Tag: expat

How Aslan led to Sweden – a personal story of a Swedish odysse

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

A long-time friend of mine recently wrote a post on Facebook, instigated by the recent school shooting in her home country, USA. In her post, she writes her personal story about her 30 year experience of living in Sweden. With her permission, I am publishing it here. Please read it, I think it sums up the way a lot of people who move to Sweden feel. Here it is:

‘For anyone who might be interested, I would like to share a milestone in my life.

30 years ago this week, I took the adventure that Aslan gave me. (If you’ve read ‘The Narnia Chronicles’, you understand that reference.) I packed up my clothes and few belongings, waved a tearful goodbye to my parents at Dulles International Airport in Washington and moved to Sweden. I knew that the love of my life lived there, and that was most important, but I didn’t know much else. I had NO IDEA how the trajectory of my life would change.

Among the things I have experienced in Sweden are the following:

* An AMAZING Swedish family which took me in, accepted me with all of my weird American quirks and loved/loves me like my own family. They ARE my own family now. Along the way, my Mother-in-law and older sister-in-law were instrumental in helping me learn Swedish. Their patience was infinite. My younger sister-in-law, Marina, has become one of my closest friends, but, she talked so fast, I couldn’t understand a word she said. Sometimes, I still don’t. 😂❤️

* A society, while not being perfect, holds 2 particular values to be self-evident:

1. We have a responsibility to those who are less fortunate and that responsibility should be incorporated into government policy.

2. Women and men are equal.

* A year of paid maternity leave with each child.

* Unparalleled care through 5! major surgeries, NONE of which I had to pay for.

* A school system which treats me like a professional and gives me a great deal of freedom as to what and how I teach my students in order to reach curriculum goals.

* AMAZING colleagues from a plethora of nations, cultures and languages who are passionate about our students and who are a daily reminder to me of the common humanity of every person on the planet.

* I NEVER have to worry about a gunman in my school. 😔

Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” So far, I’ve gotten a box of ALL of my favorite kinds. Who knew on that cold Sunday in February of 1988 when my parents hugged me goodbye.

Thanks for reading’. ❤️

Is Sweden functional but unfriendly?

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Sweden is used to being at the top of most indexes relating to quality of life, equality, life experience. But not always, as the latest results from the Expat Insider 2017 survey might suggest. The survey looks at masses of elements related to the expat and relocation situation and views the world through expat eyes. The research surveys 65 countries and, in fairness, Sweden has improved from position 42 to 20 overall since 2016. Sweden scores well in travel and transport, safety and security, health and well-being.

So where does Sweden do badly? One of the elements that the survey looks at is ‘ease of settling in’. Here, Sweden doesn’t fare so well. For ‘feeling welcome’ Sweden ranks 51 out of 65 countries, for ‘friendliness’ 56, ‘language’ 15 and, wait for it, for ‘finding friends’ Sweden places 65! Last place. Interestingly Norway and Denmark are 63 and 64 respectively.

What could this tell us about Sweden? Or at least the expat’s experience of the country? Is Sweden seen as a healthy, systematic, safe but cold place? A functioning but unfriendly society?

I have to say that it is not my experience. I have found Swedes to be open and welcoming and I have a lot of great Swedish friends. Friends for life. So why does this survey suggest otherwise? What makes my experience so different from the people in this research? Does it depend on who you meet? Or on how open you are yourself? Is it different if you are single or in a couple? Are the big cities different from the smaller towns? I have no answer, but it is interesting to reflect over.

If you want to read the whole report, here it is:

Click to access Expat_Insider_2017_The_InterNations_Survey.pdf

Stockholm A-Z: eXpat community

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

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There are thousands of expats living in Stockholm from a variety of countries. Seduced by the allure of the city and its inhabitants many decide to stay after initially intending to love here for only a short while. As expat life can feel isolating sometimes, there are many expat organisations and clubs catering to the needs of this group such as http://www.internations.org, http://www.meetup.com/stockholmexpat and the American Women’s Club.

And then there’s the pubs. One pub where you will typically find an expat crowd from Europe and English-speaking countries is The Tudor Arms in Östermalm. Founded in 1969, this pub won the 2009 Best English Pub in the World competition run by the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper for its genuine atmosphere, entertainment and pub grub.

On Södermalm, a popular joint is the Southside Irish Pub with its live music and pub quiz nights. Not far from here are the Oliver Twist, the Bishop’s Arms and Accurat – other pubs popular with British expats.

Many club nights are also arranged in Stockholm which attract people from for example South America and African countries.

Speciality food shops exist throughout Stockholm to appeal to the expat crowd and interested Swedes. Asian supermarkets in the Hötorget area are a good example, and the British sausage has had a renaissance via Taylor’s and Jones butchers on Kungsholmen. In the suburbs of Tensta, Skärholmen and Rinkeby great foods shops selling international produce can be found.

To tune into expat life in Stockholm, visit the Expat’s very own newspaper http://www.thelocal.se