I guess I should be writing about Sandra graduation first but I just don't have energy for it, let's just say that the party was great and Sandra is now a high school graduate, congratulations! :D
Karma is the belief that everything you do will come back to you, eg. if you do something bad bad things will happen to you and if you do something good good things will happen to you, and this also applies to different lives, given that you believe in incarnation too. You could say that the world remembers what you do and judge you for it.
Memory is something that animals have, and humans somewhat better than others, if you do something bad to an animal they are quite likely to return the favor. But what is bad? When it comes to humans we define what is bad on morals, general moral are generally the same for everybody, especially within one culture, but specific morals is highly individual, what one person think is bad another finds normal. For what we consider very bad we have devised a legal system that is supposedly objective morals, something that several people have agreed on what is very bad, graded how bad it is and decided on how to punish people who does it.
Considering how subjective morals actually is I find it rather strange to think of the world as something with a memory and a moral standard to judge your every action, it seems to me this is also something that has been devised by humans to control other humans, to make sure that even humans who will not survive won't do "bad" things, bad according to the humans who devised it that is.
I lived a pretty good life in Chengdu until now, I might have done some bad things according to some people but I think in general I didn't go bad, and according to my own morals I was only a little bad, some times. Then I came back home, I would say I had to leave early due to bad luck but actually that wasn't so bad since I got to join both dad's birthday and Sandra's graduation, what is bad to me now is that I can't seem to find a job and I bothered by a new debt from CSN. So is this bad Karma? I would say not, CSN after my is actually my own fault, I was not a diligent student and the last semester I was studying before I went to China I didn't sign up for courses to take some re-exams but I only took one, to CSN this means that I didn't want to study and now they want me to pay back, apparently not only humans have memories and morals but governmental institutions has as well, and this would actually have hit me whatever I came back or not, same with my very annoying student loan debt.
Anyway, if I can't resolve this in a good way I think the prospects of me going to Hong Kong and work there next semester seem rather bad.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Simple luxury
On Sunday evening Maja, Alexander and I went out to Blekinge to spend a few days at our summer house there, Maja only stayed two nights but that was enough to enjoy the simple luxury of barbecuing spareribs with wedge potatoes and wine and sitting in the evening sun drinking cold beers.The two days Alexander and I were alone we kept enjoying these simple pleasures and also added the somewhat aristocratic game of white-wine-archery and of course swimming in the not-yet-warm-enough-lake and just major relaxing.
We did actually do some good too; all the lawns are newly cut, I watered some plants for mom and exercising by walking around the ca 10km circle around to Ettebro and back, and of course sun tanning.All in all we had a great few days, despite the mosquito bites, and I hope we can do it again next week.
The aristocratic way of doing archery: With a chardonnay by the setting sun.Back home
Back home I spent the first day just hanging with my sister and Sofia and later in the evening I had dinner with them and mom and dad. The day after was a lot more eventful with meeting loads of friends for real Swedish pizza and then drinking too much, first at the restaurant then at Maja's, Sofia's and Madde's apartment in Klostergården and then later at Mat's place also in Klostergården and then finally walk in to town to have a real Swedish kebab at kebabvagnen, and take a 150kr taxi back to Bjärred, I really do miss cheap drink and really cheap taxis. It was the first time to meet Sandra's boyfriend Varij, that was quite interesting.
More things going on on Saturday with dad's 60th birthday party and all the family coming over, I was a bit hangover half the day but was fine in the evening, just really tired. The party was fine, lots of gifts for dad, among them was mainly an exclusive bottle of Cognac that we tried later on, I also got to give my gifts I had brought, unfortunately we have to wait for the correct ones for cousin Anna, aunt Gordana and uncle Per, they were all wrong. We had great barbecued lamb and sausages and a great cake and things too, I was actually worried I would start gaining weight already but it was still OK the morning after. For some reason everybody was really tired so everybody went home early and I slept around 11pm already.
