IzZzY – A Swedish mat salleh in Malaysia

After a long while without any updates, it has seemed like I would never come back and update this poor blog again. However, it might be time for change. Time for a blog written in English, instead of Swedish. But most often I find it hard to formulate myself in the way I would like, as it for sure isn’t my mothers tongue. But since my last post here, a lot of things has happened. Now I’m staying at Maytower serviced apartments, in little India, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Finally I have left my parents country for a fresh start in a new part of the world. And last summer, I reverted to Islam. So any old posts concerning alcohol, bacon and other Swedish stuff should only be seen as a part of my history. I have no intention to hide what I have been, so any posts here or in my Swedish blog will stay where they are. A good reminder to read about my hang overs, or anxiety over the loss of memory that happens a lot when over consuming that particular drug.

As of today, I’m sitting in my apartment wearing only the kain sarung, the Malaysian kilt. I don’t even know if what I called it is correct, as I always seem to forget it. And I just ask for my kilt, which makes my Malay girlfriend kind of annoyed… However, the reason I’m wearing this, and only this, is that I had my circumcision yesterday. It has always been the only thing I have been kind of uncomfortable in thinking about doing when it comes to my conversion to Islam. But now it’s finally done, and just hope that everything will be okey when it’s healed and ready to use. InsyaAllah. The pain right now isn’t so bad after all, though I did bleed very much last night, and was just about to go to the hospital again when it finally started to stop. And during the night it has been okey, and today – not a drop of blood. The only problem came this morning, when the usual morning booner started and I woke up with some pain, feeling how it pulled on the stitches. Aouch! And severeal times as well during the nigth this happend, but I hope it get’s better as soon.

And later today me and my, soon-to-be, wife is going to Bukit Jalil to look at an apartment. I will have to move on the 2nd of July, which is in just a couple of days, so now I really really hope we can find a place to live. So I don’t have to buy a tent and live like Tarzan for a month. So wish me luck!

This is probably the worst blog. Ever. It’s like four months since my last post, and I didn’t care much for it before that either. It was supposed to be a blog for all of you who doesn’t understand swedish, and my goal was to update this as frequently as the other one. But let’s just admit it to ourselves. IzZzY failed. The last couple of months I have totally forgotten all about this blog, especially since I started neglecting the other blog as well.

Will I do better in the future? Probably not.

However, I’m heading down to Malaysia in a couple of weeks now! It’s crazy. It feels surrealistic. But it’s for real, I have pinched my arm several times, and realized that I’m not just having a really nice dream.  Gothenburg – London. London – Kuala Lumpur. And I’m there. And that’s in just over 3 weeks!

Right now I’m at work, and I’m trying to get myself to start making myself useful and do some cleaning up at the hotel. One of many housewife-tasks I have to amuze myself with during these long nights. So, time to get my thumb out of my arse, as we say here, and get started!

Found this personalitytest on Arinas blog, so I figured I should give it a try.

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Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don’t judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren’t necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people’s eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don’t focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It’s time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You like privacy very much because you enjoy spending time with your own thoughts. You like to disappear when you cannot find solutions to your own problems, but you would feel better if you learned to share your thoughts with a person you trust.

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Well, I think it summons it up pretty well, for a test like this. But I wouldn’t say it’s been a lot of dates lately though, hahaha.

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One more

What others see from your style

Although to the untrained eye you may seem like a plain dresser who avoids trends, you actually wear carefully designed accessories and clothes that emphasize your uniqueness. You value your freedom and have an artistic mind. You are neither aggressive nor timid, but you believe in yourself.

What your nightclothes reveal

You’re a romantic person at heart. You are imaginative but your temper can sometimes get in the way of your happiness.

What others see from your ties

You enjoy being alone. You like to life the simple but good life, and you cherish your freedom. You are thoughtful, confident and uninterested in glamour.

What others see from your belts

You are a lonely and demanding person. You are hardworking as well as intelligent, and can be passionate when in love.

What others see from your shoes

You’re very young at heart. You regard freedom highly and don’t like to be controlled by a set of rules. You don’t like conflict, will compromise wherever possible, and are hardworking people. Occasionally you can become vulnerable when having to face problems, especially emotional ones.

What others see from your earrings

You are probably an independent and strong-willed person. Fairness is important to you, and you always stand up for what you believe in. You are friendly and get along well with people.

The last analysis

You are probably a clever and adventurous person. You love to learn new things, and enjoy socializing with friends. Although you enjoy your freedom, you cherish peacefulness and like to spend time alone with your thoughts.

I have many days in the sofa to look forward to now! I don’t have to go to work until Monday night again, and then it’s just one single night before I’m off until friday night again. But what should I do with the time off? As usuall I have booked in a meeting with a sixpack of beer tonight, but other then that  my schedule is completely empty.

But I just started thinking… It might be time to go out fishing, now when the ice on the river has melted?

The season hasn’t started the way I hope, for my beloved Kalmar FF. 0-0 in the first match against Gefle, one of the teams who is supposed to be struggeling for their place in the Swedish premier division, Allsvenskan. And tonight we lost against AIK Solna from Stockholm with 1-0, the first loss in Kalmar against them, since 2006.

