Kitty’s Place

Today I got my results from the SFI exam. It was in four parts and I needed to pass all four. I scored over 90% on each of the first 3 parts but failed the final section, the written assignment(25%). So I ended up with 73% total, which is enough to continue on to higher education, but only if I had passed all 4 sections. *laugh* I was not at all upset, since I knew that section was the part I struggled with and I also don’t think I could have passed the oral section of the exam this week. We talked about what I need and the teacher said that I read swedish very well, I understand swedish very well but I need to get a good basic feel for how to write swedish. I think that I have missed the basic grammar stuff because I have some skill in the other areas, so testing for placement has placed me in the more advanced groups all along. I have finished level C and should advance to level D, however there is no D group in the afternoon, only in the morning. Instead I will move to a more advanced C group and do extra written assignments on Fridays, so that I can pass that section of the exam when we write again at the end of May. I will also continue to speak swedish everywhere I can so that I am able to pass the oral exam as well. The teacher said my spoken swedish has improved markedly since January and that it is just practice that I need now. All in all she was really pleased with my progress in the past 10 weeks and seemed confident I can finish SFI this term.

I also gave my oral presentation to the class today. It was about Canada and it went very well. I wrote up 2 pages and the teacher proofed it before break. There were few errors, as always I put words in the order they should be in english instead of in swedish, but on the whole there was little she corrected. The class seemed to enjoy it and had questions after I was done. It was fun and I was much less nervous getting up and speaking than I have been in the past. Old age is making me more confident maybe?

We are off to my fellow’s parents for dinner now. *smile*

I wrote out an essay in class last Wednesday about how I ended up in Sweden. First I wrote it out by hand and then it was to be typed on the computer and handed in for grading. Throughout the whole thing I wrote Canada. The teacher came along and peeked and pointed that out. I told her I knew it needed to be with a K and there would be one in the final copy, but to me it isn’t Canada if it is spelled with a K. *laugh* That made her laugh too.

I haven’t a clue how I did on the test yesterday. It didn’t seem to be very hard at all, but maybe that is because I blew it. *laugh* There were mistakes I made that hit me like bricks when I left the building. Like the fact that as hard I tried to remember the word, I could not for the life me of me remember “ni”, a rather important one since I wrote a letter to a couple. I was very creative in addressing them throughout the entire thing. *laugh* But on the whole it went well and actually was a fun morning because I found …. Americans! It seems that all the english speakers go to the morning class and that I am not alone after all in our little kommun. *laugh* We all sat and chatted in the break periods. I came home after and just vegetated, I had been so wound up and I just needed to sit in solitude and unwind.

Today we slept in and had a leisurely morning. Then my fellow had to go to some political thing. Someone phoned while we were showering and then again while my fellow was brushing his teeth. I answered the second time and she stumbled over herself asking for Ibo, in fact the only word that was not a mumble was his name. I wanted to say “jag vet att jag är bara en dumma invandrar, men jag kan forstår en liten svenska efter fyra året här i Sverige!” (I know I am just a stupid immigrant but I do understand a little swedish after 4 years in Sweden) Could I be more touchy about my swedish at the moment? *laugh* I called Ibo to the phone and held my tongue of course. So imagine how ticked I was an hour or so later when the phone rang again and I came from cooking the kidlet’s lunch to answer it. I saw it was her mobile # again and wondered what the heck she could be calling for since Ibo was there. Well, I assume she accidently hit some redial thing on her phone because all I could hear was her babbling and Ibo talking while they were dragging around tables. I actually said “stupid bitch” into the phone before I hung it up and I never say things like that aloud (although I think them on more occasions than I should *laugh*) The problem is that many of the people he is involved with politically are older and they do not speak english, although most of them understand some. So they call or come to the door and the first thing they remember is Ibo’s “wife” is not from here and then they get worried about communicating. The younger people all speak swedish to me and have patience with my stilted speech. Normally it doesn’t bother me and I just say “vill du prata med Ibo?”, but today I was just in a lousy humour as far as swedish was concerned. *laugh*

The presentation for Tuesday is moving along. I have compiled a variety of facts about Canada and printed out some maps and such. Besides the fact that I am abysmally shy and always throw up before I speak in front of a group, I am thinking this is going to go well and be fun.

