Culture and nationalism! Long live internationalisation!

I have been watching two documentaries tonight. The first one was a short report about why Germans love Sweden and Swedish culture (or what they imagine Swedish culture to be) and the second one was about the racist party Sverige Demokraterna who are striving for a monocultural society built on Swedish values and Swedish traditions. Both these films made me think about what’s Swedish and what makes a culture unique or special. We in Europe often talk in negative terms about the American melting pot. But what is it that we have that they don’t have, and does culture and history have a timeline? When does a building get a historical value – after one year, after ten or after a hundred? Obviously you cannot answer the question in this way. When the Opera house in Sidney was build it was far more expensive then anyone could dream of and many people criticised the politicians for spending so much money on a building. I don’t know if the number of admirers for the art of opera has increased in Sidney but the building is a landmark for Australia. It is probably one of the most well known images of Australia. The building has become a part of Australian culture and history. The architect was Danish and the building has no connection to any previous Australian architecture. Still it an Australian piece of art, isn’t it?

We celebrate Lucia in Sweden the 13th of December and it is a very popular tradition. The party Sverige Demokraterna are worried that typical Swedish traditions such as Lucia will die out if immigration into Sweden continues. What they seem to have forgotten is that Lucia is a fairly new tradition introduced in Stockholm in 1923 by a group of shop owners who wanted a “miss” contest in order to increase sales. The Lucia tradition comes from Italy but we interpreted it into becoming something very Swedish. There is nothing wrong in being proud over our traditions or enjoying taking part in them but it becomes a bit strange when we start marking them as national traditions aimed for a specific group of people. We talk about culture as if it is static phenomena but it is obviously something that is constantly evolving. It never stops and it never ends.

Look at music for example. Sweden is the 3rd largest music exporter in the world with over 800 million dollars in revenue last year –superceded only by the US and the UK. Per capita we are the most profitable music country in the world. When you turn on the radio in Sweden or anywhere else in the world you are probably listening to some Swedish music without even knowing it as we especially good at writing and producing music for many big American artists such as Justin Timberlake or Britney Spears. Does the music sound typically Swedish? Is it even possible to put nationalistic labels on music? I think we can talk about trends or influences in music but it is very difficult to say that this is typically Swedish music while that is typically German music. With internationalisation going on as I sit here writing we will see even more blending and mixing of different music traditions and the same goes for fashion, interior design, film and all kinds of artistic and cultural expressions. Does this not sound exciting?

When people talk about culture and especially used in connection to nations we forget that the experience of culture is personal and unique. When I talk about Swedish values I might think about emancipation while this is not even on the agenda of Sverige Demokraterna.

With this I remark I go to bed. The kids are at my parents for a oneweek holiday and I will work tomorrow (on a Sunday again – bad habit!) and take Thursday and Friday off as Jochem is heading home. It has been a long month as a single mum!

Fighting racism and ignorance in a small town!

Ulricehamn is a great place but even here racist parties are gaining ground and last week they had a really stupid article in the local paper. I had to write a response (you know me - being quiet is not my style!) Today it was published and I have received several positive phone calls. Obviously I am awaiting a written response in the paper but for now I have posted the article here. It is in Swedish but when I get some more time I will make a short translation of it! For the Swedish readers:

Sverigedemokraterna vill fira Italiensk lucia och bojkotta Falaffeln!

Invandringen är för dyr, Ulricehamn bör säga upp avtalet med migrationsverket och den svenska (oj, det var visst den italienska) lucian måste vi värna om. Det är svårt att veta om man bör skratta eller gråta när Sverige Demokraterna tar till orda om det monokulturella samhället.

I insändaren i UT den 18 oktober talar SD om de enorma kostnaderna invandringen för med sig men glömmer nämna att i Spanien, Australien och Kanada utgör invandringen en betydande del för respektive lands ekonomiska utveckling. När vi talar om kostnader för invandringen bör dessa ställas till relation till ingen invandring alls vilket SD förespråkar. Vad för samhälle och utvecklingsmöjligheter får vi då?

Europas födelsetal blir allt lägre. Befolkningen i EU minskar. Vi har redan nu stora problem i vissa sektorer (tex. vården och äldreomsorgen) för att hitta kvalificerad personal och många företag är ute och rekryterar arbetskraft långt utanför Sveriges gränser. Vad vi behöver är högutbildad arbetskraft och en bättre integrationspolitik som ser till att vi tar tillvara på den kompetens invandrarna för med sig. Jag sticker inte under stol med att det finns betydande integrations problem som vi måste ta tag i men dessa problem har med vårt system att göra. Nima Sanandaji, Vd för tankesmedjan Captus, visade under Irakkonferensen i Stockholm tidigare i år att invandrarna från Mellanöstern till USA, klarar sig bra på den amerikanska arbetsmarknaden medan det råder en motsatt situation i Sverige. Kombinationen av en trög arbetsmarknad, höga skatter och generösa bidragssystem leder till att samma grupp av människor som blir framgångsrika på andra sidan Atlanten hamnar i social fattigdom och beroende i Sverige.

Jag har spenderat de senaste 11 åren utomlands och vet hur det känns att stå med en svensk universitets examen och få höra;
- Lunds universitet i Sverige? Det universitetet känner vi inte till. Nej, den examen kan vi inte räkna med här.
Jag vet hur det känns när man inte är helt säker på de sociala reglerna. Två kindpussar i Frankrike, tre i Nederländerna och fyra i Belgien – eller hur var det nu? Det är inte lätt att vara nykomling men om man får en chans att visa vad man gå för så tar man den! Sverige Demokraterna ger inga chanser och ser inte möjligheterna!

