Move to Jamtland
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- Portal to Jamtland
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Blog by Chris van der Hoek
In February 2011, the van der Hoek family from the Netherlands moved to Hede, in the municipality of Härjedalen. Chris van der Hoek started to work for Sykes, and his wife, Marga, started her own hair-stylist company. Their two children go to the primary school in Hede. In this blog you can follow their everyday life in Jamtland.-
2012-02-08Everyday life in SwedenLast weekend we had our first snow-scooter trip. Wow… that was really awesome. At first a bit scary to drive as it reacts totally different than a car or a motor, but how cool to drive in the woods and go to places which you normally would never reach.[... read more]
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2012-01-16New job in HedeSince Marga was in the Netherlands for the funeral of her brother I stayed at home with the children in Härjedalen. During this time I have been offered a job in Hede and just started the training.[... read more]
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2012-01-02A happy Christmas and a sad New YearsWe have now experienced our first Christmas and New Year in Sweden. It turned out to be a very strange one.[... read more]
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2011-12-23Preparations for a Swedish ChristmasIt’s almost time… Some of our children are coming over for Christmas and New Year. Currently we are counting the days and hours. For them it will be the first time during the winter that they will visit the area and for us it will be the first time to travel to Trondheim during winter time to pick them up.[... read more]
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2011-12-14A weather report from HärjedalenFinally the day has come that we can enjoy real snow. There was already a little, but last night we had around 30 cm and during the weekend we expect over 50 cm. The weather is the talk of the day as it is very uncommon that it started to snow so late in December. In fact, it never happened since they started to keep records of the weather (so around 100 years).[... read more]
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2011-12-01Changing Sinterklaas to Lucia and other Swedish traditionsThis time of the year used to be very stressful for us as we would prepare for celebrating Sinterklaas. He is celebrated annually on Saint Nicholas' eve (5th of December) or in the morning the 6th of December in Belgium and in Northern France. As we left the Netherlands and moved to Sweden we decided to leave this tradition and adapt to the Swedish Christmas traditions.[... read more]
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2011-11-28My thoughts about living expensesThe first time we attended a meeting from Midscand in Amersfoort, they told us that shopping was cheaper in Sweden. But when we were on holiday in Sweden we noticed that almost everything was more expensive. Here are some thoughts about living expenses in Sweden.[... read more]
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2011-11-21Advantage not to understand the languageIn my previous blog I wrote about language skills. Marga and I attended several meetings last week in which we had to practice our Swedish. The first meeting was about how schools, business and private persons could improve and make sure the future of this municipality would be more or less secure.[... read more]
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2011-11-12Learning SwedishWhen we arrived in Sweden we also started our SFI training. This is Swedish lessons for immigrants. Because of my job I couldn’t attend the regular classes so as an exception we had our private teacher at home. Once a week he visited us at home in the evening to provide the necessary training.[... read more]
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2011-11-01Lesson learnt: Disconnect the car from the houseAlso the car is during the night connected so that the motor and inside of the car is preheated. That sounds luxury but when it gets cold it is a must to have. One side effect though… as the car is physically connected with the house and we need to get used to this and make sure we disconnect the car before we leave.[... read more]
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2011-10-24Moose huntingThis week I noticed a lot of comments on Facebook in regards to moose hunting. Several new inhabitants have some problems with this, as the moose is a wonderful animal so why should we shoot them.[... read more]
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2011-10-17Stories of how others did itDuring the meeting we saw various presentations of what others had started. This showed how our Dutch attitude could combine with the Swedish way of life.
When you have a good business plan it doesn’t have to be very hard to start your own business. But I can’t say it enough…. Preparation is everything.
