thoughts

it took me two days and a helpful dutch boy to figure out that there's wireless in my room. the hotel only offered free wired internet (i.e. from the sad communal computer in the lobby) and there was an exorbitant charge for wireless internet access. so for two days i've been circling the communal computer like a vulture, swooping down on it to email / text home whenever i could. but yesterday, the dutch boy told me there was an unsecured network that you could access from the deck! so this morning i brought my laptop onto the deck in hope of sponging off someone else's internet but alas, it was too bright and i couldn't see anything. disheartened, i came back to my room and tada! there was still connection! and then i realised that my room is on the right side of the hotel and that side miraculously has wireless access. if only i'd checked sooner! which explains why i'm able to update proper now.

the first two days in stockholm have been nothing short of wonderful. i used to think that the cariocas (people of rio de janeiro) were the friendliest on earth, after multiple positive encounters in rio this summer. but the stockites (?) give them a run for their money! since i hit the ground running two mornings ago, i've met kind locals. when i first surfaced from the metro and was looking at the map, a passerby stopped and asked in english if i needed any help. and random strangers helped me lift my blue house of a suitcase on and off the bus. and when i was seeking refuge in the rain at a cafe in the old town, a photographer at the next table saw my valiant attempt to balance my tiny camera on the rickety wooden ledge to take a self-portrait and offered to help me. which led to pleasant tea-time conversation about the city. they were most helpful, telling me which areas to explore and how to get about. interestingly, they'd noticed that i'd looked at the menu but not ordered anything (other than coffee) and they asked if i found the city expensive, which i have. and then they gave me this whole list of cheap eats and i was touched that complete strangers were genuinely concerned about my caloric intake! i mentioned in passing that i was looking for a card reader and this first thing this morning i receive an email with a photo of the cheapest available model and directions to the store, which happens to be right on my street! little things like that make me feel very welcomed in stocks. and yes, while i agree that you can never completely trust anyone, this short time away has ironically taught me to trust people.

i've been brought up to play my cards close to my heart, hold everyone at arms length and never divulge personal details about myself. my parents have my best interest at heart and after they watched taken (WHY PARENTS WHY WHY WHY???) they were even more convinced that lone female travellers are just asking to be sold to sex slavery. so they sent me off with horror stories and many a 'don't talk to strangers! not even the cabby! in fact, just don't take a taxi!' and i'm subconsciously second guessing everyone and wondering if they've a hidden agenda. which, as you might imagine, is incredibly tiring. doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that such paranoia will rob me of the full experience of living away by myself. so i'm trying to temper the caution with wisdom and taking it as it comes. if i meet friendly people, i'll be friendly back. i won't tell them where i'm staying but i don't see any harm in making small talk and learning from the patriotic locals who are only too happy to share their lovely city. i even had fun talking to a retired lyonnaise couple in the same cafe yesterday! in french! and i love how i'm speaking french in stockholm and i could tell them i've tried a bouchon in lyon and it was unpalatable because the calf stomach was bitter! the world is so small and stockholm so cosmolitan and i feel invincible and glad that i'm singaporean and able to take on the world, one nationality at a time :)

speaking of singers, everyone knows about singers!!! gone are the days when people think it's in china. the people i've spoken to are quick to show that they know pertinent facts about singapore, like how there's an expo where they've trade fairs (this was from a sofa salesman whose boss went to singapore for a furniture road show!), chewing gum is illegal, there's a single political party and the people are hyperefficient. all stereotypes, no doubt, but there's some grain of truth. and i'm in scandinavia but even here the locals know of the cheap electronics that singers has and how it is a model of modern economic success. singapore boleh! i saw someone with a hard rock cafe singapore shirt too, and that was pretty cool :)

being alone has been awesome too. for the first time in my life i'm not in a hurry, sad but true. i've all the time in the world and the long daylight hours means i can bum around the hotel till 2pm and still go out with enough day light hours to do whatever i want to do. doing a district a day and that's the only thing i've planned for that day because if i didn't have the simplest of goals i'd just vegetate and watch movies on my laptop. so reachable goals are a good thing! and being accountable only to myself is a liberating feeling. i can go back to sleep after breakfast without feeling bad for holding anyone up or i can sleep in and not worry about my travel buddies waiting for me when they're all ready to go. it's just very different from traveling with friends and i don't miss company yet. but then again it's only been two days. i told the dutch boy this and he was appalled that i have no freedom (to him) back home. food for thought, i guess when there's always something to do and a time within which it must be done then you just get to it. but here, when i was waiting thirty minutes for the computer last night, i realised that i could wait for hours and there's no limiting factor, save my patience.

i love roaming the streets and walking everywhere in the perfect perfect weather because i know the days are only going to get shorter and in no time i'll be confined to the subway because walking on the streets will be reserved for masochists. occasionally, i feel as if i'm experiencing a delayed adolescence of sorts, having only left singers at 22 compared to people who've studied overseas since their teens. i don't regret the late exposure but in my head i sometimes wonder if it's just me or does everyone share the same wide-eyed wonder when they first experience a different country. and living in a country for a few months very different from traveling. i'm blessed to have spent a good quarter of the year away on holiday for the past few years and it's not as if i've never left singers. perhaps it's a psychological thing, like only because i know i'm going to set up home here for the next few months then i'm making an effort to interact wtih other people. and when i travel i'm usually with a bunch of friends and we're a very self-sustaining group.

ok! time to hunt down that cheap card reader, book ferry ticket to island for day trip and get some air :)