I really can't believe how much time has gone by since my last blog. Shame on me !!!
So more about living in Sweden ! I can't honestly say I liked the job as a maid, but it did put a little money in my pocket and I met a girl from Romania who was also working as a maid. She spoke no English, but we both spoke a little French and a little Swedish so we became the best of friends. We worked together as a team doing rooms which made the whole process much easier. When we worked the evening shift, we would work very quickly and when we were done, we would sneak out onto the roof of the hotel where they had a sunning area for guests and lie on the chaise lounges and smoke cigarettes and attempt to talk to each other. The woman in charge of Housekeeping at the hotel, really felt I should be doing something more than cleaning rooms. She got me a job with a gentleman that needed someone to clean his apartment, and also needed someone to type in English at the bank he worked at. This was certainly nicer than full time hotel maid. Peter understanding my frustration in my job search told his Chef that we might be leaving Sweden for that reason. The Chef offered me a position in the "Cold Kitchen" in the restaurant that Peter worked in. This was highly unusual, as the Swedish Kitchen has very specific qualifications to work in different departments. All the girls that worked in the Cold Kitchen had gone to school to be qualified. They didn't seem to be troubled too much about that, but the language was killing me. One spoke Swedish with a Norwegian accent, another was from the south of Sweden and one from the north of Sweden, so they all spoke differently. I learned a great deal working there and they had an opportunity to practice their English !
The spring and summer in Stockholm are wonderful. People totally enjoy the outdoors during that time of the year. The midnight sun is really something. When we would work the night shift, as we were leaving work around 11 pm the sun was setting. By the time we would get to our subway stop, the sun was rising ! We went to a party after work one night. It ended about 4 am. When we stepped outside to head home, it was so eerie ......... bright noon sun and no one on the streets. It was like the world had come to an end !!!
We bought a VW Beetle in the spring of 1974. We traveled as much as time would permit to see Scandinavia. We spent time in Denmark, took a road trip through Norway and saw the Fiords, and took a one day boat trip to an island off the coast of Finland. We made some wonderful friends while there. The picture of that motley crew is our little bowling team from work. It was a German, American, Austrian, Finish, Japanese team. Massa our Japanese friend even came to visit us in the states after we returned home from Europe.
The people crave the sun and warmth of the summer in Sweden. It's easy to understand after spending a winter there. The bright colored feathers are attached to forsythia branches. They help brighten up your home while waiting for the forsythia to bloom.
Although we were really enjoying our life in Stockholm, we needed to move on so Peter could get some more "European" experience. Positions in Zermatt Switzerland were available so we both applied, and we were hired by Seilerhaus to work in their restaurant for the winter. So we are off again to our next adventure. Don't ask me where we got the nerve, I guess there must really be some gypsy blood in us ! What an incredible journey we are on !!!
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