Volunteer duties at The Concert House today. Today, I stood in Concert House to distribute flyers on Kompis Sverige and explain what is the organization about. We had an event today to listen to a chamber concert at The Concert House, so I did this before listening to the concert.
I had an interesting experience explaining to the Swedes who stopped to listen. My speech goes like this - Kompis Sverige is an integration project that matches newcomers with Swedes based on their interests and background. Would you like to meet a new friend from another country? I put on my widest smile! And prayed that they understand me.
I believe it is so important for newcomers to have friends in a new country because I was like that too - I did not have any friends when I came and it was so lonely and you have no one to hang out with or understand how things work. I could not train Swedish with any new friends. I got friends now from my language school and Kompis Sverige activities. So, I wished that the newcomers will have friends. One really needs a friend. In my case, I could not get any friends from Kompis Sverige because they did not have an agreement with my municipal, so I just joined their activities instead and got to meet new people too.
Some responses I got from:
1) 2 elderly ladies: “We are married to foreigners. We have lots of friends from other countries.” One of them wanted to know where I came from.
2) man and a son: “Son, won’t it be interesting to meet a friend from another country?” The kid was trying to pull away from the dad.
3) an elderly man: “I have little time. I want to watch the concert. Say as fast as you can.” Thankfully, I could because I have been practicing the same lines.
4) most of the elderly folk: “I don’t want to meet new people”
5) 2 ladies: “That would be great to meet new people”
So, the best part is everyone who I spoke to understood what I am saying in Swedish because I thought the elderly would not understand me so well as I don’t have the accent. This accent is so important - because of the different accentuation in the pronunciation.
The photo says - Say hello to our volunteer Shi Yan. Today, we have informed about Kompis Sverige at Konserthuset.
This is a 40-minute chamber concert by the students of RSPO Orchestra Academy and University College of Opera. I realized I enjoy listening to classical music and opera or symphony concerts after going to these events that were organized by Kompis Sverige. It is amazing to note that I have a new interest now.
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