Posts in November 2008

Hearing Swedish Abroad

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Nov
16
2008

It’s always interesting to see how many people abroad can utter at least some words of Swedish. I say “utter,” because I’m not even surprised anymore at how many people actually can speak Swedish. Their degrees of proficiency vary wildly, that’s for sure, but Swedish is no longer a secret language in which you can gossip with your friend about that fat lady with a camel toe waiting to cross the street. Chances are, the lady and the camel toe can also understand Swedish.

That’s exactly what happened to me last Friday. Except that the lady didn’t sport a camel toe, because she was sitting behind a desk at one of the local governmental offices. I was picking up some useless papers and waiting for even more useless stamps. I was complaining about it in Swedish to my companion. The lady looked up from behind her desk and said to no one in particular - “jävla Svenssons” (bloody Swedes). Needless to say, we shut up and waited quietly for our turn.

Later, because I’m a dork who still sends postcards home, we went to a dinky little post office to buy stamps. The woman there took one look at “Sverige” in the address and responded “Ah! Jättebra! Min syster bor i Sverige.” (Great! My sister lives in Sweden.)

This was getting spooky.

Throughout the day I heard even more Swedish coming from random strangers. A Belgian guy said proudly, “I can say something in Swedish!” and proceeded with “Jag älskar dig!” (I love you.) We heard friendly shouts of “Skål!” (cheers!) in the evening and grateful thanks of “Tack!” (thank you).

I am no longer surprised when I hear odd words of Swedish abroad. And believe me, Swedish can be heard all over the place. In Poland it’s almost expected to have someone try to chat you up in Swedish if they hear you speaking this language. But on the beaches in The Gambia? Or on the streets of Phuket? True, both places are popular destinations for Swedish tourists, but trust me, the first time you hear Gambian bum boys or Thai hustlers address you in Swedish, you will feel a bit odd. And while at first, they may know only a few chosen words to attract attention, they are very quick learners – they know where their business is coming from. I’ve met some that after one tourist season speak better Swedish than many immigrants after years of SFI (Svenska för Invandrare).

Keep that in mind when you’re off to exotic lands this winter to escape the cold.

 
Posted under Culture
Tagged with , , , 		12 Comments | Post a Comment

Swedish Foodstuffs Abroad

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Nov
14
2008

I am abroad again and this time, I’m proud to say that Dearly Beloved is managing quite well. He went shopping all by himself today and bought what he needed. But he did respond with a sigh of relief when he heard I’m coming back on Monday.

This time it was me who needed his help. I was asked to prepare something typically Swedish for my hosts and my mind went blank. “Typically Swedish?” I thought… hmmm, that would have be to falukorv and pasta with ketchup, but sadly, or rather happily, they’re not aware of the existence of falukorv in this country and I plan to keep it this way.

I went to a local supermarket to search the shelves looking for Swedish products. The idea was that maybe I could put together something Swedish using what I could buy in normal grocery stores. You see, when abroad I never really go shopping with a specific goal of buying only Swedish products. To be honest, I tend to do the opposite and sample the local specialties. But this time, I had strict orders – show us something native to Sweden. And so instead of trying 537 different varieties of sausages, I was diligently going through the supermarket looking for Swedish stuff. It turned out easier than expected.

In the refrigerated section I found a slew of Abba fishies in jars. All made the Swedish way – with copious amounts of sugar. I bought some sickly sweet dill herring (dill sill). In the bread and cracker section, there were several shelves of Wasa cracker bread. All the kinds we have back home and probably a few more made specifically for a foreign market.

In the dairy section half of the stuff was made by Arla – a brand we know from home (and from my post about dairy products) but I couldn’t find any typically Swedish cheeses, like Kloster, for example. But in a different isle, tiny jars of lingonsylt were neatly lined up. And in the ice-cream freezers, SIA hjortron glass (couldberry ice cream) was smiling at me.

