Organized Chaos: I think Christine used that term several years ago... If you looked at my room, it would look like a huge pigpen. But what you don't see is that there is actually a place for everything and a thing for every place... Ask me to find something in that pigpen and I'll show it to you in the blink of an eye. Yes, that (insert thing) is supposed to be on/in/all over that (insert place), that's where it belongs. BUT what happens when this perfect balance gets messed up? I can't find my camera's card reader!!! I don't know where it could be, because it's not in the neat box of "electronic stuff." And if it's not there, it could be ANYWHERE. Or nowhere.
So sadly I can't share my Thanksgiving pictures! They are stuck on my camera!!! I'll keep searching though... But I've been wanting to share some funny street/bus stop/tram stop names in Gothenburg. Actually I think they are all stops on a bus or tram line, otherwise I wouldn't have remembered/been able to find them. You might think I'm living in some sort of story book world with some of these names... Translated to English, of course. Some of them aren't that funny (or at all?) in Swedish but just translate funny.
Positive Street (one of my faves. I always wonder if they mean in a scientific or a psychological sense)
Music Way (in the same area as Piano Street and Radio Street, no joke)
Vegetable Square (another favorite and the first one that made me laugh when I first moved here)
Prince Street
Medical Specialist Street/Medical Student Street?? (Doesn't sound that weird but looked it up anyway)
Seminar Street
Temperature Street
Wave Master Street
The Fescue
Paradise Street
Ship's Bridge (I think it sounds cool in Swedish)
Furniture Street
Rainbow Street (a new favorite! I get off here for Swedish classes!)
Sunbeam Street
I live right by Olive Valley's Street, which I think is cool. Especially because I LOVE olives, olive oil, anything made with either of the two. And the grocery store right below the apartment is called "The Olive."
While looking some of these up just now I found some new ones! Jewelry Street, Wishful Weather Street (we need that here), Virgin's Square, and Giant Stone's School (sounds like caveman education).
Yes, these are streets I often pass by and I actually have to take the voice recording seriously when she calls out the next stop. But it probably isn't as funny to the Swedes. Not just street names, a lot of Swedish words are funny too. To me it sounds a bit like how the Native Americans spoke back when (you know, the "Chief Big Bear lives on Big Rock by Blue Waters..." kind of stuff in the probably censored stories and books we read as kids) because a lot of bigger words are formed with really simple small words, more obviously than we see in English. Not to mention, the first name "Björn" is the same as the word for bear. Would that fly in English? I think maybe the language has been preserved well?... And yeah we could dissect English words from their roots and find funny/primitive translations too, maybe if you know Latin...
Yay for the Swedish Language and I hope you liked the little Anglofied window into the city!
fredag 10 december 2010
söndag 28 november 2010
Comparing Bios
Bio is short for biograf, which is the Swedish word for cinema. So far I've been to the Swedish bio 3 times. (That doesn't count Haga Bion, my favorite, which always shows international movies including lots of French ones!!!) Anyway I've figured out a list of ways that Swedish and American cinemas are different AKA things I think are better in my home cinemas. (Sorry Swedes! Let me be ethnocentric, I'm a tad homesick!!)
The following list compares 2 different big and nice Swedish movie theaters I've been to 3 times (but not Hagabion!) to, say, the Warrens in Wichita, and even North Rock.
1. The talking norms- I noticed this one the second I set foot in the theater in Växjö last summer. You walk in to find your (reserved--one pro of the theaters here) seat before the movie and feel like you're walking into a high school cafeteria. Apparently it's totally fine in Sweden to have loud conversations before the movie starts (even during the previews). You can pick out the most interesting conversation in the theater and listen to it, since they are all equally audible. Last night's highlight was the people behind us very obviously making fun of the people in front of us. Magically, the people in front of us didn't notice because they were talking and surfing on their phone.
Then, finally after the previews, when the lights finally turn off (see #2) and the opening credits are rolling, most people start to shut up. I really missed the "message" from Warren or Dickinson theaters telling us we still have time to get popcorn and drinks, to turn off the cellphones and to be quiet. This is probably just me but I swear that people have been laughing much more loudly at movies here than at home. Or maybe the movies I saw here were funnier? (Sidenote: A funny thing I've noticed going to see subtitled movies is that you can tell apart who's reading and who's listening... the subtitle readers always laugh after the non-subtitle-readers... It's funny because it sounds like a delayed reaction... I catch myself doing it at the movies at Hagabion too).
2. The lights- The lights, err... spot lights, are shining on you until the second before the movie starts. I miss going in to the dark theater and enjoying the previews in peace and...darkness.
3. The seating set-up- So maybe this is just these theaters and I'm sure there are other theaters in the states like this too. But I felt like I was in a very crowded stadium. In Wichita theaters, the floor is either inclined, giving everyone plenty of foot room under the seat in front of them, or there are 6-inch high steps that are long for plenty of foot room. In the theater here, each row (I'm not complaining or anything but last night's theater had all of 8 rows) is on its own tall and steep step. So tall and steep that if you try to stretch out your cramped leg, you might just kick the person in front of you in the head.
