Excuse me, but I’m pissed off.

Days like these the thought of boxing is more appealing than under normal circumstances. That’s all I’ve got to say today, on the last day of May.

sötétség

At 1 a.m. we see a blonde woman on the road. She’s hysterical, shouting at the cars. “Was her jacket blue?” I don’t know, I say,  maybe it was white, or pale blue, perhaps. Oh. Silence in the car. We drive home, I grab the dog and we get into the house.

Fifteen minutes later my mother arrives with the blonde woman. Her clothes are wet and the left side of her face is bruised , purple and blue. They know each other from Swedish class, with one week left of the school year the blonde woman disappeared.

She’s sitting downstairs now, trying to reach her boyfriend – the very same person who painted her pretty face blue – he doesn’t answer the phone.

The Perfect Running Buddy

The other day I signed up for a half-marathon that will take place at the end of October. Having a goal makes exercising a lot easier, and now I’ll be forced to go out running. I have also found the perfect running buddy…

Sasha runs at the speed of a little rocket. But, being a puppy and all, she sometimes needs to stop for some cuddling…

WOW!

Just got some amazing news from a friend of mine... congratulations! (You know who you are :))

A (LOOOOOONG) Day In Stockholm

00.20 a.m. Time to go to the ferry. For the first time in history I see my mum driving over 100 km/h, she’s usually the one causing the traffic jams.

01.10 a.m. Ferry leaves, I find my cabin and jump into bed.

05.45 a.m. Time to get up, get dressed in the darkness, grab some breakfast and head to the duty free shop for some battery (which keeps you going).

06.30 a.m. Ferry arrives in Stockholm, I decide to walk to the city centre (takes about 30-40 minutes) even though it starts to rain.



7.10 a.m I order a big cup of green tea at a coffee shop in the train station and start preparing the presentation I’m going to give in the afternoon. The task is to present a classmate’s essay: the topic is actually quite interesting – the girl has analyzed Google’s decision to withdraw from China by using something called value focused thinking.

8.00 a.m. Stockholm is still rainy and grey but that doesn’t stop me from doing some window shopping. I also go to a super market to look for something that a lot of Swedish fitness bloggers have written about. I don’t find it, but instead I’m offered a date by some random guy on the street. I kindly decline and hop on the metro.



9.00 a.m. The university is almost empty at this early hour, so after spending three moments (or five) feeling very melancholic nf front of the boards at the Institution of Slavic Languages (they are offering a course on Czeslaw Milosz… AND lots of language courses), I eat my morning snack (not only battery – there was some cottage cheese with nuts as well) while reading the newspaper. Apparently they’ve caught Radko Mladic. A classmate lives in Belgrade so surely she will give me a more detailed account of the events in Serbia. And surely she does - and apparently Serbia needs money -> has to make the EU happy -> finds Mladic. (surely nobody had a clue where he had been hiding for the past x-years in a country like Serbia - just saying that it's not very big)



This is also when I realise that I look like a scary ghost – it’s time to beautify myself!




This is our last meeting (this spring), so the whole day will be dedicated to presentations. Mine is in the afternoon so I lean back and listen to some really fascinating discussions on how to apply decision analysis on various kinds of problems.

Noon: it’s time for lunch –  each time we meet, one of the professors book us a table at one of the fancier restaurants at campus. The food is always delicious, and there is an ample supply of veggies and dessert too. On the way to lunch I get lost (even though I’ve walked the path to the restaurant many, many times). During this little adventure I find my dream house and smell some flowers, too.




At lunch we discuss babies because one of the girls in my class is pregnant…
 
After lunch a guy called Andreas presenta my essay, and the feedback is good. (I’m especially flattered that he thought my essay was good – nevermind the teachers – because he is working as some kind of security specialist for the Swedish army- yes, Sweden has an army – so he knows quite a bit about international conflicts). I get a good grade, try to hide a wide smile and then it’s already time for me to give my presentation.

15.45 p.m. I leave a bit early because I will be returning to the island with my dad and his friends (they’ve been to Italy), and we have a ferry to catch.



16.30 p.m.  I run up a hill in Lidingö to make it on time. There have been a lot of problems with the metro and buses, but fortunately everyone is waiting for me. I get into the car, and everything is black until…

19.30 p.m. ...I wake up from my nap. Sleeping in a car is soo uncomfortable, but who cares when it's an emergency. We get onboard, eat dinner and go shopping in the duty free.

23.40 p.m. after dropping everyone off, we are finally home! And now the bed is calling!

La marmota quiere su cama ya ya ya.

