Posted on 13 March, 2023 in Schools!

Homeschooling in NYC

I am constantly learning new things here! We have finally decided for Elvira to enroll in homeschooling. This puts more press on the educating parent, as stated on NYC Department of Education’s website;

“Homeschooling is an education model in which parents educate their children at home instead of sending them to a traditional public or private school. In homeschool, the parent or guardian is responsible for the education of their child. They choose the subjects to be taught (based on a child’s age and ability) as well as the curriculum and methods of teaching, plan the schedule, and teach or facilitate instruction. Homeschooling is independent, parent-directed, and parent-funded education.”

The things she will be missing out on are friends and a social network. But for these coming months, it is a small sacrifice compared to what she gains from this since she has had a really hard time. (Which of course has effected the whole family). So now we have already decided curriculum for her, and she has even drawn a schedule with all subjects sorted into blocks and time slots. She is content and happy, actually for the first time here. ❤️

And as read in the schedule, dog walking now can be a frequent feature in our everyday life! This whole new approach feels so good, and I really hope for Elvira to feel confident and much, much more satisfied from now on.

Fastest ever – took from submitting Friday evening to being approved by Monday afternoon

Last Sunday was one of the best days! A sunny and windy day. First we watched the Vasaloppet in retrospect (Heja Emil!) and then I went for a walk, came home and got a text from our Swedish friend Anette, who wanted to meet up. She was at Jack´s wife Frieda with her husband Martin and their cockapoo Lily. We went there and strolled down to the Essex Market, and then grabbed a coffee at the Think Coffee on Broadway.

At Essex Market we also found Nordic Preserves Fish & Wildlife Co. Good to know when planning for the Midsummer Feast!

This weekend we also sang to Adam, who turned 26 last Friday! ❤️ Saturday morning started out with a walk up to Grand Central Terminal and later in the afternoon Olle and I ran down the Hudson River in a lovely, but windy sunset. In the evening we watched Mello. 🎵🎵

Sunday afternoon, Johan and I went down to City Vineyard for a drink. I also registered for a race -The Spring Fling 10K on Governors Island on Mar 25. 🏃‍♀️ This is like a marker (one out of many) for my time here in NYC! So the day after I went to Fleet Feet and bought a new pair of Brooks.

There are a lot of wooden piers in the Hudson River, interesting reading about the old pile fields.

I have just picked up my newly sewn up trousers at the tailor´s and have also had my third last Mixed Collage Media class. The rest of the week contained dog walking Toffee, homeschooling, dinner at Rezdôra, where we finally managed to get a reservation 🙂 and lunch with friends.

Last Saturday Camilla, Basti and their kids Emmy and Ludwig came over to dinner! They will stay in New York for at least three years, and have moved here from Münich. We had a great evening, and we are invited to come over to them in White Plains and do a BBQ soon. 🙂 In the afternoon we were at Anette´s and Martin´s place in Williamsburg. We were invited to their Mello party and drinks, music and disco lights were promised. 💃 So we went there in nifty clothing – and I even bought a boa and hopefully we cut the mustard. 🙂

Some days ago, Andrew texted and was curious to hear if we were interested in adopting Toffee´s brother! Aaaawww, almost hard to say no…

Last Thursday I had lunch with Malin at Friend of a Farmer, a really nice place on Irving Place in Gramercy Park. In the evening I ran my first 6 miles outdoors, must be equivalent to a 12 miles run on the treadmill! Too windy to feel comfortable, but still. Hope for a more calm race day on Governors Island in a couple of weeks. 🙂

Now Elvira and I also have been to the public library and borrowed one book each.

Yesterday was Sunday and all we did was run a few errands and take some walks. Also the daylight saving time began here in the USA and in Canada, so we had daylight until 7pm!!

This week, Johan´s co-workers are coming in from Sweden for a full DanAds week. For the kids, and to some extend for myself, the week is filled with a lot of school work. However, we started this Monday morning with a lot of carpenters in our apartment, for them to integrate a plastic cover into Elvira´s bathroom ceiling…

Four carpenters here, the floor is covered and constant Spanish on the phones!

