Christmas and New Year's in Sweden!

Hola,

Finally some time to write about our Christmas and New Year's time in Sweden.  We were in Kristianstad for three weeks and it was a great opportunity for us to reconnect with Paul's family and Christmas traditions, to relax and spend time just for ourselves.  Let me walk you through photos, tell you a bit about Swedish customs and some environmental initiatives in Kristianstad.  

We arrived to Kristianstad just one day before Christmas Eve, which left us with little time to get into the Christmas' mood and finishing buying and packing the last presents.  We spent Christmas Eve with Paul's family at his sisters' place, which was a great opportunity to see everyone together and catch up.

Paul and his niece Sara during Christmas Eve

Swedish Traditional Christmas table or smörgåsbord - basically ham, salmon, eggs, sausages, meatballs, potatoes with anchovies, herring (I didn't eat that one), cheese, bread and Julmust - soft drink, almost like Coke but sweeter.  When we arrived we had glögg or mulled wine and after dinner we had Christmas porridge!

Here I am with Maria - Paul's sister, and Paul

With Ulla-Britt - Paul's mom and Paul

 Christmas tree! Traditionally every Christmas Eve at 15:00 a one hour Donald Duck show is shown on Swedish TV, so adults and children alike watch it.  The program shows only those episodes related to Christmas and it is a tradition going on for decades in the Nordic country! I enjoy it a lot even though I always fall asleep during the first part. 

After the Donald Duck show we eat porridge and wait for some time to distribute the presents. Here is Paul with his first three Christmas presents or julklappar!

Here I am with a voucher for an hour massage! How good is that! A great present.

Swedes really don't stop eating during Christmas - after the presents, we ate all kinds of candies made by Maria, Sara and Carl. Delicious but too much sugar for me!  The evening ends with nice drinks, conversations and gratefulness.

On Christmas Day I made Colombian buñuelos - cheese balls made with a special dough, and natilla - a kind of pudding or flan with coconut flavor (at least the one I made). These are traditional Christmas dishes in Colombia.

In the evening we went to Paul's mom's place and we ate again traditional Swedish Christmas food!

After eating so much during Christmas we spent some time before New Year's burning some calories by going for long walks around, swimming or just doing aerobics at home. Here is Paul in the woods close to the military regiment where he did his service.  The Kristianstad military regiment was dismounted several years ago and currently Sweden is mainly focusing its military efforts on Defense and peace keeping operations. 

Another interesting fact about Kristianstad (with a population of about 100.000 people) is that it is a fossil-free municipality, primarily achieved by the use of bio-fuels, both biomass as fuel for heating and production of electricity and biogas as fuel for local buses and other vehicles. In 1997 the local Municipal Waste Management Company established a biogas plant in Kristianstad, specifically as a treatment plant for waste from the food industry in the municipality. The Karpalund plant is the first in Sweden to codigest municipal solid waste from households (sorted into paper bags) and food industry together with manure for production of useful energy and fertiliser. The project is a result of co-operation between the municipality, farmers, industry and consumers.

Watch this video to learn more about Kristianstad fossil fuel free initiative! Impressive, definitely a model for other cities. 

According to the Municipality in 2009 the produced biogas was used both for heating (65%) and as fuel for buses and other vehicles (35%).  According to the European Commission on Energy, the yearly CO₂-emissons in Kristianstad have been reduced by 123 000 tonnes. 

Here is Paul recycling plastic bottles and cans at one of the supermarkets. For every can recycled people get back 50 cents and 1 or 2 Crowns for a bottle. It is also a very well-thought initiative to motivate people to recycle and generate a more sustainable and environmentally friendly society.

We spent New Year's with Maria, her husband and some friends.  We had a delicious dinner and we spent a nice time together talking about life, politics in Sweden, taxes, education, trips and plans.  This is the main course of a three-course dish made by Maria and her husband Chris.

Paul and I during New Year's eve, grateful for yet another great year together, for our lives and the blessings we have received.

The week after New Year's was dedicated to family, reading, resting, eating and spending quality time together.

Went bowling with Maria and Chris!

Paul and I after a good time bowling!

Paul's mom playing the guitar!

Visiting Agneta, my former boss and her husband in Lund, one hour from Kristianstad. It is always so nice to see people who are dear to you in different parts of the world and share with them joys, challenges and a nice meal!

 

Having a cocktail and a great meal in a restaurant in Kristianstad

Delicious food!

Now back in Geneva busy with courses, learning about my new job and enjoying the winter.  Stay tuned for my next post about my thesis and some reflections going on in my mind during the last month.

Peace,

Malu

A great time in Porto!

Hola, 

I am back and continuing updating my blog.  This time I want to share with you about a great trip to Porto with Paul in December to celebrate my birthday.  I will walk you through pictures, comments and impressions of the trip.  

