Växjö

Växjö is a small town in the region of Småland, in the south of Sweden. It's name means "lake road" (väg sjö), which makes sense as the city is surrounded by different lakes. It was not the first time we were there (you can read about my first experience here), so this time we didn't walk around as much but enjoyed the company of our host instead. 

Växjö é uma pequena cidade na região de Småland, no sul da Suécia. O nome significa "estrada do lago" (väg sjö), o que faz sentido uma vez que a cidade é cercada por vários lagos. Não foi a primeira vez que fomos a Växjö (podem ler sobre a minha primeira experiência aqui), portanto desta vez andamos menos pela cidade e fizemos mais companhia à nossa anfitriã.

Photos taken during a walk around lake Trummen.

 As fotos foram tiradas durante um passeio em volta do lago Trummen.

  Teleborg Castle / Castelo de Teleborg

An artistic installation by the Växjö lake (the main lake or the most central).

Uma instalação artística à beira do lago Växjö (o lago principal ou o mais central).

 Park by the Växjö lake / Parque à beira do lago Växjö

The weather got better and better, and it went from grey to beautiful blue skies in the last day, which was the race day. We also celebrated Valborg, which is a Swedish tradition to welcome the Spring on the 30th of April. Celebrations normally include the lighting of a bonfire, choral singing and dancing, and a speech to honour the arrival of the long awaited spring season. Similar festivities occur also in other countries, but usually more connected to religion, in which is said that the fire is used to scare away witches. It's unclear if the Swedish bonfires have the same origin or not, but many say that they do scare the winter witches and let the spring in. 

O tempo foi ficando cada vez melhor e passou do cinzento a céu azul no último dia, que foi o dia da corrida. Também celebramos o Valborg, que é uma tradição sueca para receber a Primavera, no dia 30 de abril. As celebrações normalmente incluem uma fogueira, um coro, danças e um discurso para homenagear a chegada da tão esperada primavera. Festas semelhantes também ocorrem em outros países, mas são geralmente mais ligadas à religião, nas quais se diz que o fogo é usado para assustar as bruxas. Não se sabe bem se a origem das fogueiras suecas é a mesma ou não, mas muitos dizem que nesta noite se assustam as bruxas de inverno para que a primavera possa finalmente chegar.

 The band

 The lightning of the fire / O acender da fogueira

In Växjö the speech is held in the main square and then a band, a group of cheerleaders and a group of young people holding torches parade through the streets of the city until they reach the side of the lake, where the bonfire is lightened. We didn't see the speech, but instead waited next to the lake to see the fire. Fire is always something mystical that in a way brings some spirituality to the atmosphere, especially if surrounded by the sounds of drums and a beautiful sunset. 

Em Växjö o discurso é feito na praça principal e em seguida uma banda, um grupo de cheerleaders e um grupo de jovens com tochas desfila pelas ruas da cidade até chegar à beira do lado, onde a fogueira é acendida. Nós não vimos o discurso e em vez disso esperamos ao lado do lago para ver a fogueira. Fogo é sempre algo místico que adiciona uma certa espiritualidade à atmosfera, especialmente quando rodeado por sons de tambores e um belo pôr do sol.

Even the moon was more beautiful than normal and allowed us to see its more shady side. 

Até a lua estava mais bonita que o normal e nos deixou ver o seu lado mais sombrio.

 Sunset by the park / O pôr do sol no parque

The colours became very spooky with the fire burning nearby.

As cores ficaram mais misteriosas na presença do fogo.

It was really a great weekend with running, good weather, good food and especially great company. Let there be more like this!

Foi mesmo um fim de semana fantástico com corrida, bom tempo, boa comida e principalmente boa companhia. Que venham mais como este!

Växjö's Half Marathon

Last weekend we, the usual 3, ran the half marathon in Växjö. None of us had training as much as wanted. Among other things we were all sick at one point or another and had a lot of work or a new job to suck our energy. 

Picture taken by our local supporter

Still, the race was a promising one, because the course was beautiful and flat, and there were only around 250 people registered. There was also a 5k race starting an hour before ours and a 10k starting 2h later. The 10k was actually the main event with about 1000 people registered. That made it quite perfect, because it was never crowded to run the narrow paths of the half marathon, but there were a lot people around so we wouldn't feel lonely for too long. 

The course was breathtaking, probably the most beautiful 21km I have ever ran, even if it was a two-lap race. Half of each lap went through narrow roads and small paths inside a forest, that was partly along a lake. The other half was a full lap around the most famous lake of Växjö. There was a point in which the path actually went in between two lakes (or if it was through the same lake, I actually don't know). It was warm but not too warm, the sun was shining and the water was reflecting the light in a beautiful way. There and then I had my runner's high - that moment when the endorphines kick and the world is beautiful. 

I'm so lucky to be here running, it's so beautiful, my life is so beautiful, everything is perfect, oh how lucky I am.

Down there in the background is me. It was really nice to not run in a crowd like in most races.

