Brrrrr!

The weather here has pretty much been as expected. We had 2 or 3 days when it made it to 80 and about 4 weeks of 70's. The last 2 weeks of August it was in the 60's, and since it's been in the 50's. These are highs of course. Yesterday there was a real bite in the air and my optician told me autumn was finally here. When I got home from work it was 52. By the time we got back from Charlie's walk it was 45 and after dinner it was 37. When I crawled in the bed it was 33 and when I woke up Saturday it was 30!

I didn't think about the lettuce in time to save it from the freeze, so it looked like this. Surprisingly though, it survived!

Chris learned a lot about our heating system this week when the repair guy came out. The thermostat is actually outside the house and decides when the heat is on or off based on the outside temperature. I can't wrap my head around this as someone who uses as little electricity as possible. Although I suppose it's good that the control is out of my hands because our house is a balmy 77! I might survive this winter after all.

Bicycles

Chris and I bought bicycles. We are moving in December to a different house in our neighborhood. The bicycles we are using now belong to the house we live in now, so we needed new ones.

We decided on Saturday to ride into Lund. It was a perfect day for bike riding, no rain! There are excellent bike paths here, so the way to Lund was easy to follow.

It's a beautiful ride through the countryside, about 4.5 miles.  Once we got to Lund, we decided to do a little riding around.

We felt quite European on our bikes and took our time riding back home.

A very American Day

We visited the biggest mall around on Friday. It's called Emporia. When we were here on the interview we drove by some shopping centers. Our relocation agent would point them out and say they were big, then she would say, well not by American standards. The more we shopped here the more we understood why she would say that. Stores and shopping centers are just smaller here. Emporia, however, is a lot bigger than the usual. Maybe about the same size as West Town mall, but it also has two full size grocery stores!

It was really cold outside, so there aren't many outside pictures. The mall sits next to the Malmö Arena. If you followed Eurovision you may know it was held here this year.

Inside was pretty, and it was really nice. There were a few stores we knew from the states, Holister, Levi's, Lee, and Esprit. It was four floors and in two places it was open to all of them. There was a cool glass elevator (hiss) that had water running down the outside.

It was at lunchtime when we realized we were having an American day as we ate Swedish fast food burgers. This chain originated in the northern town Chris visited earlier this year.

The top floor was an observation deck where you could look out to the Öresund sea and see the Öresund bridge to Denmark. Again I repeat, it was really cold and there's no pics if this part. There were some other cute sights though.

 

The Flag

I forgot to add this detail to the birthday post. In Sweden they hang the Swedish flag for certain holidays and special occasions. Burt and Kerstin hung a flag for me!

41???

Yesterday was my birthday! I decided I wanted to feel fancy, so I dressed up. I even wore heels, ok not while walking to and from work; I changed shoes when I got there.

The celebrating actually started the night before. The neighbors, Burt and Kerstin,  bought me some apple pastries in a city well known for apples, and their daughter and her husband, Christine and Magnus came over for fika with the pastries and a gift of their own as well. I was slow to take pics.

While I was waiting for the bus I got a text from Chris saying a package had arrived. We had put in some US requests and sister Sara was kind enough to oblige. Thanks Sara!

The morning at work started with a gift basket! The card said it was from science colleagues but I suspect it was all Pascale. It was lovely!

I had requested soup for dinner and Chris delivered. He made a shrimp bisque that was to die for! We each ate two bowls.

I also got a lot of Happy Birthday wishes from friends and family back home (and in Australia). Those were super important and helped me through my first birthday abroad!

Big Science in Denmark

ESS is funded by a lot of countries. It's pretty convoluted how it works, but it boils down to partnering with companies from other countries to build/make stuff we can buy or they can give or some such. It's not really my area, so it's best I not try to give details. Anyway, I went to Denmark Technical University on Monday and gave a talk describing the kinds of technogy we need on the neutron side of things. It went well. There were interested parties. I got a thank you present from the organizers.

Chocolates!!