the heat is on...

Well, at least for a couple of days! The Swedes are enjoying the heat of the sun this past few days until today. As for us, we've been working with the bedroom since Friday and only the closet doors are left to be installed and it will probably take two weekends still to complete it. If you are wondering about how it looks like then here is a link of the sample of the closet that we bought. It takes time to install because they are heavy and Ken only works with it after work and mostly weekends when he is not tired.

The Swedish Robinson 2009 had its final telecast last night and the winner was Ellenor Pierre which I think didn't deserve to win. It should be Jarmo but Ellenor got more votes from the group. This game is not about surviving in an island and winning all the competitions after all because in the end, the competitors are the ones to decide who the winner is. It's a crazy game. :-)

After church today, we'll be heading off to our summer place in Muskö and spend the whole afternoon there.

And thanks Sheila for a wonderful dinner last night!

Signing off....

Net

In Pictures

Skillingaryd, May 16-17, 2009

Net

updates

It's been a while since I had my last post so I am updating :-).

We just bought a new laptop computer since the one that we had for 6 years already gave up. The one that we have now is HP HDX 16 which is fast and has a built in web camera.

The bedroom renovation is not quite finished yet so it's still a little bit mess but I'll be posting some pictures as soon as everything is finally in order.

I just spoke with my cousin on the phone and it looks like we'll be doing another trip to Italy this July. No final plans yet but we'll see since I will have a 2-week vacation in July. The first week is already booked for some sightseeings and concert in Dalarna where Ken nad family has a summer house, while the second week is for an out-of-the country trip. Nothing is really well planned yet except for the concert that we will watch in Dalhalla.
Sissel Kyrkebo, a Norwegian soprano which is Ken's favorite is doing a concert there and speaking of Norwegians, it was also Norway who won the 2009 Eurovision Contest held in Moscow. Alexander Rybak won with his winning song Fairytale.
Everyone loves this song including me, and Norway deserved to win the contest. The song itself is lovable plus the singer, of course. Here's a clip!




Net

everything is fine!

We're back to Stockholm from a weekend trip to Skillingaryd! Back to our normal daily routine which is work. It was nice to get away for a while. No we didn't milk a cow because they haven't bought one yet :-) but instead, we did some outdoor activities along with the other invited guests. One activity was called "Gotlandslek" (a game from Gotland) called "Stang störtning" , the aim is to throw away a piece of a tree branch as far as you can, the one who throws the farthest wins. "Tipspromenad" was another. It is one of the most common popular team activities in Sweden. Good for exercise physically and mentally since in this activity you have to answer 15 (or more) questions. One must take a walk in the forest since the questions can be found in there. It's up to you to find them. The questions usually varies from general trivia to geography, music, and just about anything. This time it's about the year 1959 since the couple (who are Ken's long time friends) celebrates their 50th year. Honestly, from all the 15 questions, I only had one right since I was born 1967. :-( Anyway, after the day's activity we all gathered for a dinner and some music.

The next day after breakfast we went for a walk in the forest of the Storre Mosse National Park with toher friends who also spent a night at the same hostel where we checked in. There was a bird sanctuary and just beautiful Swedish nature.

For lunch, we ate in one those restaurants that you can find in gas stations. We did drove around in Jönköping and Huskvarna where we lived before and met with Fredrik for an ice cream at A6 Center.

It was a nice weekend but a bit tiring!

a weekend get away!

Well, not really but sort of! We'll be off to Skillingaryd tomorrow to attend a 50th birthday celebration (Ken's old buddies) and since it's a four hour drive from Stockholm we decided that we will stay overnight at a hostel called Svänö located at The Store Mosse National Park. However, the hostel has no electricity. Yes, you got it right...NO electricity. It said in the invitation that we have to bring some matches, candles or flashlight and some ready to eat food for our breakfast on Sunday plus some linens for the beds. However, there's a secret activity that we will do tomorrow that will start at 2:00 pm and for this activity we were asked to bring comfortable clothes and shoes and boots, if possible. Sounds exciting...well, I'm guessing that we will be milking a cow since they said that they own one... and that they are living in a farm. :-) Well, I miss Sweden's beautiful countryside so, it will be nice to go out-of town and I hope we will have a great time.

It was also stressful at work today since we are presently doing some changes in the work routines and today was the first day to try it. It went fine but I felt that it's too much work for us. It's a trial and error thing and I hope that we will get over the old routine and adapt the new one.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

jag tappar min engelska!

