Time to head home

The sun rise this morning was incredible! One of the most beautiful ones I've seen...oh, it is also the last I'll be seeing in Sweden this trip. The reason I'm up so early is that we are flying home today.

We have been here for over six weeks and have really enjoyed our time. As I hope you have come to see being here is much more than a vacation, as far as I can fell it isn't really a vacation at all. It is more like a life style. It doesn't have the "relaxing" aspects of an average vacation. Nor do I end this experience feeling like I wanted to do more or I wish I had more time. I really want to go home!

Not that I won't miss the people or the island. I will remember everything fondly and will look forward to the time I can return. Because I've been coming here for so long and have grown to see thus place as a second home of sorts, it hard to know where to put it.

After being here for so long I almost have forgotten what it's like being home, being around my stuff and eating my food. I do however miss my bed. There is nothing like being in your own bed. Funny how the thing I miss the most is something I'm pretty much unaware of most of the time I'm using it.

So as we leave, I will ponder how much I have changed, how much my kids have grown and what will be different when we come back.

Laughing with Christina and Joel

We had a pleasant surprise this last week.  Christina and Joel dropped in for a visit.  They are on vacation and made a special trip to Gothenburg to come see the island I've been talking about.  

It was really nice to have them here.  and see the how someone with less experience with Swedish culture than I reacts to it.  

They slept trying to get past the Jet Lag phase as fast as possible.  We went on walks around the island, watched some football matches and watched videos Joel had found on the internet.  Mostly though we laughed...this was a shock to me, not that we laughed but that I noticed it.  I realized how much I hadn't laughed during my time here.  Not to say I'm not having a great time and enjoying being around family or enjoying being with my kids all the time.  I just haven't been laughing...which anyone who knows me knows that that is pretty much a non-stop noise coming out of my mouth.  

You experience so many things that being in a different culture that are unexpected and might even go unnoticed.  

The comedy of one culture is highly divergent from another coupled with a language barrier...We were are a Kräftskiva (Crayfish party) the other night.  

 is a very important cultural event for Swedish people and seems to have been highly anticipated by many.   

Many people from the island attended sitting at long tables.  At each place there was a plate with ten Crayfish on it, a near by basket of bread, butter (always on every table) and some other things I'm not sure about.   

While we ate they sang drinking songs...at the end of each everyone took a shot of what ever liquor they had... although not tradition we went with "Captain Morgan's Black Rum."

It was fun to experience this, as I haven't done so before.  But I didn't understand the words to the songs which limited the amount of enjoyment, but I still linked arms with the people on either side of me and swayed back and forth to the music.

following the dinner there was a rewards ceremony for the football tournament that was held earlier in the day.  I hear this was really fun because all of the jokes...

In the house where we live

This house is really old.  Not too old but probably 1940's era.  Even though this house isn't really old, there is an old feel to it.  The decor in seemingly from a different time.

I know what it is but it looks like a young Queen Elizabeth holding a baby alien to me.

The design is different from what we are accustom to, which also add to the antique feel.  The history of this island is very long.  The first settlements here were in the 1770's soon evolving to the community we see today.

All of the original houses on the island are gone...with the exception of one, now a museum.  The new houses many built on the sites of older houses.  What kinds of stories can be found here?  Since the first time I set foot on this island, I got the feeling that there are more things dwelling here than just the people, something other worldly.  We'll come back to that.

As much of my development into an Anthropologist has occurred while I've been visiting this island, much of my understanding of this place is seen through the lens of anthropology.

"Step on a crack, break your mothers back...Step on a line...I don't remember the rest.  This was one of the sayings I said as a child which I'm sure many of you did as well.  On the island there is a variation of this...along the streets there are "utility" caps.  Each one is labels with a letter: an A,V, or K.

 

The A is access to the water system, the V is for street run-off and the K is access to the water system.  caps are varied in size, and are located all over the island.   When walking around the island my wife told me that when she was a child there are a practice of not stepping on the K, everyone would avoid them because they represented "poop" or something.  If you were to come across an A you would step on it because it represents loves and the V... well I guess I'm not the only one who doesn't remember everything about their childhoods.  Interestingly, our Jasmine (our niece), told us that if you accidentally step on a K, if you jump on it three times you can counter act its negative effects.  

