The secret life of Sundbyberg

You never really see a lot of people on the streets in the Stockholm suburb where I live, Sundbyberg. What you do see, though, is a million restaurants that most of the time look completely deserted, and I've often wondered on on earth so many restaurants can survive in such a small town. Today I found the answer. I'm sick and home from work, and for the first time since I moved here I have today experienced Sundbyberg by day. Or should I say, by weekday. Expecting it to be even emptier than normal, I obviously made no effort to look good. After all I have a fever, a headache and a sore throat, and was just going to the supermarket for some food, a movie and some ice cream, and I really did not look good.

But unexpectedly the town was full of people. Where they came from I will never know. It wasn't even noon, and yet all these people were heading out for lunch, filling up the otherwise so empty restaurants and all looking very businesslike. And here I was thinking that Sundbyberg is a place where people live, not a place where they work. Apparently it's the opposite. Where are all these people when I get home after work?

I liked seeing all these people, it made this little shithole seem somewhat more alive, but I just wish they'd chosen to show their faces on a day when I looked a bit more like my usual self.

blogging hiatus..

So, it's been a while. Not that it matters, no one really reads this, except perhaps for my mom and maybe a handful of friends. Nonetheless, I like writing here, it keeps me entertained for a moment or two and if nothing else I get to practice my already pretty perfected touch-typing.

I've been in Malmö since Tuesday night, and tomorrow I have to go back to Stockholm and I'm really not ready for it. I like Stockholm and for a long time I've been saying that I certainly don't want to leave Stockholm until I've at least experienced one summer there. But I've had such a good time these past days, I had been longing for this for a really long time. My work really doesn't demand a lot from me, but being stuck in an office with nothing to do can make you feel just as trapped as being swamped.

The weather since I came home has been perfect. Sweden has gone from being a place almost uninhabitable only a few weeks ago, to something closely resembling paradise. It's not summer yet, but most definitely spring. Around 15 degrees every day, and since I got home the sun has been shining more or less the whole time. Today I've spent the whole day in the backyard, and burned my nose along with pretty much the rest of my face. I don't care, though, because I don't know when I'll next get to spend a day in a backyard.

Soon I'll be back in my closet of an apartment with windows that are admittedly facing the sun around the time when I get home from work, but which definitely lacks a balcony and a nice view to go with it.

But going back to work on Tuesday will be a lot easier after these wonderful days. I've met everyone I wanted to meet, including my friend's newborn baby, I've gone shopping, I've kicked back with some wine and a good book in the garden, I've had a lovely dinner at a Caribbean restaurant with possibly the best Mojitos I've ever had, and I've somehow managed to accumulate 10 pairs of shoes that one way or another have to make it back to Stockholm with me. Some new, some old and some that I brought with me here and which consequently have to travel back with me too.

That is one thing that I won't complain about, though, because shoes I have been needing for a long time. Boots are now a distant memory, or so I dearly hope. If I have to one more time stick my feet into a pair of warm leather boots I might just have to go jump off a bridge!

One week from now

give or take a couple of minutes, my train will be pulling into Malmö central station, and I'm so excited I might vomit. (classic Chandler quote if you didn't know. If you didn't, you probably need to watch more Friends)

I'm looking forward to drinking beer in Copenhagen, to seeing my friend's little baby, to living in a proper house for a while, to having someone cook for me (hint hint mommy..), to taking a long walk in the woods and to just doing nothing. I think some shopping in Malmö can be expected too, doing it in Copenhagen would be madness right now, what with the weak Swedish krona and all.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Fuck what the people want, what to they know? Why did we even have a referendum in the first place? We wouldn't be where we are now if we hadn't. Now we have to have another one, because we are a democracy and anything else would be disrespecting the voice of the people. Still, it really can't be said enough; introduce the euro in Sweden!

Maybe I'll stay

So I was thinking. I've been working at my current job for pretty much exactly six months. Six months that have passed by rather swiftly, despite it being the most depressing time of year and despite my being bored half to death most of the time.

I have a one year contract, which will end on October 1st, I believe. I want to spend the summer in Stockholm anyway, because I've always wanted to try it, Stockholm really is amazingly beautiful in the summer. And since I haven't yet decided whether I want to stay in Stockholm, or whether I want to move somewhere else (Malmö, London), I'm thinking that perhaps I should just endure these coming six months and then go from there.

I could take my two weeks off in August to go to Boston and New York just like I planned, and I'd get to experience what it's like working at an embassy in Sweden when Sweden has the EU presidency. 1st October really is just when things start getting worse again, weatherwise I mean. Until then Stockholm will be a pretty neat place to live. And I will have my new, higher salary and will be able to enjoy Stockholm life better. More money, more sunshine, I think I really can't say no to that.

