Coping in A Winter Wonderland - or, How to Keep Your Skin Hydrated & Happy in Winter

Of all the seasons, the onset of winter is the one I dread most. The switch to winter-time, the too-early sunsets and consecutive, dark, cloudy days that go on for weeks on end is enough to play havoc on your sense of time – and your skin.  For those of us who grew up in less temperate climes, it becomes a real challenge to keep your skin hydrated and happy.

Even as the leaves turn yellow and all the plants slowly turn dormant, my skin instantly knows. If I am not diligent enough, the back of my hand starts to resemble papyrus overnight.  My heels crack, leaving unsightly and painful cuts that make walking difficult. After the temperature drops to less than +10 Celcius, I find it impossible to go out without some sort of thermal underwear on top of my jeans, which makes my legs suffer even more.

Here’s a tip: Ladies, if you have sensitive skin or are prone to UTI or thrush (candida) infections, avoid polyester base/thermal layers. They keep you warm, but don’t wick away the sweat well enough, and at least in my case, usually aggravates the infection. It’s still best to stick to cotton (not so warm, but cheap), bamboo (uncommon, Gudrun Sjöden has some, fairly warm but costly), wool (toasty, but expensive – check sports stores like Intersport or Stadium) or wool blends if you can’t find woolen ones that you like (most common – Åhlens , Twilfit, Kappahl, etc carry these). 

It took me a few years of struggling with off-the-counter lotions and cremes that Apoteket and The Body Shop carries before I had the courage to experiment with non-commercial products. After that I learnt to make my own lotions and creams. So here I have compiled some of the oils and butters I have tried that have been most helpful.

For completeness sake, here is a short list of moisturizers that I've tried that didn't do much for me: Nivea crème (metal tub); Aco Body Hudlotion; Body Shop’s Cocoa body butter; Atrix Intensiv; CCS Hudlotion(older variant); Locobase Repair; various Yves Rocher stuff, don’t remember which ones though.

If you've used any of these products or similar,  and still suffer from horribly dry skin, read on. 

Let's start with some commercial brands.

-          L’occitane Shea butter series.  Shea butter blends are becoming ubiquitous, and you’ll see it being used in many brands. But if you’re prone to terrible dryness, use only their Pure Shea Butter (available in 10ml and 150ml tubs). Unlike normal lotions,  pure shea butter gives your skin a slightly water-resistant coating, which means your hands don’t get dry just because you had to rinse it during cooking etc. If you use strong soap /detergent, it will wash off, but it will not make your hands feel drier afterwards, as some other formulas can. However. Despite the organic label, their shea butter is white and odourless because it has been refined. They don't mention how it has been refined, but many seed butters are refined with hexane, which has some nasty side-effects at high exposure rates. Doubtless any hexane residue amount is negligible if there is any left in shea butter refined this way, so the risk of toxicity is probably very low.  

-          The Body Shop Hemp series. If you can stand the exaggerated earthy smell, their Hemp body butter is a fairly rich, moisturizing cream that works better than the chain’s other body butters. Be aware that it does contain preservatives, fragrances and colour dyes.

-          Weleda brand. I have only sampled their lotions, and have not been impressed by the cost-effectiveness of their products. Their body oils seem to have fairly good ingredients, but I would prefer to see more jojoba-heavy based blends, and less or no olive-oil.

Pure oils/butters I've tried with great (and not-so great) success.

Shea Butter/ Sheasmör

As far as possible, get organic and unrefined shea, to ensure that your skin benefits from all the good vitamins inherent in the butter. The colour of the butter, as noted above, ranges from a light creamy white to butter-yelllow.  The unrefined stuff has a distinct (faint to fairly strong) nutty scent, which can be masked by an essential oil of your choice if you find it objectionable. It can last up till 2 years if kept cool (put it in the fridge in warmer months). Because it is a nut butter, if it gets too old, you'll know when not to use it – the rancid nut butter smell is unmistakable, resembling stale cookies.

Shea butter is used as a food item in African communities, so I am rather less worried about cooking  or touching my mouth after application. The taste is not unpleasant or bitter, just unusual.

