some swedish oddities

though this is in no sense a complete list, here are a few funny things i have noticed in the weeks since my arrival:

1. the computer keyboards here are different... they have å ö and ä (well, duh. they have three more letters in the alphabet).
http://www.starr.net/is/type/keyboard-charts.html

2. locks turn to the left

3. i have a single key that opens: my bedroom door, the kitchen door, my mailbox, and my kitchen cabinet. my corridor mates have their own personal key that opens all of the common areas as well, but also opens their own personal spaces. extremely convenient, but weird....

4. there are hanging cabinets that function as dryers for delicates!

5. all the public t.v. channels show decent movies every night (in their original languages)

6. unfortunately, they are still showing fresh prince re-runs here.

7. there is no swedish equivalent of f'***. they use "helvete" which means "hell" (i find it funny that this is the worst curse word in swedish, and the majority of swedes are non-religious!!)

8. the escalators have a longer entrance and exit flat-part (like 3.5 horizontal stairs before it starts the incline!)

9. the toilet paper is recycled and reprinted in rectangles, not squares.

10. just about every food item is available in a tube.

11. milk is sold in that waxed-cardboard reminiscent of little school-milk-pints, except these are liters.

12. the average swede consumes 16.2 kg of ice cream per year ("sweden is the largest ice-cream consuming country, second only to the u.s." --words verbatim from bus tour guide).

13. swedes use "hej hej" for goodbye and hello.

14. you have to pay for grocery bags at the market (about 1.5 kr. a piece).

15. the smallest coin is 50 öre. so, say a box of cereal costs 36, 60. they just round up and you pay 37 kr.

16. i have to buy the tokens for my laundry at the gas station/secondary post office/convenience store.

17. dryers are free

18. i have to sign up for a laundry time.

19. most swedes use these scrub brushed on sticks to do the dishes (not scrubber sponges... they are dirty).

20. most homes have linoleum floors... carpets are dirty and create allergies.

today i learned...

*that, just as all babies are not cute, so is it true that all donkeys are not adorable (see the link below and see for yourself).
http://www.oregonvos.net/~jrachau/poitou.htm

*that other people have an even greater love of donkeys than I do (they are able to love even the ugly donkey seen above)

*that this love runs so deep that it overflows into cheesy poetry
http://www.oregonvos.net/~jrachau/poem.htm

*that on september 28th, 1994 a ship returning to stockholm from tallin, estonia sank and killed around 900 people (for other, fun facts see the links below).
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/en.html
http://www.riik.ee/en/
http://www.visitestonia.com/
http://www.estonica.org/

(the above links are brought to you by david... sigh... isn't he the best?)

the difference

i really should be studying right now. but, i am beginning to realize that there is a distinct difference between should and am. right now, i am content to sit here and write for a bit.

this weekend was nothing short of interesting.

went to a free, yes FREE, street dance performance friday night. don't worry, it was within the safe confines of the konserthuset (none of that dangerous street-night-going for me). it was absolutely fabulous (couldn't resist a teensy brit. comedy allusion =)

saturday, spent some time on the phone with the ever-so helpful swedish airline woman (in case you are confused, i am not being sarcastic... she was really nice and helpful); but, ended up having to trek out to the airport anyway.

good news: got my ticket fixed for a mere $150 (much cheaper than, say, a flight to sweden in december... see katel.blogspot.com for info.).

spent the rest of the weekend doing various activities: walking, talking with theres' spanish friends, visiting nordic museum, church, attending super-weird modern dance, receiving e-mails about proficiency tests i am supposed to be taking right about now at etsu (just to show them, i decided to incorrectly form this sentence... bye-bye parallel structure!) you know, just the basic swedish weekend-ish sort of stuff.

since it has been a while since i have imparted any insightful ponderings, here is one (topic for a short story?? who knows....)

last weekend i was running rather late for church... it was freezing and rainy (i am beginning to think that these are just swedish sundays... we have only had one sunday since my arrival that wasn't overcast and nasty... perhaps the swedish weather gods feel it necessary to increase the sunday afternoon nappage... you know, in the past few years the rates have just bottomed-out...has led to cranky mondays everywhere... horrible trend... must be reversed at all costs...).

so, practically running from central station, i was still heaving when i entered the chapel (perhaps "heaving" is a bit dramatic... i was perspiring and breathing a little heavier than usual). anyways, when i walked in, it was like this huge wave flushed over me... i could feel the difference.

the absence.

though the words sounded just as foreign and lyrical as ever, the pained expressions darkening the faces of the congregation whispered softly to me.

