Six months in Sweden

I can't believe it's already been half a year since I passed through customs at the Stockholm Arlanda airport with my shiny new residence permit.  After an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, and even hot summer followed by the most beautiful crisp fall imaginable I can say it's been much better than I expected so far.  Not only does the beautiful view outside my doorstep remind me on a daily basis of how lucky I am to live here, but it's been much easier to settle in and find productive things to do than I imagined.  Before I moved here I made the mistake of reading some expat discussion boards online where everyone constantly whined and complained about the impossibility of finding jobs, poor treatment of foreigners, coldness of Swedes, dark winters, rain, high cost of living, difficulty of learning Swedish, and generally how much they hated Sweden.  Reading posts from these crybabies was a really bad idea as it only made me nervous and doubtful about moving here.  I've been pleasantly surprised and relieved to find out that Sweden is wonderful and most of the expats who feel the need to go online and grumble and complain about their lives would most likely be doing the same thing regardless of where they were living.

So, six months later and I am getting more and more comfortable understanding and speaking Swedish, I have two part-time jobs that fill up my schedule give me something interesting to look forward to, I've moved up through several levels of Swedish classes to the point where I'm being challenged and enjoy my class, I've made lots of wonderful friends, and I can finally say enough words in Swedish to get a giggle out of M's super quiet, zero-English-speaking father.  Life is good and I even feel up to the challenge for the cold, dark winter ahead.

My Swedish classes have been moving along quickly and now I'm finally in the correct class for my level of Swedish.  The typical language-learning path that most newcomers to Sweden take begins with Svenska för Invandrare (Swedish for Immigrants), or SFI.  This class can be good or bad, and I was lucky enough to have enough Swedish under my belt to test out of the class after one week and move up to Svenska som andraspråk (Swedish as a second language), or SAS, which has three levels (Ground, A, and B).  It all gets a little confusing if you're not in the system yourself, but I'm in SAS A now which is basically high-school level Swedish.  I just started SAS A last week, and my new teacher is excited about teaching and challenging her students rather than just sitting around and chatting about current events.  I have class once per week for 4 hours and I'm really happy with it so far.

My two little jobs have been fun and although they're not the most economically lucrative choices in the world, I feel that right now it's more important for me to get comfortable speaking Swedish and making new friends and being happy and content here than it is to leave for another five weeks at sea in the middle of trying to settle in.  I've been babysitting for a few different families which has been by far the most fun way to learn Swedish.  The little girls I watch are quick to correct me if I say something wrong and love to teach me new words and meticulously help with my pronunciation.  I've also been hired as a native language English teacher for kids who speak English in their homes (most of the kids in my classes have one Swedish parent and one parent from an English-speaking country).  The kids range in age from 5 to 9 so it can be tough to find activities on a level that everyone can enjoy together, but I've come up with a few good ideas and right now I'm reading them one of my favorite childhood books, Charlotte's Web.

Having M home for the whole fall has been wonderful as well...he has been working on his 12-meter steel workboat that he built himself.  I've been helping him paint and pick out carpets and colors for the inside, and it's starting to look fantastic.  There will be several beds, a small kitchen, and a toilet/shower area inside so we'll be able to use it as a little floating guest house when we have visitors.  I can't wait to take it island-camping next summer!

The autumn has brought an abundance of food, so all of our meals are usually around 80% locally harvested wild game and vegetables.  There are potatoes and sweet corn grown here on the farm along with wild mushrooms in the forest and huge piles of apples on the ground.  Last week we picked 120 kilos of apples and dropped them off at the Värmdö Musteri (local cider mill)....now we have a stack of boxed cider in the cellar that should keep us from buying any type of sugary drinks for at least the next year.  M always keeps our freezer full of deer, moose, fish, duck, and whatever other creatures he manages to capture, so I am definitely getting spoiled by high quality meat and doubt I'll be able to stomach gross US factory-farmed beef and chicken again. 

Mushroom-O-Rama!

Unfortunately my little garden didn't fare so well this year (I think our yard is too shady since it's right next to a rock cliff), but I did get lots of dill, lettuce, parsley, carrots, a few green beans, and some basil out of it.  M's parents gave me some pumpkins from their neighbor and I introduced M to his first roasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie from scratch.  I was nervous about making pumpkin pie for the first time for a group of Swedish friends who had never tasted it, but luckily it was a hit.  Everyone said the pie tasted like gingerbread cookies (which are a huge Christmas favorite here) so I was glad that I managed to represent and give everyone a little taste of authentic American culture.

So, that's my six month Swedish update...so far so good!  I would say "bring on the winter," but I'd rather keep this bright sunny autumn weather for as long as possible.