The best time to be in Germany
I've been hearing from a lot of people that I couldn't have picked a better time to move to Berlin. They're right.
I haven't gone out yet. By this I mean I haven't gone out barhopping on a Friday or Saturday night. My time thus far has been split between fighting off my allergies throughout the days, watching World Cup matches in the afternoons, and apartment hunting in the evenings (between the 4:00 and 8:30 matches) so I can make it to a bar in time for the 8:30 match to start.
World Cup fever has taken this over Berlin (and the rest of Germany). What makes the excitement (read: hysteria) even more compelling is that Berlin is an extremely international city made up of Turks, English, Americans, French, Italians, Australians, Kiwis, Serbs and pretty much other nationality that happens to be represented in the global event. So even though the Germany matches command the biggest crowds at bars, there is no bar or cafe that doesn't have a crowd gathered around a television on a street corner or on a sidewalk or in a biergarten during any match. As a Berliner, you try to watch every match you possibly can because it's fun (and because it's hard not to).
My social life is non-existent. And I don't really have any good friends yet. Outside of the couple buddies I have at work with whom I've seen a few matches, my acquaintances have been made up of people I meet at cafes watching World Cup matches.
But it doesn't matter, because the energy you get from seeing from 20 people gathered around a 40 inch flat-screen television on a street corner, cheering and screaming at the screen in German is enough to get you smiling and joining in. As soon as the fans ask you where you're from, the first thing they do is start telling you what they think of your team's performance in the Cup. In my case, they lament the horrible call that was made against the US in the Slovenia match.
Last Friday, Germany had a 1:30 match against Serbia. In most American companies it would be business as usual. In Germany, the worker's union would file a complaint against a company's leadership for "undue psychological stress" resulting from not allowing its employees to watch a match. In our case, our bosses ordered pizzas, set up two flat panel TVs with surround sound, and we all took two hours off to watch the match. The only psychological stress we endured was from the unfavorable result in large part due to horrible officiating. At 3:30, we were back to work, trying not to think about the dozens of different ways this could end for Germany.
I've been trying to get my Swedish friends down here before the World Cup ends. I'm pretty sure there's no better way to see Berlin. The excitement is contagious and everything I could've hoped for.
My fellow Swedes, our long national nightmare is over.
Springtime is here.
I hesitated writing this post for a while because, believe it or not, it snowed a couple days last week here in Sweden. Though the winter may have ended for my New York and San Francisco friends weeks ago, we still got a nice dose of ridiculousness.
But for now I can say, with a fair amount of confidence, that the toughest winter seen in years in this part of the world (and much of the Northern Hemisphere for that matter) is finished and making way for what promises to be a summer of overabundant joy and underabundant clothing.
That said, I'm not sure the winter was that bad. In retrospect, it was long and tough. But it was a cold, snowy winter which, on this ever warming globe is a welcomed surprise, even here in Europe's Great North.
This makes it even tougher to leave Sweden. If I'd decided to leave at some point during the 30 days of consecutive snow we saw in the January/February timeframe, I would've flown from the land of tall, blond people flipping them the bird the entire way. But the beautiful people out and about, energetic and smiling at the sunshine is the ultimate salt in the wound. Damn you Sweden.
Alas here we sit, basking in the glory of the sunshine that is springtime. Cherish it Sweden, because before we know it winter will be back with a vengeance.
My love affair with the NPR News iPhone app
I am on an unlimited iPhone data plan in Sweden now.
The implications of this are immeasurable. The ability to check email, browse the web and check-in as often as I want, to tweet, to upload pictures and video have all just made it immensely easier on the wallet. It's the future of mobile, the future of internet, the future of epic awesomeness.
There are two iPhone apps which will now see a huge uptick in usage from me. Spotify which, previously mentioned, streams music thus eliminating the need for downloading it, is now my primary source of music-listening pleasure. The second is the NPR News app.
