Sweden?

After a slightly messed up and rainy July it's been rather boring just staying in town. So how about a road trip? Just a few days and not far across the border, but it's better than sitting around here.

Sweden's a cute country, and I haven't been for a while. For some reason it always seems to be sunny over there... We're only staying a few days, coming back for the weekend. The annual fair in town (if you can call it that) starts Friday and I haven't been the past three years or so. Might be fun, hoping to see some old friends.


Unfortunately, there's been another death in the family, my father's cousin this time. He was in Sweden with his wife when he went for a walk and never came back. Like my uncle three weeks ago, he just died for no apparent reason. Unexpected deaths, although they can shorten the pain, they only seem to bury it deeper inside you...

Almost time to go...

900 kilometers, the distance traveled every summer until I was 10. Five of us in the car, all the kids grown up now.

When we were younger, before my sister was born 16 years ago, my brother and I used to sleep in the back seat while our parents drove all night.

Lying there we'd squint our eyes and turn our heads from side to side making the street lights look funny when we passed Trondheim in the dark, knowing we were half-way there.

That little island always meant
summer. It's a home away from home,
a little piece of paradise. At least for me.


Happy times...

How can the prick of a needle feel so little and mean so much?

I went to get my final hepatitis A & B vaccine today, after getting plenty of those last summer. Now I won't catch hep A for 25 years. As for hep B...

Nurse: You won't be able to get infected ever.
*smiles*
Me: Great.
Nurse: Hopefully.
*turns and walks away*
Me: Great...

Sleeping in Airports & The Golden Pillow

The site Sleepinginairports.net lets people review airports, judging them by how pleasant (or unpleasant) sleeping there is.

I've only slept at one airport, Gardermoen, a couple days before Christmas last year and it was not pleasant. The worst part was the cold and the wind when some doors opened and closed, then got stuck open most of the night.

Still, Oslo Airport Gardermoen ranks in the top ten of all reviewed airports which makes me never want to spend the night at an airport again.

Except maybe Singapore (free internet, free movie theater, free massage (VIP?))

Like Singapore, Gardermoen has received a Golden Pillow award and perhaps reviewer Alex has found the explanation why;

"Gardermoen is better than most
of the hotels I have been sleeping
in!! even got a blowjob!"

Playing Tour Guide

I got to play tour guide again last week when a friend came over from Scotland. We walked around for a couple days, the sun even came out and the view from Fløyen, this tiny little mountain, was great (no clouds!).

It's been a while since I stayed up half the night talking, and I already miss the ravioli with spinach and cheese in spinach-cream sauce at this little place called Baran (which really needs a new design for its page..).

Now I just need to figure out a way to make the IKEA-bed fit back into the storage room, and how to fix the springs of my own.

Good times.

Last pages

As I'm writing the last pages of this chapter in my life, I'm thinking of all the people I've met, all the new experiences I've had and the conversations that could never have taken place anywhere else. I know that these few months here have affected me in ways I am not yet aware of, and in the future I will think back to this very moment as a period in my life that helped shape me into the person I will become.

Right now I just want to cry my eyes out, and I think that's a good thing. It means I had fun, I enjoyed this time and I will miss it. Even if I did start crying I still couldn't stop smiling. There are people I have seen every day, people I have spent so much time with, people I will never meet again. Some I hopefully will, others will disappear out of my life the moment the plane takes off and MTN can no longer reach me.

This moment in time, this hostel, my class, the people here... I might come back to Uganda, but certain things will have changed. Things always change and life goes on.

This moment, this precise moment, will never come back. I only have a few days left and a few more memories to create.

Ready to go

In four hours I'll be on my way to Uganda. My suitcase is packed, almost doesn't weigh more than it should, and there's even room for more.

I've got all my shots, packed my malaria pills and accidentally thrown my cholera vaccine in the dumpster. I'm all set!

This all means I won't be checking in as much the rest of the year. I would have kept posting about my stay, but it would be necessary for me not to have to moderate comments. Due to unfortunate incidents here I won't be able to do that.


Which means I'll have plenty of stories when I come back.
See you on the other side :)

Diseases I will not catch in Africa:

• Hepatitis A
• Hepatitis B
• Yellow Fever
• Diphtheria
• Tetanus
• Poliomyelitis
• Typhoid fever
• Meningococcal infection
• Cholera
• Malaria

Plane tickets: Check!

I've finally booked my plane tickets and August 12th I'll be off for Uganda!

I'll have to spend a bit of time at airports (Oslo and Heathrow), including the night of December 22nd, but at least I'll be home in time to help put up Christmas decorations. I can't wait!

Horten, Norway

The day after my last exam, June 7th, my boyfriend and I went back to his home town. It was a cute little city called Horten on the east coast of Norway. No mountains but one hill and a lot of ocean (although not as far as the eye can see).


