Small Break Perhaps?

If you recall i made a post on Monday promptly titled "The Waiting Game..." which spoke about me finally getting myself a praktikplats (Basically a practice job for anyone who doesn't quite understand what it is) but i was having to sit and wait for the local job centre to make their decision if i would get to do it or not.

So last week up until Thursday i pretty much rang them up everyday in the hope that it would make them get their finger out of their backsides and come to a final conclusion, but apparently it was not the actual job centre that was holding it up but instead the company i have got the place with's union, from what i can gather from the conversations i had with my job centre representative they have to tell the job centre if they are able to take on someone and then need to make sure that the person getting the place is not taking anyone else's job or a summer job etc (Some strange law prohibits a company taking on someone on a praktikplats if their is summer jobs available).
It was quite stupid since the people i had went to visit down at the hospital where i would be working had already contacted their union and double and triple checked that there would be no issues and that they were infact allowed, but obviously the job centre cannot take my word or the people i would be working with either and have to check themselves, which is totally understandable.

But finally on Friday i got the phone call i had been waiting for all day, i had pretty much given up on the idea of actually getting a call on Friday after about 14:30 since well most Swedish people don't like to work that long on a Friday because well it's FRIDAY! and especially with the current weather we have been having i could safely say i would rather spend all of my time sitting outside and relaxing in the warm weather that working away in some office :)
However the call came in and the words i wanted to hear were spoken  "You have been approved for the praktikplats!, and can start on Monday if you want" Apparently the paperwork hasn't yet been fully completed but they have heard back from the union and it was all go, so my job centre rep had spoken to her colleagues and asked that even though the paperwork had not been completed would it be ok for me to start on Monday anyways? to which the response was yea sure why not.

So from tomorrow my long long long time of unemployment finally comes to a end, sure it's only a 3 month position but there is a good chance that if i get stuck in and keep my head down, and basically say "I'll do that!" to anything needing done, then i have a good chance of being employed by them, which would be amazing!

Sure this means that my summer is officially over today, there will be no days sitting outside relaxing in the lovely weather and watching the kids have fun and generally be a pain in the ass (Well not Monday to Friday at least, i'm off at the weekends of course) and it means when Marie breaks off for her 3 weeks holiday she will be spending it alone with our daughter, but you know what sacrifices must be made and this is just one of them, even though i'm going to miss spending all day outside watching the kids play and stuff and just generally enjoying life all summer, it's really such a great feeling to know that from tomorrow i'll be back to working, and after 7 years of unemployment i absolutely cannot wait!

Of course i'm scared out my wits about things that are stupid like i hope i don't make that many mistakes, and that i hope i can understand everything they say and things like that but you know what life is about taking risks, i took a massive one moving over here in the first place but you only live life once and you got to live it to the max, and if i make a mistake then so what i'll learn from it and hopefully i'll be able to show these guys that i'm a hard working and dedicated person who they will want to employ as well as get to know!

But what does this mean for blogging? Well my current working hours will be the standard Monday to Friday (7am - 4pm) and by the time i come home it will be almost 5pm Swedish time so the chances of me actually coming home and sitting on the computer to write up a blog post is pretty slim, but i am going to try my damn hardest to make it all work!

But my freedom is officially over and i have to say it feels good!

So until next time, whenever that may be, i hope you have all had a great weekend and have a great week ahead! I know mines is certainly going to be interesting!

Our Night Out Adventure..

I have been now living in Sweden almost 6 years this coming July and believe it or not but in that whole 6 years i have not once set foot inside a local pub or nightclub. If i'm totally honest the reason is that i'm not much for going out, i find it alot more enjoyable asking a few friends to come around to the house and just sitting out the back and enjoying a nice cold beer and a good laugh, without having to deal with the idiots that you normally find out in pubs and clubs.

But seeing as Kaeshan had come through from the UK, Marie decided that it would be a good idea to go out one night and have something to eat before heading onto a pub.
Let's just say, that was a adventure.


As most people are aware i am originally from Scotland, and well normally when i venture out in Scotland especially on a Friday or Saturday night you are guaranteed that the establishment is going to be that full that A) You cannot hear a single word each other is saying and B) You probably can't move without banging into someone or something. But out here in Lidköping i have never seen a pub so empty in all my life.
Now that could say something about the Scots more than it does about my local town here in Sweden, but either way i have blown away at how empty it was.
Marie had said that by 23:00/00:00 the place would be packed or at least there would be a good amount of people in the pub, however it didn't happen. Sure more people came but i wouldn't even compare it to anything i have ever seen in the UK. Perhaps it's because most people only come out to enjoy themselves at pay day or whatever i have no idea, it was however just rather disappointing.