I appreciate the BBC and the awesome news options available to me in Europe. But the one thing I was missing were the fantastic cultural, political, economic, and social commentaries and shows that NPR was airing. This American Life, Car Talk, A Prairie Home Companion, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me were among the shows that allowed me to focus and relax when I was living in San Francisco. Don't get me wrong, I could listen to them through my PC at work, but too much multi-tasking wouldn't allow me to enjoy them as much. The NPR iPhone app allows me to walk through the streets of Stockholm while I hear the self-deprecating Click and Clack give advice to hopeless yuppie intellectuals about their outdated modes of transportation. This is the stuff I miss.
The NPR app is flawlessly executed. Traditional media outlets are complaining about their demise while the one without any money to begin with goes out on a limb to take risks and become part of the technological revolution. Within the app, you can read news articles and listen to news stories. You can create playlists of broadcasts and stream them all in a row. You can save favorites. The ads are non-invasive and quick. And the app is so easy-to-use (and easy on the eye) that you're almost having fun while you're using it.
Kudos to NPR for pioneering the way we consume news in the future. You've set an example for others to follow.
The Great Expat Super Bowl Challenge
The Super Bowl is the biggest American holiday of the year. Furthermore, it's the one event of the year that we American expats can all get together and overindulge in our American culture - our spectacle, our tradition, and our competition. In short, our hard-hitting, meatheaded, Americanism.
But it's not so easy to be an American abroad during football season. Being abroad has made following the NFL very difficult. Games are on Sunday and Monday nights, which for us translates to ridiculous hours of the morning. So we feel a bit more detached from the tradition of American sports.
Then on the ONE night of the year, the night of the big event, the Super Bowl, the tables turn. The NFL season we've had such a tough time following all fall and winter, all culminates in the single championship game. It's the one event of world sport that all of a sudden the whole world chooses to watch, report about, talk about, Facebook about, tweet about, Gmail chat about, email about, fart about, etc.
And I'm simply too old to want to start watching a three hour game at midnight on a school night. So tomorrow night, I'm hosting some friends at my place to watch a re-airing of the Super Bowl in HD on Viasat Sports. We will have guacamole, pizza, chips, beer, etc. etc. etc. And we will be Americans. And it will be great.
But tonight begins the Great Expat Super Bowl Challenge.
When I wake up in the morning, I will need to avoid, at all costs, any connection to the world, until 6pm tomorrow night.
I will need to:
- Not turn on the television.
- Not check email.
- Not access Facebook.
- Not access Twitter.
- Not read the news.
- Not look at my iPhone.
- Not talk to any American friends.
In other words, I need to not do ANYTHING wherein there's even the slightest inkling of a chance that I may find out the score of the game before we start watching it tomorrow.
I was successful last year, but to stay completely disconnected from the world, in such a connected world is an EPIC challenge and just gets tougher year after year.
Mr. Hooper is Dead
I stumbled upon this video posted at The Retroist and it had a profound effect on me in more ways than I would've imagined. I remember seeing it when I was just 5 years old and I remember having been deeply affected by it then as well.
It's the episode in Sesame Street soon after Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper, died in real life. The regular "human" Sesame Street crew is sitting around and talking, when Big Bird comes over showing some pictures he drew of everyone. The final picture he shows is that of Mr. Hooper. It's at this moment that the crew has to reexplain that Mr. Hooper was dead and wouldn't be coming back.
There are many reasons why this video hits such a spot with me at 31 years old:
- It reminded me of the incredible dignity with which the Sesame Street writers and producers behaved and of the responsibility they took upon themselves to teach children about death. They didn't have to address it, but they did. And they did it effectively and tastefully.
- It reminded me of the mindnumbing crap they serve on television to kids today, and of how much more socially-awkward, unfocused, and sheltered children are nowadays.
- It reminded me of a time when parents didn't use television as a substitute for their responsibility, but rather as a supplement, wherein sometimes television programs (not "TV shows") and the characters whom the kids trusted, could help them to understand difficult-to-comprehend things in their own terms; things that perhaps weren't so easy for parents themselves to explain.
