Thai-Canadian Couple Reacts to Living with the Dark Winters in Sweden

[@donkfail1]

Greetings from Sweden! The dark winters can be tough. During the few hours of sunlight you have to use it and try to stay outside for a while every day. If you visit Sweden in winter you can see us facing the sun when outside. For example when waiting at a bus stop, a lot of us just stand there turned toward the sun with our eyes closed sucking up the rays. We're like a row of sunflowers turning slowly with the movement of the sun. :D 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

[@MaxSujyNorden]

I don't know why but your comment got me thinking about when we all face the same direction in an elevator, lol!

[@donkfail1]

Similar synchronized behavior. Must be the hive mind...

[@mikaeljohansson7848]

Sweden have a close bond to the sun because of the amount of darkness we have. When the first sun come you often see people shut their eyes and face the sun and just enjoy the warmth and the light

[@johankaewberg8162]

Oh yes. The Phototrophic response. People in full sunflower mode. I love seing people so spaced out. Old women are sitting, hands palm upç

[@matshjalmarsson3008]

Sweden is situated at about the same latitudes, south to north, as Alaska. It's actually more light in the north, because whatever little ligt there is is reflected by the snow, and we don't usually get snow in the south

[@Jonas_S_]

Jonna lived about 20 minutes car drive from where I live, so very relatable. She has moved now, about an hour drive away. We are very proud of her, her content is amazing.

[@mikaelathunell2822]

I'm from Stockholm (Sweden), about 500 km south from where she lives, which means we don't have really as extreme contrasts as she does, even tho there's huge (!) differences between the summer and the winter. During the summer, the sun does set for a couple of hours in the night but it's never pitch black. In the darkest days of the winter instead, the sun rises about 9am and sets just befor 3pm. Even tho the sun sets in the summer where I live, I still think the long daylight messes with my brain. As she said, you want to get up with the sun - but you also want to go to sleep when the sun sets. If it's as bright as in the afternoon when it's 9pm, you don't really get the feeling of "oh, I should probably cool down so I can go to sleep in two hours". And you can't really block that out with curtains since the whole society adapts to the long bright nights. You just stay out for longer. To me it's quit common not to get home until 11pm, and yet you're just as energized and "on the go" as you are 5pm in the winter. So in the summer there's no time to slow down befor going to bed. I'm personally very sensitive to the light, so even with thick curtains blocking out most of the light, I still have just about one hour between 1:30 and 2:30 am where I can fall asleep without disturbing lights from outside. And the same goes for the winter, but with other mechanisms - if it's as dark as it will be when it's just 4 pm, you get tiered - but you don't go to sleep. And when a couple of hours gone by, you can't tell if it's 6pm (not ready to sleep) or if it's 2am (I should definitely be asleep), and I somehow tend to stay up for way too long even in the winter. Bright summer nights are beautiful, but my brain and my sleeping routine would probably benefit from a more stable light condition.

[@carro-xb9oz]

as a neighbour to jonna i live the same life as her.just living about 50 km from her so:) this life is something everyone should try .its awsome and hard sometimes but as humans we are made for this life in the beginning:)

[@MaxSujyNorden]

I could enjoy it because of how remote/quiet it is. What I mean by that is less human interactions. I hate big cities. We live in the countryside of Thailand.

[@swinto4795]

Love the ending! "Rice! Do not belong to us!" hahahaa

[@jessetorres8738]

Trivia note: The U.S. game show The Amazing Race has been on for 35 Seasons, & they have traveled to Sweden for 4 of them; 6, 15, 17, & 25 (which aired back on 2014).

[@TrymYoutubeMainChannel]

greetings from Norway where there's alot of snow, mountains, midnight sun ( summers ) and depressing darkness ( Winter )

[@carro-xb9oz]

hehe i just had to laugh when u talked about cold water and weather in ure country:) in the winter where i live we have between -5 to -35 degrees in the winter and the summer is ofc between 20 to 30 degrees+.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Yeah, similar to where I'm from (Montreal). Here in Thailand it's 30 celcius every day and we are suppose to be near winter season, lol! Summer is 40 celcius everyday here. I hate when it get to -30 in Canada or complete opposite 40 celcius here in Thailand. It's too much for me. Anything between -20-25 up to 25-30 celcius would be ideal for me.