Another "super natural" tradition here involved a beautiful flower (not sure the names of it).  It is said if you bring these flowers in the house, someone you know will die.  

I'm not sure if anyone has ever tried it, but it would seem that if you bring these flowers into the house eventually someone will die...I've never been able to get a time table on this (immediately, within a day or something longer...)  I guess experimenting in with this might go against modern research ethics.  

I'm don't generally believe in ghosts, not to say I don't believe in ghosts.  Yes, I'm sitting on the fence and despite its appearance it is not all that uncomfortable.   I am a scientist, so I do rely on empirical data...but are there things that are important that can only be shown through experience?  Sure there are...the laugh of a baby, the feeling of falling in love (actually my research shows this might not be the case), standing in awe of a sunset...oh and being followed down a hall by something that completely disappears only after a fleeting glance. 

I believe this house has something living in it that is not "human" as we know it and it likes to mess with me. 

Exhibit 1:  While walking down the hall in the basement, I had the feeling that something was walking behind me,  when I look up into the mirror at the end of the hall, I observed a reflection of a human head like form just behind me...just as I recognized it for what it was, it quickly drifted into the room to the left (the room we are currently staying in).  

Mirror at the end of the hall

Panorama of the basement hall way, scary without phantom heads. 

Exhibit 2: One night, after everyone had left (we were the only ones in the house) I was sent to the middle floor of the house for something.  It was a dark night, and all the lights were off.  As I approached the wall were I knew the light switch was, my hand passed through the plain of the wall into the open door beside it (this leads to my wife's mother's bedroom).  I thought nothing of it. I did what I needed to do, and returned to my family down stairs.  The next morning I woke up to a very quiet house.  Which was unusual, most morning I would hear my wife and mother-in-law talking about something.  When I went up stairs all the door in the hallway were closed.  Again I though nothing of it.  I entered the kitchen to find my wife reading. Whispering to me she said, "My mom must have come home last night,  her door was closed when I came up."

Ok, not too weird.  I did recall the door was open the night before so that was a logical explanation.  

Within two minutes her mother walked in the front door...She hadn't been to the house, nor had anyone else.  It was open when I went down stairs and was closed when my wife came up...

Light switch

Bed room door open

Bedroom door closed

The latest happening occurred during this visit.  Madeleine was up stairs, later at night.  She wanted to come down stairs but didn't want to come down in the dark so she left the light on in the hall.  Again no one else was home.  She proceeded down stairs, well illuminated.  At about 4:00 am, she woke me from my sleep and asked me to go up and turn off the light.  I was awake...all be it very recently, so I climbed the stairs in the dark and continued into a completely dark hallway.  "Oh, the light must be burnt out...so I went to check the switch...which immediately light up the entire area...I ran down stairs as safely as possible and curled up next to my wife...actually between my wife and the wall.  

I can't say for sure if there is a ghost in this house, or if there is something else going on.  It seems that no one else has any other experiences, but everyone seems to believe these stories as true and not my imagination.  Dane Peterson (President of the Society for Student Anthropologist at BC) and his wife Kristina came here for a visit last year.   He admitted to hearing someone walking up the stairs when no one else was in the house.  

Some say it is my wife's grandfather who built the house that is here.  My mother-in-law says maybe it my birth mother...why she would come to Sweden from Cambodia to mess with me when Seattle is perfectly fine for hauntings is beyond my understanding.  

Regardless, science is the best system we have for understanding the world and people we live with.  But science can't answer all of our questions...I guess the biggest question is does it need to?  

Time Usage

TIme: Swedish people usually make plans by using the weeks. On the calendars they list the number of weeks. This makes it complicated for me when I try to make plans with someone over here because I don’t keep track of this bit of information at all. My friends find this amusing when I explain that I have no idea what week it is and what week they are referring to. An example of what the may say would be, ‘Vecka 32 can jag’, this means, “Week 32 I can”. Once they have agreed upon a week then they will narrow it down to a day and time. 

