Casas del Monte

Photos stolen from my Polish co-workawayer

Hello,

I'm here, I'm alive, and all that.

I arrived yesterday after a long, long journey which went extremely smoothly, except for the last hour on the bus (Madrid - Aldeanueva del Camino, ay dios mio) when the bus driver decided he needed to make sure I was okay, which was very friendly of him, except that this consisted of shouting at me in Old Man Spanish, and shouting even louder since I didn't seem to understand his regular loudness of shouting. Ah well, todo bien, I was picked up by Gina, her stepfather, and Alicja (who has spelled her name out for me. Thank you). Straight from their house to their granja for a fiesta of pan, pollo, an amazing onion-and-orange-salad (I know!), and gallons of home-made wine.

These people are amazing. They are so friendly and warm and fantastic. I think they were disappointed in how little Spanish I speak, especially since Alicja has studied Spanish and can form sentences and all, which I'm completely incapable of. Gina is learning English though, and her level in English is about the same as my level in Spanish, so I'm hoping we can both benefit from it and I'll be able to hold a conversation when I go back to Norway.

More to come! They've got wifi and are very kind to lend me their computers whenever I need to. Also, Alicja and I have been very lucky to come to a family where most of the work is done over summer, and we don't have that much to do, other than help out in the house or the granja, and learn Spanish/English with Gina.

Maybe one day I'll take a jpg photo so I can upload my own photos while I'm here (haven't brought my laptop, and usually photograph RAW for better quality.

Anyway. Having a good time. Will try to upload every few days or so. If not, I'm too busy stuffing my mouth with arroz con leche, pan, paella, conejos (quizas mañana!) y pollo asado.

Now for some news (spectacular)

All my luggage. For three weeks. Please appreciate the effort.

I'm going to Spain. Tonight, I'll be flying to Oslo. After hanging around Oslo airport all night, I shall board my morning plane to Amsterdam, run between my planes there, and hopefully land in Madrid at 12:10 on Saturday. From there I will take the metro to the bus station, and a long distance coach to Aldenueva del Camino where my hosts will pick me up. Phew.

Since I started listening to The Indie Travel Podcast, or maybe since I started reading Yes and Yes, I've wanted to do something like this. There are several sites out there, the ones I know of are Workaway, Helpx and WWOOF. Being able to travel to a country and just work for food and lodging? Yes, please.

Now, since I want to go to South-America this autumn (I've applied for this Red Cross Youth program just now), I'd better start learning Spanish. And I've tried getting books from the library, verb dictionaries, those split Spanish/English books, etc. Yet I know by experience that I speak much more if I'm surrounded by a language all day (хорошо) than if I study the grammar (ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist).

Some people think I'm just going on a holiday, which I'm really not. The area I'm going to is called Extremadura for a reason. Some people think it's a waste of time and money, since I don't have a job, and I won't be able to speak Spanish properly after a few weeks anyway. Why do you think I'm always saving up though? I haven't bought a drink when I've been out in months. The last time I spent a lot of money was on my haircut in November. Also: Got to start learning a language somewhere. I'm not learning it here. If there is one other language I want to learn, to have in addition to English and Norwegian, it's Spanish. And, not having a job means this is the perfect time to do something like this. I'm still applying to jobs.

Anyway. I'm doing this. My plane leaves for Oslo in six hours. I'm dead scared, intensely excited, and relieved that I am finally doing something. I hope I'll be able to update here now and then during my trip. Bye bye!

Thorvald Stoltenberg

                                                                Creepy stalker photo of someone I admire, by me
I can't talk to people I admire. I never take the chance to go and shake their hand and say: Well spoken, or I admire your work, mostly because I wouldn't be able to say those things, and would end up saying OMG you're amazing and fantastic and I love you and can you please be my uncle/godfather?

So: Thorvald Stoltenberg (please read his wiki, he has done everything and they write it better than I do) is the previous President of the Norwegian Red Cross Society. This is the second time I've heard him speak, the last time was when he was President, back in 2007. His speeches are always incredibly long-winded, and he'll go off on a tangent and you'll wonder what this is all about - until he just collects all the loose threads and goes BAM! We've got to compromise with each other, and have hope, and all those big floaty ideas, which he manages to anchor in memories of his childhood in the 1930s.

