Shoshin-Zazen

From the falling leaves of Stockholm rises two intrepid explorers. Food lovers, they call themselves, searching for the holy grail of the cheapest, nicest, finger-smacking, healthiest food in Stockholm and Europe.

The process! They cry out in vain. The research, the googling, the cold and dark streets that one has to navigate through..all in the name of the substienece in this bleak weather. Every once a week, they rip their pockets out to count the shillings, and to bring you the next episode of… Oh my Smörgåsbord!

Smörgåsbord (In english literally means sandwich table) is a Swedish word which refers to a type of Scandinavian meal served buffet-style in Swedish cuisine, typically found during Christmas.

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I met heroic Ms Moley at Gamla Stan. Apparently Ms Moley is challenging the autumn cold, and she seemed like she was on drugs as she shivered in the wind. She needs a quick fix! Our target was Hermitage - a small vegetarian cafe-like eatery in Gamla Stan. It would take some luck to get there because I was quite lost in the maze in the old town.

After some window shopping and passing a narrow alley, we found ourselves at Hermitage! Just about time before Ms Moley froze in the street. As we entered the shop, we were welcomed by a friendly lady, who kindly explained to us that they had vegetarian buffet for 95kr (S$19). However, our eyes were not on the buffet bar but the yummy looking pies on the counter. Ms Moley had her eyes on the walnut pie, her eyes gleaming at the thought of savouring a huge bite of pie.

But, it was not dessert yet. And there were quite a few varieties at the buffet table. There were salad vegetables, brown rice, mashed potatoes, bean, Brussels sprouts, etc. They looked like a nightmare for meat-lovers. There was also vegetarian pizza, some sort of Mediterranean soup and curry. Ms Moley and I helped ourselves to general portions of food.

When it was decided that it was dessert time, we ordered the walnut pie. Looking delicious, the pie was sweet and had the texture that it was homemade and authentic. It was a very filling meal, and we had the pie with hot coffee and tea.

By then, two hours had passed and most of the customers had long gone. With a very satisfied meal, we thanked Hermitage for the nutritious and compassionate meal, and took our leave. Hermitage will definitely be a favourite for vegetarians and the price is reasonable.

Where thou next?

Hermitage AB
Stora Nygatan 11
111 27 Stockholm

Tfn: 08-411 95 00

E-post: info@resthermitage.com

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.
- Leopold Stokowski

I told myself that I was crazy. Crazy to come to Sweden for one year, crazy to be away from around the ones I love, crazy to do things that I had never thought I will be doing even one year ago, much less 10 years ago!

There are somethings in life that just pop in and on some magical impulse you follow that - and I still believe in this because there are many things in life we sort of let it slip away, especially when we stop to think. We think too much; just do.

So “just do” was what I did. In August, two weeks after touchdown in Stockholm, I saw and liked what was on the website and emailed the Director of Music of Kungliga Tekniska högskolan Academic Orchestra (KTHAK), Gunnar Guilin and told him that I am interested and whether he will take a trombonist who has not touched the sacred trombone for 3 years. He said OK but he would have to hear me play. And so, I went down, borrowed an old KING trombone, practiced for about a week and a half and went for a short impromptu audition. Luckily, I had Bach cello suites transcribed for trombone with me, but I think I screwed that one up. Nevertheless, I joined KTHAK in the first week of September.

The first concert was one week after I entered KTHAK, and a few days after I had a 9-11 twin tower attack on my heart. Anyway, that aside, the outdoor concert was great with all Handel’s fireworks music and real fireworks. But, the focus of this post is the Tour to South Sweden. So let’s do that.

The orchestra tour was to take place in October during a weekend. We were to travel to Gislaved and Kristianstad, which are two towns south of stockholm. stockholm

I woke up at 4am and after almost forgetting to take my concert pants, I took a slow, careful walk to the T-bana and then to the university. There was some light rain; it was cold but not miserable. We loaded our instruments into a yellow coach with a small “caravan” behind it. Glad to get into the comforts of the bus, I fell asleep right away. Alexander, the German Fagott (Swedish for Bassoon, NOT Faggot) guy sitting next to me fell into dreamland too. Apparently he had lesser sleep and more booze than me last night.

The bus was so comfortable that I daresay that it was the most comfy bus ride I have ever taken. Breakfast was at around 9am outside in the cold. Cold breakfast consisting of cold banana, cold sandwich and cold yogurt makes me think of hot porridge and bee hoon. The bus continued for about two hours before arriving at Gislaved concert hall.

