My Curriculum Vitae

I am in China! WOOHOO. I am overjoyed about it, although it still feels a little surreal. That's ok though, because I am constantly reminded by different things that I am on Chinese soil. Like whenever I feel like I can't breathe because the air is so thick of pollution, and there is no sight of any blue sky even though it's supposedly "sunny". Or whenever I'm 5cms away from being run over by cars and bikes and buses even though I'm walking on the pedestrian side. Or when the sun has set and the neon lights have been lit, and all of a sudden, the city feels so lively, and the air is thick of smokey barbequed lamb smell.

I arrived in Beijing with my parents this morning, at like 9isham local time, middle of the night in Sweden (6 hours difference). Then we waited a while for a domestic transfer flight. Our luggage was a hassle, because we had to take it out, and then check it in again, and also the Chinese security guards were so picky. We also had some food in the airport restuarant, and it tasted like..nothing. Bland. We took the domestic flight to a city called Jinan, where my dad works as a professor a few months a year.

I would love to write more about my adventurous day, but I am dizzy and sleepy and probably wouldn't make much sense in my writing even if I did continue. So I shall update tomorrow or whenever I next have internet. Going to bed, now. NIGHT!

I realised I have not written anything here for an entire week now, tsk tsk me! A lot has been happening, especially because I am now back in Sweden. I have been back here since last Friday, and have been busy and tired to death every single day since then - stupid errands to run, things to get, school stuff to sort out. All is good though :)

Well, it feels yet again weird to be back in Sweden. In a way, life is a little more complicated back here. I don't really feel at home here, not even in my own home with my parents. The other day, my parents asked me if I was still used to living here, and I honestly told them that at the moment I feel more at home in London than here. I should have lied, because they looked a little hurt by my comment :( But I do feel more at home in London, in that little flat, with the BF. With him, I don't know how and why, but life is easier. Maybe it's because we're just two people who get along and live along quite well, and the flat is small, and it's easier to plan things and do things. Over here in Sweden, I want my parents to not have to worry about me, so I adapt to their wants and wishes as much as I can. I suppose that's the reason. I'm not complaining though, I'm very happy to be back and to spend some time with my parents!

Last Saturday was a big day for Sweden, because the princess got married. Lots of people went to the city centre to watch the ceremony on huge screens, including my parents and me. I wasn't very enthusiastic about the wedding, but my mum was, and she kept on leading us into the most crowded places! Geez, I wonder what she'll do when her own kids, my sister or I, get married. Although, I do have to admit that the ceremony was beautiful, the bride was very beautiful, and I was a little jealous! That evening we had dinner at my cousin's restaurant. Yep, that's right, my cousin opened a Chinese restaurant just outside town with two others, and we had a big feast there. I'm really proud of my cousin, he's just two years older than me, and he's got his own freaking restaurant up and running, utterly impressive!

I gotta go and run some more errands, will write more later!

I've always wanted to take a random train out of London and just get off at a station close to the countryside where there are endless vast meadows and fields. I finally convinced the BF to go on such an adventure with me (wasn't easy!), and last Saturday we took a train from London Wimbeldon towards the southeast. We ended up getting off at the end station, which was a town called Guildford. We tried to figure out through the name how it would be down there while on the train. Maybe there's some kind of guild there, so we guessed that everyone in that town is into something, like fencing or horseback riding or whatever.

Actually, we didn't plan to get off at the end station. We looked out the window the entire way, and agreed to get off at any station as long as there were meadows nearby. However, all the meadows were in between two stations, and it would take hooours to walk to one if we got off at any of the two stations, and we were too lazy to walk. Eventually, as the train approached Guildford, we had no choice but to get off and just explore the Guild-place and see if people there actually do engage in any specific activity.

Initially, the place looked like any other English small town. Then we spotted this beautiful grassy hill, so we got some sandwiches and climbed towards the top of the hill. It was quite a high hill, and we had to go to the toilet in the middle, so we went to search for a potential nature toilets. Eventually, after all the hassle, and risking being stung by nettles every footstep, and stopping to admire the grassy hill and view, and complaining about insects, we managed to reach the top.



On our way down, we took another route, and ended up walking among huge, beautiful mansions. I wouldn't hesitate to accept one if some generous person gave me one of those! BF said he would buy one if the price was cheaper than his flat in London! We found our way to the town centre and did some shopping and then went home with the train, sooo effing tiiired.

