New Career?

Unemployed or looking for a change? Prepared to relocate to China?

Chinese companies hire white (caucasians) people for walking around or sitting and pretending to do some work at a desk. Why? To have a foreigner associated with the company or attending a big event indicates that the company is successful and prestigious. The western world is considered rich and prosperous and if a company employs westerners it must mean that cash is plentiful and networks well-developed.

Advertisement from the company "Rent a Laowai" (Chinese for foreigner):

Now and then companies want a foreign face at meetings, conferences or at dinners and lunches. There are work opportunities for pretty women and men who look good in a suit.

This so-called "white guy window dressing" has provided new opportunities for unemployed actors and models from the west. Sometimes they are only needed for an hour, sometimes for a whole month. The requirements are few: 1) be white; 2) don't speak Chinese.

Not So Accurate...

My new Accuweather widget - to the right - has not lived up to its promise so far. I can tell you that it is NOT 11 degrees Celcius right now! Okay, it's not 28'C as yesterday but probably 22 or so. I'll give it a chance to shape up but otherwise I need to look elsewhere for my weather!

CO2 Savings, Japanese Style

The Japanese government is being creative in finding ways for its citizens to reduce their carbon footprint. Earlier they urged workers to wear short-sleeved shirts and offices not to turn the A/C lower than 28 degrees during the summer (the Cool Biz campaign) and now they recommend people to adjust their sleeping routine to cut household CO2 emissions. The Morning Challenge campaign is based on the premise that by getting up one hour earlier in the morning and taking advantage of the morning sunlight, and instead going to bed earlier and thus not using as much electricity in the evenings, the average Japanese could reduce its footprint by 85 kg a year. This is equivalent to 20% of emissions from household lights.

The Japanese initiative is interesting as it focuses on lifestyle and behavioural change. This being Japan, the government is of course also recommending that people use their extra morning hour to go running, do yoga and eat a healthy breakfast :)

In Sweden the conditions are slightly different. Now in the summer with the sun going down at at 11pm and rising again at 3am we're obviously saving quite a lot of electricity (from lighting; the TV is constantly on due to the World Cup...), while the winter months, especially November to January, are worst CO2-wise. Luckily we Swedes have taken a strong liking to tea lights.

American Phenomenon (for my Swedish bloggers friends in the US)

Status update on my friend A's Facebook a few moments ago:

Took some potato salad from the salad bar only to find it wasn't potatoes but marshmallows... Yuck! I'm sorry, but only on this side of the ocean....

(A is Scottish and has lived in the US for almost a year now.)

Show & Tell: The Meaning of Life

Vanity Fair, one of my favourite magazines*, has a regular feature called "My Stuff". Famous people list their favourite things within different categories. I could of course write a serious post on Helena's last topic, about family and friends, love and companionship, children, religion, the universe, etc., but I thought I'd list some wordly things instead. Because in the end we live a life where "stuff" do matter to us whether we want to admit it or not. Unfortunately I cannot access my photos right now so this post will be image-less, unless you click on any of the links of course.

INSPIRATIONS
Favourite discovery: The blogging community
Who inspires you: People like Aung San Suu Kyi who goes to extremes for their cause
Necessary extravagance: Travel and good food
Favourite film: It used to be The Sound of Music for many years - this list also made me think of the song Favourite Things from the musical :) - but nowadays I don't have one
Favourite hotel: I hardly ever return to the same hotel so if I had to pick one where I've only been once but would like to return it would be the B&B we stayed in on our New England roadtrip in 2008
Favourite charity: Save the Children
Favourite place in the world: Stockholm, especially right now in the summer
Favourite design shop: Plan ett

Thanks Helena for being our inspiration in June by the way!