We had our rehearsals together with the choir and the vocalists in the hall for about two hours. Being a first time playing in a full orchestra together with a good choir was akin to being a child being exposed to Pachelbel’s Canon in D for the first time. I remember when I heard Canon in D for the very first time; I had the urge to replay the tape umpteen times. Of course the tape got destroyed very quickly due to over-use. Nevertheless, the sound of the choir and orchestra in Lars-Erik Larsson’s FÖRKLÄDD GUD (The Disguised God) was simply magical, just like a canon; the lapping melodies bought one to another heaven. Very nice, I thought.

Soon it was time to change for the rehearsal. And this was another “awakening” moment. I was in a large room with the orchestra players and everyone just started undressing and changing. One would imagine shy Asian queuing for the toilet to change. Young and old, male or female - I did it too, unabashedly.

Moving on, the concert went forward smoothly. Of course, being the lone trombonist, I sat right at the back of the orchestra at one tight little corner near the exit, as if telling me to escape if I blast the wrong notes. Soon, I found myself on the bus again.

We alighted after 10minutes to find ourselves in a little cozy restaurant in Gislaved. The walls were littered with “Diploma of Whiskey” and “Master of Whiskey”, and you know you are not in some Jack’s Place or Pizza Hut. This was serious stuff. The food was the best I ever got in Sweden, yet it is probably due to the fact that it looks very gourmet and expensive! The company was great too. On my left, I had Swede Johanna who bombarded me with mandarin and on the right I had the Germans, Marisa and Alexander, whom I was very disappointed with for telling me that Singapore is within the confines of the People’s Republic of China. Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew would have turned several times (in his bed). We had many laughs over some chicken and nice dessert.

After dinner, we proceeded by bus for two more hours before reaching Kristianstad. Alex and I shared the room in the Stadshotel , watched the movie adaptation of the German novel “The Perfume” before being shocked by the rather erotic ending and falling dead asleep from the long day behind and ahead of us.

We woke up at 9am and went for breakfast. Coincidentally, the bus driver was having breakfast at our table too. After breaking the ice (there is always a barrier to break when speaking to a Swede the first time), we warmed up quite quickly and he told us that he had traveled to China many times. Based on the disappointment by my German friends last night, I was surprised that he knew where Singapore was and had driven both China Chinese and Singaporean Chinese before and he knew how to tell them apart. He told us that China Chinese usually sight see for a while before climbing aboard the bus just to watch vcds in the bus while Singaporeans take a lot of photos. He told us that he would be traveling to Mongolia next summer. Gasps. This was a tourist coach driver in his 50s. I have to remind myself that I was not in Singapore talking to a SBS Bus 188 uncle. Wake up!

Alexander, Johanna and me went out town for a walk around the rather deserted town of Kristianstad. It was a sunday, not surprising; everyone seemed like they were still rolling in bed at 11am. The weather was a little cloudy, but there was still some good pictures waiting to be taken by the Singaporean, actually the only South East Asian in the orchestra. Gunnar actually took pride that a Singaporean was part of the Orchestra, further claiming that “the orchestra is multi-faceted in many nationalities” during a boisterous dinner speech after the Kristianstad concert. I remembered I had to emphaise to him thrice that Singapore is not part of China.

The Kristianstad concert was in the church Heliga Trefaldighetskyrkan. Kristianstad is an old (founded in 1614 by a Danish King) military fortification against the invading Swedes. This was quite an irony.

Rehearsal went and the real deal came. As the music pounded forth the walls of the old church, I found myself lost in the music. I took the liberty to take an entire footage of The Disguised God using the FZ-18. You can find it here.

On the way home with the weekend behind me filled with great memories and music ringing behind my ears, I could not help but think about home. Weird.

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done

Alright, this is rather atypical of me, so you should be glad that you caught me in a rare moment of human nature.

I was at the farm and green rolling fields near Lappis last weekend. It was very good weather, the sun shinning and lots of good photo taking opportunities. I got my friend out to a bench out on the fields to do some work, with a ice cream in hand, of course (in 5 degree wind chill weather, mind you). There were kids running around on the grass, rolling and jumping, just having a good time. What a minute..we were working on a sunday!? Luckily, it turns out that we got carried by many events that was happening around us, one of which was - are you ready? -

You might have guessed it! Cute and super cute puppies!!!! Zooming using my trusty FZ-18, they look so adorable. Alright, there I have said it.

