Observations

Here are just a few things I have encountered while in Sweden:

-The Swedes love their boiled potatoes. I have nothing against potatoes but I have to remember to eat fruit and other vegetables.

-Every Swede gets a five week holiday from their job. My host mom says when Swedes are on holiday, they shop. That was apparent yesterday at a shopping mall that was a former military center called A6, where young people from the area stayed during their required military service, and at IKEA.

-Swedes eat Quaker cereal (in addition to other things). The box talks about how Quaker was founded in Chicago. The Quaker cereal we ate was manufactured in Denmark. I thought that was interesting.

-Yoghurt is available not only in little plastic containers but a thinner form is available in cartons and boxes.  It is quite good.

-I will never cease to be amused by Swedish grocery stores. The prominent chain is called ICA (pronounced E-KA). The super huge one I went to yesterday allowed you to check out your own personal check-out device with a laser and clip it to your cart and you just check out as you go. When you are done, you put the laser tool back in a slot, and swipe you credit card to pay for the food. The best is when you buy produce. You weigh the produce by putting the food on an electronic scale, and using a touch screen you chose the correct item. Then it prints out a sticker with a barcode, and you scan it. It is very efficient. I am sure I was overly enthusiastic about shopping at the grocery store, but oh well.

-Europeans from places like Germany sometimes chose to have summer homes or go on summer vacation in Sweden. I have heard German spoken a few times. It reminds me of Minnesotans driving up north to go their cabins.

- It is hard to get  completely immersed in Swedish at any given time. The music on the radio is sometimes in English. Many TV shows come from the States or Britain, with Swedish subtitles. (There is no dubbing, except for children's movies).  I can tell that the subtitles don't always match completely with the English. Packaged food may have English descriptions, and tourist destinations usually also have English signs. This can be bad, but I am trying to focus as much as possible on what is Swedish.

-All the Swedes I have met have been very friendly, but the automatically start speaking English. From now on I am going to have to tell them I would like to speak Swedish in order to practice.

-I knew I was finally in Sweden when I heard and saw a Volvo low-rider zoom by. It  was a station wagon and had loud exhaust system, wider tires, shiny hubcaps, and it was turquoise. I never thought I would see that!