Mom's Visit - Day 20

Day 20
It was the last day before my family flew back to Singapore. We didn't plan to go anywhere today since they wanted to pack their luggage. Mom suggested to make chili crabs for dinner since it has been ages since I last had that (mom is so nice!). So off we went downtown to the Thai store to check out for crabs and other ingredients. We found kangkong and tau kua! I'm so happy!

After the Thai store, my brother wanted to pass by the chocolate shop in Gamla Linköping to buy some chocolates for their friends and relatives. So we went to my favorite place! ^_^ However, I didn't get any since the candies in our home is enough to open a shop of our own!

We came home during lunch time and made a simple lunch of hot dogs and mash potatoes. After lunch, it's time for mom to go check out the wild flowers downstairs again! And this is the pick of the day.


And check out our dinner!


Tonight the kids stayed up till my mom decided that it was time for them to go to bed (they usually go to bed at 8.30pm during school days and 9pm during school holidays). Jovan and Angel decided to draw my mom, Louis and BK a card before they go home. At around 11pm, mom was getting tired and told them that it was time to go to bed.

The Next Day, 25 June
Their flight is at 12.25pm and so we need to be in the airport to drop off the baggage at 11.25am.

When it was time for them to go, Jovan and Angel found it hard to say goodbye. They were both red in the eyes and told my mom that they didn't want her to go, which didn't make things any easier for mom. They felt a little better when I said that we will go visit them next year.

When we came home from the airport, kiddos stayed out to play a little before coming home for lunch. When they came home, Jovan said,"Mommy, it feels like Grandma was never here." I know exactly how he feels! But we'll be back next year, see you guys then!

Mom's Visit - Day 18 & 19

Day 18
The weather was great but we had to stay home because our Volvo has got a problem on one of the wheels. Hubby spent almost 14 hours fixing it and came home only at 1 something in the morning, poor baby!

For dinner, we had grilled pork chops with pasta salad and potato salad, again... forgot to take picture!!!!!

Day 19, 24 June
The good weather continued and we were invited to our friend, Olof's summer cottage to spend sometime near a lake. The drive there was nice with beautiful scenery, we even saw a moose running beside the road when we drove by! Too bad we didn't have time to take a picture.

After about 1 and a half hour's drive, we finally arrived. We started with a walk around the summer cottage and near the lake.


The view of the lake from the cottage is very pretty, too bad I forgot to take a picture of that.... that's what happen when one is pregnant! ^_^ (can't use this excuse too often!) After the walk, we had coffee and some cookies and buns. Our conversation topic was just around food! How typical of Singaporean right? ^_^

It was nice to spend time with Olof and his family. The atmosphere was easy and casual and we played some games, sat on the grass and just chat, it was very relaxing.



After awhile everybody got hungry and we had hamburgers which Olof marinated himself, they were yummy! We stayed on to play a little while more before heading home. We reached home a little over 9pm and everybody was just exhausted.

Another great day!

Mom's Visit - Day 16 & 17

Day 16
We visited Ekenäs Slott (Ekenäs Castle) on day 16, 21 June. It was a fortress and a fairytale castle from 1630, once the home of aristocratic families for 300 years. The Ekenäs Castle is also rumoured to be haunted and they organised ghost tour at night which is only for those 15 years old and above.


The castle is quite well-preserved and the guide was dressed in medieval time costume.



My language skills was really tested to the limit today. I had to translate the guide who was speaking mostly English and peppering with Swedish into Teochew and Mandarin for my mom! My brain was almost fried after the tour... After the tour I asked mom if she understood whatever I was telling her during the tour. She replied,"Of course lah, the castle is haunted mah. All the owners fight a lot." Er.... well, she got the rough idea, the castle was owned many years ago by Lords and Dukes who were involved in several different wars. So my translation still ok lah!

For dinner, we had rice, chicken curry with vegetable added, fried eggs and deep-fried prawn in batter. The chicken was especially soft and tender because mom forgot to turn off the stove when we went out, so the curry was cooking for 3 hours!!!!!! *FainT*

Day 17
I brought my mom, my brother and BK to town and shopping centers today, leaving hubby home with kiddos.

We went to Trädgårdsföreningen (Garden Society) first which is downtown. It is a big park which celebrates 150 years this year. We walked around looking at all the interesting plants and flowers.



After the visit at the park, we went to the shopping centers, spending another 3 hours plus, walking in and out of shops. My legs felt like jelly...