För mig är svensk kultur och svensk historia det samma som solidaritet, demokrati och lika värde för alla individer. Jag är stolt över att vara svensk och stolt över de svenska värden vi spritt världen över såsom jämställdhet och öppenhet för andra kulturer. Jag äter kanske hellre falafel än rotmos men glädjes åt mångfalden på bordet. Den från Italien hitplockade moderna lucia traditionen (uppstod på Skansen 1927) har mina barn ännu aldrig upplevt då vi är nyinflyttade i Sverige men vi ser fram emot firandet av denna mångkulturella tradition i december!

En röst åt Sverige Demokraterna i nästa val är en röst för ett segregerat, trångsynt och stillastående samhälle!
Ulrika Geeraedts - tämligen nyinvandrad Ulricehamnsbo

A fake role model?

My parents spent the weekend in Ulricehamn helping me out with a mountain of washes and took care of the kids so that I could join my colleagues for a night out and so that I could do some work today (on a Sunday - L). I am going to be part of a Dutch documentary about emancipation in Sweden but currently I wonder what kind of role model I am? I think women in Sweden have come a long way but still our society is not equal and it is not because men are not doing the right thing. We all want to do so much and achieve so much in life that it becomes difficult to priorities and I am still not sure what I should priorities.

It is too easy to say that we should choose to take care of our children when they are young and have a carrier when they get older. I am not working to make a carrier but because it is fun, challenging and because I think I have something to offer. I am good at it! I don’t think I would be a good fulltime mother. I like to work and I want to work. And at the same time I want to be the mother the kids can count on and the one they can come to when they need to. Jochem is away this month and I am trying to give 100% at work (40 hours a week) and 100% to the kids but the pile of washes keep on growing, the house is getting seriously untidy and the garden needs a facelift. Thank god for parents who are willing to spend 6 hour in a car and a weekend cleaning at their daughters’ house (and they also work during the week!) They even brought a stew with them and filled up my empty fridge!

The puzzle of life is not easy and everyone seems to be struggling to find the right path. I don’t think it’s a simple solution to this but a number of possibilities. The question is which solution fits us the best? We work, have kids, try to keep the passion up in a relationship suffering from too little quality time, see friends and keep a little bit of social life and time is going so fast. Well, I guess this is true universal challenge. Are we fooling ourselves in trying to be the best in whatever field it might be – the best employee, the best parent, the best lover, the best cook, the best friend etc. In an individual society we need to be stronger and better. When is it OK to say that this is what I do and what I stand for and for the rest it – I need some help?

Well, I have no answer and it will probably take me some time to figure it all out. The only thing I know is that the older I get the more I realize how little I actually know but hopefully it makes me more flexible, more open to new solutions and more humble to other peoples choices!!

Time to tuck the kids in!!

The (rabbit) brothel at Wallenqvistgatan!

Jochem has left for the US and will be back in the end of October. I am desperately seeking some help for the days when I need to work a bit late or want to do some social activities. I want to find someone via my network and not put an ad in the local supermarket but what do you do? This Saturday Jochem and I went out alone for the first time in 6 months. Some friends, who actually already had guests this weekend themselves, took care of our kids for the night. Really, really nice of you Marlene and Peter! I guess the problem of finding someone to look after your children now and then is the biggest disadvantage of moving to a place where you have no family or friends from the beginning.

Talking about moving brings me to tomorrows task. I am hosting a meeting regarding increasing the inhabitants in the Sjuhärad region. Sjuhärad is a cooperation of seven cities in the west of Sweden and we are all looking into attracting more people and businesses from abroad – mainly the Netherlands and Germany. As a frequent mover (nine countries by now) I think I have quite a good picture of what one needs to get settled somewhere and what needs to be arranged before the move. I want the region to create a strategy and a clear plan of how to work with immigration with a well-defined aim of what we want to achieve. I have seen many Swedish municipalities who just go abroad trying to sell their place to unprepared dreamers and I want to avoid this situation. Naturally, all you guys reading this blog are more than welcome :)!

Today I was invited to join the emancipation conference I initiated at the embassy last year. My colleagues at the embassy have worked really hard (especially you Anette!) to make an informative and challenging conference for politicians in the Dutch and Swedish parliament and I am sure it will be a great conference. There is also a documentary film being made and the Dutch filmmaker has a website that I want you Dutch readers to have a look at! Check out www.lofonline.nl

We have bought a huge rabbit cage (or a rabbit brothel as Kristian called it) and this Thursday Jochem painted with the help of five kids. Elsa (8) asked what a brothel is and with four quiet adults around my dad took the word. It is a house he explained! Well, I guess I will hear Elsa say at school that she lives in a brothel!! Now I will do some smaller repairs on the cage and then it is time for the rabbit. My colleague Mikael has already promised us his kid’s rabbit. Lets hear what his kids say about that?

It is time to tuck the kids in!

A fat but cozy mother

The moose hunting season in Sweden has started and I just got an e-mail informing me that a suggested meeting date was absolutely impossible as everyone will be off in two weeks time (I guess the season in Ulricehamn starts in two weeks).

With the continues rain outside I have no wish to be outside and my colleagues told me that I just have to get used to this weather from now on. Autumn is rain and winter should be snow but if we are unfortunate it will be rain this winter as well. Last winter was much too warm and with the current climate developments it does not look as if we are in for a cold winter. Nils asks me every day when the winter will start as he is dreaming about his birthday in December.

I had my family visiting this weekend which was really nice. It is clear that little Ellen (8 months) has our family genes. No one can survive in my family if they don’t talk a lot and Ellen, who does not talk much yet, already knows how to sing and make all kind of sounds. Especially in the early morning hours :)! She is absolutely adorable and the only problem we had was the timesharing of holding her.

Tomorrow I am off to Stockholm for a two day Interreg conference (an EU fond for cooperation between the Nordic countries) and the coming month I am working on a number of applications for different EU related projects. Jochem will be off to the US for two weeks followed by a week in Australia so I will not travel anywhere for some time. I am helping the girls and their friends making pillows and dresses with the new sewing machine and spending the evenings reading for Nils. Yesterday while reading, he said with a sweet voice:
- You are fat and cozy!
When he gets older I´ll tell him to avoid these kind of statements around women but for a mum I guess it is okey!

