Sunshine and tennis!

The summer breeze has arrived in Ulricehamn. We have 20 degrees Celsius, a blue sky and everyone seems to be out walking or enjoying the cafés and the benches along the lake. The sun does not set until nine in the evening and it is difficult to convince the kids to go to bed when the sun is still up. They spend every afternoon outside and come in hungry and dirty in the evening. In six weeks time the school holiday starts and the kids are widely debating if they should choose to go to the golf, tennis or football school this summer. They will have ten weeks off but there will be other activities arranged by the school for them. On Thursday Jochems parents will come for a two-week visit and as the house is still a mess I will have a very productive 1st of May. The 1st of May is a holiday and if the weather is nice I hope we can have a great day out and get some cleaning done as well :)!

Ingrid is enjoying playing tennis and went on a two-day tennis camp last week. She had told us that she did not want to stay over but when Jochem came to pick her up she had changed her mind – they had too much fun! Ingrid used to play tennis in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) before our move but this is tennis in a very different league. We have never seen kids play such good tennis as they do here and the teacher is really good. It is not easy to be new and to play with a group of kids who are so much better but Ingrid notices herself that she is quickly improving and she really likes the kids in the group. They start and end each training by jumping 300 times and when one kid is practising with the trainer the others have to exercise. Actually I think people in Ulricehamn must be a lot fitter then average people. Many of my colleagues run marathons, bicycle a lot or spend every free minute outside doing outdoor sports. Well, so far the kids have improved their fitness but their parents still have a long way to go!!

We have had some busy months but I think the coming months will give us the opportunity to enjoy our new home and our new town a bit more. Jochem is probably the one who has had the least chance to enjoy Sweden as he only spends 3 - 4 days a week here and lately they have been filled with practical activities (such as arranging the Internet, going to the dump, buying things for the builders etc). Last weekend we got the Internet going at home, installed all computers and bought new bicycles so now we are ready to get active. Someone asked me if I did not miss the city beat but currently I am only looking forward to some peace and quiet. I think it will be great when we do not have to work on the house anymore but can spend the weekends exploring the surroundings or doing absolutely nothing. And, if I want to go to a bigger city Borås is only half an hour away.

Lots of sunshine from Ulricehamn!
Ulrika

A house to live in!

Finally! We have moved to our renovated house and left the forest life behind us. The kids were a bit worried about leaving our forest life behind and not being able to hold picnics in the moose tower or go on spontaneous hikes anymore. Luckily some football in the park and playing with the kids on the street this weekend made the worries go away. I spent this beautiful spring weekend (sunshine and blue skies) inside cleaning. It is just amazing how much dust a renovation creates. Despite renting an industrial vacuum cleaner (our normal one has not survived the renovation) and buying all cleaning equipment I could find the house is still not clean but you can see the potential. At least that is what I tell myself! The house is big and when everything finds its place it will look very nice. I also unpacked the moving box I got from all you girls who went out for dinner with me before I left the Netherlands. Thank you so much for all the nice gifts and cards! I felt really emotional reading the cards and I hope to see you all this summer!!! I promise I will read the Dutch books and that I will introduce the Netherlands as a super travel destination to my Swedish friends! I am sure I will find a prominent place for the plastic silver coloured cuckoo clock in our house!!!!

We have two living rooms and I have named one of these rooms the media room. The other room has of some strange reason been given the name “finrum” which means “the nice/ beautiful room” or in social terms “the adult room”. My parents used to have a “finrum” when I grew up and us children were never allowed to play in there. I think it sound pretentious to have a “finrum” but the children proudly tells anyone entering our house that;
-this is our “finrum”!
Currently this room is filled with moving boxes and odd furniture that still have to find their place and quite far away from being anything but a storage room but the kids love it. I guess we all interpret words in different ways and what I associated with the term “finrum” is completely different to the children’s “finrum”. They see a room where you can play hide and seek and where the new big dining table creates a nice tent facility.

Last Thursday my colleagues arranged a combined birthday – welcome party for my colleague Daniel who turned 30 and for me being a newcomer. We had dinner at a new place down by the pier. It was a fun party and the location was fantastic with big glass doors opening up over lake Åsunden. In the summertime they open up the doors and you can jump straight into the water. Now we sat on sheepskins looking out upon the lake with the burning fireplace behind us. Ulricehamn does not have a lot of pubs or restaurants but this spring two new places opened up and I really hope they do well. It is important for a small town to have some dining and bar facilities and especially if you wish to attract new inhabitants and more tourists. Interested in a dip in Åsunden this summer? Just let me know!