[@Asa...S]

The most populated areas of Canada are pretty far South, from a Swedish perspective. Like Montreal is on the same latitude as Venice, Italy in southern Europe. Edmonton is on the same latitude as Hamburg or Dublin. The southernmost city in Sweden, Ystad is at 55° and Kiruna in the north is at 67°. Jonna Jinton lives close to Junsele (63°) which is about on the same latitude as Dawson City (64°) in Kanada. So it gets so it gets darker earlier in Sweden than it does in most cities in Canada and southern Europe.

[@carro-xb9oz]

its not hard to find food nowadays:) just go to the store if u need,but also u can fish and hunt,its up to u and where u live,and we have clothes so we dont freeze:)

[@zetsuki4207]

I live just little over and hour's drive from Jonna, today it was sunny and it barely reached over the top of the neighbours house. It was -29 degrees C though. Sunset set in around two in the afternoon and at three it was dark again,

[@Belnick6666]

Blueberries are like weed in north of sweden, it grows everywhere lol

[@kevinbennersten1446]

I live on the west coast of Sweden and I'm honestly chocked looking out of my window right now its atleasy 1.3 meters of snow outside my window and usually we only have alot of ice but almost never this much snow and although I prefer summer every day, it makes the summers much more enjoyable after going through the cold dark winter days, also what some people don't know is that sweden is the tallest European country 1 570 km but when driveing it can be over 2 000 km meaning where I live the sun currently rises around 08 and sets today 15:32 according to my weather app so the contrast between north and soulth are massive here as the most southern part may not get snow at all in the winters whilest in the north it can be over 2 meters

[@birgittae9046]

What a lovely fruit garden you have Sujy! 🙋‍♀️🍋🍈🥭🥑 Nice to see! 😊

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Thank you! :)

[@spyro257]

even here in Denmark, the most southern part of the nordics, we have the term "seasonal depression", and we take 5mc D-vitamins a day, all winter... we get 11.5h of darkness in high winter, and 4.5h of darkness in high summer... sleeping longer in winter, only makes me more tired, and i'm down on energy the rest of the day...

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Same in Canada, and the special lamp also that give special kind of lightning for the winter.

[@spyro257]

@@MaxSujyNorden u are talking about the "wake-up lamp", that slowly get brighter and brighter, simulating a sunrise... some use them here too, if they have problems getting out of bed, due to the darkness...

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Yes! That :)

[@tommysellering4224]

When it comes to latitudes of sweden you can remember that New york is at the same latitude as Rome in the mediterranean ocean at the very south of Europe. The Swedish capital of Stockholm (far south of where this was filmed) is about the height of Anchorage in Alaska. The gulf stream gives us a warmer climate than alaska, but the light is, of course, the same as the earth spins.

[@Passioakka]

I, as Carro down belowe, also live close to Jonna (just 250 km north from her). For me it is in the lat of between Fairbanks and Delta Junction i Alaska and Jonna lives at the same lat as Delta Junction. To see the midnight sun you have to go above the Arctic Circle but yes, the nights has a shady daylight for a couple of months. Sujy asked how to get food in the winter...well, most of us go to a store even if some of us has a long way to get there. For us living at the countryside it is common to grow some veggies in our gardens. I live in a farming village and grow potatos for the whole winter on a field together with my neighbours. In my garden I grow garlic, beans, peas, squash and pumpkins. In my green house I have more sensitive plants like tomatos, cucumber, tomatillos, chili and bell peppers, muscat pumpkin and some corn (just for fun eating my "selfmade" corn). My husband hunt moose in the autumn and I pick just as Jonna a lot of berries in the forest and mushrooms, so tasty! We do some fishing in the big river floating beside the village and that is the most wonderful thing to do, meditation and mindfulness at its best. Been to Thailand a couple of times on vacation and love the country, wonderful people, amazing culture and the FOOD!!! 🥰 Greetings from north of Sweden!