"there is no difference."

grief has only one language and i know it well.

ahh... did i ever mention that i love donkeys? don't you just melt when you see that sad face? 

right-o

so, i have spent most of the day in the computer lab trying to avoid the inevitable--i have this looming paper due tomorrow. yes, folks, tomorrow. not that this would be a big deal normally, but today is not normal.

today is one of those days that you just want to crawl back into bed and wake-up when the nice, warm weather decides to come back. i think i am in for a long winter! (i know that most of you are thinking, well, duh! allyssa! but, hey, it has been so nice here, and they says that the winters here really aren't that bad, really. and, for the most part, i have been believing them. in the defense of these phantom people who start myths like this--i guess it is only autumn. so, technically, this could be some weird cold/rainy weather brought in by those funny drafts off the sea, soon to be replaced by some less bone-chilling, quite manageable snowy drifts. yeah, that sounds about right.)

on this nap-ish sort of day, i suppressed my cat-ish desires and actually was rather productive. i ran my usual route; swept and mopped the entire kitchen and corridor; cleaned the kitchen counters, stove, sink, and microwave; and, traveled to school to hide away in the computer lab. obviously, i am still here at the computer. this is going on hour... oh, let's just have a little look at the clock... ahhh!!! hour ten!!! my god!!! i have spent a whole new day squinting in front of this blasted thing, and what do i have to show for it?

right... i have a rather rough, rough-draft to a fairly uninteresting paper in response to a fairly uniteresting paper topic addressed to a fairly uniteresting set of readings; a better idea of travel plans for the semester incluiding a visit from a) my sister and niece and b) my lovely man (or should it be handsome?? yeah, let's go with handsome, though he is quite lovely as well =) ; and, a whole collection of new e-mails to read and respond to (though i have to admit i did spend quite a few "breaks" reading some of them as they arrived!!).

well, that was pretty much my day.

oh yeah, and i got an A on my paper about Habermas and the Public Sphere... not to brag or anything, but that felt purdy good.

the best part (okay, one of the best parts) of the whole day was when i checked kurswebbar online (this link that gives updates for my classes) and it suddenly hit me that i only have two more classes in "struggle for our minds, part one" (of course, part two comes in a few weeks, but let's focus on the celebratory news first)!!! that means a few days off from all this history fluff, oh, i meant stuff. yeah, that's right....

right, well, seeing as my paper is now "under kontroll" i think that i should make me way home and go to bed so i can wake up and do it all over again tomorrow (minus all the cleaning, that was a twice-a-semester deal)!

peace-out

Tutorial

Since I have a weekly lesson (yes, only once a week, I'm afraid... at this speed it will be a decade before I can even carry on a conversation), I thought that I would share the knowledge I have gained with all of you. So, here we go with some fun (and useful phrases). Warning: be careful how you pronounce them, though. I have been laughed at more than once for attempting to talk to my corridor mates in Swedish!

