Æ har skøytet for første gang på rundt 4 år denne helg! så flot!

Heia! Går det bra med alle? Æ håper så!

So, funny story to start off the post! On facebook one of my fellow AFS-ers posted "Jeg elsker min norske familie!" to which another afs-er responded "i og" and from there I wrote "æ og" and yet another person wrote "Jeg også"... what's so funny about this? well if you think about it, Norway isn't actually all that large population wise, yet there are so many different dialects that three of us (2 of whom are not really that far apart physically, since both are in central Norway) have completely different ways of saying the same thing... those 3 responses while understandable sound very different. "i" in norwegian sounds like "eee" and "æ" sounds more like "ayyy" but not quite... (its really a strange sound) and then you have "jeg" which sounds like "yei"... kinda cool huh? but what's really funny about this is that after I commented on the different dialects a conversation completely in dialect started, then suddenly switched to spanish... I could understand what was going on when it was in dialect, everything actually sounds pretty phonetic, but with spanish im a fish out of water! *siiiigh*

I think I might be able to get out of school extra early tomorrow! which would rock except that im plning on meeting someone at the bus station so the can come home with me and help bake pie and make chocolates and such so I cant really go home... I'll end up sitting in the library and reading again... that's what I usually do... but that's ok!

Ok, so it's now tuesday, a series of event made me unable to post yesterday, so please excuse me!

Im going to continue with saturday now! Saturday I got up so that I would have enough time to catch the bus and meet the otehrs to go ice skating! it was the first time for me in about 4-5 years I believe (too much HS) so I was a little wary of it, but it came back pretty quick, though the ice was rougher than whatim used to! Morgana and I were the only 2 out of our group that knew how to ice skate, Morgan and Aom had never been before... so that was funny! Morgan was too scared to move for a while sowe had to tow her out to the rink! Aom was less openly nervous, but she was obiously not comfortable. But, to solve the problem of a lack of walls for them to cling to while trying to figure out how to skate we stole the chairs so they could push them like walkers! Eventually Morgana and I decided that they needed to stop depending on the walker/chairs so we started stealing them and making Morgan and Aom skate to them... >XD

After a while of skating we managed to get Morgan and Aom to goaround the rink without the chairs, then we decided that if we were going to have enough time to eat and catch a bus we needed to stop skating and get going... which obviously we did.

We went to Dolly dimples to eat, but i wont be eating there in a hurry again... Peppe's Pizza is better! I did see my home-room like teacher though, she was picking up a pizza and going home. :) the worst part about this whole thing was that the bus schedual hates me... it said there was a bus at 5:30 but of course it didn't show, so we had to wait for the bus at 6:15 which meant that I missed the bus home... grrrr... But it was okay, because I had somewhere to hang out for the next 4 hours. I went to Aom's of course! It was nice to be able to stay warm and have an interesting conversation instead of shiver in the cold because everything is closed and listen to Savage Garden on repeat until the cold completely drained my battery. (Note that I have been listening to Savage Garden A LOT recently, and the lines that are stuck in my head keep switching between "Come stand a little bit closer, breath in again a bit higher, you'll never know know what hit you when I GET TO YOU!" "I never thought I'd change my opinion again, but you move me in a way that I've never known (you move me in a way that I've never known), but straight away you just move into position again, you abuse me in a way that ive never known (you abuse me in a way that I've never know) So break me, shake me, hate me, take me over! When the madness stops then you will be alone!)" and "there's a time to play the king and a time to be a thief. cause if you're making all these promises you know you cannot keep, you know time will be the thief and your fallen king will end up alone." ok, on second though I have a little of every song stuck in my head at some point, exept Santa Monica)

I did go to the bus eventually and just got there in time! Then I took the bus all the way to the ferry instead of being smart and getting off and walking when the oppertunity arose... oh well, I was warm at least! I didn't get in until about 10:45... the road of doom has ice that is over an inch thick completely covering it so I had to be carful even with my ice shoe things on... urgh...

Sunday I was sorely dissapointed by the fact that my snowboard was in the car, which Pappa and Karro had... obviously not in Harstad, but in some inidetifiable place playing Håndball. I was very sad about that so I spent my day reading in bed and eating... very boring.

On monday I had a normal math class (as normal, im really quite boring there) then the same old same old for norwegian devoted to nynorsk... I read something funny online... I would suggest everybody reads it! :D Then I had gym... which meant that I had to walk a long way to get to harstadhallen, then I had to learn how to play håndball in socks... my sneakers were not in my gym bag despite the fact that I had thought I had packed them. *sigh* Actually it was really fun! I didn't think I'd do that well since Im rather frightened of balls, but I did okay! My team won both games!

I have officially stopped going to utvekslingstudent norsk! I am happy having bio on mondays again!!! we're studying the nervous system! or we're almost done studying it... It was cool! (sorry if everything is realy short and not very detailed, I have friends over but because something amazing and really really exciting happened I have to post while they are here!)

I went for my normal monday swim after school, then Silje and I enjoyed the sauna! so no sore legs today!!! then I got a ride up to Heggen again and set out stuff so that I could "talk" to ungdomsskole kids and their parents. I even did a slide of cheek cells so that was cool! And there was free pizza and boller. Unfortunatly I missed all but thelast bus, but thankfully Asbjørn (Morgana's contact father) was there and he invited me to go over to his house and wait until the bus! so that was cool! It was Diego's 20 birthday (guy from costa rica) so there were people there! and there was dessert, but I was full and had to go before they started eating.

Anyway! Im going to tell you about today becasuse its REALLY REALLY REALLY COOL!!!! I only had one class today, we talked about hijabs and weather it should be illegalized... then i had a free period because my class had a nynorsk quiz! then because i need to see if I can get home and back to the city in time for a boat (and i forgot stuff) I went home for about 10 min. then the bus was late so I was a little cold... brrr...

I ended up back in the city with jsut enoughtime to return a book to the library and get back to the bus to Kanabogen so I could buy a cool shirt and some japanese style sweets... om nom nom... and another softic! YAAAAY!!!

Then it was back to the city where I sat in the bus terminal for an hour while I waited for my new friend Maja! She came over to help me make pie. and chocolate, but we have no cream so I was unsuccessful in that conquest! It is 11:05 here and we are now waiting for brownies, but I did succeed in something way more exciting!!!