A few days ago when I was sorting and packing I came across a mixed tape I sent to Ibo back in 1996, in the days when we were just online friends. I have been listening to it ever since and it makes me feel so happy because every song is one I love and can sing along with really loudly. I guess I will have to organize them onto a cd one day, so I can listen them to them when I am on the train.

It is a quiet Thursday evening here. The kidlet is gone to spend the night with his grandparents, since I have to be at school for 0800 to write the exam. My fellow could not stay home tomorrow morning but he was going to take the kidlet to work with him if necessary. Time with farmor and farfar sounded cooler. *laugh*

My fellow is gone to the Kommunfullmäktige möte (municipal council meeting) and I am sitting here listening to it on the radio. *laugh* I have always had an interest in politics on the local level but I haven’t really paid much attention to it here because I just did not have enough of the language to understand. But the past year as my swedish has improved I have been doing a lot more reading about politics. Strangely enough, even though my fellow is involved in politics, we never talk about it at home. I figure since he is out to a minimum of 5 meetings a week as well as the hours he puts in to research and such, he really needs a break from it when he is home. But I do listen with interest when he discusses politics with others. *laugh* I decided to start listening to the meetings recently because I can get a better feel for how things are done that way. When I lived in Canada I watched regional and municipal council meetings religiously. I think I could do that here quite easily too. *smile* Soon I may be watching Riksdag coverage like I used to watch the parliamentary channel. Yikes! I really was addicted. *laugh*

I have told myself that tomorrow’s prov is just a training exercise for me. It isn’t so scary to think about it then. *laugh* One of my classmates has been telling me every day this week that she just knows I will pass and she won’t. I hate tests and I am not nearly as sure of that as she is. *grin* I am getting more comfortable speaking up in class now, if you don’t speak out loud you get drowned out by the other students speaking out. *laugh*

Next Tuesday I have to get up in front of the class and give a talk about Canada. I have done some research but it is kind of back burnered until after tomorrow. This week the japanese exchange student spoke about Japan and it was very interesting. I hope I can make Canada sound as good. *laugh* I have really been looking at the history of french and how it came to be that we have two officials languages because that is something I have been asked more than once by other students. I had a basic idea from school but that was many moons ago, so it has been a fun refresher. We also have to find an ad in the newspaper this week and write a resume and cover letter to fit the ad. My fellow said I should see if there is one for “lyxhustru”(luxury wife). *laugh* I said if I had thought of it I would have asked the teacher, since it was she who called me that back in the days of evening SFI. *grin*

Time to get back to grammar and to listen a bit more closely to this meeting. They are now talking about elderly care and that is something I will need soon enough. *laugh*

We had a letter a few weeks ago asking us to place in order of choice the three schools here that have kindergarten (nollen, sex-arings or whatever else it is called here). I wrote Sagaskolan as our first choice and wanted to leave it like that but it was very specific that we had to rank all 3. I sent it back and then recieved a nice notice saying he is registered at Brageskolan. His friends that he has had since moving here are going to Sagaskolan. Sagaskolan is right beside the complex we are moving to April. So I called, as it said in the letter, to talk about the placement. The principal was rather defensive, saying that Brage is just as good a school. I told her we were moving and she said that it was not so much of a difference, that Brage is close too (and in her defense, it is right beside this complex and a 5 minute walk at most from where we are moving to). I said his friends were going to Saga and she said that all 3 schools do some things together, so he will get to see them sometimes. It made me wonder why they even sent home the letter, he was destined to go to Brageskolan since it is the closest to where we live now. I was also a bit put out because I was working very hard at making myself clear in swedish and she said halfway through “you sound like you can speak english, we will take this in english”. So I guess my poor swedish was just too much work for her.