More things going on on Saturday with dad's 60th birthday party and all the family coming over, I was a bit hangover half the day but was fine in the evening, just really tired. The party was fine, lots of gifts for dad, among them was mainly an exclusive bottle of Cognac that we tried later on, I also got to give my gifts I had brought, unfortunately we have to wait for the correct ones for cousin Anna, aunt Gordana and uncle Per, they were all wrong. We had great barbecued lamb and sausages and a great cake and things too, I was actually worried I would start gaining weight already but it was still OK the morning after. For some reason everybody was really tired so everybody went home early and I slept around 11pm already.
Trafikstockning i Ettebro
There was a car stopped by the roadside when we were driving out from the summer house today, the driver was talking to a man by the road and I think we had to wait as long as 30 seconds before we could move on. Life is just good sometimes.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The journey
My travels started early on Wednesday morning with meeting the landlord and return my keys then taking my over 30kg luggage, some 7kg backpack and a small paper bag with two gifts that was not light at all (remember this when you think of me struggling through the Hong Kong metro system later). I started off with going around Chengdu a little to say a final goodbye to Li Min and then I went off to the airport, I taxied all the way so at least I didn't have to worry too much about the luggage carrying yet. For once I was not late to the airport, which was very fortunate since I was over 10kg overweight and had to pay a 210Yuan fine to get it onboard, that was totally worth it. Once through the security I had some time so I had my breakfast, a 45yuan sandwich. Then of course I nearly missed my flight anyway (exaggeration) because I thought it was from gate 9 and delayed but it was from gate 7 and on time, but I found that out quickly enough and boarded well on time.
Two hours and another half -breakfast later we landed in Shenzhen and I decided (against better judgment) to investigate alternative means of travel to Hong Kong, it turned out to be a great idea, they have an express shuttle bus that goes all the way to Hong Kong and makes several stops and it costs only 90yuan, and to this they actually had quite good service, really helpful staff and stuff like that. So I took the bus to Hong Kong instead of dragging myself to Shenzhen and around on the metro there to get to Hong Kong and take trains and stuff there to get to Central, instead I got to Jordan, only two three stops away from Central but that was more than enough.
Getting around in a very crowded metro system in Hong Kong is troublesome enough without luggage, and with the previously mentioned luggage it is not easy at all, I did get to Central easily enough but the in town check-in I was looking for is in Hong Kong station, about 5 minutes walk (read 15 minutes with luggage) from Central, and with some minor judgmental errors I had to walk back and forth a few times and pay entrance (buy a ticket to another station) again before I finally got there.
British Airways is great actually, they have at least until November this year no fine at all for luggage under 32kg, and after that they will have a fixed fine of £25 over 23kg or something like that, which is not too much, compared to those that have like €10 per kg too much, which sucks. So I got through with my luggage without any issues and stored my hand carry there for 200HKD and was off to meet with Joyce. First I went to Mong Kok to buy my graduation gift for my cousin Sandra though, can’t tell what it is or how much it cost but it was fun to barter for and I think I got it for a fair price, and really quickly too, this was after a brief complication to exchange money first though, were I accidentally went to the stock exchange instead of the money exchange but I soon found a bank that could help me at least.
Then it was finally off to TST to meet Joyce, but since I had been so quick with everything that I got there about 30-45 minutes too early, and in that time I managed to distract myself with looking at some “name card”, a small paper card where some guy wrote a Chinese version of a western name and sold it for 25HKD, of course I couldn’t find Johan so they insisted I’d tell them my name and soon I had told them my Chinese name too and they had written it down and I had to pay the 25HKD for it. Eventually Joyce got there and met me and we went off and ha dinner with Almen and Ariel, after which they followed me to the check-in to get my hand carry and take the airport express, which I first missed because Almen insisted we should take photos together first.
So I got to the airport a little bit late, but it was OK, I was not late for the flight only had Charlotta wait for me a little there, I think she survived that with and major troubles. That was pretty cool though, a pretty much chance meeting on a big international airport with an old friend from the time back at electro engineering. This is around the point where my brain stopped working properly and I was thinking I had a bit more time than I had, so after I’d left Charlotta and gone through the security I went to wash up and stuff and I was ready just in time for when I though the gate was opening, but of course that was the time when the gate was closing, which I realized when I was walking to the gate and found the signs saying final call for my flight. I even met some ground staff urging me on to hurry there. I did (once again I have to say) get on the flight just in time, some of the attendants seemed a bit annoyed at me but they will survive too.