YEAH!!!! MY FIRST HAND MADE APPLE PIE!!! Maja and I made it together, though Kristin helped us track down more apples since we only had about half of what we needed... doesn't it look WONDERFUL!!!!! it smells awesome too!!! I cant wait to eat it, and I need to try and save at least one slice for Maja since this was origionally for a birthday... :D that's tomorrow!

okay since I have friends I need to stop this. HA DET!!! VI SNAKKES!!!

I just can't stay still it seems... yay?

heia!!!

So, I had a busy week! well, not in school, but I actually didn't get home most of the week until after 6pm! the reason for this is because there isn't a bus home from the city until 6 so I have to find something to do for an hour after swimming on mondays and wednesdays... so that means I know just how limited the shopping and sitting places in Harstad really are... there's no where to just sit, which is rather sad when you dont want to get rained on and dont really want to buy something to give you a reason to buy something... sadness.

Anywhoo- tuesday I did go home early, but only because I was going snowboarding and not swimming :) It was really nice to get back on my board, I am starting to get the hang of perpously (sp) going off the trail (because there are little jumps there) and getting back on the trail while looking semi cool! I still fall once in a while, but thankfull the snow off the trail is soft so I haven't broken anything, and I only have a couple of bruises! (Yes, this counts as a success in my book, I get misterious bruisesfor no apparent reason, I don't know how they get there, I just notice them in the mirror when I change usually... like I have one on my forearm and I have NO IDEA HOW I GOT IT!!!)

I had a good time at the slope, even though I was feeling really tired when I first got there. I took a break to get some blood back in my feet after about an hour and a half and the guy (whos name I still dont know) who always talks to me came over and tugged my pigtail... I honestly didn't expect a teenage in Norway (I can expect it from my friends in the US) to do something like that when it is soooo middle school age flirting... it still makes me giggle. Anyway, the guy is really nice even though we have problems communicating, we ended up taking the... heise... i know this word in english... I know Iknow it... LIFT!!! there it is!!! :D we ended up taking the lift together for the rest of the night, which was cool. He told me that my yellow snow pants and helmet helped make me visible... I said that was the whole reason behind them, as Mum likes to know where I am. That's also the reason my boat is hot pink XD love you Mum!

He also seems to be of the driving age, since he saidthat he's taking a driving tour this weekend to finish off his driving hours... he also said he would be willing to give me a lift to Narvik if I decide to go snowboarding there... no worries, if I go to Narvik I'll take the bus and I'll try to go with other AFS students!!! he seems nice, but that could be really ackward.

Wednesday was ok, I love bio even more now that people in my class are talking to me. They seem to have realised that I am actually okay speaking norwegian... and since I am stopping with utvekslingstudent norsk I willhave my monday bio class back! But besides that, at the end of the class Jorun, the teacher, asked for some students to talk to visiting ungdomsskole students (middle school I think) about bio on monday. there were 3 volunteers and then she asked me specifically if I wanted to join as well. so of course I said yes, I mean she wouldn't have asked me if she didn't think I could do it... right? So anyway, Monday at 6 (actually a little before 6) I will come back to Heggen to recieve instructions, and hopefully a script, so I can tell young-people about bio and how wonderful it is! yay!!!

The only thing about wednesday was that I had to take the bus to school, which meant that I had to walk on a really icy, moose-infested road with legs that feel like they're going to fall off... really, it's kinda unpleasent. Swimming was even more unfortunate because of that, but I did it anyway! after Silje and I sat in the sauna for a while and I stretched some, so my legs felt much better after that! Then I went and sat at the bus station and waited for a half an hour for the bus to come (though we did go to see if Weronica was working at the cafe). I got home and almost immediatly after I hadstarted takingmy shoes off I heard a screach and Karro ran in narrowly avoiding something with snow that Ole-Peter was threatening to do with with said snow. It was quite funny, and shocking that Ole-Peter was home... As noted in a previous post he randomly shows up and dissappears... it's kinda funny, but cool.

Anyway, I had an cool conversation about disection of cadavers. Ole-Peter talked about how there would be 6 people on a cadaver and you would split them down the middle and into thrids (or sixths if you look at it that way) (and this is all not actually taking them apart in these sections, it's kinda like what you do for a petri-dish), he said that there would be tons of people at the beginning of the class for each cadaver, then at the end of the class there would be only a few! sooo cool!!! I am guessing that Im going to experience a like situation next year :) he also said that it once took him 18 hours to completely disect a hand! and for one of his tests they gave him an arm and he had to mark various points on the arm, such as the ligiments and the muscles and veins... isn't that cool! one of the ways was to check and see if they got the right muscles and such was to pull on them and see if the corresponding fingers moved! XD I CANT WAIT!!!!

Thursday was again a normal day at school, then I had to run home and get my dance stuff together. I was suprised to find that we had pasta for dinner... and when I say pasta I mean not spagetti but bow-tie pasta and a really good sauce! it had veggies and meat and mushrooms in it! om nom nom! then I was off to the bus again! I walked around the city and I am officially bored with Harstad, there is soooo little to do in it. I really need to find a place where I can just sit and read or something! argh...

Dancing that night was fun! we learned how to do a spin! I had a lot of fun, even though I got a couple of blisters on my big toes... but they're pretty much healed already! I did have a little problem with timing for a but, but I worked on it!

Today was ok, I avoided my history teacher pretty well, and I managed to answer 5 questions on my math test... out of 20... but in my defense I couldn't figure out how to use the programs that we were supposed to use, and since we couldn't use the internet (I however was allowed google translate) I couldn't access the help and instruction pages... sigh. but despite my deepest desires I didn't ditch, which was extremely tempting! I actually considered it... but you all will be happy to know that I did no such thing... though such thoughts will continue to plage me I think. :$

after school I eventually went to catc my bus, and was thoroughly annoyed when I learned that the bus schedual and the actual bus route times didn't match up... the bus I was planning to get left 10 min before I got there... XP I did however get another bus that went in the same general direction, though I did have to walk a half an hour back to the house, the weather was pretty bad, and I wasn't really sure of where I was going... but I got there and washed washed washed... well, vaccuumed, then Aksel came home and I had to try and do my washing around him... which was a pain I might add. But it got done! then I caught a bus home. I was just beginning to walk down the road of doom when Ole-Peter and his gf Eilin stopped and gave me a ride the rest of the way! yay!!! I have to say, it's kinda nice to have an older brother kind of figure... well, its probably that I like to have interesting conversations about medical school and disease and disection... :D

People had cod again tonight, Karro and I had left over pasta because cod = ÆÆÆÆÆÆÆSSSSSSSJJJJJJJJJEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but now im hungry again, and I want soup. so, as soon as I am done with this post im going to make myself some. :D and probably wait until the next commercial! Im watching Ghost Rider, it's funny!

natta og vi snakkes!!!

this makes me happy so i have to post it

I was just checking my stats and I saw that someone had found my blog by using this link, I really like what they looked up:

http://www.icerocket.com/search?p=4&q=human+organ+for+sale&lng=&dl=&dh=&

also today there have been 7 people from China who have looked at my blog, 5 from Norway, 1 from the UK and 1 from Italy... It must be too early for the US!