So after I spoke with her I sat LL down and talked to him. This child has said since he was 2 that he was going to go to Sagaskolan. I explained that Sagaskolan was full and because he lived closest to Brageskolan he would be going there if he is not accepted at Rävsta (the nature school). He was not happy about that, he kept telling me that it was not a real school, an idea he got from the fact that is combined with a large daycare. But he is holding out hope that he gets a spot in Rävsta. Yesterday when we were coming back from Tova’s he said “I know now why I have to go to Brageskolan”. I was a bit surprised by his statement and asked him why. He said that only kids who are “real swedish” kids get to go to Sagaskolan and that kids who come from other countries have to go to Brageskolan. I asked him where he got such a notion and he said that Tova said so. She said he wasn’t really swedish. I know they are kids but that made me angry. I hear over and over about how there is next to no racism/prejudice/xenophobia here in Sweden (”only a small amount of swedes, perhaps 1%, are racist, the rest of us don’t discriminate in any way” is what we were told by a man who spoke to us in school a couple weeks ago), but as an immigrant I can say that the swedes who think that are fooling themselves. When 5 year olds are making distinctions between who is “really swedish” and who isn’t, they are learning that from somewhere. It is so sad that my son thinks he is not “swedish” enough to go to the school he has wanted to go to for the last 3 years. It makes me want to take him back to Canada, where he will be a “real Canadian”.

I told him how wrong Tova was and that he is just as much a swede as she is. He even has the advantage because he is also Canadian. Then I drew him a little picture of how there are 3 large apartment complexes on the other side of Saga and that those kids get first pick at Saga because they are not so lucky as he is to be within a 5 minute walk of all 3 of the schools. He hasn’t mentioned it since but I am still upset. *laugh*

We had a quiet Sunday. I made swedish pancakes for dinner and then we had my fellow’s parents and sister over for coffee and cake in the evening. We baked and iced a cake, baked cupcakes and I made more rice krispie squares as well.

Monday was a normal busy day. *laugh* On Friday night I went to bed feeling fine but about 4 am I awoke with throbbing pain in my right foot. I hadn’t banged it or dropped anything on. I hadn’t done any more walking than I normally do. I tried heat and ice with little relief and over the course of the weekend I took way too many Tylenols. On Monday it was no better so I went to the doctor. I got to see the dense on I saw a few months ago. She had “ingen aning” why it was slightly swollen, red and throbbingly painful. She did however order an xray because it might be broken. Like I was going to take a bus/train/bus trip to go and get an xray on a foot I knew was not broken. I really was most concerned it might be some odd reaction to the meds I was taking for the bowel infection. So I left there and went to apoteket and got some iburprofen. 2 doses later the pain and swelling were gone. How I wish the drug store here would be open on weekends! *laugh* We also had Huggy come back to us. Royal mail misplaced him and after 3 weeks in post office limbo in Scotland, he returned to Sweden. Thank goodness for registered mail and tracking numbers, we at least had something to phone and complain with. *smile* LL was thrilled to see Huggy and has been watching tv with him and having Huggy play computer games with him too. He will be sad when Huggy leaves at the end of the week.

I have been studying like crazy. Read through my swedish grammar book, reading 201 swedish verbs, brushing up on swedish history and have been working through the old SFI provs from the Provbanken site. Now I just have to find someone to keep LL Friday morning. I have requested his father to do so. *laugh*

Yesterday Tova came home with LL after school and they played. We took her home about 1900 and they were both anxious to make arrangements for the next visit between them. *laugh* The two of them are just so funny. She is very bossy and LL lets her get her way for some time and then he digs in his heels and she backs off. She told her little sister yesterday that I don’t speak any swedish but she could talk to LL in swedish and he would tell me what she said in english. *laugh* Obviously she hasn’t noticed yet that LL speaks only swedish to me.

I am major grumpy lately. I suppose it something to do with the weather and the studying. I am getting tired of cooking, cleaning, dishes, laundry … I think I need to go back to work and hire myself a maid. *smile* I am also extremely homesick at the moment. I have cooked a lovely dinner of baked chicken, rice and sauteed fresh veggies. My fellow is not home to eat yet, has given me no idea when he might be home so he is going to get cold food. Then again he hates my cooking and tells me every day how bad it is, so cold food might be an improvement. *laugh* The kidlet was “starved” so he is eating now and I think I am going to go and do the same. Then it will be back to the books. *smile*

Friday was a busy day, in fact it was too busy. *laugh* I no longer have a fever so I thought I would get some of the housework that has been neglected over the past couple of weeks, caught up. However I overdid it. I washed the three sinkloads of dishes, dusted, vaccumed, washed all the floors, stripped beds, changed towels and cleaned the bathroom, did laundry and ironed all the shirts and dress pants for my fellow for next week as well as some of my skirts. By the time I got the ironing done I was totally wiped out. My fellow got pizza for dinner, so I didn’t have to cook. Instead I had a long hot shower and spent the evening relaxing. I did study some but mostly I watched tv and played Theme Hospital. *smile*

This morning my fellow got up with LL and let me sleep in. I got up about 0900 and made us all some breakfast. Then we all got dressed and headed out to the open house at Rävstaskola.

