Tagged!

I've been tagged...yup...this game that connects all bloggers of the world has finally reached me, thanks to my NL (new Londoner) friend, Fran. And seeing that I really don't have that much occupying my time in the afternoons other than the going through the domestication of Dian, I decided I shall finally embark on this wonderous journey with you to realise just what a strange and wonderful creature I am.

The rules of the tag are as follows:

• State 15 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself.
• The 10 people I tag are to then to follow my footsteps and write their own 15 weird things/habits and little known facts.
• No tag backs.

Note that these are things that I either realise myself or have been told by my nearest and dearest....

1. I have a happy little dance that I do when I'm eating something I REALLY like. And it doesn't matter where I am or if I'm standing or sitting, I will dance.
2. I hate onions, tomatoes, beansprouts, avocadoes and any other vegetables or fruits that give off that raw taste so I pretend I am allergic to them. Unless of cos I cannot see them or taste them and all they do is add flavour to food without presenting themselves to me in any shape or form. Then we're friends.
3. I have been known to be rather active in my sleep. I have sleepwalked, sleeptalked, sleepsmiled and once a friend told me I sleepwalked to my wet pants to make sure they were dry. I have no recollection of any of these events.
4. I have the incredible talent of rolling over when the husband gets up to go to the bathroom at night and sleeping exactly diagonal across the bed so he has no space. And I refuse to move.
5. My friends say I look like I'm on ecstasy with a bad sense of rythm when I go out dancing.
   
6. I have been farted on before. A friend sat on my face and let loose a stinkbomb.
7. I have a deep fascination with biting and get the occasional urge to bite something or someone which usually means the husband's arm. I grind my teeth without realising because I want to bite something. I wish they had teething rings for adults. I can't chew on a dog's chew toy...it's embarassing!
8. I'm a perfectionist and cannot let go of something until I'm fully satisfied with the outcome (which is almost never) or I run out of time (usually the case). My workmates just call me obsessive compulsive.
   
9. I'm a chronic latecomer. Even when I start getting ready early with good intentions of being on time, I still come late. Improvements have been made in this aspect but developments are LATE in coming.
   
10. I have a VERY bad memory. The last time at the cinema, I had to ask the husband twice during the commercials before it starts what movie we were watching. And I had been the one to choose the film.
    
11. I don't like the pulpy middle part of the cucumber so when I eat cucumbers I always eat around it and leave the middle on my plate.
    
12. I hate to be chased even if I know who's chasing me and I know it's for fun. But I still play chasing games and cry at the end of it cos I get scared.
13. I follow strongly the philosophy of if I can't see you, you can't see me. So when the husband chases me around the house (yes, that's the chasing games I was talking about), I tend to jump onto the bed, bury my head under the blanket or pillow and shut my eyes. And I'm still surprised he can find me.
14. I have a tiny scar at the end of my right eyebrow that I got when I passed out and fell face first onto the concrete floor of my secondary school classroom while playing a stupid game in which I was the ONLY participant.
    
15. I have a gang of 6 friends who mean the world to me and whom I basically grew up with from the time we were awkward teenage girls at the beginning of puberty till now when we are all fully bloomed, gorgeous adult women leading lives in different parts of the world. Rock on, girls!

Like it or not, you're now tagged. So get a move on with those 15 juicy pieces of information and let the rest of the world know just who you really are! *smooches*

P.S. Praisie...as far as I know you still have not answered the call of the tag. Correct me if I'm wrong, if not...tell those bloody I*****s to wait while you tag the rest of the world. Miss ya! :)

The population of Askersund

I've been telling people back home and friends who are not familiar with Sweden and Askersund just how peaceful, quiet and SMALL this town is. The town centre area is certainly not that large, perhaps about the size of Holland Village and that is where we live. But the total area size of the municipal of Askersund is probably more like 5 or 6 times larger than that. A lot of it is made up of forest and farmland and more than 50% of the residents live outside of the town centre area.

Yesterday as I was looking through the Askersund municipal website (out of curiosity lah), I saw that they have posted the latest population statistics for Sweden by the Swedish Statistics Bureau. And here are the the statistical numbers in terms of population movement for the town of Askersund as of the first half of 2008.

Total population: 11 401
Births: 49
Deaths: 78 (what did I tell you about this place being like a retirement home?)
Total actual immigration (incl. foreigners and those from other parts of Sweden: 39

That's right, people, the municipal of Askersund has shown a rapid increase in population increase, coming in at 3rd highest population rise within the province of Örebro. Yes! We're 3rd! Hurrah!

