Når jeg nu roser det Svenske system, skal jeg nok på samme tidspunkt komme med en anden advarsel – om et tåbeligt regelsæt der findes her i Sverige.

Jeg bor i en by der hedder Oxie – og til min togstation koster taxien (200SEK) for at komme til toget. Hvis jeg ankommer med toget og skal køre tilbage – så er prisen en del højere (250SEK). Hvad fanden sker der??

Jo taxi kartellerne (Der findes næsten 1500 taxi licenser i malmø til ca 300.000 indbyggere) – har fastsat fastpriser for visse ture, med ud og hjem er ikke lige langt (Øh, goddaw mand økseskaft).

Og så skal vi slet ikke tale om reglen – hvis taxien kører uden taximeter, så kommer du til at betale kassen, Man skal huske at aftale fast pris med en svensk taxi når man starter, for her er der ikke faste priser, ej heller rimelighed i forbindelse med opkrævning af penge for ydelsen.

Alt er ikke grønt på den anden side, men jeg bor her da stadig.

Tænk sig, dette Social Demokratiske samfund jeg bor i (Sverige) har taget en kæmpe beslutning – Fradraget for at have et arbejde er sat op – således at en ansat i Sverige med en indkost på ca 40.000 pr måned (Svenske) får cirka 1000 kroner mere udbetalt pr måned.

Tænk sig – fradraget gælder ”kun for de ansatte” ikke for folk med overførelses indkomster eller andre former for tilskud, kan kun løftes via din lønseddel.

Hermed har man (her i krisetider) valgt at fokusere på at folk skal arbejde – i stedet for at få anden indkomst – man har allerede differentel moms i samfundet (noget som danmark siger slet ikke er administrativt muligt).
Hvorfor findes der ikke et dansk politisk parti – som ”tør” – komme med en sådan udmelding der på denne måde sikrer at folk yder i stedet for at nyde – og sikrer at lønmodtagerne får en bonus for deres hjælp til samfundet.

Vi (danskerne) er så pokkers sløve i denne forbindelse – Jo, vores økonomi går jo godt, og vi har været vant til at friværdien har finanseret vores liv; hverdagen har pludselig ramt os og vi (samfundet i danmark) er lidt handlingslammet.

Hold da kæft hvor jeg misunder det Svenske folk og deres regering (Og nej, de er abselut ikke dydsmønstre) men de tør tage visse beslutninger som burde skabe præcedens for os andre.

Having spent a few years abroad – I still have to say that what we see these days (in both Sweden and Denmark) is the start of something hopefully excellent; a wonderful hot summer.

I loved my 4 years in Singapore, I love the time spend in Asia and their wonderful Climate, but days like what we have here in May (20-22 Celsius) and sunshine, with no winds, just make me love this place.

I even spent time (this weekend) painting my fence (at the house), with wonderful help from my boys  – and I did not even complain about the task  Perhaps its spring, perhaps I am just an optimist, but I do love this time.

Keep the 40 Celsius, and the constant sun (in Singapore). I do love it for short time, but I love Scandinavia – and the fact that our climate changes and we always have new expressions, outside our door.

Both the hedgehogs and the rabbits are seen outside, I think it’s going to be a nice spring.
And for those of you, who hasn’t seen the Turning Torso in Malmo – do take the time, it’s an amazing building.

Basically, since our family is Danish/Russian it’s no surprise that we had to approach the Swedish public system, to get the paperwork done.

Law-obedient citizens as yourself; we went to the immigration services, to secure a permit to stay for my wife, knowing the difficult procedure from Denmark (It took us 14 months to get Elena’s paper in Order in Denmark) – so we did assume that certain things were the same.

But surprise, after waiting a few hours in line, it was our turn, and the kindly immigration officer was so kindly to remind that since I was Danish citizen I didn’t have to apply for a special permission for my wife, this was granted pr definition, since family members (spouses) of Danes did not have to apply for the permission.

I felt like a fool, and felt even more anger for the Danish Immigration Services, to whom we did submit the application for Elena’s permission (Nov 2004) and this was granted in December 2005.
Just as a funny (Tragic) footnote, we also had to submit a deposit (June 2005) for her permission to stay – which was so ever kindly returned to us in December 2007 (We just left Denmark Aug 2006) – so again it took more than 12 months to process our departure.

I sincerely hope that these procedure would change in the years to come; not that it would ever make me consider living in Denmark (This has no relevance) but I find it a shame that we treat foreigner (and our own citizens) with this kind of disrespect to their spouses.

The Swedes have a much more liberal approach to the whole immigration procedure; Not that it’s all well in Sweden’s, but it surely beats the Danish system.

Our youngest son (Max) is attending a kindergarten here in Oxie. I have to praise our lucky star – that we were able to get him in there, since this place is really something special.

Having a kid, who was only able to speak English, it was a very (unexpected) nice surprise (or luck) to have an English kindergarten teacher, who was able to provide Max with the comfort zone of coming to a new place, with his own language; basically he is well adopted into the system and are now mixing between the Swedish and English language as well.

