The Long Goodbye (and a bit arriving in London)

Finally it was 6pm on 16th Dec. I knew it's arrival could not be avoided. My friends started filling the my apartment to spend the last hour with me before my taxi came to whisk me away to the train station. Everyone was exclaiming how empty my room was, giving me hugs, and doses of optimistic thoughts. Kenza and Lucie were blocking the main door so I could not get out =D
I left a note on my desk for the next person who would be getting my room. I simply wanted to tell them that Lulea was an awesome choice and to use the room well, cos it was good to me.
Then shortly after, Micheal from upstairs came down and told me that the guys upstairs had prepared the Sustromming (fermented herring that smells awful) for me to try before I leave. So we all went up and boy oh boy, the smell of the open can of fish that hits you in the face. It smells like poo, literally. I'm not kidding you.
To eat it the 'right' way you need Swedish tunnbrod, boiled potatoes, sour cream, onions and dill. So you pile it all up, and take a small amount of the fish and dot it around. Okay it was bad, but not impossible to eat. I finished the portion I made and did not go back for seconds.
And was fun though, everyone was screwing up their noses and faces, making weird noises, looking sick in the face...
I went down shortly after eating my share and saying goodbye to the kind boys who opened the can of fish in their home - I seriously don't know how long it will take before the smell leaves their apartment. Back at my place, more people had come to say goodbye and it was getting really sad. I was proud of myself for not crying. Reticlyve was especially sad, but at least I'll see him again in Amsterdam!
And of course, dearest Katalin, came with me in the cab to the train station and we were just standing and talking in the carriage until just before my train had to pull out of the station. It was heartbreaking to say bye to Kata, we had a very long embrace before parting. She gave me a letter and a friendship band and I gave her my word that I will see her again.

On the train, the movies and my sleepiness from not having slept much the night before, helped to make sure time flew bye. I woke up right on time to gather myself and my stuff and alight at Stockholm. Frederick from LURC was also in the train, so I could not escape one more goodbye :)
I made my way to Emmy's home to hang out with her and her adorable baby girl for a while. We had lunch and I practiced my Swedish. Then it was time for me to make my way to the airport for my flight to London. Stockholm was having a snow storm, it's rare that they have snow so early and in such large quantities. This slowed down traffic and delayed my flight by 2 hours.

In London, the landing was so rough I really doubted if we were all going to make it. Apparently London is having freak weather right now with the strong winds and snow too. But thankfully God saw us through and He helped me get all the way to Fullham Broadway station, where Rachel Berry (a secondary school friend) and her dad were to pick me up and take me to their home. I'm so blessed that I have such a lovely place to crash in London and save so much money too. They are a lovely family and I really really like them.

More London updates to come in due time!

My last church service

The Chaplin was sweet enough to move the English Christmas service to tonight, the 15th of Dec (10 days earlier) just so I could go :) It was a simple service, only a handful of people turned up but most of them were very dear to me. After service we had a nice quiet fika and a very very long but warm goodbye.

The last supper [in luleå]

It was our last big dinner/supper gathering. We all met at Katalin's place yesterday night and feasted on good home-made food (I made sayur lodeh and tom yum soup). It was fun but there was an inevitable tinge of sadness in the air.

Our spread of delicacies for the main course!

Our dessert of deeeeee-licious carrot cake made by Kata and Jaime's honey corn flakes!

I had my first real goodbye yesterday. I had to bid farewell to Minttu my beautiful friend from Finland. I am really saddened by the fact that I will not see her for a long time. But a long time does not mean forever :)

I also found out that I'll be in Amsterdam the same time as the Brazilians will be! So I don't have to say a real goodbye to them yet. Reticlyve was so sad that I was leaving, but he lit up the moment he knew we'd meet again soon.

Brazil has just bumped Peru of the #1 spot for dream destination now. I love those boys.

Coming full circle

Last night was the farewell dinner. Can you believe it? I felt like I just had the welcome dinner a a month ago, but 4 and a half months have whizzed by....

Something exciting that I've had to keep secret since 3 weeks ago is that I and my good friend Victor have been asked to be the Toastmasters for the dinner =D It was a little nerve-wrecking, but we did well I think. Well at least everyone was really really encouraging and sweet. My close friends here were especially surprised and they were like "no wonder you were always running away to do some project even though you already finished all your work!". It was hardest to keep it from them becuase I couldn't talk to anyone if I was feeling scared about it. But Victor and I were a good team. He's a wonderful brother in Christ too, so we also prayed before going up onto stage.

