happy birthday nick

nick by night! here we are at helvetica in perth, nick brandishing a jug of fishbowl punch in honour of our fredag punch tradition in stockholm.

and nick by day, arriving on his white steed to whisk us to the golden triangle

don't you think day/night nick look the same? ;)

our friendship was forged that last sunny summers day in the park as we fell into step en route back to jeanne's for the post-picnic. my first impression of him was that of the world's most devoted boyfriend. get him started on lauren and the man will not stop... in the best possible way, of course :) we swapped stories about our immortal nanas, his in lebanon and mine back in singers. we puzzled over how they'd managed to pickle themselves and not show the ravages of time or gravity then attributed it to a lost art. there was effortless friendship from the word go, and then nick did the sweetest thing, thus cementing his place in my list of favourite friends. (yes, i have a list. don't you?) he escorted me to london. he'd been planning to visit family for awhile and i was hell bent on being a solo backpacker so he gallantly booked the same flight, was delightful company for the 12h it took us to get door-to-door, such is the sorry state of budget travel... and then he took the tube out of his way and ever the gentlemen, saw me to safety in the big smoke. so much for my pseudo-independence! plus we share some quirks and nick would come up with the funniest nicknames for people who got our goats. thank goodness they were none the wiser. then lauren came to visit and i liked nick even more because i became a lauren fan too and off we went on little excursions to tidemann's and sofo and gamla stan.

and nick's graciousness didn't stop with the end of exchange. oh no! swung by down under over the hari raya long weekend and he was all warmth and hospitality. suddenly we were traveling by car and it was funny because in stockholm all we ever did was take the bus or tunnelbana. or ryanair -_- seeing perth through nick's eyes and enjoying his and lauren's excellent haute gastronomy recommendations made the short break all the more memorable. all too soon it was farewell round two but i'm pretty sure the wind will blow him north soon, or lauren at least.

it's been a year since we surprised him with an army of revelers in claudio's kitchen, and here we are again. so happy birthday nick and many happy returns. exciting times, he's in for a sea change come next year :)

here's one for the album, of us freezing our tushes off in sigtuna, reputed to be the oldest town in sweden but we're not so trusting of guidebooks...

(sigtuna photo credits to simon of http://simonsk.blogspot.com)

swedish supermarket woes

(angst courtesy of nick holmes)

my exchange friends have heard this one before. but just bear with me.

there's something about supermarkets that bring out the worst in people. similar to communal laundry rooms and the road (i.e. road rage). so there i was, minding my own business at a check-out lane in lidl (the cheap supermarket where the largely unsophisticated masses do their groceries) and after this lady in front of me had emptied her basket onto the conveyor belt, i left a respectable distance between her stuff and mine. 

apparently not waiting until she plonked down the divider sent her ballistic as she started berating me in svenska and violently threw my groceries off the belt. remember being half-asleep, as was the state i usually went to the store in and was too stunned to react. might've just rolled my eyes at her and might've growled 'you've gotta be kidding me...' with a  -_- face. point is, i didn't understand the overreaction. then again, swedish strangers are weird. maybe something about me annoyed her. maybe she yelled at me to go back to china (haha) but the happy ending to this diatribe is that the cashier told her off and made her pick up my stuff. 

what a crazy.

gratification

:)

blog envy

(both photos by the massively talented philip jorgensen)

and a massive case of erasmus-envy, too. isn't he sheer genius with the light? :)

every time i pop by phil's blog, i feel like i'm a voyeur in his travels - and like i'm seeing everything for the first time through his eyes.

if you're feeling particularly masochistic, i highly recommend you too have a look at his work. amazing stuff. i wish i lived in his camera!

check it out, don't say i didn't warn you ;)

it's been awhile

since i went grocery shopping with a backpack

(and walked 15minutes to get home from the t-bana)

but it was de rigeur in stockholm where i'd make my weekly trek to lidl along radmansgatan in a valiant attempt to put the lidl children through college. or so went the joke A would crack. i'd load up for the week with many kilos of fruit and veg in a vain attempt to assuage my conscience about eating frozen chicken. i hate frozen chicken. but fresh chicken cost an arm and a leg and my prc flatmate taught me how to cook frozen chicken so it would taste like fresh chicken so i saved my kroner and went shopping instead. if you're curious, frozen chicken has its blood drained after electrocution (maybe he was making this up) so you're supposed to cook it differently to maintain the elasticity of meat. ok typing this out, i realise how silly it sounds and i was probably con-ed. oops. but the resident squatter from hyderabad taught me how to chop chicken and i soon got pretty darn handy with the chopper, minus the suggestive grunts they claimed i'd make. blush.

and when i got home, i'd gleefully unload my backpack, pleased that i was saving the earth one unnecessary plastic bag at time ;) although when the parentals visited i did request that they bring me 20 ntuc plastic bags for me to use as bin liners when it was my turn to be the kitchen slave.

the point to this is - i brought my backpack to the grocery store today and the mere action catapulted me back to the tunnelbana and stockholm. and exactly why i did groceries with a backpack will be revealed this weekend.

lappis

by far one of the best photos i've seen - doesn't this completely capture the essence of a lappis room? less you forget that this blog is about stockholm, and all things wonderlust related, here's a link to phil's blog. he's currently in stockholm on exchange (luckyyy...) and i've been living vicariously through his photos.

p/s the final perth installment posts here in five hours time!

