(Dis)Orientering

Orienteering is a big sport in Sweden, a country full of nature lovers. It basically consists of running between different checkpoints spread in an unknown piece of land, often a forest, using only a paper map and a compass. That's the serious version. For less athletic people there are other options, like the Hittaut app we found recently. The app shows a bunch of checkpoints spread all over the city's green areas (yes, because even if Gothenburg is the second largest city in the country it does have a lot of forests just at a stone's throw from the city - welcome to Sweden!) and using the GPS of the phone it is pretty easy to find the points. Once we get to the point, there's a code on a metal marker that we read and register in the app, which changes the status of that checkpoint to done. The goal is to do as many as possible and there are prizes every month. 

A orientação é um desporto bastante popular na Suécia, um país cheio de amantes da natureza. Basicamente consiste em correr entre diferentes pontos de controle espalhados pela natureza, geralmente numa floresta, usando apenas um mapa de papel e uma bússola. Esta é a versão séria, mas há outras opções para pessoas menos atléticas, como a app Hittaut, que encontramos recentemente. A app mostra os postos de controle espalhados por todas as áreas verdes da cidade (sim, porque mesmo Gotemburgo sendo a segunda maior cidade do país há muitas florestas a poucos passos da cidade - bem-vindos à Suécia!) e usando o GPS do telefone é muito fácil encontrar os pontos. Quando se chega ao ponto há um código no marcador de metal que lemos e registramos na app, o que altera o estado desse ponto para feito. O objetivo é fazer o maior número possível de controlos e até há prémios distribuídos todos os meses.

Sounds pretty cool, no? So we decided to give it a try, doing it my way... with an ice cream break in the middle.
Bem fixe, ah? E foi assim que decidimos experimentar mas à minha maneira... com uma pausa para gelado a meio.

We did 16 checkpoints running/walking a total of 13 km. The checkpoints are often in high points and we got beautiful views from up there. Sometimes I couldn't believe that was so close to the city! We also got to discover new paths and places. 

Fizemos 16 checkpoints e corremos/andamos um total de 13 km. Os pontos de controlo são muitas vezes em pontos altos e passamos por vistas muito bonitas. Às vezes nem dá para acreditar que estamos tão perto da cidade! Também descobrimos novos caminhos e sitios mais recatados.

J. always saw the markers first and there were times where the marker was right in front of me and I didn't see it! He also has a great sense of orientation knowing always his north, whereas I often guided us in the wrong direction... Such a great orienteer... But I did enjoy myself a lot!

O J. via sempre os marcadores primeiro que eu e houve vezes em que o marcador estava mesmo à minha frente e eu não o vi! Ele também tem um grande sentido de orientação e sabe sempre onde é o norte, enquanto que eu muitas vezes nos guiei para a direção errada... que grande orientadora... Mas diverti-me imenso e é isso que importa!

One of the funniest parts was when we had to cross a stream. Someone had set up a slackline and rope and it looked easy enough since it was a very small stream. 

Johan did it without a problem. Me too. Ok... not really. Halfway through I decided to question Johan's technique and find my own, which resulted in me almost falling into the water. Luckily I was close enough to the other side and J. could help me (after taking pictures of me of course!).

Uma das partes mais engraçadas foi quando tivemos que atravessar um ribeiro. Alguém montou uma slackline e uma corda para facilitar a travessia e parecia fácil o suficiente, já que era um ribeirito pequeno.

O J. atravessou sem problema nenhum. Eu também. Ok ok, não é verdade... A meio da travessia decidi questionar a técnica do J. e desenvolver uma técnica nova, o que quase me fez cair na água. Felizmente estava perto da mergem o suficiente para o J. me ajudar (depois de me tirar fotos claro!).

Before and after the moment I decided to rotate my feet... not a great decision...

Antes e depois do momento em que decidi rodar os pés... não foi lá grande decisão...

So, I'm no Tove Alexandersson (the Swedish champion in Orienteering), but I did enjoy the closeness to nature, the fresh air, the challenges of going through muddy places, jumping stones, crossing "rivers" and the variation that all that brings to my training, so I think I will be doing it more often from now on. 

Don't worry, if I come across some nice landscapes I'll share them here with you :)

Ou seja, não sou nenhuma Tove Alexandersson (a campeã sueca em Orientação), mas gostei da proximidade com a natureza, do ar fresco, dos desafios de correr pela lama, pular pedras, atravessar "rios" e a variação que tudo isso traz ao meu treino, por isso acho que vou fazer isto mais vezes.

Não fiquem preocupados, se encontrar paisagens giras eu partilho-as por aqui :)

Fighting winter blues at a Film Festival - Newbie

A few years ago a friend of mine told me he never watches Holywood movies, but loved those shown at film festivals. At the time I didn't really get his point and even thought that it was a bit eccentric to say something like that. I totally get him now. There are good Holywood movies, don't get me wrong, but there are many more interesting movies outside of it, especially because of the diversity of cultures. 

