A Swede and a Beijinger

New Roads Ahead

2011-10-16T16:22:00.005+02:00

Hi!

Glad you found this blog! I haven't updated it in quite a while, but if you are interested in what I'm up to, follow my new adventures on OnGettingTraction.com.

Shanghai!

2007-07-09T11:54:00.000+02:00

After Wuhan our second weekend trip has been to Shanghai. I can report that Samuel and Neale with respective are alive and kicking!

Shanghai Trip: Web Album

Wuhan!

2007-07-01T12:03:00.000+02:00

Me, Wen, Wen's cousin Zhang Siyue, and Edward took an overnight train ride to Wuhan and woke up in the hottest city I think I have ever been too. And with insane traffic. Dispite that we had a blast and Li Xuesong with friends made sure it was a weekend we will never forget! Another weekend in Wuhan and I would be round as a ball!

Link to Pictures

Beijing Summer 2007

2007-06-17T18:05:00.000+02:00

Me and Wen are off to Beijing tonight and will stay until the 23rd of July. We will make a tour to the most familiar faces, probably including stops in Wuhan, Shenzhen, Xian, Dalian and Shanghai. When not on the road I will attend classes at Beiwai and Wen will be working at a business center.

I've uploaded a bunch a pictures here: Web Album

Get in touch if you are around!
Johan & Wen

Blank blank blank

2007-06-01T23:01:00.000+02:00

Post that includes all the stuff that I have been doing this year, but have been too bored to post.

It was a dark winter and we know very few people in Stockholm. On top of that I had to learn a new job and adapt to a life defined by my work, i.e go to boring meetings, keep office times, do boring stuff. In return my bank account is not red anymore.

Work, work, work.

Football with Chinese students (as usual and everywhere)

Party, company party, other party.

Spring and summer has been such a great change. We have now gotten to know people, I do plenty of sports with friends at work and now I'm on my first paid vacation. I will return from China with more money than when I left. :-)

My sister Ella graduated from high school.

Edward skrället came to visit with Valentina.

Stefan is moving to Stockholm.

There is a lot to fill into this blank, but I doubt that will happen. It is just not very fun to blog when staying at home working.

Next Beiwai

2007-04-23T01:56:00.000+02:00

Heading for Beijing during my summer vacation. Haven't I seen enough of that city already? Well, I guess we could go some place else, but I think it is good Wen get to see her mum as often as possible.

This year I've been enrolled in a half-time distance course at Lund University and as a part of that they have summer courses at Beiwai University in Beijing. So this summer I hope to collect another 5 credits Chinese, inhale a lot of dust and eat a whole bunch of yangrouchuan.

We'll head off 15th June and come back 21st of July.

Hibernate

2007-04-22T12:18:00.000+02:00

Returning back to Sweden has been quite different from what I expected. I think I have spent all of my life chasing something. Now I realize how important it is for me to have that something in front of me to chase. It might have been getting that degree, learning those languages, getting to those places... Now that I've come back again, and more out of need than anything else, have started to work, I really feel SO BORED. Constantly. From the bottom of my heart. It was already starting when I felt that my stay in China was starting to get too long and frankly, too pointless.

Having started to watch a lot of TV and endlessly surf the web have also taken it's toll. I think everything I ever read on the web I have probably forgotten all by the next day. That fact that I write this at all is probably a good sign that I'm waking up from this. Hopefully I will have enough will-power to start moving again. Guess I've been waiting for the spring to set out for a new start. With a fresh injection of money, some sunshine and the first paid vacation in my life, I think I might be ready to start heading in a new direction.

So impressed!

2007-02-01T21:26:00.000+01:00

Wen wrote me a letter in Swedish! I'm so impressed how fast she is improving! :) Miss you much!

She is coming back!

2007-01-24T23:54:00.000+01:00

Rumors say she is coming back and that she was only making a short trip back to spend some time with her family.

Snowman Blues

2007-01-23T22:55:00.000+01:00

The whole winter has been very warm and cosy. Then Wen went back to Beijing after New Year. Now it is suddenly like this. Baby... please come back!

Really. It has been a record warm winter and a couple of days ago it became normal. Unfortunately I happen to live in Sweden, so 'normal' in this context equals FREEZING FUCKING COLD!!

Now when that has been said. I do enjoy it! Far better then the dark and grey. Wish the climate change would somehow make the days a little longer and brighter. Then I would consider buying a car. Nah. I still don't want one.

New Year 2007

2007-01-01T12:00:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year!

Some pictures from Skansen Stockholm 2007

"Ring klocka ring..."

Christmas Game

2006-12-28T17:51:00.000+01:00

Keeping up the Christmas tradition of playing quiz games, this time "När och Fjärran", a game from the travel program on TV. My sister Cissi took the initiative and invited Lova and her family. The game is just as much luck as knowledge about other countries. That's at least how I justify the fact that I didn't win. ;)

Christmas 2006

2006-12-24T19:49:00.000+01:00

Me and Wen has been down to Värnamo to celebrate Christmas with the family.

The greenest Christmas I can remember.

But the rest was as usual.

Tina with a lamp.

Perhaps not the most successful group picture ever! :) But contains all the familiar faces.

Merry Christmas!!

Last day of the new job

2006-12-22T17:58:00.000+01:00

Yep. It is true. I've been let off. :-) But it is not as bad as it sounds. I was hired by a recruitment company who pimped me out to a consultant company which in turn sold my soul to Ericsson and Sony Ericsson. The 13th of December that company was shut down by their Norwegian mothership and I will be expunged on the 28th.

But... this is in fact sort of good news. The consultant company wants to hire me the first day I'm without job, with some additional benefits. Well, no contract signed yet so we'll see. There is also a slight chance that there are projects in Beijing coming up, but most likely not in the short term. Since I will still get salary for January from the old company, I will in reality receive twice the pay then. :-)

I've been working for about one month now and it has been dead boring. I've gotten so used to do what I want, when I want, so it is kind of hard to adjust doing something that I not necessary wants to do. I don't really feel like programming test systems for telecom companies. But... I need the money and something to do. They seem to appreciate the work I'm doing and that is a big bonus. And the pay will change our life quite drastically. We will probably become fat and fill our house with electronic gadgets.

First Day at the New Job

2006-11-20T22:33:00.000+01:00

Today was the first day at my new job.

It was a weird feeling walking over there, but the the whole day was very relaxed and mostly involved having coffee with colleagues. I guess I will (unfortunately) do somewhat similar things to what I did 5 years ago, but hopefully that will only be for a short period while I get up speed. Guess it is actually rather good since I can be of use right away and instead of having a long training period. Off to my new life as a working man.

Stockholm Filmfestival 2006

2006-11-17T22:52:00.000+01:00

Since I have some time before I start to work and Wen is waiting to go back to Belgium in December, we got involved in the Stockholm film festival.

Premiere and red carpet outside cinema Skandia.

Wen going through the schedule at the festival center.

Our roles were to be guest hosts to one of the visiting directors and to the director of Hong Kong film festival. Meet them at the airport, bring them to their hotel, update them on their schedules, organize with cars etc. In return we get to meet a lot of cool people, watch movies, and party!

Our first guest was Jay Jonroy, who has directed the movie "David and Layla". We helped him around the first couple of days promoting his movie. He forgot his SIM-card at a kebab-restaurant and when we went back they had already sent away the trash. One of the guys working there still went through the only garbage can left and found it! I must say that it was a small miracle!

We went with to the Iraqi embassy to talk to them about the film. The ambassador is Kurdish, which I understand would be impossible a few years ago. I guess that book with the mugshot of Saddam wouldn't have been there either. They said that just a few years ago they would have been outside throwing rocks. Apparently there is a power-struggle around the embassies around the world between the ethnic groups in Iraq.

