Summer in Ulricehamn

After a long winter we finally had a week or two of spring and then summer hit! Now we are getting ready for some summer holidays and the kids will be out of school already the 5th of June (Sweden has the longest holidays ever for school kids - this year they have 11 weeks off!!). The last few months have been filled with many activities and I run out of time and did not update this blog. I might close it down as I keep in contact with most of you via Facebook. I hope this is OK with you?

I am really enjoying my new job and Jochem has improved his Swedish a lot in the last year as he has been working in a Swedish context (first at Volvo and now at Arla). Elsa is now at the International English School together with Ingrid and they are both enjoying the international aspects of the school. With three out of five travelling out of Ulricehamn every day we have been thinking of where we should live but Ulricehamn is such a unique and beautiful place that it is difficult to see where we would go in Sweden if we did not live here.

Ulricehamn is in an expanding phase and it is fun to be a part of that. Let´s see what this will all bring.

Christmas wishes to you all 2012!

I write a Christmas letter every year to all friends and family with a special thought of the once we do not see that often. This one is little bit different but please follow the instructions!

2012 was for many people around the world a difficult year. Before I started writing this letter I scanned the internet and felt almost overwhelmed by all the challenges we are facing. War, poverty, global financial crises, climate change and in a few days time the world will come to an end according to some people (even found a website showing the best doomsday prophecies in history!).

But, I believe that we all can play a part in the world we live in and contribute to it in different ways. Often small changes become the most sustainable once and to remain the perspective of what is important I want to send you a Christmas letter with a few inspirational tasks.

I would like you all to listen to Matt Cutts talk “Try something new for 30 days”, then I would like to send you a message from Candy Chang “Before I die I want to” and finally make you listen to Johan Hunters talk “World peace gamer”. All these talks are to be found at www.ted.com and only last from 6-18 minutes which are well spent minutes. At the same website you will find a lot more inspiring talks! In 2012 the talented musician Dave Brubeck passed on and I also want to send you the song Take five which I think is a classic piece of music for any age. Enjoy!!!

We, the Geeraedts family, are all doing well leaving an active year behind us full of trips (to London, the Netherlands, to Malta, to Skåne in south Sweden etc.), great visits from both close by and far away and a lot of fun with family and friends. I celebrated number 40 with a big party in Ulricehamn and really appreciated that so many of you showed up. It was great! Thank you! And thanks for all the greetings I got from around the world – it was heartwarming!

Jochem worked at Philips (the NL), at Volvo, had some time off and just started at Arla (in Sweden) and I will be starting a new fun job as CEO for Ulricehamn Business Development and Tourism next year. We keep on being active in the peace organization CISV and took part in a family interchange with children from Rome, Italy. We renovated the basement and got a bigger house despite saying we would never renovate again (actually it was the talented carpenter Eric who did it!) and faced some more challenging days when Jochem had to have knee surgery. It will be a long healing process but he is doing better every day. The kids are growing and keeps us busy with tennis, drama lessons, football, singing and homework. Elsa (12) is still totally into cooking and baking making Christmas candy while I am writing this, Ingrid (13) keeps working hard at the English school, enjoys her international friendships and will soon be winning the world championship for sleeping out on weekends. Nils(9) combines his interests for computer games with tennis, football and has a new hobby playing the flute. Life is good and we are grateful!

Today Ulricehamn is covered in a thick layer of snow and we have all enjoyed a lazy Sunday. The house is fully decorated and in December we have celebrated Nils 9th birthday and our 14th wedding anniversary. Christmas is around the corner and I hope you all will have the time to enjoy it with friends and family. Let us all make time for reflection and contemplation and think about everything that makes us smile!
My wish for you all is a laugh a day in 2013! The best medicine ever invented!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Autumn leaves

We are between autumn and winter here and it gets dark early in the afternoon now. Swedish people turn on many inside lights, use a lot of candles, meet up for dinners in each others homes and we move towards a life lived more indoors (except if you are a skier but the snow is not yet here). I have met many foreigners who find the darker part of the year quite difficult in Sweden and if you don’t have a large social network that is understandable. I try to invite both old and newfound friends for a simple dinner or a get-together and encourage other “locals” to do the same. Ulricehamn seems to be in a growing phase both when it comes to people moving in and businesses showing interest in settling here. If we want them to stay we need to make them feel included and welcomed!

When we lived in the Netherlands we had a fairly well sized garden for Dutch standards. Our garden here is 3-4 times bigger, with apple, peer and plum trees. We really liked the fact that we got a nice garden with fruit trees when we moved here and it fitted the stereotyped idea of a red old wooden house situated in a characteristic Swedish little town (would have fitted the description of any location in an Astrid Lindgren childrens book). But there were some aspects we didn´t think too much about. I think we are the only ones on our street who haven´t cleaned up the garden leaves this autumn. Jochem can´t as he can´t walk and I don´t have the time. When at Malta this summer Jochem hurt his already week knee and had to have surgery when we came home. The knee is healing slowly and will be all well in 12-18 months but it keeps on being sensitive. Yesterday he went for a walk with Ingrid but came home with a swollen knee so doing garden work is not possible.
I am in a really busy period right now finishing off my project at work, getting ready for my new job as CEO for Ulricehamns Business Development, writing on my book (got a publisher which is really great) hence a terrible garden. I try not to be bothered by it, sticking to Jochems argument that anyone who spends time on getting annoyed over some leaves need to think of better ways of using their energy but it only works so, so. Next week we have a training day for all our managers about gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting and emancipation. Talking to the lecturer about the program we came to talk about norms in society. Is it socially acceptable not to do something about your garden for a few months? When is is no longer acceptable? And why is this a bigger issue for me than my husband? Is this related to my Swedishness or to gender? I don’t know and as our days get shorter I focus on creating cosy lighting on the inside (goes a lot quicker) to attract the eye away from the garden and maybe soon, the snow will hide all traces.

