Sverige

We arrived in Slämtegan, Värmland, Sweden, the origin of our ancestors. Thirty one years ago, my grandparents, Carl and Jewell Olson came to this same area, approached a stranger out working in his yard and asked, "Where is Slämtegan?" And the man, who spoke no English understand enough to answer, "Slämtegan har!" Then this man called his son who spoke some English, who lived in a local town and the son came out to help understand what Grandpa was wanting to find out. They were able to make the connection that grandpa had a cousin living nearby. We've all heard grandpa's version of the story, now we were able to get Uno's version. He was sitting in his country farmhouse when all of a sudden, he had company. His neighbor stepped aside and introduced him to Carl Olson, his relative from America. Uno remembers that day as one of the happiest days of his life. He loved to tell us this story even though the only English he speaks is, "Tank you beddy much!" What a cute old guy! He would celebrate his 87th birthday while we were there. More on that later.

Our cousin, Ingela (Uno's daughter) was our hostess. Her and her husband, Staffan were on summer holiday and during this time, they stay in their summer cottage close to Slämtegan. Normally, they live in Örebro, which is two hours east. In addition to their summer cottage, there is a guest cottage where we will be staying. We know the accommodations are limited but we are farm girls so that'll be no problem. We arrived at the cottage and were pleasantly surprised on how cute it was. Most homes in Sweden are the traditional red stain with white trim. The cottages were this way as well.  Inside, there was a living room with two twin beds, a bedroom with two twin beds, a kitchen and a deck. Underneath the cottage was a free standing shower in a garage type area. Three hundred yards behind the barn, was our outhouse. What can I say... it was an outhouse. They did have fresh water and soap to wash our hands. The trick was, making sure we didn't accidentally drop the lid down into the abyss. Yikes! Nuff said! The cottages were located next to Lake Västra Silen and it was a beautiful location with a great view!

This evening, we went to Uno's house. Here, we met more relatives. Ingela's kids, Anton and Ida, and Ida's husband, Stefan. Ingela had prepared some open face sandwich type stuff, with a variety of cheeses and vegetables. After we ate this, she made Swedish waffles, with whipped cream (not Cool Whip but the real stuff) and rasberry and strawberry jams. Oh my. That was so amazing. And we also drank coffee, strong Swedish coffee. But it was good. After an evening of visiting (or wisiting as they would say) we went back to the cottages for bed. We were still short on sleep and were ready to turn in. As we noticed, it was 10 p.m. and still light outside. We brought sleep masks because we knew there was very little night in Sweden. With sleep masks on, we each drifted into a peaceful slumber (well, except for Rhonda who had managed a full 12 hours the night before).

Sweden puts a new twist on the "butt crack of dawn", as that would be around 3:30 a.m. However, it never got very dark. We could easily find our way to and from the outhouse. Had we encountered a moose, we would have had no trouble seeing it. I slept soundly until about 4 a.m. when I awoke to the sun blaring in and birds happily chirping. At 6 a.m., I decided to be the first in the shower, in case the tiny hot water tank couldn't accommodate all of us. The water was lukewarm and the shower was quick. Once all of us were showered and ready to begin the day, we headed to breakfast, which was being served outside, with a beautiful lake side view. What an amazing place we were at! It's hard to believe we were really here taking all this in! Breakfast was more of the open faced sandwiches, with the different breads and cheeses and vegetables and lemon curd and carrot marmalade. In addition, we had porridge, which was pretty much oatmeal, but to add flavor, they added applesauce. There was also yogurt. But not your ordinary yogurt. This yogurt was poured out of a milk carton and was too thick to be milk and too thin to be yogurt, at least the type we are used to. Then, we added granola and a dried fruit mixture to the yogurt. It was different, but it was good. And don't forget the coffee.

They had a busy day planned for us. We drove through Årjäng, Arvika, then on to Sunne for lunch, where we ate at a cute restaurant. The restaurants were mostly buffet style and most options were salads and breads and cheeses. The hot meal part was a sausage and boiled, seasoned potatoes. And coffee.

