Saint James's Church

28 July 2017

St. James Church has always been on my list to visit, but not because of its name but because of its distinct red colour and I wondered what holds inside. This place does not have normal visiting hours but I know for sure, it opens on a Saturday from 11am - 12pm because I visited the church during that hour. Haha! It is a simple church inside but worth stopping for a visit, nonetheless. 

Saint James's Church (Swedish: Sankt Jacobs kyrka) is a church in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to apostle Saint James the Greater, patron saint of travellers. It is often mistakenly called St Jacob's. The confusion arises because Swedish, like many other languages, uses the same name for both James and Jacob. 

Arguably the most central church in the Swedish capital, surrounded by the popular park Kungsträdgården, the Royal Opera, the square Gustav Adolfs torg; and near Sergels torg, the Royal Palace, and governmental office Rosenbad, the parish of the church was limited to 150 souls in the late 1980s, and was thus merged into the parish of the Stockholm Cathedral in 1989. Source from Wikipedia.

Kampung Indonesia Festival 2017

28 July 2017

Right after my Guided Walk Tour in the City which ended in Kungsträdgården (King's Garden) (pronounced as kungs-treh-gorden), I went to Kampung Indonesia festival which was also in the Garden. I heard loud music when we reached Kungsträdgården and I went to find out what it was and was pleasantly surprised by an Indonesian festival. Yay, an Asean country! It was drizzling and there were not much visitors around. If it is a sunny day, you will definitely the whole place crowded. Everyone loves to hang out in Kungsträdgården. 

There were performances on stage and it feels awesome to be able to watch without being distracted by so many heads. The performers had their costumes on and those who wore minimal, I wondered if they were not affected by the weather. I felt cold walking around. I enjoyed myself thoroughly at this festival! Food, trying out musical instrument and get to speak Bahasa Malaysia (yes, I have missed speaking my own national language). 

Free Tour Stockholm - City

28 July 2017

I joined the last guided tour provided by Free Tour Stockholm. My first was their guided tour in Sodermalm and the second was in Gamla Stan. I got the same guide for the first two. The third and last tour was a different guide. He is not a local Swede but he does know a lot about the city. Yes, the last guided tour is in the heart of Stockholm - the city itself. 

We met in front of T-Centralen train station. The walk ended in Kungstradgarden and you can see our group in the last photo. It was a large group!

Here, I found out that there are 4 H&M stores in the same location which are sort of opposite to one another but they sell different stuff in each store. I remembered one is for clothes and the other is for home stuff. Plus, the Headquarters is located here too. If you are not aware yet, H&M is a Swedish brand. I did not know till I came to Sweden. I always thought it was a Hong Kong brand. 

Park Theatre 2017: Greek Music

27 July 2017

My Swedish Language course starts on 7 August, and so I have been busying myself to visit as many places as I can in July, and my activities dwindled from August onwards. But I am glad to go to school because I made new friends and could talk to people that has the same situation as me. 

Today, I go to another Park Theatre event. This time, it is Greek music. I am not a huge music fan but anything outdoors to enjoy the sun was better than staying at home. Just follow the sign to Park Theatre and one can find themselves in the location. It is usually an open field with a stage and some benches. And don't forget stalls for hotdogs, ice cream and cold drinks. I left 10 minutes before the event ended because as I mentioned, I am not a huge fan of music, and I was beginning to feel bored. 

Free Tour Stockholm : Gamla Stan (Old Town)

26 July 2017

My next guided tour is to Gamla Stan (Old Town). Gamla Stan is one of the must-see in Stockholm. It is a definite tourist destination. This place is always crowded with tourists and everything is over-priced here. I back with the guided tour from Free Tour Stockholm again! My first experience with them was a guided tour to Sodermalm. I got the same guide again the second time - Peter. Of course, he did not remember me. The amount of tourists that join the group is so overwhelming but it is so cool that he could hold the group together with his jokes and stories. We met in front of the exit of T-Central station. 

Almost 2 Months

It has been almost 2 months I am here in Sweden.

Initially, I was very excited making this move. Then, the excitement wear off. The anxiety of being financially strapped, jobless and boredom got into me. It did not help that I don't have friends or family with me, except for my partner.

Yes, I am aware I made the choice to move. 

It has been almost 2 months I am here in Sweden.

In these 2 months, I have ..

