Christmas Allergies

Merry Christmas everyone!

This Christmas is picture perfect, it looks like Winter Wonderland outside - just like I remember from when I was a kid - a nice change from the rain we've had the past ten years.

I have also discovered I have an allergy. It only seems fair - everybody else seems to have them, no wonder I got one too. I'm allergic to kids.

It makes perfect sense. I'm very rarely sick, and when I am it's just a cold that passes in a few days. But these past few months I seem to only have short breaks between colds - they go on for ever. And the only change? - Kids. I'm obviously allergic.

It truly does suck to have been halfway woozy, have no energy, and worst of all - no sense of taste or smell, for a week now. I know I whine about that every time I get sick but I can't help it! It's the worst thing there is. Imagine a world without taste!

I've been cleaning, cooking, baking, sewing, polishing, decorating and dusting for weeks now, somehow it doesn't seem quite fair that this should be my reward...

I guess my reward is everyone else seems to be enjoying the holidays, and with a turkey in the oven and stuffing in the making it's really not all bad after all :)

The Mysterious Jeans

My mother came storming down the stairs and into my room a few days ago. She was all serious like and demanded to know if I'd had a guy in my room the previous night.

Now, you may wonder what brought this on, as I did, since my parents are not very likely to mind if there had been a guy in my room. But there had not. Then where did the jeans come from?

My mother had been folding clothes when she found a pair of jeans which did not belong to anyone in the house. Whose were they? The most entertaining solution my mother could think of was that there had been a guy in my room and I'd kicked him out in the middle of the night.

I said that might have been fun, but sorry, it didn't happen. My mother did not give up, instead she asked if this guy was someone I didn't want to see again (or admit to be seeing). I told her the truth,

"Mum, I think that if I'd kicked a guy out in the middle of the night, without his pants on, in half a meter of snow and -17C (1.4F), it's more likely that he's the one who won't be wanting to see me again."

At that, she could no longer keep a straight face. She did really wonder where the jeans came from though, perhaps we have a flasher in our midst?

2010

Since last..

• December
• Baking cookies
• Gingerbread houses
• Decorations
• Family
• Christmas
• Snow
  
• Presents
• New Year

That's about it.

Currently I'm a little bummed out to find there's a show about the most important economic news in Norway of the past year.

And just bummed out in general about life.. in general.

2009 wasn't all that, 2010 is a brand new year full of blank pages.
I wonder what I'll fill them with.

September 24th

Three months till Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I never thought I'd say this, but getting online was easier in Uganda than back home in Norway...


I got back just over a week ago and I'm getting used to the cold and talking Norwegian all the time. I'm realizing things like "hey, there's pressure on the (warm!) water in the shower - getting the shampoo out of my hair only takes 30 seconds and not five minutes anymore!" and "wow, people here have way too much stuff and way too much money..."

Christmas so far has been alright, started out crappy but got better. It's been a peaceful few days.

Hope you're all having a good time out there, wherever you are.

Ready for a New Year

2007 is over and a new year is here. Naturally, the events of the last few months are those that stand strongest in our minds, we best remember what recently happened, gone are the feelings of early spring.

Another Christmas is over, family and friends are leaving, and in a week we'll take down the decorations, throw out the tree and life will be back to normal. Here we'll be looking forward to spring, to again having more than a few hours of daylight, and finally seeing the sun again.


A year is over.. I'm not sure how I'll remember 2007 - nothing remarkable happened, but it's been a good year. I've had fun, I'm happy and healthy - and so are my family and friends. Many are not so lucky.

Another journey around the sun is over.

Four months till Christmas!

It's August 24th, it's only four months till Christmas!

It's been 8 months since Christmas last year, that means it's twice as long since the last one as it is until the next. It doesn't feel that long since last Christmas, that means it's really really not long till it's here again!

Time to start buying presents? Make decorations? Ooh and advent calendars!


I wonder when it will start snowing...

Christmas

It's that wonderful time of the year again. Christmas Eve was just here and the new year is only four days away. I've been home for a week and a half and I'm loving it.

