Religious taxes and a weekend in Stockholm

Well we're pretty much settled in now. The house is almost how we want it, I say almost because to be honest I doubt I'd get away without a few more trips to Ikea, and we're getting used to the local supermarkets, although we haven't tackled the BIG store near Vasteras yet. Laura is getting out and about with and without Isabelle and we've even managed to get in the garden and start to weed and plant to try and make it nice for the summer.
We had a great weekend in Stockholm. We visited the Vasa museum which was excellent and well worth a visit if anyone is thinking of visiting Sweden's capital. The only issue we had was Isabelle getting fed up after 45 minutes and wanting to play outside. I can't blame her really the weather was beautiful and we managed a couple of beers by the harbor watching the locals and tourists milling around and preparing their boats for the summer season. The rest of the time we wandered around the old town and visited the royal palace (although I'm told the King of Sweden doesn't actually live there) and Isabelle had her first childrens meal in a restaurant! When I say restaurant I mean Pizza Hut (apparently it's just easier with children). We all really enjoyed Stockholm and hope to visit more throughout the summer, it's only a 1 hour 45 minute drive from Fagersta and not incredibly expensive considering it's the capital (I'm talking about beer prices here).

I finally got my first paycheck from my new job this week and I was surprised to find out that here you pay tax (1.2% no less) to the church. Yes religion is still allowed to take money from the poor citizens of Sweden which I find absurd. In a country where 70% of the population are members of the Church of Sweden but less than 4% of those actually attend church (thanks Wikipedia) you'd think that the tax would be an opt in system instead of the current opt out. Needless to say I think we'll be holding onto our 1.2%... As soon as I can convince myself that I'm not going to burst into flames as soon as I cross the church entrance.

Also this weekend we got out into the back garden and started to tidy it up. Laura visited the local garden centre with Sara (one of our friends here) and managed to spend every krona she was sent out with (she can't convert it into pounds but she has no trouble spending it!) While I had to cut the foot long grass - it gets longer every time I tell this story... this is my 5th time -  using a 1950's man powered lawnmower. No electric mower here, sheer brute force and a lot of cursing finally clipped the grass to a reasonable level. Now I have to do it every weekend otherwise I'll have to go through the ordeal all over again (it is a good workout though). 

Finally Isabelle is now taking a couple of steps, she's saying a few more words - flufers instead of flowers is her current favorite - and she knows when she has an audience... little madame! She'll stand up by herself, wait for us to say good girl or clap her efforts to try to get her to move forward, then she'll give herself a round of applause and sit back down beaming to all like shes just conned you out of praise and you're the butt of the joke. If she wasn't so cute there'd be trouble... but how can you stay mad at a face like this...

 

OK that's it for now. We're back in the UK for a holiday next week so we'll look forward to seeing you all then. Oh and I hope you all enjoyed your bank holiday today. Here we get a half day Wednesday, day off Thursday, day off Friday and a day off next Monday... Are we glad to be here?... Damn straight we are!

Lots of love

Ben, Laura and Izzy x x x 

First week

Well it's been just over a week since we've moved out to Fagersta in Sweden. We're settling in nicely to our new surroundings, although I think the change is a little easier on me and Isabelle than it is on Laura. I of course have the advantage of already spending a lot of time here. I have some friends at work and I get out of the house everyday and talk with other people... It's only at work of course but it still helps with the transition. Isabelle, being only 16 months old is totally dependant on Laura and myself anyway, so as long as we are around to clean up and feed her she is more than happy. She settled into her new room a lot quicker than we could. By the second night she was sleeping through like she'd been in that room her whole life. Laura on the other hand is at home everyday (week days of course!) taking care of Isabelle. Yes she can go out for a walk (the weather since we arrived has been fantastic, apart from a very brief snow shower we've had blue skies and 15 - 20 degrees) but not knowing the area and being unsure of the language is making her think twice. I think I'm going to have to force the issue if she continues to stay indoors!

Our furniture eventually turned up which has made the house a lot more homely. Our very first night was very upsetting pushing together two single beds and rattling around in an empty house, it didn't help that all the surfaces in the house are hard so all the sound echoed around the place like we were living in a shell of a home. Luckily we only had to live like that for one night but I could tell by the look in her eyes that Laura was starting to wonder what I'd got her into. A weekend trip to Ikea has also helped to make the place a little more homely. We took the 60km drive on Saturday which only took 40 minutes to get there (there is a severe lack of traffic here)... I remember it taking longer to get from Streetly to Birmingham city centre on a Monday morning so the 40 minute drive isn't too bad plus the scenery is amazing. Vistas of lakes and forest that make us feel that we definitely made the right choice in moving here (not that there's anything wrong with the views on the way into Birmingham... Newtown anyone?) 

The language is going to be a little difficult to understand. Luckily most people here speak very good English except for one or two very important people - anyone who works in a supermarket and the guy who owns the pizza takeaway around the corner. On the first night as the house was empty and we had been travelling all day we decided to try the local pizza takeaway (seeing as it's one of the 4 dishes that Laura will eat!). I started with Laura's order - Margherita is easy and always the same in any language. For those of us who have a more adventurous taste things get a little tricky. Nothing (and I mean nothing) on a pizza menu in Swedish looks anything like the English version of the word. So I'm trying to explain to the guy behind the counter who is looking increasingly more and more uninterested in what I am trying to describe before he finally utters two words that I understand... "Kebab pizza?"  The thought of a kebab pizza was not as agreeable as the pizza itself, but I'm sure I put on an extra 1/2 stone in that first night alone! (I've now taken to miming animals to the guy which seems to work and makes him laugh so we're all winners in the end).

Well that's about it for now other than to say that work is going well (although there is a lot of it!), Laura is getting used to dividing the SEK prices by 10 to get a rough GBP price and we have booked our first weekend away to Stockholm which we're really looking forward to.

Oh and one piece of advice for anyone else thinking of moving out here... the Systembolaget (beer shop) closes at 3:00pm on Saturday and is not open on a Sunday... At all!! Don't forget or you'll end up like us - having a very dry weekend!

Lots of love

Ben, Laura and Izzy x x