We also went to the Kurdish library which was very interesting. I guess Turkey is not very enthusiastic about the existence of such. Jay had just put up his fliers of his film on the background.

Our other guest was the director of Hong Kong film festival. Unfortunately I have no picture of him. He went right from the airport to start screening movies. Very efficient guy indeed.

Altogether we have seen 9 movies. One of the most memorable ones were Ye Lou's "Summer palace", which I highly recommend.

Our IKEA home...

2006-11-03T00:12:00.000+01:00

Finally a place to stay on our own. At least for a little while. It is small, it is temporary, but it is close to where I will work. I'm sure we'll be alright staying there. We are quite used to living in small places.

IKEA is the one-stop shop if you need everything, including plates to eat on.

Putting up our Billy the shelf.

Having our first meal. We had to stop putting up furnitures because it was getting too late and the neighbor complained!

Change of seasons

2006-10-27T00:37:00.000+02:00

Her first day was a colorful autumn day.

The second the whole color spectra changed with the first snow.

Applications on track

2006-10-26T15:01:00.000+02:00

Wen yesterday handed in her application for "Swedish residence permits on the grounds of family ties" to the Swedish embassy in Brussels and got told she will have to wait until December for the interview. Instead of waiting around in Belgium she will fly here tonight! (I will write more about that application later)

Today she also got her letter of admission to Stockholm university!

Dear Wen Zhang,
I have the pleasure of informing you that you have been accepted to the International Graduate Programme in Social Science at Stockholm University. You have been accepted to the courses Global Environment – Sustainability, Governance and Politics and Cosmopolitan Democracy, spring semester 2007. I will send you a formal letter of acceptance by postal mail.

Things are on track!

All Work and no Play

2006-10-24T10:35:00.000+02:00

Since it is quite a long time until 1st of December, I started to make plans of going to HK and travel up to Shanghai. I really wanted to see some friends there. I even booked a ticket to go tomorrow! Then during the night I made a little budget for the coming months and realized that this would be way to much of a stretch! Just considering that I will have to pay rent for three months before I will receive any money! Then we have Christmas, and basically, I will have to buy a whole new wardrobe for the new job and for winter. :-(

So all work and no play for the dull little me.

Got Job!

2006-10-20T10:25:00.000+02:00

I have signed a contract and will start working on the 1st of December!
I will work as an IT consultant and project manager.

Ouch! Lost the job before I got it

2006-10-10T00:18:00.000+02:00

Everything was set! I had been interviewed first by the recruiters, then I met the company twice, and negotiated position and conditions. Everything was great and they seemed very eager to start and we had even started to discuss what projects I should take one. They had sent me a contract to sign and I was looking through it during the weekend. On Monday I participated in a conference by the Swedish Export Council about doing business in China, and during the afternoon I was supposed to come and sign the contract. During the conference the recruitment company called me and said that the company hadn't signed and that there was something wrong. When I called back later, they said that the company had probably lost a contract and didn't want to sign the contract. Ouch. The recruitment company said they had never had the experience of such an abrupt turn of events. If I had signed on Friday it would have already been set! SUCKS!!!

Interviews, interviews, interviews

2006-10-09T08:13:00.000+02:00

The last couple of weeks I have moved from staying in Zhang Chi's student room in Gothenburg to my aunt's place outside Stockholm. After two trips to Stockholm from Gothenburg to have meetings or interviews I decided it was better to stay in Stockholm.

Since the trip to the center from my aunt's place involves talking one or two buses, and then subway to the center (almost 1,5 hours) it has still been tiresome to go there. Good thing is my aunt is spoiling me with lots of great food!

I don't know how many interviews I have been to, but it is more than ten now. In fact, five (!) interviews have been for the very same job! That is two interviews for the recruitment company, two for the company, and then one for another recruitment company looking for people for the same company! And then they pulled back!

After the contract I was about to sign was cancelled I have already come up with two other consultant companies that are interested and wants to meet me. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn't get that first job. And actually, that company has then clarified their position. They still want to hire me but preferably beginning of next year. I'll check all my options...

End of the Gothenburg Era

2006-10-06T01:37:00.000+02:00

This last month I have lived in Gothenburg together with Zhang Chi. Playing football a couple of times a week, going to Chinese mass during Sundays, meeting up with some friends, and hanging out in the library looking for jobs.

The job hunt has actually been rather successful and I have already been on four interviews.
I am very close to signing a contract and as a matter of fact, I got one right here on my computer. The offer I got exceeds my expectations, and even though it will have little to do with my interest in China, it will enable me to pay some of that extra 20% national high-income tax on some of my income (above the 30% some that we normally pay).

Since I am only looking for jobs in Stockholm, that has meant going up very early in the morning, put on the suit, taking the fast train to Stockholm, have the interview, and then come back to Gothenburg in the evening. Pretty tiresome stuff. Going to Stockholm takes about 3 hours and it is a very suitable time to watch movies. I am slowly going through the TV-series 搭错车, "Take the Wrong Car". Perhaps more on that in another post.

I also think I'm close to find an apartment for me and Wen to stay, at least temporary until we find something better.

Wen has been back to China to be with her mother, and also to be near her grandmother who has gone through surgery. Right now she is on a flight back to Belgium to file applications for prolonging her visa in Belgium, residentship here in Sweden, and make sure everything is correct for her application to Stockholm University. Things really have a potential to work out for the best, though there are also many things that can go wrong.

'Red Tourism' in Chairman Persson's Footsteps

2006-09-22T10:53:00.000+02:00

Don't miss CHTV, China Public Television, going on 'Red tourism' [chinaembassy.org] in Sweden. Brought to you by Swedish Television's Faktum. In Chinese with Swedish subtitles.

Episode 1: Vingåker, birthplace of great leader chairman Göran
(Win, Real)
Episode 2: Kathrineholm, the first powerbase of the leader
(Win, Real)
Episode 3: Stjärnhov, the modest home of Göran
(Win, Real)

Also check out the latest episodes of FNN, Freedom News Network (Win, Real)

(The Swedish prime minister since 1996 is Göran Persson, the leader of the Social-democratic party. CHTV is a parody of the Chinese Central TV, CCTV)

Johanna & Jakob Engaged

2006-09-20T11:42:00.000+02:00

My sister Johanna and Jakob are engaged! Wonderful news indeed!! I wish them all the best and I am really happy that they have found each other!

This marks a new era in the family of Gustafsson, being the first of my five sisters to reach this stage of life! Putting pressure on the rest of us, particularly the 3 older of us!

;-)

Swedish Election 2006

2006-09-15T18:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was election day in Sweden!

I was down at the city library of Göteborg and voted. I'm holding up the ticket for the famous Pirate party of piratebay fame. But no, they didn't get my vote. I went down with Jiegen, a Ph.D student from the business school in town. He's held residency in Sweden for more than 3 years, meaning he could actually vote in the regional and local elections (not the national)! I wonder how many mainland Chinese who has actually participated in a free election!

In Sweden you are actually not allowed to put in your vote yourself, so this is someone else's hand putting it in.

As probably most people did, I tested my symphathy with a bunch of online tests. I voted green (mp) in the last election I was quite surprised that they were far down on what should be my preferences. Made things so much easier for me since I wanted a change.

The election was mainly about choosing one of two blocs. The left (S+V+Mp) or the alliance (C+Fp+Kd+M). Who would have thought I would ever vote for a former farmer party (C) !!?