Spring is in the Air!

Posted on 13 January, 2023 in Birthday, Family and Friends, Schools!

A New Year, Sweet 17 and applying to Swedish schools

Last Friday was a big day – Olle turned 17 years old, but still had to go to school! We started the day with morning song and presents and in the evening we had dinner at a Moroccan restaurant, Ives, in Tribeca. He also got a lovely cake from his friends at school. 🎂

After dinner, we strolled home and shared our elevator with a young couple and the girl started to talk Swedish to us. Her mom apparently is from Sweden and lives just a block away. Her boyfriend´s mom lives in our building, which they were heading to. Fun trivia. 😂

On Saturday Johan and I power walked through East Village and in the afternoon all four of us went shopping with Olle, he had gotten a gift card at Zara. All four of us even hit the gym on Sunday and also managed a visit at the Guitar Center. Olle is shilly-shallying about buying a new acoustic guitar with nylon strings. 😘

On Monday I got a text from Malin (one of Lotta´s friends we met for lunch last November), asking if we should grab a coffee at La Cabra in the afternoon. We had so much fun and decided to meet up with our families next time, so we will have brunch at Lido in Harlem in a couple of weeks. Also interesting to experience that borough a bit more!

Now, I have applied for Elvira to start Skolhagenskolan in August. Feels almost like when we moved here and had to fight our way into the school system. For Olle, we are waiting for him to receive password for applying to senior high school. Fingers crossed.

This week Johan has a bunch of colleagues over, so he is quite occupied with meetings, dinners and also a trip by train to Washington DC. I would have loved to join! Instead I am going to botanize among my recently delivered painting stuff from Blick, since the online class starts soon. 🙂

I have also been to my hair stylist Hailey this week, and it is so much fun to chat with her. On my way over to Fox & Jane, I took a detour through Chinatown and walked, to me, new streets.

Yesterday, after school Elvira and a friend went to watch a basketball game with the boys´ team from her school. 😊 Olle and I took the opportunity to do some running on the treadmill at Planet Fitness. 💪

We have some problem with our radiators and pipes leaking water, which has resulted in some floor boards bulging upwards and Gabriel, connected to the owner of this apartment, tries to get a plumber here to look at it. But there are always some excuse for not showing up, so I wonder if there is a jinx on this radiator!

Tonight we are going to try a new Italian, Extra Virgin 😉 And if the weather allows, tomorrow Olle and I will run down the Hudson River Greenway at dusk, it is a different ambience to it when it is getting dark. On Sunday Ilze and her family are coming over for dinner and on Monday schools are closed due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Finally!! Part I completed…

Posted on 10 October, 2022 in Danads, Family and Friends, Schools!, Sports

Events, hospital visit and renting a batting cage at Chelsea Piers

Friday before last, Peo was the first in line of DanAds´co-workers to come to New York for a week of “office warming” party, meetings, dinners and the big event Self-Serve Summit 2022. I think they were so happy and satisfied with all achievements and for me, Olle and Vira it was fun to participate and say Hello to both DanAds´ people and also to some of their clients.

I do a lot of walking 😉 Still, these views at the Hudson River are the best. Walking here is like a refill of peace to the soul.

Last Monday Olle and I went to the Gouverneur Hospital to, what we thought was only to receive his first vaccine doses. Two hours later we walked out of Dr. Gloria Perez´s examination room after a physical exam, had a form filled out of mental health status, titers done and two shots taken (Tdap and MenACWY). His next appointment is in the beginning of November, and then we will find out if he´s immune to e.g. Chickenpox or need a few more doses. We had another approach with Elvira, so she got her first dose of the Varicella at the MinuteClinic inside a CVS Pharmacy. Hopefully that is enough, or we have to arrange for her to visit the hospital as well.

Poor son. Like his big brother, Olle got really dizzy after the two vaccine doses

Hurricane Ian came to New York last weekend, decreased in strength but with heavy rain and winds.

There are still difficult times for the children, especially Vira, and I am hoping for a new “good enough” week as from tomorrow when schools start again. Today they are closed due to Italian Heritage and we are planning for Karin to come here tonight!