If you have ever been to Ulricehamn in the autumn you know it is one of the most beautiful places to visit. We are surrounded be different types of forests and the month of October gives off a variety of forest colours found almost nowhere else in the world. I go bicycling on our many bicycling tracks and I still find it surprising not to meet up with more people. On Saturday mornings I can be out on my own for an hour or two only seeing the occasional car passing by. It is quiet, colors and the sky is clear. Maybe this is why the driver who drove straight out on a main road was so surprised when I came bicycling downhill three weeks ago. Luckily I survived with some bruises rolling off the bonnet but my bike had to be fixed.

As we are in the middle of a changing season I look back on an autumn that felt shorter this year than previously. I know that many people in Ulricehamn can´t wait for the snow to arrive and actually I also long for reflecting snow (it increases the light and breaks off the massive dark sky) and to see the town turn into a winter town welcoming tourists from Sweden, Denmark and other places. We are slowly becoming a true winter town offering both cross-country skiing and downhill skiing, arranging many competitions, a high school skiing program and courses for anyone wanting to get ready for the Swedish Vasaloppet. Maybe it is about time I learn to ski cross country?

 

Strange Swedish customs, new foodexperiences and lots of fun!

This summer we have all been involved in a CISV Interchange between Sweden and Rome, Italy. Interchange encourages a deeper encounter between two cultures by placing young people within families. Group activities such as a mini-camp are vital in complementing the intense in-depth family experience. Interchange takes place in two phases with one delegation visiting another country and then reciprocating by hosting the delegation from the country they visited (www.cisv.org )

In our case this meant that our Ingrid spent 2 weeks in an Italian family, experienced life in the wonderful city of Rome and learned a lot about life in Italy. After two weeks Ingrid and the daughter Flaminia of the Italian family came to stay with us in Sweden. Blessed with mainly nice weather we spent two weeks enjoying the company of (in total) 20 youth from Sweden and Italy, arranging a number of minicamps, going canoeing, bicycling, trampoline jumping, playing hide and seek until late in the night (due to our long light nights) etc.

Going on an interchange at the age of 12 or 13 is fun but also demanding. The youth spend 4 weeks together with each other and two cultures meet. We had the pleasure of getting to know Flaminia, a polo playing energetic sweet girl, with a constant smile on her face. Ingrid and Flaminia got on really well and enjoyed the experiences of each other’s worlds. It is quite a difference growing up in central Rome or in little Ulricehamn! Ingrid loved the shopping, the food and the beautiful architecture of Rome and I think Flaminia had fun canoeing, doing water games with our boat or just playing outside with all the kids in our neighborhood.

When two cultures meet new perspectives become visible. One day when we were all in Ulricehamn (all 20 youths and leaders) one of the other Italian girls said to me;

- You Swedish people are strange!

- In what way, I responded.

- You are all so serious and you never smile to unknown people. Look around you here on the street. People do not look at each other or smile. Why is that?

As we were standing on the main shopping street in Ulricehamn I took a look around me and looked at people passing by and noticed that she was right. People passing us by where not smiling and almost seemed to avoid contact. Only when two people met, who obviously already knew each other, I saw people smile and it made me think about what the girl had said. Swedish people are not known for our outgoing character or for being an easy going culture. We are often referred to as hard working, trustworthy but are we too serious? A smile is for free and it is much more heartwarming to be met by a smile than an empty expression so from now on I will think of smiling more.

During our weeks with the Italians we had many fun days and funny moments, experienced food from both worlds, talked about different customs (such as why seatbelts should be used in the backseat in Sweden, that we take off our shoes at the door or that some rain is nothing to fear) and enjoyed the creative and innovative environment that occurs when different cultures meet. It made me think about my own interchange in Tennessee in 1987 and my high school exchange year in Canada in 1989/90 and how much fun I had then.

The CISV interchange is not only a profound intercultural experience for the youth participant, but it also engages the whole family, and potentially the community in which they live. If this is something for you take a look at www.cisv.org

Hope you also had an intercultural summer!!!

Ulricehamn - getting the best of both worlds!

I met someone while in Borås (a city located 30 min west of Ulricehamn) who startled me by saying;

- You live in Ulricehamn? (and not as in “wow, that sounds exciting” but more of a “oh, that´s such a boring place”).

I always try to stay open to new perspectives and not be judgmental. If someone finds it strange that I have chosen to live in Ulricehamn they say so due to some assumptions that I am not aware of. They most likely have a completely different image of Ulricehamn than I have. I was not prepared for the question and it was not really posed as a question and in hindsight I wish I would have answered it better. I just said that I live here because I like it! However, the comment stayed with me and when I brought it up for the 5th time Jochem told me to just accept that different people like different things. This is obviously true but what bothers me is that I had a chance to change someone’s opinion about Ulricehamn and I failed to do so. So, now I do it here and if I ever meet the guy from Borås who could not understand why anyone would like to settle in Ulricehamn I will be better prepared.

I did not grow up in Ulricehamn and I have spent approx. 14 years of my life in other parts of the world – living, studying and working abroad. When I moved back to Sweden in 2008 I wanted to bring my international family to a place that felt close to nature and still conveniently close to bigger cities. I wanted my children to be able to bicycle to school on their own, to live in a house with a garden so that we could enjoy the different seasons. I wanted to exchange big city life to life in a smaller town and I wanted this town to have some facilities such as schools, libraries, a swimming pool, shops and a genuine feel to it. All of this and more we found when we arrived in Ulricehamn 4 years ago.

The town of Ulricehamn is situated around a lake that defines our town both during the summer months (with lots of water activities such as sailing, canoeing, kayaking etc.) and during the winter months. We experience different seasons here with real winters and great skiing possibilities, hiking all year around and bicycling on 90 km of bicycling tracks. As changes here have not been as drastic as in other faster growing cities we still have a beautiful city centre with many buildings dating back several hundreds of years and many opportunities for enjoying great lunches/dinners or high class coffee in a picturesque surrounding. Small shops offering a variety of goods are sold on our shopping street dating back to before the city was established 700 years ago.