The left which is currently in government lost and the alliance will form the new government.
Today our prime minister will hand in his resignation!

The election results:
Valmyndigheten
Wikipedia

Majiang and Dinner

2006-09-15T01:23:00.000+02:00

Majiang in the sun.

Spending Sunday relaxing hanging out with some of my Chinese friends here playing majiang and having dinner together.

I couldn't help asking if they really played majiang back in China, and of course... they didn't. At least where I have been it has mostly been older people doing that. :-) Why not. Come to Sweden to play majiang. I have to admit I have practiced a little playing on my computer, so I actually won this afternoon.
Wuhan doupi, 豆皮. Hard to find in Beijing. Zhang Chi's been craving for some Wuhanese food and spent most of the afternoon cooking together with the girls. Great stuff.

Me with mouth full of food.

Chinese Mass at Landala

2006-09-15T01:13:00.000+02:00

New students this last Sunday at the Landala church. Lots of people! Yours truly at upper right corner.

These students are almost all new students from mainland China and it is only a part of all the Chinese students currently studying here. Most of them studying at Chalmers, my Alma Mater, some at the business school in Göteborg, and yet a few study at the Göteborg University. Ten years ago there was hardly any mainland Chinese student coming here to study! Chalmers will offer 44 different Master's programmes in the fall semester of 2007, all tought in English!
(Interested in studying in Sweden? Study in English! No tuition! Blond girls!)

Pastor Li preaches every Sunday and I find it pretty interesting. The last weeks he has been talking about eastern and western thinking. Some have been uploaded on Google Video.

Learning Swedish?

2006-09-14T12:31:00.000+02:00

Just a little tip for those of you out there who are learning Swedish.

Radio with easy Swedish: Subscription and downloads

About Klartext

Klartext - news easy to understand.
You can listen to Klartext every Monday to Friday between 18.00 and 18.10 on the Swedish Radio channel P4. You can also listen to Klartext here on our webpage.

Klartext brings you news from Sweden and other countries. Klartext tells the news at a slower pace, with words that are easier to understand.

A webbased course
Nationellt centrum för flexibelt lärande
(easy and quick registration necessary)

Let me know if you know other useful links so I can update them here.
Lycka till! (Good luck!)

Stockholm?

2006-09-13T00:32:00.000+02:00

The plans has changed a little.

Me and Wen are planning to move to Stockholm early next year. She is applying for a program at Stockholm University and I have begun to look for a job there.

Wen is back in Beijing even earlier than expected, but she has got her mother to agree to go to Stockholm if she would have something useful to do there. Her grandmother is in hospital and might need some serious surgery so she decided to go back. As it looks like now she will have to come back to Belgium in October to finish some paperwork, and then again return to China, and if all goes well, be back in Sweden around the new year.

The only hope for me going to China right now is if I manage to find a job AND a place to live in Stockholm really quick, and then still have some time. That is not really likely to happen. Well, I wasn't that keen on returning under present circumstances anyway.

Right now I'm staying with Zhang Chi in Göteborg.

So Close, So Far Away

2006-08-19T18:54:00.000+02:00

So much has happened this summer, and still, I haven't done that much. There is so much that should could have been told here, but right now I think I will just briefly touch the latest events. They are what matters anyway.

An hour ago I sent Wen and her mother off to Stockholm, where they will in a few days fly on back to Belgium. Wen's mother then wants her to go back to Beijing with her, preferably for good. It wasn't meant that Wen should stay any longer and her mother's visit was nothing but a concealed way to come over and get her. The realization that I wasn't just some good friend guiding them around must have come as a shock, though I am quite sure there was a strong suspicion perhaps even from the time back in Beijing.

The two of they have a very close relationship and Wen often talks with and about her. With all the trust from her mother, Wen has also had a lot more freedom than most Chinese girls in her age. A believe that much of her mother's life has been dedicated to her job and I believe the reason for this is to give Wen a secure future. A future where she could grow old with her only daughter around. There is even a flat bought and ready for that purpose. I had hoped that we could keep on pretending for a little bit, perhaps to make her first meeting with my family less stiff and serious, but confronted with a direct question my dear Wen wouldn't say a direct lie. After that her mother went into damage-control mode, and any further activity would be dealt with as a delay of their departure and to be minimized.

Not being on her home turf and completely depending on me and Wen for communication still made it possible for us to bring this reluctant little lady around a little bit. She probably would have wanted to take the next flight home, but somehow we managed to tour parts of Sweden and introduce most of my family in a somewhat comfortable manner. We kept anything that could be complained about to a minimum and some of the things just happened to be so good that it couldn't be ignored. Driving around in southern part of Sweden in blue sky and sunshine is very beautiful even if you are determined to be unimpressed by anything not Chinese.

I hope that she at least found out that I am not just a white guy out there looking for some fun, and that I am a person too, even though I'm not a Chinese. I also wish that she in time will accept that she won't be able to control where and how her daughter live her life, though on this point I think I have a lot of Chinese parents against me. I wish she would have understood what things are different here, and what is the same, but that takes an open mind and more than just a few days. These few days was just a huge culture clash in the making, particularly the encounter with my family today. I think it was the best we could have done at the present circumstances, but I am not sure it was enough.

Now I am not sure what the outcome of this will be, but I am quite worried about it. Whatever happens I believe there is a long road ahead of me and Wen, and lets hope it won't be an unnecessarily rough and lonely ride.

Football Guys

2006-07-09T02:05:00.000+02:00

The guys I'm playing football with during the weekend, preparing for the next World Cup.

Murder Outside on the Street

2006-07-09T01:18:00.000+02:00

Not everyday there is a murder outside your house in Sweden. A husband in his 50s killing his wife and then failed killing himself. I stepped out of the bus and there it was like CSI Göteborg. :-/

”Hustrumordet är
en familjetragedi”

Den 57-årige man som igår sköt ihjäl sin hustru mitt i ett bostadsområde i Johanneberg, vårdas fortfarande på Sahlgrenskas intensivvårdsavdelning efter att han även försökt begå självmord.

Polisen är fortfarande förtegen om motivet till dådet men enligt presstalesmannen Jan Strannegård rör det sig om en familjetragedi.
Exakt vad som fått den 57-årige mannen att igår eftermiddag ta fram ett gevär och skjuta sin maka mitt i ett bostadsområde i Johanneberg, är fortfarande höljt i dunkel.
Mannen som tidigare är helt okänd av polisen, misstänks nu för mord samtidigt som han vårdas själv för skottskador i bålen efter ett misslyckat självmordsförsök.

SR

The Moose Affaire

2006-07-09T01:07:00.000+02:00

Me, Wen, and her friend Wang Xinjun went to slottskogen here in Gothenburg to check out the animals.
First we got to see an adorable mother with her two moose babies. How cute.

Then we went looking for the father. To our disbelief he was perusing another babe just over the hill! The immoral culprit caught quickly went away in shame. You can see him in the background.

But we paparazzis wouldn't let him get away that easy. We got some good snaps of him hiding in a corner.

Touring Göteborg

2006-07-07T01:30:00.000+02:00

Wen's buddy Wang Xinjun came over from Paris so me and Wen showed her around Gothenburg.

Harbour tour

Eating "mjukglass", soft ice-cream, the scary-movie way.

Ending up with some midsummer picknick out at Röda Sten.

What's in a name 2

2006-07-06T23:40:00.000+02:00

Some people who, like me, are studying the Chinese language choose to take a Chinese name to use among other Chinese speakers. I did that in China, and some people that I know there only know me by that name.

