This is going to be a multi multi entry.
I have been way too busy to post regular updates lately and I am sorry about that.

It has been almost a month with no updates so This will just be a summary.

May 14-16 I was so lucky to recieve a visit from my hermano Claudio Quintana from Puntarenas, Chile. The very south peek and one of the closest cities to the South Pole. It was 5 years since last time we met and then only for 3 hours before he had to leave. For the 15th we were joined by Carlos from Trondheim (well, he is actually from El Salvador but has lived in Trondheim where I met him 11 years ago for so long I dont remember). We had a fantastic evening and it was nice to meet both of them.

Claudio, It was fantastic to meet you again and I miss you already.

Then on the 16th in the afternoon Myriam and I had a long walk in the forest to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather and practice norwegian. We were invited for several parties as well but chose not to go out.

For may 17 that is the Norwegian National day we celebrated the CouchSurfing way
Weather was FANTASTIC !! Sunny, almost +20C and few clouds.

The day started out pretty stressed since I just remembered that I did not prepare all I should have prepared for the day. So after my shower I sat down to wait for Jen (My couchsurfer for the 2 next days) that was late. She turned up a bit late and I missed the first train. Ok. It was not all her fault. She did arrive at 9 when I was supposed to leave but I had not prepared the CS sign that was supposed to help the guys find the group easily. So, I still had to do that while waiting for her while she got ready for the big day.
The train was completely packed with people in festive moods and clothes.
We had a fantastic day with marvelous weather and loads of activities.

Couchsurfers from Norway, South Korea, France, Colombia, Austria, Brazil, Angola, Finland, USA, Canada gathered to celebrate the Norwegian national day together and we reached the numbers of 18 (during the day). We all met up at the University place to watch the childrens parade around 10 where we stayed there having fun and getting to know each other till straight after 12 before heading out to Hovedoya where we arranged a barbeque.
We had to cross the Karl Johan street where the parade was crossing and its not so easy to cross with 16 people and angry ladies thinking we were going to steal their place in front to see better than them. We did get there in time for the boat with good margins and even Etienne that managed to hop on the boat almost as it took off from the peer. hehe. A little late but still in time. The island was an idyllic place for the barbeque and we all enjoyed the traditional may 17 meal; Hot dogs and wine. Not enough wine must say ! Just 2 bottles for 16 people is just a quell appetizer. We were also a very very popular group at the island. The seagulls liked the smell of food and soon surrounded us. We were also accompanied by a geese couple with 3 chicks. The group was a perfect combination and everybody seemed to be having a great time. We had lots and lots of fun. When time came to leave we lost the originally planned ferry but no problem. Another one passed just 15 minutes after. Our tourists were taking pictures of themselves and others with ladies in the traditional costume, Bunad.

There was also time for an ice-cream break. Soft-ice is the 2nd most popular dish (after the hot-dogs) amongst Norwegians this day. Wee. Fantastic.

Our next step was at the university place again to join in on the national folk dances (which some did not manage so well - like some french guy following the girls directions instead of the mens directions etc). But it was terribly fun to watch.
After an hour of dancing activities we moved up to the Kuba park where we listened to the SOS racisms huge concerts against racism THEN we finished off at Memphis bar at Gronland. Some even continued till 2am visiting bar after bar i was told. Jen and I left around 10:30, both tired.
It was a fantastic day and we had so much fun.

See pictures at:
http://wiki.couchsurfing.com/en/May17oslo2007,
http://www.mhevensen.com/17mai and at
http://virtualnothingness.wordpress.com/2007/05/19/couchsurfing-the-17th-of-may/.

a Totally great day.

For the 18th I arranged a couchsurfing dinner with travellers and couchsurfers visiting and living in Oslo. Bernardo and mom, Nene + Jeff and Myriam, Amanda and Jen made us 7 for dinner and we had a great afternoon. I was a little freaked out about what to serve so many people but it showed out to be no problem and we had more than enough food for all both that day and the next. We had taco night weee. Easy food to cook. After dinner we all went down to the city and had something to drink at Cafe Sor in Torggata before coming home at 4 in the morning. It poored down. Ouff. I am glad I did not have to walk home alone as I was hosting Jen. Amanda never wanted to go out with us and when we got home we woke her up unintentionally.

The 19th Jen left Oslo and headed off to Bergen while Amanda was out all day with some frenchies. Jeff and Myriam came over for Pizza and Myriam and I walked from their house to Nydalen, almost to Grorud before we took the bus the last way. The pizza was made of left overs from the 18th and tasted great.