- I didn't think the explanations that Maria, Bob, Gordon, and others gave were perfect. In fact, there are things I'm sure I might've done better, but in the flaws and the awkwardness it became real and they took a very difficult topic and explained simply and effectively.
- This moment in television was how I'd learned about death in the way I would have finally understood it. And I'm proud to have learned it this way.
This moment in television speaks of a time when I was proud to be a kid in the US, when parents were parenting, when kids had attention spans, when television served not as a distraction, but as a responsible source of information, education, and enlightenment. I'm not sure we'll ever get back there, but it's fun to relive my past through when emotions were real and education and responsibility were dignified.
PS - Most incredibly is what they're discussing when the video starts. Are. You. Kidding. Me. Awesomeness.
My 100th Post: 100 Reasons Why Sweden Rocks
I think we as Swedes and expats tend to lose sight of all the reasons why Sweden is awesome, particularly when the country is enveloped in darkness and cold.
For my hundredth post, I present to you 100 Reasons why Sweden Rocks (in absolutely no particular order):
- It's a very clean place.
- Everyone is an environmentalist.
- The Swedes are proud of their high tax rate going to support social programs like healthcare.
- Europe (and by this I mean the brilliant artists behind The Final Countdown)
- Winter is a beautiful, festive season with candles and julbord feasts.
- Glögg (this deserved its own point)
- Pepparkakor (also deserved its own point)
- Pancakes and split pea soup Thursdays
- Kanelbullens Dag (Cinnamon Roll Day)
- Everybody is beautiful.
- Summertime gets everyone smiling.
- Very few European cultures are as hip to technology as the Swedes are.
- Swedish design. 'Nuff said.
- Kubb
- Nils Oscar beer.
- MEATBALLS!
- Reindeer
- Basshunter. Boten Anna.
- Sill, otherwise known as herring.
- Lax, otherwise known as salmon.
- A well-funded, quick, efficient, and clean public transportation system.
- ABBA
- Roxette. I'll say it again. Roxette. She deserves to be mentioned twice.
- Lars Winnerbäck who, if you haven't listened to him, is fantastic.
- Renowned director Ingmar Bergman
- Renowned actress Ingrid Bergman
- Björn Borg, not only for his epic tennis-playing skills but for his good clothing (he has one of the biggest fashion brands here)
- Monica Zetterlund, a fantastic jazz vocalist who sangs some very steamy jazz standards in the 60s and 70s.
- Sambo
- Gay marriage is legal and widely accepted.
- The midnight sun.
- The Northern Lights.
- The crime is so low, that I never fear for my safety when I walk the streets at night.
- The Daily Show Stockholm Syndrome Part I
- The Daily Show Stockholm Syndrome Part II
- Henrik Schyffert's Full Like a Kastrull
- These hilarious experiments took place in Stockholm: http://thefuntheory.com
- The epic Michael Jackson dance tribute took place in Stockholm.
- You may disagree with me, but Inga from Sweden.
- Midsommarsdagen or Midsummer's Day, traditionally held on the Friday after the longest day of the year (end of June)
- For more clarification on the above point, check out this banned Ikea commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I5BGsK5ZAU
- The longstanding tradition of dancing around the Maypole during Midsommarsdagen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maypole#Sweden
- Swedish dansbands. Click on ANY picture here and you will see what true awesome is: http://www.svenskadansband.se/top.php
- Sweden has a wicked (and very much still thriving) metal scene.
- Magnus Samuelsson
- Home of the Nobel Prize.
- Home of the least corrupt government in the world.
- The clever alteration of street signs.
- Modern Swedish architecture.
- Stockholm is built on islands for crying out loud.
- It's still got a king (and queen and royal family).
- Hockey. Period.
- Allmänsrätten (literally All men's right). Man's right to roam. The maxim: "Do not disturb, do not destroy." It's really something only civilized countries can get away with.
- Uh...the VIKINGS were awesome.
- IKEA. I may not appreciate it so much, but it's notably Swedish.
- St. Lucia Day
- Stockholm has tons of green area.
- An enormous ship called the Vasa sunk moments after it launched on its maiden voyage.
