Monthly Archives: November 2008
Christmas
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Posted on Monday November 24 2008, 3:29 pm in Yada Yada | Tags: , | Archive

Christmas is near and I was thinking of the different ways christmas is celebrated all over the world. This is how we celebrate chrsitmas in Sweden:

We celebrate on the 24:th. We don’t open the presents in the morning and we don’t have christmas stockings. My family however open one or two gifts in the morning and those usually contains the new clothes we’ll wear later that day. Nowadays that’s not all that exciting since I now get to pick out my outfit myself so it’s not like what I get is a surprise. :P

Most people in Sweden eat a nice lunch and by 3 around 50% (offical statistics) of the poulation watch “Donald Duck and his friends wish you a merry chritmas”, a one hour show which is a mix of clips from various Disney movies. This is very traditional and it’s the second most watched tv show in Sweden.  Imagine that, for one hour 50% of the swedish population watches the same tv-show. A cartoon.

After that most people eat a christmas buffé. Baked ham is for Sweden what turkey is for USA. Warm rice pudding is also important. Other traditional food is beetroot sallad (strips of beetroot with mustard maynoaise), lutfisk (lye-treated codfish), Janssons frestelse (casserole made of potatoes, onion, pickled sprats and cream), meatballs, sausage, pickled herring, gravad lax (raw salmon cured in salt, sugar, and dill), dopp i grytan (bread dipped in warm ham stock). Julmust (a soft drink only sold around christmas and easter) is the common drink. There are many variations of the christmas buffé and I of course eat my semi-vegetarian option mostly consisting of fish dishes and soy food.

After the dinner christmas presents are opened. They either lie under the christmas tree (in households without small children) or are delivered by someone dressed up as Santa Claus.

And that’s pretty much the swedish cristmas.

How is christmas celebrated in your country?

New layout
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Posted on Friday November 21 2008, 12:21 am in Site | Tags: | Archive

So I made a new layout. I set my mind on actually succeeding making a simple layout this time and I think I did. At least a lot more simplistic than my usual blends full of spatter brushes. As usual when it comes to my own layouts I’m not sure what I think of it.

What do you think? Give me some constructive criticism.

Languages
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Posted on Wednesday November 19 2008, 2:45 pm in Yada Yada | Tags: | Archive

I think it’s really bad that I only speak swedish and english. It’s kind of embarassing aswell since a third language is mandatory in swedish schools. I did study french for four years between the age of 12-15 but when I started high school I chose not to continue with it. I regret that now because almost everything I once knew I’ve forgot. The only things I remember are the very basiscs. Numbers, colours, simple phrases. I can say things like “My name is Angelica, I’m swedish” and “I have a white cat”.  If I watch a french movie with swedish or english subtitles I can make out a word here and there but nothing more.

Even if I had kept studying french throughout high school I probably would have forgot a lot of it by now – more than six years later – since well, when would I get the chance to use my knowledge of french? English is everywhere in a way french isn’t. I’ve read somewhere that 75 or maybe even 85% of everything on swedish tv is in english. How much is in french? Not much.

I guess I should be happy I at least speak two languages because that’s more than many people do.

How many languages do you speak?

Sverige
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Posted on Sunday November 16 2008, 9:16 pm in Yada Yada | Tags: | Archive

A foreign custom I find weird is how people abroad not take their shoes off when they enter someones home. In Sweden entering someones home with your shoes on is conscidered rude.

I think this is a nice custom. I mean, it’s a lot less cleaning to do. And you can walk around barefoot in your home without getting your feet all dirty. Isn’t it gross getting out of the shower and walking barefeet on a floor where people have walked around with their dirty shoes on?

I’m not sure why we have this custom in Sweden. I think it might have something to do with the weather. We have long winters and during the season when the snow is melting it gets muddy and wet. In southern Sweden pretty much the entire winter is muddy and wet since the snow rarely stays.

I’ve read other theories about it being because many Swedish homes have wooden floors which walking around with your shoes on could be damaged. I’m not sure about that though. Are wooden floors uncommon in other countries?

Anyway. I think taking your shoes off when you’re inside is common sense. You don’t wear your jacket inside so why wear your shoes? And shoes are dirty! If nobody wears their shoes inside it’s not like your socks will get all that dirty. Besides. You can make your socks a fashion accesoire. ;)

Meet my new affiliates Adriane and Michelle!

