Happy midsummer to all of our readers! For you who don’t know this fine Swedish tradition, I recommend the following short youtube-video.

For us Swedish abroad, the evening did not turn out as usual, but me and Anders still got some summer feelings in New York. Every year the Swedish general council of New York arranges a traditional Swedish midsummer celebration. So with the goal set for the south end of Manhattan, me and Anders left the office early this Friday, took the car to West Haven and from there the train to New York. Already on the station in West Haven we saw the first Swedish flag and when we finally reached our goal, Swedish speakers were everywhere in what seemed to be just as any midsummer celebration! The smell of strawberry cream cake and meatballs lingered in the air; little children played tag on the grass; and accordion music was played from the little stage.

What might give it away was the Statue Liberty in the background and those New Yorkers with confused expressions as they walked pass the area. Some dancing around the midsummer pole was also arranged, film is available HERE.

About 8 PM, the tradition kept on going with tipsy Swedish people and we decided that we had a long way back to Manchester. After a short stop at Times Square, we finally sat on the train back to West Haven and an hour after midnight, two tired but happy Swedes were back in their beds.

Tomorrow, a new work week begins. For me, this week will be slightly different than those before. The implementation of the SPC software system is ready enough to be used out in the workshops, and therefore all of the operators and quality and manufacturing engineers are to be educated in SPC (Statistical Process Control) and how to use the software. Since we want to keep the classes small we will be holding lectures all week. It’s going to be a hard but fun week which I believe will just fly away! And afterwards, we only have three weeks left before it is time to say goodbye to GANE. I am actually looking forward to go home, so that feels quite good. But first, the rest of time in the US is to be enjoyed and until we speak again, I say: see ya!