May 2025
Så skönt det var i maj!
I'll start with a couple of exciting things from the month that I don't have pictures for. The first is that I went to an AW (afterwork) with a friend to try and meet some new people. I was thiiiiiis close to not going at all, but decided to go sort of at the last minute. Not only did I have a lovely time visiting with old and new friends, but I also met a woman who told me about a run group that was having free trials in May. I went to the Saturday run and was about 30 seconds away from missing the whole thing (Swedes do not take punctuality lightly). Luckily, I was able to join the group and we had a lovely 10km through the forest. I was able to understand and communicate well enough, and I enjoyed it so much that I've been running with them ever since. It's such a great place to practice my Swedish, and it's also been a really fun way to get back into running after a long time off. After the run, I met up with Andrew and the kids in centrum for the family day. The activities were winding down by the time I got there, but I still got to see Paw Patrol perform, shoe shop with the kids, and get my portrait painted by Farina. It was a fun day!
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| I think it looks a bit like Chloe, so she definitely captured some of the Reeves genes. |
The other exciting thing that happened in May is that I passed Sva 1! We had the national exam, which took about 7 hours in one day, plus a little time on another day to give oral presentations. Not only did I get a C (almost a B) on that exam, but I got a B for the whole class! Woo, that was honestly so much better than I expected to do. Now on to Sva 2 in the fall. This has been so much work, and I'm actually quite proud of how much I've accomplished since I started classes last August.
At the beginning of the month, we were ready for some more outdoor adventures, so we took the bikes up to Vitberget to hike, ride on bike paths, and even sat and watched some archery practice for a bit. It was perfect weather, and we all had fun getting in some forest exploration.
The show was about a penguin and his friends on a quest to save the forest. Adaline got to be a fairy and a troll, which the group of friends encountered along the way. It was such a fun show and seriously so well done. In fact, their head coach did choreography for Disney on Ice in Australia just a few years ago, and the older skaters had some real talent!
Testing out ideas for the family reunion talent show...
Biking to school again! I love when it's bike-to-school season, although not all of the kids share the same sentiment. Also, do you ever just look at your children and wonder how they suddenly grew up? It often catches me by surprise and I have to stop and grab a picture to try and freeze time for just a bit.
Working on some family acrobatics. This was, sadly, not especially successful.
The kids have been picking beautiful bouquets lately.
Another highlight of the month was a last-minute trip to Finland and Estonia for me! Anna and I had talked about taking a girls' trip there in May, partly because there is a direct flight from Dallas to Helsinki. However, when Northvolt went bankrupt and we didn't know where we'd be living, we kind of dropped it. Well, less than a week before we ended up going, Anna sent me flight times she was looking at and asked (I think partly jokingly) if I was down to go with her and Audrey. I said yes, then the rest of her family got on board, and next thing we knew, we were in Finland.
Day 3 started early with a 2-hour cruise to Estonia! I have to say cruise rather than ferry because it was a proper cruise ship with restaurants, a kids' play area, shops, video game lounges, and more. We ate breakfast and watched the girls play. Once we got to Tallinn, Anna became our tour guide, reading from an online walking tour while we explored shops and ate food in between the various landmarks.
We got lunch somewhere kind of behind these buildings, and it was an adorable old building with absolutely delicious food. I wish there were a way to capture a taste and relive it. Yum!
On our last day, we let the girls sleep in a bit, got a quick breakfast at a cafe, and then walked up to Temppeliaukio Church- an active Lutheran church built right into solid rock.
We ate some curry for lunch and went to the Amos Rex art museum. I don't really feel like I "get" a lot of modern art, but the girls were super into it, which made it fun for everyone. They had so many great questions and theories about the different exhibits, including some of the ones that I thought were slightly creepy. Later, we got cinnamon buns in an old cafe and checked out a lot of stores. To end the day, we walked down to a park near the coast and let the girls play for a bit before Anna and I headed off to the sauna. The sauna was right on the coast, and we sat and looked out at the water while we waited for our booked time. Then it was baptism by fire. They had 4 different saunas that we could use during our time, and the first one we happened to go into was by far the hottest, super dark, packed, and all the seating was way up high. We opened the door and let all the light in, so everyone was staring at us, and we just had to walk in. As soon as the door closed, we could barely make out what was in the room. We made our way up the stairs to a silent room and tried to make out if there was any room to sit. Some people scooted around for us, and we just barely fit. As soon as we sat down, we realized that we now had to stay in there at least until some other people left, or we would look like the biggest whimps. With burning nostrils and sweat dripping everywhere, we managed to stay until there was only one person left from when we first came in. The chilly sea air felt amazing when we stepped outside, and I went straight into the freezing Baltic Sea for a swim. We tried out the rest of the saunas, met some people from Dallas (of course), and ate salmon soup. I did not pass out! Considering that in high school I passed out in the locker that the reason the nurse gave was from too much temperature change after an ice bath, this felt like a big accomplishment. I was definitely getting woozy toward the end, and the salmon soup brought me back to life. We had a lovely 25ish-minute walk back to our hotel afterward (summertime 10pm in the Nordic countries is a perfect time for a walk) and it was nice to have some solo sister time to catch up on each other's lives.