For extremely dry skin, nothing beats shea butter. Even if you have cuts or painful cracked heels, using this butter hurts less than washing it with peroxide or an alcohol wipe, and can help the healing process - rub some on your cracked heels before sleeping, pull on a pair of socks to protect your bedding, and you'll notice a remarkable difference the next day.

There are 2 kinds of shea butter. The one that is more common, Butyrospermum parkii, tends to come from Ghana /West Africa. This is the same stuff that ends up being used in many commercial shea butter blends.

The other, East African shea butter (mainly from Sudan/Uganda) is marketed as Shea Nilotica. It is a little harder to find, and usually sells for much higher than its West African cousin.

Yes, there is a difference, but slight. The lower melting point of the Nilotica means that it’s a lot easier to use directly as body butter; it spreads easily and smoothly, and imo is a little more readily absorbed by the skin. All butters feel somewhat oily on application, but after 10-15mins (15-20 for Western shea), the Nilotica should be fully absorbed. Whichever butter one you choose,  a little does go a long way.

By contrast, the West African butter has a higher melting point, and when you put it on neat, has a slightly waxy consistency. It will still melt readily with your body heat, just not as quickly as the Nilotica. However, it is a much more economical butter. I have experimented with blends of the Western shea butter with some other oils for my own personal use, with good results.

Apart from Nordic online stores (most of which sell the Western variety), eBay.co.uk is a good source for shea butter at reasonable prices.  If you’re worried about quality/purity, look out for butters sold with Pure Soil Certification.

Coconut butter/ Kokossmör

Coconut butter. Some people swear by it and can happily slather it on. To me, despite all its benefits, coconut butter is reminiscent of slightly rancid sun-tan lotion, so I can’t bear to use it by itself. If you don’t mind the strong coconut scent, then this is fine to use. It is a litte more greasy than shea, leaving a noticeable film on the skin not unlike olive oil, although it will eventually be absorbed if your skin is dry enough. (Otherwise, wait 15 minutes and wipe off the excess with a towel.)

Coconut butter has a lower melting point that shea, so it melts in summer even sitting in a dark shelf at home.  On the plus side, coconut butter is now easily available in most supermarkets, not just health supplements stores like Life, and there are several organic brands to choose from.

Tip: If you like to make your own popcorn at home, coconut butter greatly improves its taste.  Substitute half of the oil with coconut butter. 

Cocoa butter/ Kakaosmör

Cocoa butter is also common in commercial lotions, make-up and butter blends - such as Body Shop products (listed as Theobroma Cacao). At room temperature, it is very difficult to use because it has a much higher melting point than shea butter.

Holding it in your hand will eventually melt the butter, but don't hold your breath -  it takes longer than a bar of chocolate does. 

For this reason, I use cocoa butter in my DIY butter blends, but never more than roughly 30% of total fats, since I prefer a spreadable body butter that is fairly solid in the jar but melts readily in the palm of my hand. 

Like shea, cocoa butter is also readily available in online stores and eBay.

While it is edible, I can't  recommend eating it. Despite the familiar, mouth-watering scent, it will taste like… unsalted (cow) butter.  

Jojoba oil/ Jojobaolja

Of all the oils I’ve tried, jojoba is much more readily absorbed by the skin. Within seconds of application, it leaves your skin nice and hydrated, with little or no trace of oiliness at all. Some report slightly nutty scent not unlike sesame, but I have not noticed that myself.

Jojoba is a great all-rounder, you can use it on any part of the body; as a make-up remover, cuticle oil, etc. You will have to work quickly with this oil so that it spread out evenly, although I have noticed that your skin will only absorb what it needs – so for eg your hands might need a little more oil than the rest of your body.  While jojoba will give you a little water resistance, especially shortly after application, shea butter will give you much better water resistance (and better protection since it stays on longer).

The main disadvantage to this lovely oil is the price. 250SEK for 80-100ml is rather steep, if you use about 10ml (2 teaspoons) per all-over application. But to make up for the high price, jojoba oil typically has a longer shelf-life than most other oils/butters, 3-4 years. You'll notice too, that for extremely dry skin, you might need several applications to attain the same amount of skin hydration as a single dose of shea butter. 