HOME
Where do you live: Gärdet/Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden
Favourite artist: Alexander Klingspor
Sheets: Himla
Luggage: Samsonite
Stationery: Bookbinder's Design
Glass: Line from Kosta Boda
China: Diné from Rörstrand
Pets: Don't have one but would love to have a cat or even two!
Favourite gadget: iPhone
Car: BMW 525 Touring but want a Toyota Prius or Passat Bluemotion
Favourite neighbourhood restaurant: Halv grek plus turk or the Thai kiosk in our street
Favourite cocktail: Anything from Brasserie Godot

CLOTHES
Jeans: Acne - had a great pair that broke and have been looking for a replacement ever since!
Underwear: Victoria Secret microfibre
Trainers: Nike
Shoes: Don't care as long as they are pretty! (says the shoe-o-holic)
Dress: Milagro de Nahrin or Twink
T-shirt: H&M
Favourite designer: No one specific
Sunglasses: My new white Guccis I haven't worn yet

BEAUTY PRODUCTS
Shampoo: Herbal Essence (which seems to be discontinued, what do I do??!!)
Moisturiser: Oriflame
Perfume: Currently CK Summer
Toothpaste: Pepsodent lime & mint
Soap: Molton Brown
Hair products: Only use hair spray once in a while and then Boots' rock hard spray
Where do you get your haircut: Ahead, Nybrogatan 34

I invite you to copy the questions and list your own favourite things!

* It's become a tradition that Peters gets me a subscription for Christmas.

Happy Midsummer!

Show & Tell will have to wait!




Via Anna's iPhone

Something is Rotten in the State of Sweden

Apparently it is not just for snus that Sweden and Finland have a special exemption from EU rules; we also have a exemption that allows us to sell rotten fish. Okay, fermented herring, surströmming.

But now the EU is giving us a hard time about this again. Me personally couldn't give a stink about surströmming but I assume some of you out there are in uproar.

So who are you hooting for, Sweden/Finland or the EU?

P.S. Obviously there is a discussion to be had here about what cultural traditions and practices (or other politics for that matter) should be decided at national or EU level, and if we get into that discussion I'm all for keeping the rotten fish, but if we keep it less complicated, are you for or against?!)

Show & Tell: Half-Year Check

Better late than never continues to be my mantra...

JANUARY

The highlight of January was Peter's surprise for my birthday: a whole day of fun including brunch, visit to Grand Hotel's spa Raison d'être and dinner at Pontus. The picture is from the ladies' dressing room and of the cold pool and the sauna - in addition they have cold bucket showers, experience showers and regular showers in the dressing room and more saunas (steam and regular), pools and jacuzzis out in the main spa.


FEBRUARY

More of a sad highlight: our goodbye dinner for Jacqui and Chris and their little son Daniel who were sadly leaving Sweden after a four-year posting. Jacqui is by the window holding Daniel and Chris is the blond guy to the right. They are living in Brussels now so fortunately they are not too far away!


MARCH

March as well as December, January and February was dominated by snow, snow and yet more snow

APRIL

A few seconds after our engagement on a cloudy Maldivian morning just after the 6am sunrise (which we couldn't see because of the lousy weather but who cares, I was so happy anyway!)


MAY

May was a month of a weddings! First out was Peder and Gabriella. Peder is one of Peter's oldest friends; they fought over the same toys at pre-school at age 2.


Second was Peter's sister Adrienne and her Martin; here they are acting out a scene from a famous film... :)


Last but not least, my friend Suvi where I had the honour to be one of her two bridesmaids.

JUNE

Forgot to find a June photo - will have to update later:)

Unbelievable!

Royal Wedding!

Just 60 minutes left now until two become one!

Image from papermag.com

Hotelpital

Well, the event is on and a success so far. I haven't been much of a success though. I have been suffering from a horrible migraine attack with the result that yesterday I couldn't keep down any food (which was not so nice while on the train to Gothenburg - even in first class the toilets leave some to ask for...) and I've been spending my first 30 hours in Gothenburg in my hotel room. Luckily my super sweet colleagues K and H have got me supplies from the pharmacy and the shop. Now, at 9pm, Monday evening, I'm feeling much better and I've been able to both eat and drink today. Tomorrow I should be fit-for-fight again and most importantly, I will not miss one of the key events of Think Britain, which takes place on the ship HMS Kent.

