30 August 2007

Quiet

I know I've been quiet the last two days... but that's because my internet connection doesn't work! :(
I feel handicapped without it and it feels strange not being able to write anything here, so I take a few minutes at work to let you know.
This week-end I am going to Stockholm as well, reeeeally looking forward to it as it's been more than a year since I was there last (may 06 I believe, and still it was for work just for the day). Warm I know it won't be because summer is over here in Sweden and temperatures have dropped to an average of 15 degrees in the afternoons (and really cold in the mornings), but I hope the weather will be fine. On the program, shopping, fika, going out, a lot of talking, taking it easy, enjoying the city... nice! :)

27 August 2007

Movies

Movie week-end this week-end!


First on the list, A Good Year with Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard. Felt like seeing a bit of France if not a French film... The movie is not that good. Apart from the scenery that is actually. ;-)

Russell Crowe is good, not excellent as in Gladiator or Master & Commander for instance... not even sexy, pfffff disappointment!

Marion Cotillard is great. As always. A little bit too much stereotype of the handsome French girl, but she followed directions...

The other second part actors like Didier Bourdon och Tom Hollander are great. The grand-pa is quite funny.




Then, Notes on a candal with Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett.
Another film that I missed in the theatres... well, now I am happy that I rented and didn't pay a cinema ticket for it. It's good but once again it's not great.

Both actresses are really good. And Cate Blanchett's husband is played by Bill Nighy. You don't who he is, well if you're like me a fan of Love Actually then you do. In Love Actually he's playing the insane old rocker who is doing a lame come-back with an awful christmas song. Strange to see him in a serious role.

The film is about Cate having a relationship with a 15 year old boy and Judi Dench taking advantage of this secret. And it's all about psychologic manipulation.

A special note to the 15 year old boy, he has amaaazing blue eyes, incredible! And such a strong accent, got only half of what he said Gosh!

And finally, Perfume, story of a murderer. Good film, but I agree with some of the critics I read. Not as good as the movie.

It's true, in the movie there are some incredibly long and rich descriptions of scents of every scent you could think of and it can go on for pages. This was hard to put in images.

It seems as well that they have cut quite a bit of it. Well, I read the book years ago so I can't remember precisely but all seems to go quite fast in the movie and to be superficially illustrated.

But if you haven't read the book, watch the movie, definitely!





25 August 2007

She did it!

She did it, my sister!! She's the best!!! She ran for 21h38m and 55s... (had written that she would run for 12 hours in my previous post but actually it was supposed to be around 24!). Can you imagine? She ran for more than 21 hours non-stop! Well, yes with a few stops to drink and eat and stuff but never more than 20 min and no sleeping at all. Dad told me that she arrived running, sprinting even! And I talked to her a few minutes later and she was not tired she said! Too much adrenaline I guess...

I asked her how it had been and she said she had felt great the whole time (except after the big break in the evening because she ate and drank too much she said). I was following her online the whole time and getting sms from dad about the times she passed the checkpoints and one thing that I was relieved about is that I could see that she was not running alone. And she confirmed it, she was never alone more than 15 or 20 minutes but most of the time she had found companions to run with. That made it easier to go through the night.

And when I asked her about her mood, because it was our biggest concern before the run, she said she never felt down. I asked what she was thinking about, if she was not bored sometimes. She answered: "You don't think, you just run!". Hehe, that's how cool she is my little sis'.

So all in all, that's her race:
- 86 km around the Mont Blanc
- 3 countries, from Courmayeur in Italy, though Switzerland and finally to Chamonix in France
- 24h max to complete the race but she did it in 21h 38min and 55s
-1073rd is her overall ranking

But even more than this, she is first of her category!!! (young / ladies)

I am so proud of her! So fucking proud of her!

24 August 2007

I'm in pain

I'm not injured or anything, actually I don't feel any direct pain. I am suffering for my little sister. She's running a 86km race around the Mont Blanc right now, they left around 12 today and she's supposed to be arriving between 10 and 12 tomorrow. Which means nearly 12 hours of running in the mountain. Yeah, I know that is totally insane, that's what we all said we she told us last year she wanted to run this race. She's been training all year long for this and has managed to come in great shape and that was not obvious from the beginning as she came back from Chile last summer with a few more kilos and not so fit. But she's been so brave and she's pushed her limits even when some of us may have doubted her ability to succeed.

One can follow the race online here and that is just what I've been doing the whole day. Checking where she was, when she passed each checkpoint, if there was people with her so that she wouldn't run alone (passing the checkpoint in the same minutes), when she was supposed to pass the following one, sms:ing like crazy with my dad who is over there with her. Around 22 or 22.30 she arrived in Champex where the participants could have a longer break with some food and water and etc. And now she must have started again and now she's going to run the whole night. If she makes it through the night, it should be ok because the last kilometres are going down and the most difficult will be behind her. But before that she has another 6 or 7 tough hours in front of her and it was the part she was fearing the most. Not physically but mentally, she was affraid of having a tuff time and I told her she had to load a maximum of positive thoughts, just as if she would put them in her pocket and that she should be able to take them out whenever she needs.

But I still think it will be hard and that she will suffer... and I can't help to suffer with her. I'm here, far away and I am crying because I know my little sister is in hell. And I hope she's fine. And I hope she will make it, she so deserves it. She's little sister but sometimes she's greater than me. She has big projects in her life and I am so proud of her for that.

Love you, G.

