Friday, October 31, 2008

Winter comes early

Woke up this morning and headed into the bathroom for my morning rituals. Suddenly I heard the urgent cries of dear husband, telling me to come out. Rolling my eyes thinking he needs to use the bathroom AGAIN (if he needed it so bad, why didn't he run for it like I did??), I told him he could enter but instead he opened the door and waited outside.

Wife: What? Come in then.
Husband: No, no. Look outside! Look outside!
Wife: What for?
Husband: Just look outside! Quick! It's snowing!!
Wife: (rushing to the window like a woman at a John Little sale) Where? Where?!

Thinking back, my reaction can be classified as a bimbo moment. I mean...where? where?!...one can pretty much guess that if there's snow, it would be generally....everywhere. Notwithstanding, we stared out the window in wonder as the snow fell, not just in little sprinkles. Some hard core snow flakes were making their way down to the ground in some serious mission to blanket it entirely. Did I make sense there? Possibly not...but it is barely 8 o'clock in the morning and I just woke up, my morning rituals disrupted and SNOW IN OCTOBER??! Heavy snow at that too!

I'm just so excited that there is snow and so much of it that I just want to run out and play with it. But I can't. I'm not even allowe dto go out and frolick a little. Cos I'm sick. Hai....So all I'm allowed to do by the dear husband is to walk him to work and go STRAIGHT home...and I HAVE to listen to him cos I don't want to fall sick when we go on our little trip to Stockholm this weekend. I'm already getting better, don't want to do anything to mess that up. Not even for snow.

But my cat has been thoroughly fascinated by the snow. The last time she saw snow, it wasn't that much and she was only a kitten so maybe she doesn't remember much? Are cats like us as in that way? Anyway, Sussie's been sitting by window, moving from window to window, trying to catch snow flakes through the glass. It's so funny to watch her that focused on watching the snow.

So here are some pics to show what I saw when I looked out my windows this morning. Oh and it's 0 degrees C this morning. Chilly!!

View from my kitchen out to our parking lot.

Snow covering EVERYTHING! And to think that just 2 days ago, those bushes still had roses on them.

View from my living room window. Apple tree looks sad and lonely out there in the snow.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Final checks off my list

I'm leaving tonight(technically on Saturday but it's at 1am so I still have to be at the airport tomorrow) and am frantically trying to find time for all my friends who I want to catch up with or meet again. Many people would probably say, why busy myself so much doing all of this in my last days here? I'm supposed to be chilling and packing up instead of heading out at all hours and arranging several meet ups in one day.

But the people who say that to me simply don't understand that this is an annual thing. I know I will not come back often and next time I do come back on holiday, who knows how long I can stay for. It's just that since I'm not working right now, I can afford the time to come back for a month. So many people whom I will not be able to meet for a long time, so many good things to eat that I will not be able to even sample once I'm back home. So of cos this frantic search for people and food is important to me. The the ENTIRE reason why I came back and for so long. Many assume it's because of Hari Raya...but tell you a secret...it's really not.

I doubt I'll come back for Hari Raya next year, heck I wasn't even planning on coming back for Hari Raya this year. But the timing just worked out that way. So anyway, with my final day in sight, I have been able to check most of the things on my list. My all important, Things to Eat list. I may have gained a couple of kilos in my quest but it's a small price to pay to release some of that sense of loss I had from being deprived of my beloved hot and spicy food.

Food or food places that I can finally strike off:
Nasi Lemak
Roti Prata (plain AND egg)
Laksa
Mee Siam
Nasi Padang
Hari Raya dishes and cookies!! (good time to come back)
Swensen's ice-cream, calamari and FISH & CHIPS! (amazingly, very difficult to find in Sweden)
Fish & Co seafood platter FOR TWO (for one is just NOT worth the money)
Thai Express
McCafe and cheesecake
Starbucks
KFC (this was THE fast food I was looking forward to most. No fried chicken place in Sweden!!)
Sambal fish and prawns
Fried Kway Teow
Hor Fun
Hokkien Mee
Maggi Noodles that's NOT Tom Yum (Tom Yum's the only flavour I eat back home)
Marriott's Crossroads Cafe Breakfast Buffet
Fried Wantan
Fried Sambal Kangkong
Wonderful soft soft bread (The breads at home are SOO hard!!)
Kaya
Ayam Masak Merah (The love of my life...in terms of food of cos. Must put disclaimer ah if not KENA)
McSpicy Burger
BK's Turkey Bacon Double (doesn't exist in Sweden!)
NYDC desserts
Sambal Stingray
Cereal Prawns
Indian Fried Bee Hoon
Teh Tarik
Chrysanthemum tea
Bandung
......

