O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Olla said that without Xiao Ying telling us about her precious childhood memory at the riverside, he wouldn't have brought out the CD with the song "Down to the river to pray", we wouldn't listen to this song that is in the sound track of the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", and we would never thought of watching the movie. 

We might just stayed in our own rooms doing our own work. Tonight will never be like this.

He's right.

I wouldn't have had Marsja's shoulders to lay my head on, Gunnar wouldn't have prepared the wonderful rum and coke, and we wouldn't have had such great laughed at the movie.

At the beginning of the movie, the old man told the 3 escaped prisoners:
"You wouldn't find the treasure you set out to find, but another one, which you'll find when you see the cow on the roof."

True enough, they didn't find the 1.2 million dollars, because there wasn't any in the first place. But they found a better treasure, they found the peace in their lives.

I'm not very sure whether I've found the treasure i am after, but I'm pretty sure I've found a better one-- the warmth within my corridor kitchen that kept us all cozy through good and bad times.

"O brothers let's go down,
Let's go down, come on down,
Come on brothers let's go down,
Down in the river to pray."

Göteborg in Spring + tips on how to know spring is here (in red)

This week i went to Göteborg (Gothenburg) for the Vitalis IT-healthcare conference. I was lucky to get to walk around this ancient town before leaving for Stockholm.

(my train was at 18:00)

Daniel Goude and I in front of the Svenska Mässan (Swedish Conference Center)
His a very interesting person~ he had a medical background, but now he's coding games for rehabilitation! IT & healthcare expertise in one!
Tips 1: look at people's attire. Not mine, hehe, but Daniel's

This is a statue of a man holding a fish in front of the Göteborg Art Gallery. Göteborg is a famous maritime city since a long time ago.

A view of Göteborg's busiest avenue, you can see the sea at the very far end. =)

Vasakyrkan. The church just out of a fairy tale.

Spring!! Pansies are planted to form the shape of a star in front of the church.
Tips 2: Spring is here when u see the thing that u haven't been seeing for months Flowers!!
Pansies!!!
Inside the church ~ the bygone era.

Tips 3: Just look at what they are doing. =)
Göteborg has two major canals running across it. This is one of them...
Tips 4: The banks started to get crowded.
Me at the river bank.
I learned from the locals... just lie down at the river bank and read a book.
2 frens chatting under the warm sun.This is the fish church! =) It's a building that looks like a church, but actually it's a fish market!
See? Inside the fish church. =)
Tips 5: People started to sit outside. =) One of the signs of spring.
Göteborg & its beauty
me in McD

And my McChicken...
(Er... i know i declared myself to be a vegetarian... but.. er.. u know, the burger is just 10kr..)The streets from the window in McD

Last tips of the day: When McD started to put Tulips on their tables...

Am I really retarded?

A Quest to Carry On

This is a period of extreme ups n downs.

Maybe because there's too much going on at every point of time, and I just couldn't get a grip of myself.

I've been crying over the same thing for the third time in one week, and everytime i thought it would be the last. The problem seemed trivial after every outburst, but soon it would start to agregrate again. I guess this is what happens when you go against your will.

I'm striving to do well in a territory foreign to me. Great effort results in insignificant deed. Despite the tremendous inferiority i've felt, the next step has to be taken. I'm not sure why I'm experiencing such struggle, while others seem to be able to flow with the waters. The only reason I can figure out is that something must have been wrong with my perspective. Maybe it's all in my head.

Neither can I share the problem, nor shed the burden. Most of me wanted to carry on. I know I shall find light sometime, and I hope it's soon.

But before that, I so wish that I could stop feeling so small.

Bara gången (Just a walk)

We took 3 hours to walk around Brunnsviken, the lake just beside my hostel. It was perfect weather, with an amazing amount of sun and wind. We saw ducks and a lonely swan; we saw people jogging and power-walking; we saw dried leaves from the last autumn, uncovered after the snow melted; but most of all, we saw how the magical glitters played on the surface of our beloved lake.

Our senses were calmed, our spirit uplifted, our pace slowed. Olla, Gunnar, Marsja and I.

It was just a walk for 3 hours, but it was wonderful.

Pics from Skiing trip ~ Dallarna 16/02/07

"The First" record
- first time sleepin in a Swedish home
- first time skiing
- first time long distance skating
- first time enjoying a real fire place

In the train to Dallarna... Ah yee, see the oversized bonnet!!! I got so big a head meh?

