That, the dance Små grodorna, and other Swedish customs are part of the Texas family Chavez’s new Swedish life in Boden. With good neighbors, new friends, security, time for life, coffee breaks, and shoes taken off inside the door, Daniel, Linda, and little daughter Antonella are thriving in Boden.
The Chavez couple has moved with work before and traveled a lot. But this time, with their first child just a few months old, the move felt more permanent.
“We first lived in an apartment here in Boden but immediately started looking for our own house. This felt perfect, close to preschool and school when our daughter gets older.”
Antonella is now one year old, and Linda is at home with her, working part-time remotely in marketing for an employer in London. Linda has an impressive resume – a master’s degree in marketing strategy and over 12 years of experience, working with agencies in the USA and international consulting.
“I’m always ready for new challenges and I’m looking for a job here. But right now, it works well to work when Antonella sleeps. In the fall, she will start at the preschool which is just a minute away from here, and the school is across the street. I’m trying to learn Swedish and hope that I’ll get a job here,” she says.
The reason for the move is husband Daniel’s job at the green steel plant Stegra, which is under construction in Boden and is the accelerator for the ongoing societal transformation. Building large steel plants is Daniel’s profession, along with an American team that has worked together at many steel plants before.
“I have always worked with steel plants, and this is my second greenfield project of this size. I have worked for two of the largest steel manufacturing companies in the USA, so this is nothing new to me. But what makes it special here is that it’s a completely new company and everything we do is built from the ground up. We are on the right track, and Europe and the world need this to happen,” Daniel explains.
He is the meltshop manager, the head of the smelter.
“I will need about 225 employees there. So far, 30-40 are confirmed. 80 percent of the team is Swedish, and we want to hire locally as much as possible.”
NEW STEP FOR THE FAMILY
“Sweden is a safe country, and Boden is a good place to live and for children to grow up. And everything is close, it takes four minutes to work by car, 20 by bike,” says Daniel.
Outside the patio door, the neighbor suddenly stands. Antonella runs happily forward and is lifted up in his familiar arms.
“It’s been 43 years since I moved here and have had the same neighbor until now, but it’s fun with the new people coming,” he says as he hands over a cable for the trailer, and Linda shows the Swedish doll that their daughter received from the neighbors.
Daniel and Linda describe him as the best neighbor they could imagine, with whom they can share both a trailer, good advice, and barbecue evenings.
TEXAS GRILL IN THE YARD
The grill has a central place both in the garden and in the life of the Texans in Fagernäs.
“A good grill was the first thing I got,” says Daniel with a laugh and demonstrates his grill which also functions as a smoker.
That’s where meat and burgers of all kinds end up, and Daniel is already eyeing a larger grill to gather new and old friends around. They shared their first Midsummer with colleagues from South Africa, among others, who showed where and how we celebrate Midsummer in Boden.
ACTIVE LIFE
The Chavez couple is not idle. Gym, climbing, and mountain biking are other things they enjoy in their nearby life in Boden when they’re not clearing the garden to create the garden they dream of. Since they arrived a few months ago, they have also managed to find a local construction company and renovated the basement with a new sauna.
“A sauna wasn’t needed in Texas, but my Scandinavian colleagues say you should have one here,” Daniel laughs.
They summarize their new life by saying that Boden is not very big, but it’s surprisingly easy to find most things here. That the tour and service that the relocation service offers to newcomers is great. That things like BankID are a must to get around in society, but once it’s fixed, most things are quite simple. That they were first amazed that Swedes take off their shoes inside the door and all these coffee breaks.
“But it feels like people here are happy,” notes Daniel, who currently doesn’t have time to attend SFI for Swedish but practices on Duolingo.
Soon, they hope that their schnauzer Dibu will also come to his new home in Boden, and with that, the family will be complete.
TEXT: ANNA BERGSTRÖM