The farewell dinner was great. There was a real 'party atmosphere' and I had so much fun, which made it bittersweet. After the farewell dinner, we remained behind the school nightclub - STUK and partied it up till 3 in the morning. There was an awesome live band that did covers of bands I love like ' The Kooks', 'The Sounds', 'The Killers' etc. And the DJs were awesome too, great stream of music, can you believed they played 'London Calling' by The Clash! I really wanted Rett to be there at that moment.

There were also some encounters with assorted European boys which made the night even more um....interesting. And then I found out someone had been in love with me the entire exchange period but had been too 'big-boy, macho-man' (according to his best friend who spoke to me) to tell me. I felt really bad that I had to find this out 3 days before I leave :( And he's hot too ;) But yes ok, that's besides the point :p

At 3 we all gathered at Vishnu's place with the Brazlian guys (Marco, Retti, Lauro), Juan, Marcel, Bryan (who lives at Vishnu's place), Katalin and a few Swedish friends. We danced, talked and giggled the night away. But I couldn't shake the depressing feelings I'm carrying around as a result of my impending departure. At least I'll be meeting the Brazilian guys again in Amsterdam...

At 10am after throwing my laundry into the dryer I went to bed...got up at 4pm, wrote this post and now I will begin to pack up my room and live out of a suitcase. Wow. I never thought leaving here would be harder than leaving home. I'm right where I started but I'm different all the same.

Biggest Barriers to weightloss...Friends who are awesome cooks

It's all about the food here at Varnortsvagen. All we do once the sun sets (That is at about 2pm) is eat. Here's a quick rundown of recent foodie activity.
1. The 'Quick-we-are-leaving-soon-so-use-up-the-asian-food' Lunch
There was laksa, chicken rice, and other random side dishes.
Bryan couldn't have any because everything had some form of shrimp paste or extract, so he had his special pasta. It was a fine meal, with enough leftovers for the next day's lunch.

2. Flan Queso (Bryan's Cheese Flan)
This was one incredible dessert. Best Flan I've Ever Had. Period.
The master dessert chef behind the creation.
My second slice of heaven :)

3. Kata's Midnite Chocolate Chunk Cookies
We don't care what time it is. If there be cookies, we be there! And these cookies were too good to miss. Think I had 5...maybe 6.....and 2 more to go.... They were perfect dipped in unsweetened vanilla tea. OmNomNomNom!

Celebrate!

On Friday night, we were all not planning to sleep as the bus to Rovaniemi (Santa Claus Village in Finland) was leaving at 5am Saturday morning. The gang was to be gathered at Vishnu's place for snacks and movies. And I had told them that I want to make a special cake to celebrate the birth of my adorable niece Amritaa. So that was the perfect time to do it :) And although the cake I made is essentially a Berry Crumble Pudding, that night it was dubbed 'Amritaa cake'.

Just drizzle some vanilla sauce and oh boy...this cake is a dream if I may say so myself.
Katalin and Minttu made some gingerbread cookies too, The made regular round ones and a very special........
I Love Singapore! How cute right?
Here's us doing what we do best, vegetate in front of the laptop watching some random movie =)

A Brand New Baby!

Leaving for Lulea, I knew that I would miss the births of many babies. Four to be precise. Three friends of mine were pregnant in church and so was my cousin Linda. Thankfully, Facebook kept me abreast with the baby news in my church and I got to see the lovely pictures of the little new friends I would be meeting in due time.

As for my brand new baby niece, I asked my cousin Linda to sms me when she goes into the labour ward and I got my mum and her mum to keep me updated with dailations, contractions and the actual birth.

So at 2:16am Swedish time, my cousin sms-es me and says she is in the hospital on a chemical drip and close to an hour later she was given an epidural. I then immediately called her mother (my aunty Jinni), my mother and my grandma because I was so excited. This morning at 9:40 Swedish time, just as I woke up, my mother called to say that the baby was crowning and my cousin was going to give birth anytime. And 9 minutes later I get an sms that she had given birth to a beautiful, helathy baby girl at 4:38pm Singapore time. I immediately Skyped my mother who was in the hospital waiting room and she told me she had already seen pictures of the baby taken by the baby's dad - my cousin-in-law Anjan.