I buy Aura Cacia from iHerb (http://www.iherb.com?rcode=PLH160), since even with shipping from the US it is slightly more cost effective. Try to keep your order from iHerb small, and you might be lucky enough to avoid import taxes on your purchase - but this doesn't always work.

  

Argan oil/ Arganolja

Marketed as a body and hair oil, prices have skyrocketed in recent years. The unrefined oil has a very faint nutty smell which can and does remind one of food (even though the oil I bought was not meant as a food item).  It has similar benefits as jojoba.

Absorption rate is somewhere between jojoba and shea, but due to its high price tag, I find that jojoba is a much better alternative.

Olive oil/ Olivolja

I was recommended this by a friend shortly after landing in Sweden.  Organic, cold pressed olive oil is widely available in Europe at fairly reasonable prices, but it is not without its drawbacks.

Firstly, it isn’t as absorbed as quickly or as well as the other oils, leaving a sticky, slimy feel long after application. Secondly, since I am sensitive to scents, I can't shake the feeling that I've been rolling around in salad oil for hours after application. 

Ostrich oil/ Stutsolja

Probably the most exotic oil I have tried, from Sahlins Struts (98kr /50ml).  It does work, but I find it rather costly in the long run, and the natural oil smells like used cooking oil (tbh, like oil that you’ve used to cook chicken in). The sample I tried had some sediments (the oil was not clear) but it did not seem to affect its effectiveness.

Like jojoba, it is absorbed failry quickly, but it feels a little oilier than jojoba. Thankfully the feeling of oiliness does not last as long as olive oil. 

It works as body oil, but I find that it works best as a foot oil. If you object to the natural scent, buy a scented version or add a few drops of your favourite essential oil and give the bottle a shake – this may improve the scent somewhat but unless you are using something strong like peppermint, you will likely still detect the animalistic nature of the oil.

Pure Lanolin/ Lanolin, ullfett

Derived from the fat of sheep’s wool, lanolin is almost always sold refined. Many lip butter blends / chapsticks and breast/nipple creams for nursing mothers include lanolin in their ingredients list.

It looks a lot like starch glue (old-style paper glue) with a yellow tinge, and feels rather like it too. It gives great water resistance (better than shea), but it does feel like you have to devote a lot more time massaging it in compared to the other butters or oils. It tends to stain much more, too.

Making your own blends.

Why DIY? You have better control of the ingredients, and as such can add your own custom scents with your favourite essential oil. With some patience, you’ll learn which butter or oil works best with your skin. 

And, if you buy in bulk, it may save you a tidy sum – for eg, L’occitane sells their 150g tubs of “pure” shea butter for around 380SEK. For roughly the same amount, you could get at least 250g-500g of unrefined, organic western shea butter. In fact, any shea that is completely white – such as the L’occitane one – is considered a lower grade, because it has been refined. This is why quite a number of eBay sellers claim that they are selling A grade butter – the unprocessed butter is usually cream or butter-yellow.

I frequently use a blend of shea and cocoa butters, and another liquid oil in my own blends to make a nice spreadable body butter.  Here  I have included 2 basic recipes that you can easily tweak to suit your own needs, especially if you prefer to avoid the commercial stuff.

Rich Body Butter Blend. Makes roughly 300g

150g shea butter

75g cocoa butter

75g jojoba or other liquid oil OR 25g coconut butter + 50g jojoba or other liquid oil.

15-18 drops of essential oil single or blend of your choice. ** (optional)

   eg, 5 drops lavender, 5 drops lemongrass, 6 drops rose geranium.

1. Using a bain marie or chocolate melting pot (choklad smältare - use one with a removable pan + handle), melt butters together. Transfer to a larger bowl or container.
2. Add liquid oil, and whisk (by hand or using a stick blender) until evenly combined.
3. Chill butter/oil blend by either placing it on top of a bowl filled with ice, or leaving it in your fridge for 3-5 mins.
4. Whisk for at least 1 minute. Return to fridge for a further 5 minutes.
5. Gradually add scents/ essential oils while whisking for the third time.
6. Repeat step 3-4 until it achieves a consistency you like. (Whisking/chilling longer will result in a harder body butter, which may be a little more difficult to use).
7. Spoon into sterilized jars. Leave to settle for 24 hours before use.