Someone tell me where all crazy ideas and expectations come from, what it is that makes a person think of herself in one way or another? Social influence affects our behaviour, that’s for sure. We use the people we are surrounded by and our role models to set the expectations we create for ourselves.

I have always been convinced of the fact that I’m an extremely lazy person, and at times it has made me feel really bad – in our society efficiency is usually one of the main keys to success.

But. (and there always is a but). Am I really that lazy? And even if I were, does it really matter as long as I’m happy?

Anyhow, this week has been and will be nightmare-ish. There is nobody else to blame, it’s the result of poor organization skills (but not laziness. HA!). The plan for tonight is to look for an online exercise plan, make a cup of tea, read for twenty minutes and then go to bed because tomorrow I’m supposed to leave the house at 6 a.m. for work – on a bicycle. (let’s see how many trees will be standing in my way).

Addicted to Harry Hole

Hello! Today was my first day at my new job, and what can I say: it was interesting. Life is quite a disaster at the moment – in the sense that my suitcase is still unpacked on the bed, I’m staying with my parents and the puppy keeps visiting me at 3 am for some cuddling and I have to organize a lot of things. At the same time I’m missing TT like mad – he could come up here NOW me thinks.

My plan for tonight is to watch a chapter of The Killing and keep reading a detective novel by Jo Nesbö – I’m so addicted to his books at the moment – I just can’t put them away until they’re finished (oh yes, there’s something about Scandinavian detective stories). Oh and drink tea. Tomorrow I’ll try to start getting organized, that means getting a library card, checking out one of the local gyms, visiting the tax office and studying some social psychology.

Van Gogh's Prayer

Van Gogh's Prayer

By János Pilinszky
Translated By Clive Wilmer and George Gömöri Read the translator's notes
 
A battle lost in the cornfields
and in the sky a victory.
Birds, the sun and birds again.
By night, what will be left of me?

By night, only a row of lamps,
a wall of yellow clay that shines,
and down the garden, through the trees,
like candles in a row, the panes;

there I dwelt once and dwell no longer—
I can't live where I once lived, though
the roof there used to cover me.
Lord, you covered me long ago.
 
Source: Poetry (March 2008).

Hasta la victoria siempre

A couple of days ago I was asked to write about the currents events in Spain. Here’s that post, a couple of days late because that’s how long it took me to figure out how to put my thoughts on paper.

In the past week or so, there have been several demonstrations all over Spain. People, being fed up with the current situation and corrupted politicians, are demanding “real democracy”. Among other things, the demonstrators ask for a fairer electoral system, something that the two main parties seem to be opposed to. Regional elections are held on Sunday, and apparently any demonstration planned for Saturday has been banned by the state’s Central Electoral Board.

The main Spanish newspaper, El Pais, has  interesting articles on the subject, they can be found here.

This post was going to be about my impressions regarding these events, described by some as a “revolution”, so here we go:

• A friend once told me: “ it’s difficult to think that Spanish people might be going through a tough time right now. Spain is palm trees and beaches, good food and party. It’s got nothing to do with economic disasters, mass unemployment and low wages”. Spain is often viewed as some kind of huge hotel resort, but the truth is that, right now, life is very difficult for a lot of people in Spain.  
• It is impressive to see so many people gathering together for a common cause. It must be emphasized that the protestors have been acting intelligently: instead of just “fighting the system” and focusing solely on the problem, they have been able to provide plausible solutions as well.
• I have personally not noticed any political polarization among people. That is very good, because when that polarization starts taking place, society will start going downhill.
• As so often happens, there are people who have been quick to judge the protestors as anti-system communists. However, to me it seems that the ones protesting represent various ideologies (if any) and that the main point is to improve the system, not abolish it.
• Unfortunately there seems to be  a great divide between those who actively seek change and the ones who don’t even know what’s going on. Social media have proven to be a great tool for this movement, but it might benefit from other ways of reaching out to more people.

 

Tomorrow and Sunday will be interesting days in Spain, so if you’re into politics or a  fan of Spain, stay tuned!

This is where the madness begins…

The assignment has been written and the decision trees and influence diagrams have been drawn… now it’s time to start thinking about how to squeeze in about 150 books, 15 pairs of shoes and a whole wardrobe into a tiiiiiny (OK- normal-sized) suitcase. And now to the coolest part– it has a sticker on it that says Международный аэропорт Внуково on it.

Oh no. There is one more thing that’s more exciting than any sticker in the world – soon we’ll live a train ride away from Great Mighty Russia. (it’s not a very short ride, but who cares…)