"Ni kan väl komma över och fika lite" quickly becomes one of the most dreaded phrases yiou can hear. But soon you realize that these mind-numbing gossip sessions have a certain routine, and with a little practice you can completely disconnect your brain from the proceedings.
One reason for this is that the conversation is always exactly the same. When you have friends and relatives that you haven't seen for a few years, the conversational topics are rather limited. Every day you are asked the same questions, and every day you give the same answers. It's like watching a new world champion in any sport being interviewed on TV: you know what the reporter is going to ask, and you know what the new champ is going to answer.
However, every time I go back to Sweden there is a slightly different slant to the questions. I would like to present this year's list of the
Top Ten Questions I Was Asked in Sweden:
Question number 10