We did some groceries today. We were out for half the day buying things and then we come home and realized we haven't bought anything that was actually listed.
I am tired of this weather. All I see are puddles of snow and mud, piles of snow and dirt. This is getting out of hand. I really miss Georgia right now. My parents say they'r having sunshine and temperatures ranging from 60s to 70s. I miss them!
Another thing that really get's on my nerves. You have to pay for every single bag for groceries. There are NO FREE BAGS.
Oh yeah, one more thing. I went to the bank today and the lady asked for my swedish ID. The only types of ID i had was my passport and american driver's license. (The license will expire by the end of next month, by the way. Which means i have to take the test ALL over again to get my swedish driver's lisence. Isn't that wonderful. ) So the lady tells me my passport with my residence permit is not efficient. I need a swedish ID, which i obviously don't have. So then she asked me for my personummer. Everything was fine after that.
So i need a swedish ID card now, since wherever i go, i am asked to show it.
28 February 2011
27 February 2011
Art of the Day - The Monday
This is someone who is about to wakeup in a minute when the alarm starts buzzing and ruining her sleep. She's half awake, wishing she had 10more minutes to close her eyes and dream!
Accused of Being a Racist
What's worse than being around racist people is assuming that an innocent person around you is a racist. That's exactly what happened about 6 months back in my SFI (swedish for immigrants) class in Globen.
The teachers were amazing. I was lucky enough to study in one of the best areas of Stockholm for SFI. Each teacher was so devoted to teaching us the lanugage with all the patience in the world. They had prepared us in every way. From conversing with swedes to writing a classy resume and giving a good interview. From reading newspapers and novels to writing MVG (A +) essays. Something that seemed impossible to do at first until they started building bridges of hope for us.
We had a mentor named Eva who would come every Friday to talk to us about career building skills. About making a proper resume, how to search for jobs, the job environment, and so on. Also, discussions about the society. She was this very sweet old lady with a round face and short white hair. I can imagine how hard it was for her to make us shy people try to speak some swedish. Especially for the students who were in the beginner's level. Despite all that, Eva had the patience to speak even slower, articulate even more just so we can learn faster.
There was a Friday when Eva came into the classroom and started discussion. She mixed up her agenda and thought we were in a higher level class, which meant there were more new words involved. None of us talked. So she became confused. She kept asking the same simple question in swedish "Do all of you understand what I am saying?"
No answer.
Because obviously, more than half the people didn't understand.
We only knew so much. She finally realized she had the wrong agenda in front of her after she asked us an easier question that we all seemed to have the answer to. So she gave out a silly laugh for her mistake and said "Now I know what level I am in."
That line of her's offended a few classmates. Some more than others. To them, it sounded like, "now I know im with the stupid immigrants".
That day, we discussed about high taxes in Sweden. Some students, especially the ones from the US were against high taxes. Our teacher was, however, in favor of high taxes. She had a very opinionated mind when it came to taxes. Usually a strong opinion being expressed openly leads to problems. A student who was against the issue thought that the teacher was indirectly attacking her with words.
Two things that student hated about the teacher: The way she said how she can tell what level she is teaching, and that she is expressing her opinion about the importance of taxes.
The following week when our yearly teacher evlauation sheet came, that student was telling me how she doesn't feel satisfied with Eva. She wrote down as a complaint that a particular teacher has done acts of discrimination by belittling people and taking advantage of her students because they don't know swedish. This student turned out to be the only one with this complaint.
A 3 months later, we got this "Likabehandlingsplan". Basically a school handbook that shows all the rights of equality. Two whole days, there was no lecture. Instead, we went through the entire handbook, and defined discrimination and racism. After that, however, there was a big shock. On the last page of the handbook, there was that old evaluation sheet we got 3 months earlier. It was a student's handwriting on it. In fact, it was the student that reported our mentor Eva (No names were shown..niether the teacher nor the student), but i recognized it right away because i remember the student telling me exactly what she wrote, as well as Eva's quote.
