Today I attended my first internal Swedish political meeting.
I did mention a few months back that I was an ‘ersättare‘ on the Board of Liberala Företagare. Today I attended my first meeting of the Board.
Of course its all in Swedish, I cant expect them to talk English just for me. In the main I could understand a lot, but again my confidence at speaking Swedish in that kind of situation is pretty low. I did make the effort until it got to policy issues. Thats where things started to get tricky for me.
Of course I have mastered the everyday living but my Swedish instruction has never included politics, the economy, the world of commerce so a lot of new words for me.
Its a good kick up the backside though that I do need to speak more Swedish. I know Eskilstoona bangs on that I should write more on here in Swedish. (Typical Academic 
I am sure it will help but I know that 90% of site visitors are not Swedish speakers.
I can read Swedish well now, but I need to crack on with gaining confidence in speaking Swedish and not ‘can I have three apples and two oranges please’…its time I got serious.
I think I will look for one to one tuition, maybe Berlitz if I can raise the cash as its not cheap.
With regards the Liberala Företagare meeting, it was great to meet other entrepreneurs who are also Liberal. That is, a business leader who is driven by his/her business but not at the point of shafting employees. It was also very flattering to be listened to about my thoughts on Swedish employment law and obstacles for foreign businesses who want to invest and set up shop in Sweden.
And I must say, its so nice to actually be discussing policy with people who know what they are talking about. This isnt a discussion about Third World debt in a pub but this is with people who have set up businesses and discussing real problem issue. Enlightening.
Also for me its nice to chip in with some thoughts about what I have experienced and what I think based on that rather than on my old school Liberal traditional views… or should that be Libertarian
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