After some time I have realized it is a pain in the butt to have people calling me two completely different names. I used to use the Chinese name 佳宝 [jiābǎo] among Chinese speaking folks. When they met people that only knew me by my given name 'Johan', there would often be a degree of confusion. The solution? I have upon coming back to Sweden started to use a characters that resembles the Swedish pronunciation of 'Johan'. Just to make life easier.

I had a discussion with Wen about what would be a suitable characters of my name, and her buddy Wang Xinjun came up with 又一碗 [yòuyīwǎn], literally 'Again One Bowl'!. To prevent myself from being the permanent laughing stock in Chinese circles and also not ruining my chances to get invited for a meal, I opted for the more normal sounding 佑湾 [yòuwān].

That really works like a charm. The pronunciation of that is in fact very close to the Swedish pronunciation! It really improves communication when people know you by the same name, and doesn't have to learn two names. I would recommend other Westerners to do the same when possible. I'm not sure i would recommend the same to Chinese with names that are hard to pronounce and remember for Westerners though. Let's take Liu Hongchao, wouldn't you agree that for most people around here would find it easier to remember 'Allan'? It can still be a greater advantage that people are able to remember a name at all, and a smaller problem that other Chinese will not have an idea who you are talking about when referring to him by a taken foreign name. People in Hong Kong and Singapore seem to have recognized this a long time ago and many have officially two names, even printed on their passports and ID-cards.

Update to a post long time ago concerning my taken Chinese name.

Ps.
佑 [yòu] assist, protect, bless, 湾 [wān] harbor
I'm the protector of harbors ;-) ... or Taiwan? (台湾)

Gotenburg BBQ

2006-07-06T23:00:00.000+02:00

Mr Eddie

Mr Cake

Song For Your Mum

2006-07-06T22:54:00.000+02:00

XieDing used me to show the friendship of Chinese students for a tv-show. The show was something about wishing a song for your mother. "DianShiDianGe" something... ?

Wen visiting

2006-06-22T01:44:00.000+02:00

Wen is here! We are living in an apartment at Viktor Rydberg for a few weeks before her mother will come to Sweden. We are spending lazy days cooking food, sun tanning, and watching downloaded DVDs. In theory we are also working on our thesis.

Volvo Ocean Race

2006-06-21T00:39:00.000+02:00

A week of sunshine, football, and... boats. Volvo Ocean Race finished in Göteborg, so I was over at Lindholmen to check out their arrival.

The harbor was literally boiling of all the boats! Here the winner of the leg, 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Bumped into ZhangChi and friends.

Prince Filip, Volvo boss Leif Johansson, and Göteborg boss Göran Johansson.

Our dear gossip-paper-salesperson princess Viktoria.

Me, Håkan and a zillion fanatic teenage fans! It was really a great show! Håkan Hällström is definitely one of the best live artists in Sweden. But I would turn off the radio every time they play his songs.

XieDing Tennis

2006-06-21T00:33:00.001+02:00

XieDing likes to watch tennis. But only girls tennis.

World Cup Gambling

2006-06-14T01:01:00.000+02:00

World cup has started and we have some betting going on among the Chinese students here.还不算是赌神

Our betting leader set up the game quite poorly the first round and took quite a loss. Unfortunately he compensated by giving really poor odds for tomorrow’s games

World Cup Lindholmen

2006-06-10T00:35:00.000+02:00

I watched the second game at Lindholmen (Sweden-Paraguay). A band, a big screen, and a lot of families.

The Poodles, Sweden's latest poodle rockers. The crowd looked very unimpressed, though it was pretty fun to watch them.

After Ljungberg's goal things got better!!

Me, Xieding after the win!

Pelle PhD

2006-06-09T00:32:00.000+02:00

Per M disputation. Topic: "High-T SQUIDs for magnetophysiology". Five years of tough work to without being to get any actual measurements, his supervisor passed away, and very few of the people around him actually understanding what he was doing. Sounds though. Finally the last couple of months he actually manage to get some measurements.

Me and Per goes back to high school where we played football in the same team a couple of years. Then we studied physics together at Chalmers a few years.

National Day at Liseberg

2006-06-06T00:30:00.000+02:00

National day at Liseberg, the amusement park in Göteborg.

Everyday I can hear teenage girls screaming where I live. This is the machine that produces that sound.

XieDing hunting for souvenirs.

It was something new for me and probably one of the few things going on in Göteborg this day. For many it is rather surprising that we don't really celebrate our national day much. As a matter of fact it wasn't a holiday until last day. Freakin Norway's 17th May is celebrated more. Even in Göteborg! Fine with me. Got enough of nationalistic crap around the world anyway.

Summer Location

2006-06-05T19:16:00.000+02:00

I have rented an apartment from a Mexican student that is home during the summer. The place is just one block away from the university here in Göteborg. You can see the place on this map if you want to come by to say hello. I'm in apartment 407. If you zoom out a little you can the campus of Chalmers to the south-west.

Spending a day

2006-06-01T00:26:00.000+02:00

Eddie had just came back from Egypt (his blog) and had nothing to do. So of course he came and made me do the same. We spent a whole day playing backgammon outside a café in the sun. Pretty decent way to spend a day. :)

Free Ad for Skype

2006-05-29T01:26:00.000+02:00

Thank God for Skype. With it I spend many hours every day studying together with Wen.

It's better than our dorm...

2006-05-29T00:12:00.000+02:00

I was chatting with Wen about a picture I saw in a newspaper. The story is about an executive who is going to jail. Anyone living in Sweden will know what it is about. Let's say that he is not a very popular person. The picture is from the prison where he might spend the next two years. I asked her what the stuff scribbled on the wall means. She said something that is pretty bizarre, but true; the prison cell is actually better then the student-housing at the best university in China.
The prison cell (from an Expressen article)

Here is a link to some pictures from the girls dorms at Peking University. These are pretty nice compared to the guys dorms! And much better to how it was just a couple of years ago.

The writing on the wall.

生無盡 (Simplified characters:生无尽)
Maybe the meaning is "Endless life"?

The character below is probably written incorrectly, because I can't find it in the dictionary.
The closest I can find is 龐 (Simplified:庞) 龐巴
Could it be a name with the meaning "Huge bar"? The radical that is incorrect usually implies something related to disease. Would be interesting to find out who wrote it.

UPDATE(29th May): Tian from Hanzi Smatter told me this:

you are correct about the "endless life".

the two lower characters, the one on the left is a very old one, that means "puss". It is no longer used and replaced with 癑。

癑巴 is a slang term means "whimp" used in various parts of China.

Strangely, when I search for "癑巴" in Baidu I don't get a single hit.

Back from Gotland

2006-05-28T00:50:00.000+02:00

Back from Gotland.

Departure

2006-05-25T14:02:00.000+02:00

My grandmother has died.
I will got to Gotland for the funeral.
My uncle, my mother, her twin sister, and my grandmother. My grandfather died a long time ago and I have no memory of him.

1.3 billion Potential Believers

2006-05-14T22:48:00.000+02:00

Last night my ZhangChi asked me if I wanted to come with him to church. I have to say that I was rather surprised.

Sunday morning we slept in until 11 something and then slowly got up and out. When we entered the mass it had already started. Some 15 people, all Chinese, were sitting listening to the priest. Since I'm not very familiar with religious terms and because a pretty strong accent I can't say that I understood even half what he was saying. After the preaching there was some singing backed up by some music from a laptop and an overhead with the lyrics (I must say it was a little karaoke-like). When it was about to get really boring, it ended and it was time for the reward: food. Well, more like the usual church grub, such as sandwiches, cookies, tea, and coffee.

