Brrr

It happens every year. It can almost be described as a tradition now. Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without the quicksiver crawling below 30 degrees celsius for a few days.. And it does look nice when it is so cold. We now have the stereotype Christmas card outside the windows here. Which makes it very nice to sit in and look out...



And not so nice to be out. Even spending 30 seconds outside to capture this moment without a hat and gloves, can best be described as extremely painful... But it is strange how much I want to be outside when the temperatures are like this and I can't be outside. Then when the weather gets warmer it suddenly isn't so important to get out after all. Just like how much I can't wait to go jogging when I am sick. That urge usually mysteriously dissappears along with the cold, too..

Going out to parties is also quite a project in tempratures like this. Every hope of looking just a tiny bit elegant is effectively crushed when you need two pairs of wool-tights and at least the same amount of woolen socks and sweaters to keep the worst biting cold out. Good thing then, that the temperatures have a couple of days to rise before the big New Years party that's coming up!

Relaxing Christmas for Santa

Christmas time. Relaxing time. I had forgotten how good it was just to sit around and do nothing, and not feel guilty about it! However, too long of doing nothing has made me a little restless, so I need to find something to do soon, something fun like drawing, reading books (that are not school books), sawing clothes, go skiing.. oh, there is tons to do if i think about it!

To say that I have just done nothing, is, however, not quite true. On Christmas Eve I did actually work, since that is the day that Santa does work... My debut as Santa Claus went quite well, if I dare say so myself. The little girl was only two and a half years old, and quite skeptical of this strange-looking creature with a very orange face and long white beard. But after a while, and after seeing what was in my bag – the skepticism turned into facination and a big smile. At the end she almost gave Santa a hug.

Outside looks like a Christmas card, and I can see light and blue sky – and hints of a round and yellow object, which I wagely recall is called a sun. In addition to that, it has snowed and snowed and snowed – and then snowed some more, so it looks beautiful outside now.

Når en Pepperkake-Baker...

It is many years since I last built a pepperkake-hus. But this year I made a really strong comeback, and built my most complicated house ever! Of course I didn't build it all by myself, such complicated projects require good team work. And we really had a good team - with a group of pepperkake-masters from the class and Silje's mom, who is a real expert and has written a book on how to make great pepperkake houses!

And MPCT students as we are, we created the "World Peace Palace" in pepperkaker, with entries from different parts of the world. And this is what the palace looks like:

Before:

And after:

I will include some more pictures of the making of - and the result of our masterpiece for those of you who can't go to see it on display at the Pepperkakehus-utstilling in Tromsø Kulturhus...

The Amigo

Norwegian Vinmonopol prices are not good news for student economy. That means desperate solutions, which I would definitely call the cheapest red wine on the market - The Amigo.

Since the good singing times around the bonfire in Finnkroken, the Amigo has followed us through thick and thin through the whole semester - as a true friend should.

But unfortunately, the Amigo doesn't taste too good. Not even after a couple of glasses can it hide the fact that it is probably more suitable as a handbag than it is for drinking. However, now in these Christmas times I think the Amigo has found its true calling

- it tastes quite good in Gløgg!

New Job

Ho ho ho ho ho

Yesterday my Mom informed me that she had gotten me a job for Christmas. Oh, exciting, I could earn some money during the vacation, I thought. But no.. It wasn't that kind of job. My neighbors granddaughter is coming home for Christmas, and they need someone as Santa Claus.

So I am booked for 5 pm on Christmas Eve! My career as Santa Claus is officially just about to take off. If anybody else need a Santa for the big day, just let me know and I will see if Rudolf and I can squeeze you in the schedule.

Ho ho for now

Speechmaking turns Fun

This day started with me having to do one of my least favorite activities. Holding a speech in front of about 100 people in Tromsø city centre, with a microphone. But the fact that the audience were all from 6 to 12 years old and that I didn't have to write the speech myself helped a lot. It was actually almost fun! And good practice for my new job that I start after Christmas... Probably good to get as much practice at talking in front of huge crowds of people as possible before that...

Also, I am quite excited because I finally had a great idea for my thesis topic! An idea which means that I could include my interest for sports. Wonderful! So today I have sent an e-mail, and I am hoping for a positive response from the organization. Of course I expect them to be quite as excited as me about this wonderful idea, and have checked my e-mail every five minutes after I sent it (which was like 20 min ago...), to see if they replied yet. So far nothing, but I am keeping my hopes up :)

Cross your fingers for me!

Peaceniks in Poland

When I got an SMS from Stian on my way to school a couple of months ago saying "We're going to Gdansk. Ready?", my initial reaction was 1) hm, that's a cafe I've never heard of, and 2) so typical that they decided to go to a cafe now that I finally got to school...

Now I know that Gdansk is not a cafe in Tromsø at all, but rather a city on the Polish "Riviera" to which Norwegian has amazingly cheap flights. So on November 29th, after submitting our written exams; Silje, Stian, Scott, Marjaana, Rachel, and I, escaped from the dark north for a few days to see what this city had to offer.

And I have to say I was positively surprised! Gdansk is not the gray and boring city I expected, but it has a beautiful old street and some amazing small cafes with great, old interior. Also, Poland is (not surprisingly) a lot cheaper than Norway. So we got to eat several courses dinner each day, drink cheap beer and wine, and of course do some shopping. The plan before we went was to spend one day at a spa, but unfortunately there were none of those in Gdansk. However, we found a hotel with massages, and another one with steamroom and sauna, so Thursday was a very relaxing day.

We stayed at a hostel called the Baltic Hostel, in a huge, dark and a little scary building not far from the old part of the city. This hostel promised us no less than a free witch breakfast! However, when we came home late from the city one night, we got a little suspicios that it might not be only the breakfast that was a little "witchy" about this hostel... (see picture for proof). Also, the coffee machine that suddlenly turned on in the middle of the night was a little bit spooky. Otherwise, the Baltic Hostel was alright, at least after they remembered to turn the warm water heater on on the second day of our stay.



I will try to post all the pictures from the trip here as soon as I figure out how (those technical obstacles you know...)

On the way back from Gdansk, Rachel and I stayed at Berit's and her boyfriend's place in Oslo for a couple of days. I have to say that they really have my dream appartment there in Grünerløkka. In Oslo I also got to meet some friends from home and from Lillehammer, and it was so great to see them again!! I feel a little far away up here in Tromsø..

And also I found out that the stores in Oslo are open on Sundays now before Christmas.. Oh, how devestating.. So of course I managed to get rid of some more money there, because the Tromsø climate and also the chilly wind in Gdansk has made me painfully aware that I need a warm winter jacket. And the Polish jacket fashion wasn't really for me... I also found it quite surprising that they expected me to buy my own buttons and saw them on the jacket. well, that's all for now.

Babosjka.