We are a few days away from December but Christmas is already here. With half a metre of snow that keeps on coming and a temperature that will make it stay we definitely hit winter. Yesterday we filled the house with Christmas decorations, baked (as we actually do every weekend but now it was gingerbread cookies) and lit all the candles. I even got Jochem to go with me to a furniture store to order some new chairs and a new warm carpet. In Sweden you take your shoes off at the doorstep (to avoid snow and mud to get in I guess) but our old wooden floors get cold as the temperature gets down to minus 10 C. With some warm carpets and slippers we make sure we stay warm.
My Dutch car is not made for this weather. It has no heating in the mirrors, no heating in the chairs (I love a warm butt!) and no four-wheel drive. I hate to admit it but Jochems old Audi gets us up the hills a lot easier than my Toyota. I have learned what steep roads to avoid here in Ulricehamn and to drive backwards uphill if needed. No wonder you need to pass an ice, snow and water test when getting your Swedish driving licence. So, anyone planning a trip here this winter – get the right tires on and bring a suitable car! The cross country skiing opened its trails this weekend and in a few weeks the down hill ski sloop will be ready for visitors and we as well. Our house in Vegby is ready to take on visitors so make a booking soon if you want to try the winter in Ulricehamn!
In two weeks we celebrate Nils 7th birthday by going to my parents in Skåne (south of Sweden). Nils spent a month at their house this summer and when we asked what he wanted to do for his birthday he was very clear on what to do. We will visit grandma and granpa and next summer he wants to go back on “camp” there. As Ingrid and Elsa talk about the different camps they are attending or will attend Nils told us that he was also going to camp.
- You are? I asked. Where are you off to then?
- To grandma and grandpa of course, Nils responded!
Looks like Jochem and I have to find a camp of our own next year! But first we will all enjoy a few December weeks filled with dinners, parties, film viewings in great company.
May 2013
in Ulricehamn
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
We need to stay open to immigration if we want to have a chance on a global market!
A few weeks ago Fabio in Brazil contacted me as he had stumble over this blog while looking at working possibilities in Sweden. He liked the kind of life possibilities in Ulricehamn I portray in this blog and had read about our project of getting Dutch people to emigrate to this region. Fabio is a dentist with a family who already has working permits for both the US and Ireland but who is still looking at what kind of life you can get in different countries. Today I read an article in our local paper warning us all of the great costs of immigration. According to the writer we are in for a great surprise if we do not stop immigration quickly. I would state the opposite!
We live in a global world where most of our companies would not be able to exist if they did not have the chance to export and import goods from all over the world. We need each other! All great innovations and achievements of mankind has occurred when people from different backgrounds, from different cultures and with different knowledge fields have met and looked at challenges from different points of view. Many people in Sweden still live in the notion that Europe is the centre of great achievements and that Sweden is a knowledge country. Obviously Sweden is great country, father of many inventions, with little poverty and a well functioning social structure. However, we are also a country with fairly low wages for high skilled workers and high wages for low skilled workers, with a negative spiral of the number of new started companies, with very low school results compared to the rest of the world (and yes, you can obviously ask the question what do we measure when we talk about school results) where we now see innovation companies leaving Sweden to set up their businesses in India or China instead. In the 60s we saw how the manufacturing industry left Sweden for lower wages in Asia. Now we see Swedish high skilled workers and researchers leaving Sweden for greater opportunities abroad. India and China are the greatest investors in Africa today. In Europe we do not see the same potential in Africa but maybe we are wrong? Why do we assume that people who come to Sweden, weather they are refugees from a country at war or economic immigrants, do not have any skills or anything of interest to us? Who are the once starting new businesses – the immigrants!
We need to improve and extend our service sector in order to survive on the global market and in order to do so we need the expertise from abroad. There are always costs of immigration just as there are costs for a society when people drop out of school, go on parental leave or get sick. However, there are also possibilities in these situations. Immigration brings new ideas and innovation to a country. It helps us fill the gaps when there is a shortage of personal such as in the medical sector or get staff for tasks few people are willing to do, such as cleaning. By taking in high skilled workers, maybe on temporary contracts, we get a more flexible labour market and I think we need to look at flexibility as a factor of success if Sweden is not going to fall further behind. Sweden is a fantastic country with lots of possibilities but if we want to continue to develop and increase our market shares we should not close our doors. We should open them, encourage a European blue-card for high skilled workers and stay a humane country that helps people in need!
Another interesting aspect of immigration is the current situation in Norway where most of the staff in hotels, in shops and in the tourism sector is Swedish. In the shops in the Danish capital of Copenhagen it is getting more and more rare that you see Danish staff. Most of the staff is Swedish. If we see many opportunities abroad maybe we should be open to others seeing opportunities in Sweden?