The kindergarten has this approach to nap time, that the kids are given beds for outside sleeping, and when packed they are actually sleeping outside. This is the first time I have heard about this approach (Max is not sleeping) but seeing these “sleeping bags of kids” outside – is just an amazing thing. I have never heard about this before.

Its a wonderful thing to have the kid totally adjusted to the kindergarten, it’s a bunch of very active kids, who are chatting away all day, and only when you pick them up at the end of the day, you find out – that 50% of these are danish kids, since in daytime, they forget all about this and have all their activities in Swedish. Talk about integration, these kids would never in their future find anything unusual about having 2 or 3 languages at home.

If you have the desire, then read here. (Swedish)

Having two kids, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this was also investigated and information was retrieved even before moving here, but let me share the experience so far.

First of all – the Swedish society seems to appreciate the kids more than done in Denmark. Something as simple as a breakfast – is given to the kids who start in the early hours (sometimes I have to deliver my oldest before 7.30 – due to traveling) – and as long as he is there before 7.30 – a nice (healthy) meal is provided in the school.

Lunch – a warm meal is also provided in school, a menu card (to envy the kids) are provided each quarter, the meals are planned, healthy and ecological – something that we really appreciate.

If the kids have to stay late in school – they are provided free fruit and snacks in the afternoon – again something that are totally unheard of; something that we once again are discussing in Denmark – but I am sure it will take some time (if ever) they are going to grant this to the Danish schools.

The same thing goes for the kindergarten’s – my kids are learning (in school) that having a healthy meal include tasting food (that they would never take at home) as well as taking the meal in a quit order.

I just have to say, I would be very sad if my kids had to miss out on these simple (but important) things.

Daily trip on the train, well – this is the challenge that we all would face. I would not be in the situation that I would complain about the service; I don’t like travelling with an eye on the clock, so it doesn’t bother me (that much) if the train is 5 minutes delayed.

But, to be honest – there are periods where a train on time is rather unusual (well un-expected) and delays have (and is) a frequent expectation for me travelling between Malmoe and Copenhagen. I don’t check the time table’s anymore (In Denmark) – since they would most likely not come on time, and with 20 minutes departure, you are always close to something (well even with 20 minutes between departures, I have experienced 60 minutes or more delay ?)

In all fairness, the logistic is a nightmare (I am sure for the contractor), and I hope within time, that they will make it better, since sometimes it does suck. It takes me on a good day app. 75 minutes to get there, on a bad I have been close to 150 minutes the same distance. The problem is that it hits you without knowing it.

Just to give you a little background of the situation here. First of all – when Sweden and Denmark made the “Øresundsregion” – no one had expected the changes it gave to our region.

Well, they made a bridge (Huge bridge) and was hoping to secure a better foundation for the business in the region, but the recent years positive economic development (Especially in Denmark) changed the objective for quite a lot of people (myself inclusive).

Copenhagen was becoming one of the most expensive cities in Europe, the real estate market did sky rocket – with prices jumping high over the expected levels; an example:

My apartment – bought in 1996 for EUR 35.000 was sold again in 2004 for EUR 300.000 – That’s a massive 750% increase within 8 years.

Suddenly, the Swedish real estate market was found quite attractive., Why would anyone purchase a 2 room apartment in Copenhagen (50-60 m2), then the Swedish solution – would offer you a 4-5 bedroom house, with app. 150-200 m2, and the even including the fee for the bridge, made it still a sweet deal.

That’s why there is a massive 30.000 (or more) Danes who has made Sweden their home, there is better housing opportunities, there is more space, there are a better deal for a young family and it’s still within reach of Copenhagen
Off course, there are also drawbacks, but in all fairness, there are ups and down to any location you would be moving to. And people like to compare – which is going to be the topic for my list of articles, I would like to work on in near future.

Nyhedsavisen havde her i maj måned en artikel serie der sammenligner Danmark med Sverige.

Det er jo dejligt at læse hvorfor vores nye hjemland er så meget bedre end det vi er rejst fra (:-)), jeg syntes nok den burde læses med lidt ironi, men på visse punkter er det jo nok ganske korrekt.

God fornøjelse.

Spending time in Sweden these days – its a wonderful season and the weather behaves – so you don’t even miss the swimming pools of Singapore – well, perhaps just a little bit.

We have taken the time out with the kids, visiting the Swedish Defence here in Malmø – to see the New Jas39 Fighter plane (Made in Sweden) – a day with military, tanks, fighter planes and a lot of soldiers.

It never cease to surprise my – how much this does interest “boys of all ages” and my kids are no different. To stand in line for 20 minutes to see inside a mobile radar station makes perfect sense for Nikita, but to wait 5 minutes for his father to bring him an ice cream could be the reason for disaster.

Well, anyway – we had an excellent day with the boys – see the pictures here.