I'm an aunty for the second time over! I'm so excited and cannot wait to meet my new niece. I was promised that I will get to see her on Skype, and that they will email me the first pictures of her taken by her father. A brand new princess to love and adore, and I live right next to them, I can visit her everyday! I wonder what they will name her....

p.s. the picture is of my cousin Linda and my grandma taken at my cousin's traditional Indian baby shower.

Thank you redzman!

I was told by Shaun that Redz suggested the herbal soup and chilli powder =)
It's so cool that you'd even think about what I'm missing up here.
Thank you for being there for Shaun while I'm away, and keeping him company and keeping his sanity. You're a great friend Rez and I can't wait to see you again!

Special Delivery!

Yesterday I received a call from the post office telling me to try and be home between 12-2pm as I have a parcel that would be delivered to me around that time. I knew at once it was what Shaun sent me 2 weeks ago and boy was I excited! So I set my alarm for 11:55am and waited and waited until it finally arrived at a quarter to 2pm. It was much bigger than I had expected...Wheeeee!

I had to rush of to meet the guys and go to storeheden for a day of shopping, so I didn't get to open my package. When I finally got home at 8pm, I was famished. So I made myself a simple dinner of pan roasted vegetables accompanied by Knäckebröd (hard, crisp, bread) and a dessert of berry yogurt with orange bits topped of with almonds. And the package just waited patiently on the couch for me, looking very beautiful and inviting - with its stamps amounting to SGD$90 :s
Finally I was ready and had all the time I needed to open my package. I sized it up and delicately unstuck the tape all around by hand. I didn't want to ruin the box =) When I finally got it open I felt like a little kid who just chanced upon some stash of treasure...you know how the yellow of the gold would reflect onto the face of the kid making him glow as he smiled widely? Well that was me.
My wonderful sweetie didn't even ask me what I wanted and still he got it all right. Japanese curry - 2 packs mind you. Sayur Lodeh mix, herbal soup mix, chicken rice mix and my all time favourite spicy, sticky, crunchy tapioca chips!!!! I guess 8 years is not enough to know everything there is to know about someone, but it is enough to develop a small area of expertise, such as 'Shila's eating habits' in Shaun's case :pThe main event was a T-shirt I got him some time back, complete with his scent (I got him to sit around in it for a couple of hours before sending it over) and an envelop with writing on it that caught me by surprise. But it's the stuff inside that me feel all nostalgic and made me miss Shaun so much more.
The boy had written me notes on the receipts and napkins of restaurants we used to frequent. An especially bittersweet one was the Azabu Sabo one, where he kept looking at our usual orders in the menu and the booth seat we always take and started to feel really sad I wasn't there =( My own little lovelorn romantic. You're the best babe,thank you so much! I can't tell you just how much I appreciate this :)
The only problem is how I'm gonna finish all the food before I leave and, I'm desperately trying to loose the 5kg I put on here...now it is going to be even more impossible :/

Week 47

It is week 47 in school and things have been picking up quite a lot. I've been working on essays and I'm left with one more on The Grapes of Wrath and a take home exam which will come sometime in early December.
For the past 2 days I have sat in my room like some social recluse typing and reading away furiously so get work out of the way so that my plans for the week will not be ruined and I'm happy to announce that everything will go as planned.
The Shils pulled it off =D My thanks to Maccy Mac Lappy.

Well I've also been keeping the boys here happy with my unpredictable urges to whip up food at or past midnight. On Saturday after a party, I decided to make apple crumble at 3am...that was fun. And then on Sunday I went over to Vishnu's with everything I needed to make chocolate Swedish pancakes and whipped up a nice warm batch that we enjoyed.
Vishnu has developed a love affair with crumbles. Leave out the fruit, just give the boy some topping!
I've come to realise that my days in Lulea are numbered. I teachnically only have a month here and then I leave to run around Europe for a while before returning back home. We had a planning meeting to decide how we'll be traveling. We all decided to make it a potluck, so I made thai fishcakes (again), (adulterated) Greek tomato keftedes and the starwberry crumble in the picture above.
Vishnu made a great spicy fried bee hoon and chicken curry, while Jason made yam rice which was such comfort food. And dale made chew sweet potato fritters that his roomie form China taught him, very tasty morsels indeed.

