Sign that says “frogs on the road”

This is my final post as Work blogger for Sweden.se. It’s been a great experience for me. I began writing in October, 2011 while I prepared to move to Sweden and waited for my work visa. I moved to Uppsala and began working as a technical writer in Stockholm in late November. That was nearly six months ago. The gift of writing a blog was that it made me really pay attention to the little things in my transition from American life to Swedish life.

I’ve come a long way, baby.

• I learned to drive in Swedish roundabouts and reacquainted myself with the manual transmission.
• I navigated the complicated waters of being a foreign citizen in Sweden; learned how to work with the Migration Board and the Tax Agency.
• I convinced a Swedish bank to let me open an account so that I could get receive paychecks from my employer; then waited the months it took to get registered in Sweden so that I could have an account with more benefits, such as the ability to send money owed and to pay for things online.
• I learned to ride the commuter train to work and complain about the delays like a real Swede
• • I watched wacky cartoons and film clips on Christmas and New Year’s eves. Crazy old lady and her butler, anyone? (Who knew about these hidden Swedish customs?)
• I basked in the amazing gluten-free alternatives readily available in Sweden. Wow, gluten-free bread can actually taste good!
• I discovered that Swedes love candles and there are even lit candles at my workplace, outside restaurants and in the airport.
• I discovered what the Swedish ice claw is (not a horror film!)
• I found out that offices in Sweden can be highly mobile. In my office, there aren’t even any landlines.
• I worked on having a Sweden-friendly CV and cover letter. They didn’t have to be in Swedish but they had to have the right tone.
• I went to my first social and professional networking meetings in Stockholm. that took all my courage for some reason.
• I got my work permit extended, obtained a personal number and a Swedish ID—keys to accessing the benefits of Swedish society and moving freely in and out of the country.
• I learned about feathers and witches at Easter and bonfires and rafting at Walpurgis.

I learned that, in Sweden, sometimes you dance around the Christmas tree or the May Pole singing about frogs. And sometimes there are frogs in the road.

You can read my own blog at http://3menandaswede.blogspot.se/

Thanks for reading!

My trusty "Made in Sweden" bicycle...The color makes it easy to find in a bike stand full of bikes.

I love how so many people use bicycles in Sweden as a central form of transportation. Although I have always owned a bike, I can’t say that I have ever used it seriously as transportation. Now that I have moved to Sweden and don’t own a car, I am even more interested in this bike-riding culture.

I recently inherited (well, long term borrowed) an old 3-speed bike from my friends. They had an extra bike that used to belong to Helen’s mother who is now an old person’s home. It’s a women’s bike, bright orange with a rack on the back. It’s the kind of bike that I wouldn’t have been caught dead riding back home in Northern California where everyone rides a souped-up mountain bike even if they are just going on asphalt to the local 7-11. But this bike is perfect. It has the requisite bell for letting people know you are approaching from behind on the bike/walking path. It has a sticker that says it was made in Sweden and is of “Sweden quality.” You don’t get too many things that say that, it’s more likely to say it was “designed in Sweden” which means it was made somewhere else. The bike has a full chain guard and long tire fenders—perfect for when protecting pant legs from chain grease and muddy conditions.

I filled the neglected bike’s tires, oiled the chain, tightened the gear changer on the handlebars, and adjusted the chain guard so it would stop rubbing against one pedal. Then I took her for a spin. Not bad for an old lady’s bike. Not bad for an old lady. I was ready to ride to Uppsala for Walpurgis (Valborgsmässoafton).

But no sooner did I get the bike all ready for my trip to Uppsala, then I read that more bikes are stolen in the Spring in Sweden than any other time of the year. Last year, 65, 000 people in Sweden reported a stolen bicycle. And the day that the most bikes are stolen is on Walpurgis when there are twice as many bicycle theft as any other day.

Oh no! I can’t get my friend’s mother’s bike stolen! The good news is that bicycle thefts actually decreased during the last ten years, according to 8 Sidor (25 april 2012)

And since we’re on the subject of statistics in Sweden, 8 Sidor had some more interesting facts and figures this week as well. Did you know that the 15th of April is currently Sweden’s most common birth day? In other words, more Swedes are born on this day than any other. Second place goes to the 22nd of March and the 10th of April. When I mentioned these statistics over lunch at work, all my Swedish peers knowingly nodded and said something along the lines of, “Well March 22 is obviously a Mid-Summer celebration thing and the other dates are due to summer holidays.”