Obviously there are many places around Sweden who fits this description but very few are as strategically situated as we are. We live in a peaceful area but very close to the second largest labor market in Sweden. Logistically we are on the track between the harbor city of Gothenburg and Jönköping which is considered the top logistical path in Sweden. 45 minutes away you reach the airport Landvetter and 1 ½ hour away Gothenburg city airport. For us, this meant that moving to Ulricehamn gave us the best of both worlds.

Ulricehamn is one of the most beautiful small towns in Sweden located close to anything you might need from a bigger city. The smaller villages around Ulricehamn all carry their own history and maybe we, who live in Ulricehamn, need to get better at telling others?

So, next time when someone asks me why I live in Ulricehamn I will say that I live here because I get the best of both worlds! For anyone who is looking for attractive living possibilities, in a historical setting, who wants to be close to both nature and sport facilities and still enjoy the opportunities big cities offer Ulricehamn is the place to be! (and this is still just the beginning of the story as there are so much more to tell…)

Summer has arrived in Ulricehamn!

And suddenly summer arrived! In a world of flowers, bright green leaves, bird song and a lot of sun the winter months are quickly forgotten. Sweden and the Swedes come to life in the summertime. Suddenly the agenda is fully booked with garden parties, dinner with friends along the lake and outdoor activities. I love it!

Our days are long and we spend hours sitting outside on the porch sipping on a Belgian beer or a South African wine. In the last two months we have gone bicycling, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and each week seen 30 – 50 kilometer of Ulricehamn.

I think this winter felt darker than the previous once and obviously it was. We had a lot of snow the previous years but not as much this year and snow reflects light and make the days look a little bit brighter. Somewhere in the beginning of March it melted away and left us with a rainy, cold, grey season being neither winter nor spring. The way we depend on the light here up north cannot be explained in writing. One has to live here to understand how we live with the seasons. Dark long winter months are transformed in the summer season into long days where the sun does not set until late in the evening (or not at all if you live above the polar circle). In the winter months I go earlier to bed, feel more tired and we stay a lot more inside. Maybe the urge to be outside as much as possible in the summer months is a physical compensation needed by both body and soul to get through life?

I think I live in one of the most beautiful places we have in Sweden but I am also in love with big cities and traveling so this spring we took the kids to London in February and to Amsterdam in April. It felt great letting the kids experience the big city life for a little bit and it also felt fine coming home. For some people it is clear where they want to live and how they want to live their lives. I am always curious about other places and meeting new people and feel energized when I come home with a new experience. A few weeks ago I visited Iceland which was very interesting and the hospitality was fantastic but it made me wonder how it is to live on a remote island. We live in mobile times in a global world but actual distances still have an impact on people’s possibilities.

This weekend the girls are off on a CISV weekend camp and Nils, Jochem and I spend the morning at Komosse hiking for 4,5 km. Nils will walk 20 km this summer in order to get a new Wii-game and is keeping track of all our hikes. With 90 km of bicycling paths and hundreds of kilometers of hiking paths we have lots to explore this summer.

Hope the sun is shining on you too!

A really precious gift

I got a really special Christmas gift last year. It was so special that I decided to save it and sit down with it when I had enough time to really go through it. January and February passed quickly and now, with Jochem spending March in the Netherlands I decided to sit down with my precious gift. For the last five years my dad has written a book – his memoires.

In this book, given to my sister and me, we get the family history told by our father and it puts a life full of memories, both good and bad once, in a historic perspective. It is a wonderful book that has made me both laugh and cry while reading it and led to many discussions with friends and colleagues. We live in times where we often talk about technological frog jumps and that we are part of some major knowledge shift (where changes happen over night). Reading about how society has changed in the last 100 years I wonder if the changes we are now facing will change society as much as the changes that occurred in the last century (at least in Sweden). The core values - the values that defines a culture and how we think we should act within it - has changed dramatically in the last 100 years including increased emancipation, diversity, an acceptance of critical thinking, acceptance towards challenging set ideas etc. Life was not better in the old days and not everything is better now. I think my dad has had a wonderful life in many ways and has enjoyed it a lot. I think we are all products of the world we live in and I come from a family with a humanistic view on life. My parents have lived through changing paradigms and been able to adjust to these changes and embraced them. This they have passed on to Hanna and I and what better gift could we get!

Reading a story filled with well know characters whom I feel connected to is something special. It is emotional in many ways as I see my spot in a history that started long before I arrived in this world and this story will not end when I pass on. Ingrid, Elsa and Nils chapter is only beginning. I also see much resemblance between my father and me. I have been given a wonderful gift!

Decor - a student company moving ahead!

Today the high school students on the entrepreneur program in Ulricehamn are showing off their businesses for the first time this school year. In September they started their businesses in small groups and today the first competition round takes place. They will be judged by a panel of business people on their annual reports, marketing, sales strategy, company presentation, product and/or service. In March they will compete on the semi- regional level and the winners in each category will continue to the regional level followed by the national and European level. During one year they start up and run a business and this American based idea is this year including more than 3,1 million students only across Europe. Schools all over Europe help students to start up student companies and Ulricehamn has a strong winning tradition in this field. In the last 10 years we have been among the best 5 in Sweden every year and two years ago Bolsa from Ulricehamn even one a category on the European level.

Two years ago I helped out as a jury member locally and was seriously impressed by the achievements of the student. This year I had a role as adviser for a student company called Decor.Decor is a company focusing on interior design using sheet metal to create a multifunctional plate, tray or table. It has been fun to be apart of a group of students fighting real hard to go from 6 different ideas to production, making a business plan, creating a selling stand, learning to sell their product etc. How many companies go from idea, production and sales in 4 months?

