Last weekend was BBQ weekend.
Saturday, the PTA at Andrew's school hosted a bbq / potluck in the field behind the Lower school. It was grey and threatened to drizzle, but fortunately did not. I was asked to bring a salad, which I dutifully did - basic tossed St Lucia style which means grated cabbage and carrot. Mine was really boring compared to what everyone else brought. Dessert-wise, there must have been 35 choices, and Andrew tried at least 30 of them.
We all found people to talk to. I don't like working a crowd - I find it intimidating, but I made a point of stopping to chat with my classmates and the ladies I had met at the walk at Slottskrogen 2 weeks ago. Peter's classmate, Toshio, was there with his wife and children. They have come directly from Japan, and are having a tough time. If you have English here, you can survive. His family doesn't yet have English. They will learn English before attempting Swedish.
Sunday we were at Delsjön with the Relocation group. Delsjön is a lake / conservation area just outside of the city. To get from the parking lot to the picnic site, we had a tipspromenad. Trivia questions had been staggered along the path and you work your way from question to question, from start to destination. We now know what IKEA stands for and the names of the singers in Abba. The park itself looks a lot like Haliburton. We had fall weather too - sweaters and grey, but the leaves here haven't started to turn yet. Andrew had a great time sharpening sticks for the hotdogs with his jacknife and playing in the water with the other kids. Peter and I had some great conversations with other newcomers. We made some new friends, from Brisbane Australia, who had just arrived the week before. They have 2 children - a 6 year old and a 5 month old. Can you imagine this move with a baby? Boggles the mind. Their poor kitty is still in Australia. She's being shipped over in November I think. I guess they didn't have the lead time on the move we had, and that's why they weren't able to complete the required paperwork in time to bring the cat with them. They are currently in a flat awaiting the arrival of their furniture (in October) before moving into their house. Most of our friends are in the suburbs in real houses. We like our flat in the city, although Elizabeth is starting to complain that none of her friends live nearby so she can only see them during school.
The menu was hotdogs and marshmallows. My French friends had never toasted marshmallows before. Michele said it was a 'very American' thing to do. Swedish hotdogs (korv) leave something to be desired as far as I'm concerned, but they are definitely better cooked on a stick over an open flame. Ketchup and mustard are standard, as are onion bits. Looks like bacon bits, but they're bits of fried onion. Oddly, no one brought a cooler of beer or the makings for smores - definitely not a Canadian cook out! Next time we'll show them how it's really done....
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