Football (Soccer), Zlatan, and Stortorget (The Big Square)

A local hero and football (soccer) megastar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the son of Bosnian immigrants, was born and raised in Malmö.  Zlatan played in Sweden from 1994-2001, and currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).  Although he plays for France, his face is everywhere here and he is well loved.  Thus, when the PSG was scheduled to  travel to Malmö for tonight's second leg of their Champions League competition, fans were disappointed and frustrated when tickets quickly sold out.  Thus, hero to the rescue: Zlatan, feeling it is a pity that the entire city could not fit inside the stadium, generously booked Malmö's large square to publicly broadcast the  match live! Pretty cool!

image borrowed from thelocal.se

Noon in Stortorget.  Setting up for the the upcoming game.

Rapunzel?

I was in Lund a few weeks ago and saw this at Lund's cathedral.  

: )

  

Refugees and immigration

Anyone who is even semi-conscious is aware of the refugee situation that is happening in Europe.  

In 2015 Sweden has taken in 10,000 unaccompanied children.  

In the past week, 6,500 refugees (of all ages) have arrived. 

(source: http://www.thelocal.se/)  I am impressed with the Swedish attitude toward these people who are, as I understand it, running for their lives. 

I was in our central train station on September 10th.  It was crowded with immigrants and immigration police.  There were also volunteers distributing water bottles and fruit.  

The concept of immigration is not new to Americans.  All my grandparents were born in Europe.  In the United States, if you ask Americans about nationality, you are typically not asking if they are American citizens, but rather are asking about their ethnic heritage. 

To learn a little more about immigration in the United States, here are a few sites  This is, of course, the tip of the proverbial iceberg on this subject.

• Immigration 1789-1930  (Harvard University) http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/timeline.html

• Scandinavia to U.S. immigration 1789-1930 (Harvard University) http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/scandinavian.html

• And just to give more current news: Specifically regarding refugees and asylees in the U.S. in 2013 (U.S. Dept of Homeland Security)  http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ois_rfa_fr_2013.pdf

•  From 1892 to 1924, Ellis Island was America's largest and most active immigration station, where over 12 million immigrants were processed.  I have visited Ellis Island and it tells of wonderful, inspiring, and heart-breaking stories. It was especially interesting and personal to me as my father, at age 12, passed through Ellis Island with his family in ~ 1935.  They were returning to the U.S. after spending 7 years back in Poland. http://www.nps.gov/elis/learn/historyculture/index.htm

Drinking fountains.

Having lived my life in the U.S., I took drinking fountains for granted.  For those of you not familiar with the U.S., let me explain that it would be hard to find a public building that does not have at least one drinking fountain.  Buildings of significant size, like shopping malls or schools, would have several.  In Sweden, and this may be the norm in all of western Europe, drinking fountains are hard to find.

This is a picture of a water / drinking fountain in stortorget (the big square) in town.  I am sure there are more, but as I write this, I can only think of one other location in the area which has one.  To be fair, there is a large, chain department store which has plastic cups in their lavatories.  The other day, when at the mall which has a fountain - I was so surprised and pleased to see one that I took a drink "just because".  ; )

Summer vacation in Sweden / Europe

Have I ever written about this?  First let me say that I honestly think that the U.S. has to up its game when it comes to vacation.  The U.S. has no minimum number of guaranteed vacation days and I think that is wrong.  Since so many seem to misunderstand the U.S.'s system, let me offer a little clarity.  Although there is no guaranteed minimum vacation, and many starting jobs have only one to two weeks vacation per year, as one gets older one earns more vacation time.  My husband, for instance, when in his 50's had 5 weeks of vacation per year.

