Lessons from a Month in Sweden

[TromboneAl]

Just got back from Sweden. We went for the funeral of Lena's mom, who died at eighty-nine. We stayed for a month to investigate whether we'd want to move to Sweden.

We actually had a wonderful time, despite two colds and two twenty-five-hour, four-plane airplane trips.

Here are two tips based on my experience:

1. Declutter now.

Lena, her brother, her sister and I spent many hours throwing and giving away stuff from her mom's house (her dad died a few years ago). Here are Lena and her sister sorting photos (I scanned in hundreds).

Lots of interesting photos, such as my notes for the speech I gave at our wedding in 1981 (in Swedish) and this picture of Lena from long ago:

Some of the things they had were 100+ years old. We made over eight trips to the dump/återvinning center. There are still many things left in the house.

2. Keep Your Passport Current

For some reason, until our departure date was three weeks away, both Lena and I forgot that my passport had expired. So, instead of a trip to the local post office and a $60 fee, I had to make an emergency trip to San Fran.

There were catch-22s such as I didn't want to make the reservations until I knew I'd be able to renew my passport, and I couldn't get an expedited passport until I had reservations.

With airfare and other expenses, it cost $700 to get my passport renewed.

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I've posted annotated photos of the trip here.

Check out this video of a typical four-language (English, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian) dinner at Lena's brother's house.

I'll be posting more musings and info about the trip in my author newsletter. Click here to subscribe (you can cancel at any time).

 

[rodi]

Sorry to hear about Lena's mom.

What was your conclusion about moving to Sweden?

 

[pacergal]

Condolences to you and Lena.
The pictures are great. DH family is from Sweden, and we would like to travel there in the next year or two.

 

[nun]

I can empathize with the comments about decluttering. A couple of years ago my Mum died and I had to clean out the family home back in the UK. My mum saved everything! She kept the house very clean and tidy, but it was packed. She still had my school books from the 1960s and 70s. I made lots of trips to the recycling center, took stuff to the charity shop and tried to distribute the furniture to the family. It was a lot of work.

 

[TromboneAl]

What was your conclusion about moving to Sweden?

I concluded that I could very well live in Sweden. I enjoyed working on my latest book. I usually commuted to the wonderful library (30 minute walk) so as to stay out of the way while the siblings made decisions.

I really enjoyed the winter weather, but it could get tiring. Because of an unusual lack of snow, the whole place was a skating rink.

And we always had to wear studded shoe coverings:

And it was a bother to always have to put those on or take them off when going in or out.

Then it finally snowed, and the snow would pack around the studs, and, with the ice underneath, all friction disappeared. One day I fell twice, and almost fell about six times. It made the news that the ERs were full of falling injuries that day.

But I loved the snow, and I always had a Christmasy feeling when outside. Every day was a snow day!

https://goo.gl/photos/Ji6CkHdiHxXBULDz5

Eating low-carb was harder in Sweden.

Buying things on Amazon is not easy. The Post Office doesn't deliver packages even though they are open 7 days a week, 9 AM - 10 PM.

The showstopper, however, is taxes. It seems that I'd have a lot of paperwork related to taxes, and would possibly have to pay tax twice on some stuff.

Lena pretty much does NOT want to move to Sweden.

Bottom line, it's an option, but we probably won't do it.

 

[cantlogin]

That picture makes you look like William H. Macy.

 

[EastWest Gal]

It's interesting that eating low carb is harder in Sweden. I thought low carb has been popular there for years.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2013/s...ogma-in-favor-of-low-carb-high-fat-nutrition/

 

[GravitySucks]

That picture makes you look like William H. Macy.

Hope Al's not trying to negotiate a kidnapping.

Welcome back Al.

 

[eytonxav]

Al, By the looks of some of the pics, you probably could have gone places on ice skates instead of the studded shoe covers.

 

[Newventurer]

Little Mermaid?

The picture of your wife on the rocks recalls the famous Danish Mermaid statue, was it intentional?

Sorry for your loss.

 

[TromboneAl]

It's interesting that eating low carb is harder in Sweden. I thought low carb has been popular there for years.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2013/s...ogma-in-favor-of-low-carb-high-fat-nutrition/

Yeah, that's what I expected. One place had an LCHF menu, and we found LCHF "semlor" at one bakery, but other than that it seemed that most things had even more sugar than here. When I asked for no mashed potatoes at one restaurant, the server was dumbfounded.

Semlor:

 

[TromboneAl]

The picture of your wife on the rocks recalls the famous Danish Mermaid statue, was it intentional?

She says no, not intentional. That picture was taken in Italy, by the way.

 

[TromboneAl]

Al, By the looks of some of the pics, you probably could have gone places on ice skates instead of the studded shoe covers.

Absolutely.

I passed this schoolyard when I walked to the library. The kids were out at recess even when the temps were around 0 degrees F.

You might think they're playing hockey here, but no, they were playing soccer.

They had much less snow than usual, but luckily we had a good snowfall a few days before we left. I really loved that. It gave me a nostalgic, Christmasy feeling.

https://goo.gl/photos/wb86PKyJRpYZBjpy9

 

[W2R]

Yeah, that's what I expected. One place had an LCHF menu, and we found LCHF "semlor" at one bakery, but other than that it seemed that most things had even more sugar than here. When I asked for no mashed potatoes at one restaurant, the server was dumbfounded.

