My fellow Swedes, our long national nightmare is over.
Springtime is here.
I hesitated writing this post for a while because, believe it or not, it snowed a couple days last week here in Sweden. Though the winter may have ended for my New York and San Francisco friends weeks ago, we still got a nice dose of ridiculousness.
But for now I can say, with a fair amount of confidence, that the toughest winter seen in years in this part of the world (and much of the Northern Hemisphere for that matter) is finished and making way for what promises to be a summer of overabundant joy and underabundant clothing.
That said, I'm not sure the winter was that bad. In retrospect, it was long and tough. But it was a cold, snowy winter which, on this ever warming globe is a welcomed surprise, even here in Europe's Great North.
This makes it even tougher to leave Sweden. If I'd decided to leave at some point during the 30 days of consecutive snow we saw in the January/February timeframe, I would've flown from the land of tall, blond people flipping them the bird the entire way. But the beautiful people out and about, energetic and smiling at the sunshine is the ultimate salt in the wound. Damn you Sweden.
Alas here we sit, basking in the glory of the sunshine that is springtime. Cherish it Sweden, because before we know it winter will be back with a vengeance.
The best burgers in Stockholm
This post is long overdue. Then again, I wanted to make sure I had enough experience at joints that serve burgers in order to compile this list with some amount of credibility.
I personally believe it's hard to find a good burger here. The burger patties are often frozen and griddle/pan fried, prepared in ways that burgers should never be prepared.
But when you do come upon that place that has a good burger it can, with a single bite, drop you back 20 years, to beach barbecues and youthful innocence.
These are the places in Stockholm that make a fantastic burger, in order of my personal favorites:
- Grill Ruby - A pricey burger, but the best one you'll eat in Stockholm. An American chef grills them over an open flame of imported Kingsford charcoal. Are. You. Kidding. Me.
- Bara Vi - Served on homemade bread, Bara Vi's burger is charred on the outside and tender and rare on the inside.
- Wirströms - A great, big burger with all the fixins, and a fantastic Spaten to help wash it down, while listening to live music is a great choice in Gamla Stan.
- Akkurat - A big burger chased down with one of their huge selection of beers, is perfectly topped off with a glass of one of their many fine whiskeys.
I will be updating this list as I try more places, but if you're looking for a good burger these are definitely good places to start.
Unbelievable.
I just learned some new Swedish exclamations which roughly translate to "UNBELIEVABLE".
Shit pommes frites!
Holy bananas!
I need to figure out a way to bring these to the US. These are some fierce phrases. Thanks M!
My 100th Post: 100 Reasons Why Sweden Rocks
I think we as Swedes and expats tend to lose sight of all the reasons why Sweden is awesome, particularly when the country is enveloped in darkness and cold.
For my hundredth post, I present to you 100 Reasons why Sweden Rocks (in absolutely no particular order):
- It's a very clean place.
- Everyone is an environmentalist.
- The Swedes are proud of their high tax rate going to support social programs like healthcare.
- Europe (and by this I mean the brilliant artists behind The Final Countdown)
- Winter is a beautiful, festive season with candles and julbord feasts.
- Glögg (this deserved its own point)
- Pepparkakor (also deserved its own point)
- Pancakes and split pea soup Thursdays
- Kanelbullens Dag (Cinnamon Roll Day)
- Everybody is beautiful.
- Summertime gets everyone smiling.
- Very few European cultures are as hip to technology as the Swedes are.
- Swedish design. 'Nuff said.
- Kubb
- Nils Oscar beer.
- MEATBALLS!
- Reindeer
- Basshunter. Boten Anna.
- Sill, otherwise known as herring.
- Lax, otherwise known as salmon.
- A well-funded, quick, efficient, and clean public transportation system.
- ABBA
- Roxette. I'll say it again. Roxette. She deserves to be mentioned twice.
- Lars Winnerbäck who, if you haven't listened to him, is fantastic.
- Renowned director Ingmar Bergman
- Renowned actress Ingrid Bergman
- Björn Borg, not only for his epic tennis-playing skills but for his good clothing (he has one of the biggest fashion brands here)
- Monica Zetterlund, a fantastic jazz vocalist who sangs some very steamy jazz standards in the 60s and 70s.
- Sambo
- Gay marriage is legal and widely accepted.
- The midnight sun.
- The Northern Lights.
- The crime is so low, that I never fear for my safety when I walk the streets at night.
