London-ious

Ok here is the run down of the trip, you all been waiting for for.
There can be only one word to describe London: BEDLAM. (Scene of uproar and confusion, originally from the term, asylum)
True story, no wonder Samuel Johnson said: "When a man is tired of London he is tired of life..." It really is a great happening town, and the time we chose to visit just co-incided with a whole different level of experiences.
We landed on Saturday evening, a good night to experience the night-life. After checking into a hostel (which every young person HAS to stay in when travelling the world) we decided to check out the night life in nearby Greenwich.

Stumbling into a crowded pub, there is a band playing, about 7 members, blasting jazz/classical/instrumental versions of pop songs. Tell you what it was a great vibe. The lead triangle player seemed to have the greatest time showing off and playing like no one was watching.

Sunday was spent stumbling around the public transport. In my honest opinion, its a crap system they have. How are they ever going to simplify things for the Olympics in 2012. Here are two masters students in Tourism, blindly looking like tourists trying to find our ways around. Either we are bad students or the tube and train system is a pig trying to figure out in one day.

Besides from the transport, the Sunday was the 13th of November, the day of Remembrance(Poppy day). For a change, London was actually British for the day. a touching and heartfelt day whereby every recognised armed force personal has a right to march past the Cenotaph and everyone has a moment of silence. Highlights of the day; Seeing all the old timers in uniform, adorned in medals, all receiving a thankful nod from passer by's, random "thank you sir's" and general respect in the streets.

Oh, and I got to see the queen and some royalty...

One thing everyone needs to do in their life is make a trip to Cardiff, Wales, especially if you are a rugby fan. Small capital city (350 000 residents). Bug rugby focus. Old city with a HUGE modern rugby stadium at the centre. Its a hallowed experience to do the stadium tour. One day I vow to watch a  game there live.

Cardiff also has this mystical vibe to it. Maybe its the dragon all over on their flag, or the fact that it was a really misty day. But besides from the crazy language that looks like a bad hand in scrabble, it really is a fantastic city that one needs to visit in their life time.
BTW, a had a beer at the Yu Mochan Du ( Pronounced Yee Mo-ckan Zee), called a Cwrw Cymru...jawellnofine.

From Wales two days were spent with family, Si, Ally and their new offspring, Angus Erskin Sutherland Rankin. What a man he is. Always smiling, always happy and the absolute joy of his parents. Spending time with family is always a joy.

One of the main attractions of the trip was a little thing of watching a live game of Footy, at Wembly Stadium! Englad France, what-a-game! Cant ever support the english, frogs are not that much better, but because they are not the english I had to support them. Not too loudly mind you, England is known for hooliganism. Although, a very strange phenomena at English footy games, is that there is absolutely no alcohol allowed to be bought, consumed or spilled while watching the game. No food, no sweets, no chips, no drinks of any sort. Its get in, sit down, cheer and watch the footy. Strange but true.

And thats about all I have to say about that...

Borders mean bugger all

Dont think because you are in Africa and that I am in a first world developed country that things are always better.
Just a few things of the weeks thats been
There's been an outbreak of bacteria in the water in Östersund, thousands (read 20) of people have had been stricken with stomach ailments this last week. There is a plea to boil all our water, even for brushing teeth. Ja ok thanks.

The train service has been given a dunce award this week, after refusing to assist a disabled man off at his stop, so he had to travel to the last stop in the train line. This comes one week after I had a lovely 12 hour ride with the train service, which actually was a bus ride, not a train.

Temperatures have not risen about -7. This means that everything is frozen outside. It also means that bikes dont work to well. My bike for one disintegrated, it fell apart. Other peoples bikes have snapped chains, brakes fail due to being iced up. And most people have at least one story of falling off on ice.

On the other hand, things still work, Christmas comes early, its the first advent so there are lights, candles and decorations everywhere. The smell of glögg and spices fills most peoples places you visit and everywhere people are getting more cheery and actually respond to a friendly hello.

So just signing off from another average week...

To keep you relatively informed of the happenings

News in Östersund (In swedish)
News ÖP

Weather in Östersund
Click here

Web Camera's in Östersund
Click here

Day light savings and two decades back in fashion

Time for an update on a few things that have been going on in Östersund.

