Pelle PhD

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

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

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

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

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

It's better than our dorm...

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

Back from Gotland.

Departure

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

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

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

My youngest sister

My mountainous girlfriend

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

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

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

Cultural export: Snus!

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

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.

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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!

Wen baked a cake for me! So sweet!

New Topic For My Thesis?

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

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

Sunburned, tired, hungry, and happy.