- The Daily Show Stockholm Syndrome Part I
- The Daily Show Stockholm Syndrome Part II
- Henrik Schyffert's Full Like a Kastrull
- These hilarious experiments took place in Stockholm: http://thefuntheory.com
- The epic Michael Jackson dance tribute took place in Stockholm.
- You may disagree with me, but Inga from Sweden.
- Midsommarsdagen or Midsummer's Day, traditionally held on the Friday after the longest day of the year (end of June)
- For more clarification on the above point, check out this banned Ikea commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I5BGsK5ZAU
- The longstanding tradition of dancing around the Maypole during Midsommarsdagen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maypole#Sweden
- Swedish dansbands. Click on ANY picture here and you will see what true awesome is: http://www.svenskadansband.se/top.php
- Sweden has a wicked (and very much still thriving) metal scene.
- Magnus Samuelsson
- Home of the Nobel Prize.
- Home of the least corrupt government in the world.
- The clever alteration of street signs.
- Modern Swedish architecture.
- Stockholm is built on islands for crying out loud.
- It's still got a king (and queen and royal family).
- Hockey. Period.
- Allmänsrätten (literally All men's right). Man's right to roam. The maxim: "Do not disturb, do not destroy." It's really something only civilized countries can get away with.
- Uh...the VIKINGS were awesome.
- IKEA. I may not appreciate it so much, but it's notably Swedish.
- St. Lucia Day
- Stockholm has tons of green area.
- An enormous ship called the Vasa sunk moments after it launched on its maiden voyage.
- Pasta sallad and paj. Two standard cafe meals.
- Pizza sallad!!!1!1!
- Sweden has taken in more Iraqi refugees than any other country in Europe. (though it hasn't been completely without controversy)
- The Swedish chef! Ok fine, he's not Swedish, but he's still AWESOME!
- Swedish penis enlarger pumps. Hey, I'm sure they've helped many a gentleman feel just a little bit better about himself.
- Swedish fish!!! And YES, they do exist here! (But they're multicolored and they're just called "fish", duh.)
- Godis (pronounced goodies). Every 7-Eleven, supermarket, and video store has an epic selection of loose candy. And it's amazing.
- H&M (Hennes & Mauritz). I don't ever seem to have any luck there, but hey lots of people seem to find some great clothes there and good for them.
- Science. Sweden continues to throw a lot of money, and remains at, the forefront of scientific research.
- They may have created a highly successful AIDS vaccine that works in humans which frankly, is badass.
- Stockholm was badass enough to declare itself the Capital of Scandinavia which I'm sure has pissed off Norway, Denmark, and maybe even Finland and Iceland. But it's Sweden and Sweden is awesome and Sweden knows it.
- Gustaf Erik Pasch, a Swede, invented the match.
- Jonas Offrell invented a revolver at the same time as (and independently of) Samuel Colt! And to think that Sweden is now neutral.
- Alfred Nobel invented dynamite! And is the man behind #46 above.
- Carl Rikard Nyberg invented the blowtorch.
- Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist invented the kerosene stove.
- Swedes are pyromaniacs according to 70 - 74.
- Ericsson.
- Volvo. (notably maker of one of the safest cars in the world)
- Nils Bohlin who worked at Volvo invented the three-point safety belt which keeps us all alive today!
- Saab.
- Julmust, a Swedish holiday soft drink is also the greatest soft drink known to mankind.
- Anders Celsius is Swedish.
- The lakes completely freeze over in winter time and everyone walks on them for fun.
- Sweden's main film production facility is called Trollywood.
- Swedish grocery stores charge for wasteful, environmentally-destructive bags in an attempt to discourage people from using them...and it works.
- Sweden music exports are third in the world following the US and the UK!
- Sweden has an ice hotel, made completely from ice which melts every summer and gets rebuilt every autumn. Badass.
- Skype is Swedish.
- Swedish weddings are among the most fun in the world. I don't care what anyone else thinks.
- Sweden has their own distance measurement called the mil (actually it's not specifically Swedish, it's Scandinavian)
- Thai food is AWESOME here.
- There's this fermented herring here called surströmming which apparently smells so fucking bad, it can't be eaten inside. Which is awesome.
- Electrolux, maker of home appliances, is Swedish.
- Absolut Vodka is Swedish.
- The Swedish word 'gift' (pronounced yeeft) which means 'married', also means 'poison'.
- Full means drunk. But ful means ugly. And when I'm out drunk and girls talk to me, I usually tell them I'm too ugly to go home with them.