Välkommen! (sing.) = Welcome
Välkomna! (pl.)
*val-come-men/val-come-nah

Ursäkta= Excuse me, also used if you bump into someone on train, etc.
*this one is kinda hard to describe, it involves rounded, forward lips that actually MOVE
during the first syllable, but it sounds something like: eur-sek-tah

Vad heter du? = What is your name?
*va-he-ter-du... easy, right?
Jag heter Allyssa = My name is Allyssa
*ya-he-ter

Varifrån kommer du? = From where do you come?
*var-i-fron-kah-mur-du
Jag kommer från USA = I come from USA
*ya-kah-mur-fron-oo-s-ah

Vad talar du för språk? = What languages do you speak?
*vad-ta-ler-du-for/fur (not sure which one)-spra-ow(another one of those funny vowel changes... it starts out as an "aw" sound and switches to a more open "o" sound) -ck

I HAVE FOUND THAT IF YOU SPEAK WITH A BRITISH ACCENT, IT IS VERY HELPFUL IN CREATING THE PROPER VOWEL SOUNDS (ahh... and all of you thought that british comedy was for naught).

Jag talar svenska, engleska, intalienska, japonska, franska, tyska, och lite ryska. = I speak swedish, english, italian, japonese, french, german, and a little russian.
*i think you are getting the idea and can figure these out.

Var bor du? = Where do you live?
*var-bur(sound like you are cold)-do
Jag bor på STREET i AREA/CITY
*ya-bur-pour__-ee-___

Vad är det? (very useful in any foreign country) = What is it?
*va-ir-day
Det är... most of these are obvious and they sound like they read
en bok = book
en penna = pen
en smörgås = sandwich *smur-goss
en tidning = newspaper
en bil = car
en hund/en katt = dog/cat
en klocka = clock
en cykel = bike
en kopp kaffe = cup of coffee
en flicka/en pojke = girl/ boy *poy-kah
en bror/en syster = brother/sister
en vän = friend
ett hus = house *whose (with british accent and without the "z" sound)
ett paraply = umbrella *pa-ra-plea
ett glass vatten = a glass of water
ett tåg = train *tog
ett äpple = apple
ett äpplesinjuice = orange juice
ett barn/ ett bor = children/ child

Hur du en pokjkvän? = Do you have a boyfriend? (notice the combining of words)
*her-do-en-poyk-van
Ja, jag har en pokjvän. Han heter David och han är tjugoåtta år gammal. = Yes, I have a boyfriend. His name is David and he is twenty-eight years old.
*ya-ya-har-en-poyk-van. han-he-ter-Da-vid-ock-han-ir-shu-gay-ough-ta-arr-gam-mal.

Är du gift? = Are you married?
*ir-do-yift
Nej, jag är inte gift. = No, I am not married.
*neigh-ya-ir-in-tah-yift

Hur mår du idag? = How are you today?
*her-more-do-idah
Jag mår bra/dålight, tack. Och du? = I am good/bad, thanks. And you?
*brah/ dah-lit

Or, if you want to be cool ("like all the kids" as my teacher says):
Läget? = How's the position?
*lah-ghet (the last syllable is stressed)
Bra

So, I am going to assume that you are getting some of the sounds down and that I don't need to continually rewrite them....

Hur mycket kostar det? = How much costs it?
okay, here we go with numbers (i will put them in order so that i don't have to write what they are)
en/ ett (depending on the noun it describes)
två *t-f-vah (the t-f is supposed to simulate pushing the air through your teeth, unobstructed)
tre *tray-ah
fyra *fear-rah
fem
sex
sju *shoo
åtta *ock(long o sound)-tah
nio *knee-ah
tio *tea-ah
elva
tolv
tretton
fjorton *fee-yourn-tahn (don't draw it out, though... it is quick)
femton
sexton
sjutton *shoo-tahn
arton
nitton
tjugo *shoo-gay
tjugoen/ ett

you get the idea... my favorite number to say:
sjuttiosju = 77
*shoo-tee-ah-shoo

well, i think that is quite enough for a while!!

not much

what did i do this weekend?

not much.

unless, of course, you consider visiting drottingholm palace and making pizza with friends (yes, i have actually made friends! don't get too excited, they are all international students, not that international students in any way have a lesser friend-value than swedes would... i am just owning up to the fact that i haven't become popular with the swede crowd yet) a lot. i don't. it was great fun (well, the palace was rather plain, the shock value mostly lying in its size), but was done in a relaxed "i haven't anything else to do" kind of attitude. i have found that this is best when touring places (or palaces, for that matter).

