Housework Day

SWEDISH FACT-OF-THE-DAY:

Former tennis star Björn Borg now runs a highly successful underwear company.

The Emigrants IV

The Last Letter Home

While most of Friday was taken up by doing laundry and cleaning the house, I did get time to finish the last entry in Vilhelm Moberg's epic Emigrant series. As I have said before it really makes you think about the hardships endured by people just 160 years ago in moving to the New World from Sweden.

The thought of total and final separation from your loved ones with this kind of move really hits home.

I thought a lot about my blessed Grandmother, my mormor as they say in Sweden, who left Spain at a very young age to emigrate to Cuba. She lived to the ripe old age of 99 before passing away just a few months before her 100th birthday in 2002. Think about it, she was born before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane and she lived long enough to see man on the moon.

She was fortunate that progress in air travel made trips back to Spain possible as she grew older, not so for the Nilsson family in Moberg's book. They had to leave everyone behind in Småland knowing full well that they would never see them again as they departed Sweden for the unknown but legendary land of the United States.

Thank goodness for jet travel, telephones, e-mails, the internet and SKYPE!!! Without these inventions the last three Euro ball seasons would not have been possible or bearable.

In the evening, Johan Hammarqvist stopped by Icelandia to help us get our refund from the Swedish National Rail Service (SJ) for our abortive train ride home from Stockholm last weekend. To get the mandatory 50% refund when a train/bus is six hours late you have to call an automated system or go on-line. In both cases it is Swedish only if you please, i.e., trouble.

Johan was able to get everything cleared up in just a few minutes. He has become such a great friend to us!

TACK SÅ MYCKET, JOHAN!!!