Hallo Berlin

2011-07-09 – 17:22

Just a stones throw away from the Nordicland is a place called Berlin, in the country of Germany—a part of Real Europe*–and totally new location for me to explore.

Fresh in off the hot streets, this apartment we are staying in for the next 3 nights has so far, with accordian music from below and a refreshing breeze dancing in from the balcony, made a good impression on me.

—

*Real Europe: Though I’ve traveled to Europe on 4 separate occasions, I have all together (unintentionally) avoided visiting anywhere outside of Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark, up until this point. It’s been sort of an elusive target.

By Jungho | Posted in Berlin... That's Not Scandi/Nordic! | Comments (0)

Suomen Kesä on Kaunis

2011-07-07 – 23:53

Sauna. Lake. Sauna. Lake. Sauna. Lake.
Cider on repeat.

The healthy regiment of relaxation followed dilligenty for each of the past 5 days spent on an island summer house in Finland, with my friend Jee Hei.

Spontaneous dance party. Kdrama mini-marathon. Conversations without need for wordy prefaces, confusing annotations, and unexplainable endings.

A reminder that beyond language, shared cultural and social cues are comforting, if not just plain nice.

—

The cabin that we stayed in was one of several built by Jee Hei’s uncle and aunt, Kari and Liisa. The food we ate was prepared in their open air kitchen behind their house and eaten with our backs to the lake, reflections from the water dancing across the wooden ceiling.

Just outside of the backporch where we were constantly eaten by mosquitos, a small patch of flowers bloomed, wilted, and bloomed again during our stay. It was here on a bench and lawn chair where we spent parts of many evenings, finding the end of the day as the sky dimmed and then lightened again; it never fully provided a proper nightfall.

Amongst our numerous adventures, picking blueberries behind the house was one of the most rewarding—Liisa made a blueberry pastry (mustikkapiirakka) after we returned with an entire bowl nearly filled and our fingers stained shades of purple from what must have been over an hour in the forest.

Of course, one of the chief pleasures of staying on a lake is spending time on and in the water. Boat rides to get to and from the kesäkauppa (summer store) on land, rowing to explore other islands, and cooling off with a swim out through the depths (you can feel the water temperature change) to float on your back in apparent infinite happiness; sun rays flaring through water droplets on eyelashes, the sound of nothingness under the lake’s surface, immense blue skies with a soft smattering of clouds which are interrupted only by the occasional glimpse of tree tops in the periphery, and a big fat smile on your face—take that loofa fish, you silly monkeys!

This was without a doubt one of the best vacation trips that I have ever taken and I can say without hesitation: Suomen kesä on kaunis, Finnish summer is beautiful.

By Jungho | Posted in Suomi, Suomi, Suomi | Comments (7)

Soaking it All In

2011-06-27 – 00:30

In my opinion, a summer afternoon can never be spent wrongly down on the piers next to Röda Sten, gazing out to the ocean where cranes from China sit like AT-ATs on the horizon and then back towards the city with the Älvsborg Bridge hanging just above. Taking time to take in the world is good, and with such a beautiful backdrop its not hard to do.

Even better is that it’s only a 7 minute bike ride from the heart of the homey and eclectic Majorna where I’m staying to the bridge—always a good destination.

After spending most of the afternoon in town between Magasinsgatan and Brunnsparken followed by lunch/ice cream in Haga, toey™ and I ended up out here by the sea, soaking in the sun and talking about life before and after living abroad.

It’s my opinion that once you leave a place or a situation, you should never go back assuming that it will be the same, because it never will be. One of the wonders of travel is that if you allow yourself the opportunity, it can have a profound affect on the way you live your life. In my case, a semester studying abroad in Osaka, Japan sent my life into a literal spiral around the globe. For better or worse, it’s where I am, and I’m happy to be that way.

I’ll be sad to watch toey™ leave Sweden, but there is a time and a place for everything and reasons why we do the things we do.

By Jungho | Posted in It's Good to be Back, Scandi/Nordic Äventyr | Comments (0)

Midsommar 2011

2011-06-26 – 00:37

When in the cold, dark, never ending and never changing days of winter, midsommar is always just a dream away.