[@MaxSujyNorden]

That's definitely a lot of food you got there! Well, it seems like a vegan heaven! I could not hunt animals, I'm cowardly eating but could not kill myself :( It certaintly required organization to do what you do. As you see at the end of our video we grow a lot of things too but for us it's not a necessity in the sense that without it we can still get everything anywhere. Out of curiosity, what is tjhe cost of living around where you and Jonna live? Thank you!

[@Passioakka]

@@MaxSujyNorden It depends...inflation has made everything much more expensive. I live in a villa in the countryside, built it 33nyrs ago and then it was even crazier inflation but now we have almost nothing left on our bank loan. Living in the city my daughter pays 600-700 US dollars for rent (apartment with livingroom, full kitchen and 2 bedrooms), that is without electricity and internet counted in. For food me and my hubby spend aprox 350-450 US dollars/month at the moment and just buying the most neccesary and most of it on sale.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

That's reasonable. Definitely cheaper then Canada. Canada house market is out of control!

[@Passioakka]

@@MaxSujyNorden Well buying a house in town here up north is around 6-7 millions if it is a new built. Down south in towns it is even more expensive. But it is cheaper at the countryside, especially if you buy an older house but then you have to renovate.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

6-7 millions USD? Ouch!!

[@Tove_Ishockey]

you should react to her singing she has a beautiful voice

[@svealusmagi4165]

Hello from Estonia ,we have similar weather and plants,but we have not so much cold. Estonia is close to Finland. The cold record was in Estonia 1940 17.01 was the coldest winter -43,5 C . Our winters are influenced by Scandinavia and Russia.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Hello! How is life in Estonia?

[@svealusmagi4165]

@@MaxSujyNorden I like winter the most out of the four seasons,especially when it is snowy. Snow gives light.It is difficult financially,but you have to find a little joy in every day.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

How cold? I could not handle Canadians winter anymore.

[@kehnr1]

You should listen to Jonna singing she has a beautiful voice.

[@matsv201]

I live about 60 degrees north in Sweden. And ... well this is basically the south of Sweden, not the very south but the south of the middle at least. In Canada 60 degrees north is the border to the northern territory. Of cause we don´t get the 24 hour day or nights, but its still somewhere around 20 hours. And in the winter the clod cover can be so thick so you don´t see the sun anyway. This is pretty typically from pretty much December until a week or two into January

[@MaxSujyNorden]

A few hours is much better then 0. It's a built of anticipation everyday to get out during those hours, as someone below mentioned. I don't know what I would exactly do during those hours.

[@matskarlsson4439]

I feel that I must say that there IS a difference between cold and COLD. even in the north of sweden. I would say that an average cold day up here is negative 20 degrees Celsius. We recently set a new low record (on my birthday even) this year of -40 degrees C. There even was an "incident" where the power went out in the nearby town of Älvsbyn. It's NOT a good mix with theese kinds of freezing temperatures and no electricity.

[@matskarlsson4439]

As far as I know noone died....

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Growing up in Canada, -30 is where it get COLD!

[@zpitzer]

Are you joking? "Can you find food". Well it's as easy as going to a store and buy it.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

In Canada, if you go north, sometimes there is no supermarket/store and went they do price is 3-4x what it would be a few hundred kilometers south.

