30th April / Walpurgis Night: the biggest student party of the year

SILLFRUKOST (Herring breakfast)

Come and join us for the traditional start of Siste April/Valborg/30^th April: Breakfast with pickled herring (sill) and snaps before we continue the party in Stadsparken with a picnic!

Time: 10 o’clock (drop in between 10-11)

Bring: bread, sill & snaps and picnic-lunch including drinks

Useful info: try to do your shopping at Systembolaget* BEFORE everybody else, i.e before Friday…

We will finish the day with a barbeque in the evening, hopefully in the park opposite Petra’s place if the weather permits – otherwise the barbeques will be placed on the balcony… (if you happen to have a barbeque lying around, bring it in the evening!!).

WELCOME!

Kram P & Å

I just found the above email while looking for some photos for my 30th April post – unfortunately I couldn’t find any photographic evidence (as this was before the era of digital cameras)… The email was sent to our “mentees” - Å and I were mentors for some international students at Lund University in the spring semester 2000 (as well as the previous years) (a friend of ours called them our “men-team”, ha ha!). We had a great 30^th April celebration that year, and also the year after when we managed to gather more than 20 of our master’s friends in Sweden to show how Swedish students party! Oh the nostalgia…

So, what is the 30^th April about? Well, for non-students it is Walpurgis Night or simply bonfire night – towns and villages arrange bonfires** and choirs sing spring songs to celebrate that spring has [hopefully] arrived. Most Swedish adults will have dinner with friends after the bonfire while the teenagers are getting drunk with their friends… However, for the students, at least at the old university towns of Uppsala and Lund, will have been partying since the morning. Most professors will make sure to not schedule any lectures or exams on this day as nobody would show up anyway…

The different universities have their own traditions but in Lund the following schedule for the Last of April (as the date is called there) is followed:

Morning: The herring breakfast (see above email) at somebody’s home – including snaps and pickled herring! The master’s students had their breakfast in Copenhagen 2001 and were given Gammeldansk (Danish aquavit) to start the day before they took the train to Lund…

Midday: Picnic in the park. The international students have all been impressed by the magnitude of the party in the park – EVERYBODY is there, or so it seems… Some take naps on the grass before heading to the next event… and some people bring old sofas to sit on! Today there were up to 15 000 students in the park, probably thanks to the sunny weather – check out some photos in the local newspaper! Unfortunately the party in the park is costing the municipality lots of money every year in cleaning up costs and there are always discussions on how to convince the students to bring home all their garbage (and to not step in the flower beds…).

The same newspaper interviewed some drunk students last year… Quite silly but the film shows the atmosphere in the park…

Afternoon: Games between the student nations (associations) (I never attended these games) and / or so-called champagne gallops at the different student nations – usually live bands are playing and people buy bottles of sparkling wine and dance… it is one of the craziest parties I have ever attended! (You have to buy tickets for the champagne gallop way in advance and they are always sold out the same day they are released) Canadian C took some great photos of the party in 2000 but unfortunately I don’t have them on the computer.

Evening: BBQ at somebody’s home (the student nations also have special parties) – after a long day most people are quite tired and the evening events are a bit calmer… Sometimes people play the Swedish version of softball – brännboll, if they have the energy. In 1999 our French friend M added a French touch to the BBQ with some foie gras, and in 2000 my brother lost his bike, but that’s another story

The next day, 1^st May is a public holiday in Sweden and most European countries as it is the international Labour Day. Political demonstrations are organised in all Swedish towns.

However, in Lund the students gather at the main university building in the afternoon to see the student choir (male, former students) greet the spring with traditional songs (more or less the same that the choirs sing at the bonfires the night before). The event was shown live on national TV for over 30 years but was discontinued a few years ago. Nowadays the local TV4 Öresund shows the event. The big question is always – is the university magnolia in bloom? And according to media reports the magnolia blossoms should look just perfect for tomorrow’s big spring greeting!

One of my favourite photos (again) – a magnolia in California!

I would love to be in Lund tomorrow for the choir event, but I am definitely too old and not a student anymore to enjoy the wild parties that took place today. But hey, I can still be nostalgic…

*) Systembolaget is the state owned chain that sells alcohol in Sweden (the so-called alcohol monopoly) … There are always huge queues before big holidays and special events such as Midsummer’s eve, Christmas, New Year’s, 30th April etc.

