Comments about Sweden

Two blogs in one day! Writing blogs is a lot more fun than cleaning house. And gotta catch up somehow! As I have lots, and lots to write about Sweden still – 3 months in one place is a long time! Although I found travelling in Asia challenging, I think living in Sweden has also challenged many of my beliefs, and in ways I didn’t expect. In some ways, because I expect all western countries to be similar to each other, the shock becomes even greater when I see that not everything is done the same as in Canada. Especially by living in another country, you realize how challenging it can be to be out of the environment that you’re accustomed to. I really recommend it to everyone, to try living in another place for awhile. As in, longer than the average North American 2 weeks of vacation allotment – which I think sucks big time

My previous blog about Sweden vs. Canada got the lengthiest comments to date, so I’ll quickly respond to Ryan’s comments (sorry to pick on you ):

Ryan: “1) Swedes are generally more attractive than Canadians. True, the population is more homogenous in Sweden, so the “diversity” of appearances isn’t as strong; but geez, talk about a country with a good gene pool! haha.”

Definitely agree. Your point homogenous population isn’t a good argument though – look at Britain! I read on someone else’s blog that though they think the proportion of extremely attractive people in Sweden and the US is more or less the same, the average Swede (the one you would date and marry) are much better looking than the average American. Definitely true in my case I think this could also be tied to the fact that Swedes seem to be in much better physical shape and health than the average North American too.  Morbidly obese people are never attractive.

Ryan: “2) They generally dress better too, though this point is debatable. I noticed some took the “Eurotrash” look to new levels. Maybe it’s the overabundance of H&Ms? Kind of a double-edged sword that place is.”

Hmm, generally true, but debatable like you said. I never saw anyone wearing something extremely sloppy like I do in Edmonton (where many people think t-shirts and sweatpants are the answer to everything). Also, the stereotype of Europeans wearing a lot of black (at least in Sweden, Barcelona, and Paris) is comically true! One coffeehouse we went to in Sweden, I looked around and not a single person was not dressed all in black! In my opinion that’s a shame, since life is too short not to have fun with colour. Says the person with countless black sweaters, and all brown furnishings Hey, I mainly buy clothes with colour now!

Another bad development in fashion in Sweden is that many girls are orange! They take the fake/sunbed tans too far! They’re orange with bleached(?) blond hair (they probably have dark blonde hair which they’ve lightened). I thought it was only a California thing to go orange, blonde and black (as in too much makeup crap around the eye), but it’s a big trend in Sweden. And the thing is – the women don’t need it! They’re already naturally pretty! It’s like when Asian women whiten their skin – natural is good. It’s only a portion of the population that does it though.

I would add that Swedes are a lot more design-conscious, without realizing it. Everyone’s homes I’ve peered into (they don’t generally cover their windows!) showed some sign of effort in making it look nice. It also seems that every Swedish kitchen has many extremely useful kitchen gadgets that I don’t have. Could be that I don’t shop in houseware stores and don’t see these gadgets here (at least since I bought a house and as a result didn’t have as much disposable income to support my hobby of shopping when I was bored).

Ryan: “3) Care more about their health, but this is also debatable. Noticably higher tobacco (smoking and snus) rates, especially amongst youth (though not as bad as Denmark). Still, Swedes were more physically fit, and take advantage of excellent cycling networks to get around rather than relying on cars.”

I agree! Not as many obese people, and everyone seems much more active. They have a much better network of cycling paths – even *I* rode my bike to town 18 km round trip on a regular basis instead of taking the bus! I wanted to take a picture at one of the bike stands after a snowfall of snow piled on bike seats, but didn’t have a chance. Our North American car culture is pretty much killing us…

PS to Per – stay off the snus!

Ryan: “4) Excellent transit systems, intracity and intercity rail, bus and T-bana. They’re easy enough for tourists to understand, and must be a no-brainer for locals.”

Yep. In the city centre of Linkoping, they had an electronic sign at bus stops indicating when the next buses would arrive! Their bus system kicks Edmonton’s ass, and we’re a city of 1 million??? Very sad.
Ryan: “5) Lower crime rates, friendly people who will stop and take the time to help you out with a question, minimal urban decay, and so on.”

