This post is a tribute to Metanat and  Maziar.

Thanks for the haircut and nice company.

I had free haircut today at Metanat and Maziar’s. They are very nice and friendly. I am quite satisfied with the result. It is just the way I wanted, same hair style, shortened.

If any student needs a haircut but is drawn back by the high price at the barber shop, this could be a useful piece of information.

The event is on-going until 5th November. Here’s their post on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112995298763437

A new Carmen in making…

/Carmen

Photo/Pat

I was really trying to find some conflicts when asked about the “kulturkrock”(cultural conflicts)  today. Honestly I feel that the differences between individuals are larger than the differences between those so-called national stereotypes. Nevertheless, there were something of the Swedish language caused a lot of confusion at the beginning when I got along with Swedes:

– One Swedish way of agreeing upon something. Usually it sounds like “Ah” with a rising tone as the end of the word. So to put it in writing, it will be like “Aah?”.

I was so confused before. I always repeated what I said after the “Aah”, because it sounded really like a “pardon”/a request for clarification to me.

Once one teacher said something, I replied “Aaah?”. I did mean “what?” since I did not hear what she said. But she just walked away to the next student as she thought I understood.

– Sometimes the “aah” is a bit odd with a inhaling sound.

The first time I noticed was when I visited the health center on campus. I described the problem with my throat to the lady there. She did the “aah” with inhaling sound very often. I really did not know it meant something or it was part of the conversation. Instead, I thought she had some problem with her throat too.

Then I went to the pharmacy a few days later. The lady I talked with made this “strange” sound as well. I was so confused and asked my friend who went with me, why it seemed like people working with health care all had problems with their throat and if he had noticed that they made strange sound when we talked. He laughed and explained to me that it was just like “well”, “OK”, “hmmm” etc. in English.

OMG, finally, the puzzle that had bothered me for a long time was solved!

And…. I start to realize I say it as well when I try to speak Swedish…..

Oh, right, there’s something to add:

– People from the far north, they don’t even say the “aah”. In fact, they don’t even need their vocal cords, they just make the inhaling sound…. It’s really hard to put in words and make it clear… I couldn’t find any video on Youtube. Probably I will do one myself…

/Carmen

My class went to a company near the university for a presentation one day. It was pouring ice-cold rain. My clothes were soaked just like everyone else when we got there. The lady at the reception gave me a warm smile, and told me this is the “svensk väder“– Swedish weather.

It’s been raining for a long time. I have been sick and coughing for almost two weeks. Just wish the sun will come out soon…

Few days ago, we went to visit the city’s farm. It locates in the southeast of Eurostop, a shopping center outside of the city.

This fellow is quite photogenic and knows precisely how to pose. He attempted to eat my coat, I remember that!

The goats are the most annoying animals I have ever seen. They are unbelievably energetic and never tired of whining.

This adorable little calf was so cute and shy. As long as it had eye-contact with someone, it immediately ran away to the back of its parents.

/Carmen

Photos/Khaek

The football game last night…

The Swedish guys at my group said, we were not going to have meetings at school or any places where we have chance to meet the guys from Netherlands…

hah….

/Carmen

It’s about… internet.

In Halmstad, people can have access to internet almost all the time.

The whole university is covered by wi-fi. With a student account, people can surf on the internet for free. The city library also provide free wireless internet. If you have an iPhone or any phone with access to wi-fi, you can always get free internet on the campus on in the center.

Even there is free internet at the free language school I go to. The log-in account is the same as one registered in the city library.

That is great! I am kind of a person who can not live without internet for more than 10 hours.

I’m writing this because a lot of people might not know that almost all the high schools provide free internet access to all who have city library accounts. I tried in three different high schools. All worked.

/Carmen

Turkos is a Swedish name. In English it is called turquoise, which mean a kind of mineral, with color of blue-to-green. In Swedish, turkos can mean this kind of color, blue-to-green, which is exactly my favorite.

The first time I read this word was in one Swedish class. There was a color chart with Swedish names on. I asked the teacher what turkos is. She tried to explain. But pardon my poor skills in Swedish at that time, I did not understand a thing. Therefore, the next day, she wore a pair of earrings made of turkos to school to demonstrate the color.

The reason I brought up the favorite-color topic is that I want to show my latest turkos necklace. Here’s a picture of which I just got from an auction in Halmstad.

Auction is most popular among older people, telling from the fact that the majority of attendants are aged. There’s an auction bureau quite close to where I live, called Hallands Auktionsverk, holding auction each every month. People can go one or two days in advance to check out the collection. Usually I just drop by to see what they have. However, last time I found this lovely turkos necklace, just couldn’t resist the power of that blue… It did not cost so much, luckily…

Check that out, Patrik, my photographer, also bought a nice mirror in golden colored frame with one hundred years history for ONLY 100 kr! LOL!

/Carmen

Photo/Patrik Lundmark