Non-greasy body butter blend 

It is not as “fat”/ rich as the previous blend, and is much easier to spread, and is quickly absorbed by the skin. If you dislike the oily feeling that a rich body butter can have, this one will be better for you. Makes roughly 250ml lotion.

90 ml Aloe Vera juice

90 g cocoa butter

60g wheatgerm or other liquid oil (such as jojoba)

20g coconut butter

12-15 drops essential oil of your choice ** (optional)

1. In a bain marie or a chocolate melting pot, melt coconut and cocoa butters.
2. Heat aloe vera juice until tepid (30-32 deg C).
3. Combine wheatgerm oil with melted butters with a stick blender.
4. Slowly combine aloe vera juice (one teaspoon at a time) with oils and butter until there is no separation of oils and liquids.
5. To cool, leave in fridge for 5 minutes. The lotion should have the consistency of toothpaste.
6. Add essential oils drop by drop, whisking/ run with stick blender until desired consistency is achieved.
7. Pour into sterilized jars or containers.

Your custom butter blend will last much longer if you keep it in the fridge. You can also google a whole bunch of recipes and youtube videos on how to make your own butter, but it will all come down to melting and mixing it up - avoid those that use beeswax (bivax), in my experience if you don't blend it well enough, it will turn up as small granules in your body butter, which does not melt at all! No worries if you're using it in chapsticks/ lip butter though.

 ** Since winter dryness affects the entire body, it may be useful to include essential oils that promote saliva or glandular secretions. These include lemongrass, cinnamon, peppermint, bergamot, ginger, and orange essential oils.  Always dilute essential oils, and watch out for allergic reactions – these may include severe itching, rashes, etc. Also citrus EOs such as bergamot and orange have been known to cause photosensitivity, and is probably best left out in products you want to use in the day time.

from Probationary PR to PUT

Congratulations, you've got your PR status, and have arrived in Sweden, ready to start your new life in this strange new world of wonderful summers and frigid and overly long winter months. Be sure to get your personnummer from Skatterverket ASAP. Bring all legal documents, such as marriage certs etc and you'll get one in a jiffy.

Aside 1: Our marriage cert issued by ROMM not ROM. Although the lady at the counter could clearly understand English, she was looking for a certain logo on our cert to be reflected on the ROMM homepage in order to verify our claim. It was a near miss - I spotted the logo she was referring to, very small, somewhere on the receipt of the marriage booking (which was incidentally made and paid online!). So to be safe, bring everything with you! 

Aside 2: Think about what name you want to use. The Swedish system has problems with us folks with patronymic names, that means you Salim bin Salim, and you, Devi d/o Rajesh Kumar. My DH has always had a surname, I did not. So what they did was they made "bte, Abdul X"  my middle name and "Abdul X" my unmarried surname, which was then easily changed to Myname Abdul X Myhusbandssurname. 
My suggestion to use Marlina AbdulWahabsdotter was quite summarily dismissed - despite it being a very good reflection of medieval Nordic surname conventions. Unfortunately though, this results in my dad's name being part of a dual-surname surname... and my dad does not have a short name. Sigh. This name will haunt you - from every class you sign up for, to every subsequent package you collect from the nearest postombud from now until forever. 

As all SG-passport holders know, it has to be renewed every 5 years. This isn't much of an issue if you stay in SG and don't travel, then you can just renew it just before you go off on holiday. But it is vital for you as an overseas resident to ensure that your passport is up-to-date, because your PR pass is in your passport, and it's only valid as long as your passport is. Sure you can just go around with your bank-issued leg (legitimation). But if anyone asks to see your passport, and it's expired well... Jimmy or, more likely, one of his cronies will kick you out with glee, I should imagine...

Because we had an established relationship (again, this also applies if you're not legally married to your mate), my probationary PR status lasts for 3 years. If they're not sure, this is 5 years. Before the date on your PR pass runs out, you will be sent a letter to remind you and your partner to present yourselves to the local Migrationsverket office. This is not a quick process. Take the day off work and reschedule your dentist appointment. Even if you're given a time, Migrationsverket is so crowded that you may be seen an hour after your given appointment time - just like the vet's office. And then the whole interview can take anything from 20 mins to an hour. Plus 10 minutes more before you get your passport back. Plus, no one in Sweden takes air-conditioning seriously in the summer, and that goes for MV as well.