So to the person who looked up "Human Organ for sale," thank you, you made my day!

vi snakkes!!!

What's wrong with paper tests? aka tests online are WAY MORE STRESSFULL than ones that are written/printed... so why must we have them... or actually-

why cant the AFS weekend be this weekend and not next weekend, really, that would be the best option, because then I could miss this math test and have biology the next week... that would make my life sooooo much better.

So if you haven't guessed I am sitting im math waiting for the teacher to finish "grading" the practice tests we "took." I was trying to figure out what the heck everything was asking me to do so I didn't actually answer any of the questions, so she came over and pressed random answers and now I have a score of -5/20... if that had actually been me who had guessed those answers I would have probably been very upset with myself, as it is, it's still bugging me that I have to have that sittingon my screen until she deems me failed enough. *sigh*

Ok, before we get to my weekend im going to do something Mum has been bugging me to do for a while. I will give an explaination on how to comment without a gmail account so that my poor technologically challenged family can tell me what they think of what's going on in the life of Devyn.

1: At the end ofthe post there will be a running tally that says # comments, and on this blog it is usually 0 comments. Press it.

2: That will automatically take you to a page exclusivly for the post you have decided to comment on and hopefully to the end of the page where a little box is headed by "Post a Comment". Press and type in the box.

3:Under the comment box is a little line that says "comment as..." and it has a little pull-down box thing that should have a lot of options for your "profile," just choose the last one, "anonymous"

4: press the "post comment" button under the profile selection and comment box.

5: this will lead to a preview of your comment where you have to fill in a "word verification"... its usually semi-hard to read and a crazy color or two but fill it in with a normal font in the box provided.

6: press "post comment" for the second time.

7: you should have been successfull, if you weren't then you are probably the poor robot on a commercial where everything electronic it touches breaks... i wish you luck with that.

dang, if I only had 3 more instructions I could have called it: "How to comment on a blog post for electronic killing robots and the Packard/Halberg/extendedfamily family..." which sounds sooo much better in my head btw.

ok, my weekend. well, friday night after i stoppedwaling around in my new heels and writing my blog.

I went over to Kristin's and hung out with her and 7 other girls, half of which played various games on the wii and the other half of which talked and were social. I was one of the social ones because a) there was a lot of candy floating around and b) I REALLY stink at playing on wiis and such gaming consoles... I can play comuter games and board/card games but not games with strange controllers and random flashy noisy colorful... things... im not sure what to call everything that appears on those games.

I had a pretty good time, though Kristin kept feeling down about one of her exes (im stuggling on how to spell that... anny suggestions?) so I tried to talk her out of her funk for a while. It kinda worked, but about half way through Harry Potter 4 she went to bed... which was probably a good thing since she went to bed before 1 and still slept longer than me and the other girl who stayed over.

Since Kristin went to bed before everybody left I assumed the role of hostess because I live closest and it seemed like the thing to do. :D I didn't actually go to bed before 2, and i woke up a little before 10 so I got a good amount of sleep! Yay!!! I woke up and the other girl and I went and scavenged up some brownies for breakfast and watched some anime. it's called Strawberry Panic if anybody's wondering!

Eventually we woke Kristin up, because really, a couple of brownies are not a very filling breakfast, and we weren't sure what was up for grabs and what was off limits. We ended up having pizza and watching a documentary on JK Rowling. it was fun, but tventually (at about 4) we went home. I worked on writing an outline for a story ive been kicking around for a long while, and relaxed. Unfortunatly I learned that Pappa would be taking the car on Sunday so I either had to push back my skype call with my parents, or not go snowboarding, because most people I could have gotten a ride with stay 'til close and that wouldn't have worked for me. Oh well.

I woke up the next day at about 11, and after some breakfast I went with Mamma and Kazan for a walk. we made a long loop with a little de-tour for some horses. :) I love horses, so I might see if I can exchange my cleaning services for some riding time. That would make life interesting! one of the horses when i held out my hand so it could smell me and decide I was alright would lick my hand, then turn away looking rather dissapointed... sorry sweet horse! I am out of grass and didn't have any apples! D: There were also reigndeer tied in a pen on the other side of the barn. cool huh?

It was a nice walk, it took about an hour, and when we got back I decided that I showed would be a nice idea, since believe it or not you can really work up a sweat when you go tramping down partially or un-plowed norwegian side roads... it was kinda gross, but nice to get out of the house!

after my shower I went upstairs to see if the web cam would work, but since nobody was on and you cant talk to yourself on skype i just had to leave it up to fate and hope that it worked when in an hour I would talk to the parents and G... and as you all probably guessed it didn't.

On the plus side I could see them!!! that was nice :) I got to hear a little news about how things are going with my dear family, but not much since G was doing hmwk and dad always looses interest in skype time about half way through our conversations and Mum's life has been consumed by medical text books... she says she has about 300 pages of reading every week! oh-boy... what am i going to get myself into?

But there was a little to talk about, such as there being more snow in mass and newyork and such states now than there has been in a whole winter on average... cool huh?

also in big news, I am almost completely convinced that my parents actually painted my library pink, so, if people want me to have somewhere to live this summer I either need your couch or a brigade of volunteer painters to go paint it a color that doesnt make me want to rip body parts off... :D please help! I like yellow, and blue and i guess purple could be okay, I just dont see it in that space...

also about the house, it sounds like all but the kitchen will be livable by next week, the kitchen is proving difficult though... a long story that involves cupbords and remodling and countertops... basically the kitchen at this moment = FAIL!!!