12 hours later I had finally seen National Treasure 2 and slept just about enough to be happy I landed in London Heathrow and struggled my way through the airport to my connecting flight and a close to 2 hour wait. £3 for half an hour internet by the gate and some rest later I boarded yet another flight and was nearing the end of my over 32 hour journey home, I tried to sleep on the plane but it even though it was 5am local time it was closer to 12pm in China and my personal time so that was basically impossible. We landed a bit early and I had to wait a bit for mom and dad to come and pick me up, and as usual they had problems finding the right terminal and which parking lot to go to but at least they finally found me and could get me home.
Around 11.30am on Thursday morning Swedish time I finally got back home, after over 32 hours of which most was spent on a BA flight between Hong Kong and London and in Hong Kong itself I was finally home. And nothing had changed, it still feels like time has been standing still since I left on August 8th 2007, almost 10 months ago.
I’m home!
Two hours and another half -breakfast later we landed in Shenzhen and I decided (against better judgment) to investigate alternative means of travel to Hong Kong, it turned out to be a great idea, they have an express shuttle bus that goes all the way to Hong Kong and makes several stops and it costs only 90yuan, and to this they actually had quite good service, really helpful staff and stuff like that. So I took the bus to Hong Kong instead of dragging myself to Shenzhen and around on the metro there to get to Hong Kong and take trains and stuff there to get to Central, instead I got to Jordan, only two three stops away from Central but that was more than enough.
Getting around in a very crowded metro system in Hong Kong is troublesome enough without luggage, and with the previously mentioned luggage it is not easy at all, I did get to Central easily enough but the in town check-in I was looking for is in Hong Kong station, about 5 minutes walk (read 15 minutes with luggage) from Central, and with some minor judgmental errors I had to walk back and forth a few times and pay entrance (buy a ticket to another station) again before I finally got there.
British Airways is great actually, they have at least until November this year no fine at all for luggage under 32kg, and after that they will have a fixed fine of £25 over 23kg or something like that, which is not too much, compared to those that have like €10 per kg too much, which sucks. So I got through with my luggage without any issues and stored my hand carry there for 200HKD and was off to meet with Joyce. First I went to Mong Kok to buy my graduation gift for my cousin Sandra though, can’t tell what it is or how much it cost but it was fun to barter for and I think I got it for a fair price, and really quickly too, this was after a brief complication to exchange money first though, were I accidentally went to the stock exchange instead of the money exchange but I soon found a bank that could help me at least.
Then it was finally off to TST to meet Joyce, but since I had been so quick with everything that I got there about 30-45 minutes too early, and in that time I managed to distract myself with looking at some “name card”, a small paper card where some guy wrote a Chinese version of a western name and sold it for 25HKD, of course I couldn’t find Johan so they insisted I’d tell them my name and soon I had told them my Chinese name too and they had written it down and I had to pay the 25HKD for it. Eventually Joyce got there and met me and we went off and ha dinner with Almen and Ariel, after which they followed me to the check-in to get my hand carry and take the airport express, which I first missed because Almen insisted we should take photos together first.
So I got to the airport a little bit late, but it was OK, I was not late for the flight only had Charlotta wait for me a little there, I think she survived that with and major troubles. That was pretty cool though, a pretty much chance meeting on a big international airport with an old friend from the time back at electro engineering. This is around the point where my brain stopped working properly and I was thinking I had a bit more time than I had, so after I’d left Charlotta and gone through the security I went to wash up and stuff and I was ready just in time for when I though the gate was opening, but of course that was the time when the gate was closing, which I realized when I was walking to the gate and found the signs saying final call for my flight. I even met some ground staff urging me on to hurry there. I did (once again I have to say) get on the flight just in time, some of the attendants seemed a bit annoyed at me but they will survive too.
