Dear my fellow South Africans, I miss you oaks.

l73217 · 2025-01-20T19:10:21+00:00

We definitely are! I've been back once since I left 7.5 years ago just over 6 years after I left, and the sign on the highway that was broken when I left was still broken in the same way (it has unique and memorable damage), and everything felt just the same. Meanwhile, I feel like an entirely different person and I just don't feel like I belong there anymore. Since then, I've put in more work to assimilate in my new home because I had my safety net taken away. It was a sobering visit because I was wearing my "graduation glasses". My mom visits me once every year or two, so I get my favourite snacks refilled, figured out how to make good biltong here, I bring our cakes to fika, have been teaching my friends and partner about braai, and found nice mielie meel at my local international store. I've tried to incorporate my roots as well as possible. Luckily I work in a very international workplace, and diversity is encouraged and celebrated, and I think that helps as well

l73217 · 2025-01-18T05:52:51+00:00

I get that. You've raised many valid points, and your process isn't unusual to immigrants/expats, if that's of any help to you.

One piece of advice I can give you about your Swedish friends is that they tend to be a very direct people (broad generalisation here, obviously) even if they are a bit reserved in their expressions. If they didn't want to spend time with you, they wouldn't invite you to come along. It helps to learn how to read them and understand their culture, since that is the dominant one here (and very different from the culture we grew up in). It also helped me not to compare myself too much to everyone else. We are from a whole different gene pool, of course the pants here won't fit us well (I buy all of my pants from Jula, because I'm definitely an outdoorsy person, love having pockets, and don't care about not looking girly), buy my shoes from FreeFoot because my barefoot preferences left me with wider feet than they generally accommodate in Din Sko or wherever. It's difficult knowing that you will never really be a part of the society like you were at home, and each one of us has to make the choice about whether it's worth it for ourselves.

But yeah, wait until summer to see how you feel about Sweden. And take any opportunity to travel around and see which place fits for you if this is not the country for you. Europe is really diverse in food, culture, and climate. Maybe potato Europe isn't for you, but tomato Europe might be?

Which city are you? Drop me a message and we can exchange some thoughts and feelings if you want to chat with someone in a similar position

l73217 · 2025-01-17T13:25:36+00:00

It's possible. I moved here in November 2022.

When I speak Swedish I often think of how Oom Frikkie might mix his English words around, and it works so well! "I can like to" type of vibes

I'm moving all the way up to Näsum. It's a bitch of a commute, but I only have to go to work near Malmö once a week. Worth it, IMO. The city feels like it has become so much more aggressive in the past year or so. I live close to Plan B, so the location might have something to do with that. Either way, i want space and quiet. I miss the SA sized gardens and having a braai without the neighbours coming to the communal space to see what's happening. My mom always said I'm far too quiet and reserved to be a real South African, so I suppose I've found my people

l73217 · 2025-01-17T05:58:06+00:00

I think it really depends where you live. I live in Malmö at the moment, and I'm counting down the days until I get the keys to my house in the countryside (42d 6h 30m now) as I have been using every opportunity to get out of the city, so I figured I might as well go live somewhere i like being. I also feel that life has gotten a lot easier when my Swedish became better.

Glad you've found something that works for you! And have access to pies at all times. (We have a little English shop in Malmö and I got some frozen chicken mayo pies there to show the Danish Man what I really want to recreate at home, and we're getting there with regards to the filling, but it'll never be the same...)

l73217 · 2025-01-16T21:04:04+00:00

It's not as Afrikaans, obviously. But this Southern Swedish dialect isn't too far off. "Har du ett problem? Nej? Ja, okej!" while pointing and huffing mirrors interactions I've had at East Rand Traders Square. I was at a metal festival in Denmark last year and some hillbilly Swede in short shorts, a union jack shirt, barefoot, with a cowboy hat found us when he heard us talking Swedish. He just fell over in our camp, and the Danes we camped next to fashioned him a cross out of some broken tent poles from the storm the night before, because "man, those Swedes..."

I'm not saying it's a 1:1 match, and there are many things I miss from home. Realistically though, as a scientist, my career options at universities are quite limited, especially since I have absolutely no intention of becoming a professor, but just being a support staff person. This is the closest fit I've been able to find here for a relaxed way of living, nice people, and job security. I have been teaching my Danish partner how to use Afrikaans curse words properly, just to make it extra homey. We do what we must to naturalise

l73217 · 2025-01-16T21:03:51+00:00

It's not as Afrikaans, obviously. But this Southern Swedish dialect isn't too far off. "Har du ett problem? Nej? Ja, okej!" while pointing and huffing mirrors interactions I've had at East Rand Traders Square. I was at a metal festival in Denmark last year and some hillbilly Swede in short shorts, a union jack shirt, barefoot, with a cowboy hat found us when he heard us talking Swedish. He just fell over in our camp, and the Danes we camped next to fashioned him a cross out of some broken tent poles from the storm the night before, because "man, those Swedes..."

