A Trip to Sweden- Day 7 (2 Dec 2014, Thursday)

Kevin and I woke up early in the morning to send David Larsson off. He was leaving for New York at 5:30am. 

We managed to spend some time with David while he had his breakfast that consist of bread with cheese and a cup of orange juice. 

Then the taxi came and pick him up at 5:32am. He left and we said good bye to each other. He left his house to us for a night. I guess that could be the last time we'll be seeing him in person. 

We went to the square sometime later to spend some time there and we had our lunch at another Chinese restaurant just opposite the one we had our lunch a day ago. The buffet was cheaper by 10 SEK.

This was my first serving there. 

The table mat.

View from the restaurant 

After lunch, we went to ICA to have a look of the things there. I managed to convince Kevin to allow me to buy a block of cheese that is awfully cheap- 93Sek for more than 1.1kg of cheese. While I went to buy the cheese, Kevin went to Wayne's Coffee to drink hot chocolate. It seems that Kevin liked Wayne's so much. 

At about 3:15 pm, we came back to David's house and had FaceTime with the kids and my mother in law in Penang. 

My mother in law was so surprised to see that the sky was so dark at 3pm. 

We then had a nap and got ready for dinner appointment with Jonas. Jonas came to fetch us at 5:30pm sharp in his company's Subaru car. 

He just started to prepare the meal just after we arrived at his house. He prepared moose meat for us. Glogg was also served. 

First, he cut away the fat from the meat. Then he marinated the meat with salt, pepper and crushed garlics. After that, he wrapped the moose meat up with two layers of parchment paper, secured with some thread then baked it in the oven. While baking, he cuts some vegetables such as beetroot, carrots, and potatoes to be baked in the oven too. He also prepared some salad to go with the meat. 

Glogg- Jonas boiled the glogg and then added some raisins. 

The moose meat - That was my first moose meat. The moose was very fragrant and delicious. It was also moist and tender. I got a few pieces in fact. So good!

Vegetable salad - spinach, cucumber, tomato

Grill vegetables- only grilled with some olive oil. The beetroot was surprisingly sweet and tasty. It was actually introduced by Jonas' girlfriend and then Jonas cooked that for us.

 

Julmust- a type of soda drink sold only during Easter and Christmas season. Julmust is the brand of the drink while Apotekarnes is the producer of the main mixture. Apotekarnes sells the mixture to many other companies to make their respective drink. It started as a pharmacy firm then it diversified. Jonas likes it as it reminds him of festive seasons. But I really dislike it. For me, it tasted like cough mixture. Not for me! 

Cloud berries- a type of berry that grows in s swampy area. The taste is unique. Jonas cooked them with some sugar on the stove and then mixed them with vanilla ice cream as desert. 

Of course we chatted quite a lot. Talking about his late father, his 'bionic' girlfriend, his aunt, their friends, Swedish school system, food and many other things. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with an old friend (Kevin's old friend). All in all, we concluded that time really flies. 

I found that Jonas was very friendly and nice to talk with. I also learned about something new- snus, and apparently, David takes snus too. 

Snus- the nicotine content is very high. Nicotine is wrap in a small piece of paper.  This small thing will then be placed in the mouth, above the gum. 

According to Jonas, more men than women are addicted to snus in Sweden and there are lesser people into snus nowadays because it is expensive. 

So after the meal and after spending time in talking and chatting, Jonas sent us back to David's. We bid farewell to each other. Again, I guess that could also be the last time we'll meet again in person. But Jonas told Kevin that the next time to meet up will be his turn in Malaysia. We'll see. We'll see then. 

A Trip to Sweden - Day 5(30th Nov 2014, Sunday)

This is the first Sunday of Advent in Sweden to mark that Christmas is on the way. God Jul!  Where they light their first candle. After the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, we washed ourselves and then went to the Umea City Chuch which we checked out the night before. 

Umea City Church (outside)Umea City Church (inside) - the on going service

We were in a rush as we were told that the service would start at 10am. However when we arrived, did we learn that the service started at 11am. 

So the service started on time. I couldn't really understand the service as the whole service was in Swedish. We attended the service after all as we thought Sunday is a day that we should be at the church and honour God.

The service started with someone talking, followed by some singing and a performance with people singing and talking a bit. 

After the service, we went back to our hotel, got our things and met up with Ibrahim, his wife Zalina and his son Yasin. Ibrahim has been in Sweden for over 30 years, while his wife has been here for about 10 years. 13 year old Yasin is Ibrahim's son from his previous marriage. Yasin has Down Syndrome but happy and smart too. By the way, Ibrahim is actually Zainal's friend in Sweden. 

Ibrahim took us to Bjurholm, the smallest municipality in Sweden. The journey was long but the heavenly scenery made it all the worth. 

The 100 year old house

At about 4 or 5 pm, we stopped by at a small town to have a drink and a little food. After coming out for the cafe, there were people doing some small businesses such as the pony ride, horse cart ride, grilled marshmallows, etc. 

We got a free grilled marshmallow. That was the first time I had it. It was fragrant, and sweet. After the grill, the marshmallow turned soft and as we touched it, it melted. That was new to me. 

People grilling marshmallows

Besides, Ibrahim also treated us to the horse cart ride. 

On the way back from Bjurholm, we stopped by at a gymnasium to use the toilet. There we also saw two teams of children having a tournament of floor hockey. 

After a long day trip, we finally came back to Ibrahim's house for homecooked Malaysian styled dinner. Zalina prepared the meal and Ibrahim cleaned the table after meal. This is the Swedish family where everyone has equal right. Everyone chips in for the job. There is no reason that one cannot help up to enlighten each other's work load. 

As we were about to leave, Ibrahim and his wife gave us two caps and files from Mercedes Benz. By the way, Ibrahim works in Mercedes Benz.

On the way home to the hotel, Ibrahim took us to Willy:s hypermarket to buy some cooking ingredients.

I also bought a bottle of glogg to take home to Malaysia. It is a popular traditional drink in Sweden during winter to warm the body. The Swedish will normally heat up the glogg on the stove. Then they will put in some raisins and drink it. 

Some glogg are alcoholic while some are written as non-alcoholic. However, I remember when I was talking to Zainal in Stockholm, he said that the Swedish's defination of 'non-alcoholic' means the alcohol content is not more than 1%. So for people who want to avoid alcohol at all, you need to think twice before taking glogg. 

Red Glogg

We were happy and thankful that we met up with people with such good hospitality. 

As we bid farewell to each other, we hugged each other. Yasin kissed us, that was the sign that he loved us. After headed back to the hotel, we called it a day!

What a wonderful day! Thank You God!