Hey all,
Again the blog seemed to have slipped out of my hands...whoops! Anyhow last time I mentioned that I was going back to Sweden for my brother, Axel's, graduation. In some way the graduation from High School/Gymnasium has become more of a celebration than any other graduation from any other school level in Sweden, how that happend I have no idea, if someone has an idea please enlighten me. So on early sunday two weeks ago Adi drove me to the station and I hopped on the train to Ben Gurion airport to fly with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul to Sweden. This time it was my turn to be extra checked at Ben Gurion, which means they open your check in bag and check your carry on extra carefully. This resulted in that my non-working laptop battery needed to go on an extra check and arrive some days later as its not working at all anymore, which I guess seemed mysterious to the border control. Anyhow I got to Gothenburg mid-day on Sunday the 29th of May and was met by my dad and brother. We went back to the apartment and that day was spent talking and organizing boxes of my old stuff, throwing some away and moving the rest to a different storage room.
On monday I met up with an old classmate of mine, Ida. We spent a day in Gothenburg talking about old memories and the future while eating lunch, ice-cream, getting a hair-cut, searching for envelopes and getting a Graduation present for my brother. Later in the afternoon Ida jumped on the buss back to her University town to back up her apartment for the summer. I went back to my parents place and had a nice evening. Tuesday was spent buying, cooking and organizing for my brothers Graduation which happend on the Wednesday. All of us in the family worked hard and fell asleep fast that evening. On Wednesday my grandmother, my aunt and cousins and other friends of the family arrived to Gothenburg and we went to my brothers school to wait for them to run out of the building to sing the student song and then jump on to the truck that would drive the students all over town so that they could have a great time and tell the world that they graduated which is a fun Swedish tradition. As we were standing there waiting for Axel to come out we had flowers, gifts and big sign with a picture of him when is fiver years old, so that he could find us in the mess of other parents, sibling and relatives. Then Axels class came out of the building screaming, jumping and being allover happy. They sang the student song and then all the students ran to their families. We congratulated Axel and hung flowers around him which is also tradition, he was wearing a nice new suit and his student-hat, which is also tradition. Then all the 120 something students jumped up on the truck and started singing and screaming and the truck drove of to make a tour of Gothenburg. The rest of us drove back home and prepared the party. Later people started arriving and the entire afternoon and evening was filled with nice talks, food and drinks. Axel came home to the party and we had a toast and then later he left for the student-party in the city. Later me and my cousin also headed into town to meet up with some friends to party and do some drinking and talking.
On thursday I meet up with another friend, Erik, We had a day of playing Kubb, BBQing and as well talking about memories and the future. We also go to watch the swedish version of Big Brother which sucked just as much as the israeli one, so conclusion understanding what they say does not make that program any more fun. On friday I went back to me parents apartment and started packing my bag again as I was leavning mid-day saturday for Isreal again. In the bag I packed my clothes, some old stuff that I found and loads of chocolate, candy-cars and kabamoose. In the evening me, my dad and my mum jumped on our bikes and went to the ferry that took us across the river to the other-side of Gothenburg. When then rode our bikes to a nice restaurant were we met up with my sister, my brother had already left for Greece with his friends. After a very nice meal and conversations we rode our bikes back and me my dad watched the last half of the football match between Sweden and Moldova,Sweden won 4-1. On saturday my parents drove me to the airport and I jumped on the flight back to Israel, where Omri picked me up. But more about that later as this post is by now pretty long.
Til you read again,
Carl
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Back to work...
Hi all,
Last time I wrote me and Adi were getting ready to pack our bags and leave for a nice vacation to Portugal. We are now back in Israel and back at work since Sunday. The vacation itself was really awesome. We met up with 6 other people from the seminar camp in 2009 and traveled around a little bit in Portugal. We saw Lisbon, Porto, Averio, Caiscais and some other small places. Overall Portugal has some really nice architecture and cool buildings and churches. In Portugal they also have good food(read all kinds of yummy meat, that is hard to get here in Israel) as well as good drinks like Port-wine and Ginja(some cherry liqueur, that I didnt try but all said it was good). They also have nice pastries and desserts like Ovos Moles and some other that I cant remember the name of right now. Portugal is also a fairly cheap country to eat and shop in compared to Israel and Sweden which was good for us. As we also slept in our Portugese-friends homes we also saved some cash and got to see how the portugese ppl live, which is a little different from what I'm used to. Many families have maids that cooks and cleans for the family while they are away at school or work. Which I guess is good but just a little unusual to me.
