A walk with Nadi

In the window
Originally uploaded by Beckis

This september I took a photo-walk in Stockholm with Nadi, who was in Cambodia at the time. Here are my pictures..... his are yet to be seen! To view all photos, click on this one

A few of my Favourite sites on the Net at the moment

http://flickr.com/
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.joost.com/
http://www.last.fm/
http://www.facebook.com/
http://digg.com/
http://www.imageloop.com/en/index.htm

Stockholm Highlights

Have had this idea for some time now and finally this summer I got it going. Basically it is a blog on my favourite sites in Stockholm. For english speaking it might not work too well as it is all in swedish, but click on the pictures and you will get something out of it.

Check out this link to see what I am talking about:

http://stockholmhighlights.blogspot.com/

Recovering.... I hope!

People are asking me what I am doing these days....geez....I just got out of an intense job, can I do some recovering before I have to make plans? :) The past days I have been sleeping, watching 24, eating, going for walks, the gym at least 1 hour a day and just being alone. Have met some friends, which has been real nice - but I am yet again reminded of how busy people are here in this city....it is borderline ridiculous!

My plan right now is this; recover, go to the norwegian summerschool on sunday, return to Stockholm a few days before I fly to the US on july 17th. Visit family and friends there until end of august - recover some more! Throughout all of this time, regain some energy and inspiration to work with my creative ideas, do some job research and make some decisions. Maybe.... all I know is I will be back in Stockholm througout the month of september...after that I have no clue....which is what will be figured out over the next few months.

The Simpsons? Oh yeah...Borna took that one the other evening when a few of us got together and went to the movies. The rest of them were too chicken to sit next to Homer! Sweden man.....it does something to people an they dont know how to have fun! Hahahaha....

Past memories

Bicycle ride with my girls!
Trying to hide from the sun, Jao wears a rainjacket on this beautiful spring day! ;)

Another dedication is over....

It has been 10 days since the youth group I worked with parted and returned to their original homes in Sweden and Thailand. After submitting my reports and taking care of loose ends, I have been trying to recover from the extreme fatigue and exhaustion this job left me with. Have worked in the past with all kinds of 24-7 jobs, but this one took it´s toll. Yet I do not regret taking this job, it has been an awesome experience and I have met wonderful people! You should take a look at the group blog (link on the top right of this page) to get glimpses of the time we spent in the project. Here are just some faces!

Budapest for the weekend

While in Budapest we visited Hotell Gellert, which Abdul Baha visited in the past. An amazing city with awesome buildings and great places to eat!

May the force be with you!

While in Thailand I had my first encounter with Mr Niran, director general of Community Departement Development. Then he qoted Star Wars to all of us. See any resemblance? He came to visit Sweden recently and fell in love with the fields of Raps...and I absolutely adore his positive thinking and inspiring words!

Exhibit

During the Spring weekend in Götene we set up a table in the sunshine and did our best to impress the locals....

Honey with chocolate and mint...

....sold by these children along a dirt road in the outskirts of our village in Götene. Local, organic and sooooo sweet!

Moments at work

In honour of Juan

Thank you for providing me with my beloved Heroes, Lost & Prisonbreak! We adore you!!!

This one is for Ola & Malin

Co-workers

My partners in crime! These are all the Project Fascilitators for the Thai - Sweden exchange 2007, together with our coordinators Stefan & Mr Nimit.

Guess Who?

This is how much fun you can have with a Mac and Photobooth!!!

Le Artist

During the midcamp I organized for my youthgroup, a "local" artist showed up with a bunch of art supplies.

Last sunday Götene had their spring weekend festival and all kinds of artist and craftsmen opened up their little shops and studios. I took a bikeride about 25 - 30 km in beautiful sunshine and blue skies! Visiting inspiring artists, enjoying waffles at a quaint café, talking to the locals and taking photos.

My job is in Götene for another 5 weeks now, time flies. This past week we had project fascilitator training in Stockholm, at a convent in Djursholm. It was cool to meet fascilitators from the exchange with India and Costa Rica as well as our own with Thailand. Personally I was even more thrilled about being back in Stockholm, having a great Latte, good Food, city People and just being in my home environment. Used the oportunity to visit my favourite clothes shop Turquoise (www.turquoise.se) and found something for Helene & Godfreys wedding next weekend. I am a little nervous, they have asked me to be toastmaster together with a friend of Godfrey. Not quite sure what to make of that....hehehe....