The Swedes, depending upon their age, are federally guaranteed 4-6 weeks of vacation per year.  A Swedes right to take ~ 3 of those weeks consecutively during the summer is guaranteed by federal law.  That sounds great right?  Well, as I have been known to say many times about many situations, there is good and bad to everything.  For instance:

I know of  a couple who in July of two different years had to wait ridiculously long to get medical care because (aside from the fact that the Swedish healthcare system requires waiting) it was July.  I will give specifics so you understand: The husband was diagnosed with a very small blood clot in a secondary vein of one leg.  He was immediately put on a blood thinner and the next day was given a standard tight stocking to wear on that one leg.  He was also given an appointment for 5 days later to be fitted for another sturdier stocking.  The stocking fitter stated that due to size, the stocking had to be made specifically for him (he wears a size 14 US - big but not crazy big).  He was told the stocking would arrive in around 10 days.  Now for those not in healthcare - let me tell you that basically all this would have been done prior to the patient leaving the US hospital on the first day!  Except that in the states he would have been given a stocking for each leg,not just the affected one.)  Anyway the stocking was due to arrive in about 10 days.  It arrived 4 weeks later and by then the doctor had told him he didn't even need to wear it.  Yup.  And then there was the time I went to a city office (let me restate that - a government office) that in July was only open two hours a day.  I recently read that due to increased violence, the city is increasing its police force.  We currently have 706 police-persons.  But since during the summer 1/3 of them are on vacation at any one time...!  

Below is the sign from a local restaurant.  Even during the year this resturant is only open for lunch, Monday - Friday.

This sign, posted in June, basically translates to, "From tomorrow and for the whole summer we are closed.  Wishing you all a sunny and nice summer.  See you in August !"  Yup.  I will never get used to this.  

 

KAFFE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have I ever mentioned Sweden and my's mutual love affair with coffee?  While there is an American brand that still has my heart, I have never once had a bad cup of coffee in Sweden. 

OK - so the following is great.  I love it!

Sweden has unique words that mean seconds and third helpings of coffee.  YUP!!!!!  Totally true. The words just refer to coffee.

So: 

Vill du ha kaffe? = "Do you want to have coffee?"
Påtår? = "Do you want to have a second cup of coffee?"
Tretår? = "Do you want to have a third cup of coffee?"  

And the obvious answer to all of these questions is: 


Ja tack! = "Yes thank you!"

Note - although most Swedes I know drink their coffee black, if you go out and want something else, it is often served in a heavy glass.  Which, though attractive in its presentation, has no handle. 

Gullbrannafestivalen 2015 or "The Gullbranna Festival 2015"

Some good friends of ours graciously invited John and I to join them for a long weekend at the Gullbrannafestivalen.  I had never gone to any kind of music festival - and I am so glad I went!

First of all the place.  Gullbranna campgrounds are super nice.  They are clean, neat, welcoming and peaceful (even with a lot of activity going on!)   It is on the southwest coast and the campground is an easy walk to the beach.  Something we took advantage of several times.  The musicians, technical crew etc. were professional quality.  Of course I didn't enjoy every artist.  There were so many, and so many genres.  There was rap, jazz, blues, rock, hard rock, gospel, and more. There were soloists, bands, and a terrific youth choir.  Some artists performed contemporary music, and let the application speak for itself. 

Aside from music there were, not surprisingly for a Christian camp/festival, devotional talks and many social ministries present.  There were also some dance groups and children's activities.  And ice cream! (Just sayin'!) 

It was terrific! 

See you next year?  : D

Here are a few links to performer's work which I particularly enjoyed: 

Ida Sand.  SO so good!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UWUdTt1Xp8

Jimmy Needham (U.S.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK4jdexjgz4&list=PLE1E2C513C9AD06A0

Samuel Ljungblahd The recording I am linking here is when he recently sang at the royal wedding (!)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oand7bv0IBs

Beck Corlan (Romanian) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ11eNSUcjY&list=PLnSZHb8XlnKVIrnaooC6EDcAmR6AopJRw

And the young Simen Thelander (who had a terrific keyboard player, Samuel Lund, performing with him a Gullbranna).  Might I add that in this video link Thelander is performing one of Jimmy Needham's songs (look up higher in the list!) for an Idol audition.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo0lCd0nCGY

Brooms and Mops

When we moved to Sweden we, of course, had to figure out what to bring.  Believe me when I say that it never occurred to us that it would be impossible to get the type of broom and mop that we are used to using.