Of course that was during the first lap, when I had 11km to go. In the second lap, with 1 km to go, I tried to go into that mood to forget how tired I was. The feeling was still there but it was a bit faked. It still kept my mind busy and I ran the whole thing without ever stopping. It was not the easiest half marathon I have ever ran and the fact that I hadn't training enough was clear, especially the day after. Still, I did it and I was super proud of myself, because I actually broke my record in an official race (my current record is during a training... I know, not common, but I was inspired that day). 

The boys also did quite well and we were all happy to be there. We had a wonderful supporter that did her best to be present and cheer us up when we most needed (with 2km to go I was dying...).

I wish I had pictures of the course but I don't. I do have some pictures of the city and I will be posting those soon in another post.

 Växjöloppet, May 2017, 1h50m46s

I laugh...

... at the time that I was going to school 3 days a week and I thought I was so busy that I didn't have time to do everything I wanted. 

Now, I not only have the time but I don't have the energy either. I'm always dead tired at the end of the day. Hopefully, it gets better as I get used to having a full time job again. Running a half marathon on Monday might have greatly contributed for how tired I feel, but it also gave me material for a couple of posts, so it was worth it. I will be posting something more proper soon!

Marta's Sara Jump

My sister and some friends went to visit Sport Lisboa e Benfica's stadium, in Lisbon. SLB has been our football club since we grew up and the stadium is partly open to the public as long as there are no matches that day. During her visit she performed the required (by sisterhood) Sara Jump. 

Thank you Marta!

A minha irmã e alguns amigos foram visitar o estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, em Lisboa. O SLB tem sido o nosso clube de futebol desde crianças e o estádio está parcialmente aberto ao público, desde que não haja jogos nesses dia. Durante a sua visita ela fez o Sara Jump da praxe (requerido por irmandade).

Obrigado Marta!

Marta, Lisbon, April 2017

Stories of my world #12

I met him at work, in the pause room. He is a retired professor of the Chemistry department who comes and visits sometimes. Just before we met, I was in my office wondering if I should or not go to the afternoon break, because I had some stuff to do. I did go. As I prepared my tea, I noticed an available chair across from that man, with his shining white hair, probably aged by many years spent in the laboratory. I sat across him wondering if we had already been introduced or not. There are a lot of new faces to be remembered and his I could not recall. As soon as I sat down he said "you must be the new Portuguese girl". I am. And he replied, in strongly accented Portuguese, that he knew a few words in my language. He had visited many times a group in Brazil and ended up learning some essentials. He had also been in Portugal several times, although he found our Portuguese harder to understand. Not knowing how much he could speak I asked if we should change to Portuguese or continue in Swedish. He laughed and said I got it wrong, he couldn't really have a conversation in Portuguese. 

As I enjoyed my tea and he enjoyed his coffee, I told him how I had also lived in Brazil. We talked about how exotic the country is and shared opinions on how interesting experience it was to be able to live there. He asked me in which city I lived. As always, I replied Belo Horizonte, getting ready to explain where it is because not that many know. But he knew where it is. He not only knew where it is, but it was also the city where he lived in Brazil! In that huge country we both had lived in the same city!

Knowing he is a chemist I asked if he had visited a group in the Chemistry department of the local university. No, he replied, he was visiting a group in the physics department. What? I worked in the physics department for three years! In a 50.000 people university, we actually worked in the same department! His eyes were shining, as I'm sure mine were too, and we shared common experiences and places. We tried to find people we knew in common as well but that was harder, as his last visit to the department was in 1984, when my Brazilian ex-boss was not even a professor. 

That was how a common coffee break at work became a fantastic story. Another one to add to "the world is so small" collection. I love these. Especially the most unexpected ones. Like this one. Thank you S.

Art tour in Majorna

Just outside Röda Sten museum / À porta do museu Röda Sten 

Last weekend was the Konstrundan i Majorna, which means art tour in Majorna, the art neighbourhood of Gothenburg. During 3 days, 73 different artists opened their private work spaces to the public and showed their creations. A sample piece of each artist was also shown in the Röda Sten museum (Red Stone). We started our art tour at the museum and then visited some of the open workshops. It was very interesting to see the some of the spaces, specially those that looked more real and less fixed up.

O fim de semana passado foi o Konstrundan i Majorna, que significa a passeio da arte em Majorna, o bairro artístico de Gotemburgo. Durante 3 dias, 73 artistas abriram os seus espaços de trabalho ao público e mostraram as suas criações. Uma amostra de cada artista foi também exibida no museu Röda Sten (Pedra Vermelha). Foi aí mesmo que começamos o nosso passeio e em seguida visitamos algumas das oficinas abertas. Foi muito interessante ver alguns dos espaços, especialmente aqueles que pareciam mais reais e menos arranjadinhos.

Some of the pieces at the museum (up and down)

Algumas das peças no museu (em cima e em baixo) 

This was one of my favourite workshops. The artist, Anna Eggert, does a lot of work in glass and metals and you could tell that was really her workspace as there were tools and pieces a bit everywhere. It was very cosy and enjoyable, as if one could feel more inspired just by being there.