i did have a swedish våffle. it wasn't shockingly good or anything. i think i could have lived without trying it (but then, i guess i would have had to live with that nagging thought--are swedish waffles really really good? i decided that the risks were too great, so i broke down and coughed up the 25 SEK for one, very small, heart våffle. okay, okay, it had whip cream and marmelade on it too!)

that brings me to another point. whipped cream.

here whipped cream is not americanized whipped cream. there is no sugar in it. it is just whipped cream. i give it bonus points only because it is hand-whipped and fresh, though i think that it would be like a THOUSAND times better if it were sweeter!

so that was saturday.

sunday... i slept late and then ran. afterwards, i went to school and worked a little bit on my borges paper. then, met the same international-pizza-friends at a cafe for hot chocolate. it was warm, but i got it reheated. same unsweetened cream on top. went home and ate a salad (with lots of yummy things on top, incluiding my newly purchased balsamic vinegar. i used my last 30 SEK to buy it.) then, watched bridget jone's dagbok. it was good... the evening was relaxing.

all in all a good weekend.

did i mention that i got a special (though short) phone call? ten points for anyone who guess who it was from....

update and a bad day's reward

well... hello again, hi there!

it feels so good to see those little words shift across the screen as i compose this.

i am quite proud that i have managed to actually get some work done this week before i logged-in and recorded my foreign-and-distant-to-you little life in its majestic totality. i would like to be able to claim that already, after only a few days of absitnence, i can feel the blog-addiction's icy grip on me wanning, but that would be a little too optimistic.

fact is, it is incredibly difficult to sit at a computer fiercely trying to write a paper that you have little interest in writing when, just a click away, lies the opportunity to connect with the world you so heartily miss....

but, i have managed to get the paper in a mostly presentable condition, and can now turn to my dear blog.

so, what have i been up to since friday? well...

on friday my mateys (in case i haven't told you, i have decided that i am tired of continually writing the drawn out, proper term "corridor mates" while simultaneously supressing the urge to erroneously call them roommates. and, being the solution-seeking, critical-thinking individual which i have been so wonderfully conditioned to be-- thanks mom and dad-- i have created for myself this, rather comical, diminutive term) gathered in the not-so large-or-comfortable kitchen-nookish/living-roomish-appendage to our massive, yet divided double-kitchen (you got all that?) to relax into a vhs-rental viewing. what did we watch, you ask? well, it wasn't exactly a relax-ish kind of movie either, but i suppose that would make sense since there really wasn't enough room to properly relax... anyways... i am sure you are on the edge of your seat waiting for me to actually arrive at some sort of point, huh?

ahh... the power.... yus kidding!

okay, so we watched... mystic river. the general consensus (minus the guy who claims that every movie is a classic) was that it, perhaps, didn't deserve all of the acclaim that it received. personally, what little of it i could actually hear (as one of my mateys came in about 2/3 of the way through the movie with what appeared to be his significant other, after which they proceeded to make a rather smelly and noisy dinner including several LOUD toasts with their wine glasses), seemed to be a rather disturbing tale with obvious potential that was never quite realized. i would definitely recommend that you NOT see it, and if you already have, well that's your fault, not mine.

saturday-- i got moving a little later than i had planned (a trend that, oddly enough in this time-driven culture, i am so easily falling into) and managed to completely miss the meet-time for one of the international students' little stockholm excursions. not to fear, though, i simply asked the nice sl (the transportation system guy) how to get to our final destination, vaxholm. turns out, while i was hurrying to get to the meeting point all the way downtown, the bus to vaxholm (a small archipelago to the east of stockholm) was leaving two stops from kungshamra! i was a bit disgusted at myself for not having utilized my critical-thinking that i was just praising above and taking the time to check our planned route, but nevertheless, i sucked it up and headed back towards the bus stop.

