Last night we were having dinner with an Australian friend and we were talking about similarities between the US and Australia in comparison to Sweden. We both agreed that everything in Sweden seems so nice and clean and organized and tasteful. You almost never see plastic tableware, trashy lawn ornaments, or old cars sitting in someone's yard....it's almost safe to say that the word "tacky" doesn't exist here. The majority of Swedish meals involve sitting down with real plates and silverware, candles, and real flowers on the table. People use knives and forks to eat McDonald's burgers. Household appliances are compact, sleek, and well-designed. TV commercials feature beautiful cinematography, soothing narration, and intelligent ideas...no screaming salesmen or flashing lights begging for your attention.
Now, as a backwoods, home-schooled, grew-up-in-a-trailer Michigander, I suppose my standards of "nicer" might be a little skewed. I've spent a good portion of my life living out of mobile homes, crappy apartments, tents, fieldwork cabins, the back of my truck, and a dusty concrete box that passed as a Guatemalan house, so it doesn't take a whole lot for me to think, "Ooooh, fancy." My friend summed it up perfectly when she said, "In Sweden, every time you walk into someone's house it feels like you're visiting the one 'rich' friend you had when you were a little kid." It really does make me feel like kind of a dirtbag sometimes, but I'm starting to get used to all this fancy stuff. Bring on the fresh flowers and candles, Jeeves.
Somebody's Watchin' Me...
In Sweden, everyone has something called a personnummer, which, you guessed it, is a personal number akin to our American social security numbers. Without a personnummer in Sweden you might as well not exist. You can't open a bank account, go to the doctor, sign a cell phone contract, get a library card, open a gym membership, or even rent a movie without one. The one major difference here in Sweden seems to be that sharing your personnummer with others is absolutely no big deal, unlike in the US where we guard our social security numbers with our lives lest someone assume our identity, take out five credit cards in our name, wipe out our bank account, and ruin life as we know it.
Having a personnummer also means that the Swedish government is essentially tracking your every move, which I just can't help feeling a bit creeped out about. Coming from a country where people hide their phone numbers and addresses at all costs to evade the hordes of rabid stalkers and rapists that prowl the streets, I have a hard time being okay with the fact that I can't do anything important without it being noted and kept track of by strangers.
In addition to the government keeping track of your personnummer, there are a bunch of search websites in Sweden like www.hitta.se where you can type in a name, phone number, or address and immediately get that person's personal information. When I hitta'd myself, up popped my name, address, cell phone number, birthday, and a handy dandy little map straight to my house.
I'm torn on this one...it feels so creepy to know that all my information is just hanging out there, like my underwear is sticking out or something. But on the other hand, Swedes are typically very prone to walking around unashamed in their underwear, or sharing their personal information with whoever wants to see it. I feel privileged to be able to live in such a safe and organized country...but still....
Having a personnummer also means that the Swedish government is essentially tracking your every move, which I just can't help feeling a bit creeped out about. Coming from a country where people hide their phone numbers and addresses at all costs to evade the hordes of rabid stalkers and rapists that prowl the streets, I have a hard time being okay with the fact that I can't do anything important without it being noted and kept track of by strangers.
In addition to the government keeping track of your personnummer, there are a bunch of search websites in Sweden like www.hitta.se where you can type in a name, phone number, or address and immediately get that person's personal information. When I hitta'd myself, up popped my name, address, cell phone number, birthday, and a handy dandy little map straight to my house.
I'm torn on this one...it feels so creepy to know that all my information is just hanging out there, like my underwear is sticking out or something. But on the other hand, Swedes are typically very prone to walking around unashamed in their underwear, or sharing their personal information with whoever wants to see it. I feel privileged to be able to live in such a safe and organized country...but still....
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