The 20th we had another fantastic day in the sun and Myriam, Jeff, Etienne and I was in the Kuba park for barbequeing. I also got Lillegutt back for a weeks babysit/catsit.

Tuesday may 22 and wednesday may 23 I hosted the Spanish Couchsurfer Laura who was really nice. She also made me a traditional spanish dish :)
Thursday may 24 Jorunn shipped me one more cat and Lillegutt and Saffi and Kosefine was now 3.
Weekend may 25-27 - CSer Kerryn from Australia stayed for the weekend. A real fun aussie and we had lots of fun meeting other CSers like Jeff, Myriam, Knut Ole, Ricard, Celine, Maria and some other friends for parties. For sunday Myriam, Kerryn and I went for a 5 HOUR long walk in the forest. I think they were a bit concerned about getting lost at some times but finally we found the track back ! Celine, Myriam, Kerryn and I also had a planning meeting to plan the midsummer camp.
I also found an article in the online papers about Costa Rica that aims to win the carbon neutral race in the world.

Monday 28 was a wonderful day off and was just spent to relax and enjoy.
Tuesday may 29 we arranged the monthly couchsurfing meeting at Asylet and the party comittee got load of information about the location of the midsummer camp we are arranging from 22 to 23 of June.
The two next days after work I spent making the webpages for the midsummercamp and the meeting invitation. http://www.couchsurfing.com/meetings.html?mid=2524. Myriam helped me lots and we also had time to do some norwegian practicing.

Friday JUNE 1 I went with some friends for a barbeque in a park and saturday 2 was the day of the music in Oslo and concerts all over. Elisabete from Portugal came in to stay at my house for a week and we went out to meet other CSers for drinks :)

Sunday june 3 I walked 3 hours from my house to the city and continued to Frognerparken to meet up with the family and it was great. Wonderful sunny weather after some days with pooring rain. I sent Ellie off with the other couchsurfers in Oslo to NAKholmen and they spent the day in the sun swimming etc.
My grandmother living in Trondheim was in Oslo today with a friend. She is a real vagabond spirit and just spent 1 week in Normandie, France. My sister, brother in law and 3rd and 4th cousins all met up in the Frognerpark where we had lunch outside in the fantastic sunny weather. Also one of my sisters friend, Ane with her son joined us. Great day.
Luckily Christian (brother in-law) volunteered to drive Ellie and me home. We met Ellie at Oslo Sentralstation and was taken all the way to the door.

Monday june 4 Ellie cooked pasta carbonara dish with a portuguese recepy and tuesday 5 we attended a free environmental concert arranged by the Nobel peace center celebrating the opening of the environmentally focused exhibition Melting Ice - Hot topic. One of the exhibitioners is also a couchsurfer and we met up with him and his family as well during the show. It was a fantastic day and the concert was great with lots of great norwegian bands. After the concert Ellie and I went to Aker Brygge to enjoy a couple of the most expensive beers in Oslo with Oyvind, Ricard, Celine, Jeff, Myriam.
Wednesday 6 not much happened and thursday june 7 I had Jeff, Myriam, Ellie and Jorunn S over for dinner and reflexology massage. We had fresh cod and potatoes before the massage session.

On top of all this I have been walking long distances as often as possible and enjoyed life. I have also started getting a grip on what I do at work so that I dont feel as lost as before and that feels really great. I am also studying for my reflexology massage exam on monday june 11. For the last week the weather has been absoluteley gorgeous and sunny but we have also had many days with rain.

The full weekend has been just amazing. +30C and not one single cloud to spot on the sky. A mild breeze at daytime and tropical nights (defined as temperatures no lower than +20C). Many people complain about it being to hot but it is just fantastic. Oh, Ive missed it so badly.

Sunday showed to be just as great as Saturday and I decided to go outside to study while enjoying the sun. That would have been a great plan but I got so tired that I went inside to sleep instead. I also studied a couple of hours inside and gave myself a pedicure. That was great. And did some Couchsurfing correspondance. A lazy day that I should have used to study much more, but my intentions were good.

Saturday started out just as fantastic. Wonderful sunny weather and warm fantastic weather. Ellie and I had breakfast before she left and went back to Portugal. She loved the stay so much that she will come back in 3 weeks for a language course and then seek jobs here.
I met Ricard, Celine, Justin, Myriam and Martin at 2pm and we went to Nakholmen to swim, relax and tan. I brought my books but did not study much. I did massage Ricards feet but something tells me he did not like it too much. Hahaha. Poor thing. But it does hurt :)
The first swim of the year in Norwegian waters - actually the first, second, third and fourth - happened. We all got a great tan and some even got sunburned and looked a little like pink pigs :) Hehe. It was a fantastic day with great company. I went home with the 8 train although I was at the train station for the 7:10pm train but due to extremely hot weather there was lots of errors with the train and it got cancelled. When I got home I pretty much unloaded groceries I had bought and went to bed. I was so tired.

Friday was terrible to be inside at work, longing out in the gorgeous sun.
But I got off at 4 and had a great time at a reception at the Costa Rican embassy. It was our first official meeting with the ambassador as a host. Great food, great company and had a wonderful chat with old friends like Alba, Bernal and Linn. Also met loads of new people :)
But I had to run to my next appointment at 9 and went straight to Ricard and Celines place for barbeque and to continue my spanish practicing with their couchsurfer Alvaro from spain. He just decided that enough was enough and left Spain on his motorbike with no money and no plan and took off. People found out that he was missing work one day cause he told no one that he left. He sure got the right couchsurfing spirit although personally I would have told and planned way better - and not to forget - Bring money :).
He was truly inspiring company and we had a great time. Ellie was there and Myriam, Alexandra came and we spent the evening (you just cant call it night when it is still bright as mid day at 11pm) having loads of fun. Justin Deguire came in around 10pm and we played a swedish game that was truly fun as well. Justin is from Montreal and I am amazed about how much easier it is to speak french with him than with the frenchies. Hehehe. Its like I remember the words without thinking.
Ellie and I went home with Myriam, left her at her place and got the last train home.
A fantastic summer night :)

This weekend has been a wonderful weekend in all matters. Sun has been shining from cloudless sky and temperatures has been up to +27C.

In any other matter this weekend has also been fantastic. Wednesday and Thursday I was not feeling so good (headaches etc) and thursday/friday I stayed home from work. Thursday was spent mostly in bed asleep but at 8ish I went up to Furuset to meet Giampiero and Alessandro that has been my Couchsurfing guests for the weekend. They are really nice and I have enjoyed their company big-time. I had prepared dinner for them that was cooking while I picked them up. Quite easy food actually, baked potatoes with veggies and cheese. Delicious but simple.
We enjoyed some wine and had a fun evening.

Friday
Friday I stayed home. Still not feeling good I sent my Italian surfers off in the morning for sight seeing then went back to bed. I stayed in bed until more or less midday before getting up and relaxing before my surfers came back. Giampy and Alessandro brought their two friends that is surfing Oyvinds couch over for dinner. Its the greatest to have people over for dinner that cook you the dinner !!!
Spagetti with oil and bacon and great parmigiano cheese, For desserts we had ice cream, fresh berries from the garden, drinks and bbq'ed marshmellows. That was great fun !!!! Never seen anyone kill the poor things before. I learned I had to explain to newbies that they are already dead !! Hehehe. We enjoyed the evening in the garden with beautiful sunny weather and took Guiseppe and Andrea to the train station when it was time for them to leave.
Just a short time after we were waiting for a Belgian couple. Marianne and Dimitry that was gonna arrive around 11pm. They didnt until 2am cause it was so hard to explain the road to them so they could find my house. But when they arrived they had brought the finest Belgian Chocolate and it was gorgeous. They even got my bedroom and I stayed in the living room talking to Giampy and Alessandro before A fell asleep and in a long time we decided to do too.

Saturday
In the morning I made a nice outdoor breakfast for all of us and since the guys were gonna do loads of touristy things today I sent them all off in the morning. Marianne and Dimitry went off towards the west coast and and I met up with my Italians after lunch. I biked down to the city and met them at Hard Rock cafe. From there we all took the metro line 1 to Holmenkollen and we were tourists for a while. It was great to see the fantastic views from the Jump tower. The bad thing was that the elevator did not work and that way we had to climb all the stairs. Great excersice though.
After we had a picture session for the real tourists :)

On our way back to the city we stopped to pick up some food and headed over to the frognerpark to meet up with the other CSers !! Huge BBQ was arranged and lots of fun with many new people, some of the regulars and they were all fantastic. We had so much fun; Ricard and Celine introduced us to the game of Kubb that we played over and over several times during the night (although next time Im def. gonna be on the other team - the one that wins - cause my team mates really didnt play that well. Hahaha), bying lollipops from a BORAT impersonator, chatting and laughing a lot. Even going to the toilet in pairs the Norwegian way !! Kimberly, Still not scared I presume? Hahaha.

