I emigrated to Sweden AMA

[FatCatThinCat]

For @SquirrelFan and anyone else with an interest in my very boring life.

George Clarke did a programme on council houses IIRC in Sweden. They looked absolutely beautiful and apparently there aren't waiting lists. Is this true? What is the criteria for getting one?

@kinzarose

George Clarke did a programme on council houses IIRC in Sweden. They looked absolutely beautiful and apparently there aren't waiting lists. Is this true? What is the criteria for getting one?

Anyone can rent from the Council property company although the higher your need the quicker it will occur. Many people put their names down for many cities as soon as they turn 16. It was very hard to get a council apartment during in Syrian refugee crisis.

There are waiting lists and they can vary in length especially if you are really picky regarding location. Some people I did read that if you want one of the few remaining in the historic Stockholm old town that it will take 12-15 years.

However it can go quickly. DD graduated as a nurse and had to leave her student apartment a week later. She got a job 100 miles away and was able to move into a newly renovated council flat directly.

@GiantHaystacks2021

Are they looking for foreign teachers in their high schools there? Asking for a friend.

@GiantHaystacks2021

Do they speak Swedish? To become a registered teacher in Sweden you have to have A-level Swedish. It is also normal in Sweden to teach more than one subject.

The Internationella Engelska Skolan teaches 50% in English and may be an option
engelska.se/

There are also options to be a "native language" teacher (modersmål lärare) as Local Authorities must offer classes in their home language to children on immigrant background.

Is there anything dangerous in the lakes that can bite or sting you while you're swimming?

(Asking for a friend )

What a lovely thread! I'm Swedish and lived there until I was in my early 20s, it is now 20 years later and I am planning to move back to Stockholm in a year and a bit. Need to see the youngest through school in the UK first.

All the descriptions of life in Sweden are so spot on, and I miss the nature and the outdoorsy life so much. I can not wait until I am there again.

@ohfook the only think that could potentially bite you are the pikes, it is very rare though and they wouldn't bite if you are swimming as they live in the murky waters by the bottom. I am more scared of the bears and wolves in the forests.

@Jooox

Are animals well protected there?

What kind of wildlife do you have?

Yes and no. Wildlife is very well protected, eg you can't let dogs off leads, but you also can't bring in a sick hedgehog and nurse it back to health as you're not allowed to interfere with protected animals. But at the same time they recently had a very controversial wolf cull.

They've recently brought in laws around keeping cats because too many swedes don't give a shit about their cats. But the change in law shows that lots of others are very angry about that.

We have big wildlife. It looks the same but is bigger. The foxes I've seen are massive. Don't see rabbits, it all hares here. And red squirrels. We have wolves in the area but you never see them. The moose are bigger in person than you can possible imagine.

Cool - I'd love to see a wild moose in person!

@kinzarose

I watched a very interesting documentary about a teacher swap from Sweden to UK, the Swedish teacher was horrified that the primary school children had a 'voice' and were forthcoming in offering their opinions. She said in Sweden that would be considered rude and disrespectful to the teacher. She was always shocked that she had to give her instructions more than once at times, Swedish children are a lot more obedient apparently!

I would disagree with this. I was a scout leader for 20 years in the UK and I think kids behave the same. Some are buggers but the majority are well behaved. My friend is a headmistress here and when she did her English teaching degree she spent a few months in the UK teaching. She was impressed with the level of discipline in UK schools. Here teachers have very little power to control the class because the predomiate theory is that you can't force them to listen and learn, that's not the teachers job. The teachers job is to present the information and it's up to the child whether they want to engage with it. There's no detentions or exclusions here. But a lot of people aren't happy and it's starting to change.

@felulageller

Are teen obsessed with Instagram, fake tan, nails and fillers like seems to be the norm in the UK?

What do you have for Xmas dinner?

What are DC's birthdays like?

Does everyone own skis??

I think they are a bit obsessed but that might be because I'm too old. I don't think fake beauty is such an obsession thought, they're much more naturel in their look. And they are naturelly very beautiful.

Swedes have their Christmas dinner on 24th so we get 2. A Swedish julbord on Christmas eve and a full turkey dinner on 25th. I think I prefer the swedish one. It's a buffet of fish (pickled herring, salmon, smoked salmon) meat (hams, salamis, pate, meatballs,sausages) cheese, and sweets.

Children's birthday are very similar, whole class running riot down the soft play. One difference though is that it is completely socially unacceptable to leave children out. We arrived when autistic DD was 13 and straight away she was included and invited. She'd never been included in the UK, not even to whole class parties.

It does seem like everyone owns skis, apart from us. The skiing holiday to north seems to be more important than the summer holiday.

@Twinkie01

Can you purchase property there if you're not a resident??

