Theatre - 'Äkta känner äkta'

11 March 2019

Volunteer duties at a theatre play today. The theatre is small but not as small as the one I went in Galeasen Theatre. The title of the play 'Äkta känner äkta' means real knows real.

The play is about a man who went back to his hometown 20 years later to film 2 of his childhood friends' history and a bit of his. He asked questions on what are their happy and fearful moments. One The man who came back described his happy moment of how he lost his virginity - the words used were not romantic. Another one described his happy moment of him spending a few hours in a tent with a girl. Another one described his fear of his sister being raped and her parents did not allow her to return to their house and he sent his sister to her friend instead. One of the friends spoke of how his uncle who migrated to Sweden resorted to being a taxi driver when he was a professional in his country. Yes, that resonates hard among many immigrants where it is difficult to find their own profession again. 

There were a lot of foul words used during the beginning of the play. I don't enjoy swearing so I did not like it when I heard 'suck your c*ck' in Swedish. Then, I learnt what is the Swedish word for 'son of a b*tch'. The two friends were teasing each other and in the midst of it, insulted each other's mothers like - Your mother is so fat that she has to pay taxes in 3 countries / she has her own postcode. Gosh, I cringed when I heard that. Why is that necessary in the lines anyway? The three of them touched on a loss of a friend, Dmitri. Dmitri was shot because he stole and the man who left was involved in the crime but he did not know that the gangsters that they stole from will take revenge and shoot Dmitri. That was the real reason the man left his hometown. 

The 3 guys pretended to smoke weed too and smoke came out from under the benches. Probably dry ice but it smells odd. As the title speaks for itself, I am aware that they are acting as real as it can get in reality. Does this actually represent the majority of the teenagers here - weed, sex, steal, swear, insult? It was a very expressive play, nonetheless and worth the watch. 

The curtains went down before the play started.

The last photo shows the 3 friends who finally found closure on Dmitri's death. They sprang happily out of the theater into the cold. The end. 

Tastebud : Espreso House (via Karma)

12 March 2019

Sweden has an awesome app for the budget-savvy. As I am an intern, monies are limited for me. Then, I got to know of Karma. It is an application where food is sold for 50% off as the due date is one day later or on the same day itself. Lots of students know of this application.

Today, I decided to try it out for lunch. I activated my location for the app and found locations close by that supports Karma. Espresso House was one of them. I decided to buy a ceasar wrap with chicken for SEK31. I bought the food from the app and showed my paid order to the cashier. It did not smell bad at all. It is still pretty good! 

Tastebud : Hang Chow Restaurant

9 March 2019

Today's lunch treat was at Hang Chow Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, and according to my friend, cooks real Chinese food. The restaurant does have a very oriental decoration, though. 

We took the 2-persons meal set that costs SEK158 per person. Appetiser was sweet and sour soup and a huge spring roll with minced beef. The main meal was fried prawns with fried duck (I have never eaten fried duck prior to this) and stir fried chicken with beef. Dessert was banana fritter with ice-cream. The meal set was extremely filling and we could not finish the meal. My friend packed the remaining of the food.

Swedish Milestone - Writing Notes

I need to write down my next milestone in learning Swedish.

Yesterday, I was at a meeting with a client and my manager. My manager assigned me to jot down the minutes of the meeting. The meeting was held in Swedish, and to my surprise, I jotted down everything in Swedish. 

I reflected back at my first meeting with a client at the end of August 2018 and I was so nervous. I could only understand 50% of what the client said, mostly because I did not understand the jargons and I needed time to accustom to her accent. I was jotting down my minutes in English. This continued on - writing all my minutes in English. Then, it gradually become to some Swedish words and some English words. My fingers could not type fast enough to catch the additional letters in the keyboard. Plus, my spelling was getting haywire as I learnt more Swedish words. 

And yesterday, 8 March 2019, after 8 months, I could type the minutes in Swedish! I was in shock. In 3 months' time, it will be 2 years in Sweden. 

Tastebud : Vapiano (Munkbrogatan)

5 March 2019

Vapiano is a spacious Italian restaurant in Stockholm. It is very surprising to see how the tables are generously spaced from one another. There are no waiters to collect your orders here. One has to go to the respective counters that prepare salad, noodles or pizza to place their orders. Your order is stored in a card that is given to you upon entering the restaurant. You can see your food being prepared in front of you. 

I had scampi spinach pizza for SEK135/RM67.50. The crust was hard and thick and I did not find the pizza as delicious as the one I had in Eataly and Dell 'Attore. My thumb was aching as I was pressing it hard against the knife to slice the crust. If I come here again, I will try the pasta and am definitely not having the pizza.