How did I come to this conclusion? I started going to Gothenburg's Film Festival (GFF). The first two years, 2016 and 2017, I watched 4 movies. Last year I watched 8 and this year 11 (it became 10 because I was sick and didn't go to the first one). Yes, I'm addicted. Of course, not all were good, but most of them were. Besides, it helps to fight the winter blues that come after Christmas because the festival is at the end of January. 

I also found out that going to a film festival is more than just going to the movies. Sometimes you get to see and to question the actors and directors. You get to hear their views and stories about the makings of their movies. You get to see how superstars are just like us (Alicja Vikander was cold and went to get a sweater, Mads Mikkelsen is charming as expected and super nice - very important piece of information this parenthesis). You get to learn about cultures and countries whose movies never get to the big cinemas. 

For me, the GFF is also one of the few chances I have to see movies in my own language. That is probably the case of many foreigners living in Sweden and my latest post on the Newbie was written exactly thinking about them. 

The title is Fighting winter blues at a Film Festival and you can read the whole article here. 

My favourite movies in the GFF this year were "Arctic" of Joe Penna, and "Woman at War" of  Benedikt Erlingsson. 

     

How about you? Have you seen any interesting movie lately? Tell me!

Cooking and meal planning

I enjoy cooking and I like trying on new recipes, especially if they are different and come from other countries. It's just another way of travelling without having to pack your bags.

Nowadays, it is very easy to find recipes on the internet and supermarkets became more global over the years, so that it's easier to find exotic ingredients far from their original country. Of course is always better and more environmentally friendly to consume local products, but one should also take advantage of the large variety offered.

When I moved to Sweden, determined to change my life for better, I decided that I had to find a way to include "trying new recipes" in my routine. My shelves are full of cookbooks, collected during all of my travels, but the recipes were just not going from paper to the plate. That was when I decided to start planning our weekly dinners. At the beginning of the week, we decide what we are eating that week, taking the time to find some new recipes and repeat other old good ones. This may sound like a lot of work, but we are usually done in 20 minutes, plus we save loads of time in the supermarket, and we almost never throw food away, since we always buy what we need for each recipe. On top of that was a bonus advantage. Since we see our meals written down on our wipe-off board, it is easy to notice if the meals are not balanced and we can correct that. What I mean is that we usually make one dinner with meat, one with fish, one vegetarian, and one "fast but good". (Fridays are for comfort food, according to Swedish tradition, so we don't plan those.)

Somehow, this makes it easier to choose recipes, we feel that we eat more properly and varied food, and we try at least one new recipe per week and sometimes more. It is also quite nice to not have to ask each other "what's dinner today" everyday after work. It's not very good to make food decisions when we are tired and hungry...

Apparently, the language I write things in changes according to the source of the recipe...

The inspiration for new dishes doesn't come alone from my cookbooks, but also from the Swedish food magazine Allt om Mat (all about food), the website taste.com.au (from Australia, great recipes!), and from other pages and blogs.

My favourite new recipes get usually put it my recipes blog, so that I can access them from everywhere when I need them. That's my way to turn new recipes into old ones. Here are my most recent finds. All delicious of course!

Thai white bean stew with cucumber salad and yoghurt (recipe here)

Guisado de feijão branco tailandês com salada de pepino e iogurte

Parmesan chicken gratin with spinach (recipe here)

Gratinado de peitos de frango com parmesão e espinafres

Blood orange roasted chicken with sriracha sauce, served with fried rice and fennel (recipe here)

Frango assado com toranja e sriracha, servido com arroz e funcho

Sweet potato curry (recipe here)

This is one of my favourite recipes, I have already made it many times, it's just so good!

Curry de batata doce

Esta é uma das minhas receitas favoritas, e já a fiz muitas vezes, porque é mesmo mesmo boa!

 Cauliflower curry with peanut flavour served with naan bread. (recipe here)

The picture doesn't do it justice. The sauce is really rich in peanut flavour and is delicious!

Caril de couve-flor curry com sabor a amendoim servido com pão naan.

A imagem não faz justiça ao sabor. O molho é realmente rico em amendoim e é delicioso!

Homemade granola (recipe here)

Granola caseira

The granola was probably the best find we made. Store-bought granola is full of unnecessary sugars. This one is not. It makes a huge difference and we don't get hungry an hour after we ate it. The best part is to be able to vary the ingredients that go in it and make it to our taste. We will never buy granola again, because once you try your own it is just not possible to go back.

PS. I just realised none of the recipes were of fish! I did find some good ones, but didn't have the time to put them on the blog yet.