Military time: Swedish people also use military time to distinguish the time of day. Instead of saying that the time is ‘one o’clock pm’ they would say that it is 13:00 (Thirteen).

Order of weekdays: The calendar here also lists the week from Monday to Sunday rather than Sunday through Saturday like in most calendars in the US. THe first day of the week in Sweden is Monday and simply ends on Sunday.

Name Days: On the calendar you can also find a name on each day. This is an opportunity to celebrate the person you know with that name. On July 22, my brother Anders called me to wish me a happy name day...the two names that day to be celebrated were, “Magdalena, Madeleine’. Everyday of the calendar has a name or two that can be celebrated. Some people do this more than others. I remember my grandmother Elsa being quite the follower of this tradition. Interesting enough the names change over time. My name did not exist on the calendar when I grew up, but got added to the calendar at a later time...my guess is that it got added after the youngest princess was named Madeleine with my exact spelling. 


http://www.scandinavius.com/sweden/seconnections/namesday/senamesday.html

Leisure time as I see it from an American perspective

As the summer quarter at Bellevue College ends, I feel that I should present a sort of sign off, although I will continue to blog about life here on the island.   Thank you for following us and I hope you learned something that you can use in your life.  

As an enticement here are some of the entries to come..."Ghost stories", "Liseberg - the Disneyland of South Eastern Gothenburg" and "Research project ideas."

Vacations is supposed to be about leisure time.  Taking time do the things you don't normally have time to do.  Being in a different culture I seen somethings are the same other things are complete different.   

Föt bol or soccer as we know it is huge here.  Every other person is wearing a jersey from their favorite player or team... I, of course, do not recognize any of them...in some cases I can't tell the difference between the team name and the players names...Örgryte, is that a person or a team?  Two of my kids (Vincent and Elsa) were in a soccer week long soccer school.  Just to highlight the cultural differences, my kids came to most days I their shorts, t-shirts and tennis shoes (they work Soccer jerseys one or twice).  Compare this to the local kids who wore the entire uniforms of their favorite player/team right down to the socks and cleats.  I bet some of them even had matching hair cuts.  

It really is the only team sport kids can get into.  

Being that this is an island, water based activities will be a large part of the culture.  

Fishing, everyone does it and they all get excited when they catch a fish.  Most people have boats so you don't see much shore line fishing.  Most of the time people are trying to catch mackerel.  From the boat you usually use what I've come to call a fishing box...I know that its not a box, but I don't know the really name for it.  

One of the most amazing experiences of my life occurred here while fishing.  My nephew took me out on a boat about one hour out to see.  There were four of us fishing, each of us had a line with five hooks on its. From the first "caste" to the last, every hook had a fish on it.  In about two hours we caught almost 1000 fish...I was getting sore from  pulling up all of the fish.  

Swimming is a constant, even on less than ideal days, there are people in the water.  Night time... I've heard people swimming as late, or as early as 4:00 am.  

They also start them young.  Elsa and Vincent took swimming lessons.  These lessons were very similar to swim lessons in the U.S. with the exception these are conducted in the ocean.  

They are effective Elsa learned how to swim, whether because of the lessons or because she is constantly in the water.  It is a totally different environment and life style when your day is based on swimming and playing in the water.  

Being the opportunist that I am and my experience swimming I know that people are often hungry after swimming.  I decided to open a Hotdog/Hamburger stand...actually a Barbaque and a small table.  I sold hotdogs (or Korvs) for 10 Kroner (about $1.50) and hamburgers for 30 Kroner ($4.50).  This was a life long dream of mine...to own and operate my own eating establishment.  I did it for two days and make about $50 dollars profit.  

