Nice-ies

[JerseyGirl]

I just felt like posting a few nice things that random Swedes have done for me... (in a country were people are more introverted)

I sprained my ankle pretty bad 1 month after I moved here. Getting around wasn't much fun, when using the subway and so on. Once I was getting off at Högdalen and I was waiting for the crowd to finish rushing the escalator so I could get on. A woman (in her 50s maybe) came up to me and started to speak to me in Swedish. I had just started SFI so I knew nothing. I told her I only spoke English and she tried her very best to continue in English. She asked if I needed help, and I told her thanks, I was fine, just waiting for the crowd to dissapate. But she stood with me and just talked with me and walked with me the whole way up out of the station just keeping me company at my slow pace on my crutches. It was very heart-warming.

A few months ago I helped a Swede carry her baby carriage onto the bus, as you do, she thanked me and I went on with showing my ticket to the driver and getting in my seat. 30 minutes later was when I got off the bus. I walked by her and she looked at me and just gave me a huge warm grin :-D I know it's small, but I thought it was nice that a half hour later she was still remebered who I was LOL

Today I was in line at ICA buying some batteries. I was in a hurry, but I wasn't making a show of it (looking at my watch, big sighing, or anything). The man in front of me turned around and saw I was only buying batteries. He immediately insisted that I go in front of him, even though he didn't have that much more. I accepted because I really needed to catch the train! But I thought that was very nice.

Anyway, I just had a moment of inspiration to post some nice things, since I know I won't be massacered for it! haha ;D

[Carolyn]

So nice to hear about GOOD experiences. I personally find most Swedes very friendly, if you give them half a chance, although definitely not the gushy type.

I try very hard to speak Swedish when I'm out daily and sometimes, it's a struggle trying to find the right words, but so many people know me now and they don't switch to English and are willing to just wait a bit until I find what I'm looking for. Or even better, if I don't know a word, if I explain myself, they are all so nice in telling me what it is I'm needing to learn.

My husband thinks it's amusing now, we go downtown together, and the lady at the tea shop has a few words for me, or at the bakery where we have fika or the flower shop. He says he's lived here 23 years and nobody much knows him except the guy at Systemet and the old lady at our local market.

[Cake Guru]

That's funny, Carolyn!! Peter always claims that I know 10x as many peeps as he does, and he's lived here most his life!! Whenever we *går på stan* I know like every second or third person!

I'm a total freak magnet, too. All the weirdos come up and talk to me. Does it take one to know one?

[Carolyn]

Must be, I collect weirdos too.

[lizardek]

A nice thing I've experienced MANY times in Sweden: people giving me their parking tickets with time still left on them as I'm getting out of my car to buy one

[Carrie]

My Swedish friend and her husband always do nice things for me. Last night I commented on their really neat coffee cups and they insisted on giving them to me! They were the kind you get when you donate blood, so they said they can just get more, but I still thought it was incredibly nice.

The other day at the swimming pool an old lady that I see all the time asked me if I speak Swedish yet and when I told her yes, she had a really nice conversation with me in Swedish. That was really nice. People don't talk to me that often (but to be fair, I don't talk to them either. I'm pretty introverted).