Concert - Ethel Smyth's mass

9 May 2019

Today's evening activity is brought to me by Kompis Sverige. I invited my colleague to join me. She is here for 3 months only and I decided to bring her to the concert. This concert is a first-time for me too. After the break (my colleague bought a snack plate - a delicacy and cup of coffee for SEK55), a group of people walked to the back of the orchestra and belted out a couple of songs together with the orchestra, and also to accompany 4 opera singers that sang in the front. 

Here is a bit history of Ethel Smyth that I took from Konserthuset's website.

Ethel Smyth (1858–1944) was exceptionally talented and went to Leipzig, which was one of the most important music cities in the nineteenth century. Smyth came to be a highly acclaimed personality, both as a composer and as one of the leading individuals of the suffrage movement which fought for women’s right to vote in England. In recent years, some of her music has been performed at Konserthuset, but this is the first time the programme will feature Mass in D – a Swedish premiere! The magnificent mass is constructed almost like an opera and is simultaneously melodically tasteful and intricate, dramatic and expressively imagistic. For her efforts in England, Ethel Smyth was named Dame of the British Empire.

Theater - Stallet (The Stable)

6 May 2019

Volunteer duties today with Kompis Sverige - a comedy performance in Hotel Rival which is located a stone throw's away from Mariatorget station (the red line). It is literally a stone throw's away if you have got a strong arm. Just a distance of 200m. The performance entitled 'Stallet', which means 'the stable' in Swedish is about behaviour in a flock as in a group of your own kind where everything is stable. It is certainly a funny show and they lighten the atmosphere on how difficult and challenging it is to accept changes in a flock. I suppose this show is trying to tell us about the current situation in Sweden where the country is accepting asylum-seekers and the locals have to get used to this change, and accept new people into their flock.

The first act itself was the actors acting as birds flying in a group, and in swoop a new bird which gave the group a hard time to accommodate to the new bird (actor). But they eventually got used to it, and missed the new bird (actor) when the new bird (actor) left the group. 

There was a guest actor for the show which is the guy. He seems to be famous in Sweden. 

The end of the 90-minute show. And oh, I got some tips on how to avoid eye contact - stare at the ground when you walk or pretend to talk on the phone! 

18km walk to Saltsjöbaden

5 May 2019

Today, I joined the Meetup group again for a hike to Saltsjöbaden (pronounced as 'salt-hwei-ba-deng'). We met at Henriksdal train station at 9am. It was a 18.6km walk from Nacka till Saltsjöbaden. We took the train back at Saltsjöbaden station at 3.15pm. It was 8 degrees and it went up till 11 degrees. I did not want to take any chances and wore a down jacket and my hiking jacket. I sweated under those layers but at least, I did not freeze. 

We hiked up a few slopes and although it was tiring initially, but I got the hang of it after a few warm-up sessions with the slopes.

We saw two deer too. They were just staring back at us. I am sure they are used to seeing many humans. 

Our first pit stop by one of the many lakes that we stopped by.

Tastebud : The Meat Grill & Bar

3 May 2019

It is South American food for lunch today! I randomly selected this restaurant called 'The Meat Grill & Bar' from 'Restaurants near Vasagatan' list. It was a 3-minutes walk from my workplace. I have seen this place many times and I thought it was high-end food as it was located in a building that looks like it charges high rent. I checked its website and found out that it has a lunch menu! All the food in the lunch menu costs SEK110 / RM55.

I took chicken burger that comes with very soft fries. Besides a piece of chicken fillet, the burger has fried shallots and chips in it too which made the burger crunchy. The bread was slightly grilled which gave it the crunchy sound. The lunch menu includes a salad plate from the salad bar and a bottle of tap water which was shared between me and my friends. I did not particularly enjoy the fries, as I found them soft. I would say that it is an affordable meal as such prices are only for Asian buffets in town. 

Day's Trip to Gysinge

1 May 2019

It is Labour Day today! It is a public holiday! In Sweden, it is a public holiday because it is May Day, in conjunction with Valborg/Walpurgis Day. My partner decided that we should drive out of Stockholm. We started the drive at noon and got back by 10pm. It was cold today too. The days had been warm for the past two weeks and the temperature has dropped again this week. It was between 8-10 degrees. 

He chose to drive to Gysinge which is a 2.5 hour drive from Stockholm. This is our route that I took from Google Map to give you an idea on where the places are located. He could have used a different road.

Stockholm -- Ingbo Spring Water -- Färnebofjärden National Park -- Gysinge -- Stockholm.

First place of interest - Ingbo spring water and flour mill. The waters were clear and one can even drink the waters (cups were provided) but I did not dare to drink it.

Inside the red house is a flour mill.