listen

Listening to Morrissey while doing some research for school.

I'm supposed to write one page on the economy of Dubai city before friday. Plenty of time as it seems, if there were any good sources of information that is. Everywhere people mention the fact that the government of Dubai is run much like a corporation, and all over the news in Sweden you can read about how this economic crisis (oh, sorry I guess we call it "downturn" nowadays) is hitting Dubai.

However, the problem is I can't find one reliable source stating that Dubai is just one large company, or any local articles touching the subject of an economic so called downturn. And this is why I'm spending sunday night doing research. Sooner or later I'll dig deep enough and find what I'm looking for. Hopefully this will happen before friday.

Well, if I can't find any answers in the next database I'll give this up for tonight and instead listen to Morrissey while reading Patrick Rothfuss' The name of the wind.

For many christian churches today is the beginning of a new church year. In the Swedish church the colours are white and blue, joy and preperation. In others the colour is purple, symbolizing penitance and royalty.

Of course, the swedish society is highly secularly and for most people this day is mainly the day that signals the coming of christmas, not christ. And it is celebrated as the day when we start putting up chrismas decorations and advent candlesticks.

I see this day as the beginning of cozy winter nights. Lighting candles and drinking glögg (wine spiced with traditional christmas spices). Hot chocolate for breakfast. Baking and making candy with friends.

Religious or not, advent is what lights up the dark swedish winter and that in itself makes it worthy of celebration.

I've been neglecting this poor old blog for too long and figured it was time for a makeover.

The old posts will remain, simply because I'm terrible at throwing things away even when they are terribly outdated.

It's 5 a.m. on a sunday. I blame the rudeness of my cat Toss for my wakeness. He's been bored and hazzling me for almost an hour and now the sun is shining in through my window so it's impossible to go back to sleep. But atleast I'm taking this opportunity to share this rose with you all.

I'm rushing through towns I'll never visit. Seven hours on a winding road coast to coast. Vara, Skara, Marieberg, Örebro, Eskilstuna, Strängnäs. Names I've heard, places I think I know through history or friends but no place I've ever actually been. Historical and cultural landmines pass me by. Old townsquares and cobblestone roads, large highway intersections and red farm houses. Places where some ancient kings probably stood on the ground and declared important laws.

I don't even get off the bus to stretch my legs when we stop. I just sit there, watching men load parcels in the luggage compartment. To be honest it makes me a bit sad, thinking about all the places I'll never see. All the places I didn't think I'd ever want to see. The itch in my fingertips is back. The one that tells me I need to move, need to leave everything behind and see something new.

I get a sudden longing to get off the bus, grab my bags and just stay there. It really doesn't matter where I am as long as it is somewhere else. But I stay on the bus, sit absolutely still, afraid that even the slightest movement will make jump ship.

And now I'm here, the final destination, Stockholm. This is where my loved one's live, and the home of my worst fears. And if you haven't figured it by now, I really don't want to be here.

Too much coffee, and too many cigaretts and too many cookies, but now we're just as good as finnished with our report on AusAID. All we need to do is figure out some suggestions an Alternative Development follower might have to improve their aidprogrammes. And that's not so hard. Right?

In Sweden we talk about the weather. I guess people talk about the weather in most parts of the world, but in Sweden we don't just use it as a light subject when we have nothing left to say. In Sweden we seriously talk about the weather. We discuss it everyday and can talk about it over a cup of coffee. Now, some people can say it's wierd and laugh at us, but if you live here you'd understand.

Yesterday I thought spring had finally come to Gothenburg. We've hardly had any snow this winter, but I've still really been looking forward to spring. I'm just fed up with the rain and the storms and being cold all the time. Anyway, this weekend was really warm and I took my camera with me to play in the woods.

I remember thinking that the freezing days are over and that summer isn't too far off. And I remember thinking that it usually get pretty warm in time for easter so this isn't abnormal in any way. And I remember thinking "See, ha, I haven't had any use for winterboots all season, now that's a winter in my taste!"

This morning I woke up early to go to the gym and this is what met me. Snowstorm, yey. I really don't have the shoes to go with this weather.

I finally managed to get the pictures Vanilla sent me out of my phone and into my computer. Though I usually blame technology I can only blame myself this time. I'm lazy, it's a fact, everyone knows it. And when it comes to figuring out where I put the little bluetooth thingy, I will put it off until it drives even me crazy.

Anyways, the pictures. Cilla Vanilla and I were supposed to study in the library at school, but sense we kept distracting eachother and the sun was shining through a spring-snowfall we put away our books and went for a walk. Our steps led us into "the castle's forrest" or as we say, Slottsskogen and we climed up to every look-out post, flirted with the seals, laughed at the pinguins and got scared half to death by a peacock. It was a great day that makes me glad I moved to Göteborg.