This was the first week without my parents being here. I knew it would be hard to settle into a routine, but I never imagined the week I would have.
Monday came and it was cold and rainy, so I didn't feel like leaving the apartment. I was bored and lonely, and it doesn't help that we have one English station on the TV that only plays re-runs of Crossing Jordan and Star Trek. I was homesick but had made plans to meet other spouses in the stretch program for lunch the next day.
Tuesday I went to lunch and shopped some, so the day was going better. On Wednesday, I went into town with my neighbor for coffee and grocery shopping. While we were there, Belle was uncharacteristically fussy, but I didn't think much of it.
Wednesday night the stomach flu hit Belle and she was so sick. It was scary since we didn't really know the Swedish medical system or where we should take her if the need would arise.
Luckily, Thursday morning she was doing better. We spent the day around the house so she could recover.
Friday, I woke up and didn't feel great and by the afternoon I had the full blown stomach flu. Cyle had to leave work early to take care of his girls. While I was in bed, I was reading a Swedish news story about a terrorist plot at a local mall. Apparently, a bomb had been found at a coffee shop. The owner of the shop found the bomb and alerted local authorities before the bomb was detonated. He also took the guy's coffee mug, which gave the police DNA evidence to track an arrest the culprit. I soon realized that the mall was the mall I visit everyday and the coffee shop was the same shop I had visited that Wednesday afternoon, the same day the bomb was discovered. The man they arrested, lives in Hägersten, which is the same neighborhood where I live. Needless to say I am still a little uneasy about the fact that there was a terrorist plot so close to home.
By this time, I thought the week couldn't get much worse, but Saturday evening Cyle got sick.
By Sunday, I'm stressed and emotionally and physically exhausted, and all I want to do is go to bed. However, I signed up for the laundry room from 6-10. As I am trudging down to the old bomb shelter, which is now the laundry room, I notice a note on the laundry room sign up sheet. I didn't think much of it but was curious about what it said. I took a picture of it, put my laundry in the wash and came upstairs to translate. The first line sent me into a panic. It stated that we have bed bugs and then I couldn't decipher the rest. After finally getting some help with the translation, it was our neighbor saying they have bed bugs and are sorry for taking so many wash slots but are trying to get rid of them. By this point, I'm hysterical and just want to get on a plane home. (After talking to the landlord, the problem has supposedly been remedied. They've had pest control out to treat the apartment and should be fixed.).
So, my first week by myself I experienced boredom, sickness, a terrorist attack and bed bugs. Hopefully it just gets better because I'm not sure I can take much more!
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