Happy New Year...

I'm sure every one is out for a nice, smashing, exciting New Year's party, while I'm spending the last day of my Christmas holiday at home with my parents, listening to the morons with their fireworks who aren't able to wait for 00.00 to send them up. "Hey, here's a great idea. Let's send up our firework at 9.21pm...". My country has banned the type of fireworks with a stick, that flies up in the air this year, so New Year's eve in Norway will be totally different from what it has always been. Now only the things that just sit on the ground are allowed to use. Here we used to buy fireworks, every family sent up plenty and the sky goes mad, and you feel like running for cover if you are outside. Well, that is the reason it has been banned, cos of injuries and fires started by fireworks used by drunk people... How about banning alcohole on New Year's Eve, so that in a small town like Vadsø, it will be some minutes of action as we enter a new exciting year with more financial crisis, new important presidents and joy and prosperity to all.

Sarcastic? Me?

Merry Christmas!

Question

What's the point of it all?
Really?
Anybody who can give me an answer?
I'd be glad.

No one be like you

Another year has gone by, and you're still the one by my side,

Though another year has gone by.

There's still no one saying goodbye.

Though another year has gone by.

Santa's lost his reindeer

I attract big animals ... in big groups often. There were the cows at community 22 I wrote about a couple of months ago. Then it was the big moose in the middle of the road a few weeks ago. And dont you think tonight, walking home from my friend, I met a huge flock of reindeer in the middle of the street. They were about 15, standing there under the streetlights, between all the houses and looking at me. I was chasing them, trying to get a picture, but it was dark and they decided to fear me and made a run for it. I dont live in the wilderness. I live in the regional capital (though its small). Its funny. Lovely arctic exotic experiences... every day of the week...

Pic: Imagine 15 of these, in the dark. :-) This is taken down the street from my house during summer.

A view from outside Ghana: Christmas

Last year I spent Christmas in Ghana. I was so homesick and was only thinking about how Christmas should be, in Norway, in Vadsø, in snow and darkness. And what I got was 40 degrees, palm trees and sunshine. And fufu for Christmas dinner.

But with a little help from my friends...




...Christmas became fun, and lovely and beautiful!

Now I'm sitting here in perfect Christmas world, watching the videos from last year's tropical Christmas. All in all, Christmas is about who is around you. And at this point I can't be satisfied whether I'm here or there. There is someone missing in Ghana and there is someone missing in Norway. I am glad I am home for Christmas. And next Christmas I hope to spend in Norway again, with a little piece of Ghana by my side.

Merry Christmas ...

light in the dark

This is what we get North of the Polar Circle in replacement of the sun which disappears somewhere in the middle of November and returns in late January. This is the lightest time of today.

Under pressure

The last few days has been ... well. A bit stressful. First it was the audition last Wednesday (which resulted in a job, by the way). Nerves. Looking for a place to live. Nerves. Going for police interrogation about my relationship with my bf so he can maybe one beautiful day come to Norway. Big nerves. The police lady was nice and very Vadsø-like. And she couldnt spell. I read with horror through the statement she typed out of my answers, and it was spelling error after spelling error after spelling errors. It was shocking. I corrected the ones I thought was most important, like "Gahna" and "hadnycappet". (Supposed to be Ghana and handicappet (norw.)), cause I didnt want to insult her too much. There I was thinking I was talking to an educated woman who were well rehearsed in writing official document-Norwegian and I was even more shocked when I realized she had typed the whole thing in Vadsø dialect. Which is something quite different from official Norwegian.

If this thing goes through, its a miracle. I'm surrounded by morons. Nyame beye...

silly season (all year long)

Here in Norway we have biiiig problems.
There is a show on TV every day on NRK called "Redaksjon 1" that is supposed to discuss important news issues in depth, with all parties concerned present. Today the largest part of the show was devoted to discussing the fact that the coach for the national soccer/football team has decided to quit and WHO is gonna take over for him. So exciting.

Discussions with the police in Oslo, the minister of Justice, a member of Parliament and a representative of the restaurant/pub business about the escalating violence especially in the capital, often in connection with (over)consumption of alcohol, the lack of police and where the responsibility lies, got a good 10 minutes.

And I haven't heard a whisper about the elections in Ghana. Of course. But the African Cup of Nations I hear was very well covered.

I guess we dont want news about Africans who are able to hold a peaceful election. That would, like, totally ruin the image. Now some news about sloths (the animal in Ice Age..).

Flying home for Christmas

Yesterday I finally got HOME after a month in transit between Ghana and Vadsø, my hometown. From Trondheim to Vadsø its about 1500+ km if you drive the shortest route. I took the plane, as all sensible people do in Norway. But that too can take hours... I started my journey with a train from my sisters place to the airport, which was at 3pm. At 5pm I got on the plane that passed through Bodø to Tromsø, where I got down and waited for 3,5 hours. Then I got on a new plane that went through Hammerfest and Alta to Vadsø. These flights between all the small towns in Norway's most northern region are like tro-tros. The flying time is sometimes 15 minutes, sometimes 30. In Hammerfest only two people boarded, of who one was a friend of mine from Vadsø. The stewardess came over to her and asked whether she had flown this airline before and feels confident about the safety info, and asked if she could skip the safety demonstration. Sometimes the planes are so empty that the stewardesses has to move people around in the plane to even out the weight on each side. Anyway. I have a lot to tell.

The first thing I was actually going to complain about, was my status as sandwich for 2 hours on the Trondheim-Bodø-Tromsø flight. I got the middle seat of a 3-seater (hurray...) and unfortunately for me the people on my sides seemed to know eachother, but not well enough to ask me if I would move so they could sit together. But they still wanted to CHAT. Alot. Over my lap. I leaned back while the woman to my right was yabbing away and gesticulating with her hands, in front of my front. There was lots of empty seats in the plane. Why is it so that when you get into a full bus, train, plane whatever and you squeeze down next to someone else, when seats get available later on your journey, you feel like you cant get up and leave the person you are sitting uncomfortably close to, because then it feels impolite to move... its like saying you dont want to sit next to the person (and you dont, you'd rather sit at a seat with two free spaces so you feel you can breathe and move)... Hmm.

Here is a map of Norway. Follow the red line ... thats what I did. I was home at 1.am...Zzzz

The Nidaros Dome in Trondheim

Amazing that this building is over 1000 years old...

Christmas is coming to town

I went to the Christmas Market in the "village" (which is too small to even be a village) where my sister lives. The people in the locality had knitted and sewed and baked and cooked stuff for sale, all in the benefit of the community center.

I got these:

They are pulse warmers. Very useful, I tell you... But they were so cute, and the cheapest thing they had for sale..

And these are some of the other home-made, knitted wool socks and stuff. And a big blue hat.

Audition

I'm going for an audition tomorrow.
An audition for a job.
They interviewed me, were very positive, super-nice and friendly...
And then they asked if I could come for this audition.
Tomorrow from 8.30am to 4pm.