... visited too many museums, 

... seen 2 outdoor theatre performances (in Swedish which I don't understand but I go just to experience the summer activities of Sweden), 

... went for guided art walk (will be blogged about soon), 

... went for a free city tour in Sodermalm (also will be blogged), 

... ran twice (disappointment. I guess I cannot run 500 meters now), 

... applied for a resident permit at Migrationsverket (Migration Board) which I received after a week

... applied for a personal number (without it, you don't exist in Sweden) at Skattersverket (Tax Agency) which I received after a week

... applied for an ID card (without the card, I cannot open bank account or do anything) but the ID collection letter got lost in the mail and I have to wait for another letter

... registered to study Swedish in an Adult Education Centre on 7 August for 6 months 

... flown home for family matters, 

... got sick for a week plus because of ulcers in my throat, 

... went to Holland for 4 days for the summer holidays and spent 2 days in south Sweden to enjoy the nature.

It has been almost 2 months I am here in Sweden.

Today, I read on getting unemployment benefits and applying for a social insurance. The English version of the website was limited. I shall pay them a visit soon and hopefully these agencies can ease my financial burden.

I am trying to get a grasp of my anxieties which are more frequent visitors now. It is really difficult making changes to one's lifestyle. 

I worked for 11 years and I quit my job to move to Sweden. It was an exciting thought to not be bothered to work but now I would like to have a job.

I am used to Malaysian lifestyle where food is affordable and I can eat all kinds of cuisines. I miss my kueh tiow soup. I miss rice. I miss thosai. I miss curry. Looking at the prices here is certainly a far cry from the prices in Malaysia. 

I miss driving. The joy of just taking my car keys and driving to wherever I wish. Now, I take the bus and thankfully, the bus and train rides are very punctual. Except on days when some stations are down due to construction. Everywhere is easily accessible via public transport. Although the only thing that frightens me is how drunkards, homeless and beggars can walk inside the train and distributing cards illustrating their plights or announcing they need money (I am suspecting they announce that because they walk along the train shaking cups filled with few coins). I wondered why this can't be prevented. I do not feel safe inside the train. Today, a drunkard tired Caucasian walked inside the train announcing something in Swedish and walked on the aisle but no one gave him anything. Then, he plopped himself opposite me but diagonal. My heart just jumped out. His movements were slow and draggy. He took out 2 empty beer cans from his pants and stuffed them slowly (he looks in pain doing so) into his bag. Then, a lady offered 2 McDonalds meal card to him. Then, he took out a drink bottle (which I suspect has alcohol) and almost falling asleep (his head was nodding forward) prior to taking a few sips from the bottle. Gosh, I was so frightened and was ready to shout if he did anything. But I ignored and tried to act nonchalant and played with my phone. It became more difficult when he moved his seat to sit right opposite me. I thought I was going to cry from the fear. I thought to myself - Please don't do anything to me. Please don't lunge at me. Please don't fall forward. Please don't take out a knife. I sound prejudiced but I can't help feeling such. I left the train at the next train station. Why can't the transport operator do something about these kind of people? 

The weather here still needs adapting. It is summer now. It is hot but it gets cold when there is wind. My skin is flaking from the dry air. I miss wearing t-shirts and shorts. 

It has been almost 2 months I am here in Sweden.

While making adjustments to my life has been difficult - It is definitely not easy adapting to new unknowns and learning new regulations, which is more restrictive due to the language barrier - but I am grateful I am given this opportunity to do something different. I am grateful that I opened my heart to making a new change. I am going to be more grateful and learn to let go of my anxieties, embracing a brand new day as it comes. 

Let's get back to blogging about the places I have been and the trip to Holland! 

Free Tour Stockholm : Sodermalm Tour

12 July 2017

I went for my first walking tour with Free Tour Stockholm. It is free and since it is free, we tip the guide depending on our financial capability. My guide for today was Peter and he is hilarious. It is so important to have a funny guide. He described on how some of his tips included a teabag and a special egg. Haha! These kind of tours usually cost SEK200 per person for a private tour so some of the tourists tipped around that range. Well, I am not loaded, so I tipped lesser than that. There are actually a number of free walking tours but for some reason, my fingers clicked to this provider and I did not regret it. I would recommend any tourists to go for these walking tours. One really learn a lot and at your price too. 

Today's walking tour is in Sodermalm. We met at Slussen train station It was about a 2 hour walk and we walked around for 2 km with attractive points of interest for photo shoots and for Peter to share the history on the place. It used to be a poor area and was frowned upon in those days, but now, it is an area for the artsy people, the hipsters and the rich too. 

Park Theatre 2017: Missionary Theatre

12 July 2017

Today, I visit my second Park Theatre event. The first I went was a theatre play meant for kids which I could understand easily. This one is meant for adults and I could not understand what was going on but I understood the gist because I read the synopsis before I came. It was about 2 ladies in the missionary who is in love with one another but could not act on their love because it was forbidden. Well, there was even a staged sex act which I could understand very well, and shocked me that this was performed openly. 

