- What's up beautiful people?
It's your homegirl Miss Shameless,
all up in Sweden!
Look!
- All right.
(upbeat music)
No, look!
This is video.
(loud whooshing)
- Jag heter Maya,
and I'm learning to speak Swedish because
I am currently in Sweden,
where I bought my very first home ever.
(gasps)
I kinda wanna record.
Oh it's so cute!
Aww!
- [Max] Welcome home my love!
- [Maya] I love you.
- [Max] They kept the gates open.
- For the burglars.
It's so cute, Max!
Look at the trees in the background!
What the fuck?
Hold on, I gotta stop recording.
'Cause I wanna see this.
Max!
(indistinct)
(gasps)
What the fuck!
(chuckling)
(sobs softly)
- [Max] Maya.
- It's so quiet.
(gentle music)
There are many reasons that went into
why I purchased my first home here in Sweden,
but the first and foremost goes to
the love of my life, Max.
We have been separated because of the state of the world.
I was living in the US,
he was living over here.
Well actually, he was living in Berlin for school.
But with everything in lockdown,
we hadn't seen each other for months.
After we went through all of our options,
it just made sense for me to at least
make my way over here to be with him.
And so we've been together reunited, finally!
After, was it five months?
We're just building our little love nest.
Life is good out here.
Life is very good in the (speaks foreign language).
(chuckles)
But it didn't come without challenges.
When I first arrived from Toronto,
if you haven't watched my last video,
or my last two videos, make sure you watch those as well.
So, I went back home to be with family.
So from Toronto, made my way to Sweden.
Sweden, y'all are about your Ts and Is, Ps and Qs because,
they would not let Jackie in here.
They won't let us in!
Well, they won't let her in.
I can go in.
(sighs)
Please let us in.
Please let her in.
She's a good one.
Three weeks, Jackie was quarantined, and $3000 later.
Poor dogs.
So most people put their dogs down.
- [Max] I'm nervous though!
Huh?
- Most people put their dogs down.
- [Max] Yeah.
- 'Cause they can't afford!
- [Max] Quarantine.
Is that Jackie?
(woman exclaims in foreign language)
- Who's that? Who's that?
(chuckling)
- [Max] Jackie!
Hey!
Jackie! - Jackie!
Hi Jackie!
Depending on when you're watching this,
Sweden wasn't allowed into any country,
and it's, Sweden is still not allowed to Canada.
Canada has not opened their borders yet.
So, I'm glad I went back home to Canada,
I'm glad that Sweden opened their borders
and I'm glad to be here.
Although my stay is limited,
I am enjoying every moment of it.
The world is doing what it's doing.
What's important for me is to focus
on where my attention is going,
and I felt living in California,
more specifically Los Angeles,
my attention was going into a place that drained me.
And so being here, I get to just work on the house,
which is what we're doing.
We're learning a lot about planting, farming,
organic farming.
It's been an amazing journey, we've been building.
It is so much work owning a home!
(chuckles)
But I have some questions to address!
We looked for this home on Hemnet.
I'll put the link in the info box below.
As well as Blocket.
Which is the Sweden's version of Craigslist.
But yeah.
We inked it, signed, sealed,
and she (indistinct).
So that has happened, that's where I found the listing.
Why did I decide to move to Sweden?
The other big reason was,
I can afford to own a home in cash here in Sweden.
And not in the cities, but in the countryside.
I had looked in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia.
We even looked in other provinces,
as well as other countries.
I looked in the Philippines.
And then finally, I just asked Max.
I'm like, you know what Max?
Could you just check?
Like, what are the websites to look for real estate?
And, we looked at Hemnet, and,
not just any area.
I asked him to look in the area close to his family.
And, yo, the prices though!
I live in the cottage area slash farmer area.
So the prices here were really affordable.
We have a house that's going on sale
across the road from me for ...
37,000 US cash.
This house that we bought was 58,000 US? Cash.
So the reason I decided to buy in Sweden,
or specifically here,
is because I wanted to buy in cash.
I didn't want us to have rent,
I didn't want us to worry because,
you know, these are very uncertain times and,
rent is a lot, and it's been a lot on me.
For the past, actually if I do the math of how much,
how many years I've been renting in Los Angeles
and New York, I could've bought, you know,
two or three properties out here.
So.
What ignited this desire in leaving the US
and moving across the world?
We were just looking at where can we be together?