We spent almost 10 days together with our friends touring Portugals cities and some of its bars and had a lot of fun. After these 10 days when they all had gone home to their countries me and Adi took the bus to a peninsula-city called Peniche were we had booked a room in a hotel for the last two nights. In Peniche we rented bikes and biked around the peninsula and its beaches, we also fell asleep on the beach and got a little burnt as the weather was mischievous. Cold and nice wind that made you feel nice and not warm but the sun was still burning hard, even thou both of us had sunscreen we got burnt. The last day in Peniche we took the local-buss to a nearby town called Obidos. Obidos is a really old and nice walled city from the the early roman period. It has many different spots to visit and we bought a map of the city and walked all over it. When we were done we took the bus back to Peniche and had a nice final dinner in a fish-restaurant. I ate calamari and fish while Adi had two delicious Octopuses. When then made our way back to the hotel and packed our bags and fell asleep.
Next morning we took the bus back to Lisbon and meet up with our Portuguese friends that took us to the airport. At the airport we ran into some trouble as the lady behind the counter couldn't check us or our bags all the way to Tel Aviv, this was a problem as we only had 1 hour of layover in Barcelona. We argued with her and her manager but got nowhere except that we were informed that we weren't the only ones with the same problem. In Lisbon we ran to the transfer desk an got our boarding passes however the bags were another problem so us and two other passengers who were going to Tel Aviv as well started to argue with the clerk there and he called in his manager who said she would help us and started to talk on the radio to get our bags to the plane headed for Tel Aviv, after some time she said it was done so we boarded the plane that we were told had our bags on it but when we landed in Tel Aviv no bags. So for reference don't fly TAP in combination with Spanair or book trough Mona Tours you will run into trouble. Now our bags are here but still somewhere in this mess someone lied and screwed us over.
On another happier note I'm coming to Sweden soon, I'll land in Gothenburg on the 29th of May and stay for a week to celebrate my brothers graduation and meet family and friends. Also last night me and Adi booked tickets to see Bob Dylan live when he comes to Israel in the end of June. For those of you who know me you know that I'm a big Dylan fan so that made me real happy. Well this became a rather long post....and now I have to get back to work. See all of you soon.
Til you read again,
Peace,
Carl
Last time I wrote me and Adi were getting ready to pack our bags and leave for a nice vacation to Portugal. We are now back in Israel and back at work since Sunday. The vacation itself was really awesome. We met up with 6 other people from the seminar camp in 2009 and traveled around a little bit in Portugal. We saw Lisbon, Porto, Averio, Caiscais and some other small places. Overall Portugal has some really nice architecture and cool buildings and churches. In Portugal they also have good food(read all kinds of yummy meat, that is hard to get here in Israel) as well as good drinks like Port-wine and Ginja(some cherry liqueur, that I didnt try but all said it was good). They also have nice pastries and desserts like Ovos Moles and some other that I cant remember the name of right now. Portugal is also a fairly cheap country to eat and shop in compared to Israel and Sweden which was good for us. As we also slept in our Portugese-friends homes we also saved some cash and got to see how the portugese ppl live, which is a little different from what I'm used to. Many families have maids that cooks and cleans for the family while they are away at school or work. Which I guess is good but just a little unusual to me.