**) 30th April is traditionally the last day before the summer that you are allowed to make fires without a special permit (for example to burn garden waste).

Roadside markets in Puerto Rico

A few weekends ago when we were out driving on the island, I finally had the camera ready to take some photos of the roadside markets and the simple food stands… It’s a very interesting experience to drive in Puerto Rico, not just because of the crazy driving (not very fast, but definitely crazy!) and the beautiful landscapes, but also to look at everything that is being sold at the side of the roads!

Here are some examples, unfortunately not all the photos are great because of the speed of the car - O is a Spanish driver… 

Hammocks and towels:

Most towels and hammocks say Puerto Rico and have the national flag on them – I don’t think that they are just aimed at tourists, I have seen lots of Puerto Ricans proudly wearing “tourist” t-shirts…

Hammocks and towels flying in the wind

Some more towels.

Fruits and vegetables:

In the photo below the fruits and vegetables are sold outside a building, but people also sell from the back of their cars, or just walking in the middle of the road by the traffic lights holding avocadoes, mangoes etc. O sees a man selling oranges on his way to work every morning but he hasn’t been able to stop to buy some because of the heavy traffic.

Fruits and vegetables - NB. The plantains and interesting-looking root vegetables. I am not sure what is in the bottles in the centre of the photo.

Water:

I have also seen ICE being sold – quite impressive that it doesn’t completely melt in this hot climate.

The water sellers keep their bottles cold in coolers by the traffic lights, and walk up and down the road selling to thirsty drivers.

Food: 

The restaurants (chinchorros, friquitines) are more or less advanced – sometimes just a stand, a shack, a trailer or sometimes in real buildings. They sell snacks (such as the one below), lechon asado (grilled suckling pig) and other kinds of Puerto Rican dishes.

A pincho (snack) stand.

A more proper restaurant at the side of the road.
 

What I haven’t managed to catch yet with my camera are the stands where they sell puppies in cages (I feel sorry for the dogs), and the newspapers sellers.

And the last photo: a sight you see very often in Puerto Rico – a woman wearing curlers in public! They will even go shopping with their curlers. Maybe it is a fashion statement?

We tried to be very discreet, but it was difficult to time the speeds of our car and the other car while I was taking the photos – this one was the best one I could get without the woman noticing me…

Frustrating phonecalls with Americans…

Once again one of my favourite topics: Americans not understanding my English… And I know that there are other Swedish expats out there with the same experience. Is it really a question of us not knowing how to express ourselves in English or is it the Americans who don’t want to understand?

I just booked my tickets to go home to Sweden this summer!! Yippie! However, it was accomplished with a little bit of frustration. I don’t understand WHY Americans have a problem with understanding my [British] English.

Last time I arrived to Copenhagen in October 2007. You can see the Öresund bridge in the horizon. This time the landscape will be a little greener…

First phonecall to AmEx:
An American woman answers the phone, and I explain that I want to book a trip back home from our relocation location, and that it should be paid by O’s company. She seems to not understand me and I try to explain (in several different ways, talking very clearly and articulating well), giving the reference number, contact person, my husband’s name etc.

- Ma’m, I am confused… who is paying for the ticket, should it be charged to your husband’s credit card or is it a relocation?
- It is not a relocation, as we are already relocated, however it is should be charged to the company as we are entitled to one free trip home per year…
- I don’t understand ma’m, it is not a relocation and it should not be charged to your husband’s account…
- Well, it is a relocation, but I am going home for the free annual trip, which should be paid by the company.
- I am still confused, ma’m…

The conversation could continue for a while like this, I can see that we are not going anywhere here… But then the phonecall is disconnected due to internet not working (calling with skype) – thank goodness!! I don’t know what was wrong with the woman… and I hate when they ma’m me! I had the same trouble last year when I called to book my outward bound trip to Puerto Rico. It really surprised me as I am used to being able to communicate fluently in English.

Second phonecall:
A nice man with an Indian accent picks up, doesn’t call me ma’m and immediately gets what I want to do, takes the reference number and proceeds to book a ticket for me! He was so helpful and didn’t need any further explanations – I didn’t even have to repeat myself once!