Still, not enough to put together a proper Swedish dinner. And since I’m too lazy to make my own meatballs, I had to listen to the advice of my DB, which went more or less like that “Go to IKEA, stupid!” Yes, for those who don’t know – this Swedish furniture emporium also sells a variety of Swedish yummies. So, needless to say, I’m off to IKEA tomorrow.

 
Posted under Culture
Tagged with , , 		9 Comments | Post a Comment

Fars dag - Father’s Day

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Nov
9
2008

David from Oregon very astutely pointed out that it was Father’s Day (Fars dag) today in Sweden. He wanted to know how it’s normally celebrated. But because I’m the worst daughter ever (in fact, next week I will visit my dad for the first time in about 17 years, yes shame on me, I know, I know…) I had to pass the question to someone more inclined to fulfill her filial duty. So this morning I called my friend, Malin.

A: What are you doing for Father’s Day?
M: Oh, dunno… Haven’t thought about it yet.
A: Ehmm, ehmm… Isn’t it, like, cutting it close?
M: Wait, you said “Father’s Day”???
A: Yeah, it’s today…
M: Oh *&%#!

So, before lunch we drove her to Ica MAXI where she could purchase a suitable Father’s Day cake. Because it was Sunday, Systemet was of course closed. Malin’s dad likes whiskey, and she was going to get him an expensive bottle of something aged for at least 12 years in an oak barrel. But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

The Father’s Day cakes looked rather pitiful (see the photo above), and so we decided on a big slab of Budapest tårta instead. This being Sunday, our options were rather limited. And as it happens I rather like Budapest tårta, even though it’s nothing but a huge creamy cholesterol bomb.
Malin also picked up a carton of beer, a bag of chips and the new Indiana Jones movie on DVD. I suggested a book, Ica MAXI has a whole slew of paperbacks to choose from, but she gave me that “you can’t be serious” look, so we paid and left.

I drove her to her dad’s place and when she was getting out of the car, she looked at me reproachfully and said “next time can you remind me at least a day before, please?”

I don’t know if this was a “typical” Father’s Day celebration (I sure hope not!) but it seems that the holiday is treated almost as an afterthought. Sure, there were TV commercials for all the useless things that the marketing/advertising people think fathers would want. Meh… It’s the same the world over. A few stores downtown had sales on the manly stuff, like dress shirts and drill bits and rubber boots, and that seemed pretty much it. At least in our town.

Father’s Day in Sweden was initially celebrated in June, but then various commercial organizations wanted it moved, so it wouldn’t compete with Mother’s Day (Mors dag), but now, when it’s celebrated on the second Sunday in November, it seems that most people are already in their Advent-window lights mode. Poor dads…

So, let’s recap in Swedish:

Fars dag är en högtid då barn firar sina fäder och inträffar i Sverige den andra söndagen i november. Fars dag firas samtidigt i hela Skandinavien, förutom i Danmark där den firas den 5 juni.

 
Posted under Culture
Tagged with , 		6 Comments | Post a Comment

Adventures in Healthcare, part 1

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Nov
6
2008

A few years ago my friend discovered a black spot on her skin. She went to the clinic (vårdcentralen) and showed it to the doctor there. The doctor told her to wait and see if it would disappear on its own. A couple of weeks later, the spot was still there and she asked me to go to the clinic with her and yell at the doc a little. I went and I yelled. My friend got a referral (en remiss) to a specialist at the hospital (sjukhuset). The hospital sent her a letter saying that the earliest available appointment they had was about 8 months away.

We returned to vårdcentralen to yell at the doc some more. Finally, she said, “a new private dermatology practice just opened, why don’t you go there?” I wanted to know why she didn’t tell us that a few weeks ago during the first visit. “You didn’t ask,” she answered.
To make a long story short – my friend went to the private clinic, had a biopsy, turned out the spot was malignant, was admitted to the hospital and had it removed. She’s been cancer free ever since. I shudder at the thought of what might have happened if she had waited the initial 8 months for her appointment at the hospital skin clinic.