Arrived at Mora! Daniel's (my colleague) house is in Dallarna, some 10km from Mora

In the car, heading to the skii slope! See? It's there...

Ramkumar, Daniel and I
I'm holding the pair of Carving Skiis =) Bright orange!
Daniel and his brother Fredrik

#$%&*)(#$%@ ... It's so fun to look at people fall, but not so fun to experience it yourself!

Up the ski lift.
(Please forgive my ridiculous look with the helmet.. better to have it than to break my neck, hehe)

The top of the scary red line. =)
Guess what they are doing?
NINTENDO WII~~~~~
I got to try one of these myself :P Great stuff!
Day 2, while waiting to go skating, Daniel brought out this fantastic board game called the EuroTrip. The objective is to build as many railways as possible. It's sooo long since i last played board games... nostalgic!
Then... off to skating! And, this is not normal skating, we skated on the lake! Special skates (longer ones) were needed cuz it's long distance. Figure skates (the ones we get from skating rink back home) couldn't move as far. =)
Dinner with Daniel's family... Papa Bengt was not in the picture. =)
The Swedish traditional dinner was fabulous! (we had moose, hehe)

Corridor dinner -- Yum Yum Yum!!

Okie, I haven't been posting for a super duper long time. Well, have been busy (yea yea, who isn't). Doens't seem like a good reason isn't it? But anywayz, I'M BACK!!!

Just had a corridor dinner on Saturday. So basically it's a dinner for all the students living in the same corridor (we call the common space we all share a corridor since normally a hostel block has 2 corridors, left and right, on each level). It's a great way to get to know each other, since you not only can talk toyour neighbours, but also to taste their cooking!

We had to date 4 corridor dinners, and here comes the pictures for the 2 recent ones.

First corridor dinner (some time before Chinese New Year)

From left: Raj (Indian), me, Gunnar (Swede), Fredrik (Swede), Johannas' friend (Finnish), Dawson (Canadian/Australian) and Elena (Bulgarian). I know Dawson's origin might have sounded very unbelievable cuz it seems like he comes from two different side of the world. But yea, he's a Canadian citizen who has been studyin in Australia for a very long time.

We normally have excessive food, cuz everyone is sooo eager to show off their cooking! Hehe, so we ended up with bloated tummies and serious indigestion. So, that evening, somebody suggested that we should take a walk on the lake. And NO, my grammar is correct-- we literally walk ON the lake!!

It's not shown too clearly here, but the surface we were walking on was the ice on the lake. It had been below zero for quite a few weeks now, so it's very safe to walk on it! By the way, we had a Swede (Gunnar) with us, so ingen problem!! The pretty gal walking in front was dear Marsja, a sweet Russian girl studyin choir conducting. She can sing like a nightingle.
A trail of crazy students who had nothing to do after dinner!

And... This saturday!!
Menu:
Gunnar: Ragg Murka
Marsja: Tuna soup
Xiao Ying: Seaweed salad
Alison: Pineapple fried rice
Raj: Chicken curry and dahl
Dawson: blueberry and apple pie
Olla: Norwegien ice cake
Elena: "Lasagna-like" delicacy which i don't know the name

Well, to that special someone who has been checking my blog... yes! The pineapple fried rice stock you sent turned out to be a winner! Marsja was very fascinated by the taste... she said it was a bit sweet and a bit sour and a bit salty, and she couldn't really tell how it was other than it was GOOD!!!

Incoming!!! Pineapple fried rice for all!

Busy busy preparing... I was holding a Swedish traditional food called Ragg Murka -- a kind of potato pancake that you eat with bacon and lingonberry jam. Nice! The guy in blue t-shirt is Olla, the new guy in the block. He's a Swede studyin in the Police Academy. =)
Our in-house-photographer (Elena) took this pic of me while i was cleaning up the mess i made. :P

We were discussing about islam and the option to have 4 wives... and so, we decided that since Raj is such a nice guy, he deserves 4 beautiful wives! hehe...

Corridor dinners are always fun. But it also brings up the sad fact that people come and go almost too quickly. Johannas and Fredrik moved out, and Dawson is going to move out soon too. We hardly get to really know them, and now they are leaving... will miss them a lot! Best of luck guys!!