I saw this traveling the internet and couldn’t stop laughing. Somewhere in Sweden, in a tunnelbana station, someone put up the sign “Ballongförbud – No Balloons.”

Really? No balloons for us?

Sweden’s taking the fun out of everything!

Princess Madeleine got married yesterday to Mr. New York man Christopher O’Neill. He’s refused Swedish citizenship and the title of HRH so it will be interesting to see what will happen with the couple.

In the meantime, I loved Princess Madeleine’s wedding gown designed by Valentino. It is made with lace and has a four feet train. I know a lot of people have been making fun of her gown but I love it. ‘

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Her wedding was not full of pomp and circumstance like her sister’s Princess Victoria’s wedding, which had a LOVE Stockholm week dedicated, but it was fun nevertheless.

Anyway, here we are to photos!

Congratulations Princess Yummyboobs. We love you!

I put them all together in one page with some extra idioms and our own interpretations.

Are there any other idioms to add?

Nära skjuter ingen hare – A close shot will never get you the rabbit
What it really means:
I was so close to winning!
Yea, “it was close but no cigar.”

Skägget i brevlådan – Caught with your beard in the mailbox
An English idiom to translate: “To be caught with your pants down.”

Det ligger en hund begraven – There’s a dog buried here
“There’s something more to it”
As in, someone is not telling the complete truth.

Att ana ugglor i mossen – Suspecting owls in the bog
This is pretty much as close as a WTF does this mean as you can get.

You can translate it as, “you can suspect that something is wrong.”

Smaken är som baken, delad – The preference is like a butt, split
Don’t translate smaken as, “taste”, like eating taste. Translate it as a “preference.”
I would translate this as, people can have different preferences, like a butt with two cheeks.

Finns det hjärterum så finns det stjärterum – If there’s room in the heart there’s room for the ass.
“Everybody can fit in here” – think of a crowded room.

Gå som katten kring het gröt – To walk like a cat around hot porridge
The Swede has never heard it, so we have no idea what this is talking about.

Göra en höna av en fjäder – To make a hen out of a feather
The English idiom we all know: “To make a mountain out of a molehill.”

Köp inte grisen i säcken – Don’t buy the pig while it’s still in the bag
In English, “to buy a pig in the poke.”
I wasn’t quite sure what this even meant, so I headed over to Wikipedia for their explanation:
The idioms pig in a poke and sell a pup (or buy a pup) refer to a confidence trick originating in the Late Middle Ages, when meat was scarce, but cats and dogs (puppies) were not. The idiom pig in a poke can also simply refer to someone buying a low-quality pig in a bag because he or she did not carefully check what was in the bag.

Ta sig vatten över huvudet – Take water over your head
“To bite off more than you can chew.”

Inte döma hunden efter håren – Don’t judge the dog by the hare hair
Another bunny phrase that means, “don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Inte för allt smör i hela Småland – Not for all the butter in Småland
Because America is the land of plenty of butter, we say, “I won’t do it for all the tea in China.”

Inte sälja skinnet förrän björnen är skjuten – Don’t sell the skin before the bear is shot
Meaning, “don’t count your chickens until they hatch.”

And that’s that, don’t throw water over your head if you can’t do it!

Eurovision.

2013.

A reprise to 2014. Thank god, I need 200 days to recouperate before Sweden’s Melodiefestivalen attacks my eyes and ears like the zombie virus of bad singing and fashion.

For now, let’s visit the worst of Eurovision fashion from last week. Please be ready to be offended.

Un Point – Israel – Poorly Fitted Mermaid Dress. Honestly, the fashion designer and seamstress(es) should be fired for this outfit. It was poorly shaped, poorly stitched, and lumpy. Just because Moran is a luscious sized woman, doesn’t mean your stitching has to suck.

Deux Points – Ukraine – It was plain, it was forgettable and it was nude. Nude colors are bad for the stage; they make you look naked!

Trois Points – Germany – Congratulations for adding 20 years to your age by wearing a disco infused bomb of sequins and stringy stuff.

Quatre Points – Belarus – Girl, you ain’t Shakira. And Belarus is not allowed to have sunshine. That would be totally anti-communistic. Want to have fun and dance on the beach? Go to Spain.

Cinq Points – Turkey – I always love it when a stripper goes to Hollywood and meets prince charming. Errr, I mean goes to
Eurovision and is wearing a Madonna bustier.

