Dreaming of Freedom

Week two of SFI passed uneventfully. It continues to be excellent although we can’t help but sit there letting about 70% of it wash over us as incompressible. It seems that usually someone or other understands what the teacher is saying and that manages to carry the class forward. It’s very interesting trying to learn a new language. I think I’m still in awe of myself trying and can’t quite believe I ever will. But nothing ventured, nothing gained…
Although it feels like a mountain to climb, it is an excellent excuse for reading kids books and last night I branched out into film and tried to watch Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking). Perhaps not surprisingly I could really only make out a couple of words!

It’s now turned icy cold here which is a relief after all that horrid rain. Braving the cold on Thursday night I took the ferry across to Lindholmen and met up with K and friends to watch Manufacturing Consent - a film all about Chomsky and seeing as it’s his 80th birthday coming up, we ate cake to celebrate. Although he is one of the leading intellectuals of the day and certainly has some of the best politics, I don’t think there is much in the way of films about him. I think this one is a good attempt to introduce people to ‘Chomsky the political activist’. Chomsky himself if somewhat ambivalent about the film, in part because he feels the medium of film is prone to heroizing. He says he regularly receives letters asking how people can ‘join his movement’, which is of course frustrating when he is just one person in a whole diverse sea of people working towards a better world. I think the fact that he is a professor at MIT, articulate, white and male gives him a certain credibility to begin with but also he is extremely hardworking and in the public eye and that in itself is going to lead to a certain amount of admiration. So while he isn’t the figurehead of any movement he is certainly able to analysis, collate and present evidence that is used to support anarchist interpretations of theories of power, propaganda and control - which is something that makes anyone read his work feel less isolated in their own interpretation of the world and more empowered to try and change it for the better.

On Friday after work I met up with Karin at Botaniska and walked around the wooded laked area behind it. It was cold but beautiful and the pearly white deposits of frozen water sparkled on the trees and the heather and the frozen ice shapes on the lakes and puddles made the world seem calmer and stiller. There was hardly anyone there and we spent a couple of hours wandering around and stiffening up in the cold before coming back to the flat for a well earned fika.

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What a week - the rain seems to have been nonstop and I’ve spent very damp mornings in my SFI classes. I’ve also spent an unhappy amount of time on trams and buses after getting a puncture mid week. Despite classes starting at 8am I have spent a very happy week at SFI learning Swedish - but it’s early days still and I’m still trotting out the sentence: ‘jag förstår inte svenska’ (I don’t understand Swedish) whenever I have to talk somewhere that isn’t class.

I’ve been spending the rest of the time meeting up with Karin and Cheri and of course going to the bookclub where we discussed The Sea by John Banville at length (well in between the cups of tea and life stories!). There really is nothing like sitting in a warm room with a cup of tea and a whole bunch of woman.

On Wednesday night I went to see When We Dead Awaken by Ibsen at the Pustervik Theatre in Järntorget which I thought was very well done. I hadn’t seen that Ibsen play before so it was great to stuff it into my mind along with his others and where better to see it than in a Nordic country in the depths of a rainy November.

Today I introduced Jin Sook from my SFI class to the delights of the Stadsbibliotek (City Library) and she treated me to lunch in the lovely little restaurant opposite where for about 79ske (£6.60) you get a very hearty lunch. I finished off today by going to the Arbetsförmedling (unemployment office) to see if they could help me to find a job. I’m not sure they can but still it was probably worth a try. They suggested that I come back when I have learnt Swedish and in the meantime contact my embassy to ask what companies there were here that employ English speakers!

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It’s a damp autumnal day in Gothenburg. The leaves have turned yellow and red and the bush outside my window is thinning to an alarming degree. The sky is heavy with clouds and there is a invigorating freshness in the air. I got back here yesterday after whizzing all over the Eastern region of England. I spent a day in Market Harborough quite happily wandering around all the little shops tucked down alleys and round corners. The library there lets you use the internet all day it would seem so I spent a few happy hours there too.
Back in Norwich for the weekend I managed to catch up with old friends and meet little Liberty for the first time. She is without a doubt the cutest baby in the world and I spent a good deal of time on Saturday night ahhing over her tiny fingers and chubby cheeks. To finish off the all too brief time in England I went back to Cambridge and spent lots of time in Kettles Yard - a little yet wonderful modern art gallery attached to a most interesting house that has been donated to the University. You are perfectly welcome to go in and sit down among the art and treasure objects of its past owner and read a book or sketch a drawing. There is a wonderful homely atmosphere there. I also wandered in and out of the Fitzwilliam which has so much to see that you just want to return. The center of Cambridge is lovely to wander around and the market is great. It’s quite amazing being so close to the fantastically old buildings, it gives you the most amazing sense of continuity and security.
I stood watching the grasshoppper clock opposite Kings College - a definite favourite among the tourists and had the sense of being enveloped and awed by human desire to explain symbolically. You get this feeling there often.
There are scores of museums and places I haven’t been to and so I think a return to Cambridge is inevitable.