Another thing that is common out here are boating activities.  Such as water skiing, wake boarding and inner tubbing...we don't do things because last time we were here Madeleine broke her arm inner tubbing and I had to swim her back into shore about 1/2 mile...that made for an awesome rest of the trip.  Vincent was only about 14 months and Elsa had never spent the night sways from us...talk about stress try breast feeding a baby with a broken arm...or in my case trying to help someone breast feed.

Brän bal like Madeleine already talked about is a game played here ins Sweden as well as other Scandinavian countries.  It is like baseball in some basic was, but for the most part it is completely different.  I would say that the differences are about as great as Rugby is to American Football.

So there are two teams.  One in the field, on "up to bat."  The field consists of four "bases" each one evenly spaces into a diamond.  

The players on the hitting team take turns hitting. To do this they throw the ball in the air and take a wild swing at it.  If they hit it they move to the first base, they can continue on. However is they are caught between bases when the Bränner get the ball they have to go back to the last base they were are...again you never get out.  If you swing three times and miss the ball, you automatically go to the first base.  That is why I call it baseball with a heart.  Because no one gets out, no one feel bad about being a bad hitter or catcher.  Another thing is that people do not have to advance a "base" when the ball is hit, you can literally have ten people running from one base to the next...like a herd of stampeding  animals.  Really funny to watch from an out sides perspective.  

Teams trade sides when a certain amount of time has passed, between 5 and 10 minutes.  Scoring happen in several ways.  You can be the hitting team and score by getting all the way around the bases...I think there are some special rules to this but I'm not sure.  The team in the field can also get points by "burning" people (catching them between bases) or catching the ball in the air.  It actually is pretty fun, and can be a mind blower when viewed by someone familiar with baseball. 

There are some many more thing to write about but I don't want to drag this out any more that I have to.  One thing that I learned about this summer, that I didn't expect to is the joys of riding girls bikes, you know the ones with the low hanging bar.  It makes getting on and off the bike much more conformable.  Here a closing image for you... Me a Cambodian American, riding around a small Swedish island with my bright red lycra shirt, a pair of very long Bellevue College basket ball shorts, my blue and white toe shoes on a girls bike...all the while blasting "The Final Count Down" (the 1986 rock anthem by the band Europe). 

You'll have to come back to get the rest of this story.

Kids Arranged Activities

Swimming lessons: Our kids participated in 2 out of 3 weeks of swim-classes on the island. Each class was 45 minutes long and consisted of a warm up on land to music playing on a portable music player, then instructions about safety and then practice of the breaststroke leg and arm movements. It was difficult with the cold water...it ranged from 17 degree celsius to about 20 degrees. My friend Karoline was the instructor and her two daughters Pauline and Felicia were her assistants. Karoline and I attended Preschool and Kindergarten together up through 8th grade. The kids loved her and particularly enjoyed the warmup to Swedish kid music. The swim-classes were held at the beach right where we live and continued in most any weather except for poring rain. The main focus of the swim-lessons, once children pass dipping their heads under water and actually getting into the cold water is to teach them breast stroke and floating. Some kids get in the water as if it was 25 degrees and don’t seem phased by the cold at all. Elsa would usually get in, but was tense and would not relax her shoulders, although I give her credit for getting in at all considering she is used to an indoor pool. Vincent would usually be the last to get in the water and even then not long enough or not fully submerge himself. My kids were one of the few wearing wetsuits and still they seemed the coldest. Karoline and her daughters showed such patients with the kids and I am impressed with their positive and encouraging attitudes. Karoline was also extremely flexible with the kids schedule and kindly adjusted them to a later time so that I could enroll them in the last week of tennis classes. 

One thing about swim classes here that I enjoyed tremendously as a kid is the possibility of earning marks (little brass pin of different designs). From the youngest age to old, and during the three weeks of swim lessons, one can show up to the ‘mark taking’ time of day which is usually right after all the lessons are over. The instructor has a board which she attaches a flyer showing all the different marks one can pursue. Each mark has specific requirements, the easiest consisting of dipping your face three times, your whole head and then jumping off into the water three times.  It cost 30 kroner and she was very proud.  Vincent wanted to earn one too, but could never get himself to actually do it. The marks are great motivators and once a kid knows how to swim, you no longer need the lessons and simply pursue more challenging marks. The most difficult marks requires one to travel to a pool in order to assure the depth and distances required for some of the marks. The more difficult marks cost more than the easier ones.

