Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Advent

For being the most secularized country in the world (see “religion”), Sweden has a lot of religious holidays and traditions. They are mainly stripped of their original meaning and only kept in order to provide us with excused to party and/or hang out with family. Advent, which means arrival, I believe was created so we would have an excuse to teach school children how to memorize and recite poetry, as well as do arts and crafts. Every Sunday, starting four weeks before Christmas, we light another of the four candles on the advent candelabrum. If you are ever lucky enough to travel around Sweden in December or January, you will see something that looks like an upside-down V in almost every window. Those are electric candelabrum and counting them can be a fun game for the kids, if the DVD-player, iPad, iPhone and Gameboy are all out of batteries.

ESL teaching 101

I really like teaching ESL. The students are amazing, motivated and courageous. The other day somebody was asking about the word "apologize" and it turned into a lesson on trust, destructive relationships and what "sticking by your man" can lead to. Thank you One Republic. Also, you have never head the words "its too late to apologize yeah" until they have been read by a middle-aged Spanish lady.

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Arbogamorden

Emma Jangestig, whose two children were killed

A German woman had a summer romance with a Swedish guy at a resort in Southern Europe. They kept in touch via social media, but he was not that interested to keep the relationship going and a couple of years later, he met and moved in with a single mom with two small children. They blogged about their relationship and their new home, but something went horribly wrong. The two children were brutally murdered with a hammer and their mother seriously injured, leading to one of the most publicized trials in Swedish history. 

It seemed as though the German woman had stalked her previous lover, moved to Sweden for his sake and then took it upon herself to end his happiness. An online discussion forum (see “Flashback”) dissected the case and came up with electronic traces of her movements that had previously been overlooked. Some claimed that the discussion there (in which pictures of the defendant were published) might have destroyed the chance of a doing a police line-up. 

When charges were pressed against the German woman the police rapport became public, just like all other reports in Sweden. That meant that everybody who wanted it could ask for a copy and read every single detail about the case. Because of the massive interest a virtual copy was put up on The Pirate Bay. During peak weeks, 20 000 people downloaded it every day. 

The police, however, had not taken away or censured pictures of the dead children from the police report so those were also spread all over the country and the world. The relatives were very upset and asked to have the police report taken down from the site, but TPB refused to do so. This lead to a public debate amongst lawyers, police, journalists and politicians about the Swedish freedom of information act. Since then, police reports in well publicized cases usually censure out gory crime scene and autopsy pictures. 

As for the case itself, it was far from crystal clear and mainly based on circumstantial evidence such as phone records. The German woman was convicted of murder, despite insisting she was innocent.

The happiest girl in the world

Seeing this little guy in the mail box made this an amazing day. Long bath with Swedish candy!

I have been kicked out of my own bed

 

Suri, Tuula and Lakrits seem to think they deserve to sleep there instead.

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Anna Lind

One of the saddest stories in Swedish political history. She was a social democratic politician who was considered a shoe-in for becoming the new prime minister. Respected and supported across party lines, dedicated to her work but with a human side that appealed to many. She was murdered in the middle of Stockholm, at NK (a shopping mall) by a mentally ill man. He had seen her on posters around town and thought she was somehow out to get him. Her death on September 11 2003 made a lot of politicians think twice about the openness with which they had been living their lives. It also brought back a lot of memories from an earlier assassination, that of prime minister Olof Palme who was murdered on his way home from a movie in 1986.

Vill du köpa bil från USA? Säg till så hjälper jag till.

Såg på Aftonbladet att det just nu är superbra läge att köpa bil i USA - och jag har precis börjat jobba åt ett fraktföretag i Seattles hamn som fraktar bilar mm till Europa! Så säg till om du har gått i bilköpar-tankar, de är vana vid att sköta allt pappersarbete och jag kan ju hämta bilen så länge den är på västkusten. Det är väl dags att börja utnyttja att jag är här... :)

Cooking

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Allsång på Skansen

Swedes love to get their sing-a-long on. I can’t emphasize this enough. There are numerous TV-shows where we basically just watch an audience sing popular songs together with famous and not-so-famous artists, board games that make you and your guests do the same at home and summer tours completely dedicated to the phenomena. Allsång på Skansen (Allsång = everybody sings, Skansen = park in Stockholm) is the oldest and dearest (?) of the TV-shows. A beloved host leads the way and old people stand in line for days to get a seat (some of them perish in the hot sun but it is WORTH IT). Famous artists go on in an attempt to boost record sales and the evening papers get headlines for the rest of the summer. “So-and-so forgot the lyrics to his own song!”, “The flower-attack you never saw coming!” (actual quote!) etc. etc. Everybody wins. Except maybe good taste and sophistication.

