On the Credit side

I've been guilty of being slightly negative again. So here's a short dose of Swedish positives. Just to keep the books balanced. There' not a great risk of being mugged here. Unless it's by another Kiwi, or maybe an Irishman. In fact, to be fair, I think that most of the locals are a little frightened of me. That's a nice change. There's comfort in being able to walk the streets at night. If you want to. In New Zealand one does not always have the freedom of choice, to go where you will, when you will. That has a lot of value to me. Road rage hasn't been invented in Sweden. Certainly not in the north. If someone seems a bit grumpy behind the wheel then they are most likely a Kiwi or an Australian. Interest rates are a non event. When borrowing. Looking at 3% mortgage rates when coming from a 12%+ mortgage rate country is a real luxury. As is the ability to claim those interest payments back as tax rebates every year. At the other end, you do have to pay tax on the profit you make when selling your house. Which is new for me. But you can offset that by deducting the costs for any work you have done to the property. So save all the paint tin receipts. Fuel is expensive. But that's only to get people off the roads, and on to the excellent public transport system. And it works a treat. It's pretty hard to buy real grease filled, artery clogging, deep fried, fast food. That's a good thing. God but I miss them. The health care system is a true one stop shop. They believe in preventative medicine, which in turn saves everyone time and money later on. It costs a bit for the first consultation, but then it's all smooth sailing from there. And generally quick. The kids in Sweden leave school with a level of education that many adults in other countries will never achieve. Don't even attempt to come here and work in a qualified industry without bringing a top shelf formal qualification with you. These kids will outshine you every time. I see a lot of immigrant kids who have been here for 4, 5, years. They are so well integrated and I can't help think about how lucky they are. They will have opportunities most other First World kids will never have. Alcohol is not that easy or cheap to buy. And that's good. Buying alcohol should be a conscious effort, and not the result of supermarket impulse buying. That being said, when they drink, they drink a lot. Houses are warm !!! Central heating is a dirty word in NZ. God knows why, maybe ignorance is bliss. I'll take this method any day. You can buy fruit and vegetables all year round. And not just when they are being grown in your own country. Sounds rather obvious, but a novel experience for me. The government accepts that immigrants need help to integrate fully into Swedish society, and begin to pay the obscenely high tax rates. And so they help. A lot. Again it sounds an obvious ploy. But sadly lacking in so many other lands. They speak English !!! It's a bit tougher up here in the north. One needs the language to live a semi normal life. But it's so nice to know that you can converse in English. If you need to. Without it being viewed as an inconvenience or nuisance.

Report card

Today it is officially one year since I stepped off the plane at Arlanda. With a song, with a smile, and with hope in my heart. 12 months on, it's time for a report card. It's probably fair to say that I haven't been won over by my lifestyle change. Not yet. Not today. Anyone who thinks that emmigrating is all about excitement and adventure needs to stop smoking that stuff. The reality is stark and raw. In many ways, being so far from good old New Zealand has saved me. Had I come from England, I would have chucked this in long ago and taken the 3 hour flight back to contentment and familiarity. Hell, I would have driven there. But the spectre of a 40 hour plus flight for people, pets, and belongings, has forced me to stick this out. As much of a nightmare as it has been at times. Let's look at the then and now. My plan when I arrived was to slot straight into a Swedish way of life, get a job, buy a house, and live the good life. That was the plan. Today, I have a job, and I own a house. So I guess that's a 50% pass rate. And, to be fair, I don't have a crap life, so maybe we can up that to about 60%. Still a ways short of the 100% I expected to have achieved, with no trouble. Unrealistic ? Absolutely. The biggest mistake I have made, and I see many others also, was in assuming that there would be no cultural differences. After all, I'm european, Sweden is european. It all looks the same from a distance. Wrong. I was totally under prepared for the differences in society. And I'm not just talking about language here. Although obviously that's a biggie. Just the way they do things. Often it's nothing tangible. It's nothing you can really describe. It's just, well, foreign. 9 million people believe that black is really red. And you can scream your lungs out, you won't change a thing. The only solution, the only way to survive, is for you to accept that black is now red. And forget what you may have known in a previous life. Fight it, and you will die here. That's the hardest thing. I'll admit, I fought it. A lot. And I still do from time to time. Some things I will just never accept. Not without losing a part of who I have become over the past 40 plus years. There's a very good reason why Swedes mostly live in Sweden. But for the most part, acceptance is slowly but surely creeping over me. I guess I've probably felt a bit more at peace in the last 2 months or so. Which is a promising sign. I had friends in New Zealand who had emigrated from England. They all told me that it took 18 months before a new land felt like home. And if you could last that 18 months, you would be ok. Frankly, after the first couple of months here, I was convinced that I wouldn't last 6 months. Now I've done 12 months. That gives me just more 6 months to hang in there. And to maybe find that missing 40%.