We spent almost 10 days together with our friends touring Portugals cities and some of its bars and had a lot of fun. After these 10 days when they all had gone home to their countries me and Adi took the bus to a peninsula-city called Peniche were we had booked a room in a hotel for the last two nights. In Peniche we rented bikes and biked around the peninsula and its beaches, we also fell asleep on the beach and got a little burnt as the weather was mischievous. Cold and nice wind that made you feel nice and not warm but the sun was still burning hard, even thou both of us had sunscreen we got burnt. The last day in Peniche we took the local-buss to a nearby town called Obidos. Obidos is a really old and nice walled city from the the early roman period. It has many different spots to visit and we bought a map of the city and walked all over it. When we were done we took the bus back to Peniche and had a nice final dinner in a fish-restaurant. I ate calamari and fish while Adi had two delicious Octopuses. When then made our way back to the hotel and packed our bags and fell asleep.
Next morning we took the bus back to Lisbon and meet up with our Portuguese friends that took us to the airport. At the airport we ran into some trouble as the lady behind the counter couldn't check us or our bags all the way to Tel Aviv, this was a problem as we only had 1 hour of layover in Barcelona. We argued with her and her manager but got nowhere except that we were informed that we weren't the only ones with the same problem. In Lisbon we ran to the transfer desk an got our boarding passes however the bags were another problem so us and two other passengers who were going to Tel Aviv as well started to argue with the clerk there and he called in his manager who said she would help us and started to talk on the radio to get our bags to the plane headed for Tel Aviv, after some time she said it was done so we boarded the plane that we were told had our bags on it but when we landed in Tel Aviv no bags. So for reference don't fly TAP in combination with Spanair or book trough Mona Tours you will run into trouble. Now our bags are here but still somewhere in this mess someone lied and screwed us over.
On another happier note I'm coming to Sweden soon, I'll land in Gothenburg on the 29th of May and stay for a week to celebrate my brothers graduation and meet family and friends. Also last night me and Adi booked tickets to see Bob Dylan live when he comes to Israel in the end of June. For those of you who know me you know that I'm a big Dylan fan so that made me real happy. Well this became a rather long post....and now I have to get back to work. See all of you soon.
Til you read again,
Peace,
Carl
Friday, 15 April 2011
packing, packing, packing....
Hey all,
So yesterday I had my last day at work for the coming two weeks as we are now on vacation =) In Israel its Pesach and in most of Europe Easters is coming so me and Adi took some extra days and made a longer vacation. We are going to Portugal to meet up with some friends from the Seminar on sunday so right now we are packing, making laundry and packing some more. In Portugal the sun i shining and its warm and nice, which is a good change from the last weeks weather here.
On another note apparently the Bieber-fever has reached Israel as well. Last night when I took the train home from work the train was attacked by some 500 12-15 year old girls who had just been to his concert in Tel Aviv. This made the train warm, sweaty and late not the best combination and as we stepped of the the train in Haifa it also started smoking and burning. Something that is not to unusual in Israel the past couple of months as there has been a few train fires and collisions. In Sweden the trains dont run cause its to cold here they dont run because they are to old or its to warm outside....how about inventing a train that is weather resistant? or is that to expensive maybe? but somehow I guess in the end it will serve the better cause as they are safer.
Also the swedish Allsvenska has started and Elfsborg has so far one win and one loss. However they have a pretty rough start against all teams that are thought to be in the top when the series end. Last night the Stanley Cup playoffs also started and Montreal are playing Boston, an original six rivalry =) and it couldn't have gotten a better start 2-0 to the Habs at the Boston Garden! Thats all for now,
Til you read again,
Carl
So yesterday I had my last day at work for the coming two weeks as we are now on vacation =) In Israel its Pesach and in most of Europe Easters is coming so me and Adi took some extra days and made a longer vacation. We are going to Portugal to meet up with some friends from the Seminar on sunday so right now we are packing, making laundry and packing some more. In Portugal the sun i shining and its warm and nice, which is a good change from the last weeks weather here.
On another note apparently the Bieber-fever has reached Israel as well. Last night when I took the train home from work the train was attacked by some 500 12-15 year old girls who had just been to his concert in Tel Aviv. This made the train warm, sweaty and late not the best combination and as we stepped of the the train in Haifa it also started smoking and burning. Something that is not to unusual in Israel the past couple of months as there has been a few train fires and collisions. In Sweden the trains dont run cause its to cold here they dont run because they are to old or its to warm outside....how about inventing a train that is weather resistant? or is that to expensive maybe? but somehow I guess in the end it will serve the better cause as they are safer.
