Here I am again. School's out so I've got some time to post here. Amande's coming over from France in about 6 hours time and she's gonna cook me tomyum so I'm mighty excited!

Okay. So on the 2nd/3rd night (I can't remember, so many things have happened lately) that I was here, the school orientation committee organized some buddy kickoff that was held in one of their nations. Nations in Sweden are like student clubs, and Uppsala has many of them; some really big, some real small. They're named after regions in Sweden and local students usually pick the nations they're from, but exchange students are free to choose any they take a fancy to. So we went to this nation for a party, and met some Swedish students, along with Irish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Hong Kongers, and a UK guy. Nothing much happened that night, except maybe that I was talking abit much, and don't ask me why, I just talked more than usual that night.

All of us!

mambo floor!

And yeah, this is their version of mambo, they'd play all these funny silly songs and drunk people would get up there and just be silly. It's quite funny to watch actually! They also had this other small room where they played more hiphop music and people would really dance in there. One thing I noticed about Sweden's nightspots though, was that it was a lot more civil than it is back home. I know strange people in Singapore love to go up to girls in clubs and hang around them suspiciously but it's not like that in Sweden. You hardly see any such things happening. 

So that was the buddy kickoff. It was rather short though, so I guess I should move on to the more eventful thing that happened later on. It was around 11.30 p.m. or 12 a.m. when we left the party, and us being noobs and finding our way around town, we tried to take a bus back to where our hostel was. We told the driver, we want to go to Eklundshofsvagen (and we even pointed to a typed out version of that name!) and he nodded and he pointed to this stop called Ekolnsvagen on his bus guide. We asked him "Are you sure?" three times, and he nodded on all counts. So we said okay, and happily sat on the bus to that destination. 

By the time we reached that stop it was about 12.45a.m. After walking down that stretch of road we realized that we were stuck in some ulu residential area that was situated in the outskirts of Uppsala! Worse, there were no more buses running in that area anymore. So in a nutshell, we were stuck there. We tried knocking on the resident's doors (those with cars, and we were hoping in vain that they'd fetch us back somehow), but they didn't know where we stayed. So we did the next best thing. Walk out to the main road and hitchhike! We stuck our arms out to flag down cars, and we didn't even know what the sign was - now I know it's a thumbs up sign, but we were making some weird sign lah. We didn't actually think anyone would stop, but within seconds a car slowed down and this woman asked us what was going on.

She was an Iranian woman who had migrated to Sweden 8 years ago, and she was so helpful! She invited us into the car - I did have a Hansel & Gretel moment then and I was wondering if she was out to help/harm us. But then again she was a 50 year old lady; I doubted she could outrun all 4 of us. So she said she didn't know where we stayed (it's that ulu...) and she said she'd go home and check the internet. She brought us along, and guess what she did? She invited us into her home. She was so hospitable and kind and warm. She served us Persian tea and snacks -- they were called Zulbia and Bemiah - I swear I am going to learn how to make them because they are so yummy! She also set down some pizza for us. And it was so embarrassing because she was bustling around her kitchen, taking out all her best utensils and cutlery. Her English was not that fluent, and it was halting, but then she tried her best to explain herself with our help. It was just such a surreal experience, and we learnt about her life, and she learnt about ours. 

In that moment all I could think of was, I'm so glad I got lost, because if I didn't I'd go on my way thinking that everyone's selfish and self-absorbed and that they would never stop to help strangers in need. It's not like I expect everyone to be angels from now on, but I would say at least my view of people isn't as cynical as it used to be. Perhaps you could say that I'm more aware that there ARE more people out there than I think that have good hearts...

Her Dining Room

Her living room, so pretty!

So from then we wanted to take a cab back to our place, but then she insisted and insisted that she'd send us home; and so she did, right up to our door step. So I guess this is no Hansel & Gretel. No headline news for you all. She invited us for a BBQ in summer, and my friends and I have all decided to cook some Singaporean food for her and visit her sometime. 

I've just got to say that I've been massively blessed and protected by God. I think He's sent so many angels to aid me on this trip...

More to come in future! People like teopampam would appreciate my next post on Swedish food, hehehehhe.

OK, I just came back from the laundry room and my head is sort of spinning now because all the labels on the washing machine were in Swedish and there was no translation whatsoever and my roommate and I just had to trial and error our way through and pray that our clothes don't shrink or something. Heh.

We're about to cook lunch now, we've been cooking pasta these few days, in different variations. I'll show you the pictures of what we've had so far but for now let's start with these:

Snowflakes on my coat sleeve!

Yeap. So the first few days in Sweden were mostly spent settling in and getting lost and walking around a LOT. I think we walked about 3 km per day on average, and it got really cold sometimes, but we managed somehow. We walked to one of the not-so-nearby supermarkets called Willy's, but went totally unprepared without bringing our big backpacks and so we had to walk back carrying home all sorts of heavy things. What a disaster lah. But after that our hostel was finally stocked with all sorts of food, and you have no idea what a big difference that makes! We stopped by for lunch @ Willy's and this was my first taste of Swedish Meatballs. They call it köttbullar here, and don't ask me how to pronounce it because I tried and it didn't work at all. 

As you can see, they do serve it with jam. Ikea stays traditional to their roots!

We bought a lot of dairy based stuff because its really cheap here, you can get 1.5 litres of milk for about 2 dollars? And cheese as well is pretty cheap. You get about 500g of mozarella cheese for 5 SGD. AND OMG, AfterEights - those chocolates that are really expensive (like 1 small pathetic box for 11 SGD) in Singapore are super cheap here! 6 SGD for a medium sized box! Ok. Well anyway moving on...