By this time, ideally you'd have been learning to speak Swedish for 3 years (eller man borde ha gjort det!). Brush up on your Swedish prior to the interview. The interviewer I had could obviously speak English, but they can prolong your interview or make you work for it harder if you can't manage to hold a conversation in Swedish. This interview is much less cosy and much less intimate compared to the one at the SG embassy. For one thing, there were several standing booths, all in simulateneous operation - just like the old POSB tellers and safety perspex/glass. And for another, there were CROWDS of people from all over the world in a waiting room that's probably meant for half the amount that do show up. Take a queue ticket.

This briefer interview is just to make sure that your r'ship is real and still intact.First they talk to both of you, then individual interviews are made. DH was first, me second. I was asked the address of my DH's workplace - which I didn't know, at the time. I told the interviewer that I knew how to get there, I just didn't know the address. He looked really worried at first when I told him I didn't know, but relaxed visibly as soon as I told him where it was... next he asked what my future plans were... he was a nice, cheerful fellow. I could hear a Thai woman and her interviewer, both sides speaking quite loudly, a couple of booths down from me...  I've heard that they ask really silly questions like your partner's favourite foods and so on, but I didn't get questions like that...

Anyway, so after the interview, he took a (very unglam! as one would say in sg)picture of me, and issued my Permanent Uppenhålltillstånd. Hurrah.

A couple of years later, my passport ran out of validity, and I had to get a new one done via the embassy in Denmark. I took both the cancelled passport and the new one down to Migrationsverket, and they issued an updated PUT without a fuss. There was a bit of a queue though, but it's nice to be able to drop-in without an appointment.

Remember, if you're not a legitimate couple, you may have to wait 5 years before getting PUT. And if they figure you're faking it, they might not give you a PUT, which means you'll be shoved out of Sweden in a hurry.

A little later down the road, you have to consider things like: Do I want Swedish citizenship? and perhaps more problematic than that: Should I give up my SG citizenship? Because, at present, SG does not allow dual-citizenship. (Suspenseful music cue.)

How I Got My Swedish PR

I've been asked, several times, about the process of applying for Swedish Permanent Residency Permit (locally known as Permanent Uppenhålltillstånd, or PUT). The Swedish Embassy in Singapore is in town, it used to be in the PUB building, currently it's at Triple 1 Somerset.

When I applied for Swedish PR back in 2006 - and the rules haven't changed very much since then - from start to finish, it took around 3 months. I applied in early March, and received confirmation mid May. By this time, my relationship with the DH was quite well established, since we were planning to have the wedding in June 2006. The Swedish Consulate was most emphatic about the fact that I had to wait for the local consul to give me my probationary PR. They told me if I went to Sweden before I was granted PR I could run into trouble. And actually, I was a little concerned, since their website mentioned 3-6 month processing time. However, since I am a good SG citizen with no previous criminal past etc, the whole thing went like clockwork. And now they've made it all so much simpler by allowing people to submit their applications online!

I've now learnt that Swedish PR is quite relaxed compared to many asian countries. For one thing, you don't have to be married before you apply; if you have a BF/GF and can prove your relationship (a shared address; shared custody of children, even outside of marriage, etc), then you may apply for SPR. Assuming you have the requisite Swede to back your claim, of course! ;) And unlike Australia, there was no need for rigorous health checks. (Although my own GP tried to push me to take Hepatitis shots. Which I refused to do mainly because I thought she was being unreasonably pushy about.)

They have a list of things you have to bring with you along with the application, which I won't go into detail here. But for sure, you need your local passport and birth certificate. You AND your sambo/mate each have to write a letter detailing your intimate relationship eg how you met, when you've met, how long the relationship has been, etc. Basically, they want to be sure that your alibis tally.

One good tip I received from the receptionist: renew your SG passport before you apply. Because the PR will last only as long as your passport. And unless you're blessed enough to be able to afford coming back every now and then, you will save yourself some hassle of renewing your passport via Denmark (the nearest Singapore consulate, since the office in Stockholm was deactivated) so quickly.