Some newspaper articles about the event, one where I'm quoted (!) and one about the above-mentioned ship.

Show & Tell: Time Travel

Helena's second theme for June (I will get to your first theme soon!) is time travel. We have actually had this theme before and then I was the hostess! Great minds think alike! :)

Today I thought I'd take a little bit of a different take on the theme. At this particularly moment I would actually like to travel only about five days into the future. Why? Because I have an important work event Monday-Wednesday next week and I wouldn't mind already finding myself at the other end of it! I'm of course looking forward to it and in many ways want to actually experience it - especially after having worked several months on it - but I would still prefer having it behind me. A successful event behind me! Fingers crossed everyone!

Chocolate Love

You can tell that the royal wedding is only ten days away when even 7-11 is handing out free chocolates in the name of love.




Via Anna's iPhone

Sunday, Sunshine, Sandwiches, Super-sized Sweets

Via Anna's iPhone

Show & Tell: Summer Plans

I'm aiming to post two Show & Tell posts today as I behind since last week and want to catch up with todays theme. Here's the first post of the day, Summer Plans, Bejla's last theme for May.

So far we haven't planned much actually and we haven't booked anything yet. But what we have planned is a week-long roadtrip in the northern parts of England and the southern tip of Scotland. My friend James is getting married to his Jill in Northallerton on 24 July so we thought we'd take the chance to see this part of the UK while we're in the area. Even though I lived in the UK (London and Oxford) for four years I never made it north of Manchester, except for north Wales (which is sort of levelled with Manchester), and I've never been to Scotland.


The plan is to explore the yellow parts on the map. We'll probably fly to Edinburgh and then drive south along the coast, make a detour to Carlisle and the Lake District, and finish with Yorkshire, before flying home from Leeds or Manchester. The wedding will be in the middle of the trip. We may do the same route but in the opposite direction, depending on flight options. I have got so many sightseeing recommendations from colleagues but they are in a document at work so unfortunately I can't tell you about them right now :(

In addition to this week we have another three weeks holiday in July-August but with the month of May being so crazy with hen parties, weddings and lots of work for both of us, we haven't made any plans yet. Some options would be to spend some time in Peter's family's country house in Vindö and maybe go to Nice where his family has a flatshare if we can swap weeks with one of the other families.

That's it for now! Travel ideas both for north England and other parts of the world welcome!

Maldives: Food & Drink

Time for some more photos from the Maldives! Hope you're not bored with them already!

We were greeted with cold and fresh lemonade and some paperwork upon arrival

A daily feature during our week in paradise; a fruit drink. I think this particular one was pineapple and ginger - yummy!

Instead of squeezing our daily ration of oranges in the morning we opted for fresh juice at the beach instead; for breakfast we could choose betweeen five or six different juices from the breakfast buffet instead

We spent most of our lunches at the café by the pool like this; fruit drink and/or a beer and a game of cards.

Nice lunch with table cloth and linen napkins on our excursion to "Picknick Island", or Madhoo, its real name. The crew of skippers and chefs that brought/accompanied us to the island cooked us a really nice buffet that we could have eaten every day - delicious!

Maldivian version of the world's most famous drink?

The "fine dining" restaurant in our resort - we only ate their once though because the other two restaurants actually had more and more interesting selection on their menues. I like the open kitchen though.

My starter, fish soup

It doesn't show in the photo, well, you can see the sand, but the ocean is just out there

The main restaurant where we had breakfast every morning and also had dinner a couple of evenings. Every night was a new theme - we ate there on the evenings when there were Asian food; Italian we can have at home.

The dessert buffet was rather impressive though when it is 30-35 degrees I'm actually more interested in salt than sweet