It is good with automatic defrost but...

A freezer that automatically defrosts, great. Except I discovered yesterday that it also defrosts the ice that I have there on purpose. All the ice blocks were more or less gone yesterday when I was looking for one. Only minimal pieces, one fifth or so of the original still existed. In the future I will freeze ice and then place it in a closed box. Or freeze it shortly before having guests.

Imagine that Badminton can be so exhausting

Fell asleep like a baby yesterday. Had some things I wanted to get done when I came back from the badminton but my eyes just refused to stay open. I almost fell asleep at the table first, and then when switching of my computer. Good thing I didn't swallow my toothbrush when doing my teeth! 

Played badminton yesterday, very enjoyable sport. The good thing is that you can exercise just as much a you want, old ladies can play and great athletes too, you can adjust the speed etc depending on whom you play with. Brilliant. 

Yesterday we played pretty rough, but I think I stretched enough, so I should be OK today. 

Our games are by the way quite interesting, we are a mix of people from various countries, and with various skills, which is great fun, we learn a lot from each other, and not just in regards to the game. We have people from India, Japan, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, France, UK, Turkey, and so on. Normally we are around 8 every time, but sometimes 12, depending on how many courts we manage to book. And why Friday evening? Easy, that is when the badminton court has "happy hour", pay for one hour, play two... Friday evening is generally not the most attractive day for sports as many people want to be home with their families or with friends on Fridays. But I enjoy it. But yes, I need to start doing other sports too. Was going to buy myself a bike but it looks like I never seem to get around to it...  And when it is as cold as right now it is not exactly giving me inspiration... On the other hand I know I will be annoyed in the spring when I don't have a bike and have to go out and get one. I would also think that I could get a better price if I bought one now. 

Longing for the weekend

I am longing for the weekend. Unusual, I normally don't do that but today, yes, I do. I want to crawl up into my sofa, with a nice cup of tea and my books. Have a lot of catching up to do on the reading front, reading and studying. This weekend I don't want to even put my head out the door, or at least that is what it feels like right now. We'll see what happens with that, may well change in a few hours. I know how it is, I tend to go nuts if I stay at home too long.

Winter is here for real, I guess, and it is still getting darker. Here I can't expect to see to many of the electrical lights that are so common in Swedish windows during December, so it will more or less continue to be dark until December 21 or what ever it is, and then it turns. I always look forward to when it turns and starts to get lighter again. Even though I will not notice to start with, it is enough to just know...

How ARE they thinking?

Yesterday I saw a film about immigrants, "Ett Öga Rött" (One Eye Red). I liked the film a lot, it had a lot of laughs, was sad as well. I read the book which was an excellent one. What is unique in it is that it shows Sweden from another perspective, it is written by an immigrant and in his kind of language - Swedish with a twist, one should perhaps say. A new language is developing - and personally I think it is time to take advantage of that. Change is not bad. Let us see it as a way of developing. I believe we are naive if we think we can live in an ever changing world without changing ourselves. I prefer to see the difficulties as challenges, nothing else.

However, since the film was showing in Swedish, with English subtitles, there were several Swedes participating. The opinions about the film were quite mixed, some didn't like it at all, other liked it. But what was REALLY interesting is that it triggered several discussions that I would say were racist. And stupid based on the situation that we all are in: We - i e I and any fellow Swede in Germany are immigrant. WE are not adjusting, we are celebrating "Lucia" and "Midsummer" and what ever other Swedish things there are, we eat our Christmas ham, drink our own drinks, we watch Swedish films, and so forth. And we meet up in big groups. How can we then be concerned about the immigrants moving to Sweden keeping their habits.

NATURALLY you have to adjust to the laws in the country you live in, that goes without saying. But turning into a copy of the people in the country with the same habits, the same celebrations and so on? Heck, I wouldn't do that in Germany, I am proud to be Swedish and I intend to keep the traditions that I like. It doesn't mean that I wont adopt some of the German ones but I will indeed keep my Swedish nationallity, just like most people who lived here for a long time. But it is like we don't understand that yes, we are immigrants too. It is just that we had the possibility to pick so we picked a country that happpens to me more like our own - but never the less, we stick to our own traditions.

Without your own traditions you become rootless. And rootless people may not always look into what is best for the country. Is that what we want? No, embrace the change. Everybody has the right to their roots! OF course we have to fight anything that is inhumane, and not human worthy, but who are we to say what is good and what is bad? Are we really THAT good???

Family visiting

Had parts of my family visiting last weekend. Great to see them. But I wish Düsseldorf had shown itself from a more gorgeous side, so that they could have experienced some of the feelings that I have, I just love this city. Now we didn't get up to my old quarters at all, above Hofgarden, which is a great area...

Well, hopefully it was not too bad and they will be back!

