Random stuff about China: apparently, the toothpaste is really sweet there, and so are the chips and chocolate. I’m bringing three tubes of toothpaste with me, but I’ll just have to go without Swedish chips and decent chocolate for a year. I doubt I’ll lack snacks though; they’re myriad in China, just completely different. Also, anything Western is expensive as hell – the drinks in bars and clubs are on par with Sweden I’m told (this I’ll have to investigate), whereas Western brands of cosmetics and clothing are much more expensive than here. A pizza costs about the same as here, especially if you go to a cool, fancy place like Pizza Hut, and I remember last time I was in China, a KFC meal cost about 40 kr. Considering that the average monthly salary (in cities) is around 600 – 1000 kr, that’s quite a lot. All this has to be confirmed when I go to China of course, even if it means eating at Pizza Hut and KFC. *sigh*

Arizona is still with me in some ways (sound familiar?). I was horrified of bugs before I went there, but after seeing tarantulas, palo verde beetles and tarantula hawks, the Swedish insects are too small and meek to be afraid of. (Though I did get bitten by an ant this weekend, and it actually hurt for quite a while. But Swedish ants are quite large and nasty) I no longer worship the sun, I don’t particularly want to get tanned and I prefer the shade more often. Also, I seem to have developed a higher tolerance for heat. Sweden is having a bit of a heatwave right now with temperatures above 30 C (that’s hot for Sweden), but as my Mom was fanning herself and complaining about the heat, I was completely unperturbed. Figures, the one summer I’m out of the country, and it’s the best summer Sweden’s had in years. And did the Swedish roads and parking lots shrink in the heat or something? They’re so narrow and hard to maneuver in, though I must say it’s nice to be able to walk to places again. Oh, and the milk expires in the blink of an eye, but then again, August is called “rötmånad” (the rotting month).

I went sailing with my parents this weekend. There was virtually no wind, so we bobbed to one of our favourite bays in Mälaren and spent the rest of the day swimming, resting and reading, which is about all you can do on a sailing boat. The limited range of activities is actually one of the best things about sailing: without a TV or Internet, you have no choice but to rest and interact with the people on the boat with you. You can’t make too specific plans about going from A to B, because it all depends on the wind. If it isn’t right, there’s nothing you can do, so you might as well relax and kick back. You can’t make any appointments, because you don’t know how the weather will be and how long it’ll take you to get somewhere. And phones seldom work in the middle of nowhere.
For me, there’s just something incredibly relaxing about letting go of my usual control of things, the only things of concern being the direction of the wind and how to position the sails. The world consists of only the deep blue sky, the billowing sails, the wind in your hair and the water below. Clichéd but true.
I went rowing in our little rowboat as the sun began to set. The water was almost like a mirror, and all was quiet except for the occasional seagull and my mp3. That kind of silence is really quite extraordinary. I can scarcely believe that three weeks from now, I’ll be in one of the busiest cities in the world. I’ll always have people around me – especially if I live in a dorm – and there’ll always be noise from the street; people yelling, cars honking, and the general everyday bustling that is a city populated with 12 million people. It’ll be a year before I experience this kind of silence again, and it’s both exhilarating and a little daunting.

Also: there’s nothing quite as delicious as fresh, sun-ripened fruit and vegetables from your own garden, or rather, my parents’ garden. The yellow cherry tomatoes have redefined my entire concept of tomatoes, and the dark red cherries are sweet and tart and perfect.

I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’m going to leave soon or simply because it’s late summer – the most beautiful season in my opinion – but this past week or so has made me fall in love with Sweden all over again.