I came a cross something exciting today, a new magazine with focus on just Sweden written by Swedish based Australian writer/editor Laura Philips – Mr. Wolf. I was invited to the launch that’s held next week but unfortunately I’m unable to go since we’ll be in Adelaide at the time. The magazine is will come out quarterly and it will be profiling the leading personalities in contemporary Swedish Culture (from musicians, artists, bicycle makers, denim producers and jewellery designers). I’m looking forward to reading the first edition if I can get my hands on a copy.

Am I a lucky girl or what?!! Over Christmas I got not one, but two parcels sent from Sweden. One was from my adorable godchild Ella and contained two Santa figures, a drawing and a block of yummy Marabou chocolate.

The second one was a belated birthday/Christmas gift from my brother and sister-in-law (I love that I can call her that now). It contained a pair of very pink Urbanista headphones, earrings, a ring, knobs for our chest of drawers and lollies.

Many thanks for both of them, you made my day!!

One thing I really, really miss about Sweden is good tasting tap water. I don’t think you really appreciate it until you don’t have it anymore. I love Swedish tap water but here it tastes like chlorine. I know it’s perfectly safe to drink it but I just can’t come to terms with the taste. It tastes slightly better when it has been refrigerated but still nowhere close to tasty Swedish water. What do you think about the Australian tap water?

A lot of workplaces in Australia has a more strict dress code than workplaces in Sweden. Some of them do allow a more casual dress code on Fridays, commonly known as Casual Fridays. We used to have Casual Fridays at my work but as of last week a new dress standard policy is in place and they’ve been removed.

I believe Sweden in general has a more casual approach to workplace dress codes (at least thats my experience). Wearing jeans to work in Sweden was not an issue at all. Jeans used to be a big no no unless on casual Friday’s at my work but with the new dresscode “smart denim” is now permitted but only provided it’s worn with dress shoes and a top or shirt “appropriate for a professional environment”. In reality the stricter dress code means you almost need two sets of clothes in your wardrobe.

The shoes are another thing that’s different. Here in Australia almost all girls in my office wear heels to work something I’m not really used to.

Things you don’t see in Sweden but everywhere in Australia.

Only a couple of weeks to go until Midsummer so time to prepare yourself and if you don’t know what you need to do here is a little guide - Swedish Midsummer for Dummies.

We’ve started to organise our move trying to figure out what stuff to keep and what to sell. With the things I want to keep there are of course some things that I would like to bring with me to give our home in Australia a little Swedish touch and there are things that have a sentimental value to me too that I would like to bring if I can.

So we’ve started to look into different shipping options since we have no idea on how much it would cost, whether sea or air freight would be the best option or what company to use. We’ve received some advice but mostly from people that have done it the other way around from Australia to Sweden. Maybe one of you readers have some good advice from own experiences, anything you can share with us on the subject would be highly appreciated.

A couple of things that Simon miss here in Sweden are sausage rolls, meat pies and pasties. I’ve made an attempt to make my own sausage rolls and they turned out alright but I’ve yet not tried making meat pies. On the Swaussie Couples Facebook page (yes, there is such a thing and it’s great). I’ve now received a tip that a place in Stockholm called Taylors & Jones sell really good sausage rolls, pies and pasties. We’ll definitely have to pay them a visit when we’re up in Stockholm in March to try them out.

Simon, as you know, took his Swedish license in the end of last year and this is how much he ended up spending:

• Learner’s permit (körkortstillstånd) – 220 SEK
• Eye exam – 100 SEK
  
• Theory study material in English: Driving license book incl. Swedish road signs booklet – 435 SEK, Trafikskolan TEO 2011 (PC program) – 149 SEK
  
• Risk training part 1 – 600 SEK
• Risk training part 2 (slippery road/halkbana)- 1900 SEK
• Driving lesson – 4 x 400 SEK
• Written test - 2x 220 SEK
• Driving test – 700 SEK
• Borrow car for driving test - 400 SEK
• Manufacturing cost for the license – 150 SEK
• Photo – 50 SEK
  

In the end it all adds up to 6 744 SEK, quite expensive for someone who already knows how to drive and have had their license for 10 years but hey, not much you can do about it.

That’s how cold it’s been up in the northern part of Sweden the last couple of days. This record low temperature was measured in Kvikkjokk on Friday and it’s the lowest temperature measured in Sweden in 11 (!) years. It’s not been as cold down here in Gothenburg but I think the -14 degrees we’ve had here the last couple of days is more than enough.

It’s been a bit quiet in the blog the last week and that’s because I’ve been very busy at work trying to catch up on all the work that built up during my holiday and when I was sick. Pollux started doggy kindy last week and it’s been running smoothly and he seems to enjoy himself. I’m almost rid of my cold as well so soon we might be back on track.

The past weekend was pretty quiet. We went over to my brother’s on Friday night for a taco dinner and on Saturday we had friends from Malmö stop by with their two kids on their way up on their ski holiday in Sälen. It worked out better then I expected being 4 adults, 2 kids, a cat and a dog in the apartment.