My list is actually much longer than this but these are the most important mentions. to me.

I will certainly miss all of that when I have to fly back in a few hours time. But most of all, I will miss the companionship and the long talks of all my near and dear friends and family who have kept me so occupied. The comfort of old friends is something that cannot be created and can only be enjoyed when the opportunity comes. I have yet to make my own social network and until then I hang on for dear life to the network I have in Singapore. This is my life line and part of the reason why I sometimes don't just run amok down the quiet streets of Askersund when I'm at my lowest.

Settling down in any new place is tough but without friends, it's always tougher. So thank you to all my friends who took the time to make my day, my week, my month. You have no idea how important you are and how grateful I am to you guys for your listening ears.

I'll see you next year, I just don't know when. Until then, I'll keep on posting my ramblings on this blog, to keep me safe, sane and most importantly, to keep me me.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Firmly set in late 20s..

Today is my birthday. Well, technically my birthday was over about 5 minutes ago but as long I'm still awake, the day is not over yet.

Turned 27 and I think my life is right on track. Well, as good along the track as life can get with all its twists and turns.

I've never been one to think about my career. As a matter of fact, I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life. Aren't people supposed to know by the time they reach adulthood? Or at least by the time they are in their late 20s. But I digress...better get back on the track.

Why do I say I'm on schedule? Isn't that a rather sweeping statement? Does it not imply complete contentment and satisfaction and who ever truly is? Don't get me wrong, I'm not entirely satisfied with life, especially if I choose to look at everything with a microscope. Human beings, I think, are created with one thing in mind...hope. Now never underestimate the power of Hope. So many people work so hard in the hopes of a better life, a higher salary, a bigger car or house. A man hopes his boss will promote him, a woman hopes for a diamond ring, a child hopes to get that coveted toy. Everyone hopes and hope floats everyone.

If I was to set aside my Hopes for just a minute, I know that I am lacking in nothing and the things that I do have make me happy and not just alive. And that is why I am right on track. I have a husband who loves me more than I can fathom, we have a nice little flat that we call home, a bitchy cat who can be the cutest thing in the world and a clean slate in Sweden where I can choose to live my life any way I like, arrange my home any way I like and choose any vocation to dive into without stress or tightness of time. So I think I'm pretty good for now, but like I've said life is full of twists and turns and things can change anytime but that is a worry I will think about when I encounter it. No point stressing about something that has not happened, right?

When I was a little girl, as with Singaporeans, I laid a little plan in my head of what my life will be like when I grow up. But unlike many Singaporeans, the one solid thing that I truly wanted had nothing to do with career, salary, material wealth or type of residence. It had to do with love, a husband, a family and lots of comfort food. Is that strange?

And now I have the most important of my hopes and can go on to consider all the other hidden hopes I had. Enrichment of mind and body, doing what interests me and being able to do it well.

My brother keeps on stressing the point that now is the time for me to try and earn as much as I can and to think of all possible business opportunities to extend my economic potential. While I agree on his point of view and his line of thinking, am I a failure if I don't try and open up some sort of business? Am I a failure if I miss that boat of opportunity? Hai...all this business talk puts my emotions into a tangle sometimes and I get confused about what I want...all over again. Maybe I'll never really know what I want out of life...but I sure like what I'm getting out of it right now.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Frenzy

I'm in a frenzy...a shopping frenzy.

I promised the husband that I wouldn't clean out our bank account...I'm trying very hard to keep that promise...heh heh...

Ok ok, I sound like such a tai tai right? But I'm NOT! I've just been deprived...deeply deprived for so long. Imagine an animal that has not been fed for a long time. Release it out into a rich environment full of things it likes and it will go crazy.

I know most people have this very nice, romantic idea of Europe and I don't dispute that but sometimes it feels like it is a little too fashionable for me. I am quite picky when it comes to clothes and I don't always wear what is most fashionable at the moment. Take jeans for example. Skinny jeans are all the rage right now but that's so not me. I'm not that huge a girl but I'm not particularly small either and I do have thunderous thighs which bother me no end as do other trouble spots. I've always believed in wearing something comfortable or at least flattering even if it's not the most fashionable look (which incidentally causes my brother to call me a fashion victim sometimes but what does he know? He's colourblind and needs help to NOT pick out garish colours cos that's all the colours he can see!).

