It's A Small World

When we were in South Africa in December we met a very nice Swedish middle-aged couple on the tour to Robben Island (Mandela's infamous prison island) and Cape Town townships. The following day we ran into them again on Table Mountain. Once back home in Sweden Peter ran into the wife in Stockholm. Then, last week, when I was flying to London I ended up in the same row of seats as the husband! What's the chance of that?!! Made me think of that ride at Disney World in Florida, "It's A Small World", and now that song is stuck in my head as well :)

Your Carbon Footprint and How to Offset It

Wondering how you can save energy - and limit your carbon emission - in your home? These are the most energy thirsty machines in your home:

* Laser printer
* Plasma TV
* Projector
* LCD TV
* Playstation 3
* XBox 360
* Amplifier
* Ink writer
* PC
* Media PC

Turn them off - don't leave them on stand-by - and use them sparingly if you can!

And how you can offset not just your energy use in your home but also car journeys, air flight, etc? Here's a list of companies and organisations that offer reduction units, i.e. ways to climate compensate, that the Swedish Energy Agency recommends (NB! The list will be updated regularly):

Tricorona
Uwab (only companies)
Klimatneutral (only companies)
Atmosfair
Klimat Statoil
Miljobörsen
Svenska naturskyddsförening (Swedish Nature Conservation Society)
Utsläppsrätt (starting later this year

The organisations are recommended by either/both the UN and the EU.

I can tell you that I compensated the carbon emissions caused by my trip to London this past week! Although I didn't use of these sites but did it directly through British Airways. Hopefully the money goes to a useful project!

Mobile

I found a list over at Skolfröken's. It's simple, take your mobile, go to Contacts.

Have you kissed no 7?
Haha, no, that's Angela who I subletted my flat to.

Do you hang out with no 19?
No, that's a former colleague who I haven't seen since I ran into her last summer. We did e-mail last week about meeting up though.

Do you like no 26?
Yes, very much so. Eleonor is one of the girls in my group of oldest friends. She's very frank and not afraid of talking about everything from sex to details of her last stomach flu.

Is no 15 your best friend?
Not really, but we have known each other for a long, long time since she's my aunt (dad's sister). I had a very nice time with her when I spent some alone-time with her at her (and my uncle's) flat in the south of Spain a year and a half ago.

Is no 11 a cutie?
Anoushka is a really cutie; she's both petite and sweet! :) I saw her in London last week actually, otherwise I saw her last at her wedding to Chris back in September.

Do you love no 10?
A friend from Oxford. I like her a lot - she's sweet and fun - but I wouldn't say I love her as I don't know her that well.

Is no 20 good?
One of my best "abroad friends", Céline. She's very good. Especially at making you feel like you always hang out even though we don't see each other more than every or every other year.

Have you met no 9 this week?
No, but I would have loved to see AnnCatherine because she just had a little baby girl a few weeks ago.

Has no 16 been in the same class as you?
No, definitely not as he's at least 10 years older than me. He's one of my two bosses at my previous job.

Do you know if no 31 has a relationship?
Nope, she's an old classmate from upper secondary school. I have reconnected with her on Facebook and ran into her a couple of weeks, but we haven't gone out for the planned drink yet so I have no clue.

This was fun, except for that the numbers were so low that I only got to the letter E (with that final no 31) in my phonebook.

London Calling

In case anyone is wondering I'm in London this week, both on business and for pleasure! Back in a few days!

Childhood Poverty and Family Policy

Anne, a Swede currently residing in Oregon, writes about the cost of childcare in the US and the (negative) consequences for families and especially women. A job may pay $9 / hour but (licensed, authorised) childcare costs $15 / hour so you're better off just staying home. Even if you have a more advanced and thus higher paid job, $15 / hour doesn't make a huge difference when it comes to an incentive to work. Anne says that "You get what you pay for is something you often hear, in different contexts. It is considerably greater differences between what's good and what's bad [quality] so you'd better be careful. [sic] USA is the country with the best, most modern and luxarious but also the worst you can find. Everything is about money, no subsidies, discounts or support systems exist. Everything depends on how much you are willing to pay, you get what you pay for."