12 hours later I had finally seen National Treasure 2 and slept just about enough to be happy I landed in London Heathrow and struggled my way through the airport to my connecting flight and a close to 2 hour wait. £3 for half an hour internet by the gate and some rest later I boarded yet another flight and was nearing the end of my over 32 hour journey home, I tried to sleep on the plane but it even though it was 5am local time it was closer to 12pm in China and my personal time so that was basically impossible. We landed a bit early and I had to wait a bit for mom and dad to come and pick me up, and as usual they had problems finding the right terminal and which parking lot to go to but at least they finally found me and could get me home.
Around 11.30am on Thursday morning Swedish time I finally got back home, after over 32 hours of which most was spent on a BA flight between Hong Kong and London and in Hong Kong itself I was finally home. And nothing had changed, it still feels like time has been standing still since I left on August 8th 2007, almost 10 months ago.
I’m home!
Obviously
Well obviously I made the decision already since I'm in Sweden now and staying in our summer house with Alexander for a few days, I can still update a little bit about the very hectic week before and the adventures of travelling home:
I actually made my decision earlier than planned which was pretty fortunate, it turned out late enough as it was anyway, the tickets I had found back home was from Chengdu to Shenzhen for no more than 800yuan and then from Hong Kong to Copenhagen with a transfer in London for about 4500HKD, which adds up to about 4000SEK or a little bit less in Chinese Yuan. These had of course 3 days later (Wednesday two weeks ago now) gone up in price, the one from Chengdu to Shenzhen had maxed out at 1500yuan and the other one changed to around 5000HKD instead ending my price at about 5000SEK instead. I really couldn't have waited anymore or the prices would probably have doubled after that, since I really had to go home for my dad's birthday party or half the point of going home would have been wasted.
So the adventures began and I had to start packing, it was really though in the beginning, mostly I spent the first few days after my decision meeting up with some friends and say goodbye to them, I managed to squeeze in lunches and dinner just about every day and even joined a birthday party of an American friend on Friday night but after that I really had to start packing up my stuff. First I packed all my excessive clothes and blankets and stuff that I wouldn't need urgently in Sweden, all this added up to two big boxes of 11kg each which I sent to Joyce in Hong Kong so that I have some stuff already when I get there, in the high hopes of actually going there, the funniest part of this to pack was some vacuum bags that I put my blankets and pillows and some towels in, they pretty much turned hard as rocks after a few minutes of pumping, very cool. I managed to send all this on Monday, plus cancelling my apartment contract getting me some money back, getting salaries for almost all my work and still have time to meet up with friends.
Tuesday was another hectic day with loads of new problems, this time I packed stuff to send to Sweden and it soon turned out that I couldn't send some things that I really wanted to send; my magnets was in a too big box and couldn't fit in the largest box China post has for international service, I bought a bigger rice cooker for mom and dad that they refused to take because it was an electric device, the same went for my own smaller one of course, so basically the only thing I could post was soft stuff, the magnets had to stay in Chengdu with a friend there and the rice cookers went with me in my luggage. Finally I ended up sending one big box of 11kg by ship or over land and one smaller box of about 5kg by air, where I had some stuff that I wanted more urgently back in Sweden.
Another problem I ran into on Tuesday was my China Telecom deal, I had apparently signed to have Internet and telephone for 12 months, even though I was quite clear with them that I might not even stay for more than 5 months, so instead of giving me the deposit and one month's worth of internet back they wanted me to pay for two more months, this ended up with them not getting the modem back at all and me not paying or getting any money back. I also managed to get my third hepatitis B shot before I left; it's really a lot cheaper in China than in Sweden so I really had to use that opportunity.
I managed to finish up my packing and with a friends help even clean up my apartment to a pretty decent level. I had sold my oven to Aaron, an American friend, and basically given him all my kitchen supplies. Aarons also got a lot of other kitchen stuff, as did Li Min, my very close Chinese friend who helped me out a lot all my time in China and especially the last few days, and Jiao, another close Chinese friend, got some too and she also got to take my magnets for safekeeping and my router and gym membership to try to sell them.
