Herkenbaar

You know when you are in Sweden too long when:

The first thing you do on entering a bank/post office/pharmacy etc. is look for the queue number machine.
You accept that you will have to queue to take a queue number.
You rummage through your plastic bag collection to see which ones you should keep to take to the store and which can be sacrificed to garbage.
Your front door step is beginning to resemble a shoe shop.
Silence is fun.
It no longer seems excessive to spend 1000 kroner on alcohol in a single night.
Your old habit of being "fashionably late" is no longer acceptable. You are always on time.
You use mmmm as a conversation filler.
When you accept you must walk 2 kilometers to collect your book/tape from the post office because they don't deliver small packages (or large ones...)
When offered a bottle of beer the first thing you look at is the alcoholic percentage.
You can't contemplate actually doing anything until you've first had a 'fika' (coffee and pastry) You think it is normal EVERYTHING is regulated and you obey the rules voluntarily.
A friend asks about your holiday plans and you answer "Oh, I'm going to Europe!" meaning any other Western European country outside of Sweden.
You have conversations with people outside when it is -10C.
Having to book seat numbers at a cinema makes perfect sense. And you sit in your booked seat even if there are only 2 other people there and your seat is in the front row, on the side.
You regard it as sensible to eat ice cream when it is -15C.
You think it's more fun to stay at home and drink then go out.
You don't question the concept of 'telephone time'. It seems reasonable that no business can be conducted on Friday afternoons. [or the entire month of July]
You assume that anyone apologizes after bumping into you is a tourist.
Seeing a young woman with lit candles stuck to her head no longer disturbs you.
You become extremely skilled at assembling pre-packaged furniture kits.

Dit laatste is niet meer waar. Voor het eerst in mijn leven krijg ik een Ikea bouwkit niet in elkaar. Het is een stom keukentrapje en de schroeven lijken absoluut niet te passen...
Mijn contract is ondertussen verlengd tot eind februari. Er staan allerlei vranderingen op til dus ik ben al blij dat het verlengd is, nu afwachten wat het daarna wordt.
Groetjes,