healthcare

You do only have to pay 900 kronor/year ($130) for seing a doctor. So if you see a doctor 10 times a year for example, the rest (over 900 kronor) will be funded by the local region. When it comes to medicine in Sweden you can pay at max 1800 kronor/year ($260), the rest will be funded by them. Sure, there is sometimes a waiting time for some major illness or specific case, but you always have the option to go to a private doctor/hospital and pay out of pocket. This would be more like how it is in america. i just feel like this system eliviates a lot of stress, because i've seen too many people in america come down with some health problem and worry more about how they're going to afford it, and in turn that creates more stress and more problems. Thats not how it should be.

Eat, drink and be merry as life is short.

a request

was placed to see me. i know, who in their right mind would want that? for those that miss me, which should be all of you. here's me in my little work space.
of course its cheesy, you wanted normal?

got mac, will blog.

pine-ing to drive

so just a few minutes outside of nyköping are many forest areas that are all accesible by wonderful little roads. there are so many summer stugas and gorgeous farmhouses. and there seems to be enough pine to last a million more decades. its really amazing for me to drive thru such nature as i was living in a concrete and freeway jungle before this. the world does open your eyes, only if you are willing to see it. and by looking you can see things like cows on a beach...great innit?

our town

well, if i do say so myself, our little town of nyköping is damn cute.
approx. population 50,000 and fairy tale details throughout the town from cobblestone to old bridges.

as seen in the pic above that i have named 'bridge over river nyköping'. the flower baskets come out seasonally and just adds that certain 'je nais c'est quois'.

june 27 2006

this is where we live. in case you wanna come rob us. doors outside lock at 21:00.

it rained pretty much all day today. i went for my usual walk and did not step on one snail, and man were there a lot out there. the snails or slugs are ginormous here! and ugly. well, i guess no slug is good looking, especially anna nicole. doh! i'll try and get a pic of one to share, they're worth looking at. an escargot lovers dreamland.

midsommar. 2006

hej hej!

the celebration of midsommar was yesterday, but we were invited to our friends home on friday to hang out and celebrate the middle of the shortest season of sweden. the weather has been good with bits of rainspells here and there. as vegetarians, we took our own grill and items to eat, although rille had made many veggie-friendly options, which was nice of him. swedish tradition i guess is grill meat, potato salad, strawberries and ice cream and the ever friendly snaps or vodka shots. we did none of that but our own stuff and had a good ol time.

our friends live in the center of nyköping and we rode our bikes there. but in the evening on our way back, we couldn't because we forgot our bike lights! damn! oh well...it was nice nonetheless.

another midsommar come and gone, now each day we shall see the light slowly go away in 10 min. intervals till we get to autumn. life in sweden is weatherful, as you always have something to look forward to that will change your mood and dress sense ;)

world cup 2006

well, as an official swedish immigrant i am now part of this mayhem, called world cup soccer.

sweden just got royally kicked in the arse by germany 2-0. no chance for a qtr final appearance. but was there ever really a chance? the only guy on the swedish team today that actually was awake was isaksson, the goalie. if i were him, i'd be moving to england to play for a better, more motivated team.

funny, as a non soccer lover, i have formed many a opinion of many teams by just watching the games religiously these past few weeks.

ahhh well...vm guld har forsvunnit från våra hander. vad ska vi göra nu då? fira midsommar?! ja visst!!!!!!!