But this does not explain why it appears that in the future,  summer will have the most Swedish birthdays instead of Spring. Throughout the 2000s, the most Swedish children were born in July. Last year, according to 8 Sidor, the most children were born on the 8th of June.

Hmmmm…wonder how they’ll explain that away at work?

...About to respond to an armed horse call...Photo by: Riggwelter (CC BY 3.0)

I have always loved reading the police reports in small town newspapers. It’s simply great reading. It gives you a sense of what’s going on around you–the stuff that you might not otherwise know about. Recently I stumbled across the police report in an Uppsala newspaper called, well, “The Uppsala Newspaper (Uppsala Tidningen). There I read my first Swedish police report in the April 26-May 3, 2012 edition. At first I thought I would tell you about it, or maybe translate some of the text and fix the Google translation. But you know what? This stuff is even better with the crazy Google translation. So, here it is, almost in its entirety (some repetitive shoplifting removed), including some hilarious translation…*

*Yes, there are real victims in these reports. My heart goes out to them.

2012-04-04 05:44, theft / burglary, Uppsala

Bärby Hage 04:40: Break-in house, the perpetrator has entered by smashing a basement window. Unclear about what is gripped, the police set up notification and will make the technical investigation.

2012-04-04 05:04, Drunk driving, Knivsta

Alsike 04:22: Police stop car with consuming ban. Is suspected drunk driving, the female driver was born -91 included for sampling. Evidence points to aggravated drunken driving.

2012-04-04 02:23, Vandalism, Uppsala

Police alerted to the Migration Board’s offices at Bolandsgatan in Uppsala because of broken windows. At the site, met with several broken windows and graffiti on the walls. Dog Trace complete without results, and a notification of damage.

2012-04-04 12:14, wafers, moreover, Uppsala

Muggings

2012-04-03 21:14, Drug, Uppsala

A man, born in -56, was found the influence of drugs at an address in the Sala crates. He has been inserted into the police station for sampling.

2012-04-03 21:10, Drug, Uppsala

A man, born in -69, was found the influence of drugs at an address in Granby. Were included to the police station for sampling.

2012-04-03 20:22, Assault, Uppsala

A man, born in -85 have been beaten out of a friend in an apartment in central Uppsala. The man received a 10-voice blow to the body and was taken by ambulance to the UAS. Offender who is known was born -81.

2012-04-03 20:01, Shoplifting, Uppsala

A man, born in -57, has been caught shoplifting goods at the Bauhaus. Police have been in place and raised a complaint.

2012-04-03 19:58, Traffic accident, single, Håbo

A driver, born in -89, have run into a pole at the roundabout IHM Aronsborg. There were no injuries.

2012-04-03 19:12, Drug, Uppsala

A man, born in -79, which showed evidence of the influence of drugs have been found in St. Pers mall. He has been inserted into the police station for sampling.

2012-04-03 18:41, Drunk driving, Håbo

A car was checked in Övergran and driver of the car showed signs of being drug affected. The man has been inserted because of sampling. In the car from even a small amount of powder, believed to be narcotics.

2012-04-03 18:39, Drunk driving, Enköping

A car was checked in Galgvreten and the driver, born in -90, showed sign of being drug affected. He has been inserted because the police department for sampling.

2012-04-03 18:09, Shoplifting, Uppsala

A woman has ertappts to purloin the goods in a shop in Gottsunda Center. Police have been in place and raised a complaint.

2012-04-03 18:04, Shoplifting, Uppsala

Two girls have been caught shoplifting at Åhlens, the main square. Police on site takes up a complaint and will contact the parents.

2012-04-03 17:36, Shoplifting, Uppsala

A woman, born – 62 and a man born – 70, has been caught shoplifting goods in St Pers mall. Police to place for notification uptake.

2012-04-03 13:03, Theft, Uppsala

Two women born in -58 and -76 is suspected of shoplifting after they have been on the City Gross and resorted goods. They have time to leave the store but stopped in a car not far from the site. A report has been prepared. The women were released after questioning.

2012-04-03 08:24, theft / burglary, Uppsala

A burglary took place overnight on a construction site in Gottsunda. Police have been in place and set up a notification. Technical examination will be performed. It is unclear what is appropriated at the break.