22 August 2007

Drinking in Sweden

Quite a striking and frightening article in Metro today (here in Swedish), about the alcohol consumption in Sweden nowadays and especially among the younger.

Here is what a girl drinks in a year, in average (aged 18-24 years old, in 2006):
43,3 bottles of wine
3 bottles of 70cl strong alcohol (gin,vodka, etc...)
36 cans of strong beer (more than 3,5 degrees, usually 50 cl)
17,1 cans of light beer (under 3,5 degrees)
In total, 6,1 liters of pure alcohol, against 4,4 in 2004. The consumption of wine by women has doubled in the last 10 years.

Here is what a guy is drinking, still in a year, still in average
38,9 bottles of wine
13,7 bottles of 70cl strong alcohol (gin,vodka, etc...)
196 cans of strong beer (more than 3,5 degrees, usually 50 cl)
51,4 cans of light beer (under 3,5 degrees)
In total, 13,6 liters of pure alcohol, against 8,8 in 2004.


This is quite scary according to me: almost a bottle of wine each week for a girl, 4 beers each week for a guy, not even including the rest. Not that much you may tell me if you compare to some countries like France (let's take an example I know about) where people can drink wine everyday. But the thing is, in Sweden, most of the people drink only in the week-ends, which means a bottle (+ some more) in just one evening. And this, almost EVERY week-end of the year.

Well, I have done that. When I was studying. So I am not better than the others; at some point in Halmstad, we were partying and therefore drinking (these two notions belong together in Sweden, but that's another discussion that I won't start here) on wednesdays, fridays and saturdays. and each time it was a bottle of wine or 5 or 6 beers (between 2 and 3 liters, that is). God, when I think of it, it's totally sick! But the good thing at least is that this period is over for me. Of course I still drink, I drank wine every day, lunch AND dinner during my holidays in France last month but just a glass or two, and I still drink when I go out nowadays. But the thing is that it doesn't happen EVERY week-end and definitely not several times in a week. Unfortunately some people do not manage to take this distance to alcohol and cannot change their drinking habits.

21 August 2007

Favourite?

There's something I am wondering about. Almost everyday I am checking my stats to see how many readers I have had and who has been on my blog. Among other details, I can also check how people got here, by following a link on another website or from a search engine, etc. A lot of you search either "lorraineinsweden" or "lorraine in Sweden" in Google. If you are coming often, why search every time? Can't you just add me in your favourites? 'cause that's what I am, am I not? ;-)

Love to you all!

20 August 2007

C'est confortable?

Le chat le plus dingo du monde vit chez nous, non seulement il déconne toute la journée, mais même quand il dort, il débloque...


Mais il est quand même super mimi, il faut avouer! Et il a des yeux bleus incroyables! Non vous ne pouvez pas les voir là, puisqu'il dort!

19 August 2007

Better late than never

På fredag gick jag hem tidigt från jobbet, var hemma typ 16.30, grejade lite på internet, tittade lite på TV och deckade på soffan, men det var ingen snabb powernapp utan jag sov mer än 2 timmar! Vaknade vid kl21 men var fortfarande trött och då fattade jag att jag skulle inte ta mig från soffan utan bara för att gå och lägga mig.

Dagen efter var jag piggare och det var bra för jag hade fullt upp hela dan! Skulle ha inflyttningsfest på kvällen, nästan två månader efter att jag flyttat in. Innan festen jag tvättade, städade, grejade, gick till systembolaget, gick och handla på Willy's mittemot och sen till Ica lite längre bort för att köpa några saker jag hittade inte på Willy's. Och sen var det dags att börja laga mat! Men det gick jättebra och jag tror att jag lagade allt i ett ganska logiskt ordning och det gjorde att det gick smidigt och utan stress. Vännerna skulle komma kl19 och kl18.45 hoppade jag in i duschen. :-p De första komma när jag fixade sminket.

Sen började rosévinet flöda och glädjen med. Fick massa super fina presenter, vad snälla de var. En choklad fondue set från Sagaform, två glas ljustack från Sia, en Höganäs tékopp, Blåa Marimekko gäst handdukar och en handduk set i ljus rosa. Bara fina saker! Jag haft det jättetrevlig och var glad även om vissa vänner var inte här.

Idag, var jag lite bakis men det var bättre efter duschen, always a saviour! :-p Jag inte gjort så mycket idag, städat och diskat, läst i solen på fönstret: det är ungefär 2m lång och 50 eller 60cm bredd och det är marmor vilket gör att man kan lätta sitta (tom stå) på den. Och det fanns mat kvar så jag inte lagat någonting idag, bra eftersom jag hade lagt tillräckligt mycket tid dagen innan!

Nu är det läggdags, here we go for a new week! =)

16 August 2007

3 years

Today, it's been three years since I moved to Sweden. I remember August 2004, when I arrived with my little but beloved green saxo full of my stuff, not knowing what would happened and how life would turn out for me. Well, three years later, I can definitely tell that it turned out well! When my friends asked me how long I would be spending here, I answered that I didn't know but it would at least be 4 to 5 years. I think most of them were surprised because they thought I would stay 1 or 2 years not more... and when I quit my job in March most of them thought I would come back to France. Why? Yeah, why the hell would I come back now when I finally found my place? Is job the most important thing in life? More than well-being? Well it seems that some of them still value job quite high, which I don't. Of course I find it important and want to have an interesting and challenging job but it's not all in my life. I also want to be able to enjoy life, meet my friends, travel, etc... And feeling good as I feel right now (the new job is undoubtedly a part of it but also my new flat and everything), I don't see why I would change that in the next years by going back to France... so my friends, start booking your tickets to come and see me, 'cause I'm going to be there for another while!

