Swedish Chef!

Landed Saturday evening at Stockholm Arlanda aiport. Breathtaking views flying down over the archipelago just beside Stockholm. We didn’t stop in Stockholm however, and instead straight to Linkoping (or just outside, rather). It’s quite different living in the countryside compared to life in Edmonton, though in a good way. Sweden feels quite similar to Canada in a lot of ways, though the more I learn about Sweden from things I’ve read and from Swedes I’ve talked to while travelling, the better the impression I have of Sweden over Canada. Swedes I’ve met abroad have unabashedly declared that Sweden is the best country in the world. I would hardly make that claim about Canada (would you?) I would never make that claim about the US either (should come as no surprise to those who know me well).

Unexpectedly I do find myself challenging my beliefs and am pushing myself out of my comfort zone even while travelling in a “1st world” country. Let me explain… I find that living in Canada, our perceptions and priorities are skewed by living so near to the US. The price of food (and goods) is very low compared to Europe and Australia, yet our perception is that eating healthy, nutritious foods is costly. Per lives in a simple but gorgeous house surrounded by trees on a quiet, private gravel road. Makes the giant homes in North America seem unnecessary and overly indulgent. The way of life here seems to be much more in tune with nature: heat for the house is produced by wood fire (using radiators); a small greenhouse for growing a few food items; composting in the backyard; walking and cycling 2 to 3 km to the local shop/gym/work/school… I could go on.

We walked to the local grocery store to pick up some food and it was fun looking around! Sure, the price of groceries is quite expensive in Sweden, but the quality of produce seems to be much better than in Canada… No unnaturally gigantic, GM modified strawberries… The strawberries at the grocer looked great, and even then Per said he hardly buys them in the store as the ones he grows at home are much better! Typical Swedish foods tend to be simple but delicious as they’re made with quality ingredients.

Per introduced me to preserved herring, served with potatoes, sour cream, red onion, and green onions (picked from his own garden!). I think I’ll definitely be craving and missing this when I’m back in Canada.

Mushroom toast for breakfast – absolutely mouth watering and bursting with flavour. Per’s mother picked these mushrooms! Before we ate the meal, Per tried to point out in a book which mushrooms we would be having. Me, baffled: “Why do you have a book about (just) mushrooms??!” Per, even more baffled at my question: “Uhh… Why wouldn’t I ??!”

Rye porridge with lingan berry jam

Cooking Swedish NONFLUFFY pancakes

Served with homemade jam & juice made with homegrown berries

While Per’s been introducing me to Swedish foods, I’ve introduced him to maple syrup, French toast, moon cakes, and gave him a few pointers on stir-frying. We had a yummy Thai stir-fry the other night, and I even enjoyed the cooking part of it on top of the eating part. Per, while prepping the veggies, sang out, “Schoobidy-dooby-dooby-dooby do!” Me: “what was that for?” Per: “don’t you know the Swedish chef??” (I never watched the muppets all that much.)

Getting back to being pushed outside my comfort zone… I would never have imagined myself tonight riding a bicycle home in windy 10 C darkness, headtorch on my head down a gravel road. My cycling skills are about those of a 10 year old, and I almost rode right into the ditch when an oncoming motorcycle was headed my way. I’ll definitely be having fun when snowy winter comes around…

We did get a chance to head into town the other day to check out the old town, shop and watch a movie. The centre of town is quite pretty. I left my camera at home because it was overcast, so more photos will have to follow at a later time. Til next time!

Why I love scuba diving!

First off, since getting back home I’ve been following up on boring, mundane odds and ends. Like trying to set up a way to transfer money between my two bank accounts (which for some reason didn’t get set up though I mailed in the request before leaving!). Realizing that I might be able to get a warranty claim on the expensive mattress I bought two years ago that now hurts my back (though they can’t come out to look at it for 3-4 weeks!).

The biggest scare I had was following up on my travel insurance – I wanted to get credit back on the year of coverage I thought I purchased – except found out it never got processed… I hadn’t realized that they never charged me for the additional top up (I pay a monthly premium for unlimited number of trips up to 60 days). Thank god nothing happened to me!! I also purchased a year of DAN (Diver’s Alert Network) insurance before I left, so supposing I got the bends, I would have been alright in that instance… But only that instance.

Lesson learned: Make a checklist and check it twice before leaving the country for an extended period of time! Especially in North America, where it seems no one gives a shit, and don’t have any pride in a job well done.

But enough ranting – onwards to the fun stuff!

I started scuba diving out of curiosity. I stuck to it despite (or because?) it was challenging. As I worked through the difficulty I had with scuba, I started learning how to relax underwater. At times I felt what it was like to be in a zen-like state, at peace underwater. I’ve pushed myself through the stress that comes with diving without a guide, diving with bad ears (I have a hard time equalizing), diving in current, diving at night in horrible visibility (and thankfully having the guts to know my limits, and to abort the dive I was “leading”).

Unexpectedly, another thing I got out of scuba was a love for sea creatures. Aquariums and zoos used to bore me, but when I’m inside the aquarium, seeing how delicate and beautiful the cycle of nature is… I have a new found appreciation for nature and think now more than ever that we need to protect it.