The reality, at least the one that foreigners often face is not relaxation and celebration with family but wondering, “Where the fuck did all the Swedes go?”

The correct answer should fit into one of these generalizations:  to their summer house, to their family’s summer house, to their boyfriend/girlfriend’s summer house, or to their friend’s summer house.

It mostly means that cities are quite sparseley populated and stores are, of course, for the most part shuttered for the entire holiday. Of importance is to mention here that Systembolaget (the only place to buy alcohol outside of grocery store crap) is included in all this and closes early the day before midsommar and remains so throughout the weekend, as it is government run. If you don’t stock up beforehand (like me!), you’re SOL!

I spent this weekend with my friends toey™ and Tong, asking ourselves where our friends were and at the same time enjoying a short trip outside the city to see a midsommar festival, having our own mini party at my apartment, and walking around the empty city and making up our own adventures.

Amongst today’s finds were an old cat friend of mine from when I lived in Göteborg last year, and the SPF Carrier Pigeon Club pigeon coops on top of the hill just near where I used to live.

I’m not sure why, but cynicism seems to come out in copious mounts here—I don’t usually think about things this way, but whenever I start trying to analyze a situation these kinds of sentiments come out!

By Jungho | Posted in It's Good to be Back, Scandi/Nordic Äventyr | Comments (0)

The Three Musketeers

2011-06-25 – 01:32

I’ve been feeling a bit pensive over the past few days, thinking about life, contemplating the future and reflecting on some of my experiences. Stuff that is a lot more heavy than what I want to be on my mind all the time!

What has somehow been neglected all too much thus far in this collection of entries is the fact that without amazing friends I’d have very little to think about. Though we are soon parting ways, toey™, Anna, and I have become a somewhat unlikely group of friends that has gone out on a number of expeditions and spent countless hours sitting around and discussing “this’n that” at all times of the day. I’d say that we’ve done all the stuff that real friends do, from driving each other nearly insane to being great at finding excuses to cook dinner or take a fika at any hour.

Of course, it’s sad to think that we’re all moving in separate directions now, but it’s also a great reminder that nothing can bring a smile to your face like good old silliness—don’t take my word for it, see the photo above to see it for yourself!

Tack min vänner, vi ses snärt!

By Jungho | Posted in It's Good to be Back | Comments (0)

Weary Traveler, Seeking Something

2011-06-25 – 01:20

Being constantly on the move is both exhilarating and exhausting. When 2011 passes and the tail end of 2012 rolls around I will most likely have averaged 2 changes of country/continent over the previous three years. That’s on top of the current statistics of 5 years, 4 countries, and 3 continents since 2006.

Granted, I’ve found myself as a semi-permanent frequenter of Baltimore, San Francisco, Gothenburg, and Seoul—but if nothing else, I have come to realize that things will never be the same when you return to a previously familiar place. Time goes by, people come and go, lives change, and without amended or preferably abolished expectations, one can find themselves in quite the surprised and unhappy spot.

In fact, recently I’ve given a lot of thought to the concept of expectations and on the whole find them entirely inadequate and quite dangerous. For one, they project your naive opinion upon a situation that is yet to exist, often based upon previous experiences or hearsay from second and third-hand sources. Beyond that, expectations set the stage for disappointment which a really excellent way to put a damper on things very quickly. And my final elaboration: expectations create a mental road block towards accepting the reality that we are presented with.

Therefore, wandering back into a city that feels like an old friend can still be refreshing and exhausting at the same time. Repeat that more times than you can count on your hands at once and you may start to find fatigue.

Even quite recently I’ve imagined myself as a life long wanderluster, casually grazing the earth for adventures as they are presented to me. At the moment I’m starting to feel a bit worn out, not ready or even feeling able to slow down but starting to accept that stumbling upon somewhere/something/someone to help tie things all together and to exist in a more stable life would be quite welcome.

