Sorry for the delay between this post and the last, I've been keeping myself busy and trying not to spend too much time on the internet! I'll try to update more often from now on though. Thanks for checking back and keeping in touch, it's really nice to know people are reading. Feel free to leave a comment and say hello!
So, since my last post I made my way back to Stockholm. For the first 3 days (Monday - Wednesday) Henrik, his mother and I looked after and entertained his niece and nephew, who are at the delightful ages of 7 and 4. The language barrier proved to be no problem at all, as some how the children and I managed to understand each other, despite only speaking our native languages. Henrik's niece (7) actually helped me to learn some swedish, by teaching me to count to 10 and helping me to learn the names of animals. In Sweden it seems to be very fashionable to have children at the moment, and the country provides lots of things for children and families to do, so entertaining them was never going to be a problem.
On Monday we went to a play-area and park in the city centre, which was full of fun climbing frames, trampolines, climbing walls, a place to borrow hockey sticks, footballs, a cricket set, the list was endless! And everything was free. The place was packed and everyone was playing together.
Tuesday involved a trip to the aquarium, which was lots of fun for the kids. I was a little disturbed by the pirranha pool that didn't appear to have any safety nets, but I think that's the British "Health & Safety" routine that's been drilled into my skull. No child was about to climb over the side of the rope bridge and jump in, not without someone spotting them and stopping them from becoming pirranha food! Everything here is just much more relaxed, and I think that will take some getting used to.
Wednesday was lovely and warm, so we decided to prepare a picnic and take the kids to an outdoor swimming pool just outside of the main city, and have an afternoon of swimming and lunch. The pool was lovely, and not busy at all. We shared the whole space with just one or two other families. Swimming was a lot of fun, and eventually we settled down for the picnic. It soon became a disaster zone, however, as we were set upon by a colony of wasps. They were after our sandwiches and they weren't backing down. Henrik made it his mission to kill as many as possible, and succeeded by killing about 7. He set traps with cups of orange squash, hoping to lure the wasps away from the food and towards the drinks, only to fall in and drown. This tehnique worked for a while, and we covered the children with scarves and towels and they sat in this little makeshift den, while we passed in sandwiches for them to eat. But eventually the stress became too much and we gave up, packed up the picnic, ran for the car and finished the food at home.
On Tuesday and Wednesday evening I gave both the children a singing lesson while we waited for their parents to get home. It was so much fun getting them to sing (and not difficult at all, they loved singing and both had beautiful voices that could really hold the tune), and I taught them "One, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive". I also learned a few swedish songs from their song book and we had lots of fun together picking songs and singing them at the top of our voices.
I also had a job interview on Tuesday, for the post of Singing Teacher in a new school in Malmö, where I will be living from September. The school is an International school so all teaching is in English, and it focuses on Musical Theatre for children aged 6-16. I was really excited about this job and meeting the principal (also english). We got on really well and she offered me the job, which was a cause for great celebration! I start on Saturday 4th September and I'm thrilled to have secured some level of employment already. I am now applying for various other teaching jobs and keeping my eye out for auditions too, that are close to Malmö or Copenhagen (a short commute from Malmö!). I've made friends with my new boss and we met up again in the last week and discussed the show we are going to put on this term with the school in Malmö. She also took me to an english butchers owned and run by an englishman and a welshman (Taylor and Jones). I bought some lincolnshire sausages to put in the freezer, and also bought some of their sausage rolls which are seriously the best I've ever tasted. I actually really enjoy swedish cuisine and the food here is so fresh and delicious, but it's great to know that if I ever feel homesick I can pop round to Taylor and Jones and buy a nice healthy sausage roll. They also sell branston pickle, Duchy Originals and cans of mushy peas, amongst other british things. I hope there is something like this in Malmö, though it's not the end of the world if there isn't, I'll just stock up on the sausage rolls and lincolnshire sausages before I go and stick them in the freezer!
Being in Stockholm still feels like a holiday for me, and I am anxious not to feel too settled as in September I have to move to another city again, and settle down there. But I am finding myself settling in to the swedish lifestyle and psyche. Things here are much more relaxed, it seems. Equality is very important between the sexes, and everyone is very laid-back. Looking round the shops, I've started to understand where everything is found, where you can buy certain things and the swedish equivalents to Tesco (ICA), Boots (Apoteket) and Wetherspoons (well...there doesn't seem to be anything like it, which is great!).
Take ICA, or any other supermarket in Sweden, for example. In Sweden it is illegal to sell alcohol in a supermarket, if the alcohol content exceeds 3.5%. This covers anything worth drinking. At first I thought this would be a HUGE inconvenience, and that I would probably just give up alcohol as a result. But then I discovered the Systembolaget, a shop dedicated entirely to alcohol. The choice is fantastic and the prices are low (still not as low as England, but I'm assured they are low for Sweden). This is a much better place to buy your alcohol, as you can dedicate an entire shopping trip to it, rather than just adding the wine in your trolley as an afterthought in Tesco.