[@DavidStuart-by5ur]

Personally I handle winter differently - I go to Thailand... 🙂

[@carro-xb9oz]

just commenting.ive been in alot of places but i can tell u that even if we have a hard winter i would not change it for anything in the world

[@MaxSujyNorden]

I'm from Canada and I've never experienced anything like this. This is because most of us Canadians live near the USA border. If you go far north the First Nations are sometimes 24h a day in the dark or complete sunlight. Difference is... it's much colder in Canada. If you go up north you have to deal with Siberian level of cold and it's unbearable. You will die attempting the ice cold bath she did in this video, lol! Very few people live north Canada, and they are all tribes of some sort. And the cost of food is expensive because the few supermarket they have are imported and it's costly to get the food there. I'm not doubting that it's different in Sweden, but even tho this video seem like a dream life, like she said, the winter can be very difficult. It's all she knows so she's use to that but trust me if you didn't grow up in an environment similar to this, at least with -30 degree celcius or worse during the winter (like we have in Montreal), your chance of loving such climate and environment is very slim. We have a lot of immigrants in Canada and most don't like the winter. Even me as a Canadian I don't like went it get pass -25 or -30 because it become unpleasant. And then you have to deal with horrible road condition, road that are completely broken 2-3 months later and a mix of ice and dirty brown water and everywhere you walk there pollution and dirt because of the constant switch from very cold (-30) to just cold (--15), to normal (0 celcius) during winter, back and forth. Now, the absence of humans in this video, and the peacefulness, is a big positive. And also, I'm pretty sure that Canada is much colder then Sweden during winter. If she is living in -5 to -20 degree celcius during winter, I would move there in an heartbeat. But if we're talking -25 to -35 celcius, no chance. For anyone who have dealt with colder winter, this is the threshold where you just want to get inside. It's not pleasant. In Canada, -30 is when school start to close for the day. It's dangerous and you see on the news people dying from the cold. It's not as exotic as it seems. Anyways, that was my 2 cents on the matter.

[@actionalex3611]

She might have like -20, even below that at times but further north in Sweden, where i have a lot of family it gets well below -30 at times. I myself have been there in close to -40. However up there the infrastructure is pretty good most of the time so roads are well maintained. And speaking of cold bath, if the water is not frozen underneath the ice it´s not below zero where ever you are. She literally cut the ice open to take a bath. you are saying "siberian type cold bath" is somehow colder...? Thoroughly enjoyed the clip though. tnx

[@znail4675]

@@actionalex3611 Well, if it's minus 40 in the air then you can turn into popsickle before you get indoors if wet and naked.

[@bfs007a]

​@@znail4675 Basically no. Air cools *way* less efficiently than water, so the water is the problem. Also the humidity in the air is near zero in the north in very cold temperatures in the north of Sweden, although there are some downright awful river valleys that combine humidity and -30 sometimes. But yeah obviously you won't last long, but if you get dry, into some warm clothing and move about a bit you're...cool. Hm. So the eight degrees with high humidity Sujy talks about is quite awful. As a swede myself, I always seem to end up freezing way more in the late autumn (2-10 degress) and early spring. One thing she didn't mention is the insane amount of mosquitoes that are prevalent in most places in the north from almost autumn to winter.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Wind is also a big factor. I'll take -40 no wind over -30 with annoying wind that make it look like you are a popsicle as the other commented above, lol!

[@bfs007a]

@@MaxSujyNorden When it is really cold, It is usually a high pressure system, so it is not that windy. Unless you go to the actual poles. But i would not include them in this discussion. :-)

[@johankaewberg8162]

We have a great bond to the sun. We also have a close bond to darkness.

[@fidelfrick2188]

8c is cold, im here with -30

[@mrviggomartin]

🇩🇰Here with the Global warming snow is getting rare ,winter is now mostly rain.

[@Vvalarir]

Swede here, even though I live in sweden (near Stockholm) all my life, i have never seen real northern lights. 🌌🌌

[@rft416]

Where in Thailand are you from, my wife is from PKK distrikt Thap Sakae, but have all her children and grandchildren up in Lop Buri.

[@MaxSujyNorden]

My wife is from Khon Kaen and we currently live in Udon Thani.

[@carro-xb9oz]

icebaths is not for everyone just so u know

[@yamahass66]

I think i got braintumour by watching this. Could not watch more them 2 min 😂

[@MaxSujyNorden]

Hope you recover.

[@Aluzard]

I see someone needs to activate windows :P

[@MaxSujyNorden]

It's finally activated!

[@jimbombadill]

difficult for the brain...no problem for you guys then ...