Vaniah's blog

We interrupt this blog to bring you...

Yep, another blog.  This time, I'll be linking up with my husband-to-be and writing about our RTW adventure.  So I'm sorry but I will be abandoning this blog for a while to have a new adventure however don't dispair.  I plan to be back again when it's all over. 

In case you'd like to follow us, we'll we going full circle - around the world that is, and all are welcome to join us :)

Ups and Downs

Everyone knows that in life you have to have ups and downs.  If it were all ups then you'd probably die young of a stress induced heart attack, if it were all downs, you would be bored out of your mind.  You need a bit of both.

The last couple of years have been kinda tough, getting back to real life after the MBA was a challenge and my job, even though it has provided me with valuable experience and enough dosh to pay off a sizeable chunk of my MBA loan, isn't quite my dream career.

In search of the next adventure, I dabbled a bit in trying to Save the world and resisted all attempts from my friends to get me to participate in a triathlon.  Finally, a throw away phrase has now caused me to go back to one of my core interests in life as Johan and I are seriously thinking of traveling all the way around the world!

So, of course I'm going to keep a blog to keep track of

• The plans
• The budget
• The trip

Where would we like to go?
Well, as suggested by the experts, the first step when planning a round the world journey, is to brainstorm a list of places that you would like to go.  We did that, and came up with the following list:

• Argentina
• Costa Rica
• Japan
• Australia
• China
• Peru
• New Zealand
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Tibet
• Mexico

The next step is to put the countries in geographical order then we checked out a few RTB ticket websites to find out if our trip was possible.  After some juggleing and dropping several countries off our list (Tibet, South Africa) we came up with a plan that could... just... work...,

LME

stands for the London Metal Exchange which is currently the last open outcry exchange in the City.  That means that it is the last exchange that hasn't been converted over to computers.  I went on an outing with my new company, Rule Financial to view the trading last Wednesday and it was certainly an eye opener to actually see in real life, a process that Ive read about in books and seen on TV.  It really does work that way!

Metals (and more recently some plastics) are traded on the LME in 5 minute intervals, twice a day, every weekday.  For some reason, Wednesdays and Fridays are the busy days and last Wednesday, Copper was trading furiously. The process is simple: When it is time for the metal that they want to trade, the Traders go into a ring and gauge the market to determine the best price to do their trade.  In the last 30 seconds, the pitch becomes feverish and fortunes are made or lost (not literally, it's tin and zinc we're talking about here) and trades are made.  Small armies of clerks to support the trader run back and forward from the telephones and computer screens which are providing communication to the traders and recording the trades made.  Finally, 5 minutes after a metal has been traded, the average price for that session is recorded and displayed for all to see. 

I wish I could have taken a photo of the events as they unfolded.  We were standing in an observation deck above the proceedings and could see everything going on.  A fascinating visit.

The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession

Peter Bernstein

I've been reading yet another book by Peter Bernstein, and this time he takes the reader through a history of gold, from its earliest beginnings and the many myths surrounding it, through the Aztec phenomena, the American gold rushes and finally the City of London and it's obsession. 

Watching the open outcry is such a visual representation of the early markets as described by Mr. Bernstein that it really brings the book to life and gives you a real insight into where the City has come from and why some things just are the way they are.

Another page turns

Rose

This morning I received an offer for a job. It's not for as much money as I would have liked, it's for a position which will be a real stretch for me, but you know what?  I'm really, really looking forward to it.

It's been six months since I finished the MBA and it's been an interesting time, both emotionally and mentally.  I've moved to Sweden and tried, and failed, to make a life there.  I've returned to London in search of a job and spent nearly two months doing just that.  It's been a hard time, especially at the end, with no money and no place of my own, but thank God, it's finally over....

I know I haven't been writing much but hopefully that will change now.  I guess that I need to be in the right frame of mind to share my thoughts with the world and until now, it wasn't something that I thought I could do.  But it hasn't been all bad, and over the last few months, there have been some people who have really been there for me and have made all the difference.