Back home, reality hit that the friends I have made here are moving away thanks to Northvolt's demise. Farina has already moved south, Akshaya leaves in a week, and Carla is still figuring it out, but likely will be gone by the end of summer. We all started in SFI together way back in August, and it was so nice to find friends! We went through a lot together and could relate to so many of the same challenges that come with being an immigrant here, trying to learn a new language, and being tied to the Northvolt drama. I will miss them so much!
To cap off the month, the boys all ran in Guldloppet. Alex ran the kids race around the square, and Matthew and Michael both did the 3km. I was so impressed by all of them! Alex gave it his all, and Matthew and Michael were stepping up big time with a distance they had never run before. They both pushed themselves so hard in a group of mostly older kids. Michael got third (out of 18 kids) with a time of 14:46. He was only 45 seconds behind the first finisher, who was super tall and had to be at least 13-14. He collapsed on the grass afterward and was sore for days. Matthew got a stitch in his side, but still ran the whole way and finished in 17:17. I'm really impressed by how hard they pushed themselves and that they were brave enough to try something new with no real certainty that they'd be successful.
It was so lovely. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect, we learned a lot of history, and even snuck in a day trip to Tallinn, Estonia.
Day 1 was mostly a travel day, so we just had time to walk around, see a church, and eat Pho. In the evening, Anna and I tried out the steam sauna, traditional sauna, and cold plunge at the hotel.
On day 2, we took a ferry to Soumenlinna Sea Fortress, where we did a guided walking tour, explored the "hobbit houses", and ate pizza. The girls loved leading us through caves and tunnels, through "windows", and along the coast. I learned quite a bit about Finnish history. For example, Finland only became an independent country in 1917. Before that, it was an autonomous region of Russia (1809-1917), and for many hundreds of years before that, it was part of Sweden (1200s - 1809). I knew that people in Finland generally learn Swedish and Finnish in school, but I didn't know it was required or that Swedish was one of their national languages. Finnish is so completely different from Swedish (I think it has the same root as Hungarian), so it's easy to feel like there is more cultural and historic differentiation between the two countries.
After getting back, we went to the Helsinki Library and looked around a bit before getting Syrian food and eating back at the hotel. The library was so cool. There was a whole family area with microwaves, tables and chairs, stroller parking, and a play area. Almost one whole level was a "maker space" with access to sewing machines, poster printers, laser cutters, 3D printers, and lots more. They had user guides next to all the machines, plus lots of library employees around to help. And, the stuff was actually being used! I love good examples of community resources like this.
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| Photo Credit: Audrey |
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| A trip highlight was watching Audrey fall in love with Moomin and then seeing it everywhere we went. |
Day 3 started early with a 2-hour cruise to Estonia! I have to say cruise rather than ferry because it was a proper cruise ship with restaurants, a kids' play area, shops, video game lounges, and more. We ate breakfast and watched the girls play. Once we got to Tallinn, Anna became our tour guide, reading from an online walking tour while we explored shops and ate food in between the various landmarks.
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| Pistachio cream, berries, and ice cream all in a doughy, cinnamon-sugar cone |
On our last day, we let the girls sleep in a bit, got a quick breakfast at a cafe, and then walked up to Temppeliaukio Church- an active Lutheran church built right into solid rock.
We ate some curry for lunch and went to the Amos Rex art museum. I don't really feel like I "get" a lot of modern art, but the girls were super into it, which made it fun for everyone. They had so many great questions and theories about the different exhibits, including some of the ones that I thought were slightly creepy. Later, we got cinnamon buns in an old cafe and checked out a lot of stores. To end the day, we walked down to a park near the coast and let the girls play for a bit before Anna and I headed off to the sauna. The sauna was right on the coast, and we sat and looked out at the water while we waited for our booked time. Then it was baptism by fire. They had 4 different saunas that we could use during our time, and the first one we happened to go into was by far the hottest, super dark, packed, and all the seating was way up high. We opened the door and let all the light in, so everyone was staring at us, and we just had to walk in. As soon as the door closed, we could barely make out what was in the room. We made our way up the stairs to a silent room and tried to make out if there was any room to sit. Some people scooted around for us, and we just barely fit. As soon as we sat down, we realized that we now had to stay in there at least until some other people left, or we would look like the biggest whimps. With burning nostrils and sweat dripping everywhere, we managed to stay until there was only one person left from when we first came in. The chilly sea air felt amazing when we stepped outside, and I went straight into the freezing Baltic Sea for a swim. We tried out the rest of the saunas, met some people from Dallas (of course), and ate salmon soup. I did not pass out! Considering that in high school I passed out in the locker that the reason the nurse gave was from too much temperature change after an ice bath, this felt like a big accomplishment. I was definitely getting woozy toward the end, and the salmon soup brought me back to life. We had a lovely 25ish-minute walk back to our hotel afterward (summertime 10pm in the Nordic countries is a perfect time for a walk) and it was nice to have some solo sister time to catch up on each other's lives.