Firstly, the most notable thing that changes daily is the weather. On average, since August, the sun has been setting about 20 minutes a week earler. Some days it loses up to 6 minutes in time that it shines. Its the most bizarre sensation. the sun starts setting at 15h30 and by 16h30, its dark, and I mean DONKER! Makes you want to start cooking supper.
It also explains another aspect of fika. The midafternoon slump, and to fool yourself that you dont need to make supper at 4 PM, you have a fika, it works wonders.
But not so much for the waisteline!
To combat this lose of daylight, most European countries (and Namibia, strangely enough) introduces Daylight Savings Time. As from the 31st of October, all watches move back one hour. No its not a halloween prank, its serious.
So come Sunday morning, i set my alarm clock...wake up, get ready for church, and realise I am one hour ahead...DOH! I can almost assure you that I was not the only one who was an hour early.
When summer comes and I have to move it foreward an hour its going to be fun explaining that.
So, Sweden, who was GMT +2, is now GMT +1. Takes a bit of getting used to:)

And to coincide with the first Day Light Savings time, I have started a movement here, a fashion movement that is a few decades back in time, not one hour.
"Mo"-vember. Growing a Moustache for the Month of November, hence: MOVEMBER. Its actually an australian concept (trust them to come up with it), but its actually for a good cause. Check out www.za.movember.co.za for the laugh.
So a clean shaven look persists for this week and a moustache will follow suit, I will post a picture for sure.

So, a preview for the next post: LONDON BABY!!

Taste the wilderness

Bear Grills never made it to the Swedish wilderness...the skog or whatever you want to call it...so in lieu of his absence, I have come up with a few video clips to keep all the fans of Bear Grills happy till he makes something in Sweden...

Always need an adventurous pose

So the theme of today's episode "Taste of the wild". It basically involves some culinary delights that you need to survive in this barren place.
Location: Fröson Island, somewhere in the centre of Sweden, in a nature reserve.
Weather: 2 degree's, cloudy, snowing at some point.
Present: Uh..,the presenter, yours truly.
Mission: To waste a few hours of the day away and have a good time doing it.
Outcome: You decide...

Action pic...it was actually snowing at the time

It was an impromptu decision to go out hiking, was miles away to get too, mostly uphills, but was a great find.
Scene 1:

Familiarisation, getting your bearings right, working on the terrible accent, taking inventory of what you have (a stick and knife and you are set) and getting something to drink. Hydration is key.

Scene 2:

Scene 2 is actually finding water, making sure its safe to drink and utilising your survival techniques.
 
Scene 3 was eating what I had scavenged from the nearby environment.

The following image is the "going out" scene. It was supposed to be for a different travel program I want to create, but the lower half of my body was cut off in the self timed picture, so naturally I cant use it for "that" show...

This is the "going out" image

THE END


And now, is a scene from the next episode: What-a-lot-of-water

Åre awesome-ness

Great weekends are often never planned, leaving you open to any experience, having no expectations of whats to come, which means the chances of you having a mind blowing experience are very good. This first weekend in October was no exception.

After a hectic week at university, we decided as a group of friends to take time out. I had seen that Åre, the popular ski town (http://www.are360.com/en-gb.aspx) was having a autumn market this weekend. So we decided to check it out for a day. Student tickets were booked on the train and we decided to meet up on Saturday morning to go to Åre, departure time, 07h18, prefect.

I must just mention at this point, that we had also decided that Friday night we’d meet up, maybe watch a home movie, or just enjoy each other company as a group of friends. This happened, we ended up going out, having a great party and getting home at 02h30. Let me just say that when the alarm went off at 06h00 on Saturday, the realisation of what we had done to ourselves with 3 hours sleep was a grim reminder that this was going to be a long day. I wasn't the only one who felt this way, thankfully, and the train left with us all catching up on a brief hour of power.

Arriving in Åre, the drop in temperature was a great way to wake us up. We arrived a few hours before anything opens (everything opens at 11 in a small town), so a simple breakfast bought from ICA, a local supermarket has to suffice for the time being. We decided that the guys and girls would split up and we could explore and enjoy the market to our own wills. 

Åre is a stunning looking town, focussed on skiing, but trying hard to keep its self popular throughout the year. With a backdrop of mountains and a lake, it certainly wins a prize for a good looking town.

The market was a collection of traditional food, delicacies, sweets, hats, crafts, plants...blah blah you get the idea. There is only so much traditional spicy sausage, Elk heart and fresh bread you can eat in a day. Nonetheless, it was really good to just get out and enjoy the sights and sounds of the place. Lunch was traditional raggmunk, (potato pancakes, served with bacon and lingon).

With most of the town explored by lunch time, the girls suggested that we take the gondola (cable car) up to the top of the mountain, Åreskutan. Great  idea it turned out to be. The cable car is approximately 2.9kms long, goes up over 853meters in height to near the top of the mountain, which there remains 800 metres to climb to the very top, a height of 1420 metres. Once up, it was freezing! The temperature was probably 6 or 7 degree’s, but the wind was thumping, with wind chill, it was probably 2 or 3 degree’s.