Definitely felt much safer in Sweden than I do here. I wasn’t sure how our crime rates compare, but it did seem lower in Sweden. Not sure of the friendly people since I hardly talked to strangers. The stereotype is that Swedes are a bit reserved until you have a drink together, which I found to be true sometimes (though I’m like that also).

There’s a few more ways I think Sweden has Canada beat, but now I’m tired of writing Sweden sounds like an utopia? Perhaps in some ways, but there’s also a few negative things about Sweden, which would make life for me not exactly easy, should I decide to move there. Also, I think Sweden is about to experience massive change, partly due to the increase in immigration and demographic change.

So to respond to Loyal’s comment: “All I am saying is that for whatever reason, there seems to be some popular (North American?) notion that Sweden’s social safety net is very generous – perhaps too generous that people may take advantage of it.”The negative stereotype of Sweden’s overly generous welfare state is a bit true, and is ripe for the pickings from sneaky immigrants. Hey, I might be one of them too – abusing their free education system Swedes as a general rule seem bound to “do the right thing”. I admire their honest and trusting nature and think if everyone was more like that, the world would be a better place. But I can’t help but think that the opposite will occur…

As an example, I’ll respond to Per’s comment: “Joyce told me about a man who was unemployed for one year without seriously trying to get a job? In Sweden there is a system to stop this, if you don’t apply for a job you are qualified for you don’t get any money. But Canada don’t have this system? So it may be easier to take advantage of the system in Canada?”

Of course we have the same system. But shocker of all shockers – people lie! You really don’t need to do much to “prove” you’re looking for a job. Sending off a few half-hearted resumes doesn’t get much result. I should know – I sent off 100 resumes (and not half-hearted) to get the 1 job I have now as an engineer! We sneaky, dishonest immigrants can take advantage of Sweden’s system just as easily, if not more so (as Swedes would probably trust someone who said they were looking).

More blog(s) will follow, as it might take some more thought to word it in the right way.

Swedish food series

I didn’t expect to like Swedish food so much, considering how simple it is compared to Chinese or French cooking. Though I should have realized, there are very few foods I dislike, and variety is (insert cliche here). I see Swedish food as being simple but made with good ingredients, whereas Chinese food uses a lot of smoke and mirrors to disguise and change foods that might have been less appetizing otherwise (i.e. tripe, for one example). Swedes’ food habits also mirror the way they live – their menus are seasonal, and menus change as the seasons (and food availability) change.

Part of my grocery store misadventure included only being able to find split yellow peas instead of yellow peas, and not really knowing what cut of pork to buy. I planned to make Yellow Pea Soup, or Artsoppa, a traditional Swedish meal served on Thursdays, followed by pancakes, and served with warm punsch (an alcoholic sweet drink). The recipe called for salt pork, which I wasn’t sure I would find. I looked up an alternate cut of meat I could use by searching recipes on the internet, and quickly wrote down “ham hocks” on my grocery list just in case. Couldn’t find salt pork in the grocery store like I anticipated, so bought ham hocks instead.

Came home, and rechecked the other recipe… Only to find that I was supposed to buy “SALT ham hocks”. Doh! Well, I tried making the soup the ingredients I had on hand anyway.

The ingredients – very simple!

15 minutes from completion, before adding spices… Not looking very promising, hmm…. Rather runny.

After cooling, I separated the meat from the fat, to put back into the soup. Yikes! Don’t want that stuff floating around my arteries and ending up around my midsection!

Served with grainy brown mustard on the side. No pancakes or punsch unfortunately. Soup wasn’t as good as Per’s mom’s soup, but not bad for a first trial.

I put half of the soup into the freezer for one of those inevitable busy days. So easy, cheap, and filling! Plus, you could justify having pancakes with whipped cream and jam if you make it

By the way, here’s one of two jars of herring I smuggled into Canada So yummy! Again, very simple, and full of good-for-you omega-3’s. I should have tried smuggling more, though my luggage was already at 39 kg not including my carry on. Makes a fantastic quick and easy meal.

