Oskar

Meet the new man in my life – or my good friend Katharina’s new dog, whatever description suits you best, comrades! This is Oskar. On the picture above Oskar is taking a nap on the kitchen floor. Oskar is a French bulldog aged two and a half [months, that is] and he is absolutely lovely!

Home is the place where you unpack your bags upon arrival. I’ve spent almost three weeks in Sweden but have not yet unpacked my bag. Thus I have concluded – finally, some faithful comrades and simultaneously devoted readers of this blog might add – that Sweden is no longer my home.

Since Sunday afternoon and currently I’m residing with Katharina in Mölndal. It is very nice. We get a long as if we were made for each other. She’s a Christian, and I’m a Christian. Whenever I’m quoting the Old Testament she never gets lost but is always ready to make a parallel to the New Testament. She’s a vegetarian, and I’m a vegetarian. For dinner we always make exciting salads. She doesn’t watch TV, and I don’t watch TV. In the evenings we both enjoy intellectual conversations about various current topics while sipping tea. Both of us treasure a glass of red wine as we try to sort out bits and pieces of ourselves, the past, present and people around us. Xenia left on Monday morning, and then I just had to stop by Gothenburg University for the first time after the summer holiday break [even though I myself personally have not been present on campus since early February]. There I was unable to localize first my institution [of Slavic Languages – it no longer exists but my heart keeps hoping] and, secondly, my darling professor M’s office. Thus felt like I had lost an arm and was forced to retire to the safety of Katharina’s stay-at-home zoo [she has one dog, two cats and a guinea pig]. The past couple of days I have not done much. Yesterday I enjoyed a long pick nick in sunny weather with my cousin Irene. Today I helped Mother as she purchased a bed at IKEA. I’ve begun to ponder this weekend’s upcoming conference in Stockholm; I need to write my presentation and I need to do it on Friday. Tomorrow I will not be able since I will be helping Mother move into her new apartment – I saw the apartment for the first time today and I really liked it. Some would say it’s small; I say petite. Some would say its location is too out-of-the-way; I say it is set in a privileged with privacy spot. Mother may have her doubts, but I think it’s a keeper – at least if she finds The Right Cat.

During the past two weeks in Sweden I have worked out a plan based on my far-fetched dream to meet a handsome Norwegian in order to have a boy and a girl with him and name them Arvid and Rut respectively. I decided to search Facebook for all men named Olaf in Norway. There turned out to be over 450 of them on Facebook. Now – for the selection. Stay tuned.