15 August 2007

Det var länge sen...

ACCESSOARER
Väska: Oj! Har ungefär 20! Men just nu är det mest en silvrig kroko läder och en brun skinn väska
Plånbok: En gul och lila Louis Vuitton, köpt när jag jobbade där året 2000.
Solglasögon: Prada

TEKNIK
Mobiltelefon: Sony Ericsson
Tv: nåt kass som heter Prosonic eller nåt sånt...
Dator: Min beloved HP laptop

BADRUM
Tandkräm: Colgate White & Shine
Tvål: Oj! Har massor här med, Nivea, Bourjois, osv...
Hårprodukt: Brukar inte använda nåt men har köpt sist en flaska "eau coiffante" (fixing water, alltså lättare än spray)
Huvudvärkstablett: Ipren i Sverige, Nurofen i Frankrike
Doft: Pamplelune by Guerlain på sommaren och Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel på vintern
Hudkräm: Evian Affinity, Nivea Soft, Dove...
Till ansiktet: Aqua Fusion från Lancôme, Crème Réparatrice från Sisley och allt från Evian Affinity och Nuxe
Schampo: Elsève, Le Petit Marseillais...
Balsam: Elsève (röd, rosa och gul)

MAT OCH DRYCK
Mineralvatten: Ramlösa
Vin: helst vit, helst fransk
Bröd: Fraaaaansk!
Choklad: oh yes! Mjölkchoklad

HEMMA
Säng: Love it!
Lakan: only nice ones ;-)
Porslin: blandat men tycker om mina Höganäs

FÄRDMEDEL
Bil: Hade en söt grön Citroen Saxo men nu för tiden är det kollektiv trafik som gäller...
Flygbolag: billigaste som finns
Taxibolag: behöver inte längre nu att jag bor så centralt!

MEDIA
Magasin: Elle!!!
Dagstidning: Metro
Sajt: min blogg så klart!

ÖVRIGT
Frisörsalong: har ingen riktigt...
Bank: SEB
Cykel: Biltema Cruiser

14 August 2007

The hat contest

Here under are the hats that we made for our Kräftskiva party last Friday (read here if you can read French). In short, a kräftskiva is a party taking place in August in Sweden where you eat hummer, lobster, never know the right name of it... and you usually wear ugly hats. Well, instead of having ugly ones, we "designed" our own ones with colour paper.

And at the end of the dinner we voted to decide which one was the most pretty, the most ugly, the most creative, the most trendy hat and a consolation price (gave it a good tried but didn't make it). So here's the deal, you're going to vote as well! For these five categories (pretty, ugly, creative, trendy, consolation) and I'm going to add another one: guess which one is mine! (hint: do not try to go by the hair or skin or anything because we exchanged the hats troughout the evening).


PS: Manu, if you read it, you cannot participate! ;-)

13 August 2007

Sunday's cooking

Here is what I have been cooking yesterday. On the left, it's a carrot-mushroom-oignon-bacon pie and on the right, peach-cinnamon muffins.

The obvious positive thing with it, is that it's good, but the other thing, quite enjoyable for me is that I won't need to cook anything for two days!

12 August 2007

Kräftskiva

Nous étions donc neuf personnes et c'était super sympa. Une tradition que je ne connaissais pas est que l'on porte un chapeau pour cette occasion et ils sont souvent moches. Cette fois-ci, au lieu d'avoir ces chapeaux moches achetés en supermarché, nous avions du papier canson de toutes les couleurs et chacun a fait son propre chapeau. (je posterai qq images demain). Ensuite à la fin du diner nous avons voté pour le plus beau, le plus moche, le plus original, le plus trendy et le prix de consolation. On a bien rigolé. Côté menu, il s'agit en fait de langoustines, d'eau douce et d'eau de mer. Celles d'eau douce sont rouge très foncé alors que celles d'eau de mer qui ont beaucoup plus de gout sont rose clair (couleur crevette un peu). Et côté alcool: du vin blanc, du rosé, du cidre, de la bière, de la vodka, du gin, de la téquila, du kirsch-je-ne-sais-pas-quoi, de la liqueur de café... pas grand chose quoi! Lors de ces célébrations tout au long de l'année en Suède (Midsummer par exemple), on chante beaucoup et souvent et à la fin de chaque chanson, on boit un shot d'alcool. Rude! Après le diner on a joué à ce jeu dont je ne connais pas le nom, mais vous avez un mot sur un bout de papier sur le front donc tout le monde voit ce mot sauf vous et vous devez le deviner en posant des questions et les autres ne doivent répondre que par oui ou non. Super rigolo.