Olle is quite impressive considering he is not feeling too happy either, on this day off he’s made a schedule for today´s homework and also for a run at the Hudson. Also, he and I have a nice thing to look forward to, on Nov 22 we will go see Stromae at MSG! 🙂

At Chelsea Piers you can try a lot of sports and last Saturday we rented a cage to perform as baseball batters!

I follow Elvira to school in the mornings and almost every building has a cellar with entrances from the street. This creates regular holes in the sidewalk and I always feel like I’m going to fall down like Alice in Wonderland 😉

We have been here for almost three months already and I know time passes quickly. I really love waking up to a new day and my biggest hope is for the kids to feel comfy and happier.

We have a zoom meeting tomorrow evening with Vira´s school about a new platform called Jumprope and then on Wednesday a Google meeting for 11th graders at Olle´s school.

And I am so looking forward to Thursday, when the first drawing class will take place. 🙂 On Sunday, Elvira and I will have lunch with a Swedish girl and her mom, hopefully it will be a good aquaintance!

Still waiting for the sunflower to blossom… And finally, these two gentlemen are to die for! 😻😻

Posted on 29 September, 2022 in Danads, Family and Friends, Schools!

We are welcoming Fall and lower degrees

Time flies when you´re having fun!

Joy and Tim have been here for an amazing week and left for Sweden last Saturday. We have had a great time in lovely sunny weather and just now Fall seems to have embraced the city.

During the “sis-week” we walked around the city doing loads of things! We started our week together with a late dinner at the Dutch at Sullivan St.

During this week we had a coffee at the newly opened Tin Building by Sean-Georges at Pier 17, eaten Pastrami sandwiches at Katz´s Delicatessen and had dinners at Gelso in Little Italy, Shanghai 21 in China Town, Estancia 460 in Tribeca and Osteria del Porto in the historic South Street Seaport district of Lower Manhattan. We also got the chance to taste cool drinks in the Bar Room and a glass of wine at our “dive bar” Broom Street Bar.

During these days, Joy, Tim and I walked around the city doing a lot of things, like visiting the Met, walking Central Park from corner to corner the whole way up to Harlem, having breakfast at Balthazar´s on Spring St. and walking the High Line.

Since September means Pumpkin time, every grocery shop is filled of pumpkins. And of course Starbucks are also taking up the trend and Elvira has a new favorite “Spicy Pumpkin Latte”. 🙂

Joy and Tim flew back to Sweden around noon last Saturday and on Sunday morning we woke up to a chilly morning about 66 F (which Johan loves) and decided to power walk the Williamsburg Bridge, crossed the bridge and headed south into Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This was an experience, to see the Hasidic Jewish Community Then we took the Manhattan Bridge (guaranteed the least nice brigdes of the BMW Bridges) and landed in China Town on the Manhattan side and headed home.

A lovely lunch at the City Vineyard at Pier 26 followed the bridges trip. Johan´s friend Peter Martin had invited his New York friends (he himself had just participated in the OCR World Championships up in Vermont) for a get together lunch! So nice to listen to the experiences of other Swedes and besides, there was an American sitting at the table. 😉

Here I also learned about the moth-like bugs who have blanketed New York the last months, the Spotted Lanternfly – an invasive planthopper from Asia. They only look black and beige with their wings folded, but once flying they show the bright colors of red, black and white.

This week schools were closed Monday and Tuesday due to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Still, the best times for the kids are apparently no-school-times, but as from yesterday they are back in the class rooms. We have also found out that they will need some more doses of vaccine due to missing one or some according to the American immunization program… Olle and I will see Dr. Gloria Perez at the Gouverneur Hospital on Monday, with the mission of getting him fully vaccinated. Elvira is probably next in line.

Last Tuesday I met a new friend, Camilla from White Plains, a county north of NYC. She also has two kids in school (German school, but anyways!) We had lunch at the Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Such a nice place, and such a nice Camilla 🙂 She and her family just moved here from 18 years in Munich.

We hope so much for the kids to soon feel better and I think it would be great if they actually planned for some after school activities, but time will tell.