Unemployment

To be unemployed is hard and it brings a lot of questions, indecisions, and insecurity, harming our self-esteem as well. I'm no longer unemployed (yay!), but I have been for over a year and it was a new experience. I'm actually preparing a "more serious article" about that for the Newbie blog, but that's not what this post is about. This one is about the good side of being unemployed. 

I have always been a positive person and I tried to use my unemployed time the most fruitful way possible. Now, looking back at these last 16 months, I think I did a pretty good job at being unemployed. All those moments I was not moaning about how I would never find a job again, that is!

Learned a new language

This was probably the most useful thing I did. Quite exactly 11 months ago I started the first Swedish course. Quite exactly 11 months ago I could say about 20 words in Swedish and that was it. Nowadays, I can have conversations, read books and use the language on a daily basis. I actually got the job because I can speak Swedish!

Read

I love reading and I have never read so many books as these past months. I read 32 books in 2016 (plus some easy ones in Swedish) and just this year I already read 10. This I will miss...

Blogged

Although I didn't catch up in writing about all my trips in this blog as planned, I wrote more than ever. I wrote here, I started blogging for the Newbie Guide to Sweden and I created a blog in Swedish for my school. I certainly enjoyed this part too!

Ran

I could have written exercised, but truth is that it was mostly running. I'm not sure I ran more than normal, because I did it already a lot even when I had a job, but somehow it was more pleasant. I could run in the morning without having to do it at 7am. Or I could wait for the rain to pass. I could avoid running in the dark even during the winter (a luxury!). Basically, I had more options and freedom.

Organised and cleaned

If the boy was paying most of the bills it was only fair that I was the one organising things and cleaning the house. Just like a couple in the 50's! Truth is since I could do a little everyday it became much easier to just hold everything under control. 

Watched TV

Even though I'm not a big TV watcher, there were times that I just stopped what I was doing, sat down and watch an episode of something. These were the moments in which I really had the feeling "I'm unemployed therefore I can".

This was basically how I filled my time. Most days were actually pretty busy but I know that it couldn't have been any other way, because I just can't sit around the whole time without freaking out. I will certainly miss the time to do (more of) some of these things, but I also miss other things that come with having a job. It's all about having the right balance and if I could find it while unemployed, I can certainly find it again while working. Or so I hope.

My Tango career*

When we went to Buenos Aires we couldn't miss the opportunity to go to a tango show. Among the options we chose a package with a dance class, dinner and the show itself. It was fantastic! The teachers of the class were also performing later in the show and they we were so good that it is hard to describe. 

With those memories in our heads we didn't hesitate in signing up for a beginners course of tango, here in Gothenburg. We started by finding out that there are different kinds of tango. We would be learning the most common type, the one for milongas (dance gatherings), which is less expressive and less wow!, if compared to the one seen in the shows. That put me off a little bit, because I though if I was going to put my money, effort and time in learning a dance, let it be so I can shine like a star. That was still not a problem because every time the teachers danced with each other it look really cool. The problem was that it is waaayy more difficult than it looks. In the classes we were not just learning automatic steps, but the teachers insisted in correcting the whole body, and that is the most difficult. When I got the feet right I was told to watch out my frame, or my back, or my eyes, or whatever. Every time I tried to correct one of those I lost the feet. Or the frame. Or the back. Or the eyes. 

We almost looked like this... (photo from the internet)

It didn't help that my time to train was zero, because of everything else going on in school.

It didn't help that sometimes it felt like a business, with suggestions of more classes, workshops and training sessions during the weekends, for exorbitant prices (well, all prices are exorbitant in Sweden!).

It didn't help that we were forced to change partners now and then. Between the guy who thought he was better than he was, the guy who refused to speak to me (at first I thought he couldn't understand english, so I switched to swedish and it didn't work either. Later on I heard him talking a lot to another person in english, so I have to suppose the problem was me) and the guy that was so tall that made my arms hurt, the change became extremely stressful for me. Similar to Johan.

It didn't help that the class actually had others who were not beginners and I felt hopeless when dancing with them.

It didn't help that the other beginners missed classes now and then. Maybe as frustrated as we were?

It didn't help that winter came and leaving our warm and cosy flat, when it's dark and 0 ºC, became extremely difficult.

So last week... 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave for class, I said something like "I would rather go outside and run in shorts than go to class" (it was 2 ºC then). He stared at me, laughed and said "Should we really keep doing a hobby that we don't enjoy anymore?". The answer is obvious: no. A hobby shouldn't feel this hard! It shouldn't feel like an obligation. So we decided to stop. We were a bit sorry for the teachers because they are cool and made the class more fun, but it was really not working for us and we lost all our motivation. 

Maybe this was the end (and the beginning) of our tango career, or maybe one day we will try again. 

When we have more time. So probably when we retire or so!

*obviously a joke!