So I prefer to wear bootcut jeans which balances out the thunder thighs quite effectively. But with skinnies dominating the shelves, it's next to impossible to find bootcut jeans that look nice and fit me well simply cos the selection has shrunk to a mere fraction of the jeans collection. So call me crazy but I went mad when I walked into Dorothy Perkins (haven't found a DP store in Sweden so far) last night and found bootcut jeans that look great on me at a FANTASTIC price! I bought 2 pairs straightaway which cost me only a little more than when I bought just one pair at Giordano (and that place has become too trendy for me. You guessed it, skinnies and straight cuts galore!). I spent a good part of the hour getting the salesgirl helping me to get pair after pair after pair of jeans and pants, all the while wondering what the husband would say if he was here (nothing if he knew what is healthy for him but I digress).

So now I can cross out jeans from my To Get list. As my dearest and nearest know, I am a list girl. I list down everything just to have some sort of order to my messy life. So coming to Singapore, I had a few lists of cos. I've crossed out most things on my To Get list but I'm still a woman deprived of retail theraphy so the To Get list has lots of space at the bottom just waiting to be filled. The To Makan list grows almost everyday but I have made it a point to eat something new at every meal and so far the only thing that I have eaten twice is prata, nasi lemak and the seafood platter at Fish & Co (they are just too good for me to pass up). I'm sure I have a To Do list lying around somewhere but seeing how my To Get and To Makan list keeps me so occupied both night and day, I keep forgetting I have a 3rd list, and worse, I'm not sure how long that list is. Hee hee!

I'm not looking forward to having to take that loooooong plane ride back to Sweden but all good things must come to and end. My sis in law wants me to extend my stay in Singapore till the end of the month but as much as I'm ACHING too, I must always keep in my mind that I do have a husband waiting for me in faraway Sweden and I need to consider his needs as well. I've missed us celebrating our first Hari Raya as a married couple and my birthday and our first year anniversary looms ahead in 2 weeks so I feel a mass of conflicting emotions that keeps me confused and guilty. It'll probably be a year until I'm able to come back to Singapore and Malaysia to visit my family and especially my nieces whom I love to pieces so I feel like I want to spend as much time with them as possible. I see my husband everyday and us being apart like this will no longer be the norm. But the guilt comes because I miss so much of the important events in our lives during this short month that I am in Singapore. Hai...I'll work things out, that much I know, and in the meantime, I'll be enjoying all that I can...mmmm....shopping...food.... Singapore is so great compared to Sweden because of the variety lah. I like!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Food Culture

The more I spend time in Singapore and Malaysia, the more I realise just how different the food culture is between Singapore and Sweden. Not just Singapore but one can safely say, the entire South East Asian region.

I've always been aware and am grateful of the fact that I grew up in a country and society where food is more than just nourishment, it is a lifestyle. We talk about what we're going to have for breakfast the next day when we have dinner, we talk about what we're going to eat for lunch at breakfast and we discuss our dinner options at lunch.

My brother says that Asians eat all the time because we need to. It's the heat..we need nourishment and replenishment of the energy we lose in the high temperatures we're subject to. So that is the main reason why we eat all the time. And yes I agree..it does feel like we eat ALL the time.

Dear husband doesn't quite understand how and why for example the Malays can eat things like nasi lemak, lontong and mee rebus for breakfast. As a matter of fact, the fact that Singaporeans eat hot food like curry puff, char kuey and congee in the morning confounds him. All he can muster at 8am is a bowl of cereal with orange juice and even chicken ham on crackers if he's feeling adventurous. Hai angmohs...how you miss out on the fun of food.

My father in law once asked me, how do you taste the food if your food is so spicy? Well, this is something that will forever evade those who are unable to or resist to capitulate to the wonders of spice and spicy food. What is nasi lemak without the sambal? What is laksa without the kick of chili in the gravy? What is malay food without the all important chili? How can the food not be spicy if it's all ABOUT the chili? That IS the taste of the food. That is what we LOOK FORWARD to. For the uninitiated, they would view the very idea of sweating through every pore of your body (and most unglamorously your upper lip) and sucking in air through your teeth to cool the burning tongue as you wolf down a plate of nasi briyani or sambal prawns or rendang most distasteful. But for the 'victim' who has to endure the fire burning in the mouth, it is mouthful after mouthful of pure heaven.