So, first stage
You gather all your documents and hand it in at the counter. They will want to see your passport and/or IC, but they won't hold it for now. Expect to pay the fee upfront. (they will charge the SG equivalent. Apparently they now demand cash payment if you go the paper route.).

Second stage
Part 1: Wait for them to set up an appointment.
I don't remember if I was given a date straightaway or was sent a letter/email. But the interview, for me, was set around 2-3 weeks after I first sent in my application. Meanwhile, I renewed my passport - which, as you know, is a grueling time-waster if you go to I.C.A.

Part 2: The interview.
You will be shown into a small room with 2 or 3 chairs. The interviewers (1 Swede, 1 local) will be seated opposite, and you will be separated by a very large perspex/glass wall. There are "talky holes", just like the old POSB counters. And, just like a bank, there is a slot on the table-top where you can pass over slim items over. So you can see/hear them very clearly, but you can't physically touch them, and vice versa. And then you will chit-chat for an hour or until they're happy and you're dry in the mouth. I brought some pictures to my show-and-tell; I assumed I wouldn't get them back, and I didn't.

Part 3: Wait for their decision. This is the hardest part of the process. Be patient.
The most annoying thing about this process is that all-important decision of whether you were given SwePR or not is given NOT TO YOU in Singapore but to your Swedish sambo/mate. Whom they fully expect to be IN SWEDEN, with a Swedish address. And it will be gobbledygook to you because it is all in Swedish anyway (unless you've been learning Swedish before getting there).

But of course the local consulate will give you a call or send you an email once your application is approved (or not).

Part 4: Go forth with your passport. I remember that they kept my passport for some time, for processing. Once you have the probationary PR, you can legally live and work there. You don't even have to go straightaway, we left for Sweden a month after I received my PR.

Next: Now that you've got your SwePR, what's next? And why do I keep saying probationary PR?!

Summertime

They've hiked bus fares in Uppsala, from 20kr to 30kr for a single trip ticket. That move has 'encouraged' me to utilise my bicycle, and what do you know... it only takes 10-15 mins for my clumsy bike-riding to get to school, as opposed to 30 mins (optimistically) by bus.

My family is coming down to visit in the last week of May (yes, like next week!) and while it's nice and all - after all, i've asked them to bring down a shitload of stuff - transport costs for 5 adults is, frankly, not for the faint-hearted.

First, we determined that booking a taxi was more convenient and cheaper than commuting from Arlanda airport to home. And then we're going to Ludvika so the inlaws can finally meet face-to-face. And of course we're going to Stockholm... and before you know it, that's the equivalent of SGD700 in transport costs. That doesn't include the petty rides to and fro town and fees to any amusement parks or museums yet. Ouch.

Adding to the stress is the fact that my first national exam in Swedish falls - yes, you've guessed it - on the same week. And the following week, I start my summer course in a new school. And after that, we have a wedding to go to. It's a bit more special cos H will be best man. Summer vacation indeed.

Not that summer is apparent, mind you. The weather has been swinging from rain to sunshine week by week... and it's not quite hot yet. Some days it's a fantastic 20 deg Celcius, and then some days it's under 10 deg in the mornings. The days are definitely lengthening tho... it looks like 6pm outside when it really is 8... or later. ~ m!

Uppsala celebrates 100 years of organised public transport

i had seen little posters in buses whilst going to sch abt some bus exhibition. and then whilst on the way home around that time, we saw an old style bus plying the streets so on the 16th of sept h and i went to see what the fuss was about.

a 'poster' of some sort in the first bus we boarded en route to the exhibition. it listed some of the highlights, which included rides on veteran buses.

this was the makeshift boarding place for the veteran bus from the town center.
(note the skirt which i made meself out of some nice green fabric and a pair of h's cast-off old pair of jeans. :))






from the bus we were taken to a short tram ride, which was rather popular in the early days. i've lived long enough in sweden to realise that things last longer here (well, at least metal) but i was impressed that the tram still worked.

h was amused abt the swastika-like logo of the tram manufacturer and postulated that this was probably made before the 2nd world war.













