This festive season

For me, back home, this time of year is characterized by hot weather and lazy behaviour (except for the crazy Christmas shopping). It's quite different on this side of the world.

I have been insanely busy with two exams last week as well as an assignment. It's also been rather chilly with us getting our first little bit of snow yesterday. But I must say Lund is rather mild.

Another cool thing is the seasonal merchandise. In SA you can pretty much buy the same things all year round but in Sweden (and I assume much of Europe) there is a lot of seasonal food and products and I think this stands out even more round the festive season.

First up, there is Glogg to keep the winter chill at bay. The there is Christmas (or Jul to use Swedish) merchandise everywhere including Christmas beer, a Christmas soft drink, and Christmas treats. It's quite fun!

Due to my busy schedule I haven't had much of a chance to embrace the Christmas atmosphere. Lund is quite pretty now with streets and trees being decorated with simple lights that add another splash of charm to this already charming town.

On Friday, after exams and assignments were done and dusted I made my way to Tivoli, a super old theme park, in Copenhagen.

Myself and Nina strolled around the pretty gardens and marvelled at some of the tummy churning rides. Tivoli was really special. It was like a little wonderland cornered off inside Copenhagen filled with lights and festivities! It was a cool way to get into the festive spirit and get ready for my Christmas shopping.

It's amazing how buying something small here and something small there for the people you care about adds up.

So now I am in the festive season and ready to do some relaxing! And oddly enough I will be having a scorching hot Christmas this year! haha! Yip, I am flying to Ghana on Wednesday.

Oliver's dad works in Ghana so we are meeting up there to celebrate and relax! I am soooooooo excited! I can't believe we have been apart for four months already!

So on that note I just want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Tis the season to be jolly

 

.........tralaaalalalalaaaaa la la la laaaaaaaaaaaa......

Did you know that there are some seriously bizarre Christmas traditions out there? I did a show for radiop AF today and I decided to focus on weird and wonderful Christmas traditions.

And when I say weird I mean weird. We spoke about everything from streets being closed in Caracas, Venezuela so that people could skate (with rollerblades) to church mass on Christmas to "The defecating man" in Catalonia, Spain which is literally a nativity figure of a man taking a dump to symbolise fertilizer. Others include, stirring to the right when making pudding in Britain so as to bring about good luck; people in Norway hiding broomsticks on Christmas Eve to stop evil spirits from stealing them, single women throwing shoes in Czech Republic searching for love, and hollowing out a log putting sweets in it and trying to make it "poop". These were all incredibly fun and made me wonder a bit about some odd traditions in Sweden over Christmas time.

Turns out on Christmas Eve every year at 15:00 TV1 airs "Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas". Most of Sweden stops what they are doing and settles in to watch this old Disney film. This tradition has been going on since 1959 when Swedes had just started to buy their own personal televisions. It's called Kalle Anka (pronounced kah-lay ahn-kah)  in Swedish and oddly enough "Kalle" is a nickname for "Karl" and "Anka" means duck. So in their film their duck is called Karl, not Donald. Why at 15:00 you might ask? Well apparently this is the best time for a break in the day whether you had lunch before or plan to have dinner afterwards it allows you to plan your time so that you are able to stop what you are doing and sit down with your family to engage in the fun.


Tis the season to be jolly! Just a little something to get you in the mood and bring back all those warm fuzzy memories!

Another Swedish Christmas tradition emerged 40 years ago in a town called Gavle. Originally an act of vandalism every year the city Gavle erects a giant goat made of straw to mark the start of the festive season. Every year vandals do everything they can to try and destroy the goat including setting fire to it. Others try to protect the goat. And so the battle ensues. The goat has managed to make it to Christmas 10 times in its 40 year history. The vandals seem to be winning this war :)


Taken off of ottocontest.blogspot.com


It's strange how things become tradition. Something that makes that time meaningful and a little more special. A memory frozen in time!

I love these Swedish traditions they are quirky and strange but they are also fun, different and somehow totally Swedish! So if you feel like doing something Swedish this year...be sure to sit down at 15:00 on the 24th and watch some old school Disney magic! (Or burn a giant goat made of hay ;)

Baking with Buddies

There are few pleasures quite as sweet as baking your own awesome creation and then getting a chance to guzzle it down with friends!

