Kraftskiva

The 24th of September 2006 was a momentous day because it marked the first time I had seafood here in Stockholm! Heheh those who know me will know how much i LOVE seafood...sadly, fish, prawns, mussels and even crabsticks cost 2 arms and 2 legs here (would you pay 7sgd for a pack of crabsticks, you tell me?!?). So to those of you who think we've been living it up here partying, feasting and drinking, you thought wrong! I'm a giamsiap soul who would rather spend on airfares than on crustaceans, which explains why I've taken Ryanair more often than I've had seafood. Hahaha!

Crayfish parties (kraftskiva) are a tradition in Sweden (see here for more info on crayfish parties in Sweden), where crayfish are eaten cold, using the fingers. The usual accessories like bibs, party hats, paper lanterns depicting the Man in the Moon were present, and true to my corridor-mate's warning, we were goaded to take a swig of Schnapps with each crayfish claw, resulting in many extremely red (but happy) Germans. Noisy eating, a rowdy atmosphere with traditional drinking songs and games were part and parcel of this once-a-year experience.

Anyway, for a ridiculously cheap price (by Swedish standards), I had a really sumptous dinner of unlimited crayfish, pasta salad, freshly baked foccacia and baguettes, Vasterbotten cheese, beer, red wine and Swedish schnapps (43%). I was a very happy (and full) girl indeed. Nowhere else in Sweden can you get such a good deal, trust me. Thank heavens for international coordinators and student unions and the bumper load of crayfish caught this year!

Ok photos from the great night out!




































Crayfish!




























Really strong Swedish cheese













The songsheet on which they printed English translations of traditional Swedish songs.












My mentor Karin, who was sweet enough to email me about the party and take me for it. Plus she gave me a pair of earplugs when i told her i was looking for them. Swedish folk are mostly really nice, methinks!

Announcing the start of the partaj!

Eye candy for the night heehee

This is Emma, a friend of my mentor's, who very kindly taught me the glam(mer) way of de-shelling crayfish with my fingers!

And the drinking and games begin...

It's not that i'm short ok, she's 1.9m tall.

This is Mareike, from Hannover. She gave me some tips on Germany, which will come in handy when we go there tomorrow!

As you can see from my plate, I was very happy with my crayfish.

Haha ok u guys can laugh at my party hat.

Anyway, Jo and I are leaving for Germany tomorrow, where'll we be meeting up with Nick, Sam, Jess and Terri, to cover Hamburg, Berlin, Munich (Oktoberfest!!!), Rothenburg and Cologne. We'll be back on 9th October, so dont bother checking all our exchange blogs till then! :)

Much love!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dearest Daddy,

Happy 50th Birthday!

By the time you read this, I will probably be in Cologne or Hamburg. This is the first time in my 21 years that I won't be able to spend your birthday with you. Please forgive me! Be assured, however, that my thoughts and best wishes are with you.

Thank you for all your sound advice, your knocks on the head when i get too stubborn, for always being there for me, and for knowing when to step back and let me learn from my mistakes. You've selflessly provided for our family, acceded to my lazy requests to fetch me around Singapore, gone with me on my countless gastronomic haunts to check out the best soon kueh, BBQ seafood, prawn noodles and cheng tng in Singapore, instilled in me a love for the beautiful game, and most importantly, guided me through all my major decisions in life thus far.

When I think back on my childhood and my teenage years, beautiful memories spring to mind. Of running around beaches and stomping on sandcastles, of you falling down while piggy-backing me down snowy mountains, of bouncing around and falling headfirst off the trampoline just outside our campervan, of staying in motels along the highway, of watching and loving Broadway, of eating yummy ribs in the outback, of having traditional english tea facing the English countryside, of driving down Welsh coasts, of us visiting the homeground of our respective football clubs (which are just a 5min drive across town from each other), of us scrutinising maps and trying to navigate our way around confusing foreign cities, and of course, of walks up Bukit Timah Hill and the yummy dinners we go for thereafter.

And you know what I've realised? You, mum and sis are a part of all those treasured memories. Every single one of them. All 3 of you are such a crucial part of my life, and the knowledge that the 3 of you will always be there to guide me, listen to me whine and complain, chastise me when necessary and keep me grounded is a comforting one.

