Go vote
So I've spent the last two and a half weeks as an advance voting official babysitting a ballot box, informing people about the intricate dealings and functions of the Swedish voting system*, and of course receiving the ballots (I still wonder if Sweden is the one single country in the world where the actual voter isn't allowed to personally put the ballot paper in the box - something that sometimes confuses some people who have watched the illustrative TV pictures of voters casting their ballots in other, more normal countries).
OK, so it might not be the most challenging work and can get a little repetitive after a while, but it was decently paid and in a nice library, which for the first half of the period meant a not insignificant time available for reading books. (Friday - being the last day to vote in advance - instead meant giving me muscle ache in my moving-my-arms-to-put-ballot-in-the-box muscles.) It also had the positive angle that it's probably one of very few jobs where having high moral and ethical standards are considered a good thing. It also was very independent in the way that I actually was entrusted with running the whole operation of that polling station, not having to coordinate with anyone else. What can I say, I simply like being responsible for my own work.
Anyway, I've now done my part to foster the European spirit and democracy and am currently spending a weekend out in the sun. And yes, I've voted. Did that Friday a week ago with the added priviliege of actually for the first time in my life being able to drop my vote directly into the ballot box like a normal non-Swedish European.
* ) Which incidentally is the first time I've actually been hired by someone to do something that connects to my education. It's good to know 10+ years of university studies are getting to so good use...
OK, so it might not be the most challenging work and can get a little repetitive after a while, but it was decently paid and in a nice library, which for the first half of the period meant a not insignificant time available for reading books. (Friday - being the last day to vote in advance - instead meant giving me muscle ache in my moving-my-arms-to-put-ballot-in-the-box muscles.) It also had the positive angle that it's probably one of very few jobs where having high moral and ethical standards are considered a good thing. It also was very independent in the way that I actually was entrusted with running the whole operation of that polling station, not having to coordinate with anyone else. What can I say, I simply like being responsible for my own work.
Anyway, I've now done my part to foster the European spirit and democracy and am currently spending a weekend out in the sun. And yes, I've voted. Did that Friday a week ago with the added priviliege of actually for the first time in my life being able to drop my vote directly into the ballot box like a normal non-Swedish European.
* ) Which incidentally is the first time I've actually been hired by someone to do something that connects to my education. It's good to know 10+ years of university studies are getting to so good use...