The climb up started really slowly, there was snow up on the top, which was a great distraction to most of us up there. First snow in Sweden since arriving here...

Climbing over rocks, ice and snow is not a strong point for our two Asian friends, so the going started really slow. They eventually decided to walk back to the warmth of the station on the mountain, which left Kai, Sonia (a German girl which this was first time to hike a mountain) and myself to climb to the top of the Åreskutan.

In short, it was amazing. The view was incredible, the wind was whipping like mad, it was a feeling of total elation being on the top.

Once down, we enjoyed some more traditional food, ever tasty glass (ice cream) and just chilled out till the train arrived to take us back. Happy faces all around from a full day out...

Well back to routine this week, another test and more academia awaits...

Its been almost two weeks since my last post, its about time to update on whats been the buzz up in Norland. Things are really starting to settle down and routine's are forming. Its easy to get like that, so a good shaking up is always good for keeping things interesting.
Its finally great to have internet in the apartment, its taken ages for them to install the line, but now that its installed it really rockets, an average of 1Mb/s. (For those who, like me are not that familiar with tech speak, it means that its a pretty fast connection). This new addition really makes it easier to keep connected with family...and waste great time surfing the net and all other things associated with the internet.
University is in full swing, with normal classes happening twice a week, much much reading and preparing of work in the rest of the time. Already, we have two assessments due in this last week of September, with a written test the week after.
On top of this, Swedish language courses have also started, and I have decided to take two separate courses, both part time, to learn as much as possible, as fast as possible. :) Let see how it goes...
Autimn (Höst) has set in and temperatures are cooling quickly. Last night, the 25th of september we finally recorded the first frost (The huge lake nearby keeps things regulated to an extent, hence the late frost), with the night time average dipping to -0.7 degree's. The day time high's are also around 7 or 8. But the sun shines and when it does it makes it much much easier to handle.
This is really a great place to keep fit and be outdoors, and many many people here in Östersund take advantage of the outdoors. Once again, Östersund this year is hosting the Swedish Biathlon Championships in December, this is the kick ass sport of skiing and shooting...very very cool. And all over in the forests and off road tracks, people are practising on roller ski's till it snows...
And on that note of snow, I have finally seen the first snow's. The fjall's (mountain ranges) around here were covered in snow today on the run, its so beautiful, I will post a photo as soon as possible on this...
The 24th of September was National Braai Day in SA...it was one of the days that I really missed being back home. It was 7 degree's and raining here in Östersund, while in SA, people were in shortsleeves and having braai's...gosh I missed it tons.
So I celebrated, by making a Malay curry, drinking an SA wine and enjoying an eve with a few friends...wasnt the same, but in my heart I was with all you in SA...


So, all in all, autumn greetings from a cooling Norland...

One month down...

August 13 2010 I landed in Sweden. Lots of planning, preperation…and prayers had gone into it, and it was about to start.

Today, the 13th of September 2010 I have been in sweden for a whole month…and wow life can change in a month…so one month down, and lets recap on a few changes.

1-Countries-worlds apart from SA to Sweden

2-Attitudes towards family and friends. Family’s you cant choose, and thanks God for that, because I like my family. And friends. guess life’d be very boring and lonely without them.

3-Climate-gosh what happened to spring in SA from what I hear? Its getting chilly here, leaves are turning gold and orange…and winter’s fast approaching. Global warming eh?

4-There are places in the world where people still are trusting, filling in a form actually gets things to work properly…and yet, an internet connection no matter where you are in the world can still take over a month to be connected and working…

5-Students are students, no matter where they are in the world or what language is spoken.

6-Friends can be friends, no matter the language and where they are from.

7-English truely is a worldwide language, and having it as your first language can be a very, very helpful asset. And yet, even dodgy swedish can help you in tough situations, particularly in Istanbul…

8-Skype, Facebook, emails and telephones are wonderful inventions to keep you in touch no matter where you are in the world.

9-Sweden is a beautiful country.

10-South Africa is a beautiful country.

11-Swedish girls are prettier though...

12-South Africa=synonemous with the FIFA World cup…and yes the vuvuzela is really hated by all countries except South Africa.

13-Proper braai’s can actually be made if South African’s are present.

This picture is actually in Sweden, not Asia...

So all in all, Month one has been a great, God sent month...lets see what the next has to offer...

