just one more reason

why i miss stockholm, and so look forward to going back to school.

billy jean

back from perth and have some major spring cleaning to do! before starting work, i was supposed to get my open water dive licence. but i was unceremoniously summoned to the office a week earlier than anticipated. in protest, i spent what would've gone towards my dive holiday on a suitable work wardrobe. fast forward two months and upon being accepted into medsch it dawned on me that i would have no need for said work wardrobe. so i now have a whole lot of hardly worn, pre-loved work wear that i'm putting up for adoption. timing works out beautifully though, and i think yvie's gonna be the biggest beneficiary in this self-styled clothes coup.

currently clearing through six months of clothes and other barang barang that i've somehow managed to accumulate, and billy jean is playing. funny how i'm catapulted back to our 80s parties at the gula villan (yellow house) on campus in stockholm u. we wore our "bad taste" clothes, almost all procured from beyond retro, and belted out the chorus in unison. for some, it was probably the only english they could muster but bottle in hand and song on lips we'd while the night that never really got dark away. 

good times, and hanging with the aussie crew down under really brought all these happy happy erasmus memories bubbling back to the surface of my consciousness. we swear we don't live in the past, but sometimes it is so very hard to avoid the self-indulgent nostalgia trip.

lunching with yvie at cocotte tomorrow because we're intent on being ladies who lunch, just for one day, then filing my call papers back in the office. and then we'll see where the wind blows :)

perth in photos

good times, and parting is only a sweet sorrow
if there is a white christmas reunion in the works... :)

helloooo perth

and alex, and simon.

Nesting

The word usually conjures up images of rounded bellies ripe with baby but no such nesting in this case!

Not one for feathered flocks but when I saw these decals first in Shoo’s office and later in Azi’s photos, I figured it was time to get my hands on some home improvement.

And while I’m not one for feathered flock, I’m a big fan of living spaces and am looking forward to decorating my newfound home for the year, small as it may be.

On a side note, I loved my room in Stockholm. It was HUGE and even had a tiny “hall” area for my boots and wardrobe. So the fairy lights will make a reappearance, as will these decal babies waiting all rolled up in their cardboard tube.

I live by fairy light, having picked up the strings of golden goodness in Stockholm. Single-handedly installed them in my Stocks room – oh just you try zigzagging ‘invisible” fishing line half a metre below the ceiling, then twirling fairy lights around said line, trying to avoid the huge paper ball in the middle. Dismantled the set-up and brought the fairy lights home, and now they’re following me to my new home :) At times like these, I bemoan my sentimentality.

Having found out where I’ll be staying yesterday, I’m starting to think about the apartment and the layout of my room. Hope there’s enough wall space for my decorette finds!

(What? I only go in September? I can’t fix up my room till then? Nooo…)

sleep is for the weak

when these two hotties told me they were passing through singers on monday, i was besides myself with excitement. nevermind they only had 3am to 11am on our sunny aisle. there are few things i'd give up precious sleep for, but a few stolen hours with very dear friends were well worth the sleep deprivation. plus i hadn't seen jossie since december 2009! had the most memorable time in perth with alex in september 2010 and as with all good friendships, there is never enough time. 

the most recent memory i have of both alex and joss was of my last night in stockholm. flew back to a ghost town to pick up my luggage and they very sweetly cooked dinner, lugged my 40kg of luggage through the knee deep snow and snuck me onto the bus because my season pass had expired. that night, we had delicious roast chicken (the aussies do everything better!) and peas, which i don't usually eat. jeanne joined in over skype and i can't imagine having spent my last night on exchange any other way. fast forward 18 months and life has really rolled on! they're graduating in november - joss' going to clerk for a judge (bravo jossie!) and alex is going to be a hotshot consultant. immensely proud of them and so very happy that things are going well :)

was too excited to sleep and sprung up at 3am to wait for them to land on my doorstep. and land they did! i'm far from a morning person but it was surreal to finally have them at my house and in the flesh. still pinching myself now and it's surreal that they've since left for their great south east asian adventure... 

but it was an amazing few hours and i'm so glad they had a right royal initiation to singers, complete with royal rumble at adam road hawker centre, followed in quick succession by prata and bak chor mee. we even ended with kopi peng to go in plastic bags! can't wait for their next visit, and i just might be headed down under next month. so it probably won't be all that long till we get to hang out again :) yay to being young and living in an increasingly small world!

p/s before he stopped over in singers, jossie made his virgin visit to perth which the very talented simon charles agnello captured here and here.

p/p/s after reading the many many postcards i've sent him in the last 18 months, joss' mother is convinced i'm his not-so-secret secret girlfriend.

p/p/p/s alex's mother, on the other hand, is convinced i'm an airstewardess.

oh the shame!

simon is genius

picture postcard, as always. so evocative just looking at the photo and i can smell the crisp clean morning and hear the gulls circling overhead, feel the nip in the air and the icy sensation you get when you inhale too hard when its cold out.

and because there's a scary sign on his site saying i can't reproduce the images, i thought twice before sharing this but ultimately couldn't resist. each and every image of stockholm resonates with me and affects me on such a fundamental level. wanted to get an early night but somehow couldn't sleep and feeling masochistic, i trawled through le petit morceau de papier and revisited some of my favourite memories. left my <3 in stockholm and looking at the moments simon captured left me with the teensy tiniest lump in my throat.

i miss the erasmus spirit, and my home away from home.

vaguely reminiscent

of how i felt at the point in time when i posted this post.

(hitting the rink at kungstragarden just after the first frost fell, november 2009)

parting salvo

so much for the hiatus.

a friend shared this nifty site with me and i was compelled to do a comparison for old time's sake. especially since mysterymeatballs began as an exchange blog.

one for the road - and here's to the last weekend of freedommmmm.

 

(time to return to my tv binge of family guy, modern family, big bang theory, dexter, american dad, the mentalist and 30 rock. once i've watched every existing episode, i'll start work with the right frame of mind. till then, excuse me as i actively pursue that all-elusive couch potato championship.)

ayumi and asakusa

 

ayumi-san was an excellent host! you cannot imagine my glee at being able to meet her in tokyo. the dear girl took a 5 hour overnight bus ride just so that we could be in the same place at the same time. she was one of my first friends in stockholm, and it so happened that we were corridormates as well! she stayed in the room right across the corridor from mine and we spent many happy hours pigging out in the kitchen and swapping asian grocer goods. what would i have done without her mirin and dashi :) plus on cold winter days she'd share steaming bowls of miso soup with me as we bemoaned the impossibility of acquiring japanese short grain rice in stockholm. when i returned to stockholm this summer, ayumi-san let me crash in her room and it was just like old times. and just when we thought we were getting good at this whole farewell game, i pop up in tokyo and we picked up where we left of. i maintain that the hallmark of true friendship is low maintenance, but with ayumi-san i just want to keep hanging out with her over and over again.