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I arrived in England last night and it was drizzling. I’d forgotten all about English drizzle. But luckily by the time I got to Cambridge the weather was ok and today you wouldn’t believe how glorious it’s been. I have spent the whole day wandering around Cambridge city centre and it’s such a lovely place. I popped into the fudge shop opposite Kings
College to try the toffee fudge, wandered around the market and then went into all the really Englishy shops that I might have been missing! I then met up with Tim and had a tour of some of the Colleges here. It’s great walking round with a student. They just flash their card and you get instant admittance. So I got to see inside Kings College Chapel - which is so old and holy that it almost makes you believe again as well as a whole host of colleges with forbidding porters at their gates. I think my favourite was Queens College which has the loveliest little courtyard.
Of course I had to go to the FitzWilliam, which is a gem of a musuem. We spent some time looking at Picasso’s stuff and a weird collection of Dutch paintings.
Cambridge is absolutely packed with students, they spill off the pavements looking frightfully clever. The first years only arrived yesterday so they still look a little nervous. The veterans of a year or more loudly discuss tests, questions and other such academic things. The vibe is totally different to my own university town where it was rare to hear students discussing work of any kind.
What I love most is the old buildings. The place is literally steeped in history and tradition. Everywhere you look there is something old and venerable… here is the (descendant of the) apple tree Newton sat under and there a 16th century rood screen.

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So autumn is creeping in with it’s chills and fallen leaves and it’s raining an awful lot here. Yesterday we crept out with raincoats and cycled up to Härlanda Tjärn which is a lake west of Göteborg. It was lovely cycling through the woods to get to the lake and I think I’ll have to head back there soon. There are lots of paths there to walk around the lake and woods so it’s very walker and cyclist friendly.

Apart from that I’ve been working on the Swedish which seems to be at the same level it was two weeks ago! I’ve also been out scrumping apples as you do at this time of year.

Sadly I’m not in England to enjoy the Heritage Open Days so I want lots of emails about all the free thing people have been to instead.

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I seem to have been really busy with a little routine of attempting to learn Swedish and find a job. I’ve spent the last few days sorting out paperwork that will hopefully allow me to work in schools out here. Keyvan has a friend visiting from England and they’ve been living life up with the Göteborg Pass. They’ve been out to visit the old fortress, taken a Padden boat tour, scaled the Lipstick and looked around the Universeum which they say has a mini rainforest inside. The Göteborg Pass seems to have been a hit with them so I’ll have to try it sometime.
Meanwhile I’ve started work on a new website for my Dad so watch this space!

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The cultural festival was quite good. The city was heaving with people night and day. On Friday night we went to see Circo da Madrugada - Fallen From the Sky. It was a magnificent acrobatic, tightrope walking, juggling and fire breathing display. The story they structured all this around was based on a Brazilian legend - that every 500 years the angels are allowed to come down to earth and enjoy themselves for a night. The performers were fantastic. They swooped in on wires from the tops of the government buildings that surround Gustav Adolf’s Torg and entertained us for a good hour with their amazing feats. Fearless, they bounded up and down the huge dome shaped steel structure, swirled on ropes, swung on swings and made us all fall in love with the sheer beauty of their movements.
On Saturday we explored the numerous stalls and street performances that were dotted around the city including the medieval fair at the Cathedral.
And on Sunday we wandered into Liseberg seeing as there was free entrance to the theme park after 5pm. We’d so far failed to go in as it costs 70 sek to get through the gate and that doesn’t include any rides. We had a good look round the place and it was ok but I’m not really into theme parks. I was hoping I would manage to get one of the huge bars of chocolate that I see everyone walking around with but sadly you had to play a game to win them so my dreams went unrealized!

I’m continuing my punishing regime of a Swedish lesson a day and can now say a few sentences and recognise a few words and have even managed to say a couple of sentences to real Swedish speakers and had the pleasure of them understanding me.

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We’ve had several days of boiling hot sun drenched days. Unlike the avid sun tanners I am hiding inside and wisely refusing to go out until early evening just in case I droop, burn or perspire to death in the heat.