Samedi, Malin, Elin & Tina sont venues ici pour une pré-soirée et ensuite on est sorties. C'est vraiment le luxe de vivre à deux pas du centre ville, pas besoin de penser aux horaires du tram ou du bus etc. Si bien qu'on est parties de chez moi vers 1h30-1h45 du mat'! Un peu trop tard en fait vu le monde qu'il y avait... on a fait plus d'une demi-heure de queue ce qui fait qu'on est rentrées en boite a 2h30 (alors que ca ferme a 4h!). Mais au moment de commencer à faire la queue, j'ai vu Dennis, un copain de Daniel que je connais un peu et que je n'avais pas vu depuis un moment. Tout bronzé! C'est hallucinant comme les suédois sont tous deux fois plus beaux en été quand ils sont tous bronzés. Lui est rentré par la queue VIP donc bien avant nous... Je l'ai apercu une fois dedans et après je l'ai cherché un peu mais pas moyen de le retrouver. Il faut dire que le club où on était s'appelle Nivå (se prononce comme niveau) et est sur 3 étages (+1 mezzanine + 1 dernier étage non ouvert ce soir-là) + la terrasse... donc on peut tourner pdt des heures sans se retrouver! Dommage... mais on s'est qd même bien amusées avec les filles même si on a pas dansé autant qu'on avait prévu car la musique n'était pas terrible... en partant, on s'est arrêtées pour un traditionnel hot-dog, haute tradition suédoise de sortie de boite.

Résultat: vendredi couchée 3h30 et samedi couchée 4h30... joli score non?

Du coup, aujourd'hui j'ai dormi jusqu'à midi et demi et ensuite j'ai passé toute la journée en pyjama à regarder la TV, glandouiller, bouquiner, cuisiner (muffins pêche-cannelle et tarte champi-carottes-oignon-bacon). D'ailleurs, j'ai remarqué que je fais souvent de la grande cuisine en général juste après avoir fait un grand nettoyage de la cuisine. C'était le cas today, hier j'ai nettoyé la cuisine à fond et aujourd'hui j'ai mis un bronx terrible et j'en ai mis partout! Résultat, je peux ressortir mon ajax... m'enfin! Pour l'instant, mon bain m'attend et ensuite au lit avant d'attaquer une nouvelle semaine.

09 August 2007

Demain

Demain, d'une part, c'est déjà vendredi, incroyable ce que le temps passe vite quand on bosse... mais j'adore ca! D'autre part, le soir je suis invitée chez la soeur de Manu pour une kräftskiva. Comme toutes les celebrations suedoises cela inclus de l'alcool et de la bouffe... côté bouffe justement, ce sont des langoustes, homards, crevettes, je sais aps tres bien, sais pas comment on fait la différence... mais enfin, ces trucs rouges avec des pinces, vous savez! ;-)

Rapport ce week-end. Bisous!

08 August 2007

Ce qui devait arriver arriva...

Aujourd'hui, j'ai eu un message sur la boite répondeur de mon portable. Une des entreprises que j'ai rencontré début juillet pour un entretien d'embauche. Ils veulent savoir si je suis intéressée pour un deuxième entretien... Je sais, j'ai loosé total, je devais les appeler la semaine dernière. Je voulais appeler avant de commencer à bosser mais j'ai oublié et ensuite, plus j'attendais, plus c'était dur, et plus j'avais mauvaise conscience. En tout cas demain matin, je n'ai pas le choix, il faut que je l'appelle pour décliner. Heureusement, il a bien tourné la chose "si tu es tjs intéressée" ou quelque chose dans le style...

Il y a encore une autre boite pour laquelle "j'attends" une réponse et que j'aurais dû appeler aussi... C'est débile d'avoir peur car au final les entreprises ne prennent pas les choses autant à coeur que les candidats. Il doit y avoir une part de self-confidence là-dedans qui nous fait croire qu'on est indispensable. Ou bien on veut se croire indispensable, je ne sais pas. Enfin, j'essayais de me dire le contraire la semaine dernière lorsque je laisser passer l'occasion tous les matins de la semaine dernière avant de commencer à bosser; je me disais, mais si ca se trouve c'est meme pas moi qu'ils vont prendre, donc je n'ai qu'à attendre de recevoir ma lettre de tej', pour une fois elle sera bien recue. Je crois que je vais appeler les autres aussi du coup. Comme ca je pourrais croire jusqu'au bout que c'est moi qu'ils voulaient.

Pendant 4 mois, rien et tout d'un coup, 2 jobs, potentiellement 2 autres... va comprendre Charles!

06 August 2007

You know you are from Sweden when...