The Apoteket (Boots equiv) is much like Boots, there is a prescriptions counter, you can ask for advice and you can purchase many of the same things. You won't see a make-up counter, however, or any home-dye hair kits, and you have to develop your photos somewhere else. The shelves are reserved for drugs, shampoo/hair-care, nail-care, baby-care, womens essentials, etc. The biggest culture shock for me came in the latter section. Women are able to purchase the morning-after pill by simply picking it up off the shelf. Hell, you can buy-in-bulk if you want to! This is a far cry from Britain's demand that women be interviewed first, have to share with a stranger the details of when their sexual encounter happened (e.g. how many hours ago), and why they need to use the morning-after pill. Cue red faces as women explain that they either a, were too drunk to remember to use a condom, b, the condom split as the result of some rather more active love-making, or c, well any other reason, I'm all out of ideas, but just use your imagination. The point is, in Britain a woman has to be 'spoken to' in some way, even if only by the friendliest health-care worker or pharmacist, before she can purchase the morning-after pill. In Sweden you just pick it up off the shelf and pay at the counter. No embarrassing questions, or frowning by the pharmacist, or feeling a need to explain why you had so many drinks last night.
I feel a need now to point out that I've never needed to get the morning after pill in the UK or in Sweden, and that my account is based only on what other people have told me, and what I understand from the NHS. But I am relieved to know that if I ever did need it I can just walk into the Apoteket and pick it up off the shelf, bury it with a bottle of shampoo and discreetly walk to the counter and pay, as opposed to walking into Boots, leaning over the pharmacy counter where other people are standing just a little bit too close, trying to whisper "I need the morning after pill", having to repeat myself a little louder, drawing more attention and stares, and being faced with the questions either over the counter, or, if I'm lucky, being led into a little side-room or cubicle (people still staring) to face the questions there in a more "private" setting, before being led back out, handed the box and then finally paying for the service. For me, it's a no-brainer!
Finally, I want to mention fika. Fika is a swedish necessity. It happens about twice a day, whether you are at work or at home. People stop for about 20 minutes and have coffee and a cinammon bun. Of course you can have what you want, but that's the traditional fika. It's very rude to continue working through fika, as it is important to socialise and relax together. I am very quickly becoming a firm believer in fika, and I think this is something I may continue to do for the rest of my life, whether I am in Sweden or somewhere else!
At last, I am writing another update for my Blog. When I last posted, I was back in the UK to celebrate my Dad's 65th Birthday. I had a wonderful time at home and really appreciated spending time with my family again. One thing I never mentioned was a small highlight (one of many!) to my visit home. While in Stockholm I was finding myself increasingly frustrated with the lack of reading material. Of course, the newspapers are in Swedish. So are the magazines. To get an english magazine I would have to go to the Central Trainstation to pick up an over-priced out of date english edition. The library had a small selection of english literature, but there wasn't anything I wanted to read. I know beggars can't be choosers but seriously, I had read most of the books there. There were a couple of series I really wanted to start but the first books were all missing (probably already on loan) so I couldn't take out any of those. I re-read some stories, as they had a couple of Terry Pratchett books and I never get tired of those, but on the whole I was disappointed. The washroom in the basement of the appartment block we were living in had a small make-shift library that the residents had thrown together. It consisted mostly of swedish books, but I found a John Grisham book that looked worth a try. By the time I was heading back to England I couldn't wait to stock up on books and max out my luggage weight allowance for the flight home. So imagine my absolute delight when, on arriving home, I find an envelope waiting for me. I opened it up and realised it was a birthday card from my Aunt and Uncle that had been saved for me, rather than sent on to Sweden. Inside was a gift card for Waterstones (UK Book Shop)! I was absolutely psyched, and the gift couldn't have been better timed. I was desperate for new reading material, and couldn't wait to spend it on something exciting. I bought 2 books, one was a fantasy book, the first in a series, by Jonathan Stroud, and the other was a book about the lives of Chinese women by Xinran, a Chinese Journalist. I've read the second, and will start the fantasy novel soon. I also bought a Jodi Picoult book called "Picture Perfect", which I have almost finished, and I borrowed the final book in the Twilight Series from my sister, and finished it in record time. So I am definately making up for lost time with the rate I'm gobbling up literature. And my Mum made the best offer ever, to send me magazines in the post so that I have some light reading material. Of course, it's also important to me to try and learn to read in Swedish, and I try to read an article in the newspaper, or on the TV guide, every day. It may only be 100 words long, but it's important to me to keep trying!
I have developed a new addiction, to accompany my fika addiction. It is for a product named Kalles Kaviar (see pic). Kalles Kaviar is a swedish food product that is most commonly eaten on a hard-bread such as Ryvita. But I eat it whenever I can. I enjoy is most on soft bread with margarine and cheese. It has a very high salt content, which I think is why I crave it. It comes in a tube, and they don't last very long around me! I've never found anything like it in England, though I will be sure to look when I get back.