What are we used to using?  Items like the following are typical in the U.S.

Here in Sweden, these items are essentially impossible to find.  

Instead, this is what we find: 

 

[these are around 3 feet (one meter) tall.]

and 

   

Ho hum...

And so what did we do?  

Well for a broom we found a shoulder height (on me) mini push broom.

And for a mop - I brought one (all but the pole) in my suitcase.  

Yup.  

I did.  

Swedish National Day - June 6th

OK - First, simply because it is easy, and because the article does a good job, I am once again going to refer to The Local. 

http://www.thelocal.se/20150605/why-dont-swedes-care-for-the-national-day

Today is Swedish National Day.  When one asks a Swede how this day is celebrated, you will be informed that no one really knows as it is a new holiday.  It got its official start in 1983.  One gets the day off from work - if it lands on a weekday*, and yes, there are festivities, but not really traditions.

And I think to many - Midsummer, only a few weeks later, is actually the day to celebrate.

Lastly - I think it isn't celebrated as much simply as a reflection of the Swedish personality.  Swede's are pretty quiet people.  Not just in their volume, but in their manner.  They are not, as the article suggest, "flag wavers".  Not to say that Swedes are not proud of their country.  They absolutely are! No doubt.  But they are quieter about it.  Usually.

Below is a picture which shows an exception to the rule. : D

We took this shot on Swedish National Day 2013.  The Viking is carrying two flags.  The one in the back, blue with a bright yellow cross, is the Swedish flag.  The red flag with the yellow cross is the (unofficial?) flag of this region of southern Sweden, Skåne.  We in Malmö are a mere twenty minute train ride from Denmark. - And much of this region used to belong to Denmark many years ago. The Skåne flag is a combination of the Danish flag (red background with a white cross) and the Swedish flag.

*Side note - the Swedes get a lot of days off during the calendar year.  There are 14 full days off, 2 partial days off, and 3 additional holidays that always fall on weekends.  It is of note that the 14 full and 2 partial days: If they happen to fall on a weekend, one does not get to take that vacation day by extending the weekend.  In contrast, for example, if the 4th of July happens to fall on a weekend, in the U.S., one gets either the Friday prior, or the following Monday as a vacation day.  Not so here.

Below is a picture I took at the local clinic.  

There are a few things to make note of in this picture.  

One is that to the far right is a small machine with which you generate a number.  Although I was certainly familiar with them in the U.S., these are everywhere here.  

The second thing of note, and the actual reason I took the picture, are the shoe covers.  As I believe I wrote earlier, when entering someone's home in Sweden, one takes off one's shoes at the door.  Typically slippers are provided by the host/hostess.  I have been to open-houses to look at Swedish real estate, and although sometimes I have been allowed to leave my shoes on, there are more occasions when I have been asked to take off my shoes, or have been provided with shoe covers.

In some businesses, like the one pictured above, shoe covers are provided if the weather is messy.  

Airport luggage trolley-carts

As I have now kinda become a world traveler (who knew?!), I have come to realize that many airports outside the U.S. provide luggage trolleys for free.  No deposit is required.  Simply use it, and leave it when you are finished with it.  Why can't we do that in the U.S.?  Hmmmm?

Thank you for listening,,,

Statues and art

Malmö is not a big city.  It has approximately 300,000 inhabitants.  But like other cities, at least other cities we have visited in Europe, art is part of the scenery.
I was thinking about this last week as John and I were walking to a restaurant.  There is a fair amount of art here.  I like some pieces better than others, but regardless of my opinion of the individual pieces, I like the fact that it is there.  The following are pictures of the pieces we passed on our walk to and from the restaurant.  We did not go out of our way to intersect with pieces.  This is simply a look at the pieces, and the number of pieces on our 35 minute walk.

