Nascida e criada em Portugal. Já morei na Polónia, no Brasil, na República Checa e agora é a Suécia que me acolhe.
O meu blogue, tal como o meu cérebro, é uma mistura de línguas. Bem vindos!

Born and raised Portuguese. I have lived in Poland, Brazil, Czech Republic and now I'm in the beautiful Sweden.
My blog, just like my brain, is a blend of languages. Welcome!

quarta-feira, 13 de julho de 2016

Stories of my world #2

The first time I saw him he was wearing a black leather jacket, black jeans and boots. He sat down and took off his jacket, showing off some tattoos covering his arms. He seemed to be tough on the outside but I knew he was nice in the inside. He is the bad boy I mentioned on my first post about my swedish classes. Don't ask me how I knew he was nice, I just did. There was something about him that made me want to know his story. We talked to each other on our third class and many other times after that. He is from Iran. He came to Sweden 5 years ago, searching for a better life. He used to be a History teacher, but now he cooks in a restaurant. He doesn't like cooking. He likes Mickael Jackson, which makes the cooking easier. He likes football, but he doesn't like Ronaldo. He likes Carlos Queiroz, a Portuguese coach in Iran. He is shy and he doesn't like to be in the spotlight. He is one of my nicest colleagues. He is Hamid.


He is young and shy. Most of the time he is quiet. He is from Syria. He came to Sweden in the beginning of this year, searching for a better life. He tried to stay in Turkey, but he could not find a job. Then, a relative advised him to come to Sweden. It took him over 3 months to get here. He traveled through Georgia, Russia and Finland. He found a temporary job here, in a company of chemicals, but now he is unemployed again. He doesn't like Sweden. He longs for his land where he could do what he loved. He graduated in Naval Engineering and he misses being out in the sea. He wishes his country would be safe again so he could go back. He misses his family. He told me all this with a smile. He smiles a lot. He is Fadi.


He is in his 40's. He speaks either in a very broken English or an even more broken Swedish. He starts every sentence by "In Albania...". He loves Albania, you can see that in his eyes. He says "in Albania we have too much" of a lot of things. For instance, olive trees, because when a couple gets married they plant a tree for good luck. He has a beautiful wife and two children, a boy and a girl. No need to say he misses them terribly. The first time he came to Sweden, he came for two months, July and August last year. In July it rained for 25 days straight. He didn't like it and he thought he would not come back. But he did. He doesn't think it's so bad anymore, but he misses eating beans. With a spoon. Here, people only use a few beans in the salad and spoons are only used to eat soups. He wants to eat a lot of beans and sauce over rice. With a spoon. He is always cheerful and good humoured. I hope Albania has too much of them like him. He is Eduard.

So different and so similar.
All together in Sweden.
All united by the learning of the Swedish language.
All the same now, but so different still.

7 comentários:

  1. This brought tears to my eyes Sara. I feel sad for those who have to flee their country due to violence and war, but are then unable to exercise their profession due to language barriers. I consider myself a lucky immigrant that chose to come to another country not because I had to but because I wanted to, and we can work in our professions too. :(

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    Respostas
    1. I know what you mean. I'm a lucky immigrant too because I also chose to move. Sweden does take care very well of its foreigners and the people who were forced to flee their countries get a lot of help from the government. It doesn't make up for all their problems but it's as good start...

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    2. I'm glad to hear that Sweden takes good care of the refugees, it's a small help in their journey at least!

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  2. Lindo. Parecem-se muito às pessoas que conheci no SFI mas também no trabalho (trabalho com refugiados menores de idade)... Fico sempre comovida e, como os ingleses dizem, "humbled", com os seus percursos! Temos muito a aprender com a força deles e sei que sou uma pessoa melhor por ter contacto com eles. Beijinho

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    Respostas
    1. Deve ser muito gratificante trabalhar com refugiados. Uma das razões que me faz gostar do SFI é a interacção com pessoas tão diferentes. Fazem-nos crescer e ver o mundo de outra maneira. Beijinhos

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