1. Your family had to re-arrange a number of Christmas traditions when Arne Weise retired.
2. You get nostalgic by thinking of the summer of 1994.
3. You don't rely on weather forecasts unless presented by John Pohlman.
4. You thought Astrid Lindgren was immortal and was shocked and cried your heart out when she actually did die.
5. You really want to attend the Nobel Prize Dinner.
6. You get pissed off when Norwegians state that the peace prize is much more famous than the other Nobel prices.
7. You go seriously sentimental when entering an IKEA store, outside the borders of Sweden.
8. You love complaining about Sweden when you are there and state "it's much better in Sweden" when you are abroad.
9. You secretly love the Eurovision Song Contest to pieces.
10. You know at least 10 Abba songs by heart.
11. You claim that you are not a royalist but actually do care what "she" will wear on the Nobel Prize dinner.
12. You are prone to stand in line without complaining.
13. Whenever discussing international problems you always, without exception state that "why don't you do it like we do it in Sweden?"
14. You know the names of a multitude of IKEA items.
15. You know how to pronounce these names and sigh when non-Swedes don't.
16. You grew up in a house looking exactly like as if it would have been in the IKEA-catalogue.
17. You have a tendency to not divide words when you write in English, since "särskrivning" is a sin.
18. You don't really care about winning as long as the Swedish beat the Norwegians and the Finns, no matter what the game/contest is.
19. You know that Sweden never actually will win the World Cup in Football, but keep partying anyway.
20. When you don't really consider silence a problem in social situations.
21. When you find people from other cultures generally being rather loud. With the exception of the Finnish.
22. You wouldn't even consider buying electrical items unless they are "S"-marked.
23. You consider the question "how are you?" as a question that when posed, needs to be answered with a honest and thorough explanation of your mental health.
24. You have serious difficulties crossing the street when there is a red light. Even when there are no cars.
25. You get guilty conscience from throwing things in the dustbin that could have been recycled.
26. You take your shoes off when entering a house, and don't get why non-Swedes find that funny.
27. You know what the term "dansband" refers to, but know that it is a losing battle explaining to non-Swedes what it is.
28. You don't consider a congregation of trees being a "real" forest unless it takes at least 20 minutes to drive through it.
29. You use metric system and really don't get why there are people out there who don't.
30. You consider "schlager" being a proper music genre.
31. You consider a fast and audioable intake of breath as a synonym to the word "yes".
32. You find the ads for Coca Cola during Christmas completely useless since none would consider drinking any other soft drink than "julmust" during Christmas anyway.
33. You consider Denmark and the Danish "pretty continental".
34. You know that it is not true, but you like to believe that there is a massive difference between the taste of "julmust" and "påskmust".
35. You know that the most common cars in Sweden are not Volvo's or Saab's, but Ahlgrens Bilar.
36. You can debate for hours the difference between the taste of the pink, the green and the white car in a pack of Ahlgrens bilar.
37. You actually have a favourite colour of Ahlgrens bilar, and is pretty militant in your opinion on this point.
38. You do not likely admit to having watched a full episode of Allsång på Skansen, but feel that the fact that they broadcast it every summer is soothing, and a notion that things remain in their normal state.
39. You like things in general to be "lagom".
40. It annoys the hell out of you that there is no good translation for the word "lagom" in any language (except in Turkish, apparently)
41. You consider Sweden being on the verge of annoyingly "lagom". Like a tetra pack of mellanmjolk, sort of.
42. You have at one point, or more, during your childhood, attempted to fabricate something that you learnt how to make from watching "Hajk".
43. While fabricating the thing mentioned in point 42. things went terribly wrong.
44. You think that Sweden winning a gold in any type of World Championships require celebrating by getting really drunk and splash around in a large and famous fountain.
45 You have a tendency to make Swedish verbs out of English nouns, and do not consider it slang or grammatically incorrect.
46. Generally, you prefer writing in pencil.
47. You've never seen a starbucks.
48. You have a summer house in the countryside. It has no running water or flushing toilet, but you can't understand why no one wants to visit.
49. Making fun of Norway is a national institution. And vice versa.
50. You love Kalles Caviar. Everyone else outside Scandinavia hates it.
51. You are obsessed with health issues. Everything is bad unless it comes from Sweden, in which case its ok.
52. You could survive on just fish and prawns, and still manage to have a different dish for every meal for a month. Oh, and you even put it in cake.
53. You find it normal to have to go to a special store that is owned by the government, that's only open during daytime to buy a bottle of wine, or other alcoholic beverages.
54. You constantly try to avoid meeting your neighbours in the stairwell.
55. You split the check by the exact penny after eating at a restaurant.
56. You try to explain "The Law of Jante" to non-Swedes..!
57. You don't mind waking up way too early during the first 24 days of December in order to watch 15 minutes of TV's annual Advent Calendar.
58. You find the idea of wall to wall carpets in bathrooms and toilets simply appalling.
59. You just don't "orka"...
60. You think you understand Danish.
61. The Danish think you understand Danish.
62. Ultimately, when spoken, you don't really understand Danish.
63. You thought wall to wall carpets was a concept of the past or the ferries to Finland/Estonia/Germany/Denmark. Then you went abroad and realised that you were wrong.
64. You don't even realise that you speak/write Swenglish whenever you speak/write to Swedish people.
65. You die a little inside if you don't get your weekly ransion of "Mamma Scans Kottbullar".
66. You think that everyone is allowed to walk in any field or forrest. And when people abroad tell you it's private land, you don't understand and say "But, what about Allesmänsrätten?"
67. You expect people to be drinking at least a bottle each of vodka, and think that's normal.
68. Your ideal breakfast consists of a slice of bread with egg och kalles kaviar, och a big cup of Oboy...
69. You drink black espresso without sugar, believing that is what you do in Italy, and actually believe that you like it...
70. After having realized that someone is standing on your foot in the subway, you think that the best idea is to not say anything at all or maybe cough or nod a little in order to attract the attention of the person standing on your foot.
71. You find non-scandinavians so loud and noisy but find it perfectly normal to get completely wasted, "bröla", sing along to "när vi gräver guld i usa..." and piss in public, when you're abroad and partying with non-scandinavians.
72. You secretly consider Sweden the best place on earth and that Swedes are the most intelligent and beautiful people in the world.
73. You know who Bamse is, and love him with all of your heart.
74. You take a sip of Strongbow, frown, and state that there's nooo way that the yellow sludge they call cider really is cider..
