This won't be a long post, or an update on life happenings like I've become accustomed to when writing here. I've come this time to have a mini rant, or even a lament!
One thing I truly miss about the States: radio.
I was raised listening to the radio. In the city where I come from, there were a multitude of stations to listen to (although I ignored many stations, like smooth jazz or country). There were at least six stations I would cruise through in my car before settling on one. Rarely did I listen to a CD or my Ipod in the car - that was radio time! Maybe it's only because I was raised on radio that I love it so much. I've talked to others in my generation and they don't seem to have such a love for radio, they usually listen to their Ipods or something.
Anyway, here in Sweden they have like four national, yes national, radio stations. And maybe you might have one local station that comes in terribly. Out of those four stations, one is talk radio, so no good there. Another has quite strange music on it. Yet another is classical (which can be enjoyable every once in a blue moon). So I'm basically left with two stations. One is a mix station, so they are better about it that the other, which is just new pop. And mostly everyone knows that Sweden loves to pump out it's crappy pop music that is forgotten within half a year's time. So what happens when you listen to the radio here? You hear the same five songs on repeat!! For months at a time! I kid you not.
Each morning, as I've mentioned previously, it's my job to make sure J gets up. Well one of our tactics that works quite well is we have his clock radio go off and he'll listen to the radio (songs, and morning talk show of course). When they get to the songs, I just want to cringe! It's always the saaaaame songs. I actually enjoy the morning radio show usually because I try to listen to the show hosts to figure out what they're talking about, but when the music comes on I get so annoyed.
So much for diversity!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
P.S.
I meant to mention, the director of that English program I volunteer at has asked me if I might be interested in leading a course myself for 5 - 8 year old Swedish children beginning sometime this coming autumn. It would be something like "English for Fun" and we would do arts and crafts, and stuff like that. I think I might be seriously interested! I asked him to give me more details. Life is certainly picking up, and I feel like I've been networking here in Sweden way more than I ever have done in my life back in the States!
I love feeling useful
The days when I am most happy here in Sweden are the days I am busy and feeling productive. This morning (just as every morning) I got up at 6:30, showered and got myself ready for school. I am also J's fail-safe alarm clock. Whenever his alarms don't seem to wake him at all (which is nearly every morning), my job is to get him up. The mornings I have to be at school at 8:20am, I feel like a drill sergeant. I have to make sure he's up and going so I can be on time to school! (I have to drop him off at work before I go to school, or if we're running really late he drops me off at school and takes the car to work).
Anyway! When I have SFI in the morning it runs from 8:20 to 11:40. J and I actually had lunch together today, and then we proceeded to the hair dresser in the downtown mall (he was getting to look shaggy!). After that we came home, I did some work, and then at 3pm I had my weekly meeting with a woman whom I shall call B. I'm not sure if I mentioned her before, but this is the second week I have met with her. She is a Swedish woman who is around 60 years old. I was given her email address by the director of the English program I volunteer at every other week to help Swedish children improve/practice their English. The woman, B, simply wants conversational practice with English so she won't forget the language. She told me last week at our first meeting that English is becoming more and more used here in Sweden (as I myself have noticed) and she doesn't want to be left behind. Thus, every Thursday at 3pm we meet in a local café and chat about anything and everything for about an hour. She buys me fika, and even gives me a little cash on the side for my time! She is interesting to speak with. It's a wonderful arrangement. I just arrived home from this about a half hour ago.
Then once I got home today I did the dishes, and here I am writing a blog post. I've been busy just about all day doing things "that matter," so to speak. I have a craving to do things that matter and that feel productive. I think it's greatly heightened here in Sweden, though, because it makes me feel like a part of society - getting out there and interacting with people. Sitting at home all day would absolutely drive me insane. It also makes coming home that much nicer at the end of the day.
As for the walk home from meeting with B today...well the temperature is hovering right around the freezing mark, and when this temperature combines with precipitation, it's not really all that pleasant to walk in. It is kind of snowing outside, yet when it hits your face and the ground, it definitely feels like really heavy rain. Thankfully, even though I didn't have an umbrella, at least my coat had a hood. Oh Sweden.