Also the swedish Allsvenska has started and Elfsborg has so far one win and one loss. However they have a pretty rough start against all teams that are thought to be in the top when the series end. Last night the Stanley Cup playoffs also started and Montreal are playing Boston, an original six rivalry =) and it couldn't have gotten a better start 2-0 to the Habs at the Boston Garden! Thats all for now,
Til you read again,
Carl
Monday, 4 April 2011
Time goes fast...
Hi again,
So I realized that I hadn't made an update here in the blog for some time. Its not because nothing has happend more because of the fact that time has gone by pretty fast. I work all week long and come back to Haifa late at night so during the day there mostly no time to write and in the weekend we are busy with other things.
At work nothing is really new, same procedures as always just that some ppl leave and some new ppl come in. Two weeks ago we had a Company Purim party in Tel Aviv that was a lot of fun. For those of you who don't know what Purim is, you can read about it here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim. What this meant for the party is that everyone dressed up in different customs not to much unlike Halloween but not only in scary customs but also nice an fun ones. For the party each department of the company had also made a funny video, ex. a day at the office, lip-syncing to different songs etc. We in the Poker support made a lip-sync video to Lady Gagas Poker Face and won the second prize in the competition =) The party overall was fun and it was nice to see ppl from work outside of work and with a drink in their hand.
On another note me and Adi today got our tickets to go to Portugal during Easter and meet up with some friends from the seminar camp here in Israel in 2009. Its going to be a good 10-day of fun a relaxation. I've never been to Portugal so if anyone has any recommendations your more then welcome to tell me.
For you swedes back home you might be glad to know that I'm coming to Sweden in the end of May early June for my brothers graduation and to visit you all so If you wanna meet up let me know.
Now I gotta get back to work,
Til you read again,
Peace
Carl
So I realized that I hadn't made an update here in the blog for some time. Its not because nothing has happend more because of the fact that time has gone by pretty fast. I work all week long and come back to Haifa late at night so during the day there mostly no time to write and in the weekend we are busy with other things.
At work nothing is really new, same procedures as always just that some ppl leave and some new ppl come in. Two weeks ago we had a Company Purim party in Tel Aviv that was a lot of fun. For those of you who don't know what Purim is, you can read about it here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim. What this meant for the party is that everyone dressed up in different customs not to much unlike Halloween but not only in scary customs but also nice an fun ones. For the party each department of the company had also made a funny video, ex. a day at the office, lip-syncing to different songs etc. We in the Poker support made a lip-sync video to Lady Gagas Poker Face and won the second prize in the competition =) The party overall was fun and it was nice to see ppl from work outside of work and with a drink in their hand.
On another note me and Adi today got our tickets to go to Portugal during Easter and meet up with some friends from the seminar camp here in Israel in 2009. Its going to be a good 10-day of fun a relaxation. I've never been to Portugal so if anyone has any recommendations your more then welcome to tell me.
For you swedes back home you might be glad to know that I'm coming to Sweden in the end of May early June for my brothers graduation and to visit you all so If you wanna meet up let me know.
Now I gotta get back to work,
Til you read again,
Peace
Carl
Saturday, 5 March 2011
1 year anniversary and more...
Hey all,
Its been two weeks sense I last wrote and some things have happend. First of all me and Adi had our 1 year anniversary last friday, we went up north to Metula which close to the border with Lebanon. In Metula there is a special place called the Canada Center which is a building full of fun =) dontaed by the jewish communities in Canada. Inside there is a spa, an ice-hockey rink, bowling lane, swimming pool and much more. We went skating which was alot of fun =) It takes me back to the winters on the lake were I grew up playing hockey and skating all day when the ice wasnt to thin. We also bowled some which I wasn't to good at this time...We also visited the SPA got a nice long massage, some time in the sauna and in the Jacuzzi! After a day of fun we went to the Zimmer which I had booked in Kefar Juval. A Zimmer is basically a sort of a luxurious cabin including nice breakfast.
