Göteborg

I spent this past weekend searching for an unknown history to help explain how I came to be. The history is quite obvious from 1980-present, but I was more curious beyond myself, and even my parents. Therefore, before I departed the States, I mailed a letter to distant relatives still living in Sweden. I wanted to see what their life was like, and in a different life what could have been. Obviously they received my letter, and I met them for the first time.

My grandmother moved to the US from Sweden in 1922, at the age of 17. Five of her seven brothers and sisters eventually moved to the US as well. Of the two that stayed, one had a family that still lives on in Göteborg today. Unfortunately, her youngest brother was not able to move to the states based on the fact that he had a mental illness. My grandmother would often tell my mother that when they were leaving, her younger brother stood outside the house crying, asking them not to leave. I was told that it was something that stuck with my grandmother for the rest of her life. It would be 40 years before she would see him again.

Besides meeting relatives for the first time, I wanted to know where my grandmother came from, what her life could have been like, and why she came to MN. Let's just say that her father, my great grandfather, literally bet the farm in a game of cards. To escape the past and begin a new life, they moved to the states and little old MN. Raised and educated in Sweden, my grandmother moved to the states not knowing a word of English. After a few years she met my grandfather, and the rest is history.

I think every American tries to claim a heritage outside of the states, and secretly wishes they could call themselves European. In reality, they are as American as the next person, and actually know very little of what lies outside their borders. I am no stranger to this, claiming over the last 28 years to be Swedish. It is only in the past couple years where I have started to look at it a bit differently. The Swede in me only accounts for part of my DNA, along with probably some German and French. It is the portion though that my family is most proud of, and the main source of my grandmother's pride.

I departed Cologne last Wednesday. Since I'm on a tight budget, I decided to fly Ryanair. That turned out to be a bad decision. Although my roundtrip flight only cost around $65, let me break down some of the intangibles that made it actually a more expensive flight had I taken a regular airliner. First, my flight departed from a little remote airstrip past Düsseldorf. A $33 two hour bus ride. My flight landed in the little town of Växjö in south central Sweden. From there, it was a $28 train ride to Göteborg. The return trip involved an $18 train ride back to Växjö and a $91 hotel room since I couldn't find a train back to Växjö early enough on Sunday to catch my flight. Ryanair also tacked on an $8 charge for physically checking in, and not checking in online. The finale involved a $33 bus / train ride back from the tiny airport outside of Düsseldorf. So, as you can see, my plan to fly cheap cost me around $280. I should have flown standard.

If you've never flown Ryanair, it's an interesting airline. This was my second experience, and I'm not sure I will fly with them again. First, you get picked up and dropped off at tiny little airports throughout Europe. I think the two airports I flew out of were old military bases, at least that is what it felt like. Then you generally have a good amount of transit time from the airport to reach wherever it is you are going. As you board the plane, they are playing disco music which makes you feel like you are entering a club rather then an airplane. While on board, they not only try to sell you food, but they try to sell you perfume, and lottery cards. The planes are also half full, which makes you feel guilty for flying, and they jack up the volume on the loud speaker. I assume this is so you don't miss the many "deals" they are trying to sell you. You're half deaf by the time you get off the plane.

Aside from that though, it was a quick flight from the western part of Germany to the southern part of Sweden. I reached the center of Växjö two hours before my train to Göteborg departed, so I took the opportunity to scope out possible hotels to stay in Saturday night, grab a bite to eat, and purchase some flowers as a gift to my family members. The town of Växjö is very quaint, and scenic.

As my train departed for Göteborg, The Swedish country-side instantly reminded me of MN. Mainly the North Shore and the North Woods. Obviously it’s beautiful, and very stereotypical of what you would imagine Sweden to look like. After a few hours in an extremely warm train, I arrived at the Göteborg central station.

My family members were standing there waiting for me, waving a Swedish flag. I rcvd a warm hug from each of them, and I was happy to see that they were very excited to meet me. Part of me was nervous that I was forcing them to host me during my stay, but that was quite the contrary.