Not too long ago we headed to a friend's house, Ulrika, to bake Lussebullar. Lussebullar?

Bulle (buns) are huge in Sweden. the most famous variety is kanelbulle (Cinnamon buns) but around this time of year you see yellow buns with raisins in them popping up everywhere, and these yellow buns are what are known as lussebullar. From what I gather they are a 'either you love them, either you don't' kind of food and this may have to do with their saffron flavouring.

So we arrive at Ulrika's house and first things first we heat up the Glögg which is kind of like German Gluwein but sweeter (a mulled wine I guess). You can buy it with or without alcohol and with a wide range of flavours, some with coffee and chocolate aromas or some with hints of rum or whisky but people seem to prefer the classic Glögg which is slightly spiced and simply delicious to drink, especially when the weather is cold outside!

I was expecting to be handed a large mug of this amazing smelling stuff but instead I was given a mini mug, slightly largely than a shot glass. Huh? I know right! But it is a good way to pace yourself and it feels quite quaint. Then, everyone started dropping raisins and nuts into their tiny glasses (along with the Glögg) and started sipping from their little glasses. Yummmmy  (Or "Mums" as they say in Swedish).

Anyway, back to the baking!

We went about baking the lussebullar which involved a fair amount of mixing and kneaded and before long we were twisting the dough into cool little twisted creations with raisins getting them ready for the oven...we then started getting creative making everything from snails, to penisis, and faces. I blame the Glögg.

This is clearly serious business

But man-oh-man whatever shape they were when they came out of the oven they smelt epic! Mums!!! I happily sat eating these baked creations and knew that I was definitely one of the "love them" people...

Click here for the recipe and let me know if you are a love them or hate them person!

The rooms of my mind

A strange thing happens (or at least for me) when you get into paper writing exam mode. I can literally (literally!) see things fall apart around me the closer to deadline I get.

Dishes slowly start to pile up, I get sloppy with my clothing, papers are scattered everywhere, my hair looks like a hornet's nest, and I become a hermit in every sense of the word.

But I think that there is a hidden process to all of this. I think my surroundings are descriptive of what is going on in my brain. When writing week starts you can slowly see the order crash into disorder. It starts with opening your files and slowly unbinding the material you have been gathering and the more you take out the more it spreads across your floor and desk. However, at this point in the process it is still systematic.

But as the days continue and your brain toys with contradictory ideas fighting for the angle and focus of your paper those organised papers start to be flung across the room and soon all mayhem breaks loose. It is organised chaos. You know where everything is and if anyone dares to touch your precious mess they might be met with a fist.

Then the procrastination sets in. You have an idea but you're not sure about it. So with that you let it mull over in your mind and your apartment finds itself suspended, still not clean. Once your procrastinating is done you realise that you have left everything just that little bit too late and now the deadline is looming closer that you would like it to. Now things get crazy!

Cereal bowls mount up next to your papers. You forget to cook yourself a proper meal and decide to opt for a peanut butter and jam sandwich, cereal, or anything that you can grab. Cooking is simply too much when you are at the stage of delirium.

As you feel yourself slip closer towards dementia and your heartbeat starts to speed up as that inevitable paper writing frenzy washes over you. You stop. You take a look around you. Gasp! "I can't concentrate in this mess". And just like that you find yourself cleaning up: doing the dishes, stacking your papers, making your bed and brushing your hair. A weird calm washes over you as you sit down in front of your laptop. Yip, you are in the zone now. You have organised the space in your room and in some magical way you have also organised your thoughts. You are ready to argue.

Then the typing comes, flows, stops, goes. The rat-tat-tat of the keyboard falls into a steady rhythm and you are no longer at your wits end. "What will be will be"; "I can only do my best". With that you finish typing close your laptop and do something totally unrelated with your time before giving it one last squizz before hand-in which results in a couple of hyperventilated breaths as you start to question your arguments before you realise "it's too late now" and hand in the paper.

Then you take another breath and brace yourself for the next round of madness.

