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Swedish couple finds southern hospitality, good grits at local cafe
"It is medicine for the stomach," laughed Rune Hedin as he ate a spoonful. Rune and his wife, Birgitta, are touring several southern states looking for a winter vacation home. They started in Sarasota, Fla. where they explained there is a large Swedish population. A friend told them they must visit New Orleans and sample the jambalaya, so they rented a vehicle- "much bigger than what we have in Sweden," they observed- and headed toward the Big Easy, sticking to the smaller highways. On the way back to Florida, they drove up into Mississippi, taking Highway 84 east. The highway brought them to Grove Hill where they spent Monday night. Rune Hedin, 62, is a retired Swedish supreme court justice. He explained that the court is divided into administrative and criminal divisions. He was a judge in the administrative division that handles civil and tax matters. Birgitta Hedin worked with computers and software in the insurance industry. She started working with computers in the mid-1970s and agreed that computers have come a long way since then. The Hedins have been to the United States before but this is their first visit to the south. Rune Hedin acknowledged, "It [the south] is very different from the rest of the states. The people take it more easy here. You do not feel the stress you feel elsewhere." The people in south Florida, he said, seemed especially stressful. The Hedins said they are considering the U.S. for a winter vacation home because they can speak English fairly well. Rune Hedin said Swedish schools teach English and that most Swedes can speak the language. They are apparently world travelers, explaining they have been to Thailand and Spain but did not find the countries appealing for a long term residency as they can't speak the language in either place. Gloria's coffee group was intrigued by the foreign visitors. The quizzing was mutual as the Hedins quickly adapted to the give-and-take of the locals and shared as much information about their country as they were given about south Alabama. Asked about wages, they estimated the average wage for skilled Swedish laborers at around $50 per hour. Everyone at first wanted to move to Sweden but the more they talked, the more the coffee drinkers realized everything is relative. Expenses there far exceed those in the U.S. For instance, gasoline in Sweden averages about $2 a liter in U.S. dollars. That translates to about $8 a gallon. The coffee drinkers said that didn't make $2.95 a gallon gasoline seem so bad. Also, the Swedish people pay 50 percent or more of their wages in taxes. An automobile can cost as much as $100,000. The Hedins got a good dose of southern hospitality from the crowd at Gloria's as well as some superb bowls of grits.
They said they may be back!
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