Now I cross my fingers that they will get credited by the jury this afternoon. To me they are already winners but naturally I think they deserve to win at least best stand at the exhibition!

PS: They did win best stand and were nominated for best business. Well done!!!

Dutch on the move...

It is almost time for the 2012 Emigration fair in Houten, the Netherlands – a fair Ulricehamn has taken part in the last 3 years. This is Europe’s largest Emigration Expo and attracts around 12000 visitors during two days – all interested in emigrating from the Netherlands. It might sound sad that so many people are thinking about leaving their country, especially such a well organized, wealthy, democratic country but I see it as a sign of times. We live in a global world, the migration flows are constantly increasing and more and more people want to explore the world they live in. 100 years ago emigrating from Europe to Canada was a one in a life time decision. Once you moved you knew that you would probably never return. Today, global infrastructure and digital solutions make it possible to stay in contact with family and friends and moving to another country might not be forever.

My family is part of this migration flow and my husband and children are part to the statistics of emigrated Dutch people. In the last two years I have been part of a group from Sjuhärad (small region in west Sweden) who visits the Emigration Expo in order to attract more inhabitants to our area in Sweden. This year we will be there again and so far 42 people have moved to our region since 2008.
The urbanization in the world has had a major impact on Sweden. I think more than 80% of all municipalities suffer from a decreased number of inhabitants. As each municipality have taxation right the town has less to spend when the number of inhabitants decrease. Each municipality is responsible for education, childcare, elderly care, sport facilities, local infrastructure etc. so when many people move to bigger cities, smaller communities find it harder to offer a high service level.
The Dutch have always been traders, explorers and travelers. To seek new knowledge and to try new things is part of the Dutch culture. According to Henrik P van Dalen and Kéne Henkens from Tilburg University, the Netherlands are experience an emigration wave again. They have studied emigration and the reasons for emigrating.

In a study from 2008, 25% of the people who had plans of emigrating in 2005 had left the country two years later. This is interesting to look at if one wants to look at the time span from idea of emigrating to actually doing it. Several studies talk about an average of 6 – 7 year from idea to action but if 25 % move within two years, we, who want to attract new inhabitants, can focus on the 25% ?

Looking at numbers from Statistics Netherlands (www.cbs.nl) 132 000 people emigrated from the NL in 2006, many of them to nearby countries such as Germany, Belgium and France. Between 2006 – 2009 the numbers decreased but in 2010 they started to rise again. In the first 6 months of 2011 58 000 people emigrated which was 5000 more than the year before. According to P van Dalen and Henkens men are twice as likely to emigrate as women, and it is mostly the young (under 30) who emigrate. It is also more common that the emigrants come from the higher income spectrum and 69 % of them choose to settle somewhere in Europe. The increase in the last two years also show that it the increase of emigration mainly is to be found in the group of people born in the Netherlands.

When we as a town or as a region discuss immigration I think we need to look at the facts, be realistic about what we can achieve and be honest to anyone interested in moving here. I also think it is important to stay connected to anyone who moves here and to listen to their experiences. It is not easy to be the new one in town and if you come from another country it is even harder. To support newcomers is something we need to do together, all of us living here.

Happy New Year 2011/2012!

2011 is coming to an end and as Jochem, Nils and Elsa are off to the movies and Ingrid is out shopping with a friend I take some time to sum up the year. I don´t know where the time went this year but sure is that it went fast. It was a year of both joy and sorrow for us. In the beginning of the year Jochems father Jacques passed away. Losing someone dear is always hard but it also brought us closer together, our family. Jacques suffered from severe Alzheimer and I think that the person who suffered the most in the end was oma Nell (Jochems mother). Since the loss of her partner, with whom she spend at least 50 years, Nell has visited us in Sweden a bit more often which has been very nice for all of us. Jochems brother Harry and his wife Miriam also came to visit us this year and helped out with both our houses (painting the house in Ulricehamn, putting out gravel around the house in Vegby etc.). It is wonderful to feel what great family we have both in Sweden and in the Netherlands.

2011 was the year with an exceptional long winter and we had snow until April so the kids got to use their skis and snow boards a lot. Jochem spent spring in Brazil and the Netherlands working for Philips. He really enjoyed Brazil which is good as Elsa (11) will spend a month there in 2012 on a CISV summer village. I got a new job within the municipality as Project manager for the learning organization and also traveled a bit for my work to the Netherlands, Spain and Greece which was fun and challenging. One always learn new things taking in the perspective from someone else!

In May we had a “Fire station reunion”. 15 years ago, when I met Jochem, he was an exchange student at Lund University and many of the foreign student lived in an old fire station. We have kept in contact over the years and this year we arranged a reunion in Ulricehamn, Sweden for the former students and their families. Friends from Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands arrived for a long weekend in May and it was wonderful to see everyone again. The weather was great, the spirit high and it was clear that 15 years is not much time after all.

As both Ingrid (12) and Elsa (11) went on different summer camps with CISV to Austria and Denmark in July we had an early family holiday in June and went for two weeks to Rhodes, Greece. It was wonderful and the kids had a hard time choosing between the pool and the salty seawater. Nils (8) is set on going back but maybe we can find another warm spot to visit next year? As we keep on being involved in CISV (a peacekeeping organization arranging international camps all over the world, usually in the month of July) we have to plan ahead. In 2012 Elsa will go to San Paolo, Brazil and Ingrid on an interchange to Rome, Italy with CISV (www.cisv.org)

In the autumn Ingrid (12) started a new school – the International English School – in Borås. She has settled in well, having no problem with the classes held in English and is doing very well but it is a long commute for her. She spends two hours on the bus each day and has to get up really early in the morning. Luckily she likes it so much that it is worth the traveling. Elsa (11) and Nils (8) are still at the Montessori school in Ulricehamn and are both enjoying it. Nils is a keen soccer player and Elsa stays faithful to her main hobby – baking and cooking.

In August we also welcomed a new family member Geo, a German Sheppard. Geo is a military dog who will join the military at the age of 1 ½ and until then he stays with “a normal family”. Geo is a fun, active dog but also a dog especially bred for being used in the military. We love him but have had problems with his biting and do not feel that we can totally trust him when he is alone with the children. Therefor we have suggested to the military that he is moved to a family without young children. So far he is still living with us but will probably leave us in January. Our dog adventure ended quicker than we thought but safety for the children goes first.

In October we went on a one week holiday to the Netherlands visiting both family and friends but also enjoyed being tourists in “our own country”. We went to Amsterdam for a day, visited the Efteling attraction parc and celebrated Jochems 40th birthday. It was an exceptionally warm week and we traveled around the country in Jochems Audi cab.

This year we celebrated Christmas in Ulricehamn for the first time. We also celebrated oma Nell, who had her 80th birthday on December 24th. My father did all the Christmas cooking, my mother and Elsa took care of all the sweet stuff and the rest of us ate (for several days!) My sister Hanna, her husband Kristian and little Ellen and Lisa made our holiday complete and we had a really nice time together. Christmas is a time to enjoy family and friends, to relax and have fun together and to reflect on what has been and what is coming. Jochem is sure 2012 is “our year”. I am not sure what that means but it sounds good! If I look back on this year I also see the many moments with good friends and family, the spontaneous dinners, fun parties, weddings and the joy of everyday happenings. We had a good year due to all of you!

I hope you all, close by and far away, had a positive year and feel similar about 2012. And to end, I will quote my brother-in-law Kristian who said to me “ I live right now, right here and I don´t save a special moment for another day. If I feel that this is a special moment, I embrace it”.

Let's all embrace happiness, laughter and special moments in 2012! Hoping to see many of you!

Happy New Year!

Small moments that lasts a lifetime!

I got a Christmas letter the other day from Bev Swanson. Bev, an American living in Idaho (US) is someone special whom I have actually only met twice. The first time was in the early 90s if I recall it correctly. Bev is interested in genealogy and had been looking at her family’s emigration from Sweden to America in the 19th century. She had put an ad in a local Swedish paper and my grandmother, who was also a keen genealogist , had responded to it and wanted to help in finding Bev´s ancient ancestors in the Kristianstad area (a city in the south east of Sweden and the area my father´s family comes from).

As my grandmother did only speak limited English (but was talented in German which was unusual for someone born in 1906) she asked my parents for help and so I got a chance to meet up with Bev and her husband Don when they arrived in Sweden. A few years later, I went on a trip to the Unites States and Canada and decided to visit Don and Bev in Idaho. I was greeted as a long lost relative and had some wonderful days with them and their family. At this time they had both retired but by no means had they cut down on their active lifestyle. Don showed me the airplane he was building and even took me for a ride in a small Cessna. I met the flying postman and tried on waterskiing for the first (and so far only) time in my life. Don, who was a retired liberal arts teacher, was a creative and talented man. As a younger man he built his own home and made an effort of not having any corners in the house.

In Sweden we have the children stories of Barbapapa (originally from France) and the blob-like characters in the story live in a house full of round rooms. When Don told me about the house he had built I thought to my self – he actually built a Barbapapa house! Don and Bev both made sure I had a wonderful time in the US and I still remember many of our late night talks about religion and spiritual subject. At one moment Bev apologised for Don as she felt that I might get offended by some of Dons ideas about how different religions interact or could interact but there was no need for this. Years later, when Dan Browns books started to fill the bookstores (writer of the Da Vinci Code ) I thought about Don and his challenging and inspiring ideas.

Don is no longer with us but Bev keeps in contact with me and my parents. It was great to hear from her now, see the pictures of her family and for a moment go down memory lane. Last time we met was in 1994 but even if it was a long time ago I have memories and ideas that will stay with me for a long time ahead.

Small moments that lasts a lifetime!

Changing times

Times are changing and I am slowly getting used to it. When I arrived in Ulricehamn 3 ½ years ago I was the last person to enter the new Development unit I Ulricehamn. On my team I got three talented colleagues who made me feel right at home. After 11 years abroad, living in big cities, changing to a small town and moving to a country unknown to Jochem and the kids was a big step. I am not sure what we expected of Ulricehamn from a social point of view. But, whatever we expected my three colleagues Håkan, Mikael and Daniel made sure I was one in the team both on and off work. Our first Easter in Ulricehamn we spent with Mikael and his family followed by many parties and fun events. We worked 40 hours (+) each week together and spent many hours off work in each other’s company. I have never had a group of colleagues who made me feel so included as they did and some days I went home with sore stomach muscles from laughing so much. We worked on different tasks most of the time but exchanged ideas and it was a very creative environment.

In the late summer Daniel got a new exciting job up north and moved away (at least 800 km away – Sweden is a big country!). Håkan, my boss who was the man behind the innovative and including approach to our work, got a new job in a nearby municipality about the same time and Mikael is now following him. In our reorganization at my work I got a new exciting job and some very nice and talented new colleagues but still lost some really good friends and it has been some hard weeks getting used to the new world. When everybody is on the move it is easy to start wondering if one should also get on the train or stay put. And actually, I have always been the first one to move on and to seek new opportunities so this is a new experience. I guess it is a good learning experience but on rainy October days I miss a good laugh with crazy colleagues!

The fashionable doglife

Suddenly autumn is here with plum-filled trees, homemade apple pie and a lot of rain. Our hallway is filled with rubber boots and even our puppy Geo is reluctant to get out in the wet weather. Life with a dog has had its impact on us. The hallway is now styled according to “less is more” with the emphasis on less meaning taking away anything bitable (somehow the rubber boots are not in Geos taste). So far a pillow, Elsa’s agenda and some newspapers have experienced firsthand what life with a young dog is all about.

