Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I need YOUR help

Since I’m a russ this year, I’m also getting russecard (which is tradition). These look like business cards and young kids tend to collect them while we are russ. Basically if you’re wearing the red pants, any kids that see you will run over and ask for a russecard.. We also share them with other russ as memories of who you shared this awesome time with.

We get to design them ourselves and they usually consist of a picture, name, school and some witty comments/jokes/quotes… Here is my problem, I can’t think of any…. This is what I have so far:

russekorttt

I have that one quote at the bottom (which I absolutely love), but otherwise I’m blank! Can you help me??

 

-S.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Christmas, Christmas don’t be late

It’s 25 days, 10 hours and 40 min. until Christmas here in Norway. No I’m not counting… Honestly I’m not. I’m excited for Christmas, but I must admit I found that online! Right after Thanksgiving, my mom got quite excited and ended up bringing Christmas into our house…

IMG_2026

IMG_2028

IMG_2032

IMG_2035

How can I help myself? You can’t ask someone to not be excited about snow while it’s snowing. In the same way you can’t tell me to not be excited for Christmas when I’m living in Santa’s cabin..

Are you excited for Christmas?

-S.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

My future apartment

Next summer I’ll be moving in with my boyfriend to an apartment we are already renting (he’s paying while just he lives there – then I’ll join in when I get there). Last night, after work, I drove down to Oslo and spent my first night in my future home for while I study!

IMG_1981

IMG_1983

IMG_2009

IMG_2015

IMG_2020

It’s still pretty basic, and hasn’t gotten my touch since I’ve only been there this once – hehe! – but I loved it and felt very comfortable being there! Considering Paul has a birthday soon, when I can’t visit him, I let him have his birthday present early…

IMG_2007

IMG_2008

I got him a care pack! Different things he would need and that he loves. That included dishsoap, toilet paper, toothpaste, tea, hot chocolate, chilinuts and different other things! Very fun, and I think he really liked it!

We also celebrated our 2 year anniversary today! It makes me so happy to see how well our relationship is going and I love that we’ll be able to take it to a new stage this coming year. I love my boyfriend more than I can explain, and no matter what challenges we meet – we’ll find a way through. Where we’ll be in a year or two is impossible to know, but for me – it’s worth taking the chance to see. If I get it my way, we’ll be stronger than ever – living together – and learning to love one-and-other in a whole different way than we have before. I’m sure of him and how I feel when I’m with him, and for now – that’s all I need.

-S.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving on a small Norwegian island

Considering we live in Norway, and my Norwegian family doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving (+ they live 6 hours away), we usually don’t make a very big deal out of it. This time of year, my dad is usually on his boat. Usually, it’s just me, my mom and my two siblings. So making a huge turkey and a major feast is pretty much a waste.

Thankfully though, we sometimes still do a little something for us…

IMG_1955

IMG_1956

We set the table…

IMG_1957

We create a nice and pleasant atmosphere…

IMG_1970

My mom worked her magic in the kitchen….

IMG_1960

IMG_1962

While we watched the Macy’s Day Parade. And just after good ol’ Santa came and made it official, CHRISTMAS SEASON IS HERE, dinner was ready and we sat down to enjoy a wonderful meal…

IMG_1976

IMG_1979

You know, I’m pretty thankful for you guys. Those of you who come by my blog, read it, leave comments.. Honestly it truly makes my day! Despite that my blog is first of all for me, I’m not sure I’d keep going as long and often as I have if you guys didn’t stick around. It means alot to me – thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-S.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Good ol’ Santa is gettin’ ready

It is exactly 5 weeks until Christmas today. Can you believe it? I can. At my workplace we’ve started decorating with Christmas decorations, we have special Christmas offers and I’m pretty sure when I go to work again on Monday the songs I’ll hear on our speakers will be “Driving home for Christmas”, “ Dreaming of a white Christmas”, etc.

For years now I’ve had the annoying problem that I’m pretty much broke around Christmas and the small scraps of cash I have go to pathetic little Christmas gifts that probably will never be remembered. The extra sucky part is that around Christmas time, when I am at my broke-est and spend the money I have on others – THAT is when I finally see things I like at stores. I truly believe stores keep things from me until Christmas….

IMG_1732

This year however, I’ve been working. Hooray for that! As you can see in the picture above, the cold is coming fast – which for my part only increases the excitement for Christmas. I’m a Christmas-lover, truly I am. Right now, at this very moment, I want to listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, etc… You get the point.

So I was thrilled today when I got the chance to take my hard earned money and go get some decent presents for the ones I love!

388824_10150354191176916_528911915_8569784_1313912274_n

So today, 5 weeks before Christmas, I am pretty much done with Christmas presents! Say it with me people: aaaaahhhh…..! And then because I’m the kind of girl who likes to get personal around Christmas, I decided to make some Christmas cards for my far-away friends. I moved to where I live almost 5 years ago, so I have old childhood friends that need to know I’m thinking of them…

IMG_1946

So I’m sitting here now.. happy.. relaxed… and in good spirit! For my sake, Christmas can just come as soon as it would like. I’m ready to enjoy it!