I wasn't really ready to stop talking to them, but I guess it was a good time to stop since we had talked for 2 hours... but stories of Thistle can carry on a conversation for only so long... speaking of my dear kitty-cat, I hear she has more torture methods for my family now that she is an indoor cat. taking up a whole queen sized bed is only one of her talents. she now sits on the automan, that the dog has taken to sleeping on, and watches as the dog circles around trying to figure out how she can get up there without being attacked. Thistle obviously enjoys tormenting the dog this way, and sometimes to add to that fun she hangs a paw over the edge of the automan and whacks the dog as she passes... wonderful cat isn't she!!! I absolutly love her,and i miss her SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much... actually, it's getting to the point where when im home sick im usually home sick in this order: Thistle, Mom/Dad (these two change places depending on how im feeling... if i need someone to talk to about deep and emotional topics often about myself growing both mentaly and physically or about people problems, I want Dad. If I want cuddles as in hugs or head on lap, its mum, but if I want someone to be warm and plushy the obvious choice is dad!)

We also talked about my birthday, which seems to be freaking Mum out a little bit because of proximity... less than 2 months then I'll be 18!!! I feel kinda old... but i know im not... just feels weird. Oh, Dad also said he would drive with me out to college, which I found slightly amusing, since we've been planning that I would buy my dorm supplies out in MN (the question is where in MN) so i wouldn't have to transport so much out there... so I said that we could go if we drove in my car (Grandma's bribe that Grandpa didn't know about) and then send Dad back to Maine by plane... he said the whole reason for driving was to avoid TSA... which he has a running grudge against. he hates them, and thus he refuses to fly anywhere... which made Mum's DC vacation plans crash and burn... sorry Mum, unless you drug him he wont change his mind. but then we reminded him of the origional plan about dorm supplies.

Also in college news, I am planning on keeping my blog up in college, no promises, but it seems like a good way to rant about random things and share my views on things that happen to me... :D just in case you're interested.

I got to bed reletivly early for me, which was nice, and since I took a shower in the middle of the day on sunday I decided that I could sleep in for 20 min on mon! so i slept 'til 7! HAHAHAHA!

Today has been okay, except for having to walk half way to school in the windy cold and with 2 bags... I couldhave done without that. and math, if I could just not have math me life would be so mch better, but actually, I would have math over history sooooo... :D

Norwegian with the 3rd grade was ok, we watched people present about the books they read, which could have been really interesting, but I didn't really understand what they were saying, and i realized that I probably have to help present the book that "my group" read... I listened to it and still didn't really understand what happend... ugh. maybe I can just read a couple of slides... ARGH MY LIFE ISCRAZY WITH GROUP WORK!!! the only group work i enjoy is in my 2 favorite classes- bio and soc...

Gym was fun, except for the fact that I didn't know we were actually having gym so I had to it in my jeans... we did drills which was fun, it made me feel able to do something active! yay!!! Im going swimming after this, which is great. Because Im in norsk for utveksling studenter now... thus im only paying about 50% attention to what im actually doing in class... thankfully I've only got abotu 15 min left, then I can go to teh city and get pølse, because I didn't hae quite enough lunch. om nom nom.

ok, since there probably wont be anything interesting that happens for the rest of the day I will end this post here.

Vi snakkes! and now that you have instructions on how to post a comment I hope there will be more comments! and if you want me to know who you are then just sign your name at the end, then I can be more personal when i respond!

okai! ha det til fredag!

remember 1-2-3 break 5-6-7!

heia alle!!!

I had a rather better week than last week! I ended up staying home because of one last fever on tuesday but after that I was all good!

On wednesday I had my normal bio and math class... and that was unremarkable, except for that I was informed of where my sociology textbook I had lost the week I was sick had been found. yay!!! no missing text books now! however during my math class I got a message from Asbjørn, Morgana's contact father and Heidi's (afs Hartstad organiser) husband, that there was going to be a dinner with all the other AFS students in Harstad and their daughters/friend and a boyfriend from Costa Rica to have pizza and other yummy things! (cola cola cola!)

It was really nice to hang out after being caged at home for a week... i ended up deciding that I should probably go home at 9:30, so I could try and get some sleep. It kinda worked, I guess there was a little too much sugar in my system!

Thursday was a normal day at school, nothing exciting happened, but that's ok. After school I went home, scarfed down some dinner and went for the bus! I have started salsa dancing! and im loving it! I didn't have any good shoes with me, just my boots, so I danced in my socks. Anita the teacher told us that it was ok to not have shoes this time since we didn't know ahead of time, but next week we should have shoes. and she suggested high heels for the ladies.

the thing about my foot wardrobe is that I am lacking in high heeled shoes, myabe a shoe with a few milimeter high heel (over the rest of the sole) so, after Morgana and I danced and had a great time, we went to Euro Sko, which is having a great sale due to the fire damage... :D (fire was in another store, they just got soot and smoke, so nothing really bad, only for light colored shoes) it was 1 min to close when I found my shoes, they are gorgous! Black with what im gonna call a 2 in heel and gold-ish fasteners where a black ribbon laces up the front. and the very best part?! they had them in my size!!! I wanted totry them on before I bought them, just to make sure that they actually fit as well as I hoped they would, so I asked the lady at the register if she could hold them for me so I could try them on. She said she could, and Morgana and I left. She had a bus to catch after that, and I had to walk up to where Karro and Pappa were having training... håndball fyi. then it was home again home again jiggidy jig.

Today was again a normal day at school. in Bio were doing an experiment trying to see which fruit produces the most ethylene by sticking a bunch of sliced fruit of various types into a pail with 1-2 roses then covering the top withplastic wrap. only one type of fruit to each pail. and due to Ms Teller's poster I know that Bananas produce the most ethylene... thanks Ms Teller!

Im fitting into my Bio class a lot better! The girls are actually including me in their conversations which is great! We talked about hair color and self tanners because one of the girls used a tanner that made her look a little orange, and one girls hair dye stained her shirt... lol. They were shocked when I said that im going to dye my hair red XD

After school I made my way down to the city and tried on my shoes and danced a little. They are very comfortable, though after an hour of wearing them, I am a little ready to take them off. I've been dancing pretty much non stop since I put them on, incase anybody's wondering. and I guess I have to eminently, since Kristin invited me to sleep over at her house tonight, and play wii and have fun with her and a bunch of other girls! i have to be there in a half an hour... XD so I will leave you with a picture of my wonderful shoes and depart!