2012-04-03 07:41, theft / burglary, Uppsala

A burglary has taken place in a house on Tape Seat Road. A window was utplockat and a door was forced open. It is the time of writing unclear what is appropriated. Police are in place and takes up a notification.

2012-04-03 03:48, Theft, Enköping

E18 Ekolsund 02:13: Police control a foreign car, suspected stolen property is found in the car and the two people in it, born in -78 or -81, is arrested on suspicion of theft.

2012-04-03 03:24, Theft, Uppsala

Kungsängsleden 01:09: car checked by the police. 4 people on a temporary visit to the country is arrested on suspicion of conspiring to theft.

2012-04-03 03:10, Fractions, Knivsta

Statoil Knivsta 22:31: Police to the scene because of trouble between man and woman. The woman born -88 suspected of abuse by the husband and also for theft when it met with stolen beef in her car.

2012-04-02 21:18, Burglary, attempt, Enköping

One person has been arrested on suspicion of attempted grand larceny. The man was seen tugging on doors and even now featured on a patio. The man was arrested after iattagelser out a living in the area.

2012-04-02 20:37, assault, aggravated, Uppsala

A person is bleeding seen leaving an address in Eriksberg. After a while, call a person from the UAS and says he has fallen and struck his forehead. The injured would also not tell you anything about what happened or what he did on

2012-04-02 19:27, Traffic accident, game, Tierp

At LV 292 has a moose was hit. There were no injuries. The elk disappeared into the woods and sought out now jaktman.

2012-04-02 11:07, Workplace Accident, Uppsala

Kungsgatan A man injured when an air bag that holds up the truck explodes. The man born in 1981 out with head injuries at University Hospital.

2012-04-02 06:10, Drunk driving, Uppsala

A 55-year-old man tried to outrun the police would conduct a driver’s control. The police managed to stop the man and he entered the police station on suspicion of drunken driving and reckless driving.

2012-04-01 11:03, harassing / annoyance, Östhammar

A family in Östhammar them, that they have experienced that some have thrown eggs at their house during the night.

2012-04-01 01:35, Assault, Uppsala

Gottsunda center: Man assaulted by two suspects. It was while he was waiting for the bus that the offenders gave up on him. Plaintiff received minor injuries and did not uppsaöka hospital. No arrest at this time.

2012-03-31 15:57, Control person / vehicle, Enköping

A woman born 37 called police and reported that her car had been stolen while she was on COOP. When police arrived, it turned out that the woman forgot that she had taken the bike to the store and not the car as no crime had occurred

2012-03-31 07:32, Traffic accident, single, Tierp

A single accident with a car and armed horse trailer occurred on E4, just south of Dalälven in the southbound direction. The car with the trailer has been skidding and hit the center barrier and is now on the road in the wrong direction.

2012-03-31 07:27, Traffic accident, single, Håbo

At E18, IHM Drawn exit, towards Bandon, has a car with an armed horse slap run out of the way. Unclear if there are any injuries. According to a notifier, the horse run free outdoors in a field. Police are on the way to the scene.

Someday I'll get to the Kiruna Airport in Lapland. Photo by: Fredrik Broman/imagebank.sweden.se

Living in a foreign country, I find myself on an airplane a lot more often than I used to. I traveled back to the US for Easter a few weeks ago in order to take care of some family issues and to visit loved ones. There are no direct flights between San Francisco and Stockholm because the distance is too great and (presumably) the jets cannot hold enough fuel to go the whole way. I’ve taken all sorts of configurations of the two flights it takes to get to California over the past 20 years. I’ve changed planes in Reykjavík (that’s the Republic of Iceland, to you), Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, New Jersey…This time I changed planes in Chicago. I prefer to change planes in Europe somewhere so that my final destination is where I go through customs. It just seems easier. Chicago is always a roll of the dice because of weather delays and because it is a large hub so it’s not my favorite.

I managed to get yelled at twice before I even left Stockholm’s Arlanda airport. First I forgot that I had a bottle of water in my backpack and I attempted to pass through Security with it. Then I neglected to show my residence and work visa when passing though Passport Control. Actually I didn’t forget, I had no idea that I was supposed to show this when leaving the country. How are you supposed to know this stuff? I’ve never even showed it when coming into this country but that’s because I have so far always entered from a EU country and no one showed any interest.