Mum is spending some time here with us in Sweden and she is cheerfully brazing the heat and whizzing about on one of the bikes. In braver moments I have accompanied her on exploratory journeys around the city and we’ve been to the city museum and taken advantage of their free city tour and the museum tour. Both highly recommended. We’ve also been to look at the reconstruction of a viking ship at Klippan. It looked surprisingly like other boats.

Last night we cycled down to the coast in time to watch the sunset on the water. It really is the most beautiful coastline and tonight we’re going to go back and will perhaps just perhaps go swimming. We’re a little scared of all the jellyfish.

In keeping with our low impact environmental lifestyle we have introduced Mum to Swedish recycling and she really getting into the swing of it. She particularly loves the recycling facilities at supermarkets where you get cash back for empty cans and bottles.

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I’ve just come back from another cycle ride to Gunnebo House. This time I took K with me and he had to confess he loved it as much as I did. As the house is situated in a cultural reserve we explored beyond the house and gardens. The area is surrounded by two lakes and deciduous woodlands. There is a bathing area, a bog overgrown with birch trees, pastures, woods and perhaps most excitingly… potholes. As we managed to miss the last and exciting element we’re going to have to go back. However I’m not counting this as a hardship!

K has been telling me all about Paris and the bike scheme there Vélib. It sounds great. It’s cheap, it’s everywhere and it’s used. Perhaps the only drawback is the lack of bike lanes in the city and the lack of bike parking for people who own their own bikes. However it sounds strides ahead of any British city so I’ll give the Parisians a big thumbs up for their efforts with sustainable travel.

Sadly however Vélib is owned by big business ( JCDecaux) and not the people. In short the deal was one city wide bike scheme in exchange for exclusive management of the city’s billboards. If you think it sounds a bit dodgy- this isn’t the first and it won’t be the last. The whole thing raises questions about ownership and management of sustainable transport, the role of advertising and the possibility that through pursuit of profit big business may actually (as a byproduct) produce philanthropic results. It also raised questions about why city officials can’t instigate and run such a scheme and why they need big business to do it for them. Above all it’s important that we know who is running things in our cities and why.

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I am having a well earned rest today after Keyvan and I trekked for miles in the Swedish countryside yesterday. It all started when we caught the first train to Strömstad and went in search of the iron age burial mounds, stone circle and stone ship settings. After we arrived and visited the tourist information office to collect a free map we finally found and followed a tiny, unused path from the north of town to the iron age burial mounds. It was lovely and also kind of strange. We don’t really have such large forests in England and we were surprised to find ourselves in what seemed to be a large, isolated forest with large deers and possibly other unseen animals. The trail was definitely only for walkers as some scrambling over rocks was required and a bike wouldn’t have been at all useful. You follow the bright splashes of orange paint on trees and rocks for about 6 km and it’s a lovely walk until the end when you have to cross the motorway to get to the mounds.

Although they have been excavated you can’t go inside - you can only look at them - and as the site is right next to the E6 motorway it’s not the quietest area in the world. However if you were arriving by car and could read maps properly you’d probably have a lovely walk in the wooded area and enjoy the experience. Unfortunately on our way from the mounds to see the stones at Blomsholm we foolishly got lost and wandered for what seemed like miles until we found a road. For the first time in years I actually hitched a lift, so we could finally get to Blomsholm as we had no idea where it was. On arriving we saw a few wooden houses and not realizing the stones were so close we hitched a lift back to Strömstad in time to catch the last train back to Gothenburg. It’s a bit of pain to get up to Strömstad for the day because the train takes about 2.5 hours and the first doesn’t leave until 8am and the last one back is at 18.02 so it doesn’t leave much time there especially if you want to walk to the stones, it is however possible and we even had about an hour in Strömstad to have a little look around! On the hitching side - I’ve never had it so easy - I stuck my thumb out and about 2 cars later we had a lift! The second lift was from a Norwegian couple who had popped over the border to stock up on cheaper Swedish goods.

Although Strömstad isn’t large, it is quite touristy as quite a lot of Norwegian tourists come over. While the fishing harbour was quite sweet, I didn’t take to the rest of the town. Although there were some nice elements: you could buy fresh fish from a little shop near one of the harbours and although we didn’t partake there was a swimming pool area in the sea that you could take a dip in for 20 ske. There is a little museum there but as there was an entrance fee we didn’t go in. There are also frequent ferries to the islands of Koster which are supposed to be very nice.

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