World on fire

Hogar bethel

2010-05-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

So, I know I´m slow, SORRY!

I won´t write much, I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

The Sunday dance...

Me and Maria...

Me and Cynthia...

A normal day in the kindergarden...

The charming Santiago...

Playtime...

Milagros on the phone...

Me, Mara and Belen...

again...

The choir...

Breakfast...

Birthday-time...

Another band...

Photo-shoot...

my girls...

I will miss it, this place! I hope I can come back one day. On Monday it´s only 3 weeks left, time is passing very fast. I will write again though, so stay tuned. Just not right now, cause AK is visiting and we have things to do, places to see and songs to sing ;)

-Ida-

"Did you hear?"

2010-05-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ida and AK got new boyfriends?

Did you also hear: AK doesn't want to write more essays!

PS: yes, dad, I did try to buy his guitar for you, but he didn't want to part from it,
as it was specially made for him.

A visual summary of the trip to Santiago de Chile and Mendoza

2010-05-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

Cool mix of old and new architecture in Santiago.

The view of some of the city from a view point.

The meeting point for the rafting excursion.

Summer meets fall? (at least for people who associate palm trees with summer!)

Mendoza by night (Plaza de Independencia)

A grape plantation belonging to one of the vineyards on our bike-and-wine list!

No comment necessary.

A happy biker.

Rafting in Medoza River!

Word of advice: don't sit down in the front of the boat -
you will be the one getting soooooaked. Learned that lesson the hard (wet?) way.

FUN! :)

Bus trippin'

2010-04-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

I forgot to tell you last time, that while Alejandro & Simon were visiting we did a little travelling too: specifically to Mar del Plata, which is about 5h. south of BsAs. It's the IT-vacation spot for porteños and is known for it's beaches and casinos. We tried both (although the beach was a cold pleasure - the casino was better). I learned (to love) playing poker!

Anyway, that's all old news now, because there is a new trip waiting to happen:
Tomorrow Kjersti & I (AK) will go to Santiago de Chile, check Chile out for a few days,
then go to Mendoza and hopefully rent a few (well..let's start with 2) bikes
and then bike from vinyard to vinyard, untill we fall off the bike (don't worry mum,
I won't actually fall of the bike..probably not anyway).

Hasta la vista babies!!!!!! (that sounded weird...I just wanted to call you baby!)

Ida-we miss u <3

Roadtrippin'

2010-04-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

'Hola a todos

AK speaking again (Ida, where are you???? oh, that's right, in Villa General Belgrano close to Cordoba - update us please).

As you can guess, the band has split up : (not due to artistic differences)
Ida is in a town close to Cordoba working at an orphanage
Kjersti is on vacation in Peru, but is returning to BsAs in 2 days
and I'm still in Buenos Aires, studying hard....hard-ish.
When Kjersti gets back we're gonna (hopefully) do some traveling! :)

But untill then I thought I'd give you some pictures from the last travel.
All photo-credit goes to Kjersti, the master photographer of the trip...I think there's only 30 pictures from the last 4months on my camera...this is because a) I'm lazy. b) Kjersti is a better photographer anyway. If you wanna see more pictures, you should visit her blog:
http://hanna-ladybug.blogspot.com/

The first picture starting this posting is of Kjersti&I with Thys, who we picked up at the busstation and decided to travel with.
The one below is of me climbing to get to the falls (the guide also was the photographer of the day). And some gorgeous pictures of the nature on our way around the Salta area also follow.

Lamas everywhere!

THANK YOU to the photographer Kjersti!
Some of these are definitely going up on my wall at home when I get back :)

Vacations

2010-03-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hola a todos,
AK speaking! :)

We've been on the road lately, and therefore we now have a lot to tell you!

We've spent some days in Uruguay, passed through Colonia and Montevideo
and ended up in Cabo Polonio which is a peninsula with great beaches, no electricity,
and rarely running water. Thanks to helpful advice from the tourist-information lady at the bus-station in Montevideo we left believing that we'd be able to pay with credit cards at the
restaurants in Cabo Polonio...we were not. Thanks lady. The same lady told us that there were no restaurants close to the bus-station...as we got out we saw more than 3 in the closest street.

Cabo Polonio is about 5 hours from Montevideo along the coast towards the east and in order to get there you have to (after the 5h. busride) take a 4x4 truck to get to the town because you will be driving over sand mountains and beaches. Lovely.
I have never seen so many stars on the sky.

We knew we had to pick up the keys to the 24m2 house we were renting (for 4 people) from a guy called Leo in a blue house close to the lighthouse. However, when we got to Cabo Polonio..it was dark and we had no idea where the blue house was. Neither did we know which house we had rented. This could have gotten tricky, but thanks to a very helpful man who came with the same truck we did (who walked us to Leo's blue house, and then to the house we rented with a flashlight) everything was ok.

During our stay we got to see sea lions (both alive and dead), a huge number of stray dogs,
some cute puppies, got to shower outside in water from the well, and finally managed to scrape together enough money to eat at on of the restaurants (we chose to do so in the dark, as then we would not notice that it was quite dirty). Oh yes...and some of us might have gotten a bit sunburned as well.

From there we went back to BsAs, but just for 1 night, and then we got on a bus to Cordoba.
Cordoba seems like a much smaller city (of course) than BsAs, and also it looks a lot cheaper (of course). It also has an awesome "Museum of memory" for the Dirty War (la guerra sucia)
which I recommend to anyone passing through the city.

The people of Cordoba are also very helpful (whenever you pull up a map 5 people come running to help you figure out where to go) and a special thanks should go out to the 2 old men who stopped me and Kjersti from walking on the "bad side" of the river ("you can't walk there with a purse!").

Ida & Simon stayed in Cordoba and explored the area around, while Kjersti & me took a bus to Salta. At the busstation we met a guy from the Netherlands, Thys, and decided to rent a car and drive from Salta to La Poma through the spectacular scenery with lots of mountains, colors, and kind of crappy roads. We found a very small restaurant there (the town is TINY) and I got to read children's stories to the chef's incredibly cute daugther. From there we went to Catchi where we spent 1 night, and then to Cafayate a lot further south where we took a guided walk to Rio Colorado, a beautiful waterfall where we took a swim. Luckily we opted for going there with a guide, although the Lonely Planet book mentioned nothing of this need, because we suddenly found ourself climbing up 10meters on rocks with a rise of almost 90degrees.

We drove back to Salta for a night, and then up past Jujuy and to Purmamarca, where I might have gone sligthly berserk buying souvenirs. This is also where you'll find the mountains with 7 colors (very pretty!) not to mention countless police controls as it is relatively close to the boarder of Bolivia. We drove back to Salta and spent the last night there, and checked out the Inca Museum and the view over Salta before we said goodbye to Thys and got on a plane back to BsAs.

Salta and the area around definitely has a different feel to it than BsAs, obviously the cities are smaller, but the people also look different, supposedly because of a lot of immigration from Bolivia. And most people are extremely helpful whenever you pull up a map here too.

Today it's Saturday, yesterday we got back from our adventure, and this morning at 6.30 I picked up (read: ambushed) Alejandro at the airport in BsAs, and now we will spend 2 weeks exploring BsAs and enjoying the Easter vacations.

Happy Easter!!!!!!!! :)

Important Buenos Aires tips!

2010-03-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

A word of advice:

If you HAVE to take a taxi in Buenos Aires alone (try to avoid it if you can)
make sure you WRITE DOWN the name of the taxi company (because you
should take a RadioTaxi - that means, a taxi connected to a radio central...they're
easier to track if something should happen, and more accountable because they are
representing a taxi company, and they're not just random independent taxi drivers)
AND also write down the 3 digit number that you will see displayed on the back of each
taxi (and usually also on the side of the taxi) - that way you will be able to
trace the taxi-driver if something should happen.

This is what a taxi that's NOT connected to a radio central looks like

(now you're thinking: wow, that has to be an old picture, because the car is so old!
well...you're wrong..there are a surprising high number of cars driving around here
that haven't been seen in Norway since the 70s).

This is what a radio taxi looks like:

It's a bit hard to see from this picture, but the relevant information here
is the name of the taxi company on the back-door "City Taxi" and the
3 digit number above the front wheel (in this case 387).
So, remember that if you are ever taking a taxi alone in Buenos Aires.
A good idea can also be to send a text to a friend where you write this information
that way, someone else will know that you are in that specific taxi at that
specific time.

Because, sad as it is...things happen.
A friend of ours was just robbed by the taxi-driver (yes, a radio taxi)
on her way home from a tango-show we'd all been too.
All of the sudden, the Buenos Aires that has seemed so safe for so long
doesn't seem as safe anymore.

Note to self: stop taking taxis alone.
and remember your old paranoid-self:
everyone is out to get you, trust no one.
(ok, choose a few people and trust them ;))

Last week

2010-03-08T06:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's Monday again!

Since we've last spoke we've learned how to make balloon animals (well..a dog) and swords!
I've already added it to my CV. It's quite impressive, don't you think??

These ones are made of the balloon-talented Kjersti! The card in the corner is an example of a very cute card and love declaration one of the kids made to their mum (one of the activities at the birthday parties in March, in addition to facepaint, is to make cards).

A question that might pop up in your head is: WHY have you learned to make balloon animals and swords. Well, it's all in the name of coordinating birthday parties for the kids in the slums. I am happy to rapport that they are now all getting balloon figures at birthday parties.

