fastlagsbulle

Today is Shrove Tuesday / Fat Tuesday . I think this day has its origins in Christianity, a day to ask for forgiveness of sins.

In Sweden, today is supposed to be the day to eat the semla. However, it is sold everywhere in the bakeries after Christmas, and probably continue till Easter.

Semla consists of a bun which has its top cut off and insides scooped out and is then filled with almond paste before being topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top is then put back as a lid and dusted with icing sugar.

I liked it alot, coz I love anything almond.

Trettondagen

..refers to the 13th day after Xmas. It would have been a holiday today if it is not a Sunday. In Sweden, if holidays happen to fall on Sundays, there's no 'compensation' of a Monday holiday like in Singapore.. :(

Nothing big happens today, some say its the day to throw away the Xmas tree, but then I 've also heard that its done on the 20th day after Xmas.

Also finished my Finance/Investment paper today. Dont ask me why an exam paper is held on a Sunday, a public holiday somemore. I kept checking and rechecking coz I was so worried I got the date wrong. Anyway, paper didnt go too well, but I dont have time to dwell on it.. Econs paper end this week.

Julafton

Every Xmas Eve. 3pm. Sweden TV will broadcast a Disney show called Kalle Anka, which is Donald Duck in Swedish. It is a montage of classic Disney film clips, and this traditional show is ranked amongst the highest rated shows in Sweden of the whole year as most Swedes will tune in to watch.

Donald Duck is actually more popular than Mickey Mouse in Sweden!

I watched it today, and I loved this particular clip:



Did you see the instruments that all the 7 dwarfs have? I have the figurine of Grumpy with his organ and Bashful + Concertina! Hope to have the entire collection someday.

Btw, there's this new movie called Enchanted, which has alot of classic songs from Disney films.. I havent watched it, but I think I will love it.

Santa Lucia

is a day which celebrates the life of Lucia, who was a real Catholic saint. Swedes celebrate this day in early morning ceremonies on Dec 13th.

It is celebrated in workplaces and schools. At home, the oldest girl in the family is to bring the parents coffee in the early morning. Girls wear a white dress and one of the girls will also wear a wreath of candles on her head. Celebrations are accompanied by the song, Santa Lucia:


Eva kept singing this, and I watched the traditional ceremony which was broadcasted on TV in the morning. This song is ringing and ringing in my head...

Glögg and lussekatter (St Lucy buns) are eaten on this day as well.

^ This lussekatter is made by Agata, so happened that we were at her place the day before, so we got to eat the homemade lussekatter, and some other traditional Xmas food below:

A Xmas biscuit called hästskor, which translates as horseshoes. The baked apple is filled with nuts and raisin, its not a Swede cuisine (prob from Germany), but its often eaten in Sweden during Xmas. The last dish is a Polish dish- sour cabbages in vinegar, with smoked sausages and alot of other things. It tasted alot like our pickled vegetables, those that we eat with porridge.

Nobel Prize Part 2

Sometimes one learn things the embarassing way.

As expected during my Swedish class today, the discussion topic was on the Nobel Prize Ceremony the day before. Afterwhich, we went round the table to talk about past Nobel Prize winners from your own country. So, there were Nobel Prize Laureates from Russia, Bosnia, Kenya, Poland, Chile.. and when it came to my turn, I said that there hasnt been any Nobel Prize winner from Singapore. My teacher was nice, she said comfortingly that maybe there will be one next time, and why not that I talk about other laureates from Asia instead?

So, I had to reply truthfully that I had no idea on whom had received a Nobel Prize before in Asia.

But I know now- there were laureates from China, Japan, S.Korea and Taiwan.

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize is regarded as the most prestigious prize in the world, and it is presented on the 10th Dec annually in Stockholm and Oslo.

Nobel Prizes were instituted by the will of a Swede, Alfred Nobel in 1895. 10th Dec is his death anniversary.
I never knew that the Nobel Prize has its roots in Sweden. Not until one day, someone barged into my Swedish class to announce excitedly the recipient of the Literature Prize, which was just announced moments before. My Swedish teachers talked with pride on the origin of the Nobel Prize, and that was when I realized that the Nobel Laureates are selected and awarded in Sweden (and Norway for the Peace prize).

Advent

Today is the celebration of the första advent (the first Advent) . Advent occurs on the 4 sundays before Xmas. The Swedish celebrate this with the lighting up of candles.

You can see the below structure at the windows of many Swedish homes, and its mostly electric candles instead of the real ones.


There are also many types of 'Xmas flowers' here . This is the hyacinter (hyacinth). I'm not sure if it is supposed to bloom, haha.. let u know again.

This is the Julstjärna. Colours are exactly right for Xmas. Jul means Xmas in Swedish.