An abundance of acivities

One of the greatest things about being at University is that you are able to explore many different things, find interests you never thought you had, and do things you'll never do again. And I'm not just talking about the course work ;) Universities provide a whole new world with so many things to try and do.

During my undergraduate and honours degrees in South Africa I worked several jobs so my ability to exploit these opportunities was limited. Despite this I still managed to have my own show on UJFM during my first year and worked as a tutor and assistant during my third and fourth years. Maybe it was just me or maybe it is because my eyes have been opened by Lund University that I realise there wasn't that much to do at UJ.

At Lund University the amount of things there are to do is utterly crazy! Everytime I go onto Facebook there is some party somewhere where you have to do something or drink yourself silly. But on top of this usual university garb there are trips to other countries, booze cruises, and generally just awesome excuses to get out of town. The only ones I have were my day trips to Goteborg and Copenhagen. Being in a long distance relationship isn't cheap so I am having to save my pennies to visit Oliver which unfortunately means I miss out on some of these great excursions (but it's OK I don't mind).

However beyond the travel there are tons of groups and activities you can get involved in: everything from set painting to unions and radios. So with so much to be had what have I opted to do?

Well I joined Radio AF, Lund University's radio station and every other Tuesday I go on air with other presenters and just speak about random shit for an hour. It's great and it isn't too demanding which is even better considering the unbelievable amount of reading and work that is involved in a Masters. However, I also wanted to get involved in something a little bit more meaningful.

Because of time constraints back home (a poor excuse I know) I was hardly ever available to get involved in volunteer work. However, here I have joined UNICEF Lund! Again it is not too time consuming but being an active member is super rewarding and we were encouraged to come up with project ideas and ways of improving the group. With this in mind I came up with a pen pal idea and luckily people liked it, even the big bosses in Stockholm. So the project (now called Writing across Borders) got approved and now it is underway. The basic idea is to get children from two different countries (in this case South Africa and Sweden) to write letters to one another to teach each other about their homes and in turn teach tolerance and curiosity. To read more on this initiative you can read the entry I wrote for the UNICEF blog last Friday. The only hirdle left in the project is getting funding to post the letters from SA to Sweden.

The kids involved in Writing across Borders in Sweden

Now I wish I could get involved in even more...and in the upcoming months I am sure I will! So I will be keeping my eyes peeled and let you know the next time I stumble into something awesome!

Trustworthy Swedes

You would think that after living in Korea for a year I wouldn't still be surprised by trustworthiness. But I am! Sweden, like South Korea, has an incredible degree of trust and for someone from SA this comes as a nice change and blows my mind every time I encounter it. Let me give you some examples about what I mean when I say trust.

There is a nice little coffee shop close to the social sciences lecture halls and a lot of students stop off at this coffee shop in-between classes to get their daily dose (more like doses, they are caffine crazy here) of coffee. That's all good and well but how you go about paying for your coffee is what amazes me. Firstly, you stand in a queue and take what you want...you poor your own coffee, take your own piece of cake, apple, sandwich whatever. Then you continue along the counter until you reach the till where most of the time no-one is standing. However, next to the till there is money just lying there. Yip, you heard me, just lying there. You put your money down and take your change and boom your done with coffee and cake in hand! I mean SERIOUSLY!! That is just insane...They have money lying there and every now and then replenish the change. I have no idea how they keep track of their stock or their money and the best oart is that this isn't just a once off place that does this, quite a few small coffee shops take this approach. I am amazed, one that the owners trust their clients that much and two that the clients respect that trust and the thought of theft doesn't even cross their minds.

Another trust experience which blows my mind is how so many stores have their merchandise outside on display...and these displays aren't tied down or on security camera, often they are completely out of view of the shop owner yet the displays happily sit there all day without being disturbed unless someone wants to buy something.

Just the other day, a friend of mine Sara, bought a coffee and wanted to use her card but the teller said that he didn't want to use a card for such a small amount and that she was welcome to bring the money in when she had the chance! I mean what?! Wow! That is some serious trust!!

It appears the only thing that people don't trust leaving unlocked are their bicycles. Bicycles are always locked up. Despite being very ironic, bicycles are the one thing that is commonly stolen, in this otherwise safe and unbelievably trustworthy place.

