Adventures in Coffee Shopping

I am obsessed with my morning cup of coffee! Pretty much the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is knowing that I get to enjoy a delicious hot cup of coffee. I am addicted!

The first day we moved into our apartment I could not wait to be reunited with my beloved Keurig machine. However, we had some converter issues and ended up buying a Nespresso machine. Our impulse purchase of the Nespresso is another story in itself, but I am going to leave those details out as it is not entirely appropriate to be posted on the internet. Let's just say we were exhausted after setting up our apartment and getting an espresso machine was the LAST thing my husband wanted to do. Ask me the rest in person sometime because it's a good one ;). Anyway, I am obsessed with my Nespresso as it allows me to make my very own delicious latte from the comfort of my own home.

I have the Nespresso Citiz & Milk machine

Living in the middle of a city got a whole lot better when I learned there is a Nespresso boutique right down the street from our apartment. When it came time to purchase new espresso pods I was very excited to have the store so close and could not wait to venture over to pick out new flavors.

Let's pause for a second and get a little background information about Sweden. One of the things I have learned living here is that Sweden is very much a do-it-yourself country. There is typically a figure it out yourself mentality. In fact, store employees usually do not help you nor offer to do so. If you need to ask a question or need assistance they will help you, but generally you help yourself to everything.  Even in the grocery store you bag your own groceries and the cashier does not even hand you the receipt, you have to rip it out of the machine yourself if you want it. 


I first walked into Nespresso boutique and noticed all the espresso machines on one side and a huge wall of pods on the opposite side. Knowing you usually do things yourself I walked over to the wall and started browsing all the different coffee types. I grabbed a few different boxes when an employee said something to me in Swedish. I bashfully said "sorry I don't speak Swedish" and she repeated in English that I was not allowed over there as it was for employees only. I needed to get a number from the kiosk at the front of the store and wait to be called and they would gather the coffee for me. I was mortified!! I quickly apologized and started to put back the items I grabbed while the customer the employee was assisting laughed. I was so ready for the floor to open up and swallow me.

At this pointed I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh at my stupidity or run crying out of the store. Instead, I got my number, waited to be called, and eventually left with coffee in hand. I waited for Chris to get home where I recounted the entire story to have him laughing at me.  He felt bad that I was embarrassed, but couldn't help laughing at my experience. Lesson learned for me that sometimes bad situations help you figure things out and this will happen many more times during my journey in Sweden.

I am happy to report that I have successfully purchased coffee there numerous times since without any embarrassment!

My favorite coffee drinking companion

Change Can Be Good

If you've read Champs & Pearls before then it was probably obvious that there's been a name change here! I had pretty much given up blogging until I moved to Sweden. I had numerous people asking about our life in Sweden and wanting to know more details and hear stories. I would tell my family the crazy and funny situations I was in and they constantly told me to write about these experiences. This lead me back to Champs & Pearls. However, I felt that the Champs & Pearls chapter of my life closed. This title was silly and frivolous and just didn't fit with my new adventure. Chris asked me about creating a new blog, but that wasn't something I was ready to delve into just yet. After some consideration, I decided a change and reinvention was necessary.

The title "Notes From The Matchbox" came about organically. I was having one of my "I hate everything about this situation and I am so unbelievably over it" fits moments and jokingly called our apartment a matchbox in reference to it's small size to Chris. He thought this was funny and continued to use this term in conversations since then. My clever, English major sister came up with "notes from the matchbox" title and it just fit! I thought this would be perfect for re-branding and giving this little blog a purpose. Don't worry, I still love champagne and pearls ;)!

For those of you loving, loyal readers who bookmarked my previous blog page you will need to re save this one as the website link has changed.

Moving forward I will continue to share updates on my getting back to Sweden status as well as some of the experiences I had previously. I hope you come back frequently to join in with me!

That Time I was Kicked Out of Sweden

Before we moved to Sweden I applied for a residency permit as I was told was necessary to live in the country with Chris. After applying I was notified it could take 12-16 months until my application was approved. We knew this was a long process, but were assured that it didn't matter and I could still live in Sweden with Chris while the process took place.

Around mid-November, Chris and I went to the migration office in Sweden to get an extension on my visit while my residency application is still in process. We found out at this appointment that I was unable to apply for an extension and actually needed to get out of the country asap if I wanted my residency application approved. Uhhhh What?! You can only begin to imagine what we felt at this point.

Chris reached out to his network of people who looked into the situation for us. They confirmed that I did need to leave the country and possibly sooner than we expected. The whole situation of back and forth with a variety of different people carried on for a few weeks. The more information we heard the worst the situation got for us. I won't bore you with the details, but basically I was told to leave Sweden ASAP and stay out of the country until my residency permit is approved. Apparently, my being in Sweden could negatively affect the outcome, so I needed to leave and not come back until accepted.

Before all of this occurred we booked a trip to the US for Christmas with my family. Luckily, I was approved to still fly out on this previously scheduled flight, but since it was past the 90 days I was allowed to be in Sweden I had to be escorted through the airport. This was sad and embarrassing, but you do what you have to do. My sweet (and pissed off) husband changed his ticket to fly with me during all of this and I couldn't be more thankful! Harvie also had to fly with us since Chris works long hours and cannot care for her the way she needs, so I needed her with me. Plus, lets be honest, I wanted my furchild with me!

Fast forward to today...Chris is back to work in Sweden and living in our apartment. Harvie and I are in the United States staying with my parents (who, by the way, moved to Texas, which is a whole other situation).  I flew down to Houston on Monday to meet with the Consulate of Sweden. This was another step in my residency permit process where they interviewed me and looked at my supporting documents in person. They then send everything back to Sweden and it stays in a file until someone gets around to my application. At this point I/We have done everything we can do.

Chris is continuously waiting to hear from his network of people. We have been extremely disappointed with Chris' new job moving us to Sweden and dropping the ball on the Ashley portion of this equation. Usually when a company moves a person abroad they apply for a work permit for said person and attach their dependents. Since Chris is already a Swedish citizen and able to work in Sweden they did not have to do this step. However, they completely forgot about me being in the country and what that entails. Plus they gave us incorrect information from the beginning about the whole process. We were under the impression that I was able to move there, apply for an extension as needed and continue on with life in Sweden. This is absolutely not correct and those involved should have known better. We NEVER would have moved to Sweden in the first place had we known that I was not able to stay there with Chris. We would have waited until we could both legally be in the country.

The entire situation is completely overwhelming and frustrating. We have so many mixed emotions and the past few months have been rough. Just being honest! We really have no idea what to do at this point aside from waiting for my residency permit to come through (assuming it even does get approved). It's entirely possible that we may move back to the United States in a few months or my residency permit may come in sooner and we can be reunited in Sweden. We have no idea right now. Stay tuned.

Regardless, Chris and I are SO grateful for one another. We never imagined this would be the journey that moving to Sweden would take us on, But, we are incredibly happy to have each other and are making the best of the situation. This mess has shown us how much we love each other and love our life together. Being unwillingly separated is hard and not something we ever wanted to go through. We are taking life day by day and look forward to the time when we can look back on this and laugh together.

Cheers to messy situations!