I have a new wardrobe (or actually an old wardrobe with a new purpose) with my clothing system now being divided into work clothes, weekend clothes and dog clothes (the latter being worn by me and not the dog). Downside to this is that it is really difficult to find fashionable rubber boots. And why is the color scheme for outdoor clothing army green, brown or some other forest tint? I live in “hunter’s county” – give me an orange jacket so they don’t shoot me by mistake!

We have a new favorite. His name is Caesar and he has a TV show for dog owners. He is the dog whisperer but actually the program focuses on the main problem with dogs – their owners. Little did we know!!

I was thinking about TV formats the other day while zapping from cooking program, to fitness program, to raising kids, getting your dog in order, fixing up your house/ garden and getting a facelift. Do we all have serious problems or why do we need all this help? I am not against it and I consume this just as much as anybody else but I do wonder why I, after a long day of work, sit down to watch people creating the perfect garden (the one I will never get as I have neither green fingers, the patience needed or the time). Is it escapism, the need of imagining another life (a more safe and relaxed life?)? Actually many of these shows also show the difficult road people have to travel to reach their dream home/ dream life so maybe it is also a way of sitting comfortably on my butt thinking “glad I’m not in their shoes”. Whatever the reason the programs shown on TV reflects the time we live in and that is an interesting thought.

What will we remember from autumn 2011? What a dog life!

Presenting a new family member - Geo!

If you have seen a barefoot man dressed in a bathrobe late at night in Ulricehamn it is not a flasher. Or, at least not if you saw him at Wallenqvistgatan. It is my hubby out on a night walk with our new family member Geo. Usually J is fully dressed but last night Geos needs were imminent and J had to run out with Geo in the middle the night wearing only a bathrobe. He hoped no one would be out and about but naturally he ran in to our neighbors who smiled friendly!

Geo is an 8 weeks old German Shepard that we will look after until he is 18 months old. He is part of a program to become a military working dog but until he is old enough to be tested he will stay with us. So far he has been with us for only 3 days but already we are all sold on him. When we first started talking about taking on a dog only for a year and a half the question was of course how we would deal with the parting. A dog is a family member but we are only hosting the dog and are not the owners so we cannot keep the dog even if we desperately would like to. If Geo is found suitable as a military working dog he can work as a mine detector dog or do other form or search tasks. The Swedish military service breed about 200 German Shepards a year and only 25% of them will pass the test to become military working dogs but even if he is not found suitable for the military he might be of interest for the police or other organizations using dogs. I like to think that we get to see him grow up and give us the pleasure only a dog can give and then he will move on to do important tasks for others. With the high amount of mines all over the world, causing horrible injuries to civilians every day, I think we need all mine dogs we can possible find.

Geo is still a really small puppy, sometimes scared and often curious of the world around him. Despite only knowing us for 3 days he is very obedient, constantly looking for positive feedback and wanting to do well. And we are all involved in making him fit well in with our family!

PS: Scroll down to "family films" in the right menu and you will find a film showing Geo!

Her tears will turn into warm memories - a summer with CISV

So finally I got my family back together under one roof again. Ingrid (12) spent two weeks on a CISV youth meeting in Austria and Elsa a month on a CISV village in Denmark. Last year, as Ingrid returned from her CISV village in the US she spent the first day begging nonstop that we would all emigrate to Australia and the second day crying. Elsa has been crying a little bit every day for a week now while telling us that despite that she loves us, she misses her new friends so much. She wants to go to her best friends in Colombia, Brazil and the Philippines. I love the concept of the peace organization CISV (www.cisv.com) and I have many wonderful memories from my own trips as a teenager but it breaks my heart seeing my girl so unhappy. For four weeks she has spent night and day with 47 other 11-year-olds from 12 different nations, speaking only English and learning about peace, tolerance and shared wonderful moments together. And suddenly it is over, all children return to their home countries and despite Facebook, twitter, e-mail and Skype I think they know that the chance of them all meeting up again is small. She can’t get in contact with her Chinese friends via Facebook as it is not allowed in China. She is in pain!

Are we doing the right thing sending our children out in the world, having the time of their lives and then taking it all away four weeks later? I do think so. When Elsa cries she also admits that the pain she is in is worth it. She wouldn’t be without this camp for anything in the world. It has changed her forever even though she does not see how yet. Ingrid enjoyed her camp as well but this year’s detox is less painful than last year as her new best friend lives in Amsterdam which makes visiting a lot easier. Both girls are hoping for more CISV activities next summer and I hope that talking about all fun activities, looking at the pictures, sharing the experiences makes these wonderful weeks stay as warm memories to last a lifetime.

People we have to leave behind or will never see again are neither forgotten nor lost. They live on as we cherish them and the joy we have shared is passed on to someone else. So we create a world of friendship and one little camp can make waves for decennia’s to come.

Books and dreams about a Swedish life

It is summertime and we fill our house in Ulricehamn with Dutch friends and our summerhouse in Vegby (small town outside Ulricehamn) with even more friends. I love summer in Sweden and always enjoy showing family and friends the beautiful place we live in. This is, when the sun is shining or at least when it is somewhat dry. There is nothing better than a canoe trip on the lake or a bicycling trip on a sunny day as the surroundings are amazing here. However, when it keeps on raining Ulricehamn does not have a lot to offer. The swimming pool is closed, there is no museum open and the library is closed Friday to Monday morning. We have been to the science museum Navet in Borås and to Gothenburg which is great but I wish there was more to do in Ulricehamn. The bowling alley stays open but some kids are just too young to enjoy it. I guess I shouldn’t complain. Rain is better than drought and so far summer has been quite all right. We have filled the summerhouse with games, DVDs and some extra raincoats. However, there must be some business opportunities for anyone with a bright indoor idea!

