Örebro

Örebro
Skrivet av	Helena
I'm Swedish, but my husband is from the US, and we have recently moved to Örebro. Are there any English-speaking people here, who would like some new friends? We have one child, he is 16 months.
Svar på tråden: Örebro

Move to Sweden
Skrivet av Bella
How come you guys moved to Sweden?! And how did you plan it all? I am very curious because I am married to an American man myself and we have talked about moving to Sweden one day, especially when we have children, in order to be close to my family for a while too. We live in the US right now. But there seems to be so many obstacles and things to get around in order to get that far as to move back again for me; finding jobs, teaching my husband Swedish, having a place to live, being economically comfortable, etc. What do you do now that you are in Sweden? Have you both lived in the US before you moved back home? I would love to hear more about your story!

Ok, I'll let my husband answer
Skrivet av TS S. Fulk
Hello, I'm an American who moved to the Czech Republic (Prague) to teach at a university. I met Helena in the Czech Republic and eventually got tired of our long distance relationship and moved to Sweden. There was little problem moving to Sweden (except that I left too soon and had to return to the Czech Republic and wait for my work/residence permits to arrive before entering Sweden--stupid EU law). After moving to Sweden, the problems started. Learning Swedish was not so bad. Every municipality has SFI (Svenska för invandare) courses at Komvux. The courses are free. Finding a job has been the main problem. I teach English (certified to teach 7-12 in Ohio--3 university degrees, including two master's degress). Since my Swedish is just so-so. I can only teach English. Almost all high schools require that teachers teach two or more subjects (very different from the U.S.). Dispite being certified, having taught at a university for 3.5 years, and having taught business professions in Sweden, no high school has granted me an interview! I can understand not hiring me, but why won't they give me an interview for a job? I chalk it up to discrimination. As you probably know, people are generally "colder" in Sweden than in the U.S. It will be difficult to make new friends. It would be better if you moved where you have old friends/family, so your husband won't feel so "alone." I moved where my wife had found a job. Her family was 5 hours away, and there were no friends in the area. We eventually had to move where she had some friends. Also, I still have problems dealing with the fact that my wive's friends get together with us once a month or so instead of several times a week. That said, having children in Sweden is better than in the U.S. Everything is cheaper (the hospital stay, childcare, day care, etc.). The maturnity/paternity leave is also great. Try to move and work before having kids, then you will get more money during your leave. The minimum is $12/day, which isn't much (still better the $0/day in the U.S.). Since you have moved from Sweden to the U.S., espect your husband to have the same feelings of culture shock, loneiness, depression, etc. that you probably felt. The internet is great for staying in touch, but nothing beats seeing friends and family in person (my friends and family have never seen Helena or our 16 month old son Marek). To find jobs, search on http://platsbanken.ams.se/. You can set up a search profile detailing the type of work, the region, and keywords. That's all for now.


Thank you for your answer
Skrivet av Bella
And I must say that I was afraid of exactly all of that you are describing; Not finding a job, not finding friends, not feeling like you belong, homesickness, etc. I am sorry to hear that you have had such a tough time with everything in Sweden. It makes me mad that you cannot get a job as an English teatcher. I have heard that they are in need of teachers and even know of people that have been hired as teachers that do not even have Certificates! I wish you all the best in your search and am crossing my fingers!! How long have you been in Sweden? Do you feel like it will ever get any better?! Or perhaps it will never change, people don't change... I actually don't know when we would move there, if we ever do, but I know that my husband would need a lot of support from me and my family if we do. However, I don't know if we would be able to find jobs close by to them. We are not prepared for a move yet anyway and it seems like we should think about it hard, especially for my husbands sake, before making that decision. My dream is of course to go home some day. I also feel that it would be "fare" for both of us to live there for a while, especially when we have children, in order for my family to see us more as well. But you are right, we need to realize what we would be getting ourselves in to by moving to Sweden and prepare ourselves for all of that. I really appreciate your feedback and suggestions.

maybe your situation is different
Skrivet av H.
I mean I have never lived in the United States and I don't really understand when my husband complains about certain things, that we don't have air conditioning here in hour homes, and a lot of other things. But since you've lived in the US, maybe you can understand your husband better. I think it depends what kind of education you have, if it's easy or not to get a job in Sweden. If you are a nurse or a doctor or something like that, I think you could get a job tomorrow. My husband has lived here for about one and a half year. One thing which I'm maybe doing wrong, is that I don't speak Swedish to him, I guess it would be better for him if I did, but I just can't. Where in the US do you live?