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| View from the sauna. I swam in the Baltic Sea! |
Back home, reality hit that the friends I have made here are moving away thanks to Northvolt's demise. Farina has already moved south, Akshaya leaves in a week, and Carla is still figuring it out, but likely will be gone by the end of summer. We all started in SFI together way back in August, and it was so nice to find friends! We went through a lot together and could relate to so many of the same challenges that come with being an immigrant here, trying to learn a new language, and being tied to the Northvolt drama. I will miss them so much!
Thursday and Friday after I got back were holidays, and we used them to take a short camping trip to Bovikens Havsbad as a primary activity. We got incredibly lucky with perfect weather (just a short sprinkle, not too hot, not too cold) and had fun planning beach soccer, exploring the beach, and roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. The only challenge was trying to sleep in a tent when it doesn't get dark. Ha, that was a new experience for me, and I was wishing we had one of those blackout tents. But we managed, and it was fun.
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| Trying to fall asleep at 10pm |
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| 1:25am after a bathroom trip isn't noticeably darker |
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| Being creative with Peeps playdough |
To cap off the month, the boys all ran in Guldloppet. Alex ran the kids race around the square, and Matthew and Michael both did the 3km. I was so impressed by all of them! Alex gave it his all, and Matthew and Michael were stepping up big time with a distance they had never run before. They both pushed themselves so hard in a group of mostly older kids. Michael got third (out of 18 kids) with a time of 14:46. He was only 45 seconds behind the first finisher, who was super tall and had to be at least 13-14. He collapsed on the grass afterward and was sore for days. Matthew got a stitch in his side, but still ran the whole way and finished in 17:17. I'm really impressed by how hard they pushed themselves and that they were brave enough to try something new with no real certainty that they'd be successful.
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| Alex coming in hot across the finish line |
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| Matthew going into big brother mode |
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| They looked so small at the start line with mostly bigger kids around them. (the green hoodie kid on the far left won) |
Lastly, I realized I haven’t mentioned anything here about the situation with Northvolt, so I wanted to share a quick update.
Back in November, NV unexpectedly laid off a large number of employees across their Swedish sites—mostly here in Skellefteå. Around the same time, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., which caught everyone off guard. New employees had just arrived that very week, others were scheduled to arrive soon after, and interviews were still actively being held. Up until that point, everything had seemed like business as usual.
After the layoffs, significant parts of the site were shut down to focus on more profitable production lines. Employee perks were cut, and office space was reduced. The company framed this period as a chance to restructure, and for a while, it seemed to be working: they announced new funding, resumed hiring, and it stopped being the constant topic of conversation around town.
But in March, everything changed again. NV filed for bankruptcy in Sweden—this time signaling more than just debt restructuring. The future of the company became unclear, and most employees began searching for new jobs while holding onto hope that a buyer might step in.
Fortunately, Andrew—thanks in part to his Swedish language skills—was able to land a few interviews and eventually received a couple of job offers. We felt incredibly lucky to have the option to stay in Sweden, and even here in Skellefteå if we chose.
After a lot of discussion, weighing the pros and cons, and waiting until the very last moment to decide, we chose to stay. We felt it would give the kids some much-needed stability after everything they’ve been through over the past year.
The same day I left for Helsinki, NV announced they would be shutting down the rest of their operations. More layoffs were scheduled for the following week, and the remaining staff were told they'd be let go by the end of June. Andrew’s manager asked whether he wanted to stay until the end or leave immediately. Since Andrew wasn’t scheduled to start his new job until after June—per his contract with NV—we weren’t sure what to do.
After a tense day of conversations, Andrew decided to leave NV early. His last day ended up being the day after I returned home. Thankfully, it looks like he’ll be able to start his new job even sooner—hopefully next week, before our trip to the U.S.
We’re incredibly grateful that we get to stay and that Andrew’s new job is just across the river. He’ll even be able to walk to work… blizzards and all!
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