After all the flower watching today, mom realized that the wild flowers she picked a few days ago are dying. So she went down stair again when we got home to pick new flowers and insisted that I take a picture of them. So here goes...


For dinner, we had tacos, fast, simple and yummy! Forgot to take picture though...

Mom's Visit - Day 14 & 15

Day 14
We went to Gamla Linköping (Old Linköping) and Göta Kanal on day 14, 20 June. Gamla Linköping is a big outdoor museum where one can experience what a small Swedish town was like during the second half of the 19th century. The houses, streets, signs, gardens etc tell the story of people´s everyday life and environment at that time.

This open-air museum comprises about ninety buildings, moved from other parts of Linköping, and consists of three parts: the town quarter, the Valla forest, and the countryside, represented by the Valla Leisure Park.


My favorite place in Gamla Linköping is the chocolate shop. They make candies and sell chocolate in a old-time shophouse. However, the shop was closed when we were there because it was Midsummer's Day, most shops are closed on this day. There are a lot of small handicraft shops in Gamla Linköping. My brother and BK bought a pair of woodedn crafted candle holder in the shape of a male and female, really pretty!

We walked over to Valla Leisure Park, where kiddos played in the playground and fed the rabbits.




After Gamla Linköping, we bought MacDonald to have picnic at Göta Kanal. Göta Kanal was one of the largest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in Sweden. It is a canal running across Sweden from the Baltic to the North Sea.


We were all too full from the MacDonald late lunch earlier so we decided to skip dinner.

Mom's Visit - Day 13 Midsummer's Eve!

Today, 19 June, is midsummer's eve which is a very important holiday in Europe. In Sweden, midsummer has been celebrated even before the time of Christianity. This year is our first time celebrating midsummer in Sweden since we moved here almost 3 years ago, that's because we've been back to Singapore on holiday for the first 2 years.

My mother-in-law invited us to celebrate midsummer at her place this year, taking this opportunity to meet my family for the first time. Both my mommies were extremely nervous before the meeting. Swedish mommy asked me for advise on what food to prepare, which we both decided to have traditional Swedish food and a dish of chicken satay - in case, my mom is not use to eating Swedish food. My mom was nervous about not been to communicate and not knowing what to expect and how to behave. I told her that my Swedish mom is very friendly and that everything will be ok and that she should take it easy - which was advice on deaf ears...

We arrived at my MIL's place at 12pm. My Swedish mommy had made a flower crown for Angel to wear during the celebration.


We started with strawberry cake and coffee and then the weather changed...Dark clouds were moving in fast, it was windy and rainy. The celebration in the park was suppose to start at 2pm and we were all praying that the weather will get better soon. A few moments later, our prayers were answered! The sun came out from behind the clouds and the rain stopped. So we walked about 9km to the park for the celebration.

The first thing that greeted us upon arrival at the park was of course the midsummer pole.

The programme started with 2 ladies singing traditional Swedish summer songs. Kiddos played "Spin-the-wheel" and won chocolates. Ivan was checking everything up and walking up to whoever that had candy or ice cream in their hands, asking for a bite.... and we all took turns to chase after him and smile in embarrassment when other kids ran away from him, taking their candy/ice cream with them.... Half way through the programmes, thunders were heard and lightning seen and the rain just started pouring! Luckily we brought umbrellas! Kiddos were enjoying themselves squeezing under a big umbrella with daddy.

When the rain lightened up, hubby and Roy (MIL's boyfriend) suggested to walk home to pick up the cars to drive everybody home in case it started to rain again. The rest of us watched some old folks dancing near the midsummer pole in the traditional costumes.

These old people are either too old to dance or they have no time to rehearse... some of them are confused as to where they're supposed to be moving and others are just confused why they were there.... (Honestly! I'm not being mean about it!) Hubby was mean, he said that they looked like they were doing their last dance.... baby.... *shake head*

After the celebration in the park, MIL and Roy suggested to drive the kiddos back home to play and they can prepare food, while we went up to a hill to look at the view from the top. The view was great! Everything looked like miniature toys from the top!


After this, we went back home for dinner. Kiddos, Roy, my brother and BK played a few games at the backyard. We had ice cream and of course, more coffee and it was time to drive 2 hours back to Linköping.

We arrived home around 9pm and everybody was exhausted. Amidst all these new exposure to a different culture, meeting hubby's mom for the first time and tasting local food, my mom did not forget her obsession..."The wild flowers that were growing over there are prettier than here!" "So what do you think about the view from the hill mom?" "Huh? There wasn't any pretty wildflowers on that hill." *Faint*

Mom's Visit - Day 11 to Day 12

Day 11
My brother and my sister-in-law are back from their 1-week holiday in Norway today. Mom and I were just taking it easy at home while waiting for them to be home. Hubby picked them up at the train station in the evening and we were all busy catching up with each other on what we have done.