On the way to our next stop, we pulled in to a roadside golf club, which had a monument representing Värmland, the province in which our family originated and the location of our roots and where the cottage is presently located. However, Värmland is a big area and includes a good part of Sweden. We continued on to Mårbacka, the home of Selma Lagerlöf who was the first Swede to win the Nobel prize. She was well known throughout Sweden and other countries for her childrens adventure books. We took an English speaking tour of her home. We then headed to Klässbols Linneväveri, a place where you can buy fine linen goods. Even the king and queen of Sweden have purchased this linen. A lot of the day was driving time and it was a busy day so we headed back to the cottages. We were struggling to stay awake from the jet lag, which caused us to take little catnaps during the ride home. On the way, Ingela noticed a moose out in the field and we stopped and attempted to take pictures. However, it was pretty far away and the zoom on our cameras could only do so much. But at least we can say we saw a moose! When we arrived back home, we relaxed for a bit, then it was time to eat again. This night, we had shish-ka-bobs, which had sausage, chicken, pork and veggies. We skewered the food, then took it out to the grill. Alongside was a side salad and boiled potatoes in a mustard and oil sauce. Everything was delicious. And of course coffee. We visited with our relatives for a while longer, then turned in.

The first morning we were there, we noticed all the relatives were coming back up from the lake one by one before breakfast. We then realized they were bathing in the lake. The temperature was approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit. 

That's not as warm as we prefer, however, we decided us three girls had something to prove so the 2nd morning (which was the 4th of July and we wanted to start the day off with a bang), we headed down in our swimming suits, with soap, shampoo and towels in hand. We quickly jumped in and bathed but after a minute, we felt numb and it wasn't so bad. But, after we got out, we felt very refreshed. Though I wouldn't want to do it ever again.


After the same breakfast we had grown to crave, we headed up the road to the actual location where my great-grandfather was born.

Uno, though blind, knew exactly where everything used to be located and Ingela and Staffan served as the translators. They, as well as their children spoke some English but struggled to find words sometimes. But we were still able to carry on a normal conversation with them in English. (Engelsk) Dad was amazed that we were actually standing on the front steps of where his great grandparents lived.

We realized we are very blessed to have the opportunity to experience this together!


After this, we came back to the cottage and ate lunch, which was more of the same of open faced sandwich with cheeses and veggies and coffee. This afternoon, dad was going to get to go to Ingela's brother, Clas's and help him and his son, Emil bale hay and milk the cows. People in Sweden live very simple lives. They work hard, eat healthy and don't produce much trash. America has become so spoiled and continue to live beyond their means and produce trash and eat junk food regularly. The whole time in Sweden, we didn't see any fried foods. I guess Americans wouldn't be as obese as they are if they lived more like the Swedes, who typically ride their bikes everywhere. While dad was experiencing the Swedish farming culture, us girls were relaxing under shade trees, reading, writing and drinking elderberry juice. Then, Staffan brought out the kayaks and taught us how to do that. It was a nice, relaxing time on the water, which was extremely calm.

After dad was done farming with Clas and Emil, he came back and showered and we all prepared to go to our evening meal at Clas and his wife, Christina's house so we could meet more relatives. Those there to greet us were, Uno, Ingela and Staffan, Anton, Ida and Stefan, Clas's kids Emil and his girlfriend, Jessica, Clas's daughter Maria and her boyfriend, Stefan and daughter, Nelly who was two months old. Each family member were happy to meet us and most spoke very little English. Christina had prepared a delicious Smorgas-torte and for dessert, meringue cake. We've never eaten anything so delicious as the cake. Robin said, "What do you call this?" And Christina, in her best English said, "Cake". Haha After supper, we gathered in the living room and dad and Clas took turns playing the guitar while the whole family sang. Some Swedish songs, and some English songs. Also, the next day was Uno's 87th birthday, so we celebrated his birthday this night by singing happy birthday to him in Swedish and in English. He was so happy to have us all there! We did manage to get the recipe for the Cake from Christina, and Ida translated it into English for us. Hopefully, we can make this for our family and friends when we get back home! We were so thrilled that our Swedish cousins were so friendly and kind and happy to play hostess for us. We were treated like kings! We were sorry we did not get to meet Ingela and Staffan's other daughter, Amanda. She lives a few hours away and wasn't able to get off work to join us. Maybe we can meet her some day.


This day was a great day! The time spent at the homestead, the time spent soaking in the Swedish lifestyle and culture, the time spent with our Swedish relatives and the time spent eating delicious Swedish food and drinking Swedish coffee was just absolutely fantastic. Words cannot describe it. And the feeling was mutual for them as well. It will be a sad moment when we must part ways...