- Pasta sallad and paj. Two standard cafe meals.
- Pizza sallad!!!1!1!
- Sweden has taken in more Iraqi refugees than any other country in Europe. (though it hasn't been completely without controversy)
- The Swedish chef! Ok fine, he's not Swedish, but he's still AWESOME!
- Swedish penis enlarger pumps. Hey, I'm sure they've helped many a gentleman feel just a little bit better about himself.
- Swedish fish!!! And YES, they do exist here! (But they're multicolored and they're just called "fish", duh.)
- Godis (pronounced goodies). Every 7-Eleven, supermarket, and video store has an epic selection of loose candy. And it's amazing.
- H&M (Hennes & Mauritz). I don't ever seem to have any luck there, but hey lots of people seem to find some great clothes there and good for them.
- Science. Sweden continues to throw a lot of money, and remains at, the forefront of scientific research.
- They may have created a highly successful AIDS vaccine that works in humans which frankly, is badass.
- Stockholm was badass enough to declare itself the Capital of Scandinavia which I'm sure has pissed off Norway, Denmark, and maybe even Finland and Iceland. But it's Sweden and Sweden is awesome and Sweden knows it.
- Gustaf Erik Pasch, a Swede, invented the match.
- Jonas Offrell invented a revolver at the same time as (and independently of) Samuel Colt! And to think that Sweden is now neutral.
- Alfred Nobel invented dynamite! And is the man behind #46 above.
- Carl Rikard Nyberg invented the blowtorch.
- Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist invented the kerosene stove.
- Swedes are pyromaniacs according to 70 - 74.
- Ericsson.
- Volvo. (notably maker of one of the safest cars in the world)
- Nils Bohlin who worked at Volvo invented the three-point safety belt which keeps us all alive today!
- Saab.
- Julmust, a Swedish holiday soft drink is also the greatest soft drink known to mankind.
- Anders Celsius is Swedish.
- The lakes completely freeze over in winter time and everyone walks on them for fun.
- Sweden's main film production facility is called Trollywood.
- Swedish grocery stores charge for wasteful, environmentally-destructive bags in an attempt to discourage people from using them...and it works.
- Sweden music exports are third in the world following the US and the UK!
- Sweden has an ice hotel, made completely from ice which melts every summer and gets rebuilt every autumn. Badass.
- Skype is Swedish.
- Swedish weddings are among the most fun in the world. I don't care what anyone else thinks.
- Sweden has their own distance measurement called the mil (actually it's not specifically Swedish, it's Scandinavian)
- Thai food is AWESOME here.
- There's this fermented herring here called surströmming which apparently smells so fucking bad, it can't be eaten inside. Which is awesome.
- Electrolux, maker of home appliances, is Swedish.
- Absolut Vodka is Swedish.
- The Swedish word 'gift' (pronounced yeeft) which means 'married', also means 'poison'.
- Full means drunk. But ful means ugly. And when I'm out drunk and girls talk to me, I usually tell them I'm too ugly to go home with them.
- Lingonberries are a fantastic Swedish berry which go great with meatballs, herring, and other savory Swedish meals.
- Swedes. Love. Potatoes.
- Sweden is a lagom culture.
- Swedes love New York.
- And to think that a country of just 10 million people has accomplished so much and has made such a broad spanning impact is just plain freaking awesome.
I'm such a Sweden fanboy.
Nostalgic for the Mission Burrito
I've been here for 15 months now.
In that time, my spoken and written english has devolved, my skin has become pale, my pants are now very snug and tight-fitting, my apartment is minimally decorated, and I've mellowed out considerably and swear a lot less (although my Swedish colleagues would argue I'm far from mellow and continue to border on crazy New Yorker, especially when the team is involved in a heated round of Battlefield Heroes).
Though all these things may seem like major changes to my lifestyle and behavior, none are quite as dramatic as my diet. I eat far more seafood here, in particular salmon and herring. The salmon is usually poached or baked, and the herring is either pickled or fried. In the winter, like the rest of the Swedes, I hunker down with meat and potatoes. The potatoes are most often boiled, sometimes roasted, and the meat can be in the form of a stew, broiled (like a steak), or baked (like a ham). I eat far less lamb (the northern Europeans I've met don't seem to like it as much) and less chicken.
