Rainy summer so far

It has been raining a lot here in the southern part of Norway the past weeks. Luckily I don't have holidays for two more weeks, so hopefully the rain has stopped then...

Summertime

I took this picture with my mobile at half past eleven in the night so you can see how light it is outside. I really like this time of the year when it is still light outside when I leave work after eleven pm. The picture is taken behind my work in Oslo. Not the nicest view, but it was just to show you how light it is...

Back up north

And then I was back up north again. Only for a short week this time.

I took the picture this morning on my way to work. It's a nice walk through the forest. At this time of the year it doesn't get dark here. The sun doesn't set until August some time.

Men in trees

It has been a while since last time, but I wont bore you with details... Kjetil and I went to his cabin again last weekend. Didn't do very much, but went for a hike Saturday.

In three days we'll celebrate the norwegian national day here in Norway. Every kid and some adults will walk in parades. Oslo will be packed with people, and it will be difficult to find rooms in restaurants. It was much more fun when I was a kid... I wonder when the excitement dissapared? Maybe when there no longer was games to attend. We used to have potatoe race and all kinds of races and games when I was young. That was fun. Maybe I'll bring some spoons and potatoes downtown when we'll meet people for a picnic..

Something strange and a bit scary happend tonight...

I finished work around 9 pm and took the subway back home. When I got off a young girl also got off. She was going the same way as I did, but the weird thing was that she had the same speed as I did, so we ended up walking beside each others all the way to my appartement. It takes about 8-10 minutes to walk.

When we came to the stairs outside my building she even followed me up. I couldn't
remember seeing her here before, but there are some in the basement I don't really know. But she did not go downstairs. She followed me to the postboxes, waited for me to take out my post. I was wondering what she was doing. She didn't say anything, just stood there. She looked normal, and I guess she is about 18 years old.

I walked upstairs she followed me again and walked with me all the way up. When we came to my door she too stopped, I did not want to go inside in case she followed me there too. So I turned towards her and asked where she was going. She answerd "home" with a very silent voice. I asked her were that was, and it was at the stop before we got off the subway. I told her where she was now and she just said "oh" and started walking back downstairs. I asked her if I could help her in any way, but she said no.

I made sure to lock my door properly behind me. But after a short while I thought I'd check if she was still in the building, so I went out and all the way down to the basement, but I coulnd't see her. After that, back in my appartement, I looked and listned carefully to hear if I she was climbing up the ladders some workers have put up outside. I have no idea why she was following me, but I get all these thoughts, like she might be a maniac who will come back with a knife, or she is really scared and thought I looked like someone safe to follow. Or she might psycotic. Strange....and a bit scary.

Easter 2007

It's Easter, and usually I would be at our cabin to go skiing, but this year I have to work... It's good money though, but I would really like to go skiing at least once. I have five days off work next week, so if there is any snow left here somewhere, we might go crosscountry skiing :-)

I did had some days off last week though, so we got to do some Easter activities, like making a small fire and grilling hotdogs on sticks. The girl in the picture is Kjetils friends daughter. She really liked hotdogs, but it didn't really matter if they were hot or not.

I've been to a place with no roads

Last week I had the best days up north. Me and a reporter went even further up north to make some reports about fishermen and the fisher society. We startet driving in the evening and drove for some hours before we came to a place were to locals met us. It had been dark for some hours already, but we still had to drive snow scooters for about half an hour more to get to the place were they live. They don't have roads, so the only way to get there is by snow scooter or by boats. There are about 30 people living there and they are all fishermen. It was such a beautiful place! The top three pictures are from there. After that we went almost as far north as we can come in Norway, to Mehamn. Not a very big place with a lot happening. It's also a fishing comuity. We went to do some filming were the fishermen come in and deliver the fish. The two last pictures are from Mehamn. One is of a boat coming in and the other one is from were the deliver the fish.

I've seen the northern ligt!

Tana and Karasjok

I'm still up north, I'll be here five more days. This weekend I've been visiting my cousin in Tana, which is about 180 km. north of here. I was also filming a bit while I was there cuz they are having a marked up in Tana with things to buy, things to see and competitions.

Yesterday I went to see snowscootercross. It was a lot of fun :-) Then we went to the marked. Some of the people there were laps, or sami, the native people in norway. A lot of them are raindeer-farmers. I bought a pair of shoes which they make themselves. They make them out of raindeer skin and wool. If you look at the sami-woman she has a pair of similar shoes.

Today I drove back to Karasjok, but had to make a stop on the way to do some filming again. Right now there is a dog sled race going on here. It's not as hard as the one in Iditarod, but it is the one which the northernmost sled dog race in the world.

