Pippi Longstocking turns 60

Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking) is celebrating her 60th anniversary this year. Two weeks ago I and my Japanese friend went to a celebration parade from Strandvägen all the way to Junibacken on Djurgården. It is a pity that the author of the famous children's book series, Astrid Lindgren, is no longer alive to join the festivities.

Pippi has been a phenomenon in the past 60 years. Just in Sweden, over 7 million books have been sold. The book has been translated into 57 languages and made children all over the world happy.

Before I moved to Sweden, I had never heard of Pippi though. But Pippi has been instrumental in helping me learn Swedish. The original films where Inger Nilsson played the role of Pippi are terrific, and through the books I have learned many Swedish words and gotten a glimpse of the inner world of children.

Pippi is such a strong girl, not just physically (she can hold a horse with her bare hands), but mentally and emotionally as well. She lives alone in a house called Villa Villekulla, together with a horse and a monkey. She takes care of herself and loves adventures. She defies authorities and has a very independent, strong will. I don't know if this has anything to do with the feminism in Sweden, but surely she has become a model figure for Swedish girls.

The story behind the making of Pippi Longstocking is quite a saga of itself. In the 40s, Astrid Lindgren's 7-year-old daughter Karin was sick with pneumonia, and she wanted Lindgren to tell a bed time story about someone she dubbed "Pippi Longstocking." "What a strange name that is," thought Lindgren. With such a strange name, this girl has to have a strange character to go along as well. So she improvised, and a series of stories were created by her vivid imagination. The stories were not only loved by Karin but also became popular among her friends. When Karin turned 10, Lindgren gave her the manuscript of the first-ever Pippi Longstocking book as a birthday present. At the same time, she sent the manuscript to a publisher to try her luck, never believing that it would be published. At first, the publisher was too broke to publish it, but after a couple of years decided to give it a try anyway. It was Pippi Longstocking that saved the publisher from bankrupcy, and the book became a big success.

East Indiaman relives its glorious days

The magnificent East Indiaman Götheborg III, a replica of the original 18th-century trading vessel East Indiaman Götheborg I, arrived in Stockholm last week on its maiden journey after the construction completed in Gothenborg earlier this year.

This event was a sensation for the whole of Sweden as well as for China, becuase for the first time in 267 years, an East Indiaman trading vessel will set sail to China, re-enacting its glorious history in the past.

The original ship was built in 1738 and unfortunately sank right outside the harbour of Gothenburg in 1745, on returning from its third voyage to China. No one is sure why exactly it sank. The most likely cause was that it ran aground when hitting a rock. Along with the ship, a massive volume of procelain, spice, silk and furniture also hit the bottom of the ocean, and they were not to see light again until a series of excavations salvaged them in the 80s and 90s. Luckily, all the crew on board were rescued.

The replica was built at the Terra Nova dock in Gothenburg, named after the original shipyard that was located at the present-day "Dramaten" theater by Strandvägen, Stockholm. So its visit to Stockholm on August 17-21 was a homecoming.

I visited the ship on the last day of its stay in Stockholm and had to wait in line for about an hour before I could go onboard. But it was definitely worth the wait. It was a special experience for me to see all the details of the ship come together since my visit to the Terra Nova dock in Gothenborg two years ago. At that time, only the front mast was erected and shipbuilders were still working on the main mast and a million other details. The smell of tar gives the ship a freshness. And the vastness of its scale is simply mind-boggling. Imagine the kind of work human beings were able to achieve already in the 1700s. Ships have surely become much larger today, but nothing beats the beauty of such an old-fashioned ocean-going vessel.

As many as 3,500 visitors went onboard and even more lined up the islands that make up Stockholm to wave goodbye to the East Indiaman when it set sail for the southern city of Malmö at 6 p.m. The clouds broke open right at the moment the ship was pulled out of the dock by a tugboat. A three-mast student ship led the way and a large number of motorboats joined the party and trailed along the ship as a farewell gesture. It was a wonderful sight to behold.

After Malmö, the ship will visit Copenhagen on the 28th and then back to Gothenburg for an exhibition. In October this year, it will start its two-year long round-the-world journey: from Gothenburg to Cadiz, Spain; Recife, Brazil; Cape Town, South Africa; Fremantle, Australia; Jakarta, Indonesia; Guangzhou, China and finally, Shanghai, China. On its return journey, it will pass through Hong Kong, Mauritius, Port Elizabeth, Ascension, Azores and London.