Chocking nudity

Yesterday I spoke t my friend Katrin. We both work a lot (well, Katrin quite a lot more then me at the moment) and are trying to juggle work, family life, kids and some social activities. I think that 80% of the time that we call each other we do not have the time to talk (and we like to talk) so we usually speak to each other at nighttime. Yesterday we spoke for an hour around nine and then agreed to continue an hour later (Katrin had to get some more work done). At eleven I decided to take a shower and go to bed but just as I turned on the water the phone rang.

Out I went, into our dark bedroom in search of the phone. After six months we still have no lamp in our bedroom! I found the phone and did what I guess most people do who are on the phone. You go to a place where there is light as it feels a bit odd to sit in a dark room. After 20 minutes (time always goes very fast with Katrin!) I realized that I was standing in our lit, window filled hallway at nighttime wearing absolutely nothing! Luckily Ulricehamn does not have an extreme nightlife and our street is more or less dead at night but anyway. God knows how many people who passed our house yesterday evening seeing a phone speaking naked woman on the second floor.

I am not an exhibitionist and you will not even see me topless on a beach in summertime. I envy people who are so comfortable with their bodies that they can be as they are but I am just not like that. The only time people see me naked is when I forget to put on the swimsuit at the swimming pool (happened years ago) or when I mistake a shopping window for a toilet (a very complex and embarrassing story). Actually me friends have selected me as the person with the most embarrassing moments but as I suffer from a very selective memory I live under the notion that I am a controlled and serious person.

Today I am off to give a presentation about international work in an educational environment for headmasters and leaders in Ulricehamn. I will focus on how we reach the once that are not interested in international encounters and how one can be international without leaving Ulricehamn. As a mother of 3 I know how difficult it is to travel and be away for several days but there are many ways of making the world come to you!
Time for work! Have a great day!

I am a soccer mum!

Every week I bring Ingrid to the soccer practice and to the games and stand along the field with all the dads (!?). The season is almost over but today (finally) they won their first game! Way to go girls!!! Next week is the last practice and then the mothers will play against the girls (if we can get a team together). I can’t find my soccer sneakers but even if I did they would probably be too hard and old to use by now. I do admire you girls (almost reaching 40) who are still playing soccer in Nijmegen (the Netherlands). Why is it that we suddenly get too old to do team sports?

For Ingrid the soccer has a really important social function as she gets to know people outside her school environment. They are only 9 kids in her class and with only four girls in the group she feels a need to extend her social network. She still misses her girlfriends in Nijmegen but the sports activities outside school help her to feel more at home here. I understand how she feels. It takes time to make new friends and you have to have some luck as well.

This weekend we enjoyed great autumn weather with a blue sky and walks in the forest. We baked a ladybird cake with Elsa for her birthday and had a pre party with a small group of friends. Time is passing by a bit too fast at the moment and I feel a need to stop it somehow. Maybe the planned weekend trips to the Netherlands and to Stockholm (celebrating 20 years of friendship with Jenny and Helena!!!) this fall will help getting the energy level up again!
Sleep tight!

Lobster fishing or moosehunting?

My colleagues were debating during lunch hour weather the lobster season (which starts the first Monday after the 20th of September) is more extreme then the moose hunting season. I guess you can compare these two events with the week of carnival in south Limburg (the Netherlands). Suddenly nothing else matters. Shops are closed, there is only one subject on the agenda and people get totally obsessed. The lobster fishing does not happen here in Ulricehamn but along the west coast of Sweden and I have never seen it or experienced to my colleagues big surprise. We have fishing and crayfish rights at the lake where our summerhouse is located so next summer we will try to catch some crayfish. The lobster fishing will have to wait:)!

This weekend Elsa had her first lesson of horse back riding. Instead of joining the local club in Ulricehamn we went to a farm in Dalum (a few kilometers outside Ulricehamn) where the lessons are held in the forest. It was a cold but sunny Sunday morning and all kids got a pony each and off they went into the forest. The parents walked as a group a bit behind in a quiet untouched forest passing small rivers, large stones and it was a very peaceful 1 ½ hour walk. Elsa loved it and asked if she could do this every day.

It is getting colder and the changing of season is much more noticeable here then in the Netherlands (or in Lund, south of Sweden, for that matter). I like that. Suddenly one want to light the candles, drink hot chocolate and read a good book after a day of working in the garden. My parents-in-law are here now and Nell is making use of our apples and pears. Elsa’s birthday is coming up and she wants to have a baking party and will get a sewing machine for her birthday. So, during the dark afternoons and evenings to come we will be busy making pillows, blankets and other nice things.

Dutch invaders

When I told my colleagues at the embassy in the Hague that I was moving back to Sweden to the small town of Ulricehamn the ambassador said;
- I guess we will see you back here next year at the emigration fair, trying to attract some Dutch people to Ulricehamn!
More and more people in Sweden move to the bigger cities and in some parts of the country small towns have completely disappeared. Everyone has moved away to places where you can find jobs or get the services you need in today’s life.

Borås is a city located half an hour drive from Ulricehamn. 150 years ago the cities (Ulricehamn and Borås) had the same size. This was the textile region of Sweden. Today Ulricehamn has approx. 22 600 inhabitants and Borås 65 000. What happened? Well, one thing is for sure. Ulricehamn was not ready when the textile industry moved away from Sweden.

The goal for Ulricehamn is to become 25 000 inhabitant in 2020 and there are many ideas on how to reach this. One idea is to attract foreign companies and the Dutch have showed many Swedish municipalities that they are good at settling in and starting their own businesses. So, now I am working on this while Jochem worries about the Dutch invasion! The emigration fair takes place in the beginning of next year but I will visit the Netherlands already in the end of November and I hope to see many of you then (I will be in Nijmegen and the Hague from the 19th to the 23rd).