Kyrk-fika

There is a mass every Sunday for the Chinese students in the Eklanda church. Here is how it works. People from the church let ask senior students pick up the new arrivals when they come to the airport in Göteborg. They will be the first people they meet in Sweden. Later on they will be invited to the church, of course with the promise of some free food. Some students join, and according to the priest there are now groups of former Swedish students in major cities in China. Pretty good missionary tactics I must say.

ZhangChi made Mr Li, the priest, very enthusiastic when he said my dad is a pastor, that I can speak Chinese, and are going back to China. He started talking about makeing plans together and cooperate. It sure looked like he had great hopes for me and he looked very disappointed when I finally managed to get out the fact that I am not a believer.

Well, the whole thing was quite nice and I wouldn't be surprised if I turn up next week as well. If not for the preaching, maybe for the good coffee. I suppose that is what they all say at first... :0

Back in Göteborg

2006-05-10T23:31:00.000+02:00

I received my new laptop on Tuesday, and today (Wednesday) I'm back in Göteborg. I've decided to wait for the mountain to move her cute little ass over. Until then I will sit at the department and prepare my thesis as much as I can.

Meanwhile I'm staying with ZhangChi, a friend of Allan and writing thesis together with XieDing, the guy I stayed with the last visit.

Ella

2006-05-04T23:32:00.000+02:00

My youngest sister

My mountainous girlfriend

2006-05-04T19:48:00.000+02:00

I've been home for almost a week already, and I'm to say the least eager to get going again. A couple of things still keep me here, perhaps the most important is that I don't know where to go.

Maybe some of your are saying something like "Wait, haven't you been saying that you will go back to Beijing like forever and your blog has a really weird name for someone who is hanging around anywhere BUT Beijing". I will try to make it as clear as I can. I was thinking that maybe I will let the mountain come to Muhammad this time, particularly since the mountain is pretty close. "What the hell are you talking about and you are way too close to Denmark to be allowed to even say that M word" you might say then. Well, if I say that I'm Muhammad and Wen is the mountain, maybe both Wen and all Muslims will kill me, or maybe you will understand that Wen (representing Beijing) might come over to Sweden. To study Swedish. So... I was thinking it would be nice if Muhammad and the mountain could stick together.

Since the spring semester rapidly is coming to an end, maybe there is just not much point going right now. But.. what am I supposed to do then?? I'm not going hang around here. I will decide the coming few days. Hey Edward!! Where are you when I need to get really drunk and make decisions?? By the way, do you have an Arabic name? If not, why not?

A happy trip

2006-04-26T14:13:00.000+02:00

The day I left Belgium the American gals living in the house wrote me a good-bye note wishing me a 'happy trip'.

Thanks a lot!! Really a pleasure meeting you! And.. hey.. don't use computer software to do the translation next time. I won't do a more accurate translation of that card because future employers might run a search on this site.

The guilty bunch.

Spring and blooming tree

2006-04-25T01:51:00.000+02:00

Spring coming to Leuven, maybe it is even possible to go back to Sweden now without freezing my ass off?

Cultural export: Snus!

2006-04-25T01:30:00.000+02:00

Cooking dinner together at the house. ZhangJun has been cooking in restaurants for a long time and immediately took charge. Not content with our utensils and available ingredients, he still managed to fry together a great meal!

As a Swedish nationalist and cultural imperialist I imposed one of the exotic products of Sweden on to the to be cultivated crowd, the SNUS.

ZhangJun with a 'prilla'.

Potential advertisement material

With a market potential of 1.3 billion snus consumers, someone ought to pay me a big bag of money. In the future a Chinese model worker will definitely have to use snus.
(Note. Yours sincerely is not a real man and can't take it. I really ought to be criticized and re-educated)

Cycled home

2006-04-23T17:06:00.000+02:00

Tempting, but I think I will still take a plane.

Cyclists complete ride from China

The pair left China last July

Two cyclists have arrived in London after riding 10,000 miles (16090km) from China for charity.
Andy Clapperton of Bunbury, Cheshire, and Jon Smith of Great Shelford, Cambs, have raised over £6,500 for Diabetes UK since starting out in July last year.
[]

I studied together with Andy in Beijing and he sure is a cool guy. You can read about their amazing trip on their site Cycle Home.

Birthday cake!

2006-04-18T01:53:00.000+02:00

Wen baked a cake for me! So sweet!

New Topic For My Thesis?

2006-04-13T23:40:00.000+02:00

When I stayed in Göteborg, I shared room with Xie Ding for a while. Yeah, one of the guys that went with me to my parents home. He wrote following on his blog:

两个小笑话

上周跟导师喝咖啡，他跟我说了一个关于咖啡的笑话，如果你笑了的话...小子，你学坏了！
在西班牙，人们非常喜欢喝Espresso（一种超浓超苦的咖啡），而且一定要非常烫的喝，才能够品出Espresso的美味。正宗的Espresso 是非常浓的，一般也就喝那么几滴而已，所以西班牙有一种专门喝Espresso的小杯子（类似国内喝白酒的那种），塑料的，很薄。
于是，当你拿起这杯滚烫的Espresso，手就烫伤了。一口喝完这小杯咖啡，舌头也烫伤了。Then, you loose your sexual ability.

第二个是临时室友Johan讲得，属于原创笑话。
Johan喜欢趴在床上睡觉，也就是身体的前面贴床。我跟他说，这样睡对身体不好，特别对男孩子。他马上哈哈笑起来，说他在中国的时候别人也这么说过他。我告诉他我从小就被教育小男孩不要趴着睡觉。他说瑞典没这一说。过了一会儿，Johan突然得出一个结论：
终于知道为什么瑞典人口少，中国人那么多了！
我顿时无语。得，这一重大问题的根源就这么被发现了，是否足够写一篇Master Thesis了呢？

So... maybe this is what I should write my thesis about...
(I apologize to anyone who doesn't read Chinese, but I won't translate this.)

CHTV - China Public Television

2006-04-12T03:59:00.000+02:00

CHTV - China Public Television

No, not CCTV, CHTV! The Swedish version!
This ought to be one of the more bizarre TV programs I have ever seen. It is a parody of a CCTV (China Central TV) style newsprogram praising the Swedish Social-Democratic party. The thing is, they actually do speak in correct putonghua about current Swedish events, and interview folks in China about them. Must be a pretty small clique that can appreciate that! Check it out if you know Chinese, or are slightly interested in Sweden. Just do it anyway. Crazy to see old people in some park in Beijing praise the fitness of Per Nuder.

Check out the shows!

CHTV Home Page

The games are put under the not so culturally sensitive name "Den lilla Kinesen", The little Chinese.

Back in Leuven

2006-04-04T22:05:00.000+02:00

Sunburned, tired, hungry, and happy.

Barcelona: Sunshine!

2006-03-30T18:42:00.000+02:00

From rain to sunshine! :)

When chatting about me going to Leuven I suggested that we meet elsewhere to celebrate her birthday. A quick visit to Ryanair's site revealed that we both could take cheap flights down to Barcelona from Stockholm resp. Brussels. A few minutes later it was set, and flights were booked. Turned out to be a beautiful sunny week, particularly since it was cold and raining in Sweden when I left.

I took a night-bus up to Nykoping, and Allan and Ding went with me to the station. Thx guys, I really appreciated that! Wen stayed over night at the Charleroi airport.

Wen's plane arrived first, but when I got out of the arrivals, there was no one there. I send a quick SMS, and she said she WAS there. It took a while to sort out the confusion. Thing was, she hadn't noticed her flight had been rerouted to the international airport and we weren't at all at the same place!

After a couple of more SMS and some trips with local transport we finally met at the Arc D'Triomf.

