More, more landscape and sheep

 Hello, beautiful rugged mountain landscape

 Hello, sheep (no possibility to edit photos, apologies for poor quality)

Hello granjas! With mountains and rocks and more ruggedness

I feel weirdly at home here. Or, at least outside. In the house, I'm always slightly uncomfortable because my Spanish is so bad, and Alicja can communicate so much better than me. That's the way it has to be though, and it's what I've chosen.

Outside... This is like a strange mix between the Spain I visited as a child (Costa Brava), the England where I studied (Cornwall) and the Norway I grew up in (Tromso). I'm very excited about all this nature that wants walking in. I'm very happy about the weather that lets me wear a cardigan and no jacket or scarf. I'm so happy that I'm doing something, after nearly two months of unemployment (which I know is not long. Still, though). And I'm doing something for my future - I want to speak Spanish, and I'm going to.

Have to remind myself sometimes. Anyway. Happy days (in general). Get some photos of the granja and the house soon. 

Enjoy our extra day! 

Caminando con Alicja

 My Polish co-workawayer

 Lots and lots of farms/gardens (granjas) all the way up the mountains

Casas del Monte seen from near the family's farm

Today, Alicja and I went for two walks around the granjas area: one in the morning, which was great, in about 15 degrees and cloudy weather, and one in the evening, when the dark came upon us quite suddenly and we had to turn back as to not get lost. Anyway, it's been good to move around a bit. I'll get some photos of Marcela's fantastic food one of these days, but in short: There's a lot of it.

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.

Nature and stuff

 The Tromsø Valley seen from the island, just near the city centre. I've been on that mountain in the middle!

 Jemma's probably got some good photos coming up.

Prestvannet (Priest Pool), covered in ice and snow, extremely beautiful.

Some girls

 Jemma doesn't like her own face

 Ida likes her own face, but likes cider even more

 Christine has no Facebook and therefore no camera-fright

                      And I know I'm in control of what's uploaded from my camera, so I'm ok


Jemma left yesterday (Friday) midday. These photos are from Tuesday, when we invited lots of girls, and Christine and Ida were the only ones to come - which, to be honest, just gave us more gifler and lefse without having to share. We played Junior Passport with Norwegian questions that were spontaneously translated for Jemma, who at one point in the game actually read us some questions in Norwegian without realising what she was saying. Not bad.

Random photo of a teacup

Because I'm having tea before rushing to university and leaving Jemma to drift around the southend all by herself, and find her way into town to go see the Arctic Cathedral with our Brazilian couchsurfing friend.

As promised

Lots of snow, one Jemma, and gravestones.

Student's Middle East Days

Promised you pretty girls, didn't I?
Took this for the local student newspaper, hope it gets in.
Also quite impressed that we have Student's Middle East Days in Tromsø, next week.

Photos of snow and pretty girls

Only I can't be bothered to upload them.
AND GRAVESTONES.
Jemma visiting.
We've eaten whale and gifler and bread rolls and Indian.
Happy Sunniva.

Mamma

Today is Norwegian Mother's Day. That's right, we have it on a separate day from all other countries. Anyway. Hei mamma, jeg ville bare si det igjen: at jeg er glad i deg.

Jemma Green; TBA

Knowing Jemma right, she won't like any of these photos, simply because they are of her. Maybe the ones where you can't see her properly... Anyway. Jemma shall be here, with me, in about 19 hours. Before then, I am going out, getting back home, sleeping, tidying the house, hopefully getting some work done on one of my projects, and driving my mum to the airport.

Bleh, concert photos

Was at Driv on Thursday to take some concert photos for someone else,
and was reminded that this is totally not my thing. The bands were good, though.

Red Hand Day

Temmy, Jens Johan Hjort, and Therese
In addition to collecting money, we're collecting red hand prints for the Child Soldier Campaign. Wednesday we went and got a hand print from the mayor of Tromsø.

The Phantom of the Opera is here

 Does this look small? It's a cinema screen, I promise.

 Karoline and Christine (Christine)

                                                                       I envy your smartphones, just a little bit.
I feel like I'm reversing through time here on my blog; it's only a few days since I managed to upload all my photos from the past few weeks, so there's a bit to update. Anyway:

In January, Karoline, Christine and I went to see the recording of the live show of the 25th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera (bam! lots of of!). It was absolutely spectacular, all except the chandelier scene, which seems to have been hampered by health and safety rules.

