thoughts and things...

So, I know it has only been like four or five days since my last entry, but I am already so behind in reporting my latest escapades. Things have been busy as usual, which is great. I guess we can start with the weekend Kelly and Kirsten came to town. It was pretty fun showing them around and we did some fun things like going to an exchange student party at the student house on Fridhemsgatan. We met lots of people there and had a good opportunity to practice Swedish too. Then we also took a ferry to Brännö off the coast that weekend, which you've already heard about. One Sunday, we went to the city museum, which was quite interesting. I couldn't take any pictures there, but they had some interesting things there... like a huge collection of chairs from over the ages, a reconstructed viking ship, some swords, and other old artifacts. Oh yeah, on Friday, we stopped in at a cafe in the Haga district for some coffee and played Swedish Scrabble. It was a lot of fun and we talked for a bit with the couple that owned the cafe before we left. They were from Iran and were actually quite anti-Swedish. They were really pro-American, but I remember insisting that Seattle is pretty similar to Gothenburg. I've been involved in the debate on whether people are more friendly here or in the US more than a few times, but I haven't yet decided. I usually say people are more friendly here, but it really depends on the day, I think... and the weather. It also depends on one's own mood and demeanor.

On another note, I passed the test for entrance into the intermediate Swedish course and now I am one of 14-15 students in the course. (I feel lucky because I've heard there's over 100 students in the beginner course right now). I'm the only one from the States and the only Asian, but don't worry--- I'm representing you well. Apparently I scored the second highest on the entrance exam. woot.

I had my first rehearsal with my new funk band on wednesday (11/2) right after Swedish. It was a lot of fun playing drums again and I feel like we have a lot of talent in the group. A lot of the members of the band are from France, so I feel like I'll be learning some French while I'm here (along with Swedish, Russian, and Spanish... among others). After rehearsal one of our vocalists asked me if I was interested in playing in another band as well. I said "maybe... it depends on the type of music." He said they play rock, so I said that rock is not really my type of music, but I filled in for them the other day as a favor to dear Gautier. It hurt my soul a little bit to have to play My Sharona and play punk versions of beautiful ballads like What a Wonderful World. I'm sort of a music purist and again, I don't really like rock music too much... so this was a rough 3 hours. Still it was a good experience to have and I'm glad to have done their band a favor.

I've been getting a lot of good practice with the Swedish language, but sometimes too much. I didn't think it was possible for me to get sick of Swedish, but it happened the other day when I was hanging out with my Russian friend Olga, who is quite good at Swedish over lunch, and then doing Swedish homework in the library, listening to Swedish radio, then attending a welcome party for Humanisten department and participating in a Swedish quiz competition. I've been trying to recover since that day and I think I'm almost back to normal. But, all of the language input I've been getting has been scrambling my brain a bit, I think. (French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, Korean).

Being Korean and American in Gothenburg has put me in a place where I am quite unique and I'm learning a lot about myself as I reflect upon the choices I make when everything is completely up to me. Things are quite different here in Sweden because of the Socialistic government and ideas, but I've liked being here so far. Everything seems to be more organized, the government seems to take much better care of its people, and I think Sweden is one of the only places in the world where it's cool to follow the rules and be as upstanding as you can be. The question is... at what cost? Well, first off... the tax rate is very very high. Also, one has to put up with government monopolies on alcohol, gambling, and I can't remember what else. Still the way of life seems to be much simpler here, and much more equal, and safe... leaving more time for taking it easy or involving oneself in hobbies and other activities. Others might argue there's just more time to get bored and depressed and people need to feel like there's too much to do. Personally, I like having less red tape and more free because I am naturally a productive productive person that doesn't like to sit around getting bored. Sometimes though, I need to take a day to just lounge around. I think that's mostly because I have this habit of doing a lot of things in one day... just jamming it pack full, and sleeping for most of the next day. It may seem a little extreme, but I know I'll even out pretty soon.

I've really been craving kimchi and spicy Korean food lately. So, I asked a few of my Japanese friends where they get their Asian food. I was so glad to hear is an Asian food store right next to Nordstan! I'm just sad they're not open on sundays, or else I would've gone there today. Instead I had rice with salmon filet and sambal oelek, which was still awesome. (I had a carrot too, since like I've said before, I bought so many I need to eat them before they go bad.) Here's a quick pic:














And here's a picture of the spaghetti dinner I had the other day with pajeon and a carrot on the side:














Yeah, I really go to town when it comes to noodles.

Oh, and here's a picture of what pajeon looks like before it's destroyed. It was my first time making it and I think it turned out pretty well. If you're wondering what it is, I'd say it's like a Korean pancake.














It looks like I was so hungry I had to take a bite before I managed to snap a picture.

Wow, I'm realizing now that I talk about food a lot. I'm glad I'm not morbidly overweight or something, or else this could be super embarassing.

Well, before I leave you for now, I wanted to share this beautiful sunrise I saw out my window this morning.















There's much more to say, but I've run out of energy on this post. (To be continued...)