(note, I took the picture via a mirror so the color isn't as rich)

Vi Snakkes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOORING... BOOOOORING.... :P

so, I had a really boring weekend. well, pretty boring, not much happened. on saturday we were supposed to entertain a woman from seattle for dinner, but she was sick, and couldn't make it, so we invited another couple over and our neighbors. It was great to see Kristin!!! She Karro and I watched Buffy on my bed with bottles of soda.

About the soda, Kristin doesn't like coke, so when she came over she brought a 6 pack of glass bottled coke! it's actually really common to have glass bottles here, it seems like everybody has them, even the gas stations, which is rather cool and odd for me at least because im used to not having glass bottled soda with any regularity... it's soo cool! any way, the first bottle i drank had "Å nei! Deg igen..." (Oh no! You again...) on the cap... which Kristin, Karro and I thought was very fitting... I decided that Im going to make it into a necklace so Kristin has the cap to punch a hole in it and such!

Sunday spent in bed watching Buffy, sans apple juice, with a couple of bottles of coke. I feel like a lazy bum, but due to being sick I am trying to justify it.

Today I woke up feeling queazy again, but I decided I was going to go to school! I had missed most of last week, and I couldn't let it happen again. So, I went to my first class, but right before class I had to run for the bathroom to empty my mouth of bile and orange remains... sorry for that image, but it's true. I decided since Pappa was going to go home anyway and take Karro to the orthodontist (sp) I would catch a ride home and try to recover.

So, I took some medicine and read some manga and napped. im feeling better, but i have the random bouts of fever, and random chills... its not a continous thing though, so Im taking that as a sign of improvement!

Though, im not sure I really appreciate the random smell of torsk remains that will suddenly waft from the kitchen. really, I hope i will never EVER again be obliged to eat cod after this year. it is the most vile type of fish imaginable, and it seems to be whole heartedly adored by the majority of the Norwegian people... I wonder if they are all nose blind. Why am I talkig about torsk again? well, on friday we had various parts of the fish for supper... ok, the adults did, Karro and I turned green and ate the least gross thing available, which was normal torsk filet thing... I only had a little, since I was pretty bad that day with the "iwannapukemygutsupbutimnot" feeling being aided by the stench... but that wasn't it, there was a pot of stewed cod liver (which reminds me of human liver thus I was able to cute it up, and though I can face my futer of slicing and dicing the remains of my fellow man, I really dont want to turn cannabalistic, so even the thought of eating something that is shaped so closely to something that can be found in my own body or tastes (according to reports) like my own flesh would (thus my reluctance to eat most forms of pig... bacon is the exeption) give me a major case of the eeby-jeebies...) as well as a plate of cod ovaries, possibly other femal parts... im still unclear about that... swollen orange and eggy with a thin blacken veiny mebrane wrapped around it like a skin on pølse you boil at home... EWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, also, as expected of my math mid term I failed. I got the lowest grade possible, and I only got about 3 of the questions right. everyone, please hold that sarcastic round of applause and stop shaking your head at me... I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO FAIL! there was no doubt in my mind, and i will probably fail the rest of the year too... unless someone sends me mr Nichols. *hint hint*

ok, im going to bed now... it's late here. I want to be healthy please!

vi snakkes!!!

maybe i should just post on sat...

sorry again, i dont know what's up, i just dont feel like blogging anymore, and I know people read my blog so i will continue but im just so blagh about it.

this week was very uneventfull. the only really exciting thing happened on Tuesday, when I went to the Ski hill and started getting mini jumps down, Imhoping to go tomorrow and start getting bigger jumps, but im not sure I'll be allowed... :P

The snow was amazing on tuesday! it had snowed for pretty much the whole day so there was a bunch of powder! the plus side of this is that it makes landings softer, the down side was that the ridges that everybody made were large and thus falling was and easier thing to do... i got some of my spectacular headover heels falls for the first time this season that day! good thing im bendy!

I was sick Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so my day amounted to watching tv wrapped in a giant sweatshirt and a fleece blanket and finding out that hard boiled eggs are really good in my noodle soup...om nom nom. Oh, and I watched the first season of Buffy in one day. yay me!

Oh, I almost forgot, Karro came running home after starting to take Kazan for a walk. the reason? there were 6 moose in the fields near our house, and the 4 reigndeer too! I grabbed my camera, but the moose upon seeing Kazan had run into the woods... sigh.

so, very uneventful. Because I was feverish I am not allowed to go snowboarding today, since relapses are not good. also Mamma and I wont be going to the concert we were planing on going to... :( but we will have a visitor from seattle tonight, and they will open the bottle of raspberry wine that Mum and Dad sent, as well as having green mountain coffee, which they love I might add. they told me as soon as I woke up and got down stairs that they loved the coffee! good choice Mum!

ok, as you can probably tell im not at all into this. I hope there is something more interesting to write about soon. tootles!

INTESIVE TRAINING BEGINS TODAY!!!

So yesterday I woke up at about 10:30 and had pancakes with Mamma, since Karro and Pappa were in Tromsø for a håndball tournament. They had a ok time it sounds like, though the team from Alta was not allowed to play because the bus they were taking to the games was in an accident on friday thankfully non of the girls or people on the bus were hurt, but three people from some of the cars in the collision died, and others were ingured. I offer condolences for the families of those that were lost, but at the same time I am very glad that none of the girls on that buss were majorly ingured.

Anywhoo, after breakfast I got my snowboarding clothes on and got ready to go at 12! Tate Eilin came over for about 5 min then Mamma and I got in the car... for about 20 feet. Then Igot out again and well... Im pretty sure you can tell why if you look down.

#1: "Hey, why are you getting out! Why are you looking at me! GO AWAY!!!" (This one has a blue colar)

#2 "Oh, dear... Well, I think Im set if you're planing on hurting us I doubt that you'll have a harder time with me, since I have camoflage! see! I have a tree that looks like antlers! And Im whiter than the others!"

#'s 3 and 4 "Ugh, why do you have to stand there? Your gigantic grin of finally remembering your camera is blocking the view... and we shouldn't have to say that, 'cause before you came along WE WERE SLEEPING!!! Jerk"

Except, that they would probably all be saying this in Norwegian, or Samii... I don't know Samii, soooo...