Winter is coming

Winter is coming, it is getting colder and colder. But I work so much that I hardly have time to realise it at the moment. And when I get home I spend the time in front of my new computer, trying to catch up on the private stuff I need to do - and of course getting familiar, I have switched over to the other side, I am now a Mac owner :-)

I notice the weather when I go to the train in the morning, but when I go home I am so speeded from everything I want to get done and everything happening at work that I can't feel the temperature.

Feels like the flat won't get any better. At least not on it's own. Need more guests so that I have a reason to unpack yet another box, buy a new bookcase, throw away some more stuff...

At least some more pictures and paintings are coming up this weekend! Paintings take very little time to put up.

Gothenburg - it is a cold place - but thankfully just the weather

Was in Gothenburg last weekend. It is a cold place, but just from a weather perspective. Everybody seemed so happy when I arrived, or perhaps it was just my own attitude that was great so that I only saw the smiling faces.

Visited the city as a tourist for the first time, and had a lovely time! I noticed things I hadn't noticed before, when I have been to busy thinking about boring practical things, like house, shopping, gardening, work, and so on. Everybody should take the chance to be tourists in their home towns from time to time, one shouldn't wait until one has moved away. I don't thing I will ever go back to Gothenburg except as a tourist but as a tourist it is indeed a nice place.

The weather could of course be a bit better. November rain is not good anywhere. In Gothenburg the wind makes it feel like it rains from side to side, not top down. And hence an umbrella will not help, you need a dry suit. On the other hand that gives you good reasons to stay inside with a glass of wine, or something warm to drink, and burning candles everywhere. And that, my friends, is not bad, not bad at all!

Amsterdam

Spent the weekend in Amsterdam, with a friend. God, I love that city! International, vibrant, a lot going on, and yet it is a small city that you can easily walk around it, if only the weather allows it.
Had taken Friday off and left in the morning, with train. That is another advantage of living in Düsseldorf, it is so close to everything. Just over two hours and one is there, in another country, in a capital. Lovely! And train is such a comfortable way of travelling, relaxed and you arrive right in the middle of the city.
Had sunshine when I arrived and that was of course nice. But with a big bag I didn't walk anyhow, I took the tram towards the hotel. Or, well, I didn't plan on walking. But still ended up doing it - it would have been a good idea to check WHERE on that long street the hotel was... It turned out that I basically took the tram that went to one end of the street the hotel was on while the hotel was in the other... Well, that is one lesson learned. And stubborn as I am I continued to walk with my big bag, good that it had wheels... :-)

Can somebody by the way answer me on this one: Why are the stairs in Amsterdam so steep? I am guessing it has something to do with saving space but really, it feels dangerous! No broken legs this time though. And for that I am glad!

Saturday was cold in Amsterdam, cold and windy. Have to remember to bring warmer clothes next time. Same thing in both Amsterdam and Gothenburg, the wind from the see makes it humid and the wind goes through everything. Brrrrrr.... On the other hand, I am not sure that it matters what I wear, I am cold anyhow. Thankfully Düsseldorf climate feels somewhat better, at least.

Had an interesting experience in Amsterdam, by the way. I am lactose intolerant, which means I have to skip milk and cream (but yogurt is OK, when you turn the milk into yogurt most of the lactose disappears. And hard cheese is more than OK, hard cheese matured for more than 3 months (which is short in the cheese world) doesn't contain any lactose what so ever). Anyhow, that was not the point. The point was the following:
On Sunday, before leaving, we had lunch at a Chinese/Malaysian place. I wanted some "real" Chinese and asked about which region the food came from (guess I am ruined after having visited my cousin who lives in Shanghai and having eaten fantastic food - spoiled... And Chinatown in London is not bad either) - but the poor guy didn't have a clue. When I asked about today's recommendation he looked even more puzzled...

In the end I ordered some noodle soup (which was more Malaysian, I guess, or even Thai???). In came the soup, and - oops - it looked milky. Silly me, Asian food rarely contains milk or cream, so I hadn't asked. Bad... However I was sure it was coconut milk - very common in Thai food, but just to be on the safe side I asked. And when I asked if there was milk, the answer was "Yes". I - still sure it was coconut milk - asked again; So it is coconut milk? Or is it milk from cows? The guy says:

"No, it is coffee milk."
Interesting... I continued by saying "Aha, so it is milk from cows, then", to which the guy answers "No, it is coffee milk"...
When I told him that the milk hardly comes from coffee but from cows, like milk normally does, his respons was....
"Really???"

No, he didn't make fun of me, he was genuinly surprised that coffee milk could come from cows. He even went and got the package for me so that I could see for myself, and sure enough it was milk. From cows. Not from coffee.... And when I, after having seen the package, stated that yes, that is really cows' milk, he again looked and sounded really surprised.

Thankfully my dear friend offered to switch meals with me. I didn't get what I wanted but at least I got something that didn't make me ill. And I got a good laugh as well (or more a giggle). And before I left I got a red rose from the restaurant. Not because of the milk but because they gave that to every female customer that day. Nice initiative!