Somewhat of a real update

We are arrived in Sweden. I've been going to work for about a week. We still don't have an apartment. There is a severe shortage of rentals available. However, if you feel inclined to buy, it only takes about a week. I have had good luck at the migration board and the tax office. At the migration board, I needed to have my photo and fingerprints taken. And they mailed me a card (like an ID card, but it is actually not the same as a Swedish ID card, which is something you can get at the tax office). They said it would take about a week to get the card, but it arrived in just two days. And once I had my card I could get my personal number, which is like a social security number. It consists of your birthday (yymmdd) and a dash and four other digits. When you get to be 100 years old it changes to your birthday and a plus sign and then your four digits.

After just one week of being here I gave a seminar. It was really only space physicists who were there. Maybe about a dozen of them. For me, I need a really large amount of time to prepare my presentation. I spent a really long time putting it together. It took particularly long because I had hastily transferred files from my old dying Mac to my new laptop the day before we had left. So the organization was lacking, which added to the time. Overall I think it ended up being fine, and it was not too short, which was one of my main concerns.

Greg is giving a seminar in the astronomy department in a week or two. I'm going to go so I can find out what he is working on.

I want to buy a bike soon so that I can get used to riding before the snow comes. There are so many bike paths everywhere, and I've been told they are plowed in the winter, so they should be good for riding year-round.

The only non-food purchases I've made so far have been for rain gear. I have a really sweet Swedish rain coat now. And an umbrella. And a waterproof pack cover which was too small for my backpack, but fits Greg's perfectly.

Oh and on Saturday is the 100 year celebration of Eric Sahlström, and there will be a lesson in Swedish folk dancing on Saturday. We are going, for sure.

I haven't really learned any Swedish yet. I was going to start my Rosetta Stone lessons, but it turns out that super fancy brand new amazing macs that you get for your work don't come with a CD drive. But one of the guys in the lab is going to get one that I can use. So hopefully I can get that going soon! Greg and I also might take some classes in town which start in September.