I have been really interested in this school since I first read about it. We talked to LL and asked his opinion of course. It is a small school, currently they have 32 students but will eventually have 70 students once they are finished building there. They are located on the shore of Lake Malaren and it is a lovely spot. As well as the normal school curriculum, there is a major focus on nature. So there are outdoor classes and weekly trips to the Rävsta nature reserve. LL is always coming home with cool rocks and interesting looking sticks, so it was fun to see the collection at the school. *laugh* The only downside is that it is located a few km away, as opposed to Sagaskolan which is across the road from where we are moving to. It is a 3 km walk in from the main road and I was concerned about how to get him there, since that is a long walk when you are 6. But they have a bus that goes from a school in Sigtuna. So we will have to bus to Sigtuna every morning and then he will switch to the Rävsta bus with the rest of the students and they will go in to the school. Ibo pointed out the way we could cycle there if we want to, it is 5 km, but fairly straight and there are paths the entire way, so that is an option once the kidlet gets more comfortable biking. (he asked if he could ride the tricycle there but we vetoed that idea *laugh*)

I filled in the paperwork and now we will wait and see if they have a spot for him come September. I liked the staff, the school is lovely inside, clean and bright. There is a large open concept classroom where all the classes are taught. I really like that because when I was in grade 3 we had something similar and when I finished my grade 3 classwork, I could follow along with what the grade four class was doing. After we moved I had many a boring wait in class for the rest of the class to be done. *laugh* The kids can swim, skate and ski right at the school. They have an outdoor grilling spot and today they were roasting hot dogs. The kidlet sat on a bench made from a large log, in front of the fire and ate his lunch. They had some activities as well, both inside and out. The woman outside is the preschool teacher and she was great with the kids. They had to move a pallet by putting poles under it and when it rolled off the last pole a kid had to run and put that one in place. LL thought that was so cool. Then they had them use planks to build a “road” to roll a skateboard on, again taking the planks from the back and placing them in front. LL got to sit on the skateboard for his team and he was so excited to be involved. *laugh* I was fascinated to see that the first team made their road in two even strips to fit the skateboard wheels and it worked just fine although the skateboard kept tipping off. The second team (LL’s) had a kid who is destined to be an engineer and figured out after the first placement of planks in front, that they could do 3 across, like you would lay a hardwood floor, the middle one a bit higher than the side ones, and then the skateboard never tipped off. They won, beating the other team’s time of 2 min 20 seconds, by a whopping 10 seconds. *smile*

All in all it was a cool spot and LL really wants to go there to school. I like that they are so small and there is more individual attention. He can go there right through grade 6 and then he would have to switch to the school here for 7&8, before going on to highschool. This is how it was when I went to school and I think that worked fine. *laugh*

The open house was until 1230 but just after noon we had to leave because my fellow had a meeting to go to. LL was busily digging in the mud when his dad said it was time to leave. Llywellyn took the shovel back to the teacher and said we had to go because pappa had a “BIG meeting” to go to. *laugh* He definitely charmed some people today. *smile* We came home and then walked with Ibo to Valsta centrum, where he went on to his meeting at Valstaskolan and we went shopping at the centrum. He said it would be late, so I got some grilled chicken for LL for dinner and I will make wok chicken for Ibo when he gets home. In the interim I have changed into comfy clothes and am relaxing. The pills are helping but I still had to get up at 0400 and take something for pain, so it is not a full recovery yet. *laugh*

It was a lovely day here today. We had sunshine and the temperature was up to 11C. On my walk to school there was no ice to mince carefully over, just clear stoney paths. It is supposed to remain warm for the next few days and I am so looking forward to seeing the rest of the ice go.

