De första dagarna

I was planning to make a post much earlier but I didn't expect how busy I would be during this time!

Events of March 31, 2016. 7 pm. Day 0.

1. Landed in Arlanda, Stockholm (through Madrid and Berlin) after a loooong flight. 
2. Waited by the conveyor belt for my suitcase to arrive but it never did. Freaked out and contacted the staff who told me my suitcase was still in Berlin (!) But they reassured me that they would send it to me at home as soon as it arrived to Sweden! 
3. Found Ludvig waiting for me. He saw me first (When we first met in person, I saw him first, but I think he's beat me to it the other times).  Also, if you have been in a long distance relationship, you probably know that moment when you see the person you love and know so very well, but their body feels strange and unfamiliar (Were you this tall before?). We took some time to comment and enjoy the unfamiliarity, as it's not going to happen again (hopefully!).
4. Felt glad not to have the suitcase with me as we had to run back to the parking lot before running out of meter time! 
5. Had a nice drive home to Norsholm, with some hamburgers on the way. Although sick of traveling, I was finally able to relax. As a person with general anxiety disorder, I thought of absolutely everything that could have gone wrong during the long trip. But everything went well. 

We're no longer a long distance relationship. We're living together now. Even though his last visit to me was long (5 months), the feeling is completely different. There's no ticking clock. I cannot even convey what that is like.


April 1st.  Our 2 year anniversary. Day 1.

We timed this well, wanting to be together for our 2 year anniversary. Of course first we took a bus and a train and went to Skatteverket, which is of course really romantic. Skatteverket is the tax office where I am supposed to register as a resident and apply for my personal number (personnummer), which I'll need for... well, everything.

We learned they had moved office, so we had to walk a few blocks to get to the new one. This is the first time I got to walk around Norrköping, so it was actually quite nice. I have since then become decently acquainted with the city, but I can still remember my first impression. Very nice old buildings around a canal. Trams!

Image description: Me, standing on a sidewalk. You can see tram lines and a bus/tram stop. In the background are trees without leaves and some big, old looking buildings.

For our actual anniversary celebration we decided to honour a tradition we have every time we meet in person, and got some sushi. We usually did this in a great Sushi place in Bogota, which I totally recommend if you ever visit. In Norrköping though we went to Sushi Yama!

Image description: Top: Ludvig and myself in a close up, me holding a bite of sushi with some eating sticks. Bottom: A plate of multicoloured sushi with coke cans in the back.

Highlights

Have I mentioned I love trains and trams? It's not something I'm used to at all. Neither I am used to buses that have schedules and only stop in certain places. In Neiva we basically go to any main street and flag down any bus that is passing that goes through he desired route.

I cannot get used to pedestrians having priority! When I approach a crosswalk cars go to a full stop to allow me to pass. I hesitate because I'm used to a more defensive style. Colombian traffic is much more chaotic - cross any time you have the opportunity and it seems like you will probably not get run over. My hesitation is actually rude because I'm taking longer to cross, but it's very hard to trust that they're actually going to stop for me.  I prefer the crosswalks that have buttons to press, because when the lights turn green, I feel like I've earned the right to cross and we have all agreed that it is my turn.

When I applied to my personnummer they told me it would take up to 6 weeks, but it took only a bit over a week. I have applied to get an ID card next, which I still don't have, but it's to be expected. 

I applied to SFI. This is to study Swedish, and it's free. I received a letter saying that they have my application and that I will probably get assigned to a course within 3 months. 

I applied to Arbetsförmedlingen, which is the employment agency. I have an appointment next month with a handler who will help me in my way to find a job. Since I will be attending SFI, I may qualify for Instegsjobb. However I have applied to a job by myself that requires me to speak Spanish and English, and I actually just had a phone interview this morning. We'll see how it goes!

Oh yes, I got my suitcase a day or two after I arrived. I can't remember but it wasn't too disruptive (Got to steal his soft sweaters for a little bit!). 

Mitt liv i 23 kg

That's all I'm taking with me. Plus a carry-on with 2 laptops, the camera and some toiletries for the flight.

I don't really have a lot, no furniture or big pieces need moving.  However I just started packing and my bag is already 18 kgs! Dags för beslut.

What I'm leaving is mostly sentimental. I'm going to miss a lot of my plushies. I'm only taking 2 small ones with me which are are already inside. I wish I could take you all, you guys. But they'll stay safe with my family.

Image description: Picture in black and white of three teddy bears (one panda and two uniform coloured ones) trying to climb up my suitcase. A large crafted cosplay sword on the side.

Jag ska flytta till Sverige!

(I actually don't know enough Swedish yet to be confident enough to write a whole blog post, so I'll be writing mostly in English for now.)

I will be moving to Sweden to be with my fiance in 19 days. We will finally be able to live together.

It's been nearly 2 years. Our 2 year anniversary is on April 1st. That's when we became a couple officially. I have always loved that it was on April 1st because we both have terrible memories and this makes it really easy! I also like to joke about how the whole thing was just an April fools thing the whole time.

2 years. We went for the long con.

We did the long distance thing. We shared an uncountable amount of chat logs, pictures, sounds, videos - pieces of our respective worlds - over this time.

We visited each other over 9,858 km. Spent almost as much time in person than away because of these visits. I realize we were lucky we could do this. It's so far away, just look:

Image description: The picture is divided in half vertically, the left side says "9,858 km Distance from Oxelösund to Neiva, Huila". The right side shows these two locations as red dots in a worldmap with a red curved line joining them.

But visits were not enough. We decided to live together. I applied for a residency permit to be with him in Sweden on January 27th 2015.

13.5 months later, I got my decision! And now I'm moving to him. The waiting process was very difficult, to put it mildly. Migrationsverket (the swedish migration agency) has been swamped. The refugee crisis has been beyond precedent (and it's still ongoing).

I am just happy I get to go to him now even though I've experienced a lot of anger and frustration during the wait. It's not so bad. We're safe. We'll be together soon.

Image description: A cartoon with two stick figures inside separate bubbles that are trying to touch each other. One of the stick figures asks "Merge?".

(He has a beard. But it's very hard to draw beards in this style.  But I also have hips and they are not in the drawing so it's okay. Or feet. Or fingers... You get my point.)