This might sound strange, but my favourite experience there was the first night when his family (mother, aunt, uncle, grandparents and others) came by for dinner. They were nice people and it reminded me that the best experiences you have almost always include other people. It's something that's easy for me to forget.

more photos on appleshots

Time to freak out yet?

8 days till my first exam.
I have an eight hour one on Thursday and one lasting five or six on Friday.

After exams I'll be working two weeks, before going home.
I haven't been home since Easter, and it'll be fun to be back there.
Only my parents have redecorated. A lot.
I probably won't know I'm home.

I'll also attend four pre-Christmas parties (Norwegian : julebord) in two weeks.
The first is this Saturday.
Two will be on a boat. We'll be celebrating my mother turning 50, and my aunt's husband will be 60.
We'll be lots of people and we'll be going to Germany and back.

I have to buy new shoes as I don't have dress-up-and-look-pretty-shoes.
I have no time to go shopping.
(never thought you'd hear a girl say that, did ya?)


Another few days and my eye will start twitching..
At least I'll survive no matter what happens.
That's become my new mantra when it comes to exams.
..I'm not sure that's a good thing..

Times of year

A guy I used to know showed me this picture and told me how he loved it - and how he looked forward to going to Trondheim, where the picture was taken.

A year later I found myself back in town and I wondered what it would look like during summer. Not quite so magical, but I guess magic is something which exist in our hearts and is hard to recreate with a camera.

Arc du Triomphe

One day in June Ben, a British guy, came to visit. We were walking around Paris - he wanted me to show him the sites - when we came to the Arc de Triomphe. Some men were trying to get this huge flag to hang just right. They started by pulling it out of a big bag, we didn't have a clue what it was until we started seeing the three colours of the tricolore.

It was blowing like crazy and the flag was sweeping the floor of the entire Arc before they caught hold of it. By then it had tipped over the markings, the flowers and candles of the Tombe du Soldat inconnu and the eternal flame burning there.

I could swear they were about to extinguish the whole thing, wouldn't that be symbolism for you - the French flag itself putting out a symbol of eternal life. Maybe even the flag itself catching fire.

However, such an historic event did not take place. They hoisted the thing up and it waved in the wind, harming nobody, looking good like a good flag should.


I found the explanation as to why the flag was there in the first place quite funny. I heard they put it up there each time the French football (soccer) team played a match in the European Championship (Euro 2004).

Whether that was true or not I couldn't say but I liked the explanation and knowing the French, I wouldn't be altogether surprised if it was true.

Beautiful Trondheim

I was going to comment on how many stunning girls there are in Trondheim. Walking around some malls today, every single female I saw was absolutely gorgeous. Then again... girls in general do tend to be more attractive than guys in general, I don't understand exactly why it's like that, maybe guys just need to be inspired to find a mate, while girls can't be that picky when it comes to looks, they can just try and change what they don't like later.

That's what I was thinking. Then I turn around and realize this city is full of heartbreakingly gorgeous guys aswell. I don't usually say things like this but screw it... I saw this one guy standing in line with a girl in a shop. I swear he's the kind you think only exist in girls' dreams and never in real life. I experienced the rare sensation of feeling someone look at me without daring to lift my eyes to meet theirs. I did the first time, he looked at me again for a couple seconds and I just froze.


So there you have it. People here are beautiful. Whenever the next "Let's find out which Uni city has the most attractive girls" thing comes up (and they constantly do), I know what my answer will be.


Superficial? Me?

I guess it might sound like it. I see a person's beauty as I see that of a garden or a building. It's nice to look at but if there's nothing on the inside it's not very interesting.


(* Did I say 'gorgeous guys'? Maybe I should take that back, I don't think they like it. The last time I called a guy gorgeous he didn't like it much... Then again, I can't write gorgeous anymore without thinking about him. Maybe this is just my problem.)

Holiday

Summer has come, and with summer comes travelling.

Tomorrow we're going up north, to the island. First my father, sister and I, then my mum will join us in a week. My brother's off to Denmark for a music festival.

I realize being 21 and still going on holiday with my parents might get some warning sign flashing. The thing is this is a place we've gone almost every summer, I haven't seen my relatives up there for a while, even have a few cousins I haven't met. Plus going on holiday with my family isn't all that bad, they're pretty cool, except when they go all overprotective. I know they do it because they care but it's still rather frustrating.


Monday in a week I'll be coming back home while the family continues further north with an aunt, uncle and cousin. I'll be coming home by car, boat, bus, train, you name it. The only problem is I'll be stranded in Trondheim for a night. I'm considering making a poster advertising "will blow for a buck" but I'm worried even the people of Trøndelag would think that was going to far.


Either way, I'll be back in a week or two.
Be good, and remember to feed the cat.