To read more about the history of trade between Sweden and China, see my article, For All the Tea in China

And here is my article written during the construction of the ship, which includes an interview with the master shipbuilder Joakim Severinson:
Winds of the Past

The Swedish Summer

August 1 marks the end of the summer for most Swedes and the beginning of another dreadful year of cold and toil. "Why August 1?" you may ask. Unlike many other countries, the majority of Swedish workers take the whole month of July off to enjoy their very brief (and hopefully warm) summer. This is traditionally known as the "industrial holiday," and it is as holy as, or even more so than, Christmas.

I, for the first time in my life, enjoyed my "industrial summer vacation" this year. I did have some long and lazy summer days in Sweden in the first two years since I moved here, but then I was unemployed, which means my holidays were unpaid. This year it's different. Into the second year at my current job, I can finally enjoy this wonderful priviledge. Finally, I got to understand what a typical "Swedish summer" is all about.

It sure is about kicking off with a Midsummer celebration a week before the summer vacation starts. It sure is about "hiding out" (preferrably alone or with family) in Nature, be it camping, sailing or staying at a brick-red summer cottage. Strawberries with whipped cream, herring and new potatoes, a good selection from the Systemet (alcohol monopoly store), a couple of good books, swimming suits and sandals--and of course, a cloudless blue sky--these are the musts of an ideal Swedish summer.

Alas, behind this idyllic image, there is a hidden side filled with stress, expectations and disappointments.

Stress, because Swedes want to make their summer as perfect as possible. After all, all this wait in the past 11 months for nothing? At the workplace, the weeks or even months leading to Midsummer are a hysterical period to beat the holy deadline. All projects must be completed by then, so that people can go out to the countryside and get drunk and forget about their myseries. And then one more week to go before the real summer holiday starts. Such a short time to finish what is left over from before Midsummer and get done all preparations for the summer holiday.

For those with boats (Swedes' "floating dream"), they actually have to start their preparations much earlier. Back in April, they have to paint and wax their boats multiple times so that they can be "dropped" to the water when it thaws in early May. But all these months' hard work (and the investments in the boat plus the parking place throughout the year) usually end up in enjoyment for about a week or so (depending on weather).

For those who want to stay in a summer cottage, they have to start searching about two months earlier and pay huge sums if they want to have a sea view in the famous Stockholm archipelago. Those who already have access to a summer cottage (usually through inheritance) have to figure out how to divide up the vacation with 30 other relatives who also have inherited the tiny piece of land.

Then there's just all the nitty-gritties left. Packing clothes, sunscreen (mostly unused), mosquito spray and entertainment items, as well as shopping for several weeks' supply of food (if the island doesn't have any stores). Most cottages don't have a normal WC and shower. For city folks like me, it can simply be a downgrade of life qualities.

If all of these are not stressful enough, wait until you get a slap in the face by the weather. In some years, it's just hopeless. But people keep on hoping for a blue sky and heat anyway. Last year, I could remember only three cloudless and warm days--days that I consider real summer. This year, we are lucky enough to have almost 10, and that's thanks to being able to be on a remote island, where the sky is clear more often than in the city. Most of the summer has been under 20C, and we usually wake up to about 15C. Now, considering it's 30C in winter in Brazil, this really isn't much of a summer at all (read Mini Ice Age below).

This is what happens when the weather plays tricks: I found myself rushing to the sun deck / balcony every time the sun came out--and I was running in and out like a maniac, always remember to bring a wind jacket with me. The fact is that in Sweden, whenever a cloud covers the sun, the air becomes suddenly very cool. The reason why we try to catch every minute of sunshine is that it is necessary for survival during the winter months. It is crucial to store the light in our bodies as reserves. Too bad, I haven't been able to do that since last summer. Perhaps the boots of depression that I've been experiencing aren't that unusual after all.

If the pre-summer period and the summer vacation itself aren't stressful enough, there is the after-vacation period waiting to bite at you. Perhaps having a whole month off isn't that great of an idea. You become totally lazy. As soon as you get back to work, your adrenaline level shoots up 100 percent. I, for one, got constant stomach pain during my first week back to work. That's not only due to the extremely schizophrenic workload, but also the fact that I have been mulling over all the incomplete personal projects that I was "supposed" to finish during my vacation. Rearrange the apartment, go to IKEA, visit some friends, finish reading a few books, make a new Web site, etc, etc.

Perhaps I shouldn't really complain at all. There are those who have to work throughout the summer (like I did last year). I am grateful that I got to experience a dreamlike stay at the island of Gräskö as well as in the North of Sweden. Of course, as for the weather, there is always the next summer, and the next, and the next to hope for. Ooops, I have forgotten again, that expectation is a vice and I must unlearn it. As long as I live in Sweden.