I have a lot to look forward to, for once. In a week, I'm going home to Malmö for easter, something that I'm VERY excited about. Then a few weeks later, Michelle is coming to visit, and after that perhaps Annie. And then I'm going to Düsseldorf to visit my Spanish friend Mercedes, who I met in Arizona when I studied there, and perhaps some of the other people will come too. Then it's the Bruce Springsteen concert in June, and hopefully I'll also go on a little trip to London in June, together with Marina and perhaps Audrey, to visit the people who still live there. And then, in August, I will visit Misha in Boston and together we will travel down to New York, where she has a friend.

With all these plans, I don't think I should be leaving neither Stockholm nor my job. I'll just stay here for a year, which was the original plan after all, and then I'll just have to wait and see what live throws my way. All things considered, my life feels pretty damn good right now.

So much for being healthy

Today I paid the English Shop in Söderhallarna another visit. I picked up a small easter egg, a creme egg, mini eggs and some McCoy's flame grilled steak chips. And I'm working my way through it all at quite a fast pace. I adore easter in general, and English easter eggs in particular. Thick, creamy, hollow chocolate eggs, preferably Cadbury beat a normal chocolate bar any day.

My first easter in England was spent over-indulging in these easter eggs. I probably put on a couple of kilos only because of this. I was completely obsessed with these eggs, and one day I even had an entire egg for breakfast. Luckily I think I'm over that initial obsession and can now have a somewhat healthy relationship with the chocolate eggs. But that doesn't mean that I don't once in a while treat myself to a couple, after all easter only comes once a year.

In a slow part of town

I had a date yesterday, or what could very well have been a date if it had been with someone other than my friend Ida. Dinner and a movie. Very datish. But it also makes for a good evening with one of your best friends.

I'd reserved a table for us at Nhu's, which is supposedly the best budget thai restaurant in town. It's located in a part of Södermalm called Hornstull, a trendy area that I know little about. All I know is that from what I've seen of it, it looks everything but trendy, it's grey and industrial looking and definitely does not look much to the world. I must have missed something because apparently it's full of trendy bars and cafés.

From my experience, it's just a very slow part of town. Traffic lights take forever to turn green, and when I say forever, I really mean forever. Waiting for five minutes at a red light just isn't acceptable. The restaurant, too, was slow. Appallingly bad service, it took half an hour for us even to get our drinks on the table. And not only was the waitress slow, she also wasn't very friendly. Not once during the evening did I see her smile. And for a budget restaurant, it really was very expensive. Perhaps it's just me, but I don't think that paying 170 kronor (17 euro) for a main course is very budgety.

The food was good, though, but not more amazing than any other thai food I've had for that price.

After dinner, we headed back to Medis to catch a movie, Confessions of a shopaholic. It was alright, not exactly high quality stuff, but that wasn't what I expected or wanted. Sometimes a good chick flick is all you need. And it didn't hurt that Hugh Dancy, who played Luke, is very easy on the eye either... http://www.imdb.com/media/rm729061888/nm0199215

Now it's once again Sunday night. And we have lost a whole hour today. Thankfully something good will come out of it. But heaven knows I'm not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. Hopefully a new job is on the horizon. If only the horizon didn't seem so out of reach.

One lovely spring day

First, we took a ferry from Slussen/Old Town to Djurgården. It's a really beautiful ride, and since yesterday was the first time the weather permitted us to sit outside, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the beautiful surroundings. Unfortunately blogger is playing up and won't let me move the pictures around, so the will appear in a bit of a random order.



Södermalm, the old working quarters. It may not look much to the eye, but to me it's beautiful. Walking down those cobbled streets, you can almost imagine what it was like living there a hundred years ago.




Once we reached Djurgården, we found a small bridge where we sat down to enjoy the sunshine and have some coffee. It was slightly cold, but the coffee did its best to warm up our frozen bodies.


I sure don't look very warm, and I felt rather like an elderly woman with my home-brewed coffee in a thermos and a home made sponge cake to go with it.

Ida preferred some tea... And left her mittens on.

The ice was still pretty thick, but was definitely melting. We had a good time trying to make holes with our feet, but were too scared to put our entire body weight on it. This little bird evidently was not.

Another picture taken from the ferry, of one of my favorite streets in Stockholm. These quarters are the opposite of Södermalm, this is where the posh and rich people live. And where I work. The street is called Strandvägen, and it's absolutely gorgeous. I like this part of town too, Östermalm it's called. As a moved in Stockholmer, I'm allowed to like all parts of town. If you're born and raised here, I think you have to take your pick. You're either a Söder och Östermalm girl. I'm both and neither.

The Vasa Museum and another museum which I believe to be the Nordic museum, but I could be wrong. Another picture taken from the ferry.

Also from the ferry. This is Slussen, the first part of Södermalm that you come across if you walk from the city to old town. It's worn down and dirty, but it has its charm. I like it, and I'm worried that all the grand plans that are being made for its future will take away its charm and history.

Unfortunately, days like yesterday are few and far between. Today got off to a good start, but the weather quickly deteriorated, and just as I was heading out to buy dinner, it started to snow. And as it did, the love for Stockholm that I felt yesterday quickly turned into utter disgust.

I think it's safe to say that you'd be hard-pressed to find a more depressing view than this right now: