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.