Every Thursday "Madres de plaza Mayo" (mai-plass mødrene) march in remembrance of their children who strangely disappeared in the Dirty War, and their disapperances are still unaccounted for by the government, which the mothers are trying to show their disapproval of.
The ladies walking in the front line were really old, and they were all wearing scarfs on their heads, and carrying pictures of their loved ones who had gone missing. Looking at them really made me sad, and at the same time impressed, because they STILL march every Thursday at 15.30 so many years after.

On Friday we went to La Viruta, a place to learn/dance tango. We felt quite confident from last time so we had previously decided to go directly to the "intermediate" section. However, as it all started we found ourselfes in the "beginner" section again, not sure why. Luckily, Ida & I were both swept off to the intermediate class by two friends who had tangoed for 2 years (what were THEY doing in the beginners class??). My dancepartner told me "forget everything they just told you, and follow me" - my immediate reaction "OMG, this is a jerk"..however, he turned out quite normal, and quite the tango dancer too.

Saturday was spent in Tigre, where we were last weekend too, enjoying the fresh air and the sun. Sunday we checked out a new park: Parque Norte, that has A LOT of pools, cafeteria, music, water-aerobics etc. A great place to have fun in the sun.

Birthday!!

2010-03-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

I am officially one year older.

Today was my birthday, and it has been a really nice day!
I was woken up by breakfast on the bed, with champagne and candy
+ 2 gifts from abroad that had been delivered on the door while I was sleeping.
Pancakes with bacon for breakfast (and champagne) followed by a trip to the park
with a gossip magazine, before volunteering teaching English at a soup kitchen,
blowing out candles and eating delicious brownies
and going out for drinks after. NOW I'm 24.

It's been a while since we've blogged, but that doesn't mean we haven't kept busy.
Thursday we went to the movies with a friend and saw Precious. A good, and tragic, happy, horrible, and good movie.
The maid has finally shown up! Since none of us has ever had a maid before we were unsure what to do, so we gave her cake and soda and left so she could clean in peace on Friday.
We've gotten to know Palermo Soho and Palermo Viejo (cool neighbourhoods in BsAs) better (while she was cleaning...and/or eating cake and drinking soda and reading our magazines).
We've discovered that there is a Mate bar (mate is a kind of tea that it appears EVERYBODY in Argentina and sorrounding countries drink) right next door.
We've had choripan (a typical sausage with lots of spices)

with chimichurry (a typical sause/salsa) and now feel more argentine because of it.

We've been to Tigre, which is 1h. outside BsAs..with train it's exactly 4,40ArgPesos/6,60NOK go and come back. It's a nice small city with lots of rivers with boats, and FRESH air, perfect for a Saturday outing. Tigre should be called Buenos Aires instead of Buenos Aires being called Buenos Aires...you know what I mean, don't you?
There were lots of cool markets, and I was really tempted to buy a carneval costume, but it was a wee bit expensive

...so instead I bought an adidas jacket. It will serve for the same purpose as the carneval costume I thought.

We also went to the Mate museum in Tigre, and learned a lot about the history of mate,
and how to prepare it. We now all have our own mate cup with a special straw (called bombilla).
You have to fill the mate cup 3/4 full with the tea leaves, the tilt the cup so that the leaves will distribute at an upwards angle of 45 degrees to one side. Then you add hot water (75degrees) into the side of the cup where the leaves are lowest, till half of the leaves are covered. Then you drink. Then you add more water. And apperantly you continue that way twelve times, and then you change the placement of the bombilla till the other side (where the leaves are highest) and start sipping again.

We all felt that with this we would be able to make it at home and like it (last time I tried it was a failure)...but it just wasn't the same at home as at the museum! Disappointing. But we anyway have lots of new knowledge about Mate, and therefore feel even more argentine.

We also checked out a new restaurant in BsAs on Sunday, known for it's scandinavian cooking, design, atmosphere etc. It's called Olsen (however, it's actually written Ølsen in the restaurant). We were very curious about what to expect, and what we found was a hell of a lot of wood.
The fasade was of wood, the chairs (not very surprising perhaps), the decorations...the pillows had knitted patterns on them, there was an oven with wood in it, the waiters were not very nice...ergo: it felt like home! ahhh...Norway <3
The food did actually taste scandinavian though..whatever that means. Think white sauce, fish, jam on meat etc.

And that brings us to today, Monday, my birthday.
I hope YOU've had a good 1st of March too.
Tomorrow I'm gonna eat brunost (arrived from Norway) for breakfast. Yey.

Iguazu Falls

2010-02-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

We've been travelling!

Last weekend we got on a bus Friday afternoon at 15.15
(after doing a Pub Crawl the night before) and knew that we wouldn't get off until
18,5 hours later. But it wasn't a bad busride (we went with the company ViaBariloche) at all!

We were served snacks, starters and dinner while movies were playing in the background.
The temperature was relatively well regulated.. although we were prepared for the opposite with lots of clothes and blankets in the luggage. We can't say the same for the Australian boys sitting next to us though..they came in shorts and t-shirts (or actually, even less) and spend the night shivering trying to cover themselves with random pieces of fabric that they found on the bus.
I guess once a "speider" always a "speider" (scout)... 'cause we were ready for anything!

We spent Saturday in the city called Puerto Iguazu and met a very nice lady at the tourist information who helped us plan the rest of our weekend. We went to see the falls, and walked around the park. We got absolutely wet and it was quite comfortable because it was HOT.

We met a cute chilean family of 3 in the park with the cutest little boy who was too shy to talk to us, but we got to practise our Spanish a bit with his parents.
At night we hung out at the pool at the hostel drinking flavoured beer (I had orange), and met a nice dutch girl, and we all went to dinner together...and guess who we met??
The chilean family walked in to the same restaurant! Now that's a coincidence!
And the boy had obviously made plans for what he would do if he met us again because he said "te amo, te amo, te amo!" (I love you)

From there we walked forever (practically) in order to get to a street where there was supposed to be a carneval. And it WAS a carneval. Everybody was wearing glittering and tiny bikinis and dancing in the streets - cool!

And somewhat annoying that everyone had spray-bottles of soap foam that they were spraying us with....but whatever.

Our hostel in Puerto Iguazu:

Sunday we went to the Brazilian side and it was amazing!
First we met a man at the bus-station who was looking for a girlfriend.
He then showed us his bank cards..not sure if that was a part of his strategy in order to find a girlfriend, but either way, we left after a small chat.

When we made it to the falls we got a really good overview over how big the falls really are (A LOT bigger than Niagara Falls).

The falls are a great place for seeing really cool butterflies, and rainbows!

We spent the rest of the day in Foz do Iguaçu and eventhough everything (almost) was closed because it was Sunday (I guess Brazilian people are quite religious) we managed to do some of the musts-when-in-Brazil:
Eat a buffet dinner
Drink SKOL beer
Drink Brazilian coffee

Our waiter was the cutest ever, mostly because of his funny way of speaking English. He greeted us at the door when we arrived: Good night!!!! oh...sorry: good evening!
and proceeded to ask if we wanted joyce to drink.
My de-coding English abilities from living with various people from various countries with various levels of English in Trondheim payed off, and we got some joyce. I mean juice.

Monday we took a bus to Paraguay (Ciudad del Este). We considered walking across the bridge in order to be able to say "we walked from one country to another" but decided that maybe it was a bad idea since our hotel reseptionist informed us that it was "not advisable". So we stayed on the bus, and despite the warning in the Lonely Planet book, that people throw things on to the bus as we pass, nothing was thrown and we made it across safe. We even remembered to be properly stamped OUT and in of the country (very important).

What we saw of Paraguay was completely different from what we've seen in both Argentina & Brasil. It was caotic, without "proper" roads, cars, people, animals, sellers etc. EVERYWHERE and street sellers/street markeds EVERYWHERE. And every store has a personal security officer who is armed with the largest rifles I've seen...randomly thrown over the shoulder. Looks very intimidating. We walked around and looked at the stuff they had to offer, and while a street seller was trying to sell us something a car actually came and hit him! Luckily just on the back of his leg, but his sandal was broken, and it was kind of sad. Mostly for him of course. But we all felt bad. Still didn't buy anything from him though.

Paraguay is really poor, and here is a picture of some homes

Then all of the sudden it started raining like CRAZY and we headed for the bus-station where a 21h. bus trip waited. This time we were going with the company Crucero del Norte.
We felt extremely well prepared as we quickly discovered that we needed both hats, jackets, blankets etc. to keep warm. Our mums (and dads!) would be proud.
We also noticed that the bus looked a bit less well-kept than the one that had brought us to Puerto Iguazu and started worrying about whether or not we would get something to eat.
In stead of a movie we got 5 different songs (90s disco music) played on repeat.
It made us more worried. But luckily, at random stops street-sellers came on the bus to sell different things you need for a long bus ride..I list: football shoes, CDs, towels, blankets...and FOOD! So, we bought lots of empanadas in order to be ready in case there would be no food.
We also made a new friend. And when I say friend I mean slightly-creapy-guy-who-keeps-staring-like-crazy.

Around 23.30 when we'd lost all hope for food the bus stopped and everyone rushed in to what appeared to be a bus-restaurant. It was a "restaurant" run by the buscompany where we got dinner and dessert. All in 15minutes. Max. We had to eat and run, and that was a good thing, because we ended up eating with guy-who-stares-a-lot. The bus ride got a bit better from there, because a movie started (and we fell asleep)...and slowly (!) but surely we made it to Buenos Aires.

