…….

The idiosyncrasies of everyday life in a foreign country keep things fresh even when the experience of being there has become routine. Some of Sweden’s quirks can be aggravating, like the fact a 20-minute ride to downtown Uppsala on a public bus costs nearly $5 and finding a decent cheese burger takes an act of God. But more often than not, the funny little differences I find every day please me immensely and remind me that I’m a long ways from home.

Take this box of Swedish matches. This is undoubtedly the coolest box of matches I have ever seen, and having spent a fair amount of childhood living less than an hour away from one of the biggest match manufacturers in the United States, I’ve seen a lot. “Solstickan” is translated literally into “sun-splinter,” and the box emphasizes that Nordic sense of style that never ceases to delight me – look at the damn thing, it’s beautiful.

Putting its aesthetic appeal aside, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a child on a box of matches before, nonetheless a bumbling, slightly disheveled, blank-faced young zombie who appears to be marching directly toward the sun like a barefoot automaton sent to obliterate the universe. I mean really, what the hell is going on here?

Putting a kid on a book of matches back in the states would be like putting photos of car accidents on six-packs or dead dogs on bottles of antifreeze. Concerned parents would tell us it just shouldn’t be done and before you knew it Congress would be meeting after hours to enact legislation and people would be marching in the street and the courts would be clogged with lawsuits regarding children who burned down the house because they thought that what was what they were supposed to do.

Not the Swedes. None of the children appear to be burning down houses and most of the adults seem to have other things on their minds, like maintaining a prosperous economy, ensuring Sweden remains the most gender-equal country in the world and perfecting their world-renowned stance on peace and human rights.

Kids here appear to be loved and cared for, just without as much of the pomp and circumstance you’ll find back in the states and without as many of the restraints. Last time I checked, kids back home weren’t allowed to buy glue or spray-paint at Wal-Mart or go see No Country For Old Men without their parents until they hit age 18, which is when kids from Sweden and the rest of Europe begin hitting the clubs and pubs on Friday nights.

Which makes hiding the matches seem sensible, come to think of it.