Since we hadn't basically prepared at all and had no guidebook with us, I think we were quite lucky about the place, St. Anna Hostel, where we stayed the whole week. It is a small place, just off Las Ramblas, run by an old woman and her family, for 40 Euros a night. We checked out a couple of other places first, and then just walked by this place, and they had a room free for us. We didn't find a better option for us during the rest of the week, so we stayed.
Funny thing was that, pretty much every day we bumped into new animals in the apartment! It was really like a little zoo, with all kinds of cute.. and not so cute.. little animals. I think our final count came up to 2 dogs, 4 cats, 2 kinds of the animal she has in her lap in the pictures, and numerous laud birds! At noon a old guy, who I suppose was the husband of the lady, took the dogs for a walk. The man really moved like in slow-motion, and when he talking he only uttered some incomprehensible whispers.
Most of our very relaxing week was spent strolling around on the streets and hanging out on the beach.

And we celebrated Wen's birthday in the harbor, trying to eat a whole cake by ourselves.
We did actually manage to see some of the main sights...

.. but I guess we were too distracted of just enjoying the weather and the city.

Central Barcelona is really a circus of tourists, beggars, street artists, thieves, freaks, old locals, and people living on the street. Very entertaining, but also quite nasty.

Next Stop: Kina?

2006-03-22T00:13:00.000+01:00

Not quite, mr tram, but it is getting closer.

Next stop is actually Barcelona on the 28th, Brussels and Leuven the 4th. Maybe after that the next stop is China.

Sunday Walk and Lunch

2006-03-20T01:47:00.000+01:00

Sunday we took a little walk in the village.

Outside the kindergarten where my mum sometimes work, we practiced our creative abilities...

.. and destructive sides.

All this to build up an appetite.

Then, when everything that can be done in the Swedish country-side had been experienced, it was time to head back to Göteborg and Chalmers.

Ice-Fishing

2006-03-20T01:38:00.000+01:00

Saturday was spent on the ice! This winter has been unusual cold and the ice was more than half a meter thick. Still, it was hard to convince Tina that it wasn't dangerous. I told her that it would be possible to drive a truck on that ice, but she mostly looked at me as I just had insulted her. ;)

As everybody knows, equipment is everything when fishing on the ice. I'm of course talking about coffee, hot chocolate, blueberry soup, sandwiches, a fire, and hotdogs. A wind shelter also makes life much better. Oh, and it is also handy with some fishing equipment.

Here follows my little ice-fishing guide for the uninitiated. As a matter of fact, it is probably 10 years since I fished like this. First a hole has to be dug. Since the ice was so thick that was pretty heavy work. We used this kind of spear which is pretty effective to make a little bigger holes. For smaller it is perhaps more handy with a drill.

Next to the hole we set up this little fishing device. When the fish bites, the line will jump off and sway back and forth, triggering the gunpowder cork on the site. In the end we had prepared 19 sets. It is pretty fun fishing since there is always something happening.

Allan insert the hook and little fish in the hole. During the winter we buy the little fish in a store, while during the summer we catch them with net ourselves. The fish is actually alive and will be swimming around about a meter above the sea floor. When the fish bites, there will (or will not) be a bang, one put down the coffee cup or whatever you are doing, and run over to the hole. The fish will swim away with the bate, spit it out, and then swallow it. When it has swallowed it is time to hook it and pull it back. If this is done correctly, as Allan demonstrates below, there will be lunch on the table the following day!

This is a huge one ("Gädda") !! Biggest one we have ever got on a hook! It was actually a shock when it came out of the hole. Until the last second I actually wondered if he had anything on, since there was no fight. 9,5 kg!!

And yes, slightly bigger than the one I got. Size does matter.

6 kg! This kind ("Gös") is actually much tastier. Half of this fish was enough for us 5 people to eat ourselves completely stuffed the next day!

In the evening it was getting quite cold. My dad prepared the fish on the ice, and then we pushed our sledge back and got a well-deserved rest.

Skiing in Isaberg

2006-03-19T22:32:00.000+01:00

Allan, Tina, Ding, and yours truly. Allan "snowman" Liu, as you can see, like to ski hard.

Allan asked me where you could ski around Göteborg, so I made couple of suggestions. One place is close to where my parents live, so I suggested that we would take the train to Värnamo, and then use the car to go to Isaberg, a small ski-resort not far away. This Friday morning we headed off 6.35 from Göteborg, came to Värnamo, took the car to Isaberg, and hit the slopes at about 13.00. We didn't return home until after 22.00!

Tina in a difficult position.

For Tina it was the first time to ski. It was probably a quite tiring experience. It usually is the first time.

Ding got the hang of it very quick.

The slope, Allan, and me. Tina took this picture, and unfortunately me and Allan got in the way. She obviously thought the slope was the main attraction :)

A beautiful day with lots of sunshine, plenty of quick runs down the slope, and spectacular crashes!

Kathy's Birthday Celebration

2006-03-15T00:58:00.000+01:00

After playing some basketball with Allan, Rong, and David, I got invited to Kathy's birthday party.

Rong and Kathy are sitting behind Allan to the right in this picture. All in the picture are mainland Chinese studying at Chalmers.

It was really like being back in China, but still in Sweden. We ate a lot of great food, drank beer, listened to Britney Spears, made a lot of jokes, and played killer. Thx a lot Kathy and Rong for a great evening! All the best for the rest of your stay in Sweden!

So What About The Thesis?

2006-03-12T12:19:00.000+01:00

So, I'm finally come to some sort of final decision concerning what my thesis will be about. There should perhaps be an emphasis on 'sort of'. That means that I have received an invitation letter and that I have made one application for a scholarship. So no matter what, I will go to do something at Tsinghua later on this spring.

I'm really looking forward going to Beijing again, but I'm a little bit worried of what will happen after. There are a very interesting trainee program at the company SWECO that I would like to apply for, if I get an interesting Ph.D position I might go for that (really!), but after all, I wouldn't mind start working again. My hope is that I will make a couple of connections with this thesis. I've already got a couple of connections in Beijing that could be really useful. Worst case is that I would have to find a 'normal' job. Horror, such horror.

After Exam Hotpot

2006-03-12T12:00:00.000+01:00

David, Allan, Tina, the Swedish dude, Taiwan girl, Kathy.

Yesterday I had hotpot together with a bunch of exchangers from the university. Really a good time to have hotpot, since it is freezing fucking cold outside. Well, it was warm and spicy inside! :)

Light at the end of the tunnel

2006-03-12T11:23:00.000+01:00

So... after some 40 exams at the university it seems like I've finished off that chapter in my life. This last Friday was a real sad, when me and a couple of other sad asses were sitting in the reading room preparing for the last day in the exam period.

Soon I will have a paper that says I'm a M.Sc in Physics Engineering. Well, after have written my thesis that is. Just wonder what I will do with it. One thing is sure, it sure doesn't get one laid. If some pretty girl ever ask me what I do, I will say that I got a degree in physics. But only because I'm already in a relationship. Otherwise I would say I was a fireman.

On to new adventures.

Blog break

2006-02-28T23:00:00.000+01:00

Seriously no new posts until exams is what I say every day.

Did I Ever Leave??

2006-02-28T22:36:00.000+01:00

A raging battle against MatLab...

One of the computer labs at the Physics Department. 10.36pm. The night is still young.

Want to listen to popular Chinese music?

2006-02-24T12:58:00.000+01:00

Want to listen to popular Chinese music?

Here is a little instruction on how to download songs from Baidu, the popular Chinese search engine. If you don't know any artist or songs, you can go for the 'top 500 songs' or 'top 200 artists'.