Now we've just got back from throwing a birthday party for the kids, and
I can still hear the words "dame un globo!!!!!" (give me a balloon) ringing in my ears.

News from the Guardian

2010-02-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

Here is an artical that I came across from the guardian about the reality in some of the villas outside BsAs: (for the record, we have not seen any sign of druguse among the children we work with in the villas, so I guess we have been lucky)

The 10p cocaine byproduct turning Argentina's slum children into the living dead

A generation of parents in Buenos Aires can only watch in despair as their sons and daughters are consumed by paco, a lethally cheap drug

Nina Chamorro runs her finger across the montage of photos of neighbourhood children tacked to the wall of her community soup kitchen in Villa Itatí, a sprawling urban slum on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

"He is dead now. And him. And him," says the 75-year-old grandmother, her eyes drifting sadly over grinning faces. She points to another photograph. "He was shot by the police last month. That girl disappeared. We have lost so many of our beautiful children. We knew them since they were born. They had their whole lives to live."

Villa Itatí is only a few minutes' drive from the more upmarket parts of Buenos Aires. Ask most people here to explain the cause of the grisly gallery in Chamorro's kitchen and the answer will be a single word: "paco". A toxic and highly addictive mixture of raw cocaine base cut with chemicals, glue, crushed glass and rat poison, paco is the curse of Argentina's urban poor. And consumption of this bastardised, low-grade drug is eating away at the vitality and hope of the most deprived neighbourhood areas of the capital.

Essentially a chemical waste product, paco is what remains from the narco-kitchens producing cocaine bound for US and European markets. Since its appearance on the streets of Buenos Aires in the late 1990s, the drug has taken a deadly grip in slums such as Itatí. Levels of addiction rose by more than 200% in the first part of the decade and more than 400,000 doses are now being consumed daily.

Users are witheringly referred to as the muertos vivientes – the living dead – of Buenos Aires. Addictive after one or two hits, the drug systematically destroys the nervous system. Users quickly become skeletal and ravaged, resorting to crime, violence and prostitution to feed their habits. Enormous numbers die in short order.

Villa Itatí runs on paco: an economy that is an endless, grim cycle of illicit profit, addiction-fuelled crime and wasted lives, all witnessed by a despairing generation of parents.

According to urban myth, the first paco in Argentina was sold here. Residents say narco-traffickers started flooding the neighbourhood with paco in 2005, selling hits for little more than 10p each. According to provincial government reports, an astonishing 50% of Villa Itatí's 60,000 residents have used or are currently addicted to the drug. Across the country, 2008 government figures show that 64.9% of under-18s in addiction and treatment services are there because of paco.

Virtually no one owns a car in Villa Itatí. But in a place where there is only one source of wealth, there are stark signs of big money being made by some. Shiny black four-wheel-drives with darkened windows are parked in the unpaved street near Chamorro's kitchen. "Paco," says one woman, pointing to the trucks. "Those cars are what they buy with our children's blood."

"The dealers came here and first they targeted kids," says one resident running a community project who didn't want to be named. "They sold these kids hits of paco for one peso and got them hooked and now they work for them selling it in the streets. If they lose one dose, they shoot them in the legs or kill them. Families are cooking paco in their houses because it is the only way they can make money.

"This place used to be a real neighbourhood, people had work. We were poor but we were a community; now it is all crime and drugs and sewage," says Chamorro. "There is no work, the factories all closed. Some of the women go into the city to clean rich people's houses and a few of the men collect cardboard. But there is nothing for the young people."

Sonia Andrade, Chamorro's daughter who helps her run the soup kitchen, describes how she lies awake at night hearing the children of her friends scrambling across the roof "like rats" looking for things to steal.

"They are so desperate they rob everything from their families to get another hit, and when there is nothing left to take they steal from their neighbours," says Andrade. "They didn't have much of a chance before paco, and now they don't have any at all."

The scourge of paco may be the final act in the tragedy of decline in what is one of the city's oldest and largest slums. When Chamorro started her soup kitchen more than 20 years ago she used to feed 20 or 30 people a day; now it is closer to 200. Her simple two-room soup kitchen is at the heart of the urban shanty town. It is only midday, but already the smell from "La Cava", the huge open pit filled with household rubbish and sewage at the heart of the slum, is overpowering.

Andrade points to the high embankments of the highway. When it rains, she explains, water pours down the slopes and floods into the pit. The slum's poorest families living closest to the pit find themselves knee-deep in putrid water in under an hour.

"All the children here have scabs all over their bodies, they don't eat outside of what we give them here, they all have breathing problems," she says. "The kindergarten used to give them milk and breakfast, but now the money from the government has stopped and the teachers don't come any more."

But however appalling the poverty, it is the growth in drug abuse that has turned the place into an urban hell.

Dr Carlos Vizzotti, director of national assistance and prevention programmes at Sedronar, the government's agency for drug treatment, prevention and enforcement, admits the government is struggling to contain the problem of serious drug addiction in the city's poorest neighbourhoods.

"We can't compete with the dealers who are paying kids and families 200 pesos a day to sell and traffic paco and cocaine. We try to get them off drugs, but then we just send them back to the same problems which brought them to paco in the first place."

The accounts of those working on the front line are unremittingly grim. Father Pepe, a missionary priest, runs addiction and poverty alleviation projects from his small, whitewashed church in another slum, Villa 21-24, close to the heart of Buenos Aires.

"Paco is a manifestation of everything that is rotten in Argentina," he says. "It exposes the systematic and growing failure of the whole system, health, education, basic services – they are all falling to ruin. It isn't that paco is a drug of the poor; it is that it feeds off the poverty and exclusion that was always here. Paco just shows us what lies at the heart of our country today."

Outside the heat is searing, but inside the church is dark and cool, the walls covered in murals depicting the harsh reality of life in Argentina's slums. The largest shows a child paco-user protected from the grave by angels. "Paco is a tsunami that has hit the most vulnerable. If we weren't working here, then there would be nobody to help families fight against this. The state and wider society have washed their hands of us," says Pepe.

Rising crime has made Villa 21-24 a byword for violence in Buenos Aires with many areas of this vast urban settlement being controlled entirely by narco-gangs. Last year Pepe was forced to ask for official protection and faced death threats after he spoke out against the traffickers and rising crime in the neighbourhood. "In the last few years we have seen many more problems with crime, with violence and guns linked to a more co-ordinated narcotics operation here in the slums. It's an increasingly big business," he says. "Yet the capacity of the people to prevail, to want something better, lives on, and this is what we should be supporting."

But as Argentina gains a new unwanted status as a premier narco-trafficking route, the outlook for campaigners such as Pepe is bleak. Traditionally used mainly as a transit route to get cocaine out of Latin America to Europe, Argentina is increasingly used as a producer and consumer of cocaine and cocaine byproducts in Latin America.

Drug Enforcement Argentina, an anti-drugs pressure group, claims cocaine kitchens like those first discovered in the slums in 2006 are booming and that there are more than 1,500 clandestine airstrips bringing cocaine base into the north of the country.

Sedronar admits that porous borders, limited resources and expertise, and a lack of effective co-ordination between regional and national agencies means that Argentina is losing the battle to contain the rise of narco-trafficking into the country.

In Villa Itatí, Nina Chamorro and thousands of others like her are desperate that paco should disappear and their children be given the chance of a way out of the spiral of poverty and drug addiction that is destroying their future.

"We have been abandoned by the government, by everybody. They are all terrified of our children coming to their houses and taking their things, but they need hope for something better. There has to be more for them that this," says Chamorro as she heads inside the soup kitchen. Her words are an almost certainly futile expression of despair.

PACO'S HIT

■ Paco is cocaine base paste, a byproduct of the refining process, cut with chemicals such as sulphuric acid and kerosene as well as glue, rat poison and crushed glass ■ Readily available, paco is sold for as little as 10p a hit. The average paco user smokes more than seven doses a day ■ Madres en Lucha (a group of campaigning mothers) estimates paco kills two people a week in Buenos Aires ■ Drug Enforcement Argentina, an anti-drug lobbying group, says paco trafficking exceeds £600m a year. Cocaine seizures in Argentina doubled between 1999 and 2006 ■ Paco was smoked in other cocaine-producing countries before it reached Argentina: it is known as kete in Peru, bazuco in Colombia and pitillo in Bolivia

Measuring device

2010-02-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

I don't think we've told you but our doorbell keeps ringing,
even when we are not expecting people. In order to open the door
we have to go downstairs with the key, so usually we are too lazy
if we're not expecting anyone. But, all this door-bell-ringing has made
us kind of curious.

So, the other day when it rang we decided to go downstairs and see who it
was and what they wanted. And at the door was a young gentleman
(who probably wasn't gentle at all) holding a small device
asking us to let him in, because he had to measure how much electricity
we've been using. YEAH. We think that's argentine for
"You have to let me in so I can rob you".

Seeing that we were neither in the mood to have our electricity use measured,
nor be robbed we figured it would be best NOT to let this door-bell-ringer come in.

But other than that, our life here in BsAs has been very crime/crime-attempt-free!

A couple of new Tango-stars have been spotted shining vaguely on the Argentinian night sky.

2010-02-18T06:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we really did it! The Tango is now basically running through our blood vessels in desperate need to get out there and please the cheering crowd. This means we walk on our toes all day long, most of the time backwards and with fancy crossings of the legs in between (I wasn't too far off actually in Heathrow, so if you feel like a visual just check out the video AK kindly posted from that performance.