Mitt Universitetet

Ok so university has officially started, and I hopefully have a picture attached of the place. Wowza, it was on old military barrack, and when Sweden de-militarised, they had to figure out something to do with the buildings...so the airforce base was converted into an airport, most buildings became business's, and a university was formed in the town centre...pretty well masked I must say.

The classes have officially started too. The academia started with a group meeting of roughly 70-80 people gathering in a hall, all "Freemovers" as we are called, internationals with a right to study here. And international we are indeed. I think the only continent that was skipped was South America...but seriously, there are people from all over. And since last week thursday, its been getting to grips with the place since then...
Classes itself started on Tuesday the 31st of August. There are approximately 30-35 people studying Masters in Tourism...three are swedish....interesting indeed.
Classes are different to South Africa, with much self study required, in a short space of time. There are two lectures a week, two, which in a space of three weeks, we would have basically self read two books and a journal, in which we are to be tested...in groups, like group work...Alrightey then...

Besides from Academia, I am so greatfull to God for His guidance in this move. There is a drastic shortage of accommodation in this town, and people have been moved from pillar to post, and have struggled to find a place to stay. Those getting accommodation now are paying crazy prices, for very little indeed...

There is also a new addition to my life, a movable asset, that I have named Norman...a decrepit beat up, needs some attention mountain bike. But at 350:- what could you have expected. It has one gear, (the hardest), so uphills are exactly that, uphills, and the brakes are...well, need a little work...but it looks good and it gets from A to B quicker than walking...so its a winner...

One thing I have had a laugh about, is what the Swedes call a Grill, some other nations call a BBQ, and we know it as a braai...They have no idea. They light about 9 coals in a foil pan and try slow roast a sausage, in weather that is about 9 degree's and cloudy...oh how I miss a proper braai! Please see pictures attached. I will secretly humour these people for now...but one day the braai instinct will take over...

And that for now is signing off...more to follow in time...

Cheers

Norland and Östersund

The day of arrival to Ösersund finally arrived, with little fanfare from the maddning crowd. The drive up, of roughly 580 kilometres too aproximatly 8.5 hours, but was a stunning drive indeed. Its strange to see how the landscape changes as one drives up in lattitude. The landscape becomes more undulating, the tree’s shorter, having downward facing leaves for snow. More and more it becomes, almost, polar, if I dare to say.

Its still a strikingly beautiful place, with unmapped forests, lakes, strewn accross the landscape, and close to my estimate of 32 different types of green...its going to be interesting in winter, with 1 type of white...

The town of Östersund is a long stretched out town, hugging the edge of a large, fresh water lake, Storjön (For the english speakers, its pronounced stor-ghuun, with a soft “g”, as...oh never mind). With a population of roughly 55 000 people, its the biggest town in the Norland (northen to central part of Sweden) and has all the necessary ammenities one needs in a big city. Google it, its a pretty good looking town. The fact that its symbol is a snowflake in the shape of the heart, does give away that its geared for winters...hrmmm.

This city is also located the the district of Jämtland. Which apparently wants to be a republic, they have their own flag etc etc, like the republic of Hout bay, only much MUCH bigger...they are crazy these people, I’m putting it down to too long winters that they have this idea J

I am now officially the proud owner of a rented apartment...if that means something to you, but in my mind it does. Its 20 square metres, has green wallpaper..but is mine to rent for as long as I want. I have a bed, desk, chairs, bookshelves, a now equiped kitchenette...and a place to call my own. Pictures to follow when I figure out how to work camera’s, cables, pasting and transferring, in swedish...

Saturday was spent with Ruth and Håkan being a tourist in a stunning land, driving to the ski hot spot of sweden, Åre (its also worth a google), pretty nice to see in summer might I add. We also went to see a few natural wonders, in summer time, with no ice, snow and 1 colour scheme...it will be good to see at another time, another season I am sure.

I have been on the lookout for a church and decided to visit one this morning. The church claimed to have a preacher from Tanzania that sunday, promising I thought, as it might be in English...turned out to be a Swahili message, translated into swedish...so it was essentially, the same message twice, in languages that I am not quite sure of either...intereseting I tell you...but nice church nonetheless, very friendly...

And this is a sunday evenings wrap up, more info to follow in the week, as I set up more of a life in Sweden...we are in the place, I can see the university...and only God know’s the future...here’s the the next chapter of this nordic chronicle...

Andrew...

The way things work...

And things work indeed...