I had two weeks of holiday in June and spent it on Rhodos with the family reading books in the sun. During two weeks I read six novels and four children’s books (I love reading for the kids) and one of the books I read was “A short story of Tractors in Ukrainian” by Marina Lewycka – a funny, crazy and tragic story. The book starts out like this;
"Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blond Ukrainian divorcee. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade, churning up the murky water, bringing to the surface sludge of sloughed-off memories, giving the family ghosts a kick up the backside."

This family drama is also a story of emigration, fulfilling dreams or chasing them. Somehow I always fall for books where people take a leap into the unknown or take charge of their own destiny (whether or not they do the right thing which you can ask yourself in this book).

Some people who are about to take a leap into the unknown shortly is the Dutch family moving to Ulricehamn now in August. A family of five plus an English bulldog is moving here and starting up a new life. For years they have dreamt about a life in Sweden, taking Swedish lessons and spent their holidays in Sweden. With a job in Gothenburg they now have the possibility to fulfil their dream and I wish them all the best. This summer we also had some other Dutch families from the emigration fair visiting the region and having a look at job possibilities (part of the emigration project I´ve been working on). So far our Emigration project is still under scrutiny but I believe we have to keep a very personal approach in this if we want it to work. Emigrating to another country, starting a new life, building up a new social context and achieving a sense of belonging takes time and demands more than a newsletter, a list of real estate agents or a description of the Swedish school system. I know – I have done it!

A story about a cherry

I would like to tell you a story about the importance of a cherry. In the early 20th century an Italian family emigrated to the US. They had a daughter who grew up hearing about this wonderful country far away and when she grew old enough she decided to visit Italy and see this country she had heard so much about. Her name was Cecilia and she did not speak a word of Italian as her parents had fully embraced their new country and wanted their children to exceed in English.

I don´t know what year Cecilia arrived in Italy but Benito Mussolini was not yet a dictator and fascism had not yet taken control over the country so it must have been before 1922. Italy was all she had expected, with all the flavours of long time cherished dreams and it didn’t take long for her to find her soul mate. She married and decided to stay in Italy. In those days deciding to stay in a country as Italy with all of your family living in the US was a most definite decision. Transatlantic flight carrying passengers didn’t start until the middle of the 20th century and she most likely arrived on the transatlantic Italia Line, a ship travelling between the United States and Italy in the beginning of the century.

After Mussolini came to power life in Italy changed. Anyone opposing Mussolini was brutally silenced and Mussolini saw many as his enemies. Being an American in a fascist country was often not seen with positive eyes but Cecilia had made her choice. She had become a mother and Italy had become her home. In the end of the 30s the Second World War broke out with Mussolini supporting Hitler and Germany. Really hard times arrived for Cecilia, her family and many others. But, the war ended and contact was once again established with the family on the other side of the ocean. 80 million people died in the Second World War in Europe and so much was destroyed.

Still, life was turning for the better and Cecilia had become a grandmother. Her granddaughter had been named after her and together they used to open the big cross-Atlantic parcels that arrived from the United States now and then. They contained sliced pineapple and red cocktail cherries in cans – things that was not yet to be found in Italy in the 50s. Cecilia used to bake a special cake with a cream topping. In the middle she would put a red cocktail cherry and her granddaughter, little Cecilia, would be the one who got the cherry - a cherry that would leave a red mark on the white cream topping. Maybe the cherry was a reminder of loved once far away, maybe it carried the hope that life would get better? For little Cecilia I think it showed her that there were more worlds to explore and that love can be transferred in the shape of a cherry.

I was told this story a few days ago by little Cecilia, today a woman with two grown up children. We sat down to have a drink after taking part in a course in Successful Management of EU projects on Cyprus (a course with participants from all over Europe). Some of us got a cherry in our drinks but Cecilia didn´t get one which she did not like. So, she told us her story and obviously got our cherries.

I spent one week on Cyprus this summer with participants from Greece, Slovakia, Rumania, Iceland (living in Denmark), Austria, Germany, Sweden and Italy learning about project management. I am sure we all learned more about project management, but as so often in these international groups, I think the main lesson learned was something else.

Different habbits but a safe place to be

Tonight we had a school picnic at the beach in Ulricehamn with Swedish “brännboll”, soccer and some nice food. The children’s school is small and personal and it is always nice to sit down and talk to the different parents who happen to come from all over the world including Ulricehamn. I chatted to several newcomers from countries both close by and far away. I also said hello to Jochems new barber who is a civil engineer from Iraq but who decided to get a job as soon as possible instead of spending two more years to fulfill Swedish requirements for civil engineers. Sometimes I wonder how many people we have in our country working with completely different things than they originally planned to do. Feels like a possible waste?

The barbers son Achmed is in Nils class and he always greet us most politely every morning when we arrive at school. Jochem finds the strange habits of not saying a clear “good morning” or shaking hands when you meet someone in Sweden somewhat difficult to get used to and he really enjoys Achmeds polite manner. The fact that we in Sweden do not always say good morning, only sometimes shake hands or greet each other with kisses is odd to many foreigners. Jochem once asked me to explain when he should shake hands, when he should give a hug and why there are situations where you greet each other with a single hello but nothing more. I could not give him a clear answer. It is not impolite in Sweden to see someone walking down Main Street and just nod a quick hello. Or at least people will not get offended that you did not shake hands with them. Why this is I don’t know.

Jochem is off to Brazil and I hope he is having a nice time and a safe time. He is off to work for Philips Medical Systems at a place in San Paolo where three of his five colleagues have been robbed while visiting the company. This does not feel very safe so for the first time ever (after spending years all over the world) we have made a deal that he will write me an e-mail a day. I have never asked for this ever before so when I did Jochem said; ”- you are the last person to ever worry about these things so now I feel really worried! Do you know something about San Paolo that I don’t?”

