One morning of my life

A cell phone documentary.

All grain cereal.

Nietzsche.
Radio: P3

The cats' breakfastLooks can decieve. Do not eat this!

Election done :)

Since I wrote about the election, I will swiftly comment on the outcome. It was a close call, but the current parties forming the Goverment will remain in power for the next four years as well! The Prime Minister of Norway is still Jens Stoltenberg (Ap). I am relieved, I think he is doing a good job! I agree with his party in many matters.

Government: Ap, Sp and SV! Thumbs up!

I am disappointed in the election results from my part of the country especially, where FRP got too many votes for their own good in my opinion.

The non-socialistic party that I respect the most, Venstre /The Liberal Party, did poorly. I considered voting for them. I respect their politics and their leader, and also the fact that they did not ever consider cooperate with Frp, which might have been their downfall. On the other hand, I believe that it was not their reluctance towards Frp that ruined their party as much as people's fear of a non-socialistic government with Frp in power. Thus, many originally Venstre-voters voted for one of the socialistic parties instead.

Election September 14.

Who will rule this country now?

Today will decide... Every vote counts.

Norway's Election Day. Norway has a multi-party system which can seem quite confusing for some foreigners being used to only two parties. This system does make things more complicated, but I feel it is more democratic as everything isn't black and white in politics. It is nuanced. With more parties, more opinions are represented in the Storting, the Norwegian parliament. You can vote for the party that you agree the most with. Every vote counts, not the popular vote of each state.

The party or party coalition that wins the most seats in Parliament will usually form the Government of Norway for the next four years, and appoint ministers.

Despite living in a country that for many seems to be an extremely socialistic country, I still voted for SV, the Socialist Left Party. I do not agree with everything they stand for, but I want their position in the Parliament and hopefully in the Government, to be strong because environment is a matter I stand for. Hopefully Ap (the Labour Party), SV and Sp (Centre Party) will get a majority of the votes and form the Government of Norway. Anything but the Progress Party, Norway's right wing party, will do.

Voting for the first time. For the first time in my life I could make a difference in a political election. It was a strange feeling. I have been paying a lot of attention to politics, but still wasn't completely sure which party I was going to vote for even as I got up this morning! I know pretty well what political visions I stand for, but no party fits 100% with my opinions, so I just had to make priorities. Thus I made my decision. Tonight will be an exciting night!

DO Play Louder, Greni!

Me and Tini from Germany

Birgit, Kristin, Tini, Vegard!

Øystein Greni and Big Bang

Timbuktu and Damn!

Jugendfest Friday: with Marit Larsen, Big Bang and Timbuktu!! I was pumped! After all the dancing, singing and jumping up and down at the concerts on Friday,(this I did for two reasons; because I was soo much into the music, and because this or sitting on someone's back are us short people's two alternatives if we want to catch a glimpse of the band) - my feet were soar for the rest of the weekend! This may tell you more about me not being enterily in shape at the moment than about the concert. However, I asure you that if my shape was bad, the concerts were the opposite!

"All I can do is play la-la-la-la-la-la-LOUDER!"

- Øystein Greni sang at the top of his lungs, and the audience agreed.

Timbuktu is THE entertainer! And can he dance!! ("Damn", the band he was playing with, can't dance even though they try.. Ha!) Ahh, and we all love "skåning", the Swedish dialect he speaks/sings <3>

Party for the Fjellstua staff :)

Ann, enjoying wine in Italian surroundings.

The sisters; Johanne and Elise

Me and Franz!

Last thursday it was, for a change, the staff from Fjellstua's turn to party (instead of working at a party like we usually do)! A few of us met up in a bar downtown in Ålesund. Then we took a ferry out to Valderøya, one of the islands right outside Ålesund, where some cars were waiting to take us to Cecilia's restaurant on Vigra (yet another island).

Most embarrasing, one of the first things I managed to do was forget my jacket in the first bar.. And the night was still young.. (Luckily I got it back, so no real harm done!)