Well at least it's almost like this. Truth to be told we did actually attend the whole beginners-class this time, and we danced with Jose from Argentina, Thomas from Denmark, a guy from Sweden, a guy from the US, a guy that I didn't feel like asking anything and a guy that didn't speak.

It was a lot of fun and very interesting. And we did figure that we do actually have the chance here now to learn a truly amazing and breathtaking form of dancing... the Tango!

-Ida-

Please be my Valentine!!!

2010-02-17T19:59:00.000-08:00

Ooooofh, I guess the worst idea you could ever come up with is going to South America to "celebrate" Valentines day. For some reason we managed to stumble over this celebration without any specific hopes or agenda. Being three seemingly "single" girls walking around in this maze of read hearts, couples making out in unappropriated places and teddy bears playing 'I-love-you-songs' for a couple of weeks before the big day of love, we decided to get ourselves good seats and the biggest box of popcorn available in our local movie theater - to bury our sorrows and let some pressure out of our systems, this in the form of salty, miserable tears. The movie: 'Valentines day' of course.

The movie wasn't too sad really, it was nice and loving, and we felt good after... And after devouring three huge boxes of famous Argentinian ice-cream we felt even better, though also a bit nauseous. The two approximately 80-year-old women sitting next to us in the movie theater also made us feel a little bit happier, mostly because they also didn't have a date for the evening. If they would have had dates the regular clinching with their loos teeth would have been a little bit annoying, but since they were there in the same business as us... it was all good!

Leaving the movies we once again stumbled over love, but this time it was someone else's, and it was so damn beautiful. Coming down the stairs towards us was a freakin hot guy and a amazingly beautiful girl. Apparently the guy had given her an 'I love you - balloon' earlier in the evening. We were "aaaaawh-ing" some times after them, and being in need of sharing my emotions I just had to tell them that they looked beautiful together. For some reason they didn't get scared or anything and leaving the main entrance I felt someone poking my shoulder. It was the guy giving me his camera wanting us to take a picture of them officially showing their love to each other. I can't describe it, what a beautiful moment, and the slowness of the camera made the kiss last forever and it gave us what we needed that evening. Our belief in true love was revitalized.

On behalf of Anne Kristine and myself... We do believe in love, and hey boys, we love you! (You know who you are, but just to specify that would be Alejandro Munoz Garcia & Simon Meesker).

-Ida-

Carneval in Ri..... No, in Buenos Aires!

2010-02-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

The famous carneval isn't just in Rio!
Luckily it is also in Buenos Aires!

Saturday nigth we took a walk to see how porteños (the people of BsAs)
celebrate carneval. The carneval is only found in certain streets, during the
weekends all through February.

Here you can see a little bit of the celebration:

After the carneval we went to a restaurant to eat,
and were surronded by couples celebrating Valentine's Day.
We looked a bit strange in the mix I think...5 scandinavian girls
alone on the night before Valentine's Day. But it's all good.
We'll tell you about the celebration of Valentine's Day later! :)

The restaurant was really a romantic setting for a date, with cute sofas everywhere:

For dessert Ida & I decided to go for "un poco de todo" (litt av alt)
it was actually called "un poco de todo" on the menu...and it was true. and delicious.

Bouncy

2010-02-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

woooooho

Yesterday we went to the Beyonce concert here in BsAs.
or, well, in San Isidro, 30min. outside BsAs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXKuo2qcenc

we were there! :)
It was a really good concert, with all the latest hits like Halo, All the single ladies etc.
but also some good old ones from Destiny's Child. Beyonce is really an entertainer!

Getting to San Isidro was really easy, we took a train and it cost 0,80 peso=1,5NOK.
However, getting home proved more difficult. It seemed that all the people who were at the concert (quite a few) were going back to the city. So, we decided to sit down, have a beer and a pizza and wait it out and hope that when we finished there would be lots of available taxis.
Yeah, we were wrong.
When we got to the taxi-line the police officer informed us that it would be around 2h. to wait.
We didn't believe him...it couldn't be SO long to wait?
Yeah, we were wrong. It was.
So we waited and waited and waited.
But at least something interesting happened..the taxi driver asked me (AK) if I was from Brazil.
Now that's a compliment.
So we waited some more, and then finally got home.

But, it was worth it! Beyonce was great! :)

Pilates

2010-02-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

(picture from google)

So imagine that our pilates instructor looks more or less like this.
Now imagine that all the other women at the class are over 60.
Now imagine that we are still the least flexible ones there.
Now imagine that the instructor does the split.
Now imagine that the instructor laughs at us as we are trying to do the split.
Now imagine that the instructor comes to help us to do the split.
Now imagine us deciding to go to pilates class every week.

Buenos Aires-life

2010-02-08T17:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, so a lot is going on. And we're NOT good at telling you about it!

Friday afternoon we received a very persuasive invitation to our first Argentinian "Friday night after-work". We jumped in a taxi and headed towards Buller, the one located downtown.

Before

During

After :)

Friday we also found out we have a sushi take away approximately 20 meters from our front door, I cant believe I didn't notice this before. Saturday I tried it out after AK's parents informed us about what's good to eat during upset-stomach-times. Apparently one of these things is rice. You might think raw fish is not the best idea inside a not so happy, empty stomach. To your information; You're wrong! Hah... I'm cured, and the sushi was great!

It was still raining like crazy though, and we started getting used to it after one week of "bad" weather. The Trondheim'ish feeling almost met us on the corner, but then we opened or eyes and the feeling was gone again, since Trondheim actually could fit into one of the many parks we walk by every day.

Sunday we spent planning the close future, that is our time here in Buenos Aires. We did actually come up with a plan, but I will not inform you (the world) about it at this point, because I believe the falling height might be a bit high, and I really dont want to hit the ground while the world is watching. When we make it a reality it will be in the news, so wait until then to read about it.

What I CAN inform you about is that Embarrassing is back! We had a band meeting and after some thinking about pros and cons we figured it would be a disaster, and a crime, to keep on living in silence.

Today we did the ground work to make this into a success.

My new guitar :)

A very fine Takamine guitar looking exactly like this except from the fact that it has only 6 strings, it's "only" acoustic, is more brownish around on the sides and in the back, and that it has my name written all over it!

First official band practice after the comeback: Tomorrow!

-Ida-

Grateful

2010-02-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

I am SO lucky.

Today I have read about Bernice, a 22 year old single mum in Haiti who sleeps with a machete under her mattress in order to protect herself from predators during the night in the tent where she sleeps with her daughter.

(picture from Dagbladet.no http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/02/07/nyheter/utenriks/haiti/kvinner/overgrep/10285022/)

Meanwhile, I get to lock the door to our apartment, turn the air-conditioning on,
complain about the noise from cars on the street and then fall safely asleep.

The world is not fair.

-AK

Tango?

2010-02-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

As mentioned earlier we are finally on our way down the long and very unclear road towards being "not-so-bad-that-people-laugh-when-seeing-us-dancing"- tango-dancers. Thursday we went to a dancing-class. We were a bit late, so we didn't really get the introduction-part and after standing there looking lost for a while we ordered a coke and sat down to watch. I think this means it will take some time before we get to the end of this road. The important thing is though, the motor is running. And don't worry, we'll keep you posted.

By the way. The other day AK was very fascinated by a man dancing in the street. Luckily I was able to capture the reconstruction inside this video:

You can thank me later!

-Ida-

Health update

2010-02-05T08:57:00.001-08:00

So, after several days of sunshine and fun -

2 of 3 has got the stomach flu (AK can happily rapport that she escaped the virus/bacteria somehow), the toilet is broken (awesome timing),

the weather is cloudy with some showers, and internet has stopped working at our apartment.

However, all of these are just temporary problems (and some also luxury problems) so we are still going strong, studying Spanish, trying to eat and drink enough, and planning a day-trip to Tigre (1h. outside BsAs) if the stomachs and the weather cooperate tomorrow!

We wish you all a wonderful weekend!!!! :)

This would SO never happen in Norway

2010-01-31T18:21:00.000-08:00

Around 23 o'clock we heard a lot of noise on the street.
So we ran to the window and saw that there was a band playing in the street.
Obviously we ran down the stairs and out to get a closer look.

And it was what appeared to be a street band doing a performance -
SO cool.

Stay tuned for more "this would never happen in Norway"

This would never happen in Norway!

2010-01-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

We were at the gym doing a class of Fit Combat, and the instructor - who looked more or less like this

(picture from google)

Ended the class by giving everyone a (sweaty) kiss on the cheek.
This would NEVER happen in Norway.

the what?

2010-01-30T05:53:00.000-08:00

Yuhu everybody out there! :)

Yesterday we went to a new "villa" called La Union hace la Fuerza (unionen skaper styrken).
We were there to give English Lessons, but also generally just to play with the children.

I sat down next to a girl who was around 12 years old, and the conversation went something like this:
AK: what do you want to do?
girl: I want you to teach me the difference between the present simple and the present compound.
AK: eh..what?
girl: I want you to teach me the difference between the present simple and the present compound.
AK: really? you sure? you sure you don't wanna play a game instead? look, here's a cool game!
girl: Yes, I'm sure.

Don't worry, we did eventually get our grammar grove on.

And later during the evening we went to a La Bomba de Tiempo drum/percussion show in a cultural center called Konex. Here is a picture of us having dinner first:

The taxi-driver took on a father-like role as he was driving us there
"You see these streets? Very bad neighbourhood. Don't walk here alone.
And when the restaurant gives you the bill, make sure you look over that the prices are the same as in the menu. And don't trust anyone!"