We encountered some strange things during our stay there. Like this weird insect stuck to a pole, which none of us dared to touch cause it looked quite exotic and poisoness:


Then I saw some heart-shaped leaves that were very pretty!


When we were on top of the hill and looked up at the sky, BF spotted this piece of cloud shaped like a pony, or whatever animal your imagination tells you. To me it looks more like a running dog with short ears.


I want to go on more adventures and see cooler and stranger things! Anyone up for one with me (as I would probably not be able to convince BF to go on another one)?

I realise this is a very braggy post, but I MUST display my latest culinary creation, because it is the best thing I have made so far! It's the first time I made soup, and I made a sweet potato and lentil soup. It was D-E-L-I-CIOUS! I served it with olives, oatcakes with cream cheese and smoked salmon, and homemade toasted bread with mozzarella and pesto. How good doesn't that sound?!



Today I am also Little Miss Happy, because I am really happy today! First of all, I am officially cured of my scared-of-cooking-syndrome, and I got scallops for lunch which I look forward very much to cooking. Second, BF is sitting his last exam at the moment, which means he is going to be free in about 10 minutes, and we will be able to finally hang out without his head buried in lecture notes about thermodynamics and stupid quantum mechanics. Third, it is the World Cup opening and even though I'm no where near a football fanatic, I think it's really fun just to watch and cheer on a team. Four, I have no reason to be unhappy :D

The decapitation of Mr Homemade Bread:

1) prepare knife


2) make two incisions along ears


3) separate ears from body

4) censured due to strong images

Have a great Friday people!

A few days ago, I watched Food, Inc., a documentary about the food industry and corporate farming in the United States. However, what is shown in the documentary is happening all around the world, so it is globally applicable. Since I had read the book I mentioned in April on my blog about the food and farming industry in the UK, Not on the Label, I was aware of some of the facts that Food, Inc. presented. The difference, however, between the two documentaries is that Food, Inc. provides an even greater incentive for us to change the way to farm and consume. Food, Inc. is photo/pictures-narrative, and to actually see the images of slaughterhouses, the method used to raise animals for food, and the way the entire food industry is trying to hide what is put into our food gives such an impact that a book can't give.

I know there are a lot of films and books and media coverage about this topic today, but I think Food, Inc. is one that everyone ought to watch. It's really nicely put together, and easy to understand, even though it touches upon a whole range of different issues within the food industry. For instance, it starts out narrating about how our farming methods and the food industry has changed. In the past, there were many farmers and different companies involved in providing food for the nation, but today, it has all developed into much less farmers and just a few companies that provide food for the US. These few companies are really powerful, and they make a lot of money, meaning that these businesses are well protected by the government and law.

Then the film goes on to show how chickens are raised. Many farmers declined to be interviewed for the film and many didn't dare to take the film crew into the houses where the chickens live. Only one farmer agreed to let the crew inside, and holy shit, it was effing horrible. The place was so crowded that the chickens even stood on each other. They were being fed fattening food, which resulted in their upper body growing far too obese for their legs to carry, so most of them could only take a few step before collapsing. Their legs were also stained with blood and bruises. Urgh. Not to mention, there were feces everywhere, and the farmer regularly had to remove dead chickens scattered around the house. The animals are also being fed antibiotics in their diet, to keep them from contracting diseases. Not long after this was filmed, the farmer who let the film crew was fired by Tyson, the meat producing/packing company who had a contract with the farmer. Oh, and most of the chicken houses had no windows, so they had not even seen daylight, and there is absolutely no ventilation either.

Geez, I can go on and on about the chickens, and cows, and people that died of E.coli, the big bad companies, and all the issues and questions the film raises. But I don't want to spoil too much, because you guys must see this! I showed it to the BF yesterday, and we ended up throwing out our cheap pork and beef (the chilli con carne I made(!)) we got at the supermarket. We have agreed to, in the future, live on a diet that is vegetarian, but with lots of beans and stuff, and have good quality meat and fish several times a week. You will too, I guarantee, after you watch Food, Inc.!

Haven't been on the computer for days! BF is in the middle of his exam period, and needs the computer for past exam papers, so I have scooted my ass entirely off the computer desk to give him the facilities to study. But now, I am seizing this moment to write a little while he is still sleeping!

I've done a lot more cooking now since the last time I wrote here. I have actually made almost every single meal the past few days, three meals a day. Most don't turn out as good as I expect them to turn out, because the photos on the recipe books look SO effing yummy. So when my attempted replica come out uglier and not very good tasting, it's quite a disappointment. However, I have had some successes too!