upon arrival in vaxholm, i was quite lucky to bump into the group right as they were beginning to disperse. following two much needed cups of coffee (one of which ended up spilled all down my leg...but, it wasn't my fault and it dried leaving no sign of stain, just an overpoweringly coffee-ish smell, so no worries!), a small group of us ventured around the little streets and shoppes. nothing too exciting or interesting about the place, though the town does offer two ice cream parlours (quite amazing considering the size of the place, but did i ever mention that per capita, swedes eat 16.2 kg of ice cream a year? amazing, i know...). so, if you want to enjoy some typically-stockholmishly over-priced ice cream admist a beautiful harbor, smiling infants who are similarly, though somewhat more messily (is that grammatically correct?) enjoying their own ice cream (which may, in fact, surpass yours in size), on a cobblestone street frequented by sophisticated summer-house-ish kind of swedes, then vaxholm, my friends is the place for you!

whew! i think i need a break after that sentence/multiple string of fragments....

saturday evening planned to meet same friends to go dancing, but they decided not to go after i had been waiting for thirty minutes or so. i was a bit disappointed, but the fact that i found a perfectly new shrek 2 (yes, still in its plastic) cat-robin-hood (can you tell i haven't seen the movie?) mini-arrow throwing (yes, it really launches those pieces of cardboard... i was quite amazed at its trajectory) posable action figure, made my evening (in that secret-ish sort of way that you don't really want to share with anyone... oops!).

on the way home, i ran into a rather scary guy who, "just wanted to be one of my friends... you can always use another friend, right?" i ignored him for a good five minutes and was quite relieved when he left me alone... i don't think that i will dress up and go out alone without a jacket again, even if it may save me 20 kronor... it's just not worth it....

i went to bed around 11:30 and woke to get ready for church, which was uneventful (though it was in swedish). it was followed by coffee time in the basement where i unknowingly placed a cheesy, fish-flavored slice of bread on my plate. (well, i knowingly placed the bread on my plate, i just didn't know that the cheese was fish flavored... that was the unknowing part).

sunday afternoon i cooked some garbanzo beans... this time they didn't burn, so that was good. then, i joined some of my mateys out at the nearby lake. we lounged on the boulders and tashka (i think is her name) caught five small perch with this awesome foldable fishing rod from poland. one the walk back i had a nice vibration in my pants-- the phone was ringing-- of course, what did you think? and i got to talk to my wonderful, wonderful boyfriend. i can't really remember what happened after that because i was still just blissfully replaying our conversation....

monday, first swedish lesson. i would give you some phrases, but this blog is already too long... i will save that for later. umm... spent the rest of the week working on my paper (or not working on it and reading "just to make sure i was understanding the texts").

last night, i plugged my ears with these rather effective fluorescent-orange noise-reducer ear plugs (my neighbors just enjoy talking at 3 a.m. too much...) and slept well. so well, in fact that i almost missed my spanish lesson this morning.

spanish lesson?

i know you are wondering why i am in sweden, this grand time to learn SWEDISH, and i am spending my precious time practicing spanish, and here's your answer: it is free, it is fun, and it is functional (whereas, swedish, not so much in the last department).

then, i came to school and finished up my paper. but wait, i seem to be forgetting something... ahh, yes... yesterday.

yesterday was not a good day. well, the day wasn't so bad, but in the evening i found myself in this incredible state of homesickishness. and i was like, "oh, so this is what they meant when they said you dip low, low, low." and then it began... the overwhelming flood of just not wanting to be here anymore... of romanticizing all of the familiarities of home that are absent here. remember wal-mart? ahh... wal-mart... that wonderful place where you can go for anything, for everything!! and it is so cheap, and so convenient.

wait a minute... me wishing for wal-mart? yes, it was in this instant that i knew that all the things i had read about homesickness and culture shock were true. i was even missing the places that i have hated with such fervor in the past. and, just when i was about to burst into tears because i missed wal-mart so much (can you believe this?), i opened my mailbox.

and, what, do you suppose, i saw in there? no, not an advertisement from wal-mart! what are you thinking, you goofs.

