And then it was 2014

Fireworks and champagne, dinners and parties. I don’t think there’s a massive difference between Swedish and English New Year celebrations. In the past people fired a canon, something that took place in both Sweden and England.

Vegan bread cake

Many people make up their own traditions. For the past few years my friends and I have made a vegan bread cake and this year I got the honour to decorate the cake with seaweed caviar. We had neither fireworks nor champagne, but the neighbours - in the middle of nowhere - did a lot of shooting and we used Asti Cinzano for toasting. Some elderly people, at least my grans, used to have the same food for New Year’s Eve as they did for Christmas.

Man or woman, apple or pomelo

I’ve read a bit about Swedish folklore and found out that the first visitor of the year was important. If it was a woman it meant bad luck and if it was a man it meant good luck … And it was good to be up early and eat an apple on New Year’s Day. We raised late and had pomelo. A fruit I’ve never heard about before. My dad thought it was a melon and I thought it was a grapefruit before my more cultivated friend told us it was a pomelo.

That’s it. New year, new beginnings. I’ll carry on answering the 30 questions here on the blog while I’m waiting for the Swenglish book to get published. Happy New Year all readers!

PÅ SVENSKA

Happy New Year - 2013 is yet uncut

1 January I was too tired too think, but I spent most of 2 January in tears, crying because Swenglish was over. Because of my project, 2012 was probably the most structured year in my life since I went to school. I knew where I would be from week to week, and yet I was in the hands of other people and didn't have to make too many decisions of my own as I was living someone else's life.

And here I am with a new year and no plans. Well, that's a lie. My big goal is to complete the Swenglish book based on my project and find a publisher for it. While I'm writing I hope other things will become more clear. I know that I want to write and that I want to study, but I don't know what and where to study. I still stand with one foot in the forests of Sweden and one foot on the beach in Brighton&Hove.

A part of my project was to ask each person I stayed with 30 questions, hoping that 30 different (or sometimes very similar!) answers to each question would help me looking at my own life. My plan for the blog this year is to discuss one question a week and publish some of the answers (anonymously of course).

So look out for the first question coming next week: What would you miss about England/Sweden if you lived abroad?

PÅ SVENSKA

PS. The cake is a vegan dark rye bread cake with seaweed and is now a NYE tradition, lovingly made by "big sister".