Jörgen Persson -约尔根·佩尔森 in Shanghai!

Yes, it was Jörgen Persson that was in China for a China Sweden Table Tennis Festival that we arranged in order to celebrate the Swedish National Day! Some 200 players from different Swedish companies battled in an elimination tournament throughout the day, and then the winners (one man and one woman) got to play Persson in the final game. A long day of great fun, Persson proved to be not only a great player, but also a great person, open and happy and up for posing for photos, signing shirts and rackets and answering questions from media as well as random spectators. What a great athlete! I admire someone that can be so professional and high level, and still so friendly and down to earth.

Also, I got invited to the Table Tennis: 2011 China Open - that takes place in Suzhou in the end of August. Can't wait to see Persson in real action (no offense to the competitors of today's tournament, but I think he has more to give). Being 45 years old this year, Persson should have retired many times around but he's still playing, he's even qualified for the London Olympics in 2012. That will be his 7th Olympic Games. 加油！

Some videos of Persson in action to come soon!

Guess the athlete game

Anybody recognize this iconic athlete? Probably much bigger in China than in his native Sweden. Anyway, this is who I will be spending Sweden's National Day with. Thumbs up if you -despite the bad photo- can tell me his name (and if you're not Swedish!).

Get your popcorns ready!

Today is the opening day of Sweden Film Week 2011瑞典电影周, giving Shanghai-ers the chance to watch the newest from the Swedish film industry. The screenings are a mix of animation, drama, comedy, thriller and, of course, some good ol’ Bergman stuff.

In Shanghai, all films will be showed at 上海大光明 Grand Theatre, 216 Nanjing west rd, near Xizang rd. 上海大光明电影院, 南京西路216号, 近西藏路.

Tickets can be bought at the cinema for 50 rmb. All films are in Swedish/English with Chinese subtitles.

Screening schedule at Grand Cinema, Shanghai

May 30, 7pm Miss Kicki (88 min)

May 31, 8pm Easy Money (120 min)

June 1, 8pm The Girl (96 min)

June 2, 8pm Sawdust and Tinsel (88 min)

June 3, 8pm Sound of Noise (110 min)

June 4, 8pm The King of Ping Pong (106 min)

June 5, 8pm Metropia (80 min)

June 6, 8pm Everlasting Moments (125 min)

See you at the cinema!

Walking uphill

I’ve been keeping busy lately. At the same time as I’ve been battling sleeping problems I’ve been putting in quite a few extra hours at work, and then on top of that I’ve tried to locate a new apartment in Shanghai. Man, when I have time to sit down and blog again I’m going to share with you some of the funniest flat-hunting stories and dramas that I’ve been experiencing over these last few weeks! But not until things calm down a bit. For the last week I haven’t even been to the gym once (!) –and anyone who knows me knows that that’s a sign of me rearranging my priorities. But getting enough sleep is a priority right now, as well as moving into a new flat. This area where I live now is great, but too noisy at nighttimes. I don’t think the noise is the only reason why I’m having troubles falling asleep at night, but it definitely has some impact.

I still have some big projects to finish off (D Day 1 is tomorrow, and then another one the week after that), and then life will (hopefully) eventually get back to normal. At least I’m hoping to find some time to hit the gym. Running makes life so much better. Thanks again for all the sleeping tips, both from people posting comments on this blog as well as from you guys sending me emails! You rock!

Controlled by the weather

"Yeah, sorry, I'm not going to to be able to meet you for dinner for the next, ehum, 4 months or so.."

Before I start this post I would just like to thank all of you that contributed with your advices and recommendations about sleep/insomnia in my previous post. Thank you!

Now, since I am having a bit of a rough week I thought I’d share a funny thing that happened last week.

Om Monday, I got a text from a Chinese friend that I haven’t seen for a long time:

"Dinner on Thu?"

"Sorry, I cannot make it," I texted back. "I have a busy week. How about Sunday?"

"OK," she texted.

Saturday came, and I had totally forgotten about it all until I got the following message:

"It’s going to rain tomorrow. Should we have dinner on Wed instead?"

"Eh… sure."

Talk about relying on the weather forecast. And talk about being controlled by what kind of weather it is owhen you plan your calendar.

I remember a friend of mine once told me about a girl that didn't turn up for her her job interview because it was too hot outside. She wasn't ashamed to tell the company when the secretary of the HR called her to ask why she never came for her interview.

I wonder what those kind of people do when the weather isn’t top notch? Lock themselves inside with a DVD and some popcorn? Order in? Never leave bed? Call in sick for work?

Well one thing is for sure: If you would let the weather control your social diary in a country like Sweden you would never be able to go out!

Sleepless in Shanghai

Unfortunately I don’t feel very rested or relaxed after the wknd. I seem to have gone from “problems with falling asleep every now and then” to constant sleeping problems. I have tried many things: not watching TV before sleeping, listening to music, exercising before going to bed, not exercising before bed, reading books, drinking tea, not drinking tea, avoid coffee and sugar, not eat big meals before bed, keeping the room dark and cool, doing relaxing yoga breathing, changing my sleeping spot (I now go from my bed to the couch every second night. It worked in the beginning but not so much anymore), herbal sleeping pills (not useful), real sleeping pills (also not useful –don’t make me fall asleep). I am getting a tad big frustrated and desperate: what the h*** am I supposed to do?!

I know that it is in my head and in my head only. It’s a thought that shapes itself as soon as I hit the afternoon, saying: “Oh, here comes the night and I feel so tired after last night’s lack of sleep… wouldn’t it be awful if I couldn’t fall asleep tonight either?!” and BAM, there it is. I know I should try to stop this way of thinking –but I have no idea how to do so. I try thinking about this and that, counting down from 300, imagining summer holiday in Europe, making up a story in my head… but it doesn’t work. It has been going on for so long now, on and off for a year, but this last month has been unbearable. I don’t know what to do anymore. Going to see a doctor doesn’t seem like an option: I’ve tried both herbal and real sleeping pills, and none of that works (yes, for real. I take a real sleeping pill and I still cannot fall asleep. Sometimes I don’t even get that “sleep hangover” that sleeping pills give you). What else can a doctor do than give you medicine? He cannot help me get rid of that one little nasty thought at least, that’s for sure. And it’s just that one thought that I wish I could escape. I am not in bed stressing over unpaid bills or work or anything: it’s just about “not being able to sleep.”

Ah, at first I was thinking that I wouldn’t write this post but then I thought, maybe one of my readers have had a similar problems and know of a mind game that can manipulate your thoughts?! Or anything? What do you guys do in order to turn off/or turn thoughts in another direction?

A hot nap

Yesterday I went for a class of hot yoga, and even though I might jinx it by saying this, it might be so that I maybe have improved, just a liiiiittle bit!? At least I got some “very nice!” and “good” comments from the yogi and for me, inflexible and stiff by nature, that’s quite big.

Anyway, when we moved over to doing the floor poses the girl next to me fell asleep on her mat! It was 40 degrees in the room, and we were given a 10 seconds rest. And just like that –she was sound asleep! The teacher came to wake her up, so which she seemed ashamed of and apologized for, however, one pose down later and we were given 10 seconds to lie down in savasana relaxing pose, and we had lost her again!

For me, who are experiencing serious sleeping problems from time to time (it goes in phases, sometimes I don’t get any sleep at night for 5 night in a row) and find it extremely hard to relax and especially fall asleep, someone who can fall asleep just like that –when it’s 40 degrees in the room and you’re taking a yoga class –is quite impressive.

Then again, I wouldn’t want to spend xxxx rmb on my yoga membership card and sleep my way through classes.