Tuesday, April 27th, 2010. We arrived at the Gevalia coffee plant. The smell of ground coffee beans filling the air around the factory. I don't have to remind the Swedish how important coffee is here to the culture (go Fika!), a coffee dreamland for all of you Americans that need your daily fix... or several of them. Gevalia was introduced in 1920 in Sweden by the trading company Victor Theodore Engwall & Co. After 120 years as a family company it was sold in 1971 to Kraft Foods. Gevalia is the largest coffee roastery in Scandanavia and the company produces more than 40 different varieties of super-premium coffee and tea. Wally's shared with us that his wife is a fan and lights up with excitement when he speaks about the free coffee maker they get each time Shirley signs up on-line to get Gevalia coffee shipped to their home!
We are escorted this week by two fine Swedish Rotarians, Jana (they pronounce the J's here like Y's) so, Yana... and Håken, who will now affectionately be referred to as Hokey. You see, my name has been a little difficult for people to pronounce here in Sweden. Heather is not Swedish and the "th" sound is not one they use so here I am known as "Heater" or "Hedor". I adore it actually and only correct if asked how to pronounce... which come to think of it, I always am... but it still comes out the same. And saying it rhymes with weather... doesn't help! By Tuesday, Hokey has decided to rename me... he will call me George... which he pronounces "Yorge"... I question if progress has been made but I will be "Yorge" and he will be Hokey! He is on the left below and Yan is on the right (wonderful gentleman and we thank them much for all they did for us while in Gävle). Brit is our tour guide and she is a lovely woman, very knowledgeable about coffee. She serves us a cup of joe before we tour the factory... I not being a coffee drinker have taken it up a bit at this point in our trip as I think we have all found any boost of energy is much welcome now that we are working on week two of our adventure.
Before we can tour the factory, we must don bright red cover ups and stylish hair restraining hats. We are thrilled and as our team readies itself, I can't help but chant " Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Gevalia and Leaf incorporated! Da da da da da.... "Making our dreams come true"! And so our sitcom begins! Introducing....
Before we can tour the factory, we must don bright red cover ups and stylish hair restraining hats. We are thrilled and as our team readies itself, I can't help but chant " Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Gevalia and Leaf incorporated! Da da da da da.... "Making our dreams come true"! And so our sitcom begins! Introducing....
Wally "The Big Manski" Smanski
I couldn't decide if I would like to be Laverne or Shirley... all I know is that I wanted an "H" embroidered on my smock!
We leave Gevalia jacked up on caffeine and are quite chipper for our noon presentation. We are offered more coffee immediately after lunch which all of us decline, except Mike, who I believe is on his 5th or 6th cup of the day!
And what could be better than caffeine to get us bouncing off the walls? Well, candy, of course! So, we head to the Leaf candy factory... visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads! Well, actually none of us were familiar with the brand of candy but we're told we would be visiting the place where they make candy cars. You can check them out at http://www.leaf.eu/. We are given a thorough presentation on the company while being served many samples of the products, very yummy! We then again dress in very attractive outfits to tour the factory. Now I know what you are thinking... the same as we were... that giant doors would open into the factory and we would see umpa lumpas scurrying around preparing all sorts of goodies but sadly no. The manufacturing process is quite amazing and we are impressed on both of our tours today of the automation and technology that companies such as these have progressed to.
After our adventurous tours, Jessica and I are dropped at Sarah's host family where we have a lovely dinner and are invited to play table tennis by her host "dad" Thomas... whom will be known as "Tumas"... several of the people we have encountered here in Gävle seem to have a British accent when speaking English. Sarah and I grab the paddles and begin to play while Thomas serves as referee and we realize very quickly that Thomas is really into table tennis. Sarah serves... "No, no, no, Sarah!... you must serve again!". Sarah re-serves... "No Sarah!"... and Thomas explains that the ball must hit on her side before crossing the net. She tries again, success! Thomas is happy! We finish our game and Thomas is excited to take me on as the winner but I encourage him and Jessica to play. Jessica has made a disclaimer that she is not good... she is an honest woman! She hits the ball and it goes wild... she begins to laugh, we begin to laugh. Thomas yells "you're quite cleva, Jessica!"... note the British accent... but I must applaud him because he correctly pronounces the J while most people here call her "Yessica". We girls seem to have the giggles and can't stop... Thomas sees we are being silly and table tennis ceases for the evening. Jessica and I need to head home and ask Thomas for a ride. He apologizes and explains that he cannot.... he has had a glass of wine and cannot drive. You see, the legal limit here is .02 (while .08 in the U.S.) and the penalties are great so all the people we encounter in Sweden will not drive at all if they have had even 1 glass of wine which was this case with Thomas. We respect this and end up walking the mile and a half home. We have had a fun filled day and there is much more to learn in Gävle so we call it a night.
After our adventurous tours, Jessica and I are dropped at Sarah's host family where we have a lovely dinner and are invited to play table tennis by her host "dad" Thomas... whom will be known as "Tumas"... several of the people we have encountered here in Gävle seem to have a British accent when speaking English. Sarah and I grab the paddles and begin to play while Thomas serves as referee and we realize very quickly that Thomas is really into table tennis. Sarah serves... "No, no, no, Sarah!... you must serve again!". Sarah re-serves... "No Sarah!"... and Thomas explains that the ball must hit on her side before crossing the net. She tries again, success! Thomas is happy! We finish our game and Thomas is excited to take me on as the winner but I encourage him and Jessica to play. Jessica has made a disclaimer that she is not good... she is an honest woman! She hits the ball and it goes wild... she begins to laugh, we begin to laugh. Thomas yells "you're quite cleva, Jessica!"... note the British accent... but I must applaud him because he correctly pronounces the J while most people here call her "Yessica". We girls seem to have the giggles and can't stop... Thomas sees we are being silly and table tennis ceases for the evening. Jessica and I need to head home and ask Thomas for a ride. He apologizes and explains that he cannot.... he has had a glass of wine and cannot drive. You see, the legal limit here is .02 (while .08 in the U.S.) and the penalties are great so all the people we encounter in Sweden will not drive at all if they have had even 1 glass of wine which was this case with Thomas. We respect this and end up walking the mile and a half home. We have had a fun filled day and there is much more to learn in Gävle so we call it a night.
Stay tuned for the next episode...
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