I’ve toyed with the idea of doing my divemaster, though I still have a long ways to go, and a lot more diving I’d need to do still. I still have moments of stress and anxiety in the water but know now how to work through it, which is helpful in and out of the water. Recognizing that any problem can be solved by stopping, breathing, and thinking things through before panic sets in. Freaking out above water just doesn’t seem to have much point to it anymore. Being back home, I drive more slowly, and I feel happier and less stressed out just in general. But add in the grind of a mundane job again and I don’t know what will happen…

And now – the photos! Keep in mind I’m still not that good underwater, and my buoyancy is pretty bad once you throw in another thing to think about. I was worried about getting too close in case I went crashing into the coral because I still can’t control my buoyancy that well.

Sea turtles!

Cleaner wrasse giving the larger fish a thorough cleaning job

Clownfish

So beautiful underwater…

My favorite fish in the Great Barrier Reef – dog faced puffer fish. Unfortunately a bit shy, as it was pretty hard to get a good shot of it

Dog faced puffer fish #2

Dog faced puffer fish #3. Not a great photo, but you can see how stupid looking they are! So stupid looking, they’re cute!

The other volunteer hostie on board, who was my main dive buddy during my second trip

Pipe fish

Unicorn fish

Huge bat fish under the boat

An eagle(?) ray missing it’s tail!

At first I thought – hey, it looks like a ray was sleeping there!… Wait, it IS there!

Two reef sharks

One swam closer

Got a little nervous when it swam right at me, even though they’re generally harmless to humans

Better view – you can see this one is a white tip reef shark

Puffer fish

For some reason the fish kept swimming straight at me, making me nervous! But also giving me a chance to take a better photo. This one is a humphead parrot fish

One of the highlights was watching a moray eel on one of the last morning dives swimming for 5 minutes. Didn’t see very many on the Great Barrier Reef, but when you do spot them, they’re usually tucked in a hole somewhere, with the head only visible, so it was a real treat! Couldn’t get a good photo however

Attempt #1 to photograph the moray eel

Attempt #2

Attempt #3

Total trip tally

After flights, insurance, visas, travel costs and shopping indulgences, the total tally comes to around $13,000! More than I planned to spend but not so bad for 4 months of travel.

Travel costs by country (excluding flights between countries and shopping purchases):

13 days in HK/China $452.50

2 weeks in Bangladesh $323

2 weeks in India $233

2 weeks in Thailand $419

3 weeks + 1 day in Malaysia $1064 + $340 diving = $1404

2 days in Singapore $84

6.5 weeks in Australia $3930 (5 weeks really if you consider I was living and working on a boat for 10 days)

Long distance flights, visas, insurance ($680 for one year travel insurance!) $4250

4 months of shopping and indulgences $1700

Hmm… Could have done with fewer shopping purchases and indulgences I think! And could have tightened the belt a bit more in Australia, where I often went out to eat instead of cooking. In India and Bangladesh we often had a lot of freebies, so travelling there again on the same type of trip would cost more than what I listed. Eventually I gotta start making some money once my year off is up so I can save up for more travel…

Headed home!

Just finished my last meal – kangaroo steak! Bought marinated kangaroo steaks the grocery store and cooked them up, nice and medium-rare. Quite nice actually – I didn’t think I would enjoy it. A quiet last night in Brisbane, with a homecooked meal of kangaroo, and a copy of the Beach I just picked up, while loud music blared from the hostel bar 5 floors down.

The last week on OceanQuest has just blown by. The other volunteer hostie on board, a French guy, shattered the stereotype that French people are lazy. We were a pretty good team on board – we both worked very quickly, and both used air up underwater at the same rate. Got some special treatment onboard due to our hard work (and perhaps due to the dive supervisor having a crush on me). Pretty much was offered a job to stay on for another 6 months – which I would have loved! To get paid for what I was volunteering to do, and to have diving, meals and accomodation paid for? And to work with a fantastic and fun crew? Only I already had my tickets home and then onwards to Sweden.  So then I’ll be starting a new kind of journey, one that won’t have as nice weather, but will still be great nonetheless! Being in Australia has been a real ego booster, as somehow I have men literally worshipping my feet. (Could tell you some more stories if you’re interested – just ask me over a drink, as I won’t type them up here ) Rented an underwater digital camera, which I attempted to play with, though most of my photos are quite poor as I’m still not that good underwater. But I have just completed dive #43, and have spent a total of almost 30 hours underwater!

About to jump on the shuttle bus to the train station to the airport in a few minutes. Apparently I’m spending the night in the Singapore airport (11 hours!) and my travel agent didn’t mention it to me. But shouldn’t be a problem getting a hotel room at the airport, I think. It’s worth it to me to shell out a bit more money to get some decent rest, It’s going to take me 2 days or so to get back (8 hour flight + 11 hour layover in Singapore + 18 hour flight via Tokyo to LA + 7 hour layover in LA + flight to Calgary + last layover and leg to Edmonton… blech!).

I’ll see (some of you) soon! Maybe I’ll update some more from the Singapore airport with the free internet there as well!