Deppert.se

I have now, finally, gotten started with excercising! Even if I will change location in a couple of days, back to Sweden, I do feel that there is a big chance that I will hold this routine up.

I want to attribute the change to my dear friends the fellow pumpmasters, Kristian and Bård. Without you it never would have happened.

My daily excercise consists right now of:
40, 30, 20 pushups or 40, 30 and 20 sit-ups every day, right before I take a shower. These numbers will, of course, increasewith time, but that’s where I’m starting.

Almost on time for after beach 2009…

Still being in Greece, we are now getting towards the end of the high season, and I will get back to Sweden soon.

This season has been good, but one difference from last year is the presence of TV crews. Right before I arrived here, during midsommer, a norweigian TV show called “charterfeber” was here, filming the barschool and our club. This show is apperently really big in Norway, so it will be interesting to see if there is any impact after it has been aired, during the winter.
The crew from charterfeber has been here during the high season as well. There have however also been another Swedish crew here, filming pilots for 2 different reality shows they want to make. Both involve the barschool, and one even a swedish B-celebrity (who will arrive tomorrow, or so they say).

It will be very interesting to see if anything happens with this. Whatever happens it was atleat fun, goofing around for the cameras and staging conversations. Interesting to see also how it works, and how these things are made. Tina, my former flatmate, has for some reason been at the center of both TV crews. So she atleast will be on TV somewhere later this year.

More details if anything is sent, either in Sweden or Norway.

Interesting and well written article about the education system, and a project that sounds very reasonable and promising. Found here, at the economist webpage.

Ich habe neulich mich über das Internet schlau gemacht, und doch so einiges gelernt. Am lustigsten fand ich da das sogenannte Meier-loch; das ist einer rundförmige Region in Deutschland wo es keine Leute wohnen, die Meier/Mayer/Maier etc als Nachnamen haben.

Lest doch selber nach bei der Süddeutschen, auf Seite 9.

A little bit different Swedish webshop: muminmuggar.se

As promised, here is a short travelog from my trip to beautiful Southeast Alaska. For all of you who have not been there – go! I am not sure how long the nature will be “untouched” but it is absolutely amazing. Many have told me it looks a lot like Norway or even northern Sweden, and yes, if you are short of money and live in these regions, discover your own country. Otherwise: get out there.

I will not bore you by telling you all the fantastic things I saw and did and experienced but instead give you a short recap of the best:

When travelling through Alaska take the ferry! Just cruising through the archipelago and fjords was amazing, snowy mountains to the right and the left, eagles cruising above and the highlight always was when the captain made whale-announcements! I have now seen both humpbacks and orcas and lots of porpoises, just amazing. And of course, sleeping outside on the solarium deck of the ferry, cold but what a feeling to awake to a blue sky!

Climb every mountain you see, explore all forests and go kayaking. Alaska is for nature people and the ways for adventures are unlimited. Every trip offers something new; just remember to bring your bear spray and bear bells. I did not see any bears, but they where close.

Look out for porcupines (mostly called North American porcupines to distinguish them from the other, more common known ones)! Most amazing animals. They look like fluffy beavers and climb small trees and sleep up there. And once they are asleep they are not bothered by people walking just below them. Mountain goats are fun too, but not that much.

Meeting different people in the hostels, trade books and ideas and places. I did not realise how much I had missed backpacking until I did it again. Avoid the cruise ships, they do not make life fun.

Alaskans are further quite obsessed with Sarah Palin. Sure, they have elected her, but they do seem to talk about her a lot. Maybe not for other reasons than the fact that this has put Alaska back on the tourist map. It also seems like Alaska has not been hit that hard by the recession either, but still has the same structural problems as I discovered in Vancouver, regarding homelessness and other social and ethnic problems.

Anyhow, I am not sure I have been able to convince you all to go to Alaska, but you should. There is so much more to discover, and I will go back, at one point.

This is my last letter to you all, my trip has ended. But you will be right there again, on my next, right?!

Cheers,
Ulrike

Today I cast my vote for the pirate party. I did it because I believe the internet should be as free as possible. Of course it is used for bad things, but I am convinced the good that has come from the internet is far greater then the bad. Of course there are risks with the internet, and some kind of regulation are and will be needed, but the aim should be to make internet the most free it can be. And that does not happen if nobody tells those in charge that it matters.

