Stockholmies

Sign-lations Holiday Special - Christmas Shopping

Not sure that there is much to say about this one, but I had to snap this photo while out Christmas shopping a few days ago. 

Midwinter solstice

In the spirit of Christmas and the turning point to the darkness, Stockholm is filled with lights and celebration.  We spent the afternoon in Skansen wandering around and exploring the amusement park and shops.  A few pictures from wondering around Gröna Lund.

 

 

 

And, of course, the local strikes again...at least it's sort of Christmas related.

Sign-lations Week 12

Reminder, for the new readers and the old ones too...We post a picture of something, usually a sign of sorts, and we ask for your witty, funny, bizarre, serious, appropriate, and/or inappropriate interpretations.  I see this sign daily on my walk home from the park.  Is this a double negative?

Sorry it is a little blurry, I was walking by when I snapped the shot.

hem ljuva hem (home sweet home)

With the exception of sign-lations postings, which have been going strong for eleven weeks, some of the interesting aspects of daily life have been neglected here.  What seems the most sensible next thing to write about is our current apartment hunt.

Several friends have been surprised to learn that we are searching for an apartment.  No, we’re not homeless here in Stockholm. But, come early February I guess that we could be.  It’s not unusual for people to move every six months or so until they find something more long term or get a hold of a first hand rental contract. 

So what is this first vs. second hand rental contract thing anyhow?  Well my butchered version of this is simply that anyone with a personnummer is eligible to pay to stand in a virtual queue to get a rental contract.  We have heard that this can and usually does take years to be fruitful.  There are apartments listed and you search through postings, express interest, and then wait for the open period to close.  Then you may be invited to see the property and have the opportunity to express true interest in the place.  Since I have never had my expression of interest reciprocated on a posting in the queue, I speak from a very ignorant place.  However, the point here is that if all of the pieces line up just so, you may find yourself in possession of a first hand rental contract.  I think that these are like gold here.  The price of the rental is regulated, and quite low compared to the hand-me-down, leftover market we are able to explore.  There are regulations in place to prevent price gauging, but it’ll be a while before I understand them and feel comfortable enough to follow through on anything.

A second hand contract is essentially a subletting contract.  In these cases you see crazy quick turnover of apartments (post in AM, have 50 emails and SMS by noon, and have a renter and contract signed by the end of the week…if not sooner).  You also see people paying more than asking price, and paying for location without seeing the apartment.

After weeks of seeing a bunch of so-so apartments we finally have started seeing some that we like, and dare I say love.  Though coming from the San Francisco area and Boston didn’t prepare us for the housing system here, it did acclimate us to high rental prices.  Stay tuned for updates on where we end up.

Sign-lations...ish week 11

OK.  I have some signs that I could have put up instead, but this photo and brief anecdote are just too good not to showcase.

Coming home from a night out a few weeks back, Dave and I had the pleasure of being in line behind the guy in the photo below.  We didn't hear him say anything to anyone except "respect".  Someone has got to have a great interpretation for this quirky giant human PEZ dispenser.

Swedes Love Metal

Dave here... I crawled out from under my rock and decided to contribute.

One of the things that has surprised me so far about Swedes is how much they seem to like certain quirky bits of americana.  Yankees hats are everywhere, they have monster truck rallies ("Söndag! Söndag! Söndag!") and they love metal.  Just look at the some of the '80's era hell fire blowing through Stockholm (you should read the names aloud with one of those deep growly echo-ey metal voices):

JUDAS PRIEST!  MEGA DETH!  TESTAMENT!  Grrrrrrr!!

SLAYER!  (The UNholy alliance!!!)

MOTORHEAD! (now, with more UUUMlauts!)

WHITESNAKE!  It's so good to be BAD!

RANDY NEWWWMAN! (Just as SCARY!)

It's like some weird alternate universe where the early '90s grunge revolt never happened.

Sign-lations Week 10

This sheep creeps me out.  

A new sign for week 9 (Sign-lations Wk 9)

A billboard by the nearby T-bana (subway station).  For those who love the game SET, this one might appeal to you.  Or, if you like puzzles.  Signlation task is to think of a funny interpretation.