Starwoman

I'd love to tell you about what's different in Sweden, but the list is quite long. Where in the world to begin?

Think of a movie where a friendly alien lands on Earth, Starman, for example. I am that alien, wandering through the grocery store, the city plaza, the apartment complex, in a constant state of wonder.

Mostly it's fun, though sometimes it can get overwhelming, and sometimes plain frustrating.

Example of frustrating: a stain on one of my clothes. No problem; I will run to the store for some stain remover. But no such product seems to exist here.

No problem, I will use hydrogen peroxide. You know, the stuff that bubbles up when you put it on a cut? No, never heard of that.

I was almost defeated by all this when I suddenly remembered baking soda, which I found in the kitchen cupboard cleverly disguised as something called bakpulver, which I only identified by tasting it.

Then, just when I was feeling almost like a college graduate again, it was time to figure out how to use the washing machine. Where does the soap go? What temperature would I like? In centigrade, please, and answers like "warm" will not do.
On the other hand, it can be wondrous.

Like the discovery of the whole aisle of lösgodis (literally, loose goodies, I suppose), bulk bins of candy. Not just candy, but a strange, undisovered world of candy, maybe 15 different kinds of licorice, from salty to cream-filled, toffees, chocolates. I would say "yum" but since I am in Sweden, I will just say "mumsfilibaba."
So, things are different here, in every way. Around the house, the toilets are different (more like airplane toilets with trapdoors). The doorknobs are different (handles instead). The electrical outlets are different.
No one wears their shoes in the house so there is an area by every front door dedicated to the donning and doffing of shoes, complete with a long shoehorn for making the process easier.

The fridge is different, the cupboards, the ingredients on the shelf, the measurements in the cookbooks.

Out in the world, the people look you in the eye, but they hardly ever smile. The push in front of one another, they don't say excuse me, they take a number to stand in line, they pay to use a shopping cart at the store and they pay for the bags too.

When two people come toward one another, say through a doorway, there is no understanding that everyone will go to the right; they go every which way. Men don't let ladies go first; people just go, so if you want to go first, you better get going!

People ride bicycles, especially girls and women in pretty dresses on bicycles with baskets, pretty as a picture. There is a cool little addition to ladies' bikes, a little shield over the back wheel, just to keep your dress from getting caught in your spokes. An ekerskydd; I want one.


This is just scratching the surface. There is so much more.