On to something more fun 🙂 Danads will host a Self-Serve Summit next week which spills over into other activities, such as an office warming party, drink at ours and an opportunity for me, Olle and Elvira to say Hi to Johan´s co-workers from all over the world who are coming here next week!

Posted on 16 September, 202216 September, 2022 in 9/11, Schools!, Settling in

A lot of crying, homesickness and back to school… tough times are here.

It´s hard knowing your children are not feeling well – it´s the worst. Hopefully time will help making things better and also must believe small steps in the right direction are taken. Schools started last Thursday and this whole school thing is still a bit of a blur…

This week we have explored the different trains to take to school and both kids have finally got their own MetroCards. They are still waiting for their Student ID´s, which will give them access to leave the school building during lunch time and also a more convenient way to check into the building in the mornings.

The American school system seems to be built on classes divided into periods of 45 minutes with 5 minutes between every class, just so the student has time to change books for next class. So there are no breaks in between or even for Olle no free periods during the day. All classes are almost the same the whole week from Monday thru Friday.

9/11 – a day of rememberance and also the Swedish Election day. This was a rainy and hazy day here in the Big Apple. It was very moving to go down to Ground zero to honor the victims who lost their lives 21 years ago.

Everything is not so sad, many positive things are happening as well!

A lot of really nice people have reached out with tips on how to tackle a bit lost and sad kids 🙂

I am starting my first in-person class in drawing next Thursday 🙂

I have got a debet card – no more cash 🙂

Tomorrow at noon we are going to help out at a Family BBQ at Elvira´s school 🙂

Joy and Tim are coming tomorrow evening 🙂

We have tried our first Cronuts, NYS´s most famous dessert, at the https://www.dominiqueanselny.com/ 🙂

Posted on 28 August, 202213 June, 2023 in Schools!, Shopping, Sports

Continuity in tropical climate and degrees above 89 Fahrenheit – and still no cold in sight

If the above doesn´t work out as planned, I actually bought some succulents – those will hopefully survive!

During these last days we have checked the schools out and did some shopping. On Tuesday me and Elvira took the 6 Train from Spring St to Astor Pl, just to try out one of the routes to her (hopefully) new school. She totally loved it, even though her first comment was “I´m gonna get lost here at once”. 😉

Between visiting the gym and doing some lovely walks down the River Hudson Park, Johan and I have also already done our duty and early voted in the Swedish parliamentary election at the Swedish Consulate at One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza.

About to annouce our presence – and take the elevator up to floor 40 for the Swedish Election.

I went down to the closest basketball court at Hudson River Park and found these two 🥰

On Thursday morning, like almost every morning, I took a power walk down the river and out on the piers and a wasp look-a-like came climbing up my leg! At least 1.5 inches (almost 4 centimeters – I am trying to learn all the American measurement scales just to have a chance in helping the kids in their upcoming home work…).

Finally, Elvira got to visit the Ice Cream Museum at Broadway, together with a not as happy big brother 😉 In the end, they both came home pleased after eating as much ice cream as they wanted!

And Olle has just bought a keyboard (at Guitar Center again) and the guy in the store asked, after talking to me and Olle “- Where is his accent?!” Must feel sooo comfy to hear! 🙂

Yesterday Johan got a new pair of cool sneakers from On Cloud, and I found a pair of running shorts from Lululemon, so happy for them! 🙂 At lunch we tried the Korean Rice Chicken just around the corner, a bit similiar to Chilli&Soy in Täby Centrum.

Today we visited the gym again, and then had lunch at the Boqueria on Spring Street and Elvira and I just got home after two hours of probing gray jeans in every store on lower Broadway… Still no purchase, but perhaps with better luck another day :-).

And I got some cute furry pictures from Adam – hurts not to have them around but know they are doing sooo well at home.

Apparently Amos wanted to get some sleep where Alfons was already lying!

Today the guys went to an NFL preseason game in Jersey. So Go Jets!! 3 hours later is seemed like the right team had won…

Tomorrow Johan goes to Sweden for a week and our little trio gets to see what the last full week of vacation has to bring! See you soon. 🙂

Posted on 22 August, 202213 June, 2023 in Schools!, Settling in

Having the best of times and at the same time curious of new routines to come!