We also enjoyed good foods and drinks as is the point for a good park-bbq. It was a great park night and when we finished up we went to Cafe con bar. I took the bike down there and arrived at the same time as the tram travellers.
Captured here: Wendy, , Alessandro, Giampiero, Celine, Me, Ricard, Oyvind and Guiseppe.
We had more drinks, danced, chatted and really enjoyed a great time all together. John Richard even bought us all a huge bottle of champaign and everyone had a fantastic time together.
The night went on and so did the fun and when it was finally time to split up I dont think either one of the attendants had the slightest regret of going :)

As we split with the others I sent my bike home with Martin that had no buses up to his at this indecent hour and as the sun rised at 4 in the morning and I had one of my funniest experiences with drunk Norwegian men.
As I was staning at the bus stop chatting with my two surfers, G and A, this really drunk dude comes over and tells me:
Hey.. Im not gonna bother you!
Thats good I said and turned back talking to my friends
He repeats: Im not gonna bother you.
Where I say. Thats ok again.
He waits like 3 minutes and repeats; Im not gonna bother you before he asks whether it is ok for him to stand there and talk.
I said sure. You can talk as much as you want to.
Then he finally realized I actually was standing and talking with someone and asked me if it was my boyfriend where I said: No, but I am taking him home with me pointing twds Giampiero and Im taking him home as well I said pointing to Alessandro.
That was the funniest ever. I have never seen a face so chocked but so delighted and jealous at the same time. I just let him think what he had started before he repeated. Hey. Im not gonna bother you.
Norwegian men !!
Bus ride home took half an hour and we had to walk 15 minutes before reaching the house. Alessandro was so tired he fell right asleep but G and I stayed up talking for a while still.

Sunday

For more pictures:
Martins blog

...and WEEKS of planning washed away in rain. Apart from that the arrangement was pretty damn successful.
Ricard, Celine and I had visited the farm in Hvitsten on tuesday when it was bathed in sunshine and nothing looked like it could disturb our happiness. Hehe. Ok, maybe a slightest exaggeration. Ole with the tractors farm has a barn, a studio, the mainhouse and a couple of extra houses that all in all makes it a fantastic place to stay for a camp. Sure, no water to swim in but hey! thats maybe why it rained so bad.

The first participants came in already on wednesday and thursday but were eagerly followed by most of the others on friday.

Free concert in the rain
Friday after work we were joined by the italians from last weekend (Giampiero, Andrea, Guiseppe and Alessandro) and 8 italians (the 4 new ones, Andrea, Guiseppe, Roberta and Alfredo), Celine (France), Ricard (Sweden), Oyvind, Me (Norway) and Rachel (HK) had dinner at Peppes Pizza. It was great and we had an amazing time before the first mentiones italians from last week had to leave for the airport and we split with them to go to the meeting point at the national theater to meet the other participants for the concert. We were joined by another swede, an american and 3 more french before we went to a bar to have a couple of drinks before going to get wet.
The huge event for the night was the VG LISTA TOPP 20 concert that is one of the biggest free outdoor concerts in Norway. The 20 most popular artists of the year is gathered to throw a great concert at the plaza in front of the city hall and it is huge. Last year it was attended by more than 40000 people on one of the clearest and lightest nights of the year.
It is also directly sent on television. Well, last year was last year and this year due to the rain one can say that it was a lack of public. Sure many had shown up but I do not think we passed 10000. Still thats pretty good though. After all. It was pooring down all the time.
We drowned our sorrows in beer and got wet but had so much fun !!!!

Midsummer camp
Saturday meeting point was set to 1100am and that was too early. We were tired from last night and it was still pooring down. The plans for the day were to have a free hug campaign but raining this much none of us were very interested :) So we went for breakfast instead... And payed a visit to the Astrup Fearnley museum of modern art before rushing to the central station, picking up the food for the bbq and running to catch the train. I must admit. My stress level was A LOT higher than normal when we were in the store, getting closer and closer to the 2 minutes limit of when we really had to RUN to catch the train and people were still not done in the store...
You go there, you go there. Now sorry sir, may these people go in front of you? We need to catch a train you see ... Sorry, sorry. PLS RUUUUUUN !!!!!!
JUST go !! If you dont go NOW we loose the train.. And none of the participants had even started to buy tickets when the train was supposed to leave. Running around like a headless chicken I was SOOOOOO saved by the bell when train was announced 10 minutes late. I think that was my happiest moment of the day ! God, I must have looked so funny.

