It amazes me how much the sun has an impact on how I spend
my days. This past week has been blazing with rays (or sort of) and with that I
have been spending as much time out in it as possible. I have found the perfect
‘schedule’ for my in-between work hours which before had me feeling like I was
wasting time sitting around waiting inside or checking facebook, watching t.v.,
etc. I send the girls off to school, clean everything up, walk fox, then run to
the gym, run back home, pack a lunch, grab fox and walk down the nature trails
to the beach, spend some time lounging, then head up to pick up the girls and
finish the rest of my day. I wish I could have started this system earlier but
as I recall it was a bit too chilly and dark for that not so long ago…
I headed to Malmo this Friday to turn in my work permit extension
application, and to also ask some questions and such. It was a beautiful day of
course and I woke up early to make sure I would have plenty of time to make it
to the Migrationsverket and wait through potential lines so I could talk to someone.
Once I reached the office I was relived to find that I would not have to wait
in any lines, for I was one of the first people there. I had all of my
paperwork in a folder and I walked up to a man who was behind the counter and I
showed him my paperwork and began asking him my (very rehearsed) questions in
Swedish about my permit but he just saw the application and wouldn’t hear anything
that I had to say and he simply said ‘Put your permit in the box. Now you can
go home.’ I was so angry, I didn’t know if I was supposed to write down certain
numbers in boxes that I didn’t know what they meant, I didn’t know if I had to
pay a fee or if I did how much… all he had to do was tell me! So I went back
into the line and then as soon as it was my turn to talk to him again he just
pointed at the box and told me again, ‘Put your permit in the box.’ So helpful!
I’m glad I woke up early and went all the way to Malmo for the short time and
no help from this man. But! On the brighter side of things I love traveling no
matter what the cause is, and I saw some pretty amazing things on my walk to
and from the Migration office such as a group of kayakers going along the
canals of the city, and a beautiful church that was seemingly hidden through a
cluster of magnificent trees.
I believe I’ve mentioned before how I always meet the most
interesting people on buses. Tonight I was coming home from hanging out with my
friends, Caylie and Erik, and like almost every other night I get on the green
bus that takes me almost straight home and plop myself in the front seat,
making myself open for conversation with the driver. At this time of night I’m
almost always the only person on the bus so it’s fun to be able to talk to the
driver and find out their ‘story’.
Tonight’s man was an older gentleman named Henrik. He is a
Swede who has been to America several times and also to Chicago, (which is
where I told him I was from). As we were talking along we spoke about several
things, what I’m doing here, how I like it here, oh yes- Sweden is a great
country… And when he was done grilling me with questions he changed back to his
memories from the past. I couldn’t see his face when he was talking to me but I’m
sure he was smiling and had a look of distant thought thrown upon his face when
he told me about the time he took a greyhound bus all the way from New York
City to Long Beach California in 1972 then bought a Mustang Bullitt and drove
up the ocean highway then back across the country to New York. I can only
imagine how great of a time he really had back in 1972… Sadly my stop came up
so I had to bid Henrik adieu. I love learning people’s stories. Some of them
really are an inspiration.
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