Johan: my lovely boyfriend who has always been there for me, who has listened to me through the worst times and who always believed in me.
Jean-Marc: my unbelievably kind brother who has supported me in a very tangible way for the last few months which has made my life possible.
Richild: a wonderful friend who has allowed me to stay at her flat, rent-free, through this time - it's made the world of difference.

These aren't the only ones, my cousin, Leonora has prayed earnestly for me, Debbie has always checked up on me, Kate listened to me and provided some perspective and Richard forwarded my CV to his company who then offered me a job.  I couldn't have done it without all of them. 

I hope this new page provides lots of new adventures for me and I look forward to having them and sharing them with you.  But first, I have a new wardrobe to buy and a ski trip to go on so watch this space.

Carbon Emissions

So we are destroying the world that we live in.  The ozone layer is thinning out and the hole at the pole is getting larger which means that more of the suns harmful rays are reaching the earth.  Glaciers and ice shelves are melting and the ocean is set to rise by a few centimetres every year which will cause countless cities and even some islands to become submerged in my lifetime.  The systematic homogenisation of the world’s crops is making our food supply increasingly vulnerable to a single disease. For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in the countryside which leaves us all the more vulnerable to a biological or terrorist catastrophe. 

I get that.  

So what are we doing about it?  We are calling for debt forgiveness rather than pumping money and skilled resources into micro financing ventures.  We tax air travel instead of investing and rewarding companies which use aircrafts that do less damage to the environment.  We allow commercials for cars which burn valuable oil products and provide no incentives to the public to make their next car a hybrid.  We increase the price of petrol as well as public transport making it just as expensive to stand in a stuffy, smelly train pressed up against strangers on our way to work as it is to drive our comfortable, climate controlled cars.  We put recycling bins in dark, unsafe locations which are convenient for the council to collect from but where we must drive our cars to get there.  

Something needs to be done.

Let’s not penalise people for travelling, travel broadens the mind, opens us up to the validity of different points of view and makes us more understanding and tolerant people. Let’s not discourage people from making short journeys, people need to get to work to uphold the economy, they need to visit family and friends which makes them happy and maintains their community.  Let’s not discourage recycling even if one more plastic bag isn’t going to make much of a difference as a child who understands their responsibility to preserve the small resources will become an adult who will have the guts to make the changes to the world that will be needed then.

So what should we do?

Don’t stop travelling.  But consider different ways of getting to where you would like to go that leave a smaller carbon footprint.  Demonstrate your respect for the people living in the country you visit as you demonstrate your respect for the environment. 

Don’t stop making trips.  Go to work but consider working from home from time to time.  Move closer to your friends so that you can walk there and improve your own health as you improve the health of the planet.

Recycle.  And teach your kids how to be good citizens of the world.  Show them were their garbage goes and what is done with it, good or bad.  Help them to understand that there is hope, and that it is up to all of us to make that difference.

Talk about it.  Make your voice be heard.  Why are there no ads on television for cigarettes? Because of your outcry.  Why is there nutritional information on food in the supermarket?  Because of pressure from people just like you.  Those were just practice runs for the most important change that we need to bring about in our world.  This is for the survival of our species, of our world.  

What can governments do?

Continue with the nuclear power program .  There are problems with nuclear power, sure, and they must be dealt with.  But watt for watt, it is still the safest and cleanest way of generating power.   Invest in research for renewable power.  There are already dozens of alternative solutions to the power problem however many of them lack the scalability which will make them useful to the masses.  There are innovative ideas out there, waiting to be thought of and translated into a workable solution.  Ban ads for automobiles with medium and high carbon emission levels. I know it's wrong, but I can't help feeling a pang of desire when I see a beautiful ad for a car and all the promises it makes. Raise awareness through campaigns and incentives to encourage people to recycle more, buy lower carbon emitting cars, reduce their carbon footprint, plant trees, etc.  

People get the government they deserve.  We can’t blame them for not implementing changes that we don’t demand of them.  So let’s start talking about our future, let's start asking questions, let's start demanding change.