Have you started getting ready for Christmas?

-S.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Arrrrr ye scurvy dogs

Picture0061

Today, I’m a pirate at school. Cool right?

Picture0063

-S.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

COOKIE

This is Cookie:

cookie1

She is our new Bichon Havanais(sp?) puppy! She is an adorable little bundle of kick-ass (literally, she is scared of nothing) with a sunny disposition! She loves everybody but can be to some degree compared to the arch angel Michael in the movie with John Travolta. She does not hesitate to tell our big dogs that she ain’t scared of them!

cookie3

She’s a punk, but we all have fallen head over heals for her. Even the big guy in the picture above. How can you now go Awww when she comes running to you like a bouncy little teddy bear?

cookie2

I got some awesome news! My boyfriend and I are planning on living together while we study in Oslo, but his studies start this coming January. Therefore, we had to find some place to live before then. Yesterday we were in Oslo looking at an apartment and found the place! It’s small and humble, but in a wonderful standard and it has a great location! So next summer I will be moving in here:

80_-75772288_xl

80_-1076768029_xl

80_-2017600013_xl

80_-1515266365_xl

Ours is the exact same as this, except it’s reverse. The entry is where the bed is and opposite. The kitchen is on the other side and we have no balcony. I like it though, my head can’t stop thinking about how I want it to look. Haha! And I’m a completely different shade of jealous knowing that Paul gets to move in now and I have to wait 6 months! Oh well, that time will probably come faster than I can imagine. I might have to posts pictures of how it turns out though, just because I’m not moving in right away doesn’t mean I can’t help decorate it :)

-S.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

HUMBLED BY AFRICA

Every year, my school has MYSA days. MYSA stands for Mathare Youth Sports Association. The organization describes itself this way:

MYSA is a selfhelp youth programme linking sports with environmental cleanups, AIDS prevention, Leadership training and other community sevice activities involving approximatey 20,000 young people. Started in 1987 as a small selfhelp project to organize sports and environmental cleanups within Mathare slums in Nairobi, the organization has grown from a small youth to renowned youth serving organization that promotes sports for development...

Their motto is: You do nothing, we do nothing. You do something, we do something.

The idea is that these kids aren’t just supposed to receive support. They have to do something to get something. The more they do, or the more they clean and such – the more points they can collect. Some of the kids with the most points get to come visit Norway and play in the Norway Cup. Every year these kids visit our school prior to a “work day” where we, the students, get off from school to work in order to raise money for them. On these two-day visits they have an entertainment day and a “mathare safari” day. On the entertainment day, the 3rd graders (my grade this year) work with the kids from Kenya (The Mathare slum, which also is one of the worst slums in Africa, is in Kenya) and make up a show for the rest of the school. In the end of this performance the Kenyans perform African dances for us and you can see in the video below.

These kids are absolutely wondeful and I feel like such a self-centered, egoistic and spoiled kid with no ideas about the real pleasures of life when I see them and how they are. They have huge smiles on their faces, they’re constantly dancing or hugging each other. They love to hold hands and are so enthusiastic about things. When they presented themselves, they told us about what they liked to do. They loved to dance, to sing, to read, to play soccer. Had you asked a group of Norwegian teens, they would have said they like to play video games, hang out with friends, party, watch tv-shows, blog……

I’m not saying all teens are like this of course. I for one love to read, but I find myself on the computer more often than with my nose in a book. One of the things that I noticed and that touched me the most was that these kids did not seem shy at all. When the Norwegian kids were up performing, they were sort of shy but tried to perform. The Kenyans were eagerly trying to engage the audience, they performed with passion and fire in their eyes. They seemed to be having a wonderful time! They were not shy at all! I think that people tend to be shy because of the fear of being judged, but these guys didn’t even seem to care or know about judgement. They are innocent, and I admire and envy them that.

313371_2399763707589_1055919846_4665058_833676889_n

11462_211518777488_709602488_4441893_8271172_n

n709602488_1932183_8542

My history class also recently watched a movie called Hotel Rwanda. It’s based on a true story of the Rwanda Genocide. The movie really touched me and made me sort of, ashamed perhaps. I know that there is no reason for me to think that way honestly, I know I never did anything to Africans or anyone else for that matter. However, I somehow feel ashamed and/or guilty that partly given my skin color I have a good life. I have more than I need, my family is never in danger, we are respected by others in society, I live in a good country, I never starve, I sleep in a soft bed, I just have it so good and I don’t even appreciate it. In one part of the movie, all the “whites” were transported out to safety while the Rwandans had to stay and take care of themselves. Why does skin color ever have to matter? Who had the right to decide that one color was better than the other? Of course these are just rhetorical questions, and chances are they will never be answered. It just bothers me and where better to express feelings than on a blog? I recommend you watch Hotel Rwanda if you haven’t already. It makes you think.

-S.