To be fair, that last one has an up-side, in that there's no way your view can be blocked by someone's huge head, so that's nice! Especially if you're all the way back in row 8, far away from the screen.
Those are my rants for today... I think America gets enough shit to justify this list! I should add that the 3 movies I've watched at these theaters (The Hangover, Inception, and most recently The Social Network) have been enjoyable, so I guess the theater didn't ruin the experience! And speaking of America, I'll post pictures of my successful Thanksgiving dinner next time!
Miss you all, even you Mr. Bill Warren!
The following list compares 2 different big and nice Swedish movie theaters I've been to 3 times (but not Hagabion!) to, say, the Warrens in Wichita, and even North Rock.
1. The talking norms- I noticed this one the second I set foot in the theater in Växjö last summer. You walk in to find your (reserved--one pro of the theaters here) seat before the movie and feel like you're walking into a high school cafeteria. Apparently it's totally fine in Sweden to have loud conversations before the movie starts (even during the previews). You can pick out the most interesting conversation in the theater and listen to it, since they are all equally audible. Last night's highlight was the people behind us very obviously making fun of the people in front of us. Magically, the people in front of us didn't notice because they were talking and surfing on their phone.
Then, finally after the previews, when the lights finally turn off (see #2) and the opening credits are rolling, most people start to shut up. I really missed the "message" from Warren or Dickinson theaters telling us we still have time to get popcorn and drinks, to turn off the cellphones and to be quiet. This is probably just me but I swear that people have been laughing much more loudly at movies here than at home. Or maybe the movies I saw here were funnier? (Sidenote: A funny thing I've noticed going to see subtitled movies is that you can tell apart who's reading and who's listening... the subtitle readers always laugh after the non-subtitle-readers... It's funny because it sounds like a delayed reaction... I catch myself doing it at the movies at Hagabion too).
2. The lights- The lights, err... spot lights, are shining on you until the second before the movie starts. I miss going in to the dark theater and enjoying the previews in peace and...darkness.
3. The seating set-up- So maybe this is just these theaters and I'm sure there are other theaters in the states like this too. But I felt like I was in a very crowded stadium. In Wichita theaters, the floor is either inclined, giving everyone plenty of foot room under the seat in front of them, or there are 6-inch high steps that are long for plenty of foot room. In the theater here, each row (I'm not complaining or anything but last night's theater had all of 8 rows) is on its own tall and steep step. So tall and steep that if you try to stretch out your cramped leg, you might just kick the person in front of you in the head.
To be fair, that last one has an up-side, in that there's no way your view can be blocked by someone's huge head, so that's nice! Especially if you're all the way back in row 8, far away from the screen.
Those are my rants for today... I think America gets enough shit to justify this list! I should add that the 3 movies I've watched at these theaters (The Hangover, Inception, and most recently The Social Network) have been enjoyable, so I guess the theater didn't ruin the experience! And speaking of America, I'll post pictures of my successful Thanksgiving dinner next time!
Miss you all, even you Mr. Bill Warren!
lördag 20 november 2010
Remembering the Long Days
I promised to show some of you my pics from Iceland. (The cheapest one-way plane ticket from KC to Europe happened to be to Iceland. Then 4 days later I took a separate flight--that only allowed ONE suitcase--to Copenhagen.) I was there for the Summer Solstice, and now as we approach the Winter Solstice and the sky turns a deep midnight blue at 4:30pm, it's time to share (and reminisce)...
JUST KIDDING! Not sure that pic has any significance. Did you fall for it?
The whole experience was probably dangerous to my health, but I took all those layers off right after security. Almost seemed like a waste, but it gave me something to laugh to myself about!
As we descended onto Iceland, I pretended this little chunk of land was the whole island (more exciting that way). Really it's just a small peninsula but hey, it works! Coming from Kansas, I had this weird sense of claustrophobia knowing I was on a somewhat small island, for most of the trip.
Landed at 11:30pm. Not quite the Midnight Sun, but a couple hours later it was still/again light out.
The next day was their National Day! I must admit I missed the festivities though, since we had gone out and experienced Reykjavik's bizarre nightlife the night before..
These are my LOVELY Couch Surfing hosts, Julien and Claudia. French and Italian, respectively. The airport bus driver drove me right up to their doorstep (instead of the bus stop, a 20-minute walk away- what a nice guy!). I felt guilty that Claudia was waiting up for me at 1am on a weeknight, until she asked me if I wanted to go out... So we went to some very hip bars and met a bunch of Claudia's friends.
I got no pictures of said nightlife, but maybe this will paint one for you. Between the hours of 1am and 7am at your average, everyday Reykjavik bar: Guys wearing full-out suits, pushing and shoving like nobody's business, very interesting outfits, fun music, breaking beer bottles and glasses all over the place but it's so normal that nobody even looks up...
Oh, Scandinavian buildings!
The continental rift! The picture-perfect, "no-man's land" paradise between the North American and European plates.
Me at the rift! Luckily there was a Bostonian also traveling solo, on his way back to the US. We awkwardly took pictures of each other at all the stops of our tour that day. What a bond we shared!