And then on Wednesday morning my journey started so I must say goodbye Li Min, Aaron, Lily, Nicole (Yin XiaoLin), Jiao, Bella (Tingting), Luna, Kelly, Aileen, Betty, Ivy, Alon, Rabia, Anna, Vivian, Ryan, Andrew, XiangXiang, Monica (Duan Shuang), Elizabeth (Tian DanZhi), Lucille, Nicky, Lily (another Lily), Linger, Sue, Yaya, Tina, Paul and Tiffany and the other peace corps people, Linda and the other bartenders at Paname and other places and of course all the teachers in and kids in all the schools I've been working and everybody else I might have forgotten to mention.
More about the journey itself in a coming post!
I actually made my decision earlier than planned which was pretty fortunate, it turned out late enough as it was anyway, the tickets I had found back home was from Chengdu to Shenzhen for no more than 800yuan and then from Hong Kong to Copenhagen with a transfer in London for about 4500HKD, which adds up to about 4000SEK or a little bit less in Chinese Yuan. These had of course 3 days later (Wednesday two weeks ago now) gone up in price, the one from Chengdu to Shenzhen had maxed out at 1500yuan and the other one changed to around 5000HKD instead ending my price at about 5000SEK instead. I really couldn't have waited anymore or the prices would probably have doubled after that, since I really had to go home for my dad's birthday party or half the point of going home would have been wasted.
So the adventures began and I had to start packing, it was really though in the beginning, mostly I spent the first few days after my decision meeting up with some friends and say goodbye to them, I managed to squeeze in lunches and dinner just about every day and even joined a birthday party of an American friend on Friday night but after that I really had to start packing up my stuff. First I packed all my excessive clothes and blankets and stuff that I wouldn't need urgently in Sweden, all this added up to two big boxes of 11kg each which I sent to Joyce in Hong Kong so that I have some stuff already when I get there, in the high hopes of actually going there, the funniest part of this to pack was some vacuum bags that I put my blankets and pillows and some towels in, they pretty much turned hard as rocks after a few minutes of pumping, very cool. I managed to send all this on Monday, plus cancelling my apartment contract getting me some money back, getting salaries for almost all my work and still have time to meet up with friends.
Tuesday was another hectic day with loads of new problems, this time I packed stuff to send to Sweden and it soon turned out that I couldn't send some things that I really wanted to send; my magnets was in a too big box and couldn't fit in the largest box China post has for international service, I bought a bigger rice cooker for mom and dad that they refused to take because it was an electric device, the same went for my own smaller one of course, so basically the only thing I could post was soft stuff, the magnets had to stay in Chengdu with a friend there and the rice cookers went with me in my luggage. Finally I ended up sending one big box of 11kg by ship or over land and one smaller box of about 5kg by air, where I had some stuff that I wanted more urgently back in Sweden.
Another problem I ran into on Tuesday was my China Telecom deal, I had apparently signed to have Internet and telephone for 12 months, even though I was quite clear with them that I might not even stay for more than 5 months, so instead of giving me the deposit and one month's worth of internet back they wanted me to pay for two more months, this ended up with them not getting the modem back at all and me not paying or getting any money back. I also managed to get my third hepatitis B shot before I left; it's really a lot cheaper in China than in Sweden so I really had to use that opportunity.
I managed to finish up my packing and with a friends help even clean up my apartment to a pretty decent level. I had sold my oven to Aaron, an American friend, and basically given him all my kitchen supplies. Aarons also got a lot of other kitchen stuff, as did Li Min, my very close Chinese friend who helped me out a lot all my time in China and especially the last few days, and Jiao, another close Chinese friend, got some too and she also got to take my magnets for safekeeping and my router and gym membership to try to sell them.
And then on Wednesday morning my journey started so I must say goodbye Li Min, Aaron, Lily, Nicole (Yin XiaoLin), Jiao, Bella (Tingting), Luna, Kelly, Aileen, Betty, Ivy, Alon, Rabia, Anna, Vivian, Ryan, Andrew, XiangXiang, Monica (Duan Shuang), Elizabeth (Tian DanZhi), Lucille, Nicky, Lily (another Lily), Linger, Sue, Yaya, Tina, Paul and Tiffany and the other peace corps people, Linda and the other bartenders at Paname and other places and of course all the teachers in and kids in all the schools I've been working and everybody else I might have forgotten to mention.
More about the journey itself in a coming post!
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