75. You refuse to belive that snuff or "snus" is harmful.
76. Since snuff "isn't harmful", you can't understand why no one except the swedes use it...
77. You think that all things Astrid Lindgren ever wrote, sums up all the good things about being Swedish.
78. You have become addicted to Playahead/Lunarstorm/Helgon and/or Bilddagboken.
79. Your favourite site for games and videos is Hamsterpaj.net.
80. Seeing a young woman with lit candles stuck to her head no longer disturbs you.
81. You wake up with BIG hang-overs on the days after April 30th (Valborg) and December 13th (Lucia).
82. you have, with some measure of success, spoken rövarspråket.
83. You are stuck in front of your TV watching curling during every Olmpic Games.
84. You actually understand the rules of curling.
85. You have been accused of being from Switzerland. Repeatedly.
86. You refer to some internationally famous Swedes by their nicknames, even when speaking to bewildered non-Swedes who have no clue what you are talking about.(I.e: "Svennis" (Sven-Goran Ericsson) and "Henke" (Henrik Larsson).
86. You cried when Henke Larsson cut his hair.
87. You just love singing "snapsvisor" while drinking any kind of alcohol.
88. You would rather stand up on the bus for an hour than bother the person who's handbag is currently occupying the last available seat.
89. You would never use public transportation without a valid ticket, even though it's ridiculously overpriced.
90. You happily engage in a conversation about the weather.
91. You cannot see why the first floor you walk in to should be called anything but the first floor, and the next one up the second, and so on, and you get confused by this in every multi-storey building you enter.
92. You generally consider the pre-party better than the night out in a club that follows.
93. You cry of nostalgy and happiness thinking about Peter "Foppa" Forsberg's penalty in the ice-hockey final, Olympic Games in Lillehammer 1994.
94. You look forward all year for August when you get to gather your friends, put on stupid paper hats, drink Vodka, sing and eat crayfish.
95. You don't mind women using the men's bathroom in clubs if the queue to the "Ladies" is long.
96. You go abroad on vacation and first things first try to localize a Swedish bar and restaurant.
97. You LOVE Carola and knows almost all her songs by heart even though she's a bit of a freak these days.
98. It still disturbs you that Carola did not win the Eurovision Song Contest the first time around she participated, back in -83.
100. It's totally ok to stop working for a while when Anja is skiing in an important competition and instead join your colleagues in front of the TV which somebody brought.
103. You find it adorable when people from other countries get excited about a few milimetres of snow that only stays on the ground for a few hours.
105. You insist on that Swedish chocolate is the best chocolate in the world, despite of what the Belgians and the Swiss might say.
106. It's raining and you hear yourself say your grandmothers wise words, "There is no bad weather, just bad clothes"
107. You insist on convincing people the vikings were the first to discover america.
109. You understand the man talking embarassingly loud to his son in the elevator.
110. You can't refrain from bragging about winning both the olympics and the world championships 2006 in hockey back to back whenever you have the opportunity to...talking to a Canadian...
113. You have genuinely believed that a person from the UK talking about "hockey" meant "ice-hockey".
114. You consider blond hair about as normal as dark hair.
115. You constantly have to point out that not EVERYONE in sweden is blond, in fact you add that most people are not.
116. You only consider hair on the verge of being "white", blond. Everything else is just very bright brown hair.
117. You have tried, and failed, to convince non-swedes that jam with your food is really good.
118. IKEA is home away from home.
119. You don't understand why non-swedes find salt lakris inedible.
120. You know Carl Larsson captures the atmosphere of a 'stuga' perfectly.
121. you realise the potential and imagination behind a number of Swedish words (like: förfest, träningsvärk, groggvirke, sola, KLOCKRENT)
122. you get frustrated because there is no way you can say these words in any other language and sound correct.
123. you don't think a farmhouse is actually a farmhouse unless it is red or yellow with white trim.
124. eventhough jumping into haybales is really gross you still do it and love it because "Bullerby Barnen" did it.
125. you compare all other spiced wine to glögg and with a frown state the obvious superiority of the Swedish Xmas drink.
127. you consider taking a cruise ship to Tallin a valid excuse to get completely off your face and act like an utter ass as soon as the ship leaves port.
128. you know that there is no way the nesquick powder can ever replace real O'boy
129. you find it OBVIOUS that a mile is 10 kilometres.
130. a nights sleep only counts if it consists of 8 consecutive hours. 10 hours would be considered too much.
133. you consider it tradition to get wasted and dance around a giant penis symbol stuck in the ground every summer.
134. you think it's perfectly normal to pay over 50 % of your income in taxes.
135. everything you know about sex you learned from ”Bullen” or KP's "Kropp och Knopp".
136. you were devastated to find out that neither “Skurt” nor “Televinken” were real people.
138. the theme song from “Ika i rutan” still gives you the creeps.
139. you have been or know someone who has been an exchange student
140. When "tallriksmodellen" pops up in your head every time you serve food.
141. you find it morally reprehensable to not at least TRY and eat from all the food groups.
142. when it is considered a sin to record Kalle Anka (Donald Duck) on the video at Christmas.
143. you talk about politics at house parties.
145. you actually do care if your mobile phone meets the fashion standard.
146. people ask you if you have polarbears on the streets and you try to spread the myth further by stating it's true.
147. you go to the downtown during a sunday and don't expect to meet a single soul during a 30 minute walk
148. you have a craving for at least 1 litre of Arla milk a day.
149. you can name at least 7 different kinds of jam, and produce 4 of them in your own kitchen.
150. you think you're better at english than you really are.
151. you LOVE to use english quotes and slang.
153. you think its a BIG THING to have a drivers licensce before you're like 22.
154. using fuck, shit and other badwords isn't really that bad for you.
156. you think its completley normal to at least have studied one year of german, one year of french and one year of spanish
157. you know that the only parts swedish people get to play in movies is when there is supposed to be a stupid blonde in the scene.
158. you know what a midsommarstång is, and you know every song and dance that comes with it
161. you end every phone call with "puss".
162. you find it unbearable and disturbing that "puss" and "kyss" is only one word in English.
163. you know the phrase "svenskar reser inte till något, dom reser från något"
165. you call it "mobile phone" and not "cell phone"
166. you always try to defend sweden for not being a part of "nasty" Europe where girls are sluts and there is no drinking age.
167. you don't mind walking instead of taking the car
169. you have at some point in your life had a volvo or a saab as the family car
170. you think it's normal to be drunk every friday and/or saturday all year round.
