Jan the Taxi Man

Today I met a friendly gentleman named Jan, who picked me up in his taxi.

Not Jan, but just as friendly!

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I was out today rushing to get my application for a Chinese VISA submitted in time to travel for next Wednesday (which is another story for another time), and after I completed this task Jan picked me up to take me back to my office.

It took two days to fill out all the paperwork.

Being that I had settled all my work for the VISA application I was already in a much more relaxed and happy state of mind, as I had been rushing to arrange all the paperwork and flights over the last two days and it was finally all settled.  Stepping into Jan's taxi only helped make me even happier and more relaxed, as Jan turned out too be a friendly old gentleman who was more than happy to chat with me in English about all manner of things.

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The very fact I am able to hold conversations with random people I meet here is still a novelty, and will likely be so for a long time to come, but in this case it was the comfortable and hospitable nature of the conversation that makes it stand out so much more than usual.

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Over the course of the drive we talked about my recent arrival here in Göteborg and that I planned to stay permanently.  He asked what the first work in Swedish I learned was, and in typical Canadian fashion I had to admit it was  "Tack".  Leave it to a Canadain to learn all the courteous words first.  ;)

Before revealing that tack was my first Swedish word, Jan had guessed that it would have been "Skål", but realized immediately by the confusion on my face I did not yet know what it meant. He explained that skål means "Cheers" in English, and pantomimed toasting a drink to the empty passenger's seat beside him as we drove down the road.  

He quickly followed it by saying "The British also say 'Down the.... Latch?' Is that right?  Latch?"  I corrected him that it was "Hatch", not latch.  Of course he was immediately curious; "what does this mean, hatch?", and I explained what a hatch was and how it related to having a drink.  He was genuinely happy to have learned this little fact and chatted for a moment about how he always thought it was latch, but never understood what that was supposed to mean.

Shortly after Jan changed the subject and we began talking about the Vasa Ski Race that happens every march.  He then proceeded to describe both the race, a 90km cross country race that tens of thousands participate in, as well as educating me  that Vasa was a Swedish king from the middle ages. 

Shortly there after we arrived at my office.  I thanked Jan for the ride and wished him well and stepped out of his taxi.  Chasing after me as I exited the cab was Jan's earnest words "Take care! I really hope you enjoy being in Sweden!"

That I do.  :)