The couple who made the conditional offer on our apartment sold their’s and today our apartment is officially sold. The timing of our real estate foray seems to have been perfect, since there are now a number of 1 bedroom apartments listed here.

Today is my brother Greg’s birthday and my sister Kelly’s birthday as well. He is 45 today and she is Jack Benny’s age. *laugh* I wish I was there to celebrate with both of them. Instead I will try to stay awake to phone later. *smile*

Still feeling really blah and yucky today. I would like to say I felt somewhat better but I can’t. The dirty dishes and unmade beds are a testament to that fact. *laugh*

Today I went to class as soon as my fellow got home to stay with the kidlet and drop him at school. I wrote the test and then after break I came home because I was feeling really horrid. I was thinking when I was writing it that I would likely get about 70% because I felt so bad I was having trouble remembering what words meant. *laugh* The teacher said she would phone tomorrow (since I said I would not be at class tomorrow) and let me know how I did and whether I was able to write the national prov next week. She phoned while I was out getting LL from school and told Ibo that I got 93% and could write next week if I choose to. I was really surprised I did that well, my fellow said how bad it was that I missed 7%, he is so good for morale. *laugh*

So I have cleared SFI level C and am now in level D. I think I will write next week because even if I don’t get the 70% I need to go on with my studies, I can still write in May.

It was a busy day yesterday. We were at BVC at 0830 for the kidlet’s polio vaccination and a retest of his eyes. He was devastated to get the needle, sat on my lap and sobbed non stop. I asked if I could sit on his lap and cry when it was my turn to see the doctor and that got a grin. *laugh* The nurse is sending off a remiss for his eyes to be tested since he was really straining to see the bottom row. Since I had an appointment at 1115, we just went next door to öppna förskolan for a couple hours instead of going home. That was fun. *smile*

As for my appointment, I started continuously redialing vårdcentralen at about 0755 and got through at 0810. I spoke to the exact same woman who could not book me a time on Monday and she booked me a time for later in the morning. I saw a very nice doctor, he checked me out and said it was likely that after the stomach flu, my stomach was inflamed and now it seems there is likely an infection there. He sent me off to the lab for some tests and then I got a prescription for Bactim DS. I started it yesterday afternoon and after one dose I remembered why I dislike it, it makes me so nauseous. I also have been running a fever again so I just generally felt unwell all day. I went to bed early and did go to school today but I didn’t stay for the entire afternoon. We were supposed to be writing a big test today but the teacher was ill, so we had a sub who gave us a practice test and we will write the real one tomorrow with one of our regular teachers. It went well, but by break time I was tired I could barely stand up, so I explained to the sub and came home. I have had a nap and feel a bit less wiped out. Still feverish and none of the other symptoms have gone away but I know when I had a bowel infection a few years ago, it took almost a week on Bactrim before I felt better.

Tell me again why it is so wonderful to have “free” healthcare here. In Canada we have free health care. You do not have to shell out $20 every visit like you do in Sweden. You call and get seen by a real doctor in a reasonable amount of time. If you can’t be seen for a week, there are walk in clinics where you can go, 24 hours a day in larger centres. If you need medication, there are pharmacies open till midnight and even 24 hours in larger centres, as opposed to pharmacies open from 10 - 18 weekdays and not open on weekends here.

I have had severe abdominal pain and related problems since the stomach flu a few weeks back. I tried going to clear fluids, but it didn’t help. I cut all dairy products from my diet, it didn’t help. I took immodium for a week, it didn’t help much. I have been useless at home, sleeping long and curling up from pain when I should be doing housework or studying. At last I broke down and tried calling for an appointment with a doctor. That is “a doctor”, not my doctor, since we don’t get to see the same one again, ever. They change so quickly here, it reminds me of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz saying, “people come and go so quickly around here!”. *grin*

