Why Living In Sweden Will Ruin You For Life

A life without kanelbullar and köttbullar isn’t a full life.

24 reasons why living in Sweden will ruin you for life

Bilingualism

Jag publicerade ett blogginlägg igår som jag bara skrev på engelska. Det var såklart meningen att jag skulle skriva det på både svenska och engelska men efter att jag skrivit ett tag upptäckte jag att jag skrev på engelska och inte på svenska. Jag märker nu när jag bor i Malaysia där jag sällan pratar svenska och min man och jag alltid talar engelska med varandra, att jag även tänker mer och mer på engelska. Igår var det fullt upp med caferenovering, dokumentärfilms möte, träning och annat så efter att jag skrivit inläget på engelska var jag alldeles för trött för att översätta det till svenska. Ledsen för det, men hoppas att de flesta av er förstod ändå! Att starta eget är så otroligt roligt, men eftersom jag gör allting själv, från renovering, bakning, bloggande, promotion till allt annat som hör till att starta ett eget cafe, så blir jag ganska trött. Det är tur att min man stöttar och hjälper mig så mycket, annars hade det varit tufft. Så igår var jag så trött att jag gick och la mig klockan nio på kvällen och vaknade klockan nio idag. Med andra ord, jag sov tolv timmar! Underbart. Nu är det dags för mer caferenovering för min del men först, lite julfika!


I published a blog post yesterday that I only wrote in English. As always, I planned to write it in both Swedish and English, but after I'd been writing for a while I discovered that I wrote in English and not in Swedish. I notice now, that I live in Malaysia where I rarely speak Swedish and my husband and I always speak English with each other, that I also think more and more in English. Yesterday was a busy day with cafe renovation, documentary film meeting, a workout at the gym and so on, that I was just too tired to translate the blog post into Swedish. Sorry for that, but hope that most of you understood anyway! To start your own business is so incredibly interesting and amazing, but since I do everything myself, from renovation, baking, blogging, promotion to everything else related to starting your own cafe, I get pretty tired. Fortunately, my husband supports and helps me a lot, otherwise it would have been quite tough. And so, yesterday I was so tired that I went to bed at nine o'clock in the evening and woke up at nine o'clock today. In other words, I slept twelve hours! Amazing! Now it's time for more cafe renovation on my part but first, julfika (Christmas fika)!

How to find your purpose

I came a cross an article yesterday that talked about how to find your purpose in life and how to live it. This is something that I quite frequently think about, since I'm a person who doesn't want to do things in my life just for the sake of doing it. Things has to make sense to me, otherwise, why bother doing it. Right? I want to feel like I'm on the right path for me.

I graduated from university in 2009 after having completed a master degree in Peace, Conflict and International relations. In my studies, I always tended to put extra focus on racial issues and gender issues. Inequalities in this world really bothers me. And so I wrote a bachelor thesis about the Sweden Democrats, a racist party in Sweden, and a master thesis about female imams in China. Both evolving around the same topic, inequalities and discrimination. Since then, I have also worked as a Swedish teacher for refugees in Sweden. Another group in the society that is most often discriminated or at least sidelined. After that I worked in China as a Swedish teacher, while at the same time trying to promote some good Swedish values like equality and fairness. I later on got a job as an integration officer for the council, and was once again working with refugees coming to Sweden. I guess the common denominator in my studies and my jobs has been quite clear this far.

Now, I am opening up a Swedish cafe in Malaysia and to be honest, I haven't been able to fit this part in to this previous and clear red line. And so, to get back to the question in the article, what is my purpose in life? I think I'm quite clear already of what my purpose in life is: to fight inequalities and discrimination and to inspire other people to do the same. The big question is, how does me opening up a cafe in Malaysia relate to that purpose? I admit that I myself has not had the answer for that question until this week and I have been rather frustrated about not feeling like I'm doing things here in Malaysia that relates to my purpose in life. Until, I realized that I'm more than ever, actually living my purpose in life. Yes, I'm not working with inequalities in Malaysia right now, and I'm not conducting any studies about the racism in the Malaysian society, which basically are the reasons why I kind of never realized that I am changing peoples perceptions and prejudices just by being here and by being married to a man who looks different from me. Just by us leaving the house here in Penang, we are making people aware of that different cultures, religions, backgrounds and skin color doesn't really matter. Because if it did, then how could my husband and me be married and living together?

When I was younger, I always had the idea that my purpose of life would be a job or a task or something like that. I never considered that it could be just the way I chose to live my life and who to marry. And so, I guess, even this cafe and this blog also fit in on my path of life purpose although it was not as clear to me as a master thesis about a racist party in Sweden. Instead of being the researcher, I have now become the case study. And so today, there was a documentary film team here in our house, wanting to do an interview with me and my husband about mixed marriages. They found us through my blog Fika Penang. I am therefore now sure to say, that even by me opening up a cafe and blogging about it, I do continue to have the same purpose in life as I always had and wanted.

You can check out the previous work of the documentary film team here (Yellow Pictures)          

Swedish Instagram Advent in Penang

Efter en lyckad shoppingtur till IKEA i Kuala Lumpur, är vi nu tillbaka i Penang lagom till Första advent. Jag har spenderat helgen med att adventspynta och baka till julmusik. Så nu har vi faktiskt lyckats skapa lite julstämning även här i tropikerna.