Interesting!

I just googled and found this article which says that while 74.1% of U.S. adults are overweight, only 49.7% of Swedish adults are overweight. I assume that is attributed to a more active lifestyle? If so, then if you lived there and adopted their more active lifestyle, along with your bicycling and so on, then maybe you could eat all those sugary foods and still have not much problem keeping your weight down.

OK, pardon my rambling but it sure sounds like heaven to me.

 

[Fermion]

Maybe it is something else. Only about 55% of adults in Seattle are overweight, which is closer to Sweden. Maybe the USA just has some heavier parts.

 

[ejman]

Maybe it is something else. Only about 55% of adults in Seattle are overweight, which is closer to Sweden. Maybe the USA just has some heavier parts.

There is a gravitational anomaly under North America particularly in the South and Central portions that explains 97.5% of the overweight issue

 

[Fermion]

There is a gravitational anomaly under North America particularly in the South and Central portions that explains 97.5% of the overweight issue

Or possibly just that southern cooking uses a lot of butter and is just really damn good!

 

[W2R]

Maybe it is something else. Only about 55% of adults in Seattle are overweight, which is closer to Sweden. Maybe the USA just has some heavier parts.

Guess that comparative percentages for one wealthy city vs an entire nation depend on who did the statistics and their methodology, assumptions, and so on. Either way, my point still holds so I'll repeat it.

Just think! If you moved to Sweden and adopted their more active lifestyle, maybe you in Seattle could eat all their sugary foods with lesser consequences too.

 

[W2R]

There is a gravitational anomaly under North America particularly in the South and Central portions that explains 97.5% of the overweight issue

That is because everybody on the east and west coast is working 25 hours/day trying to pay the rent! They don't have time to eat.

Or possibly just that southern cooking uses a lot of butter and is just really damn good!

Your fish up there in Seattle is really good too, yum, and maybe less butter although I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

 

[zinger1457]

Interesting!
I just googled and found this article which says that while 74.1% of U.S. adults are overweight, only 49.7% of Swedish adults are overweight. I assume that is attributed to a more active lifestyle? If so, then if you lived there and adopted their more active lifestyle, along with your bicycling and so on, then maybe you could eat all those sugary foods and still have not much problem keeping your weight down.

I'm sure an active lifestyle helps and not having a group of junk fast food restaurants on every major street corner also probably helps.

 

[Fermion]

Guess that comparative percentages for one wealthy city vs an entire nation depend on who did the statistics and their methodology, assumptions, and so on. Either way, my point still holds so I'll repeat it.

Guess that the population of Sweden being about 10 million and the land mass being about the size of California makes comparing it to a smaller subsection of the much larger population and land mass/diversity of the USA reasonable?

So California would be a pretty good comparison and has a lower obesity rate than Sweden. And less ice.

Uhm, er well, no California actually is around 60% for overweight or obese (24% for obese) which is higher than Sweden. Maybe it is genetic. Or all that pickled fish they eat.

 

[Bamaman]

Americans simply eat out too much, and when they eat at home they're eating prepared foods. We've seen our daughter's generation eat too much junk food and pizza instead of a well rounded diet.

We were in Sweden and all the other Scandinavian countries last year. We loved the region but it's just so doggone cold--and never gets hot. At TGI Fridays, 2 burgers with fries and Cokes were $60 equivalent. Their currencies have never devalued like other world currencies (Euro & British Pound), and the cost of living is simply out of sight.

We'll be flying thru Oslo in April when returning from Budapest.

 

[W2R]

Americans simply eat out too much, and when they eat at home they're eating prepared foods. We've seen our daughter's generation eat too much junk food and pizza instead of a well rounded diet.

As long as that well rounded diet with no junk food and never eating out includes frequent consumption of fabulous very sugary treats like what Al showed in his photograph (earlier in this thread) and says is typical of Swedish food, then I'd be in 7th heaven. For me that is a sure ticket to weight gain, but it might work for somebody. Who am I to say what would work for all Americans.

 

[TromboneAl]

Interesting!

I just googled and found this article which says that while 74.1% of U.S. adults are overweight, only 49.7% of Swedish adults are overweight. I assume that is attributed to a more active lifestyle? If so, then if you lived there and adopted their more active lifestyle, along with your bicycling and so on, then maybe you could eat all those sugary foods and still have not much problem keeping your weight down.

OK, pardon my rambling but it sure sounds like heaven to me.

I thought about this while there. The difference in obesity rate was pretty obvious. Yes, there were a few older obese people, but many fewer than I've observed here. [I also see many fewer in San Fran than here.] I didn't see a single super-obese person.

My conclusion: It's a genetic difference. I don't know if Sweden/Norway were isolated, genetically, for eons, but many people look like this:

They wear bikinis in the snow, ha ha.

or this:

or this:

But I'm serious, there seemed to be less genetic diversity there. I saw so many young women who had that same look, including thin bodies. Me walking around: "Wow, wow, wow, there's another one!"

It was stylish to wear leg-hugging tights, and I saw a lot of thin legs.

This is an unscientific judgment, of course.

 

[TromboneAl]

P.S. Just checked, and the rate of diabetes in Sweden is less than half of that in the US. 4.7% vs 10.75%.

I think of type 2 like this: Genetics points the gun and sugar pulls the trigger.