Present Status

Since I have been sort of out of touch for a while I felt it might be apropriate to update you on the status of things around here. After 11 weeks of working in Thailand my group is now in Sweden, Götene. We live here until june 17th, when we will go to Stockholm for the final days there before the thai go back home. My job with CIU ends June 30th, not quite sure what awaits after that. Planning to attend the Norwegian summer school early july and then visit family in US until mid september...or so....

Basically my days consist of tending to one thing or another that has to do with my group of youth in their exchange. Working with people like this you sort of never can turn work off, if you know what I mean. Their lives go beyond an 8 hour working day, so my working hours are flexible, and plenty!

This evening the entire group attended a lovely spring consert with swedish singer songwrite Uno Svenningsson, it was great! Sunshine and blue skies all day, nice voncert together in the evening, all dressed up. After the concert I went up to the artist, explained what our group is etc and arranged for a group photo. Here we are!

Spring in Sweden

You know, being here in Sweden right now is the absolute best time! After long winter everything comes alive with such enthusiasm - you cannot help but feel inspired! The birds sing until late at night, it does not get dark until midnight or so, blue skies, green leaves popping out and beautiful blossoms! I often say I cannot live in Sweden, due to the waaaaay too long winter months, but spring time and summer here are just about the best there is.

Work has brought me to Götene the past 4 weeks, since we came from Thailand, and here are some pictures from this area. It is entoxicatingly beautiful in real life! Work is crazy, cant even find the time to book my own ticket to the US this summer. But work is also a source of joy, the youth are transforming and developing and alot is going on!

Visit to Norway

Finally back in Scandinavia afte many adventures in Thailand. Work keeps me in Götene, a countryside town 3 hours southwest from Stockolm. Visited childhood friends in Norway recently, wanted to see Cecilie & Adams son Elliot, my first time since he was born. What a child! Adorable!

Happy Naw Ruz!

Inner spaces
Originally uploaded by Beckis.

Hoping the new year will bring you happiness, love, peacefullness and good health! It is always nice to take the time to reflect on the year gone and to think ahead what the future can bring! May it bring inspiration and creativity as well to you all!

Will I ever get enough?

Food, food, food! I love thai food! And the best part is I live at a restaurant and we also arranged a workplacement for our entrepreneurship theme, at a big restaurant just around the corner from where I live. And I go there now and then to visit the participants and see how they are getting along, and eat with them...ahhh..sweet life!

In Thailand it is a big thing to talk about eachothers weight, this or that person fat or not. If you eat too much, you will get fat. Every day they love to pinch us swedes here and there, to touch our "big" bodies, as they say. I understand their feeling of big, since they sometimes barely reach up to my chest. Little people...Some of the swedes do not appreciate the fixation about weight, fat and so on, sensitive as they are - so this becomes an issue sometimes. The thai do not mean it in a negative way, they are sort of fascinated at the size of people from the west, since they themselves are so small.

So, back to the food! Today I decided to make Som Tam myself here for lunch. Something I will need to make back home as well, although the ingredients are not easy to find. Maybe have to import their green papaya to the west. Then, after dinner this evening I grew hungry for ripe mango, sliced, with some ice cubes crushed on top and the some coconut milk mixed with a little palm sugar poured over the fruit and ice! Yum yum!

Lately...

Thailand, Thailand...so many sensations to express my words feel sort of inadequate. I think first and foremost Thailand has something for everyone. There is really not much that cannot be found here, perhaps snowfilled landscapes might be difficult to locate...but other than that anything can be found or bought.

The country varies alot in it's scenery and it's people. And also it's actions. According to culture it is impolite to wear anything else but a shirt that covers your shoulders and pants that cover your knees. But then you will walk in Bangkok or other places and see thai people wearing tiny skirts and sleeveless tops. According to culture you cannot have a boyfriend, yet most girls have boyfriends. According to culture, homosexuality is not accepted, yet this country has a large homosexual population and is known for its gay activities. Hence...they also have the saying " Same same, but different!".


Since I last wrote I have been mostly spending my waking hours working. have you checked in on our website lately? www.swythailandgotene2007.blogspot.com

Enjoying a boatride

If I only had more time to write...

So Pathum Thani province is not exactly paradise of Thailand. It is a suburb of Bangkok, focused on industri and very polluted, dirty and much influenced by western exploiting companies. Sad to see.

My days consist of working with the group, handling issues that arise, trying to understand what my collegue is saying (even when she speaks english). Learning a little thai, bicycling on a bike the size of western 11 year olds, eating and eating....I have put an end to any sweets now, only food goes down - otherwise I am going to get real fat!

Have put up more pictures on my flickr site...
I miss you, it is lonely without my loved ones and I think of you often!

Action in Ma Bo Pa's Kitchen

Visiting Bangkok with Jaew