Suri

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Anders Borg's Hair

Anders Borg is Sweden’s finance minister and everybody loves him! I mean, not really, but haters gonna hate, amma right? I don’t want to get into politics before I absolutely have to, but he is a guy that repeatedly scores very high in confidence polls, some claim due to his economic policies that have kept Sweden out of a bad recession in a time when the world economy is failing. Others say it is due to his awesome hair style, setting him apart from all the other ministers of finance in the EU. He looks like a rebel that just happened to stumble into a top meeting and is totally going to go ride a motor cycle home after he is done.

http://amzn.com/B006FTLQZI

Suri's favorite spot

The dogs are super tired today. Last night we had a bunch of coyotes outside, howling and screeching, and they all reacted to it in different ways. Suri was in his crate and whined a little bit. Lakrits went into full protective mode and sat in front of the glass door all night, barking occasionally, making sure nobody else got to sleep when he didnt. Tuula ran up to our bed and wanted to sleep near us, seemingly upset and frightened. Either way, nobody (neither dogs nor humans) slept very well tonight. So that means today is nap day!

Lakrits is so over it

He just can't seem to win over Suri. That's his brand new chew toy.

Redemption

I accidentally hit Jon in the head with a thermos and he actually fell to the ground and was blacked out for a couple of seconds. The worst couple of seconds in my life, during which I was convinced I had killed my husband.

He woke up, however, and laughed at my concern for his well-being, saying he was fine. And he was, apparently. But he also took the chance to remind me that I had promised to bake some cakes for his work. Smart guy.


French Vanilla/Fudge Chocolate Cake with a banana/cream/crushed milk M&Ms filling



Zesty Lemon Cake with banana/cream filling


Dark Chocolate Cake with caramel infusions and dark M&M topping

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Alexandramannen

This amusing sounding oxymoron (Alexandra = woman’s name, mannen = the man) is not very pleasant at all. In fact, he made life miserable for many young women whom he raped or sexually molested. While pretending to be a glamorous female prostitute a’la Pretty Woman in online forums and chats, he hoaxed very young girls into taking their clothes off in front of the web camera or meeting “a friend who looks good and is super nice” (ie himself) in person, where he forced them to perform sexual acts. The case became Sweden’s to date largest web-based crime and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2006.

New job

As some of you may know, I recently started working as a classroom aide at Peninsula College. We teach English as a Second Language to immigrants and refugees. After just one week, however, a teacher for a different class unexpectantly and they needed someone to fill in the next day. So I was promoted! That means writing lesson plans for three different groups, doing CASAS-testing and everything else that I never had to learn as a mere aide... SO much fun but lots of work!

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - ABBA

ABBA

There is a very special love-hate relationship with ABBA. If it is played on a radio station in the country, people like to sigh and pretend to be super annoyed they have to listen to it yet again. If it is played on a dance floor in, say, Greece at 2 AM every single Swede will suddenly have developed a deep and undying love and yell “I am the Dancing QUEEN” before proceeding up on the nearest table.

New dogs in the house!

We are dog-sitting Tuula and Suri which means that the energy level in the house has gone through the roof! Suri and Lakrits seem to be on the same page and are running all over - then they get super quiet and that is when they are up to no good...

The saddest thing is that Lakrits keeps loosing to Suri when they are playing tug-of-war. Our dog is a wimp.

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Alcohol

Alcohol
Swedes drink a lot of alcohol. Swedes also like to brag about drinking a lot of alcohol, or be concerned about drinking a lot of alcohol. Sometimes I wonder how much time we would save a society if we would just stopped talking about drinking. Not even the activity itself - just the talking about it. If you spend any amount of time in the country, you will surely encounter one of several possible headlines in the evening press: “Swedes drink more than ever before”, “Are you drinking too much? Take our quiz and find out!” or “The ten best summer cocktail recipes”.