My friend M and I are going shopping together this weekend! I don't know what it is, she and I were talking about it in class yesterday, but we feel like we have to have someone shopping with us here in Sweden. When we are both back home in the States we're perfectly comfortable to go out shopping on our own. But for some reason here in Sweden it's like we feel exposed, or something. So we've made a shopping date over the weekend (I need a pair or two of jean-leggings, and she's spotted some things she wants to try on at H&M). Her sambo is also gone for a couple of weeks due to his job, and so she won't have much to do all weekend anyway. I also figure that J would probably love some alone time (as whenever he is home, I am home). I'm excited to go shopping with her, to say the least!
It's crazy how yesterday I was in a rather apathetic mood and couldn't be bothered to even do the dishes. Today, I feel like I want to do everything! I have three quite ripe bananas in the kitchen, and I want to look up a banana bread recipe. I feel like baking. Wish me luck!
Anyway! When I have SFI in the morning it runs from 8:20 to 11:40. J and I actually had lunch together today, and then we proceeded to the hair dresser in the downtown mall (he was getting to look shaggy!). After that we came home, I did some work, and then at 3pm I had my weekly meeting with a woman whom I shall call B. I'm not sure if I mentioned her before, but this is the second week I have met with her. She is a Swedish woman who is around 60 years old. I was given her email address by the director of the English program I volunteer at every other week to help Swedish children improve/practice their English. The woman, B, simply wants conversational practice with English so she won't forget the language. She told me last week at our first meeting that English is becoming more and more used here in Sweden (as I myself have noticed) and she doesn't want to be left behind. Thus, every Thursday at 3pm we meet in a local café and chat about anything and everything for about an hour. She buys me fika, and even gives me a little cash on the side for my time! She is interesting to speak with. It's a wonderful arrangement. I just arrived home from this about a half hour ago.
Then once I got home today I did the dishes, and here I am writing a blog post. I've been busy just about all day doing things "that matter," so to speak. I have a craving to do things that matter and that feel productive. I think it's greatly heightened here in Sweden, though, because it makes me feel like a part of society - getting out there and interacting with people. Sitting at home all day would absolutely drive me insane. It also makes coming home that much nicer at the end of the day.
As for the walk home from meeting with B today...well the temperature is hovering right around the freezing mark, and when this temperature combines with precipitation, it's not really all that pleasant to walk in. It is kind of snowing outside, yet when it hits your face and the ground, it definitely feels like really heavy rain. Thankfully, even though I didn't have an umbrella, at least my coat had a hood. Oh Sweden.
My friend M and I are going shopping together this weekend! I don't know what it is, she and I were talking about it in class yesterday, but we feel like we have to have someone shopping with us here in Sweden. When we are both back home in the States we're perfectly comfortable to go out shopping on our own. But for some reason here in Sweden it's like we feel exposed, or something. So we've made a shopping date over the weekend (I need a pair or two of jean-leggings, and she's spotted some things she wants to try on at H&M). Her sambo is also gone for a couple of weeks due to his job, and so she won't have much to do all weekend anyway. I also figure that J would probably love some alone time (as whenever he is home, I am home). I'm excited to go shopping with her, to say the least!
It's crazy how yesterday I was in a rather apathetic mood and couldn't be bothered to even do the dishes. Today, I feel like I want to do everything! I have three quite ripe bananas in the kitchen, and I want to look up a banana bread recipe. I feel like baking. Wish me luck!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Free Mondays!
Firstly I must say how happy I am that I do NOT have to go to school for the next six Mondays like I originally thought I would have to. My SFI schedule only has classes Tuesday through Friday each week, but this past Thursday our SFI teacher told us newcomers that we would be taking a computer course the next six Mondays. Yes, my friends, a computer course...to learn how to use computers. Now, I understand that some people in SFI need this course (e.g. if you are from a 3rd world country, I would most definitely recommend a computer course). However, after being in the class for six months, and then having the teacher tell you that you're signed up the following Monday to take a computer course is nearly laughable. I don't think they should just assume that everyone needs to take the course. At least have a questionnaire or mini test to see who would need to take it or not. It's a waste of the computer teacher's time and our (the students') time if we already know how to use a computer!