Esta foi uma das minhas oficinas favoritas. A artista, Anna Eggert, trabalha em vidro e metal e percebia-se que aquele era realmente o seu espaço de trabalho porque havia ferramentas e peças um pouco por toda a parte. O espaço era de certa forma aconchegante e agradável, como se nos pudessemos sentir mais inspirados só por ali estarmos.

 Some of the artists needed that extra space to show their pieces and did it in the kitchen.

Alguns artistas precisaram de espaço extra e escolheram mostrar as peças na cozinha. 

Fabric section with several different artists / Secção de tecidos contando com vários artistas

I liked that behind the tapestry were loads of other pieces. Too many to be shown this time, all waiting for an opportunity. 

Gostei do facto de atrás da tapeçaria estarem tantas outras peças. Demasiadas para serem mostradas desta vez, todas à espera de uma oportunidade.

We finished our tour charging batteries in a nearby cafe where we ate giant sandwiches. Unfortunately, it was really windy and unpleasant and we couldn't enjoy the beautiful sunshine as much. Still, we had a nice time over all.  

Acabamos o nosso passeio a comer sandes enormes num café ali ao pé para carregarmos baterias. Infelizmente estava muito ventoso e desagradável e não pudemos aproveitar o sol como queríamos. Ainda assim e no total a experiência foi muito positiva.

Libraries, the best kept Swedish secret - Newbie

I have confessed here before how much I like libraries and how I dreamed of living in a place with cosy, functional and good libraries. My dream came true. Swedish libraries are fantastic and the possibilities they offer go way beyond borrowing books. 

While I was writing the article for the Newbie, I saw in the news section of my library that they had recently got a cat that we all could go and pat. At first I became super happy, because I love cats but can't have any. Then I started questioning the idea, as the cat could get lost in that huge library full of hiding places. Later on, I saw that it was an April fool's joke... I will have to find some other cat to pat.

Apart from that, there's a lot to do in Swedish libraries, as you can read in the article I wrote to the Newbie Guide to Sweden.

Gothenburg's library

The new job

I have now worked for a week and a half, and there's no way I can answer yet the questions I wrote in this post. Although, I do already have a better idea how my life is going to be. In general, I can say so far so good.

1. Surrounded by brilliant minds again

Many have said that one of the challenges of being a research scientist is that one is constantly surrounded by brilliant minds, which can be challenging for the self-esteem. That never really affected me in a negative way and I have always enjoyed listening to interesting and cool stories. I felt quite the opposite, actually. When I was on the verge of abandoning science I feared that I would miss that part. Now I'm back among them, with the advantage that I don't work as a researcher, which removes all the pressure. I can just sit and enjoy their stories and discussions. 

Yesterday, for instance, my office mate was going to film an ice-skating Swedish champion. Later on, the images would be used to make 3D simulations and study the movements of the athlete, during jumps and pirouettes. 

2. Variation

My new job has a lot of movement, I work at 4 different floors and run up and down a lot. Which I like. It involves a lot of organising, planing and talking with people. Which I like. If I would had taken plan B, I would have ended up in a similar job, although outside of science.

3. Boss with a smile

I have had good and bad bosses. To be more exact, I have had great bosses and really bad bosses. No midterm. I have a feeling that I have a great one again. He has not been only been good and understanding, but he has also always a friendly smile. He, who told during my first interview that I'm likeable, probably without having any idea that he is even more likeable than me. 

4. Nice colleagues

Colleagues can make or break a job. Fortunately, the environment at work seems to be great. Of course it is too early to say too much, but it looks promising. 

All these are good points of course, but that doesn't mean that I have now lowered my shields. I know that bad days are coming and that there will probably be times or tasks that I won't enjoy as much. But that's ok. I hope I'm ready for them. 

For now I'll keep enjoying the highs. 

You got to love Sweden...

... but not always.

If you ask any Swede about bureaucracy they will tell you that it is terrible in Sweden. It's not. Everything works reasonably well and that's noticeable if you compare it with most other countries. However, bureaucracy is still bureaucracy. Mistakes can happen leading to funny/weird/stupid situations. Even in Sweden. Like this one.

Johan, who is Swedish, went to the dentist. A week later he got a letter from the social health care (or whatever försäkringskassan is called in English), in which was required that he presented proof from the migration office that he is allowed to live in Sweden. 

Our best guess is that they couldn't find him in the system, although he never had problems when he went to other doctors, assuming immediately that he was a foreigner due to one of his names being German.

He laughed and cried at the situation! What? I am Swedish! Where will you deport me to if I don't show this document? To Sweden?

Perfection doesn't exist after all...

Learning Swedish with TV shows

We grow up listening to our parents saying "you can only watch TV when you are done with your homework". Then we come to Sweden and hear the teachers encouraging the students to watch TV. The times have changed. Or not!

It does actually make sense that one should watch TV to practice a new language. It certainly helped me a lot to develop my Swedish, specially because the language has this very particular melody, that goes up and down.

In my latest article for the Newbie Guide to Sweden I talk about my favourite Swedish TV shows and how they taught me useful things about the language, the culture and the country itself. Read more here.