[... read more]
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2011-10-10We are becoming more and more SwedishOne week later and the first snow have fallen. Off course the whole family was very excited although it was just a few millimetres. Nature shows yet another aspect of its beauty. For us a new period is starting. The car needs the winter tires again and during the night we use a special car heating system so that the motor isn’t too cold to start.[... read more]
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2011-10-04Preparations for the winter seasonToday is a beautiful autumn day. Yesterday they told me that a few years ago they already had 50 cm snow on this day, so the winter season started early. Currently it doesn’t look like it at all. During the weekend it was well above 20 degrees Celsius but during the nights it can freeze a little already (-3).[... read more]
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2011-09-25We wanted to move to the south of Sweden but ended up in HärjedalenToday it is about 7 months ago since we moved to Härjedalen. It all began when I was very young. My parents spent every summer in Sweden and Norway. We loved the country and we have family living in Småland (south of Sweden) which we visited every year. My parents often talked about moving, but never dared to.[... read more]
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2011-09-19The "law of Jante" affects our life in SwedenMany times I’ve heard about an unwritten law called 'Jantelagen'. Swedish people are grown up with it and because of that; they live by it which can explains their behavior. Understanding this Jantelagen can help with the understanding of the Swedish people. But what does it say? I checked Wikipedia and found the following:[... read more]
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2011-09-11New traditions, a new season and a new start...again!It has been a while since I updated the weblog... And that had a reason... we were very occupied with all visitors from Holland who visited us for the first time so we had a lot to show. From Sonfjället to Moosegården, from big city to our own village.[... read more]
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2011-08-12Importing our Dutch carLast week we reached another milestone. We brought our Dutch car with us when we moved to Sweden and within three months we had to register it as imported in order to get a Swedish registration plate. With some help from another Dutch family I found the right procedure.[... read more]
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2011-07-30Starting my own companyJust one month to go before my job at Sykes will end. Up to now I have had many very positive job interviews but no one really offered me a job so far. After some discussions with several companies we came up with the idea of starting my own business.[... read more]
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2011-07-16BBQ, wild animals and friends visitingThe last two weeks have been very busy. We were expecting some visitors from Holland so we had to make sure the guest room was ready. We found some second hand furniture and at the local shop we managed to get some proper paint. After a week of hard work, mainly done by Marga as I had to work, the room is finished.[... read more]
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2011-06-25Celebrating a typical Swedish holiday: MidsummerThis weekend we participated one of the biggest swedish traditions... Midsummer. Every year the longest day of the year is celebrated with a big party...[... read more]
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2011-06-18An unexpected start of the summer holidayThis week the children had summer holiday... 11 weeks free from school ! We are definitely not used to such a long period of holiday but off course the children won't complain.[... read more]
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2011-06-11More than just coldAt the time we planned to move to Sweden we received on many occasions remarks why on earth we wanted to move to Sweden. Its only cold.. Well obviously those people never have been to Sweden.[... read more]
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2011-02-25Now our new life has begunThat’s a strange feeling... Yesterday we packed the truck... your personal life is leaving. The adventure has started. We had a lot of help from family and friends but now ...[... read more]
2011-12-05Rönnögårdens Posten 4The winter is late this year and as I’m writing we are still waiting for the snow. The weather in November was quite extreme with winds up to 34 m/s, frost and foggy. This weather was great for taking some nice photographs. We are hoping for a white Christmas.[... read more]
2011-11-01Rönnögården Posten nr 3In October we have enjoyed a few beautiful autumn days. We really enjoy the beautiful weather and the fresh air and are often busy outside. On October the 9th the first snow fell, although a wet snow, and coloured the mountain peaks white. Afterwards, the weather has been warmer and the snow disappeared again.[... read more]
2011-10-01Rönnögårdens Posten nr 2A lot has happened in the month of September, the first month of life in Sweden has flown by. The prevailing feeling a little vacation, but that quickly disappeared when we were faced with the Swedish bureaucracy.[... read more]
2011-09-01Rönnögårdens posten nr 1After a period of several farewell parties and preparation we finally started our journey to Sweden together with our two horses. On Thursday the 28th of July we rented a horse transporter from a Belgium company as we wanted to transport the horses from the Netherlands to Sweden our self.[... read more]
2011-11-01Rönnögården Posten nr 3In October we have enjoyed a few beautiful autumn days. We really enjoy the beautiful weather and the fresh air and are often busy outside. On October the 9th the first snow fell, although a wet snow, and coloured the mountain peaks white. Afterwards, the weather has been warmer and the snow disappeared again.[... read more]
2011-10-01Rönnögårdens Posten nr 2A lot has happened in the month of September, the first month of life in Sweden has flown by. The prevailing feeling a little vacation, but that quickly disappeared when we were faced with the Swedish bureaucracy.[... read more]
2011-09-01Rönnögårdens posten nr 1After a period of several farewell parties and preparation we finally started our journey to Sweden together with our two horses. On Thursday the 28th of July we rented a horse transporter from a Belgium company as we wanted to transport the horses from the Netherlands to Sweden our self.[... read more]