Archive for the year 2011
The verb ‘att fika’ Posted by Katja on Jul 27, 2011
Swedes have a wonderful verb, ‘att fika’, meaning to have a cup of coffee (or tea) with something sweet or with a sandwich and preferably in the company of colleagues or friends. There is no really good translation for this verb and many people think that the word should be imported into the English language. …
Moment of Silence for Norway Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jul 25, 2011
Sometimes world events hit close to home. Just a few months ago, an attempted terrorist attack surprised Stockholm. Just this weekend a terrorist attack shocked Oslo. And the world. I am not a journalist. I am not going to pretend that this is a news report. As of right now, nearly one hundred people are…
Swedish Industry Summer Break Posted by Katja on Jul 21, 2011
In 1938 the first legislation for vacation time was signed, giving all workers the right to two weeks paid summer vacation. As time went on, this right was lengthened to the current five weeks of guaranteed summer vacation for all workers. Parallel with this the idea of ‘industrisemester’ was established. This means that…
Financial support for Swedish young people Posted by Katja on Jul 19, 2011
There are lots of ways that Swedes are supported financially by tax money. From birth to age 16 families are given 1050:- per child per month with the intention of evening out class differences. No family should be able to say that they can’t afford winter boots or iceskates for their children. As the number…
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – American Style Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jul 18, 2011
I’m not a huge fan of the Millennium series. For a variety of reasons, I wrote briefly about this back in 2010. Since then I’ve only managed to get myself through the second book. I still have the final book staring back at me from my bookshelf. Waiting. I just can’t seem to get into…
Soldado&Soldiers by Fredrik Gynnestam Posted by Tibor on Jul 15, 2011
Fredrik Gynnestam has written a book about three people that all changed in the encounter with each other. People come from three different backgrounds but despite that, they all identify themselves with and find similarities in each other. Similarities that make them change, voluntarily or involuntarily and, above all, they start believing that change is possible. The purpose of this is…
Danish. For Swedes. Posted by Marcus Cederström on Jul 14, 2011
I’m spending my summer in Denmark, trying to learn Danish. Which is not Swedish. It’s close, but not close enough as I am realizing more and more as the days go by. So this post will not be about Swedish. At least, not specifically. It will be about Danish. Or at least about learning a…