There is something unique about taking swim-lessons in the open water. The kids have to deal with the various weather, cold temperatures and then also get used to the seaweed, kelp, rocks, shells and sea animals...the orange jellyfish being the most common and most scary for kids since its threads sting. The presence of jellyfish vary day to day and depends on the quality of the water...when the water is more salty, the jelly fish are abundant...when the water is less salty and has more river water, the jelly fish disappear (the locals say, ‘älv van for river water. The river, called, ‘Göta Kanal’ runs into the waters here from the mainland across from where we are.

Tennis: The island has two outdoor tennis courts right by the water, near where we live. I signed up for Tennis lessons for the whole family including my mom who had never tried it before. The weather prediction however, was not good for that week and so we cancelled. The lessons are extremely cheap, 400 kronor for an adult and only 200 kronor for a child for a whole week of a one hour lesson Monday through Friday. If the weather was bad then the weather was bad and the lesson would be cancelled or one might just do warm-ups together. No refunds are offered. Considering how slippery the tennis court becomes when it gets wet, Tony with bad knees was worried about slipping and for sure I was worried about my mom slipping at her age of 69. Now it so happened that the weather did get nice about half week through and I am sure that it would have been a great experience. When Tony and I showed up for the first lesson, it was sprinkling and I was thinking that the class would be cancelled, but there were 5 eager adults waiting to learn and play and with much more positive attitudes than Tony and I. They seemed hopeful that the weather would clear and they went about warming up as if it would. Tony and I stood there sort of in disbelief that they were still going to attempt to warm up on the wet court and with negative attitudes I must admit, we informed the coach that we would withdraw. I think we should have stayed. I think we would have had a great experience and it would have been an opportunity to get to know some new people.

Soccer Summer Camp: A summer soccer camp is usually offered week 31, and the weather is usually great that week. We signed up Vincent and Elsa and my brother Mark and his wife Sara signed up their four year old daughter, Victoria. They all started at 10 am Monday through Friday that week and the youngest ones which included Vincent and Victoria only practiced for about one hour and the older kids played for two. For the youngest group, they had two coaches that were great with the kids. One of the coaches is my cousin, Håkan (Hoecan), whom I don’t know all that well, but he was really sweet with the kids and spoke English with our kids whenever they seemed to have missed an instruction. For the two youngest groups the soccer camp consisted of playing various games. The favorite game was one called, “Cowboys och Indianer”. They would set up a rectangle with cones and then the kids would run across the rectangle while the coaches would kick the ball across perpendicularly and try to hit the kids legs with soccer balls and if they got hit they would be out. 

Also I want to note that interesting enough our kids including Victoria (my brothers child from AZ) had the most difficult time with the heat this week of soccer camp. They were winy and hot and struggled with attention and participation because they thought it was too warm. 

On the final day of camp they had a small ceremony, after serving all the kids grilled hot dogs and buns and a juice box. They called each child's name to acknowledge their good effort as the child walked up to receive a t-shirt with the organizations name on it. It was clear that the kids enjoyed this ceremony with their big smiles.  

Elsa after receiving her t-shirt and praise from her coach

Victoria, Elsa and Vincent wearing their new T-shirts

Non-verbal Communication for an American is Sweden

One of my favorite jokes that never gets a laugh is based around the culturally specific term “Spooning.”  I actually hate this term, as it is used in modern American culture.  When ever someone uses this work in the context of intimate relationships, I say “Why don’t they call it forking?”  I find this hilarious...no one else seems to.  Every time I say it around my wife...I get "that look." 

Now try moving this to another culture paired with another language.  

Swedish people don’t get this joke for good reason.  The swedish word for fork is gaffel...just not funny.   It just doesn’t have the same ring to it.  The last time I tried it, the looks I got were funnier than the joke...at least to me.  I then consulted my brother-in-law about the joke and he said everyone thought it was funny...What?  No one laughed, no smiles...just faces that in my opinion look confused.  