Just a neat picture.
"Gullfoss" was quite amazing!!
I hate to say it Dad, but Geysir is a little more entertaining than Old Faithful because it goes off every 5-ish minutes.
Giving several opportunities to time it just right to get these shots:
Those two pictures and their medium-low quality make me miss my good 'ole digital Canon Rebel. This is a shout out to the dirty camera thief, possibly AKA my loser hostel roommate... If you are reading this, I hope you are enjoying MY camera. Or the measly couple hundred (dirty) bucks you sold it for. I'm sorry that your dad didn't get you your own of those for your 18th-birthday-Christmas-2005-high-school-graduation-Christmas-2006-and-19th-birthday gift. I guess you needed it more than I. Hope you enjoyed the pictures of me and my friends in Copenhagen, Göteborg, Malmö, and Paris that you also STOLE. I don't need the pictures of Göteborg anymore anyway. Just enjoy the pictures and never come here, please!
Back on track, here is the infamous Iceland volcano Kifoea;dsfjkanjdh!!!
One of the many sweet kitties running loose in the city! These cats all (mostly?) have owners, but they just use the whole city as their back yard. They're mostly friendly and sweet! (PS. This picture was taken in the dead of the night. Isn't that so cool?!)
Blue Lagoon, the must-visit spa-type place. It was extremely relaxing, and right on the way to the airport. I didn't hang out with anyone though so if I go again I will make sure it's with someone else and we can make the most of the swim-up bar.
A lot of that region just looks like this:
Remember the one suitcase rule? There was also a 44lb limit, INCLUDING carry-on. So, I got 2 regular bras, a couple sports bras (to flatten it out, making room for the rest you know), then over 20 shirts and ranked them strategically from tightest to loosest, and topped it off with a triple-jacket-combo and 2 scarves. Margo had already helped me practice the drill while packing...
I went in the bathroom at the Keflavik airport to put on my outfit. When it got too hot and stuffy in the stall, I went out in the open so as not to faint. Then I noticed a security camera. That put me on-edge until take-off, because it must have looked really suspicious. The funniest part of all is that they hand-patted me at security. They felt all my extra inches of fabric rolls and saw how over-stuffed but somehow boobless I was, and didn't even get suspicious.
Here are a couple shots half-way through my dressing. You can see I've already put on a few pounds in the first picture...
Look at all those straps!! My face = relaxed from the Blue Lagoon.
The whole experience was probably dangerous to my health, but I took all those layers off right after security. Almost seemed like a waste, but it gave me something to laugh to myself about!
lördag 6 november 2010
Casual Friday
First I'd like to thank you for all of your support in helping me identify the little bug I found and featured in the previous post. Since you are probably dying for an update, it didn't take long for me to find out it is a black carpet beetle. They lay 40-114 eggs per litter. They eat carpets. Later I found like 7 more in the bathroom. Where are the other 100? How I miss Manhattan, where the landlords legally had to spray for bugs TWICE a year! How I sometimes love and miss the USA's liberal use of toxic chemicals!
In other news, another company around these parts seems to think I'm worthy of working for them! Companies in Sweden love hiring me on a very temporary basis, a few days at a time. This financial company has an unusually long list of people to contact, so I get to help them for about a week! It's in the center of town in a nice building, on the top floor. While Christoffer has been doing some work in the famous "lipstick building," (red/white building shaped like lipstick. Maybe I'll post a picture sometime) we have been trying to decide whose workplace is more "posh." We both have espresso machines (and hot chocolate) with your average IKEA dishes and a dishwasher, but I think I have him BEAT.... We have a roof terrace WITH deck furniture all to ourselves, not one but TWO dishwashers, and here's the kicker- a shower in the employee restroom. A NICE shower, you know the modern all-glass ones.
I thought I was going in for an interview on Thursday, but they put me right to work... Luckily I was dressed nicely because nobody was wearing jeans. So for Friday, after having canceled my afternoon coffee date, I showed up, double-wearing my slacks from Thursday. Almost everyone was wearing jeans. It was Friday, and a half day at that. Everyone was leaving at 1, including me. "Why half day today?"
"Tomorrow is a red day. So tomorrow is a holiday and automatically so is half of the day before it"
"So, how do you get in 40 hours?"
"You don't!"
Oh, Sweden! At first I misunderstood though, turns out not every Saturday is a red day, just some. Red days are special holidays of some sort. I think this one has to do with the day/week? of the dead, you know... Halloween/All Soul's Day... So most of the time they do work all day Fridays (though some people quit at 3 or 4 every Friday- Oh, Sweden!). The thing I ask myself is, if I'm still working on Friday, do I wear jeans? Is it every Friday they wear jeans, or just the Fridays before a red day? So much to learn...
When I'm unemployed again in a week's time, I won't have to worry about that anymore!
Now for a story about red wine... Actually, about its bottle.
One October, in a small town on the east coast of Sweden where a person named Christoffer is from, there was a wine bottle that simply could NOT open. The cork was of a strange plastic, and it was the third occasion the wine bottle tried to open.
