Sweden Post Card

Dear Mom,

We are in Sweden now, and we are on our way back to the hotel from Djurgården! More officially, Kungliga Djurgården, which means The Royal Game Park in Swedish. It is an island in central Stolkholm, the capital of Sweden. Djurgården is one of people’s favourite recreation area, attracting more than 10 million visitors each year. It is the home of any historical buildings, museums, monuments, and galleries such as the open-air museum Skansen. Skansen is a museum and zoo. It was opened on October 11th, 1891 to show people the different ways of life in Sweden. An amusement park called Gröna Lund (The Green Grove in English) is often used to hold concerts during Summer. Djurgården also has a small residential area called Djurgårdsstaden that contain meadows and forests. We have arrived at the hotel now, and we will be ready to go back to Taiwan by tomorrow morning!

See you soon,

Bella and Tiffany

Image credit : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Djurgarden.jpg

Sweden Journal Entry

Sweden, Day One

And… here we are, in the land of the midnight sun! After suffering from horrible airplane food, we are so glad to eat real food again. Here in Sweden, when we think of delicacies, the first thing that pops up in our minds are… Swedish meatballs! This familiar Ikea dish contains ground beef, pork, eggs, cream, milk and onions drizzled in gravy made of butter, beef broth and sour cream. Though we love Swedish meatballs, we didn’t fly all the way just to eat something we can have in Taiwan! There are so many more tasty choices! One of them is the Kanelbulle. If Sweden had a national food, it’d be those delicious cinnamon buns. Almost all of the cafes or restaurants serve them, because it is so easy to make and so popular. They are made from a dough called vetebröd, or wheat bread, and then flavoured with cardamom, saffron, or vanilla. Since Swedes are the second largest dairy consumers in the world, we certainly will not miss trying out the filmjölk! It looks like yogurt and tastes slightly acidic. It is full of healthy bacteria, and is perfect with cereal.

Sweden, Day Two

We are exhausted from a full day of touring, and we are so happy to be back at the hotel room. We turned on the television and we were shocked by the overwhelming amount of sports channels. We came to a conclusion: Swedes LOVE physical activity. Handball, football, gymnastics, golf, tennis, basketball, and table tennis are a handful of the most popular sports in Sweden. Out of all the favorite sports of the Swedes, bandy is the most extraordinary. At first, we didn’t even know what bandy was! After doing some research, we found out that bandy was a cousin of ice hockey; it involves players using a stick to push a ball into the opposing team’s goal. Bandy was first played by the Swedish royal family back in 1895, and there are competitions for male players ever since 1907. Soon, it evolved into a middle-class sport and in the 1920s, students started to enjoy bandy. In 1934, Workers in small towns and villages joined in. Today, bandy is not just a sport, it is considered a special culture of Sweden.

Image credit: http://travel-wonders.com/wp-content/uploads/Bandy-Match-Scene.jpg

Sweden, Day Three

It is winter vacation right now for us, but students are still going to school in Sweden. This is because the two semesters are divided by the Christmas Break between mid December and early January (so it is over already). Education is mandatory for all children between the age of seven and sixteen in Sweden. Children can start attending pre-school at the age of one, it helps children understand/ get used to school. In 2008, statistics showed that of all Swedes aged 25 to 64, 15% only completed compulsory education, 46% only completed upper secondary education, 14% only post-secondary education of less than three years, and 22% post-secondary education of three years or more. Research also showed that women are more educated than men, with 26% of women vs. 19% of men have post-secondary education of three years or more.

Sweden News

“Divorce Refunds” Offered by Swedish Hotels

March 24th 2017

Divorce refunds are offered by Countryside Hotels group. The Anna Madsen, the marketing officer of this group, says that the purpose of this “radical approach” is to show “how beneficial it can be to get away for a while and devote time to each other.” This may seem like a joke, but the hotel chain has confirmed the legitimacy of the offer. Couples who divorced within a year of their stay at the hotel will receive a refund of a two-day stay. Many wonder if this offer will financially harm the hotel chain. To solve this problem, there is a fine print to this refund. The married couple MUST stay in the same room. Furthermore, they need to provide a relationship guarantee when booking a room.   

Battle Against Sugar: A Swedish Mum’s Story

March 27th 2017

Anna Larsson, a Swedish mum and former physiotherapist, decided to cut down the amount of sugar. "I thought, she has real cravings for sugar. She did not want to eat the food we are making, all she wants to eat are things like sweet yoghurts." Mrs. Larsson said. After a few difficult days, results started to show. Her daughter is no longer asking for sweets like yoghurt and iced buns. Instead, she is willing to eat healthy food that she used to reject. After cutting out the sugary treats, the four-year old had better control over her temper and was sleeping better than she used to. The results later went viral on Facebook with more than 2,000 likes.  "I was in shock at the response, I really don't know why it happened,” said Anna. Her guess for the popularity of her story was the fact she wasn’t a doctor or nutritionist, but an ordinary mom like everyone else.

Maternity Care Crisis in Sweden

March 28th 2017

Women in numerous Swedish counties have complained of maternity care shortages. Countless pregnant women all around Sweden were turned down by congested hospitals or were forced to drive to far-away wards to give birth. Stina Naslund, a midwife, described the chaotic situation after a hospital in Sollefteå shut down in early February. This shutdown forced many women to drive 100 to 220 kilometres to another ward on a dangerous road that has no light and no mobile connection. Others gave birth in peculiar places such as a car, a fire engine, and a taxi. These terrible experiences aroused anger from locals, and they surrounded the ward, protesting. “Thousands of people from all political [affiliations] are supporting us," said Naslund, "Children, 80- and 85-year-old women, old men, football teams, different companies." To solve this crisis, the government set aside an extra 500 million krona for maternity care.