Mom made dinner again, she is not very adventurous in food but she's getting better.

Day 12
Weather is bad today! It was just pouring the whole day! I was commenting that before my family came, the weather was quite good. And on the day they arrived, we had to put on sweaters to go fetch them and it hasn't been fabulous since. And today it was just pouring! My brother pointed at BK and said,"It's her fault. Do you know what her nickname is?" "What?" "Hor xin lor. (God of rain in Hokkien)." Apparently, my sister-in-law (BK) brings rain wherever she goes. She replied,"Yah lor, if you invite me then u better don't plan anything outdoor." So funny! My mom whispered to me,"Why they call her hor-xin? She got nothing to do with housefly wat." Well, God of rain is very similar to housefly in Hokkien, so my mom thought BK's friends were being mean to her! I almost fell off my chair....

We had hamburger for lunch today and were too full to have any dinner, so no update on dinner.

Mom's Visit - Day 8 to Day 10

Day 8
Mom and I went shopping today to buy jeans for hubby and Jovan and also mom wanted to buy a new pair of shoes, since hers got busted on arrival to Sweden! ^_^ We went groceries shopping after that while hubby stayed home with kiddos. We thoroughly combed through the isles toady! Mom was curious about everything and was comparing things between Sweden and Singapore. "Wah all your vegetables are salad huh? Got nothing to stir-fry one meh?" "Got lah, but not so common, they sell once in awhile. Salad also can stir-fry mah." "Huh? Why all your fish got no bones one?" "Here supermarket mah, if want got bone one then go to fish monger to buy lor."

After what felt like 10 hours of walking up and down the isles, we finally completed our supermarket tour and queue to pay for our stuff. I put all the groceries onto the conveyor belt and asked mom to pack them into the plastic bags. "7 bags should be enough right?" "Huh? Just take lah" "Must pay one leh..." "What?!" I proceed to pay for our groceries and I walked over to mom to finish up the packing. She looked stressed out and she packed all 4 packs of 1.5l milk into 1 plastic bag! "Mom, it'll be tricky to carry this up 3 floors later." Mom replied, with a slight crazy look in her eyes,"Aiyah, never mind lah, I carry!" We finished packing and decided to stop for a hot-dog break while waiting for hubby to pick us up. "Wah piang eh! Here shopping so stressful one! Must pack ourselves! In S'pore, the cashier pack for us leh!" "Mom, I know, in case you forgot, I've been living in Singapore for 31 years leh." "I was so stressed out earlier! The things just keep coming and piling up!" Hahahahaha! Mom's first trip to the supermarket!



For dinner, mom wanted to cook again. I almost forgot to take picture, so pardon me for the "disaster look" ^_^.


Day 9
Woke up with headache today. Weather hasn't been so good for the past few days and today was windy and cloudy. Mom and Angel woke up. Looking at the wind blowing outside, mom suggested to go out to "enjoy" the wind. Coming from Singapore, it is very nice to be able to enjoy a breeze sometimes. However, we're in Sweden. The temperature was 13 degrees outside and it was windy - go figure. They walked out onto the balcony and dashed in after 30 seconds and jumped straight back into bed under the blanket...

I brought out the vacuum cleaner to vacuum the apartment but mom took over saying,"You're pregnant lah! I do." "Being pregnant is not a sickness leh... I also like that do when I was pregnant with Ivan mah..." "I wasn't here to look mah!" Ok lor... so nice to have mom here ^_^...

For dinner, I made stroganoff again. It's great that mom likes it, it is easy to cook!

Day 10
Weather was really good today, so we decided to go for a walk. Mom couldn't resist plucking the wild flowers,"Those we plucked the other day are dying mah..." Ok, so these are the flowers she plucked today.


Mom has been talking about trying my egg tarts for a long time. So I decided to make her some today while Ivan was taking his afternoon nap. They don't look so appealing but they are yummy!


After Ivan woke up and had his lunch, we decided to really enjoy the good weather and bring him down to run a little. He was chasing cat, squirrel, plucking leaves, trying to catch ants and tried to eat a bug, he was a busy baby!

I showed mom a very common tree here - pine tree. There are pine cones growing now and mom was pleasantly surprised. "We have to buy these during Christmas as decorations and you guys can just pick off the ground!" Yup, that's correct!