As much as I appreciate the Swedish diet and enjoy it thoroughly, particularly for its very apparent health benefits (Swedes are beautiful, and it's no coincidence), I have desperate cravings for food that, in all of Europe, is nowhere to be found.
In three weeks, I'll be going stateside for a few major events: Thanksgiving in NY, my friend's wedding (also in NY), and the Tuk Tuk Goose fundraiser in San Francisco.
My trip to San Francisco will be the first one since I left almost a year and a half ago. I'm going back under the most desirable of circumstances. We're throwing a huge party to raise money for some amazing charities in the name of a fantastic adventure that I'll be partaking in with two great friends. I'll be seeing some close friends I haven't seen in a while and I'll have an entire weekend to spend with some of them (though I might argue that's not nearly enough). It'll be the holiday season, the tail-end of a crappy recession, and a good reason to consume mass amounts of alcohol in what will be a big homecoming celebration.
But most of all, I will look forward to the food. San Francisco has, for 30 years, been one of the culinary capitals of the US and furthermore of the world. It was from San Francisco (Berkeley actually), that Alice Waters kicked off an American gastronomic revolution in the 70s and is still today revolutionizing the way we look at not only the consumption of food, but the farming and distribution of it.
My initial thought upon scheduling my return was to see if I could get reservations to Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in Napa, a restaurant that sits among the top in the world. It was a place I never got to go to before I left and I have regretted it ever since. For a number of reasons I decided not to, including the fact that I didn't need to drop that much cash on one meal before heading half way around the world.
But luckily for me, San Francisco does not run short on options.
So rather than head to The French Laundry, I will be opting for the second-best option: the $5 burrito at a divey, cash-only taqueria where no one speaks english in the Mission District. I will likely be drunk when I go, and will likely have the runs when I wake up the next morning (apologies in advance to whomever will be putting me up for the weekend). But it will be the best burrito (and Mexican food) I will have consumed in 15 months and I will likely consume it in 15 minutes. And I can't wait.
The Mission taqueria is a street-food gastronomic experience, rivaling the NY pizzeria or deli, the Chicago hot dog stand, the French creperie, and the Swedish strömmingvagn. You wait in line in a divey taqueria surrounded by Mission hipsters and homeless men trying to sell you bicycles. The menu includes items such as tongue and brain. The six to seven men (and one to two women) are slaving over a hot industrial size grill preparing cow-sized portions of chopped meats trying to churn you through the line as fast as possible and never screwing up an order despite the mass chaos that ensues. The hardworking immigrant pursuing the American dream is an essential ingredient to the Mission taqueria.
The Mission Burrito (Source: Wikipedia...you know something has a badass reputation when it has its own Wikipedia page)
When you get the burrito, it's usually wrapped in foil. When you bite into it, it's a flavor explosion. Meat (carnitas, carne asada, pollo, etc), beans (black or pinto...NOT refried), rice, sour cream, guacamole, onions, and a whole lot of love overwhelms your senses leaving you crippled about halfway down into the monstrosity. And the only way to wash it down is with a tasty Mexican coke, Jarritos, or Dos Equis. The entire meal is 9000 calories of awesome.
And of course SFers, challenge me all you want here, but at the time I left El Farolito was still serving the best burritos I ever had in the Mission.
I can't wait.
Want to see my head spin?
Close all the government-run liquor stores on a religious holiday (All-Saints Eve) upstaged by its pagan equivalent (Halloween), in the most secular country in the world (Sweden).
Growth of the Soil (Knut Hamsun, 1917)
For me, reading is an unhealthy obsession. I've read close to 20 books so far this year and I may finish with close to 30. I'm so addicted, that I even began setting literary goals for myself, thus categorizing me as a huge nerd.
For example, one of my missions is to read every single thing John Steinbeck has ever written (I'm close to ten so far, I think).