It turns out that we all might only end up meeting sometimes, and even that depends on the trains - how full they are and if there are delays. Plus it's the holiday season so everyone will be traveling to go back to home towns and what not. I'm fine with traveling alone now, it's just that I think being alone for Christmas and New Year's would be really tragic.

I'm looking to begin from Stockholm and fly to London.
From London onwards I'll be taking the train to all my destinations:
Paris ->Belgium/Luxumberg/Holland ->Berlin -> Prauge -> Zurich -> Nice/Monaco ->Pisa/Rome/Vatican
And I'll fly back to Stockholm from somewhere in Italy. Grab my stuff and fly home to Singapore.

I. Hate. Planning.

Deepalulea (18 Oct)

This one one fun night. As Vishnu said in the Facebook album, there is no need for alcohol, just have good food and great people and it is all set. Vishnu's mother had sent him some ingredients and had hand written all the recipes for him. So the amazing boy spent all day in the kitchen, cooking briyani, spicy soya sauce prawns, chicken curry and raita! It tasted stupendous.



He had also invited close to 30 people so the house was really packed. Where else will you find Scottish, Finish, Brazilian, Spanish, Polish, French, Singaporean, Australian, Puerto Rican, German and Swedish people celebrating Deepavali together?! I decided to wear my punjabi suit and add a bit more 'Indian' to the mix.


It was really cool also because almost all the guests brought desserts along so after the main meal we had a huge array of desserts to try. I'm tell you guys, this bunch of exchange students all have a culinary gift. My kulfi paled in comparison to a lot of the stuff on the table :p

The eating began at 7pm and went on till about 11pm. Then after helping to clean up, we rounded off the night just sitting around and talking, and finally by singing along to songs on someone's karaoke software in their laptop. Best party I've been to so far in Lulea, and the most wholesome one too.

The Coolest Sunday Morning yet

Yesterday morning, Samuel Awe (Ah-weh)- one of the nice people I met in th eEnglish church service 2 week ago- called me at about 8:30am to tell me there was going to be an English service at his home at 11am. Samuel is one of the many African PhD students here in Lulea Tech University. As I didn't know where he lived exactly, I met him at the church near his home and he took me to his place. On the way to his place, he told me that that his wife had just delivered their third son last week and after the service they were going to officially name the baby and have a dedication service.

Church in a home setting like this was really really cool, in fact because my home church in Singapore is a small family church, it felt familiar. We sang hymns, we prayed, there was preaching and there was a summary and Q&A as well. Plus there were cute little kids running around the living room, so yes, just like Changi Baptist Church :)

The message was taken from Genesis 34, about Shechem and Dinah. We learnt the importance of weighing our choices, heading God's wisdom in making decisions, valuing the things of God and not the world.

The baby naming and dedication was awesome, I felt so privileged to be able to witness this and be there for it as I was practically a stranger to this home and the friends and family in it. So I am one of the blessed few to have met darling 'Timothy Testimony Oluwatimilehin Awe' in person.

Next week the service will be in a church in town. They usually book a small room in a church, but this week the church needed the room for something so it ended up being at a home. So guess I know my how my Sunday mornings are going to be from now on :D

New Friends!

I just hosted a very successful dinner party tonight and I'm so very happy about it. Its just great to have people all gather around a table of simple food and eat and talk. I just pulled together some pasta, sauce, and corn form the pantry and a new friend (Kate) brought nuggests, and we made it work to feed about 8 people. Most of us were exchange students except for Kate and her boyfriend (M) who live next door to me.

I'm excited that I've met good people so quickly and many of them were just happy to eat in a 'home' especially since they just arrived today. You see, I made friends with the couple Kate and M yesterday night when I went to buy a thick blanket from M who is selling a whole bunch of tstuff. And Mel and I hit it off with Kate right away. So I invited her and M over for dinner, something I was told Swedish people never do, and Kate was so thrilled that someone she just met would actually open their home and kitchen to a stranger.

I decided that I should also invite Marco and Daniel, two really nice guys from Brazil to join us as well and they each brought another exchange student to just arrived today, Michael from Switzerland and Scott from the US. So yes, it was wonderful to have a home bustling with great conversation and warm people.

