I love living in Sweden. And there's a lot in the U.S that could stand improvement. Remember that as you keep reading my short list of complaints.

Or actually read about my one big complaint:

This morning as I was brushing the snow off my car the lady who lives around the corner, down the street, walked by our house for the umpteenth time as she walked her dogs. She passed within 3 feet from me and as always I said, "Hi." She looked at me. This is unfortunately not unusual for Swedes, and it drives me bonkers. I keep thinking that no matter what, my children are never going to ignore someone who greets them.

And just to make things worse the same thing happened to me at lunch. I ordered a chicken burrito at a mall food court, and when my dish was handed to me I had the nerve to say, "Thank you." A stare was all I got in return.

And even as I was going to put my tray in the cart I noticed that a young employee was gathering the trays onto one cart  so I asked her, "rudely" enough, "Do you want me to put my tray here, too?" She looked right through me.

I have absolutely no scientific evidence to support the following hypothesis, but if I remember correctly Sweden is pretty high up on the list when it comes to the suicide rate. Could one of the reasons people feel that desperate is that they are treated as though they were invisible?

Please, please, please, if you are Swedish and don't feel this description applies to you, then it most certainly doesn't. Remember that I said that I love Sweden, and naturally there are a ton of Swedes out there that are genuinely as good as gold.

But after living here for 19 years, this is the most significant difference in our cultures as far as I can see. I've changed a lot since I moved over here, adapted myself and much has been for the better, but if there is one thing that I will not change, that is that I am not going to stop greeting people in what I hope to be a friendly fashion.