As for life in Ulricehamn the semester has started and the kids are busy with school and all their sports activities. We just heard that the football season will be over in two weeks and wont start until April! Surprising but Ingrid will try handball and badminton instead and Elsa will start horseback riding on Sunday. Jochems parents are arriving on Friday for a 10 days visit and in two weeks time we welcome my family to celebrate Elsas 8th birthday. Time really flies!

Making the right choices

Elsa (who is turning 8 in a few weeks time) asked me today why there are mothers who leave their newborn babies at the hospital. She had seen a piece on the news. What do you tell a child when they come with such a question? I tried to explain that there are people who feel that they are in such a bad situation that they see no other option and that they think that their child will be better off with someone else.
- So it is not because they don’t like their child then, Elsa asked.
No, I answered. Almost all parents love their children very, very much!

As a parent you never really know if you are doing the right thing. You try to. I want to be a good mother and I want to give them a start in life that will make them strong enough to make the right choices at the right time. But how do you prepare them for life? When our guards in South Africa used machine guns on burglars in our back yard the kids slept through it all. When a paedophile was picked up outside our kid’s school in the Netherlands we never told the kids anything. Was I worried? Of course, but I did not want my fear to reach them.

Compared to our life in Johannesburg and in Boston, life in Sweden is pretty safe. Yet, things do happen everyday and everywhere. I don’t want my kids to worry. I don’t want them to know the full picture yet (which I myself can not comprehend anyway). And at the same time you cannot let them live in a bubble. They see things, hear things and they want to know. They have a right to know – at least at a certain age.

But, why do some people leave their children behind in today’s society? I have no good answer but I think that whatever the reason might be it is never done easily.

Half a year in Sweden

We had a group of Dutch visitors here last weekend. They work with Jochem, I had never met them before and they had never been to Sweden. Every time you meet someone from a different country who has no previous knowledge of your country you end up talking about differences or similarities between the two cultures. So did we. What is typical Swedish food, what is the main difference living in Ulricehamn compare to living in Nijmegen (our previous hometown in the Netherlands) or is life better in Sweden then in the Netherlands? Difficult but very interesting questions I think (well, the Swedish food question is quite easy to answer but the rest…).

We lived in a big city before and we now live in a small town. We commuted a lot. I travelled 5 hours a day, four days a week and Jochem usually spent 10 to 12 hours commuting every week. We had a cleaner (oh, how I miss her!) and we had Francis – our babysitter who was like a family member. Life was pretty chaotic! Now it takes me 5 minutes on the bicycle to get to work. I’m home at five every day and the kids can do almost any sport they want after school. Crime rates are low and house prices as well. We have two pubs but from Sunday to Wednesday they are closed. Is this typically Swedish? No, this is typically small town life and we could probably have found something similar in the Netherlands (if we had moved to Friesland or to Limburg). However, life here is different and it is not easy to explain why. The paste is slower and life is more organized (not ours but for normal people I think it is :)!) and the surroundings here are fantastically beautiful. I never knew how beautiful Sweden was until I started travelling. It is also accessible in the sense that you can walk, run, and bicycle or put up a tent almost anywhere. And, it is all for free! Great!

Is there a downside to our life in Sweden or is everything better here? No place or culture offers the complete package but almost every place offers something special and what that is can only be in the eyes of the beholder. We miss family and friends and the weekend tournaments at the local tennis club. I miss the shopping and the cafés and sometimes the anonymity a big city brings. At the same time we see more of our Swedish family and our Swedish friends and that is really nice. I spend a lot more times with the kids and that is obviously a fantastic advantage! We still have to work on expanding our social network locally.

After 6 months in Ulricehamn I now know that I need to stay updated with the ice hockey scores if I want to be part of the discussions at the coffee break. I have seen more wildlife than ever before and I have improved my driving skills in snow and on ice. The job is challenging and I feel that I’m part of a great team. The kids have learned to speak Swedish really well and feel at home at school and with their friends. With the changing of seasons we have been picking apples and peers today (several bags) and I guess it is time to show the kids that I once knew how to bake. In other words, the move to Sweden was a step in the right direction.

I’ve been kicked off

With the end of August in sight it is kick off-season at work. In other words we are making plans for what’s to come this year and setting up new targets. Last week I spent two days in Göteborg with my unit, which was a lot of fun (despite the fact that I lost the games we played in the evening. Getting back is the only option!!). We got a lot of work done on Thursday and for the first time since I moved to Sweden I had a night out in Göteborg. Göteborg is the second largest city in Sweden with approx. 600 000 inhabitants (I think) and it is also a very beautiful city. We stayed in a converted ship located in the city centre (it’s a coastal city) and went out for dinner together in the evening. The atmosphere, the enjoyment of looking at people strolling by and the nice summer breeze made me miss city life a bit. Life in a small town has its benefits but so does life in bigger cities. Luckily Göteborg is only an hour away from Ulricehamn so if I feel a need for some opera, some sushi, more people or a visit to get some clothes at Zara I know where to go.

Yesterday it was time for the second kick off. This time with all the departments located in my office building. We had different workshops during the day and dinner together in the evening. I know people who really dislike kick offs or other type of arranged teambuilding activities but I like them. It is nice to get out together, work in new teams and to get to know each other a bit more outside an office environment. I was responsible for a group of people looking at how we can increase staff competence by international activities and the group had lots of ideas and thoughts about the subject. My job is to increase the international activities in the municipality and with the help of my colleagues this is bound to happen.

Tomorrow I am off to a two-day conference in Strömstad. I’ve been told that there might be a chance to get some home cooked moose here at home on Saturday (and the chef will come to our house and cook it for us!!!) Lucky me! I’ve been kicked off and now I’m kicking in! Time for bed!