It's sounds idilic. I'm v jealous.

You can but I expect it's more complicated and brext hasn't helped.

@GiantHaystacks2021

Are they looking for foreign teachers in their high schools there? Asking for a friend.

Yes, there is a shortage of teachers. Also they can employ unqualified teachers on 6 months contracts if there's no qualified teacher. My DD worked as an English teacher for 3 years while she completely her teaching degree. Her contract was made permanent as soon as she qualified. My German friend is German teacher and she only has the German equivalent of A-levels and had no experience of teaching when she was offered the job.

[quote StrictlyAFemaleFemale]1. What is the swedish chef called in Sweden? In german he is the danish cook (RUDE).

1. What accent does Wandering Oaken have in swedish frozen?
2. Have you seen welcome to sweden and how accurate is it? As a brit in denmark I thought there was a LOT of overlap.
3. Did you see the twitter war between Sweden and Denmark? www.vox.com/platform/amp/2016/7/7/12118250/denmark-sweden-twitter-fight-why[/quote]
4. No idea

1. No idea

1. No I haven't.

1. I have now.

@kinzarose

George Clarke did a programme on council houses IIRC in Sweden. They looked absolutely beautiful and apparently there aren't waiting lists. Is this true? What is the criteria for getting one?

The criteria varies. The area my DD moved to has a shrinking population so their top priority is people moving into the area.

Forgot, DD moved into her flat 2 months after applying for housing. It was up to here what size she wanted, she chose a 2 bed, and had the choice of several in different areas. She picked the one which meant she could roll out of bed and land in het classroom.

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale DP informs me that the Swedish Chef is still called the Swedish Chef in Sweden! (Though you'd think they'd just call him the Chef?).

DP may or may not own a Swedish Chef apron and do enthusiastic impressions of him often

@ohfook

Is there anything dangerous in the lakes that can bite or sting you while you're swimming?

(Asking for a friend )

I hope not. I haven't been in the sea since watching Jaws. I quite like a paddle in the lake.

Saying that the mosquitos here are absolute bastards. But they don't like me so I'm ok.

@lazylinguist

Cool - I'd love to see a wild moose in person!

I drove round a bend at dusk and there was a male just stood in the middle of the road, stopping traffic while his family crossed behind him. I just knew if there'd been a collision I'd be dead and he'd be fine.

They do have a bit of a reputation for not holding their alcohol. They're very shy, gentle creatures but occasionally they get pissed by eating fermented apples and then the polis have to get called in to deal with their drunken behaviour.

Drunk moose . Probably no joke though!

Is your DH's salary heavily taxed?

All the Scandinavians I've spoken to say their social support systems are excellent because income tax contributions are very high to fund them - in some countries starting from 40%.

@lazylinguist

Drunk moose . Probably no joke though!

One got stuck up a tree.

@TaleOfTheContinents

Is your DH's salary heavily taxed?

All the Scandinavians I've spoken to say their social support systems are excellent because income tax contributions are very high to fund them - in some countries starting from 40%.

I'm not an expert on tax so this could be totally wrong ...

Basic income tax is paid to the local council and is set by them. Ours is around 32%. Higher rate income tax is set by central goverment and is paid to them. I think it's around 20%, which will be on top of what you pay locally. So local services are funded directly by that community.

@lazylinguist

Cool - I'd love to see a wild moose in person!

We mainly went to Sweden because of my obsession with moose,

We spent a week at Moose Garden in Orrviken where you can go in with fully grown moose and literally hug and, if you want, even kiss them.

They are amazing animals and I loved our week there. The owner was quite surprised as he said most visitors only stay for 1 maybe 2 nights.

Should have said we never saw any moose actually in the wild even though we drove round as much as possible in the hope we would

@FatCatThinCat

I grew up in the north of Sweden and we had drunk moose (what is the plural of moose?) almost every year running through our gardens growing up. We even have some of them on film and it's hilarious. They are generally very harmless though but you wouldn't want one to fall on you or have a head on collision with the car. I have read of those types of accidents and generally the humans die and most of the time the moose too as the moose will go through your windscreen and (sorry this is gross) its insides will end up in your car.

wildlife - Where I live in Sweden it is very rural so we get a lot of wildlife

In my garden I have spotted

• deer - especially in winter
• foxes
• badgers
• hares
• not actually spotted but seen Lynx tracks
• Cranes - but usually in the field behind my house
• water voles
• red squirrels
• all sorts of birds that come to the feeders in winter
• nearby lanes huge Moose and Wolves
• there were golden eagles at one time in the barn next door

In the North of my county are reindeer - they are very stubborn and nosy. They are not scared of traffic and amble out into the road to stare at cars and when we were bringing stuff into our holiday let we came back to our open boot car to find a group having a nosy at our stuff.