We were asked if any of us felt discriminated at any time. If we were ever treated badly or differently. Truth was, there was never a time when we were belittled. This was a place with nobody BUT immigrants as students. Why would a racist teacher choose to work at sfi when he/she knows that their full time will be dedicated to people that are completely different from him/her?
The staff were very concerned with this whole issue because this was the first time after a very long time that a case like this had emerged.
I realized that day, i saw every single teacher going over the "likabehandlingsplan" for the entire 2 days, except one. I did not see Eva at all.
She came some weeks later, and she appeared different whenever she taught us. It always felt like a part of her personality was missing. There were times when I could tell that she was being a bit too nice just to satisfy us that she would never mean to hate us.
I felt so sorry for her. I wonder how she felt when she read that evaluation of her's. Her simple joke was taken pretty seriously. In reality, she was one of the nicest most helpful teachers in Globen.
There was no way she would be racist.
Her husband wasn't even Swedish.
This was an evaluatoin gone wrong.
The teachers were amazing. I was lucky enough to study in one of the best areas of Stockholm for SFI. Each teacher was so devoted to teaching us the lanugage with all the patience in the world. They had prepared us in every way. From conversing with swedes to writing a classy resume and giving a good interview. From reading newspapers and novels to writing MVG (A +) essays. Something that seemed impossible to do at first until they started building bridges of hope for us.
We had a mentor named Eva who would come every Friday to talk to us about career building skills. About making a proper resume, how to search for jobs, the job environment, and so on. Also, discussions about the society. She was this very sweet old lady with a round face and short white hair. I can imagine how hard it was for her to make us shy people try to speak some swedish. Especially for the students who were in the beginner's level. Despite all that, Eva had the patience to speak even slower, articulate even more just so we can learn faster.
There was a Friday when Eva came into the classroom and started discussion. She mixed up her agenda and thought we were in a higher level class, which meant there were more new words involved. None of us talked. So she became confused. She kept asking the same simple question in swedish "Do all of you understand what I am saying?"
No answer.
Because obviously, more than half the people didn't understand.
We only knew so much. She finally realized she had the wrong agenda in front of her after she asked us an easier question that we all seemed to have the answer to. So she gave out a silly laugh for her mistake and said "Now I know what level I am in."
That line of her's offended a few classmates. Some more than others. To them, it sounded like, "now I know im with the stupid immigrants".
That day, we discussed about high taxes in Sweden. Some students, especially the ones from the US were against high taxes. Our teacher was, however, in favor of high taxes. She had a very opinionated mind when it came to taxes. Usually a strong opinion being expressed openly leads to problems. A student who was against the issue thought that the teacher was indirectly attacking her with words.
Two things that student hated about the teacher: The way she said how she can tell what level she is teaching, and that she is expressing her opinion about the importance of taxes.
The following week when our yearly teacher evlauation sheet came, that student was telling me how she doesn't feel satisfied with Eva. She wrote down as a complaint that a particular teacher has done acts of discrimination by belittling people and taking advantage of her students because they don't know swedish. This student turned out to be the only one with this complaint.
A 3 months later, we got this "Likabehandlingsplan". Basically a school handbook that shows all the rights of equality. Two whole days, there was no lecture. Instead, we went through the entire handbook, and defined discrimination and racism. After that, however, there was a big shock. On the last page of the handbook, there was that old evaluation sheet we got 3 months earlier. It was a student's handwriting on it. In fact, it was the student that reported our mentor Eva (No names were shown..niether the teacher nor the student), but i recognized it right away because i remember the student telling me exactly what she wrote, as well as Eva's quote.
We were asked if any of us felt discriminated at any time. If we were ever treated badly or differently. Truth was, there was never a time when we were belittled. This was a place with nobody BUT immigrants as students. Why would a racist teacher choose to work at sfi when he/she knows that their full time will be dedicated to people that are completely different from him/her?
The staff were very concerned with this whole issue because this was the first time after a very long time that a case like this had emerged.
I realized that day, i saw every single teacher going over the "likabehandlingsplan" for the entire 2 days, except one. I did not see Eva at all.
