Archive for 'Culture'
Julbocken – Sweden’s Christmas Goat Posted by Marcus Cederström on Dec 3, 2009
I have lived in Sweden for over two years now as an adult. I speak the language fluently. I work here. I even have Swedish citizenship. That doesn’t help; I am still not used to the idea of Julbocken. The Christmas Goat. Julbocken is known in two forms. The first being the large straw version…
Dear Santa Posted by jennie on Dec 1, 2009
It’s December, the new Swedish blog has officially been launched and the countdown to Christmas has begun. Let’s pay attention to all of the above and start off this huge task easily with a humble Christmas wish list. Unfortunatley I stopped believing in Santa (tomten) as a toddler when I caught our dog chewing at…
Swedish Photoblogs Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 30, 2009
I realized that we are long overdue for a classic picture post, because we haven’t had our fill of images from beautiful Sweden lately. But then I thought that we might as well try something different this time. Instead of looking at my lame attempts at photography, I decided to share with you a couple…
Vegans, Vegetarians and Organic Food Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 27, 2009
Is it easy to be a vegetarian in Sweden? While I admit, I am a dedicated dead flesh eater, I think that when it comes to vegetarianism, Sweden is a very accommodating country. At least that’s been my experience when hosting and catering for vegetarian friends. Almost every restaurant, and even the tiniest sandwich shop…
Hats Off to Skatteverket – a happy tax story Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 21, 2009
Tax authorities normally don’t put big, happy smiles on people’s faces. Rather the opposite reaction is common. Skatteverket is not exception. Most people (yes, even in Sweden) grumble about taxes. And foreigners positively get a shock when they see their yearly Swedish income statements for the first time and see how much tax was deducted…
Why Do We Learn Swedish? Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 18, 2009
“Why bother learning Swedish?” someone asked me recently. “Everybody in Sweden speaks perfect English,” the person continued, “so what’s the point?” Hmmm… yeah, really? It’s true that one of the first things that a visitor to Sweden will notice is that almost everyone speaks English here. Maybe not perfect English, but English that is easily…
Is Driving in Sweden Stressful? (I don’t think so!) Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 15, 2009
After reading the blog post about buying a car in Sweden, one of the readers (who also happens to be my good friend) sent me an email ranting about how frustrated and stressed she is when it comes to driving in Sweden. I emailed her back saying that she had no clue what she was…