Life can be so cruel

Snowy Stockholm

Can you believe it? For the last two months I have longed for it to snow and cover the ground with the beautiful white stuff and it's just my luck that we would have the mildest winter in Sweden's history this year!!!  Not so mild however that it couldn't snow today, the day that I leave Sweden for the even milder UK, it snows!!  Grr....!

So yes, today is the day that I return to the UK.  I'm sad and happy at the same time.  Sad to be leaving this lovely country, but glad to see my friends in Oxford and London again.  I have missed them and the slightly more fast-paced speed of life over there.

Well, goodbye Stockholm, I hope it's not too long before we meet again.  It's been great.

A bit too much yellow?

Hmmm...  I'm not sure if I've got it just right yet but I thought that as I am in Sweden, then I should be try to incorporate the Swedish colours into my blog.  It seems though that the blog has found me out though and somehow knows that I won't be here for much longer.  That's right.  This may be the shortest blog in history but it's true, I'm heading back to London on Friday and don't know when I will return.

It's not that I haven't enjoyed being here, I have!  It's just that at the same time,  I need to eat. Sad but true.  It seems that being a non-swedish educated/speaking person is one barrier that is just a little too difficult to overcome just now and with post-MBA debts looming, the logical thing to do is to head back to the UK and find myself a job.

The good thing though is that since I started to look at the UK job market, things have been very positive.  I had one call from a recruiter yesterday and two calls today.  Hopefully I should be able to hit the ground running next week when I arrive in London and have a contract or two in hand before the month is over!!

Am I sad? Yes, but who knows what the future will hold?  Only God, and he's beyond my control.

See you around the web.

A Swedish Christmas

It's been a while, I know.  But it's not because I don't care, or because I haven't had the time, I certainly have, I just haven't.  I guess it's because I didn't, well, still don't know what I'm going to do and it's been weighing on my mind a bit.  But you know what, blogs aren't about having all the answers all knitted together in one neat package, they're about what's going on right now.  All the gory details... well, my story's not so gory :)

Gingerbread Houses
So, in my last post, I wrote about the gingerbread or pepparkakor houses that is all the rage here in Sweden at Christmastime. 

Gingerbread House - After

Gingerbread House 1

Well, you can buy prefabricated packages in the store so we bought one and took it home (see the final product on the left).  There seems to be a shelf in every Swedish household which is specially made for the purpose of showcasing pepparkakshus.

What we didn't expect is that less than a week later that we would hear a crash coming from the living room. When we rushed in there we found this carnage (see picture on the right).  It was yummy though :)

Luciatåg
December 13th is traditionally celebrated here in Sweden with a Lucia service and, according to my Swedish language teacher, the place to be is the Adolf Fredriks kyrka.  So we got up at the crack of dawn and joined my classmates for the Lucia service at 7am.  What we found was a choir of boys and girls clad in white gowns carrying candles and singing beautifully.  Here are some pictures...

Lucia - boys

Lucia - girls

A visit from a friend
I had a special treat when my friend Charlotte from London came to Stockholm to visit.

Me an' Charlotte

We had such a great time together - made me realise how much I missed all my friends back in London.  We spent a lot of time just chatting, catching up, drinking bottles of wine and walking all over Stockholm.  We even managed to get a kalooki game in - grrr to Johan for winning! 

Nativity Scene

One of the sights that we managed to visit was Stockholms Storkyrkan and there saw a beautiful Nativity display.  Sweden isn't a particularly Christian country and Christmas here is largely about Tomten (Santa Claus), lights and herring so it was nice to see the real reason for the season being remembered, and in such a beautiful display.


Nynäshamn
Christmas was actually spent with Johan's family in a little town south of Stockholm called Nynäshamn. 

Nynäshamn

Nynäshamn is a beautiful place to be in the summer when all the boats are out and the sun is shining, however, in the winter it has a special charm all of its own.  Shown in the picture is the largest church in the town and where we went for midnight mass on Christmas eve. 