Sure the number of deaths is pretty close to twice that of births but even with that we still managed a population increase of 39 in real numbers. Alright! And I can proudly say that I make up part of that 39!

And here I was wondering if I would ever make my mark when I came here. But not only am I part of that special 39...I have managed to make an even bigger mark on Askersund. Within the statistics, it does state the number of immigrants from outside of Sweden for every municipality in Sweden. And in the province of Örebro within which Askersund is located, unfortunately, my tiny town is last in terms of foreign immigrants moving in.

And the total number of foreigners moving into Askersund in the past 6 months? One.

Yup yup!! Yours truly has really put Askersund on the map when it comes to foreigners. I am THE ONLY FOREIGNER to have moved to Askersund in the 1st 6 months of 2008. How proud I am. Oh how so very proud I am....

The pathetic collection grows...a little..

The husband finally got off his bum and managed to get some more pictures of our Swedish wedding party from his best friend, Gustav. Hmph...that took a while.

So here are a few more pictures which include ME!! I'm so glad there's finally some evidence that I was in attendance at that party. Would have been so sad other wise.

A view of the barbecue...notice how big the in laws' backyard is? Their backyard stops where the bushes grow. One can definitely tell that they live out in the country...a mere 5 min drive from where we live.
And here is a view of the other side of the backyard. Just beyond the bushes behind the tall man, one usually see cows grazing during the summertime. Talk about cattle house call.

This is the playhouse that was built in the backyard a few years ago. It's big enough to house a tiny family of small people! So we have the playhouse AND the tent AND still had room enough for an Olympic gymnast to perform her floor routine on the lawn. And this is a MODEST sized home.
Finally the first glimpse of me at the party being the good hostess I'm supposed to be, mingling a little. But I'm no good at mingling..I'm so shy!!

Having a deep discussion with Stefan, aunt in law's boyfriend. This man cannot speak a word of English and when I first came to Sweden, I could tell the desperation in his eyes to say something to me but he just couldn't. There was once at one of the family parties when he came up to me and wanted to ask if I was enjoying the party but he couldn't say it in English so all he could do was hold my face in his hands for a few seconds and walk away. That was really funny..and yes, he had been drinking. But now we understand each other and we are both SO relieved for that.
Here Mathias was made to sing the song 'Oh Carol' but had to change it to 'Oh Dian'....oh no...

During the party, both Mathias and I had to make speeches and it was nerve wrecking having to speak publicly and I did most of mine in Swedsih so that everyone could understand. I think my hands were shaking so much and I was sweating bullets!! Did I look calm?


Dear husband doing his silly faces again...in public this time. Hai...this act is called Doing the Lip thing. Quite famous apparently among his friends. Funnily enough, Malin, Gustav's wife, seems to be enjoying the show...maybe a little too much....hmmm.....


And this is the 'I can't believe you're doing this' face I give Mathias when he does those silly faces, especially in public, or if he does any of the 10, 001 silly things he does everyday. I believe I was listening to him make a speech this time. One can only imagine what nonsense was coming out of his mouth at that time.

The beautiful centrepiece of wildflowers that I picked just the day before. I love the colours of summer wildflowers!!

Slowly settling in...I guess.

Yesterday was a particularly social day for me. Not because I went to some party, not because I attended some function, not even because the husband took me out to meet some friends.

No, no...yesterday, I spent the afternoon with the aunties who live on the same floor as me. Alone and they speak ONLY Swedish.

I was not sure how it all started but the husband was pleasantly surprised that it came to happen. He heard a lot of loud talking and laughing coming from the 2nd floor (our floor) when he came home from work and found me in the midst of Birgitta and Kensi. The oldest auntie, Britta, had just gone in to bake some bread (gosh! How countryfied living that sounds, right?! I'm gonna go in bake some bread now. Tata! ok she didn't speak like that but u get my point?!)

When I first moved here, I remember that Birgitta was one of the first few neighbours who personally congratulated us and welcomed me to the neighbourhood. So I've always thought she is nice and friendly. So on days when I bake and I realise that I've baked too much (which happens now and again since there's only 2 of us), I give away my baked goods to those around me (you know like how they used to do in kampungs, right? Countryfied living what...my countryside are ideals of the kampung life. I'm still a Malay girl, u know). I usually give them away to Mathias' grandparents first and then send the rest to his workplace (all within walking distance). But sometimes, not that often, I still have more to give away so I give to Birgitta who lives alone. Actually, all the aunties on my floor live alone. That's why I tell you, I sometimes feel like I'm living in an old folks home.