...And then filtered! It worked! After a looong pour, the wine bottle's contents could finally be enjoyed, and after fulfilling its goal, it lived happily ever after.
Tonight I really wanted some red wine. And you know what? The liquor store closes at 2PM on Saturdays. Closed Sunday. You Kansans are so lucky!! You can enjoy all your alcohol at home any day of the week, while I will have to visit a bar later...
In other news, another company around these parts seems to think I'm worthy of working for them! Companies in Sweden love hiring me on a very temporary basis, a few days at a time. This financial company has an unusually long list of people to contact, so I get to help them for about a week! It's in the center of town in a nice building, on the top floor. While Christoffer has been doing some work in the famous "lipstick building," (red/white building shaped like lipstick. Maybe I'll post a picture sometime) we have been trying to decide whose workplace is more "posh." We both have espresso machines (and hot chocolate) with your average IKEA dishes and a dishwasher, but I think I have him BEAT.... We have a roof terrace WITH deck furniture all to ourselves, not one but TWO dishwashers, and here's the kicker- a shower in the employee restroom. A NICE shower, you know the modern all-glass ones.
I thought I was going in for an interview on Thursday, but they put me right to work... Luckily I was dressed nicely because nobody was wearing jeans. So for Friday, after having canceled my afternoon coffee date, I showed up, double-wearing my slacks from Thursday. Almost everyone was wearing jeans. It was Friday, and a half day at that. Everyone was leaving at 1, including me. "Why half day today?"
"Tomorrow is a red day. So tomorrow is a holiday and automatically so is half of the day before it"
"So, how do you get in 40 hours?"
"You don't!"
Oh, Sweden! At first I misunderstood though, turns out not every Saturday is a red day, just some. Red days are special holidays of some sort. I think this one has to do with the day/week? of the dead, you know... Halloween/All Soul's Day... So most of the time they do work all day Fridays (though some people quit at 3 or 4 every Friday- Oh, Sweden!). The thing I ask myself is, if I'm still working on Friday, do I wear jeans? Is it every Friday they wear jeans, or just the Fridays before a red day? So much to learn...
When I'm unemployed again in a week's time, I won't have to worry about that anymore!
Now for a story about red wine... Actually, about its bottle.
One October, in a small town on the east coast of Sweden where a person named Christoffer is from, there was a wine bottle that simply could NOT open. The cork was of a strange plastic, and it was the third occasion the wine bottle tried to open.
The poor wine bottle had had enough. At its wit's end, the last thing to try was to be drilled.
...And then filtered! It worked! After a looong pour, the wine bottle's contents could finally be enjoyed, and after fulfilling its goal, it lived happily ever after.
Tonight I really wanted some red wine. And you know what? The liquor store closes at 2PM on Saturdays. Closed Sunday. You Kansans are so lucky!! You can enjoy all your alcohol at home any day of the week, while I will have to visit a bar later...
torsdag 28 oktober 2010
It's time to play...
Name that Larva!!!
I am still shuddering in disgust after finding this little guy ON A PLATE in the cupboard when I innocently wanted to heat up some pizza. My initial reaction, of course, was take a picture of it (with my macro setting!!) so I can identify it after I kill it... Then I took a really really big bunch of toilet paper and smashed it. And you know what?? That little shit curled up like a roly poly and was still alive! Like any humane person, my next move was to douse it with Ajax Universal Fettlösande Supereffektiv Frisk-scented cleaner. I feel really bad killing it by drowning it in chemicals but it does not belong here! It is probably surviving anyway (which is why I'm leaving it soaking like this for several hours).
So, do we need to clean out the cabinets? Is there a colony of somethings living in there and infesting the kitchen? Will they crawl into our ears and start families in our brains? What is this thing? My first thought was a baby silverfish but if you search them you get all these NASTY microscopic images (microscope views of living things have always grossed me out so I couldn't even touch that page in the biology book without wincing). Speaking of wincing, when googling, this came up. I don't think I could have handled finding something "3+ inches." Did you see the picture linked in the answer?
Soo, can someone identify this nasty bug?
söndag 17 oktober 2010
I Löv Fall
It is fall in Göteborg, the weather is crispy (C the Swede's words), and the smell of löv is in the air...
Löv = leaf/leaves.... *chuckling* Plays on words is the local Göteborg humor... Just trying to fit in.
Anyway, in this "autumn" this week has been in the 30's, 40's. I've already worn my hat that covers my ears with the cord on each side...(not the white Russian hat, hahaha) peruvian beanie? ear flap beanie?
Usually I don't pull this out until, uhh DECEMBER. But no, not in Sweden. I've seen some locals wearing hats too but no one in a hat like mine... I ask if they're dorky here and no one gives me a straight answer, but they say they like it. I don't care!!! It's the only type of hat I've ever tried that actually keeps my ears warm, instead of merely covering them. Function over form!
Then the weirdest thing about the weather is that it was probably 40 tops one morning around 11, and I was in shorts and a tank top on the (magical) balcony, basking in the sun. The outdoor heater was not on, so I was really confused, but I just basked anyway. I don't think they usually have this much sunshine here, I was told it rains all the time, but it hasn't been the case in the past few months!