I have never been to Brazil so actually I have no clue about how dangerous it is but Jochem going there made me think about how important safety is for your personal wellbeing. Just imagine all the energy you use on thinking about possible scenarios if you live in a dangerous place or the energy wasted on feeling afraid. When we lived in Johannesburg I always had to keep my mind set on the safety of the family (never stop for a red light, never drive after dark, not to walk anywhere, not to get off at the wrong exit and end up downtown etc.). Now I never think about these things anymore. It is nice to live in a safe place and good to realize it as well at times.

Learning from others and getting in new ideas!

I just got home from a two day visit in the Netherlands. Together with some colleagues we have been looking at some different municipalities who are all working to supply a better outcome/ service for their inhabitants. It was not only interesting and valuable but we were really impressed by the hospitality and the way they showed us how they work. We saw impressive results but also heard about mistakes and lessons learnt. Even if municipalities in other countries work a bit different than Swedish municipalities we have many similar tasks and it is great to look at what goes on in the public spare around Europe.

We visited the award winning municipality Heusden who has invested a lot in going totally digital making sure all staff can get all information they need at whatever time. They have a front office which is striving to answer 80% of all incoming questions. Inhabitants who call for a building permit should be able to track the permit process, how long things will take and when the permit will be decided on etc. It is transparent, measurable and everyone uses the same system for all tasks. It sounds simple and obvious but looking at our municipality and the number of different systems we use in different departments it is a challenge for us but the only way forward I think. Information should not be connected to a person but cases that we handle should be easy to pick up for anyone. This enables tracking, making sure we do what we are supposed to do, gives us continuity but most importantly ensures that information is shared. If I get sick anyone should be able to go in and continue my work.

In Heusden they also use flexible workspaces where the staff does not have their own office but sign out a laptop in the morning and find a place to sit which is available. This has cut costs but the main gain has been the synergy effect you get when people from different department sit together. To create the feeling that everyone who works at the municipality of Ulricehamn belong to one and the same organization it is important that we get to know each other better, that we increase the knowledge about what different departments are doing and try and find the processes where working together has a positive benefit for the inhabitants. Today we are not there but we are working on it. Creating an open, flexible culture can be difficult but not impossible.

We also visited Amersfoort who has been working with Lean for a few years. They showed us impressive results where they have been able to save a lot of time and decreased stress levels at the same time. They really lived their slogan; working smarter, not faster. We even got to do exercises pointing out how to increase production and reducing stress. It was fun and I think we now have many new ideas on how to create a learning organization giving out inhabitants the best possible service. Sharing knowledge between different countries and cultures gives an extra dimension to learning and this was a great way of experiencing this.

Jochem is off to Brazil for two weeks now and we are planning the last steps of our CISV summer. Sunday Elsa (11) goes to Mölndal to meet up with other CISV friends getting ready for their village camp in Denmark. Next week Ingrid is meeting up with her CISV friends arranging the last step for her Austria trip. I was worried that I would be home alone this summer but now it looks as if I will get some company. Jochem is taking 3 months off, the summerhouse in Nybrostrand is in the middle of a renovation so my parents will come up and stay with us as will oma Nell and in the end of July we get family from the NL.

I dream of a warm summer along the lake Sämsjön with family and friends! Looking forward to see you all!!

A new family settling down in Ulricehamn

This week I spoke to a Dutch family moving to Ulricehamn this summer. Right now it looks as if our immigration project will not continue next year as some municipalities do not see the benefit of it. However, for Ulricehamn it has been positive despite that it actually is too early to look at the direct results. From the point of the idea of emigrating to another country arrives to the actual move researchers say it takes approx. 7 years. So for us, who started this project 3 years ago, it is too early to say how successful or non-successful it has been.

Ulricehamn has seen about 5 families moving here in the last 3-4 years and this summer a family of 5 is settling here. The father got a job in Gothenburg and the family went to Sweden and had a look around Gothenburg and the areas around here and decided to settle in Ulricehamn. I think it says a lot about Ulricehamn when people, who can settle anywhere in the Västra Götaland region, decides to settle here. I am now trying to find them a rental house where they can fit 3 kids, a dog and a cat before the 1st of August. Anyone with a house to rent out in Ulricehamn should let me know! They would like to rent first, just to settle in and find a house to buy a little bit later. One thing that this project has taught me is that personal service is everything. The people I have had a chance to personally meet or whom I have had several telephone conversations with are now very positive about our region. Not everyone moves right away and some people have plans stretching 5 or 10 years but now they know about us and that is good. And, even if they don’t move here they come for holidays here and that is also important.

Last week Jochem’s brother Harry was here with his wife Miriam and oma Nell from the Netherlands. Harry, who is a keen fly fisher, visited Tranemo where they have some bigger trout fishing lakes, for a day of fishing but didn´t catch anything. Luckily he was more successful in Sämsjön in Vegby. We had a great weekend of fishing, bicycling, walking and actually a bit of cleaning too. Now the house is ready to use for the summer and this summer we are planning to use it a lot.

Jochem wondered the other day why we do not seem to get around doing more things around here. We have lived here for 3 years but still have so much left to discover and visit. We live at a place where we could easily go hiking every weekend or get out with the boat but often our weekends are filled with other activities. I guess he is not alone in feeling this way but sometimes I also think we want too much at the same time. In a family of 5 we have 5 ideas about what is fun to do and we are a family interested in very many things. It is football, peacekeeping activities with CISV, singing, watching films, reading books, bicycling, going out with the boat, spending time with family and friends, enjoying food and drinks etc. Actually, the more I think about it the better I like the idea that we still have a lot to explore. If I felt, after 3 years in Ulricehamn, that I had seen everything there is to see here or experienced everything there is to experience I would probably be planning to leave. Now we still have a lot left to explore and that is great to know!