The Swede-ish Podcast

with Kat & Jill

“I wish I had had this conversation 6 years ago…” Understanding the value of the connections you make building your communities and how to make the most of them with Shaena Harrison, über connector and LinkedIn maven.

The merits of having a plan are a-plenty, but what if it’s getting in the way of you seeing the multitude of chances to start afresh, do something new and find a completely new side to yourself?

Did you know that Swede’s lived in other countries, too? LOL, yes of course you did. But, sometimes it’s easy to forget that there is another side to being Swede-ish. I’m delighted to welcome Linnea Dunne, author, journalist, columnist and general all-round wordsmith, to the Swede-ish podcast. Originally from Sweden, Linnea now lives in Ireland. In this week’s episode of the podcast we talk about whether or not life is greener on the other side of the fence of Swede-ish-ness, seeing Sweden from an outsider’s perspective, and female migration in general. Head to our weblink to find all the ways to read Linnea’s work and read more.

“WHY NOT ME?” Internationally renowned photographer and travel writer, entrepreneur, speaker and Ted x contributor Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström has the right idea.

STOP, PAUSE… grab a pen! If you are one of the 21.2% of foreign born people living in Sweden looking for a job, this episode is for you.

We asked our listeners on Instagram to send in their burning questions about job hunting so we could ask an expert, Marianne from Incluso ( staffing and recruitment specialists with a focus on foreign talent). We were inundated with questions!! We tried our best to squeeze every single one of them.

“It’s pretty scary putting yourself out there…”.

Sam Govender has years of experience setting up events and mixers for international women to make friends, but even she feels the pressure sometimes. Anyone who has attended a meet-up, networking event or social group event has probably felt a tinge of anxiety about walking into a room full of strangers with the weight of expectation on them and about meeting people.

In this episode Sam offers her top tips on how to make friends and influence people abroad.

From Jokkmokk to Jönköping. In this week’s episode of the podcast, Kat & Jill take a virtual road trip through Sweden stopping off at some of their most memorable road side moments and close encounters across Sweden.

***TW: Suicide/Senicide content**

Blood, gore, apartment grown potatoes, secret tunnelbana lines and why do the far right think Sweden is the rape capital of the world, and much much more.

Grab your podcast buns… it’s time to FIKA!! We’re dedicating this week’s podcast episode to uncovering every single Semla fact we could find in celebration of FETTISDAGEN!!

“Language is a tool, not a measure of intelligence”

“Language is a tool, not a measure of intelligence…” What started as an enquiry into language development turned into a proper schooling on the social and cultural alternating of language and intonations used by so many communities.

With special guest Opal Coote, teacher, psychology graduate and polyglot.

“Language is a tool, not a measure of intelligence…” What started as an enquiry into language development turned into a proper schooling on the social and cultural alternating of language and intonations used by so many communities.

Is it about time we start code interpreting instead of expecting people to code switch?

“Seriously re think going away for Sportlov, just don’t do it this year.” Dr Maja’s message from frontline workers in the COVID 19 pandemic in Sweden.

In the first episode of 2021 we wanted to hear straight from the front lines of the COVID 19 pandemic in Sweden. What was the situation really like in hospitals and care facilities across Sweden.

An intimate, open and fun conversation with the British Ambassador to Sweden, Judith Gough. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impending departure from the EU, the British Ambassador’s first year in Sweden has been no less quiet. But – annorlunda.

Huge thanks to the team at the British Embassy for making this conversation happen. Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful listeners in Sweden and the rest of the world.

Women in conversation… did we pass it? Umm… dubious. In between the ‘hot or not’, the peaks and pitfalls of parenting multilingual kids, Kat’s interior decorating and encounters of the famous kind – we recon we passed 50%-ish. YIKES.

Inspired by the author and Instagram maven Alex Elle, Kat and Jill are letting go of 2020. In our penultimate episode, we’re discussing the choices we’re making that will help us shed the challenges and embrace the change brought about by 2020.

Deal, or no deal? Essential listening if you are a Brit living in Sweden. For all the information mentioned in this podcast please visit the show notes and website.

“I made every mistake in the entrepreneurial book… “

Remember, drink water, get some sun. You’re basically a house plant with more complicated emotions

We couldn’t not talk about the US Election… and Kim Kardashian’s 40th birthday.

KHOO d’etat… (I’m so sure she hasn’t heard that one before) we got RACHEL KHOO ON THE PODCAST!! ’nuff said.

