Day 95 – Typical Swedish Family aka Medelsvensson

Oops I am lacking posts lately…

Today’s a fun fact post type of day… So I recently learned what is a typical Swedish family – otherwise known as Medelsvensson familjen – and here are FIVE FUN FACTS of the typical Swedish family.

Medel – medium

Svensson – a typical swedish last name

Fun Fact #1 – The most popular Swedish last name is Anderson

In fact if you see a last name ending with son or sson it’s definitely a swedish last name! Last names with sen/ssen  are generally from Norway or Denmark.

Fun Fact #2 – The typical swedish family has two working parents and two children around 2-3 years apart.

Fun Fact #3 – Some Swedish couples actually PLAN when they will have their second child because you can get more maternity pay that way… the 2nd one should be born max 2.5 years after.

Fun Fact #4 – Swedish families always celebrate Fredagsmys aka a relaxing friday evening with tacos, junk food and TV!

Fun Fact #5 – A Medelsvensson family take one vacation where they travel outside of Sweden each year. A middle class Swedish family lives pretty well and knows how to take a vacation!

So if you have a Swedish partner and you have some family ideas of your own, perhaps you should talk about it first … so that there aren’t any uncomfortable surprises?

Day 89: A Nude Awakening

Photo taken from: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Body-Wrap-Towel-After-a-Shower

Coming from the Canadian mecca of yoga and home ground of Lululemon, it’s only natural to continue my yogi ways and sign up for a hot yoga class here in Stockholm.

Here are three things you should know:

1) It’s expensive to practice in Stockholm, but there are discounts for students, senior and the unemployed.

2) They are very accommodating with language, and can switch to teach in English without hesitation.

3) You must be comfortable with nudity of yourself and others

The door to the change room opens and you can look directly into the changing area. So if someone doesn’t close the door behind them, you could be a little eye candy without even noticing if you are in the line of view. The studio I went to has a showering area, however it’s like at swimming pool where there are no shower curtains or stalls. They also are thoughtful enough to provide soap/shampoo, however this was placed away from all the showers and made me just a tad bit uncomfortable.

This is what went on in my head when I was showering:

You mean I have to shower myself in front of all these ladies and then somehow make a nonchalant dash to the dispenser 3 times for soap, shampoo and conditioner? Why couldn’t they put it next to or in between stalls? If there were more people would it be like giving up your space and having to re-queue? Are people looking at me right now from the changing room side? Good thing I kind of shaved my legs… I’ll just keep myself turned in the corner…

One things about Swedes is that they’re very comfortable with nudity, and it’s just a normal thing. They don’t understand when others get a little nervous or uncomfortable about being naked. I guess it is another one of those things that will take time to get used to.

Just remember this and you’ll have no problems at yoga, at the swimming pools and in the sauna!

Namaste.

 

 

Day 72: Lucky thumbs

In the Americas we cross our fingers to give luck to for those we care about and ourselves.

In Sweden, one holds their thumbs to wish someone luck or for themselves.

I wonder if there are any symbols of luck like horse shoes, rabbits feet and four leaf clovers…

Day 70: Melodifestivalen 2014

Haven’t been up to too much this week and I had been anticipating this evening all week long!

Tonight was the finals for Melodifestivalen which is like Swedish American Idol.

The winner goes on to participate in the famous EUROVISION and represents Sweden.

Tonight my friends and I decide to take on the judging ourselves.
We saw copies of Justin Bieber, BSB, ABBA, Miley Cyrus/Avril Lavigne, Beyonce and Celine Dion. It could not get anymore cheesier…

SANNA aka Swedish Celine Dion won! I had judged/guessed right!

For those who followed Melodifestivalen, here were my top 3:

1) Undo by SANNA
2) Busy doing nothin’ by Ace Wilder – so Sthlm!
3) YES WE CAN by Oscar Zia

Cannot wait for EUROVISION!!!

Day 55: There’s a new princess in town!

Grattis to Princess Madeleine and her hubby! It was announced this morning that there’s a new addition to the Swedish Royal family. First off it is very exciting to have a royal family now, and now Princess Madeleine gave birth this morning to a baby girl!!!

Here’s a family photo:

The Swedish Royal Family celebrating Swedish Flag day. (The little one is so grumpy cute and her name is Estelle)

The Swedish Royal family does not have any legislative power ( I think that’s the term?), rather they act as the Ambassadors worldwide.

Of course I like Kate & William and the scandalous life of Harry, but the (former) littlest royal Swede Princess Estelle stole my heart last year!

She’s absolutely precious, is grumpy cute (true sign of a princess) and always has a bow in her hair!

Like a true princess!

Showing Sweden how to make xmas cookies

‘And that’s an ORDER!’

Anyway CANNOT WAIT for the newest one! It’ll be interesting to see if the cute grumpy genes run in the family or not.

Day 53: Pirates of Stockholm

I don’t know why I don’t frequent Gamla Stan (Old Town) more often…

People dress like this every night!
We totally missed the memo in this…

So usually you would think people are at home relaxing after a day of work, but meanwhile THIS is actually happening:

Last night’s trip back to Swedish roots has us pondering important things like:

What is the different between medieval music and folk music?

Did medieval Swedes eat moose meatballs as big as apples regularly?

Are all Swedes reserved by day and rowdy underground pirates by night?