the tram ride lasted only abt 5-7mins, and then we took yet another old bus to the main depot.


the interior of the first bus we took. the way the seats were positioned fascinated me greatly.








i didn't take any pics of the depot with its modern fleet and the smallish exhibition, but perhaps i should have just for comparison's sake. we were treated to a 'free-for-all' saft (water with flavoured syrup) and/or coffee, cookies and bananas. towards lunchtime, they served cous-cous with some sort of meat curry with veggies (an oldish recipe), and tried to promote a recipe book catalouging 'bus driver lunches' throughout the years.

we stayed maybe half an hour, and then decided to go home. going back the way we came ie, by tram, would cost 20kr/ person ( that's abt SG$4. one-way rides were free); but they did provide free service for the ride back to town.

this was the bus back to town. we had to board from the back, despite it having doors near the driver.


the interior of the red and beige bus. h looks tired already!






and this is why we boarded from the back.when they still ran this bus, the ticketing officer sat in the back!




this isn't the best of pictures, but you can sort of see the old bus next to the modern one (in green, to the left).






and that's all for now :) ~ m!

picture time!

i finally located the file where the pics i took from last month were sitting in my galactic hard drive (no it's not that large. feels like it tho :p)



on the top you can see h fiddling with his moped (a motorized bicycle). he doesn't use it a lot tho.
and in the second pic shows h crossing the carpark in front of my favourite (halal) fast food joint. i adore their kebab rolls - at 40 kr (approx S$8) it's considered pretty cheap. the name keeps making me think its run by rhwandans... but it's not... some middle easterners, but i haven't got round to asking them which part of the middle east they originate from.


this is a picture h took of part of central uppsala. it looks deserted in the picture cos the university term had not started at the time. we see this scene whenever we're waiting to go home after shopping in town :) oh and a lot of ppl cycle here... it takes abt 10 mins for us to cycle from home to town, for eg.

these roses were taken around linnaeus' herb garden in central uppsala. it was in early july... lots of roses growing wild. right now there are not a lot of wild roses in bloom, instead they have turned into rosehips, fruit-like. i tasted one, but it wasnt remarkable... slightly sweet. ~ m!

new toy
SGD 1 - SEK4.7

abt 10 days ago we went to check out a few stores that sold sewing machines in uppsala centrum. we had done the rounds before, but this time h did the dangerous art of testing out the machines... so we ended up with a rather fancy computerized one.

the local name brand for any household electronics is husqvarna - they make almost anything you'd find in a home... i'd say it's as pervasive as ikea furniture here in terms of popularity. we tried their new 'made in china' stuff, the huskystar series... from the cheapest to the most fancy (the C 20) which i was rather partial to, since it had lots of fancy stitches and we could even have some alphabetic monograms... problem was it cost a hefty SEK5000 and only had 2 yrs warranty.

Huskystar C20

their normal range of machines were abt SEK3000+ and up (the upper limit in the little shop we visited was abt SEK20K - fancy computerised embroidery machines of course). at this point h was keen on a rather fancy model:

Husqvarna Viking Scandanavia 300

i wasn't quite keen on it because of the SEK10K price tag, and i couldnt help thinking - how often are we really going to use embroidery on anything after the initial excitement had gone? plus we had to plan on buying additional software when the current stock of available embroidery templates became old.

so we went to another shop closeby. we had been looking at a different janome machine, the 'easy jeans' model... quite by chance, while h was testing out the machine, i happened to look at another model that had some little embroidery options. it cost the same as the easy jeans model, looked sexier, had more stitch functions (20 stitch options for the easy jeans; 60 for the 760), and was computerized (the last bit wasnt exactly important... but it does have a certain appeal to the geekier of the two of us)... h was impressed at how straight the stitches were. i liked that it was easy to use, and had all the functions i wanted - lightweight, has a needle threader, some simple embroidery functions, 5 yrs warranty... and both machines cost the same - abt SEK5395.

needless to say we bought the platinum 760. we got a 10% discount since it was the display model too... we're still waiting for the english manual tho... the swedish one that was in the box was for a completely different model, the gold 660, which i think is the precedesor of the one we've got.

