After 13 years in Singapore it’s time to move back to Sweden, who knows for how long, and I’m expecting that I’ll have various odd realizations about life in Sweden as I’m going back.
4 posts in this series
in Sweden I can enjoy one of the best uses of curry: the banana, chicken, curry powder, and peanut pizza! Washed down with an apple/orange soda.
…I really think it would be slightly better with some pineapple, though 😉😇
drove a car for the first time in a looong while today (years), and after I backed out of the driveway something felt off: I wasn’t 100% sure where I was supposed to be on the road.
I just came to Sweden yesterday, after five days in Bengaluru, India, where I sat in the front passenger seat (i.e. the Swedish driver’s seat). I was positioning the car like I had been sitting in India (fast thinking?).
So I decided to go back to the driveway, because I’m not putting someone else at risk when I haven’t driven for a while and I’m getting a weird feeling.
As I went back I reflected that I know it’s right-hand drive in Sweden (slow thinking?), but I had mostly experienced sitting in that seat as a passenger in left-hand driving countries (Singapore for more than a decade, and just days before, India). I was 95% sure it meant I put myself so I’m closer to the middle of the road.
As I looked it up online: yes, I’m supposed to be towards the middle of the road when driving. I didn’t hit anything. And the sense of the car started coming back after a couple of kilometers. Just like riding a bike 😉
I shared my swedish pizza lunch, and while I know people have strong feelings about pineapple on pizza, I’m genuinely surprised at how strong the reaction is to the creative use of ingredients we have for pizza. Swedish pizza is some of the best around and that’s a hill I’ll die on!
(one person asked “is this throw-up on pizza?” 😅)
it’s so quiet staying in ruralish Sweden that I hear the hum of the fridge/freezer more than anything, pretty great when you’re using to hearing traffic all the time 😀