Håkan Hellström, this famous Swedish musician who is from Gothenburg, just came out with a new CD. In what I've heard in his older music, he makes a lot of references to Göteborg in his songs, and at least a couple of his videos are set in the city. Here's a new happy song and happy music video in which you guys can see the happy place I live! He just walks around the city the whole time... Saves me from having to post pics!
The first 30 seconds is within a 10-minute walk from my apartment so I guess you could say it's my hood... And the church scene in the first like 10 seconds, that's pretty much the street my building is on.
Enjoy! (And come visit!!)
PS. Isn't he just adorable??
Löv = leaf/leaves.... *chuckling* Plays on words is the local Göteborg humor... Just trying to fit in.
Anyway, in this "autumn" this week has been in the 30's, 40's. I've already worn my hat that covers my ears with the cord on each side...(not the white Russian hat, hahaha) peruvian beanie? ear flap beanie?
Usually I don't pull this out until, uhh DECEMBER. But no, not in Sweden. I've seen some locals wearing hats too but no one in a hat like mine... I ask if they're dorky here and no one gives me a straight answer, but they say they like it. I don't care!!! It's the only type of hat I've ever tried that actually keeps my ears warm, instead of merely covering them. Function over form!
Then the weirdest thing about the weather is that it was probably 40 tops one morning around 11, and I was in shorts and a tank top on the (magical) balcony, basking in the sun. The outdoor heater was not on, so I was really confused, but I just basked anyway. I don't think they usually have this much sunshine here, I was told it rains all the time, but it hasn't been the case in the past few months!
Håkan Hellström, this famous Swedish musician who is from Gothenburg, just came out with a new CD. In what I've heard in his older music, he makes a lot of references to Göteborg in his songs, and at least a couple of his videos are set in the city. Here's a new happy song and happy music video in which you guys can see the happy place I live! He just walks around the city the whole time... Saves me from having to post pics!
The first 30 seconds is within a 10-minute walk from my apartment so I guess you could say it's my hood... And the church scene in the first like 10 seconds, that's pretty much the street my building is on.
Enjoy! (And come visit!!)
PS. Isn't he just adorable??
onsdag 13 oktober 2010
A Saddle of Deer with Jerusalem
These past 2 weeks have been sooo busy!! Resulting in an energy crash today and feeling under the weather... (nothing that can't be fixed by some extra sleep!) But on the bright side, I GOT MY PERSONAL NUMBER!!!!!! Time to celebrate by doing allll the things I couldn't do before. So far I've signed up for Swedish classes and......can't remember... but I've felt more like a person here, now that I have the number for it!! I was feeling really discouraged and sort of unaccepted, but now that I have these 4 numbers (It's your birthday followed by 4 mystery digits. Yeah I know! 4 numbers, I could have made that up myself!!) I feel like they don't have anything on me anymore!!! It's like even the government agrees that I belong here now! Yess!!
I have to tell about my glorious week of working, a.k.a. "guiding," "assisting," "hosting"....
I have to tell about my glorious week of working, a.k.a. "guiding," "assisting," "hosting"....
Last Wednesday night... I was going to dinner with a group of 45 people (hostessing), and I was supposed to just hang around with the servers and take care of the group's needs and deal with schedule changes, etc. But it's "rare" said my boss, that if they are nice they invite you to eat with them. This group of people was way nice and they had me eat with them every time I helped them!! (I even got a pasta salad buffet on the archipelago boat tour- ok sorry for bragging)...
One dinner stood out in particular. It was the first night of work (after already somewhat guiding a tour earlier that day). Now I didn't marvel at the food until after I got home. I concentrated on my job during dinner, checking up on everyone enough while still talking to the really interesting and nice people at my table. As pointless as it may sound, when you are there, you realize that they actually do need a liason between the restaurant and the group (me). They used me enough for me to feel needed, anyway!
Afterward... I got a chance to fully reflect on the meal. The restaurant we ate at had a star in the Guide Michelin(!!!), not an easy feat, and I think the highest rating in this city, so it was very fancy! There were 4 courses, I guess 2 of them were appetizers, the first of which was an oblong plate with three tiny, but beautiful and delicious dabs of different food. Literally, dabs. We ate them with a miniature fork (one of like 9 pieces of silverware we had--each person also got 4-5 glasses). All 3 bites were delicious!! I don't remember what all of them were...one of them was a cantarelle mushroom with something else, and another was a French specialty potatoe-fish puree or something...
The second appetizer (I guess?? I don't know the course names) was DELICOUS. the most perfect piece of smoked salmon and some other type of salmon ball, with salmon caviar and a "parsley vierge" decorating the plate.... I was (only half-seriously) thinking, how do you liquify parsley like this?? I guess, being in Sweden, I've had caviar before but this caviar was bigger and... just different. Each time I got a bite of the berry-like caviar, two thoughts ran through my head:
"Mmmm, this is delicious!"
and
"Oh-My-God- these are fish EGGS and I just popped them open in my mouth and they are juicy.....GROSS!!!"