A near death experience

Summer disappeared the moment I got back to work. With the current rain I felt that it was time to get serious again and start exercising for real. I haven’t had the time to do any fitness for a year. Other people exercise to loose weight or to feel better. I do it to be able to sleep at night and I decided to start with some boxing at the local fitness centre. After ten minutes I had a cramp in my left leg and at half time I though my ending was near. How much can a person hyperventilate before you pass out? God knows how I will be feeling tomorrow! Not only was I unfit but I was probably the oldest one in the hall which made me think about Napoleons comment when he heard that I had taken up golf; “gosh, how middle age!”
It is not easy when you reach an age where you are too old for some sports and too young for others. Since I can’t take a hint I will go on mixing golf and the combat/boxing training and if I don’t get fitter – at least I get to meet many different people.

Yesterday I heard about how unfit we are getting in Sweden (and probably elsewhere in the world). The last 60 years the Swedish military has collected fitness data (and measured lung capacity) from 18 year olds. With the expansion of TV and computer games many of today’s 18 year olds are seriously unfit. 20 % of people working in an office do not even have the lung capacity to perform at an optimal level or to concentrate properly!

Despite the rain and the ending of my holiday I feel good about being back at work. There are many things on the agenda this fall and I think I enjoy it the most when there are many projects running or developing simultaneously.
Now I will try to move from this table, up the stairs and into my bed. At the moment I am not sure which body part hurts the most but I bet I will sleep as a donkey!

I am having an affair with the gardener

I am having an affair with the gardener and the handyman. How did this happen and what changed after almost ten years of marriage? Well, Jochem has proven me and mostly himself wrong. I married a guy who always stated that he had two left hands (a Dutch expression for someone who cant do anything practical). He never cooks. He has never ironed a shirt and he is terrified of anything revolving around a hammer. At least, this is how it used to be. Since summer arrived in Sweden I have gotten a new husband who has taken on the role as gardener and handyman. I run around the house calling his name only to find him out in the garden cutting the grass or working on the boat. The office chair stands empty and Jochem has a suntan worthy a professional tanner (on the back that is as he is always standing with his back towards the sun!). This new interest in practical work will be seriously put to the test as we bought a new summerhouse this summer. It is a charming house with a wonderful lake view where the word “renovation” gets a totally new meaning. I will let you know further on how we are getting on with this second round of renovations this year.

Last week we had 29 visitors and it was really nice that so many decided to spend some of their vacation with us in Ulricehamn. I actually got the question if I get paid extra if I mention this towns name in my blog but unfortunately this is not the case (should definitely talk to my boss about it :)). The beautiful weather, swimming at our summerhouse in Vegby, spending long evenings on the porch in great company makes living in Ulricehamn a real pleasure and I think that all of our guests (who had never been here before) felt the same. Thank you all for a wonderful visit! Please come back soon!!! Jochems holiday is over but I still have one more week and tomorrow Jenny and little Ebba are coming for a visit. 20 years of friendship and lots of ups and downs comes down to one thing – we will have a great week this week.
Enjoy the summer! Ulrika

A Swedish shortcut

This summer we are arranging an international youth camp in Ulricehamn and the last two days we have had a pre camp to prepare for the invasion of 40 youths from Scottland, Norway, Latvia and Sweden. We have been planning different activities and workshop on the subjects concerning the European citizenship, social inclusion, cultural diversity and democracy and I think it will be a very dynamic and interesting camp in two weeks time. We were 8 people from the 4 countries who met up to make the preparations and it is interesting to see how diverse our own views on the subjects are and how many different perspectives there can be. Our Latvian friends brought up a problem in Latvia that I knew nothing about. They have different citizenships between Latvian and Russians all living in Latvia. The two citizenships does not give people the same rights but if I understood it correctly we are not talking about people considered to be illegally in the country. The Scottish mentioned the somewhat difficult situation between the English and the Scottish. What do we mean when we talk about a European citizenship and who should be included? Do we want to be Europeans and rather independent Scott’s for example? The camp is financed by the European Youth in Action program with the main goal to increase awareness and understanding between youths in Europe. I think a one-week camp like this is a great opportunity for young Europeans to meet up and experience the diversity of cultures.

Since our foreign guests had not been to Ulricehamn before we decided to show them around a bit and also to show them where different activities will take place. One of our workshop will take place at Torpa Stenhus, which is one of Sweden’s best-preserved Renaissance manors, with roots in the Middle Ages. I had never been to this place so I told Per (my Swedish colleague) that I would follow his car. Half the group joined me in my car and off we went. After 15 minutes I had lost track off Per but I had an idea where this place should be. After 40 minutes we stopped at a café to get help and two women gave me two different road descriptions (not in the same direction). I chose to go for the woman who sounded the surest of her self. One hour after leaving Ulricehamn and after several u-turns I had to admit defeat and as a last resort we stopped at a small supermarket where a friendly shop owner and a friendly shopper told us exactly how to get to Torpa Stenhus. As we an hour and a half after leaving Ulricehamn drove onto the parking at Torpa Stenhus, Per left with his group. Despite the long drive we had a lot of fun in the car though and the trip brought back memories about the Swedish shortcut.

My husband usually warns people travelling with me to be aware of the Swedish shortcut. When I first met Jochem we lived in Lund where I come from. I think I have quite a good sense of direction if I have been to a place before (no, it’s the truth!!). One night we were bicycling home and I told Jochem that I knew a shortcut. Well, basically we ended up in the outskirts of Lund and till this day I have no idea how I could make such a mistake. Jochem had only one comment; “no more Swedish shortcuts, please!”

Luckily we had time enough with the pre camp group to get all our work done and to enjoy Torpa and a bit of Ulricehamn. It was a fun group visiting here and I am sure the real camp in two weeks time will be lot of fun. I will be on holiday then but will be down to visit the group as I am planning a local holiday with my family and visiting friends. Maybe we will go to Torpa Stenhus?

