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The Swedish Way of Breakfast

In Sweden breakfast is pretty simple. We don’t cook bacon and eggs for breakfast, normally. We want to spend as little time as possible preparing breakfast. And we don’t eat lots of jam and Nutella or peanut butter. Normally. We’ve been taught from childhood that sugar isn’t good for breakfast. And jam and Nutella contains lots of sugar.

The normal thing to eat for breakfast is:

• Sandwich with cheese/ham/cucumber/tomato
• Yoghurt, milk or sour milk with cereals/porridge
• Orange juice/milk/water/coffee

When we want to make it a bit more luxurious we might boil an egg and slice it to put it on a piece of bread. Or maybe we cut some fresh fruit and put them in the yoghurt.

What most Swedes don’t know is that many cereals contain a lot of sugar as well. But anyway, that’s what we have for breakfast. This type of breakfast won’t keep you satisfied for very long. So after 2-3 I think that us Swedes are hungry again.

Like many other people Swedes are in a hurry in the morning. The teenage girl spends more time doing her makeup than eating breakfast. Parents hurry getting their children ready for school and at the same time manage to get in time for work. And there’s simply not much time left for breakfast.

Sour milk with wholemeal cereals, sanwich with cheese, milk.

In big cities breakfast is even more set aside. If you walk the streets in a big city in the morning you will see lots and lots of stressful people with a coffee-to-go. These people probably didn’t have breakfast at home. Instead they’re hurrying to work with a coffee in their hand, to have breakfast 3 hours after they woke up.

Of course there’s the other type too, like me, who needs breakfast the minute I wake up. But the majority of, at least the city people, seem to be in a breakfast-hurry.

Relax! Take it easy people!

The Swedish Way of Winter Turns into Spring

In the end of Mars/beginning of April spring comes to Sweden. It gets warmer and the daylight stays longer. On the 29^th of Mars we change to Daylight saving time/Summertime. This means that we adjust the clock forward one hour. This way we get one hour of extra daylight in the afternoon, and one hour less in the morning.

When this day is about to come, Swedes all over the country worry about that we get one hour less of sleep that night. And many people also feel more tired the day after, because they went to bed the same time as usual, but the next day they wake up one hour earlier.

However, changing to summertime really feels great. It tells us summer-hungry Swedes that summer is on its way and finally it’s daylight much longer. In the middle of June the sun goes down about 9:00 PM and comes up again at about 3:00 AM. In Mars the sun went down 5:00 or 6:00 PM maybe.

What happens to our mood when winter turns into spring?

When winter turns into spring Swedes get very happy. They start rake their gardens and everyone is outdoor in the nice weather. People throw off their jackets that they’ve worn for eight months and finally they only wear a t-shirt. This is also when people often get a cold. We think that it’s warmer than it actually is, because the sun is tricking us with its burning sunbeams.

This is the time when people are reborn. They make all kinds of plans, plans for the weekends, summer plans. And we simply just enjoy ourselves much more than in winter.

This time really feels good, and you can see in peoples’ faces that it is spring. People sit down by a lake or a stream with an ice-cream in one hand and a loved one next to them. Kids play in the garden and teenagers play football on the fields. Soon someone will have their first barbeque on the balcony.

Yes, spring is a lovely time of year. And what makes it even better, is that we know that summer is on its way.

The Swedish Way of Winter

October to Mars

For more or less six months Sweden has been isolated by cold rain, snow or slush. Some days we’ve woken up just to see that the thermometer shows minus 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit).

Which means that our cars are full of frost, and it might take 15 minutes to get it away so that we can see out the windows. Roads might be slippery so car accidents increase dramatically. Minus 15 is so cold that it feels like what’s inside our nostrils freeze. If you lick your lips when you’re outdoors, a dry and irritated lip is a fact. This was a mistake I did EVERY cold day when I was about 6. But finally I learnt to keep my tongue inside my mouth when it was cold.

These months we’ve worn more clothes than some of you have ever worn in your life. Long underwear, winter jacket, scarf, cap and boots. You name it. When it’s been as coldest we’ve worn everything at the same time.

During winter most Swedes rather stay inside and console themselves by eating (kind of). And that’s why we might gain some weight during the winter. We’re not very keen on going outdoors when the road is covered by 30 cm (1 foot) snow and it takes 10 minutes to dress on.

But things have changed. Our winters aren’t as snowy as they have been. In 1995 we got the worst snow storm that at least me, and I think my parents too, have ever experienced. Swedes woke up that morning, to see the whole neighbourhood covered in snow. Some had a hard time even opening the door. They cancelled school for that day, and many people had to stay home from work. Trams in Gothenburg (a big Swedish city), stood still for about a week.

I was only six at this time, so I only have a brief memory of it. My mom and my brother walked to the store. It took them more than one hour to get back home again. A walk that normally takes 20 minutes.

So far I haven’t mentioned anything good about winter. Yes, I hate winter. Just like many other Swedes do. Some say every year:

“Why do we live in Sweden?”

But some of us like winter. Some of us hurry out when the first snow arrives, to make snow angels and snow men and slide on a sledge down a hill.

The only thing I like about winter is that it leaves traces from animals. You can see where the bird has walked or where the cat has been. Another thing I like is when it is snow on Christmas. It’s supposed to be. With Christmas comes snow. But pretty much every year we have no snow on Christmas, but a lot of snow some days later. Unfortunately.

Coming up: The Swedish Way of Winter Turns Into Spring

The Swedish Way of April Fool’s Day

The day to be careful

I know that a lot of countries around the globe have April Fool’s Day. And so does Sweden. Today is the day when you have to be on your guard, watch your back, be careful. Today is the day when the entire nation tries to fool eachother.

The news, the radio, friends, family. You’re never safe. People makes plans for this day months before the first of April.

And when we’ve managed to trick someone, we go ”April april din dumma sill, jag kan lura dig vart jag vill” = April, April, you stupid herring, I can fool you where ever I want.

Stupid, isn’t it, but in Swedish it at least rhymes

One of the biggest April Fools in Swedish history is the one about the nylon stocking. In 1962, before colour TV came to Sweden, the wellknown Swedish profile Kjell Stensson, told the Swedish people that they just had installed new equipment in the TV-house. He said that this was great for everyone, ’cause now they didn’t need to buy a new TV to get colour-TV, all they had to do was to put a nylon stocking over the TV, and they’d see colour.

So if you could have watched us Swedes from heaven that night, you would have seen lots of people cutting their stocknings and putting them on the TV.

Actually, when people found out that this was just a stupid joke, some got VERY upset. Some even sent horrible letters to this poor Kjell Stensson, who was only trying to be funny.

Did I fool anyone today?

No, I don’t fool poeple on April Fool’s Day.
I don’t fool people this day. I like fooling people. But on April fool’s day it feels too obvious. And my jokes are normally spontanious, I don’t spend hours planning them. So no, April fool’s day is fun, I like reading the news and I always try to figure out what’s a joke today.

Dad fooled me early this morning. I was eating breakfast when he looked out the window and said:

”Have you moved your car?”
”No, WHAT? Isn’t it there?” I asked.
”Well, I can’t see it”

So I rushed up to see where my dear car was. And luckily it was there. In some seconds many thoughts rushed through my brain.

”My insurence isn’t good enough for a stolen car!”
”I don’t wanna spend money on a new car!”
”What am I supposed to do?!”
”Those bastard!”
”How? There are lots of neighbours around!”

 LUCKILY I was just being fooled!

Did anyone out there got fooled today?