'allo, listen very carefully

A strange thing is happening to me lately. I just cannot be bothered with watching films. Just thinking about committing two hours to see something on a tv...bleh. I would rather like to see "White christmas" though. And I am looking forward to hopefully spending all of the morning on the 24th with cinderella, disney and "Reisen til julestjernen". So it is not all that dire. But I have the three first seasons of Allo Allo gathering dust in the shelves...when some months ago I would have watched them all in a couple of days and walked around saying "Listen wery carefully, I shall say this only once." at every opportunity. (Sadly my film-quotes are wasted on the spanish population. Noone would have understood it and just Looked at me. You stupid woman!)

I spent the weekend in Copenhagen and had a smashing time. My best friend lives there, has been for the last two years and I had yet to visit. Shame on me I know, but my no-studielån economy has not allowed for anything of that sort. It is the first weekend trip I have done on my own and I now I understand why people go on holiday shopping to London and Paris. I will do the same when I am a filthy rich plastic surgeon...since I am bending all my will to winning the loteria de Navidad this year I do not even have to wait that long...happiness can really be bought. It is found in all those heartbreaking beutiful things in small Copenhagen shops. They are so beautiful I found myself beeing quite happy and content, sipping a cup of delicious aspargus soup, watching the displays in the window, feeding my soul on beauty, without bying anything. Maybe being able to by the things would have ruined it somehow.
Apart from discovering my greedy inner self, I also lapped up the christmas threes, white tulips and other christmassy things they do not have in Zaragoza. (or Spain)
And then we had a party on saturday. It was great fun! Since it was in M's flat, we had total control over music and lots of space to dance in. Also we avoid the whole standing in a line to get drinks thing. The poor neighbour downstairs though...
Even better was that I woke up with no trace of hangover whatsoever, only a need to be alone and quiet after spending much time with people and noise. A lot of fun and no price to pay the day after. So evidently mulled wine and gin-tonics agree with me. (As opposed to Sangria and whatever-it-was-alcoholic beverage.) Thank you M for a great weekend!

(note I am getting all cryptic and only puts a letter for a name. Not that I have any aspirations/deluded hopes that this little blog will ever get read by more than a handful of people, but there are some weird folks out there and if I will not give my own name, there is no reason to give the names of my friends either. Since the only ones reading are friends anyhow, they'll know.)

It is almost here!!

Only 5 days and then it is december! And on sunday although it is still november, it is the first sunday of advent so I can put up my brand new xmas star and candles and listen to xmas music and make Gløgg. I might even sneak off to Ikea to by some pepperkaker (ginger cookies) yum yum. And I'll make xmas cards.

I do this ever year. I have so much stuff I want to do in December, christmassy stuff like baking and candles and workshop and decorating. For me christmas is all of december and it sort of ends on the 25th when there is no more stuff to DO, only eating and vegging out on the sofa.

But I love this feeling of anticipation and the christmas three and finding gifts and...It is not stressful at all. It will only cause stress if it becomes an obligation. A chore. And since the only one in this household that has any expectation whatsoever is me, well, I am easy to please. Ikea-pepperkaker and a advent light in the window.

Resyme

It has been an intresting start on the autumn season, and when I think about it, lots of things have happened, as opposed to me spending the season just wanting to hybernate. For three weeks we looked after The Dogs.

It became the most normal thing to yell "Do not eat that poop!" at six in the morning. Either Freya did not poop during the time due to stress, or someone was having late night snacks..After peeing out the kitchen floor of course. We did not have this problem last time they were here, but since there are new rules, such as not alowing them to sleep in the bed with us, (that is they sleep while we try to find room for us selves without much sucsess) Softy is on a protest campaign, dooing the dirty every single night except the one night she slept with me on the sofa. 

I have started to take my drivers lisence, read throught the book, (no book more boring) and I will start to do tests on monday. Yikes! (I am a bit of a Scooby Doo. Scared of the silliest things and fond of food..)

And I was a weekend in Berlin. Glorious. My only bummer was that I forgot to take the camara with me when I went to the Botanical Garden, and cannot show you those beautiful Dahlias. I will definitivly return. There was lots of stuff I did not do and see, and now I know several cool second hand shops, and the xmas store and the chocolate heaven, and the best place to stay..

