Destruction in Gothenburg

As the title suggests, this will not be a too uplifting text. I know, I have a tendency to be negative, but what I am to write about today is something that I think that most Swedish people are sick and tired of, vandalism of public places (omg I'm such a stereotype). Ok, grafitti is not that horrible. The vandal has a kind of purpose, sometimes the result is even artistic and covers an ugly wall. Tagging however, is not as nice but at least the guy who does it can write his or her name somewhere, so there's a small but stupid reason. Right. Destruction for fun however, that is something that I can't understand. Not at all. Crushing lamps, destroying windows... and most of all vandalizing flower beds, that is totally pointless and just retarded. My sister lives in a suburb of Gothenburg called Hjällbo. It's not the nicest part of town, but at least there are quite a lot of plantations. The sad part however is that some people, probably kids, are ruining them all the time. I mean honestly, what fun is there in destroying tulips, trashing roses and stamping daffodills? I don't get it. It makes me sad as well as angry. This wouldn't happen in Japan. On the other hand, there wouldn't be enough green areas or plantations for that to happen in Japan. And the positive examples of unvandalized and nice flowers are the lilacs that are blooming in Vasaparken or the lovely plantation along Avenyn, the main street of Gothenburg. I don't have any pictures of those though...

The 3 steps of destruction:

Someone has been messing with the tulips...

All the flowers are magically gone...

Total destruction... meh...

I don't think there's any need to say anything more. People don't respect things around them. That's just how it is. Sad but true. And probably inevitable if you want a country of freedom with rights to do whatever you want. It's either this or being restricted as in Japan. I don't know what to choose... I am slowly adapting to Sweden though. I've realised that I have to put things behind me and look forward. I am accepting that I will live here for a while now, and I'm thinking of what good things I can do about that. One step in accepting and liking was for me to join the Bodyshop members' club the other day. As a member I get all kinds of offers and discounts, and the membership costs 100 kronor a year. In other words, if I go abroad I can't use it and it's a waste of money, but if I'm in Sweden it's a good deal. In other words, I am slowly accepting and settling down.

The best news however, are that tomorrow we are going to Germany. This is something that I have been looking forward too for a really long time, and finally it's going to be reality. As Monika expressed it, it wil be like in Japan but without Japan. The weather is supposed to be great and I am hoping to take many nice pictures of Mosel and nice German areas. Besides, next week two of my Japanese coworkers are coming here on a business trip. That will most likely be fun as well and I'm looking forward to seeing them again and hear about the news from Tokyo.