On the way, mom say more wild flowers and "attacked" them again! "In S'pore, we'll be fine S$500 for picking flowers. Here they're everywhere!" I think mom is a little obsessed... My small vase looks really crowded now...

Mom's Visit - Day 5 to Day 7

Day 5
11 June was the last day of school for Jovan and Angel before the school breaks for the long summer holiday. They were a little excited and woke up early to put on slightly nicer clothes for the end-of-school-year ceremony.


This year is special because mom is attending the ceremony with us and also, it's Jovan's first year to receive a recognition from the school by being the Student Representative (representing the Year 2 students).


Jovan and daddy gave Jovan's teacher a hug to thank her for another year of much appreciated good work.


Here's Angel in her classroom when her teachers are handing out some assignments to bring home which they have completed in school.


School is finally out and hello summer holiday! On the way back from the school, we saw some pretty wild flowers growing by the road. I told mom that she can pick them if she wants and she said,"No! I don't want to get fine!" But those are wild flowers! Nobody owns them! Typical law-abiding and government-fearing Singaporean! So Angel and I picked while mom dropped comments like,"This one is pretty, pick this one." "Pick that one over there." I trimmed them when we got back, put them in a vase and have them on the alter beside the holy family statue.


For dinner, mom volunteered to cook again (I swear! I'm not lying!). She made chicken rice with chicken rice mix from Kee's, store-bought BBQ chicken, onion fried eggs and stir-fried vegetable. Yum!


Day 6
It rained the whole day, not fun! Whatever happens to summer?! We didn't do much today and Jovan wanted to eat apple cake. So I made apple cake for tea break and we had it with vanilla sauce. Mom likes it. She told Angel,"I had to wait 34 years to taste your mommy's cooking and baking skills." Angel looked at her and said,"I had to wait for 5 years." ^o^

Since Ivan was taking his afternoon nap, mom and I took one of our many coffee/tea breaks and chatted in the kitchen. Mom asked,"Is there IKEA in Sweden?" I looked at her with disbelief,"What do you mean? It's like asking - Do you have chilli crab in Singapore!" Mom looked at me totally serious and said,"We do." Ok, I forgot how entertaining my mom can be sometimes. So I told her patiently that IKEA is Swedish, so yes, we do have IKEA in Sweden in a lot of places and they're usually very big as well. Now it was her turn to look at me in disbelief,"IKEA is Swedish?" "Yeah, didn't you noticed the colour is usually blue and yellow? Those are the Swedish colors." "They are?!" I give up......

I was feeling lazy so I made a super simple dinner - macaroni with meatballs and brown sauce, an invention by dear hubby. Mom likes it - that's nice! ^_^


Day 7
It is cloudy today and temperature is hovering between 11 to 13 degrees. I was bored out of my mind and so I decided to bring mom, Jovan and Angel downtown and to visit the Thai store to see if we can buy some Asian food or ingredients.

Mom had to cuddle up with the kiddos to stay warm while we were waiting for the bus.


We had a pleasant surprise when we arrived downtown to find out that there is a "International Street Market" fair. There were many stalls selling food/table wares/clothes all specialties from the different European countries. We bought some candies from Britain and they are good! I didn't managed to take any picture of the stalls because it was just packed with people and the valley was pretty narrow. I did however, took a picture of the area where they were selling flowers - so pretty!



Mom thought that the shops are similar to those in Melbourne and she commented that there are many shops downtown, and she wondered why I am complaining about how boring shopping is over here. Well, if you compared downtown Linköping with Orchard Road in Singapore.... it is a bit of a disappointment in the variety of shops here. Later, we went to the Thai store and bought some tidbits, ingredients and food. After all the walking, mom got tired and hungry and she suggested to go MacDonald's, so mom treated us to lunch at MacDonald's. After lunch, I bought MacDonald's home for hubby who stayed home with little Ivan.

We didn't make dinner today because everybody was full from the heavy lunch.

Mom's Visit: Day 1 to Day 4

Day 1

When we got home from the airport, I showed them around our small (but cozy) apartment, told them where things are and briefed them about sleeping arrangement. They seemed to be quite alright with accommodation, which is a big relief for me! Then we spent sometime talking and trying to catch up on the latest happening back home in Singapore with relatives.

For dinner, I made chicken chop with mushroom sauce, which everybody seemed to enjoy as well. Mom, Louis and Bee Keng were tired after the long flight, but were having problem trying to sleep. They managed to rest eventually.