This was a guy who was giving out free candy in his cab. Haha.

This is what life is all about...

2010-01-29T06:42:00.000-08:00

I don't know, but life as it seems here is everything from slum and poverty too over the top and plastic surgery. Walking down the street is like a ride on the financial roller coaster. On one corner in the main shopping street you can see a girl of 7 years old selling vegetables, from early in the morning till late in the evening. On an another apparently rich businessmen leaving their office to have lunch in a fancy restaurant. But the most unpleasant is of course all the women walking down the street with silicon here and botox there. That really makes you realize that its something very wrong with this world.

And then its us, rich compared to most people here. Amazed by the prices. Happy to spend money on things that is so cheap here compared to at home. Food, clothes, fitness and other, for us, normal things. Doesn't that make us part of the problem?

To be honest, I don't feel rich when it comes to money! I want to travel more, I want to see more things and places than what my wallet allows me to. And that I guess, means that I'm spoiled and a even bigger part of the problem.

But somehow I don't have a bad conscience because of this. I know I'm extremely lucky, and I know I will have the opportunity to do a lot in my lifetime, but I don't fell bad about that. I feel bad about all those who won't have the same opportunity to do what they want the most. Therefore I promise that I will do what I can to make the barbie dolls walking the streets of Buenos Aires, and any other person with a misconception concerning the use of their resources - anywhere in the world, realize that what they are doing is wrong. And that if you have the choice between another nose job and putting the 7 year old in a school for one year, the right thing would be to choose the school.

To be a "tourist" in this place is like kicking yourself in the head. We go to the park to get a tan, while the people living in the slum seek shelter from the burning sun. We buy a bottle of wine at the supermarket because it is so cheap, while people one the street is begging you for money to buy water. We go to a restaurant to try the famous Argentinian meat, and we cant finish our plate, while so many in this city go to bed every night feeling hungry.

Should we maybe walk around with a constant tummy ace and feel bad? Well, I don't. I feel bad sometimes, but it passes. And then I'm back to being extremely happy again...

In the end we might also be part of the solution. Yes, we are visiting bad areas of the city, and yes, we will tell people about it when we get home. But didn't very many do this before us, and didn't they tell everyone when they got home? Yes - but it doesn't seem like anything happened. It's about time something happens. So be prepared... I believe I will shout it directly in your face the next time I see you.

-Ida-
- felling a little bit sad again,
super happy in one hour...

Muy barato!

2010-01-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the hairdresser on the corner across the street and got my hair cut for the price of 40NOK.

Then I went to the Chinese restaurant right next to it and bought a menu with a starter, main dish and drink for a total of... 23NOK.

L.I.F.E. Argentina

2010-01-27T05:36:00.000-08:00

We´ve had our first assignment for L.I.F.E Argentina.

L.I.F.E. is an acronym that stands for: Luchemos para un Infancia Feliz con Esperanza
(We are working for a happy childhood with hope).
Every week LIFE organizes different activities that they carry out in different slums in the suburbs of BsAs.

Monday we went to Ejercito Celestial about 30min. outside BsAs.

We had been told that the ambulance refuses do drive into this slum, and that if someone is shot the body needs to be taken to the boarder between the slum and the city to be picked up by medical personell.This all sounds very scary, but I can happily rapport that it did not feel unsafe at all while we were there, and that there has practically never been any problems for the LIFE volunteers in these neighbourhoods.

We were driven there in a minibus, and we brought some games, papers, pencils, jumping rope, a basketball, and cereals with milk. The project of the day was "Toy Workshop" because it´s summer vacation here, and therefore there are no homeworks to work on (which is what is normally done during our visits).

The contrast between the slum and BsAs was extreme. These are people who have very little of anything and everything, and they are living in sheds, some with water, some without. The children are dirty, hungry, and very behind educationally speaking compared to other children, and.....they are LOVELY.

They are craving attention from adults, and don´t have too many positive role-models to look up to. A boy came up to me and wanted to play a game. He had a deck of cards with numbers from 1-12 and with the numbers in English written on the cards. I told him that I would love to play, but that he had to explain how the game worked because I´d never played before.
Do you know what the game was?

The game was that I held up a card and then he tried to say what number it was.

And there we were, sitting on the ground, playing this "game" for almost 2 hours.
It never got boring to him.

That fascinates me when thinking about how restless children can be. They have nintendo games, TV-shows, musical instruments, books, toys, after-school activities, sports +++ etc.
and they are still BORED!

The children loved to play, hug, draw, and learn English - and I feel really lucky to be able to do some of these things with them.

Maybe it would be better or more helpful to be in an organization that spent all it´s time systematically donating more food, more clothes, to focus only on teaching them English etc. during the visits...but in the moment it felt really important to just be there together, and hopefully together create a nice break from everyday life...both for them and for me :)

-AK

San Telmo & La Boca - we're still alive!

2010-01-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we got on a sweaty bus 29 and left our new home of Palermo to see some other parts of this enormous city. While sitting there on the bus with my back slowly but certainly becoming one with the leather seat I finally do understand that this city really has everything.

In the barrio of San Telmo the late colonial and Rosista buildings still stand tall. The area is known to be a very atmospheric place and we find that it definitely lives up to the rumors. Every Sunday it's a big (and very popular amongst tourists) antiques market in Plaza Dorrego. Here you can find anything and everything, from street-puppet-shows to any wanted colored old-style-telephones.

After dancing some Tango in the streets in San Telmo followed by watching some REAL Tango-dancers we had lunch in a place where the three tables surrounding us contained by one; two Brazilian guys wanting to taste AK's leftovers before ordering their own food, two; a Norwegian couple who looked very Norwegian, and three; two American couples in their late fifties who had been traveling around South America for a couple of weeks and still didn't know the Spanish word for beer. We said "hasta luego" to the Brazilian guys, "hade" to the Norwegians and "everything the Americans needed to tell the waiter in Spanish" to the Americans waiter, and then left to jump into a taxi going in direction La Boca, knowing that would be the safest way to travel.

La Boca is colorfull!

By the way, today was our first day of work. In Ejercito Celestial. A suburb a little bit south in Buenos Aires. I will write about that tomorrow.

-Ida-

Tango

2010-01-24T17:42:00.001-08:00

Take a look at this video of Ida teaching this guy how to tango during the Antique Market in San Telmo earlier today:

We just ate a whole cow!

2010-01-24T16:49:00.000-08:00

Apologies to the ozon layer. But it was delicious.

So, as promised in the last posting we went to the restaurant La Cabrera yesterday, with great expectations, since it had been recommended to us by several people who have visited Bs.As. (yes, that's the abbreviation for Buenos Aires that all the cool kids (now that includes us) use!)

Argentina is famous for steaks, so we were going for the cow.
Kjersti and I (AK) ordered the bife de chorizo, but Ida decided to go her own way on the menu choice, and eventhough the waiter tried to warn her that it would be too much, and 3 long pieces of meat for just her, Ida bravely insisted.

A good sign

This was the steak-knife.

And despite reading several places that if you order beef you don't get anything else than the piece of meat, we can now tell you that this is NOT true at La Cabrera. Kinda wish we would have known that before we went crazy eating bread and the extra large salat before the food was served. Because at the end of the evening (after approx. 3 hours of non-stop eating) we had devoured almost 2kg. of pure meat between the three of us. Not to mention all the other stuff we ate on the side.

Kjersti & I had 1 each of these, Ida had 3.

Then this guy came and gave us more stuff to eat.

One waiter was so impressed that even though we were sweating cow he invited us (mostly Ida) out to dance that same evening (we politely declined due to above mentioned meat-sweating).

I may or may not have ordered tiramisu for dessert.

Things heard around the dinner-table:
- I feel that this is what life is all about!
- I'm so full that I'm gonna throw up.....hm, maybe a little bit of salat?
- K: It looks like it's common to just order one piece of beef for 2 people
I: Yes, but the ones doing that are girls, and we don't wanna be no damn girls!!

If you ever come visit we will definitely go to La Cabrera!

Stalker info

2010-01-23T13:03:00.000-08:00

To all the stalkers out there, who already missed the fact that I announced our address here yesterday, I thought I'd show you a bit of where in Buenos Aires we are spending most of our time (for now anyway):

On the map above you can see all the different barrios in Buenos Aires. We are in nr.14, the big one "Palermo".

And here are the streets that we have frequented the most these past 5 days of living in Buenos Aires:

Tonight we are widening our horizon further and are going to eat a steak dinner at
La Cabrera. We're excited to see if it's as delicious as we've been told! :)
and also, excited to see if they have available tables.

PALERMO

2010-01-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

¡Hola a todos!

NO more excuses! we HAVE internet at home, and will now blog frequently! :)

So, where to start?
Well, it's still hot and still cheap.

oh yes, I know exactly where to start!
The airport.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Ida, demonstrating the tango

Ida wants you all to know that that is not how it looked in her head.

Not sure how to create a natural segway from Ida's gracious movements to....well, anything. So:

We live in a really nice apartment, as you can see below
Livingroom

Bedroom (there's 2, but this is the one that I share with Ida)

Bathroom

Oh yes, new address AGAIN (note to self, try to stay in one place longer than 6months)
Jerónimo Salguero 1881 2D
Palermo, CP: 1425
Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Argentina

We will start working for L.I.F.E. Argentina on Monday with a workshop for kids, followed by a birthday celebration for children Wednesday, English lessons Friday, cooking classes Saturday and a football tournament to raise money for Haiti "Kick it for Haiti" on Sunday.