Its been two weeks sense I last wrote and some things have happend. First of all me and Adi had our 1 year anniversary last friday, we went up north to Metula which close to the border with Lebanon. In Metula there is a special place called the Canada Center which is a building full of fun =) dontaed by the jewish communities in Canada. Inside there is a spa, an ice-hockey rink, bowling lane, swimming pool and much more. We went skating which was alot of fun =) It takes me back to the winters on the lake were I grew up playing hockey and skating all day when the ice wasnt to thin. We also bowled some which I wasn't to good at this time...We also visited the SPA got a nice long massage, some time in the sauna and in the Jacuzzi! After a day of fun we went to the Zimmer which I had booked in Kefar Juval. A Zimmer is basically a sort of a luxurious cabin including nice breakfast.
Random people skating at the rink
Our cabin
Our breakfast
On saturday midday we left the nice cabin to go back to Haifa, we stopped in Rosh Pina to try the best sushi in the north at a restaurant called something like Javier. They had good sushi and it also gave us some ideas for our own sushi making. The working week passed on as usual except for the thing that my new cellphone arrived from the UK via Ebay, so now I'm the proud owner of an ZTE Blade/San Francisco running on Googles Android system. I'm still learning all the things about it and I guess it will take some time but right now I'm very satisfied. At work we also recorded a video for a Purim competition so our Support-team plus another team decided to do a lip-sync video to Lady Gagas Pokerface. A cameraman and crew sowed up and we preformed all over the building and hopefully it will win us a nice price =)
This weekend me and Adi made some sushi as usual as well as playing some xbox. Maybe later we will go to the movies and see one of the Oscar-winning movies or just have a nice calm evening here watching the Big Brother or something else.
Til you read again,
Carl
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Eurosport...
Hey All,
Something that I miss about living in a country without vinter or snow is the show "Vintersudion", a swedish tv-show that shows all the vinter-sports from skiing downhil to biathlon to snowboarding. It usually aires in the morning til noon on saturday and sundays and are the perfect thing to watch when its cold, dark and windy outside. However here in Israel we have Eurosport that sometimes show what I like, but there is no studio or any interviews or such things which is boring. Right now I'm actually watching the Mens Downhil WorldCup race, to bad the swedish guy failed to complete the track.
On another note Mubarak has now left office in Egypt and in Israel the talk is on about what will come next. Because when Mubarak was in office they knew what Egypt was and how it operated, they also had a peace treaty with Mubarak. Many here are afraid that with him out of office the peace-treaty will follow and then Israel has lost another "friend" in the area and the risk of war or confrontation would increase. So who comes into office next is closely followed by the media. What I think is that if the new Egypt government wants to keep good relations with the US they peace-treaty will stay in place, but If the realtons to the US is not so important the peace treaty might go out the window or become reformed. Only the future will tell, however when a dictator leaves office its always a good day! Now lets see how the egyptians handle their new found "freedom".
This weekend we havent done to much, yesterday we stayed in and made sushi and watched some tv-shows. I also fixed my xbox so it works again =) So no frustration anymore. Work is all the same nothing new. Later today we have a CISV-activity and then afterwards probably dinner and a movie.
Til you read again,
Carl
Something that I miss about living in a country without vinter or snow is the show "Vintersudion", a swedish tv-show that shows all the vinter-sports from skiing downhil to biathlon to snowboarding. It usually aires in the morning til noon on saturday and sundays and are the perfect thing to watch when its cold, dark and windy outside. However here in Israel we have Eurosport that sometimes show what I like, but there is no studio or any interviews or such things which is boring. Right now I'm actually watching the Mens Downhil WorldCup race, to bad the swedish guy failed to complete the track.