On the way back to Sweden, I had trouble navigating Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Why is it that your connecting flight is always in another terminal (and gate) that is as far away as is geographically possible? Yes, I was switching from domestic to international but still… (this should be ready in a whiney tone)

After finally locating the elevated transport system that moves people between terminals, I rode to Terminal 5. We passed terminals number 2,3, and 5. Where was number 1? Where was number 4? They didn’t seem to exist. Perhaps they were sold off to real estate developers or something.

For the first time ever (and can I just point out that the first rule of traveling must always be flexibility because every flying experience seems to bear little resemblance to the previous one?), I was not issued the second boarding pass when I checked in in San Francisco. So, after locating Terminal 5, I walked up and down the terminal trying to find the SAS counter so I could check in for the flight to Stockholm. After many attempts, and after asking two airport employees who had never even heard of SAS, I found the tiny SAS counter at the end of a line of Mexican and Irish airline counters.

Next I went through Security and discovered that I no longer had access to anywhere to eat. Isn’t it also strange that you never really know where you will end up in airports? Once you go through Security you are stuck on the other side. (Well, you could leave and go back through Security but that’s such a big deal these days that it’s not worth it.) In San Francisco, there are lots of places to eat after you go through Security. But in Chicago, for this flight, there was nothing. I was forced to make do with a yogurt, some Pop Chips and an Odwalla fruit juice. Hard to not eat decent food right before you are trapped on a plane for 8 hours!

The best thing about flying? It’s the first time I hear Swedish again. It may be a family boarding in front of me on the first leg of my trip, it may be in the waiting area in Chicago. When I hear it I feel like I am a member of a special group. And then there is the first moment I see Swedish land from the plane. There she is, patches of snow; flat, flat land; and endless bodies of water. And I feel like I am home.

Bonfires are lit all over the country on Walpurgis Eve, 30 April. Stockholm City Hall in the Background. Photo by: Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se

I have wanted to experience crazy Uppsala on Walpurgis Eve (Valborgsmässoafton)  for decades and now I am finally here on the last day of April! One of the most attractive things about this wonderfully pagan holiday is the bonfires people have. It is still pretty chilly here (I reluctantly surrendered my winter coat a few weeks ago but I am still wearing a wool peacoat, often with a down vest underneath it.) According to Wikipedia, “At Walpurgis (Valborg), farm animals were let out to graze, and ever since the early 18th century bonfires (majbrasor, kasar) have been lit to scare away predators.”

In addition to my pyromaniac urges, I also enjoy traditional singing and there are lots of songs on Walpurgis. In Uppsala, a strong university town, the students do some hardcore partying all day and night. There is lots of alcohol involved, so much so that I read in the paper that several preschools are closed on the last day of April this year just to protect their property and young charges. There is apparently a high risk or property damage and drunken people staggering around. It is also the day, according to the newspaper ”8 Sidor” in which twice as many bicycles are stolen as any other day in Sweden. (”Yes, but, one Swede explained to me, ”You find the bicycle in the bushes a few feet away so it’s not so bad.”)

In Uppsala, the students also build decorative rafts and then sail them over a modest waterfall where the rafts inevitably fall apart and they go into the cold (I mean, cold!) water. There is also a  Champagne Race in which students run down the hill from the Carolina Rediviva library, toward the Student Nations (kind of like fraternity houses), to drink champagne.

After the rafting (forsränning) at 10AM, I am heading for the public herring lunch (sillunch). After that I will see if I can get a ”Last day of April” (Sista April pin)—a commemorative pin they just started giving out last year and which will have a new design every year. Then I am looking forward to the  ”donning of the caps” (mösspåtagning) which is when the students put on their traditional white caps. Historically, the students took off their black caps and putt on their white ones to welcome Spring. There is a big clock counting down the days, hours, and minutes till the caps are donned.

According to ”Walpurgis in Uppsala,”

At exactly 3pm in the afternoon the Vice-Chancellor waves his white cap from the library balcony, a signal for everyone below to don their white student caps and run down the hill toward town. This creates an effect that has often been described as ‘a whole hillside of white anemones’. Balloons ascend to the sky and the thousands upon thousands of reveling students, alumni, families, and friends begin to cheer.

Boo yah! I can’t wait.

”Zeth Höglund, wearing his student cap, graduating from a Gymnasium in Gothenburg 1902.” This image is in the public domain.