She came some weeks later, and she appeared different whenever she taught us. It always felt like a part of her personality was missing. There were times when I could tell that she was being a bit too nice just to satisfy us that she would never mean to hate us.
I felt so sorry for her. I wonder how she felt when she read that evaluation of her's. Her simple joke was taken pretty seriously. In reality, she was one of the nicest most helpful teachers in Globen.
There was no way she would be racist.
Her husband wasn't even Swedish.
This was an evaluatoin gone wrong.
Art of the Day
Long back, I used to be ten times quieter and most of the things that went through my head was more often shown on a white plane paper than expressed in words. I was a shy girl, still am!Over time I got busier with studies and i kind of gave up on drawing and painting and I started forgetting all about the beauty of it.
My friends, family, and my husband keeps telling me about continueing before i start regretting it. So nowadays I started sketching again. I almost forgot how much i love art.
I drew this one last night after dinner.
For some reason i had all these thoughts about domestic violence on my mind. I thought about the importance of happiness in a family. How the surroundings of children affects them in the long run.
This is a picture of an average family. A family that seems perfect to the world and nobody but the kids know the real story which goes inside the house. Never leaves the house.
Fighting, battering, yelling, screaming, objects being thrown...these are all things that go on in a daily basis in this house.
The kids are at a stage where they are learning about everything. They are at that age when they lock everything they see, hear, in their brains. They will never forget what they see and hear almost every night. But are the parents even paying attention to that?
How do you think that little boy and girl's mentallity will be about creating a family of their own in the future? They will have this fear in them. When they realize that not every parent is this way, how will they feel then?
Most of us will be parents some day..some already are..this is one thing we should all think about. We need to think about the children, the ones that never did a single thing to deserve this.
26 February 2011
Finally some Hope in this Gloomy Old Winter
Living in Sweden really makes you appreciate nature. I find all 4 seasons here to it's extreme. As of now, winter still isn't ready to leave. BUT i was so happy to see some SUN this week, (even though it was a freezing -20 week). I miss the sun! Never missed it as much as this year!! I am so tired of the darkness. Can't wait till summer when the sun will be present the entire day from early morning till late night!
I love how the the sun shot right at me. The light of hope.
25 February 2011
Country with the least Poverty
Bangladesh. . . .extreme poverty.
I remember when i was a kid and my parents would take me to Bangladesh after every 2 years. Every time the plane was getting ready to land, I would see the greens and rich soil of my home country. Many of them under floods from the Mansoon season.
Then we would finally get off and drive through the city of Dhaka. During our long frequent trips to Dhaka I would always sense some kind of improvement with the airport, or the roads, or some other thing. Though there was one scene that would never change. The scene of a young girl with burnt skin and a missing eye, an old boney man with a missing arm, or even a young little boy rolling on a wagon with no legs, begging to me, right by my car door.
It hit me the most the first time i visited Bangladesh in 1993 of November. We were on the road and came to a red light, an old thin armless man and his young little son went around begging in the streets to every single person in a car or rikshaw. They finally came and stood by our car. My mom started digging inside her purse for change and right when she got money out and was about to give it to the old tired man (who was so happy and thankful that he finally got something for his son ) through the car window, the traffic light turned green and our driver pressed the gas so hard that not only did the man fall from the force of the car, but he never got the money that mom wanted to give him. That driver was in some kind of hurry. We had a lousy driver. That night the road was insane, people drove on the local road like they were on the freeway.
I will never forget the look on that old man and his son as our car sped off, leaving them in the middle of the crazy road empty-handed.
I came across many homeless people in Bangladesh, and everytime i saw one, it just made me think of that man who we could have helped but didn't.
America. . .I see them!
Bums on the street outside of Georgia State University! That is the best example i can bring up. Atlanta is full of homeless poeple, unfortunately. On the streets, inside Marta (A crappy version of the Metro), and Ghetto areas near the city.
During winter times i would see some of the homeless covered under a small ripped off sweater, freezing, under the tree in some park. I would see a lot of them drinking. Most of them just looked very angry. Always yelled out mean things to people. Very distractive. Once, this one homeless man called my bestfriend a black duck. No idea where that came from, but that's how random the comments got.