Berlin

For my birthday, my boyfriend gave me a surprise trip to Berlin. I love that city. It is glourious. And it has passed so much extreme drama/tragedy the last 70 years.. Sadly, today I am not feeling very writerish, so umh, I just called in to say hi, and promise pics and words will come up at a later time.

Nepal part three

The Bell is in the house! Well, it is in the attic, but we have it. Is it not pretty?

Nepal, part deux

It is morning (somwhere it is morning right, so not tecnically untrue..) and I am sans Bell. Yesterday turned into quite the adventure. So we got to the staff entrance at 2300 as accorded on the telephone. No one. I wait 20 min. I call. "They will be there in twenty minutes okay!" It is dark, windy and cold.

Turns out, we have to give over the car to someone from the expo, since one cannot get in without accreditation. they take the car, It is going to be a minute. We wait with the man from the nepal pavillion. In conversation he let us know that the expo office have decided that no items should leave the area between the 1 and the 15 of september.

Eh? Why are we here then??

So at 0040 we get the car back. The man had loaded the bell in, so at least there is space, but at a security checkpoint they told him to go back and unload the car please. (the expo is guarded like a fortress.)

????

We will try again next week. With more clothes on. And maybe a termos with something hot in and a chair and a picknick basket..

Nepal

To night I am going to by a ceremonial bell from Nepal. Jupp. You heard right. (Or read in this case) A big 100 kg bell with carmed framework from the himalaya mountains. I will post pictures when we have it at home. The paying is turning into a problem though. Because of safety reasons, I can only take out something like 1000 € per 4 days, and the bell costs about the double. Boyfriend is going to help, so finally we will have the cash, but it is really annoying. I have been taking out money in the minibanks feeling as if the money in my bag was calling out, making signals to everyone, much like a passenger on his first cruise, standing on deck as the boat leaves the port. The relief of arriving home, unrobbed..

Anyway, don´t they have banks in Nepal? Umh. Maybe not. That is, I am sure they have in the larger cities, the ones you never see on discovery, since then you only see the final stages of the climbing of some mountain, I mean, they must have, cause there are many tourists. Anyway, this would all have been so much easier if I could just have transferred the money to an account.

Sight.

And the bell is not even mine. It is one of my father´s many "caprichos". I do not know how to say it in english. And I cannot be bothered to look up the word in a dictionary either.

Anyway, I´ll post some pictures when I have them!

Ups.

Bugger.

I just perforated the freezer.

I just destroyed the fridge. And it is saturday so no bying new anything until monday, and that means not getting anything new until later next week.

Bugger.

murphy´s law

typically it turned cooler, overcast and rain. for the first time in months. no sunbathing for me!

Itchy-Itchy

I am iching all over. Marte, here is another sympthom for your list: some sort of eksem on my torso, back and arms that iches and iches. started on saturday and has only gotten worse as the days passes. Doc thinks it is some sort of heat-sweat induced irritation. and has ordered me to keep dry, use natural fibers, use a lotion and come back if it is not better in 4-5 days.

On other fronts exams are over and best not to talk about. I have decided I am not to blather out here repetitions of former mistakes. Focus on the good things. I have two weeks of vacation before classes start and I am determined to use them in a good way and not grow into a couch potato. tomorrow I will go to the pool and let the last rays of summer sun touch my body. with the excema I look a bit funny in a bikini, like I am burned but not quite that either. I just hope it won´t get worse with sun.

I have need of Pistacho-ice cream. No can do. No pistacho ice cream to be had in this town.

can you hear the crckets "cricking" ?

Or whatever it is that they do.

I am submerged in my habitual exam-psychosis and have done one, three to go, so for the next three weeks I will not post much.

Not anymore

Yea! I stopped being a chicken-shit today. And had the best time evah in the situation that had me freaked out for a week and a half.
This sound really mystic.
The story is as follows: I have spent a week and a half looking at the ceiling doing my very best oustrich-with-her-head-in-the-sand-impersonation and would not go to class nor to the hospital where I was supposed to have practical lessons. Fear took over and I paralyze. But today I went, winning the fight and my "mentor" is nice and wanting to teach me stuff. I floated through the two hours. Now I am high on the I-DID-IT feeling. AND I get to make up for the lost time by being there every day next week.

I am a chicken shit

Video Session

Yesterday I watched The Holiday. And it was lovely, but Jack Black just ruined it all. Don´t get me wrong, he can be funny and I enjoyed his character in High Fidelity but it was just jarring in this one. It just did not work. But othervise it was nice.
Then I saw Ratatouille, a movie I have wanted to see for a long time, and was disappointed. It was "meh." The critics had been good as far as I can remember, but to me: Meh.