This play was in an open field located in Djurgarden. One can take the train, walk or take the ferry. I took the ferry because it will be my second time to use it. I was excited to use the ferry and it is covered by the SL travel card. It was easy to find the open field because there were green flags and signboards with the word 'Park Theatre' along the way.

Hallwyl Museum

11 July 2017

Another museum. Hallwyl Museum - a rich person's house that was turned into a museum. It is not a very huge museum. It took me about 40 minutes to cover the place. 

Hallwyl Museum (Swedish: Hallwylska museet) is a Swedish national museum housed in the historical Hallwyl House in central Stockholm. The house once belonged to the Count and Countess von Hallwyl, but was donated to the Swedish state in 1920 to eventually become a museum. Hallwyl House was donated to the Swedish state on the condition that it would remain unchanged. Today, the house has been preserved as it was when Countess von Hallwyl donated the house. The museum features preserved rooms from the late Victorian period in Sweden giving a glimpse into the lifestyles of the nobility in Stockholm at the time. Source from Wikipedia.

Guided Art Walk in Metro Stations

11 July 2017

Another cool thing to do during the summer in Stockholm is to go for the guided art walk in the train stations. Stockholm has a fine piece of train system which is so easy to decipher, and you have to trust me on this because I have the worst sense of direction. There are 110 stations and 95 of them are painted or decorated with art motifs to give some life to the cold underground train stations. It is a one-hour guided art walk organised by SL (Storstockholms Lokaltrafik) train. SL is the train service provider. Of course, there are guided art walks by other tour groups but this is free and no tipping is required. 

We gathered at SL ticket office in T-Centralen Station. The art walk was carried out in English. All we have to do is ensure that we have a valid train ticket. I had the 30-day train ticket. You can also carry the single journey train ticket as the single train ticket lasts for 75 minutes as soon as it is tapped. As the guided art walk is for an hour only, we have to chase the trains and the tour guide needs to give a fast explanation. We did not go to all the train stations but those with significant art that is worth explaining about.

The walk was on the blue line. Of course, there are motifs in some of the stations on the red and green line too. I think they chose the blue line because there were less human traffic. 

I am posting photos of significant art that I fancy. There are a few which we went but I do not remember the meaning behind the motif. This is what happens when you blog about it 11 months later. Haha!

This is Sundbybergs Centrum train station (pronounced as sund-bee-beh-rees cent-trum). The artistic design here will go unnoticed if one is not attentive enough. Can you see the human senses - ear, nose and mouth. 

Park Theatre 2017: Treasure Island

10 July 2017

In addition to free museums, Stockholm also organises outdoor theatres. These theatres are organised by Park Theatre. There is a website called Gratis I Stockholm which means Free in Stockholm where you can see all the free activities in Stockholm. There is, of course, the website by Park Theatre. All the theatrical plays were in Swedish so I could not understand anything but I could guess what they mean after 30 minutes. There is also a synopsis of the play in the website, so it was not too bad. I did not go clueless to the event. For this play, it was meant for kids and so it was not too difficult to understand.

It was my first time to Husby and it took me about 1.5 hour to get there. Gosh, I did not realise that it was so far. I was not sure where the venue was but good thing that they have Park Theatre banners or signboards along the way to show the outdoor venue. 

Naturhistoriska Museum (Museum of Natural History)

8 July 2017

My museum tour continues to Swedish Museum of Natural History which is located right next to Stockholm University. This museum is huge and has a grand exterior design. Well, my favourite is still Nordiska (Nordic) Museum. This place is very suitable to bring your kids because they get to see wildlife, skeletons and the functionality of the human anatomy. I learnt those in school so it did not piqued much of my interest. At the end of my walk, I had a slice of cake and yogurt from the restaurant. I can't remember the price now but I am pretty sure it was not cheap!

The Swedish Museum of Natural History houses scientifically important biological and geological collections. Comprising millions of specimens make it one of the larger natural history collections in the world. Source from Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet

Etnografiska Museum (The Museum of Ethnography)

6 July 2017

The Maritime Museum was located in the vicinity of other museums and one of them is Etnografiska Museum which is also free, hence, why I am there. Haha! The other museums are not free. There was a Police Museum which I thought would be cool to visit but I was not ready to invest monies for museum visits. I have done for 1 musuem - Langholmen Prison Museum, and I think that is sufficient for now.

