Since I wrote last time lots has happened of the good things.
In the end of january (21-26) I went to London to meet with my MDST friends from Couchsurfing and celebrate Amandas Birthday. It was great to meet Brenda, Chris and Anick Marie again and it was wonderful to finally meet Amanda and Kalliope!
After this trip, I was in such good mood that it kinda reminded me of this song by Juan Luis Guerra
Una mujer
sin condicion
me dijo: sirvete de mi
lo que quieras.
Y tanto me servi
que hoy nubla mi razon.
No se si vivo fuera
o dentro de su corazon
ohhhohhhhohhhh
y tanto me servi
que hoy nubla mi razon
no se si vivo fuera
o dentro de su corazon
----------------------------
Translated
A woman
non-conditionally
told me: Serve yourself of me
all that you want.
And I served myself so much
that today my reasoning is clouded.
I dont know if I live outside
or inside her heart
ohhhohhhhohhhh
And I served myself so much
that today my reasoning is clouded.
I dont know if I live outside
or inside her heart
This song reflects a few of my feelings along with that Im actually feeling a bit misplaced in my life again. I need to find out where I belong, what is my call in life and where is it. All I know is that its waiting for me, but Im not ready yet... And I dont know where Im supposed to be, nor what is waiting for me.
Im searching and I feel alienated from whom I am - and whom Im supposed to be.
I wish.... I could know where to go, what to search and how to prepare myself for what - one day - finally will be the right path for me to take.
And suddenly 2 weeks passed, movies night with Jorunn S
Since I got home, we have had 1 and only one day with sun in Oslo. All other days have been cold and cloudy, Most of them it has snowed. One day was so foggy we could hardly see our hands in front of us. Temps vary from 0C to -10C
Ive spent a lot of time at home warming up in front of the fireplace.
Its fun to feel like a penguin when walking, because of all the clothes covering you up for the cold. On the sunny days winter can be quite charming.
WOW, that I think was the two fastest passing weeks for a LONG time.
After arriving home and getting back to normal I have been busier than in very long time. It has been a busy period both at work, private life and at home. It is right before christmas and lots to do and prepare.
Finally I managed to find some time for myself and Jorunn and Me went to see a movie.
The tickets were for the Pre-Premier for TWILIGHT
Check also: http://www.myspace.com/twilightthemovie#charFlash
To see teasers - look here:
and
We met at Furuset, took the metro downtown where we went to Saga Kino to see Twilight.
Unfortunately I had not the right previous knowledge of the movie. I thought it was a Vampire movie, not a romantic Vampire movie. Therefore I also miscalculated the amount of 14 year old girls showing up to look at the cute vampire fall in love.
This miscalculation was quite awkward at the beginning when the kids were screaming when the movie started, screaming when ALL the cute guys were showing and clapping and screaming some more.
Jorunn and myself found ourself rather amused by this behaviour...
The movie was great ! It was filled with action and funny teenage first love moments, cute guys (funny how that works when they use older actors) and exitement. Its well made and many good comments.
I learned a new, very favourable way of talking about beer. An expression i highly liked: Hops Vitamins (Humle Vitaminer).
Unfortunately the movie ended too soon and as neither of us wanted to go home, we decided to watch another film as well.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
Watch Teaser here:
This was a completely different movie. It was great, although much deeper and much more serious. It has recieved bad critics in the Newspapers, but what does critics know? Maybe they had a bad day... I dunno. I liked it. And that Keanu Reeves is good eyecandy anyways.
We had a burger and a glass of hops Vitamines before we went home. It was a great night out !
Oslo is cold and snowy today. Clouds are low and wind is cold. I wish I could have stayed longer in Houston.
However, Im not gonna complain too much. At least I was allowed to go for my wonderful trip and i do enjoy my colleagues a lot, so its great to be back with them!
So, Im back in Oslo, well located at home.
Due to a complete jet-lag I was so bright awake already at 3:30AM. No possibilities to sleep in so I decided to get out of bed and watch TV to make the time go by.
I was at work before 7 and its dark for so long in the morning. Its not even getting lighter until after 8:30. Sun never came up today.
As usual my 8 weeks away in Houston and Netherlands went by far to quick to feel real and now Im back to the hard realities of snow and winter.
Getting in early makes you be able to leave early and I did. I first stopped to pick up the luggage my colleague Gaute brought over the atlantic for me. Oyvind has picked it up at Gautes house and has stored it at his work. It was sooo heavy. Im impressed I managed to get it with me at all. After picking up that luggage I stopped by at Jorunn and Atles house to pick up the cat and catch up :D
So with the cat, his luggage, my bag and the purse I had enough to carry. It was tremendous. I did however get it home, how i still wonder, but its home and I spent the rest of the night in front of the fireplace wrapping christmas gifts :D
Kitty seems soo happy to be home and its amazing how he seems to also be very happy to be around me ! I love that cat. He is so adorable.
Trip to Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge and Surfside Beach
Today was another beautiful sunny day. The minimum temperature was +13C and our maximum temps were +26C.
Today Ståle and Håvard took me down to the gulf coast. The original idea was a national park called Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge in Brazoria County, TX, just west of Galveston Island. This is a park that is normally known for its wonderful wildlife with alligators, incredible amounts of birds, frogs, plants, fish and other wildlife belonging to the marshes.
Unfortunately due to Hurricane Ike s the end of september
Our Next stop was at Surfside beach
http://www.surfsidetx.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfside_Beach,_Texas
On our way back to Houston we drove past the statue of Stephen F. Austin in Angleton. He was known as the father of Texas .
Touring downtown Houston skyline district, the historical district and the theater district
Beer at Mollys irish pub
Dinner at Cabo at 419 Travis Street.