Kalmar have lost 5 keyplayers since last year, and I guess we will have to pay the price as this season starts, since we have to build a new team.  And it’s not easy to replace stars as Viktor Elm, the best swedish midfielder last year (Herenveen in Holland). Cesar Santin, probably the best foreign player last year, now a big star in FC Copenhagen, Denmark. Patrik Ingelsten, the leagues topscorer (Herenveen in Holland). The old Patrik Rosengren (Mjällby in the swedish Superetten, second division), one of the best defenders in the league since Kalmar got promoted to Allsvenskan. And the french player Arthur Sorin (Århus, denmark) a decent right back.

This is why it’s so hard to defend a Swedish league title. Once you win, foreign clubs pick up their wallets and buy all the star players. The poor Swedish clubs just have to accept that with a great victory comes great loss. And suddently they have their bank accounts filled, but no stars what so ever. And from what I have seen these two matches, I think it will take a lot of luck if we can come even close to defending our title.

And this is why we can’t get a Swedish team to enter Champions league either, since it’s most likely not the same players who won the league, that get’s to play in champions league. And if swedish clubs can’t reach champions league, there won’t be any money coming this way, and we have to keep selling our star players abroad. It’s a vicious circel. And as for now, it doesn’t seem like my beloved Kalmar will have what it takes to break lose from it.

But on the other hand, if Kalmar beats Elfsborg in Borås (One of the favourites to win this years title, together with Kalmar and IFK Gothenburg) this Thursday, it might sound completely different though.

I have just got home from work, lying in the sofa to relax myself before heading to bed. It’s been the calmest friday night so far at the hotel. Even calmer then the avarage weekday. But it was Good Friday, and this is the day it’s forbidden to have fun. You are supposed to stay home, be sad and think about Jesus. It’s called Långfredagen here, which means Long Friday, just because it feels so much longer then other days when you aren’t allowed to have fun. And it felt like many people did just that, since the hotelbar was completely empty at 11 pm, and closed twenty minutes later. When I did the balancing after they closed, I got to deposit just over 1000:-. Usually it’s about 15 times that amount on a friday night! So, it wasn’t a good friday for our buisness tonight…

However, the reason for the loss of guests in the bar, might have something to do with the enormous celebration here in town, when our hockeyteam, Färjestad, became Swedish champions. So I guess they had done their partying for this week already. Since swedes a so secularized, I can’t imagine that it had anything to do with the fact that people was home thinking about Jesus and his suffering. I know I didn’t anyway, I thought more about the upcoming footballmatch between Kalmar FF and AIK this monday. And kept daydreaming about the day I get to leave for my little adventure next winter, as always.

When I walked home this morning I really felt that spring had finally arrived. Flowers everywhere in the gardens, the sun was shining, no trace of snow anywhere, and the birds sang like there was no tomorrow. I walked home with a silly smile on my face, when I realized that life is returning to the cold north. It feels like a miracle every year!

Now it’s time for me to get some sleep though. Good night, Godnatt and selamat malam.

Borrowed pic of a typical Swedish påskkärring.

Today we celebrate maundy thursday, Skärtorsdagen. Here in Sweden we have an old tradition that children dress up like witches (Påskkärring) and going from house to house trading “easter-cards” (A sort of handdrawn easter-greeting) for candy. It’s simular to the American Halloween tradition, but without the threats of tricks.

I really loved this when I was young, and always dressed up as a “påskgubbe” with fake painted beard, and a big black hat.  Unfortunatly halloween has taken over this tradition, and today it’s quiet rare to see theese witches. It’s sad that a tradition unique for us here in Sweden, is being erased by a commercial stunt like Halloween. So, I really hope I get to see a  few mini-witches walking around here today. And the tradition is kept alive. I might have to take things into my own hands, and dress up myself.

The history behind this tradition is a bit unclear, but begun in the early 19th century. However, the night between wendsday and Thursday before easter, witches take their brooms and fly to “Blåkulla” where they have a party with the devil. Blåkulla is supposed to be the small Island Blå jungfrun, (Translated; blue virgin) between my home-island, Öland, and mainland Sweden.

This is a picture from this Saturday, the 28th of March.

And this was the temperature today, just a couple of days later. Spring is finally here!

It’s soon time for me to start walking home. And my 5 nights is over for now. And so is the month. I have to say, it has been a good month with much work. 16 nights to be exact. And about 1000 kronor per night will make me very happy when the 24th of april arrives, payday.  Hoorray! And for every payday, i come one step closer to paradise. Malaysia.

But now I have a couple of nights off work, until sunday night to be exact. Hopefully I will get out of my apartment and do something fun this weekend. Going to the pub, with a friend of mine, is one of the options I’m really intrested in right now. Since i’ve been waaaay to long since last time.

35 minutes left!!

I have realized that the theme I have used before, is way to slow for some computers. And there is problems when using a old webbrowser as well. So, I guess it’s time for change now, and I will do some experiments here on this blog, before doing the same with my main page. So, if it looks like crap for a while, you know why.