And then came James Bond. I like the gritty stile they have chosen and Daniel Craig does a great job. I am looking forward to the next ones. (the title song was dreadful: just meh.) I soo hope Amy winehouse (sp?) cleans up her act enough to do the song on the next one. Obviousely I want ther to clean up for her own sake, but...

Do not read while eating

Obviously there is a theme here this week. Namely, I am about to get my period and feel like the turd of the world. And my tummy isn´t helping. If you do not like poop talk then I recomend you stop reading now.

So I have had a temperamental intestine since forever and at least 10 years. I stopped drinking milk and the gas diminished. The "OMG I need to go NOW!" also diminished, even though my vivtis to the toilet-troll was mostly of the liquid variant. "This must be lactose-intolerance" I thought and tried to stay away from cream and chocolate milk, being for the most part successful at it. I did continue to eat yoghurt and ocasionally cheese. Then about two years ago the lactose free milk came to the shops here and I was overjoyed, as I really looove milk.

And I did not get imediate gas-probles or worstening of diarrea. So I thought Yeah! I might have punched the air a couple of times.

Silly me. I now look back and see a sort of gradual worstening over the last years. And now I have tummy-ache every day and "OMG NOW" moments too every day. No weight loss though (I wish: see sidebar) and for the last 6 months I have been sick-free, so it is not as if I am not absorbing anything.

So tomorrow after shcool (did I mention I have stayed these two days home, near the toilet? No? Well now I did.) I AM GOING TO THE DOCTOR.
It is such a hoot. I really hate going to the doctor. But apparently it is not all that rare in the profession. Anyway, I am going tomorrow to get an appointment. yes ma'm! After delaying it since christmas for another week.

I can sooo relate..

see more crazy cat pics

I need to find me some:

PATIENCE

Good Moring

It is early morning, the sun has just come up. A tranquil morning with time to sit around and think about nothing and a cup of tea, breakfast eaten slowly, quiet, birds chirping outsid. If it were not for the fact that I should have been in class by now I would enjoy it completely.

So, what I am trying to convince myself is that I should start getting up half an hour earlier, at six, to have time to diddle around, wake up AND get to class in time.

okaay.

you can stop laughing now.

Knitting

I have started knitting again! I just hope the fave last long enough for me to finish my sweather. It is a classical norwegian knitted sweather, nothing fancy, but it will be warm and comfy for the winter. I hope. If I finish this time. After all, it has taken me about 6 years or more to do 2/3 of the body and 2/3 of one arm. Pictures will be posted!

Chess

I have had a revelation. Sort of.

I cought myself thinking the other night " It is late, have to get up early tomorrow, cannot sleep..this is bad, this is so bad.." WTF? Why is that BAD? Ok, I'll be tired and a bit grumpy but why call it bad? I am constantly classifying things that happens and things I do in good or bad, throughout the day. Really, why am I doing this? Most things just is, so there is no need to put them in white or black boxes.

I seem to remember my shrink commenting on this some two years ago. I guess I am one of those persons who need to think it out on my own.. (taking two years..)

Note: I am not adding "This is bad". I did think it for a moment, but then I gave myself a mental slap.

Home is where the heart is?

Where is Home? How do you know when you are Home? What is it really?

I read a blog that asked these questions and it got me thinking.


At the moment I call two places "home". One is in Norway, where I lived 10 years, where my father is from and where my parents still live. The other is in Spain where I study and live with my boyfriend.

But neither of those are cities where I can be comfortable about living "the rest of my life". The question that follows is: is there any such place for me? For anyone? I have not travelled that much, so it is very possible that "my place" is out there somewhere. It will have the Atlantic ocean close. The smell of sea is one of my favourites.

But also, I believe different places can be the right home in different times of life.

Where is your Home? If you have found it, that is.

Let´s play "If I won lots of money.."

I am daydreaming lately about winning lots of money, and the things I would by. so here is a list:

1. Lots of medical textbooks. Farma, Radiology atlases, AP atlases....u name it. And a new shelf to hold them all.
2. Amazon.com. I really do not need to say anymore.
3. Max Mara. I love that shop. Not that I have ever entered, cause it is just too expensive. I do however drool in the window.
4. Shoes.
5. An appartment for my shoes and books and clothes.

