Disqus - Latest Comments for individeweal

Re: Swedish waffle recipe (Våfflor)

individeweal — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:10:36 -0000

I completely love the way that Swedes think it's utter heresy to eat anything at all sweet for breakfast. They're pretty relaxed about most social customs, but admitting to consuming sugar at breakfast leads to social pariah-hood.

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:53:54 -0000

That is quite seriously gorgeous. And you're right, it really does capture something about that part of town.

Re: sick!

individeweal — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:23:04 -0000

Poor you, I hope you recover fully and soon.

Alvedon is odd, it's one of those things that Swedish people seem to rave about as if it's the most amazing wonder drug, and then it turns out to be paracetamol (which does nothing for me).

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:34:48 -0000

One of my bar mitzvah class from last year took part in a Lucia procession in the water; you can see it in the first couple of minutes of this video!

PS: In typical Swedish illogicality, it's spelled lussekatter.

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:52:35 -0000

Yeah, it took me a while to stop jumping when people would say "Vad sa du?" if they didn't hear or understand me. I would have got smacked as a kid for "What?" or "What'd you say?". The other one is when Swedish people want to get my attention, and they say "Du!" In English that's not just bad manners, but pretty much only used for deliberate rudeness.

Joanna, yay for conjugations and understanding overheard conversations. That's definitely a fun stage to have reached!

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:40:17 -0000

I think cultural sensitivity may itself be primarily an American concept. The things Scandinavians say about eachother have nothing on the rivalries between England, Scotland and Wales. And once you get to European countries that actually have history, like France and Germany, it's even worse.

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:01:45 -0000

Yeah, I don't get why they split the prize between basically unrelated achievements either. Usually they'd find an excuse to call one of the prizes chemistry; I'll make a point of checking tomorrow to see if we'll get a chemistry prize for actual chemistry this year. I'm pleased zur Hausen was recognized as he's someone I look up to professionally, but even so.

Re: Paying for services rendered

individeweal — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:43:11 -0000

You make a really good point. I like the way they do things here: if you're a member, it's free, if you're a visitor, it's free, if you're someone who ought to be a member but hasn't bothered, you pay the cost of a year's membership to attend the HHD services. But it makes a lot of sense that providing community services costs money, no matter how sacred a purpose it is, and getting all prissy about money means that hardworking people don't get paid, or eventually that the services can't exist.

Progressive people love to quote that da levy poem / suicide note: my father and i / went to a temple to hear / the services / sat down in time / to hear that haunting / language for just a moment / when someone told us we had to stand in the / back – we had chosen ' reserved seats' / seats that had been paid for / we left and it was thus i completed / my external jewish education / my father was right / we never visited another temple / and now i wonder how many jews are / destroyed in this country each year / my father with his lonely eyes / trying to return home / only to have the american god of money / slapped in his face All smug cos we don't charge for services. But what that means is that the people who do care, who are engaged in the community, end up contributing a lot of free labour or money or both to subsidize the people who just turn up on Kol Nidrei and aren't really interested. Some of them might be da levy's father or Franz Rosenzweig or whoever, but I don't know if that's the fair way to do things.

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:17:55 -0000

Fantastic! Go us!

Re: kissing regrets-- a second look

individeweal — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:33:26 -0000

This is brilliant! (Like Chana, I would kiss you, but...)

Re: Tuition validating moment

individeweal — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:44:41 -0000

I started picking up odd bits of Swedish from reading the parallel texts in the siddur and chumash, before I started classes. So my validating moment came when I saw a poster for a film called Försoning, and I thought, aha, Yom Kippur is called Försoningsdagen in old Swedish machzorim, and therefore this film must be the Swedish version of Atonement. Not a word I would have expected to be useful outside the synagogue!

Re: Upp till kamp mot övergångsställen?

individeweal — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:18:51 -0000

That's pretty terrifying about the traffic crossings! Honestly, even if the button were marked by a cross, I'd still use them and not count it as a avodah zarah. It's partly a matter of safety, and partly the fact that avoiding pressing that button wouldn't make any positive difference.

I know some Israelis use an upside-down T-shape in place of a + sign, and then there's that whole issue about the Red Cross. But basically, a sign isn't an act of religious devotion all by itself. It may remind some people of their religious beliefs, but I don't think it's realistic to avoid every possible sign that might have religious connotations for some people. I'm reminded of the midrash which says that the reason God doesn't destroy all idols is that people worship pretty much anything that exists, including the sun and the earth itself.

As for midsummer, I'm glad I'm not just being prudish by feeling uncomfortable about dancing round a midsommarstång. My immediate reaction was that it's halfway between a cross and an asherah or sacred tree, but Swedish people seem to think I'm completely crazy to see any religious symbolism in it.

Re: Eikev - Guds ord på dörren, på armen och på kvinnor

individeweal — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:44:12 -0000

I followed a link over here from Joanna's blog and I'm most amused that the first post I see is about Tefillin Barbie. Jen is my best friend from college and she's been staying with me just this week. I even brought her to Stora Synagogan – you can read her impressions on her blog.

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:46:19 -0000

Yay! I'm so pleased he's one of us, and this is a lovely photo besides. *happy dance*

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:30:44 -0000

I'm pretty psyched about this too. But my inside sources tell me it's not quite as simple as it might seem; they still have to get past the fullmäktige and there is some opposition. Getting the community to act as if women were people is a kind of Zeno's paradox thing. But given the key decision went the right way, I'm optimistic.

Re: Joanna Shmoanna

individeweal — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:27:36 -0000

Personnummer yay! Sweden is so much more fun when you exist. Make sure you celebrate Swedish midsummer at the weekend, then you'll really be integrated.

Re: Stadium

individeweal — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:10:36 -0000

I really like the way that Swedish advertising includes a range of body types. It's not the whole range of possible body types that exist, but there are models and even mannequins in department store windows who are not rail thin. And even a few from different ethnic backgrounds (not just a token black haired woman who otherwise looks exactly like all the blonde-haired, blue-eyed nordic types). I definitely feel a lot less pressured to hate myself walking around Stockholm than any American city I've visited. And even though I wouldn't buy most of the clothes, it's nice to see the occasional shop window mannequin with a figure a little bit like mine. Nobody much fatter than me, but just that bit more variation makes a difference.

Re: "Settling" in

individeweal — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:07:45 -0000

You found Settlers players! Right there in your lab! I am insanely jealous.

Re: Princess postdoc

individeweal — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:57:08 -0000

Oh, that's fantastic news, congratulations! We should talk at some point, but I am buried in an essay crisis from the teachers' side of the fence, hope to emerge Wednesday-ish.