Untill then we are pretty much on holiday.
And we have noticed a few things while walking around the city:
Despite it being summer it's SO green everywhere!

Don't be fooled though, there aren't that many skyscrapers in Buenos Aires
(I always imagined there would be a lot).

AND the women are GORGEOUS!
Sorry dudes, no pictures of that....yet.

We have decided to take some steps to try to match all of this gorgeousness that surrounds us, and have
a) bought some dresses
b) joined a gym to work out
c) started working on a tan

We'll keep you posted on how that works out (a work out...get it?)

ARRIVAL! :)

2010-01-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

Hi guys!

We have arrived! safe! (despite crazy traffic)

Our apartment is great, and we just found out that we will have a MAID coming in every week...that's crazy!! but nice.
Another thing that's crazy but nice are the prices here..yesterday we had a full steakdinner with wine, salat etc. and the total price in NOK: 100 per person...included tips and everything.
We like.
And another thing we like...the weather. It's summer here with around 30 degrees. Oh yes.

The only thing we don't like is that we still don't have internet in the apartment which makes it difficult to blog. However, we believe we will have internet fixed in the next few days and will then update you with pictures and more experiences from Buenos Aires.

For now,
from all of us to all of you
BESOS :¤

You said suck? Oh'yeah, we suck!

2010-01-15T03:46:00.000-08:00

But now we'll do a lot better, because WE ARE LEAVING ON MONDAY!!! Buenos Aires here we come...

BUENOS AIRES

We suck

2009-11-19T05:42:00.000-08:00

Ok. We suck at updating our blog.

But I'm sure it will get better once we get to Argentina, because we should have a lot more to tell. For example, here is a summary of what I have been doing lately: waking up, studying, eating, going to sleep. You see..? not that interesting.
Apart from the fact that yesterday morning I got to ride in a police car.
Yeah, we may or may not have parked our car in a zone where they at 6 (!!) o'clock in the morning started setting up a market, and therefore got our car towed. The police drove us to the place it was parked and I can now for the first time say that I have driven in a police car! (totally worth the fine, right Alejandro?)

However we did also just have a really nice visit: Ida&Simon were here in Spain!
I can mention some of the highlights:
- when an old man started yelling at Ida&Simon in Spanish (or rather, Catalan) for kissing on a bench
- when Alejandro started yelling back at the man
- when we found a swedish street musician
- when the police came and chased away the street-sellers (this was more sad than a highlight, but still, there's something fascinating about a lot of people running with all their merchandise on their back.. I'm sure the people running would disagree with me)
- when Ida&Simon be-friended a girl in a disco so that she could sleep on Simon's shoulder instead of alone on a bench
- when we realized we could order pizza on the door
- when Alejandro&Simon came back with a pedestrian sign
- when someone said "cheers boys" instead of "cheers guys" - no names need to be mentioned
- when we discovered the game Junglespeed

I'm sure there were more, but that's all I remember for now.

A great deal of exciting things happened before November too btw, but that will be too many updates at once. I should however mention that I'm gonna be an aunt! juhu!! :) My sister is il tempo pregnante.

All I need to do now is pass a grammar exam in a language in which I can't speak in past or future - and then it will almost be xmas.
Then I need to take a multitude of injections to get me ready to go to South America.

the 18.of January 2010, I, Ida and Kjersti (the newest edition to our travelgroup) will take off! :) jiiiiiiiiiha

Aachen gefällt mir!

2009-11-11T06:55:00.000-08:00

The last months have been pretty intense. A lot of stuff going on, from the day me and my German friend started driving towards Italy and until now, just finishing a great weekend of reunion.

Italy was amazing. We spent 16 days driving, enjoying, singing, speaking bad Italian, driving, visiting, stretching our legs, sightseeing, swimming, driving, eating and loving… And it was also a lot of people to meet on our way thorough the upper part of this beautiful country. First we met Cecilia in Milano, then Fabio in Genoa, AK and Alex flew in and we met them in Pisa, then it was Matteo in Roma, Thommaso in Ancona, Marco, Fabio (again) & Sivia and Gaspare + more in Dezensano del Garda. And on the way back we met up with Anna, Katha, Jitske, Ruth ++ in Austria. Everything about the trip was amazing, thanks to everyone who was a part of it, and a special thanks to my German friend, who - through it all, managed to live with my attempted sing-along to every single song that was played on the radio, in English or in Italian – egal!

Then, after some days in Germany, I flew home to Steinkjer and stayed there for a month, this was in September. The plan was to work as much as possible and then at the same time help out with the renovation going on at home. I ended up only working – and not helping. Unnskyld pappa! But it was very nice to be at home for a while, and now I really look forward to going back for Christmas and seeing everyone again. Can’t wait!

Then, the last weekend of September, we went to München and the Octoberfest. We drove down, again (and that will be the last time in my case – small cars and crazy huge autobahns don’t belong together I belive, cause somehow the cars always end up in a freaking STAU; other places known as a traffic jam). In München we met AK and Alex again, our other half, and also Marco came driving up from Italy.

Monday, the 28th of September I started my language course in Düsseldorf. Düsseldorf is a big city in the eyes of a girl from Steinkjer, and this gives a small reminder of that the girl will be totally lost when she gets to Buenos Aires in January. Hopefully Anne Kristine gets to see some shit going down in the dangerous ciudad of Barcelona, and therefore can take good care of both herself and the Steinkjer-girl when they meet the reality of Argentina face to face (diversion comes to an end, finally, and probably YOU – Alejandros grandma, who of course is a passionate reader of this blog, are very happy about that). Ok, so the language course was to last for one month and by doing a placement test I got to start in Module 2. While staying in Düsseldorf I lived with a woman named Ruth (by her parents I belive), in a nice area 15 minutes walking from the Altstadt. I never walked. I like public transportation. After a month of visiting Aachen in the weekends and getting visits from Aachen during the week I was suddenly done, got a grade that here in Germany is called “Sehr gut / 1,3”, and then I moved to Aachen.

The 23rd of October I was officially an inhabitant of Aachen. And the same day Bente came to visit. Thank you Bente!

I have been living here for two weeks now. And this far I think Aachen is a nice place. I’m doing a second language course here, and today was the first day of Module 4. Apparently I wasn’t smart enough to learn the language in one month, so I’m hereby giving it 5 more weeks. But then it better be fluent.

The 30th of October people began running down the door of a local restaurant here, when we managed to convince an incredible amount of Erasmus friends from the sadly passed year in Trondheim to come to Aachen for a Reunion. Most of them stayed for the weekend… others stayed for a week. It was perfect!

Btw I realized yesterday that even Aachen is a big place for a Norwegian contry-side-girl, when a robbery took place right in front of my eyes in the local supermarket. I was about to pay for my bags of soup and paprika when this woman shouts something, I guess it was “Help… thief… stop him… please!” and then 3 women (working in the supermarket) jumps him while he is running for his life, they hold on as long as they can, but he’s to strong, and suddenly he’s gone… Then I paid and left. Somehow I’m getting there, BA, here we come!

But first, Barca!

-Ida-

Vivo aquí

2009-10-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to uploading some pictures of the apartment where I live. Enjoy! :)

Entrance area:

A shy Alex at the kitchen table:

More kitchen:

Livingroom:

Where you will be sleeping if you visit us:

Guest bathroom:

An office, which all serious students need ;)

Our bedroom:

Our bathroom:

Vikingfestival på Egge, July 2009

2009-10-09T02:36:00.000-07:00

This time I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

I want to thank everybody who came! It was awesome! Hope to find you in a tent in our garden again next year!

-Ida-

The beginning of the update...

2009-10-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Only the educated are free.
Epictetus (55 AD - 135 AD)

In June we were one weekend in Germany for Jakobs, Simons brothers, Abitur.

Jakobs band, check it out...
http://www.myspace.com/accordonbleu

-Ida-

Hey big crowd of people following our tiny footsteps in excitement as they place themselves upon new locations on this shrinking surface of the world!

2009-10-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

I’m very much aware of the fact that I’m embarrassingly slow, I apologize to you all!

I also have some new contact information, aquí tiene, bitte schön:
+ 49 15773518999
Mariahilfstrasse 35
52062 Aachen

An update on my vagabond-life the past months will follow very soon…

I miss you Anne Kristine, and the Moholt-life with you!

-Ida-

Estoy embarrazada

2009-09-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

(for the Spanish speakers out there): No, I`m not pregnant.
I am however language confused and embarrassed.

For those of you that don`t know, I`m living in Spain now, and I`m spending my days studying Spanish in Barceloooona.

I had to do a placement test to get into the language course, and as my pen failed me I had to ask to borrow a pen. But the woman only spoke Spanish and not English (something that is too common in Spain..grr) so I had to ask her in..."spanish".
I said: "necesito un penne"
Thinking it meant "i need a pen"

It meant "i need a penis".

She couldn`t help me with that.

Stay tuned for more embarrassment to come.

PS. my new contact information is:
0034 645 574469
Puigcugull 103, 1-1
17244 cassa de la selva, girona, spain

Besos
Anne Kristine

A blast from the past

2009-07-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

Reading Ida's blogging below (highly recommended btw) I felt
a) sad cause Ida is done in Trondheim, and Moholt is not the same without her
b) sad cause I JUST realized that so am I!
c) a need to give a small update on my own life

First of all, I found something that reminded me of my US days.
They think that it's crazy how we publish a list over how much people earn, pay in taxes and has as fortune every year? well, take a look at what they publish:
www.familywatchdog.us
City: State College
State: Pennsylvania
---> and get a list over all the sex offenders that were my neighbours when I lived in State College. (I lived next to the big golf court)..I bet my mum is glad she didn't see this map while I was there!