An honest and frank conversation with the co-founders of Littlebearabroad about being female ‘Swede-ish entrepreneurs’.

In this episode Hannah Meason, founder of Together With You and Social Policy expert discusses her Peer Support Group initiative at Littlebearabroad Community Studios.

In this episode we explain why we started again, we get all the current global stuff out of the way and hope that we can provide some light relief.

Talk therapist, Youstina Demetry, joins Jill on the podcast to talk all things expat emotions, judgement, expectation setting and how to tell if you need help. Anyone angry out there?

Lisa Ferland joins Jill to talk about her latest book, When The Clock Strikes on Halloween. The Kickstarter campaign queen also discussed global mobility, being an entrepreneur abroad and how Swedish she now feels.

A very personal episode from Jill about the last three weeks of shocks, trauma and ill-health.

Andrea Pippins is an internationally renowned illustrator and author. Her work has featured in the New York Times and O, The Oprah Magazine. She currently resides in Stockholm with her family and is working on her next project, featuring her son.

Katherine J Plumb has been called ‘Stockholm’s coolest textile artist’ by the Context magazine and her story of how she started out gives us all reason to be hopeful.

Third culture kid and indie author, Jennifer Dahlberg is a long term expat living in Stockholm and originally from the United States. Her passion for the written word and do it yourself nature led to her successful indie publishing venture that has gone global.

It’s me, Jill, I’m recording the podcast again. I thought what way to start back than just with me. Have you ever felt like everyone else has got their suit pants pressed and you’re still figuring out the button up? Yup, me too. But, why? And, why do we put so much pressure on ourselves?

Tracey Reid, founder and CEO of Little Echoes, an organisation supporting and campaigning on behalf of families with special needs in Sweden. Shining a light on some of the darker corners of Swedish society.

Nicole ‘Stikki Nikki’ Emson built her business of organic gelato with a baby on her hip and a waffle cone box. Now Stikki Nikki is a household name in Stockholm with 8 stores and counting. Foreign born female entrepreneurship, defined.

Jo quit her corporate fitness job in Sydney, moving to Stockholm for love and established the business of her dreams, functional training in a female friendly environment.

Photographer, Parisa Walklett, whose latest photography project, Female Immigrant Makers in Sweden, #FIMIS, is smashing the stereotypes found in the media of female immigrants (lazy, stupid, only able to cook or clean) in an intimate photography series of artists, jewellery designers, toy-makers, bakers, and stationery designers, from all over the world who call Sweden home.

In our first episode of the podcast Jill interviews Natasha Webster. Originally from Canada, Natasha is an academic, feminist and migration researcher at Stockholm University.

In today’s episode we welcome back Courtney Landin from Happy Sleeping Baby to talk about all things sleep related. Last week was International Sleep Awareness week so it seemed appropriate. We talk about sleep in adults and how lack of it impacts our lives short term and long term. Some tips on how to get out of bad habbits. Also, how she would recommend getting a 3 year old to stay in bed. HALLELUHJAH!

You can find Courtney on Instagram @happysleepingbaby and on Facebook at Happy Sleeping Baby.

***TRIGGER WARNING*** ANYONE PHOBIC TO PARASITES OR BAD SOUND… we recorded this episode in the home of Dr James, had a great in depth chat about parasites in Sweden and at Förskola… and then realised that the mic had been on the wrong setting. So, loath to record again and miss all the good stuff. We hope you really forgive us! We’re on a steep learning curve with this new piece of equipment. Enjoy and listen to the end to find out what the format of future episodes are going to be like!

One really is the loneliest number as Jill goes solo on today’s podcast. In this week’s episode, Jill shares her personal experience of loneliness and isolation and how it brought about Littlebearabroad.com. What’s your experience of those first couple of months as an immigrant abroad?

In this weeks episode of the podcast we’re talking about something that I feel really strongly about, for various reasons. It dove-tails into a number of areas that I could talk about for hours and hours. Stuck parents, the Hague Convention, child abduction and how immigration and integration is an issue that predominantly impacts women. We’re joined by Founder and Chair of Global Action on Relocation & Return with Kids (GlobalArrk.org), Roz Osborne. We talked candidly about how being a stuck parent herself brought about the creation of GlobalArrk.org and how she’s now assisting hundreds of people all over the world. 

