Good news: my life has taken a great step forward. I have been offered an unpaid internship position at the Swedish Embassy in Zambia. This truly is an unique offer and I am happy that I will have the chance to experience not only the African continent again, but also learn more about the official governmental work in Zambia and build relations within the embassy.

This all came very sudden. And today everything became official: As of September 13 I will be in Lusaka, Zambia.

So, my life has now totally changed. I had to cancel all my plans for the fall (and you all know that I of course already was fully booked out) and quickly make new plans. I received the news while on vacation in Geneva – so there was some difficulty in reaching my superior. But now I am back in Sweden and making list after list of things to do, buy and fix before I leave. Like tickets to Zambia, for instance.

Yes, so with this quick update I will leave you. With all the things I have to do, I better get started right away!

Cheers,
Ulrike

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But is it a real perfect place for a Sunday excursion. We took a small boat trip around the lake and ended up at the so called sun cannon. Such a remarkable thing – a cannon where the sun lights it. We were fortunate enough to have enough sunshine and witnessed this event.

I can only recommend this for all travelers passing through Åtvidaberg. If it is close to 1pm go to the tower (can be reached on foot as well, not only by boat) and watch the sun light the sun cannon.

Cheers,
Ulrike

Such as the matter of nationalities. The entire team, 23 footballers, are of the same nationality. But the coach, however, does not have to have the same nationality. Is that not weird? Sure, Germany and other teams do have coaches with the same nationality, but the Ivory Coast and Nigeria both had Swedish coaches, for example. Switzerland and Greece had each a German.

I am no expert on these rules, and all you input is welcome. Because if it is a a matter of nationalities, the coach should be included in these rules. Or?

Schland, oh Schland! :)
Ulrike

The main reason for this is simple national selfishness – I believe the Swedish side has alot to win by just seeing Copenhagen as its closest capital. That is because a capital has alot of benefits – in most countries the capital is the place where the countries “best” people gather. The most creative artist, the best IT-companies, the most extravagant social media gurus, the best law firms etc. This I think is especially true in Denmark, where there are few other large cities that can compete with Copenhagen, compared with Hamburg/Stuttgard/Düsseldorf vs Berlin in Germany or Gothenburg vs Stockholm in Sweden.

So it’s my opinion that alot of people living on the Swedish Øresund side, like Malmö or Helsingborg, have alot of good people/networks nearby, that most simply don’t realize.

For example, social media (or any other field for that matter)
If you want to make a name for yourself, it would be alot better to surround yourself with Copenhagens greatest minds. Go to their gatherings, their workshops. Because being in a crowd of the best people in a countries is alot more powerful then just being with Malmös or Helsingborgs best people – because then you wouldn’t be able to be he best, without being frequent guest in Stockholm. I mean just look at Joakim Jarderberg.

That’s why better Øresund integration is something worth striving for (and in the similar way, it is good for the danish side too – a larger “brain pool” that is part of the network).

Of course there are many solutions to this problem, and my own personal favorit is: gossip

My opinion is that one thing that is really needed is a shared news-network. Just the fact that on the swedish side Sydsvenskan has more or less nothing on Helsingborg, just as Helsingborgs Dagblad has more or less nothing from the Malmö area, is really bad. And just as bad is that both have more or less nothing about Copenhagen, even thougt there is enough happening there to fill most of Denmarks biggest newspappers.

The reason it’s bad is because news are one of the few things that is present in most peoples everyday live. Most talk about what the read in the news (either in papper, TV or internet) during their coffeebreaks, or with their friends and family. This gives a regionwide “shared experience”, something that lets you easily talk to strangers or new people in your network, because they have also knowledge about the news.

One thing which I find intresting is that gossip is really powerful in this regard. I, personally, don’t have much left over for gossip, but I see it for what it is – giving people something to talk about, to feel good about themselves together with theyre surrounding.
I feel that it is ridicilous that people here in Helsingborg know alot about the nightlive and happenings of the Stockholm elite, but more or less nothing about that in Copenhagen – even though it more or less is the same, with the same kind of people and same kind of spectacles. And just imagine how much more fun would be if you knew that this or that person is famous, when you are out for a beer in Copenhagen.

So that would be one of my favorite steps towards better integration – more gossip ;)

Update: Saw that Joakim linked here in his 10th of june post. Thank you! So in order for this to look better I corrected some spelling errors. And also made a more selling headline.
If you, for some reason, want to contact me but not leave it as a comment, you can reach me at karsten@deppert.se

Maybe it will turn out to be Swedens cheapest fairtrade coffeehouse (for students atleast)?

Skrev för ett litet tag sedan ihop en reflektion av min erfarenhet med mina anställda på SHIP och Facebook. Den har blivit publicerad på bloggteamet Mindparks sida, men tänkte jag länkar lite snyggt till den.

En intressant tvist på en fråga jag ser lyftas fram rätt ofta. Läs hela på Mindpark.

“Yes, everybody expects us in Sweden to have a lot of snow. But the truth is, that is pnly valid for the northern parts of Sweden. Down here in Skåne we usually only have some snowflakes once in a while and we consider ourselves really lucky if any lakes freeze over. Snow here is mostly slush, dirty slush.”

Well, once again, I am proven wrong. The winter already came before Christmas and has stayed on. Yesterday I made an attempt to attend a kick-off in Tomelilla (small town in the eastern rural areas of Skåne) and did not make it. For the second time within 1,5 month I could not go there because the Swedish Road Service said that they could not clear the streets and that they due to the expected snowfall in the evening warned everyone from going out in these parts.

While we still had a good kick-off at my place instead I started to think about snow. And could not help myself in making comparisons with Vancouver last year – even though we had much much more snow in Vancouver they did not manage to clear the streets either. Still, Vancouver somehow made the snow feel ok and more or less gave it a romantic touch – who would not want to have a beautiful white cover in the morning on a day that you are off? Giving you lots of material to build figures with and an exceptional view of the mountains surrounding Vancouver. Even if you would need to go to work, you would not complain about the bus being late.

In Lund, snow just becomes an obstacle. You cannot bike, everything takes for ever, people are reluctant to go out and some unlucky ones even had problems with the power supply and the telephone lines. I just somehow get more comfortable here and refuse to change just for the snow.

Still, I am admiring the wonderful that I have from my window, all small the small houses with white roofs and the quietness that comes with people not moving around as much. I think I might as well enjoy it while I can!

Cheers,
Ulrike

For example: Why do people ride their bike around here so much? In Uganda, riding a bike is a sign that you are not rich enough to by a motorcycle. Well, sure, the students in Lund are poor, but not that poor. The argument that biking is good for your health and an easier means of transport did not really convince my visitors. And once we saw a bike with a cart for kids behind it, which really triggered some discussions.

The other astonishing fact was that we have tarmac roads to basically every little house on the countryside. In Uganda, building a road to the house is the owner’s responsibility and he will then be thanked by some hefty road taxes. And tarmac is mostly non-existent in Uganda, only the main traffic roads in the country have tarmac.

While giving lectures at different school, my visitors also experience some shocks. Not only was the lunch heated in the microwave but also was a class made up of about 15-20 students and a variety of teachers. In Uganda the equivalent is 70-90 and very few teachers in general.

In all, it is very useful to get some provoking thoughts about your own situation and lifestyle. And it has not made my urge to visit the African continent go away.

Cheers,
Ulrike