Thanksgiving, american style...

Not being in a very good mood the last few days, I needed something to cheer me up. Thanksgiving dinner at Brenda an Larry's place yesterday was just what I needed.

americans, norwegians and slovak people all gathered around the turkey

rule is that everyone has to bring something to eat.

Gina and I brought 'skoleboller'.

I made sure we made enough topping, so that I could eat the leftovers.

Turnes out I'm not the onlt one with a sweet tooth here.

I had to share with Larry...

Gina with our home-made 'skoleboller'

Fellow Norwegians; Jan Ruben and Cecilie.

They have a healthy relationship....most of the time

Dessert

Jan Ruben and Cecilie brought 'riskrem',

and had to teach the "non-norwegians" how to eat it

This wonderful lady is my third grandmother -

she is so cute! Here she is singing an american tune.

Larry, I really look up to him.

Emily

Martine and Brenda

Mary

It felt like home. It felt like a family. It felt oh so good.

Thank you Larry and Brenda for inviting us.

And thank you all for making this a wonderful day,

and for being who you are.

Happy (belated) thankgiving!

Culture shock...

...believe me, it's not fun.

Det finnes tre ting som ikke kan skjules: Kjærlighet, røyk, og en mann som rir på en kamel...

-arabisk ordtak

Fineste paret

Takk for

at du ikke alltid er enig med meg,selv når jeg vil du skal være det

at du lar meg gråte når jeg trenger det, og kjefte når jeg må det

at du tar deg tid til meg, selv når du har mye annet å gjøre

at du tror på meg, selv når jeg ikke tror på meg selv

at du ler, selv om vitsene mine (av og til) er dårlige

at du hører på meg, til og med når jeg snakker tull

at du synes jeg er fin, til og med når jeg er småsyk

at du er tålmodig, når jeg trenger litt mer tid

at du tenker løsning, når jeg tenker problem

at du er ærlig, selv om det ikke alltid er lett

at jeg passer perfekt inn i armkroken din

at du kan snakke med meg om troen din

at du liker meg akkurat slik som jeg er

at du vet at jeg liker deg også, akkurat slik som du er

The war in Somalia

I read my daily dose of news today and came over an article about the war in Somalia. Honestly, I didn't even know there was a war in Somalia. But the fights there has killed around 20 000 people, and hurt even more - physicaly and mentaly. The war is between the islami al-shabaab-warriors and somalian forces with support from The African union AU.

1 of 10 children born will not live to see their first birthday. And 30% of the population does not have access to clean drinkingwater.

They actually don't know how many children that are victims for these war actions. Somalia is said to be the most dangerous place to live, especially for children.

The article I read was about a eight year old boy that got shot in the face. He was walking home with his mother from a marked in the somalian capital Mogadishu. The mother was hit in the palm of her hand, and then the bullet went into the little boy's jaw, nose, and mouth.

Two months later his nose is just a small hole. His mouth is always open because he has no upper lip, and his right eye is gone. He can hardly speak.

Underneath a picture of him playing with his toy-helicopter it's written that playing with his helicopter helps him keep his spirit up.

Often I just jump over those kind of articles. But that picture of him sitting there with bandages all over his face, playing with his helicopter - it just pierced my heart. This is a little boy. He is as real as you and me.

These are real people.

I don't know what more to say. My head is full of thoughts, but I can't get them out.

My heart goes out to Ahmed, and Somalia today.

How you know that it's real love...

Espen sent me this saying: "Welcome to the rest of your life"

Her: "Why don't we ever go to the theatre?"

Him: Hello?

Shoot!

Girls night out

Maries nr.1 girl Rose is in Slovakia this weekend. And of course we had to show her a good time. So for the first time since we got down here, we went out. Three somewhat crazy girls coming together, this just had to be good. And indeed it was.

Met up with some people from class and chatted for a bit. Then we had to check out a real slovakian disco. With our chicken dance, macarena, salsa, and what not, we certainly showed those slovak people how it's done - norwegian style.

At 3am the feet of those not used to high-heals were screaming for mercy, so we headed home.

