Swedish Facts II

Here are some interesting facts about the new place I’ll call home:

1.    All employers are required to provide FREE MASSAGE to their employees and it is a write off for the company.
2.    You can pay your taxes by sending an SMS (Text message) from your cell phone.
3.    Any property (with exception of fenced areas, private gardens, government or military) is open to anyone for hiking, bathing in your lake, picking berries or mushrooms or for camping overnight. This is called “Every man’s right” or Allemansrätten.
4.    The sunrises at 3:30am and sets at 10:30pm during the summer
5.    The sun rises at 9:30am and set at 3:30pm during the winter.
6.    Swedes celebrate Midsummer (Midsommar) on the 23rd of June. It is the celebration of the longest day and on this day in many parts of Sweden the sun never sets.
7.    Prime Minister, Olaf Palme, was shot and killed in 1986 when walking home after viewing a movie. His killer was never found.
8.    Thursday is pea soup and pancake day.
9.    Sex is the number six.
10.    Sweden ranks second in Europe (after Finland) in terms of technological achievement.
11.    Total taxation in Sweden amounts to 54.2 % of GDP, the highest level worldwide.
12.    The world-famous discount furniture chain IKEA was founded in Sweden in 1943.
13.    On Easter children dress up as witches and go trick-or-treating.
14.    Carl Von Linne, known as Linnaeus, was a Swedish botanist and naturalist who lived in the sixteenth century. He introduced the scientific method of naming flora and fauna.
15.    Yes, the women in Sweden are drop dead gorgeous (I find this daunting) but the men aren’t hard on the eyes either.

A Swedish Residence Permit

Today was a milestone day. After ten days (or more) of preparing my residence application, I was finally able to slip the application, several other forms, photographs proving Tapi and I know each other, passport photos, essays, receipts and a cover letter into the $30 FedEx envelop guaranteeing delivery by 10:30am tomorrow at the Swedish Embassy. The simply act of mailing these documents proved to be a heady experience making me feel almost as if I have one foot in the US and another in Sweden. I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling rather dizzy.

Before a person can move to Sweden, a residence permit must be obtained from Sweden’s Migrationsverket. The application and it’s accompanying forms may be downloaded from the Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. and a personal interview will be conducted. There are several ways a person can obtain a residence permit. You can do so if you are someone who will be working in Sweden as an employee, if you are a student, starting a business, an au pair, or if you are a spouse, cohabitant or child of a primary applicant. My permit is based on a family or personal connection so there’s a special app for that.

Once I filled out the application form, I also had to fill out a Family Details Appendix and an additional form #T91 because I’m planning on living/marrying a Swedish citizen. These forms ask such information as my name, address, passport info, names of my children, my parents and of course information on Tapi and on our relationship. Filling out the forms were pretty straight forward and easy. The hardest part was trying to boil down the history of our relationship into four paragraphs but other than that it was a fairly enjoyable experience… as far as paperwork is concerned. Also included in my package were photos of Tapi and I at various locations and at various times. Receipts proving that we’ve met and been together and a copy of one of my monster cell phone bills showing our communications.

Now that I’ve submitted my paperwork, the next step will be for me to attend a personal interview at the Swedish Embassy in Boston. The Migrationsverket will also interview Tapi in Sweden. An application fee of $220 is required and then hopefully a happy decision will be made and I’m off to my new home.

Dumpsters

It’s nearly 3am and I can’t sleep because I’m thinking about dumpsters! Seriously. . . isn’t this something I can think about in the morning? After I’ve slept. This is the stuff that drives me insane. So what kind of dumpster should I get? 10 yard, 12 yard, 20 yard? How does renting a dumpster compare with taking stuff to the dump? What does an actual 12 yard dumpster look like and will it suit my purposes?

They tell me that here in Westbrook, one must pay $50 a load (one load = one pick-up truck) at the dump. This price seems ridiculous. My garbage guy tells me that a 12 yard dumpster is the equalivent of three pickup trucks worth and comes at the price of $333. The price of having a lovely dumpster, readily accessible for 2 weeks, parked in my front yard (while attempting to sell my house) unfortunately seems the way to go. I don’t own a truck and my thinking is that it will be heaps (no pun intended) easier for me to just squish as much stuff as possible day by day into a dumpster and then have them take it away!

Decision made. Now let’s get some sleep.