It always surprises me when I realize that people actually know something about Sweden, we are after all a pretty small country. First thing that happened when I got off the plane at Incheon, Seoul was that I met an interesting immigration officer.
– “You Spanish?” he asked me.
– “No, Swedish.” It’s only there with big letters on my passport…
– “Ah, oh, Sweden. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I love Sweden!” Ok, he made a mistake but he doesn’t have to pretend to love Sweden just because of that.
– “Lasse Hallstrom!” (Famous Swedish movie director)
– “Oh, you know Lasse Hallström?!”
– “Yes, favourite director, great movies! Ciderhouse rules, Chocolat…”
– “Yes, I liked them too.”
By now he had finished stamping my passport and wished me a great stay in Korea. Funny how the people you least expect starts to talk to you about Lasse Hallström.
My last taxi ride today before going to the airport was an equally surprising experience. As soon as I had gotten into the car and explained where I wanted to go the driver asked me where I was from. His reaction was similar to the immigration officers; – “Oh, I love Sweden! Abba!” Since his English was just slightly better than my Korean this is where the conversation ended. But he immediately started to look around his car and eventually found what he was looking for, an Abba tape (yes, cassette tape..). He played the tape and together we sang along to Abba for the rest of the taxi ride. He looked very happy when he dropped me at the hotel and so was I.