Everyone came about about 8pm and only left at about 12am! I love dinner parties =D

On another note, I really really like Kate, she's so sweet. She brought me and Mel out to the thrift store to get stuff for the house and tomorrow she's taking us to the dollar store. She even helped me with dinner (while I was skyping with Shaun) and showed me how to work the washing machines here. She's a little lonely here, because even though she's Swedish, she's new to Lulea and she's a lot more forthcoming than most Swedish people - who tend to be more reserved according to her- so she was just really glad that Mel and I were so comfortable and open with her. She's just full of positive energy and she sees the good in everyone, I can learn so much from her. Mel and I didn't get Swedish buddies from the uni even though we applied, but I think we've gained so much more than just a 'Swedish buddy' in Kate, she's a Godsend.

I'm looking forward to the spending more time with all these guys here and I'm excited about welcoming my house-mates...I hope they come sooner than later so I don't have to be alone in this big house. But at least Mel is staying over here every night so it's not so bad and we are not 5Km away from each other any more.

Wish I remembered to take pictures at the gathering...but I guess I have all 5 months to take as many pictures with all these wonderful people as I want :)

On Leaving

So after a week of spending every spare minute with Shaun and dear friends, 4th Aug came reared it head. I spent most of the 3rd and 4th on my hands and knees vacuum sealing bags and weighing bags and packing and re-packing.

So here's the end result: 1 backpack, 1 duffel, 1 suitcase and a camera bag. A whopping total of 52.7 Kg. Mind you, that's more than I weigh! There was some drama at the check in counter but thank God the lady let me through after seeing that I was not kidding about not being able to take anything out. Apparently it was $100 per Kg!!

My send off party was massive, friends and loved ones from school, my internship and church were present and even my extended family came. It was wonderful and I don't think I've realised that so many people feel that I matter to them. I hugged each and every person who came to say bye to me, and I was fine...right up till I hugged Shaun then I lost it for a while. But I heard Arman's soothing voice telling me I'll be back here in Changi in no time, and he was right. Then I felt better leaving my baby behind to fend for himself in Sinagpore.

A Year of Departure

Borrowing from Rett's blog post...2009 is a year of goodbyes, embarking on adventures and striking it out on our own. Loretta (with coordinating green hat and top) got the ball rolling when she left to explore Southeast Asia with her trusty backpack in April. Then Yi Han (in spongebob-esque shirt and tie) left last Friday to University of Queensland to pursue journalism. He's even found a house! He's gonna top his class I'm sure. Soon in a couple of weeks it will be me (in the pink party hat) who's off to Europe. I am already looking forward to hanging out at the Substation with these guys when we are all back...I don't know when that will be though.
We are all going to have such amazing experiences to share and stories to tell. I think neither of us are going to come back the way we left. Come 2010 we'll all be different, I'm sure for the better though.

With us gone, it's up to these three darlings, Arman (head conjoined to mine), Elin (the bombshell) and Shaun (the one who's looking very yellow) to hold the fort for us until we return!
I miss you guys already :(
I love you guys :)

Temporary Girlfriend Wanted

I can't quite imagine how my boyfriend is going to handle my six month absence. I can't quite imagine how I am going to handle not having him around all the time. But from experience, I've realised that it's usually a tad easier for the one who's going away. So, being the thoughtful girlfriend that I am, I've created this post as an advertisement to find a stand in.

Vacancy for Temporary Girlfriend
A sensitive, considerate, attractive male seeks a female
companion from August 4th 2009 to January 20th 2010
to take the place of girlfriend who will be going abroad.

Must posses the following qualities

• Good sense of humor
  
• Able to give morning wake up calls
• Must like long bus rides
• Enjoys serving in church a plus
• Loves Japanese food, especially Sashimi
  
• Encouraging and supportive
• Must not be grossed out by perspiration
• Must love good music (no nonsense like The Veronicas or Flo Ryder)
• Must be between 22-28 years old
• No taller than 1.63m
• Only below average lookers need apply
  

Fans of Transformers, Gundam robots, Japanese Manga, Marvel comics and fast food need not apply. (We don't want him falling too madly in love with you.)

You will be paid in kind and intangibes.

• Regain your self esteem
• Learn how to be sensitive and self sacrificing
• Be showered with constant attention and care
• Never fall or loose your balance on a moving/crowded bus or train again
• Have someone to share your calories with
• Get discounts at the Esplanade
• Be serenaded on occasion

Interested parties should leave a comment and send in a resume with a picture attached to getthatboyawoman@gmail.com by 24th July 2009. Interviews will be conducted on 26th July 2009. Only successful applicants will be notified.