So I voted pirate, because I believe the pirate party is the modern version of the green parties. When those came to power in the 70’s, it was because people got an intererst in the enviroment, and that the future matters. This is the same struggle, but in a different way. The internet has given rise to much good, but above all it gives hope. Hope that all the great problem humanity faces can be solved by colaboration. Hope that the world will be a better place for our children.

And the internet also proves that the best way to get innovation, is to let people be free. Both the radio, the TV and the mobilephone industry had more or less the same ground works as the internet, an international network. But somehow, I still only use the TV for watching shows, the radio to listen to programs, and the telephon for making calls. Oh wait, now I’m lying: I listen to the radio on the internet, I watch shows over the internet, and I call people over the internet. Using my telephon for all that.
So I guess the internet won. And that is what I want to preserve. I do not want to go back, and use the internet for only emailing people.

It is very interesting to see just how much Helsingborg turns into a place that looks and almost feels mediteranian when the sun comes out. Seems like everybody goes nuts, and spents all there free time at the beach / harbour.

Right now there is a beach-handball turnament right outisde my apartment (with nice music as well), and the beach is just full of people. And the car-parking situation is truly crazy.

I must say, it all is very charming, and it makes me feel bad for having to give up the apartment I share right now. It truly is one of Helsingborgs best spots. In the summer.

This will not be an entry concerning how my wonderful adventure in Alaska was; it will not tell you that I have seen the most amazing animals, mountains so huge they almost touched the sky and that I was very lucky with the weather and even got sunburned. No, this will be a short piece on how it feels to come back to something and experience the reversed culture shock. Alaska will have to wait a bit.

I have only been back in Sweden for three days. Three full days. And already my muscle memory jams into its well-known pattern: I can find the cups in the right cupboards on the first try, my parents computer responds as it should (but cannot change the language in this document, so every word has an irritating red underlining and is automatically corrected to the closest German word) and I still know how to bike. But then again, strange things are happening around me. My living space has grown. I am currently residing with my parents, who are out of town for the weekend. Suddenly I have access to an apartment nearly as big as the entire student housing I had on the UBC Campus, including the spaces which belonged to my three roomates. And being all alone I assumed I was free to choose beds and am now sprawled out at night in a huge kingsize bed. Now that is really a welcomed change.

Even stranger are things that I used to know but where I have adopted the Canadian Style instead. While shopping groceries today I unsuccessfully tried to grab the second handle of the shopping basket. Nope, there is only one. And that surprised me. What then in turn surprised me even more. I did not see any hand sanitizer (or people with surgical masks). And no, which I was very grateful for, no sprinkler that kept the vegetables wet. Noone packed my groceries. Also, people seem in general more unfriendly, or maybe rather more desinterested in me. Even though I know that no Canadian probably honest would like to know how I am when I approach a store and a mailperson, the Swedish seemed just a bit too concentrated on themselves and their doing.

Also, I am clearly damaged by my last job, where I was working in the deli serving customers. I looked to my left and saw the premade sandwiches and upon a closer inspection could state that they did not serve anything I have not made (but did not have the choice of turkey or any meat-and-cranberry mix). Then I looked right and automatically registered that the cheese display was not full and not in order and had to resist the immidiate urge to actually organize it. I guess I have to apply for a job in this store, I seem to be able to pull it off with honours.

The total freedom is equally weird. I suddenly have unlimited access to a phone (and I do not have to pay for it), I can access the internet when and how I want (at least once I had decided to wake my brother to receive confirmation that yes, the wireless network was on, and in addition had woken my parents via phone to learn the password) and there is noone who can demand me to go to bed early (except the time difference which does encourage me to go to bed early unless I would like to wake up with dinner or a keyboard pattern on my face).

I will enjoy this phase while it lasts. My summer is almost planned now and even if it includes family and friends, there is work to do and to find. The quite relaxed days in Vancouver, and the even more careless days in Alaska, are definitely over. And even if I enjoy the sunny days in Sweden, I already know that I will miss Vancouver for a long long time.