About 2 weeks ago, I decided to bake cinnamon rolls but of cos I baked too many (about 35 buns, crazy right? There's only us 2 at home!). After sending a basket of rolls to grandma Inger, I decided to give them out to my neighbours, even the ones I don't know. It's a little nerve wrecking for me since I'm so shy and all (stop making puke faces, Francine!) but most of all, because I'm still so uncertain about my Swedish. But it turned out great! I gave out to the really old lady who always sits alone outside her house but refused to give a response when I say hi (she does now!!), then I gave out to Birgitta (who was in nothing but a towel) and Kensi (who thankfully had clothes on) and lastly to Bosse, the fat, old drunk guy who has such a jolly face and waves so enthusiastically when I wave hello to him (over here, everyone waves to EVERYONE..or at least nod hello. But I'm a waver so I do it with energy. Husband is a nodder and gives the occasional hail wave).

Bosse had his door open when I rang his bell to give him a bun but I guess he wasn't expecting anyone since he was wearing nothing but briefs, tight blue briefs and socks. I'm not sure when I can purge that sight from my mind, but I hope it's soon cos it was NOT a pretty sight. But he didn't seem bothered by it at all and we had a nice little chat in his doorway, the first time either one of us heard each other's voices. He didn't even know my name but all this time he still waved so hard almost everyday. So sweet right?

So I was busy painting some shelves that we are going to put up in the house in the corridor and Birgitta came over on her way to the supermarket, wondering what I was doing (she's still an auntie and aunties are all nosy). So we chatted a little while and I showed her part of the apartment including the kitchen. I think that was the first time she had ever stepped into Mathias' apartment (so glad I cleaned the house that morning!).

So I was watching TV with my door partially open when I heard someone calling my name. It was Birgitta and she invited me over for fika (Swedish version of teatime) with Kensi who lives two doors down from her. Britta came much later and sat down with us since I was showing our wedding pictures and what a bunch of curious aunties they all are, especially Britta (who is seriously old. She looks almost ninety! But I think she's in her early 80s). With my limited Swedish, I tried explaining as much as I could but the most important thing was they understood me and I them.

And later that night, I went out walking with yet another auntie, Kristina, who works with Mathias. She's only in her early fifties and she's very friendly although sometimes she sounds like she's high on Speed cos she talks so fast and repeats herself. She has decided that it will be a good thing for me to practice my Swedish by going out on walks with her. And she has forbidden Mathias from coming along. Heh heh...it's actually a good thing for the husband and I. I get to practice the language and get to know others, independent of him and he finally gets some private time just for himself. Which I know is a rarity for him since I'm home ALL THE TIME.

So it turns out that I actually enjoy hanging out with aunties here. Not that often but on occasion is nice. They are all so jolly and laugh so easily and were just easy to talk to, something that I have found lacking in a lot of the people I've met so far. I think the fact that they are so much at ease puts me at ease, but others that I've met seem a little more proper, withdrawn or careful which makes me nervous and withdrawn. I am more myself with the aunties of my block than with most other people.

I am especially glad that everyone was dressed yesterday...seriously. I guess one can say that I am very very slowly but surely settling in and building a social network for myself, independent of the husband for which I am so happy for. Yay!

It's all in the balance, people..

The past few weeks, the husband and I have been working on creating a photobook as a gift for his grandmother's 75th birthday. I got the idea from seeing displays of photobooks in a store one day and I thought that a woman like grandma Inger (that's her name) and even grandpa Sven-Olof would truly appreciate something like that, seeing how such sentimental people they can be.

So we went around borrowing photo albums from members of the Sjöberg clan to see what kind of photobook we could come up with. We just finished the project yesterday and the end result was a beautiful story of a woman and her husband, their lives through the years and the people who have had the privilege to share it with these 2 incredible persons. We didn't come up with the story, the story told itself. Of their lives at work, at home and of time gone past.

And that has really gotten me thinking. There's been all this blogging about work, life, youth, relationships and what it all means in the end by my dear friends recently and to a large extent I fully agree with them. These are people I have essentially grown up with. We spent our teenage years together and watched each other grow up into adults, thrust into the working world and all it has to offer, the good and bad. We've even shared the tragedy of losing a close friend, someone who we agree have always been the stone support in our lives, there when we needed her and kept us grounded to reality when our imagination and ideals start to float us up into the heavens. That was until illness took her away from us recently.

My point in sharing all of this is that I've experienced my life up to this point in time and so have my friends. We've gone through a lot together, each with a different point of view and as individuals, we've been through even more. But we are only 27 years old. There is so much more to experience, both the good times and the personal tragedies.

