Join the campaign: Störa Enso!!!!

One of my fellow student in the preparation course at Sida made a documentary movie 2-3 years ago, about the Swedish company Stora Enso. Stora Enso has devastated a large part the rain forest in Brazil to plant and grow fast growing eucalyptus, that also consumes a lot of water. The affects on the environment and the local people is terrible!

Please take a look at this 30 min long film and then distribute it!

Homepage for the campaign: Störa Enso

And links to the movie:
-Det är sverige som är för litet Del 1 Del 2 Del 3
-It is sweden that is too small English
-O Papel do Eucalipto. Português

This film attracted a lot of attention and Stora Enso confronted the film makers and tried to stop the spreading of this film, accusing them for spreading lies. But the film team has a lot of support from several organisations and the MST in Brazil (MST = The landless Workers Movement)

Kalla Fakta at TV4 made their own report about it and showed it in Swedish television at the 10/2 2008, inspired by this film!

Two other very good documenteries:
-Vilka bönder ska få överleva?
-Bullshit

Enjoying my time here in Härnösand

Yesterday I turned 25 and Isabell, August and Kristofer woke me up with a birthday song and breakfast yesterday morning at 8.15! =) Very nice!

Pictures from the evening, when we made and ate crepes and cake! yummy!



Living here at Sida Society Center is better then staying at a 4-star hotel! We are served very good and tasty food every day (breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner, clean towls and the beds are very comfortable!

We are a part of a huge group of 87 people here, from different organisations such as Sofia, Framtidsjorden, Equmenia, Svenska Kyrkan, PMU, Latin Amerika gruppen and probobly some other organisation that I've forgot to mention :S



As you can see on the pictures above, we also have some time over for other activities, such as paddle a canoe, indoor swimming or just wrestle in the sand ;)

We only have 3 weeks left here now, so we must figure out how to make the best out of it! I'll try to keep you updated!

Temp living in Härnösand - building on fire the first night!

Yesterday (Sunday 9/8) I arrived here in Härnösand at 19.00 a clock, after 11 hours of train traveling (2 hours delayed due to an accident south of Uppsala).

I was a bit tired but happy to be here. It's a lovely little city and it was fun to meet my Nicaragua buddies here as well =)

Sida has a nice facility here in Härnösand. Isabell and I will be living together for this next 4 weeks. I added some pictures of our room and the sunset view here in Härnösand bellow.

There is only one thing I'm not so pleased about, and that is our most unpleasant experience this first night. At 03.00 a clock (am) the fire alarm woke us up from our nice and deep sleep. It was no drill!!!!

We had to run outside in our pyjamas (lucky I had one on!) and wait for the fire fighters to arrive. But we couldn't see or smell any smoke. After 30 minutes the alarm was shut down and we were allowed back inside again. Something in the attic had set off the alarm and the fire fighters walked around in the building, checking it out...

I was able to fall asleep again at 05.00 am... and at 7.30am it was time for us to wake up again. Breakfast and first day at "school" =)



And now I'll try to catch some very well needed sleep!
Whish me a fire-free night! =)

1st of august: Birthday-/far well party!

My birthday is actually the 16th of august, but since I'll be in Härnösand by then (between 9/8-4/9), I decided to throw a party this weekend instead. Just to be able to say hi and good bye to my friends, before I leave for Nicaragua in September.

Since I'm born in the 80's, a theme party with outfits from the 80's felt natural. To bad not all of my guest was able to find their old clothes. Or....did they?? ;)

Here are some pictures from that lovely night! And thank you Italy, for sending two nice Italians here to my party!!! =)

How to make delicious cinnamon buns

Just a little picture guide on how I make my delicious cinnamon buns, with apple! They are very yummy!

I made 41 buns, but I assure you they didn't last for long ;) (well, it's 38 left. At the moment...)

You can find the recipe in Swedish here and in english here:

Cinnamon Spins with apples
Portions: 36 pc

100 g margarine or butter
5 dl milk
50 g fresh yeast
1 dl sugar
1 tsp cardamom
1 / 2 tsp salt
13-14 dl wheat flour

Filling
150 g margarine or butter
1 dl sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2-3 apples

Garnish
1 egg
Nib or granulated sugar


Do like this
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add milk and heat to 37 ° C. Bit down the yeast in a bowl and stir down the butter and milk. Add sugar, cardamom and salt. Work in almost all flour to a smooth dough. Let it ferment covered with baking towel about 30 minutes.
2. Stir the ingredients for the filling except apples. Peel, stone and cut the apples into small cubes.
3. Remove the dough of flour and knead the bench. Divide dough into 2-3 parts. Roll out each piece into a flat about 30x50 cm, wide on the fill. Sprinkle over apple dice in half the dough and fold it double. Cut the strips about 3 cm wide, divide them in half but let them stay together in the upper edge. Twist them together into a "knot".
4. Put the buns on plates. Ferment them covered with a towel, about 25 minutes. Turn on the oven to 250 ° C.
5. Whip up the egg and brush the buns. Sprinkle over the sugar.
6. Bake the buns in the oven 6-8 minutes. Let them cool on the screen, under a towel.

Comida deliciosa!!

35 buns left now... ;)

Why I miss Småland...

I just took a quick look at my pictures from the last three weeks...
Oh man, I really miss the forest, the fresh air, a big garden where you can pick fresh fruits and berries of the trees and bushes and run around barefoot in the grass!

Nicaragua might not be able to offer me the company of my moms dogs, neither will I be able to pick blueberries, raspberries and chanterelle in the forest. But I guess that they have other things to offer, experience and taste. So I'm really looking forward to this trip, although I might miss my home in Småland a little bit....

It's not only in Småland that you can find blueberries and raspberries. My sister Anna and I went out to the forest yesterday and picked some. Then we ate it all with a lot of ice cream! Yummy!

Celebrity for a day...

I just have to brag a little bit now, because I succeeded in getting my face in the local newspaper here in Småland, yay! I became a celebrity for a whole day! ;)

It's a article about my upcoming trip to Nicaragua. Sorry my non-Swedish speaking fellows, it's all in Sweetish. But the photo is international! =)


Only minor errors in the article: The windpowertech course isn't part of SIDA's education and the organisation in Nicaragua is called Aso Fenix. Otherwise okay!

You can also find a part of the article on the world wide web (wow! this www is really huge... ;): Vimmerby Tidning