we've been taking turns playing with it, and so far i've sewn a handphone pouch and converted some of his old torn jeans into berms and... erm... embellished them a little at the hem :)

he's cutting paper patterns for sewing a fleece jacket for yours truly; and i've been looking at well, cloth menstrual pad patterns and some regency style dress patterns.

on top of that, the parcels i sent meself from sg containing all my textile and sewing stuff arrived midweek, so now i can finally plan on making curtains for the entire apartment.

on the gaming, i think i'll manage to finally finish playing neverwinter nights (yes yes, i know it's old but i never got round to finishing it) sometime next week, as soon as i can stop thinking abt sewing projects and get by as little household chores as possible MWAHAHAHAHA ~ m!

p/s i have to mention today was the first time i made a complete 'nasi lemak' meal from scratch by meself and was rather successful... :)

(picture shows moi standing outside our apt, which is on the 2nd storey for singaporeans... and 1st floor for all those who don't count the ground floor like swedes :))
swedish living

a few ppl have asked me what it's like to live in sweden etc so this blog is abt that - how a muslim singaporean girl crossed the oceans and continents to live with her husband in a temperate climate.

uppsala is a university town, so it does have more shops and is somewhat larger than the other towns, but it's still smallish to someone who has lived in a city-state all her life.

so far i have seen only bits of stockholm, a little of dalarna, and most of uppsala - not the county, that's far too large - but the town. so what is most striking abt these places?

the relative cleanliness of the streets. even the dirtiest public toilets, which incidentally, cost abt SD$1 (5 kr... the rate is abt 4.7kr to to the sg dollar) per entry, are clean compared to sg standards - mostly because the no one squats over the seats of the squatting toilets. on occasion there were toilets with an incredibly overfamiliar pong - but, surprise surprise, they tended to be labelled with the ubiqtuous 'male' sign. well well...

the other thing i noticed is how quiet ppl generally are. perhaps it's the lesser numbers of ppl around , or perhaps asians generally talk more or louder. ppl talk, of course, but hardly anyone raises their voices even in jest, as is the norm in sg.

after the initial 'ooh, aah' of the many old buildings and cobblestone streets that are still standing (it's not uncommon to hear of residential apartments built in the 1930s' or even the century before), you realise it's not exactly a tourist attraction. most towns, because they were built at roughly the same era, have exactly the same type of buildings and roads, which lowered the novelty value quite a bit, imo. some buildings in ludvika were almost exactly like those i encountered in uppsala - they were 3 storey residential buildings that looked like they were built by the same ppl... same look, from the outside, even the same cementy texture despite the different colour of paint.

the swedish dating system - what h says is the international std - is written in the (YY)YYMMDD format... and being a new immigrant, i had lots of practice with using that format since there were so many forms to fill in - registering/ confirming my presence in sweden, establishing my name - i'll tell you abt that in a mo - swedish id card, setting up a bank acct, applying for social insurance - the fun never ends.

up til the 1800s, patronymic names (for eg, Per Jr, son of Per Sr, might be Per Persson in swedish. Eva, daughter of Per, would be Eva Persdotter... get it?) were common. for many muslims like meself, and those with similar names, most bloody angmohs (and, i lament, even some singaporeans who lack patronymic names) never get this right, so i usually get called by my father's name. anyway, the first time i registered my name, predictably this problem occured. the system just can't accept that some ppl are surnameless. to cut a long story short, they changed my name from

Bte Abdul Wahab, Marlina to
Abdul Wahab Abdul Wahab, Marlina (yes they did. this way i could retain my dad's name as a middle name) to
Abdul Wahab Liss, Marlina

and that, unfortunately, is now the name that i have to scrawl out on all future forms, as if my name wasnt long enough. i did ask the counter person registering my name if they could accept Abdul Wahabsdotter as a surname (which, incidentally, would be acceptable in the previous 2 centuries), but noo... so my id and visa cards have that mouthful written out for all the world to see...

half the morning's gone now and i have to start making lunch - an experiment with chicken heh... next time i write i'll tell you abt my visit to ludvika, h's hometown. ludvika is a small town in the dalarna county, and dalarna is where all those cute little red wooden horsies originate from. ~ m!