there were three things... a card from stephen and holly =) and two post slips (one from kate and one from my "parental unit"). this morning i went to the designated places to pick up these packages (the petrol station and the spel and tobak convenience store, respectively) and was delighted before i even opened them.

so, i just want to thank you all for making my day brighter when i needed it most.

maybe i should make a habit of these bad days, it could become rather lucrative... nah.

resolution

this is getting a bit ridiculous, this computer-obsession that i've birthed and coddled these past few weeks. i think that i might have been able to pose as a legally-blind woman yesterday... i could barely find my way home through the blurry orbs that were once my better-than-20/20 eyes!!

so, i said to myself, "self, if you don't regulate this, it will become a disastrous distraction to developing the deep understanding necessary for your discussion-driven class." okay, so i didn't say that exactly, but you get the idea (and perhaps were a bit amused at the same time).

and, i resolved myself to spend no more than a few hours in the computer lab a week (not counting, of course, typing papers). so, i sent out an e-mail to all of my kindred...all of you reading this (ahh, redundancies are so fun), so that makes if official.

so, when you are thinking, "i wonder why allyssa hasn't written in her blog or written me an e-mail in, like, three days..." you will know that i'm not being fresh or ignoring you; no, it only means that i am exerting a great deal of self-control by refusing to let my little fingers "tickle the plastics" (heehee) and connect to that dear, dear, dear yahoo!

ahh! this is going to be more difficult than i had anticipated!

dandy

everything was going just dandy until i logged into kurswebbar this morning.

you are probably asking yourself what, exactly, could be so horrible about this little place where teachers post information for one's classes?

well, i'll tell you.

you see, södertörns, in its infinite wisdom is trying a new approach to teaching--one that generally works out well, but one that affords an incredible amount of freedom to teachers. starting to sound a little scary to you? me too....

so, i logged in this morning to see if there were any updates on the schedule of my classes for later in the semester. there was!! whoo-hoo!

yeah, i was rejoicing for less than a second. it turns out that my sweden: society and culture teacher has decided to run his class in conflict with my other swedish history of ideas class! great!

so, as i sit here in the computer lab, shaking, upset and near panic, i try to tell myself that everything will be okay. i can take another class. it will work out.

i keep on telling my brain to believe this, but it is not currently working too well.

oh, well. i might as well focus on what i can do for the moment... chat with david online (briefly) before i run off to my first class of the semester.

coolness

http://www.lagosmart.net/missworld/large/estonia.jpg

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040816/i/r4075728121.jpg

there was a request for some cool pictures. so, here you go... probably not what you intended, but it came up under an image search for estonia (which, by the way, i will be visiting in october... and that's cool, so i think this counts).

here is a swedish picture =)

http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ip880709-1.jpg

Habermas and Nature

i spent yesterday completely computer free!! yes, folks, it can be done.

instead of commuting all the way to södertörns (it takes me about 45 minutes on a good day), i decided to stay at home and read for class. i took a little excursion to one of the lakes that is about a 5 minute walk from my room. i found this huge boulder, plopped myself down, soaked up the sun, and read for the majority of the day. i did take a few breaks to wilder-pee, nearly a mistake as i encountered some ladies on their lunch break right as i was zipping up my pants! yikes!

in case any of you are interested, i was reading about habermas' social theory about the historical creation and degeneration of the public and private spheres. i have found that it isn't very complicated in principle, but that habermas and all involved in critiquing his work find it necessary to use rather inflated language. i spent the majority of the day with this puzzled look on my face. i am sure that the people who passed by thought i was solving one of the great imponderables of life.

the coolest part of the whole day was when theres walked into the kitchen around 11 p.m. i told her what i had been reading and she nodded her head. apparently she has spent a lot of her own time reading about this as it pertains to the schooling methods in sweden... how children no longer develop solely in the private sphere created by their parents, but rather, are thrust into the public life at very young ages (day care-ish time) where they immediately soak all this in!!

so, that's what i did yesterday....