Grandma Inger is 75 years and I saw her life through photos and I love what I saw. She didn't have a very high education, she didn't try to climb that career or social ladder or try to get ahead in the rat race. What she does have are her intelligence, her hardworking nature and a love and empathy of people that I envy. And still she had a job she loved, a career that spanned more than a decade and that brought her up to a high state of recognition and admiration and friends, family and acquaintances that love and appreciate her more than she realises. She has interests and hobbies, friends, family and the unconditional love of a husband who has not left her side for more than half a century.

She is the kind of woman I would want to be. She didn't let life pass her by, immersed too much in her work or in her family. Like any other person, she had to make sacrifices but the point is through it all, she maintained Inger the person.

I want to have a career, I want to have a family, I want to have interests and hobbies and friends to talk to. I want all of that but most importantly, I want to remain me. I don't want to get lost in my job like I used to, working 12 even 18 hour days, worrying and planning and scheduling in my mind all the time. But I don't want to get lost in my family either, like I do now, thinking of the husband, of having children, of domestic affairs all the time. And neither do I want to get lost in my friends like I did before I got married, always spending time with them, not going home to sit and just be with my family.

It's a very difficult balance as I toe the line of life, I'll be the first to admit that. But I have the rest of my life to work on that, making mistakes, going through phases, making choices that will continue to help me keep my balance. And I will still have my bad days when I'm anti-people, anti-babies, anti-*n****s, hate my family, my friends, my job and my life. And I will have my days when I'm cooking, I'm baking, I'm loving nature, I'm hating nature, I'm exercising, I'm lazing, I'm laughing and joking, I'm kissing, I'm hugging, I'm bossing people around or loving everything and everyone in sight.

But you know what? I don't care and I won't change as long as I don't focus too much on just one thing. Because that is me and that is how I want me to be, a balanced mix of everything, good and bad. So next time you have to make a big decision ask yourself, is this how I want me to be me?

So You Think You Can Dance

Husband dear and I love the dance program, So you think you can dance. We make sure not to miss any episodes of it, even dropping everything just so we can be in front of the tv, eyes glued to the screen on the night that it is showing. So we have watched all the episodes together, admiring the performances and auditions so far, not missing a beat. And we were rightfully pissed when we realised that Swedish TV had failed to show the 3rd season of it and went straight to the 4th season.

Oh well, such is life.

Anyway, so we were watching an episode of it today and it was showing the auditions in Vegas where they make the final cut to the top 20 dancers. And exciting it certainly was...but this post has nothing to do with the show, or how great we think it is, or even a certain scene or dance routine that played out that we thought is noteworthy.

Rather it was a question by husband dear, totally out of the blue and unexpected that got me laughing so hard and will be something he will not be allowed to forget for a long time...

So there we are watching the auditions. The dancers had just finished their performance and were being critiqued by the judges. The voiceover lets us know that 2 brothers are going to be judged together and will the judges split them up?

Husband dear turns to me and says, I wonder which brother is older.

I then face him and with a very puzzled look ask him instead, Which brother is older? Does it really matter, dear? They're twins.

He looks at me very surprised, What? They are? I knew they were brothers but I didn't know they were twins.

At this point, the 2 brothers are shown on tv, side by side, arms over shoulders looking sad as it turns out they are being split up as one is sent packing.

I glance at the screen and look back at the husband just beginning to realise that this is an absolute DUH moment that will haunt the husband for a long time to come.

I finally said, But dear...they're identical twins....

Hot Summer Days

I never thought that I would be able to do this in Sweden and actually enjoy it. I went swimming in the lake over the weekend.

I've always thought that it is too cold in the lake for me to ever swim but it has been very very warm (in Swedish standards around 27 degrees) the past few days which has helped to warm up the usually icy cold water. I love going out on picnics with husband dear when it's so warm and today was no exception. It was simply too hot in the apartment to eat lunch so we packed up a picnic basket, gathered up some pillows and a blanket and headed down the street to the lake.

The ducks sitting there got very interested with us when we started settling down under a shady tree just by the water and they literally got up and started walking straight towards us which kinda freaked me out. They looked like they were on a war path, so determined their walk was. But it turned out that they weren't really coming at us but rather making their way to the water for a swim.

Hee hee...paiseh..

It's so nice to just enjoy the quiet, the lovely scenery, the great company and food and read a little. The ducks don't really bother us. As a matter of fact, they tend to come and sit close by but it almost feels like they are keeping us company instead of bothering us so one feels peace of mind. It was in the midst of all this peacefulness that I suddely got the urge to feel the water. That was when we realised that the water wasn't too bad at all!