This week I attended several really interesting meetings on this very topic (at research institutions SOFI, CHESS and the Institute for Futures Studies). Some of the findings of international studies:

• There is a strong correlation between poverty rate and generosity of family provisions*

This means that countries with generous family policies have lower child poverty rates. And especially family policies that support dual earner families (i.e. families where both parents are working).

• Support promoting dual earner families is more efficient than support promoting traditional family patterns

This means that

• The poverty relieving effect of dual earner support works both via benefits and market income. I.e. the contribution may be direct through the amount of benefits paid, or indirect by supporting two earners and thereby raising the market income of the household.

While

• The support to traditional family patterns works only via benefits

Other important factors are

• Access to childcare

This includes extensive, accessible, affordable and high quality childcare (pre-school).

Another interesting - and strong - correlation is that between family policy generosity and infant mortality, i.e. generous family provisions lead to low infant mortality.

• What drives this development is strong dual earner support (e.g. childcare provisions).

I'm not going to bore you with all the tables and graphs but I think you get the gist from the above bullet points!

* Family provisions are policies such as tax deductions for families/parents (double or single parent households), parental leave/allowances, child allowances, right to and compensation for staying at home with a sick child, etc.

Show & Tell: Heart-Shaped Things

Today's theme for the Friday regular Show & Tell is heart-shaped things. I don't have very many heart-shaped things to photograph or write about so I should I'd borrow an idea from Dagens nyheter yesterday and google "heart-shaped things".

Did you know that there is a heart-shaped lake in Taipei which has a heart-shaped island in the middle?

There are also others who have a Show & Tell thing going on and they had a "heart-shaped things" theme already in April last year. That woman makes up for my lack of hearts in this post.

Greetings on Happy eat heart-shaped things day, accompanied by a recipe!

A song about heart-shaped things!

If you're looking for heart-shaped clipart, look no further.

A bit of a Valentine's theme since it was that very day yesterday (also the reason for today's Show & Tell of course); the top six presents on Alla hjärtans dag (All Hearts' Day) as it's called in Sweden:

• Underwear
• Jewelery (includes cufflinks, etc. for men)
• Gift card
• "Love technology". No, it's not something kinky but a web camera "so that I can look at you all day", or a mobile phone "so that I can talk to you all day".
• Perfume
• Flowers - the classic

Show & Tell: Chocolate

My boyfriend is going to Brussels for a weekend in a couple of weeks. He'd better bring me some Leonidas chocolate!! Leonidas is not as expensive as Godiva or Neuhaus but definitely as tasty!

(Pictures from www.caviar.com and www.espn.go.com (not sure why these sites have chocolate pictures though...)

Swedes According to the Stockholm Guidebook for Diplomats

Answering the telephone
Most Swedes will answer their phone by saying either their first or last name or both. People rarely pick up and say hello without giving you any indication of where you have called.
That's pretty useful actually; it's always frustrating when you call companies or other workplaces in the UK for example and someones just answers "hello", and the first question you have to ask is "is this x?".

Be on time!
Swedes are neurotic about punctuality, agendas and timetables. It is considered very disrespectful to be late both professionally and privately. If you are late, do call and let the waiting person(s) know and you will be easily forgiven. Always apologise if you are late!
Good custom I think, except the obsession with numbering the weeks! "Yes, I can meet you Monday week 16." Que??

Calling others
On weekdays you can call people between 9am - 10pm. Do not call before 10am on weekends. It is also considered bad form not to introduce yourself even if the person answering is not the one you are looking for.
I would probably not call people before 8am or after 9pm, 10pm if it's a good friend.

Condolences
If someone loses a member of the family it is common to call and give your condolences. If it is not a close friend a written note sent home is an appreciated gesture and if you want to send flowers any kind will do.

First name basis
Swedes are informal and rarely use titles when addressing one another.
A nice custom, why this Mr and Mrs and Ms in other countries!

Gender roles and equality
Most women work outside the home both before and after marriage (oh, my God, how could they?!). They also continue working after having children (nah, it can't be true!), but after a maternity leave of 12-18 months (hopefully it will soon be less than that, when more dads start taking more of their entitlement). Consequently men are expected to do a larger burden of the work within the home. However, most will agree that the domestic chores still largely fall under the woman's domain (shouldn't be, but sadly it is so). Some traditional gestures are still upheld. For example, men often open doors for women and let them enter first. Men often propose marriage even though it is often a common decision between the two parties without involvement from the families.

