Work continued

I've gone from having no paid work to having a number of interesting projects on the horizon, including:

• An open workshop I designed and am promoting called Understanding Cultural Differences (primarily for expats)
• A team-building retreat for a large pharmaceutical company
• Translating a 2-day marketing course into web-based modules and then delivering them to the Indian partners of a large software company
• A graphic recording gig at a medical device company
• A cultural understanding workshop for a Swedish team at a pharmaceutical company looking to improve their relationship with their American counterparts

The open workshop has been pretty interesting because I've never had to promote a course to the public before. I've been working through the relocation companies in town, a number of international networking groups, the consulates, the international schools, and my friends ... and I still only have 4 seats filled. But it's not until April 20, so I'm crossing my fingers. Whether it's 4 or 10 people, it's great experience in making use of my network to promote my work -- all good learning for the future. Oh, and doesn't the gig with the Swedish team who can't understand their loud American teammates sound fun?!

Cleaning

I have been giving some thought lately to the very important issue of cleanliness. Well, it's actually not that important to me (bring on the germs people!), but it appears to be VERY important to the Swedes. When noted cross-culturalist Richard Lewis surveyed a bunch of Swedes for his book "When Cultures Collide" about their cultural values, "cleanliness" was up there with honesty, tolerance and equality. (I just noticed that Lewis didn't include any values in his section on the United States. Nice.)

Cleanliness seems to be particularly important to Swedish women over the age of about 40. Or rather, the act of cleaning seems to be important. Merel tells me she knows a number of Swedish women with high-paying jobs who spend their Sundays cleaning the house. We're talking cleaning, not straightening up for the week. How many female directors in the U.S. or Britain do you think there are who scrub their own kitchen floors? And Karin says women who do pay someone to clean their house would prefer than no one knew, especially not their mothers or grandmothers.

How to explain all this self-mopping? Well, it's got to be connected to what the Scandinavians call the Jante Law. The Jante Law (Jantelagen in Swedish anyway) is a phrase coined by Danish author Akzel Sandermose in 1933 to describe the egalitarian/restrictive pressures of small-town life in Scandinavia. Briefly, the tenants of the Jante Law are:

• Don't think that you are special
  
• Don't think you're better than anyone else
  
• Don't think you're smarter than anyone else
• Don't think you'll amount to anything
  

Chipper, right? Don't you read those and wish you could live in small-town Sweden in 1930? But my real point is that it's not a huge leap to read between the lines and see this other tenant:

• Wash your floors yourself, missy
  

Frankly the Jante Law thing gives me the heeby-geebies, and not just because I really, really hate mopping. It's my rah-rah-individualist-American value poking up his head and going "No way Jose!!" Interesting, I didn't really even know he was there.

Scrappare

Ava and I went to a scrapbooking convention this weekend. Yes, Sweden has scrapbookers, and apparently lots of them, if the convention was any indication. Ava got her first scrapbook from my Mom for her birthday (just 4 and already a scrapbooker -- I'm so proud) and she's enjoying it. I get the sense that for her it's all about the glue stick, but hey, it's a start. For the convention I gave her 100 SEK to spend (about $12) and she picked out some truly hideous paper and a bunch of very pink, shiny, letters and jewel things. The page she did last night of a picture of herself and her cousins Victoria and Anna was ... eye-catching. I restrained myself and picked up some paper, some letter stickers, and some cool bird cut-outs, all of which Ava has been eying. Maybe passing on my nerdy hobby wasn't such a good idea after all?

Professional Women's Group

I drew this yesterday for the Professional Women's Group meeting I went to last night to, literally, illustrate what graphic facilitation is all about. Thought I'd share.

SFI, check!`

I passed the final test of Swedish for Immigrants level 4 this week. Hurray for me! Can I speak Swedish? Well, better than I could in August... but no, not really. I can understand most of what I read (like simple books and newspaper articles) but my conversational Swedish maxes out at making a waxing appointment or ordering a turkey on the phone. All the certificate really means is that now I can start the advanced class called Swedish as a Second Language (SAS-G) in January.

Swedish Community of Facilitators

I presented at my first conference this past week. The conference was a meeting of the Swedish Community of Facilitators. Is this funny to anyone else but me? For some reason, saying it always makes my giggle, perhaps because I get some image in my head of lots of consensus-oriented blond people chatting in a big circle every time I hear the phrase. Actually there were lots of consensus-oriented people in circles, but most weren't blond and even fewer were real blondes.

At any rate, the title of my presentation was "Strategic Visioning Using Simple Graphic Facilitation Techniques." Fancy, right? I had 2 sessions, each 1.5 hours, and they went really well, if I do say so myself. We talked about what a vision is, what makes it compelling and how to help groups to tap into their creativity. I showed some examples of my visioning graphic facilitation (like the two below), then had the group use a simple template I designed for creating their own personal visions. They dug it.
The conference was a marketing opportunity for me and lots of AstraZeneca folks were there, so I'm crossing my fingers that it translates into some business in the coming months. Since Adrian was denied to expat tax break we applied for, said business would come in handy.

Flat on my ...

Well, just in time for Adrian to start his new job I've become basically incapacitated because of severe back spasms on my left side. I've never had this before, but the spasms are so strong when they come on that I can't breathe and sort of bend in half gasping. Walking, sitting, sleeping and all that good stuff is painful. Needless to say, I can't do anything with the kids except say "no!" or "Ava, please stop pulling Julian over that wall." Thank heavens Sonja is here to help, though I'm feeling pretty guilty sticking two kids on her.

I saw a chiropractor yesterday ($90 cash) and then just got back from the acute-care center this morning ($30 for the visit and $22 for 2 presriptions) and am hoping that I will be functioning again by tomorrow. I suppose this is how you get to know the health care system in another country. Ugh.

Mums in Sweden

Since last November I've been poking around a website called Mums in Sweden, a message board for English-speaking moms in Sweden. It was an invaluable resource for me when Adrian and I were considering making the move (do I even want to go to Sweden??) and then, after we decided to go, to begin to figure out the practical stuff about expat living in Gothenburg (how do I apply for daycares, register at the tax office, learn Swedish?). Last night I met 8 women site for pizza at a popular place around the corner. After dinner we wandered over to a cafe on Vasagatan -- just a fun a gorgeous night. It was so nice meeting everyone in person and hearing about their international love stories. One American woman met her Swedish husband at an ultimate frisbee conference in the U.S. Another Canadian mom did her MBA in Oslo, where she met her Norwegian husband, and they just moved to Gothenburg with their daughter. Most have had their kids here and rave about the support for families, including:

• Nearly free daycare (2 kids full-time is about $200/month)
• 12 months off at 80% pay for mom OR dad
• Another 12 months off at 80% if you have another child within 2 or so years (so THAT's why there are so many double strollers around!!)
• Moms can work 80% time for 10 YEARS
• Free healthcare

So, no commentary on the benefits because it just makes you want to cry, doesn't it? Obviously the taxes are high to pay for this stuff. At any rate, the expat community has been amazingly friendly and welcoming. We had a playdate this morning with Traci and her son Oliver in Askim. Ava cried when we left because she had so much fun. And because Traci has ice cream with cones and sprinkles and whipped cream, so clearly she is awesome.