Although I haven't escaped to quite as exotic islands for my summer job as Ida and Simon I have managed to do some travels myself lately.

At the end of the semester I travelled to Barcelona to pay my lovely boyfriend a surprise visit. I randomly showed up at a bar where he was meeting his sister
and finally got back at him for his Sula-visit-surprise last christmas!

A week later I jetted off to Latvia and Lithuania with my mum and brother to visit my dad who had arrived a few days before. It was fascinating and very different to visit these countries. We spent most of our time in the country side, and it still shocks me that I saw an old lady with a scarf on her head on the back of a horse plowing the fields, aka Norway 1950. I also got to try some delicious Lithuanian food (that I will not try to write the name of) Sheborekas and Schaslikas.
I'm a 100% sure that that's not how it's written, but who cares, it was delicious!

I'm back in Trondheim and working now, but i'm already planning a trip to the big city of Steinkjer for the Viking Festival in just a few days.

The burning world that Ida referred to in her last entry is calling us, and it seems the fire is in Argentina. We have found the organization we want to work for, and it seems we have also found an apartment for Spring.
Did we tell you about our plans by the way?
Ida will spend fall in Germany, and I will be in Spain (these countries are chosen completely by random, and it has nothing to do with two hot pieces of boyfriends whatsoever!) and then we'll meet in Argentina in January for a semester of taking South America with storm! :)

That's all for now,
we'll keep you posted!

Summer in Frøya

2009-07-05T07:25:00.000-07:00

Frøya: Freyja (sometimes anglicized as Freya), cognate to Sanskrit Priya, is a major goddess in Norse Paganism, a subset of Germanic Paganism. Because the documented source of this religious tradition, the Norse Mythology, was transmitted and altered by Christian medieval historians, the actual role, heathen practices and worship of the goddess are uncertain.

but it's also an island...

Frøya is the westernmost municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region and it consists of the island of Frøya which lies north of Hitra, as well as a number of other small islands.Facing the ocean are the fishing communities of Mausundvær, Bogøyvær, and Sula, with Mausund being the largest of these with a population of approximately 270. The main island of Frøya is fairly open and has no natural forests. The largest villages on the island are Sistranda in the east and Titran in the west. Frøya is a member of the International Island Games Association.

* SUMMER *

We (Simon and me) applied for several summer jobs; one of these had its location in Frøya. After waiting and waiting and waiting for an answer we concluded with the fact that we were not going there this summer. A couple of day’s passes and then my phone rings, the woman tells me that we got jobs for the summer IN FRØYA! Man, everything suddenly changed. After one day of thinking about it and making a list (haha) we called back and told them we were up for the challenge.

The next step was to find a place to live, but for some reason this was IMPOSSIBLE. After calling the entire list of people, some even twice, we started wondering if it’s possible to live in a tent one whole summer. Some days later I saw in my notes that one guy had recommended calling the hotel, because he thought they rented out small “brakker” as it’s called in Norwegian. I called the hotel and this really friendly lady said that “yes, of course, it’s a deal”.

Then the semester came to an end very fast and it was time to move. We cleaned out our rooms in Moholt and put all the stuff in the Taxi (a big one), and got on the boat to Frøya. Arriving in Sistranda witch is the “city-area” in Frøya, basically containing a Bunnpris, a Coop, a Library, a Bank and a Policestation – where the main activity probably is answering stupid questions from tourists, it really felt like this was the right place to spend the summer.

So we got of the bus close to the hotel and went to get the key leaving the backpacks, a couple of boxes with kitchen appliances, some plasticbags +++ at the bus stop. After seeing the “container/dumpster” we were supposed to live in the two following months, we started wondering where to put our stuff.

The next day we started working, and everybody was very helpful trying to help us find a new place to live. After a day of earning a wage we continued the search of a new residence by asking people in the supermarket and at the police station :P After no luck the entire day we returned HOME to our container, though dropping by the hotel first to talk to the woman again. She turned out to be the answer to our prayers. She said her boyfriend was selling his house in August, and that we could have it till then, and we are only staying out July, and HAHA. She said we should go and see it before we decided and that it was a little bit more expensive than the container. We really didn’t care at that point because we were so desperate, and the price she gave us was still cheaper than Moholt. For that reason we didn’t expect much, but because of the fact that it was a HOUSE, a house – just for the two of us, we decided right away. The next day we were the proud “owners” of this baby:

So now we spend our days working…

Relaxing…

Fishing…

Hiking…

Cooking…

Baking also actually… (who knew you had so much time on your hands when not having a TV or internet)

Doing laundry by hand… haha

...and having fun!

I mean... we do this in between having supercool friends visiting, traveling to exotic countries as Germany and small endangered cities in Norway like Steinkjer. This makes the time just fly by, and we can see the end of summerjob-heaven already. When come to think of it is not that bad really, because then one week of Trondheim is following, continued by some weeks driving around Italy…

I believe I saved myself the last year. This means the burning world is next on the list.

-Ida-

Lofoten, a little bit delayed...

2009-07-05T06:46:00.001-07:00

After returning from the US we slept for a couple of hours and then got on the bus to Lofoten. Now, sitting here in Frøya, thinking about the last three years, with ESN being basically the main focus in my life - pretty melancholic. Anyways, that Lofoten trip was my 4th and last.

Starting of on the bus again like always, struggling to find a comfortable position.

…somehow easier this time though.

Frederik and Asta are taking over the steering wheel from the fall on. That is a very qualified group of people right there, and it’s with a good feeling we can let go of it.

The trip was as good as ever :) With crazy weather, changing from amazing sun to really crappy within minutes. We went hiking, went on a boat trip, some crazy people went swimming and we ate a lot of good food.

Then of course we put together the best party of the year, like always. But as also known; what happens in Lofoten stays in Lofoten. Except if your name is Elisabeth, then the reasonable thing to do is taking it to France.

The only thing left at that point was to get our buts home to Trondheim to do some studying (that’s what we are right? Students!), and the position search started once again…

For some reason you might think I think “I’ve seen this picture before”, but no people, it’s a brand new one, the open-mouth-while-sleeping-condition seems to be with me for a lifetime.

That’s it I guess, was a wonderful trip and I’ll try to remember it without mixing it into the three exact similar previous ones.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the amazing people I met over the three last years, THANK YOU! I believe I found myself somehow because of you guys…

-Ida-

The US of A

2009-06-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

I know I’m super slow, but what to do? When you have to finish a degree, say goodbye to crazy many wonderful, amazing, beautiful people and move out of the best place anyone could ever live (I’m talking about Moholt studentby) all at the same time. Anyway, here it is for all you patient people (or AK, as still might be the only one reading this).

Part 1
As mentioned we flew over the big sea to bring AK back home. It was Simon and me, arriving Wednesday, and then we picked up Alejandro in the airport Thursday after a day of cancelations and confusion. No need to get into this, lets just say it was wonderful to be together again, the four of us.

We started of in New York. A beautiful place, I must say. Breakfasting in central park, overeating on doughnuts and bagels, drinking way too much starbucks coffee, and trying all the different brands of beer produced. I think we can conclude with the fact that it’s no wonder this place struggles with obesity, you see… everything is so damn good!

We did some shopping and sightseeing while the weather was changing a lot…

Among a lot of other stuff we caught up with some old friends…

Went to a standup show…

And a basketball match (New York Knicks vs Toronto Raptors)…

And we tried the hot dogs on Wall St.

After some days of living the American dream we finally caught up with the American way of thinking. As a result of this we realized that what we thought was minor problems before arrival actually are super important and far beyond our imagination (and once again, no wonder about that obesity problem when they tell people “potato chips beats depression”)…

During our days of sightseeing in New York we also stumbled over a…

This was pretty close to the Flat Iron Building, and also (in our concern) pretty hilarious. To explain in a graphic way, and to spare excess use of your imagination, I give you the video:

(And to the people in charge of maintenance of the streets in NY, I ask you to take care of this problem, I believe your inhabitants will benefit from this and you will see a lot more happy faces driving around).

HAHAHA!

Part 2
After 5 days in NY we got ourselves a car and got on the rout direction south to Washington. Here we stayed in a somewhat better facility than the one in NY. This was located a little bit outside the city, but they also served bagels with cream cheese for breakfast, in other words – I was still IN HEAVEN! 4 days we spent here, sightseeing, shopping and visiting museums and other fancy buildings.And not to forget fast-food places with bulletproof glass between you and the cashier.

Then, after a superfunny trip together, Alejandro had to get on a plane back to Europe :( We got to the airport just in time for a airportwoman to grab him and drag him to the front of the line. I don’t know, but I think she might have over exaggerated just a bit, and used the fact of us being slightly late as an excuse to touch a famous movie star from Spain. In the end he was safe on his way back home, while we moved on to another part of the airport to pick up Catherine who was flying in to spend the weekend with AK in NY while me and Simon travelled on to Williamstown, Temple and Boston.