In my instruction I will download a song of 王菲 [Wang2Fei1], a singer from HK, also known as Faye Wong.

1) Go to www.baidu.com
2) Click on 'MP3'
3) Click on "歌手TOP200".
(歌手 [ge1 shou3] means singer)
4) Find 王菲 and click on the link.
(She was ranked 18th most popular when I did this search.)
5) Choose a song to download, for example , 寓言, 将爱, 闷 or perhaps 天空.
(The size of the file should be 3-5 Mb for the quality to be alright. There are also other file formats to choose from if you want something other then MP3)
6) You know end up on a page where there is a link to the file (请点击此链接: Click on this link). Save it (by for example right click and choose "Save Link As..." or by just clicking it)

Quite often the link is not updated or the connection too slow. In that case the download will give an error or time out. If you don't succeed, just try another link. Since the connection to China is generally very slow, some patience is required. Since the songs are stored on individuals servers, there is no guarantee that the quality is good or even that it is the right song. It still works remarkably well, and I'm able to get what I want, when I want it. If I do want it, is another question.

If you are interested in learning the language it might be of interest to download the lyrics as well. Baidu is providing that service as well. Next to the song you want to download (step 5), you can find 歌词 [ge1 ci2] (lyrics). Click on it.

I think this service is a big reason that Baidu is attracting more users than Google in China. This (and all the pirated CDs) probably makes it very difficult for any artist or record company to make any money from music sales on the mainland. That might be a reason why most Chinese language artists still comes from HK, Taiwan, and Singapore.

A fun little detail is, when you get the link to the file, there's a small disclaimer underneath, for example: 百度高度重视知识产权保护. "Baidu is in a very high degree respecting the protection of intellectual property". Yeah right. But hey, who am I to complain? :)
I don't think anyone mind if a white dude use them as study material and to improve my 卡拉OK功夫. I don't think those artists count on a big sale here anyway. I wonder how long Baidu will get away with thits if they try to make a presens abroad, as they hope.

Any suggestions of Chinese songs or artists are appreciated!

恭喜发财!

2006-01-29T20:44:00.000+01:00

Happy Chinese New Year of the Dog!

This is our year baby! It's going to be a great one! 汪汪!!

Google's New Service: Censorship

2006-01-25T18:09:00.000+01:00

I was testing Google.cn, Google's new portal with servers in China. Searches, such after "the communist party" or, perhaps not so surprising, "faluñ goñg", will turn up a little message at the bottom of the page:

据当地法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。
In accordance with local laws and policy a part of the search result is omitted

Censorship in practice. In China though, just letting people know that the information is being censored is a kind of progress. "Don't do evil", sort of.

Update:
Unfortunately searching 芙蓉姐姐 does NOT turn up any disclaimer. I mean, WHERE is the censorship when you really need it!! She seems to have gotten pretty desperate recently. Maybe it is because of the competition for internet fame. For those of you who don't know this very famous blog (atleast last spring it was...), go check it out! Keep the Sister Hibiscus hype alive!

Update2:
That link ('desperate') to pictures of the half naked hibiscus is not working anymore... Maybe the censorship actually do work.

More Serious Math Errors

2006-01-20T14:03:00.000+01:00

Our hero.

Quote from today's math lecture and our Russian professor Grigori. He speaks with this strong Russian accent and looks generally pretty mad, which enhance the impression that he is really cool. ;-)

"You siiiold pay attiientijon to these specjial condiiitions, because if you do not, tsings like... Tjiiernobyl can happen. Sometime maybe I will tiiell you more about Tiiiernobyl... "
Stops talking for a while... then mutters for himself:
"I was involved in that. "

My university goes to far lengths to recruit the professors only with the very best credentials. We learn from the best!

UPDATE 20060210:
Today a paper was passed around for students to give comments on the class. Among comments about the lecture and the content, an almost unanimous class requested that the lecturer revealed more details about his involvement of that unfortunate nuclear plant! I thought I was the only one that noticed when he said that. :-)

UPDATE 20060303:
We just had our last lecture, (perhaps my last lecture at this university!), and finally Grigori got asked about Tjernobyl.
Grigori and Tjernobyl:
Grigori had been working in a very specialized group studying vibrations in the Soviet Union in 1986. There were two of these groups in the country, and one of the groups got assigned to study the experiments that was to take place in Tjernobyl.
Crash-course in Tjernobyl-style nuclear powerplants :
The reactor in these plants heat up water. The produced steam drives generators that produce electricity. The reactor need a very strong flow of water to be cooled. If the water stops, the reactor will overheat and explode. The water is pumped with the power generated by the reactor. If the generator stops, the generators won't produce electricity, the pumps will stop, and the reactor can't be cooled by water.

Instead of making tedious theoretical modeling, the leadership determined to make a practical experiment. The experiment described to some detail by Grigory, was to determine if the reserve diesel-powered generators would have time to turn on in case of an emergency. The answer: they didn't.

The vibration team was to take the opportunity and study the vibrations of the generators during the experiment. A last minute decision determined that the other team would take care of the measurements. They all died during that night. All of them colleagues and friends of his. Perhaps not so funny.

The New Grand Plan

2006-01-16T11:08:00.000+01:00

This is the grand new plan:
Since my last two exams are coming up in March I will take the opportunity to follow the regular lectures in those two subjects and then finish them off. Will be quite a relief to be able to graduate after finishing the thesis.

I've had my first chat with my new supervisor John Holmberg at the department of Physical Resource Theory. I will do an investigation of the building sector in China, with a focus on energy efficiency in buildings. There is a lot of stuff happening in this sector at the moment here in Sweden and in Europe, so I'm quite pleased with the subject. We still haven't gotten it confirmed from the professor at Tsinghua, but I will start my preparations here in Sweden first. The plan is to head to Beijing after the exams.

After graduating I will automatically become a famous actor/TV-presenter/media-celebrity and get invited to all hip parties and pose in glossy magazines. That was of course the goal all along.

Wemmel-Ljung family

2006-01-04T21:58:00.000+01:00

One of the reasons of going to Göteborg was to finally get to meet up with my god daughter Saga, her sister Mira, and my good friends Stefan and Toba.

Me and my buddy.

I was drawing some portraits together with Saga. Guess who it is in the drawing. Well, I guess she was able to figure it out herself.

A little after-dinner, before-glögg walk in the cold and clear weather. Saga almost immediately fell asleep despite the cold.

(glögg is a warm sweet drink, similar to glühwine)

Värnamo -> Göteborg

2006-01-01T21:00:00.000+01:00

I'm right now in Göteborg, living together with Wen in my sister Johanna's apartment. We will try to stay in Göteborg to atleast the 12th when Wen fly back to Belgium.

Some things that needs to be done:
Meet the Ljung-Wemmel family
Discuss a potential project at Tsinghua with my professor

Unforgettable Moments 2005

2005-12-31T12:59:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year!

My life the last year has centered around Wen, ending my life in China, and getting back on track to make up my mind about my future and finishing my degree.

Yearly Movie Tradition

2005-12-28T17:19:00.000+01:00

After Narnia pizza.

This is the fourth year the family goes out to watch a movie during Christmas. The prevous were the Lord of the Ring triology. With our cousins we take up a large chunk of the theatre.

Vist to my Grandparents

2005-12-28T16:51:00.000+01:00

The 25th, our Christmas Day, we went to my grandparents place to meet up with aunts, cousins, and another ton of food and cookies.

My grandparents live in Sandhem in Västergötland.

The farm where my dad grew up is located next to their house.