The Museum of Ethnography (Swedish: Etnografiska Museet), in Stockholm, Sweden, is a Swedish science museum. It houses a collection of about 220,000 items relating to the ethnography, or cultural anthropology, of peoples from around the world, including from China, Korea, South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific region, the Americas and Africa. Source from Wikipedia.

The Museum of Ethnography opened in 1900, but its collections date all the way back tp the natural history cabinets of the 17th century. The museum also features objects that were collected during 18th century expeditions, as well as the results of the 19th century's round-the-world sailing trips and Sven Hedin's expeditions in the early 20th century. Source from Varldskultur Museerna.

I liked this museum better than Maritime Museum, though. It has a wide collection of items from around the world and they are very fascinating.

Sjöhistoriska (Maritime) Museum

6 July 2017

June left. One month has passed since I have been in Sweden. I was overdose on museums but I have really nothing else to do except to visit free museums and enjoy the sun. I could not speak Swedish and so my activities are limited to English-speaking activities. My partner was working too. So, it was me, myself and I during weekdays.

Today, I took the bus to visit Sjöhistoriska Museum. It means Maritime. I could not pronounce the letters 'sj' together. It was just tongue-twisting. So, 11 months later, as I reflect (edited) this post, it is pronounced as 'hwer-histori-ka'. I agree, it sounds totally different from how it is spelt.  

If you are a fan of ships and anything to do with ships, you have to visit this place. They have fine exhibitions of ship models and of course, to me, it was boring. My partner was surprised that I found it boring. Haha! Well, it was too technical for me. Okay, I can vouch that they have very detailed globes and elegant paintings of ships. 

The Maritime Museum in Stockholm, Sweden is a museum for naval history, merchant shipping and shipbuilding. The museum houses about 900,000 photos, 50,000 objects and 45,000 drawings, all related to the sea, coast, ships and boats, past and present. Source from Wikipedia.

Stockholm Street Festival 2017

30 June 2017

After the visit to the Medieval Museum, the next spot of visit in Kungsträdgården (The King's Garden) which has a Street Festival going on. There are always lots of activities here during the summer. Almost every weekend. And if the weather is sunny, you will see this place fully packed. 

There were not much people in the festival. It was definitely chilly and windy. That is definitely a minus point. There were a few performances and one performance has close to zero audience. It was pretty sad. Oh not forgetting the food trucks there too. I got a vegetarian falafel for SEK100. So expensive. Well, all food in the food truck costs almost the same. It is between SEK90 to SEK100. Enjoy the photos! Hopefully this year Street Festival is livelier!

Medieval Museum

30 June 2017

Today, I bring myself to Medieval Museum, my 5th museum in the month of June. It is free entry, hence, why I am here. I did a schedule of all the free museums I can go to. Schedule because some free entries depends on specific days and times and they have different opening hours too. This museum is located below a road and has an awesome view of a naked statue (Haha!) and the waters. I remembered I was in need of a toilet and museums are always a good place to find toilets. There are no public toilets in the train stations. At first, I found it pretty strange because I wondered how does people withhold their pee. And then I see lots of beggars in town, and I realised it was a good idea to not have toilets instead at public place.

They said that Netherlands has the most museums in the world. I thought Stockholm has lots of museums, so I really cannot imagine visiting all the museums in Netherlands. I was never a fan of museums before I came to Sweden, and I don't usually include museums in my travel itineraries unless they are really worth going to or a UNESCO sort, but ever since moving to Stockholm, I would recommend people to visit some of their museums. I have a favourite and it is Nordiska Museum. Never imagine that I would have a favourite museum!

I digress. Let's talk about Medieval Museum now!

The museum is built around the findings from the largest excavation in Stockholm. Our underground exhibition features 55 meters of the original 16th century town wall, a medieval graveyard and a war ship. Source from Medeltidsmuseum.

Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple

30 June 2017

Today, I bring myself to Fo Guang Shan (FGS) which is a Buddhist temple. I think this is the only temple that has branches in Europe. I went here for a family matter. I did not know if FGS existed in Sweden, and I tried my luck on Google, and I was lucky. The place is located at Blygatan 3, Rosersberg. The thing about the addresses in Stockholm is that you can really rely on it.

This place is quite far from Stockholm, requiring about 1 hour 15 minutes to get here. One needs to take the Commuter Train / Pendeltåg (pronounced as pen-the-tog) (with the 'J' symbol) which goes outside Stockholm. The train station to stop at is Rosersberg Station. It is covered by the monthly SL transport card. I arrived and I got lost trying to find the direction. I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere.