Monthly Archives: May 2012

Plan 5 days in Sweden for the Frugal Traveler

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Check this out!

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The meaning of Swedishness

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

As I wrote earlier, ethno-cultural Swedishness appears to be protected from visibility and discussion by an emphasis on social membership as conceived in procedural terms (you vote, you work, you pay your taxes, you use the services you help pay … Continue reading →

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Marriage Equality, Public Opinion and the Power of the President

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

When I first heard the news that Obama had finally come out in favor of gay marriage, I felt neither the euphoria nor the surprise that prompted such widespread public discussion of the issue. Here’s why: 1. I don’t like … Continue reading →

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Taste of Maine: Whoopie Pies

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Last week I was looking for some baking supplies in order to make Mei-mei’s birthday cake. I was surprised to discover that the bake shop had an entire display devoted to whoopie pies – right here in Småland, Sweden! I … Continue reading →

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Taste of Sweden: Lakrits (licorice)

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

People in Sweden love their licorice. They have licorice flavored liquor, chocolate bars with bits of hard licorice candy mixed in, and licorice flavored gummis and Swedish fish. Many licorice candies are available in the different flavors of sweet, sour … Continue reading →

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Confessions of a Gleek: they lost me at “surrender”

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

I’ve watched Glee from the first season. From the beginning I loved the snarky tongue-in-cheek writing. Remember that line about moving to San Francisco or New York or some other place where they eat vegetables that aren’t fried? Biting witticisms punctuated the … Continue reading →

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Sweden’s Euphoric Soundtrack

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Melodifestivalen is an annual singing competetion in which the people of Sweden select the singer and song that will represent the nation in that year’s Eurovision song contest. So, imagine an annual singing competition in which people who are generally … Continue reading →

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Turning 5

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Today we had Mei-mei’s 5th birthday. We had presents before a special breakfast of pancakes. Then downtown for our typical Saturday stroll/shop/lunch. We also picked up fixings for the birthday dinner: miso soup, oshitashi, and several types of sushi. For … Continue reading →

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Crazy Wonderful

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

Moving on to the weekend portion of a crazy week. I had a great week at work: two very productive days of field work in Malmö; Jeff Alexander, with whom I worked last year, and Rick Fantasia were both on campus … Continue reading →

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So emotional

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Andrea Voyer

I’ve noticed that folks here tend to be pretty even-keeled. There have been several instances in which I expected that folks to be disappointed or angry or resistant but instead they appeared indifferent. This was most striking when we moved … Continue reading →

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