And yes, that is the field in front of my house. SOO COOL!!! (I would like to note my fail, I just tried to spell "cool" as "cule"... wow)

Ok, news break. im watching America's Next Top Model (because nothing else is on) and they just did a photo shoot in New Zealand, at Bag End. JEALOUSY TO THE EXTREME!!!!!!! AND ONE OF THE GIRLS HAD NEVER SEEN THE MOVIES!!!! OMG HOW IN THE WORLD HAS SHE SURVIVED?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! she should have been sent away at that moment. Im even more jealous since they met the actress for Rosie!!

EVEN BETTER NEWS!!!!!!!!!!! the setting?! in the front yard! the moment?! 20:45! The event?!?!

OH YEAH!!! YOU KNOW IT!!!

IT'S A MOOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^.^ Im beyond happy right now!!! I have seen both of the 2 animals that are so common around here in my front yard!!!! XD

Ok, so... I got to the ski hill at 12! and just barely got there after they started the lift for the start of the day! and letme tell you... IT WAS AN AWESOME DAY!!!! gorgoues (sp)!!! The snow was so crisp and there were only a few people! I got up there and had a wonderful time!

about couple of hours later or so I saw Ingar and some girls from my school as well as a couple other people that I recognized! I was having a blast when Morgana arrived. She was actually there to meet up with the girls from our school I had recognized, but they let me join them too! It only took Morgana about 3 tries to get on the lift as opposed to my 20 times... and she went on with someone else... *sigh*

We were on our 2nd time up asa group when the lift stopped.. and didn't start again... we just stood there... waiting... eventually we decided to get off and just go down and maybe by that time the lift would start again. We got off and the snow-mobiles started up the mountain...right where we were attaching our gear... well, where morgan and I were attaching out feet to our boards...

Then after they passed the lift started again... Oh well.

I had a great time with the girls! It was nice to go with a group and to hang out with them. the girls from our school left at 3:30, but I decided that I would go for as long as I could... 5... :D I only made it to about 4:15, though, because my legs started to shake and my calves were stiff, so I decided to sit and wait for my ride, since Mamma was picking me up at 4:30. It was a great day, and very very exhausting.

I got home and made some soup. :D then I collapsed on my bed and waited for Pappa and Karro to come home so we could eat dinner and I could go to bed. after dinner I went to bed... then my nocturnal instincts turned on and I just had to wait it out.

Today I had a normal day at school... or a normal day in math. Then in Norsk Weronica, Silje and I went to Mat av Vahl. I got a apple cake thing, then I got a couple of slices of pizza from my buddies and we "worked on" our project. teehee!

nothing really happened in gym, exept there was a bubbly-water fight between Weronica and Silje... lol

Norsk for utveksling studenter var... sorry, i switch unintentionally... again. was ok, I had attention problems... :D

then I went to meet Silje at grøttebådet so we could start swimming... :D unfortunatly I ran out of the house without enough cash and I couldn't remember my PIN for my visa... sorry mum! and dad. :)

We only ended up swimming about half of the work out plan that I had schedualed... but that's ok, we did swim 450m YAY US!!! which is good, since Silje doesn't seem so comfortable swimming and I am not in peak form... far from it actually.

After swimming (which took about an hour) we went to meet Weronica, which was about the time that I learned that if I had bought a months card than it would have been cheaper... oh well! next time!

since I was officially out of money I couldn't go tanning with them, so Silje gave me a ride home! and now I am officially tired, and even the extreme thrill I get from Bourne Ultimatum isn't enough to keep me up.

natta alle sammen! Og vi snakkes!!!

haha... im late again... sorry...

First off, HAVE A GREAT TIME ZOË!!! One of my best friends is leaving today for a new adventure! She and her BF are going to India, but from what I've discovered from FB they are going to have some time in Thai land (Bangkok!!!) for a couple weeks! LUCKY!!!

So, har en fin tur Zoë og Max!!! :)

Ok, so Im sorry that I didn't post yesterday, but I didn't get home until about 10:30, and I will tell you why, but I will tell my week in order... like always. Maybe someday I'll tell it backwards... that would be funny yeah?

Tuesday was sooo long ago... I can't remember what happened... sorry. I do remember a little bit about wednesday, I went to eat pancakes with Dina and Yngvild and Maine Maple Syrup was dissed! They said CANADIAN maple syrup was better! Im sorry for any Canadians reading this blog, Most of us Mainers are asked if Maine is part of Canada, but of course we have to have some rivalry! And Maple Syrup seems like an okay one. But they dissed MY MAINE MAPLE SYRUP!!! Yeah, Yngvild, If you thought I had let it go then you are very very wrong! I hold a grudge pretty well!

But it was fun anyway! :)

On Thursday, Weronica was in school for the first time this week (that I was aware) and she didn't look like she was completely well, but it was nice to see her all the same! I got a few comments on my hat that I got from G for christmas, but otherwise it was apretty un-interesting day.

Friday we disected fish. Well, in my last class we did. But in my first class I had History, and since Weronica didn't show up Morten (sang a swedish song about gold shoes and is the president of the class and is quite funny and a typical Norwegian guy otherwise) sat in the seat beside me. as such I was invited to work with him and the guys... it was odd, but I decidedI should try to get to know the rest of my class a little better. And, I actually got along with the guys better than I ould probably get along with the other girls in my class... but as most of you know, I tend to get along well with guys, I act like one a lot of the time. :)

In sosiology Jostein and I debated... a lot. I apologize to that class again... we are both rather vocal people, he more than I because hedoesn't understand the concept of and "indoor voice" so I am sorry for that!

Then I sat and read quotes while Jostein and Ingvild (2nd grade, and a different person from Yngvild, but their names sound the same) debated something, that I never quite got, but there was something about religion soo...

Then there was bio. My "sudden" ability with Norwegian seems to continously shock my classmates, but they are much more willing to talk to me because of it. I actually had a conversation while leaving the classroom! that never happens with that class!!!