So we packed up, went home to change and made our way to the small island near the harbour in town which is called 'Barnens Egen Ö' which means The Children's Own Island. It's a very very small island connected to town by a bridge which also happens to be a docking site for boats, like a parking lot for boats. So as we crossed the bridge, we passed boat after boat, pretending one of them was ours and if that were true, which boat would we own. We've decided a fairly sized motorboat with roomy seating at the front and back (what do u call it in sea terms? Starboard side?) and a nice roof over oh and a large bottle of sunblock cos I hate to tan.

The island has a nice small beach that has a very gradual gradient so one can walk very far out into the lake, which can be quite dangerous since there are so many boats, canoes, jetskies and even wakeboarders passing by at high speed. It took me a while and very small steps but I finally did end up in thigh high water before taking a deep cleansing breath and diving right into the cold cold water. Brrr.....

But the sun was beating down and the water had warm spots so I managed to cling onto husband dear while he transported me around until we ended up sitting on a huge rock that juts out from the shallow waters. So there I was sitting on the rock, with the sun shining into my eyes, alternating between pretending to be the little mermaid and a sexy siren calling to unsuspecting sailors. The husband found it all very amusing.

So there it was, my first experience of swimming in Sweden and of ever swimming in a lake, the 2nd largest lake in Sweden, the beautiful lake Vättern. What a great experience to swim in non salty water while still feeling like I'm swimming in the ocean.

The Swedish Wedding Party....finally!

A little more than a week ago, dear husband and I finally held our Swedish wedding party. It was a party held for the Sjöberg clan and husband's closest friends. It would have been wonderful to have my family and friends there but for one reason or another they couldn't make it so one can say it was a purely white party except for the lone Asian who happened to be the VIP. Yay! hee hee...

We decided to make it into a garden party held in the in laws vast backyard so that people could use thier vast front yard as a parking lot. That just shows you how big the area surrounding the modest country house is. Anyway, we managed to secure a large BBQ pit, a tent in case of rain, a young uncle who would serve as the enterainment of the day and most importantly, a chef who also happened to be the husband's 2nd cousin. One can say it was a truly family affair.

The Tent
We borrowed a pretty blue tent that really made the party look something special and of cos with my wonderful decorating skills, we made the inside of the tent just as special looking. Surprisingly, the tent managed to fit almost 40 people in it. Didn't look that big when we were building it up. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us setting up the tent since I was too busy trying to be helpful. But it was funny setting it up with 2 halfnaked white men (father in law and grandfather in law) who occasionally scream and shout for no apparent reason except cos they think it's funy.

View of the tent from above. That's my sister in law right in the middle looking like she's ready to join fight club. Can you imagie how big the back yard is? This is just part of it!

The inside of the tent tastefully decorated by paper tablecloth, plastic tablerunner (which is actually platic covers for books but necessity is the mother of all inventions right?) and wildflowers that I picked the day before from the nearby woods.
What I really like about the tent is that there are windows on both sides of the tent. Even though they are 'drawn' in and not really windows that one can open and shut, it adds a touch of elegance and light into the tent. All in all it all looked very garden party and very summery which I loved.

The Food
Most of the food we served would be grilled so our dear chef, Jimmy (who really is an executive chef at some high end restaurant in Örebro, the big town nearby) made a lot of different sauces including hummus and salsa. He then made potato salad, gratinated potatoes which we sooooo good and basically made sure everyone was well fed. Even till today, we still get calls from our guests who rave about how good the food was. Thank you Jimmy!!

Our buffet table that was absolutely filled and it didn't even include the barbecued food yet. The famous gratinated potato is at the foreground of the above picture and it is famous cos it is Jimmy's signature dish. It was also the signature dish of a known high end restaurant that Jimmy had worked in before and was very popular and sought after. So I guess one can say that we had restaurant food at our modest little party.

We had grilled beef, chicken, crayfish, prawns, asparagus, mozarella and other vegetables. And just for the kids, we had burgers and hotdogs.


This was what I called Jimmy's office for the day. Look at all the food just waiting to be grilled. One actually goes to Jimmy to let him know what you wanted and he would start grilling it for you then. Food was sooo excellent!! I'm still dreaming of it sometimes.


The father in law was the self appointed bartender of the day. He made sure that nobody went thirsty. Even though in our invites we had stated that we would not be serving alcohol, we made it into a BYOB party, bring your own beer which people did! And so the love was shared by those who brought their own spirits and dad in law had beer so people stll got drunk at our party. Just the way the Swedes do it!Dad in law may look innocent here serving just soft drinks but right next to him was a beer keg that he refilled 3 times which meant that 15 litres of beer was served that day. Very very little for a Swedish party.

