Klara Li

Gothenburg
I wrote this post two days ago but I didn´t have any Wifi so I couldn´t upload it then.

 

I´m on the train on the way to Sundsvall. Me and Kaspar travelled from Gothenburg this afternoon. After we left Båstad we travelled to Malmö where Kaspar did a gig with his band ”Offerstigen”. Then we went to Gothenburg to visit one of his childhood friends. I feel a bit bad about travelling around so much during these times of Corona but I will check if it´s possible to take a test before we start working in elder care. It feels embarrassing just to write this because I hear how stupid it sounds. My excuse is that we spent almost two weeks on the countryside in Skåne when we first arrived in Sweden. Actually I don´t even have an excuse, I´m just selfish and hoping for the best. 

 

I just visited Malmö one time before. It was during Christmas when me and Kaspar weren´t supposed to see each other for a month. We we´re missing each other so much after just a week that I decided to visit him. It was really nice then even though the weather was dark and stormy so I didn´t see so much of the city. This time the summer had arrived. Kaspar rehearsed a lot with the band and I spent a lot of time walking around. I went to some second hand stores and visited two churches. I´m kinda spiritual but not really christian. I really like churches though. They can be really beautiful with all their paintings and colourful windows. It´s also nice to sit down in there and focus on my own presence. A lot of times when I sit down alone somewhere outside the house I realise how stressed and unfocused I am. It takes some time to calm down and be able to think clearly. Church music is also really beautiful, I really like the organs and choirs. I haven’t been that much in church though but maybe it´s something I should start doing more often. I don´t think I want to be part of a christian assembly or something like that but the church is a nice place to go to for thinking and mindfulness practice. 

 

Offerstigen at Plan-B 

 
 
 
 

A few days later we went to Gothenburg. I´ve never visited the city before but it was really beautiful. It was like a more southern version of Stockholm. We didn´t visit so many places so I mostly saw the city centre from outside. The first day we went to a lake. It was warm in the water and I read a book called ”Kärlek i Europa” written by Birgitta Stenberg. It´s about her youth travelling around in Europe. She describes her desire to become a writer and how she discovers the creative scene in Paris and Cannes. It´s a lot of prostitution and other dark stuff too though which makes her story seems less glamorous and fun. 

 

The following day me and Kaspar went to a garden and wanted to visit the Palm House but it was closed due to the epidemic. We ate sushi for lunch just like we´ve been doing a lot during the trip. Afterwards we went to the ocean together with Kaspars friend. The beach was filled with cliffs and we had to climd a bit. I really suck at climbing so I just felt scared an irritated. It was really beautiful there though even if I was angry because I had to climb so much. There were jelly fish, oysters and crabs in the water, Kaspar and his friend even saw a small eel. I´m so scared of this small water animals. The worst thing I know is snakes and eels does exactly the same creepy winding movement. Snakes on water is my dreadful nightmare. I really dislike jelly fish too. They just have such a creepy consistency. I did manage to go into the water though. I stood close to the ocean shore and felt a bit uncomfortable. I blame it on the fact that I grew up in northern Sweden and used to swim in a river where no such creepy animals lived.  

I´m really tanned now and have a lot of summer feeling in me. I feel excited to start working in elder care again even though I know it can be hard and stressful sometimes. It´s the work I´ve appreciated the most in my work life experience. I hope Kaspar will like it too. I think it will fit him but if he hates it we´re just bound to a schedule for a month. He never visited Sundsvall before and I´m looking forward to introduce him to my family and friends. I´m looking forward to going back to Berlin too, even if we haven´t planned to return until September. I feel like a lot of good things lies ahead of me even if I feel some stress about the details.