But, friday was the day that we managed to stink out the whole wing. we had 6 cod fish deliverd to us so we could see how their teeth were positioned, cut it open from anus to gills and remove it's enternal organs. I sudden wished that I hadn't eaten my whole lunch! I felt so sorry for cutting up the poor fish. then I got the organs out and I was good! The liver looks so much like a human liver, which is what helped me get through the whole "im cutting a poor defenceless animal!!!" I think that a lot of people will find it odd, but I have a more of a problem mentaly cutting up animals (and babies/children because for some reason I associate them with animals to some extent) than I do with humans...

with the help on a couple others in my group we managed to get the liver, intestines, stomach, gallbladder, and male organs (im not sure what to call them in a fish, but they were larger than all the other organs combined) in one go! then we tried to cut off the gallbladder and accidentaly tore it. We did getitoffeventually though, then we cut off the reproductive organ, the liver and the little red organ that we never did get a name for... We untangled the long intestine and it was almost a yard long! The liver was quite like the human liver I handled in Tama, FL, but not plastisised. :D (Body Works is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!). The we cut out the eyes, and smashed our way to the brain, which was even smaller than the heart, or the gallbladder, or the unidentified red organ.

But it was really fun! that was my first time disecting a real animal, and not a owl pellet. and not online!!!

After class I went downstairs to wait for Karin my host mother to pick Brynjar and me up so we could eat together! Brynjar was the cook, and he made asian food! It was so yummy! and the first food that I have eaten with chop-sticks since I have arrived!!! om nom nom! to tell the truth I was worried that Brynjar's cooking would be like Mum's has been on occasion so I was suprised when it was really good! (Not that Mum's can't, it's justthatIstill remember such meals as the fish soaked in wine... or was it beer... I honestly can't remember, but it tasted HORRIBLE! it was infact poison.).

I spent the night with my contact family and watched the Titanic, both parts, and looked at pictures of my contact brothers from a couple of years ago... THEY WERE SOOOO CUTE!!! I also saw some pics of a younger Jostein... hehehe I couldn't help giggling... a lot. Eventually it was about 10, so I decided to stop annoying them so Brynjar drove me home (with Karin in the front seat, he's not old enough to have a drivers lisence yet) I passed the glass shop where im hoping to find Ms Teller's and Paul's Wedding gift (mostly Ms Teller's though. Sorry Paul. :) Oh god, I just realized I can't remember your last name! dang, im going to have to remember that so I wont call Ms Teller, Ms Teller after the 19th of Feb... :D dont worry, Im on it!)

I got home and eventually got to bed. and woke up late today! I meandered down stairs to boil some noodles! much like the Ramen Noodles that I love and eat for all occasions, but slightly smaller and called YumYum which is as it's name suggests! I ate it with my chopsticks I got for Christmas from Karro and in one of the bowls that I bought at the giant bazaar/gym held yard sale that was held a few months ago at Karro's school! YAY FOR USAGE!!!

The rest ofthe day I spent looking frantically on the internet for a chicken pot pie recipe and a way to make pie crust (can i please get a copy of the secret family recipe Dad, it might help me when trying to make a pie crust for a pie that is supposed to be sweet). I eventually gave into the fact that vegtable shortning doesn't exist in norway, or at least Harstad, and looked to see if butter or something can be subbstatuted. it can if your wondering.

Then we went to buy ingrediants and I began the task of trying my hand at pie making... lets just say that I am considering changing my post title to:

And That, Kids, Is Why You REMEMBER That Celcius and Farenheit ARE NOT The Same...

Just saying... it was edible... or everything under the top layer of crust was edible, but 300 degrees celcius is not equal to 300 degrees farenheit, thus it doesn't take 30+ min to cook... I luckly rememebered this fact BREFORE I set the oven on fire, and before the whole pie was unsaveable... I removed the top crust and we were all set! and for my first time trying to make a pie i think it's good that at least the middle and bottom were edible...

Im now watching the Norwegian approximation of the Oscars and I really like the trophys they are given... sooo pretty!

alright, im going to go apply chapstick for the upteeth time today and hope that this time my lips regaine some moisture instead of feeling like sand-paper wanna-be's... I will be going snowboarding tomorrow and I will take my camera so I can try to get some good pics on Flikr for the first time in months.

and because I feel like it, If anybody has any questions and wants to know more about what I am doing here just comment! I check to see if people leave comments on a daily basis and I always sigh when nobody does so... just saying.

VI SNAKKES!!!

Grades... WHYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!

So, until the end of school I am actually going to try to get HMWK done... as in, homework that is grade-able... I have been staring despairingly at Victoria by Knut Hamsun for the past 15 minutes... or at least the book that supposedly holds said story... I stillhaven't been able to find it. OH WAIT!!! operation open to random page is a sucess. I recognized a name that was on a summary of the story... yay!

So I already kinda alerted you all to what happened on Sat... aka absolutly nothing. I slept, and it was wonderful. :D

On Sunday however Karro, Guro and I went to the ski hill. It was really awefull weather, and my first time coming down I almost mowed down a fellow snowboarder. But thankfully we both managed to avoid that fate and probably looked slightly cool doing it. Seeing that I was at at least a 45 degree angle flying backwards towards him while trying to slow enough that he would get past me, and se was moving at an equally rapid pace in a turn going the way I had come. Our boards just barely missed each other and we both managed to stay upright. I turned back to make sure he was ok and he gave me the thumbs up. *phew*

I met slightly pushy yet nice ski boy again. but at that point I was in the middle of trying to find Guro and Karro so I wasn't a very good conversationalist. Im sorry ski boy. I still dont know his name... im such a sorry person. :P anyway, it was fun, and im going a lot faster down the slope than I was at the beginning of the season! YAY!!!

After snowboarding we wenthome and got ready to eat at tante Berit's for dinner. It was delicious! Turkey! eller Kalkun hvis du vil snakke norsk! :D and there were sprouts in a really yummy bacon mix, which a little salt on top really helped! nom nom nom! I had a really nice time despite being so sleepy that I ended up napping on the couch for an indeterminet (is that actually a word, and ifso im pretty sure I didn't spell it right... ) amount of time. After eating a handfull of blue m'n'm's... yes, I picked them out of a bowl... and I dont regret it!

Oh, I forgot! On the way into the "ski lodge" I saw Yngvild! It was only a quick "Hi! thanks you so much for the present!" but it wasnice to know that my abilities to socialise were not completely dissolved over the break, and by the weather... :D Hey, Yngvild. Hvis du lese det for onsdag, Dina og æ vil spise pankaker med lonningsyrup, så hvis du vil bli med bare si så!