There were other notables, like a kid trying to fly a kite but somehow didn’t know how to. Hmm, kite flying alright I got another engineering idea.

It was time to go home soon, and we stumbled back into the warm fuzzy cell in stockholm, the place I call home at least for the next 8 months.

Be back with autumn pictures soon.

“It feels like the start of Autumn,” my boss said to me one day at the lunch table whilst looking out at the window.

Indeed, the chill is in the wind now and some rain has come together with it. The trip to Skansen today was pretty much ruined by the rain. Skansen is a open air museum in Stockholm city and boasts a city zoo showcasing the Scandinavian wildlife (not so wild anymore). Skansen is situated near Djurgården, a Royal park. It has traditional houses in the 16 - 20th Century that were identified in places in Sweden and then deconstructed and rebuilt at Skansen itself. This makes very touristy sense, especially to those who wants a good 6 hour whirlwind tour over spanning over 5 centuries of time and space of Sweden. The realism of the place was impressive. They even have real people manning real shops depicting life in the good ol days. Even some of the 17th century cottages that we went into had Swedes baking bread and cookies. Smelling the fragrance of freshly baked bread can do much on a cold Swedish day.

Something of noteworthy was that we saw the elusive Wolverine at the zoo - and I thought it was a name only in X-men comics.

Well, I will visit Skansen again in good weather and I will take good pictures then.

Oh wait, I hear cows mooing outside. Let me check that out…

Today I talked with a fellow YEP (Youth Expedition Project) New Dawn participant about him being in Luang Prabang, a place where a team of us did a project in a village called Muang Kham. He told me all about the villagers who saw him in town and called him to joined them in drinking beers. I can almost visualise the old quaint town of Luang Prabang - its architecture, and its people. Food carts line up streets with litter and funny smells, and its beguiling night market filled with Karen wares and bags. I remember the village and how we managed to stay tried to live in a moment in a Laotian’s life - a hard life, if I might add.

As I now write this in my room in Stockholm, Sweden I find myself rather disconnected with the South-East Asian culture and places. I am far away from home, missing dearly local foods and delicacies. Home is in South-East Asia, a place that I can identify with straight-away.

I met a Thai student just a floor above me who just moved in. She was a student studying for her Masters in “Strategic Management” in KTH. With some anguish written all over her face, she complained about the cold - and it is only the end of summer now. I told her about Chiang Rai and it was also cold - just like this, now.

The Zen masters say a mind flows like water. My mind is just doing just that now; flowing here and there. So when I talked about Chiang Rai, I remembered my first project in an Aha village and lived in a  humble bamboo hut for two weeks. The nights could be very chilly, temperatures could drop to near zero celcius. We would always need a fire to keep our hands warm while we chat over hot tea in the evenings.

I cannot help but feel that the disconnect I feel between now in Stockholm and home in South-East Asia is largely due to simplicity of life that I came into contact with in Thailand and Laos. Rather, this “complication” does not really lie in the lifestyle but with the local people’s mindsets and thinking.

All these make too much thinking, I am going to eat my sandwich now.

Oh yes, after 2 weeks in a place so far away from home the truth is finally settling in. One year ago, I contemplated to join NOC (NUS Overseas Colleges), and had to go through interviews, and more interviews. After that long and tedious process, I took a long long flight to stockholm, arrived safetly, settled down, bought alot of groceries and visited some cemetaries and old town and started work. I didn’t feel any different, just a little self-suprised that I made it to this nordic country, and working for a company that is, well a great place to work in.

There are some things that are noteworthy:

1. No ready made breakfast in the morning.
2. Waking up to silence (and the occasional alarm clock).
3. Listening to other people’s conversation and pretend that you know what they are talking about.
4. Learn to present your country well (or rather in a good light).
5. Introducing yourself to your corridor mates one at a time.
6. Having sinus everytime I walk outside.
7. Cooking both lunch and dinner together at one shot.
8. Going to the supermarket to record prices down to compare them in another supermarket.
9. Having to plan your meals one week in advance.
10. Spam the mircowave oven with leftover food.
11. Drinking milo in the cold cold morning is a (huge) luxury.
12. Peope screaming their heads off (Lappis shout) at 10pm for no apparent reason.

All right if I think of more I will post it here. Meanwhile enjoy my homecooked pasta with alaskan pollack with assorted vegetables.