These first three pictures were taken close to the water.

The fish woman

ĵ

There are two pieces in this picture.  Obviously, there is a  large angular piece resembling sails. There is a second statue that is in the distance, to the immediate right of the one in the foreground.

An upcoming installation: a propeller, honoring Malmö's history in ship building. 

The Optimists Parade near StorTorget (the large square)

Gustav Adolf in StorTorget

Fountain in StorTorget

An odd but somehow appealing piece.

A nice new light installation at Caroli (an area within Malmö) can be seen in the distance.

In front of a new apartment complex on the canal.

This is, again, only a sampling of the many pieces around town.  There are others I prefer. 

That said, I love the fact that the community recognizes the value of investing in art. 

Left over Easter eggs.

I was going to write about something completely different, but I saw this on The Local and thought I would insert this timely post.  (For the original article, and others by the Local: http://www.thelocal.se/20150410/how-to-make-swedish-eggs-and-anchovies-toast  )

I honestly do not remember ever seeing this recipe/ sandwich here, but as I look at the ingredients, I can see that it has many ingredients which are a loved part of the Swedish diet: boiled eggs, (sour cream + crème fraiche ='s ) sauce, fish, dill, and to a lesser degree, chives.

So there you go. 

Swedish 'Gubbröra', which means 'Old Man's Mix', on a slice of toast. Photo: John Duxbury

How to make eggs on toast Swedish-style

Published: 10 Apr 2015 08:00 GMT+02:00

One of Sweden's most famous dishes, 'Gubbröra' (literally 'Old Man's Mix') is a great recipe if you've still got any leftover eggs in the fridge after Easter. It's tasty on a slice of bread as a starter or a light spring lunch. John Duxbury shares his recipe with The Local.

'Gubbröra' is an easy-to-make, colourful egg and anchovies dish. Swedish anchovies ('ansjovis') are quite different to the Mediterranean kind so make sure you find the right version. To confuse matters even further, Swedish canned anchovies are not actually anchovies at all, but sprats ('skarpsill').

Summary

Serves: 4

Preparation: 5 minutes

Cooking: 15 minutes

Total: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 125g (5 oz) tin of Swedish anchovies (sprats) or a 100g (4 oz) tin
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 3 tbsp crème fraiche
• 3 tbsp dill, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp chives, finely chopped
• white pepper
• 4 slices bread, preferably rye
• salad for garnish

Method

1. Hard boil the eggs and cool under running cold water to prevent the outside of the yolks discolouring. Remove the shells and roughly chop the eggs.

2. Drain the anchovies, but keep the juice. Using a pair of scissors, finely chop the anchovies. Add to the eggs along with the finely chopped onion, sour cream, crème fraiche, dill and chives.

3. Have a taste and add some white pepper and perhaps a little bit of the juice from the anchovies. Go easy on the juice as it can leave an after taste and is not to everyone's liking.

4. Toast the bread (optional). Divide the mixture between the four pieces of bread and garnish with salad.

Tips

• A glass of Swedish snaps goes down very well with Gubbröra
• Don't season this dish with salt as there is already a lot of salt in the fish
• Gubbröra is often served as an appetiser. In this case, serve a mouthsized portion on a small round of thin, dark rye bread and garnish with a small slice of lemon

The smell of money.

Funny how, without warning, something will take me back to the U.S., and make me...sentimental. Yesterday I needed to get some U.S. money from a currency exchange. (By the way, the exchange rate right now is an incredible $1 = 8.6 SEK=.94 Euro !!) The U.S. dollar is not made of paper, but rather is composed of 75% cotton and 25% linen, and has a distinct scent.  I do not know of what materials other currency are composed.  I read that Euros are made of cellulose and Australian, Canadian, and other countries have switched to polymer. Maybe the U.S. will switch someday too.  But in the meantime, I do, in a literal sense, love the smell of U.S. money.  : )

U.S., Norwegian, Czech, and Swiss bills

Two other notes regarding money.  Some friends were surprised to know that even if the look of U.S. currency changes, no U.S. money ever retires and becomes valueless.  I remember speaking to a Pakistani man who assumed that U.S. currency would have a picture of Obama on it.  