Six Points – Finland – Trash the dress session meets Courtney Love.

Sept Points – - I don’t even know what country this is, but I don’t want to be visited by the Red-Reaper.

Huit Points – Moldova – She lit herself on fire. She lit herself on FIRE! Nevermind, that was just a plastic reflective dress for the digital projector to shine flames.

Dix Points – Montenegro – Spacesuits. Really? Spacesuits?! No wonder they couldn’t even make it past the first semi-final, they forgot about the most important theory in science: the bad costume – shitty singing continuum. Meeting both these conditions causes one to fall into the abyss of Eurovision hell.

And the douze points goes to…

ROMANIA!

Vampire meets Annie Lenox meets Cher. OMGWTF is going on?!

It is uncertain whether the unnamed man shot by the police was a direct threat to them when they entered the apartment. He was shot by police after refusing to drop his weapon and was declared dead upon arrival at the hospital. However, Megafonen, a youth community group only saw a hearse and never an ambulance.

They believe the shooting was part of an increasing presence of police brutality in Sweden.

To get a better understanding of what is going on, I have translated part of the interview with spokesperson Rami Al-Khamisi at Megafone with the newspaper DN.

1. Varför startade kravallerna? // Why start the riots?
–?Det var en reaktion på dödsskjutningen i måndags. Folk uppfattar att polisen har rasistiska föreställningar som gör det enklare att inte respektera människors rättigheter. Dessvärre har vi också ett samhälle som inte tar tillräckligt avstånd från det.
- It was a reaction to the shooting that happened on Monday. The people believe that the police racist act make it easier to not respect people’s rights. Unfortunately, we also have a society that takes too much distance from this.

2. Använde polisen rasistiska glåpord som ”neger” och ”råttor”? //Did the police use racist taunts like “n—er” and “rat”?

–Ja, vi överraskades hur polisen agerade mot människor, man använde hundar och batonger mot barn och föräldrar och uttryckte sig med ord som neger, svartskallar och apor.

- Yes, we were surprised at how the police acted toward people, how they used batons and dogs against children, parents and expressed themselves using words like negro, blackies, and monkies.

3. Tycker du att det är okej att människor kastar sten och bränner bilar? // Do you think it’s okay for people to throw stones and burn cars?

– Det hjälper inte att vare sig försvara eller ta ställning till det som händer, vi kan bara förstå det. Megafonen arbetar för social upprustning och har en konstruktiv och fredlig roll. Det är inte första gången upplopp sker i Husby. Det är strukturella problem som politikerna inte har åtgärdat. Ju större klyftorna blir kommer det tyvärr finnas människor som tar ut sin frustration på det här sättet.

- It doesn’t help to defend or take a position on what happens, we can only understand it. Megafone works for social rehabilitation in a constructive and peaceful way. This is not the first time riots have occurred in Husby. There are structural problems that the politicians have not resolved. The larger the gaps become, the more people will take their frustration in this way.

4. Du är kritisk till politiker och regeringen? // You are critical of politicians and the government?

–Regeringen väljer att lösa sociala problem med ökad polisbevakning och militarisering av förorten. Så länge detta pågår kommer människor att resa sig och vilja annat. Det skapar inte förändring men många tror att enda sättet att möta makten är med våld.

- The government choses to solve social problems with increased police and military presence in the suburbs. As long as this happens, people will rise up wanting something else. It does not create change, but many believe that the only way to meet that power is with violence.

5. Varför kräver ni en oberoende utredning av döds­skjutningen? // Why do you call for an independent investigation into the fatal shooting?

–Vi kräver en oberoende utredning för att ta reda på vad som hänt. Det har gjorts tidigare, och kan göras på förslag av rikspolisstyrelsen eller justieminister Beatrice Ask. Den kan bestå av jurister, professorer eller andra experter.

- We demand an independent investigation to take account of what happened. This has been done before, and is done on the suggestion of the National Police Board or the Justice Minister, Beatrice Ask. The board is comprised of lawyers, professors, and other experts.

6. Ni kräver också en ursäkt till kvinnan vars man dödades och Husbyborna? // Do you also demand an apology to the woman whose husband was killed and Husby residents?

–Vi kräver en offentlig ursäkt till Husbyborna som känner sig otrygga och fruktar för sina liv efter polisens övervåld. Folk såg att kvinnan blev illa behandlad av polisen och var i chock för att hennes man dödats. Polisen gick också ut med felaktiga uppgifter om att personen avled på sjukhuset vilket han inte gjorde.