You don't actually have to wear a hazmat suit to do business with Swedes...Photo by: Melker Dahlstrand/imagebank.sweden.se

A co-worker recently loaned me a book called “Swedes as Others See Them.” The book was first published in English in 1981 and was last updated in 1991 so it is 21 years old. It’s a quick read and I found it limited but interesting.

Next, I am thinking of reading a book called “Modern Day Vikings: A Practical Guide to Interacting with the Swedes” which was recommended at the AWC meeting I attended recently. (Read more about that here.) But since my turn doing this blog will soon be at an end, I thought I had better write about this subject in case I don’t get to that book right away.

The first edition of “Swedes as Others See Them” sold over 40,000 copies which is a large amount for such a niche book. The book is ostensibly written for business people who work cross-culturally—Swedes working with foreign cultures and foreign cultures working with Swedes. It’s not so much a factual book “here’s how Swedish people do it” but more of a thought-provoking treatise on how we can easily misinterpret other cultural norms.

I liked the book although I am not entirely sure it didn’t have the opposite effect it was designed to have, which is to say, it left me feeling less empowered about understanding Swedish culture than I did before reading it.

Actually, I would have liked the book better if there were more “facts” in the book but a) how can one generalize about 9 million people? and b), 21 years have passed since it was updated and Sweden has changed a great deal in those 21 years. I have witnessed that firsthand because I have been visiting Sweden since 1986.

Sections of the book that I found especially note-worthy were those about eye contact, touch, (personal) space, and work hierarchies. Don’t forget that these are discussed in the context of doing business with another culture—these aren’t about general social interactions.

Eye Contact
This refers to the length and direction of gaze people prefer. Like everything else, it varies greatly from culture to culture. The book says that Americans and Swedes are similar in that they both tend to shift their gaze from eye to eye when talking to someone else, and sometimes away from the face entirely. I agree that I feel comfortable when I am talking to most Swedes as we are doing approximately the same thing in this regard. However, when approaching a Swede, say, on the sidewalk, I still do find it very different that there tends to be no eye contact at all. I am used to always acknowledging the other person—even complete strangers.

Touch
This refers to how often physical contact is made while talking to someone else. The book has some amusing anecdotes about a Spaniard feeling like he had to clasp his hands behind his back to remind himself not to touch someone. His experience had taught him that when he touched Swedes in conversation they “stiffened from the tops of their head to their toes.” A Swedish businessman talked about how uncomfortable it was to hold hands with an Arab customer—something that is apparently very normal in Arab countries. For my own part, I typically don’t touch anyone at work but occasionally I might touch someone on the arm or something. I am aware when I do it that I am doing something out of the ordinary but I feel like it’s good to push the edge of the envelope sometimes and not try to do only as Swedes do.

Space
This refers to the amount of space people like to keep between themselves and the other person when they are having a conversation. I remember doing a theatre workshop once in which two people approached each other and each person had to stop when they were at the edge of their “bubble.” Of course, no two bubbles ever seemed to be the same so there was a lot of people stepping forwards and backwards as their partner adjusted their position, too. The book also talks about how space can be linked to “prestige” in work spaces. In America the top people are supposed to have the largest offices, the best views, and the corner offices. This does not seem to be true in Sweden and definitely isn’t true where I work. At my job, the managers work right next to the non-managers and the only people who have offices are the CFO who needs to have privacy around financial information) and the CEO whose office, more often than not, is used as a meeting room and which affords no privacy at all because it is glass on three sides.

Work Hierarchies
Most people agree that the Swedish management style is less hierarchical than most others. The author talks about research done by a French and Dutch INSEAD (business school) team. I found it really interesting that Swedish managers had the least problem in bypassing their boss to get an answer than managers from any other country did, including the US. The Swedes also did not expect their boss to have all the answers. Managers from most other countries considered it to be insubordination if they bypassed their boss. And bosses from those countries felt like they had to have all the answers in order to get respect. I, myself, struggled many times to figure out who I should contact with a problem in my former work life in the US. I definitely always took into consideration whether I would get in trouble for going “over my boss’ head” on something. Recently I struggled with that here in Sweden. I could not get a colleague to return my emails and I didn’t know what it would do to our relationship if I went to a manager about the issue. When I voiced this concern, the manager acted surprised that this was even a concern.

So there you have my book report about “Swedes as Others See Them.” Check out the book here if you want to know more about it.