In Sweden, Christmas, or Jul, is traditionally celebrated on the 24th December and it is then that families gather and the celebratory meal is eaten and when Tomten comes with all the presents.  It was a little weird for me, the whole day felt like Christmas but at the back of my mind, I knew that it wasn't the actual day.  And yes, they do really eat herring for Christmas dinner - lots of it... garlic herring, lemon marinated herring, herring with curry and apple, herring with dill... you think of it and it's probably served.  But they do also eat ham, boiled eggs (yes really) and potatos.  All washed down with lots of snapps or wiith Julmust - a dark non-alcoholic drink similar to cocac cola but with additional spices.  Actually, according to Wikipedia, at Christmas in Sweden sales of Coca Cola can drop as much as 50% as most swedes revert to their traditional christmas drink.


More pepparkakor and runes
Christmas wasn't just about herring and julmust, it was also about redeming ourselves on the gingerbread house front.

Gingerbread House 2

I do think that we get better and better with each attempt - next year I'm threatening to actually bake the gingerbread and design the house from scratch!!  Johan's a little worried but it will work, just wait and see!

Runes

We also managed to take a little trip out into the countryside and see some genuine old Swedish runes.  No I haven't spelt it wrong, a runestone is a stone that is erected in memorial of someone or some event which took place.  The one that I'm looking at has been there since 1000 AD.  Very interesting.


It was a good christmas

Lukas

Christmas, Swedish style

Glögg

Glögg

I've discovered what I can only describe as a great European tradition!  In England they call it mulled wine, in Germany it's called glüwine and here in Sweden, it is known as glögg (pronounced glurgg).  Yummy!  It's a warm winter drink which, like the others in it's genre, is made from wine and yummy spices. 

On Saturday afternoon we went out to enjoy another fine Swedish tradition as we wandered through the Christmas markets.  There were many beautiful stalls filled with all sorts of goodies from glögg to pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies) to reindeer meat.  While we were out, we also bumped into a number of people from my swedish class... it was great.

Tomten

Skating Santas

After the market, we wandered along to the centre and passed by Kungsträdgården where there is an outdoor ice-skating rink.  It seems that, among other things, it is where Santa goes to get a little exercise in between delivering presents! 

So what is tomten?  It's what they call Santa here.  Apparantly, it's also the word for yard, you know, the grean bits outside your house surrounded by a fence. So a popular saying by children here is "santa is in the yard"... I guess it sounds more funny in swedish... :)

Gingerbread houses
Hansel and Gretal were Swedish.  At least, I think they were, and judging from the large number of gingerbread houses around, or as they call it here, pepparkakshus, then it must be true.  Tonight we went over to a friends house to help to decorate the christmas tree and put together the traditional pepparkakshus.  I want one!!!  Watch this space :)

How do you know when you are far from home?

Viking battle

So, I was walking home the other day and in the park near to the apartment, and a fight was taking place... it was no ordinary fight, the two involved were fighting with swords and defending themselves with shields and they were both wearing full body armor. 

Not a sight you would ever see in Jamaica.

Still, different is interesting... Johan tells me that they sometimes have whole battles going on in the park during the summer.  I can't wait :)

Some of you must be wondering what's been happening in my life since my last blog.  Well, the short story is that I am currently hanging out in Stockholm taking swedish lessons and looking for a job here so if you have any contacts in Stockholm that you could put me in touch with, then please drop me a line.  "Woa!" I can hear you say, "how did that happen? I thought you were going to move to Silicon Valley and take the tech world by storm?". 

Well, life has a way of getting in the way and changing your plans when you least expect it so here I am, in Sweden, learning to "prata svenska" and getting the hang of life in another country.

Things that I've noticed since being here:

• people don't chink their glasses when toasting
• ALL Swedes can speak English
• a "sandwich" is made with only one piece of bread
• beer cost the same as in London
• the tube runs until 3am

I'm having a great time here.  Keep checking back for updates!