I guess it's time for reflection, for thinking about what I've done, what I've learnt and what I should do better the next year. What stands out more than anything is how much I've grown up this year. They say you become a woman the first time you have sex. That's not true. For me it happened nine months ago, in March. True enough it was after I had had sex, not for the first time, but with someone I really cared about. Yes, this is where I'm going to pour my heart out, I write what I think about because it's the only way I can get it out. I need to get it out, and if you don't like it you can bite my bottom.

This year I've grown up. Emotionally. I'm still naïve and hopeful and realistically optimistic but I've taken a few steps into unknown territory, I've told someone I loved them for the first time and I've had my heart broken. I've told someone I could never love them and felt maybe I could. I've still never had a boyfriend and the thought of having one still creeps me out. I've realized how "I need my space" can hurt someone although I never meant it that way. And I know how not knowing truly is the worst thing there is. Do you know what a frozen lake looks like in March when the ice has started to crack? Something like this? That's what it feels like.

I blame no one but myself. Well actually I do, I blame someone else, someone I've loved and hated and loved again to no avail. It would have taken him five minutes to prevent all of this, but then I wouldn't have learnt this lesson, would I? I've learnt that I should feel more. I've been told I should, the person who told me meant it in a physical way but I mean it in an emotional way. It's not a bad thing to show people you don't have a heart of... ice. I've also been told I seem to have one of those. If I ever did have one it seems to have melted, otherwise I wouldn't know where all the water has come from.

Anger has faded and become disappointment.

2005 has had its ups and downs. I'll remember the ups like I always do, my life this year has been as easy and comfortable as any other year, a year and a life most people on this earth wish they could lead... with certain modifications. I have everything I could possibly need, as I always have. I'm lucky and privileged. And I'm well aware of it. Last year I was ready for 2004 to be replaced by 2005, changing years had never been easier - this one started with two weeks in the sun far away from here. This year I don't want the new one to come. I don't want this one to leave with all its unresolved issues. Letting go doesn't seem to be my style. Sorting things out is.

I want to make the mess that is my life into straight lines so I can try and sort it all out, see what is there and get my facts straight. I want to look people in the eyes and hear the truth, their truths, whether I want to know what they have to say or not.

I realize writing all this makes me seem horribly vulnerable and needy, insecure and dependent on others. It's not like me to write about real feelings but sometimes they're just there. No kinky tests or snowman pictures, just words. They're all I have.



We got a White Christmas this year as well, it snowed a lot a couple weeks ago, then it got warmer and much of it melted before it got a little colder. Today it was -12 (10F), dark, and a billion stars in the sky. I went out for a sec to try and take some pictures (mental note: short skirt and rubber boots is NOT the best thing to wear in the middle of winter). There was a thin layer of new snow, snow flakes big and glistening like they do when it's cold. The northern light, aurora borealis, was out. It was a greenish blue and it stretched like a ribbon across the sky from the west to the north, getting smaller, growing bigger, flowing back and forth.

It's a beautiful place this planet of ours.

Merry Christmas everyone!

See ya next year

I don't know when I'll write again so I'll just wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a wonderful New Year celebration.

Tomorrow morning my family and I will get on the bus to go to Oslo. Bright and early Wednesday morning we'll be on the plane to the Canary Islands. My sister and our parents are all over the place, my brother and I seem to be taking it a little easier... They (parents and sis) have never been this far away from home before, my sister has only been on a plane once and she was 2 years old back then. I can't wait to get there but the packing and the bus ride and the waiting around at the airport... I remember when I used to love packing my bag because it only happened once a year when going on our summer holiday. Now I'm used to it and although I love travelling, I don't like luggage. The packing is not really a problem, I don't like it but it's easier than ever before. But the luggage... dragging the suitcases and back packs around... I don't like that. I should learn to travel light some day. And I will. Some day.

