The Same Moon

In 1996 and 1997, I lived in a suburb of Stockholm, in the fair land of Sweden. I had the great fortune of having two different jobs at the time, when unemployment was 14%. I got to wash dishes at a restaurant and clean hotel rooms. It was a sobering experience to say the least! But I did learn many things about Swedes and the Swedish culture, so without further ado, here are some of the greatest.

1) Swedes do love Abba, and the members of the group are almost the same as royalty over there.

2) Not every Swedish woman has blonde hair and blue eyes.

3) They do love to drink, pretty much anything with alcohol. But they put something in the hard stuff that forces you to throw up if you have too much. It is nicknamed "Pukemedel" which stands for "Puke medicine". They don't put that in the Fodor guides!

4) They don't call it Sweden. It is called Sverige (pronounced Svar-e-ya)

5) The Swedish word for drunk is "ful", which is pronounced as full.

6) The best part of Stockholm is "Gamla Stan" which translates to "Old Town". Some of the coolest buildings in Europe are right there!

7) If you ever go to the central square in Stockholm you may see the old lady playing her piano for money.

8) There is a word in Swedish that only exists in one other language, Japanese, which is "logom" which means the same. The context is that all the people are the same.

9) Polar bears and naked people do not run amok in the streets.

10) Even in the height of summer, the water is freezing to swim in!

11) The sun rises at about 2am and sets at 11pm at Midsummer. You can count on about 4-5 hours of daylight during Midwinter.

12) Deer meat tastes the best in Sweden.

13) Everyone there speaks English, except where you really need it: the hospital, the post office, banks, the unemployment office...

14) You have to pay a yearly fee to have a television set in your house.

15) There is a hotel in the upper section of the country that is only open in the winter, and it is made out of ice.

16) When I lived there, the conversion rate was about 7 Swedish Krowns for 1 U.S. Dollar. But everything there has a 25% value added tax to it. So a pack of cigarettes cost about six dollars when I was there, and a good beer at a pub cost about seven bucks. And a happy meal at McDonalds was about five dollars.

17) On the Baltic Sea, east of Stockholm, you can go to hundreds of different islands in the Swedish archipelago.

18) Sweden is one of the top countries in Europe that takes in refugees from troubled lands.

19) Most Swedes get paid on the 25th of each month. Good luck going to a bank that day! Or the liquor store!

20) Like America, the country is riddled with different accents. Very confusing if you are trying to learn the language!

But at heart, Swedes are the same as anyone else, and yearn for the same things we all want: love, home, and happiness! Were all looking at the same moon anyways!