So as much as I am enjoying myself on exchange, I wish everyday that all 3 of you were here, to share in this wonderful experience with me, so that we could add it to the long list of memories we have created together. I miss you guys so, so much, and I cant wait to see all of you next year.

I love this picture of our family, with grandma inside too.

Enjoy your seafood birthday dinner, and eat my share of crabs and prawns for me please!

Can't wait till we webcam on the 10th! :)

Hello all! There are suddenly so many (more) exchange blogs to read, which is great so I can see how everyone's doing all over the world.

I'm blogging now because I'm taking time off from the boring readings that I have to do. Yes, even though it's pretty slack here, we still have readings/assignments...which we of course have to attempt to complete when we're back in Stockholm and before we jet off again (which is 28 Sept -to Germany to meet up with the rest of the Singaporeans! Yay).

Anyhow, to add on to Shu's post, Riga is really lovely. Those in Europe, please do visit Riga if you have the chance to (btw, Ryanair flies there and at a pretty cheap rate too if you catch their promotions).
It's understandable to give Vilnius a miss now, (though I believe that place will be a fantastic place to visit a few years down the road) mainly cos it's still in the transition/restructuring process. After visiting the KGB museum in Lithuania and the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia in Riga, I seem to get the idea that Lithuania was more badly affected by the Soviet occupation than Latvia...ok I don't really know since the the musuems only gave us a relatively summarized version of what both countries went through. Anyhow, that was the feeling I got.
But Vilnius was still a good choice (for me) because it opened my eyes to the (slightly) more backward places in Europe (of course perhaps Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia etc will be even more so, but which I'm not gonna touch!) It's nothing like the places I've been to before. However, the place is very safe (for those who think its #$%@$ dangerous) though the people don't really speak English and it was tough getting directions sometimes.

But yes, Riga is more touristy, the Old Town is amazingly beautiful and the prices of food/alcohol/cigarettes there is freaking cheap too (though I felt so poor because I only had 9-10LVL to spend. For everyone's info, 1LVL=S$3. And I all my money was in coins. I really felt so poor. But in the end, I still had leftover cash because really, food there is THAT cheap, and there's no need to pay for transport coz we cld get everywhere on foot. But anyway the bus to the airport was only S$0.60 lor.) I really liked the place, and the only thing I was quite unhappy about was the size of the place. Riga Old (and new) Town is very small; I wish there was more of the place so I could walk and see more!

Ok, enough words. I'll return with more pictures (+captions) in my next post.

Oh, and I have something to say regarding one of Shu's pictures. BUT I need to obtain her permission before I can blog about it. haha!

Back to work!

Lithuania and Latvia, 13-18 September!

No time to blog cuz we have an assignment due on the 25th (yes, we have work to do here too), just before our trip to Germany on the 28th. So this is just gonna be a photo update!

Quite excited to finally meet up with some of those on exchange in Europe after so long! So Jess, Sam, Nick and Terri- see you guys soon! Oktoberfest- woohoo!! :)

More photos below!

From Stockholm, we caught a Ryanair flight to Kaunas, Lithuania, from where we took a train to Vilnius, the capital and largest city in Lithuania. 

There's a reason why people travel mainly to Vilnius in Lithuania only. Not Kaunas! 

From Kaunas, we arrived in Vilnius in the evening. We walked the streets a little before returning to our hostel.  

St Catherine's// Lithuanian Parliament// National Museum of Lithuania 

St Anne's Church- one of my personal favs among the many churches we visited in Lithuania and Latvia. 

Old but still majestic. 

Bright and cheery 

The KGB Museum- one of the highlights of our trip, really. It's where the KGB HQ in Lithuania used to be, and the basement of the building was where they tortured victims. Inscribed on the walls are the names of the victims, while the picture on the bottom RHS documents the number of Lithuanians who were killed, exiled, tortured, executed under Soviet and German rule. 

The torture cells- it was really chilly down there. Gloomy, cold and depressing, the sense of dread and misery hung thick in the air. We nearly lost our appetite for dinner... ok nearly. 

Vilnius at night! Streets prettily lit up, bustling cafes, well-preserved architecture. 

Evidence that Lithuania is not as desolate and backward as everyone seems to think! On a sidenote, Macs has really achieved worldwide domination huh.. 

The Gates of Dawn// Vilnius at sunset 

We took a day trip to Trakai, 28km from Vilnius// the famous Trakai castle!