Wandering home from Maries place all by myself I was feeling grateful. Grateful for a lovely evening, good friends, and of course my boyfriend Espen. I miss him a lot.

I took one for, ehm, well...me? today...

This morning a song was stuck on my brain, "I hurt myself today" by Johnny Cash. Little did I know that it would become true this very day.

Yesterday I poked my finger on purpose. Today it was not on purpose.

I was making lunch for Gina and I, and had to cut the rolls (rundstykker). I wanted to do it the easy way, the way my mother does it. She just holds the roll in one hand, and cut it with the breadknife with the other hand. I'm not my mum.

I cut my finger. And I actually noticed that it was cutting my finger, but I didn't stop at once. Guess I was to bewildered at the moment to stop cutting. So I cut my finger, I cut it deep.

And as you all know by now, I know how to bleed. So our kitchen was quite a mess, especially our sink. And a bit of our couch as well, because I had to take a picture of my injury of course.

So now I have one blue -, and one deeply cut fingertip.

19 november, Far sin bursdag...

I går skulle jeg har ringt hjem til Norge, til far. Gratulerer med dagen skulle jeg sagt. Gratulerer med 61 års dagen. Så skulle far sagt at det var kjekt at jeg husket på ham, at han satte pris på det. Like etter hadde han spurt meg hvordan jeg hadde det. Far sa alltid at han hadde det godt når jeg hadde det godt. Vi hadde ikke snakket lenge, for det er dyrt å ringe utenlands. Dessuten så likte ikke far å snakke i telefonen, og det gjør vel strengt tatt ikke jeg heller. Men han hadde alltid tid til en prat med meg, telefon eller ei. Det var noe av det beste med far, han hadde alltid tid. Tid som han ønsket å bruke på, og med, familien sin.

Gårsdagen ble en vanlig dag for meg, selv om jeg hele tiden kjente meg hakket tyngre til sinns fordi jeg visste at det var fars bursdag.

Sorgen er der enda, men den er anderledes.

Jeg tenker ofte at jeg hadde trengt far her. Samtidig så ser jeg jo at jeg klarer meg, og det er godt. Skulle selvfølgelig gjerne hatt far her, uten tvil.

For jeg savner far, jeg savner far så fryktelig.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.

In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart!

I have overcome the world." John 16, 33 NIV

I took one for the team today...

In biology practical today we needed blood. We were making bloodsmears to look at in the microscope. Eight people in the group, we needed eight drops of blood.

A fellow classmate volunteered. Shaking like a leaf he poked his finger with the needle. Turnes out he didn't bleed well. He had to force out the blood, and still there was to little. He poked his finger again and again to see if he could get more blood. He couldn't.

Patience not being a good quality of mine, but knowing bleeding is, I asked for a needle of my own. Our teacher ran (!) to find me a needle (my fellowstudent had used all the other needles).

I disinfected my finger and grabbed the needle. Tried to pierce the skin gently, but desided that the best thing would be to just poke it with force. And so I did. The needle went deep.

And it bled. Not only where it should, but all over the place.

After donating my blood to everyone who was in need, the bleeding wouldn't stop.

So the teacher found me some sticking plaster.

Now the tip of my finger is blue, but it's ok. I took one for the team.

Takk lillebror

Some days ago I got a note in the post telling me a package was waiting for me at the post office. It was from amazon, and I could not recall ordering anything from amazon lately.

Today I went to collect my mystery package.

When I got home and opened it, and realised what it was, I was touched. It was a birthday present from 'lillebror' (littlebrother - who is 14 years older than me).

It was a book called 'Life & Times of Michael K'. The present was perfect. I've missed having something other than school-stuff to read. And I know that when my brother recommends a book, it's got to be good.

But the best thing was not the book, it was the little note on the paper with shipping information. It read:

Gratulerer med dagen! Gaven blir litt forsinket pga fraktid, men dette er den beste boken jeg vet på engelsk, og jeg håper at du får glede av den! Hilsen lillebror.

(Happy birthday! The present is delayed because of delays with delivery, but this is the best book I know in english, and I hope you will enjoy it! Best regards, littlebrother.)

Tusen takk lillebror. Jeg er glad i deg.