173. you don't find "bananer i pyjamas" to be a bit sexual.
174. You know what innebandy is, and you find it quite a cheesy sport.
175. You have, on several occasions, played innebandy. And enjoyed it.
176. Smörgåstårta. Nuff said.
177. You actually know how to pronounce smörgåsbord.
178. You think that any type of dish including fläskfilé och bearnaissås and köttbullar med rödbetssallad (a xmas version!) makes a superb topping on a pizza...
179. You´ve ended several conversations with "japp....så är det det...mmm" followed by an uncomfortable staring at the ground whilst shuffling some snow around wiht your foot… (there´s always snow...it´s sweden for christ sake!)
180. Everytime you see a swedish brand/actor/company/phone/car/furniture store you feel compelled to point that out to your friends (with badly hidden pride in your voice).
182. You find teenage mums shocking and very strange; because you don't know anyone who had a child before 25...and you thought that was young
183. You thought 'Aftonbladet' and 'Expressen' were full of silly news...then you went abroad and found that many papers include nothing but naked women and sex
184. You know they are the same, but you just don't trust ibuprofen and paracetamol the way you trust Ipren and Alvedon
185. You think it's ridiculous to sell milk and yogurt in anything other than Tetrapak...and you wonder why Fil isn't sold abroad
186. You’re always stuck trying to explain what "fil" is...unsuccessfully.
187. Even if you normally hate ABBA, Ace of Base, Roxette etc. you still LOVE it when you're in a club abroad and they play something Swedish. (you'll probably even ask the DJ to play it…)
188. You have to explain the wonder that is "snus" while everyone around you are about to vomit.
189. You understand the phrase "fjortis" and suddenly don’t mind the “chavs” too much anymore.
199. You in desperation think you bought the wrong item because the condoms come in square packages instead of rectangular packages.
200. Lösgodis (pick n’mix) becomes more desirable than cigarettes.
201. You ONLY eat candy on Saturdays.
202. Your parents pay you every month for not eating candy for a year (or so)
205. You can’t believe that you have to pay for your disgusting school lunch.
206. People say your name in fifty different ways, but no one can get it right.
208. Your middle name is also the name of an IKEA shelf (Ivar).
209. All English you ever learnt in Sweden came from American sitcoms.
211. You KNOW that Harry Potter will NEVER EVER be close to as good a read as Pippi Longstocking
212. You get REALLY annoyed when people outside of Sweden do not know that Pippi Longstocking is Swedish.
213. You just love to 'fika', and know that it is an activity that is meant to last for hours and is not the equivalent of going for a coffee.
214. You don’t get why no other language has a verb for drinking coffee/tea since it is such a very, very important pastime!
214. You don’t consider Starbucks a proper café, since a real cafe is a atmospheric, groovy, cosy place not at all as brightly lit and multi national as Starbucks.
215. You know that a "macka" consist of one slice of bread!
216. You sometimes finish your e-mails to non-Swedes with the letters "Mvh".
217. You instinctively spot 'Swedes' from a distance just based on looks and what they're wearing. (obviously they are anomalies- Norwegians or Finns at a push…)
218. You've been forced to perform the "frog dance" skipping around a palm tree.
219. People refuse to believe you're actually from Sweden because you're not platinum blonde with a Sven-Goran Ericsson accent
220. You think going to the pub for a drink is a waste of time if you're not going to get drunk
222. You consider yourself as Scandinavian, not European.
223. You are happy to say that you can go around Scandinavia with one language, which of course is Swedish, the biggest one. (the Swedes, the Norweigans, the Danes and the (LUCKY) Finns understand it...)
224. You are just as happy to point out that you do not need a passport when travelling to Norway.
225. You have absolutely no idea what is meant by" Swedish massage" that keeps being advertised as a hot item in spas all over the world.
226. You have never ever heard of either “Annas gingerbread” or “Mrs Elswood's cod roe spread - product of Sweden” or “Swedish glace” (it’s free from cholesterol, gluten, all animal ingredients and genetic modification).
227. If you have heard of “Swedish glace”, you know that it is not anywhere close to being as lovely as proper Swedish ice cream.
230. You're not in Sweden you miss the hotdog stands where you can get a hotdog with shrimp salad when you have been out partying!
231. As like IKEA, H&M feels like home away from home.
232. You are an expert on commenting whats typical swedish...
233. You shove your pants into your socks even when your inside, and there is not snow/rain anywhere in sight.
234. You eat pancakes with jam, not lemon and sugar like the English.
238. You celebrate Easter and Christmas a day before most other countries
239. You know that real Easter eggs are not made of chocolate; they're made of paper and filled with pick'n'mix (losgodis)
240. Easter means decorating some twigs in a vase with coloured feathers, eating herring and painted eggs, and of course, dressing up as a witch/over made-up older lady and knocking on random neighbours' doors in hope of getting some candy.
241. You couldn’t care less about the sixth of June and consider celebrating “Midsummer” as being as close to a proper national day as it will ever get.
243. You know that gravy is crap compared to the choice of sauces Swedes have.
244. You're abroad you like to ask for "Swedish" coffee at the hotel..
245. And apart from the point mentioned in 244, of course you do also use other quotations from "Sällskapsresan" when going abroad.
246. You believe that GES "När vi gräver guld i USA" is one of the 10 best songs ever written and performed, right up there along with four works by Tomas Ledin and five by Laleh Pourkarim.
247. You buy an ( S ) sticker for your Volvo... while living outside the borders of Sweden
248. You put toilet paper on the seat in a public toilet and double fold it neatly.
249. You see your non-Swedish friends utter display of confusion when you answer 'there is no danger on the roof' in response to their comment of not having any money left on their bus card...
250. Staffan Westerberg (Vilse i Pannkanan, Lillstrumpa och Syster Yster) gives you the creeps.
251. You find it hillarious that Bo G Eriksson is E-Type’s father.
252. You have quoted Elin from Fucking Åmål MANY TIMES when you were a teenager ("Varför måste vi bo i fucking-jävla-kuk-Åmål?", "Jag vill knarka", "Jag ska bli psykolog. Eller... det tror jag i alla fall", "Jag är hellre glad nu än om 25 år", or "Jag ska aldrig mer bli ihop med nån. Jag ska bli celibat")
254. You feel bad if you're not outside on a sunny day.
255. You think that Robert Gustavsson is the funniest man alive, period.
256. It's not strange that the Prime Minister marries the CEO of "Systembolaget"
258. You know that Per Gessle is responsible for more child conceiving than Barry White
259. At cafés, you find it completely normal walking all the way to the counter to order and then carrying it yourself to the table rather than being waitered.
260. You find it completely normal, when going to a pre-party (förfest) everyone has their Systembolaget-kasse in the fridge and notoriously keep track of which liquor is their liquor!
264. You actually read all of these.
265. YOU WOULD NEVER EVER ADMIT TO ANYTHING ON THIS LIST.


