Lovely People!

After spending a frustrating day fighting with the bureacracies of banking in Sweden (paperless financial transactions are great-- unless you aren't allowed access to electronic transfers), I thought it would be cathartic to write about one of the best things about Sweden--the people we've met.

Before we came, our relocation package included a weekend of "Cultural Traning" for the whole family, which was frankly a waste of our time and the company's money. Anyway, one of the things these experts (who'd never actually lived in Sweden themselves) told us was that we should expect Swedes to be very reserved and private and that it would probably be hard to befriend people during our short stay. From our experience, that has not been the case at all.

For one thing, thanks to belonging to a world-wide church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints), we had an instant family of fellow believers here, and we have been welcomed so warmly by all the members of the Kristianstad Branch.  We've been invited into their homes.  They've helped with laundry while we were in the motel and answered all my questions about shopping, buses and garbage pickup.  They've befriended our kids.  It is an interesting congregation because there are people from all over the world-- native Swedes, Danes, transplanted Americans and several families from South America, but they manage to integrate and support each other. We don't understand alot of what is said at church but what is clear are the strong testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Sweden is a very secular country.  While it is traditionally Lutheran, few people today attend any church at all or consider themselves religious, and the general standards of morality are more lax than what we are used to in the US.  So it takes courage to be a Christian and live high standards.

Jesu Kristi Kyrka av Sista Dagars Heliga, Kristianstad, Sverige

But it isn't just at church that we've found friendly, helpful people.  Whether it is the stranger helping us get on the right train or pay for parking, the teachers and administrators at school working hard to find the right classes for the kids and to include them in the school activities, soccer coaches welcoming them to training, or coworkers inviting our kids along on a business dinners and bringing things to us at the hotel, people have been so helpful and welcoming to us.  They have been patient with our non-existant language skills and done everything they could to help us feel comfortable in Sweden.

Last night I went to a Parent's meeting at G's school (a back-to-school night).  I debated whether it was worth the time to go since I would only understand probably one word out of twenty spoken.  I decided that if G can go to school each day, I could handle one parent meeting.  I was correct about how much I understood but it was actually a very good experience.  G's teacher is so kind and I can tell she is working so hard to help him understand and learn and feel a part of the class.  For example, since the boys always play soccer at recess she had the class make a list of soccer-related Swedish words for G.  I had several parents express how glad they are that G is at their school.  Since the kids here all have to learn English in school the parents say it is an asset to their children to have a native-English speaker in class. One mom waited whlie I talked to the teacher so she could walk home with me and show me where they live (just around the corner from us) so our boys could get together and play. 


M's classmates have also been very welcoming to her.  The IB program at her school only has about 30 kids in each grade level so they are a tight-knit group.  They pulled her into their social circle right away, have helped her learn the ropes at school, and most importantly, included her in their runs for Fika (traditionally a coffee break with bakery treats--but for M's friends it seems to be all about the treats).