Tuesday, September 10, 2013

We moved to Stockholm!

I'm not quite sure how long it will take for that sentence to sink in but I still can't believe we moved.  If you know me at all I don't like change.  I know everyone says that, but I really mean it.  Change should be something that only happens if something isn't working and in that case it should happen quickly.  Moving to a new city wasn't on my list of things that weren't working.  

It sure is pretty. This picture was taken on my way to watch Jake in a sailboat race.

Later I will blog about the long story of moving to Stockholm with more details than you probably want to read (but I would like to remember) so I'll give you the short story today with some random pictures from our trip in June and our first two weeks thrown in for fun.  

At the end of April Jake was presented with the idea of being transferred to Stockholm for a year or two. We told them we are interested enough to hear more. About a week later we found out that it wasn't an official offer because they didn't know if they would need someone until the end of June when someone went over to visit. That was frustrating. At that point we had started telling our family and friends and getting excited about the possibility of moving. After we found out it wasn't official we stopped telling people. So if you didn't hear we were moving until right before we moved it wasn't because we didn't want you to know, it was just that everything was so up in the air. Now we had to wait almost two months before we knew if it was even an official offer.


Jake was asked to go to Stockholm in June to work for a week. His work trip happened to fall over our 5 year wedding anniversary so we decided I should tag along. Plus, the week we went we were supposed to find out whether they wanted Jake to move for a year or not. So going would be a way for us to see what Stockholm was like before committing or it was our chance to see the city we got so excited about moving to that now isn't going to happen.


This picture is on our fifth wedding anniversary.

While we were there, we found out they did want him to move for a year. I was in denial most of our 10 days in Stockholm, I just couldn't wrap my head around moving. We came back home and were home for a week which was long enough to do our laundry, celebrate my 30th birthday and then we headed off to California with Jake's parents for 11 days.  

Our goal was to move to Stockholm August 1st so I could hopefully find a teaching position. (To give you a brief rundown of our summer: I taught summer school the first three weeks of June, we left on my last day of summer school for Stockholm for 10 days, we were back a week for my 30th birthday, in California for 11 days and then back for what we thought would be about 2 weeks before moving to Stockholm for a year. It was a busy summer.) But we didn't get our work permit approved until August 20th. Since I had already resigned and had been home for about a month with no job at that time, we were pretty much ready to go and left on a plane headed to Stockholm on August 23rd.


So far things have been good. Jake enjoys what he is doing. He basically has the ideal situation. His company moved him to a foreign country where he gets to do basically the same job he did before, with people he has met and had conference calls with over the last year. Plus he still gets to conference call with friends back in the Olathe office.


I am still trying to find a job so I can start making this place feel more like home. I've had two interviews and the most recent one I had seemed really promising. I'd like to be a para or classroom assistant. All teaching positions have been filled because school started in the middle of August over here just like it does in the states. I'd like a job flexible enough that we can travel on the weekends. I'm also planning on taking Swedish lessons at the end of the month with a friend I met here so I would need time off for that as well.

 This school was the first school I interviewed with.  They have grades 4-9.  They don't have any positions but I offered to volunteer.  They typically don't have volunteers and weren't sure how that would work.  That seems strange to me but I'm trying to trust God and his timing.
I actually walked by this school on our trip in June and I took this picture above of the front of the building.  I thought it was funny that it said No Child Left Behind and we all know I believe in tough love :).
This school is in Södermalm which is south of the city. The interview went well. It sounds like I might be able to volunteer here as a classroom assistant. They have preschool through 9th grade in this building.

We are also trying to find an apartment which is another blog post all by itself :).  

I know that for me the key to not wanting to get back on a plane and head home is finding a job or something for me to do where I can make friends and feel like I'm making an impact plus finding an apartment that we can call home.


I hope to post updates regularly on this blog. If you are curious about anything in particular let me know. I already have a list of possible blog posts and since I don't have a job I should have time to post. Thanks for stopping by and reading my first blog post.


4 comments:

  1. I will be your first comment! I already commented but not sure it worked. So excited to read your journey and see God move!

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    1. Thanks Megan! I've always loved reading your blog. (cough, cough) Can't believe I have my own.

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  2. So glad that you're doing this Kara. I'll be watching for updates!

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  3. YEA!!! So glad I get to see pictures =)Hoping I can talk Aaron into a Swedish visit before you move back. Or maybe I'll bring Megan with me ;)

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