We quickly departed the central station, and it was just a quick car ride back to their house. Disa is my closest relative. Her father and my grandmother were brother and sister, so that makes us second cousins. She and her husband Bertil are in their early 80's. They have a daughter Ulla, who is married to Kurt. They are just a few years younger then my parents; they are in their late 50's. They are neighbors, so I got to see all four of them all day every day during my stay.

Disa didn't speak any English, although I knew she understood what we were saying at times. Whenever I would say something in English, she would respond in Swedish right away. Sometimes, I think she understood more then the others, although you wouldn't know it right away. She's a great cook, and often shakes her head at the jokes her husband tries to tell.

Her husband Bertil was quite the character. He likes to tell jokes, and claims he knows French when in reality, he has memorized one line that he repeats over and over again. He was a star trap shooter back in the day, and has a house full of medals to show for it (pictured). He also enjoys sweets as he was never shy during post meal coffee and desert.

Ulla is very young at heart. Whenever she is in the house, she is always playing her music, and sings along to every song. She is very proud to be a new grandmother, and showed me plenty of pictures of her 4 year old grandchild. She is also a wonderful cook, and works as a nurse.

Kurt loves old cars, and technical gadgets. His 38 Oldsmobile is proudly displayed in the driveway. He had plenty of pictures of all the car shows he attends, and knows a great deal about cars in general. I guess that is fitting since he is an engineer for Volvo trucks.

My first night there was spent trying to get to know my new found past. I arrived at dinner time, and Disa had a table full of food waiting for us. It was nice to eat a well prepared home cooked meal. It has been a while since I've had one of those.

After dinner, Bertil showed me around their house a bit. It's a smaller house, but full of history. As I mentioned, his shooting awards are spread all over the house. He is very proud of that part of his life. He also showed me their collection of refrigerator magnets. There had to be at least 200 magnets on their fridge, many of which made various noises.

I guess they had various things that made noises in their house. If you were in the general vicinity of the door, you could hear strange noises come from the house about every ten minutes. There was the cookoo clock, the cat meow as you entered and left, the pig that oinked when you opened the fridge, and my favorite the singing and dancing lobster (pictured). Of course, Bertil had to sing and dance along with it.

After a brief tour, we enjoyed some coffee/tea and desert outside. Bertil kept showing me books that discussed our past. At one point, I think he had more of his books outside the house then inside. I laughed as Disa only sat there and shook her head at him. Of course, he couldn't help but show me his smiling tree (pictured). While we were sitting there, Ulla mentioned that she couldn't believe I was sitting there. Of course, I knew what she meant, and I took it in a good way. Again, it felt good to know that they were happy I was there.

After, we sat around and chatted for a bit, we took a walk down to the sea. They live a half block from it, and I am extremely jealous of that. We walked back to Kurt and Ulla's house, where they showed me pictured of their current family. It was important for me to get to know their current life before I tried to get to know their past life. After that, I fell fast asleep. I was tired from a day full of traveling. I'm not used to the sun going down at 11 like it did in Göteborg, but that didn't stop me from falling fast asleep.

The next morning, we enjoyed some breakfast, and then headed to the center of Göteborg, where we took a bus tour of the city. All four of them grew up in or near Göteborg, but even they commented that they were seeing some things for the first time. After that we walked around the harbor for a bit, and I got to the see the point at which my grandmother caught the boat to America (pictured).

After walking around in the sun for a while, we grabbed some lunch at a nice sea side restaurant, and headed back to the house. I could tell they were tired and needed a break, so I grabbed my book and headed towards the sea shore to read for a bit. It was nice to relax. Besides, hosting a guest is time consuming. I wanted them to have at least a couple hours to themselves. It was hard not to soak up the lovely scenery (pictured). The sea was calm, and sun was bright.

I lost track of time a bit, and got back to the house a little later then agreed on. When I got back, Ulla asked me where the others were. Apparently, Kurt and Bertil went looking for me. They showed up not that long after, and we enjoyed a wonderful salmon dinner. After which, we enjoyed some coffee/tea and dessert at Bertil and Disa's house. We played Yahtzee, and of course Disa won, rolling three Yahtzees.