What News?

Below are some of the Headlines/ bylines from The Local, an English language newspaper.  The Local is also available in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland.  

http://www.thelocal.se/

• News & Features
• Jobs
• Housing
• Money
• Dating
• Community
• Shop
• More
•        

Botkyrka outside Stockholm is one of the most segregated areas in Sweden. Photo: Maja Suslin/SCANPIX

'Segregation in Sweden will continue to rise'

Segregation between ethnic Swedes and people from foreign backgrounds has gone up in the past two decades in some of the biggest towns in Sweden, according to the Dagens Nyheter daily. READ  

Left, Emmylou Harris, Photo: Veronique Roland. Right, Evelyn Glennie, Photo: Jim Callaghan

Emmylou Harris and Evelyn Glennie win Polar Music Prize

American singer Emmylou Harris and Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie have been announced as the winners of the Polar Music Prize 2015. READ  

Activists want gender neutral toilets in Sweden. Photo: Shutterstock

Swedish activists push for gender neutral toilets

No more “I'll just pop to the ladies'”, or “have you seen the queue over at the gents'?” Transgender activists have been covering public toilet signs with stickers as part of a campaign to make toilets in Sweden gender neutral. READ  

• 25/02 More Swedes want to have a sex change »
• 24/02 Sweden clears way for gender equal ploughs »
• 23/01 Sweden's first LGBT pool makes a loud splash »

Staff arrive at a Sony Mobile meeting in Malmö on Monday morning. Photo: Ola Torkelsson/TT

Sony to slash 1,000 jobs in southern Sweden

UPDATED: Sony Mobile has confirmed it is cutting 1,000 jobs at its facility in Lund in southern Sweden. READ  

Ukraine crisis

Sweden's foreign minister, Margot Wallström met Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, in Kiev in November last year. Photo: Gustav Sjöholm/TT

Russia blames Sweden for Ukraine crisis

Russia’s embassy in Sweden has pointed the finger of blame at its host country for causing Ukraine's woes, in a furious response to comments made about the crisis by Foreign Minister Margot Wallström. READ  

Norwegian's flights in Scandinavia have been cancelled since Wednesday. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Norwegian pilots' strike 'nearing resolution'

A ten-day pilots' strike which has seen nearly all of budget airline Norwegian's Scandinavian flights grounded since Wednesday could be one step closer to a resolution, reported Norway's newspaper Verdens Gang on Monday. READ  

Police investigate after three people were found dead in Uddevalla, Sweden. Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT

Swedish police quiz two in triple murder case

Two brothers were being held by police on Monday over a triple murder in the town of Uddevalla in western Sweden on Saturday. READ  

Travellers have been forced to walk up and down the escalator steps at Östermalmstorg. Photo: Yvonne Åsell/SvD/TT

Shut-down escalators get back in action in capital

Commuters in Stockholm have welcomed the return to action of three escalators in the capital's underground system, bringing to a partial end a three-week escalator shutdown prompted by a serious accident. READ 

Photo: TT

Sides remain locked in Sweden pilot strike

The pilot strike affecting flights operated by Norwegian continued on Sunday with 20,000 passengers set to be hit as the conflict entered its ninth day. READ  

Photo: TT

Bomb threat targets Swedish newspaper

The offices of a Swedish local newspaper were evacuated on Saturday evening following an anonymous bomb threat. READ  

Photo: TT

Swedish police hunt two in triple murder case

Swedish police are seeking to come into contact with two people on a moped seen leaving the scene of a suspected triple murder in Uddevalla in western Sweden on Saturday. READ  

And so it goes....

A continued travel blog

I want to write more about a little travel we have done.