The Guests
I knew and had met most of the guests from our engagement party some 2 years ago but it was fun to see them again after so long and especially to see the kids who have grown up since.















Here stand 2 lovely boys, Noel my nephew in law (the dark haired one) and Eskil, one of Mathias' best friend's sons. The last time I saw Eskil, he was only 2 and just as shy. But oh so smart that boy!! I guess that happens when one's dad is a genius.















And this is Leon Georg Viking Gullberg...the very small cute boy with a very big bombastic name. But such a good natured baby, smiling and laughing all the time. And soooo cute! Look at the little pug nose.

The only people who actually danced at our wedding party. My sister in law, Jessica and her 2nd son, Isak managed a twirl around the tent entrance. Jessica says that she's gotten the boys side of the Sjöberg clan now it's our turn to produce the girls for the family.

I just wanted to show off the kids that came since they were so cute. If you notice, there were no girls because it appears that everyone close to Mathias' heart have produced nothing but sons. So I guess it is up to us to produce the girls. Yeah right...

The Wonderful people who helped make it into a Success.

A huge thank you must be said to Jimmy, our wonderful chef and grillmaster for the day without whom the party would not have been as successful as it was.

I still cannot rave enough about just how good the food was. And how nice Jimmy was throughout the whole thing and especially his great philosophy of no one shal go home hungry cos not a singe guest left dissatisfied. How can they with over 10kg of potatoes, salad, animals and grilled vegetables?

Next in line is our entertainment man, Jonny. He's around the same age as Mathias but he is really my father in law's cousin. He had his own little corner in the tent set up to the nines with speakers, mics, guitar and mixer. And even though he started the day singing, it ended with many others, drunk and ridiculously happy, joining him in song and dance.

And where would we be without my in laws? Thanks to them, we had our event venue, a wonderful site out in the countryside. And with their help we managed to set up the tent pretty quick, not to mention all the before and after party help with set up and clean up.

I must say that I am lucky that my in laws are really nice and geerally unassuming people. They don't have preconceived ideas of the roles that a husband and a wife plays and even if they do, they don't pressure or even expect us to be ike that. They just accept us the way we are and for that I am really glad. Lady next to my father in law is his mum and lady next to tiny mum in law is his sister. So now you finally meet the members of my new family, the Sjöberg clan.

*If you notice, there is not a single picture of me during the party. Reason is that dear husband is very very bad at remembering to take pictures. So yup, he FORGOT to take pictures of me during the wedding party...grumble grumble....*

Environmental Conscience...Are you up to it?

I know that these past few years, awareness and action to help the environment have been stepped up. I'm especially aware of it now that I've moved to Sweden. People recycle a LOT more in Europe and a lot of laws are formulated with the climate and nature in mind. They even put a tax on people who use diesel cars simply because they emit certain particles into the air that have as yet unknown effects on the environment. Since they have no idea what effects these particles have on the environment, they've decided to put a tax on it. Just to be safe.

Talk about thinking ahead.

So I am not very sure what to think when I read this article about the Mooncup. It is purely for women and I honestly don't know if I would ever want to try this out. Suffice to say that I was surprised, amazed, flabbergasted, speechless and to a large extent rather grossed and freaked out by this product.

I just wonder how long this product has been around. Seems that it's been around but just not too popular. No wonder. Seriously. Ugh...

Women out there! Would you use it? Ever consider it? Buy it just for fun?

A Glance Through Time

The husband and I have an ongoing project at the moment. We have decided to create a special book with photo memories for his grandparents. Unlike most other albums, it is not an album stuck with printed out photos and decorated. That is a scrapbook.

We have decided to up it a notch by actually sending the photos to a photoshop to actually produce a book with the photos printed onto the pages of the book and bound with a hard cover. It will look sooo classy and I'm excited to actually help put it together.

I have a special soft spot for husband's grandparents simply cos they are the sweetest and kindest and nicest people around. They made me feel welcome almost instantly when I first came to Sweden and when I officially became a member of the Sjöberg family. and for that I'm always grateful.

So anyway, we've been spending the past week scanning old pictures that we got from Mathias' parents and I got to see baby pictures of the husband and he was SUCH a cute baby!!

So here is a brief comparison of childhood pictures between husband and wife.

The Baby















Here we are in our first years. Both cute and chubby. Both STILL cute and chubby many many years later.

The Toddler











He was the calm, stay at home kid while I was out rocking the world, hanging out at the beach getting sunburn on my ears since they caught so much of the damn rays.

The Young Innocent Child














Who would have thought these two kids, so young, so innocent, so different and so far apart would one day end up sharing a life together?