And the countries just were not letting Sweden in.
And ... you dealing with a tourist,
and not just any tourist.
This one, she's Shameless Maya.
She will not stop.
So we were just looking to be together.
And to be honest, during this entire time,
I was so fascinated by Sweden's approach.
This is open to debate.
I'm not gonna say who's right or wrong,
but what resonated with me is
the freedom to choose, as an adult,
do you want to venture out into the world
or do you want to stay and feel safe and protected?
I like being given the choice.
And Sweden has done just that and,
it's been a breath of fresh air to
be able to go to restaurants, go to grocery stores,
go to the mall, live a fairly normal life, and summer,
without feeling like a parent is scolding me.
(chuckles)
And if anything, what has resonated with me
is health is paramount,
and that is part of what inspired me to
invest more in my health.
Particularly the foods that we eat.
When this whole pandemic happened,
the immediate thought that went through my mind
was, "Holy crap, I am so ill-prepared.
If the world were to shut down, which it semi-did.
But if electricity and running water were to stop.
I don't know what I would-"
I felt, in that moment, like such a juvenile.
So young, so immature.
I didn't know anything.
And that made me, like, it gave me anxiety.
(chuckles)
And I started to ...
Research about food.
And world wars and lots of other things too,
that's another video.
Learning, just learning basic survival skills and
lifestyle skills.
And the more I started to learn,
the more I just realized ...
Going back to your lifestyle choices,
what are you putting into your body?
What are you eating?
What can I do to improve my overall health?
As well as protect my pockets,
be with the love of my life,
these are all reasons (chuckles)
that kind of just did this,
and they lined up perfectly.
Synchronicity.
The Celestine Prophecy, get into it.
Next question. (chuckles)
What has been the hardest part about this?
You know what's so bizarre?
I've only lived in cities.
You would think that I would be ...
It would be such a hard adjustment,
and it was so natural.
Being here, I feel at home.
There is this childhood memory that comes up for me because,
even though I'm from Ontario, Toronto,
for those of you, to be specific,
I'm from Scarborough.
That's where I'm born and raised,
and where, I was living,
I remember my brother and I would go across
to the neighbor's house, go through their backyard,
into the ravine.
And I loved being by nature.
We had a river, trees, and I was always hiking.
I was always fascinated with nature.
But, coming here, even though it's so far from that,
it felt so familiar.
In that sense.
No helicopters, no police sirens,
(helicopter whirs) (police siren wails)
just complete and utter silence.
Actually, I'm lying.
The wind through the trees,
the cows.
(mooing)
And the roosters.
(rooster crows)
But when I first arrived,
complete and utter silence.
So the hardest part, Maya, the hardest part.
The hardest part ...
I would say is going from ...
Being an independent woman who makes moves by herself
without checking in with anyone,
now being with a partner 24/7.
I think day four, that's when I was like-
(gasps) (heartbeat thumps)
(breathes shakily)
We were in the car and I'm just like, what the fuck?
We've been with each other like non-stop!
Around the clock!
In the same room, home, bed!
Like you are there when I go to sleep
and you're there when I wake up!
Like, what is that?
(chuckles)
I had that moment, day four, and then ...
We just got into our groove, like,
we started working, um ...
I got a car, so I was able to be independent,
and drive places, but the nearest store is 20 minutes
and the nearest city is about an hour.
(chuckles)
So, that, I would say is the hardest challenge for me,
was going from living alone, like I ain't got no roommates,
I got Jackie.
(dog barks)
To wow!
(chuckles)
I love you, but- (laughs)
No, it's been the hardest, but also ...
It's nice.
It's nice, like, when you're sick,
or when you don't wanna deal with the world,
to have a partner who is there to help with that.
And vice versa, like,
there are days that Max doesn't wanna deal,
and I'm like, "You take this one out. I got this."
And so that has been ...
hardest, slash most rewarding part of this journey, for me.
Why do you think this was necessary during this time?
Why now?
Honestly, a few months ago,
I thought just ...
Very doom gloom.
I don't know how you all felt,
but I felt like, man, that's it!
(chuckles)
And, that's it.
No, I had, like that was I wanna say ...
50% of my thoughts, like, wow,
I don't know, I don't know,
so much uncertainty, so much fear.
So much ... (sighs)
If I could do it again, how would I do it differently?
And ...
I started to look at every option I had.