“White portions” of Swedish snus can be any color. The name refers to the style, not the color. Photo by: Alekos (CC BY 3.0)

 I noticed recently at work that a number of my male co-workers use snus. There are Swedish women who use snus but we don’t have very many women where I work and I don’t believe the few we do have use it. I had this vague idea that snus is the same thing as chewing tobacco but people assured me it wasn’t. Snus has also been in the newspapers a lot recently so I took it as a sign that I should educate myself a little bit and then share what I learned with you. As usual, this is only my opinion about the subject becuase this is a blog and not a journal article. I’m sure some readers will know much more about the subject than I do. Also, I freely admit a predjudice against tobacco products but I tried to keep an open mind about this Swedish passion…

But What is Snus, Anyway?

According to Wikipedia, snus or Swedish snuff is a moist, smokeless tobacco product that was invented in the early 19th century in Sweden. It is placed under the lip for a length of time and the big difference between it and so-called ”American dipping tobacco” is that there is no spitting involved. Praise be!

“Snus is also unique in that it is steam-pasteurized rather than fire-cured, is not fermented and contains no added sugar.” Snus is moist and usually comes in the form of a small paper pouches that are individual servings. The whole pouch is put into the mouth.

The reason it’s been in the Swedish news a lot is because the sale of snus is technically illegal in the European Union, but there are loop holes in the attempt to ban smokeless tobaccoo and snus is still manufactured and used mostly in Norway and Sweden.

Apparently the popularity of snus is growing in the US but I personally never met anyone using it and I definitely never met anyone in a professional environment who used either chewing tobacco or snus. According to Wikipedia, ”previously, Swedish snus was only available by mail order within the United States; however, an increasing number of tobacco retailers have begun to stock popular Swedish snus products…It’s packaged in much the same way (moist tobacco in a small pouch), production methods vary considerably from traditional Scandinavian methods. Additionally, differences in the way American snus is formulated may also diminish some of the possible benefits.”

These “benefits” are hotly debated, of course.

Is Snus Harmful to Your Health?

Tobacco giant Swedish Match says that the people who want to ban snus don’t understand anything about the product. According to an article last year in The Local, ”Sweden is the only country with an exemption for the sale and marketing of snus and the country has long battled for the EU wide ban to be lifted.”

Sweden’s National Institute of Public Health (Folkhälsöinstitutet) is against dropping the ban. They worry doing so might change attitudes about snuff and increase its use. They say the product has ”only adverse health effects.” (The Local)

Is snus less harmful than other tobacco products? The answer is hotly debated. There are two camps…Some think that snus is a safer ”nicotine delivery system” than cigarettes so therefore it decreases tobacco-related deaths. ”The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledges that Swedish men have the lowest rate of lung cancer in Europe, partly due to the low tobacco smoking rate, but does not argue for substituting snus for smoking, citing that the effects of snus still remain unclear.” Some cardiologists argue that the effect of nicotine on the nervous system is unclear. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus

What Do the Snus Makers Say?

I clicked over to Swedish Match’s (the Tobacco company) site to see how they make their case. They have processing plants in Göteborg (Sweden’s second city) and in Kungälv, just to the north of Göteborg. Here’s some interesting quotes from their FAQ page.

• The average snus user consumes about three and a half cans every week. But naturally, this varies widely.

• There are over one million Swedes who use snus regularly. Of these, about 80 percent are men and 20 percent women. That’s about 26 percent of all adult males and 6 percent of adult women in Sweden are regular snus consumers.

• Swedish snus is made from selected tobaccos, salts, aromas, and moister preservatives. Snus is classed as a food product; only ingredients approved under Swedish food and health laws may be used in Swedish snus. It is produced in hygienically controlled facilities suitable for food production.

• The paper is approved for use with food by the FDA (Federal Drug Administration). The binding agent used in our paper pouches is actually a business secret of our suppliers. However, we do know that this binding agent has no animalic additives.

• Most Swedish Snus according to GothiaTek® has nicotine levels between 0.8 and 1.2 %. Nicotine levels are listed for each product in the Products section.

• Research in Sweden has not been able to show a link between snus and cancer. Based on this research the EU determined in 2001 to cancel the requirement that this cancer warning be included in all snus labeling. The cancer warning was put there based on EU requirements at the time Sweden joined the EU in 1995. Before that we didn’t need the warning for Swedish Snus according to GothiaTek®. But still, the EU has not removed the ban on selling snus in the rest of the EU.