The main course was a saddle of deer with jerusalem. If you watch Hell's Kitchen, that should sound familiar because I think they serve that there. Apparently "jerusalem" is a sauce?? Not 100% on that one... The "saddle of deer" was soo delicious and the most perfect piece of meat I've ever seen! And yeah, then the dessert was yummy too...
Finally, at the end of the night, after getting my key stuck in my apartment building's front door and wiggling it around outside in the cold rain for 5 minutes, I was free to look up the menu on the restaurant's website. I used google to translate some of the menu, and this is one it came up with:
Swedish:
Halstrad pilgrimsmussla med pancetta, spetskål och skummig pilgrimsmusselbuljong
Translated to English:
Seared scallops with pancetta, cabbage and frothy pilgrimage HANKY-PANKY broth
It even had "hanky-panky" in all caps.
Enough about the fancy and delicious food (that would have cost more than a day's work)... The other meals we had were good, though some of the Mediterranean-folk used to their foods with big flavors, weren't very impressed with Swedish cuisine. I felt sort of bad for both them and the Swedes for trying to impress them. The whole experience was fun and was cool to meet all those people. The only thing I lost was a bit of my sanity Wednesday morning, then later on, my baby toes (yes, toes, not the toenails). They haven't fallen off yet but I think they are about to, thanks to the painful shoes I had to wear for my stewardess outfit.
After the boat tour, the tour guide (that's right, I was just a host, not the guide that told about all the islands :)) told me about a course to certify me to be a tour guide in Gothenburg, and that they need young, and good English-speaking people, especially for boat cruises in the summer. It sounded soo fun so I went to a class, but then realized that it was way too many hours of class and a ton of homework for a job in April... I need a job before then, and won't have time to take that 5-month class right now (plus it was all in Swedish and there was probably no way I would pass, haha).
Now that my stint as a guide/assistant/hostess is over, I NEED A JOB (again). Please, someone hire me?
After the boat tour, the tour guide (that's right, I was just a host, not the guide that told about all the islands :)) told me about a course to certify me to be a tour guide in Gothenburg, and that they need young, and good English-speaking people, especially for boat cruises in the summer. It sounded soo fun so I went to a class, but then realized that it was way too many hours of class and a ton of homework for a job in April... I need a job before then, and won't have time to take that 5-month class right now (plus it was all in Swedish and there was probably no way I would pass, haha).
Now that my stint as a guide/assistant/hostess is over, I NEED A JOB (again). Please, someone hire me?
torsdag 7 oktober 2010
Panic Attacks
I think I was probably leaking adrenaline for much of this Wednesday... Talk about panic after panic!!
It was the first day of my "job" (really just working a few days for this company; they don't have an office here so don't get too excited!) The job is for a travel agency, to guide/host some groups coming in from other countries for a congress.
3 hours before I had to leave the house, the boss calls...
Him: "have any questions about the dress code?"
I had already asked someone about the dress code, and she said I had to look nice, "interview" nice, but that nice jeans were OK (contradictory?? I guess not in Sweden). So I told him that, and do you know what he said??
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of something an airplane stewardess would wear..."
Me saying: "So like with a blazer?" (Me thinking: "AAAHHHH SHIITTTT!!!")
Him: "Yeah, if you have one, that'd be great!"
Me saying: "ok, sounds good, i can do that!" (Me thinking: "WHAT THE HELL AM I GONNA DO??")
Yeah, I left all my nice business professional clothes (besides a glorious blouse) in the US. Sorry if I didn't want to waste my precious 40lbs of luggage on uptight businesswoman clothes!! My attitude was that when I get a job, I'll either be a dishwasher and not need them, or earn enough to buy tons of business clothes. At this point, there wasn't time to go downtown and shop for new clothes, and get some other stuff done. I called a trusty American I recently met. She saved me by immediately bringing some things, one of which worked. Blazer: Check. Now for the bottom. How about my black skirt? No, the skirt was way too casual, and too big (I bought it in France, when my staple food was Camembert cheese and I had been on a 7-month croissant kick)... It fit like our Kapaun skirts when we bought them 4 sizes too big so they'd be low-rise. Basically I looked like a witch.
With an hour and a half left, I was still f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g out with no nice clothes to wear, still needing to go make some copies and shower, etc. Saving the day, my assistant/boyfriend made the trek to the (hellhole) mall for me and bought an array of very nice business clothes, including perfect slacks. With the clothing dilemma mostly solved, I checked the mail when I was almost ready to leave...
An envelope from the tax office!!! It must be my personal number, to make it legal to get paid by this job I'm about to go work at!! I'm thinking, "Oh good, something to make my day better and to relax me!" So naturally I rip the envelope open. Too excited/hurried to do any real thinking, I read one word. "What does avslår mean?" Christoffer said it means "reject."
After panicking for about 2 minutes and producing even more adrenaline, I realized that I knew my rights, and that there had to be some mistake (not AT ALL surprising for these gov't offices to screw up, after my experiences with them). So I calm down, and decide I'll deal with it later. (Found out later I was right, thank goodness!!)
The morning of this nerve-wracking day is enough to make a very long and tedious post, so I'll leave it at this for now. I can't bear to have any more text than this today. I'll write about the job later. (the short version of it now: it went well)
Miss everyone!
It was the first day of my "job" (really just working a few days for this company; they don't have an office here so don't get too excited!) The job is for a travel agency, to guide/host some groups coming in from other countries for a congress.
3 hours before I had to leave the house, the boss calls...
Him: "have any questions about the dress code?"
I had already asked someone about the dress code, and she said I had to look nice, "interview" nice, but that nice jeans were OK (contradictory?? I guess not in Sweden). So I told him that, and do you know what he said??
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of something an airplane stewardess would wear..."
Me saying: "So like with a blazer?" (Me thinking: "AAAHHHH SHIITTTT!!!")
Him: "Yeah, if you have one, that'd be great!"
Me saying: "ok, sounds good, i can do that!" (Me thinking: "WHAT THE HELL AM I GONNA DO??")
Yeah, I left all my nice business professional clothes (besides a glorious blouse) in the US. Sorry if I didn't want to waste my precious 40lbs of luggage on uptight businesswoman clothes!! My attitude was that when I get a job, I'll either be a dishwasher and not need them, or earn enough to buy tons of business clothes. At this point, there wasn't time to go downtown and shop for new clothes, and get some other stuff done. I called a trusty American I recently met. She saved me by immediately bringing some things, one of which worked. Blazer: Check. Now for the bottom. How about my black skirt? No, the skirt was way too casual, and too big (I bought it in France, when my staple food was Camembert cheese and I had been on a 7-month croissant kick)... It fit like our Kapaun skirts when we bought them 4 sizes too big so they'd be low-rise. Basically I looked like a witch.
With an hour and a half left, I was still f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g out with no nice clothes to wear, still needing to go make some copies and shower, etc. Saving the day, my assistant/boyfriend made the trek to the (hellhole) mall for me and bought an array of very nice business clothes, including perfect slacks. With the clothing dilemma mostly solved, I checked the mail when I was almost ready to leave...
An envelope from the tax office!!! It must be my personal number, to make it legal to get paid by this job I'm about to go work at!! I'm thinking, "Oh good, something to make my day better and to relax me!" So naturally I rip the envelope open. Too excited/hurried to do any real thinking, I read one word. "What does avslår mean?" Christoffer said it means "reject."
After panicking for about 2 minutes and producing even more adrenaline, I realized that I knew my rights, and that there had to be some mistake (not AT ALL surprising for these gov't offices to screw up, after my experiences with them). So I calm down, and decide I'll deal with it later. (Found out later I was right, thank goodness!!)
The morning of this nerve-wracking day is enough to make a very long and tedious post, so I'll leave it at this for now. I can't bear to have any more text than this today. I'll write about the job later. (the short version of it now: it went well)
Miss everyone!
måndag 4 oktober 2010
Celebrating Cinnamon Roll Day, AKA Kanelbullens Dag
Today is a big day in Sweden. Since they don't have a Thanksgiving, Veteran's day, Labor day, 4th of July, or Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (I know! can you believe it!?), and barely even celebrate Halloween, Valentine's day, or St. Patrick's Day, today, Monday, October 4, Kanelbullensdag, is a very special day indeed!
(Background information about the holiday from "C," my Swedish source of knowledge on Swedish things: he doesn't know if it's every October 4, or the first Monday of October. He says "it's quite new.")
What does Kanelbullens Dag mean for Swedes? Well, for starters, everything you need to make Kanelbullar (that's the plural) is on sale at the grocery store. You can even buy the pre-made, frozen cinnamon rolls on sale! I don't know if it's at every grocery store, since we just went to LIDL, the (cheap) German one (basically Aldi). They seem to be doing really well in their cultural adaptation to foreign markets, since they joined in the celebration of this great Swedish holiday today!
So that's it: the Swedes eat cinnamon rolls today. So Christoffer, the full-of-Kanelbullens-Dag-spirit Swede, will celebrate accordingly tonight by making cinnamon rolls. Mums!! (that's Swedish for, "yummy" ... though I don't really mean that, since cinnamon isn't really my thing)
(Background information about the holiday from "C," my Swedish source of knowledge on Swedish things: he doesn't know if it's every October 4, or the first Monday of October. He says "it's quite new.")
What does Kanelbullens Dag mean for Swedes? Well, for starters, everything you need to make Kanelbullar (that's the plural) is on sale at the grocery store. You can even buy the pre-made, frozen cinnamon rolls on sale! I don't know if it's at every grocery store, since we just went to LIDL, the (cheap) German one (basically Aldi). They seem to be doing really well in their cultural adaptation to foreign markets, since they joined in the celebration of this great Swedish holiday today!
So that's it: the Swedes eat cinnamon rolls today. So Christoffer, the full-of-Kanelbullens-Dag-spirit Swede, will celebrate accordingly tonight by making cinnamon rolls. Mums!! (that's Swedish for, "yummy" ... though I don't really mean that, since cinnamon isn't really my thing)
Practice Post
Hello beloved and missed family and friends!