Swedes also drink a Scandinavian wine called Glögg now. It is red wine spiced with cinnamon and cloves. It is served warm and then which you put the raisins and almonds into the warm wine. I like glögg, coz I am a big fan of cinnamon and almonds, ha!

Glögg is usually served with pepparkakor (Swedish ginger biscuits) and chocolate.

There's also something called the Adventskalendern. It is also known as the Xmas calender where doors/compartments are marked from 1st-24th Dec. Mainly for kids to countdown to Xmas- they can open the doors daily, and chocolates may be found in each compartment.

Saw one of these:

Also bought a gingerbread house for our gingerbread man, hee.

More Xmas celebrations/food to share next time..:)

Astrid Lindgren

Astrid Lindgren is like the Enid Blyton of Sweden. She was a Swedish children's book author and her books have been translated into more than 80 languages.

She would have turned 100 on 14th Nov 2007. (Those born on this day are talented ppl, ha!)

She is best remembered for Pippi Långstrump series. Pippi is an intelligent girl who mocks at adults who treat children unfairly. She can lift her horse with one hand, and is recognized by her red braids.

First learnt about Pippi and the author from Eva. The lyrics of my first violin pieces were written by Astrid Lindgren, and it almost always centres around Pippi. Just watched a documentary on Astrid -the Pippi series has been turned into movies and musicals as well!

Skärva

Finally visited Skärva, which was directly opposite our golf course. We always talked about visiting everytime we are on way to/back from golf. But sometimes, the nearer it is, the more disregarded it is, ha!

Skärva is also one of the attractions in Karlskrona. Especially so as Karlskrona is often called the 'naval town', being home of the Swedish navy. Henrik Chapman, a naval architect of Karlskrona Navy, built this place in the 17th century.

Built in 1786, it is "an imaginative marriage between neo-clasical architecture and a traditional Blekinge farmhouse".

Chapman was apparently able to keep a watch on the Navy yard from his workshop here.

The Gothic Tower - built to commemorate King's visit in 1793.

The temple - a present from someone to Chapman's 70th bday.

Graven means "The Grave"

Abit of trekking to be done...

The Grave - Chapman had planned his resting place here, so built this tomb. Unfortunately, he sold Skärva before his death and was buried somewhere else.

Also, a beautiful and peaceful view at the end of the treking

Plenty of mother nature around... I was attempting to wave to the cows.. haha.

Learning Swedish

A very interesting article that u can read if u wana know more about the Swedish language. I'm currently taking the SFI course that was mentioned in the article. Some excerpts:

It's hardly a secret that Swedes are exceptionally good at speaking English. Yet many new arrivals find... To work, or simply to get by in daily life, anyone staying in Sweden for more than a few months will need to pick up (Swedish).

This meant enrolling at a “Svenska För Invandrare” (Swedish For Immigrants) language course. These free courses are offered by adult educational facilities all over the country and usually take up around 15 contact hours per week.

One of the first things I faced, was the Swedish alphabet. The extra letters å (think 'autumn'), ä (as in 'apple'), and ö (as in 'urban') take a while for many people to get used to. “Pronouncing the letters and words is also quite difficult as Swedish has a particular sound and flow. It’s a very melodic language full of tones, dips and flows..

One of the aspects of SFI that many people find enriching is the sheer variety of people they meet...

So true...

Äpplemarknaden

Visited the apple festival last weekend, in Kivik. Kivik is about 2 hrs drive hr from Karlskrona, in the southern most point of Sweden.

Kivik is a town known for its production of apples and apple products. People visit the festival, mainly to see the big mural.. which is entirely madeup of apples!

Think its Einstein? And this is the closeup of the mural, its 100% fresh apples!

Apple exhibitions / fairs

After the fair, we decided to look for the Ales Stenar , a pretty famous sight in the south of Sweden too...

It was a looooong walk... din expect to trek sooo far....

Finally see it in the distance...

TaDA!

Ale's Stones (Ales stenar in Swedish). Its made up of 59 stones, arranged in the shape of a Viking ship, believed to be a cremation grave long long time ago.

Cows can roam freely..

We also dropped by the IKEA at Älmhult. Its the first IKEA to be opened in Sweden (and probably in the world too lar).

The nearest IKEA to Karlskrona is 1hr away, and IKEA at Älmhult is >1.5hrs. Be thankful that there are 2 IKEAs in small Singapore!

Anyway, the IKEA here and back in Sg is exactly the same, in terms of layout, furniture blah.. look, the cafeteria looks familiar?

The IKEA cafe menu now is very ratatouille - ratatuoille pasta/ ratatouille with chicken... is it the same in Sg too?

Ratatouille is actually a french dish of tossed vegetables.. it was not that great..

But the movie was cute and funny! :)