The last few days

So the last few days have been of some accomplishments. I am understanding little conversations more and more, but still very reluctantto actually speak in Swedish. It's the first time I've been somewhere where I don't really speak the language (and I live here!!) and I get embarrassed by my inability.

A few days ago I was a little tired of staying home, it was the first day I didn't go out and I felt a little trapped. So I decided to go out to the supermarket and buy snacks. As I was paying, a man with a kid heard me talk in English to the employee of the store, and walked towards me. He started asking questions, in a strong Irish accent and telling me he's been here four years, has a kid (absurdly cute kid by the way) and could offer me a job?? Weird things. He told me to go meet him at the pizzaria sometime this week and we would talk about it. I'm not really going, but I think it's funny how there's random people starting conversations with me just because they mistake me for american (?) or canadian (??). I think maybe I havent't been here long enough to start missing people from "back home" but I see how this could be a thing in the future.

So in case you were wondering if Sweden is the most civillized country in the world, the answer is: probably. This is a hard thing to measure, but I'm a little impressed every day at how the little details keep things rolling nice and smooth around here, and how much information flow there is between all the little parts of everyday life to make things quicker. This deserves a separate post, but I'll try to keep it in a few paragraphs:

The Swedish Public Transportation System

It is impressive.

I haven't been to Germany in over seven years, or anywhere else maybe a little organized other than London, so I can't compare it to the rest of the very organized parts of Europe. Comparing it to Brazil would just be unfair. So I'm going to just write my ode to the public transportation system here.

First, there is an app for that. I have a little app that tells me how to get from here to anywhere, and it's in real time. As in, it tells me all my options of routes, and how much time I have left before the buses pass (and YES THEY ARE ON TIME). Also, it shows little maps of how to walk from my current location to the nearest bus stop. And it's fast.

Second, you can pay the bus with your phone. Not like, you beep your phone on a machine or something. You just text a number, and you get a text reply back. You show the text you received to the bus driver and you are good to go. Then when the phone bill arrives, you pay for everything together.

Third, it's a tiny country and A LOT of the buses are those big articulate ones. I keep thinking of Sao Paulo and its millions and millions of people squeezed in small warm dirty  buses and subways constantly. And it makes me sad. Not only are the buses big here even in the suburbs, but they are also nice and cozy (yes, I am thinking of you, 40-degree-Celsius bus rides in Sao Paulo!!). I bet the subway can be quite crowded during rush hour, but I haven't experienced anything like that for now.

To be honest, my only question is why does the subway stop and wait at the end of each line? I live nearest to one of the final stops for the metro, and every time I walk in, the train is stopped for quite a few minutes at the station. I suppose here they focus on having it run on time rather than run the whole track as many times as possible, as it probably happens in SP.




As for the city, it is beautiful. You should come and visit Stockholm.

l'aventure commence

This is my third day in Sweden.
Fredrik is currently at work, and I need to get myself busy. I had a Swedish morning: Swedish breakfast, drove in the snow to take him to work, drove back. Now the Brazilian part of the morning: parked car, left for apartment. I noticed halfway there that I was freezing because I had no gloves on, had to turn back to get them from the car. Left for the apartment again, and noticed I had no scarf on. My goal so far is to make the walk to the apartment without freezing. I smile to myself every time I realize I'm not at all prepared for this, but I still am able to enjoy myself.

Now I have to wait for the Ikea people (so Swedish!) to deliver our new desks. Then we are going to need new closets, new shelves. All new things. I feel horrible for my insignificant monetary contribution the redecorating enterprise, but what is left to me but to be grateful that someone is able and willing to afford the complete redecoration of my new little home? :)

For the first time in a year I feel a little demotivated to work out. Could be because I don't know the gym and it is much smaller than the one I'm used to, or maybe because I get SO LAZY when I think about the language thing. Bad, bad Bianca. I scheduled a session with one of the trainers on Saturday. I might go and run a bit today, if time allows it (ha!). The point is, I have to learn the overall direction of the gym and just force myself to go. Yesterday night, there were several guys working out there, no women. Not sure if that is a bad thing yet.

For those wondering how does it feel to know I'm going to live in this cold weather from now on: weird. Really, really weird. On the way back from dropping Fredrik off at work, it was starting to get lighter outside (about 8am) I actually witnessed for the first time in my life the moment when street lights get turned off. In Brazil the days are so regular that you have to really be willing to party to get to see it, around 5 maybe? 6 in the darkest day of winter.

I have a few small goals to root for in the mean time: get pole dancing classes going, work out better, get a Swedish ID and, with that, start Swedish lessons. That makes me feel lazy haha. But I'm curious to learn it and also very sure my poor brain will start craving stimulation pretty soon.

But for now, I wait for my desk :)

I move to Sweden

Tonight I leave for Sweden.