Right now I'm just looking forward to getting there. I can't wait for the moment when we've got the key, got all our luggage with us, done with queues and we walk in the door to our hotel appartment room thing. I'm gonna walk out on the balcony, I'm gonna take a long look at the view and just think "Mmmmmm". Hope it won't rain... Then our parents will tell us we are going to relax for a while, my brother will run for the nearest computer and my sister will be jumping around. When we were younger, my brother and I always used to walk up and down the floors of the hotel we were staying at. We wanted to check out the place and discover everything. Two kids (not little kids just young kids) walking around the hotel watching the guests, spying on the people who worked there, sneaking into dining rooms, taking brochures with us from the lobby to pretend we wanted to do whatever was in them. I'm sure it will be exactly the same this time, only my brother will think I'm stupid and I'll take my sis with me instead. I'm just a kid really...

I've spent a lot of time following the news of what is happening in Asia these past two days. So many countries and so many people affected by this. The last time I heard, 23,000 people were reported dead in the different countries. It's a bit scary, excactly one year after the earthquake who killed 30,000 in Bam. I guess these things just happen? 13 Norwegians have been reported dead, many are hurt and many many more are missing. Children have lost their parents and The Red Cross is sending all kinds of supplies from all over the world. We're sending money and people and I just hope it helps a little.

To everybody over there... The world is thinking about you.

It hurts inside but we gotta keep smilin'.


I'm out, see you all next year.

Christmas Day

Santa came last night. My sister had bought me the slippers I wanted and I loooove them! While waiting for him we went out to play, I had snow inside my shirt and little snowballs hanging in my hair... It's freeeezing cold with snow down your back in case you haven't tried.

Today I read that a Mexican city says people can't be naked. What is this world coming to?

Only three more days at home before we're leaving for the Canary Islands off the African Coast. The islands are Spanish but there are so many Scandinavians there you don't need to know a word of Spanish to live there. Doesn't that suck? I don't speak Spanish, imagine how much fun I'd have trying to explain what I wanted! But now all I have to do is let the people there see my blonde hair and blue eyes and they'll start speaking a mix of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. Or at the very least English. Hopefully we'll be able to get a little away from the places where all the tourists go. I want to see what Gran Canaria is for the Canarians, not what it's like for the tourists.

I'm really looking forward to it though. We're going there to celebrate my dad's 50th b'day on January 5th. We're gonna stay there for two weeks, celebrating New Years without snow! That'll be a first for me. And go swimming in January... Walking in the dunes at Masopalomas... My brother and I have both been there before with our classes, a lot of people from this place goes to the sleepy fishing town of Arguineguin where nothing ever happens. Or so say the guides. We're gonna put balloons all over on the 5th and I'm gonna try and make the hotel prepare my dad's favourite cake.

But right now it's still Christmas at home. And I have to go remind my dad to watch the show (about old horse rides through this town) he forgot to watch yesterday. Gonna round the family up tonight and we're gonna play Pictionary. No it's not lame, it's fun. We try and do that once or twice every Christmas and Easter. My sis and I are the only ones who say we want to but everyone thinks it's fun once we've got started.

Just as long as no one starts arguing!

Christmas Eve

In one hour, at 5pm, the church bells will ring and Christmas will be here. It's been a long year... We've done everything that has to be done before the holidays start and now it's time to relax. We have the big Christmas dinner at 5:00 and a little later Santa Claus comes. I wish I was a kid again...

It's snowing and it's been doing so all day. We got a white Christmas after all. Most of the time when I'm here in this town I call home I feel the urge to get away. But this time of year there's no place on earth I'd rather be.

As I said, it's been a long year and I've learned a lot. But... The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return. I'll have to work on that one. But right now... right now I'm happy. And tired but mostly happy :)


I hope you'll all have a wonderful time and that all your wishes will come true. Mine already has - I got a White Christmas.


