Housing drama and pictures of Eli

So here’s the scoop with our housing.  It wasn't easy, but we found an apartment for the summer.  To get it, we had to sign the sublease without seeing the apartment.  Otherwise we risked someone else jumping on it.  It’s in an awesome location, near mountain bike trails, subway, and some other people we know.  (While every apartment in Stockholm is near parks and public transportation, this one is ideal for us.)  It’s also relatively large, at >60m² or >600 sq ft.

Unfortunately, it’s not available for another three weeks from now, then we only have it for two months.  So we have to find yet another place for the time between where we are now and that place.  Then we have to find a place for the fall and winter. 

It is easier to find short-term housing, and we’re (hopefully) going to book a place tomorrow for the next few weeks.  Then since we’ll have a few months to work, we should be able to find something that we can stay in through the winter.  By spring of 2012, we should be able to get into visiting researcher housing and stay there for the rest of our residency. 

Anyway, if you want to see how Eli spends his days in Stockholm, here are some pics.  

a few surprises

I had an idea of what to expect moving here from reading a lot.  But there have been many surprises; here are a few from my first few days...

• Time change + long daylight = no sleep: I've never had trouble adapting before, but I can't fall asleep before 3AM here.  Eli is having a lot of trouble too, but I expected that.   
• Nothing is written in English, anywhere.  Nothing.  While everyone here is fluent in English, I can't read a thing.  Even commercial websites never supplement Swedish with English, and google translate sometimes struggles.   
• I wasn't expecting everything to be so expensive.  For example, rather than pack worn-out shoes, I figured I'd buy a new pair here.  But I haven't found any brown shoes less than 1200 kr ($200 USD) yet.  
• Because of those two things, I haven't purchased a phone yet.  If I'm going to pay a lot for a phone, I need to know I'm getting the best value.   
• Swedes stereotypically keep to themselves to the point of being rude, but I've found exactly the opposite.  Whether I'm looking confused about bus routes or chasing Eli around a grocery store, I've had a lot of people start conversations.  
• Living in 30 m2 (300 sq ft) with a toddler is possible.  

Well, staying up 'til midnight writing a quick blog post isn't going to help with that sleep thing...

We made it to Sweden, and Day 1 as a stay-at-home Dad

With around 15000 miles under his belt, Eli is quite the good traveler.  He slept 6 hrs overnight on the flight from Chicago to Copenhagen, and he and I had a good time the rest of the trip.  He's still catching up on sleep though.  

For our first full day here, Eli and I took our own bus & walking tour of part of the city while Anne was at work.  Eli had a nice time eating lunch on the water near central city:

And after a while sitting in his stroller walking around...

...he decided to push it himself.  

After getting back to our 300 sq ft apt, Eli decided he wanted to play in the bathroom sink, and he screamed whenever I tried to put him down.  Having to decide between a temper tantrum and indulging him, I brought the ottoman over to the sink so he could stand there himself.  Then I realized it wouldn't be considered spoiling him if I made it educational - so in the 45 minutes he stood at the sink, I took the opportunity to teach him a few new signs & concepts.  

Anyway, some fun facts: it's perfect spring weather right now, generally in the 60s F.  It starts getting light around 3 AM and dark at 10 PM.  The bus is free when taking a baby in a stroller (strollers load in the middle of the buses, and they don't want people to leave their babies to go to the front and pay).    

Finally, here are some pictures of our tiny apartment (actually an extended-stay business hotel) that we have for two weeks. 

A stop in MI on our way to Sweden

So how's this blog thing work?  testing... testing...

Our first blog post is from Michigan.  Eli and Kevin leave Monday, Anne has been in Sweden for a day and a half.  Here are some pictures of Eli and his cousin Sammy, Eli walking a dog for the first time, and Eli and his Nana.