Finally on the train we were all very happy to have made it and all 12 of us could relax a bit. In Vestby we catched the bus to take us a close as possible. The only problem now was to remember where to get off. Thank GOD, Celine called me when they were at the stop to pick up bags etc and told us the name of the stop because or else I do not think I would have remembered. All bags and people without umbrellas were taken in the first ride and then the cars was shutteling back and forth to pick us all up to avoid having 15 soaked persons.
Finally there we all started to get to know each other and having fun and during the day we played Kubb in the pooring rain and then finally when people were having drinking games and just enjoying life it started clearing up around 7pm and we could prepare for bbq.
Jon, Martin, Marianne and Dimitry were the last to arrive and in full numbers we counted 22 people represented by 4 French, 1 Swede, 3 Norwegians, 4 Italians, 1Check, 3 from the US, 1 Dutch, 1 Finnish, 2 Belgians, 1 from Hong Kong and 1 German !!!
This is just More than I hoped for and completely fantastic.
During the evening weather got better and better and after the dinner we played football (Poor Alfredos leg turned all blue after the harsh meeting with my shoe), more Kubb and other activities. Then Andrin and I cleared the bonfire area from grass and we prepared for lighting the fire. Jeff and Jon helped out lighting it as real wilderness men and suddenly we had a great bonfire for roasting marshmellows !!! Hahaha.
Most activities after this point was having drinks and roasting marshmellows and enjoying life. Finally no more clouds in the sky and it was as if it was planned to make it perfect !
As it got darker (it doesnt get very dark in summer in Norway) past midnight we all gathered around the bonfire talking, singing and enjoying life.

Sunday and going home
The Italians - poor things - left first. At 6am followed by the Belgians that had to leave around 9. The rest of us had breakfast, cleaned up the house and enjoyed the last rays of sunshine before we all took off too. Most of the trip back home was nice weather but the closer we got to Oslo the worse it got. Suddenly it rained lakes and rivers and Oyvind dropped Rachel, Roberta and me off at my house and joined us for lunch until weather cleared up. Roberta cooked spagetti with garlic, oil and parmesan cheese for us and we almost died from laughing when seeing Robertas chocked look when Oyvind for a joke asked for ketchup on it. She was jumping up and down and the poor thing could not believe what she heard. How can you kill good spagetti by adding ketchup? Hahaha. Still dying from thinking about that.
We watched some movies and when weather got better Oyvind left and girls fell asleep and I fixed the computer. I cooked for them for dinner and by the time it was time to go to bed we were all very tired. Just by relaxing after the big party day.

Roberta left my house on monday Andrin and Allison also spent the day at mine before taking the night train to Trondheim. Rachel left on tuesday. Then I was alone again and looking fwd for a couple of days by myself.

More pictures - check Martins blog.
The official Meeting report and pictures on Couchsurfing WIKI.

We've had lots of rain this last week and Im really not so happy about it.

Remembering grandma
I also had a conversation with a good friend that made me really sad. It was about loosing people close to you and we both exchanged our experiences with loosing someone recently.
I have not really wanted to touch the subject about loosing my grandmother at all since she died 6 months ago and for most of the time I have no problem keeping the sad feelings hidden under a much happier facade. Since I was in Costa Rica and away from everyone that shared these feelings with me when grams died I never went through the same process that my family went through at that time. I feel so sad for loosing out on the funeral, and the fellowship in being together in such a sad time but I just dont wanna have all these sad feelings.
So when my friend shared his story with me my feelings kind of fought its way up to the top and overwhelmed me.
I just wanted to comfort and to be comforted.

Reflexology
I also got the great message that I did pass my Reflexology exam and am now a Reflexology massage therapist !!!
Great news !!

Petsurfing
I have also had my white cat, Lillegutt, and jorunns cat, Kosefine, over for 2,5 weeks during summer for vacation. Jorunn and family spent their vacation in Minnesota, US and I took care of the kitties. Only problem was with whitey that unfortunately never seems to stop the pissing on the floor. I cant take it. Ive had plastic bags with towels over them so he will not destroy the floor. But, who knows? He does not seem to get better though. Although he is the sweetest little cat on earth. So tender and shy but yet so loving.

Oh well. Enough of these difficult thoughts for today