Case study #1: Canada vs. Sweden

Back in Canada now, and experiencing some reverse culture shock perhaps. While I was in Sweden, I remarked to Per how amazed I was that people assumed and depended on everyone doing their job to the best of their ability. For example, Swedes trust that their government, watchdog groups, committees, and the like (such as Konsumentverket) to – gasp – actually do the job they are supposed to! He was completely confused at my statement – why shouldn’t I expect that everyone would do their job? Well, living in Canada, I’m completely used to poor customer service, lazy employees that pass the buck, and a general apathy from people towards their job and those they are supposed to help.

Case in point today: frustrating day at the grocery store. The good thing about Superstore (a gigantic, discount grocery store chain) is they have a huge variety of goods! Thought about how Per might find the store really interesting with all the products you can buy in one place. Downside is that they have such a huge variety… I was stuck shopping for over 3 hours!! And if we stopped to look at everything we’d be even longer. I couldn’t find all of the things I wanted i.e. canned beets (to make Swedish beetroot salad). Nope, guess we don’t carry that in Edmonton if it’s not in the Superstore. Yellow peas? Nope, only split yellow peas. I don’t think ingredients for Swedish foods are very easy to come by in Edmonton.

Also, it’s frustrating that we don’t show prices per kg like they do in Sweden. This is one of many ways I feel that Canada is so backwards compared to Sweden. Making life easier for the Canadian consumer to make informed purchases? Hah! You’re dreaming!…

Anyway, so I stand in front of the whole aisle, calculating in my head which package is the best value. On top of that, the same type of product could be in 3 different places in the store, which makes comparison shopping even more difficult!

But that’s not my main complaint… I caved and bought some Haagen Daaz before heading to the cashier, as I really missed North American ice cream. Swedish ice cream is good enough, but doesn’t quite hit the mark in comparison. (But Australian gelato is probably number one.) So, checked out at the cashier, the girl told me I had “6800 points” – enough to get $60 discount on my groceries, from using my grocery credit card in Sweden. But she didn’t ask me if I wanted to use them, and didn’t take the discount off. Uh, hello??? I WANTED to use them. Why the heck would I want to keep saving them up – for fun??? She apologized and I tried to give her some slack for being a new employee.

I tried to go to customer service to get it fixed, because I don’t shop Superstore very often (once every 1-2 months). But the woman at the counter pissed me off so bad!! She said they can’t just put the money back on my credit card, they have to return everything on my receipt. And then she can’t just give me back the same goods, I have to go shop in the store and pick up everything again myself… Sounded fishy to me – I was pretty sure she just didn’t want to have to manually run a return on every item on my receipt.

Me: “Well, can I just return $60 worth?”

Lazy old woman: “No, you have to return EVERYTHING. You can’t do it that way.”

Me: “The cashier was the one who made the mistake, it shouldn’t be my problem.”

Lazy old woman: “Yes, but the return can’t be processed any other way. You can just use the points next time you shop.”

I was pretty ticked off, so I just shook my head and walked out, fuming. Then, on the walk to the car, I thought, hey, that’s NOT true that I CAN’T return $60… She’s just too fucking lazy to do it! If I go back in there, she has no choice but to process a return on items that happen to total to $60.

So in true Canadian passive-aggressive fashion, I wasn’t going to let the lazy employee off the hook that easily. I went back with $70 worth of groceries, waited while she manually returned each of those items, walked back in the store and did a quick round, while she made some poor sap of a re-stocker have to put all the same things back. All because she claimed that she couldn’t give me back the same items, to save herself from doing work. Even if it did waste another 15 minutes of my time, I showed her!

Sweden 1, Canada 0.

Squeezing in some last minute travels before home…

So, finally we’re back in Linkoping for 2-3 days for a breather. But not for long, as we’re making plans to revisit Stockholm, and also go for a week-long x-c ski trip with Per’s parents. Then, it’s back home to Canada, unfortunately. I have so much to write about still: Norrkoping (twice),  Goterborg, Germany, Stockholm, Barcelona, Gotland, traditional Swedish Christmas with Per’s family, surviving in the forest overnight in below-zero temperatures without a tent  or matches, Kalmar, a very close call with the Swedish tradition of everyone shooting their own fireworks for new year’s eve… But this will have to come at a later time.