- We demand a public apology to Husby residents who feel insecure and fear for their lives after the police assault. People saw that the woman was poorly treated by the police and was in shock that her husband was killed. The police also went public with false information that the person died in the hospital, which he did not.

7. Men är den felaktiga uppgiften ett bevis för övervåld? //but is this

–Frågan är om det krävs en insatsstyrka så många skott mot en knivbeväpnad, psykiskt sjuk man i 70-årsåldern. Frågan är också varför han inte fick hjälp efteråt och varför man inte kallar på ambulans.

- The question is whether a task force was needed and if it needed to fire so many shots to a mentally unstable 70 year old man. The question is also why he did not get help after and why an ambulance was not called.

–End interview.

If you are live outside of Stockholm central in Husby, Jakobsberg, and other suburbs, many community groups are walking out during the evenings this week to help instill a state of peace and security for the citizens.

It’s this time of year again, Swedish licorice time! The licorice festival is around the corner and what’s a better way to celebrate that than to have a little licorice tasting session with a few friends?

The licorice festival committee was kind enough to mail a bunch of licorice to try. Our tasting panel consisted of: Ms. Licorice-lover, Mr. Licorice-hater, Mr. Only-sweet-licorice, Ms. I-eat-everything, Mr. salt-licorice-lover and Ms. I-don’t-want-to-admit- it-but-I-like-it.

Let the tasting begin!

After stuffing our face with häxstänger (witch poles), firetrucks, chocolate covered licorice, salt covered licorice, licorice covered licorice (for real!) and all that deliciousness, we found three favorites!

Pingvinstång salta hallon(Penguin pole salt Raspberry) from Tom’s- Everybody that grew up on Fifty Fifty licorice/raspberry lollipop knows what great friends licorice and raspberry make. And you won’t be disappointed. It is a great taste of licorice. Don’t be alarmed with the salt in the name; it is not that salty. Even Mr. Only-sweet-licorice liked it.

Firetrucks from Van Slooten- This is something for the tough guy or girl! I’m not that tough. This is extreme hot pepper licorice, (it even says so on the bag).

They are chewy with a hot liquid filling. It has a strong licorice taste and the strong pepper taste lingers in your mouth long enough for you to pick up piece number two! If you love the strong licorice taste, you will love these!!

Gammeldags lakritsmarmeladgodis  (old-fashioned licorice marmalade candy) from Ryfors konfektyr - This reminds me of grandma. You could really taste the old-fashion feel. It is a soft candy, which many like but not me.

Gammeldags is sweet because it is a marmalade candy, but you will be surprised how rich is the licorice flavor. And this is one of those candies that you either love it or hate it. We decided we loved it. And you know grandma always knows best!  

And don’t worry, if now after reading this have a sudden craving for licorice, make sure you go to the licorice festival this Saturday or Sunday April 21-22 at Anexet in Stockholm to try all the different licorice. I’m sure your cravings will be satisfied.

That is because Feevy, the site I used to aggregate all the blogroll links and sort them by latest post, is dead. Completely dead. Googled for Feevy and nothing comes up.

It means my blogroll list of 30+ blogs over the past five years are gone. Boo!

I need your help then. If you would like to have your blog included in my blogroll, please drop a comment below and I will add you to it (shameful plug – please do add mine).

Write a comment below so that I can have a new, cool list of awesome bloggers about Sweden!

When I was reading the list over the weekend, my husband and I were laughing over the word ogooglebar. It means, to be “ungoogleable.” And then we thought, I wonder if Google knows about it…

Yea, well, Google did send Språkrådet nasty grams to change the definition of the word and let everyone know that “google” is protected under copyright. And that copyright extends to languages. God forbid we use a copyright word in the dictionary!

Ann Cederberg, CEO of Språkrådet wrote, “Google har nämligen glömt en sak: språkutvecklingen bryr sig inte om varumärkesskydd.” Meaning, “Google has forgotten one thing: language development does not care about copyright.

It is too bad, ogooglebar is a great word. I am sure most Swedes won’t care and will probably go out of their way to use the word as often as possible just to annoy Google.

For now, stay tuned for the new Swedish words of 2012.

Glad we got that out of the way!

From reader, Sabina, who captured the photos below, said “I liked that the store itself didn’t make a big deal about it. These models were just like every other model.”