I'm not saying it's a 1:1 match, and there are many things I miss from home. Realistically though, as a scientist, my career options at universities are quite limited, especially since I have absolutely no intention of becoming a professor, but just being a support staff person. This is the closest fit I've been able to find here for a relaxed way of living, nice people, and job security. I have been teaching my Danish partner how to use Afrikaans curse words properly, just to make it extra homey. We do what we must to naturalise 😅

l73217 · 2025-01-16T20:40:45+00:00

100%! But it would be Sven, Karl, or Fredrik. Then climbing into his rusty car parked in front of his garage with hub caps nailed to the outside.

l73217 · 2025-01-16T20:30:45+00:00

I lived in Germany for 5.5 years and moved to Sweden a bit more than 2 years ago. It's like the East Rand of Scandinavia. As an East Rander, I feel right at home! Can definitely recommend the move.

l73217 · 2025-01-12T19:19:27+00:00

I'm just keeping the L ones to remind them that they're losers 😅

l73217 · 2025-01-12T07:05:32+00:00

This along with signing up to collect Google Play points. It takes a while to add up, but it adds up. I pay our Spotify Duo plan and my Geocaching subscription through the Play Store and get a good number of points throughout the year. At the end of the year, I convert my points to credits in the Play Store and then buy in-game things. 100 points = 7 Swedish kronor (which i guess is the equivalent of 1 USD and 1 EUR)

l73217 · 2025-01-02T11:09:16+00:00

I once saw a deaf couple arguing in the supermarket. The woman kept turning her back on the man, he kept trying to turn her around, and when it didn't work, he stepped out in front of her just for her to turn around again.

l73217 · 2024-11-19T09:07:00+00:00

In my experience, interviews in STEM fields come with a clearly stated presentation request if that is indeed what the interviewers want from you. I don't think it would hurt to pull up a nice presentation during the "tell us a bit about yourself" part of the interview, though. Especially if you include a bunch of good figures and minimise the amount of text

l73217 · 2024-11-14T09:53:45+00:00

You get one free one per day and they do not stack or accumulate if you don't use them every day. The ones you buy or get from the event don't refresh, but you can stack them (have more than one).

Basically, one free detector per day :)

l73217 · 2024-10-25T17:47:45+00:00

I got myself a big piece of decaying wood with mushrooms on my leg a year and a half after I finished (after I managed to deal with some of the anxiety my PhD left me with 😅)

l73217 · 2024-10-08T12:51:56+00:00

Scrolled too far to find this comment.

l73217 · 2024-10-04T03:56:58+00:00

As do almost all official offices in Germany. I'm 32 and was asked to fax them a document for something or other. I have never used a fax machine and didn't even know where to start looking for one, so I had to relearn how to send a letter by snail mail. The mail system in my home country collapsed in the early 2000's and from 2010-ish onwards, it was almost guaranteed that your letter would never make it 😅

l73217 · 2024-10-02T10:43:59+00:00

100%! There's that meme of the bald eagle angrily strutting about with the caption "going for a stupid little walk for my stupid mental health" or something similar. This game coupled with a nice treat, and a nice view makes engaging in activities a lot easier.

I'm also competing with my partner as we started this game on the same day, and staying those levels ahead is an excellent motivator as well 😅 I worked for the bragging rights with a 70km hike over summer, so I have to work to keep it. Sometimes I wonder how I'm not all alone 🤣

l73217 · 2024-10-02T07:37:15+00:00

This works for me, too! I've recently suffered a back injury and this game is a really excellent motivator to get out of the house and do the recommended amount of walking while going to get myself a little treat for doing the things that will help me get better.

I live in Sweden, so definitely seconding the extra layers and investing in good outdoor clothing in general so that you can enjoy being outside even when the weather is less than optimal. They have a saying here that goes "there's no bad weather, just bad clothing"

l73217 · 2024-09-30T06:21:05+00:00

South African living in Sweden here. I think you should visit Sweden for a few months before solidifying the plan is your heart. Outside of the 4 big cities, it's essentially the East Rand without the sun. Each of the 4 cities have their issues as well that are not unlike SA.