One of my other nerdy goals is to read one work by every literature Nobel Prize winner ever. I'm doing pretty well, having read books by about 15 different winners and being disappointed only once. These Swedes really know their great literature.
It can be a great thrill to find a fantastic book by an author who has fallen somewhat into obscurity throughout the world. Ask any Norwegian or Swede who Knut Hamsun is, and without a doubt they'll know. But I can't say I have many friends outside of Scandinavia, if any, who would know who he is. Knut Hamsun (you do pronounce the 'k') won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920.
I was lucky enough to have my Norwegian friend Aleks recommend Hamsun's Growth of the Soil to me. Wanting to achieve my literature goal and at the same time get more into Scandinavian writing, Hamsun appeared to me to be perfect choice.
But the fact is, Norwegian sentiment towards Hamsun is confused. Hamsun was an outspoken Nazi sympathizer. Actually, he was a "vehement advocate" of Nazi Germany, having mailed his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels in 1943 and later having visited Hitler, and furthermore having eulogized him after his death as "a warrior, a warrior for mankind, and a prophet of the gospel of justice for all nations." (Source: Wikipedia)
So whereas Norwegians are very proud of Hamsun's accomplishments as an author, they have a much tougher time coming to terms with his very radical political ideology during one of Europe's darkest periods.
Needless to say, this would never stop me from reading a great book.
Following WWI, the West was going through a period of rapid industrialization and economic development. The middle class was seeing their hard work get swallowed up by a speculative and increasingly credit-laden, power-hungry upper class further empowered by laissez-faire economics. The gap between the rich and poor was widening and the mass was getting restless and desperate. Sounds familiar.
Growth of the Soil was simple in words and profound in scope. It was both foretelling and a scathing commentary on the state of the world at the time. It starts off telling the story of a simple man Isak walking through the Norwegian wilderness near the Swedish border looking for a place to settle and begin a life for himself. He picks a spot and begins to survive off the fruit of his labor. His hard work is dignified (and his only means of survival), his intentions are pure, and his simple modesty is his greatest trait. And thus is his success imminent.
However, as to be expected, the chaos of the self-righteous man intrudes, always seeking the easy way out, and looking to capitalize off the hard work of others. The book follows Isak and his family as they persist in the wild, fending off the educated industrialist, favoring hard work and personal dignity over easily sought out wealth (and more often as Hamsun explains, debt). It never proves easy, and not all of Isak's family is able to stay true to his ways, falling victim to the lure of high society, education, and industrialization. How does it end? Well I'll let you read it.
Hamsun is not all together off base with his belief that man is constantly trying to seek the quickest means to wealth. Rather, he preaches that man's greatest source of persistent wealth and personal sustainability is in his hard work and clarity of purpose.
This book blew me away. It's beautifully written and very direct in its message. His ideals at times seem very early-American/pro-libertarian and his complete loathing for bureaucratic, self-righteous, mooching, fast-tracking capitalists resonates with me. Don't get me wrong, Growth of the Soil is not anti-capitalist, but rather speaks out against those who seek to 'capitalize' purely off the hard work of others.
Really a fantastic read for anyone looking to pick up a good book by a good, though controversial writer.
PS - as a newly inducted Amazon affiliate, I get a cut if you buy it through the above link. 
I'm a capitalist pig, I know.
Follow Me on Twitter
- The cohiba siglo ii is my favorite cigar.
- I'm on a boat!
- One of my favorite parks in Europe. (@ Frognerparken) http://4sq.com/bdj23M
- In Oslo. I might just bathe myself in oil tomorrow.
- And it begins with the beautiful Scandinavians...
Recent Comments
Friends
- Chicken Nut Bread
- Cities Starting with S
- Dolly Grips & Gaffers
- Herra Chinky
- Hungry Amateurs
- Jeff Minard, Web Developer
- Life of Robbins
- Niklas' Blog
- Omid Abroad
- Se till vänster, där går en arab
- Seema's Blahg
- Space Miner
- Stockholmies
- Super Duper Fantastic
