The number 5.

According to the screen, the number 5 was 7 minutes away. I looked over my shoulder for the third or fourth time, fully aware that hanging out alone at a dimly lit bus stop at 10:30 pm in an unfamiliar neighbourhood was not the safest scenario I could have gotten myself into. I sat down on the bench and opened my book to the dog-earred page. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, to my left, I saw a man approaching. He hurried over to the bus stop and stood in front of me. He had a big, bushy, black beard and was clutching a stack of books with both hands. He began asking me questions in garbled Swedish. I smiled cautiously and said "I'm sorry, I don't speak Swedish very well". The last time I had told a man at a bus stop that I couldn't understand him I had to sit through a drunken Swedish rant complete with menacing finger pointing until my bus arrived. This time, the bearded-man cleared his throat and thrust the stack of books towards me, "Will you take these books, from me, for free?" I shook my head and said no thank you. He nodded. Then turned and sprinted off in the direction he came from, disappearing into the darkness.

The tram pulled up on time, 4 minutes later.

halsband och armband.

Alexa wearing aztec necklace by... New Look UK is all I could find, but it looks fancier than that to me.



Alexa wearing Tuleste Market



More beautiful Tuleste Market pieces





Fiona Paxton 'Lyon' Necklace

starring: flamingoes on ice.

Jag måste skriver mera.

Hi friends. Apparently I am well and truly out of the blogging routine. I will work on that...

My week has been filled with dropping off CVs to around 20 cafes, restaurants and bars as well as starting my full-time Swedish classes. A few factors are working against me in terms of being able to secure a job in the near future however, namely my current lack of language skills and the fact that this season is just not time for hiring. I have been promised that once spring is undeniably here (right now the temperature is sort of springy, the sun comes out sporadically, but there is still a significant amount of ice and snow covering most sidewalks) that things will get easier. Fingers crossed.

Language classes are good though. It is so strange to be asked to write a story and to produce something on par with something you may have written in the first grade. "Dad yawns a lot because he is very tired, so he drinks many cups of coffee while he reads the newspaper." Riveting! I have met a couple of cool people in class which makes the days go by quicker.

On another note, last weekend Ted and I went to a manor in the south of Sweden, a couple of hours from Göteborg. There is so much history here, it is pretty amazing to see buildings that have been standing for centuries. I took a couple of photos with my poor old camera...

T and I go Master Chef on that shiz.

Master Chef, Top Chef, the f word, etc. I have a lot of free time these days since a) I have finally finished school; b) I am in a brand new city and I know like three people here (they have jobs); c) I have no job mostly due to my inability to fluently speak the native language; d) I am exceptionally low on cash flow (see point c)... so I watch a lot of tv. My favourite shows here are cooking shows, property search shows (they fly to exotic locations and try to find a 'place in the sun' for British home buyers), Antiques Road Show and How I Met Your Mother. There is a disproportionately large amount of tv time dedicated to the cooking shows here, so I have become quite caught up in the idea of cook-offs and food challenges.

After dinner tonight (I used an awesome baked fish and veggies recipe that my mom sent me last week), T and I decided to have a dessert challenge with any ingredients we could find in the kitchen. I went for a caramelised banana with vanilla sugar and cardamom while T opted for an orange/ginger concoction with a caramel sauce.

After a taste test, T conceded that I was the winner, although I think on a Master Chef episode I would have been crucified for my presentation. Regardless... Mmm.

"Orange-Ginger-Caramel Disaster" (name given by T when asked for what he wanted his dish to be called).


"Sweet Bananarama Deliciousness" (I went for a more modest description).

alexa + mulberry = awesome.

Not Swedish, but noteworthy. I saw this awhile ago, but since I wasn't blogging at the time, I neglected to mention it to anyone... I would like to have this:

Frisbee Golf

I live next to a giant nature strip, filled with running and bike tracks, lakes and a spot for beach volleyball in the summer. T and I have been going running through it since we moved in a couple of months ago, and I can't wait to see what it looks like when the snow melts. During one of these runs, he pointed out a main feature of the area: its frisbee golf course. What in the heck? I am not sure if we rock the frisbee golf in Canada, but apparently it became pretty popular here in the 90's and people still enjoy a good game now and then these days too. For those of you, like me, who have never heard of this wacky game, it involves a frisbee being thrown along a loosely marked course towards metal baskets which represent each 'hole'. From what I have seen, the holes are buried in really awkward spots in heavily wooded areas, which I imagine make the throwing of a frisbee quite difficult in such conditions. Anyway, I thought I would have to wait until summer to try this game out, but the other day when we were running in the back woods, T was nearly hit in the face by a rogue frisbee. I think I'll be giving it a try next weekend.

These photos were posted by an unknown gentleman somewhere on the internet, they are of the fg course next to my place in the fall.

Hi, I'm in Sweden.

Internet? Hello?

So... My hiatus has lasted much longer than I anticipated. But I am back! I figure since my email correspondence skills are not the greatest that I should be keeping those of you who are curious, or even those who are simply addicted to reading blogs generally, informed about my life here in Göteborg, Sverige.

I am thinking that maybe a Swedish theme blog may be appropriate, perhaps highlighting some of the quirky and interesting things about this beautiful city and country that I may come across. I have a lot more time on my hands since uni is officially over, so I am going to endeavour to bring my camera out and about more frequently and show you some of the sights around here.

Okay, hej då for now. Puss!