Conclusion: Can it be a combination of unwillingness to understand and not being used to foreign accents? But, I bet that I am not the only foreigner who calls the company’s travel services.. It is not the first time though that I notice that foreigners understand each other more easily. And I am pretty certain that if the woman had been British, she would have understood me…

Anyway, I am going home to Sweden and that is what matters! I leave on Wednesday 18th June and come back to Puerto Rico on the 1st August. I will be arriving just in time for Midsummer’s eve on the 20th June and I hope that we can cheat and have the annual cray fish party a bit early this year!

A traditional cray fish party decoration!

O and I will once again be apart for a long time, but we are meeting up for one week in Spain beginning of July. And then I will be able to show off my new Spanish skills to O’s parents.

Hasselback potatoes on the Food Network!!

I was having my porridge in front of the TV this morning when I thought that I heard the word(s) hasselback potatoes*!! Could I really have heard correctly? Is hassebackspotatis really famous outside of Sweden?? I had to google it of course, and yes, I found lots of websites that mention the classical Swedish way of cooking potatoes in the oven! Isn’t it funny? I can’t remember when I made hasselback potatoes last time, it seems like such an 80’s recipe, but I think it’s time to introduce them to O! Especially as we are both big potato lovers

The chef who was making the hasselback potatoes this morning on the Food Network is a new acquaintance to me – Sunny Anderson (she even has a Swedish last name!) but here’s the recipe. She is not the only famous chef who has made a hasselback-recipe, also Nigella Lawson and Emeril Lagasse (who I don’t like by the way, seems too pretentious in that annoying French way and acts like a rock star on his cooking show on the Food Network), google to find more recipes!

Interesting how as an expat you become so sensitive to everything that comes from your home country – I am famous for pointing out Oh, that’s Swedish anytime there is a song, a film, a reference to anything remotely Swedish! I remember once in Italy when the song Crying at the discoteque with Alcazar came on the radio and I proudly announced that it was Swedish – my Italian friends didn’t believe me, and said c’mon you say everything is Swedish… But yep, for such a small country, we have made / are making quite an impact on the rest of the world – from H&M and IKEA, to Swedish music (and I am not just talking about ABBA…) and apparently even recipes! And not to forget, the Swedish words ombudsman and smorgasbord that have found their way into the English dictionaries (and many other languages use the word ombudsman).
However, everything that looks or sounds Swedish isn’t necessarily from Sweden – this is a photo taken in Norway, doesn’t it really look like the Swedish flag?

*) Name originates from the restaurant Hasselbacken in Stockholm where the dish was served for the first time.

Friday theme / Show & tell: Favourite magazines and newspapers

The last Friday theme chosen by Annika in Virginia, next month it is up to Desiree in Alabama to choose the subjects. My favourite magazines and newspapers are easy to pick - I love reading interior design magazines, some cooking magazines once in a while, and to a lesser extent fashion mags.

Here are my favourite ones, some of them are Swedish, of course:

Interior Design magazines:

• Sköna Hem* - I discovered this interior design magazine at my grandmother’s place years ago and I had a subscription for ages. But then I moved to Belgium and had to discontinue it. However, my brother and sister gave me a new subscription as a christmas present in 2005 and since then it has been coming all the way to Brussels. My friend T who took over the contract on my apartment has been sending us our mail every now and then, and this week O came home with the last three issues (that I had a subscription on) (we get the mail sent to O’s office)! I was soo happy!!
• Elle Interiör - another favourite, I have been trying to get used to Elle Decoration (UK & US editions) but it is not just the same, and not even Elle Décoration (French edition)… In the foreign editions there are too many too modern, too sterile, too hotel-like homes! I have asked my mother to buy all the issues that I have missed of both Sköna Hem and Elle Interiör, and she’s bringing them to Puerto Rico in two weeks’ time!
• Living Etc – a British interior design magazine that I like as it shows both exclusive and “normal” homes. Great for inspiration!

