Ever since we arrived in Stockholm, I've been feeling rather helpless when it comes to the simplest tasks. Both S and I were stumped by our building's elevator on the first day--there were two buttons on our floor, one on top of the other, so we naturally assumed we should press the bottom one to call the elevator to go down to the lobby. Instead, we sent the empty elevator shooting past us from above. In the case of our ancient elevator, the bottom button ("ned") always sends the elevator straight to the lobby, while the top button ("hit") is the "call" button that just brings the elevator to your floor and doesn't care if you want to go up or down. Since then, we've noticed that most old elevators only have a "hit" button to call the elevator, and it's only the modern buildings that have up and down arrows to press at the elevator bank.
I also get tricked by the different credit/debit card machines at the various supermarkets and stores. Sometimes you enter your pin and press OK, and that's it. Other times the cashier has had to say something to me in Swedish, then say "Press it again" in English when it's obvious I haven't understood that I'm supposed to press OK again to accept the total amount I'm being charged. I've gotten slightly better at paying attention to what the screen is saying (meaning, I look out for the letters "OK"), and yet, I feel like a moron every time it catches me out.
I still don't understand how the paper subway ticket works. I'm trying to avoid having to understand this by using a swipey travel card instead.
All of this is to say that, after feeling like a lost child for the past several weeks, it was refreshing to actually help someone else out for a change. I've become friendly with our upstairs neighbor, a kindergarten teacher originally from Chile who moved to Stockholm to settle down with her Swedish fiance. She's been here for over five years and is basically fluent in Swedish now but, given that my Swedish is non-existent, I've been practicing my Spanish with her. I'm taking advantage of the fact that she is currently on maternity leave with her 6-month-old son and is available during the day to just hang out. O and I went up to her place for a chat a week ago, which was a little eerie because their unit is identical to ours apart from a covered over doorway and a huge opening where there used to be a wall (you know, kind of like that Fawlty Towers episode, except nothing threatens to fall down).
Yesterday she and her son came down to our place and I got to show her the toys that O had as a baby (a lot of which he still likes). This was how I was able to be helpful. During our previous chat, my neighbor had mentioned not knowing what toys to buy, and I offered to show her what O had. She really liked a few things and was able to take pictures on her phone to see whether she could find identical things here in Stockholm. I definitely do not want to be that mom handing out unsolicited advice, but it's kind of nice to know that I could be helpful with my own experiences as a parent if she needs help. That is, if I remember what life with O was like 20 months ago...
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