Day 2

Everybody woke up really early at 4 something, 5am! I guess it was the time difference and also since it's summer now, the sun sets late and rises early, so they're not so used to it yet. Lars left for Finland today at around 4.30am to attend a negotiation course and will be back tomorrow night. We went for a walk (about 10 mins) to the supermarket nearby to buy some groceries and apples for my mom. On the way back, it started to drizzle a little and it was pretty windy too. Mom, Louis and Bee Keng started to feel cold, so we sped up and managed to reach home before the rain started pouring down, phew! we are lucky!

I made spaghetti and minced meat and tomato sauce for dinner. Mom had problem finishing her dinner, she doesn't like the texture of the spaghetti, she thought that it was too hard, but I cooked it al dente!!! I asked if she wanted me to cook some noodle instead but she said that it's alright, she is just not used to the the texture of spaghetti. Louis had been walking around the apartment today saying that it was cold. He had on a pair of shorts, the kind issued by the Singapore Army, made of breathable and light fabric. So I asked if he brought any jogging pants with him and he said no. "You said it's summer mah!" Hmm.....ok lor... The weather at the beginning of summer is usually quite unpredictable, but I guess I forgot to mention this to them... ^o^

Day 3

Louis and Bee Keng are going to Norway for 8 days. So we woke up early and I walked them to the bus stop to take a bus to the train station, where they will take the train to Stockholm airport to take the plane to Norway. When we were crossing the road to the bus stop, I reminded them to look left first before checking right, since Sweden is driving on the opposite side of the road from Singapore. And while we were waiting at the bus stop, my brother suddenly said,"The bus is here." "Where?" I said. And I turned my head, there was a bus coming from the opposite side. "Well, you can try to flag it down but I don't think it's gonna stop." "Oh yeah! We're on the opposite side of the road! Wah this is so confusing leh! I'm not sure I can drive here!" Well, we have planned for my brother to either borrow or rent a car so we can drive around Sweden to visit a few places, now I'm getting worried!

Since Lars will be home late, we decided to have porridge for dinner. Mom offered to make dinner today (I guess she can't stand to be away from the kitchen for too long!). We made plain porridge, chicken with ginger in dark soya sauce and stir-fry celery with red bell pepper. These are the same dishes which I made before but today they taste different, they taste like mom. Yummy!

Day 4

Mom and I decided to go fetch the kids from school today. While we were waiting for them, Angel's teacher, Maria was outside with another group of kids playing. She saw us and walked over to say hi. She shook mom's hand and introduced herself. She also told mom that Angel has been talking about her visit and has told her that she can wait for June to be here. Mom was really embarrassed! ^_^ And of course I was the translator during their one-way conversation - Maria talking and mom just smiling! Mom was surprised that we can just walk into the school ground because in Singapore, schools are fenced all around and they even have security guards stationed at the entrances to stop outsiders from going in.

We had stroganoff for dinner tonight and mom likes it! I'm happy that she's willing to try new food.

Mom's First Visit to Sweden!

After much persuasion and time spent talking to my mom to get her to visit me, she finally agreed and that was only because my brother and Bee Keng are coming over as well, which is fantastic as I don't have to worry about her travelling alone.

A couple of weeks before her first long flight to the other part of the world, she started nagging and complaining about why we have to live so far away, why can't we stay somewhere close like Australia or Hong Kong (which doesn't make any sense at all because the reason why we moved is because of Lars's business, otherwise we can just remain happily in Singapore!).

A week ago, there was a big disaster which involves an Air France plane and all 228 onboard passengers were speculated to be dead. I decided not to call my mom since I know she'll probably want to nag, complain and bring up this topic which I really don't want to discuss before her flight.

Finally the day arrive! 7 June 2009, Sunday at 11.45am, the family drove to Linköping airport. I have had problem sleeping the night before. My brain was just going overdrive! What if they don't like it here? What if they are disappointed? Is my apartment clean enough? I have been walking around the apartment for weeks behaving like a health inspector sent from Ministry of Health, trying to see if there are any places I need to clean or fingerprints or dirt which I need to wipe. Mom's visit is like a graduation ceremony for me. I want to show her that I'm capable of taking care of my own family and that they're fed well and are not living in a pigs' den. Hubby said that I don't have to prove anything to her, that I should just relax and enjoy her company here. I do understand that but I just can't shake off the anxiety inside. As we were driving there, hubby asked if I'm feeling nervous. Surprisingly, I don't. I was calm and filled with anticipation.

Finally they are here!