However later on in the evening, things became rather strange and by strange i mean people who were in the nightclub section of the pub really began to worry me.

There is a mirrored wall that is right next to where the bar is, so myself, Marie & Kaeshan are sitting having a good laugh and a drink, when out the corner of my eye i noticed some guy standing at this mirrored wall on his own with his drinks placed on the little ledge that was in front of mirrored wall, now you might be thinking to yourself so what? Well he wasn't just standing there having a drink he was standing looking into the mirror and having a full blown out conversation with himself, normally i try and not stare at people especially when im in a nightclub or a pub because you never know how people will react, but i couldn't take my eyes off this guy, it was quite possibly one of the strangest things i have ever witnessed in my entire 29 years of being on earth (Yes! I used to live in space!) I mean seriously i thought he was completely demented, but he had come up to me earlier in the night and asked me to watch his slot machine because he had money in it and was needing to go and use the bathroom so i knew from talking to him earlier that he seemed at least semi-sane. It only got worse because not long after he decided to go away 2 more guys did the exact same thing. I actually began to wonder if there was some sort of trick and there was someone behind the glass they were having a conversation with, but Kaeshan decided he would go and investigate and found that the glass was infact solid and that nobody was actually standing on the other side to talk to, so out of the very few people that was in the nightclub we had 3 guys who enjoyed having a drink and talking to themselves in a mirror and a elderly woman who must have been in her early to late 60's who was sitting in a nightclub at 00:00 in the morning playing a slot machine.

However even though we seemed to be surrounded with not quite sane people we still managed to have a great night, Kaeshan did what he always does and was making his 5 fingers talk to my face alot, which by the way really hurts! and then after a short period decided that biting Marie's head would be a good idea, i have no idea what this biting of the head is all about but from what i can gather it's his way of showing affection lol.

Not only did we have a great night but Kaeshan even managed to make a new friend, we had noticed that on a board it stated happy hour finished at 11pm, so Kaeshan being him decided to go and ask the bartender if that was Swedish time or UK time, yes he was trying to get us cheap drinks and it worked, we didn't get it for the happy hour price but we only had to pay 10kr extra which was pretty damn cheap, i think the bartender had a little thing for him i'm not sure, but he kept looking over to us and sticking up his thumbs in the gesture "Is it good??" not only did he give us cheap drinks, Marie managed to get him to bring us over 3 shots for nothing since she decided to clear all the glasses off our table and take them over to him which was awsome.

Can't actually remember what was in the drink, Zambooka and Sprite is all i can recall but either way it was a damn good drink and made a nice change from drinking beer all the time!

So although i was surrounded by strange people and getting worried that the bartender had a thing for my friend it was a fantastic night out! I'm hoping next time i am able to head over to London and spend a few days over there with Kaeshan and he can show me the wonders of going out in London, something i have never done before :)

But until next time have a great day folks!

Playing The Waiting Game...

So the other week infact the day Kaeshan arrived here in Sweden for his few days visit, as i arrived home i got a phone call from Marie who was at work, saying that she had spoken to the Janitor company that works inside the hospital. They basically deal with things like picking up the dirty laundry and taking the clean stuff back along with the post and other things like that.
She had tried a month ago or something along those lines trying to get me a summer job with them, but seeing as i don't have a driving licence they were unable to help me, but she had enquired to see if they would be interested or able to take me on a Praktikplats (Practice Job basically) and well the day Kaeshan arrived she was walking by them when she was shouted upon and informed that if i wanted a praktikplats then they would be more than happy to take me on for 3 months.

This was absolutely fantastic news!!!! or at least so i thought....

So Marie arranged for me to go in the day after Kaeshan left (Last Tuesday) to have the paperwork for the Job Centre filled out and get the ball rolling on it, but apparently things are not as easy as this in Sweden, or infact any Nordic Country.
After meeting up with the people who will be giving me the praktikplats and meeting another few people that i would have the pleasure of working with, i headed off down to the local job centre (by the way this is a 20 minute walk from the hospital to the job centre) to then be told by the Job Centre that i had not filled in the form correctly and that i would have to go all the way back up to the hospital and have the parts that were missed filled in.