We went to Porto for three days and after Paul left I stayed for six more days to attend a three-day conference on facilitation, training and hosting techniques.  It was a great time for me to rest after a very intense time finishing my thesis, and an amazing opportunity to spend quality time with Paul.

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, though it is very calm and with a lot of potential for growing in terms of tourism and economy.   In this picture, I am close to Ribeira, which means stream in English.  This is the place where the city was born and developed due to trade by the river Douro.

 Paul at Praça da Ribeira

 Buildings look a bit worn out close to Ribeira, though the area is very picturesque, people are friendly, there are some nice restaurants and for sure it is very lively during summer time.

The Luis I bridge is a metal arch bridge that connects Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia, a town just across the Douro River. Built in 1886 with a span of 172 m, it was by that time the longest of its type in the world.

Having a nice meal at a restaurant by the River Duoro. 

The historic centre of Porto was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.  The Porto Cathedral located in the centre is one of the city's oldest monuments and one of the most important Romanesque monuments in Portugal. Its construction started around the year 1110 and was completed in the 13th century. We spent about an hour visiting this beautiful place and the cloister next to it.

The cloister was built between the 14th and the 15th centuries during the reign of King John I, who married English Princess Philippa of Lancaster in 1387 in this cathedral.

 Inside the São Bento Train Station decorated with murals that depict historical events of Portugal 

 View of Ribeira from the cable car that took us to Vila Nova de Gaia.  Gaia hosts several wine cellars or caves where the world famous Port wine is stored and aged. This is a very important tourist attraction in the Porto district.

We visited Taylor's wine lodge - an independent family company- that offered us a guided tour around the cave with explanations about the history of wine in Porto, the types of wine produced and its quality.  It was very interesting to know that Taylor’s wine is regarded as the benchmark for Vintage Port, recognized for their elegance and poise as well as for their longevity.  You can read more about vintage Port at http://www.taylor.pt/en/catalogue/vintage/port-wine/classic/ 

Taylor’s is also respected as a producer of wood aged ports and holds one of the largest reserves of rare cask aged wines. Here is Paul tasting Port wine as part of the guided tour. 

Many of the wine lodges are owned by English families who moved to Porto during the 18th century.  We wanted to try a local lodge so we visited this one and had more wine tasting!

Igreja de São Francisco or Church of Saint Francis is known as the most prominent Gothic monument in Porto, being also noted for its outstanding Baroque inner decoration. It is a beautiful church decorated in wood gilt work and with several interesting altars.  There was one of Jesus' family tree and a small chapel dedicated to John the Baptist.

We also visited a nice aquarium called Sea Life were we spent more than two hours enchanted by the beauty of marine life.  It is a very well constructed aquarium, with clear information in Portuguese, Spanish and summaries in English.  It was definitely worth visiting. 

A chameleon looking at us!

Here is an interesting fact: Did you know that an octopus is as intelligent as a dog? Studies show evidence that they possess a memory system that can store both short- and long-term memory.

Paul and I at Sea Life shop!

In front of the San Francis Church

After two intense days, we had a more relaxing third day before Paul left for Geneva in the evening.  We took a little train along the river and sea, and then walked on the beach until we found a very nice restaurant.

Here enjoying a delicious sushi and later a main course with prawns

Next day I met with Vera, a good friend of mine from Porto.  Vera showed me different parts of the city, took me to a very old bookshop, to a nice place where they sell Portuguese traditional products and antiquities, and spent with me almost a full day!

One of the many churches around Porto. Don't remember the name of this one.

Having lunch with Vera at a nice restaurant.  Food was delicious, the company couldn't be better and we had great conversations. I met Vera while working in Arigatou in a workshop in Geneva in 2009 and since then we have met in several occasions.  Last time we met was in Paris to facilitate a workshop on the Learning to Live Together manual. 

Thank you, Vera, for the great time together!

The Clérigos Church is a Baroque church. Its tall bell tower, the Torre dos Clérigos, can be seen from various points of the city and is one of its most characteristic symbols.

Next day I went to Viana do Castelo, a small city, one and a half hours by train from Porto, to a conference on facilitating, training and hosting techniques. I hadn't been a participant in this kind of conferences for almost 8 years, so it was an interesting opportunity to reflect about my own skills, visualize different processes, reflect about different styles of facilitation and about the need to embrace diversity not only in the interaction with others but through learning processes. I especially reflected about the ability to genuinely facilitate and generate dialogue processes and about authenticity.

 Some of the participants of the conference! Gifted people with amazing stories, and very warm souls!

Overall, my trip to Portugal was a great opportunity to spend quality time with Paul, meet a good friend, get to know new people, reflect about myself, and visit a new and beautiful place!

Hugs,

Malu