Most Singaporeans would say, where got KICK if we don't have sambal with nasi lemak?. And that's what we're looking for when we order a bowl of hot, steaming tomyum soup.

I have been away from my food paradise (Singapore lah, where else?) for almost a year and as I flew my horrendous flight to Singapore, it was mostly the thought of all the food I will get to enjoy when I arrive that kept me from teetering over to the dark side at my lowest point on that flight. And it is not just the fact that I will get to eat all the traditional food that makes Singapore such a food paradise for me. It is also the variety of food that is available and just how easily I can find food at any hour of the day. I just need to know where to look. But in Sweden, no matter where I look, it is next to impossible to get food other than what is sold at petrol stations late at night (which is 9.30pm). There have been moments of dire straits when I had had a craving so strong, I actually wanted to send the husband out to look for something to eat but it was like looking for a diamond in a large cave without any tools. It just could not be done.

Something else that has become precious commodity to me? Coffee...more specifically, mocha frappucino. The 2nd day after I arrived in Singapore, I rushed to the nearest Coffee Bean to indulge in a frappucino...any frappucino. Except perhaps caramel or some funky spiced frap cos I'm not THAT desperate.

This trip and I think for every single trip back to Singapore from now on, will be a trip spent mostly on buying spices, sauces, condiments and special mixes. Just so I can enjoy my favourite foods when I have to go back to the land of mashed potatoes, meatballs, jam, roast beef and bernaise sauce.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Wondering when lightning would strike and plane would crash

Finally I arrive in Singapore, a longed for visit that has been haunting my sweetest dreams for the longest time. Most of all I'm looking forward to the food and bustle of a cosmopolitan city and I dun have to fact GHs (grey hair) all day.

But before I can enjoy all that, I would need to go through the plane journey. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm more of a destination person than a journey person. I dislike long journeys and usually spend most if not all of the journey time fast asleep and hopefully wake up in time to get out of the car, bus, plane or boat. So the fact that I need to go through at least 13 hours of flying time in order to get to Singapore really bums me out. This time was no different. But if I had known what kind of an experience I would have during my flight, I wouldn't have gotten into the car and left for the airport no matter how much I wanna eat that nasi lemak.

I can safely say that even though I flew by SIA, this must be the worst flight experience I have ever had in all my years of flying both budget and hi end airlines. As much as I would like to, I really cannot fault the crew or the level of service that they rendered me. Simply put, it was just a case of true blue almost cannot get any worse bad luck with a generous dash of Murphy's Law having it in for me.

Eve though my worst experience was while I was on the SIA flight from Frankfurt to Singapore, the start of my journey didn't bode well either. My flight was at 9am in the morning in Arlanda Airport in Stockholm so dear husband and I had to get up at 3am so that we could leave town by 4am in order to get to the airport by 7am. Hai...a 3 hour drive just to get to the airport. This, for a girl who thinks that any trip going beyond 45 min is too long.

I had to take an SAS flight from Stockholm to Frankfurt and rush to find the gate to go to through in Frankfurt airport since I only had barely over an hour of transit time. As I approach my gate in Arlanda airport, I realise that something doesn't look right. The screen above the gateway stated Paris instead of Frankfurt. That was when I doubled back and realised that they had to change planes suddenly which delayed us by more than half an hour. I started sweating bullets hoping that I wouldn't miss my connecting flight in Frankfurt. The lady at the counter told me to try and run for that flight otherwise the next flight out to Sg would be later that night.

Shite. Especially since I still had to go through passport control in Frankfurt. Double shite.

But I made that flight with enough time to spare to go to the bathroom. Phew!

But that was the high point of my entire journey. Everything just went downhill from that moment on.

I was seated on an aisle seat which I was grateful for or else I may have seriously injured someone later that flight. While waiting for takeoff, some kids nearby started screaming and crying. 'Oh no', I thought, 'this is not good. But never mind, once the plane is in the air, I can just switch on my in flight entertainment systemm and drown out their voices. So I was really looking forward to my entertainment that was to accompany me for the next 11 hours.

But 30min into the flight, I realised that something was seriously wrong. My movies wouldn't start, I couldn't access any music and the crew kept on rebooting my system to no avail. After about 2 hours, the captain decided to reboot the entertainmant system for the ENTIRE plane since I wasn't the only one who had that problem. Apparently, over 60 seats had the same problem as me. With an almost full flight and over 60 probelm seats, no way I could get a working system. So I was basically left with nothing and I still had over 9 hours to go.

Shite.