Surrounded by zanates - Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
Wine with Yvonne and Johan in my room, Cin also stopped by
This morning finally the morning temperatures were higher around 14 and it has been a beautiful day with not even a cloud to spot. The maximum of the day reached +26C.
I started out the morning with a 3 hour worksession with Anick-Marie for CouchSurfing.
At 1pm I had a birthday party to attend for Jessicas 12th birthday. It was a nice birthday with cake and Halloween dressed guests along with good food. Cin and Jim had arranged for a few other kids to show up as well and there was games and presents. The birthday girl seemed a little unhappy with the arrangements at first - to much attention, but when she got presents she was just one big smile and really happy.
The people present was the birthdaygirl herself, Jessica, and her 2 brothers, Jeremiah and Gerald, mom Laura, grandparents Cin and Jim, The swedish couple Johan and Yvonne, Batman, Robin, one of the Ninjas, a witch and a pirate - their moms Mary and
When the party ended at 3:30 pm I went back to my room with some extra cake and had a new worksession for 10 more hours with AM, Derek and Eli. It was good and we got a lot done.
Today was another beautiful sunny day. The highest temperatures we reached was +26C high.
Today was my very first Trick or Treat Halloween celebration. I mean. I have spent Halloween in Canada before, but that time my host family closed themselves in and didnt really participate to the celebration. I have also celebrated Halloween by Halloween parties where everyone dressed up and the party place was decorated and all set for Halloween, but its my first time trick or treating with kids around a whole neighbourhood that has been decorated and all people prepared for party.
At work there was a pumpkin carving competition. Some of my colleagues had carved their own pumpkins and they were to be voted upon but i really didnt pay attention to that part of the day. As soon as the workday was over, Staale and Haavard took me to Sketchers to change the shoes I got the other day (except the vendor gave me the wrong bag when i purchased them) and after we went to WalMart to pick up a pumpkin and a few other things that I needed for the party at Lisas place. When we were done there Staale dropped me off at Lisa and Brians place. Lisa is a woman I met at the Couchsurfing meeting last week.
Brain was setting up the Halloween decorations in the drive way. A table for the candy and Pumpinks with candles inside, a boiling skull and lots of creepy decorations. It looked so great. Lisa led me in to their house and I met their son, Alex, a 4 year old little boy dressed up as a spider :D He was adorable.
I carved my pumpkin. It turned into the head of Jack Skellington (as some of you know I have a thing for The nightmare before christmas) and as I was performing this task, Pat and Tom came over to celebrate Halloween with us too. Pat and Tom is a talkative, funny and sweet couple.
When the pumpkin was finished we took it out to set it up with the others and as we got out we had already recieved the first little visitors. little Nemo, the fairy and a princess along with the little spider that belonged to the house of course. They were so cute.
Lisa and myself took the little princess, her mom and the little spider trick or treating while Brian, Pat and Tom stayed at home to hold the fortress and give out candy. Its fascinating that so many had decorated their houses and gardens and in some places the owners had dressed up too. One house had set up vampires in the windows, a aircastle and a graveyard in the garden. It was so great and all the kids were so awesome, so cute in their costumes. There were all kind of princesses, fairies, dorothys, vampires, batmans and all other thinkable creatures. I had such a wonderful time.
When we had done one round around the neighbourhood we sat down outside Lisa and Brians house to hand out candy. We sat outside until almost 10.
Andrea and Nahoko came to join us at 9. They got a bit lost on their way, but when they came we had lots of fun.
Unfortunately they had to leave the party already at 11pm for another party they had committed to. They both dressed up fantastically. In the picture Nahoko and Andrea in front. Myself and Lisa in the back.
Lisa drove me home at 1:30 but we stayed talking in the car for a long time. She is amazing for telling jokes, she is a great and concerning person. I am glad I have found a friend in her.
This morning it was only +8C degrees warm. Not a cloud to spot at the sky though. The maximum of the day reached +25C and no clouds.
I had dinner at the hotel and a long chat with Cin after work in the hotel garden and then Staale took me shopping. We first went to Sketchers where I got 3 new pair of shoes, except that
they gave me the incorrect bag with 3 pair of 8s instead of 3 pair of 11s. Strangest thing. I was pretty disappointed when I came home and found out.
After Sketchers we went to Target, I picked up a few christmas gifts and groceries and then we tried to go to City Memorial Mall. Only thing was... We got there at 9:02pm and the mall closes at 9:00 so stores were all closed already and people heading on their way out. Too bad. So we decided to give up shopping for the day. I had a chat with the Norwegian couple again as I arrived the hotel. They were outside smoking. I went to bed early.
Today was another beautiful sunny day. Mainly there were not many clouds to see but around 4 we had a few clouds that covered up the sunset. Temps were about 26C high.
I had my first trip downtown to Houston today. A colleague took me to Sams club, that is a similar concept to the Norwegian Smart Club. After this we drove around downtown. Sergio showed me the theater district, the aquarium, the Toyota centre area, the skyline and the clubbing areas.
It was very nice to finally see the downtown area after having been here for almost 4 weeks already. The tour was over at 9pm and I was so tired after a long day that I just went off to sleep directly.
Since I got home, we have had 1 and only one day with sun in Oslo. All other days have been cold and cloudy, Most of them it has snowed. One day was so foggy we could hardly see our hands in front of us. Temps vary from 0C to -10C
Today was another beautiful sunny day. The minimum temperature was +13C and our maximum temps were +26C.
When we were done there Staale dropped me off at Lisa and Brians place. Lisa is a woman I met at the Couchsurfing meeting last week. 
Pat and Tom is a talkative, funny and sweet couple. 
Today was another beautiful sunny day. Mainly there were not many clouds to see but around 4 we had a few clouds that covered up the sunset. Temps were about 26C high.