So off i went, i have to say i wasn't best pleased about having to take another 20 minute walk up and then back down but needs must as they say, it was a chance of a job or at least a job for 3 months with the opportunity of gaining employment after it, so once i got back to the hospital and got the stuff filled in and took another 20 minute walk down the chap the job centre then informed me that i had missed out something else, that they had not told me to get filled in.. By this time i was not best pleased and informed him that i would much rather speak to my old handler instead of him, so off he went and sure enough she came back and said that i didn't need to fill it in at all and that they would do that part themselves, i can't tell you the sigh of relief that came over me when she told me that.

I thought that once i had filled in the form, that they would just look over it and then make a decision if i was allowed it or not, but nooooo..... that would be far to simple, instead they have to make phone calls and make a decision if i'm allowed this praktik or not, which in my opinion is absolutely ridiculous since it was them that told me to go out and find one if i was unable to find a proper job. But now i have they have to make sure if i'm allowed to take this one or not.

So i got a call on Friday from my new handler who informed me that she was unable to get in touch with anyone there and that she would try again on Monday (meaning today) now that's great except if she was able to get someone on Friday then i could have started today, but alas it was not meant to be so now i have to sit here and play the waiting game hoping that she phones me with a yes you are allowed and then i'll be able to start my 3 month praktik which would be awsome, since there is a chance to get a job out of it!

We Finally Met.

Well now that things are sort of back to normal, after what i can only call a truly amazing few days i thought it was about time to get back to blogging and tell you about all the adventures we got up to while Kaeshan was over here in Sweden visiting myself and Marie.

I think in my whole life i have had about a handful of what i would call "Amazing Birthdays" and i would have to put the one i just had up there in the top 3, having Kaeshan over for his visit was something that was always in the making for about 4 years + now and finally it happened and not only did it happen it happened the day before my birthday which made it even more special than it normally already is for me.

We had such a great time, or at least myself and Marie did, can't really comment on what Kaeshan though. But just having the opportunity to spend a few days with someone that i had been talking with online for 4 years + was absolutely fantastic in my opinion. But how to describe him?

Well to sum him up in one word: Entertaining


I mean it's not like i was expecting anything different as i already had a good idea of his sense of humour and how he words things etc but spending 4 days listening to him honestly cracked me up so much that at times i thought my sides would burst open in the laughter, it's not exactly what he comes out with that keeps me so amused but the way he words things. I mean he is a very intelligent person so when he comes out with witty remarks you can't help but find it hysterical, or well at least i can't.
I just wished i could share some of the stories that he did with us, but i think that most if not all of them are probably rather inappropriate for most of the people that come on and read the blog. But if i could i'm pretty sure that you would all find it rather amusing to say the least.

It was just a pity that it was only a 4 day event, and it was quite sad to see him leave, but i'm more than sure this is not the final time we will ever meet as i am hoping at some point either at the end of this year or start of next to fly over to London where he is now staying to spend a few days over there.
But the 4 days that we had over here consisted of alot of whisky, beer, a massive amount of humour and some really fun new experiences.
I knew before Kaeshan came that he was into role playing games, and up until his arrival it was always something i wanted to try out but where we live in not exactly filled with people who are in to that sort of thing, so when he came over here showed me the ropes on a online version of one of the games he plays and i got to say it was absolutely amazing, it's honestly something i could see myself doing on a weekly basis with a group of friends, so i really can't wait to head over there to try it out for real, since he has alot of friends over there that do that as well.

But i think i will leave it there for now, i'll have another few posts coming out over there next few days that will continue with what happened while he was over here including not only his first Swedish Bar Experience but also mines, since in 6 years of living here i have not been out drinking ever, but seeing as Kaeshan was over we decided to do it, and of course i'll be writing a post about how awsome my Birthday was.

But until then, have a great day folks!

It's That Time Of The Year

Well it seems that Sweden has finally come to that time of the year again, yes i'm talking about the hot weather. Granted it's not as hot as it will become but it's getting there, and with that comes my most hated task in the world, infact this task makes me wish we lived back in town in the old apartment building we used to live in when i first moved over here.

What task is this that i am talking about?
The dreaded task of cutting the grass, i don't know about you guys but this is the only thing in the world that i hate more than trying to hoover a rug when you have a Siberian Husky as a pet. Not only does it take close to a hour to cut our grass, but by the time i have finished and especially in this heat i feel like i am ready to pass out.
Although once i have finished with it and look over our lawn, it is awsome to see how it looks. But the actual task itself, the only words that springs to mind is "Soul Destroying".