Yes, it's true!!! Jag tappar min Engelska! I am slowly loosing my English language skills. Whenever I read some of my earlier posts, I keep seeing wrong grammars. I even noticed that I can't converse in straight English anymore. We have a new guy at work who only speaks English and the very first time I had a conversation with him, I was grasping for words. I can't believe that it's really happening. One of the purpose why I write my post in English is because it's my second language and I don't want to loose or to completely forget about it...Swedish language is supposed to be my third language but, nowadays, it's the opposite and that's, of course, for obvious reasons. Well, there's really nothing strange about this "phenomena"...it's just that I never realized that it is happening slowly but surely!

the cutest blog on the block!

Yapp!!! I'm experimenting. I found this free blog backgrounds site and it is is worth a visit. Try one yourself!!! Click here!

Community of Sweden

I recently joined the official online Community of Sweden. It is a global community where English is the official language. It is also a place where you can meet new friends, share photos, read stories, join forums, watch videos and get tips on almost everything about Sweden. For me, this is the best and the quickest way of discovering more about the country I refer to as my home away from home. I have all the members there to thank to for their nice stories, photos and tips which inspires me to continue to explore this country. For those of you who are thinking to visit or move to Sweden, check out the Community of Sweden. Here is also the link for Sweden's Official Channel on You Tube and here is the link for My Page.

Backstory

I am a member of the Swedish-Filipino Organization in Jönköping but because of the distance and my schedule at work, I cannot always attend their activities. Anyway, one othe their recent activities was to meet the Mangyan Students who arrived in Sweden last week. This was organized by the Pingstkyrkan in Tenhult (Pentecostal Church) and Åsa and Janne Fredriksson, a Swedish couple who are very active in doing missionary works in the Philippines, particularly, The Mangyan Tribes in Mindoro. Their schedule to visit Stockholm and the Philippine Embassy was last Saturday. It was a coincidence because I met the group just outside the gate from where I work. It turned out that they are on the way back to Jönköping but according to Åsa, they got lost. I thought they might be looking for the subway that's why they ended up near the building where I work. Anyway, even if I didn't meet them in Jönköping, I was able to meet them here in Stockholm just outside my place of work and said hi to some of the students. It was a brief meeting and it was a coincidence! :-)

There is so much going on. We are still not finished with the renovation of the bedroom. We've got new wallpapers now and the new closets are already in place but there are still so much to do. Well. it's Ken who has the call for everything in the bedroom.

Our PC won't start this morning so it is definitely broken. It think it is the motherboard again who's not working. So no photos for the meantime since I have all of them in the broken PC. Well, well.

A friend is coming over for a dinner tonight. She was my classmate at my Swedish Language class for 8 years ago and she is from Peru. She is in Stockholm visiting so I invited her for a dinner.

My schedule for this week is just work, work and work (Tuesday to Friday) but we are going away this weekend. We will drive out-of-town to Skillingaryd to attend a 50th birthday celebration.

Have a nice week everyone!

Why the fuss on Martin?

A related article on Martin Nieveras rendition of the Philippine National Anthem by Joaquin M. Henson.

It’s lamentable that some narrow-minded purists, who are more popish than the Pope, are up in arms over singer Martin Nievera’s rendition of the “Pambansang Awit” (National Anthem) before the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas last weekend.

These purists are thinking of hauling Nievera to Congress for an investigation and threatening to fine and even jail the concert king for his interpretation of the National Anthem. The claim is Nievera, by singing the anthem in a “different” style, violated Section 37, Chapter II of R. A. 8491, which stipulates that “the rendition of the National Anthem, whether played or sung, shall be in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe.”

If found guilty of the violation, Nievera could be fined from P5,000 to P20,000 and/or imprisoned for not more than a year, upon the court’s discretion. Officials of the National Historical Institute are pushing to stuff a stocking in Nievera’s mouth as if he committed some earth-shaking crime.

Before throwing stones at Nievera, here are some questions to answer. Did Nievera desecrate the sanctity of the anthem? Did he make fun of it? Did he change the lyrics? Did he radically alter the “sound” of the anthem so that it became unrecognizable from the original? Did he irreverently sing the “Pambansang Awit” like some trashy tune?

If the purists have nothing better to do than to ring the alarm bells just so the public will know they exist, they should just shut up – instead of Nievera who did the country proud by singing a stirring rendition that drew a smile from Pacquiao himself in the dressing room, loud applause from the Filipino crowd in the stadium and a thumbs-up from ringside spectators Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg.

