GÖtenburg lesson
I have to admit that I am lucky that I have this job (a story for another time…). This time we have a PI (Program Increment) meeting in a GÖtenburg, Sweden.
Sweden
I asked myself where is Sweden. My 33 years knowledge only told me that Sweden is probably somewhere very cold in Europe. What else do I know about this country? Probably Volvo and Ikea!!! There are more brands from Sweden such as Electrolux, Fjallraven, Saab Car.
Ikea
It’s common to see minimal furniture … Yes I am a big fan of Ikea. Why do I like Ikea? Ikea is afforadable even in a third-world country like Thailand, they made quality products and of course the designs that emphasize function with as little form as possible – Minimalistic.
Of course, I find time for visiting IKEA. There are so many items that I have never seen at home. Some of the cool products that I could recall are:
- Coffee table with air purifier built-in (just under the table top)
- (This is my favorite) The customizable refrigerator that comes in standard size and you can choose the functions and size
- They sell flooring!
Just outside the IKEA mall, there are arrays of trailors waiting where you can probably rent (not sure how it works). I saw a person backed his own car and attached the box to a tow bar. I am someone who drives a small car and always have a problem packing Ikea stuffs. What an innovative service!
Hej! Swedish
I think Swedish (People & Language) is also minimalistic. People speaks very few words in a sentence compared to other nationalities – taking my boss and my colleage as samples of the Swedish I know. Sentences are very reservered and only meaningful keywords present.
Winter black
My jacket is brown. It’s not a color that normally stands out from the crowd but in the city where I was I could only see people wearing black.
The Dutch and Max Verstappen
More than half of my colleagues are Dutch. Watching F1 races in the Netheland, I saw most of the crowd wearing orange shirts in the grandstand. TV comentaries always talk about orange people who are there to cheer Max. (Dutch color is orange. Max is an F1 racing driver. He is Dutch.) During one of the beer session (As you can imagine there are a lot of beer sessions. So much so that I probably drink the a past year amount during a trip of 9 days..), someone talks about F1 and I was asked who was my favorite driver. Honestly,anyone but Max … It makes me feel like I have just said something terrible, or stepping on someone else toes. The passion is for real. Such a feeling, I can’t get from watching on the TV.