While Sarah and I were in Stockholm this past weekend, we stumbled into the middle of the zombie walk. If you are not familiar with this whole zombie walk thing, I believe that it is a self organizing event where a bunch of people show up at a specified location all dressed like zombies. Then they parade along a route, some even act like zombies during the walk. It is all in good fun and I think some of them even raise money for charities which is nice.
Anyhow, we where in the Gamla Stan (translates to Old Town) section of Stockholm when all of sudden hundreds of zombies were marching through the streets. It was pretty cool. I think that they may have done one in Detroit on the same day - see here.
I took a short video of about a third of it on my iPhone (next time that I use my iPhone for video I will turn it sideways).
There are a lot of photos from the event here.
Just a small update
I have not posted much lately because I moved into our new house about a week ago and I am without internet access for another week or two. Another personnummer barrier, when I signed up for internet access, they had to send me a form to fill out and I had to make a deposit before they would send me the modem. That takes a good 3 weeks to get through all of that and actually receive the modem.
I did actually receive my personnummer this week so that is no longer an issue. I also now have a personal banker who literally does everything for me from the bank, loans, mortgages, account information, pension information, everything. I will post more on that later, I have an appointment with her at the end of the month.
Sarah is here visiting, she had the same culture shock that I had when I came in July, she will just start to get used to it when she leaves on Sunday. The only thing she wants to do is buy a car because she doesn't like waiting outside for the buses and trains. The airline lost her luggage and we still have no idea where it is, she arrived yesterday morning, and we have no word on where it could be. It is kind of problematic because obviously Sarah has no clothes (we had to go shopping to at least buy a coat yesterday), but it also had a lot of information that I need along with some new clothes for me to.
I did actually receive my personnummer this week so that is no longer an issue. I also now have a personal banker who literally does everything for me from the bank, loans, mortgages, account information, pension information, everything. I will post more on that later, I have an appointment with her at the end of the month.
Sarah is here visiting, she had the same culture shock that I had when I came in July, she will just start to get used to it when she leaves on Sunday. The only thing she wants to do is buy a car because she doesn't like waiting outside for the buses and trains. The airline lost her luggage and we still have no idea where it is, she arrived yesterday morning, and we have no word on where it could be. It is kind of problematic because obviously Sarah has no clothes (we had to go shopping to at least buy a coat yesterday), but it also had a lot of information that I need along with some new clothes for me to.
Setting up a bank account
Not a very exciting topic, but could be of some interest to anyone else contemplating a move to Sweden from outside of Europe. You of course need to setup a bank account here in Sweden. Earlier I mentioned that Sweden has pretty much moved past the need for checks, everything is electronic, so I had to have an account for my paychecks to go to.
This was another barrier to not having my personnummer yet. You are not supposed to be able to get an account without one. You can see the chicken and the egg like scenario that you end up in here. However, they can setup a temporary account without the personnummer, the bankers are just not that well versed in it.
Eva, our office manager took me down to the local Nordea bank. My company does our banking with Nordea and everyone speaks pretty highly of them, so it seemed like it would work out fine. We were at the bank forever, and it took all 3 bankers at the counter working on it to figure out how to open an account for me. They were about to give up about 3 separate times, but we kept at them and they finally figured it out.
This was another barrier to not having my personnummer yet. You are not supposed to be able to get an account without one. You can see the chicken and the egg like scenario that you end up in here. However, they can setup a temporary account without the personnummer, the bankers are just not that well versed in it.
Eva, our office manager took me down to the local Nordea bank. My company does our banking with Nordea and everyone speaks pretty highly of them, so it seemed like it would work out fine. We were at the bank forever, and it took all 3 bankers at the counter working on it to figure out how to open an account for me. They were about to give up about 3 separate times, but we kept at them and they finally figured it out.
Getting your Swedish personnummer
Now that I have obtained my work visa and residency permit, I can finally get my personnummer, which is the Swedish social security number. The process was pretty easy, I just had to take my passport with my residency permit to the local Skatteverket office. The Skatteverket is a tax office that is like the DMV or Secretary of State office in the States. After taking a number and waiting my turn, I just had to fill out an application and give it to the worker.
The form is entirely in Swedish, and they just hand it to you and expect you to fill it out at a little table and bring it back. So if you don't speak and Swedish you might want to take someone to translate it for you. Eva, the office manager of my company who has helped me with everything involved with moving so far went with me to help me out. After you hand the form in, you just wait about 4 weeks to get your number in the mail.
Once Sarah and the kids have their permits and move over here, we will have to go back to get theirs, but that shouldn't be too bad.
The form is entirely in Swedish, and they just hand it to you and expect you to fill it out at a little table and bring it back. So if you don't speak and Swedish you might want to take someone to translate it for you. Eva, the office manager of my company who has helped me with everything involved with moving so far went with me to help me out. After you hand the form in, you just wait about 4 weeks to get your number in the mail.
Once Sarah and the kids have their permits and move over here, we will have to go back to get theirs, but that shouldn't be too bad.
The Bizarro Wynns
I meant to post this with the first day of school post. We have met the bizarro Wynns at Ella's school. There was an orientation/meet the teacher day about a week before school started. All of the kids showed up with their parents and families to figure out this whole going to school all day thing.
There is another little girl in Ella's class named Ellie. About the same size as Ella, long brown hair, they were friends pretty much instantly. Ellie's family was of course there as well, she happened to have a little brother the same age as Max. Her parents were the complete opposite from Sarah and I. She was shy and he was very outgoing and they are both from the South (judging by the accents).
The first day of school I was sitting there waiting to pick Ella up in our Blue Buick Rendezvous when I spotted Ellie's family right in front of me.....in a red Buick Rendezvous. Sarah just learned this morning that they even live in our subdivision.
It is all a little too weird for me.....
There is another little girl in Ella's class named Ellie. About the same size as Ella, long brown hair, they were friends pretty much instantly. Ellie's family was of course there as well, she happened to have a little brother the same age as Max. Her parents were the complete opposite from Sarah and I. She was shy and he was very outgoing and they are both from the South (judging by the accents).
The first day of school I was sitting there waiting to pick Ella up in our Blue Buick Rendezvous when I spotted Ellie's family right in front of me.....in a red Buick Rendezvous. Sarah just learned this morning that they even live in our subdivision.
It is all a little too weird for me.....