A necessary fall adventure turned into longing for home later in the year. Home is important and home is where all you things are, for us now it is Illinois.
After spending fall in Sweden I am back lounging in the Prairie State. It was in early August we took a quick decision to go back, for my youngest daughter to get a proper in-person education and a well-needed social life. Even if it was a tough decision to make, we knew it was right and it felt like an adventure at first. We found a cute apartment in an old, large former villa and decorated it with furniture from our summer house. We enjoyed the place and our time back in Stockholm, doing fun outing into the city or enjoying cozy evenings at home.
An unexpected but fabulous outcome was my daughter taking an interest in cooking. She made us do those weekly grocery-shopping trips, something I never managed to make a habit of earlier. I used to like cooking, but a few years ago, I just grew utterly tired of it. And now I haven’t cooked dinner for moths and it’s magical. She likes cooking and she is good at it, whether it is a rich bolognese, a tasty poke bowl, or whatever delicious dish she decides to whip up.
We usually went shopping late evenings in the middle of the week to avoid crowds. There is no need to hustle if you don’t have to. Yet a refreshing thing about being in Sweden this fall was seeing how people were not afraid of that coronavirus in the same way as in the USA. Tougher restrictions and much more fear-mongering in American media I assume is the reason for that. The language is different, even the public health authorities talk about “the deadly virus”, the media about “covid survivors” and the teacher’s union states that “you can’t learn if you are dead”, when arguing why schools have to be closed.
In my circle of friends and acquaintances – middle-aged women with tweens and teens – many have caught the virus and those who have not thinks, somewhat blasé, it’s only a matter of time, or that they are immune. But don’t get me wrong, there is a respect for the virus – people take precautions – but there is not a fear in the same way. Having kids going to school, taking public transportation, you know there is always a risk and you just accept it.
I’m very grateful for schools being open in Sweden, and the school itself stated at the end of the semester how proud they were having been able to give the student as good an education as ever, with some adjustments of course, but without masks or social distancing. Despite this we couldn’t help but long for our house in the US, our home, being together as a family, and with our beloved cats again. So back we went to the states in time for Christmas.
Here, president-elect, Joe Biden has said he wants to have schools reopened (those not already open in those other states). There was a rumor though, he will require all children and staff to be tested once a week, which according to CDC (Center for Disease Control) would be illegal and immoral. In Chicago the public school board has decided to disregard the teachers union’s refusal to teach in person – this is the union by the way who claimed a few weeks ago that pushing to reopening schools was “sexist, racist, and misogynist”.
Our school district, west of Chicago, has plans again to start in-person learning in a hybrid model at the end of January. Half the kids, half the days, no lunch or other breaks when the kids could actually socialize. Well, it’s better than nothing and I pray it actually happens. They have been known to change their plans in the past.
We have vaccines being rolled out, yet I get the feeling some media and politicians don’t want this pandemic to end. Instead of hope of normalcy the headlines prepare us for doom with phrases like “when schools MAY reopen” and “IF we will ever get back to normal”. The latest narrative, “even if you don’t get sick after taking the vaccine, you can still SPREAD the disease”, so nothing will change, masks on! Immunity doesn’t exist. What started with hand washing and social distancing, is now immunity passports (?), or somber threats of things never ever getting back to normal. I don’t what’s scarier, that prospect itself or the fact that many people seem to placidly accept it.
Being back I’m delighted to be able to watch Hulu again. Hulu did not allow my VPN, but now I’m binging The Mindy Project again. I was just at that pivotal season 2 episode on the plane. It truly is one of the best romantic comedy shows out there, for its first two or three seasons I should add. Mindy Kaling is a genius. If you missed the latest show she produced, Never Have I Ever, It’s incredibly funny, clever and sweet, about a young Indian-American highschool girl feeling lost after a trauma, about being neither American nor Indian enough and just handle high school in general. Then of course Hulu also has ER. My beloved ER, I’m starting my third rewatch – from season 6 of course – and back posting every Sunday on my Insta.
A new country should mean new experiences and yes, this month I watched my first ever American football game. I think it was back in 2006 I watched my first and only baseball game, being invited to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates when I was in the town on business. That time a business associate did his best explaining the rules. Now my husband who just now found a love for this sport, spent the game explaining what was going on to me. Well, I mostly enjoyed it as an experience to have, but yeah, there was not only one, but two fantastic touchdowns at the end that got the adrenaline rising.
Another first was stealing food from my older daughter, who has been visiting, as she decided to try the frog legs at a prominent local restaurant. The frog thing was a first, not the stealing. There is a lot of inventive outdoor seating arrangement as indoor dining is not okay according to the current Illinois restrictions. It’s been some fine family weeks here during Christmas and New Year, also including nice outings to Chicago – Scandinavian Andersonville and shopping vinyls and jeans at N Milwaukee Avenue, a neighbourhood that reminded us of Söder (The South) in Stockholm. We took our usual walks around our local prairie and despite the media narratives I’m feeling slightly hopeful as I’m back here in the Land of Lincoln.
Tora on TV and Things 
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