Women’s magazines:

• Damernas Värld – a Swedish magazine with, what I think, the perfect balance between fashion, interesting interviews with strong women, some recipes and travel articles.. I just received a package yesterday** from my friend L in Stockholm – with the latest issue of DV, some photos and some Swedish sweets!! I have been spoilt this week with magazines from home, that’s for sure!
• Marie Claire – a bit too many ads for my taste, but I like MC (preferably the UK version) for more or less the same reasons as I like the Swedish magazine above! I don’t buy MC regularly but every now and then, usually when I travel. I like how they make a smaller “travel-friendly” version of the magazine.

 Various magazines:

• Everyday with Rachael Ray - I am a fan of Rachael Ray and her cooking (minus all the cheese), and her magazine is fun and inspiring!
• Qué Pasa – a bilingual (EN/SP) travel magazine for Puerto Rico. I enjoy reading it to get tips and ideas for what to see and do on our island, especially when we have visitors.

Newspaper:

• Sydsvenskan - my local newspaper in Skåne has a perfect website where I can read all (?) articles from the paper version. My grandfather used to work as a journalist for this paper so it is very closely connected to my family. I really missed it when I lived in “the north” (i.e Linköping, not very far north at all) but when I studied at Lund University I would always have a subscription to this newspaper. It’s quite funny how I can discuss newspaper articles with my family, despite us being so far apart.
• BBC News - not a newspaper but where I get my international news… It’s actually my “home” page on Internet Explorer.

So in conclusion, it is obvious that I prefer reading Swedish magazines and newspapers but I haven’t found any great American ones that I like. Maybe because my taste is more European? But, I will check out the other bloggers’ favourites and maybe I’ll find something that catches my fancy which I can try to find in Borders tomorrow!

*) O has the funniest way of pronuncing Sköna Hem, somehow he pronunces Sköna in the same way as he does the name of my friend’s ex-husband S and my Latvian sister Z. It’s not easy sometimes to know who / what he is talking about :D

**) Yes, some mail is coming through to me again!! But my friend’s wedding invitation was returned to her (we couldn’t go to the wedding anyway, but it would have been nice to have the invitation at least) and my grandmother has given up on trying to send me letters! I still don’t understand if the mail delivery is depending on the mood of the postman or if some of the letters are really sent to Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria??

TV commercials on American TV: side effects and going green

Watching American TV is a study in patience… In being patient and sitting through all the commercial breaks!! I have almost given up on watching films on TV because a 2-hour film easily stretches out for more than 3 hours with all the breaks… And it doesn’t even work to change channel as most of them have breaks at the same time! However, I have figured out that E! is not usually synchronised with the other TV-channels so I get my entertainment news during the commercial breaks of other programmes.

Nevertheless, I am fascinated by American commercials and here are some of my reflections and findings:

• Medicines and drugs are a favourite topic for commercials! It is interesting as you hardly never see ads for medicines on European TV. And what about all the side-effects?? Do they really need to be mentioned?? ”Side-effects may include constipation, diarrhea, nose bleed etc etc”. I don’t really understand the point in taking for example an asthma medicine that can increase the risk of asthma-related deaths? But anyway, what’s the point in mentioning all the side-effects in the ad, when we haven’t even bought the product yet? (I do understand that it is to avoid law-suits, but isn’t there a limit to the liability of companies?)
• Do not attempt this at home and Filmed in a closed circuit are usually mentioned during ads for cars. Once again because of the liability factor…
• Have you seen the ad for Reddi Whip (whipped cream from a spray can) on the morning porridge / oatmeal?? And people wonder why the US (and Puerto Rico) has an obesity problem!!? It seems to be so American to take something so healthy as porridge and then make it so unhealthy by putting cream on top of it! I find it absolutely shocking, both because of the health implications and because it sounds utterly disgusting! Maybe because I have always had a problem with the cream you get from a can, euck! I was hoping that the ad had found its way to youtube, but no such luck – however I found an interesting article about the ad.
• But the most interesting thing about American TV-commercials has happened recently, let’s say for the last 1 month: everybody is going GREEN!! From car ads about zero land-fill, to Democrat and Republican politicians together addressing climate change (check out the web-site wecansolveit.org). I think that it is very positive that the big country in the west (well, north-west to where I am located at the moment) has finally woken up to care about the environment, but why all of a sudden now? Anybody has a theory?

Moqueta IS a Spanish word!!

Ha! I just found out that the word that I thought that I made up last week, and that my teacher also thought I had invented – moqueta (I got it from the French moquette) IS a Spanish word!!!