It is around here that I remember I have a boyfriend.

6. Give boyfriend half the money

And then I remember my friends and family...My parents have all they could ever need of stuff so I´d probably just ask them if there was anything they lusted after.

7. By to parents anything they lust after.
8. Do the same with brothers and friends.

9. Donate to charities. (animal-shelters, people-shelters..)

10. By a car.
11. Get the drivers liscence.
12. Say "good bye" to Lånekassen.
13. By a piece of land to grow food on.
14. Furnish a working room with ever gadget there is to work with wood, paint etc.
15 Take a sewing course
16. Laser- hair removal (appointment would be made the day I recieved the news)
17. more ballet classes

The list goes on and on...

stage-bug

Oh dear oh dear. In three months time I am going to do a variation from Le Corsaire on stage, on point. After 8 YEARS of lazy absence I can barely do a releve and got a painful blister after 15 min with the shoes on. It is going to be an intresting time.

Why I am doing this? Cause I have got the stage bug. I love being on stage. I'll happily massacre my feet for the chance to dance onstage again. It is one of the things I miss the most from my hopeful-ballerina-in-training years.

As long as I get to wear a covering skirt. You know, covering as in noone will see my butt. No tutu for me.

oh, and I am also hooked on Facebook.

Inner peace

I was recommended Eat Pray Love by a friend and I read it last night and of course now I am all yoga-meditation-inner love-discipline...Pequeño saltamonte..

It is about a writer (herself) who after a nasty divorce go on a pilgrimage to "find herself". First to Rome to eat pasta and icecream, then to India to eat veggies and meditate in a retreat, before she heads for Bali to find love.

It is a light and funny read even though she is a frecuent user of the word God and other spirituality things. In my eyes that is an achievment. She also doesn´t go all "this is The Truth". So I liked it. Not earthshaking, but I passed a good time.

It is just so sad

Another politician in the Basque Region has been killed, in front of his wife and child..

I just do not get it. And I think it is wrong to call the people that do these thing for anything other than what they are: criminals, plain and simple. Not "terrorists" but criminals. In the basque region there is reduced liberty, as anyone who wants to do business there has to pay a "special tax", if not, they get all sorts of problems...Mafia-assosiations anyone? There is no liberty of political beliefs in certan areas, and yet "they" scream murder when political groups that have proven liks (economically and organizational) to ETA are banned.

It is a sad day for the basque region and my admiration goes to the politicians that continue despite the danger to their person and that of their family.

Note: I wrote this thinking that ETA had claimed responsability, but at the moment they have not done so.

Changes-changes

As Exam period is over (for now) I have a little more time on my hands, and as a result I am dedicating some of it on the Blog. As in actually finding a colour other than white, putting up a picture (of me sleeping on a sofa at new years eve in my favorite (and only) short dress) and putting up some links. There will be more of them. A lot more. Up until now my net-surfing has been mostly limited to Romance-Land, but I am branching out. ;) Who knows, some day I might even tell someone about this!

Kitty

My christmas present last year. She has only been with us for little over a year, but I have a hard time remembering how it was before she came. Less hairy, but far more lonely..

Languages

I read a comment the other day in Que! I think it was, one of those free news papers. The author was convinced that because she began learning english at the age of 11 and not at 2, she never had a chance to learn it properly.

Umh. Lady. I began my english classes at ten like most other norwegians, and although there are various degrees of level, as in any subject, I think I can claim that all norwegians know enough english to have a enlightened conversation. (that they would Want to have this conversation is another subject..)

Not that I am against beginning early, but at the moment it would be a vaste of time and resourses. Because a Spaniard goes through his/her daily life without hearing a word of english. Unless he or she make an effort and activly search for it.

In Spain the Terminator and Marlon Brando have the same voice. Any snippet of english spoken on interwievs has a voice over translating it. All the series on tv are dubbed. They loose out so much of the interpretation of the actors..I almost feel pity for them if it were not for the fact that they want it this way! "We would not understand what they say" and "one would need to read so fast" and "but the translation to text would mean reducing the words.." These are some of the objections I hear the most. Bullshit. It may take a movie or two to get used to, but the text is there to convey the general meaning, to be filled out by the way the actor speaks the lines. One of the most important parts in the process of learning a language is to listen to it.