The Myths

Since I’ve never heard of snus before, I, of course, also didn’t know about any snus myths. According to Swedish Match, there is a persistent myth that snus contains (or contained at one time) ground-up glass (!) They respond, ”Swedish snus according to GothiaTek® contain no glass whatsoever, and never has! This is one of those old-time myths that we can only speculate about how it got started. We know that salt crystals can have formed in dried out snus that was made using older production methods and think that maybe these crystals looked like pieces of ground glass.”

One word. Ewwww!

Well, myths or not, unclear health affects or not, I can only say that if I went to kiss a man and found a paper packet of tobacco in the way, it would be a deal-breaker for me. I wonder what a man thinks about a woman who has snus under her lip?

What do you think? Do you use snus? Would you kiss someone who did?

But I didn’t know that for the tax year, 2012, when I (presumably) will only earn money in Sweden, I will also have to pay income taxes in the US. At least I think I will. It’s all rather murky and unclear.

In addition, The Local, an online newspaper with Swedish news written in English recently published an article about other tax challenges faced by American ex-pats living abroad. The article talked about how the US government is cracking down on Americans who live abroad and do not pay taxes in the US.

It all has to do with a little-known US tax regulation known as FBAR which is short for “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.” Apparently it’s an old law from the 1970’s but up until now it has been very loosely enforced. The US tax authorities have only recently begun to enforce in earnest, according to The Local.

The law saws that an American who owns any assets in another country that total of more than $10,000 must file an FBAR. Worst of all, the FBAR must be filed even if the asset (for example, a checking account is jointly owned). According to the article, “The United States is the only country in the developed world that requires its citizens to file tax returns if they have enough taxable income, whether living in the US or not.”

My tax accountant told me that Americans only pay taxes on income from a foreign country that is greater than $90,000. But this has nothing to do with the FBAR filing requirement.

After a public outcry (I wonder how many of us there are?) in June 2011, the IRS, according to The Local article, “reduced the penalties to five percent of bank accounts and retirement plans (leaving out assets), but the conditions for qualifying for the lower penalty are very narrow and many expats do not qualify.”

For those of you who have been following my trip through the maze of getting properly documented in Sweden, you’ll know that I am working towards having a full Swedish bank account. Right now I have a very limited account that does not allow me to do much. So you’ll understand my concern when the article also reported that Swedish financial companies are concerned about yet another regulation, this one called FATCA, the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,” which makes foreign banks report Americans to the IRS starting in 2014. “FATCA regulations require banks to install costly software and have already led some Swedish and other foreign banks to deny service to potential American clients.”

There are lots more details in the article, including concerns about American citizens living abroad who have never even set foot in America (ex. a child born abroad to a parent with American citizenship). You can read more about that in the original article. Yikes!

Perhaps I’ll write a post in the future about filing my Swedish taxes—I’m told it’s remarkably easy—you can even file your Swedish tax report using an iPhone app…Check out Kate’s story on the same subject here.

It's easy to file your taxes electronically in Sweden. Perhaps it's because, according to the Image Bank Sweden, "People in Stockholm are the second most connected to the internet in the world after people in Singapore." Photo by: Ulf Huett Nilsson/imagebank.sweden.se

Most Swedish fences are for livestock, not for privacy. Photo by: Tony Töreklint/imagebank.sweden.se

I’ve done three of these “Impressions” lists and it’s interesting to see what popped out at me right away when I moved to Sweden and what I notice now after living here for five months. See links below to my other lists done after one week, six weeks, and three months.

1. You can’t count on a Swede saying anything when you sneeze. You know, like “God bless you” or “gesundheit.” There is the word “prosit” and my friends might say it when I sneeze but I notice people don’t say it much in my workplace nor on the commuter train. 

2. In a typical phone conversation, I’ve noticed that people tend to say goodbye 4-5 times. It’s kind of funny. Now I do it, too. “OK. Hej. Vi hörs. Tack. Det samma! Hej, hej! Hejdå!” Whew!

3. Why does Göteborg have its own English-friendly name? Why does the word “Gothenberg” even exist? I always feel silly when someone uses it, as if they think I couldn’t possibly cope with saying “Göteborg.” Please enlighten me, dear readers, why does it have an alternate version of its name when all the other Swedish cities do not?