After spending almost a full week in Sweden, let me outline how well things work here..
Firstly, IKEA...do I need to explain more? Wowza what a place...and the cherry on top is 5:- for a coffee and kaneelbula...5 bucks for a good coffee and cake, in the middle of your shopping...now thats amazing...
Traffic circles: People STOP at them, to let you cross over, on a bike or walking. People actually stop, or allow the other cars who arrived first, to go through...it actually happens that traffic circles work.
Public Transport: Trains and busses...clean, efficient, relatively affordable...
Tax Office: No ques, no inefficiency, incompetency, no blank faces when you ask questions...tell them what you want to do, fill in 1 form and voila, its done, no arguing, no debating, no paying favours to get it done...its just done, simple as that.
Banks: No charging like wounded buffalo's, low interest rates...
Cell phones: Cheap, good coverage, low call rates, immediate response times and best of all, n_ br____g _p __ cal_s wh__ ____ talking.

Well thats a little of the way things work here, lets see when the proverbial penny drops, and can see the other side of the coin. This perfection must have a flip side...maybe the lack of chaos can get to a person, where are the "bye byyyyyes", the noise, the excitement and adrenalin rush...and guys selling you coat hangers and super glue on street corners....

Till we meet again...
'Cheers

Greets from Sweden...

Almost three full days from Sverige and its due time for another addition to this story line...
Firstly, helsa vran sverige (welcome from Sweden). Its a warm sunny twenty plus degree's, the sun and shining and the population is smiling. Sweden in late summer is a fantastic place. Apparently one must enjoy the days like this, as they are few and far between...
Now, to get into the story line.
There was a teary good bye from a chilly Johannesburg on the 12th of August. Dad, mom, sister and brother were all at the airport to wish me off. It was tough saying good bye, but I am sure it was tougher being the ones staying behind :)
The flight was pretty full, but uneventful. Two painkillers and a glass of Turkish wine is enough to ensure a good nights sleep on the plane, so that lesson goes down into sounds travelers advise.
Istanbul Airport is a bustling area filled with interesting sights and languages from across the globe. Interesting place indeed, and it has starbucks coffee, winner winner!.
My first taste of fooling officials was a rather strange affair. When I had checked in, I was sitting next to an iraqi gent, who had been living in Sweden for over 6 years. Officials came checking passports, and after seeing my swedish one, checked out the iraqi's swedish passport. Upon questioning him in English, they realised this was fruitless as he understand bugger all, and told me to translate...in swedish...
Now my swedish is better than his english, but by no means good...and there I was, three Turkish officials telling me to translate into swedish!! Anyway, after exhausting my swedish vocab (about 2 sentences) and mumbling something in bad afrikaans, we came to an understanding, that the Iraqi's passport was legit, and I admitted to the officials, that he can speak swedish better than I can. I tell you, any time I want to go to Iraq I will have a friend for life...(Fallafels, anyone)

Arriving in Sweden was an uneventful affair, but the bus from the airport to was great. First world public transport is brilliant. And if any one wants to travel in style, and safely, I have happened to notice a Volvo Limosine that you can be ferried around in...yes, a VOLVO limo...only in Sweden folks...

Saturday was a great family day with the Swedish connections. We spent the day at their holiday home in Angslycken, which, is a piece of heaven. We picked kanterell (wild mushrooms, and I am not allowed to tell you where, according to Swedish custom). A sauna and swim in the lake is a recepie for happiness...

Now, before wrapping up, I have had an epiphany. I know now, why the Swedish population of roughly 9 million people, have accomplished so much. Its simple really. Its a four letter word, and I will share it with you. Are you ready? Its: Fika.
Any nation, that can break for a coffee break, but have as strong coffee (no sugar) and as often as the swedes, they too will accomplish much. The swedes are on a constant caffine high from all their fika. For this reason, they are so productive. This I am sure of...

Anyway, Sweden is a great nation, beautiful in country and people. Its not all snow and ice, the sunshine can be warm. And everything works..
And I would love to share more, but its time for another fika...
Hej då

And it begins...

And August the 12th has arrived. After a year of planing, speaking about it, emailing, prepping, packing and sorting...its now finally time to head out. Its the most surreal feeling in the world, yet, I am completely calm (must be the painkillers for the wisdom teeth :))
Its not fear of the unknown, not at all...but rather an adventurously expectant attitude...I know that the Hand of the True Divine has had His say in the past, is still having His say, and I know that His final Word has not been spoken...so I have nothing to fear...
And as much as it sucks saying good bye to family, friends and loved ones...I know that its not permanent, and the invite is out there for you all :)
Till more word from the other side...

With 1 day to go...

With one day to go till the greatest adventure of the year, I think that its only worthwhile to start a blog, write down the memories, and share it everyone who may be interested...
So, watch this space, share your comments...