So, Lady, all those kids that learn english when they are two will in most cases never use what they learn on a daily basis, and therefore they will not retain it. It would do more good to stop the horrible dubbing, that is how we learn english in my home country. Beginning at 10 years.

quantum

I went to Fnac yesterday to by a book, and looking through the 2 shelves they have of english books (2/3 of those are accupied by Nick Hornby, JAne Austin and Dan Brown..) I found the latest instalment of The science Discworld. The themes so far are intelligent design vs evolution, and time, timetravel and shapes of the universe.. I think.

Evolution I get, as beeing a med student I read all about it in genetics and biology. It is not new territory. But Time is a bit harder. When they start with coneshapes and linear whatnots and paradoxes.. I go "dhuuu". Possibly a bit of saliva drooling. (Think Patrick Star, Spongebob´s best friend.) And this is the fat-free version of it all. But it is good for the brain. It has not been doing much thinking lately, merely trying to memorize stuff. Don´t get me wrong, learning things and memorizing them is hard work, but it doesn´t need any New Thinking. New Thinking is the one that makes the head feel sore.

electon time

This was going to be about elections. Media here in Spain seem far more intrested in US elections than in the one that is soon about to take place here. Everybondy and their uncle is discussing Barak and Hillary and the merits of one compered to the other. The republican candidates are more unknown. It may have to do with the democratic candidates being more visible, but also because it is assumed that a democrat will end up in the white house this time around. The candidates here are far more bland. Boring one might say.
curiously there seem to be a similar thing going on in the republican party and in PP (the right-wing party) in that there is a battle between the hardcore conservatives and the more right-light. In the Us that is resolved in the voting. (I think) Voters want the light-version, they vote the light version.
The news is having lots of fun with the mayor of Madrid and the "senator" of the same region, both from PP. Here the fractions fight inside the party and the one who wins get to dictate politics of the party until there is a new fight. The voters don´t have much say in it, and the only way they can state their opininon is voting for another party.
Hmm. This did end up being about politics after all. And I who thought I was going to tell u all about my Free-cell abstinences...

Uffda

oh dear. The day of crap has turned into the week of crap, and I am now trying to convince myself that it is not turing into any longer crap. crap.
I daydream of far away paradisiac islands with food dump once a day. (and also a fully funcional toilet with flusher under a palm three where I can do my thing and enjoy the sunset.)(and soft toilet paper)
Failing that I am happy to stay at home doing nothing and preferably in bed, under the covers. Not dealing with anything.
I am happy to report I am still showering, but the appetite is dwindling. Everything is just such an effort. If it was not for the fact that I cook food for A, I would not have eaten much at all. Defietivly a self-apreciation-self-love issue going on here. Namely, somewhere inside me there is this nasty old aunt that does not believe I can do It or Handle It.

uffda

shitty day

Today is turning out to be a real bad day. Item number one; did not do fisica-exam and am trying to find out why not. I mean, I got to the gate of the faculty! then I just took a few steps to the right and left the campus all the while trying to convince myself that I should turn around...I am such a chicken-head sometimes.

item number two; I have deleted all the games from windows, and can no longer spend hours doing free cell. It is a good thing in the long run, but I like playing free-cell!

item number three; have another exam on monday so cannot relax my brain from the down-turn today.

So at this moment I have in my head, embarrasment (over behaving in the silly way I do), anger, sadness, headache coming on, and generally hating myself for not "getting on with it". I mean, I know what I need to do. I know what I want to do, so why is it so effing hard to just do it? Courage is so hard to find sometimes, and specially when my fears are tied up in something so silly as an exam.

Ah well, I will lash myself a bit more, in private and then I have the joy of telling A I fucked up today, before leaving for the library I do not really like to study for the next one.

the evils of spider solitaire

I am still doing study diary and chocolate counting, only I am thinking of putting it is some form of graphic thingy. Ah, do not know. Anything taking up time is to be put out of my head, but when I spend hours doing the spider solitaire, it would be better overall if I did something a bit more challenging intelectually. (since I am not studying anyway..)

I read an interesting intewiew last weekend, with an prominet spanish surgeon about to turn 100 years sometime next year? It put me thinking about this profession I want to enter and the blind beliefs in Medicine and Sience, denying Risk and Death and the illness itself. I scrabbled down some thoughts and I want to continue reading on the topic. Just have to get exams out of the way. 4 weeks from now I will be "Free" to dedicate time to these other things. chance is I´ll set a new record in solitaire instead.

happy new year!

happy new year Shophie my girl!