Lunch
Most restaurants have daily lunch specials. It is reasonably priced and this is the main meal of the day for many Swedes.
Dagens rätt is an excellent invention!

Monarchy
Although the socialist party has governed Sweden for most of the past hundred years, the monarchy has not been threatened by public opinion. The Swedish monarch is down to earth and well linked and respected by most Sweden.
Yes, we're all buddies with the King. I think the "socialists" would prefer being called "social democrat" though.

Peacekeepers
Swedes shun conflicts. They prefer not to raise an uncomfortable issue if it means risking having to raise their voice.
But if we are peacekeepers I assume it means talking about difficult issues once in a while.

Pets
Swedes are fond of their animals. Cats and dogs are treated as family and live inside the home. However, there are regulations for how to keep your pet. They must not make noise that disturb the neighbours. When taking your dog for a walk you are expected to pick up your pet's disposal and bruing it to a rubbish bin. The pet should get the necessary shots. Nametags with address and phone numbers are helpful if the animals strays. It is fairly uncommon to neuter your dogs while it is more common with cats.
Didn't know that last thing about neutering.

Queuing strategies
In order to make queuing easier many places have a ticket machine by the entrance. Pull a number and then wait for your number to be shown on a display.
So efficient. Lets you do other things while you wait as well, and most importantly, prevents people from jumping the queue.

Talk about the weather
As the fall and winter months are so long in Sweden, Swedes are obsessed with the weather. One can say that it is a common denominator for all Swedes. Swedes love to talk about the weather. Talk about the weather is often used as an icebreaker.
We share this with the Brits (or at least the English) who are equally obsessed with the weather, but perhaps not due to long autumn and winter. Instead I tend to believe in the antropologist Kate Fox's explanation that we do it because we are a reserved people who really believe in personal integrity and the weather is almost the only neutral topic there is. She agrees that it is also used as an icebreaker.

Thank You
Swedes like to say thank you many times through a conversation. It can be hard to end a telephone conversation before both parties have said thank you at least twice.
I have heard foreigners in Sweden say this also but I hadn't thought about it. It's true though. One example people give is when we thank the cashier for our change, money that is righfully ours. I guess we thank him/her for the action of handing it over rather than the money itself. But I can't imagine that this is unique to Sweden; other nationalities must do this too.

Understatements
Jantelagen is a term often used. It means that you should never think that you are better than anyone else. What Swedes consider bragging would in many countries only be to tell it like it is. Another thing we share with the English although they take it to extremes - Kate Fox has many good examples in her book!

Visiting friends and acquaintances
Swedes like to plan things (no kidding!). If you want to visit someone, call in advance and ask them if it is convenient. A Swede might find it embarrassing if their home is not orderly or if they do not have anything to offer you when you come. A need of privacy can also be disturbed by a surprise visit.
At least we still entertain IN her our homes. The French for example, usually meet up with friends at restaurants. When it comes to kids though, usually they just ring the doorbell and ask if X wants to come out and play. This is different in e.g. the USA where "playdates" are the norm, set up by the parents.

Listed Love

I love lists! Three things that I always have...

In my fridge: Lactos-low or free milk, orange juice, Balsamic vinegar
In my freezer: Ice, quorn, toast bread
In my spices cabinet: Besides the essential salt and pepper; basil, paprika, chili
In my bar stash: Champagne, South African Amarula, prickly pear liqueur from Malta
On my kitchen counter: Olive oil, rapeseed oil, salt & pepper shakers

On my bathroom shelf: I keep everything in the cupboard but sometimes I leave out body lotion, hairspray and hand cream
On my shoe shelf: I'm a bit of a shoe maniac so I have shoes in closets, drawers and in the basement, but in the hall I keep winter boots, a pair of nicer dressed up indoor shoes and a pair of loafers
In my basement: Clothes, old school books and supplies, inherited crockery and kitchen equipment I can't make myself get rid of (may become useful some day)