The Teenage 'Find your true self' Years












One of the most painful things one can do is to look back and stare at a picture of oneself at one's most vulnerable and sensitive...the teen years. What a tomboy I was...how very Duran Duran he looked. Ugh!...MY EYES! MY EYES!.... Somebody get me some saline to wash my burning eyes!

A Work In Progress...

At our best and worst looking... (I bet husband will protest unfair that I show my good pic and his bad. But hey, it's my blog, love, so live with it. :P)












We've always enjoyed the beach and clear waters...who doesn't? (maybe not Francine?...)









And finally finding our way to each other...

On our honeymoon...

Speaking of married, next Saturday will be the day we're having the Swedish half of our wedding party. Finally! After the big bash in Singapore, the Swedish party is (thank goodness) more toned down. We will be having a relatively small garden party in the backyard of the in laws modest country home. I'm quite excited about the party since I like parties anyway, and it will be a nice bbq with close family and friends (his mostly). So instead of the 600 guests in Singapore, we will be expecting 35 guests next week. What a difference!

We've borrowed a large party tent from one of the family friends, gotten husband's 2nd cousin who's a restaurant chef to take care of the food, a very young uncle who is more like a cousin to handle the entertainment and tables and chairs from the club that grandma belongs to. So all in all we managed to save quite a lot in terms of decoration which leaves us to splurge on food which is actually appropriate seeing how we are SUCH food lovers ourselves.

Can tell right? Heh heh...

Why Sussie Why??!!

I have a cat. Or rather a big kitten since she turns 1 in September.

Her name is Sussie. She is black with ears too big for her tiny pixie face.


My Sussie is cute, not too cuddly (yet), loves the attention we shower her and has recently grown a liking to climbing onto me when I'm lying in bed and settling down either on my tummy, chest or between my legs. She hasn't gotten round to climbing onto hubby yet but then again, one must conquer the hill before attempting the mountain, right?

Like most kittens, she's rambunctious, curious, playful and bloody clumsy. We've realised that she's also got a bad sense of balance for a cat, has a strange habit of eating string, drools like crazy and sulks if she doesn't get what she wants (like the teenager she is). And according to husband, she's like most women he knows...everything she eats goes straight to the butt. Yeah, our cat has an ass to rival JLo.

During the nights, Sussie goes crazy. She likes the fact that the entire apartment is connected by doors and there are no dead ends. So she spends a large part of the night running like crazy from the kitchen up onto our bed, down under it, out to the livingroom, into the foyer and back into the kitchen. We have no idea what is chasing her or what she is chasing. And I think she's got no clue either. So we started calling The Little Crazy One. She does that all the way until our bedtime when husband closes the door connecting our bedroom to the kitchen so suddenly there is a dead end in the apartment. That is when she goes crazy in the livingroom. Our livingroom is a true blue jungle gym paradise for this little cat.

So many places to climb, so few hours in the night to do it!

And of cos she still has access to our bedroom through the other door that leads to the livingroom. So she enters once in a while when she feels lonely and jumps up onto the bed and occasionally tries to nibble on our toes (mostly the husband's toes. Maybe cos they're bigger and therefore more luscious. I dunno!). Many a time, I have been woken up by the husband suddenly grunting loudly and smacking the foot of the bed like crazy before falling heavily back into bed and into sleep. I am truly amazed by that man sometimes. He can withstand the cat biting his toes a few times in a night and still for some reason does not close the door. Why? I still wonder.

On the nights when we do close both doors, cutting off access into the bedroom, Sussie meows oh so sadly and paws the door. Those have been guilt ridden nights for me but for the sake of a full night's sleep, I close my eyes and try to drown out her cries cos I know she'll just come in and disturb us if we opened the door.

Sussie has a pretty bad sense of balance...for a cat. Many a time she has tried and failed to jump onto a table or ledge and stay on. There was once when I was sitting at the computer table and she came up to me and attempted to jump up onto the table. But she got as far as getting her chin and both paws onto the table while the rest of her dangled down and of cos she fell off and landed in a heap under the table. Such shame she must have felt but such courage for soon after, she moved on towards husband and tried to jump up onto the ledge next to him instead. But we knew that was an even bigger challenge than climbing up onto the computer table so husband told her, 'Seriously Sussie, if you couldn't even get up on that table, do you really think you can make it up that ledge?'

Such harsh words! And as if she understood, Sussie changed her mind and slumped off under the sofa to lick her wounds of shame and contemplate another climb on a different, more successful day.

Sussie likes to sit on the bed when I get ready to go out and watch. And when I am ready, she comes forward to be petted one last time. She's so cute. She loves to be petted although that took a while before she realised just how much she liked it. She's still a very very shy cat and runs and hides when we have company over. But at least with us, she's got no shame and wants to be petted A LOT!

