon as they hit the beach. First they eat the sandwiches their mum's made them, washing them down with a drinkable yoghurt, while talking loudly, boastfully, about surfing and comparing the Swedish tax-s Read more:Universal
, moves
Small places in small parts of Sweden 2008-08-20 02:36:00 When the two guys from the cleaningcompany ask the two female librarians where they should start their cleaning in the small library in Borgholm, they look like two questionmarks behind their desks where they have scanned returned books all day.- We have no idea, they say slowly, in a barely audible whisper. How could we- Do you know? they ask each other. - We're never here when they clean. We rea Read more:Sweden
Hello Goodbye Sorry 2008-08-19 03:32:00 One thing that hits me every time I stay in Sweden for a lengthy period is how rude we can be towards each other. A man accidentally wheels his suitcase over another man's feet and doesn't apologize.A woman drops all her shopping on the pavement because her bags broke and no one attempts to help her pick it up again.No one offers the pregnant woman a seat on the bus.An acknowledgement in the shop Read more:Hello
, Goodbye
Back for more 2008-08-17 09:47:00 So I'm almost back from a long summer-holiday in Sweden. I will start blogging again very shortly. I can't wait, quite frankly.
tired, tired, bang! 2008-09-11 22:00:00 I have not had more than a few hours sleep, tops, last night and I find it hard to function today.Life certainly look more bleak when your eyes are crusty and barely open. The Obama campaign suddenly seem less solid. Palin seem less like a joke and more like a serious threat and optimism and positive thoughts run low.I worry about this and that and I find it hard to relax.The fog is thick and the Read more:tired
Swedish school 2008-09-09 23:14:00 The mothers at pick-up at the Scandinavian School where my daughter goes to Swedish
activities one afternoon a week seem to have their Swedish identity down to the last detail, something I admire, since I am unable to even muster up a Midsummer-eve dinner (which consists of pickled herring from a jar, so you can all see my problem, can't you?).It's shoes off in the hall-way (I forget every time) a
Summer lament 2008-09-09 16:44:00 I am feeling very end-of-summer-sad right now. happens every summer. First you're dreading the whole bleeding trip, only thinking about how busy you will be, how much money it will cost you, and wouldn't it be nicer to just stay at home instead. Then you're in the middle of it. Traveling. Enjoying. Eating and drinking with your friends, swimming in a twenty degree warm ocean (and that's Celsius, n Read more:Summer
Birthday plans 2008-09-09 13:43:00 I think it's time to put my hands up and admit that I have not made any plans
for my birthday. Whatever happened to my great, big idea to kick of a cracking big party and invite all our friends in SF? Well.... I haven't had time to even find a venue.And my birthday? Less that a week away.Thank god a nice, good friend was full of initiative and bought tickets to the Tricky-concert on Sunday.That wi Read more:Birthday
Saturday night in Haight 2008-09-07 17:02:00 The woman and two men who has just been told that they can't have a drink in the bar at Alembic while waiting for a table because the bar is full, but please leave a number and you'll get a call as soon as one is ready are visibly annoyed and very vocal about it.- Is this place under new management? Are there new regulations you need to follow? We come here all the time, and we have never been tur Read more:Saturday
Lost in translation 2008-09-06 12:44:00 - What do you want for tea? my sister-in-law asks Holly.- I don't like tea, she replies and keeps on playing.
Good or much more better 2008-09-05 16:39:00 Lunchtime in the Cole Valley deli. The man behind the counter to his customer:- So how's it going?- Good, man. It's hot out there.- I know. It's hot in here, too.- I walked from Mission all the way up here.- That's a hike.- Yeah.- What made you walk all that way, man?- I had to get back from my girlfriend. I just like walking, I guess.- Oh.- It's like, from 24th and Folsom.- Man. That's quite a wa Read more:better
Mid-week 2008-09-03 19:49:00 The US Dept of Census called me and asked why I hadn't filled in the survey they've sent out to my address.I have no idea. Not sure I even got one.- We can do it over the phone. It will take 20-30 minutes.If I had 20 to 30 minutes when I am not talking to handymen, emailing my husband about good dates for my birthday-dinner, feeding my son and making chicken-noodles for the rest of the family, I w
Summer definition 2008-09-03 13:51:00 The success of my summer holiday is usually measured in the amount of books I manage to read while I'm basking in the Swedish summer sun, and if I tuck away four or five a week, it is too few.My summer reading this year has been dire, to say the least.So sure, I now have a ten month old to keep entertained, as well as the on-going demands that defines an average family-holiday, but oh, I do miss t Read more:Summer
Rodents 2008-09-01 11:26:00 The happy rat on my fence has now been joined by two black mice and I feel it's time to go hard-core. I just wish I could find a pest control company who would take it on.On top of it all my daughter has saved up her pocket-money for the last six months and bought a Syrian hamster (if my lovely landlord reads this I hope he will forgive me as the irony of it all is not lost on me).I have nightmare
Park rangers in trucks 2008-08-31 17:46:00 Can somebody please explain to me why staff in the Golden Gate Park always leave the engines running while they load and un-load their trucks in the park? While clearing shrubs, cleaning up flower-beds and so on. The engines are always on. It doesn't make any sense.I thought we were all meant to work towards an environmentally friendly environment?
Sweet about me 2008-08-29 18:05:00 Apparently, it has been cold and grey in SF all summer. The sun arrived the same day as we did. I feel slightly special because of that.I go to my favorite coffee place by the water and order the usual from the geeky twenty-something barrista behind the till. As always, he asks for my name, and as always, I tell him.- Oh, like the song? He starts humming.- Yes. Like the song. - I'll give you a dis Read more:Sweet
Groundhog day, sort of. Nearly. 2008-08-28 20:31:00 In said library in said small village on an island off the east-coast of Sweden one of said librarians is looking slightly bewildered, to say the least, when I return a Curious George DVD and ask her if I can have my 20sek back since it's scratched to bits and got stuck in my laptop and I very nearly didn't get i out again. - But you did take it home, she says, and I forgive her already for anythi Read more:Groundhog
, Nearly
Back in the US! 2008-08-27 08:17:00 We're back in San Francisco and very happy to be so too.OK, the watering system goes off at five in the morning and wake us all up, not five in the afternoon. A cupboard door has comes off it's hinges and threatens to land on our feet every time we pass it. The ignition on the cooker is playing up, but we can still use three hobs, however, to everyone's dismay, the DVD-player has packed in and we'
You. Me. Everyone. All united. 2008-09-30 11:32:00 It is a reoccurring situation and it happens all the time. You come in contact with someone and you start a casual conversation and by default you're being asked about your accent and that leads to questions about your nationality and you disclose information and as if by magic it's all being taken to a different level. Nine times out of ten this person has some random Swedish history from generat
Guess what? 2008-09-28 14:35:00 We got the SF Chronicle today. Read more:Guess
We have no news 2008-09-27 15:36:00 Someone from the SF Chronicle subscriptions department called today again and spoke to Richard.- Did you receive the paper this morning.- No. We're not supposed to. It's a Sunday-only subscription.- Oh- (Richard can hear the cogwheels working on the other side of the line). So- that means- that-(He thinks: Get. There: Faster.)- So....Oh, so you'll receive your first paper tomorrow?- Yes! Exactly.
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