¿Tu estás adivinando? (You are guessing?) – is a phrase my teacher uses a lot during our lessons…

But, guess who’s going to tell her Spanish teacher tomorrow that she was right and he was wrong
How I enjoy being right… ¡Tuve razón! (I was right!)

Not a moqueta (fitted carpet) but a tiled floor from a torn-down building in Ponce.

However, I have to defend his honour a little; there are very few homes with fitted carpets in Puerto Rico – for obvious reasons… The floors are usually tiled, marble, or wood. O and I saw a few apartments with fitted carpets when we were house-hunting last summer – coming from two countries where fitted carpets are not common (i.e Spain and Sweden), it seemed especially unfitting* in a place like this hot and humid island.

The Spanish visit is almost over, the guests are leaving tomorrow and I will try to write soon about our excursions during the weekend.

*) trying to be funny!?

Friday theme / Show and tell: Favourite songs

Today’s theme is favourite songs, one from our teenage years, one that we like today and one song that we are ashamed of

It’s a difficult one this, there are so many songs that I like from my teenage years, so many songs that I am ashamed of and hm, do I know any songs from “today”? I don’t listen to the radio because we don’t have a radio (well, O says that we can listen to the radio through the dvd-player but I don’t even want to try that or I could listen through the computer… but I prefer listening to my old cd’s) and I have just forgotten about MTV as it’s no longer Music Television but just full of crap, annoying shows…

But, here I go, these are my selected songs:

Favourite song from my teenage years:

Never Tear Us Apart by INXS

I love INXS (when Michael Hutchence was still alive and was the singer, remember hearing something about a reality show trying to find a new singer…??) and had to chose between Never tear us apart and Mystify, but NTUA has a nicer video shot in Paris, so it’s more visual for today’s theme.

I also need to add this song to the category – I love Joakim Thåström’s Karenina:

Hm, it seems like I am just chosing slow songs – but they are so good!!!

A song from today that I like:

With every heartbeat by Kleerup featuring Robyn:

So it’s from 2006 but I still like it… I bought this great compilation last year when I was in Sweden: Absolute Svenskt with lots of great Swedish music – from Oh Laura, Laleh, Sarah Dawn Finer and Salem Al Fakir – I can really recommend it!! They are supposed to come out with a second compilation with the same concept this year, I am definitely getting it! It’s a perfect way to keep up with what’s going on on the Swedish music scene.
This is another good song from the compilation, Stockholm calling by Sophia Somajo:

I had actually never seen the video until today!!

A song I am ashamed of:

King of my castle by Wamdue Project:

There are lots of them, I do like cheesy music but this one is one of the songs I always listen to when I go on my morning power walks – it’s something about the beat that I really like for exercising*! It also reminds me of my student life in Lund, academic year 1999/2000 when my friend Å and I would go every week to Östgöta Nation and dance!

Another compilation that I bought last summer has a really silly name - Varma visor & ballader (Warm songs and ballads) but I have been listening to the two cds and getting into a great summer mood… However, I am ashamed to admit that I have been belting out Dans på Vejby Ängar with Hasse Andersson & Kvinnaböske Band!! There is something about the extremely strong Skåne accent that makes me smile:

Smedens Per tar fram sitt dragspel,
och Ola han stämmer sin fiol,
Karls Hulda tar fram sitt pyttelilla munspel,
och sin nya röda kjol.

Unfortunately this song doesn’t exist on youtube (why am I not surprised!!) so you don’t need to suffer

*) I listen to mostly cheesy dance music from the end of the 90’s – beginning of the new millenium when I exercise… maybe because that was the years I was most active with going out dancing!?

Alfabetet och jag

Jag är väl en av de sista att plita ihop min alfabetslista men här kommer den:

A Atlanten kan jag se från vår lägenhet i Puerto Rico

B Badkruka är jag här i San Juan där jag tycker att vågorna är alldeles för höga och kraftiga för att jag ska våga bada. Men annars älskar jag att bada, så länge jag kan bottna… Det finns som tur är andra lugnare stränder i Puerto Rico.

C Cecilia är mitt andra namn till alla italienares förtjusning (av någon konstig anledning!)