On another note Mubarak has now left office in Egypt and in Israel the talk is on about what will come next. Because when Mubarak was in office they knew what Egypt was and how it operated, they also had a peace treaty with Mubarak. Many here are afraid that with him out of office the peace-treaty will follow and then Israel has lost another "friend" in the area and the risk of war or confrontation would increase. So who comes into office next is closely followed by the media. What I think is that if the new Egypt government wants to keep good relations with the US they peace-treaty will stay in place, but If the realtons to the US is not so important the peace treaty might go out the window or become reformed. Only the future will tell, however when a dictator leaves office its always a good day! Now lets see how the egyptians handle their new found "freedom".
This weekend we havent done to much, yesterday we stayed in and made sushi and watched some tv-shows. I also fixed my xbox so it works again =) So no frustration anymore. Work is all the same nothing new. Later today we have a CISV-activity and then afterwards probably dinner and a movie.
Til you read again,
Carl
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Swedish things on fire...
Hey all,
So first of the IKEA in Netanya burned down to the ground early this morning. Fortunately no one seems to have been in the building at the time so no huma injuries, however everything that was in the store is now ash. They are however going to rebuild as quickly as possible so that the Israelis van get cheap swedish furniture again.
Today we have been with Danits family at a fish restaurant in Bat Galim close to Haifa. This restaurant catches all their fish on their own with their boat. Then they fry the fish in its all with head, fins etc. unless you ask for a file. So today I ate a Dennis fish that looked like it just jumped out of the sea, it was delicious. Yesterday we didnt do to much as the weather outside looked like a swedish fall-storm not to fun to be outside in.
Work is all good and all the same, getting paid this week thou, wehoo! At work Im also learning some small words of hebrew, italian, french, russian and freshing up my german. The train ride to Tel Aviv are alright as I watch shows on my psp or nap if im tiered.
This weekend I've also tried to fix my XBOX, but so far unsuccessful and frustrating. On another note Elfsborg have been playing in the Atlantic Cup in Portugal in the past week as preseason training, beating Helsingborg, Brönby and drawing with Odense earning them the first spot in the tournament and the right to title them selves Atlantic Champions. Also Montreal have been doing pretty well post the Allstar game with a few wins.
Otherwise the most talk the past week has been about Egypt and whatever is going to happen in the future. Israelis in general are afraid that their peace-treaty with Egypt will go out the window with the new constellation in Egypt and leave them basically friend less in the Middle East. There are alot of interesting articles to read more about it on haaretz.com for anyone who's interested. Til you read again.
Have fun,
Carl
So first of the IKEA in Netanya burned down to the ground early this morning. Fortunately no one seems to have been in the building at the time so no huma injuries, however everything that was in the store is now ash. They are however going to rebuild as quickly as possible so that the Israelis van get cheap swedish furniture again.
Today we have been with Danits family at a fish restaurant in Bat Galim close to Haifa. This restaurant catches all their fish on their own with their boat. Then they fry the fish in its all with head, fins etc. unless you ask for a file. So today I ate a Dennis fish that looked like it just jumped out of the sea, it was delicious. Yesterday we didnt do to much as the weather outside looked like a swedish fall-storm not to fun to be outside in.
Work is all good and all the same, getting paid this week thou, wehoo! At work Im also learning some small words of hebrew, italian, french, russian and freshing up my german. The train ride to Tel Aviv are alright as I watch shows on my psp or nap if im tiered.
This weekend I've also tried to fix my XBOX, but so far unsuccessful and frustrating. On another note Elfsborg have been playing in the Atlantic Cup in Portugal in the past week as preseason training, beating Helsingborg, Brönby and drawing with Odense earning them the first spot in the tournament and the right to title them selves Atlantic Champions. Also Montreal have been doing pretty well post the Allstar game with a few wins.
Otherwise the most talk the past week has been about Egypt and whatever is going to happen in the future. Israelis in general are afraid that their peace-treaty with Egypt will go out the window with the new constellation in Egypt and leave them basically friend less in the Middle East. There are alot of interesting articles to read more about it on haaretz.com for anyone who's interested. Til you read again.
Have fun,
Carl
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