You wonder if the US has a similar law “protecting” the Star Spangled Banner. I suspect there is but I haven’t heard a single US lawmaker challenging the rockers, jazz artists and rappers who’ve sung the American anthem in their own unique style during sporting events. I remember before one Pacquiao fight recently, an American singer was so irreverent that she held on to the top rope in the ring and stood like she was crooning in a bar lounge while mumbling the Star Spangled Banner. I don’t recall anyone screaming foul because there is such a thing as freedom of expression.

The late Jimi Hendrix even cut an album track where he played a noisy rock version of the Star Spangled Banner.

But of course, the Philippines isn’t the US.

Nievera spent over a month rehearsing how to sing the anthem. He even sang it during a recent Robinson’s Manila mall launch of his latest album, “For Always.” His rendition was on YouTube over a week before the fight – and there was no reaction from the National Historical Institute.

Nievera even emailed versions of his rendition to several people so he could get comments on how to improve his delivery. His whole idea was to sing it proudly within the atmosphere of a boxing event where national pride was on the line. Can anyone fault him for that?

The day after the fight, Nievera got a text from Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee thanking him for his appearance and congratulating him for his delivery. Last Monday, Nievera flew from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to be with Pacquiao in his victory party where they both sang “Kahit Isang Saglit” a capella in front of the GMA-7 cameras.

By far, Nievera’s delivery was the best yet for a Pacquiao fight. No one comes close.

Nievera said a few weeks before the fight, he heard a rumor that Lea Salonga had volunteered to sing the anthem and she would do the honors instead.

“Manny asked me to sing the anthem two months before but I told him if he wanted to ask somebody else to do it, I would back off and even assist whomever would sing in any way I could,” said Nievera. “But Manny phoned and told me I was his choice and that was that. I was even willing to do a duet if somebody else wanted to sing. I didn’t want to be a problem for anyone.”

Nievera said in the ring, all he wanted to do was to show his pride as a Filipino. His earpiece and belt showed the Philippine flag. He wore a Francis Magalona-designed “Three Stars and a Sun” shirt. Even his idol, Welsh star Tom Jones who sang “God Save The Queen,” shook Nievera’s hand as if to say good job. Before Jones’ turn came, he blew on a key pipe to make sure he was in tune – he was that nervous.

Instead of castigating Nievera, he should be commended for rallying all Filipinos behind the flag in an inspiring display of unity. The “Pambansang Awit” isn’t a funeral song. It’s a marching anthem that’s supposed to instil pride in every Filipino’s heart. I think Nievera achieved that purpose.

To put the controversy in perspective, Nievera sent this text yesterday:

“I can’t apologize for giving my all for my country. I can say the word ‘sorry’ but it would not mean the same thing. It would mean a hundred different things but it would not mean what ‘sorry’ means. But I can say it if it means to make things better.

“Even if the money value is not ridiculously steep to stay out of jail, I feel I owe the generations of artists that follow me their right to sing a song their song the way they feel it should be sung in order to move and inspire even if it means a little jail time. I mean if someone they call concert king can compromise then what will the future hold for tomorrow’s concert kings and queens?

Source: The Philippine Star

Manny Pacquiao wins again!

On May 2, 2009, Manny Pacquiao, simply known as Pacman, and presently the most famous Filipino boxer fought, the British guy Ricky Hatton at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and he took the victory. However, Martin Nievera who sang the Philippine National Anthem before the fight was heavily criticized by some Filipinos for his rendition of the song. Some claims that his version of the National Anthem was against the law. What??? I don't think so, Martin did a good job in singing it and I didn't think there's really something wrong with it.


Even Ken agrees with me! Be the judge!

Rättvik, Dalarna

We were at Rättvik this weekend where Ken and his family has a summer house. It is an old house that needs thorough maintenance. Thanks that the only thing that we have to do this weekend were to repair the water tank and vacuum the house. No major repairs are necessary this summer so that's a sigh of relief for everyone.

We also went to the gigantic "Rättvik Spring Bazaar" (Rättviks Marknad). The bazaar is being held twice a year (spring and fall) and usually lasts for three days. Most of the people who visit this bazaar came from far away places since many of them has their house trailers with them. You can buy everything in this bazaar. Fabrics, handicrafts products, clothes, cleaning materials, food like langos, burgers, bread, and many others. Yes we did buy something and it is a cleaning agent that we got from my in-laws for several years ago. It's called Abnet.

I took some photos from the bazaar but I thought I will just share you the old ones that I had below:

Well, this afternoon I'm meeting one of my friends. After tonight, I am back to work from tomorrow until Thursday.

Have a nice Monday!