I called Vardcentralen on Friday and got busy signals, later in the day it rang and rang and rang and finally when it got picked up, the call had for some unknown reason been routed to the Läkarhus, who can’t book for vardcentralen and I can’t be seen by anyone there because that is outside of my “area”. Telephone times (yes, they actually have specific times you are allowed to phone and you are not allowed to go in person to book an appointment) are from 0800 - 1200 and 1300 - 1700. So I called shortly after 0800 (I was up at 0430 to see my fellow off to Göteborg for 3 days). The line was busy. It rang finally a bit after 0900 and I got a message saying if I wanted to book a time, punch in my phone number followed by the # sign. I did that and got a message saying someone would phone me back at 1310. I called the school and said I was ill and would not be there today. I hurried LL to preschool and hurried home, arriving back at 1300. I missed her call. A nurse finally called about 1400. I said I wanted to see a doctor, she asked why. I said I had abdominal pain, she asked for more info. Then she suggested I try Immodium. I explained I had and said again I wanted to make an appointment. She asked if I had tried a “magkatarr”. I had no clue what she was talking about so I asked, she said go to apoteket and tell them I needed a magkatarr. Then she said that I should be seen by a doctor, but she couldn’t book an appointment and to call in the morning at 0800. I was ready to scream. *laugh*

After I picked up LL I went to the pharmacy. There I discovered it was medication *for* magkatarr (stomach irritation) she was suggesting. I explained my symptoms again to the girl there and she thought I should see a doctor but she went and got the pharmacist to talk to me. The pharmacist explained it was something for heartburn or acid in the stomach that the nurse had suggested. She also felt I should have been seen by a doctor instead of being sent to them. She suggested an antacid that I already use, then she suggested Pepcid Duo. She said to take one today and then call first thing in the morning and get a time with a doctor, since nothing I have tried helped. I told her I was a nurse and only go to a doctor when all else is ineffective so I was quite willing to try the Pepcid. I took it an hour ago and still have pain. *laugh*

I just find it so frustrating here because I am used to the system where I came from. I had the same family doctor from the day I was born, until I was 20 years old. Then I married and moved away from home, got a new doctor and he was my doctor for the next 20 years. In four years here I have seen 4 different doctors, one of them I saw twice in a row, only because she didn’t listen to my medical history the first visit and I showed back up to her office 24 hours later in severe respiratory distress. Every time I see a doctor I have to recount my full medical history again and they all want to try treatment conservatively, meaning they don’t give me the dosage of medication I need and then I have to go back. After the first experience here, I just don’t bother, I increase to the dosages I know I need. It isn’t like I don’t know what I need, my respirologist in Canada was one of the top respiroligists in the country. He believed that asthmatics understood better than anyone what their bodies required and worked to teach his patients to understand the signals their bodies were giving them. Here they prescribe a minimal dose of steroids and minimal amounts of inhaled medications, because they feel that people should use as little as possible and come back if necessary. I guess when doctors get ill, they don’t have to do this telephone time and appointment begging. *laugh*

If I was sick and called for an appointment in Canada, it was usually a next day thing and if that wasn’t soon enough, I could go in and they would fit me in between other patients if necessary. Here it is a nightmare to get an appointment. There is an acute care clinic in the next town, but you can’t just go there, you have to phone and they will give you a time to come in. So if you need a doctor after lunch, you will likely not see one until the next day. I have never been to an ER here and I hate the thought of ever having to. I have however gone for bloodwork and xrays here, a long drawn out, take a number thing. One wait for bloodwork was over 2 hours. Of course that is preferrable to the day the doctor told me that she thought I had strep throat but that all the lab staff were ill so there was no one to take the test if I went there. She sent me home with no medication and said if it didn’t get better call for another appointment.

I do know there are problems with the system in Canada. I know about the cutbacks and the long waiting lists. But I don’t hear people there bragging about the great free medical system they have, like I hear here. There are ludicrous waits for medical procedures here. 3 months for a CT scan when the person had suffered a traumatic injury. There is a minimum wait of 3 months to see any specialist and that is likely to turn in to a year. I know someone who waited for 2 years for surgery for a non life threatening (but severe enough to keep the person off from work) condition, and then was told that there was no money left in the budget for non emergency surgeries for that year, so it would have to rebooked in the next year. I never want to require surgery here, I think if I was really really ill, I would move back to Canada.

So tomorrow morning I will call again to book a time. I have to be there in person at 0830 with LL, since he has an appointment for his polio vaccination. I cannot however book an appointment while I am there, instead I will have to call on my cell from the waiting room, hoping to get through before I have to turn it off and go in to the children’s clinic. *laugh*