Grandma

Ella by the fireplace

My grandfather's shoes

Grandma and grandpa digging in

Cecilia making a careful choice

Me and Wen in front of the Christmas tree

Grandma singing her traditional 200 verses long songs.

Afternoon walk in the forest

Christmas Celebrations

2005-12-28T16:27:00.000+01:00

Gift wrapping.

Christmas porridge.

Wen trying out 'Jansson Temptation', a dish me and Wen did together. It's a Christmas favourite of mine, though we also eat it during Easter.

Ella got a gift!

We got a tradition to put rimes on the gifts. Wen got a Swedish dictionary from my family. The rime says:

This is a perfect book
For someone who our brother took
Durkslag is only the start
Soon you will have a Swedish heart.

Kinda cute. Durkslag is the tool you use to rinse the spagetti in. According to my dictionary it is called a colander in English. Could perhaps be translated as a 漏勺 [lÃ²ushÃ¡o] (lit. 'Leaking Spoon') in Chinese. It is one of the few Swedish words that Wen has learned.

Midnight mass. We filled up a whole row in church!

Merry Christmas!!!

2005-12-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

Marry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Tree Hunting

2005-12-23T15:22:00.000+01:00

Wen showing off her skills

The last lingon berry of the year

Posing with the catch

Taking a break to drink some hot chocolate.

Bringing home the catch

Mission complete

Christmas Preparations

2005-12-23T15:21:00.000+01:00

Me decorating a gingerbread

Wen with a little piggy

Ready for consumtion

Flight Belgium -> Sweden

2005-12-23T15:19:00.000+01:00

Ryan Air from Charleroi, Belgium to Nyköping, Sweden. Then Swebus to Jönköping. My sister Johanna picked us up at 3.30 am to drive us to Värnamo.

The Diarrea Square

2005-12-19T13:29:00.000+01:00

Ladeuze, the main square in Leuven.

拉肚子 [lā dùzi] have diarrhea

Christmas Market in Leuven

2005-12-19T13:23:00.000+01:00

Picture from the Christmas market down at the Ladeuze square.

Wen, Tomo, and Christine hanging out drinking Gluhwine.

Meat on a stick. Similar to what you can find in China, and to a similar price too. Well, except that here the price is in Euros. (4 Euro= 38.7 RMB)

"What is that stuff?!"

Oysters and snails for sale.

Looking for some real estate.

Belgian "American Idol" winner in front of a crowd of screaming teenage girls.

Under the mistletoe

Jesus has left the building.

UPDATE: Those sticks with meat was actually "only"2,5 Euro.

A Swede in Taiwan?

2005-12-15T15:04:00.000+01:00

No, I don't have any plans of going to Taiwan, though that would be cool. Haven't been there.

I was checking out Michael Turton's blogroll and I noticed a "A Swede in Taiwan" entry. That kind of made me curious. When I checked it out it turns out to be an exchange student from Engineering Physics at Chalmers. My university, my program. :) Somebody must have been reading my blog I think. Well, copying is the best form of flattery. (My previous title on this blog was 'A Swede in Beijing')

Beatka's Birthday Party

2005-12-11T16:16:00.000+01:00

Beatka is a Polish student in the Polish/German exchange student bunch that we have been hanging out with.

In the party there were some Brazilian guys too and I had an interesting conversation with one of them. He was telling me the true character of the Chinese people. He first rambled about Chinese having their own logic or something, but I didn't really understand what he was talking about. Then he said that when Chinese are looking at people, they not only look, they also intensively 'observe'. He showed me how they squint their eyes (by stretching out his eyes to the sides with his fingers) to show me how they look when they do this.

I realized this is how I thought this was the normal Chinese appearance. How mistaken I have been! They of course have similar eyes as us, but when I meet them they start to squint and 'observe' me! What a revelation! The great Chinese conspiracy, not only involving the Chinese, but all East-Asians!! A sign of the 'yellow peril' in Brazil?

UPDATE: Wen didn't like the previous picture (with the cup, making her looking like a pig) so I had to replace it. New pic below. This one approved.

Wen 'observing' the photographer.

Sinopec on tour

2005-12-11T16:12:00.000+01:00

This freezing cold Saturday we walked through Leuven with Thomas and a group of people working for Sinopec. They are in Europe for training, but possible mostly for traveling around.

Thomas learning Chinese idioms.

Trying out the benches in the Philosophy department.

Dank u Sint!

2005-12-06T12:57:00.000+01:00

There was a little surprise from St Nikolas in the kitchen today! St Nikolas helpers came down the chimney and gave us a lot of candy!

Bug on a Stick

2005-12-06T12:55:00.000+01:00

The artwork 'Totem' is a beetle on a needle by Jan Fabre erected on the Ladeuzeplein in Leuven. I kind of like it.

It is a pretty bizarre creation and, like most art, you are left on your own to interpret it. I read an explanation about beetles being 'keepers of information', and that it was symbolic for the library next to the square. I'm not sure if that was the artist's interpretation, and I'm not sure about the symbolism of that beetle being pierced by a needle.

Jiabao is ignoring me

2005-12-05T02:00:00.000+01:00

I tried to post a comment on premier Wen Jiabao's blog, to say a hello from the Swedish people and to tell him that if someone confuses him with this other Jiabao, it is me. My chinese name is the same as his given name. Unfortunately I just received an error message when I posted it.

If someone manages to put a comment there, please remind him to unblock my blog in China.

UPDATE (7 Dec): Premier Jaibao's blog is gone. Rebecca MacKinnon writes she has got it confirmed that it was a hoax. Pretty good one.

Ceren, Guess Who I Met!

2005-12-05T00:28:00.000+01:00

This is Martijn, and this is his letter to Wen:

Hello Zhang Wen, My name is Martijn, you don't know me but because we never met but we both know Ceren from Turkey. She's the one that gave me your adress and she asked me to say hello.I had contact with Ceren lately by MSN and I asked her if she knew somebodythat lived in Leuven since I wanted to get in contact with some nativeChinese speakers in Leuven to continue practising Chinese. I, myself am from the Flemish part of Belgium so my motherlanguage is Dutch. I wonder if youmight have some time now and then to hang out and talk. Or maybe you don't have enough time, but you know other Chinese in Leuven that would like to learn Dutch. Do you like living in Leuven? Are you trying to learn Dutch as well? If you want I can speak French as well. I met Ceren in Chengdu, february this year while she was on holidays and I was traveling around in China. Later I moved to Shanghai and worked there asa musician for 5 months and started learning Mandarin.

Ceren is a good friend of mine from Turkey that I studied together with at Peking University. This Friday I went to a pub and listenend to Martijn play jazz. World is pretty small. I think I know pretty much everybody by now. Anyone left out? Write a comment so we can get in touch.

St Nicholas and his helpers

2005-12-05T00:08:00.000+01:00

When riding with Thomas car through the city we spotted St. Nicolas with his black helper walking by the street. We jumped out of the car and snapped a picture.

On the evening of December 5, Sinterklaas brings presents to every child that has been good in the past year (in practice to all children). Sinterklaas wears a red bishop's dress including a red mitre, rides a white horse (called Amerigo) over the rooftops and is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful Moorish dresses, dating back two centuries. These helpers are called 'Zwarte Pieten' (black Petes). Their blackness was racial, with Pete being an imported African servant of Saint Nicholas since 1850 (though some people say Pete was a slave who, when Sinterklaas bought him his freedom, was so grateful that he stayed to assist him). Today however, the more politically correct explanation that Pete's face is "black from soot" (as Pete has to climb through chimneys to deliver his gifts) is used.
[Wikipedia]