Since Tilda left for Sweden, the little family of four is making it´s continued journey around this magic, mesmerizing and noisy city. We have now tried out our gym twice together, and I think we all are feeling severe muscle soreness. 🙂

Saturday morning started off with a fast walk down to the Seaside Walk at Pier 17 on East Side, where me and Tilda also went some days ago. “Until a few years ago, this was one of the most dangerous places in the city and HQ of illegal transactions. Now that it has been restored it offers all the charm of New York´s history on a single street!”

On our way down we took the opportunity to take some running steps at Lafayette St, due to the Bicycle Habitat (worked for runners as well).

“Bicycle Habitat was founded in New York City in 1978. We have expanded into several storefronts in Soho, but always maintaining our original location on Lafayette Street. In 2010, we also expanded into Park Slope, Brooklyn. Through all these years, our mission stays the same: More people on bikes, more often. We believe all of us on bikes is better for health, for the city, for the environment – and for quality of life.“

From here we kept on walking the East River Esplanade down to the Whitehall South Ferry Terminal and Battery Park and then headed home on the Hudson River Greenway on the West Side.

Today we also have bought a basket ball so now there is no excuse for Olle (or anyone else who wants to shoot some hoops :-)) to try out one of all nearby basket ball courts!

Monday morning and I took a quick power walk down the Hudson River Park. The kiddos were still asleep when I came home. This summer they have had their longest summer vacation ever (before retirement anyway;-)).

After a quick stop at our neighborhood grocery store Trader Joe’s for yoghurt and peaches, I went out to meet Malin, one of Marika´s little sisters :-). Malin is here on job this week, the cool and hip Swedish fashion house Acne Studios! We took a glass of wine at Prince St. and then strolled down to the Acne Studio at Green St. – and thank you Malin, we loooove this face hat 🙂

We are waiting for some kind of confirmation on our signed enrollment assignment letters for both Olle and Elvira (since schools start on Sep 8, feels like time flies). Here you also need to show proof of address, such as lease agreement, gas bill, pay stub or an American driver´s license… So much paper work before you get approved. But tomorrow however – me, Olle and Elvira will take the trains and test the best routes to the schools they have applied for.

Posted on 7 August, 202213 June, 2023 in Roadtrip, Schools!

First road trip to New England, enrolling in schools and hitting the gym!

Since last post we all have new American phone numbers, Johan has received both a debet card and a Social Security Card. In other words, small steps ahead.

We started off last Monday in our rental car, a Toyota RAV4, with first stop in lovely picturesque Newport, RI. Here we hade a late dinner and in the morning me and Johan tried out the “Cliff walk”.

Our rental car, impressive how Johan got us out of the Manhattan traffic chaos!

Our next stop was Cape Cod, MA and we ended up in a town named Yarmouth at a motel with both out- and indoor pools, with the feeling of being the actual Griswolds 🙂 Perhaps not the most charming place, but we had a fantastic dinner at the Skipper Chowder House and me and Elvira had a swim in the Atlantic Ocean (Nantucket sounds) the morning after.

Our 3rd stop is actually the destination which started this trip in the first place – Boston, MA!

Medals under bridge on Cambridge Parkway

Thursday morning and heading to New Haven, CT and the last night away this time. All four of us are happy to be home soon, probably because we still are so new to our apartment and our neighborhood. Nevertheless, it is a pretty nice feeling 🙂

Last Friday evening, Eloisa, the woman from the Family Welcome Center called and gave us three different choices of schools per kid and after checking them out, both Olle and Vira have decided which ones they want to enroll in. Both schools are within walking distance from home (20-30 min), but they will probably take a train or two, so we are soon about to explore the subway system…

But first we tried out our new gym, Planet Fitness. Here you can come as you are as long as you don’t wear jeans, sandals or boots. However, not changing from your outdoor running shoes is no problem 😉 A big upside is that you can bring a friend at any time, as often as you want.