A Swedish lion in Ulricehamn

So finally, after months of looking and searching we met him. The king of the animals! No, we did not see a lion along the Swedish highway! We saw a majestic moose. He stood there looking at us as Jochem stood on the breaks of the car and we both screamed to our terrified children “Look, a moose”. Not far from the moose a deer was strolling by and for two city people like us this was a big moment. Ever since we moved to Sweden and Ulricehamn we have been dreaming about seeing this animal that Jochem calls one of the most successful marketing lies in Sweden. All foreign tourists buy a moose sticker to put on the bumper but no one has even seen the moose in real life. Well, now we have!!!

We were in Nybrostrand this weekend to celebrate my sister Hanna’s birthday and to meet up with our South African relatives Vibeke and Travis! Naturally their visit in Sweden brought back many wonderful memories from our time in SA and I really hope we can get going on our plans for a visit to South Africa. We heard that Birthe and Kim might be heading this way as well and I hope you know where to stop when in Sweden!!!

This morning we signed the contract for a new summerhouse. Jochem bought a house he had only seen from the outside (for the 3rd time). I guess it is how it works with us. I go to viewings and Jochem gets the messages that I have found some nice property :). It is an old renovation object on a fantastic location 20 meters from a lake 15 km south of Ulricehamn. Despite quite some renovation needs it is a charming house with many rooms (I will post a picture on Friday – today I forgot to take one).

This week Jochem is in charge of the kids and getting out with the boat is on the planning. I just hope it doesn’t sink. It is a mahogany boat and Jochem has no clue about boats but it looks good (vanity - ha, ha) I still have one more week of work and then I am off to enjoy the Swedish summer. Swimming, canoeing, making fun excursions and seeing family and friends are on my to do list! Hope to see many of you! Ulrika

Can economic incentives get you pregnant?

The municipality of Ulricehamn has 22 542 inhabitants. The aim is to become 25 000 inhabitants in 2020. How do you increase the number of inhabitants in a town? Well, one way is to increase national or international immigration. Another option is to increase fertility rates.

Yesterday my sister Hanna turned 34 and naturally I called to congratulate her. She was arranging a mother – baby party at home as ALL her friends have had babies in the last year (and Hanna had fantastic little Ellen 6 months ago). I think it interesting how these things work out. Are they having a baby boom in south Sweden or is this an isolated event? We have our children later in life (average age for the first child is 29 years for women in Sweden) but currently it looks like the fertility levels in Sweden are higher then in other countries. Why is that? Is it due to the development of generous family policies? In Sweden we have very generous parental leave benefits (one year paid leave to take care of our children) subsidised childcare and high child allowances. Basically the Swedish government is using economic incentives to get more women pregnant but does this work?

Well, I had a look at what is going on around the world and how other countries are doing when it comes to fertility levels. Birth rates in the European Union are falling fast. Europe's working-age population is shrinking as fertility rates decline. It is estimated that for Europe to achieve a population replacement level, the birth rate should be 2.1 children per woman.
According to numbers from 2005 Ireland has the highest birth rate in the EU. Irish women have 1.9 children each, with the European average at 1.5. Ireland also has a relatively young population, which probably have an effect on the statistics. France says it has now probably overtaken Ireland as Europe's most fertile country, with French women having an average of two children each. What is interesting with France is the fact that France can still boast one of Europe's highest rates of female employment. Some 81% of women aged between 25 and 49 are in work, including three-quarters of those with two children.

Italy has serious fertility problems. The birth rate of Italy, at a rate of 1.23 children per woman is the second lowest in the Western world. Women rarely have more than one child.
In order to change this the Italian government decided to give a 1000-euro bonus to each newborn child. In the small town of Laviano in Italy, the mayor decided to use even stronger financial incentives to increase the birth rate in his own town. He decided to offer women 10 000 euros over a five year period for each additional baby they have.

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics did a study on how financial incentives can boost pregnancies and their results support the view that fertility responds to financial incentives and indicate that the child subsidy policies used in many countries can have a significant influence on fertility decisions. The positive birth rate figures in Sweden and France confirm this but I think one need more that financial incentives to increase fertility levels.

When I lived in the Netherlands I was surprised at the number of highly educated women who were at home with their children or who only worked part-time (just imagine the brain drain and the costs for society!!). Day care facilities were expensive and offered less quality care then Swedish day care but this was not the only reason for women (and very rarely men) to stay at home. The cultural climate differed from Sweden. Many of my friends did not feel the same trust for the social system as Swedish people tend to do. The emancipation debate took place on a totally different level and many of my friends felt that it is in a mother’s nature to care for her child. Well, our genetics should not differ too much between the countries but the cultural differences and the social heritage has a major impact on the choices people make. I also think role models play an important role, especially for women who want to make a career and combine this with family life.

Looking at fertility rates in Sweden in the last years one could say that economic incentives will get you pregnant but that is only telling half the story. Good quality childcare, a generation of women who showed us the way (thank you mum!) and a soft culture where men are included in the upbringing of their children are just as important as financial incentives. Maybe we cannot use (any extra) financial incentives to increase the fertility levels in Ulricehamn but maybe we can use financial incentives to attract new inhabitants. What if the municipality offered a (financial?) bonus for people who attract new inhabitants?

As for the baby boom in my sisters’ surroundings I think nothing has a bigger impact on fertility levels then friends having babies. Luckily, with 3 kids at home, I think I have become immune to the baby virus:)!

As it is in heaven

The kids have joined Jochem in the Netherlands and I am spending a week on my own in Ulricehamn. Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the golf course trying to improve my swing with the result of 3 blisters in my hand and after that I had an obsessive film evening. I watched “As it is in heaven” more or less three times going through some scenes several times. The last few years I have had very little time to watch films and it was really nice to get completely into the film. It is also one of the best Swedish films in the last ten years. When I worked at the Swedish embassy in the Hague I tried to get Kaj Pollak (the director) to the Netherlands but he was busy writing a new script and did not want to stop the writing process. If his next script is as good as “As it is in heaven” we will see a new Swedish top film shortly (as he has already proven his directing skills in several films).