Merry Christmas everyone

The Church and The Wave

I'm going to church later. No, I haven't gone Christian all of a sudden but my sister is going to play today. She plays a trumpet like thing in the school band which isn't a school band anymore it's just basically everyone who wants to play. But they're good. It's sorta a Christmas concert and others will play, lots of singing and violins I expect. I used to play the violin, most kids here play an instrument. Music has always been a part of this town, people making violins, writing traditional Norwegian songs, the special way of singing these songs is called 'kveding'. 'Kved' is probably the same as 'Kvad' which was a song or a verse of some kind when the vikings where here. It's stuck around.

I don't much like this kind of music though, the singing really gets on my nerves. But it's tradition. Old songs being played again, old dances being danced so as not to be forgotten. Tourists love it. They can't get enough of it. When I played the violin we always had to play these old songs, old dance tunes like 'masurka' and 'polka'. I hated it. So did everybody else and most of us quit at the same time. I sucked at it, mostly because I didn't bother trying. Why? Because I didn't like those old songs. Over and over and over. We did get to play a Christmas song or two in December. If we were lucky. I wish they would put in some easy classical music, something more than just folk tunes from Honndalen.

Well, as I was saying, I'm going to church later. I'm gonna bring my camera and try and get a few pictures from there. I haven't been there in... probably two years... just go whenever there's a concert where my sister is playing or the school has a Christmas concert. I've left all that behind but it's nice when it's all Christmassy like today. Yesterday I was out walking with my sister, stopped by our grandparents and then went to rent some films. It was snowing and it was beautiful so I brough my camera. There must be something wrong with it, pictures are never clear anymore, they're either blurry or just... they don't look like they should. They look like they've been taken with a cell phone with a crappy quality camera in it. Of all the pictures I took last night, this one was the only one where you can actually see anything.

The picture is of a statue at the museum, just below our house. It's in a little fountain and they usually bring it inside for winter but this year they haven't. The statue is beautiful, it's a man standing and a woman sitting, looking up, holding onto him. It's called 'The Wave'. I'll have to get a better picture when spring comes. Must be cold for them though, no clothes, out there in the the snow...

Cool gifts

Christmas gift for her

Christmas gift for him

from Kameo in Japan

Syrup

Today I managed to knock a box of syrup off the counter then catch it with the cupboard door before it reached the floor. But it was hanging sideways so the syrup was everywhere. I cleaned up the sticky stuff and proceeded to knock a lid and some metal-plastic thing covered in syrup back onto floor. I'd put the syrup box on the counter and my mum put a paper thingy on it for me to put the box on and it was all a sticky mess. I got syrup on my sock and all over the place... Syrup really doesn't taste very much... guess that's why I've never really liked it. Sticky stuff... gotta be good for something though...

Our mum was going to make the dough for gingerbread houses today but she forgot so I helped her. My sister and I are going to make the houses tomorrow. We weren't supposed to make any this year because we're only staying at home until the 28th so we won't really be here too long this Christmas. But a tradition is a tradition and we don't have them for nothin. I wonder how many we'll make... Gotta make some of the little ones and maybe the big one if there's enough dough (and if we're bothered, it's rather difficult) and maybe the stables. We're gonna make gingerbread hearts to put in the windows. My mum suggested we could just buy gingerbread houses this year, sorta as a joke. That's where it starts! You buy the houses one year, the cookies the next!

December 1st

And the advent has begun. I don't know how the rest of the world celebrates this, or if you even do at all, but in Norwegian it's an unbreakable tradition.

The whole thing is that when December comes, the Christmas month has started. We have calendars that you either buy in shops, you buy a part and make your own 'presents' or you make it all on your own. At school children all bring one present, and then they're put up somewhere. We made a calendar the first year of school, with rings hanging at the bottom to tie the presents to. It's not a calendar as such, the advent calendars has 24 numbers on them, 24 days till Christmas as here we celebrate Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day.

I can't live through December without a chocolate calendar, it's a cheap little cardboard thing you get at some shops, but it has to be this exact one because ever tiny piece of chocolate just.. well, tastes like advent. I opened the first one today and there was a picture of a little train on the first one. I also put clove (?) things into an orange, they're whole instead of powder and you have to be careful when you put them in. You put 24 of them in there and you take one out every day, the last one on Christmas Eve.