We are now back in Penang after a successful shopping trip to IKEA in Kuala Lumpur, and just in time for the First Sunday of Advent. I spent the weekend decorating the house and baking to some Christmas songs. And despite the sun and the hot weather here in Malaysia, I actually managed to create some Christmas spirit here in the tropics.

































Jag passade på att köpa lite julpynt på Ikea som jag fixade iordning igår. Så nu har vi en adventsstjärna och julblommor i vardagsrummet.

I took the opportunity to buy some Christmas decorations at Ikea which I decorated the house with yesterday. So now we have an Advent star and some Christmas flowers in the living room.

































Ingen advent utan pepparkakor! Och eftersom vi totalt missade att köpa pepparkakor på Ikea, fick det bli att göra egen deg. Passade även på att göra en bröddeg till kalljästa frukostbullar när jag var i farten.

No advent without ginger cookies! And since we totally missed out to buy ginger cookies at Ikea, I had no choice but to make my own dough. I also made a bread dough to some cold fermented breakfast buns for this Sunday breakfast.  




Så imorse blev det att starta dagen med lite nybakta frukostbullar med sesamfrön.

And so we started this First Sunday of Advent with some freshly baked breakfast buns with sesame seeds.

Sedan var det dags för min mans första pepparkaksbak. Vi hittade dessa fina pepparkaksformar på Ikea. Hela svenska skogen är representerad!Then it was time for my husband's first baking of ginger cookies. We found these really nice cookie cutters at Ikea. The entire fauna from the Swedish forest is represented!

Och sedan var det dags för lite adventsfika med svensk glögg. Glöggen är förra årets vinterutgåva ala 2013. Vi är ett år efter i Malaysia, men vi får iallafall njuta av lite svensk glögg vilket inte är så illa. Glad advent till alla!

And, at last, it was time for a bit of Advent fika with ome Swedish glögg (mulled wine). The glögg is the last year's winter edition ala 2013. We are one year behind here in Malaysia, but at least, we get to enjoy some nice Swedish glögg. Not too bad for a Swedish Advent in Malaysia. Happy Advent to all!

 

Interview for the Swedish newspaper

Igår gjorde jag ytterligare en intervju för en svensk tidning, nämligen Värmlands Folkblad (VF). Det är verkligen jättekul att det finns ett intresse för det jag gör och för Fika Penang. Det är ganska slitigt att öppna eget, speciellt i ett land som fungerar så annorlunda mot det jag är van vid. Så det fungerar verkligen som en härlig motivation när alla ni där ute intresserar er för det jag försöker bygga upp här i Penang. Tack för all support! Och tack VF för en bra intervju och artikel. Jag är inte helt säker på när tidningen med artikeln om mig och Fika Penang kommer, men eventuellt på lördag. Så håll utkik!


I did another interview for a Swedish newspaper yesterday. It's really great that there is an interest in what I do here and in Fika Penang. It is, at times, quite hard to open up your own business. Especially in a foreign country where the business culture is so different to what I'm used to. So it really works as a motivation boost when all of you out there are showing your interested and support in what I do over here in Penang. Thanks for that! And thanks VF for a good interview and a great article. I'm not quite sure when the newspaper with the article about me and Fika Penang will be out, but possibly this coming Saturday.

#detblirjuländå

Jag skrev ju igår om att jag inte har några julkänslor här borta i värmen. Min kära syster skickade då denna reklamfilm som just nu visas på svensk tv. Lite för att ge mig julkänslor men även för att säga att oavsett hur det blir eller var vi är, så blir det jul ändå! Bra budskap i denna moderna tid med all julstress och prestationsångest som hör julen till.


I wrote yesterday, that I don't feel the Christmas spirit here in the tropical heat. And so, my dear sister sent me this commercial that is currently shown on Swedish television. Perhaps, to give me some Christmas spirit, but also to say that no matter what happens or where we are, there will be Christmas anyway! Good message in this modern age with all the stress and performance anxiety that is often related to Christmas.

#detblirjuländå   =   #itwillbechristmasanyway

One month before Christmas

En månad kvar till jul! Och här sitter jag i shorts och linne och svettas. Julstämningen vill inte riktigt infinna sig här i Penang. Skönt att slippa julstressen i och för sig, men ändå tråkigt utan den där mysiga julkänslan. Förhoppningsvis blir det bättre i slutet av veckan då vi ska ner till IKEA i Kuala Lumpur och handla lite julsaker. Eftersom det är första julen här i vårt nya hus, måste vi ju göra det lite julmysigt till på söndag då det är första advent. Lite julbak får det bli också till helgen. Då kanske julstämningen äntligen infinner sig här i Penang.


One month before Christmas! And here I'm sitting in shorts and singlet, all sweaty and hot. The Christmas spirit is not really here in Penang. It's nice not having to cope with the stress that Christmas sometimes brings, but a bit boring not to feel any Christmas spirit at all. Hopefully it will be better at the end of this week, when we will go down to IKEA in Kuala Lumpur and buy some Swedish Christmas stuff. Since it's our first Christmas here in the new house, we ought to make it at least a bit decorated for Christmas, especially since this Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. A bot of Christmas baking is also on the to do list this weekend. Then hopefully, the Christmas spirit will finally find its way here to Penang.