So, today in class the computer teacher spoke very slowly and very clearly, and it felt like intro all over again. As we were only ten minutes in, my friends and I realized we definitely, definitely do not need to take such a course to learn what keys are what, how to open Word, and how to surf the internet. Pretty quickly the teacher realized (after we told her, also) that we didn't need the course. She even asked us why we were there, so we told her that our actual SFI teacher made us take it. Long story short, she said she would talk to the boss of SFI, and that we could go home, after being in the class for nearly an hour. The five of us then proceeded to get some fika at a local cafe and chit chat. I truly do enjoy my new little SFI niche of friends. Rant over. Hooray for securing free Mondays!
There isn't much new here with life in Sweden. Recently it's gotten a bit warmer so all the snow and ice on the sidewalks/roads have melted, that in itself has been lovely. I've nearly forgotten what it's like to walk on a sidewalk without being continually conscious of where I place my feet to ensure that I don't fall to my demise. I'm sure this weather won't last too long, though. Many Swedes have informed me of snow in April and even May, in some extreme cases. I try not to get my hopes up too much for lovely weather. The fact that it's a couple of degrees above freezing, and I consider that "warm," is somewhat troubling, though. I've only been here four months, and already I'm thinking that way? Hmm...
Last weekend J and I went to Göteborg (Gothenburg, in English) for his niece's third birthday party. It's always wonderful to get out of the little pocket of Skövde now and then (although I'm beginning to feel like this really is home - I think that's due to finally getting some ties here, like friends). J's parents picked us up, and it was actually enjoyable to be a passenger for once because I got to get a good look at the landscape. Those of you who know me quite well will know that I almost always prefer to drive. I took several shots while flying along on the highway, most of which are awesomely (sarcasm) blurry. J and I went to Nordstan (big mall downtown) to shop a bit before the party got started since we arrived around 10:30 in the morning and the party wasn't until 2pm. Here are a couple of shots, although nothing too interesting.
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Typical Swedish houses/architecture, but what I wanted to capture here was the giant rock formation in the background. Out on the western coast there are many giant rocks that protrude like this one.
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A view from J's sister's apartment. You can see the harbor/frozen water in the distance. People were running around and sliding on the ice playing!
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A house I thought was neat looking on the drive there. Lop sided, but that's all you can do when you've got to snap a quick shot.
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One of the homemade cakes for J's niece. Quite tasty!
This following picture is one I took back in January, actually. It's the little creek down by J's parents' house. I was walking Elvis (the Jack Russel J's parents recently acquired) and thought the little stream was quite pretty.
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Very wintry. Sweden is beautiful in winter.
Last picture for today:
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When leaving the cafe we went to for fika today, I saw this building downtown here in Skövde. I've always liked its architecture, so I got a picture of it to share with you all.
I hope that suffices for some updated pictures. Alas, I forgot to bring the camera with me when we went to the hockey game I mentioned in my last post. We did win, though! I was happy to finally go to a game where our team won.
Well, it's time for me to go pick J up from work soon, and I've been busy practically all day. I suppose I will call this post to a close. Spring will (hopefully) be on its way soon. I look forward to even longer days (yay clock change within the coming weeks!) Happy March, everyone!
So, today in class the computer teacher spoke very slowly and very clearly, and it felt like intro all over again. As we were only ten minutes in, my friends and I realized we definitely, definitely do not need to take such a course to learn what keys are what, how to open Word, and how to surf the internet. Pretty quickly the teacher realized (after we told her, also) that we didn't need the course. She even asked us why we were there, so we told her that our actual SFI teacher made us take it. Long story short, she said she would talk to the boss of SFI, and that we could go home, after being in the class for nearly an hour. The five of us then proceeded to get some fika at a local cafe and chit chat. I truly do enjoy my new little SFI niche of friends. Rant over. Hooray for securing free Mondays!
There isn't much new here with life in Sweden. Recently it's gotten a bit warmer so all the snow and ice on the sidewalks/roads have melted, that in itself has been lovely. I've nearly forgotten what it's like to walk on a sidewalk without being continually conscious of where I place my feet to ensure that I don't fall to my demise. I'm sure this weather won't last too long, though. Many Swedes have informed me of snow in April and even May, in some extreme cases. I try not to get my hopes up too much for lovely weather. The fact that it's a couple of degrees above freezing, and I consider that "warm," is somewhat troubling, though. I've only been here four months, and already I'm thinking that way? Hmm...