After I got back to Karasjok I went for a short crosscountry ski trip, enjoyed a sauna, and had a nice meal at the restaurant here. So I've had a very nice day :-) Now I will go outside to see if I can see the northern light.

I'm back up north

Last week I had four days off, so Kjetil and I went to his cabin for some days. We went skiing again one of the days and it was perfect!

Yesterday Kjetils dad had a birthdayparty. He was 70 last Wednesday so he had a big party. It was fun, but we had to leave a bit early cuz I had to catch an early plane today.

I am back up in the north of Norway now. In Karasjok, where the laps live. I'll be working here for two weeks. I did bring my skis, but tonight it was -19 degrees Celcius. That is a bit cold to go skiing...

Punctured tyre

Yesterday Kjetil and I was driving to his place, and suddenly the tyre got punctured while driving on the highway. We of course know how to change a tyre, but no matter how hard we pulled, pushed or even jumped on the wrench we could not loosen the nuts.

Finally we realized we had to call for help. After about half an hour the rescue guy came. We explained the situation and told him we couldn't loosen the nuts. He took the wrench, placed it on the nuts and loosened them like there was no resistance at all.... How annoying!! If it only had been a bit hard for him too... I'm not week, but not very strong either it seems. Kjetil told him his back was bad ;-)

Healthy week

I feel really healthy at the moment. Wednesday I went bellydancing - I've taken up bellydancing again - Friday I went to do pilates, and yesterday Kjetil and I went crosscountry skiing. I've never done pilates before, but it was fun. I'd like to go every week, but with my job scedual I can only make it every third week :-(
Bellydancing is also a lot of fun, but it is getting more and more difficult. I guess that applies for everything though. It is really good for my neck and shoulders and I feel really loose after ever practise. I've never really danced before, so I find it a bit difficult to syncronise arms, legs and body... But I hope I get better as I learn more even though it feels like the opposite...

Winterwonderland

Just wanted to show you some pictures from a couple of weekends ago when we went to Kjetils cabin. The weather was really nice and I had my first ski trip this winter. I did have to buy new ski boots, cuz I didn't find my "old" once. Not very much snow, but just enough to go skiing.

Imaginary Husky

Today I decided to walk home from work. It's a two hours walk, but the weather was nice and I finished work at one pm. After having walked for a while I was stopped by two young girls. They told me they were photo students and they were given an assignment to take portraits of people. They decided to take pictures of strangers together with their dogs. But the dog should be an imaginary dog ;-) So they asked me if I could help them. I thought that sounded like fun so I went with them to the studio. So there I was, hugging my imaginary Husky while they took my pictures. I know it sounds like hidden camera, but it really wasn't. I looked at one of the pictures after they were done, and it actually was really cool. Well, I better go, my "dog" wants me to feed him and take him for a walk... Being a dog owner is much more work than I imageined. I think I better return him :-)

TGIF

THis is the view from my appartement here in Oslo. I took the pictures last week, so there is a bit more snow now. Not much, but at least enough to finally go skiing. So Kjetil and I decided to go up to his cabin this weekend and try out our skis for the first time this winter. But I can't find my skiing boots. If they are not at Kjetils place I really don't know where to look... Then I have to buy a pair of new once. Kind of a waste of money since they were quite new.

Todays weather

The winter is finally here!

Yesterday and today it has been snowing here in Oslo, so hopefully I can go skiing soon :-)

The picture is from a hike Kjetil and I went on last summer. Really nice hike, but a bit hard. It has nothing to do with the snow, I just thought it was a nice motive...

I'm stuck in Norway...

I just got an sms from my dad. He's on a plane to Paris right now. My youngest sister is in Colombia and my other sister is in Brasil. I am reading a book about the birth of Israel and it makes me wanna go back there. In stead I am at work, it's seven in the morning and my workday has already lasted for a couple of hours.
Well, I'll soon have five days off :-)

I've walked 3535 steps so far today

We're supposed to walk 10.000 steps every day. But since Christmas (when I got a step counter) I have only walked 7-8000 steps at the most a day.

Not much have happend since last time I wrote. Last Saturday I had two friends over to play board games. We played "Ticket to ride" which is a game where you are going to build rails across the States. It is kind of a mix between "Risk" and "Settlers".

I just signed up to get information when I can book the last Harry Potter online. I'm really looking forward to reading the last book. I think professor Snape had been told by Dumbledore to kill him. And I also think Snape really is a good guy. But while waiting for the new book, we can look forward to the new Harry Potter film in July. July really is a long time to wait though...

My first blog ever...

This is the second day in the new year of 2007, it is also my first day as being 34. And my first da as a blogger. I don't know if I'll be a frequent blogger, but this is a start. Happy new year to everyone who reads this!