Two of the excursions were ferry trips. On the first, John and I took a ferry from Copenhagen (30 minutes away) up to Oslo, Norway and back.  The ferry left at ~ 4 PM Friday, and arrived in Oslo at ~ 10 AM the next morning.  We spent around 6 hours in Oslo and then returned to the ship for the overnight voyage back.

When I say ferry, do not picture a barge.  Rather, picture a cruise ship that will also transport cars.

While in Oslo, we had enough time to visit a Viking ship museum, and the WW II Resistance museum. 

Then last week, I was hardly home.
Some friends and I took a similar trip, but this time, we took the 4 hour train trip to Stockholm, and boarded a ferry to Tallinn, Estonia.

Admittedly, Estonia is not a huge tourist attraction.  It has suffered years of oppression, and it shows.  That said, Estonians' struggle for freedom (much of their eventual success was won via a song festival) is interesting and has a happy ending.  Additionally, the old city is lovely.  (An added bonus is that I bought John a beautiful wool sweater which he loves.)   Best of all was spending several days with dear friends.  : )

Prague - beautiful Prague.

As I have been on vacation from school, John and I took advantage of the days off and spent a long weekend in Prague.  Lest you think we are being very extravagant, flights are very inexpensive and Prague - at least compared to Scandinavia - is inexpensive.  For a tourist, the prices are probably around 1/3 of what one would pay in Sweden, and, by various percentages, less expensive than visiting the U.S..

What can I tell you...
First of all, Prague is beautiful.

Beer - The Czech Republic is known for its beer.  I am at a disadvantage here because, although I keep trying it, I just don't like beer.  But my husband loves it, so I will give you his appraisal.  In his opinion, Czech beer, which is typically lager,  is much better than any and all mass produced beer found in the U.S. or Sweden.  It is very good and the type of beer one could drink with (or without) any meal, year round.  That said, John feels the best beers are microbrews from the U.S..

Food and (other) drink - As much as I do not care for beer, I love (love) a great cup of coffee, and I had my share in Prague. I also I had a great cup of Czech onion soup, and every dessert,  although not unusual, was very nice. Frustratingly,  most of the time if I wanted water with my meal, I had to pay for it.  The alcohol was cheap, (for ex. 1-2 Euros for a beer) but I do not typically drink, so I would be taking in calories and alcohol that I really don't want or need. Two nice drinks I had, which were somewhat unique: svart vin - hot spiced, but not overly sweet, red wine.  This was very nice, and readily available from street vendors.  It is similar to Swedish glögg, but not nearly as sweet, and we enjoyed several cups over the (February) weekend. Another drink was a mixture of hot water and a sweet cherry (other fruit flavors were available) alcohol, with a lemon wedge.  It was lovely.  Entrees - sadly, I was disappointed.  Potato and bread dumplings were very very heavy , though they must be popular as they were rather ubiquitous.  The sausage was OK: In our limited experience: German sausages are to die for, US (from all the various immigrants' recipes!) are terrific, and Czech are okay.

Transportation: Terrific. We got two 72 hour passes (@ ~ $12 each) which comfortably and efficiently got us everywhere we needed to go.  I wish the U.S. had better mass transit....

Tourist destinations:
We visited two places (we were going to go to a few others but they were either closed for renovation, or we "ran out of steam"):

I will not go into the Czech's history and struggles in the blog.  It is sad and significant and was well explained and documented in the above advertised museum.  

I did take pictures of two of the museum's displays that I thought would interest Americans. (Please remember that these speak of decades ago !): 

See translation at left.

And again, below is something interesting speaking of circa 1950.

Well - 

Although interesting, I cannot possibly end on that note!  

Many sidewalks are nicely paved (although a flat surface would be easier to walk on). 

The Czech Republic is known for its crystal and garnets, and both are popular souvenirs.

He who I have always known as "Good King Wenceslas", a Bohemian Duke and Saint. 

From the lovely St. Charles bridge.

St. Vitus Cathedral within Prague Castle

Well, all vacations come to an end, and so did these.  I am privileged and grateful to have traveled and also for the life to which to we return.