A snapshot of autumn

Autumn has got to be my most favourite time of year. I don't think I had realised it until we lived in South Korea where there were colours of every variety which was very different to the brown and greens in South Africa. Although the colours aren't as extreme as they were in South Korea, Lund has really been beautiful over the past two weeks with trees boasting their new orange and yellow hues.

I have some incredible photos on my phone but alas I do not have the cable to get them off my phone and I am clearly not adept at emailing them off of my phone either. So I took one or two snaps on Wednesday which don't quite do the prettiness of Lund justice

By the time I actually took the photos many of the trees had started losing their the majority of their leaves. It's amazing how quickly things change.

I tried to find you a cool video or set of beautiful photos of Lund in Autumn online but it appears that that is more difficult to do than I anticipated so instead you are going to have to settle for this brief snapshot of how pretty Lund is in the Autumn time...

Great Göteborg

Göteborg is the second biggest city in Sweden and although I haven't yet had an opportunity to visit Stockholm I have has a chance to see Göteborg.

Just over a month ago there were tickets for sale for a day trip to Göteborg. 400 SEK got you a return bus trip, a stop at the zoo to see a moose, a city bus tour, free time, and entrance into a pub.

After quite a beautiful bus ride into the city we stopped at a city park called Slottskogsparken which has a small zoo including a moose. Yip! I am officially a little more Swedish because I have seen a moose. They are huge! Most of the ones we saw had already lost their antlers but I was amazed at how long their legs were! That was pretty cool. And teh garden surrounding the zoo was pretty beautiful.

Unfortunately we didn't have much time to spare and we were quickly told to get back on the bus. I guess this is to be expected when doing an arranged tour...you are there on a set schedule and have to do what you are told to.

Then we drove around in the bus looking (albeit through the window) at some of Göteborg's top attractions including Lisebeg (A popular amusement park), Maritiman (the world's largest floating ship museum); the Opera House; as well as two soccer stadiums and a giant ferris wheel near the harbour. Then we stopped off in old town (I think it is called the Haga District) which has been around since the 1600s and walked around its quaint streets until we climbed up a massive flight of stairs to reach a vantage point which gives one of the best views of Göteborg. After a good amount of photos it was time to head back into the centre of town and then we had a couple of hours of free time to do as we pleased.

Unfortunately by this time museums and shops were either already closed or about to close so myself and some friends opted for walking through the streets, grabbing some brunch and just enjoying the city atmosphere. It was great!!!

Then at 20:00 it was off to a bar which thankfully had reasonably priced drinks (by reasonable I mean 35SEK for a glass of wine or draft of beer) and I really started to enjoy myself. There were drinking games, good music and I was meeting people from all over the world including Switzerland, France and Iran.

The biggest mistake of the evening, in my opinion, was leaving the bar and heading to a club. we had to pay for entrance to the club on the bus so by the time I realised I didn't want to go I was told it was too late. Once in the club they wanted more money for our jackets, etc to be stored. NO way! I paid 100SEK entrance and now they want money for coats as well. Hectic. Then we go upstairs and the drinks are all like 80SEK +. So by now I am really getting bleak...my happy vibe from earlier began to disapear so I decided to go get some food. I was then told by the people at the entrance that if I leave, I leave, and if I want to come back in I have to pay again. WTF??? No stamps....URG! So now I was really really bleak so decided to say screw it....I left the club grabbed some grub and waited for the bus which wasn't too bad. I should have known better, I am not a club person.

Other than that I have a fantastic day and I can't wait to go back to Göteborg on my own where I can go some of the other sites including the Natural History Museum which has the only stuffed blue whale in the world!

Drunken Woes....

Taken from http://geoventurer.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/sweden-surprises/

When I found out that I had got a scholarship to go to Sweden several stereotypical images flushed my mind! I thought that I would soon be living among some freakishly tall, beautiful, blonde people who like to drink beer and vodka, go on nature walks, as well as occasionally dress up as Vikings.

Well, sorry to disappoint but there are not as many blondes as you might expect....in fact I would say that there is a good mix of many hair types including pink and orange! There are some people that tower over me (although come to think of it thats not too difficult) but for the most part people only seem marginally taller. And yes, they do sometimes dress up at Vikings and more often than not this is at drunken parties!

And that's what I wanted to talk about...not drunken parties per se but what makes them drunk....yip, I want to talk about the good old booze!

Taken from http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?PostID=4525771

Sweden is famous for Absolute Vodka, which is brännvin (literally "burn-wine"), that is, it is distilled from fermented potatoes or grain. Long ago, people used to make their own brännvin and some still do it today although, from what I hear, it is highly regulated.

Sweden has massive tax on its alcohol (Vodka is 40%) and it is under a government monopoly. That is, only the government is able to sell and distribute alcohol above 3.5 %. This explains why it is so expensive to drink in Sweden.

If you want to get an ordinary draft in a bar you are looking at paying between 50-60SEK (R55-R65) and you could end up paying just as much for a 'special' bottled beer! Crazy right? I mean in South Africa you would pay R20 (25SEK) for a draft and in South Korea you would pay even less, 2000Won (R12, 15SEK). So drinking in Sweden is expensive business and I'm not quite sure how some students manage to go out four times a week and get wasted!

Well, I guess they get smashed because they drink before they pitch up at the party (pre-parties are VERY popular! It's no wonder why). Alcohol in the state owned bottle stores, Systembolaget, are cheaper than restaurants and bars but in comparison to the rest of the world it is still pricey. For a mediocre bottle of wine you are looking at paying about 100SEK (R120).

And it is so unfortunate that it is that expensive because Lund has some awesome little pubs and bars where you could see yourself slowly slipping into a drunken stupor if you didn't have to watch your wallet steadily burn a hole through itself.

Now the beer you buy in bars is generally of a really good quality! I don't know if you can say the same about the beer you buy from convenience stores. Convenience stores are allowed to sell drinks that have a volume of under 3.5% and once I bought Eko-Beer from my local grocery store! It was horrible! Bleh! One the first sip, your like, Mmmmm, that's not too bad, but, by the time you get halfway through the can you feel your throat closing up and refusing to have anymore! Anyway! Don't drink Eko-Beer!!

Ok, so now I have been blabbing for a while...but now you know a little bit more about the drinking situation here in Sweden. So have some sympathy! When you are out tonight, raise your glass and have a drink for me and maybe through some bizarre form of osmosis I too will get drunk!!!!

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Avl%C3%B6ningsafton_-_R%C3%B6sta_ja!_1922.jpg

Random Ramblings

I have been stumped about what to write about. In all honesty...I have been busy with class stuff mostly!

However, there are some changes that are happening. Firstly, it is starting to get cold! Last weekend the weather was randomly spectacular (apparently Swedish summer weather), the temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and all in all it was just glorious! Needing to get away from the books for a while I hopped n by bicycle and found a spectacular little road that was lined by green fields and I just enjoyed the awesomeness of riding in the fantastic weather and beautiful scenery. I had a feeling that was a good weather send off...I knew it was going to start getting colder thereafter. And it has...with wind chill factor is has been about 9/10 degrees Celsius.

Considering how quickly things are going to get cold I decided to visit a neighbouring city, Malmö, this afternoon! Malmö is the third biggest city in Sweden and it is gorgeous. Being Sunday, there weren't many attractions that were open but I found myself just randomly strolling through streets and admiring the clear skies and great architecture. In South Africa Sunday's buzz with shops and activities, I was surprised at how quite and closed everything seemed in Malmö... However, several clothing stores start to grumble open at around mid-day so I did a spot of shopping. I finally bought myself a pair of pants for gym so there is no more putting it off! Yip, I will be joining gym this week (another change).

In the next two weeks I will be finishing my first course and starting my second. At the moment I am writing and studying like some kind of psycho. The paper I am writing counts for my entire mark for this course so I guess I'm a little nervous about it! On top of that it is the first paper I am submitting for grading at Lund and I am scared of how I will be graded! eeeek! "The first cuts the deepest", right?

Anyway, I can feel that these are just random ramblings as I really have nothing concrete or of incredible interest to tell you!! But when I do, you'll be the first to know :)