public policy & population

I guess the Swedish just really don't want to have kids!

From a mailing list, in a conversation about paternity/maternity leave:

...it's 18 months that we get in Sweden, with dad having to take at least 3 months of it.

Technically, both parents could get a job, and then produce children at the rate of 1 every year or so until retirement, and never work again.

The fact that even with this policy, our nativity rate is sub-self-sustaining, and that only 40% of fathers even use the benefit at all (average 38 days), is an interesting demonstration of how little impact policies have on the behavior of people.

Scandinavia pictures

I finally got around to sorting through the 800+ pictures we took in Scandinavia.

Here's a sampling:

Copenhagen

Legoland

Skagen

Gothenburg

Oslo

Stockholm

home sweet home

We didn't get off to a great start, with 1 lost passport, 1 missed standby flight, and 2 pieces of missing luggage in the first two days. Luckily, things worked out in the end and we only lost a day of travel time.

Scandinavia was lovely, especially Norway (although we only got to see Oslo). Denmark was nice but not spectacular, probably because I'm not a big fan of old buildings. Legoland was the best thing there. Sweden was my favorite of all three; the people were helpful, friendly, and high-energy, the food was good, and the cities were a great combination of old and new.

That having been said, there's nothing like a week away to make you appreciate home. Not that I didn't have a good time, but travelling always has its disadvantages. Top 5 things I missed:

- always available high speed internet!
- Asian food, healthy food, and especially work food
- nice sheets and nice towels
- having a selection of clothes and shoes to choose from in the morning
- down time, especially Tivo time

I haven't had a chance to organize my pictures yet; if there are any especially interesting ones I'll post them.

hello from Stockholm

I'm currently sitting at a free internet terminal at City Backpackers in Stockholm. I'm visiting Scandinavia for the week, and it's been really fun and really enlightening. Every day I marvel at how I can just open my mouth, speak English, and any random person will understand me. We are obviously doing something wrong with secondary language education, in the US. I'll write more when I get back.