Asian Occupation

Sunday around 100 Asian tourists decided to occupy the restaurant at Jølstraholmen, Norway. They set up their own kitchen and served food on their own paper plates.

The manager of the restaurant, Norodd Støfring, coculdn't believe his own eyes when the large group of what he though were guests, started making their own food inside the restaurant.They took up all the tables and set up their own mini kitchen. They served the food from plates they had brought.

It all started when an English speaking guide entered the restaurant, asking if they could eat there. Støfring naturally said yes, they were welcome to.

- I didn't know then it was two full busses of around 100 persons who would not be guests, but in fact bring and prepare their own food.

When the manager, realizing what they were up to, asked them to leave the restaurant, he met little understanding.

- They wouldn't understand what I was talking about. The tour guide who ten minutes earlier spoke very good English, no longer seemed to understand the language.

But the guests, who Støfring believes was either from India or Pakistan, eventually understood they weren't welcome. It all ended with them leaving, serving the food from tables outside the doors of the restaurant.

- I can't remember ever having experienced behaviour as rude as that! But you can't help but see the funny side of it, says Støfring.



Summer has come, so has the tourists.
It sure is a funny time of year...

Bus rides

Last year when I went home for summer I was 24 hours late for what could have been a terrible accident. A huge boulder landed on the road right after the bus had passed. If anyone had been under when it fell, they would have been instantly killed. The bus was minutes away from it, I was exactly 24 hours late.



Today, the day before I'm about to get on the bus home, that very same bus caught fire. It happened when the bus had stopped to board the ferry across the fjord, smoke was everywhere, the passengers were evacuated and the ferry crew had the fire put out in as little as six minutes.





The reason for this year's accident, as last year's, remains unknown.


- I'm not sure if this means someone is trying to kill me and constantly get the dates wrong, or if there's a guardian angel up there making sure bad things happen before I even have the chance to get there..

Waaaahhh!

My last exam is Wednesday, which means I am supposed to be studying. And I do try. From time to time. For those of you who have yet to experience the endless fascination of micro economics, I am here to tell you there is no such thing.

It might be fun if I had more time to study it but since I have 250 pages and 2 days to learn them (much of which will be wasted online), it is not so much fun.


Doesn't make it better that my family is in Sweden for the weekend and keep calling to tell me how much fun they're having.

Which only serves to remind me I might not be able to get out of the country at all this year. That hasn't happened for 10 years and I'm not too keen on it happening now.


Bloody Cobb-Douglas production functions...

Bloody Mary

One person died after a fight on board the cruise ship Queen Mary II Friday.

The killing took place in international waters, the ship being British, the British police are now on the ship investigating.

Queen Mary II was the largest cruise ship ever made when it was completed in 2003 and has room for 2,620 passengers and a crew of 1,253.

Eric Flounders, spokesperson for Cunard who owns the ship says a member of the crew, a 49 year old man, has been detained on board.The injured man, 40, also a member of the crew, had been transported by helicopter to a hospital in the Netherlands, where he later died, the ship continuing on to Bergen, Norway.


The man will stay on the ship until the British police can transport him to Britain.



So that's the huge ship outside my window...

Prima facie

Imagine you own a house. You live in another country so when you're not there, you rent it out through an agency. The family who moves in will be staying for 10 months, from August 2003 until June 2004, the rent being 1000 euro per month.

After two months they stop paying the rent. Then they change the locks. The agency sends letters and nothing happens. Employees from the agency visit the family but they will not talk to them. The family calls the police. The family forges a contract, saying the rent is now 400 euro per month, which they rarely pay. The owner of the house flies over and tries to contact to the family.

The agency writes more letters to the family. Both agency and the owner of the house is charged with violence and threats. The agency has visited the house several times, but the police always shows up and tells them to leave.

No one doubts who owns the house. The family living there does not pay rent. Even if the new contract was real, they have still broken it. Yet the police protects the rights of this family, not the rights of the owner.

In this case it does not matter that the contract was forged, because the family is allegedly exposed to both violence and threats by a man who lives in another country, and by the agency which rented them the house. All these are people who are not able to get onto the property because the locks have been changed.

Since the family's accusations are more serious than the word-against-word contract, the police protects the family. When mail arrives for the owner, the family keeps it. When they recieve a letter or a phone call from the agency, they call the police. Again - there is no doubt who owns the house. Why does this happen? Why are they still there, 15 months after the contract expired?


It happens because in Spain, if you rent a house, you are allowed to stay in it for five years, against the owner's will, provided you pay the rent. Which in this case only happens from time to time and is based on a forged contract.

Basically you can rent a house, determine how much you want to pay, forge a contract and stay there indefinitely provided you call the police often enough.

And this is the law.

Am I the only one who finds this puzzling?