Hej!

Nope, I didn't spell that wrong...it's the first Swedish word I've learned. It is pronounced "hey" and it means hi. Easy enough, right? The second Swedish word I learned was tack, which is pronounced "toc" and means thank you. I'm not exactly ready to converse with the Swedes, but I think I'm on my way. At least the optimistic side of me is trying to believe that! Today was my first official day of work at the Bonnier office in the center of Stockholm. I know I'm going to like my life here when there is an H&M around the corner from the office...and two more within three blocks. I got an iPhone to use for work and to make calls to the US, but I plan to mostly use it to find my way around. Google maps and the Oanda currency converter are my new best friends. I'm feeling a little under the weather (probably due to the germs I accrued along my travels and the major lack of sleep), and decided to stop by the market after work to get some food. That's when the magnitude of the language barrier really hit me. Good thing I was carrying my Swedish English dictionary, which I pulled out right in the produce aisle. I couldn't quite look anything up because of the people rushing/bumping past me. So I scurried over to an aisle toward the back of the market and downloaded a dictionary app to my new iPhone. Once that was downloaded, between looking up words and prices, it only took me half an hour to pick out eggs, milk, butter, and apples (total sarcasm). And after I checked out, I stood waiting like an idiot looking at my groceries sitting on the counter. When the cashier started ringing up the next customer, I soon realized that I was the bag boy (errr, bag girl). With bags in hand, I walked the two blocks home. Needless to say, I need to do a little more reading on food words, or perhaps make flash cards like kindergarten. Maybe I should skip eating and stick to H&M. Tack for reading!