Fine, I took down my MP3 player so that I could at least have some music and hopefully that would help me doze off. I was having trouble sleeping (of all times!!!) cos my stomach was feeling very bloated and uneasy. I managed to sleep some but only in 10 minute blocks, at most 20 min. That did not help the time to pass. 4 hours before we were scheduled to land, my MP3 batt died on me. What a luck!

So there I was, without music, movies and looking all around and seeing how others have a working system which really elevated my frustration. The steward and stewardess who had been helping me out knew of my predicament and they tried their best to provide me with anything I needed. At around that time, the air steward approached me as I was taking a walk up and down the aisle (to pass the time and stretch) and apologized again for the system failing me. As a token of apology, his supervisor gave me some compensation which I can use on my next flight with SIA. I was very surprised and totally didn't expect it so it was a nice lift for my spirit...for 15 min.

My last resort to pass the time was finally to read my book which would certainly keep me occupied for a long while. So I switched on my reading light and dived into my book, feeling better although I still wished that I could sleep. 10min later, I realised my light was moving. I looked up and saw the guy sitting in front of me was pushing my light to face the opposite way! I almost shouted, 'What the hell!' but the stewardess came and asked him not to do that since it was my light he was moving. So he started pushing the light back my way but he didnt push it far enough back and the light landed on the Japanese man sitting next to me instead. So it was still too dark and I could no longer read my book. Bastard. You can only imagine all the expletives running through my head as I burned my glare into the back of his head. And the curses of all curses was put upon him.

No movies, no music and now no reading, sitting in the dark summoning all the curses I could think of. 4 hours before landing. And to top it all, we had the worst turbulence I had experienced. The plane kept shaking and there were moments where I felt I was in a carnival ride not a plane. Which so did not help my growing headache.

All I could do then was to keep asking for snacks. Once, I asked for a sweet drink hoping the sugar would help ease my headache. But the steward that passed me was one I had not seen and he was passing around snacks. But when I asked him for a 7-up, all I got was a look like he didnt want to do it and he didn't even bother to acknowledge it apart from his look. He then just continued walking down the aisle without a single word uttered. I was left wondering if he will give me a drink. And that was the last thing I needed. By then I was very very close to tears.

20min pass and still no 7-up. I got desperate with my raging headache and walked to the galley where they store the food to ask for water so I could eat medicine. And who would be standing there if not the same steward? When he saw my face, he suddenly remembered my 7-up and apologized but by then all I wanted was water and the strength and courage to survive the rest of the 4 hours without killing anyone.

Managed to sleep for 30min for which I am so grateful for but then was woken up by the damn stewardess who askedme if everything was ok and thatthey will be serving breakfast soon. Hai...do they really need to disturb my much needed sleep just to tell me that? But during breakfast, more turbulence came so we could hardly pick up our glasses to drink cos everything would slosh around so much.

I sat there for the last 2 hours just wondering when the lightning would strike and the plane would crash cos that's all that's missing from my 'AWESOME' flight experience. It truly sucked out all the joy and anticipation of coming home.

One would think that the worry and frustration would end there. But of cos it didn't. We landed in Terminal 3 which made me nervous cos I wondered if my brother who picking me up would realise that I was in Terminal 3 and not 1 or 2. I tried calling my sis in law...no answer. I tried calling my 2nd brother...no answer. And it was 630am so I wondered if anyone was awake even.

Shite. This is the last worry I needed.

I kept wondering if I should try going to terminal 1 or 2 in case they were there but that would cause even more problems if there were at the airport. So I went through passport control and waited for my luggage. Fatigue, frustration and worry started building up again when after 10 min my luggage was still nowhere in sight. Don't tell me my luggage didn't make the transit since it was so short. UGH!

But after almost 20 min, finally my luggages emerged from the bowels of the luggage compartment. Came out into the arrival hall amidst all sorts of peopel waiting for arriving loved ones and who did I see?

Nobody I knew.

My brothers were nowhere in sight and it was already more than 30 mins since I landed. I walked up and down the entire area a few times but still no one. I decided to try calling again but I only had coins so I went to the only coin phone in the entire arrival hall.

It was dead. Hai...

Started wondering if I should take a taxi home or wait or just go to the nearest toilet and drown myself in a toiletbowl. Walked up and down a few more times before I finally spotted my eldest brother coming down the escalator.

Phew...finally the end of my torturous journey was in sight. Thank God.

I am NOT looking forward to going back to Sweden.