- Lingonberries are a fantastic Swedish berry which go great with meatballs, herring, and other savory Swedish meals.
- Swedes. Love. Potatoes.
- Sweden is a lagom culture.
- Swedes love New York.
- And to think that a country of just 10 million people has accomplished so much and has made such a broad spanning impact is just plain freaking awesome.
I'm such a Sweden fanboy.
Want to see my head spin?
Close all the government-run liquor stores on a religious holiday (All-Saints Eve) upstaged by its pagan equivalent (Halloween), in the most secular country in the world (Sweden).
Growth of the Soil (Knut Hamsun, 1917)
For me, reading is an unhealthy obsession. I've read close to 20 books so far this year and I may finish with close to 30. I'm so addicted, that I even began setting literary goals for myself, thus categorizing me as a huge nerd.
For example, one of my missions is to read every single thing John Steinbeck has ever written (I'm close to ten so far, I think).
One of my other nerdy goals is to read one work by every literature Nobel Prize winner ever. I'm doing pretty well, having read books by about 15 different winners and being disappointed only once. These Swedes really know their great literature.
It can be a great thrill to find a fantastic book by an author who has fallen somewhat into obscurity throughout the world. Ask any Norwegian or Swede who Knut Hamsun is, and without a doubt they'll know. But I can't say I have many friends outside of Scandinavia, if any, who would know who he is. Knut Hamsun (you do pronounce the 'k') won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920.
I was lucky enough to have my Norwegian friend Aleks recommend Hamsun's Growth of the Soil to me. Wanting to achieve my literature goal and at the same time get more into Scandinavian writing, Hamsun appeared to me to be perfect choice.
But the fact is, Norwegian sentiment towards Hamsun is confused. Hamsun was an outspoken Nazi sympathizer. Actually, he was a "vehement advocate" of Nazi Germany, having mailed his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels in 1943 and later having visited Hitler, and furthermore having eulogized him after his death as "a warrior, a warrior for mankind, and a prophet of the gospel of justice for all nations." (Source: Wikipedia)
So whereas Norwegians are very proud of Hamsun's accomplishments as an author, they have a much tougher time coming to terms with his very radical political ideology during one of Europe's darkest periods.
Needless to say, this would never stop me from reading a great book.
Following WWI, the West was going through a period of rapid industrialization and economic development. The middle class was seeing their hard work get swallowed up by a speculative and increasingly credit-laden, power-hungry upper class further empowered by laissez-faire economics. The gap between the rich and poor was widening and the mass was getting restless and desperate. Sounds familiar.
Growth of the Soil was simple in words and profound in scope. It was both foretelling and a scathing commentary on the state of the world at the time. It starts off telling the story of a simple man Isak walking through the Norwegian wilderness near the Swedish border looking for a place to settle and begin a life for himself. He picks a spot and begins to survive off the fruit of his labor. His hard work is dignified (and his only means of survival), his intentions are pure, and his simple modesty is his greatest trait. And thus is his success imminent.
However, as to be expected, the chaos of the self-righteous man intrudes, always seeking the easy way out, and looking to capitalize off the hard work of others. The book follows Isak and his family as they persist in the wild, fending off the educated industrialist, favoring hard work and personal dignity over easily sought out wealth (and more often as Hamsun explains, debt). It never proves easy, and not all of Isak's family is able to stay true to his ways, falling victim to the lure of high society, education, and industrialization. How does it end? Well I'll let you read it.
Hamsun is not all together off base with his belief that man is constantly trying to seek the quickest means to wealth. Rather, he preaches that man's greatest source of persistent wealth and personal sustainability is in his hard work and clarity of purpose.
This book blew me away. It's beautifully written and very direct in its message. His ideals at times seem very early-American/pro-libertarian and his complete loathing for bureaucratic, self-righteous, mooching, fast-tracking capitalists resonates with me. Don't get me wrong, Growth of the Soil is not anti-capitalist, but rather speaks out against those who seek to 'capitalize' purely off the hard work of others.
Really a fantastic read for anyone looking to pick up a good book by a good, though controversial writer.
PS - as a newly inducted Amazon affiliate, I get a cut if you buy it through the above link. 
I'm a capitalist pig, I know.
Blog Plugs: Swedish Notions and Stockholmies
If you're an expat living in Sweden, here are a couple blogs that are insightful, intelligent, and enjoyable to read.