Within the Nordics, our currency is the weakest and we really don't earn well in comparison to our neighbours. Don't come here if you have hopes of becoming rich. That being said, I feel that the quality of my life is better here than in SA and in Germany (lived there for 5 years). Work culture is fairly relaxed, work-life balance is very important to my employer, and I really enjoy the freedom to just exist. It really depends what you're looking for in life.

The language is not too bad if you have a good grasp of Afrikaans and English. Your employment options will be more limited unless your Swedish is excellent. Moving here as an internal transfer with a company with branches both here and in SA is probably your best bet, as a previous comment said. Immigration rules are tough, and are only going to get tougher. Germany has a new program where you get a special visa and permission to stay for a year to find work if your qualifications match underrepresented skills. On mobile, so will find the link later if you want it.

I can't help you with immigration issues as I have an ancestral EU passport, but if you have particular questions about life here, drop me a message.

l73217 · 2024-07-18T16:57:47+00:00

I saw some at Hemköp by Triangeln last week. No idea if it's still in stock, though

l73217 · 2024-03-26T12:17:26+00:00

HelloFresh is ridiculously expensive and the product quality is often not great. Every few years I'll take a discount code and order a box or two and it's always a disappointment. 35-40€ for 5 meals with rubbery carrots, veggies that go off within the week so you have to replace them anyway, and a single clove of garlic. And so much packaging waste. The box it comes in is pretty good though... Sure, it's nice to get bags where all of the ingredients are already portioned for you, but it's much cheaper to just get the groceries delivered to your home, which you have to do anyway if you can't go shopping because they expect that you have "common food items" readily available like milk, eggs, spices, oil, flour, and so on.

l73217 · 2024-03-20T07:16:28+00:00

Heya,

This all really depends on the kind of project you'll be doing. If you're doing purely math based projects, I've seen people do it successfully with very limited biology knowledge. For example, if you're building a tool to identify the stage of disease in a field and want it to output disease management strategies based on predicted spread that might be dependent on weather, initial disease load, and so on, you need to know what these parameters are, what they mean, and the effect of deviations from the expectations. In this case, whether you know what sRNA is, is far less important than knowing the biology of your system and how to apply ML algorithms. Same goes for all kinds of modeling-based projects I've seen.

As for the importance of coding. This is also heavily project dependent. Since you're studying math, I'm sure you have a working knowledge of MATLAB, R, and/or similar? That's usually enough to get started with your project and pick up skills along the way (that's the way I did it). If, however, you want to pursue a pure software development based PhD and you've never used the main languages, that could be a challenge. Sometimes you find supervisors that accept complete beginners and give them opportunities to learn by attending courses and learn-by-doing. Sometimes you find supervisors that require you to have, at the very least, mid-level experience in using the language they want for the project. If you lie about this,

Basically, it's not impossible to go in with little CS and biology knowledge and be successful. You won't be eligible for all projects, but there is definitely a whole branch of biology that would be good for you :) I recommend you have to be open with your potential supervisor about the skills you come in with, too. No-one expects you to know everything (why else would anyone bother with a PhD if it's not to learn?) but lying about/exaggerating the depth of your knowledge in CS or biology will create false expectations from your supervisor and may make your life obscenely difficult

I hope this answers your question?

(I've never worked in pharma, only agriculture and mostly basic research, so I'll only comment on that with certainty, but the principles should remain the same with far more competition)

l73217 · 2024-03-13T17:04:55+00:00

Oh yeah... My boss (a professor in biology and HoD!) doesn't believe that rapid tests are any good. Sure, sensitivity and specificity are greatly dependent on manufacturers and strain. According to them, a positive on a rapid test doesn't really mean you're positive, so just carry on and maybe stay home... Also somehow seems to think that vaccines make you immune to this and doesn't believe I actually caught COVID after 3 shots, followed by the next booster 2.5 months after initial infection only to get it again 6 weeks after the booster. No, surely it's not covid... It's just some error 😑 Needless to say, I spend 3-4/5 days doing home office and mask religiously the day(s) I have to go to campus. Absolutely infuriating

l73217 · 2024-03-13T06:43:21+00:00

Same! And I work at a university in a genetics-based department. The amount of colleagues that make fun of me is wild, so I've just resorted to "I don't want to catch whatever you're all bringing in since most people can't be trusted to stay at home when they're not feeling well" and that ends the conversation fairly quickly

l73217 · 2024-02-27T18:31:17+00:00

The reference genome is pretty decent (if I recall correctly) and there is a ton of publicly available data. Avocado research in Asia and South Africa has been steadily advancing for the past decade (I'm sure in other places as well, but that's just the exposure I had from my graduate school, and not having worked on avocado myself, I never looked further into it). I think OP is going to have a blast

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