He is also the father of our current Prime Minister. This is why I love Norway, it's so tiny.

I have news

They will come tomorrow. I am a tired cat.

Lent, lent, lent

Had pancakes yesterday with my British friend Dixie. Om nom.

In 2010 I went vegetarian for Lent, which was perfectly fine and easy and made me eat a lot of vegetables. In 2011 I went vegan (only I had eggs, because I was building strength and needed protein, also: I'm lazy), which was slightly harder, but entertaining enough. When I came back home for Easter both years, I quit my Lent, because I'm just not hardcore enough to keep it on all the way through the Easter holiday. Going from vegetarian to meat-eater was fine, no problems there. Going from no-dairy to lots-of-dairy in less than a day, on the other hand, made me wake up at four in the morning to run upstairs and talk to my parents' big, white telephone. Fun times.

This year, I wasn't quite sure what to do. Try to be vegetarian in Norway? Not that hard, although slightly harder than in England. Try to be vegan in Norway? No, thanks. It didn't really give me any of the benefits people talk about either; I didn't feel more awake and alive and clean, neither did I get perfect skin or slim down or whatever. More like the opposite, through my extensive intake of soya products.

So, the idea this year:
I will stop talking about money.
I will not buy anything, except for groceries and necessities (like tickets and bus passes etc).

Since I quit my job, I even tire myself by going on about all the things I would buy/need to buy but can't justify buying since I have no income. These two rules will hopefully put a stop to that. To be honest, I haven't really bought anything but necessities since January, but I'm always on the lookout for that perfect, black, high-waist skirt (I only have four!) and I have been going to the cinema (neccessity!) and buying chocolate (but Jemma was visiting!), etc., etc., etc. So, stop it now, until Thursday, 5th April.

January 2010
Looks pretty similar now. Only lighter.

The man I currently want to marry

Mark

is an American guy who started reviewing Twilight in 2009, reading and reviewing it chapter by chapter. I haven't read these, because I haven't read, nor do I wish to read, Twilight, but apparently they're very good/interesting/funny/he shares a lot about his difficulties growing up in a conservative town and being gay (see, no worries mum, he wouldn't want to marry me anyway) and he actually makes an effort to review the grammar, the structure and story telling, only he gets distracted now and then by how rubbish the books are.

Mark's reviews became so popular that he's now done several other books, including Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, The Hobbit, and he is presently working his way though The Lord of the Rings. I've just finished his reviews of The Prisoner of Azkaban, and I am falling more and more in love with him after every chapter. He writes some really clever stuff, and punctuates it with CAPS LOCK FESTS and internet memes. Also - he starts out reading Harry Potter the way he did Twilight, but soon changes as he realises that Rowling has character development and suspense and plot lines and Hagrid (whom Mark wants to marry).

If you need something to do ALL DAY LONG, go ahead. Enjoy. And wait for Mark's expressions to seep into your language.

Sunday Snow, we can handle that

Stayed at my parents' from Saturday to Sunday. We had snow all day Sunday, which was perfect for sitting inside, drinking tea, cordial and more tea, reading books, reading interwebz, having our grandmother and aunt visit and eat all the food that ever existed. I'm much more happy about snow when I can stay inside, as opposed to walking outside delivering post all day getting snow and wind in my face and down my neck.

We also had pancakes, and pretended it was Pancake Day (which is now Tuesday). I will come up with something to do for Lent - 2011 I went vegan, 2010 I went vegetarian. This year will probably not be diet related.

A little bit of Red Crossing

 Wednesday was Helene's leaving party and Hanne's coming back from maternity leave-party at the RC house.

 Slightly sad faces

Slightly awkward, slightly tired and happy faces

Please notice Carlos' skill in placing himself at the right hand of both photos. The girl to the left in the lower photo is Ellen, a Brazilian au pair working in Denmark, whom we met through Couchsurfing. She went up to Prestvannet with us, fell into the snow with me, saw the Northern Lights with us, and happily joined us at the Red Cross House for eating Thai food, meeting lots of strangers and joining our quiz team in answering strange quiz questions about Norwegian chocolates and latin words. She was really lovely. I might even see her again if I can get my bum down to Copenhagen sometime soon.