Not always bad....!
Skrivet av Geoff & CC
Hi, I just felt like I had to write a quick one to tell our story about moving from North America to Sweden. I'm Swedish and I met my future husband 5 years ago on the net. He is Canadian, from Vancouver. I moved to live with him in Vancouver in -98 and we lived there for a year. We then decided to move to Sweden. He was abit nervous about it but was positive and optimistic. It was hard for me to get anything else but a tourist visa in Canada unless we got married, and we didn't want to get married for that reason. Geoff applied for a work permit before we left canada so everything was ok when we arrived to Sweden. He started SFI soon afterthat at the same time as he worked part time as a carpenter (had little experiense, but learns fast, got hired by a relative) He liked learning Swedish and he is pretty much fluent now after almost 3,5 years in Sweden. After finnish SFI after 3 months, he started working full time and has ever since. He misses Vancouver but we've been there to visit and his family has visited us. We live close to my family which is a plus ofcourse, they love Geoff and we are all very good friends. Things that Geoff likes about Sweden are many,and he doesn't mind the Swedes being abit "colder" although he complaines about their bad mannors sometimes (I agree).Geoff likes that he gets 5 weeks paid holidays (apart from the röda dagar, national holidays)He is looking forward taking pappaledigt and he seems to think that the swedish system for all that (childcare)is better than the canadian.. He is happy, likes it here, had no problem adjusting to the swedish culture, no problem with the language etc.. just wanted to let you know! Good luck in the future! //Cecilia


You probably already tried this....
Skrivet av Geoff & CC
...but I thought I might just mention it anyway. As a Swede I wish I could be more proud of Arbetsförmedlingen, but to be quite honest, most of the times they SUCK! laughs Of course, not ALL handledare at AF are bad, but I have been in contact with them quite many times and so has many of my friends, sister med flera. I can almost swear that in our cases all of us found and got our jobs elsewhere. Which means contacting companies ourselves, visiting schools and presenting ourselves to principals etc, showing our interest...much more effective than AF. I read you live far from your wifes family, but do you know them well? Maybe they or your new Swedish friends could help you in any way to get a job. Where do you live? My brittish mother started out teaching adult swedes in english at ABF, 3 of my boyfriends SFI - class mates got offered simular jobs after they finished at SFI (I think they worked for komvux though, not ABF). Well, got luck with finding a job, if you don't already have one! Enjoy the short swedish summer, //Cizzi

Thanks for that..
Skrivet av Tamara
It confirmed what i thought. I was afraid of that . You\'re not the first american I hear this from. I guess we\'ll be staying put in NY. BTW. The laws in the US are the same. If you apply, you have to stay out of the country until your visa/Green card is granted. Or, if you applied before the law changed, you can\'t leave without permission. I am married to a US citizen, and we\'ve been waiting for FIVE years. US INS has claimed not receiving certain papers of ours, so we have had to resubmit the same set three times. Last thing I heard, they lost my whole file. And this after we were told by them I was granted my Green card... How do you say it...? BANANREPUBLIK is the word I\'m looking for. Or maybe Incompetence is better?

Check this site
Skrivet av Anna
http://www.amerikanska.com/ Go to the Talk Forum, and you'll find others in your situation. Good luck (och välkommen hem)!

Örebro

Move to Sweden

Ok, I'll let my husband answer

Thank you for your answer

maybe your situation is different

Not always bad....!

You probably already tried this....

Thanks for that..

Check this site

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