The body language, non-verbal communication of Sweden, more over the culturally specific communication is very different and easily noticeable for an outsider like me.  Trying to explain some of these things will be difficult...but I’m going to try anyways.  

The first thing I recognized when I first came here was what I call the “Breath affirmation.”  In conversation, someone will say something and the other person will inhale quickly...kind of like that inhale you got when you were a kid and you cried really hard but only one.  It is in place of a yes or ok we might give.  When I first say someone do it I thought they were surprised a lot.  

I tried to get a video of this but every time I tried people wouldn't do it or would giving the cross-culturally recognized "Don't do that!" face.  I will continue with endeavor.

Another interesting aspect of this is that it tends to be more of a female trait.  I haven’t seen many men do this. And it also seems to be women in their thirties and forties.  I’ve never seen the younger generation do it nor have I seen the older generation do it.  

There is also a lot of nodding, also as an affirmative response.  During several conversations today, I’ve noticed people nodding their heads continuously.  Kind of a visual cue that people are following you. 

Clothing is another area where the slightest difference can mark you as an outsider or an insider.  As I am not a woman and not attuned to the fashion whims of the U.S. and Europe, I really can not comment on the fashion differences of women here.  I do however notice major differences in the way men here dress and the way I dress.  Partly this is due to my wife sometimes trying to dress me more "European."  This is code for tight shirts, "skinny?" pants...Thank God the "Speedo's" are no longer the "rage". 

I will admit that my understanding of European fashion is limited mainly because I haven't left the island yet and I have found in the past the dress on the island during summer is more geared toward swimming.  If we make it to the city I will let you know what I see. 

For me the difficulties are that I’m trying to learn the spoken language as well as the non-verbal cues and its hard.  I do have a fair amount of understanding of it, mostly because I’ve lived with a Swede for nearly ten years and have grown accustom to many of the cues, almost to the point that I do not still recognize them.  Then again, my wife has lived outside of Sweden for twenty years, and thus as lost or at least altered some of her physical cues so that they are distinct.  This actually makes my job harder...No one said learning another language (physical and vocal) would be easy.  

I kind of feel like I’m some where in the middle.  I almost positive I use some of the cue and know for a fact that I don’t use most of them.  I wonder how many people I have offended by not producing the correct cues.

Date Night

It isn't often that we get to go out, just Madeleine and I.  We have three young children and no family where we live.  On the odd occasion a neighbor "wants" to watch our little ones we may get out and do something.  Usually something we needed to do anyway...usually grocery shopping that is easier to do without the kids.

An unrecognized, yet fully amazing benefit from being in Sweden is that we have babysitters.  Loads of them, and because they don't see our kids as much as they would like, many of them are itching to take them for some quality time.  This opens my wife and I up to going on a date.  As with other things, going out on the town is not as easy as jumping in the car and driving somewhere.

You first need to check the ferry schedule, from the small island, usually about an hour apart.  If you don't have a car, which we don't, you need to check the bus schedule to the second ferry. And finely you need to see if there is a second boat going when you want it to.  You also have to make sure there are boats and busses that go when you want to come home.  

From the island transit times about 1 1/2 hours if everything works out, if not it can be as much as 3 hours.  That means any soul will to take on our monsters would be watching them a minimum of 3 hours, and thats not including the actual "date" time.

We would never wish that kind of torture on anyone, we decided to go on a date to the only "nice" restaurant on the island.  Ten minute walk and 1 1/2 hour meal and ten minutes back is much more acceptable to everyone.

It is very nice to have some time alone, all be it not much.  The Brygghuset is a small restaurant/bar attached to a hotel that is mostly active only during the summer.  It is surrounded by boats in the harbor and has a beautiful view of the water.

Depending on the whether, the cliental can vary from mostly visiting boaters to a mixture of locals and boaters.  Generally speaking the prices in the restaurant limit the locals from going there too often.