And, if Fabio learns Swedish and gets his dentist accreditation to work in Sweden I hope he will consider living in Ulricehamn!
We live in a global world where most of our companies would not be able to exist if they did not have the chance to export and import goods from all over the world. We need each other! All great innovations and achievements of mankind has occurred when people from different backgrounds, from different cultures and with different knowledge fields have met and looked at challenges from different points of view. Many people in Sweden still live in the notion that Europe is the centre of great achievements and that Sweden is a knowledge country. Obviously Sweden is great country, father of many inventions, with little poverty and a well functioning social structure. However, we are also a country with fairly low wages for high skilled workers and high wages for low skilled workers, with a negative spiral of the number of new started companies, with very low school results compared to the rest of the world (and yes, you can obviously ask the question what do we measure when we talk about school results) where we now see innovation companies leaving Sweden to set up their businesses in India or China instead. In the 60s we saw how the manufacturing industry left Sweden for lower wages in Asia. Now we see Swedish high skilled workers and researchers leaving Sweden for greater opportunities abroad. India and China are the greatest investors in Africa today. In Europe we do not see the same potential in Africa but maybe we are wrong? Why do we assume that people who come to Sweden, weather they are refugees from a country at war or economic immigrants, do not have any skills or anything of interest to us? Who are the once starting new businesses – the immigrants!
We need to improve and extend our service sector in order to survive on the global market and in order to do so we need the expertise from abroad. There are always costs of immigration just as there are costs for a society when people drop out of school, go on parental leave or get sick. However, there are also possibilities in these situations. Immigration brings new ideas and innovation to a country. It helps us fill the gaps when there is a shortage of personal such as in the medical sector or get staff for tasks few people are willing to do, such as cleaning. By taking in high skilled workers, maybe on temporary contracts, we get a more flexible labour market and I think we need to look at flexibility as a factor of success if Sweden is not going to fall further behind. Sweden is a fantastic country with lots of possibilities but if we want to continue to develop and increase our market shares we should not close our doors. We should open them, encourage a European blue-card for high skilled workers and stay a humane country that helps people in need!
Another interesting aspect of immigration is the current situation in Norway where most of the staff in hotels, in shops and in the tourism sector is Swedish. In the shops in the Danish capital of Copenhagen it is getting more and more rare that you see Danish staff. Most of the staff is Swedish. If we see many opportunities abroad maybe we should be open to others seeing opportunities in Sweden?
And, if Fabio learns Swedish and gets his dentist accreditation to work in Sweden I hope he will consider living in Ulricehamn!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The Norwegian invasion!
We had a Norwegian invasion this weekend and it was really ”greit”! Ingrid spent a month on a CISV peace camp in the US this summer and met kids from all over the world. When she came home she was determined that we should all go to Australia as soon as possible to see some of her newfound friends. I would love to go to Australia but it is quite a trip from Sweden and it has to fit in with our timetable which is not a very easy task. However, Norway is not so far away from Sweden and this weekend the Norwegian delegation (4 kids) made a visit together with one set of parents. The Swedish delegation (also 4) joined in and we filled the house with 8 11-year olds who could not stop chatting with each other.
Jochem and I also enjoyed the visit of Merete and Are (parents to Matilde) and it was a weekend with a mix of Swedish, Norwegian, English and even some Dutch. Now we know that the word for candy in Dutch is the same in Norwegian Bergen dialect.
I don’t think one should generalize but this weekend made me realize that every time I meet Norwegians I really enjoy their company. I shared a house in Wales with Henriette from Norway in 1997 and we had a really fun and intensive year together. While living in the Netherlands I got to know Anine from Norway who also became a good friend and Merete and Are were just as friendly and relaxed as my previous Norwegian encounters. I think it is time for a vacation in Norway!
And for Ingrids and our friends who live far away we have to stay in touch via Facebook and blogs. The doors stay open in Ulricehamn and hopefully we get the chance to see some of you in the near future.
Take care, wherever you are!
Jochem and I also enjoyed the visit of Merete and Are (parents to Matilde) and it was a weekend with a mix of Swedish, Norwegian, English and even some Dutch. Now we know that the word for candy in Dutch is the same in Norwegian Bergen dialect.
I don’t think one should generalize but this weekend made me realize that every time I meet Norwegians I really enjoy their company. I shared a house in Wales with Henriette from Norway in 1997 and we had a really fun and intensive year together. While living in the Netherlands I got to know Anine from Norway who also became a good friend and Merete and Are were just as friendly and relaxed as my previous Norwegian encounters. I think it is time for a vacation in Norway!
And for Ingrids and our friends who live far away we have to stay in touch via Facebook and blogs. The doors stay open in Ulricehamn and hopefully we get the chance to see some of you in the near future.
Take care, wherever you are!
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