Cecilia's place was amazing. We walked in the door, from Vigra, Norway, and into an idyllic restaurant in Italy. Aperitif, starter, main course, home made ice cream, wine. You name it!

The bloopers of the year were shared, I think I made it. Alright, I wasn't going to tell you, but I guess the beans were already spilt at the party..

It was one of the toilet bloopers. We have had a lot of toilet stories. Two Italians
have managed to lock themselves in. Still, like I said, I guess I outshined all the toilet stories. It was my first time working on the terrace, with outdoor serving and everything. So I didn't realize that the toilets downstairs in the first floor, where the inside restaurant is, still were open.. When a lady asked me for the toilets, my first thought was of the staff toilet back in the storeroom. Why not? She asked for a toilet, and there was one.. So I showed her the way. Obstacles occured of course.. The thing is, she was a bit fat, and so I had to start moving away boxes and everything in order for her to be able to get through! Imagine the scene; this fat, mildly shocked lady standing there, and me feverishly rearranging boxes and goods! This was what met Ann, my colleague, as she came in. Ooh, I knew they would bring this story up at the party! Now however, I know better. When someone asks for the toilets, or the bathrooms, or restrooms, or the loo, or the lavatory, or the WC or whatever language or variety of English they may speak, I clearly and experienced state: OUTSIDE, DOWNSTAIRS, INSIDE. Some misinterpret this to mean that they have to walk the 418 steps down to town again, but they usually find the toilets eventually without me having to move anything!

Back to the party: after enjoying Cecilia's gastronomical delights and being laughed at, and after emptying the wine bottles, Franz (the best chief in the world, or at least the kindest -) took those who "deared come with him" out downtown Ålesund. The generous chief bought drinks for us girls and guess who got into the 20 places.. ;)

My sporty day off work. Mountain hiking. Yay!

3 days off work! Today was the first, and,- for once doing something, well not 100 % useful, but conscientious - Andreas and I climbed a mountain. Awh, how I've missed the Norwegian mountains! This trip proved what I have feared, that I'm just a tiny bit out of shape. Still, it was a great hike! We headed out for a mountain called Jønsthornet, but somewhere along the way we got on the wrong walking trail. Despite my advice to bring the book with the trail descriptions Andreas had left this now so valuable book in the car (but in his defense I am the one with a total lack of sense of direction)! So we decided to follow this new walking trail and climb whichever mountain it led us to. Turned out to be: Svinetind!

The candy addict.

Mmm, candy. Chocolate. Ice cream. Food...

Fattening up. Pray to God it is PMS and not an everlasting chronical crave for candy. This is hard, working in a restaurant/kiosk/café when trying to live maintain a healthy life style. Apple cakes break, ice cream keeps turning out badly – when it can’t be sold, why waste it? And how do I find time or energy to work out when I work for 10 hours every day?

I only comfort myself with knowing that I do run a little bit at work.

I miss my bike! My current job is located in about the only place in Ålesund where I actually would have to ride my bike up a hill to get to work. I live quite far up on a hill myself, and so usually to get to places I ride my bike down the hill, and then have to get back up when I go home.. But really, I don't want to get sweaty even before I've even started working. Gross!

I actually think living by myself would make it easier staying healthy. I am quite good at not buying sweets when I do my grocery shopping. The problem is, this damn house is full of it. This bag of potato chips someone left behind has been hunting me for days… And there’s no one here to send me judging looks (the rest of the family is on vacation), the cats only send me jealous looks.

Luckily, I haven’t gained weight yet. Or at least I do not think so; we don’t have a scale. Not that I am obsessed with my weight anyways. The way I am eating, or the way I always has been eating, I ought to weigh at least 200 kilos.

Megan in Norway!

So now it's been another two weeks since I last blogged, two weeks with a visitor from Iowa; Megan! These are some pics from her staying here. The weather gods weren't too fond of her, but except from that we had a great time. I can't belive it's been a year since I left Iowa, when Megan was here it was all the same. I have to go back there soon, we are talking about going over for New Year's :D

Today being her last day and everything, we went tubing - even though it was cold!