As we casually walk to harbor, there was a small concern in my mind that there might not be any seats for us or we might have to wait.  Early in the day there was a fishing contest,  there was a nice breeze which meant no mosquitos, and it was a Saturday night all of which might have increased the number of people going to the restaurant.  Luckily when we got there, it was empty.   We took a table by the window and ordered our drinks...A Czech beer, I ordered the dark draft and my wife ordered the light...she tasted mine and kept it...so it goes.

The menu came in both swedish and english...even on the english version I didn't understand all the words.   Our choices were limited, there were four appetizers, entrees, "small" dishes.  To play it safe I ordered a hamburger and Madeleine ordered a shrimp sandwich (a swedish classic).  The food wasn't bad, but probably not worth what we paid for it.

Its funny, I actually ate my burger with a knife and fork, like a swedish person.  This becomes even more interesting when you consider that there was no one else in the restaurant to watch me.   I guess its rubbing off on me.

It was nice to go out and have a short break...upon our return we were confronted with two screaming kids, one was the baby and they just do that, and the other was Vincent, his ear was hurting.   Our dear Elsa was dancing around, singing Bon Jovi songs...I guess it doesn't take a cultural difference to produce utter confusion.

Not really a blog - The Players

It has come to my attention that I have yet to introduce the people who are active and important to the blog.  So here we are.

Marita Aguilar is Madeleine's mother. She is the matriarch of the family and  its foundation. 

She went to the U.S. at 21 as an Au Pair.  This is were she met, married and had five kids with Antonio Aguilar.  

Antonio Aguilar - Madeleines Father.  He was born in Mexico city, 

Lived a long time in Los Angeles and moved to Sweden in 1974

with his then four kids and Swedish Wife Marita.

Antonia and Marita are divorced now but had a good relationships.

Antonietta (Netta) Aguilar Sedilius - She is the oldest of Antonio and Marita.  She born in the U.S. and lived there until she was about 7 year old.  She stayed in Sweden had has five children of her own.

Mark Aguilar - The second child in the family, and Madeleines only older brother.  He currently lives in Mesa Arizona with his four kids. 

He, his wife and youngest daughter are visiting Sweden now as well. 

Madeleine Tessandori (in the blue). You know about her. 

Here she is here with her sister Netta and our daughter Elsa and a Sandwich Cake. 

Anders Aguilar is Madeleines younger brother.  He was born in the U.S. He remains in Sweden where he works for Volvo and operates his own Printing Business. 

Albert Aguilar is the youngest in the family.  He currently works for a marketing company in Stockholm.  

The first time in nine years all the Aguilar children are together...Here are the Aguilar brothers. 

Charlotte Petersen is the older daughter of Nettan.  She currently lives in Montreal Canada and owns an 

Internet business "ThePinkChili.com" which sells Organic Health and Beauty products.

Louise Petersen is Netta's second child.  She lives on the island during the Spring, Summer and Fall and during the winter she works a ski resort in Northern Sweden.

Andre Petersen Netta's third child.  He is a wealth of knowledge of the old way of the island.  If you ever come here and want to go fishing, he's the man to take you. 

Oliver Sedilius is Netta's Forth child and can best be describes a jolly.

Jasmine Sedilius is the youngest of the Netta's kids.  She is the sweetest person and is amazing with my kids. 

Lasse is Netta's Boyfriend.

Isabelle is Lasse's daughter. 

Houng is the foster daughter of Netta and Lasse.

This is Sara Aguilar, Mark's Wife. 

Victoria Aguilar is Mark and Sara' s 4 year old Daughter.  

Here is Madeleine again.

Here is Elsa Tessandori our oldest chid.  She is 6 years old.

She is super silly and full of the best things in life. 

Vincent Tessandori our middle child is 4 years old like Victoria.  This provided hours of  endless "entertainment" for them.   By entertainment I mean competition and fighting.  He is so full of curiosity and energy he requires non-stop supervision.

This is Liam...Our youngest child.  17 months.  Probably the happiest baby on the planet. 

And this is Me.