My views on religion, again.
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Posted on Thursday November 13 2008, 7:05 pm in Politics & Society | Tags: | Archive

Model HeidI Klum dressed up as hindu godess Kali on Halloween and now hindus are offensed by her costume. Because Kali is meant to be worshipped in temples and should be taken seriously and respectfully. Doing other might hurt the devotees.

I think religious people are too touchy. I’d have no problem going to a Halloween party as Kali, Buddha, Mohammed or Jesus. Why not? Because I’m not religious. I don’t care! I don’t think it’s offensive dressing up as a god or godess because those gods means nothing to me. It’s not like Heid Klum meant to offend hindus. She didn’t say anything mean about their religion. I think it was more of a tribute actually. Religious people can’t expect non religious people to feel the same way about their gods as they do. Sacred this and sacred that. Not sacred to everyone! We should all respect eachother but we can’t all be expected to feel the same way about everything. And the views on what is offensive and what isn’t differs between different people, religions and countries.

According to me religion is a lot of bs. I think it’s utterly stupid to turn to old books full of stories of magic. People are so desperate to believe that life has a meaning, that not everything is over when we die, that we’re not alone and that a greater power looks after us. I understand the reasons behind all that. I truly do. I’m also human. I also wonder where we came from, what will happen to me when I die and what’s the point of me existing. But I don’t choose the easy answear to that. Because that’s what religion is. The easy answear. No proof needed, just faith. Because it’s written in a book and a lot of other people also believe the same thing. Revelation, that must be the truth!

I really don’t get how people can buy it. I really don’t. Religion is nothing but a proof of our emotional weakness.

Bella + Edward
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Posted on Wednesday November 12 2008, 7:50 pm in Yada Yada | Tags: , | Archive

I finished the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer a couple of days ago. I liked the first book but as some of you have read in my previous post I compared it to Anne Rice and Twilight lost. The books got better though. Not as many parts of the books took place in the high school, the bad guys got thougher and everything in book tree of Breaking Dawn was pure awesomness. I don’t think the ending of book one was particularily exciting but the ending of Breaking Dawn was great!

Something that surprised me was that I actually found the love story interesting. I’m not a romantic person and I usually don’t read love stories but Bella and Edward made me feel for them. The emotions were described so vividly that I almost fell in love with Edward myself. Of course if they both had been human I probably wouldn’t have found it all that exciting. I’m a sucker for vampires. ;)

All in all, good books. I still would have prefered to read about people my age though. :P

Chelsie and Tawni are my newest affiliates and I’ve done a link exchange with Sarah. Go on and visit them all!

My view on Twilight
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Posted on Monday November 3 2008, 1:30 am in Yada Yada | Tags: , | Archive

So I just finished the book “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer and I feel that I should write something about it. Everbody else does so why not me aswell? ;)

I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book. Almost ever blog entry I’ve read about it has been praising it. So of course when I started reading it I had high expectations.

Where they met? I’m not sure. I mean, yeah it’s a good book no doubt about that. But I’m a fan of Anne Rice and I’m twenty-five years old. If I was a teenager who never had read Anne Rice I know that I’d looooved this books. But I’m not a teenager and I’m a huge Anne Rice fan.

For you oblivious to the genious of Anne Rice I’ll fill you in. She wrote “Interview with the vampire” and sevaral sequels about vampires. Her main characters are adults and the book is written for adults. Sure I read Anne Rice when I was a teenager but I think it’s different reading litterature for adults when you’re a teenager than litterature for teenagers when you’re grown up. For the same reason I’ve never been a huge fan of Harry Potter. I’m sure that I would have been if I had been a couple of years younger when I first read the books. Because you know as a eighteen year old it’s kind of hard relating to a character about seven years younger than you. And it’s the same thing with Twilight. I don’t want to read about high school students.

Wow, I really sound negative now but I’m not. Really. I like Twilight. It’s good and Edward Cullen sure sounds like something I’d sink my teeth into. ;) But, I would have apprechiated it more if it hadn’t been for Anne Rice and the fact that it’s a book aimed at teenagers.

Oh and don’t forget to look at the Halloween photos in my previous entry!