So, with all that grocery in our fridge (yes we have a fridge, microwave, oven, and stove in our room! and we're loving it!), what did we cook for ourselves so far?

I've spent way too many posts talking about preparing for the exchange, so this one... *drum rolls please* is the REAL MCCOYYYY.

So much for one photo a day, haha! I barely have time to catch my breath nowadays, so it's hard to actually sit down and compose a thorough and coherent account of my days here.

I finally got a chance to sit down and properly compose a blog post, so here goes:

Prior to actually leaving on a jetplane for Sweden, I had all these bags packed and ready to leave with me, and guess what? They weighed a total of 34.5 kg. Heavy, I know, and it did cause some airport drama but in the end I got through without having to pay any surcharge. They'd wanted to charge me 92 dollars / kg! But the good news was that they'd screwed up my baggage allowance, so in the end they had to let me through. Coming back's going to be another headache, but that's a worry for another day.

So, I didn't actaully feel anything before I boarded the plane. I was feeling blah mostly because I had to pack and I don't really like packing. But when I actually sat down in the plane, alone with some stranger next to me, I felt it rushing in. It was a mixed bag of emotions really; excitement for the most part, surrealism and a tinge of longing for my loved ones. And so we were bound for Sweden!

We arrived, and oh the first day was a huge headache cos of the heavy luggages. It was really a chore pushing them around on cobbled streets, heh. So we moved into a temporary hostel for the night, it was called Hostel Vandrarhem:

After that first day, and after moving proper into Eklundshof, and after Clarice my roomie moved in, things started to pick up and get a lot better. We joined a couple of orientation programmes, but the jury is out on whether we're really enjoying it, I've had mixed feelings about it so far (psst. It's too similar to NUS ones I feel. HAHA). 

The weather in Sweden's cold, and its been snowing a lot these few days. And it's really all very surreal, sometimes I pinch myself to see if I'm really in Sweden already, or whether I'm still dreaming about it - if i am, then this has been a very long dream. There's no doubt about it, this country is beautiful. And when you see snowflakes for the first time, up close and personal, and you see it glimmering in the sun like diamonds, you realize the beauty of this world that God has created. So I was freezing my ass off, but I really didn't mind because everything around me was just so beautiful. And just so you know why I felt what I felt, here goes some pictures of what I saw around me:

I went to chompchomp with Cheryl, Marilyn, GY, XY and PN, and basically we stuffed ourselves with carrot cake, char kway teow, orh luah, sambal kangkong, BBQ Belachan Stingray and BBQ chicken. Not forgetting the gargantuan mug of sugar cane and lime juice that we shared amongst ourselves ;)

It's an armour ring! It's obviously a knockoff, the Vivienne Westwood one looks way nicer, but also costs a lot more. 150 pounds, anyone? Anyway, the moment I knew where to get it from - it's a long story; I found out through facebook, heh - I went out to get it. It would look nicer on people with longer fingers, though. My fingers are a little too short for it. I know it's chunky, and it's quite embarrassing when people stare at it - they seem to think I'm going to use it to scratch their faces or something. But I like the ring. It's interesting and unique, and it kinda reminds me of those kind of sharp, fingernail caps which Empress Dowagers wear. 

10 years (or less) later I might look back on this and laugh my ass off at myself for having loved and worn such a... contraption, but hey, I don't care, I like it now. Right now, I still have an excuse to wear punk fashion accessories and get away with it. If not now, then when? 

Oh, and of course, now I'm truly Duchess Tang, heh :).

I finally collected my visa today, so it looks like I really am on my way there soon! Mom took me to buy some things that I haven't bought but are absolutely necessary - boots (not ugg boots. heh.), and random woolen clothing that I will surely not wear in Singapore because of the heat but are damn gorgeous I wish I could. I actually came up with a packing list, and its horrifyingly long. I already tried condensing it and packing light, (okay, maybe I cheated a little here and there), but it really is like uprooting your entire self, along with half your belongings maybe, when you stay there for more than a few months. Amongst the things I'm bringing include 

I know right, I'm crazy. But I think I can't live on pasta alone everyday, I'd die of yearning sooner or later. 

Oh, and I'm really looking forward to being able to layer my clothes without actually melting like a marshmallow before I step out the door!

Well this year's new year thingum was very low key for me. My family doesn't celebrate the new year, they only really celebrate Christmas. I'd gone to the Marina Bay area last year already, and the crowd was just stifling. It was so traumatic that I can still remember the SMELL of the underground area in the Esplanade MRT station. Not forgetting the sticky bodies, argh. Yeah, the fireworks were great and all; but I think the only thing that truly saved the whole uncomfortable experience was more the fact that I was celebrating the turn of the new year with my beloved friends. 

So this year, was a really quiet new year. Along with Ivan, Pam C, Mortyworty (who i've not seen for ages!) and Elks, we went to Amande's little farewell yum cha thing earlier today. Can't get enough of her Mom's quiches and pizza-baguette thingums. In fact as I type I think she's probably somewhere 20 000 feet above land now, heading towards France... 

So 2008. I'm trying to sort of reflect on the year now, but I now find myself being at a small loss as to what to say about 2008. How do I condense a year into a post? I can't, really. But anyway. There are things that I've discovered, come to terms with, and essentially just ... realized in 2008. 

I need more than just a post to talk about what transpired in 2008. And its floating somewhere out there in my brain, but I'm kinda lazy to translate it into words here. Heh. So it shall remain as part of my grey matter. Whoo hey. 

Anyway, 2009 is here! And oh gosh, I'll be spending half of it in a foreign land!!! So exciting.

Tata. Abrupt, I know. But I feel sleepy now.