A few days ago, I made my very first homemade yogurt! It's really easy, hardly takes any preparation time, you just need to be patient about it, because you need to give it some hours for the bacteria to multipy, and then some hours in the fridge for it to set and cool down. But oh, how ever so pleased I was when my yogurt turned out white and thick and creamy :D


Yesterday, I made chilli con carne for lunch, which was sooo good. I was so pleasantly surprised that it was neither too salty nor too bland (something I had not balanced very well in my previous dishes). The instructions in the recipe said that instead of adding actual sugar, adding a small piece of plain chocolate would give it a nice final touch, and that was very true! I could actually taste a tiiiiny, just right amount of sweetness.

In the afternoon, as a snack, I baked apples. I did not know baking was something you could do to an apple, but oh yeah, you can do that alright, and with some butter-sugar-cinnamon-walnut mixture pasted around it, it tastes heavenly with my homemade yogurt!


I feel like such a housewife! I've started to constantly think about food, and what to cook. I do most of the household work, and SO much washing up that my fingers are itchy and dry by the end of the day. I bake our own bread and make our own yogurt. I go to farmer's markets and pick out fruit and veggies, and I read cook books before bed. I need to get my normal teenager life back!

Gotta go and make breakfast, today's menu is pumpernickel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, boiled egg, and sliced tomatoes. Hah, see what I mean by housewife?! See ya!

Having fun with sun lotion :D

I was thinking the other day about my life, and was suddenly awed by all the changes that have taken place over the last year and a half. Two years ago, I was still in (dull little) Sweden, getting ready to graduate from high school, but since graduating, I have experienced so many things I never thought I would!

When I travelled back that summer to China after graduating, my dad took me to a hospital, and I got to witness surgeries. I observed a heart surgery while standing right by the patient, and I saw the heart beat, then stop as the surgeons diverted the blood flow, then start again before they closed the patient up. The same summer, I also worked in a place helping mentally disabled people. Not really standard things you would experience at the age of 18 eh.

At the very beginning of year 2009, I desperately wanted to get out of Sweden. So in very short notice, I started looking up au pair placements in the UK. Not because I was particularly fond of looking after children, but there were a lot of families in need of au pairs, and it would be rather easy to find a placement. Initially, I was going to take up a London-based offer, but in the last minute I changed my mind to a family living in Nottingham. The London family had two newborn babies, not sure I could have handled that, I wouldn't even dare to pick them up, which would have made me looking after them slightly difficult!

After arriving in Nottingham, I met new, kind people. Then less than two weeks later, when I travelled to London to visit a friend, I met the guy who would be my future boyfriend. Later, in June that year, we had to separate for three entire months, as I had to go back to Sweden and he to Hong Kong. Three months apart nearly killed our relationship, not because we stopped liking each other, but because it was too hard. Thank god we survived, and in the beginning of November, after my first stage of UK University applications were completed, I moved to London to live with him.

That was more than six months ago, and well, I'm still with him. But I've also worked, lived alone, volunteered, attended interviews, and done a whole bunch of other things. Life's been a challenge, especially relationship-wise as well. Although I am very happy with the BF, it hasn't been easy. These challenges are also the reason I love life so much, this is how life is supposed to be in my opinion, full of surprises and new challenges. Well worth living for, even though the surprises and challenges aren't always good or easy.

In the summer I will be in China for a few months, then I will proceed my journey in Liverpool. Thinking about the future scares me. I intend on introducing the BF to my relatives (I have 100s of them) while in China, how will I survive that?? Then I will commence university and med-school. Will I make friends? Will I like the university? God forbid I become one of those get-so-drunk-that-previous-night-is-completely-forgotten-almost-everyday type of person! I know, it seems impossible such a cool person like me will become a drunkie sort of person, but you never know :)

Then thinking even further ahead, like 10 years ahead, I don't even dare to! If all goes to plan I should be a doctor by then. But is that where life will take me? I'm not so sure anymore after the last two years!

P.S. Today is sunny and warm again, which means ICE-CREAM day! Woohoo!

P.P.S. I've been trying to find watermelons, because you have no idea how much I crave them, it's like a rip-out-my-hair-and-eyeballs-craving! But either they are TOO expensive, or they are so unfresh that when I push the skin with my finger, my finger freaking sinks into the skin! Today I shall continue my hunt for the perfect melon!