Expat Jon takes on the world (well... Sweden)

This time of year the Swedes walk around in a pretty much constant state of sadness. I get even less eye contact when walking on the street than normal.  The weather talks go from disappointment about the summer weather to anxiety about the coming winter.  It's understandable.  Winters are long and dark and cold here.  If the weather affects your mood, September in Sweden is the long, steep water slide leading into the sea of freezing depression. I, on the other hand, walk around with a smile of anticipation plastered on my face.  The end of August doesn't signify the last chances to wear summer clothes or go for a swim.  For me it means football is back!  I love the Fall.  The crispness in the air and the leaves turning mean that I will be passionately screaming at my TV on Sunday evenings.  I'll be battling sleep as I try to catch the end of those west coast games.  It's a great time for me. I can imagine that my chipper attitude i...

Why I'm ecstatic Probably only Swedie, Bash and my friend Peter (who comes over just about every day) can understand how freaking excited I am about the fight that's happening TOMORROW.  The fight was made official on February 21st and I have been obsessed with it ever since!   I'll start by saying that I am a huge Mayweather fan and I am 98% certain that he will win the fight.  But I'll get into that later.  I have been a boxing fan since I was about six years old.  My father told me about this guy named Roy Jones Jr.  He was an amazing boxer that fought with a "dangerous" style (keeping his hands at his waist) but he was so quick that it didn't matter.  Roy Jones Jr. was representing the US in the Olympics and got robbed of what should have clearly been his gold medal.  My dad was so angry and so was I.  I was hooked on Roy Jones Jr. and I wanted him to win every fight ever after that ridiculous decision [the Korean boxer that wa...

When I moved here, I vowed to myself that I would be more active.  I said I would work out more, eat healthy and all that good stuff.  The fact that running is straight up boring means that I have to find other ways to be more active.  My go-to activity to accomplish this is basketball.  There is a wonderful court downtown that I liked to play at when I could, but I needed more.  At the court I would have to depend on good weather and good competition.  Last year Swedie's uncle told me that I could come to his team practices every Wednesday to get in a good run.  They play in a gym and there would always be good competition because they are getting ready for their games. Practice was fun.  The guys are a bit older than me, but skilled.  The game is more physical in general here.  The first time someone sets a pick on you, you know it.  You might think that the guy doesn't like you.  But that's just how they play.  More e...

My experience with soccer is very limited.  I vaguely remember playing in P.E. as an elementary school kid, but that had to be less than four total times.  I tried to watch on Univision a few times because I loved the way the guy yelled "Gooooooooooooooooaaaaaal!!!" whenever a goal was scored.   Crazy, right?!  He was so excited.  It would be so exciting to see the goal and then hear the call.  Unfortunately for me, I would never see a goal scored live. I would lose interest after a few minutes and change the channel.  Or, even worse, I would lose interest while the game was on and find out that a goal had been scored by hearing the announcer yelling "Goooooooooooooooaaaaaal!!!"  Then the replay but the magic is gone by then.  Just my luck.  The few times in my life that I did see a goal scored live, I would go crazy.  Even as an adult.  It is one of the better feelings in the sports-watching experience.  Right up...

The time finally came.  My first trip back to the US since moving to Sweden.  We had grand plans of doing some shopping and seeing everybody and eating everything working out regularly and this and that... We stretched ourselves thin of course.  There just wasn't enough time.  We were going to do our best though.  The flights weren't so bad.  Swedie handled it like a champ.  She was 6 months pregnant at the time of the trip.  It was actually good to have the layovers (Amsterdam and Atlanta) so she could move around a bit.  Atlanta was the first stop in the US so you have to deal with customs.  I swear the people in US Customs have the social skills of a rattlesnake.  There's the short angry fat lady that rolls her eyes after "helping" you to the next line.  Then the phone nazi. - Sir!  You see the sign!  No cell phone or camera!  Put yo camera away! Jeez.  Welcome to America!  Poor guy gettin...

I am a dedicated fan.  I pick a team and I ride for them until the end.  This hadn't truly been tested really until this basketball playoffs.  First off, I'm from Miami and I've been a Heat fan since before LeBron James joined us (yes I said us, I'm a dedicated fan, remember?) three seasons ago.  They're a front-runner now, so lots of people have been "fans" for these good years, but I've been around.  I digress.  The time difference, combined with the insane late ass start of the games means I have to catch the games at 3am here.  So now I schedule my sleep accordingly. I go to bed for a few hours with my phone set to wake me up 15 minutes before game time.  Then I get up and search for a good online stream on my new favorite website.  Then I put my headphones up so as not to wake anyone.  Side note: gambling and sex web ads probably won't get clicked on by some guy looking up basketball games at 3am.  It's so dumb that those are...