I've also bought one of those tiny flowers, I'm not sure what they're called in English, you can buy a big one or a small one and they're called Julestjerne in Norwegian, Christmas star. My parents have bought a little one for each of us kids the past two-three years and since I'm living on my own now, I bought one to put in my window next to the orange. Take a look here. That's the calendar, orange and flower.

Might sound like there's a lot of buying involved, and in a way there is. But, amazingly, all these little things that hold the fondest memories are the cheapest things you can buy. An orange and some spices to put in it (smells wonderful too), a $1.50 chocolate calendar and a beautiful little red flower. Of course you could buy other kinds of calendars and lots of stuff to put in them each day. Christmas may have become commercialized, maybe it seems like it's all about buying, but I say it's about traditions. Before you have any, or if you don't start any, you don't know what to do and you might run around like a headless chicken buying anything and everything in sight. But if you realize that the little things matter the most, and make it about those things, then no one can that that away from you.

I really really think I must be growing up here...

November 24th

One month till Christmas. One week till December.

My teddy bear will go to the kindergarten tomorrow. One of my roommates is studying to become a preschool teacher and she has been in the kindergarten for a month. She asked me earlier if I had a teddy bear, she was going to read a story about a bear tomorrow and she wanted one to hold up while she was reading. She did promise that they wouldn't play with it though, she was just going to keep it in a bag. Yeah right, show kids toy and expect them not to want to play with it, in what kinda world is that possible? It's good though, it doesn't get to play much, just lying on my pillow with its three little friends during the day, and in my arms during the night.

I'm putting Christmas songs on my mp3 player, good to have it done, but I can only transfer about half of them. I wonder what's wrong with the others... could be that there's something to protect them or something so that I can listen to them on the computer but not on the mp3 player. That's strange though because it's not legal to download songs, but it's legal to put your songs onto cds, minidiscs, mp3 players etc... Anyways... It is a bit early to start listening to Christmas songs but I'm just doing it while I put them on here.

'Nöel, c'est l'amour' is on. What's this with Christmas songs in French? Those of you who speak English might never understand this, but a Christmas song isn't a Christmas song. I can hear all kinds of Christmas songs in English and they're nice and make me think of Christmas. But when I hear one in Norwegian... it's like I'm a kid again. Christmas carols in English are becoming more popular, but those in Norwegian, the same ones I've been listening to since I was born, the songs we had on cassettes, messing around with when making gingerbread cookies (no gingerbread cookie making without Christmas songs) will never be replaced. It's really not just that it's the same songs, it's that it's the same language from back when it was the only one I knew. They're special.

October 24th

Two months till Christmas. Can you believe that?

Christmas trees, decorations, stockings and Santa Clauses... They'll all be coming back in a month. Kids screaming in the shops, queues that make Saturday afternoon at the mall feel like Monday morning... Christmas gifts when no one has wishes, what to wear, what to buy, what to make, what to bring... Putting up the tree, cat plays with the decorations. Tree falls down...well, not quite, but still... Stressful days.


Pink nights, all light outside because the moon is up and the world is white. Christmas carols, Bing Crosby singing 'White Christmas'. Sleigh Ride, Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Winter Wonderland. Let it Snow... The house smells like ginger bread, the church bells ring Christmas in at 5pm, then dinner, waiting, and Santa Claus comes (will have to explain Norwegian Christmas celebrations later). Happy feelings, joy... Christmas feelings. It's just something that surrounds you, you can feel it.


This sounds very negative, in a way... I didn't intend it that way, it's just the 24th of October, two months till Christmas, and I always think these things on the 24th of every month. I have so many wonderful childhood memories, and many of them have got to do with Christmas. It's a wonderful time of year.

It's also the UN day today, I just remembered. I've wanted to see the UN building ever since I read a children's book years ago, where they went to New York, and they visited that building. I think I might have to visit The Big Apple one day...