Angry people you don't want to mess with. Not even have eye contact. Avoid!
But I think about the kids that grow up in this environment. How can they have a bright future if their in such circumstances? Growing up in the ghettos is difficult to survive. The results of such poverty leads to crimes. A reason why so much crime exists in the states (gas station robberies).
Sweden.... UTOPIA
I don't see homeless people. It's not that i havn't noticed any, I just don't see them. Can't find them.
Ok, I did see a couple poeple who looked like immigrants, going around in the metro asking for change. Just a few times. They hardly bother anybody. I am told that they are not really homeless, but they are just taking advantage of being poor? Don't know what it is. But i have not seen any homeless people in the streets.
Sweden is known to have one of the lowest rate of poverty.
Sweden is actually trying really hard to reduce the percentage of homeless to half the size of what it is now.
I'm glad with what they do with taxes. THey take care of a hell of a lot of things. And that's why the country has a very high standard of living. One of the highest in this world.
It's the safest country in the world. Absolutely incredible.
I remember when i was a kid and my parents would take me to Bangladesh after every 2 years. Every time the plane was getting ready to land, I would see the greens and rich soil of my home country. Many of them under floods from the Mansoon season.
Then we would finally get off and drive through the city of Dhaka. During our long frequent trips to Dhaka I would always sense some kind of improvement with the airport, or the roads, or some other thing. Though there was one scene that would never change. The scene of a young girl with burnt skin and a missing eye, an old boney man with a missing arm, or even a young little boy rolling on a wagon with no legs, begging to me, right by my car door.
It hit me the most the first time i visited Bangladesh in 1993 of November. We were on the road and came to a red light, an old thin armless man and his young little son went around begging in the streets to every single person in a car or rikshaw. They finally came and stood by our car. My mom started digging inside her purse for change and right when she got money out and was about to give it to the old tired man (who was so happy and thankful that he finally got something for his son ) through the car window, the traffic light turned green and our driver pressed the gas so hard that not only did the man fall from the force of the car, but he never got the money that mom wanted to give him. That driver was in some kind of hurry. We had a lousy driver. That night the road was insane, people drove on the local road like they were on the freeway.
I will never forget the look on that old man and his son as our car sped off, leaving them in the middle of the crazy road empty-handed.
I came across many homeless people in Bangladesh, and everytime i saw one, it just made me think of that man who we could have helped but didn't.
America. . .I see them!
Bums on the street outside of Georgia State University! That is the best example i can bring up. Atlanta is full of homeless poeple, unfortunately. On the streets, inside Marta (A crappy version of the Metro), and Ghetto areas near the city.
During winter times i would see some of the homeless covered under a small ripped off sweater, freezing, under the tree in some park. I would see a lot of them drinking. Most of them just looked very angry. Always yelled out mean things to people. Very distractive. Once, this one homeless man called my bestfriend a black duck. No idea where that came from, but that's how random the comments got.
Angry people you don't want to mess with. Not even have eye contact. Avoid!
But I think about the kids that grow up in this environment. How can they have a bright future if their in such circumstances? Growing up in the ghettos is difficult to survive. The results of such poverty leads to crimes. A reason why so much crime exists in the states (gas station robberies).
Sweden.... UTOPIA
I don't see homeless people. It's not that i havn't noticed any, I just don't see them. Can't find them.
Ok, I did see a couple poeple who looked like immigrants, going around in the metro asking for change. Just a few times. They hardly bother anybody. I am told that they are not really homeless, but they are just taking advantage of being poor? Don't know what it is. But i have not seen any homeless people in the streets.
Sweden is known to have one of the lowest rate of poverty.
Sweden is actually trying really hard to reduce the percentage of homeless to half the size of what it is now.
I'm glad with what they do with taxes. THey take care of a hell of a lot of things. And that's why the country has a very high standard of living. One of the highest in this world.
It's the safest country in the world. Absolutely incredible.
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