Normally the gods of weather here in Sweden, like to play evil tricks on me. Like "hey Ben look it's nice and sunny outside go outside and cut the grass", so i do and then the very next day it then says to me "hey Ben look at that nice cut grass, guess what? it's going to start raining in less than 5 seconds" which means it will begin to grow even faster than it did and i have to go out in a week and do it again. It's just evil i tell you!

But it's done for the first time this year and i guess i should be happy, it was fairly long so it didn't get the cut that i would like and this means that at some point next week i'm going to have to go out again and give it another going over to get it nice and short and then i'm going to try and make a concious effort to try and go out at least every other week and cut it again keeping it nice and short.
I have tried this for the last 4 years that we have been out here, but it doesn't normally go to plan and i end up cutting long grass again and hating myself for not keeping it short and thus making it really easy to cut.

But at least it's sunny and i'm hoping that it stays as this is the weather that will allow me to get outside and away from the computer for a bit here and there and just sit out the back in the nice heat and read my books that i have been once more neglecting (I still blame Marie for this, since she refuses to let me read in bed!).

But for now i think that is all, i hope your having a great week so far! So until next time.....

What's Been Happening

So what has been happening over the last few days with me that has caused me to write pretty much nothing, infact i pretty much wrote nothing the whole month of April.
The only reason for this is that nothing much has been happening over here in the world of The Angry Scot, it's probably due to the fact that i recently realised i live a pretty boring lifestyle, but heh! it's my lifestyle and i have grown quite attached to it.

But i had a pretty decent weekend if i have to admit, Friday night included me being left home alone, well i wasn't totally alone my daughter was upstairs in her bedroom but seeing as she is a teenager and i think i seen her a grand total of about 2 times the whole night i might as well have been.
The reason i was left to fend for myself was because my fiancée Marie had went out with all her work mates to celebrate a friend of hers who works their passing some medical thing that she had been working on, don't ask me what it was because i have no idea i just know it was medical since well she works in the hospital. So they had all decided that they would go out on Friday for a nice meal followed up by a good drinking session.

So when the phone started ringing at 01:20 on Saturday morning i was pretty shocked to hear that it was Marie on the other end of the phone, i was staying up that night to wait for her to come in anyway so it wasn't like she woke me up or anything but i hadn't been expecting to see or hear from her until at least 02:30 that morning. But then she informed me that the friend that they had all gone out with had gotten a little bit to drunk and her husband had to come and pick her up and take her home. Hey i guess she was out partying so she was entitled to do so.

However then i find out that all her work mates had decided to go to a house party of one of the girls that was their, they had offered Marie to come along but well Marie is not the one for partying all night long and she had wanted to come home to me and her own bed (Between you and me! she probably wanted to come home to her bed more than to me lol) But she then informed me that because she had rejected their offer and their offer to stay over at one of their houses that night that she was now left at 01:30 in town on her own, i mean seriously? Who in their right mind leaves a woman at 01:30 in the morning to sit at a bus stop and wait for a bus in the pitch black of night, where drunken fools are walking around.
Safe to say i was not at all pleased and decided that i would phone Marie back and sit on the phone with her until her bus had arrived, i know i wouldn't have been able to do anything even if something did happen (Thank god it didn't and she was fine) but still, at least i knew that she was ok while i was on the call.

45 minutes in total i sat speaking to her on the phone before her bus arrived and it probably cost a fortune to do so as well but i don't really care, i just honestly cannot believe that work colleagues would just leave her sitting out in the middle of town on her own at that time of the morning when anything could happen, it just really confuses me, but she got home safe and sound and that is all that matters at the end of the day, but from what i can gather it seems this will be her last trip out with her work mates if this is the way they are going to treat her.
Sure they offered her to spend the night on one of their sofa's and i had said to her that she should have accepted it but she didn't want to and i can understand that as well, but they could have at least had the decency to wait with her until her bus had arrived, but i guess some people are just ignorant and don't think especially with a belly full of alcohol.

But in the end everything turned out fine i guess so i should be happy, and the rest of the weekend? Well we had no kids in the house so it turned into a nice cosy weekend spent with my true love, so can't be all that bad.

So until next time! I hope you all have a great week!