Learning about the Swedish culture

According to my Swedish teacher 'learning about the Swedish culture and their pitfalls is as important as learning the language' - but actually she is teaching us more about the culture ;-)

One of the first things we got to know is Swedish hygiene. In Austria - and by now I know it is the same thing in Australia, Eastern, Southern and Western Europe - you learn early on that if you sneeze or cough you should place your hand in front of your nose / mouth. But in Sweden you cough (hosta) in your long sleeves! This is perceived to be better because the bacteria are stuck in your cloth and do not stick on your hands where you can spread them easily. Our teacher reminds us every day that we have to practice this 'rule' because it is very impolite to act in another way. I immediately thought that I will try to be 'very rude' the next time I am riding the Metro (T-bana) and it is hopelessly crowded and I cannot get a spot to sit down , maybe this will help me to get some room around me ;-)

Another cultural difference is, according to my teacher, that Swedes do not give a lot of information about themselves, unless you ask them. She always reminds us that people here are not like people from the English speaking culture who talk a lot and give information about themselves. In Sweden you need to ask if you are interested - for example you ask someone if he/ she is studying, then you will just get the information if or if not he/ she is studying but not what else he/ she is doing and so on. You need to ask one question after the other - and this we are practicing at Folkuniversitete every day (asking question after question after question - I suppose I should have applied at the Swedish police instead of the university!

I also got a lecture about the Swedish emancipation, because I told someone that I feel too old for this kind of life I have right now - I mean starting all over again, having no children, and so on - and she told me that in Sweden most women have their children in their late 30s or even early 40s, sometimes without a partner and if they have a partner they are often not married. That's really different to my experience from Austria, I suppose, we are more conservative and old fashioned about these things. But I suppose I am going more into a sociological direction than it is necessary for this blog ;-)

Another important part of the Swedish culture is, that you never eat something without asking the other people around you if they would like to share. Our teacher told us that's the reason why in class you are not allowed to eat and drink - maybe the others want to have something of your food and you would need to ask all classmates if they want to share with you ... Well, I suppose this is a very very kind attitude and maybe my teacher want to educate us to 'super-Swedes' that we fit in the Swedish society perfectly :-)

One thing that nearly all European countries have in common is the fact that the public transport system and the main roads are permanently under construction over the summer months! Here the Metro (T-bana) lines do not run every 10min (like during the year) - now there are just 2 to 3 trains every hour! In the newspaper all the people are complaining about that and in the T-bana the people are angry about their long journey back home from work and so on. I think it is annoying to stuff the already very crowded T-bana with heaps of additional people, and during rush hour some people do not fit in the trains and they need to wait for the next one! Which means being late to work in the morning. I am lucky because my school is just 30min away from Skarpnäck - 20min with the T-bana and then a 10min walk.