T-12h

(as usual, photo credits to simon)

this awaits!

four glorious early spring days in perth with my favourite people. haven't seen the gents in nine months and jeanne i just saw in summer (in stockholm and then in aix) but i can't get enough of her so two months separation is already too long. but before i start sounding like a needy, desperate friend-less freak, let me just say that i've yet to meet a bunch of friends i got and who got me back as well as this crew :) and it's not just team australia but the +1s! so there's the lovely miss L (nick's better half) and my +1 is going with me so fun fun fun times ahead. can't wait for everyone to merge into this one happy mass :)

(ok. that sounds vaguely like an orgy. nononono. no orgies.)

(photo credits to lauren, taken at sneakers 'n stuff in sofo)

and if that wasn't reason enough to smile, check out what the weatherman has to say...

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!!

travel update

no monday blues this week because there's a long weekend coming up! headed down under in 3 days to visit team australia. jeanne's already been there for a week (lucky girl!) and it's going to be like stockholm, only better.

can't believe it's already been a year since we first met that sunny summer's day at Rålambshovsparken

and if that's not exciting enough, it's down under round 2 at month's end to sydney! this special visit has been some time coming but having waited long long i've lucked out and there will be not one but two! definitely the cutest pair of cousins i know . also, because i was 10 the last time i went to sydney, i'm more than looking forward to re-exploring the city :)

although i have to admit that in addition to their sparkling personalities, the prospect of a rack of lamb done just right was a pretty enticing one too.

(sydney photo credits to noe)

day 23

monday 31 may 2010 stockholm

student specials

at hermans, the vegetarian buffet on the water.

all you can eat for SEK75.

need i say more?

happiness is a tummy of veggies and lots of summer sun.

stunning.

plus, i love a restaurant that doesn't take itself too seriously.

day 22

sunday 30 may 2010 stockholm

i think today i just spazzed at J's :)

so to spare you the boring details, here are some photos of my regular route to uni from kungshamra.

i still have stockholm on the brain.

day 21

saturday 29 may 2010 stockholm

after 3 lovely nights crashing at A's, i figured i'd imposed enough and it was time to move on to my next charitable friend. moved into J's with some drama concerning a certain absentee german and my old room at k-town. end result: very happy to take J's offer to sleep on her couch. and we met the crew in the south (oh my i can't remember the t-bana stops anymore!). while waiting for the rest, we chanced upon this very sporting bride made to yodel at the t-bana for change. how absolutely mortifying, and hats off to the gutsy bride-to-be. she really could yodel! she was brought blindfolded to the doors and when her blindfold was whipped off, her hens (haha) ordered her to yodel, which she did with minimal hesitation and rather well, i might add. moral of the story: don't get married in stockholm.

too cute!

and we went to vapiano's for dinner at gamla stan. love their fresh herbs, any fresher and you'd have to pick them yourself. oh wait, i just did.

after dinner, it was off to lilla essingen for C's birthday! what a pleasant surprise to see C again, and the very gracious birthday girl gave me the box (meant for the empty bottles - them swedes are so green they recycle EVERYTHING) so i could mail my 5kg of shopping home. now that's a real friend ;)

and the sunset over the water - what did i say? how not to love stockholm in summer.

day 20

friday 28 may 2010 stockholm

absolutely action-packed, and i wouldn't have it any other way!

began with lunch at berns with O and M, two swedish gentlemen that a family friend introduced me to last semester. going to berns for lunch was a little like going to zouk flea, i.e. odd to see the interior of and be inside, in the day. but it was great to see them again. they were part of my record-breaking dinner last year and truly excellent company for a delightful 9h long evening. never a dull moment with them and they give the best crash course to swedish culture ever, from how it's ingrained in O to conceal a vodka bottle in his jacket (drinking in public is illegal in stockholm!) even when he was in berlin (where it's O-K to be seen swigging from a bottle at noon), to M and the efficiency (or not) of the road works pre-royal wedding. there's definitely something to be said about picking up the intricacies of a culture from born and bred swedes, although O did spend most of his childhood in various exotic locales and M spent a good while in the UK. and maybe that little added 'outsider' advantage is what makes them the warmest (haha) swedes i've had the pleasure of meeting. although a warm swede is largely an oxymoron to me.

think O took the photo below when he was trying out my camera!

delish lunch of thai meatballs (oh yeah, in sweden, totally politically incorrect!) was followed in quick succession by tea with the glossy posse in ostermalmstorg. who'd have thought that we'd all be back for our first visit at the same time? perfect timing, couldn't have planned it better myself. and it was exciting catching up because everyone's moved on and yet is the same (sense the recurring theme?) A had finished her masters and begun teaching criminal law to freshmen back home (lucky them!), T was done with her bachelors and had just bought an apartment, R was finishing up her 2nd masters thesis and about to plan her great south east asian escape and J was reunited with the love of her life in their love nest. so all good and happy to see them happy :)

loved the tea salon they picked, perfect for stureplan girls and ladies who lunch ;)

and after tea, it was off to S' for fredag punch, our swedish institution.

S transformed J's room and really made it his own

yay to friends and catch ups and non-stop face stuffing in stocks!