This version has not only a handsome Raoul (which immediately threw us into a dilemma, because we're usually all over Phantom), but also a great finishing number with Sarah Brightman and four or five previous Phantoms singing the title song.

If you get a chance to see the entire show, please do. Here's the Sarah Brightman bit, anyway.

Monday, 30th Jan

Here we go: some shoddy, handheld Northern Lights photos. I got a text about the Aurora when I was at my parents' house, and had to make do without my tripod. Shame. It was amazing this particular night though - you can see the yellow and red at the edges, which is quite rare.

Here's hoping it will keep, or come back, for next week, when I get a visit from my English friend Jemma. Fingers crossed.

Stigma seminar, 2.-5. February

 Xenia, one of our seminar leaders, getting into serious mode

 Always lovely Carlos and Xiomara

 Polina, the leader of leaders, with a tag on her shoulder saying Katrina (after the hurricane)

 The second adorable Russian Oleg I know, must be something about the name.

 Staying at the restaurant for four and a half hours on Sunday evening... I love these people.

                                                                                                 Sad goodbyes.
The course this weekend was amazing and exhausting and tiring and educational. It was held completely in Russian and translated by wonderful Lucy and Irina into English as we went. I soon remembered what a huge cultural difference there is between Norway, Russia and Colombia. One of the reasons will be that Norway has gone from being an incredibly poor country with hard lives by the coast to becoming a discustingly rich oil nation where we take a lot of luxuries for granted. This weekend, it was obvious that the Russians and Colombians are a lot more used to having to work hard to get results/what they want.

We had to go through a lot of challenging excercises. Challenging, because they meant we had to work as a group, fail and fail again, and think outside the few rules we were given to complete a task. I think we all grew from this. Norwegian Red Cross courses tend to be either practical or theoretical, punctuated with games and icebreakers (especially in the youth section). There is a definite aim to have fun while learning. In the Russian Red Cross, there is a definite aim to learn through tough experience, then have fun outside the seminar room. This took some time for us to learn, and led to some disagreements and discussions.

I still think (as I told them, and was told off for) they were a little bit too strict. A lot of their approach was very effective, their lectures very interesting, etc, but maybe we could find a happy medium between the Russian and the Norwegian way? They were very clear about the distance that needs to be kept between the leaders of a group, and the group members. This is something I completely disagree with. One of the reasons I enjoy the Red Cross Youth so much is that it's a very open organisation. I know the leader. I know several of the people on the national board. That's not because I'm a very influential person who knows a lot of important people, but because everyone is at the same level. At camps and courses the leaders will sit down and eat with the rest of us, and not want to be made a big fuss of. And even more importantly: You're allowed to criticise them. You're allowed to write an evaluation after the course, or just tell them that actually, you wish they'd done this particular activity another way. We can have constructive discussions and make our entire organisation stronger and better. This was what was lacking from this weekend.

Don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot. Especially about myself (more about that later). I just wish I was allowed to criticise without being told I'm threatening the leaders' position by trying to make them equals with the group.

There we go, rant over. We had a good time at Egon Restaurant on Sunday after all this, and no hard feelings on any side. Just not completely soft feelings either (I'm aware that is not an actual expression).

In February I'm not buying

... anything for 10 days. Largely helped by going on a four-day course with the Red Cross where they cover all meals, I'm still working on not buying anything from the first to the 10th of February. Thinking this will save me about 150 NOK, that is what I donated to the current Red Cross fundraising action.

We're collecting money that will be given to the rehabiliation of child soldiers in Liberia: Canadian Red Cross, British Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross.

I try not to do this too often, but here we go: Please donate, you too. Just go without that extra drink, or maybe avoid buying a new cd/dvd/book this week and give 50 NOK (5-6 pounds) to help someone else. Follow the link below, fill in your name (where it says "navn" and the amount you want to give, and there we go (never mind filling out all the details they ask for).

Innsamling: Rehabilitating Child Soldiers - Røde Kors i Norge

Tired Red Cross Face in Bad Lighting

High five. Extremely challenging weekend, both seminar/excercise-wise and language-wise. Happy ending, in love with more than half the group (platonic love, at least mostly), my head is spinning with собака and estoy llena and all the other Spanish/Russian words we've been throwing around this weekend (in addition to English and Norwegian ofc.).