Ulrika

Learning more about mentally disabled children

Today I visited the school for mentally disabled children in Ulricehamn. The teachers at the school are interested in finding out more about how other countries work with mentally disabled children. It was an interesting morning and they already knew quite a bit about what goes on in this field in other countries. They want to get in contact with schools or organisations that work with disabled children in Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany and they are mainly interested in communication tools and communication systems. Four of their children cannot talk at all and they have developed a way of communicating with the world by using images and body language. I was impressed by the energy and devotion the teachers showed the children at the school and by their interest in learning more. They talked about different studies and the research surrounding autism in the US (research results that we are using in Sweden today) and they wanted to know more about how disabled children in other countries are cared for.

About ten years ago it was decided in Sweden that mentally disabled children should not be institutionalised but that they should go to normal schools and live at home. I guess we have all seen the film “One flew over the coco’s nest“. It is a fantastic film and it brought about a much-needed debate about how we, as people and as society, treat and look at mental disorder. However, it probably also led to a general idea that being institutionalised is a punishment and an unworthy way of living. In today’s Sweden they have a much more individual approach and now the idea of living in an institution is regarded differently. It is not regarded as a punishment but might be a very good solution if the facilities are right and they get the right resources.

Looking at the children I met today it was easy to see that each child have different needs and that the support they need is great. I don’t think it is possible to give this support in a normal family or at a normal school. The children and their families need so much more help and support and luckily I think they get this here in Ulricehamn!

If any of you have any contacts or ideas regarding this subject just let me know. I heard that it is difficult or not possible to comment on this blog but you can always mail me (first name. surname @ ulricehamn.se ).

As for our family life we are still living in the summerhouse but now the carpenters are back working in our house. They think they will be ready in two weeks time (have you heard this before or what….?). I found some old doors for sale on the internet so now I have asked the carpenters to make me a large cupboard using the old doors. Jochem is using the phrase “less is more” more and more often as I come home with new things for our house but I never understood that statement.

We have a step competition at work and as I can never say no to a challenge I now walk as much as I can every day. I park the car at the kids school and walk a few kilometres to work and each evening I go for a walk with the kids. I have now had to promise them step counters as well. So far the average is around 8200 steps a day but if I want to win the competition I have to start doing sports again which I hope to do next week. Jochem is not interested in walking so I signed him up for the whisky club instead!

Ellen and the sick Sweeds

Last week I spent a day in Göteborg on an EU health conference. I was there to look at collaboration opportunities and to see if Ulricehamn should apply for any EU grants. In an international comparison done by the Swedish Healthcare organisation (Föräkringskassan) Swedish people are sick a lot longer then other people with the same decease in other countries. If you get diagnosed with depression in Sweden you will approximately be sick 130 days while the average internationally is 50 days (data from MDA). If you have a migraine you will be sick for approx. 50 days in Sweden but only 10 days abroad! Sounds as if the migraine in Spain is less heavy then the one in Sweden? Are Swedish people wimps and are we really more sick then other nationalities? Or do we have a health care system that is too generous or a working climate that is too tough? I don’t know but it is strange!

Luckily we are all quite healthy despite some minor colds. We had a busy weekend celebrating the baptising of little Ellen. Ellen is the daughter of my sister Hanna and her boyfriend Kristian. She was born on January 7th 2008 and was baptised this weekend at a church service in Lomma (town in the south of Sweden). Just as always we were arranging everything at the last moment! We headed off early on Saturday morning to buy Jochem a new suit, shoes and a very colourful shirt (he bought a checked shirt in purple and pink!). He had forgotten all his suits in the Netherlands. Then we fitted Nils with new clothes as he had outgrown his “sunday” clothes and the girls got some new vests. After this it was time for Ellens gifts and then we had to head south as it is a 3½ hour drive. When we arrived in Lund at my parents place they had prepared a super dinner for us and after that Jochem ran off to buy a new car. Now we have a new, very old Audi 100 4-weel drive station car. Hopefully we wont get stuck in the snow anymore! (but it would help if we hade the winter tires on as it was snowing heavily this morning!). Anyway, it was a very nice baptising service and Ellen showed us all that full attention is not a problem for her. She was happy as sunshine and did not mind being transferred between aunts, cousins and grandparents. It was a fun and relaxed Sunday and the kids didn’t want to leave when it was time to go back home (I carried Nils screaming and shouting to the car!) but next weekend we will meet up again as my cousin Tobias is having his birthday party in Halmstad (a town on the Swedish west coast).