Last weekend J and I went to Göteborg (Gothenburg, in English) for his niece's third birthday party. It's always wonderful to get out of the little pocket of Skövde now and then (although I'm beginning to feel like this really is home - I think that's due to finally getting some ties here, like friends). J's parents picked us up, and it was actually enjoyable to be a passenger for once because I got to get a good look at the landscape. Those of you who know me quite well will know that I almost always prefer to drive. I took several shots while flying along on the highway, most of which are awesomely (sarcasm) blurry. J and I went to Nordstan (big mall downtown) to shop a bit before the party got started since we arrived around 10:30 in the morning and the party wasn't until 2pm. Here are a couple of shots, although nothing too interesting.
Typical Swedish houses/architecture, but what I wanted to capture here was the giant rock formation in the background. Out on the western coast there are many giant rocks that protrude like this one.
A view from J's sister's apartment. You can see the harbor/frozen water in the distance. People were running around and sliding on the ice playing!
A house I thought was neat looking on the drive there. Lop sided, but that's all you can do when you've got to snap a quick shot.
One of the homemade cakes for J's niece. Quite tasty!
This following picture is one I took back in January, actually. It's the little creek down by J's parents' house. I was walking Elvis (the Jack Russel J's parents recently acquired) and thought the little stream was quite pretty.
Very wintry. Sweden is beautiful in winter.
Last picture for today:
When leaving the cafe we went to for fika today, I saw this building downtown here in Skövde. I've always liked its architecture, so I got a picture of it to share with you all.
I hope that suffices for some updated pictures. Alas, I forgot to bring the camera with me when we went to the hockey game I mentioned in my last post. We did win, though! I was happy to finally go to a game where our team won.
Well, it's time for me to go pick J up from work soon, and I've been busy practically all day. I suppose I will call this post to a close. Spring will (hopefully) be on its way soon. I look forward to even longer days (yay clock change within the coming weeks!) Happy March, everyone!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Little bit of this, little bit of that
I mentioned several posts ago that I would be reading the Harry Potter series. To update all of you on that, I have just finished Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. On to the seventh and last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Rarely are movies ever better than the books, and in this instance, that "truth" holds firmly. I always enjoyed the Harry Potter movies but only for entertainment's sake. The books actually pull you in, and the further you get, the more serious and less childish they become. I've enjoyed them!
Tonight we are going to our last hockey game. Well HV71 still has more hockey games, but we only bought tickets for four games this season, and this is our fourth! Let's hope we win! The last three games we've gone to we've always lost. I look forward to a night with "the guys." I've always gotten along well with guys in general, it's fun for me to be the only girl in a group of friends, sometimes.
I believe I mentioned an ice cream truck going by our apartment last week. Here is the only shot I managed to take before it drove away. Blurry, yet indisputable evidence!
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I apologize for being so lacking on photos lately. Perhaps I'll bring along our camera tonight and document the hockey game! I just need to remember to take my camera along with me wherever I go.
Our little group in SFI has taken to doing lunches together on Tuesdays (since we have a full day of class on Tuesday). I'll try to remember this Tuesday to bring the camera for our weekly outing. First week we went to China Town, this week we went to Thai House...who knows, this upcoming Tuesday maybe we'll hit Oriental Palace! It looks like we have a theme going on here.
By the way, M the American and I have hit it off! We've spent a couple of afternoons after class doing errands together downtown. Yesterday I dropped her off after said errands at her apartment and I had only 15 minutes or so to kill before I needed to pick J up from work, so she invited me in. It's so nice to have another American here. I can't put into words why, but I'm sure you all can imagine. It's fun to go out and about together, especially, to see how others react. For example, we were in the store that has our local post office within it and I had asked M how she got her Swedish I.D. She told me all the hoops she had to jump through to get it, and the cashier chick actually was interested and asked us in English why M had to do what she did, etc. A Swede initiating a conversation with a stranger? That doesn't happen every day! We also stopped by H & M and the cashier there realized we were speaking English to each other and automatically switched to English when telling M how much she owed and whatnot. It's cool to see who is brave enough/eager to speak English with us, and who isn't at all. There are other times when J and I have been at the mall talking to a store clerk and they have absolutely shied away from English. An interesting experiment, to say the least. Luckily, my Swedish is rapidly improving (at least on the comprehension front) and so needing to interact in public with Swedes is far less horrifying as it was, say, when I first arrived here.