The next day we drove to a cliff overlooking Göteborg to get a great view of the city. From there we took a day trip to a small town on the coast. We took a ferry to an island where there was an ancient castle that overlooked the city. Again, it was a great view from the top (pictured). We ate lunch by the shore, and watched all the fishing and sail boats drive by. Every now and then a large yacht would cruise by as well. I had the feeling there was a quite a bit of money in the town.

From there we returned to the house, where I once again read my book by the seashore, and dangled my feet in the cool sea water. We had a BBQ, and I watched Bertil eat more food then any person his age has ever eaten. Again, we enjoyed some coffee/tea and desert afterwards. Bertil really enjoys watching handball, and Sweden had a big match against Poland, so I couldn't pass up to the chance to watch my first game with him. He provided commentary throughout the 60 minutes match. 11-11! 15-14! 21-21! 20 minutes left! 10 minutes left! He would say to me as we sat there and watched. Within one hour we offered me a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl at least 5 times. Again, Disa just sat in the chair and shook her head. It was truly a memorable experience.

After the game, I decided to retire for the night. The previous day I had told Kurt that I found out my grandmother grew up on a farm between Göteborg and Växjö, and that I was planning on renting a car and trying to find it. This grabbed his interest, and he quickly said that we would all go find it together. Piecing together some information my mother e-mailed me, we were able to find the general location where the house was located. My grandmother's brother painted a picture of the house in the late 20's, which the four of them still had. Using the road layout from the painted picture from the 20's, we were able to find the house via a satellite image on the internet. Bet you never thought Uncle Dick imagined his painting would be used like that did you?

So, we packed up the car early Saturday, programmed the GPS, and drove straight to the house. As we came to the house, it was as if it was frozen in time. It looked exactly as it did in the painting from 80 years earlier, right down to the colors and the windows.

As we pulled in, the owner of the house was outside with his son. The owner is 89 years old, and moved into the house in 1944. So in other words, the war was still going on when he moved in. He purchased it from his father-in-law, who purchased it from my great grandfather. The owner is now widowed and confined to an electronic wheel chair. His voice was horse, but his mind seemed as sharp as ever. We showed him the painting of house done in the late 20's, and he shared stories with my Swedish relatives. I walked all around the outside of the house, snapping as many photos as possible. It was extremely fascinating to see the house my grandmother grew up in. I was trying to picture her living in this house on this farm, and what it was like to leave from the states.

I think Disa especially enjoyed the trip as she chatted with the owner for quite some time. She's in her early 80's, and for the first time is getting a look at the house her father lived in for a time. The owner shared some interesting stories that were translated for me. For example, moose apparently wander into the yard and eat the apples from the apple tree. If they eat too much, the apples have an intoxicating effect on them, at which point they have to lay on the ground until they can sober up and walk away. Also, the owner pointed out that the house turned 100 this year.

Before we left, we gathered in front of the house for a group photo (pictured). This stop was the highlight of the trip, and was very special for me. Afterwards, we enjoyed a lunch picnic on the shore of a nearby lake, before they dropped me at the train station, and I said my good-bye. Before I got on the train, Bertil put his hands on my shoulders, and asked me to come back soon. That meant a lot to me.

In all, the trip was a great success. I ate more food then I could handle, and my relatives didn't let me pay for a thing. I felt at home the entire time, and they treated me as if I was their son. I wish there is a way I could repay them. I should say that I got to meet family for the first time, but I feel more as if I made new friends that I will have a bond with for the rest of my life.

As I left, I realized then that the main reason I visited Sweden, and sat looking at my grandmother's house, was not for me. I think initially I wanted to claim this was my past, but in reality, my past resides in North Mpls, and St. John's. I realized that I was doing this more for my grandmother. I'd like to think that when she walked away from that quiet piece of land that she hoped some day at least a part of her family would come back to say hello to what was left. 87 years later, I did just that. I hope I made her proud.