I feel like an old person who's out of touch with technology because blogging intimidates me... I don't know what any of this stuff means that they want me to make a name/title/username/blogtitle/someotherkindofname? for (not to mention this one's all in Swedish) and I can't figure out if I'm logged in, I actually don't even remember ever logging in or giving it a password... But anyway here I am, and I think I'm writing the first post of this blog... About the background, it was one of the first choices they gave me for a design so I bet there are a million other people with this original, artsy, quaint background photo that makes my blog so special.
Life in Sweden is oh-so-exciting! The other day at the tax office, I had to stand in line to get to the machine that gives you a number in the queue. It's not that there were lots of people needing a number paper, it's that there were officers waiting there, directing the people to stand in line, speak to a representative, then get a number. So, I was queuing to queue. Only in Sweden. And, being so close to the UK, I use the word queue now! Did you know it's pronounced "Q" and not "Kay" -? So did I...
I also sometimes say "flat" now, because it's easier than apartment. You'll see an example in the next paragraph.
The other evening we were walking through Haga, such a quaint part of the city (only a 5 minute walk from my flat!!) that makes you feel like you went back in time... The streets are all cobblestone, the buildings are no taller than 3 stories, all the same looking Swedish "houses" (ok, buildings), and pretty much the only businesses there are second-hand or antique shops, or cafés. How many cafés are in Wichita? Take that number, and that is how many is in this ~10 square blocks Haga. You can do the same comparison with secondhand shops too. Anyway to add to the feeling of being in the 1800's, there was a little boy, 7 or 8, playing violin on the side of the street. It was soo cute! He wasn't a prodigy or anything, just practicing. He stopped for a while to warm his fingers, and looked a bit bored and slightly miserable.... He then said "Mama, can we go home soon?" to a woman across the street, who was inconspicuously standing there with a toddler girl. It was soo funny to see this middle-class mom making her son practice on the street!! Character building, I guess!
This blog will probably be filled with little (lame) stories like that... I like this blog because....
1) I don't have to type mundane news to everyone in separate facebook messages or e-mails
2) You can pick if you want to read about it or not, so as not to waste anyone's time!
I'll tell you more about what I'm up to when I upload pictures onto my computer. Actually I have to put some facebook albums up first, I'm a year behind. So after that process is over, I'll start writing better blog posts with better content and pictures. For now, miss you all!!
Funny Foreigner Words of Lately-
Christoffer told me a story in which the cops put someone in hankercuffs, and on an unrelated note, is afraid he may have a fraction on his rib.
I feel like an old person who's out of touch with technology because blogging intimidates me... I don't know what any of this stuff means that they want me to make a name/title/username/blogtitle/someotherkindofname? for (not to mention this one's all in Swedish) and I can't figure out if I'm logged in, I actually don't even remember ever logging in or giving it a password... But anyway here I am, and I think I'm writing the first post of this blog... About the background, it was one of the first choices they gave me for a design so I bet there are a million other people with this original, artsy, quaint background photo that makes my blog so special.
Life in Sweden is oh-so-exciting! The other day at the tax office, I had to stand in line to get to the machine that gives you a number in the queue. It's not that there were lots of people needing a number paper, it's that there were officers waiting there, directing the people to stand in line, speak to a representative, then get a number. So, I was queuing to queue. Only in Sweden. And, being so close to the UK, I use the word queue now! Did you know it's pronounced "Q" and not "Kay" -? So did I...
I also sometimes say "flat" now, because it's easier than apartment. You'll see an example in the next paragraph.
The other evening we were walking through Haga, such a quaint part of the city (only a 5 minute walk from my flat!!) that makes you feel like you went back in time... The streets are all cobblestone, the buildings are no taller than 3 stories, all the same looking Swedish "houses" (ok, buildings), and pretty much the only businesses there are second-hand or antique shops, or cafés. How many cafés are in Wichita? Take that number, and that is how many is in this ~10 square blocks Haga. You can do the same comparison with secondhand shops too. Anyway to add to the feeling of being in the 1800's, there was a little boy, 7 or 8, playing violin on the side of the street. It was soo cute! He wasn't a prodigy or anything, just practicing. He stopped for a while to warm his fingers, and looked a bit bored and slightly miserable.... He then said "Mama, can we go home soon?" to a woman across the street, who was inconspicuously standing there with a toddler girl. It was soo funny to see this middle-class mom making her son practice on the street!! Character building, I guess!
This blog will probably be filled with little (lame) stories like that... I like this blog because....
1) I don't have to type mundane news to everyone in separate facebook messages or e-mails
2) You can pick if you want to read about it or not, so as not to waste anyone's time!
I'll tell you more about what I'm up to when I upload pictures onto my computer. Actually I have to put some facebook albums up first, I'm a year behind. So after that process is over, I'll start writing better blog posts with better content and pictures. For now, miss you all!!
Funny Foreigner Words of Lately-
Christoffer told me a story in which the cops put someone in hankercuffs, and on an unrelated note, is afraid he may have a fraction on his rib.
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