In all seriousness I had an amazing time out with friends! There are a few pubs in Stockholm that offer the blast to the past night out that include a tour of Gamla Stan (Old Town Stockholm) and finishing off with an intimate medieval experience at a pub for grub and alcohol! Last night we went to Sjätte Tunnan (The sixth tunnel). The jesters are always jiggling and the singers are dancing on your tables.

It looks like a great thing to do if you are a tourist, expat or a swede!

Skål!

Day 42: A marathon date in Sthlm

It’s true… ladies we need to be straight forward and to the point with our partners if we want them to give us what we want. NO subtle hints. It will never work. Just say what you want, because your hints will never take a very looooooong time to piece together. Take my situation as a case study:

One thing I learned is that my meatball HAS actually been paying attention to what I say! He really delivered for my birthday and continued my birthday celebration this past weekend with a marathon date in the city.

Marathon date – a date that lasted many hours and includes many different activities!

The sweet thing about this day was each activity was something I really enjoy or have great interest in!

1) I love brunch! I tell my meatball about brunch with friends and also suggest that we should go sometime. He took note, and naturally this was our first stop! Our date started at the Stallmästaregården Hotel & Restaurang

Girls just wanna have brunch!

Love it here!
Then we were in walking distance to our next destination – someone is good with logistics!

2) I had previously asked about the butterfly garden in the city (Fjärilshuset Haga Trädgård), and someone’s swede smarts remembered, making it our next stop!  Trying going on a weekday if possible as the weekend draws family and the parking lot gets full

3) Dinner at a cozy Italian resto called Linguini! Tasty food, comforting wine and a great date in candlelight.

4) When I had first researched things to do in the city, one of the places I absolutely wanted to experience was the Absolut Ice Bar located in the city center. I had brought up the bar again, suggesting we should go sometime and SURPRISE! he already arranged our reservation!

Watch your back and don’t get stuck on the ice wall!

I actually learned about this bar from the Amazing Race… good job marketing!

5) We were feeling lucky so our last stop was the Cosmopol casino nearby the bar – again impressive planning! There’s no better way to end the night out than tripling your money! Funny thing is that there’s a 30 kr cover charge for the casinos here… could be a karma thing?

Hopefully this will help your dating plans in Stockholm or just some general things to do! I love this city!

Day 40: Yoda speak you will in Sweden

Today was my second day at SFI (language class for immigrants in Stockholm) and first day of actual class and learning Swedish.

The golden rule:
the verb will ALWAYS be the second word in the sentence

This may make it challenging for English speaker especially because it just doesn’t make logical sense… Unless you are fluent in Yoda speak.

Example:

Jag dricker varm choklad hemma
I drink hot chocolate at home

As long as the verb stays in the second spot, the sentence will make sense in Swedish and would all sound the same to a swede.

Hope this helps with your Swedish language endeavours!

Lycka Till! Good luck!

Day 38: Beardlings – swedish ones!

Today I discovered the greatest instagram account: @swedishbeards

If you like any following then, this is for you! Either way, you should just take a look!

• BEARDS
• Swedish men or just men in general
• Men with beards aka beardlings (shoutout to Ais)
• Hipsters
• Beards that have been filtered
• Lumberjacks
• Badass beards
• A manly beard
• Santa Claus

Alright just view the page already: http://instagram.com/swedishbeards

Or if you don’t like beards, you can view my instagram: http://instagram.com/jocie_

Signing out with my two favourite beards! One of these is not Swedish though … heh heh!

Emil Kåberg of Örebro HK. Best hockey beard EVER! Photo from http://www.aftonbladet.se

James Harden and his badass beard! FEAR THE BEARD. Photo from http://bustasports.com

Embrace the beardlings.

Day 36: Snowbunny in Sweden

Snowboarding is my favourite sport to DO. Hockey is my favourite to watch, but if given a board in my left hand and a hockey stick in the right I will pick the board!

These Swedish men don’t stop the giving when it comes to birthdays or at least mine doesn’t and I’m very grateful!

We were up at 05:30 and headed off to Romme Alpine which is located in Borlänge – some 2.5hr and 60ish OOPS 20 Swedish miles out of Stockholm.

What the heck are Swedish miles??? No clue… I think it’s equal to 1.2km
A little more than a US mile.
Edit alert! One Swedish mile is equal to 10km! Oops!!! Good thing I’m not getting quizzed for citizenship…
Just when you thought knowing the metric system was enough, they throw this unit at you!

Anyway THE MOUNTAIN REPORT.
Now I’ve only snowboarded in Vancouver and Kelowna in Canada so it’s not fair to go in comparing and have expectations. But this what I’ve learned from my day out:

1) Romme is more like a hill and probably much more fitting for skiers. There are 4 colors of runs: green, blue, RED, black. Their black is like between green and blue in Vancouver.

2) 9/10 swedes ski! I have never been surrounded by so many skiers in my life… Kind of made me want to try skiing. Will I go to the dark side?

3) You use a card scanner to get to the ski lift instead of a tag. The neat thing is you can use it at other resorts – even in Norway! Looking forward to that!
Kids under 7 yr old get a special entrance – tempting to try…

4) T bar is the worst lift ever! Skiers probably have no problem but as a snowboarder it’s a bit of a challenge if you are a newb to the lift.
You get a bar that goes between your thighs and are pulled up the mountain with a straight board. It’s like wake boarding on snow… But much more uncomfortable since a boat doesn’t pick you up if you fall. You have to get up or let go and slided down the mountain on bum like a child. There’s no giving up!