The first, written by an expat here in Sweden and relatively new on the scene is called Swedish Notions. As an expat, it can be very refreshing to find blogs which resonate with the kinds of things you're interested in, simply because your backgrounds are similar and you're strangers in a distant land looking for enlightening experiences specific to that culture. From food, to music, to politics, Swedish Notions nails it. Those of you in Sweden interested in expanding your cultural horizons and opening your minds ought to check it out.
Another such blog is one I've been a fan of for a long time, and whose writer(s) I've had the pleasure of knowing personally over beers, bowling, and a strip club (that we never actually went to). Stockholmies is a thoroughly entertaining blog which focuses more around the idiosyncrasies of being an expat Stockholmare. What makes Stockholmies unique, is that it contains an epic media component with photos of all the crazy crap you're bound to see on a typical day in Stockholm. Check out some of these hilarious posts:
http://www.stockholmies.com/2009/04/more-creative-graffiti.html
http://www.stockholmies.com/2009/06/signlations-mood-food.html
http://www.stockholmies.com/2009/06/spotlight-capes-coming-back-into-fashion.html
http://www.stockholmies.com/2009/07/signlations-stockholmies-take-on-st-p-russia.html
And their funniest post (thanks Chris Van B):
http://www.stockholmies.com/2009/09/our-prisoners-dilemma.html
Check these guys out.
The Great Smör Med Havssalt Drought of 2009
While the rest of the world has been bracing for the pandemic that is the swine flu, Sweden has had their own national nightmare.
Smör (pronounced smirrrr) med havssalt has been disappearing off shelves and Swedes have been scrambling to make do with just plain smör.
Ok. I'll stop with the rigmarole. Smör is butter. Smör med havssalt is butter with sea salt.
Let me explain something about the butter here. It's amazing. It's used in all cooking. It's natural, it's rich, it's delightful. It's not some watered down, commodity corn substitute loaded with cow hormones and tasting like empty crap.
Smör is used in all cooking. And it's not used in excess because it tastes good enough in moderation. That is the way food is harvested in Europe; to be consumed in moderation. Novel concept. I know. But I know of a distant land that industrially manufactures food to be consumed by human beings as it would be consumed by cattles lining up for the slaughter.
Butter here is creamy. It's rich. It tastes like butter. You simply can't eat too much of it, nor do you want to. It can be used in everything and when you cook with it, you can taste it in the food. In a good way. It actually brings out the flavor in what you're eating.
More amazing than just smör is the smör med havssalt. The sea salt butter produced here tastes great in cooking as it does on fresh bread, with a little fig jam.
So when I was on the verge of running out, I asked M to pick some up on her way over for dinner that night.
She SMSed me to say she couldn't find it. What does that MEAN?!?!
I called her.
She'd gone to a couple places. One grocery store had run out and the clerk was clueless while the second place simply said they stopped ordering it. WHAT? I would've grabbed that clerk by the shoulders, shaken and slapped him/her a few times. Fortunately, M is a bit more civilized than I.
I grabbed my coat and went to the most obscure supermarket near me. It's underground near a train station and the kind of place you stumble upon by accident usually when you're not even looking for it. For the Swedes/Sweden-dwellers, Coop at Slussen. It's almost always stocked since no one really goes there.
I ran to the back of the store and opened the small smör refrigerator, and there it was. Only TWO left. I pondered taking both. Stocking up for what was sure to be a long, dark, and potentially smörless winter.
I settled for one. And the woman waiting patiently behind me as I grabbed mine? Well needless to say, she grabbed the very last one.
Is this what socialism is? High demand, low supply by an overreaching government that struggles to meet the overly-expectant needs of its starving population? Will I have to stand outside in a line in the cold, braving the Swedish winter, for a little taste of the heavenly, creamy deliciousness that is smör med havssalt??? Will I have to fall to my atheist knees to pray to Sankt Erik, patron saint of Stockholm, and glorious provider of smör med havssalt for the Swedish working man? Will I have to prostitute myself to government officials, doing things you only see in movies, making myself an informant for the socialist government and a political propaganda tool for the greater good, FOR BUT A TASTE OF SMÖR MED HAVSSALT???
I'd do it all a hundred times over.
Especially when it saves me from having to eat this USDA-approved industrial crap:
Updates: A holiday in France followed by the swine flu (or not)
It's been quite a while and the month I've spent away from this blog has been, needless to say, eventful. Some stuff I'll talk about, others I'll leave for a later time.