The European union is trying to increase European film production in order to strengthen local production and cultural heritage. After my studies at the European Film College I did a short traineeship at Warner Brothers in Brussels and London. At this time (in 1995) the European distribution channels and marketing strategies were still far behind the Americans. WB used 10-15% of its film budget on marketing and the marketing process started before they even started shooting the film. For a long time European films were supposed to sell themselves but in today’s world it does not matter how good a film is if you don’t know that it is there and the competition is killing. So far the EU support to the European film industry has had a positive effect on the European film market and we have seen several good European films doing well. I also think it strengthens the connection between Europeans when we see more films from other neighbouring countries. I have decided that I will try and watch at least one non-American film a month from now on (from all over the world so please come with your suggestions!)
If you have not seen As it is in heaven I can surely recommend it.
Ulrika

Swedish midsummer or a South African chutney?

We celebrated midsummer in Nybrostrand (on the Swedish south coast)this weekend and it was the first midsummer celebrations for the kids. Despite the unusually nice and sunny weather (I heard it has been raining in Ulricehamn at midsummer 8 out of 10 times in the last 10 years!) it was difficult to get the kids dancing aroung the midsummer pole and it occured to me that one might have to be bred into midsummer celebrations from an early age to fully appriciate this Swedish festivity. They had a good time though but not due to the fact that it was midsummer. The company (my parents, my sister and her family and my cousin with her family) made it a fun filled day and Ingrids extreem luck in the lottery made it a day to remember forever. Ingrid won 4 prices in the lottery (a grill, two wallets and a family game - all thing we did not know we could not live without:)). But, the midsummer dancing part while singing old folksongs did not impress the kids and neither did the haring.

When I first met Jochem he often asked me why we sing the same songs around Christmas as at midsummer and why we eat haring everytime we have something to celebrate (haring for Christmas, haring for Easter and haring for Midsummer) but til this day I have no good answer for this. I guess we Swedish people like our traditions and when I lived abroad I often missed these traditions. It just does not feel the same eating imported haring while sitting in South Africa. Each place and each culture offers something different and nothing tastes better then Swedish haring on midsummer in Sweden.

Writing about South Africa brings me to a reconnection story. I lost touch with Emma and Rolf Cyrus last year (good friends from South Africa) as we all moved and changed e-mail addresses. Today I found them again and for anyone going on holidays to South Africa or who is intersted in really good food, check out www.wyckedd.co.za
Emma and Rolf are not only fantastic people but also great cooks!

Ulricehamn, Norway, the Netherlands and South Africa - all in one week

Last week I went on a two-day conference in Sandefjord, Norway. Ulricehamn is looking into developing the sport area Lassalyckan and to do so with other Scandinavian partners. I think it is a project with great potential and we have a lot to learn from other municipalities who are using sport in order to attract tourism and national or international attention. Next year we are arranging the Swedish championship in cross country skiing and the Scandinavian Cup but in order to guarantee snow we need new snow canons and they cost a bit. Lassalyckan is an area where you can ski, play golf, run or take long walks and next year the football fields will be moved to the area. It is also the location for ice hockey; the indoor football hall and close by you find the swimming pool and the tennis hall. In other words it is an area, which offers a lot to the people of Ulricehamn, but it certainly has the potential to offer more for people outside Ulricehamn. So far we still need to find suitable partners and naturally get full political backup for the plan.

I had never been to Sandefjord before and if you are planning to visit Sweden and Norway this summer I can inform you that a visit to the Swedish town Strömstad might be of interest (especially if you come with a caravan) and from there you take a 2 1/2 hour ferry to Sandefjord in Norway. We had fantastic weather on the boat and it is a beautiful coastline along Sweden and Norway.

The 6th of June we celebrated the Swedish national day by going to Stockholm. We had a family reunion in Stockholm and all met up for the first time in 12 years. Last time we all met we celebrated my grandmothers 90th birthday and even if we had not seen each other for a long time it felt as if we were right back at where we left off. The only big difference was the number of kids that had joined the group and that was a lot of fun (and maybe we looked slightly older :)). We went to the outdoor museum Skansen in Stockholm, had a picnic at Junibacken, enjoyed two great barbeques and got a chance to see how all my cousins now live. For our kids it was the first time in Stockholm but I think they enjoyed the company of their second cousins the most.

Take care, Ulrika

Sport, entrepreneurship and sunshine!

Today is graduation day for all students finishing High school here in Ulricehamn. Outside my window white dressed young women and suit dressed young men pass by with champagne bottles and glasses in their hands. The sun is shining, summer is here and after graduation most of them will go on a non-official school trip somewhere. I spoke to some students who are going to Greece next week and who were all looking forward to the rest of their lives. There is something very energetic about young people with no plans, no worries but lots of ideas about what life can become!

Yesterday I went to a lecture with one of Sweden’s most famous entrepreneurs. There is a network in Ulricehamn called Kubbhjulet 35 and they arrange lectures and visits to businesses here in Ulricehamn. The speaker yesterday was Bert Karlsson and for the Swedish readers this is a well-known person but for the Dutch readers you can compare him with John de Mol in the Netherlands. Bert Karlsson started his first business at the age of 13 and has had his biggest successes in the Swedish music industry but he also makes TV programs, musicals, theatre plays, writes books and is involved in several other projects. He despises democracy, dislikes politicians and has an opinion about everything but he is also a talented speaker and it is difficult not to be impressed with his achievements. I guess I found him as brutal as I expected but smarter.

This weekend all schools in Ulricehamn compete in a football competition (Klassbollen) and I will be in charge of Ingrid’s class team. Hundreds of kids, their parents and other supporters will meet up in this annual competition. Sport plays an important role in this town and I think this is something to take advantage of. Ulricehamn has lots of different sport clubs, fantastic nature to use for cross-country skiing, down hill skiing or mountain biking. You can sail or canoe here and the top of Swedish orienteering runners come from Ulricehamn. As the municipality want to grow I think we should look at what we have and what makes this place unique. Why not strive to make this place the best sport municipality in West Sweden and strengthen and develop the possibilities to practice sport at the highest level here?