4. Snus! It’s not a cigarette and it’s different than chewing tobacco. That’s all I know. I read some facts about it on a Swedish snus website…interesting but I am unconvinced it’s not bad for you. Exactly how many Swedes have snus in their mouths?

5. I am continually fascinated by how few privacy fences there are in Sweden. Most yards have no fence at all and it’s easy to see exactly who’s doing what in their yard. I am surprised people don’t require more privacy. It’s quite nice to see into people’s yards rather than just see walls.

6. Is there an English equivalent to Swedes saying “ahh” all the time? It’s used constantly to show assent and/or that you are listening to the other person. I guess people use “uh huh” in the US but it’s very informal and wouldn’t really be used in an office setting (and everywhere else) the way “ahh” is used in Sweden.

7. It’s interesting that Swedes don’t feel the compelling urge to decorate their desks and bedrooms to reflect the occupant. All the kids and teenage rooms I have seen are nicely decorated but they are not plastered with posters and items and objects that proclaim who lives there. It’s the same thing where I work; the desks are not decked out with items that personify the person who sits there.

8. It’s really handy that most Swedish stores have a free self serve wrapping station with paper and scissors in case you have purchased a gift. It’s also cute somehow!

9. Why is it that I am shyer about speaking Swedish with friends and coworkers than with total strangers?

10. And speaking of language…Why are foreign song lyrics (when they’re sung, not written) the hardest thing to understand?

11. Swedes bring their own blankets when they go visiting (by car). This makes it easier on the hostess.

12. It’s expected that you will make your own birthday cake and maybe even throw yourself a party on your birthday.

13. Swedes never use cash! I’d estimate that 95% of Swedes pay for everything with their debit cards. You can be standing in line at the 7-11 and it takes longer than it should because everyone is paying for their $3 soda with a card. Cash is no longer king. Not even a duke.

14. I hardly ever see locks on interior doors (other than bathrooms). I guess people never lock their bedroom doors? I guess you can count on a Swede to knock first, even a child.

15. The notion of taking home leftover food from a restaurant has not reached Sweden. There seems to be no such thing as a “doggy bag.”

Read 14 Impressions & Random Thoughts after 3 Months in Sweden

Read 12 Observations, Ruminations & Impressions from my Swedish Working Life

Read Impressions after My First Week in Sweden

Here's the ticket/orienteering map for the egg hunt in Uppsala.

It wasn’t really an egg hunt in the way that I think of egg hunts. The idea was not to go around looking for eggs. Instead, parents purchased a ticket in advance for their child. The “ticket” was actually a map with seven tabs at the bottom. The tabs represented seven “stations.” The child, parents in tow, went to each station and punched the corresponding tab with a special hole punche. The stations were spread out in a loose circle around the castle in central Uppsala.

Parents helping kids "punch" their egg hunt maps so that they could go on to the next station.

Once the child obtained all seven punches, then they went to the finish line and received a large, see-through plastic egg filled with candy.

The finish line!

At the finish line, they also had a small fair with various companies sponsoring booths and giving out products such as free hotdogs and fruit juices. There were also a number of mini contests. There was a contest to name two calves that were onsite (the winning names will be announced soon in Uppsala Nya Tidning (UNT), the local newspaper that sponsored the event. Click here to see more pictures online. The newspaper took photos of all the young Easter witches, with a costume winner to be announced next week. There was also a small dance contest and a “draw an Easter picture” opportunity.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary, singer Anna-Karin Nytell Oldeberg performed and Governor Peter Egardt greeted the children with his wife, Lena.

A young "witch" holds her prize--a plastic egg filled with candy.

It was windy and got progressively colder as four o’clock approached so I was very glad to get home and begin eating our Easter dinner. There were eight adults and five kids-all boys!

We enjoyed the traditional herring (sil) in various sauces, along with a few shots of aquavit. This in turn required a few Swedish drinking songs. We also enjoyed some not-so-Swedish deviled eggs that one guest had learned how to make when she lived in America. (No, not me. My big contribution was the asparagus!) Then it was on to some tasty salmon (lax), new potatoes, asparagus, some chicken skewers, an enormous salad with mozzarella balls that were egg-shaped, lots of beer and wine, a cheese plate, and then a cake. Whew, I couldn’t eat another bite!

Glad Påsk, everyone!

The Easter Table right before we brought most of the food out.