In early August, I was perusing the Ryanair site for cheap plane tickets to Hyères, France where my family has a summer home. It's in the south just along the water, and I was in desperate need of sun in the final week of the summer before buckling down for what was sure to be (barring some cataclysmic shift of Earth's axis) a cold and dark winter in Stockholm. Ryanair happens to have flights that go from Skavsta (about 90 minutes outside of Stockholm) directly to Hyères which is perfect. Furthermore, the roundtrip ticket was 50 EUR! Which is insanely cheap. I couldn't pass up a bargain. Better yet, I was able to convince a buddy to join me for half the trip!
I wouldn't be lying if I told you we did nothing but laid on the beach almost the entire time we were there after which we'd go out trying to meet French women and were totally unsuccessful. But that's ok, because the trip was about clearing our minds, relaxing, rejuvenating, reenergizing, and coming back to Sthlm with a renewed sense of purpose. Needless to say, we accomplished just about all that. And it's been a great autumn thus far.
That was until about Tuesday of this week when I woke up with a sore neck. I thought nothing of it at the time other than I probably just slept on it wrong. When I woke up on Wednesday, it was a bit more sore and my throat started to ache. By 3pm on Wednesday I could barely move and I went home. I fell asleep on my couch and woke up in a state of horrifying pain and disillusionment. Okay maybe it wasn't that bad, but I was not in a happy place. Let's just say the last time I felt this weak and ill was when I got the flu seven years ago when I first moved to Kansas City, so I was pretty sure that's what it was.
After deciding not to head to the hospital for medication on Wednesday night, I decided to go to the doctor's office on Thursday. Thursday morning I was a total wreck. My strength was at about 20% and it took me about 30 minutes to walk three blocks.
To be honest, I know there's nothing you can really do about the flu other than wait for it to pass, but I went for two reasons. The first was to see if they would actually give me medication, Tamiflu or the Swedish equivalent. The second was actually due to a nationalist desire to help my countrymen out in documenting the spread of swine flu. My expectation was that I would be helping the Swedish scientists and government by getting them more information about the disease.
Both reasons were completely misguided. My doctor essentially told me that they wouldn't be testing me for swine flu. They were reserving all tests for pregnant women and the elderly since they were "at risk". She also asked me if I knew the details (versus the rumors) about swine flu. I was proud that I had. I knew that swine flu was really not all that different from the regular flu. The survival rate is as high as that of the regular flu. The worldwide medical concern of the swine flu pandemic surrounded how susceptible younger and healthier people were. Since there are so many young people in the world, there could potentially be far more cases. And if far more people got the flu, then far more pregnant and elderly people would be exposed to it, thus causing the medical field to worry a bit more about this one than they would about the regular, annual flu epidemic.
So I wouldn't be getting tested. She said that because of my demographic, it was likelier that it was swine flu, but that we would never know. She told me it was definitely a flu. She also told me to go home, rest up, drink lots of fluids, and to not go out or spend time with anyone. She also said she couldn't spare any medication since they were saving it for high risk cases. She said I didn't need it and that if I'm healthy, I'll be just fine.
I agreed.
One thing I appreciate about the Swedish healthcare system is that it puts its faith in its doctors and that its doctors truly know best. Doctors don't give in to angry patients, and they don't hand out prescriptions to subsidize their pay. They are prudent and smart in their behavior, acting in the best interest of the country and not of the individual. Following my third interaction with the Swedish healthcare system, I am proud of what this country has been able to accomplish and can only hope that the US can emulate it someday.
In the meantime, my immune system has been getting its ass kicked by this virus, so I hope to be at 100% by Monday or Tuesday.
Wish me luck!
A quick (but urgent) diversion…
To all my Swedish friends or friends living in Sweden:
I have an urgent request to anyone out there who might know of a studio or one bedroom apartment, preferably in the Vasastan or Kungsholmen neighborhoods and available beginning in September for at least one year. It would preferably be furnished. Of course location is more flexible (though preferably on one of the main islands of Stockholm). The preferred rent range is between 6-8000 SEK per month.
About the prospective tenant:
My friend unfortunately had an apartment fall through in the last minute due to situations beyond her control. She is extremely responsible, in her early 30s, an American researcher at Karolinska. She doesn't smoke, doesn't have pets, nor any financial problems. She has references (including myself). She is an awesome person and someone I would trust more than my own family.
If you have something available or know of ANY leads, please contact me at freerommy at gmail dot com.
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