Last time I stayed in Sweden I had found ways to get what I neeeded, and how to navigate the stores. This time I’m in a good position to pick out what I need and know where to find it, as well as recognising some unfamiliar packaging for foodstuffs I would normally get in Greece.…
I absent mindedly dropped by my local church here in Ljura, Sweden, and as I chanced upon singing, I was encouraged to sit. I endd up staying and realisations dwned upon me…..….At some point in the Swedish drone of the sermon, I heard a part was being read out in Arabic. There I was having…
It’s extraordinary what some of us can put ourselves through, at the promise of “love” that we wouldn’t come even close to undergoing for anything in work, friendship, creative projects or community. It’s because promises of “love” sort of assume half the construct is already complete: the other person’s half (them “loving” you)… As it…
When ones personal world is invaded, and attacked, a public crisis can’t reach a person to injure them, the way it does others. They are desensitised to it. When one is singled out for retribution, a mass crisis stands out for its benefit of allegiance. To suffer restrictions or undeserved punishment cannot bite as deeply…
I once missed the bus, I did, I did, But there is no bus today I can walk and walk, I’m of the lucky ones: the strict rules here don’t hold sway I was late to see them, I was, I was, But there are no get-togethers any more. I was even late for a…
seldom does a public crisis transgress into what Foucault calls ‘life mechanisms’ that is, seldom to public crises affect the minute processes that the majority execute on a daily basis. At least, since the Cold War or World wars. Seldom do they cross into activities as personal as hand washing and by extension, toilet functions…
The hallways are quiet, even the streets are quiet- or is it my imagination? Or is it relative to the resounding public murmur that we all seem to be aware of? I would have liked to think the silence is a sign of collective mourning, but it’s more likely one of anticipation, expectancy and apprehension.…
On the street , on ground level, I am as much as likely to hear Arabic as I am Swedish here in Sweden. Im also more interested to learn Arabic than I am Swedish. It comes more naturally to exchange rudimentary words in barely-there Arabic, than in poor rudimentary Swedish! There is a visible presence…
Though the natives « take it as a given » I can feel the climate which the strong social welfare state creates, a greater sense of all-round ease and security. It’s hard to pin down, and no local could talk to you about it because it’s a predicate of their life. Migrants I’ve met can’t usually differentiate…
Κατι για τα βιώματα μου την “φυση” εδω στην χώρα της skogsrå και του strömkarlen, την Σουιδια. Η skogsrå είναι μια επικίνδυνη «αποπλανευτρια» των δασών! Ο strömkarlen είναι το αντιστυχο αρσενικό πλάσμα που κατοικεί σε λίμνες και κρατάει ένα βιολί. Σκοτεινιάζει στις 15.30 κάθε μερα, αλλα δεν εχει απαρετητα πολύ συννεφια. Όσοι μενουν εδώ μόνιμα εχουν…
starlanguage 