Swedish Pop Culture 2012 - Absolut

You guys rock!

Because of your excellent recommendations, I have now DOUBLED the amount of stuff foreigners need to know about Sweden. Thought I would give you a sample, but let the suggestions keep coming!

Absolut
Somehow, I am sure you have heard of it. It is one of the most famous Swedish brands out there and every single time I introduce myself to someone in a bar and tell them where I am from, within minutes there will be a shot of this clear liquid on the table in front of me. Back when I was single, I mean. The thing is, though, that Absolut Vodka hasn’t actually been Swedish since July 2008, when the French company Pernod Ricard bought it from the Swedish government. We refuse to accept this, however, and keep on partying like it’s 2007 with flavors like Watkins (ground coffee, almond, caramel and chili), Wild Tea (black tea, elderflower) and Peppar (roasted Jalapenos, green tomato and dried herbs) when we get bored with the normal kind.

I need your help! Swedish Pop Culture 2012

So, just for fun I have been working on this text on Swedish Pop Culture, from A to Ö. Whenever I talk to Americans about what it is like living in Sweden, I always have to explain some weird phenomena or tradition and I have been looking for a book that would provide that information for tourists, people who are moving to Sweden and Swedish-Americans. When I lived in Minnesota, for example, people knew a lot about the old Sweden but not that much about stuff that happened, say, the last 100 years.

Here is a list of the things I have been writing about. Do you have any topics you think should be added to this list? Let me know! What do people need to know about Sweden that is not in every single guide- and history book?

Absolut
Alcohol
Abba
Alexandra-mannen
Alex Schulman
Almedalsveckan
Aftonbladet Plus
Anders Borgs hår
Allsång på Skansen
Anna Lindh
Arbogamordet
Bollibompa
Bandy
Blondinbella/Kissie
Båstad
Carolina Gynning
Camilla Henemark
Engla-mordet
Ernst Kirschteger
Efterlyst
Erik Hamrén
Expedition:Robinson
Filip och Fredrik
Fredrik Reinfeldt
Flashback
Föräldraförsäkring
Fadime
Fredrik Federley
Godmorgon Världen
GI
Hagamannen
Ica-reklamen
Innebandy
Julian Assange
Julafton
Juldagen
JAS
Kungen
Knutbymorden
Lidl
Leif GW Persson
Lasermannen
Melodifesivalen
Midsommar
Mattias Flink
Raggare
Radio Ett
Robert Aschberg
Så ska det låta
Så mycket bättre
SJ
Stranskyddet
Sommar I P1
Tomas Quick
Uppdrag Granskning
Valborg
Wild kids
Wasabröd
Wasaskepp
Änglagård

What I am working on right now

Besides teaching ESL at Peninsula College, I am doing some filming and editing for Beaujes Dog Training. Judith Bell, the trainer, is working on Behavioural Adjusment Training for fearful and reactive dogs. This is from our first session with Tilly... Hopefully we will be able to show you an "after" film as well as "before"!

The party

Almost exactly one year ago, we had a huge party in Sweden to celebrate our wedding. This year, we had a smaller version with a bunch of old and new friends from all over the US. Lots of laughing, playing and being merry! Also, strange animal games at four in the morning... Good times!

Requim for an Iphone

Ever wonder what an iphone looks like after you run it over with the lawn mower? Wonder no more!


The kind of sad thing (except for the death itself) is that it had a lot of pictures on it, for example from when WAG (Welfare for Animals Guild) visited an old people's home and Lakrits was getting petted by everyone, to this weekend when we went to Bonnie's baby shower and saw Lakrits play with his sister Blackberry, that he hasn't seen since he was eight weeks old. But hey, really it mainly sucks for those among you that cared to see pictures from it, because we were there and remember it as if it was yesterday (which it was).

This week it seems like everything is starting up again. My own classes in Sweden (taking American history, crime lit + media analysis classes, the classes I teach (radio for kids), I work as a ESL teacher in Sequim, marketing for a shipping company and then I ride a horse that belongs to my neighbor. Besides my volunteer stuff of course, like WAG and helping out with a web site for Beaujes Dog Training (www.beaujes.com) and free lance stuff for Swedish media. A busy fall, in all.