For the time being, Sweden is where I am with Finland, Germany, USA and Korea appearing to be the steps in place that will all lead back here by winter. Sounds like quite the whirlwind but I’m still looking forward to it all.

Onwards and ever upwards…

By Jungho | Posted in It's Good to be Back, Scandi/Nordic Äventyr | Comments (0)

The Vastness of Things

2011-06-23 – 01:28

Time is easy to measure but hard to keep track of and rarely do we take the opportunity to become aware of its passing. Put simply, we are too absorbed in our lives to become cognizant of even our own existence; time needs to be accompanied by perspective for us to observe it with any great meaning.

—

Yesterday was the summer solstice—the longest day of the year, and one of many during which the sun never fully sets in Sweden.

366 days go, I had the idea to observe the darkest hour of the lightest day in the year. Knowing that I might never get to observe this again, it was engrained into my memory; the experience of watching the light fade to a dull roar in the eastern sky and then flare back as a multi-colored blast of rays, a cold night on which I contemplated what might come next in my constantly changing life.

On that day, I never would have thought that exactly one year later I would have left and returned to Göteborg to find myself standing on top of the same rock at Masthuggskyrkan along with some of my closest friends, together taking moments to observe the beauty of nature and acknowledge the slowly undulating, steady rhythm of life.

It is important to remember where we have been and what we have experienced before setting off again into the future. Though we may be responsible for our own actions, beyond us there are other forces existing which provide us with the opportunities that we either accept or leave behind. What happens after that is largely out of our control and we must learn to embrace the endless opportunities to choose our own paths once again, and walk confidently off into the unknown.

By Jungho | Posted in Days of Remembrance | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Coming, Going, Leaving?

2011-06-21 – 00:52

One thing I have learned over the past 5 years is that Good Byes are rarely the epic moment of no return that we often make them out to be.

Why is this on my mind? As my friends who have just graduated prepare to leave, some going away for travel or visiting family, and others returning home, I again feel as if I start the process of watching my life fragment in front of me. Though I’ve been away from HDK and Göteborg for nearly a year, I still feel very close to my friends here.

So I’m not feeling somber, just a bit heavy when thinking forward a bit too much to seeing friends go and then heading out myself. In the end we’ll always see one another if we really want to. The world isn’t all that big, after all.

By Jungho | Posted in Days of Remembrance | Comments (0)

1,914km of Memories

2011-06-19 – 03:19

In a tiny silver rental car a small crew of friends blazed across the landscape of Sweden’s neighbor to the north, Norway. Jaws dropped hour after hour as an unstoppable wave of immaculate landscapes became the majestic backdrop to five days and 1,914km of memories.

Sprawling green fields, fjords whose unfathomable expanses swallowed all senses, the sunny seaside, epic mountain ascents accompanied by heart pounding descents, raging waterfalls, and pleateaus that stretched on and on ellicited the only reponses that could be come up with time after time; “Wow”, “Holy Shit”, and the requisite “Fuck”.

Eyes and mind were stretched a thousand fold by nature. The feeling of being small and rather inconsequential in the larger scheme of things was at times overwhelming. And, coupled with my losing/misplacing the car keys in the middle of a dense thicket next to a waterfall and then successfully finding our proverbial needle in the haystack—well, to say that the overall experience was not in some way religious or spiritual would be an untruth.

Sleeping in a car on the Søgnefjord, in a tent by the sea near Bergen, and then in a desolate mountain valley on top of a plateau might not have provided us with much comfortable sleep, but it sure has made a lasting impression.

Cheers to that.

By Jungho | Posted in Resa mot Norge | Comments (0)

Hej Familiar Stranger

2011-06-11 – 17:31

Just a few days into my trip to Göteborg and I’m already seeing so many of my friends and recalling so many memories that this city has given me. In fact, this doesn’t feel like a trip—more like arrival back in my hometown.

I’m enjoying sunny days that don’t end until the light disappears after midnight and two evenings in a row where I’ve taken in the golden pink and green blue hues as the day has faded into after dark.

By Jungho | Posted in Days of Remembrance | Comments (0)