Ulrika

Taking a look at the European Parliament

Last week I spent three interesting days in Brussels visiting among many places the European Parliament, meeting up with Jens Holm, head of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Jens is a Member of the European Parliament from Sweden and his passions are global justice, animal rights and environmental issues (www.jensholm.se). It was fun to meet someone who is not in favour of the EU but who works within the organisation. He held an interesting speech and gave us a view on how he works and how it is to work in a multicultural very powerful organisation. I was in Brussels as a part of an EU competence course and I really liked the fact that we also met people who are critical to the EU and its organisation. I am a believer in cooperation and in the idea that collaboration is the best way to avoid war and seclusion. The way the EU works is often criticised by people as an enormous bureaucracy that cost a lot of money and does not give us very much value for money. I disagree with this even though there are issues those needs solving within the EU (such as the Strasbourg situation and the high travelling compensations to the politicians). I think that bringing issues regarding the environment and energy policy up to the highest level is essential if we are to save the planet. What good is it if Sweden changes its laws on pollution if Poland or the Baltic states does not? I also think that we do get value for money even if it is not always visible in economical statistics.

Today I was in Göteborg on a conference learning more about the EU social fund together with my colleague Carita from the administration of social affairs in Ulricehamn. One of the speakers was Jan Andersson, head of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs in the European parliament. He talked about the increase in child poverty in Europe but also about the issues regarding employment mobility within Europe. He is currently working on a report about this, as it has proven difficult for tax authorities in the different member states to agree on how to deal with this mobility. I obviously thought of Jochem who spends 3 days a week in the Netherlands and 4 days in Sweden each week. We have tried to find a tax lawyer who can help us find our way in the tax jungle but it has proven very difficult. It is not only a question about where to pay tax. Last week I got a phone call from the organisation that pays out child allowances in Sweden. They told me that they could not pay us any child support at this moment as we might be entitled to child support from the Netherlands (which happens to be a third of what they pay out in Sweden). The Dutch authorities stopped paying out the child support in February and now we have to wait until the Swedish authorities have concluded what to do! I guess we will get the child support retroactive. This is just a small thing but the open boarders bring new situations and new challenges that might look simple but takes time to solve.

I really enjoy my work and I get to meet many very interesting and talented people. It is also very stimulating to hear what EU projects are being worked on and how the European collaboration is increasing day by day. We have so much to learn from each other and at all possible levels. That is why I think that a simple student exchange program or a school trip to another country can be just as important as a major environmental policy project between several states. Where would I be today if I had not run in to a Dutch exchange student eleven years ago? We cannot measure what long-term effects a meeting between two people can have the day they meet or even a year later. That is why international relations have to be seen in a long-term perspective and that is why it is such an exciting world to be in!!

To end this I want to tell you about a very talented and very good friend of mine who has just been given a fantastic job in Malmö. Katrin Stjernfeldt will be responsible for the social portfolio in Malmö Stad (3rd largest city in Sweden). She is not only a young, ambitious mother of two but also a fantastic person who will take on one of the toughest jobs in Sweden and I know that she will do well. I am proud to have such a talented friend and happy that she has been given this chance in an after all still very male dominated world!! For the Swedish readers; http://sydsvenskan.se/malmo/article320570.ece
Ulrika

EU course in Brussels and Europe day in Ulricehamn

I just got back from an intensive and fun 3 day course in Brussels that I will tell you more about later on. Today it is the 9 of May - Europe day - and I am preparing some fun and informative activities here in Ulricehamn. 100 people from Ulricehamn used 100 cameras and took more then 2000 pictures about their Ulricehamn. The theme of the day is "Ulricehamn in Europe" and I think that by looking at our own surroundings we can relate better to what is further away from us. What makes Ulricehamn a European city? What makes us unique? I spend several hours yeasterday (until late in the evening) putting together a small exhibition from the 2000 pictures. It is interesting to see that younger people often take pictures of other people while older people take pictures of buildings and places or the nature. Why is that and how much does our surroundings influence our well being? I think it is very important for our well being to live in an attractive, safe and stimulating place.
Now I have to get going with the preparations for today.
Have a great Europe day!
Ulrika

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!

Small town involvement

A few days ago I met some very engaged people in Ulricehamn who work to reduce energy usage in the town and who give advice in how to live in an environmentally friendly way. It was a creative meeting and I wondered if it works the same way in other places. The green wave has certainly spread around the world and hopefully we can together change the direction of the climate changes. Ulricehamn is a place, which is usually filled with tourists during the winter but this winter they did not show up. There was not enough snow (except during the Easter break). For a small town this has a big impact on the economy but also on the awareness among people of a changing climate. What will happen if the snow stays away? Luckily people in Ulricehamn want to be involved. They want to take action and several ongoing projects have already been successful. So is spill over energy from the pellets factory used to heat up houses in town and several energy spending companies has reduced their energy levels between 30 - 50 % in the last 5 years by changing the way they work.

Before I came to Ulricehamn I had never lived in a small town (except for my year in Heisler Canada in 1989/90) but I think that one of the nicest things about a small town is the involvement of people. In a big city that involvement sometimes disappears. It is probably not needed in the same way. There are pros and cons where ever you live and big cities offer things that one can't find in small towns. However, often we forget that small towns offer things that one cannot find in a big city. Involvement and trust. Jochem gets to use an office for free and even got a key to it. If you rent something you do not have to pay a deposit. People offer their help and the neighbours bring us their newspaper so that we know what goes on in town. This might not be any news to most people but for us it is something new and something special. We are still finding our way around here and we still have a lot to discover but we are getting there. Hunting and ice hockey are the main themes of discussion during the coffiebreak. I guess that when I get into that I have integrated so much that it is time to move again :) !