Marian’s Happenings

The last week has been insanely hectic, hence this page has been a little neglected. So sit down and prepare yourself for a very long recount of the past week.

Last time I wrote we were just about to head to Malaysia. It took a few hours to get to Melaka, and on the way I was entertained by plantation after plantation of palm trees. No one else seemed to find it incredibly entertaining- I wonder why? Anyway we got there and stayed with Fazal’s brother and his family, in a mansion. It was massively extravagant. It was good staying there, because to get from one end of the house to the other you worked off all the calories from the copious amounts of food that was consumed at all stages of the trip.

Most of our time was spent shopping in malls, or going to museums. Everything there is really cheap, so I somehow managed to cram even more stuff in to what little space I had in my (already) overweight baggage. One evening we went to a really awesome seafood restaurant on the water, where you pick out your seafood from a pile of ice and they cook it in all sorts of interesting ways. Luckily Uncle ordered everything without chili so I could eat it. My favourite were the sweet and sour muscles.

(this photo, however, is from the bird park, not from the seafood restaurant. Almost had you there, didn’t I!)

There were 10 kids at the house we stayed at. One particular kid was particularly annoying with playing rap music really loudly on his mobile phone. I wanted to ram it down the toilet by the end of the trip. Luckily he wasn’t joining us on the ride home or he might not have made it the whole way.

Speaking of things going down the toilet, I dropped my toothpaste in the toilet at nafeesa’s - very embarassing! The poor maid went in to fish it out, which was a tricky task, so i bought her a cake the next day to say thank you. Over there it’s quite common to have someone who looks after the house and house guests, which I’m not used to entirely… but if someone wants to fish my toothpaste out of the toilet I’m hardly one to complain.

Once Naf had finished her exams, we went out in town for a while before going to the Bird Park, which was really cool. A lot of the birds aren’t actually in cages, but have their wings clipped so you can see them quite clearly. Poor buggers. My favourite was the “Australia” exhibit, where they served some sort of coffee which is apparently “Australia’s favourite brand”, but I’ve never heard of it before.

Anyway, then last Saturday I left for Sweden. The flight was long, but I amused myself with my regular lineup of reality TV on my laptop. Sitting next to where the toilets were, I had lots of creepy German guys looking over my shoulder and occasionally asking questions about the shows.

I finally arrived in Stockholm for the long drive back to Linkoping with David. It was such a relief to be there after being in transit for so long, and I slept for many many hours. My jetlag is still pretty bad though, waking up at 6am most mornings.

Life here so far is great. I have enjoyed catching up with the few friends that still remain here, and of course it is great to hang out with David again. Our apartment is beautiful, and seems to be the meeting venue of choice for my friends who have discovered the fun of the Nintendo Wii. We have a christmas tree here also, which is really beautiful and spider-free.

So, that’s about all that’s been happening. I’ve been enjoying a break here- the first proper break since exams finished a few weeks ago. No snow here yet but I’m hoping to see some before Christmas. I should be starting work soon also. Yesterday I was issued a Swedish “personnummer”, which basically means that I have the responsibility to pay taxes I also had a phone interview of sorts, which went very well. I should hear back from that particular company in the next few days. So I’ll keep you posted! Or not… I am lazy when it comes to regular blogging.

Oh.. and in other exciting news I just got my final exam results. 2 High Distictions (yes, I wish to spell them in capital letters) and a credit. Have to be happy about that! So that means that I will graduate with a 6.43GPA (out of 7), which I am extremely pleased with.

Take care,

Marian (pictured below with a super mario mushroom that David made out of plastic beads… ahh childhood memories)

Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 12:21 pm.
Filed under Sweden.
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