An international encounter

Yesterday I spoke to a singel dad who survived Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and large part of towns along the Mississippi in the US on August 23 2005. At least 1836 people died this day and over 80% of the city was flooded. To speak to someone who was there with his two young daughters and who lost both family and friends make you realize what an easy life one has. Today they live here in Ulricehamn and are trying to create a new life - a steady normal life in a world that hopefully can make sense again some day.

On May 9th it is Europeday and I am currently arranging all the activities that will happen in Ulricehamn that day. The theme will be Ulricehamn in Europe and we will have a touring photo exhibition, serve international food in the city centre, inform about the cities international activities and have a website where people from Ulricehamn tell about their international encounters. I have interviewed a number of people for this website and it is really exciting to hear about what people have been up to and what role Ulricehamn has in their story. Some people grew up here, lived abroad and came back. Other happened to stop for an ice cream and fell in love with the place and stayed. Some are newcomers who could choose where to go in Sweden and who made a clear choice to settle here. Some stories are tragic and others unexpected but what brings them all together is Ulricehamn. The city has a different meaning to different people but somehow the city becomes the anchor for a lot of people. This is not a metropolitan and big city life is not to be found here but it is actually quite an international place after all.

Now I will get to work. Today I go to Göteborg to have a look at the new health directives from the EU and to see if we can cooperate with healthcare institutions outside Sweden. There is an interest to look at how things are done in the Netherlands so maybe you guys in the NL will hear from me soon! I also heard from my old school mate Pia that she met up with Andy in New York! If you reed this Andy - here is hug to you from me!
Take care everyone!

Experiencing Ulricehamn

Time goes fast and suddenly it feels as if spring is making an entrance. The snow has melted away and we hear early bird song in the morning. We are still living in the summerhouse in the forest, as it will take a few more weeks before it is all ready but now you can almost see the end result. Considering the costs of renovating you would think that we live in a castle but it is just a normal house. It will be a very nice house though and we hope to have many friends coming over soon! Anyone interested in outdoor activities will find something to do here (sailing, canoeing, bicycling, walking, horseback riding, fishing etc) and for the shoppoholic we offer Gällstad. Gällstad is a small town with 430 inhabitants located 9 km south of Ulricehamn. Each year 1,3 million people go to Gällstad to visit the designer outlets. Do I sound like a salesperson? Well, we just want to make sure that you come for a visit!!!

Each weekend we try to see a new part of Ulricehamn and the nature around here is really stunning. We have now seen deer so often that it is now longer as exiting as it was at first. Foxes are also quite common but we are still hoping to see “the moose”! Though I come from Sweden I have never seen a moose in the wild and Jochem has started to think that the moose signs are only put up to attract tourists. Well, I guess we have to wait and see. This is an area where many people hunt and one of my colleagues has over 100 stuffed animals in his house (including a kangaroo – Sweden is really becoming an exotic country!!).

My next plan is to get a new bicycle with an extension for Nils on the back. Then we can bicycle to school and work. As Ulricehamn is located on a hill it will be easy to go to work and school but hard to get home. I thought the kids would have a hard time living far out in the forest but now they don’t want to move away from there. Each day they go out in the forest and come back with skeletons, large stones and pieces of wood or other interesting findings. In the beginning they complained that they spent too much time outside but now they don’t want to come inside anymore. It is interesting to see how quick things change and how quickly they adapt to a new situation. Now they talk about going fishing and Elsa want to go mountain climbing.

We moved here in search of a new way of life – a life that is slowly unfolding as we live it. To me living here and experiencing this with my family is just as exciting as a wildlife trip in South Africa. Someone asked me why on earth we would like to live in Ulricehamn after living in South Africa, the US and all over Europe! Actually it is not a country as such that makes an experience interesting or worthwhile. Our life in Ulricehamn is very different to the life I had in Lund (which is also in Sweden). I like to travel but it is not the travel as such that is the exciting part of it. The excitement lies in the new discoveries one makes along the way. By trying something new and making a different choice you end up with a new experience and you learn something about your surroundings but also about yourself. Naturally one does not have to go to Ulricehamns to find a new path in life but we just happened to do that.
Lets see where it leads us!