EDIT: precision... I of course didn't write all this!! I found it on facebook, thought it was funny and copied it, that's all.

05 August 2007

Melting Pot

On Friday evening, I was at the birthday party of a Mexican friend. The nationalities present that evening were:
  • Sweden
  • Mexico
  • Colombia
  • Bolivia
  • New Zealand
  • France
Interesting, right? It was real fun to talk to all these people and the whole evening was a cool mix of Swedish, English and Spanish with even a few French words here and there. I love these international mixes.

---

Apart from that, I finished, as written on a previous post, the latest Harry Potter on Tuesday. Since then I haven't started any other book, I don't know what to read. I just don't really feel like reading actually, I still feel empty after finishing the Harry Potter book knowing that there won't come anything new now... So I guess it will be Metro and Cosmo for a few more days until I get inspired by something.

04 August 2007

Of the importance of simple things

... or how my life improved significantly since I moved to my new flat.

You can see hereunder what I can find two blocks from here. I usually buy only bread here, which is almost as good as in France. But once I tasted their "éclair au chocolat", oh that was good!!

Fashion du jour

Bon la photo est pas super nette mais si je mets le flash, la moitié de la photo disparait... La jupe est mon dernier achat en date (mis à part le top que j'ai trouvé cet aprèm), trouvé chez Promod rue de Levis le WE dernier. Ca faisait une éternité que je ne m'étais pas mise en jupe! Mais je pense que je vais la remettre souvent! Elle est sympa, hein?

03 August 2007

1 an


Très Joyeux Anniversaire mon filleul chéri!

C'est incroyable de se dire qu'il a déjà 1 an... Je me souviens de sa naissance comme si c'était hier. Et du jour où Etienne et Gaëlle m'ont demandé d'être la marraine, c'était en octobre quand j'étais rentrée pour quelques jours. J'en revenais pas car je ne m'y attendais pas du tout, je pensais qu'ils choisiraient des amis. En tout cas, je n'ai pas eu une seconde d'hésitation!!

02 August 2007

Album de vacances

So here is what my holidays looked like...





Not too bad, huh? ;-)

01 August 2007

Så var det...

Min första dag på mitt nya jobb. Och det gick jättebra. Men nu är jag trött, det var mycket information på en gång... speciellt eftersom jag har inte jobbat i ett par månader och då är inte van längre med att fokusera hela dan. Men det gick bra och jag är nöjd, jag vet att de kommer att bli jätte bra, bättre än på mitt förre detta jobb. Ett exempel är att jag fick ett telefon direkt när jag kom, jag kommer inte behöva använda mitt privat (normal tycker ni, well, det gjorde det inte mitt gamla och snåla chef...).

På morgonen, gick vi igenom produkterna, en hel del projekter som de har haft, marknaderna, distributionskanalerna... business, business helt enkelt! Sen tog vi en trevlig lunch på en golfklubb i närheten med härlig utsikt över banan. Och på eftermiddag, var det mer praktiskt där vi fick tag på produkterna själva så att jag skulle känna de bättre.

Vilken härlig dag!