D Dansa är jag inte så bra på, eller som en av mina bästa vänner (kille) sa en gång på en bal “Du dansar som en Volvo 240″..

E Egypten är ett land som jag skulle vilja besöka

F Fondue, speciellt ostfondue är en favorit sedan jag bodde i Schweiz – mums!

G Grand Hotel i Lund är en av mina fd arbetsplatser, jag var städerska där under studietiden. Både Dalai Lama och Kofi Annan besökte hotellet när jag jobbade där. O och jag hade vår “bröllopsnatt” där i oktober förra året efter vårt visum-bröllop.

H Hemmafru är jag sedan november, jag grät efter vi hade varit på banken och registrerat mig som housewife (som “yrke”) på vårt gemensamma bankkonto. Den titeln trodde jag aldrig att jag skulle ha!

I INXS är ett jättebra band vars cd-skivor jag lyssnat mycket på den här veckan. Mystify och Never tear us apart är favoriterna.

J Jätte är ett ord jag använder jättemycket. När jag var liten fick min bror och jag inte använda det ordet för våra farföräldrar
Jag njuter av gryningen i Wadi Rum, Jordanien

K Kort stubin har jag ibland och jag kan bli riktigt sur men det går ofta över lika snabbt

L Lat är jag och gillar att sova mycket

M Min familj och mitt hem är väldigt viktiga för mig, precis som människor född i kräftans tecken ska vara…

N Nunca var ett av de första orden jag lärde mig på spanska. En av mina kompisar läste spanska på gymnasiet och lärde mig det (av någon anledning), strax därefter hade vi italienskprov och jag visste inte vad aldrig hette på italienska (mai) men dock på spanska!

O Oscar är min store kärlek

P P är min far och jag är döpt efter honom. Min franska kompis P är P No 1 och jag är P No 2. O kallar mig för PP.

Q Q gör mig förvirrad på spanska, för ibland stavas orden [som på franska och italienska stavas med Q] med C som t.ex Cuando…

R Receptböcker kan jag aldrig få nog av, försöker att beta av alla recepten nu när jag är hemmafru…

S Skatt betalade jag inte under 3 av mina 5,5 år på Europeiska Kommissionen. De första åren hade jag ett vanligt belgiskt kontrakt och hade inga förmåner alls från Kommissionen

T Tyska läste jag med en amerikansk lärare under mitt högstadieår i England – mitt uttal var en aningen bättre… Jag har dock glömt det mesta nu.

U Uppleva nya länder, kulturer och språk gillar jag – därför älskar jag så mycket att resa

V Veberöd är byn där jag växte upp, vi flyttade därifrån när jag gick i 8:an på högstadiet.

W Wadi Rum är en öken i Jordanien som jag besökte hösten 2006 och sov under stjärnorna hos en beduinfamilj – en härlig upplevelse (minus min franska chef…)

X X uttalas equis på spanska men det glömmer jag alltid bort
Katedralen (eller rättare sagt Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar) i Zaragoza

Y Yngve är andranamnet på den senast födda kompissonen (det är mest pojkar som föds i min bekantskapskrets!)

Z Zaragoza är min Os hemstad och vi hoppas bosätta oss där efter Puerto Rico – och stadens namn uttalas med läspande z på spanska, inte lätt!

Å Åhus är den närmsta staden till vår nya sommarstuga och jag ser fram emot många cykelturer dit för att äta glass på Glassbåten i sommar
Åhus, en mysig liten stad på Skånes östkust

Ä Ärtors stavning blev jag osäker på idag, ärtor eller ärter?? De gröna älskar jag att äta frusna – det gör både min syster och jag sedan vi var små och blev serverade frusna grönsaker som godis / mellanmål – mums!

Ö Ö-bo för andra gången i mitt liv… Här slipper jag ialla fall att ta båten varje gång jag ska någonstans – det blev ganska frustrerande till slut när jag bodde i Venedig.

Books I have read…

I have added a new page on the blog. If you look in the right-hand corner at the top of the page, you will see a link called “Books I have read…”

If you are interested in some recommendations (and some non-recommendations-i.e-please-avoid!) you can check out my [brief] opinions of the books (I haven’t written about all of them yet but I will update the page as soon as possible).

A good book and a cold coconut, just what you need on the beach in December…