Monday, March 09, 2009 – Our first full day in Vänersborg was very, very busy as well as interesting. In the morning, our first stop was at Vargön Alloys – they produce Ferrochrome for use in making stainless steel and are very advanced in their environmental protection practices. They take three separate components – iron ore, coal and quartz to make their final end product. But, they are also very resourceful with the by-products from their processing….the slag is being used for road construction, house foundations and in making concrete while the heat generated from their furnaces is being used as steam for energy or to heat water for use in the district heating system utilized by the municipality of Vänersborg. After learning about the plant and its operations, we were able to witness one of the furnaces being tapped. At their current production level, this happens once every four hours(fyra for those of you following along in Swedish) and was VERY fascinating to watch!!! The bucket that they empty the material into looks like a VERY large wooden beach pail which they move away from the furnace to dump the ferrochrome in one area before dumping the slag in another.
After lunch in their plant restaurant, we were off to our next
stops - - for me, it was a shoe store called Nya Skor which means “new shoes” in Swedish. Anna, the woman who owns the store, is the president of one of Vänersborg’s four Rotary clubs and the store has been in her family since 1984. Her store is very similar to what we call “Mom and Pop” shoe stores in America. She carries a variety of brands including Ecco, Birkenstock and some Hush Puppies. While the styles are very different from American fashion; the problems they are facing are very similar to ours.
This evening, we had our second presentation. It was well attended and, overall, went very well… Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the most important part of my day!! After I was done in Anna’s store, I stopped by a SCRAPBOOK STORE (yes! They even have them in SWEDEN) and looked but did not find anything that I couldn’t live without.
It’s about 10:15 PM here while its only 4:15 PM there since you all have “sprung ahead” already and Sweden does not do that until the end of the month. So, I need to sign off for now and write a bit in my journal and get some rest - - another busy day tomorrow and we cap off our stay here at the Elk Museum for dinner & a tour tomorrow evening. No, not American elk – they are Swedish elk or what we’d call moose. Vi ses! (See you!)
After lunch in their plant restaurant, we were off to our next
stops - - for me, it was a shoe store called Nya Skor which means “new shoes” in Swedish. Anna, the woman who owns the store, is the president of one of Vänersborg’s four Rotary clubs and the store has been in her family since 1984. Her store is very similar to what we call “Mom and Pop” shoe stores in America. She carries a variety of brands including Ecco, Birkenstock and some Hush Puppies. While the styles are very different from American fashion; the problems they are facing are very similar to ours.This evening, we had our second presentation. It was well attended and, overall, went very well… Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the most important part of my day!! After I was done in Anna’s store, I stopped by a SCRAPBOOK STORE (yes! They even have them in SWEDEN) and looked but did not find anything that I couldn’t live without.
It’s about 10:15 PM here while its only 4:15 PM there since you all have “sprung ahead” already and Sweden does not do that until the end of the month. So, I need to sign off for now and write a bit in my journal and get some rest - - another busy day tomorrow and we cap off our stay here at the Elk Museum for dinner & a tour tomorrow evening. No, not American elk – they are Swedish elk or what we’d call moose. Vi ses! (See you!)
Team member - - Steph Riegelman
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