I did watch Blood and Chocolate and Underworld on youtube this weekend, I love Underworld (the first one at least... im not sure about the other 2...) and Blood and Chocolate is an okay movie, but the book is SOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!!!! I would love my own copy so I dont have to steal it from Kayla again... :D good book good book... ^.^

Today was not as stressful as I expected, it's not like I expected to be going back to my wonderful crew (who I really miss despite how it seemed that we didn't get along... incase any of you guys are reading this I would like you all to know that I really appreciate how you made my last 2 years so much more memorable and fun! I hope we can have a party or something when we are all back from our various adventures (again sleep-desprate mind will not help with spelling.) just incase any of you are reading my blog...) but I had kinda hoped to have some sort of ho-rah that got us a little more into the spirit of school... but no such luck.

BUT!!! The math teacher was sick today and that meant that I got to do my own thing in math... for which I am partially greatfull, I got most of the problems I did right, which is a mirical since my calculator need life. It died, remember?

I did very little in most of my classes, but utvekslingstudent norsk was kinda fun for once! We got to talk alot and Morgana is also only supposed to only speak and be spoken to in Norwegian!!! YAY!!! it was great, I also learned how to make an oragami frog :D yay for slight childishness!

anywhoo, I am pleased to announce that my brother's christmas presents FINALLY arrived, so people should be getting postcards soon! He really liked said presents. I got him a Halo helmet belt buckle and a old nintendo gaming remote wallet. He almost has more money than I do... wow...

Oh, and just cause I can, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!!! you should feel honored that I remember your birthday, since I can't remember many other peoples'. I remember Yngvild's because ofsomething about a rhyme and people dying en masse on that day, I remember G's because it's thanksgiving every 4 years, I remember Dad's for unknown reasons (something about one's golden b-day), I rememeber Mum's because she made me feel so guilty for not, and I rememeber Grandma's because it's 50 years before mine :D so, congratulations, you don't have to remind me when you turn one year older!

Im in desperate need of ramen noodles... I really want easy delicious snackage... I miss them... O.O

okay, im going to make a mattpakke and go to bed! ^.^ vi snakkes!!!

So I should have posted yesterday, but "Yes Man" was much more interesting.

HEIA!!!!!

SO, I had another lazy week. I hung out with Kristin on Thursday, or some of Thursday. The rest of Thursday I celebrated Agnethe's (I found out that I've been spelling her name wrong :D ) 1'st birthday! It was very cute, I baby-sat her a lot, but it was worth it! She will be walking soon! I can't wait to see her do so! She also stole my hat, everytime I got it back she would reach up and take it back off my head and try to put it on her own. SO CUTE!!!!!

I think I have some form of special powers, the power to charm babies. there were 3 babies (including Agnethe) and all of them would giggle and smile when I looked at them, besides Agnethe one of them was very happy to sit next to me and offer me the little plastic lettuce head that she continued to slime while gigleing and stealing it back away from me. I love babies, soooo cute!

Nothing much happened besides that, though we did try to go skiing on new-years eve day... but since our internet has been wonky we didn't realise until we were all ready to go that we should probably check. Then it was a struggle to get all the spandex stuff and various other warm clothes off and into normal clothes. Or normal for hanging out around the house clothes. Then I was invited to go into town to pick up packages and return christmas presents... Which I didn't do, fyi. SO, I changed into jeans, because capris sweat pants aren't really what I want to wear outside in this weather.

We went to the post office, and Guro picked up the 2 packages. one of which was Karro's christmas present from me. her self designed converse shoes. they were boring in my opinion, but she likes them soooo... O.O

We went to the grocery store to restock on holiday food. Where I met ski hill boy again, I guess he is the younger brother of a semi famous cross-country skiier. huh, he seems nice enough, but he's a little pushy... I am glad that Karro and Guro will be with me tomorrow. But besides that we got lots of yummy food, and more cola. :D

We spent most of the day just hanging out, snacking and watching the movies and such on tv. At about 8 our guests arrived and at 9 we ate supper... kinda late huh? It was nice, I tried champagne again, and i have affirmed that I do not like champagne. I've had it before, but I thought since i was younger then I might have changed and have more of an appreciation now, but that is not the fact... :P

Everybody except Karro likes the maple syrup candy that Mumand Dad sent Mamma and Pappa in thier christmas present Maine bag. there are only about 3 left, AND I DIDNT EAT THEM ALL IN CASE PEOPLE THINK I DID!!! :D

I have to say, new year is going to be one stuck in my memory. we set off fire works while it was snowing. it seems that everybody in the area was doing the same as us, it was great to see the fireworks going off over the field and down the road and trying to keep an eye on the dogs so they didn't decide to go try a firework for dessert... lol.

I cant really describe how different this new year is compared to what I experienced in the past. I am not sure I can ever experience the breathlessness of watching my family, or one branch of it, running away from a spew of multi-colored sparks right before they fly into the sky right over us. At one poin the air was so filled with smoke from the sparklers and fireworks that you could barely see the snowflakes in the air around you. Then, it was done, the new year was ushered in, and all of our fireworks and sparklers and torches were used up.

Its hard for me to see fireworks here actually. Im used to them in general, my Dad used to set them off for professional shows (before I was around) and so I hear all these stories and Ihaveall my life. Im used to seeing around 7 proffesional shows every 4th of July after spending an indeterminant amount of time with my family (if they are all family I'd be shocked actually...) so, fireworks tend to remind me of my family when I think of them. But, I wasn't homesick until after all the festivities, when I thought about what they had meant to me before I missed my family, but not as much as I normally would have.

In all honesty, I cannot say I had more fun this year because the experience is so completely different than what I am used to. But I deffenitly enjoyed myself. Im sorry, I can't think coherently enough to write, so you'll have to fill in the blanks yourselves. :D I wish you luck with that.

Today, we got up extra-late. And after eating we hae watched such shows as Dirty Dancing and I Survived a Japanese Game Show, which in my humble opinion is AWESOME!!! I love it. We are watching Narnia now, and then HP #3 :D and we eat and drink some more. I might play some Guild Wars too... :D lazy days are the BEST!!!

School is on Monday. EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, enough of you all trying to understand my ramblings, vi snakkes!