In my purse: In addition to the boring necessities (wallet, keys, wallet); lip balm, work pass, pen
In my makeup bag: Eyeshadow, eyelash curler, mascara
In my coat pocket: Tissues, bus tickets

In my thoughts: Ministerial visit next week, the pillow cases I'm sewing, summer holiday plans

Super Fat Tuesday

Today is not only Super Tuesday (or Super Hyper Tuesday as it's called this year) but also Fettisdagen, the Swedish Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras or whatever name it has in your country. Basically it is stuffing-yourself-with-lots-of-unhealthy-stuff-before-Lent-starts day. In Sweden we eat semlor, a really simple cardamom bun with whipped cream and marsipan.

In the UK it's pancakes, in Iceland salty meat and peas and in Poland pickled herring with vodka.

Lullun in Greenland has also written on this topic today and Beverly has some excellent recipes for a different style of semla (which would definitely not be approved by traditionalists).

Green Driving

Environmental theme today. Five steps to greener driving behaviour:

1) Plan, plan, plan. It's essential for economical driving. Don't stop and start when it isn't necessary.
2) Drive in as high gear as possible. Change directly from second to fourth gear. Or from third to fifth. Today you can drive most cars in highest gear already at 50 km/h.
3) Keep the speed limit and don't overtake when you don't need to.
4) Motor break instead of breaking with the pedals.
5) Roll downhill - and keep level gas uphill.

Other tips
* Keep the right tyre pressure. Higher pressure reduces both wear to tyres and fuel consumption.
* De-assemble the roof box. Reduced air resistance gives lower fuel consumption.
* Use motor heaters. Cold starts consume a lot.
* Don't let the motor idle.
* Service the car regularly.
* Turn off the AC when you're not using it.
* Half of all car journeys are shorter than 5 minutes. Park the car and walk instead.

Source: Swedish Road Administration / Svenska Dagbladet newspaper

Another White Thing - UPDATED

SNOW!! Finally, after a winter with no snow so far (except for a powderish layer once or twice), we got 1cm or so yesterday and a few minutes ago it started snowing again. Big snowflakes are slowly falling from the sky.

Update 14:30 - Looks like it may be already melting :(

Show & Tell: Three White Things

Since I have been a total failure when it comes to posting photos from our trip to South Africa in December (to my defence I have posted a couple of hundred of them on Facebook) I thought I'd use my first go at Show & Tell (initiated by Norrskensbuddha) to give you a taste of South Africa. The instructions said "things" but I'm going to widen it a bit to fit my purposes.


White theme 1: Zebras - Just one example of all the cool animals we saw





White theme 2: Black and white - Our visit to Kliptown in Soweto, Johannesburg, symbolises the years of Apartheid in South Africa and the segregation that still exists



White theme 3: Seagull - Represents the beautiful and amazing nature and scenery we experienced in South Africa

K as in Killing-gänget

I've been challenged by Johanna to take part in a chain blogging exercise focused on films with titles following the order of the alphabet. It's my turn to find a film title that starts with K. Impossible! I don't like Kill Bill and I haven't seen The Kingdom. So I will go with a fun clip from the Swedish comedy group Killing-gänget. This is really only funny if you understand both English and Swedish but since probably at least half my readers fit that description, it will do just fine.

As goes with these challenges, I will have to pass the torch onto three people. My choice is: Anne, Marianne and Nonna.

Monster Called Haga

Alva's dad recommended a system that helps you track who's been visiting your blog and how they got there. Most of mine find their way here from other blogs (mainly the ones I visit often and some of which also link to me). Others search on Google (or other search engines, but Google is predominant) and for a mix of straighforward and inexplicably reasons end up on Anna, Fair and True:

* Offside rule for women (or offside rule and women's shoes) - This is a joke I posted once
* Is ljubljana safe for tourists - This is really weird because I have never even been to Slovenia...it must be one of my posts about the EU
* Monster called haga - Que?? At least it gave me a good laugh
* That booty shake - I think it's a You Tube clip with a cute little girl dancing
* Role models - A post about my mother
* Amazing talent - That's me of course!
* Celebrities for the congestion charge - Not sure where the celebrities come in but I have written about road tolls several times
* Jcr wii oxford - JCR is the junior common room (student member body and social club) at Oxford, and, well, you know by now what the Wii is
* California's 4 most popular attraction - Haven't been there for over 11 years but maybe I wrote about Alcatraz or something??
* Sweden most popular attraction - Must have been the Vasa Museum
* Durkslag in English - Colander or strainer, but this was actually a discussion in the comments to the post