For such a small cat, I often find myself wondering how on earth she manages to shit and pee so much in one day. She doesn't eat that much and certainly doesn't drink that much but the lumps of pee that I scoop out everyday are usually the size of my fist! And the smell of it...well, enough said that it gives off a full and heavy bouquet with a sizeable dose of sour and disgusting.

So yesterday, husband and I had made plans to go out when he came home from work. So as usual, Sussie sat on the bed as I got ready. But this time, she was not alone. She had with 2 of her favourite toys with her, a rat with a long string tied to it so we can play catch with her and a strawberry cushion that she likes to bite and kick. As I was getting ready, Sussie was displaying her bad habit of eating the string attached to the rat. So I pulled it out of her everytime she started biting on it. But then I went to the toilet and when I came back a minute later, there was Sussie on the bed, chowing down on the string like it was her last meal. By the timeI pulled Rat away from her, she had biten off and eaten about 1.5m of string!

THere was no way for me too get it out of her so all I could do was pet her and tell her, 'You know, you're gonna get sick. I can't help you anymore. You're gonna be sick tonight.'

But she seemed fine and the string was gone so shaking our heads in dismay, we left our little Sussie home alone.

We came home a few hours later and the smell that greeted us at the door was HORRENDOUS! There was Sussie looking at us with guilt ridden eyes as she met us at the front door and then running off in shame under the sofa, her safe haven. At first we thought that she had shat really REALLY bad and maybe she didn't make it to her litterbox. I checked the kitchen where the smell seemed to be really strong but there was no sign of an accident. We went out to the the livingroom and it smelled like she had shat everywhere, it was so bad. We searched everywhere for signs of a pool of pee or a stack of shit but NOTHING.

But suddenly, the husband looked under the bed and there it was...no urine, no shit...but A LONG PIECE OF STRING. It was brownish and wet and the smell under the bed would make anyone sick. Little Sussie had gotten sick like I predicted. She threw up the string WHOLE under our bed and it smelled like biological warfare.

And as usual, husband had to do that clean up. But after picking up the pile of SICK, he got so sick of the smell I had to finish off the clean up. I mopped up the entire bedroom and the rest of the apartment while the husband got out the fresh spray and attacked the apartment like he was out to kill flies. All while moaning to Sussie, 'Why Sussie why??! Why do you have to eat that string? Why?! You little crazy one..'


And that is the story of my silly little cat and her many adventures in the apartment.

Good luck my dear klasskamrater!

Since it was the end of the school term, the teachers organised a small party for all the students in the program from group A to D. We were gonna have coffee and cake and maybe sing even. Plus the students who were graduating (all 5 of us) would receive their certificates from Berit, including moi!

Everyone was so dressed up, especially the male teachers. Of cos Klas, my B teacher, didn't comb his hair as usual but he wore a suit with tie albeit a tad short!

Here I am after receiving my certificate and Klas comes running in with his old ass camera (which I think is only a step up from the manual wind up camera).
A precious picture of my dear friend Vlasta who is sooo camera shy. She graduated too! We've been through a lot in school together and she's the one I bombard all my Swedish on since she does the same to me too!
Klas, my teacher from B group and Anita, my strict ass teacher from C group. They are such opposites of each other but I guess good in their ow way. Funnily enough, they are also the 2 teachers I have the most connection with.

And here are my first and final teachers, Leif from A group and Berit from D group. They are the 2 calmest people I have ever met and they never seem to lose their tempers. Ever. Especially Leif who has such a deep, soothing voice and talks ooh so slowly. So slowly that Klas teases him. ha ha!One of the many singing sessions that the Burmese students put together. They love singing! And that guy in the front who is dancing like crazy? I have NEVER seen that man express any emotion or even talk until that day when he was jumping, dancing for joy and singing like crazy. But the moment the singing stops, he goes back to zombie mode and sits in a corner, expressionless.A final fare thee well to my 2 Iraqi boys who have been such a source of fun and amusement my last 2 months at school. And of cos our beloved teacher..ahem...Anita.

And this picture of me and the infamous Muthana is not to be missed. How to ever forget a man so amusingly lost in his own litte world? But he's actually a pretty nice guy and friendly too. He never forgets to say hi and includes my name (for some reason he remembered it more towards the end) when we pass each other.

Bittersweet goodbye hugs and well wishes. I'm gonna miss my klaskamrater (classmates) and all the fun we had in class. It was a happy and sad day all in one.

Farewell my lovely friends. We may or may not see each other again but it was fun while it lasted.