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! :)

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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! =)

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!

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