Our 17th episode and our third Barnakuten with Dr James. The Swedish vaccine schedule and questions about vaccinations in Sweden are one of the most searched for topics on the Littlebearabroad website. In today’s episode we talk about the Swedish vaccine schedule, the recent outbreak of Measles in the south of Sweden, the increasing number of people choosing not vaccinating their children in Sweden and what that means for the rest of us. Of course, we talked about much more, as we do, but we had plenty to say on this topic.

In our latest episode of the podcast, Jill is joined by Elly and Cam to talk about making friends abroad. Something that is easier said than done, but why? We also discuss how kids cope making friends abroad and signs to look out for when things aren’t going so well. Plus, tips on how to create a community when you move abroad. Check out the links on the podcast page for The Swedish Theory of Love and some of the communities that we mention.

Happy New Year – the first podcast of 2018 and we went full on Audio Visual! Live streamed our first podcast for 2018 via Instagram. Here’s the behind the scenes audio.

I have always felt mega pressure when it comes to learning languages and get super stressed out by it all. I don’t understand these people that learn a language for fun…what!? Who are you? So, I thought it would be interesting to speak to someone who knows a bit more about it. Cue! Sofi Tegsveden Deveux from Bee Swedish, the amazing language and cultural training company based in Stockholm. The tag line on the front of their website is, “Honeymoon is over”…and they are that serious. They are the team you want in your corner when the fun has worn off, the cultural honeymoon has become a ball and chain and you need all the inspiration you can get to stick it out living in Sweden.

Our “Pregnancy in Sweden” series continues off the website and on the podcast. Jill is joined by Lisa and Sarah to discuss their “alternative” births in Sweden. Big Congrats goes to Elly Waller who gave birth to Rumi Waller just after this podcast was recorded YAY!!!

Doctor James is back! In November’s ‘Ask the Doctor’ podcast we tackle RS Virus, Flu in small kids, prevention of seasonal bugs and chat about the hierarchy of the Swedish healthcare system for kids.

Ever been asked what your views on alcohol around kids? Neither had we… but we’re thinking about it now. Has living in Sweden changed your views on drinking alcohol around kids?

Former Olympian turned PT, nutritionist and sleep consultant, Courtney Landin, guest stars on this week’s podcast!

Follow Courtney on Instagram @living.healthy.happy and @happysleepingbaby and on Facebook, too.

“The Teletubbies made us do it…” We totally failed at getting this delivered on time. The irony isn’t lost on us, talking about VAB, not being under pressure to work and then failing miserably and delivering to you, our en masse employer (think of us as your work experience lad who mixes your post up, free of charge but annoying as hell). 

In our inaugural episode of “Ask the Doctor” we introduce you to Dr James… and we talk about seasonal ailments, preschool bugs and your questions that you sent in!

No, there’s nothing cool about them…

From ziploc bags, cooking spray and jaffa cakes; to sausages, vapo-rub and hot sauce! We’ve all got funny little home-comforts that we miss. But, if you could find them in Sweden, where could they possibly be??

The pros and cons of Sweden… what are your Room 101 vibes?

One of the hardest parts of living abroad is the constant reminder of family and friends you’ve left behind. So, how do they feel about it? In episode 5 of the Littlebearabroad podcast, Jill and her mum, Isobel, talk about their relationship now that Jill’s abroad, her relationship with her granddaughter, language barriers and hopes for the future.

Coming to you from Portugal!!! Yes, we’re on holiday for 10 days in the Algarve but we love this little podcast so much we’ve gone nomad and are recording from our little island in the sun. 

Mattias is in the house!!! As a native, does living with an immigrant who is going through all the feels of living abroad impact your daily life? Do we immigrants have even more to feel guilty about?! Secondly, we talk about an experience that we had whilst travelling to Portugal and it’s relevance to the Hague Convention.

Jill goes solo to test drive the new podcasting studio and a turn of events leads her to talk about the changing seasons, what’s in store and how to fully embrace those long, dark Swedish winters. Höstkänsla like a Swede…

Culture shock and the related anxiety can result in crippling mental health issues that lead to depression and often suicidal tendencies.

Today’s guest is Franziska Engle from Mindfulness Stockholm. Her third culture kid experience and background in psychology offers an insight into the impact of culture shock. We also discuss how to come to terms with culture shock and how mindfulness can help over come the impact of it.

Follow us on Instagram at @littlebear_mag and @familymindfulness.

So, just like X-men and Marvel superheroes, we’ve got origin stories, too. How did we end up in Sweden, what sort of decisions did we take and what were the compromises?

Episode 0.1 “hiya!” – Littlebearabroad podcast.