I did the life of being this, you know,
successful entrepreneur woman who's out here
slaying dragons, I've done that.
I, check!
For those of you that don't know, I'm 38, at this point.
Well, depending on when you're watching this.
I'm 38 and, I just wanted a new journey, a new chapter,
and I want to do that with someone who allows me to be me!
And, that's just bare minimum.
And then all the perks that comes with that is,
support, understanding, love, adoration.
That's Max.
That's another video, right?
(chuckles)
So I just did not, I didn't want
this life to end without ...
Having tried something new.
Why else now?
Living in Los Angeles,
I have distant family relatives
but I don't have anyone that I'm comfortable leaning on.
My friends are scattered.
I didn't feel safe.
I'm sure I could've felt that, if I like,
toughed it out but, I'm like,
why would I do that?
Why would I try to build a tribe when
my man is over there and my family's over there?
So, as you saw in the previous video,
I packed up all my belongings, drove across the country.
Waited it out in Toronto,
and came here to Sweden.
Countryside Sweden.
Did you have fear?
Yes.
I had major fear.
You know what?
The biggest fear was shifting my mindset from
what I am familiar with, which is renting,
to what I'm unfamiliar with, which is home ownership.
And that thought in itself is a scary one.
The thought that I can't, I'm not enough,
this that.
That was so much reprogramming I had to do.
And so when Max was looking for homes,
when he finally found this one,
he was like, "Okay, I found it!
So what do you wanna do now?"
And I'm like- (exclaims nervously)
"Keep looking!"
And he seemed exhausted by that.
He was like, "Why? I think we found it Maya,
but if you want I will."
And I'm like- (groans)
This is a hard situation to be in!
So, it kinda was calling my bluff,
like are you gonna do this or naw?
'Cause Max found it.
Do you wanna keep looking or just make a move?
And so, after a day of thinking about it,
I was like, yeah, just,
let's put an offer in and see what happens and ...
So that was the hardest, most fearful experience.
Shifting the mindset.
Nothing externally was happening,
but it was all in my mind.
Driving across the country wasn't even scary.
I think it was the day of.
'Cause, this is my issue.
I have so much on my mind, so much to-dos to do,
that I can't, I don't have enough time to think about
the fear of what's about to come, 'cause I'm just like,
"This has to happen, you gotta pack, you gotta ship,
you gotta do this, you gotta get rid of that,
you gotta go on Facebook, you gotta post, you gotta-"
All of this, and it's not until I'm in the car driving,
I'm like ...
"What am I doing?
I don't even know where I'm gonna stay tomorrow!
I don't even know where I'm gonna be in two days!"
So literally, not knowing, but knowing,
is fearful as ...
As well as exciting.
I did not think 2020, how it was panning out to be like,
one of the most epic fails ...
Explosion in my face to be like this.
So ... I'm so grateful for this time.
Because it really forced me to sit down with myself
and really look, you know,
what are you willing to do to live the life that you want?
Everything's on the table, the world is shutting down.
You know, there's all these health advisories.
What are you gonna do differently?
So, I'm gonna spend my life that I have now
with the love of my life,
I'm going to make healthy lifestyle choices,
because even though we think we're eating,
like if you really take inventory,
how much of the stuff that we're eating
will go bad in a week?
Because if it's not ...
that's processed,
and processed has chemicals, it has toxins,
and I'm not saying it's bad and stop eating it because,
the life that we've created, this world that we've created,
needs a whole lot of reprogramming.
So, making little choices, little lifestyle choices,
you don't have to have acres, you don't have to have a farm,
to grow a garden on your patio, in your kitchen.
But we've been so caught up in these devices, drama,
that we don't even know the basics.
So I'm trying to learn the basics,
learning how to speak Swedish,
learning how to ... grow seeds.
Growing seeds to a big- that's magic, right there.
Like if you do that,
if there's one thing I can encourage you to do,
it's plant a seed in soil, watch it, nurture it,
and see what happens.
Let me know what video you wanna see next.
(laughs)
I probably should film a couple more.
Now that I have this whole thing set up.
Follow me on Instagram, first of all,
'cause that's where I'm popping on the stories.
Not even so much in the timelines, but on the stories.
That's it from me boos, until next time,
remember to do ... you ...
Be you, and stay true.
Be shameless.
Be fearless!
Be adventurous.
Be inspired.
(upbeat music)