Flat Jake Visits Sweden in Winter

I realize I haven't written anything in a while.  Mostly because life has been quite ordinary--school, work and church.  It is somewhat amazing how quickly you can adapt and how things that once seemed strange and foreign feel everyday and normal. 

In January, my six-year-old nephew sent us a construction paper figure named "Flat King Jake." For a school project, he was supposed to send Flat King Jake on a trip someplace and then share the pictures of that trip with his class.  Since we are his only close relatives that don't live in Utah like he does, we were the obvious choice. It was too late to take him on our Greece and Italy trip (that would have been great fun) so I started trying to think of what to take pictures in Kristianstad.  The kids, who are usually much better at this sort of thing than I am, were no help at all.  First off, they say they can't tell what would be odd to an American anymore.  :-)  Secondly, Flat Jake arrived during the coldest weather we've experienced yet in Sweden so they weren't interested in being outdoors more than necessary. It has warmed up a little again and I finally took some shots and figured I'd post some here.

Outside G's school.  He has enjoyed ALWAYS going outside for recess, irregardless of the weather.  The school even has some plastic sleds they can use (on a very small hill).  Since all his previous schooling has been in VA, it is his first experience playing in snow at school.

Movies in Sweden-- most are from the US though they also get some from other European countries and a few that are made in Sweden.  Typically, children's movies are overdubbed into Swedish while most adult films are left in English with just Swedish subtitles added-- one of the reasons why Swedes speak English very well and with very little accent. Television is the same.

Oy Godiis!  Pretty much every grocery store has a big aisle of candy by the kg. You can also buy nuts, dried fruits, etc. that way.  We're told that it was traditional for kids to only get candy on Saturdays.  That isn't done so much anymore but some families still do it. 

 

Our neighborhood

Our house.  We've had a very mild winter-- only a few snow storms with just a few inches of snow each time. The litlte bit of snow did stick around for a while because we experienced colder temperatures at the same time-- several weeks of temperatures around -10 C.  The rest of the winter we were just hovering right around 0.

Just as many bikes at the train station as ever, even with snow.  This is just one of three big bike racks there. M has continued riding to early morning seminary, school and other activities.  We put studded tires on her bike so we wouldn't have to stress so much about slick spots.  They do plow and salt the major bike paths. 



 

Heliga Trefaldighets Kyrkan--The church in the center of Kristianstad.  You can also see the cranes for a big building project going on.  They are revamping the area to consolidate the main bus terminal and train station into one location. 


A close-up at the church.  The church was built in the early 1600s.



At the train station-- a central part of life here.  T always takes the train to the airport in Copenhagen (family, too, for trips).  It is so convenient!  M has taken trains for church activities and to visit school friends.  Several of her classmates take the train 45 min-over an hour each day to get to school. 

Lots and lots of buses as well.  We generally use our feet or bikes instead, but you can use them to go about anywhere.

Movie posters in Swedish are always kind of fun.  Book covers are also interesting. The more Swedish we understand, the more we see that a lot of things are not directly translated.

A fountain in Lilla Torg (small square).  During most of the year, this square is full of farmer's markets stands every day.  At the moment it is down two die-hard tents that sell plants.

Bell carillion in Lilla Torg.

A cool model of old Kristianstad.  You can see all the walls and canals around the perimeter that protected the city.

A cannon in Stora Torg (the large square). It is in front of a building that used to be a military barracks.

 

One of the old city gates.

This is a cool old bastion.  There is a bend in the canal and all along it is a high soil enbankment and then cannons all the way around the bend.  It really helps you to visualize how the town was defended.  (The Danes and Swedes fought over the area for quite a while).

More of the canons. 

I like these old stone buildings.  You often see old barns constructed this way-- sometimes still with thatch roofs.

Ducks in the canal near our house.  There are MANY of them and they stay year-round inspite of the fact that the canal is completely frozen. A busy bike path runs right along the canal down to the center of town. You sometimes have to dodge the ducks who decide to sleep in the middle of the path.  :-)

Swedish Kronors.  Much more colorful than US bills.  Also, they are different sizes-- smaller denomination equals smaller size.  1, 5 and 10 Kronors are coins.  They no longer have anything smaller than 1 Kronor. One US dollar is worth around 6 1/2 Swedish Kroners (SEK).

A random statue outside the library

We went ice skating at the ice rink near our house.  It's interesting because everyone has to wear helmets.  It was also interesting to see lots of very small children skating.  They had orange cones laying around on the ice and the little kids would push them as they skated around to help their balance. There were a few toddlers who looked barely old enough to walk, let alone skate.  G also went to the rink one day for school.  He has also been to the pool a number of times with school.  In fact, they took a swim test.  If you didn't pass it, they offered you 6 weeks of free swimming lessons.  They want all their kids to be able to swim!

Just a few other odds and ends that we've experienced.  Parent/Teacher conferences were interesting.  Its actually more of a student/teacher conference with the parent along for the ride.  No print outs of grades.  It was much more subjective-- in each subject are they showing creativity, participating well with others, grasping the point of problems, etc.  Then the teacher asks the student, "What can I do for you?" It is very much viewed as a cooperative effort-- what will the child contribute, what will the parent contribute, what will the teacher contribute.  It is hard to explain but it is just a very different attitude.  M has started flute lessons and a flute ensemble here and has run into the same type of thing there.  Rather than just assigning her what to do next, the teacher asks "What would you like to work on?" She found that very weird. And even in ensemble, "What does the group want to play?"

I also learned that when the kids (at age 15) chose what gymnasium they want to attend and which program to do there-- programs range from a variety of academic programs with specific emphasis to vocational programs--it is completely the student's decision.  No parental permission is required.  They expect and allow the teenagers to take responsibility for themselves at a younger age than we are used to in the US. 

OK, that was a very random post. Oh well.  It is getting lighter and lighter and we are glad.  The sun setting at 3:30 PM in December was a bit much.  :-)  I think spring is coming.  Then we'll start doing more road trips again and will have more to write about.