Snövit (Snow White)

29 December 2021

I did my last volunteering activity for 2021 with Kompis Sverige. We went to see a dance performance entitled Snövit which means Snow White. It is not the classic Snow White story that most of us know. The dwarfs are there but they are not dwarfs and there are 6 only. The evil stepmother is in the story. But the person looks like a man so it could be stepfather.

So, the story is about Snow White who reaches puberty (she had red stains) and her stepfather gifted her a mobile phone and got her hooked on to social media and obsessed with getting as many 'likes' in her posts. One fine day, Snow White's post reached more 'likes' than her stepfather and he ordered her to be killed. So, a huntsman was there and he killed a rabbit (a shadow of a rabbit. You cannot be killing a live animal on stage). Finally, Snow White was liberated from her stepfather. I did not understand how. I cannot quite decipher that from the performance.

But overall, I enjoyed the dance show! Oh, we needed to show a vaccination certificate to enter into the venue. 

Tastebud : Chili Masala

18 December 2021

Lunch at Chili Masala was so delicious! It was a far cry from the dinner I had yesterday at Kebabkhan Kurdistan. I would definitely come back to Chili Masala again and again. The food was full of spices and so finger-looking good.

I had Tawa Mix Fish which is fish fillet, salmon and prawns cooked with spices and costed SEK170. It was served on a huge frying pan and took up a lot of space on the table. One friend ordered Nihari which is lamb leg and that costed SEK130. We had the dishes with so aromatic pilau rice and garlic naan bread (SEK25 a piece). I had mango lassi (SEK35). SO GOOD!

Tastebud : Kebabkhan Kurdistan

17 December 2021

Dinner for today with 2 friends. We went to Kebabkhan Kurdistan which unfortunately, I have to say was not up to my liking. The meat was chewy. The soup was not spicy. The beans in tomato sauce tasted like Heinz's canned bean. The rice was not fragrant. Surprisingly, there were lots of customers, which I guess are familiar with the food being served in this restaurant. It is a huge restaurants so it is spacious. 

We had the plate of grilled meat - lamb and chicken, and half a grilled chicken served with 2 types of rice. 

Waldemarsudde - Ett eget rum (A room to oneself) art exhibition

2 December 2021

Voluntary work to Waldemarsudde Museum. Yes, Kompis Sverige is back in action with their activities to bring newly-matched friends together to hang out. It is a great initiative. I enjoy going to their activities, being a volunteer to gather them and talking to them, getting to know and being humbled by new people I meet each time. Everyone has their own stories and I learn each time I listen to their stories.

The last time I was in this museum was in November 2018. 3 years back and with Kompis Sverige too but as a participant then. 

Today, we are in the museum to see an art exhibition - Ett eget rum, which means a room to oneself. Well, the direct translation will be 'an own room' but does not make sense in English. So, this exhibition depicts how Nordic female artists at the end of the 19th century came to conquer the role of artists during a time of radical societal changes and gender equality aspirations. Source from Waldemarsudde. We had a guide with us to explain the history of a few painters. I took photos of paintings that intrigued me. 

In this picture, the painting of the man was painted by his fiancée. And his fiancée is painted by him and depicted in the next painting. See, how they see one another in each other's eyes. I think the woman looks dark and sad, while the main looks happy.

In this huge painting, a husband painted his wife and his wife who is a sculptor sculptured a bust of him and is displayed next to the huge painting. You can see the wife's profession in his painting, and the husband is very proud of his wife being an artist. 

Women as artists were being frowned upon then. I prefer these sort of paintings when one is able to see the object clearly. I am not a fan of abstract paintings because they are just random strokes and I cannot interpret them as creatively as the artist. I feel that clearly painted objects are harder to paint as one needs to be careful with the strokes, details, and shades of colours.