On another note, I participated at English House again this past Tuesday. I believe I mentioned it before, but I'll just give a quick recap. If you follow the link, you can read all about what the organization does. I basically contacted the program director, a Brit, and asked if I could help out in any way (and a paid position would have been better!). As things are, they couldn't hire anyone, but if I'd still like to help out as a classroom helper I was welcome to join in. So, every other Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 after school English House invites kids who want more practice with English to come into the Balthazar building (I believe you can see pictures on the website linked above). This past Tuesday we basically played a game (a lot like Deal or No Deal) the entire time and the kids loved it. I participated in the game, but the program leader likes to use me as a learning tool quite often. For example, he will say a Swedish word to me and ask if I know what it is. If I don't know what it is, he'll ask the kids not to translate the word directly, but to describe it to me in English and then I have to guess what the word is. Both sides benefit: I learn a new Swedish word, and the kids get practice at English. It's a lot of fun, really. I like to volunteer with this, and it's once every other week, so it's not time consuming whatsoever.
This Saturday the Dayton Flyers play the Xavier Musketeers. D-A-Y-T-O-N F-L-Y-E-R-S Dayton, Flyers, GO UD!
Tonight we are going to our last hockey game. Well HV71 still has more hockey games, but we only bought tickets for four games this season, and this is our fourth! Let's hope we win! The last three games we've gone to we've always lost. I look forward to a night with "the guys." I've always gotten along well with guys in general, it's fun for me to be the only girl in a group of friends, sometimes.
I believe I mentioned an ice cream truck going by our apartment last week. Here is the only shot I managed to take before it drove away. Blurry, yet indisputable evidence!
I apologize for being so lacking on photos lately. Perhaps I'll bring along our camera tonight and document the hockey game! I just need to remember to take my camera along with me wherever I go.
Our little group in SFI has taken to doing lunches together on Tuesdays (since we have a full day of class on Tuesday). I'll try to remember this Tuesday to bring the camera for our weekly outing. First week we went to China Town, this week we went to Thai House...who knows, this upcoming Tuesday maybe we'll hit Oriental Palace! It looks like we have a theme going on here.
By the way, M the American and I have hit it off! We've spent a couple of afternoons after class doing errands together downtown. Yesterday I dropped her off after said errands at her apartment and I had only 15 minutes or so to kill before I needed to pick J up from work, so she invited me in. It's so nice to have another American here. I can't put into words why, but I'm sure you all can imagine. It's fun to go out and about together, especially, to see how others react. For example, we were in the store that has our local post office within it and I had asked M how she got her Swedish I.D. She told me all the hoops she had to jump through to get it, and the cashier chick actually was interested and asked us in English why M had to do what she did, etc. A Swede initiating a conversation with a stranger? That doesn't happen every day! We also stopped by H & M and the cashier there realized we were speaking English to each other and automatically switched to English when telling M how much she owed and whatnot. It's cool to see who is brave enough/eager to speak English with us, and who isn't at all. There are other times when J and I have been at the mall talking to a store clerk and they have absolutely shied away from English. An interesting experiment, to say the least. Luckily, my Swedish is rapidly improving (at least on the comprehension front) and so needing to interact in public with Swedes is far less horrifying as it was, say, when I first arrived here.
On another note, I participated at English House again this past Tuesday. I believe I mentioned it before, but I'll just give a quick recap. If you follow the link, you can read all about what the organization does. I basically contacted the program director, a Brit, and asked if I could help out in any way (and a paid position would have been better!). As things are, they couldn't hire anyone, but if I'd still like to help out as a classroom helper I was welcome to join in. So, every other Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 after school English House invites kids who want more practice with English to come into the Balthazar building (I believe you can see pictures on the website linked above). This past Tuesday we basically played a game (a lot like Deal or No Deal) the entire time and the kids loved it. I participated in the game, but the program leader likes to use me as a learning tool quite often. For example, he will say a Swedish word to me and ask if I know what it is. If I don't know what it is, he'll ask the kids not to translate the word directly, but to describe it to me in English and then I have to guess what the word is. Both sides benefit: I learn a new Swedish word, and the kids get practice at English. It's a lot of fun, really. I like to volunteer with this, and it's once every other week, so it's not time consuming whatsoever.
This Saturday the Dayton Flyers play the Xavier Musketeers. D-A-Y-T-O-N F-L-Y-E-R-S Dayton, Flyers, GO UD!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Busy bee!
Posting two days in a row? I think that's unheard of here on my little blog!
It seems like all of a sudden life has exploded here in the little town of Skövde for me! SFI now requires much more involvement, and I'm beginning to really love the little group we've formed in class. The five of us I mentioned in my previous post are so close knit, now! Just wanted to muse a bit more about that.
For the first time since October (when I was still in the U.S.), I met and spoke face to face with an American yesterday!! My new SFI class has an American!! She is only in class a couple days of the week because she has work to do. To keep her name short, I will refer to her as M. Not only did we chatter away in class yesterday when there was free time, but when we parted ways after class we both had errands to run. As it so happens about 10 minutes later as I was walking into the little mall in downtown Skövde, someone sharply said, "Jessica!" in the CORRECT pronunciation. I stopped dead in my tracks because 1) who in this town knows me? and 2) did I really just hear an American? Lo and behold, there was M again at the mall walking out of a store! She happened to be walking home after one more errand, and as I had a car at my disposal, I offered to take her home if we could run our errands together. Anyone who might have been listening in might have thought we were talking a million miles a minute! I can't explain simply just how nice it was to be in the presence of another American, talking about American things, and the funny things we've noticed about Swedes and Sweden in general. I'm really excited to have an American friend!! And what's more, she lives in my same neighborhood, literally a 3 min drive (or 15 min walk) down the street! =)
Today after class I went to the next town over, Tibro, to visit a Swedish friend of mine (I shall call him O). He recently bought an older Mercedes Benz van for super cheap as it has some significant body work that needs done and also had a few mechanical problems (that he's already fixed). I offered recently to help him out if he ever needed any, so he agreed to let me know whenever he would be taking a day off work so I could see if I'd like to come along and help! I used to help my dad with working on cars if we ever had anything go wrong with any of our cars, and I always really enjoyed it. Today, it's safe to say, was quite enjoyable! As I didn't bring any crappy clothes with me here to Sweden, he asked his mom if she could loan me some crappy work clothes, and she happened to have some that fit me pretty well. We went out to the garage and got to work! He's been doing some body work (removing rust) and I got to help out with this. He taught me how to use an angle grinder and he had a piece of metal trim he wanted some rust taken off of. I did all I could with this, and then after the fact he hooked up his air compressor to another hose into a sand bag; he sand blasted the bits that were more difficult to get to right off! I know I may be boring some of you, but for those of you even slightly interested, it was prett cool to see how some body work is done on cars. As I mentioned above, I've only really ever helped my dad with working on mechanical problems and fixing a car, not fixing up a car, ha ha.
Anyhoo, it was good to catch up with O, as I've known him just as long as I've known my J. Until today, I haven't been able to hang out with him one on one and spend some quality time together. I'm not one of those people who requires constant social integration (in fact I need my alone time, now and then), but it's wonderful to broaden my network of people. I'm enjoying getting to know people more and make more friends.
As the post title suggests, I'm a busy bee. Not only do I have more intense studying to do for Swedish now, but also my work will be picking up very quickly in the near future. I'm getting ready to post some job ads for my recruiting job, and with that I believe I'll need to start being the contact person that my boss has planned me to be all along. I've also got a quickly widening friend network, which means more socialization in the near future. To sum things up - I think I'm getting a normal (or as close as I can) life back! =)
It seems like all of a sudden life has exploded here in the little town of Skövde for me! SFI now requires much more involvement, and I'm beginning to really love the little group we've formed in class. The five of us I mentioned in my previous post are so close knit, now! Just wanted to muse a bit more about that.
For the first time since October (when I was still in the U.S.), I met and spoke face to face with an American yesterday!! My new SFI class has an American!! She is only in class a couple days of the week because she has work to do. To keep her name short, I will refer to her as M. Not only did we chatter away in class yesterday when there was free time, but when we parted ways after class we both had errands to run. As it so happens about 10 minutes later as I was walking into the little mall in downtown Skövde, someone sharply said, "Jessica!" in the CORRECT pronunciation. I stopped dead in my tracks because 1) who in this town knows me? and 2) did I really just hear an American? Lo and behold, there was M again at the mall walking out of a store! She happened to be walking home after one more errand, and as I had a car at my disposal, I offered to take her home if we could run our errands together. Anyone who might have been listening in might have thought we were talking a million miles a minute! I can't explain simply just how nice it was to be in the presence of another American, talking about American things, and the funny things we've noticed about Swedes and Sweden in general. I'm really excited to have an American friend!! And what's more, she lives in my same neighborhood, literally a 3 min drive (or 15 min walk) down the street! =)
Today after class I went to the next town over, Tibro, to visit a Swedish friend of mine (I shall call him O). He recently bought an older Mercedes Benz van for super cheap as it has some significant body work that needs done and also had a few mechanical problems (that he's already fixed). I offered recently to help him out if he ever needed any, so he agreed to let me know whenever he would be taking a day off work so I could see if I'd like to come along and help! I used to help my dad with working on cars if we ever had anything go wrong with any of our cars, and I always really enjoyed it. Today, it's safe to say, was quite enjoyable! As I didn't bring any crappy clothes with me here to Sweden, he asked his mom if she could loan me some crappy work clothes, and she happened to have some that fit me pretty well. We went out to the garage and got to work! He's been doing some body work (removing rust) and I got to help out with this. He taught me how to use an angle grinder and he had a piece of metal trim he wanted some rust taken off of. I did all I could with this, and then after the fact he hooked up his air compressor to another hose into a sand bag; he sand blasted the bits that were more difficult to get to right off! I know I may be boring some of you, but for those of you even slightly interested, it was prett cool to see how some body work is done on cars. As I mentioned above, I've only really ever helped my dad with working on mechanical problems and fixing a car, not fixing up a car, ha ha.
Anyhoo, it was good to catch up with O, as I've known him just as long as I've known my J. Until today, I haven't been able to hang out with him one on one and spend some quality time together. I'm not one of those people who requires constant social integration (in fact I need my alone time, now and then), but it's wonderful to broaden my network of people. I'm enjoying getting to know people more and make more friends.
As the post title suggests, I'm a busy bee. Not only do I have more intense studying to do for Swedish now, but also my work will be picking up very quickly in the near future. I'm getting ready to post some job ads for my recruiting job, and with that I believe I'll need to start being the contact person that my boss has planned me to be all along. I've also got a quickly widening friend network, which means more socialization in the near future. To sum things up - I think I'm getting a normal (or as close as I can) life back! =)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Being a foreigner
Living life from a foreigner/immigrant's perspective is quite a special thing. Not ever did I expect to BE the foreigner.
Yesterday was the first day of our "real" SFI class. The first three weeks were just intro. Last week we took a test and were placed into different classes according to our skill/understanding. I, along with four other of my classmates, was placed into the highest/most advanced group. This class is quite different insofar as you basically teach yourself and go at your own pace. They gave us textbooks and work packets and said basically to work through it, and when we think we're ready, take a test, and then we move on to the next chapter. I like that I can go at my own pace now, instead of becoming bored at times in the intro course when the teacher must go slowly in order to make sure everyone could follow. That's another different thing, at least so far - the teacher yesterday didn't really teach, as we're teaching ourselves. We'll see if this becomes a trend or if she just wanted it to be more of a work day.
Back to my first two sentences of this post. For the first time, I went to lunch with several of my classmates. The five of us from the intro course that placed into the higher class decided during our one hour lunch break yesterday to go to China Town for a lunch buffet. I don't know why we waited several weeks to have lunch together, but no sense in speculating there. It was so enjoyable from my perspective because for once I was out with other foreigners/immigrants. Yes, it's fun to go out with J to a restaurant or even other Swedish friends of mine, but I still feel inside somewhere slightly like an outsider. The only reason I can come up for this is because where they interact with other Swedes working at the restaurant, I'm the one outsider who generally doesn't understand the interactions (although SFI is changing that, thankfully!). Yesterday, walking down the street being the loud foreigners, and then once inside the restaurant being the only louder group (and speaking English on top of that) was such a treat. Swedes are so reserved, I distinctly remember thinking how loud we sounded walking down the quiet streets on the way to and from lunch. It was just nice to be out with others who don't know much Swedish. Even though all of us are from different parts of the world, I didn't feel like an outsider. The commonality of being from elsewhere made it inclusive.
Another thing that I've pondered over is the fact that even though we are all from the different corners of the world (the five of us hail from the U.S., England, Singapore, Latvia, and Thailand), we understand each other and have a lot of fun just being people learning, or eating lunch, together. The fact that almost all of us have different mother tongues doesn't matter - it's so cool to see a language used as a common ground. Maybe I'm making such a big deal over nothing, or something that seems normal to a lot of people. Coming from the United States, however, it's definitely eye-opening and an experience I wish many more could have. The United States can be, and is, so isolated. Here in Europe everyone is close to everyone and they travel like there is no tomorrow. It's normal to come across foreigners and find the need to speak a foreign language to get your point across. In the States, it's learn English, or better luck next time.
Sometimes I miss being in the majority, like at home. But other times, I really enjoy the special point of view that being in the minority gives me. You see the whole world through a different light, and it really lets you see things that you would never think about or notice previously. Like I said, it's an experience that everyone should get.
Yesterday was the first day of our "real" SFI class. The first three weeks were just intro. Last week we took a test and were placed into different classes according to our skill/understanding. I, along with four other of my classmates, was placed into the highest/most advanced group. This class is quite different insofar as you basically teach yourself and go at your own pace. They gave us textbooks and work packets and said basically to work through it, and when we think we're ready, take a test, and then we move on to the next chapter. I like that I can go at my own pace now, instead of becoming bored at times in the intro course when the teacher must go slowly in order to make sure everyone could follow. That's another different thing, at least so far - the teacher yesterday didn't really teach, as we're teaching ourselves. We'll see if this becomes a trend or if she just wanted it to be more of a work day.
Back to my first two sentences of this post. For the first time, I went to lunch with several of my classmates. The five of us from the intro course that placed into the higher class decided during our one hour lunch break yesterday to go to China Town for a lunch buffet. I don't know why we waited several weeks to have lunch together, but no sense in speculating there. It was so enjoyable from my perspective because for once I was out with other foreigners/immigrants. Yes, it's fun to go out with J to a restaurant or even other Swedish friends of mine, but I still feel inside somewhere slightly like an outsider. The only reason I can come up for this is because where they interact with other Swedes working at the restaurant, I'm the one outsider who generally doesn't understand the interactions (although SFI is changing that, thankfully!). Yesterday, walking down the street being the loud foreigners, and then once inside the restaurant being the only louder group (and speaking English on top of that) was such a treat. Swedes are so reserved, I distinctly remember thinking how loud we sounded walking down the quiet streets on the way to and from lunch. It was just nice to be out with others who don't know much Swedish. Even though all of us are from different parts of the world, I didn't feel like an outsider. The commonality of being from elsewhere made it inclusive.
Another thing that I've pondered over is the fact that even though we are all from the different corners of the world (the five of us hail from the U.S., England, Singapore, Latvia, and Thailand), we understand each other and have a lot of fun just being people learning, or eating lunch, together. The fact that almost all of us have different mother tongues doesn't matter - it's so cool to see a language used as a common ground. Maybe I'm making such a big deal over nothing, or something that seems normal to a lot of people. Coming from the United States, however, it's definitely eye-opening and an experience I wish many more could have. The United States can be, and is, so isolated. Here in Europe everyone is close to everyone and they travel like there is no tomorrow. It's normal to come across foreigners and find the need to speak a foreign language to get your point across. In the States, it's learn English, or better luck next time.
Sometimes I miss being in the majority, like at home. But other times, I really enjoy the special point of view that being in the minority gives me. You see the whole world through a different light, and it really lets you see things that you would never think about or notice previously. Like I said, it's an experience that everyone should get.
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