The lingerie “normal” sized mannequins were mixed in with the regular, skinny ones. If you were walking by, you might not have noticed at first glance. But obviously people did.

I think it is an awesome idea to have more realistic looking models that the skinny things that are usually on display. Seriously, how many of us have a little extra flub and are desperate to get rid of it? Why are we, women, so afraid of being proud of our curves?

Really, we are scared shitless of ourselves in underwear. But at least these models are not. And I think it’s because in a country like Sweden, where the Swedish women are proud, smart, and equal to man can their mannequins not give a shit about being skinny.

And what about the standard skinny models Åhléns has on display? Not that skinny when you compare it to a Victoria’s Secret window display, below.

photo via dailymail.co.uk.

Maybe we should follow the Swedish way by valuing women for being beautiful with and without their curves.

The only real complaint about the mannequins? The hair. Can they not look so grey and flat?

What do you all think? Progressive or weird to have “normal sized” mannequins?

Now that I have been here for a few years, I have come to terms with a lot of things. Some aspects drive me crazy (more on that later) but overall, I am doing my best to take a laissez-faire approach to serious issues. If the people aren’t forcing and clamoring for change, why I should be the outspoken one to hate on things? And if people don’t hate it, should I really hate it?

On the positive side, Sweden is becoming more of a place with choices. More independent shops, more items at the grocery stores, and more ethnic restaurants. Nicer people with more international experiences. Sweden is becoming a real fondue pot of goodness.

So, in no particular order, my list of things I don’t hate… too much.

1. Fitted Bedsheets – There was once a time when you could only find poor quality cotton bedsheets at IKEA. In white. ONLY white. Now, a few more stores here and there are carrying them. There is not a huge selection but there is a selection nonetheless.

Finding Egyptian cotton color sheets at a reasonable price is still difficult. Maybe at Hästens or NK I can find overpriced sheets. Instead, I buy sheets in the US to bring back. I keep my sanity and comfy sheets!

2. Swedish drivers – Let’s replace all “Swedish” with “Stockholm.” Stockholm drivers are awful, Swedish drivers not really. So an apology to all Swedish drivers (not Stockholm ones) for thinking you drive like Stockholmers.

Seriously, when you see a car cut off a police vehicle, and the police does not do anything, you know it is a wild wild west.

3. Rude Swedish behavior – Again, let’s replace “Swedish” with “Stockholm.” Stockholmers can be incredibly rude. While we call say the same about New York City residents, the city has earned the popular/awesome cred to have rude citizens. Stockholm is no New York.

But, overall, Stockholmers have become nicer, especially store clerks and waiters. They are not as stuck up and aloof as they used to be. Yay!

4. Systembolaget – I still hate that place but I have to accept its purpose. And I have come to terms that many Swedes do not trust themselves, or others, when it comes to regulating alcohol intake. Systemet exists for the sake of Sweden and it is something I can live with.

Besides, road-tripping to Germany for beer is awesome.

5. America bashing – The US does so many “WTF” things these days (hello, Teabaggers!) that I can understand the America bashing. For example, take gun control. How do you support people who advocate *no* background checks or social security registration? That’s America for you.

But I do mind when Swedes compare themselves to the developing world with, “See you shouldn’t complain, we don’t have that kind of traffic in India. We have traffic but it’s not India, we do not need to worry about it.”

Comparing yourself to the developing world is like comparing Einstein to an Autistic child, of course Einstein will be superior on all levels. But that doesn’t give him the right to slack off or a be a douche bag. If Swedes want to compare, compare yourselves to the developed world or to the Nordic region. Not to Sudan or India or Zimbabwe. K, rant over.

6. The weather – It sounds whiney, and sometimes it is whiney but poor Sweden did get the short end of the stick when it comes to habitable places on Earth. The more I think of it, the more I believe complaining about the weather is some cathartic experience to make Swedes happier.

7. No one takes responsibility – Change is happening at a glacier pace to make people/companies responsible for their actions. I think it will happen one day that the government agencies that make decisions actually have the teeth to enforce them. And maybe some corrupt and dysfunctional practices can finally come to an end. Maybe, hopefully.

Overall, I love Sweden. I know I am harsh and rude to you at times. But I hold you to a higher standard than India or the US. I expect you to know better. And I expect you to be a role model to others.

But you’re proving your worth. Just don’t let lagom and jantelag pull you down to the status quo. Sweden, I hate you at times because I love you.