So, when last week I noticed something weird on my skin, I didn’t even bother with vårdcentralen, I called straight to the private practice and got my appointment immediately.

Wow! How the place has grown since the last time I was there. Now they’re giving the public hospital some serious competition.
Apart from a dermatologist (en dermatolog, hudläkare), they also have a regular surgeon (en allmänkirurg), an orthopedist (en ortoped), plastic/cosmetic surgeons (plastikkirurger), their own anesthesiologists (narkosläkare) and a whole slew of nurses (sköterskor). It’s a tiny private hospital they’ve got over there.

Now, in addition to a strictly private practice (like cosmetic surgery), they also accept regular and private insurance and referrals from doctors at vårdcentraler. This is what I call progress!

To provide a point of reference, my dearly beloved also had to see a doctor today. He got a referral for gastroscopy (gastroskopi), the poor thing… And the wait time at the hospital? 6 weeks… Let’s hope it’s nothing serious and he can survive. Technically, we have a 30 day guarantee to see a specialist, but in reality (and depending on what king of doctor you need), it may not happen.

The long waiting times to see specialist doctors are a very common problem in Sweden. In bigger cities, where there are more private clinics, the patients at least have options. In smaller towns, it may mean the difference between life and death. You think I’m exaggerating? Not so. Even the government decided it was time to finally do something about it. Here is what The Local wrote about it (in English) back in September, and here is a more recent article (in Swedish) from a local newspaper in Östersund.

And as for me, I’ll have my results next week. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.

image: Landstinget i Östergötland

 
Posted under Culture, Vocabulary
Tagged with , , , , , 		9 Comments | Post a Comment

Quantum of Solace of Assigned Seating

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Nov
2
2008

I just went to see the new Bond movie, and it’s as explosive as everyone says. That’s true. “Quantum of Solace” opened in some European countries this past Friday, and for once, Sweden was on the lucky list, along with the UK and France. How’s that for speshul, huh? Normally, we get big movies looong after the rest of the world, so it was a nice surprise to be able to see something ahead of the US. I still can’t forgive the Swedish distributors for releasing “The Constant Gardener” here when it was already available on DVD in the US.

But anyway, you all want to know about the new Bond movie. But since this is the Swedish Blog, we need to somehow tie it in with something Swedish. Hmmm… Not easy… Neither one of the Bond girls was Swedish – one was British, and the other – Ukrainian. The movie doesn’t take place in Scandinavia, instead it jumps from Italy to Haiti (in fact filmed in Panama) to Austria to the UK to Bolivia (in fact filmed in Chile and Baja California) and very briefly to Russia at the end.

The only bit of Sweden that I could dig up was a product placement for Sony Ericsson and that’s it.

So instead, let me tell you about a certain custom you will experience when going to the movies in Sweden. Namely – assigned seating. I’m still not sure whether I like it or not. I miss the American way of rushing in and fighting for those prized middle-of-the row seats with all the accompanying mess and commotion akin to boarding a Ryanair flight to Barcelona.

There’s none of that in Sweden. Your seat is assigned when you buy your ticket. If you order your tickets on the Filmstaden website, you have a choice of selecting where you want to sit. Once you do that, you’re pretty much stuck with your choice, even if a very tall guy happens to sit in the row in front of you.

But on the other hand, there’s no need to rush and push, your seat waits for you and if you find someone else sitting in it, you just show them your ticket and they move to their assigned seats without arguing. But… Box office clerks tend to assign seats right next to the already filled ones. This can (and in 4 of out 5 instances does) lead to the super annoying situation when the entire row is empty, and yet you find yourself sitting right next to a couple who always engages in a vigorous make-out session practically in your lap (and for the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would pay 100 kronor to make out in a crowded room, if you can do it in the privacy of your car or home for free). If you are lucky, you can move to an empty seat once the film starts.

But chances are, there won’t be any vacant seats left during the opening weekend of a James Bond movie… Oh, the things we do for the love of Daniel Craig…

 
Posted under Culture
Tagged with , , , , , 		6 Comments | Post a Comment