Wiinjury UPDATED

Peter and I have been laughing at all the safety instructions that you have to pass through before the Wii lets you play a game of tennis or baseball, or even a-sitting-down-and-relaxing game such as Super Mario Galaxy.

On Sunday I got a taste of what they are trying to protect you from (and themselves, in case people want to sue). We were playing tennis - we have two wiimotes now - and stood next to each other in front of the TV, keeping what we thought was sufficient distance between us. Apparently not enough though as suddenly Peter, getting very carried away in his efforts to win over me, smashes me very hard on the shoulder with his wiimote.

Monday morning I was a bit sore, Monday night was probably the worst (going to a yoga class didn't help either) but today it's feeling much better. Good thing I have a massage session booked tomorrow.

Updated
I thought for a moment that I had coined a new phrase - wiinjury - but when I googled it I got over 6,000 hits. Someone already thought of wiiplash also :)

Nonsense Pondering

Is it just me or have you ever seen Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's daughter Suri in a pram or a pushchair? They are always carrying her, everywhere. It must be some Scientology crap, just like that barley (wheat) formula babies are supposed to drink according to the Scientologists, instead of breastmilk or regular formula. It's probably good for little Suri to run around, but sometimes she'd probably like to take a nap in a comfortable pushchair instead of her mum's shoulder.

Friday Four - Time Travelling

I really liked the book "The Time Traveller's Wife" and I need something to blog about while I sort out my South Africa photos (though I have posted most of them on Facebook). In addition, it was a long time since I did one of these Friday Four things (the guy even stopped posting them so I had to take an old one).

Theme: If you could wind time back and forth, what would you have done if you were...

1) ...7 years old?
Written down what I felt my first day of school because I can't remember it at all :( Weird, because I really enjoyed school. The good thing is that it must mean that it was a traumatic experience for me (it's not like my mum got lost on the way to school).

2) ...15 years old?
Convinced my parents to get me a moped and to let me go on one of those summer language exchange courses.

3) ...30 years old?
Not postponed things, like posting travel photos or sewing pillow cases (I bought the fabric in Hong Kong in March and... that's how far I've got)

4) ...60 years old?
Retired and spent the rest of my (hopefully very long) life travelling the world, spending time with grandchildren and doing charity work for a worthwhile cause (or involving myself in local or national politics).

2007 Summarised

Stealing an idea that is going around a lot at the moment.

This year's....

Daily joy: Facebook, reading my favourite blogs
Gratitude: surviving bad turbulence when flying home from South Africa
Greatest expectation: the long wait for the trip to South Africa (from March to December)
Greatest disappointment: the rainy summer
Greatest joy: spending every day with Peter
Greatest triumph: praise at work (e.g. a very nice personal thank you letter)
Greatest "I wish more had happened this year": a ring would have been nice...!
Most wonderful weekend: a cosy weekend at the country house
Ponder: where to (job) go next
Relief: at least some sort of progress on the climate
Best new contact: new blog contracts, or re-finding old friends on FB
Happening: seeing wild animals hands-on in Africa
Project: Helena's hen party for which I was the co-ordinator, or the planning of the South Africa trip
Trip: South Africa, or Hong Kong
Person: Peter
Piece of clothing: a dress from Sand that was way too expensive (though worth it!)
Book: Snabba Cash
Purchase: Nintendo Wii
Restaurant: the thai place near home which is saviour
Most difficult: finding time to read (due to my Internet addiction)
TV moment: Heroes
Best party: Helena & Tommie's wedding or many of the 30th birthday parties I attended
Film: elephants in South Africa

Back in Sweden & A New Year

We're back after a fantastic holiday (our luggage decided to stay a bit longer though...)! Will blog about soon - just need to go through a thousand photos first...

Happy new year to all my readers!