Part 3
It was a little bit different to be just the two of us in the car from that point on (of course we missed you people). But at the same time rather wonderful to be travelling with a guy in totally control of everything and seemingly on a mission to show me everything that is needed to see in the area. The rest of the trip was completely wonderful. First we went to see Kelsey and Emily in Williamstown. They showed us their university – amazing place. And they also, unfortunately without any luck, tried to convince us to stay the night to join the big campus party that was taking place. Sadly we had to drive on the same day to reach Temple, a place Simon worked for one year, 2004/05, but also this place knew how to through a party, so no bad feelings.

We lived in Temple for 3 days, we got to live in the place Simon worked and everyone was very welcoming and we were invited to join them in the Easter activities that were taking place over the weekend. In between we also managed to go shopping and sightseeing in the area.

Monday morning we started the drive back to NY, stopping in Boston on the way including Hampton Beach to try out my new investment…

That was is I think, I mean… the short version ;)

Thank you guy’s soooo much for the amazing US-safari, I hope we will travel together soon!

- Ida -

My (sister's) big fat jewish wedding!

2009-05-27T01:58:00.000-07:00

Wow wow wow!

My sister just got married in Paris, and it was the most amazing wedding I've ever been too! Let me walk you through it step by step.

On Wednesday it was the ceremony at city hall, and as many guests as possible (including the bride and groom!!) wore their national costumes:

The official ceremony was conducted in French, so I didn't really understand too much (and when I say "not too much" i mean "not a damn shit") but when they got to the OUI part, I must admit I started tearing up.

After we went to eat cakes and have coffee, and according to Jewish tradition the bride and groom were showered with gifts (aka christmas eve) - something to think about for future weddings? OUI.

The next day, Thursday 21.May was the day of the "real" wedding!
And the location was Chateau de Villiers just outside Paris

The bride was gorgeous

and after the ceremony, just like in the movies, the groom got to step on a plate and break it! Mazel tov!!

We still don't know why the groom is so tall!

The wedding party got started with a bang with the "traditional" waltz:

And the dancing just continued! The bride and groom were thrown up and down on a big sheet and on carried on chairs (the parents too)

The night continued with dancing, good food, alcohol, and fun! :)

My sister is married!! :O

The rest of the days were spent sightseeing

with a baguette...MON baguette!

And we even got time to meet this crazy gal

To do another kind of "sightseeing"

And a picture for the road (my face when Madcon, a norwegian group, comes on the radio in Paris)

MON BAGUETTE!!

Hey there world!

2009-05-05T01:51:00.000-07:00

AK is finally back where she belongs, in the heart of Trondheim, aka Moholt Studentby. I must say, life has been somehow more difficult without her. For instance it was suddenly not that many big dinnerparties in our kitchen anymore, as a result of this i found myself in such a bad state that I stopped going home after uni and stayed out all night (this happened maximum one time), or I didnt get up in the morning at all (this happened more than once). On top of this I struggled with the fact that there was no singing around me anymore, no singing spiced up with a lot of laughter, the melody of life flowing through the building had dissapered. And the worst part of it all, there were no more tall, sexy, morena chica lying on my bed after a night downtown, and noone to help me get the people out and about when I wanted to sleep.

Now everything is so much better, spring has arrived, and we just (I'm slow, I know) got back to this wonderful town after a 3-week-roadtrip including New York, Washington DC, Boston and Lofoten, AK was waiting for us when we came home ... I feel the melody is on its way back in trough the front door.

-Ida-

PS. A résumé from both trips will come soon, I just need to fulfill my duties as a groupmember writing a kind of importaint paper first.

Norway!

2009-04-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

I`m back in what some of my American friends might refer to as the country Europe!

I`ll post pictures of my last trip in not too long, but before that I thought I`d beat you to the punch and tell you what I`m gonna miss the most about the US:
1) the people (not all of them of course, but the ones that I loved and spent a lot of time with)
2) the prices (did I tell you a long island icetea with LOTS of alcohol was 1dollar??)
3) being able to speak a language that nobody understood (it was difficult not to make comments about hotties in Norwegian when we got back to Norway!)

See you soon for some picture-mania! :)

Oh Canada..."out and about"

2009-03-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

It`s roadtrip time again!

Lloyd, Kyle and I drove to Toronto Canada for the weekend - stopped in Niagara Falls, went to a casino, lost some money...and here`s a little summary:

The roadtrip was entertaining as always, thanks to Lloyd

that man spins my head right round!

Niagara Falls

This is a view over a part of Toronto seen from the CN Tower, the tallest free standing structure in the world (ps. Toronto is HUUUUGE)

There is a glassfloor in the CN Tower, and this is my feet standing approx. 550meters above the ground, on something that looked like a thin glass floor:

I naturally INSISTED on going to the Hockey Hall of Fame:

Lloyd is doing a plie on the way to a club

As you might have noticed I don`t have to many pictures from the sightseeing part of the trip, that`s cause someone decided that the best way to get to know a new city is to sit inside a bar..with my camera..and not take any pictures.

Anyway, to sum it up:
driving - Niagara Falls - casino - sightseeing - party - driving

Another great weekend in the US! (no, wait..in Canada! well...poteito / potato) :)

Last day of teaching

2009-03-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

So today was my last day of teaching in the US.
And I pretty much had the best day possible!

My students had made and brought lots of different treats like a home made ice cream cake:

brownies, cup cakes, cookies, taco rolls, potato chips and soda and we basically had a party.

One girl even made me a poem! Needless to say I almost started crying, being the cry baby that I am.

I am so flattered, and I`ll miss them all!

Here we all are, goofing off like always:

I wish I could stay longer..but Norway is calling my name!
But first: a weekend trip to Toronto, Canada.
Stay tuned!

Nice try!

2009-03-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

I LOVE it when my students try to answer my questions by rephrasing the question itself.

I gave them a surprise quiz today to check if they read their homework chapters (Jane Eyre), and I really enjoyed correcting them.

Let me give you a few examples:
"What does Jane decide to draw and why?"
answer: Jane decides to draw.

this one is also a good one:
"Jane really likes to draw, so she decides to draw. It makes her feel calm."

another question from the quiz: "What is peculiar about the gypsy?"
answer: the gypsy is peculiar because he doesn't act the way gypsys normally do.

or maybe you prefer this answer to the same questions:
"the gypsy"
or:
"the gypsy is very strange looking, which is peculiar"

I can definitely appreciate (and recognize) the rephrasing strategy,
I just hope I did it a tad more subtly!

I`m adding a picture of my mentor and me out and about this weekend, shaking it loose, for your pleasure. or whatever. Please notice Jillian with her drink in the back!

Zebras and Europeans

2009-03-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Today in class one of my male students wore a really tight Zebra print denim pants that he cut off above the knee to make it into a shorts.

He is 14.
I had no where in the world enough confidence to pull that look of (or to stand out in the crowd whatsoever) at that age. Consider me impressed.

Anyway.
The rest of the class was asking him "seriously..what did you think when you got dressed this morning? it`s too tight!!"
He told them that he thought tight looked better than loose.
I told them all that I agreed "the tighter, the better. All the men in Europe are wearing pants like that! It`s only in America that men are wearing sloppy and wide pants all the time".

That shut them up `cause they will believe anything crazy about Europeans.

Dolphins and transvestites

2009-03-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

Spring Break is over :/

But it was extremely fun while it lasted!
I have now been in 8 states (over 40 left..and 3 weeks left in the US..good luck) thanks to the longest drive ever home. But at least I got to try driving on American roads (with automatic gear shift..so weird!) which was fun!

I first went to New York to meet Linda who was visiting from Denmark.
New York was great, and we had a lot of fun (and spent A LOT of money on taxis)!
We also went to the top of the Empire State Building where we for some reason were extremely popular (could it be that it was incredibly windy and Linda was wearing a wide and short skirt that blew up "Marilyn Monroe style" giving everyone a show?
Maybe. The view was gorgeous, though! (yes, I am referring both to Linda`s skirt blowing up and the view over NYC)

We also went to see Stomp, which was really cool!

After a hectic and fun weekend in New York we headed off to Florida for some fun and sun, and to meet Lloyd, Jillian, Kevin and Doug in West Palm Beach.
As the headline suggests I saw both dolphins and transvestites on this trip!

It was incredibly cool to be taking a swim and then turning your head and seeing a dolphin jump up in the air and twirl back down into the water (ok, at first we all kind of freaked out cause we thought it was a shark..but whatever!)

I am aware that it looks like I am screaming in fear (maybe of sharks) on this picture, but it`s actually just one of my strange laughing faces, so not to worry.

Never having experienced a Spring Break before I still feel like I can say this Spring Break was just how they`re supposed to be:
beach and pool during the day
food and parties during the night
developing a large number of inside jokes
listening to the same party songs over and over again
dolphines
transvestites

and wait...
Lloyd playing model:

I think that pretty much sums it up!
And here`s a picture of the whole group:

AK, Jillian, Linda, Doug, Kevin and Lloyd

Florida for Spring Break!

2009-03-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

Florida, the sunshine state...weather forecasts say 25 degrees celcius and sun all of next week...nice!

What am I gonna do there?
I was thinking: beach.

But first I`m going to New York to "pick up" Linda! :)
What are we doing there?
I was thinking: shop.

Have a wonderful Spring Break!
See you when I`m back the 15th of March!

More lovely 14year olds!

2009-03-02T17:20:00.001-08:00

Today was my mentor`s birthday, and yesterday was mine, so we had a "celebration" with the students today, and 1 of them made cookies for us and the whole class!

How amazing is that?
pretty amazing if you ask me!

My supervisor also brought us cake! and with all this cake eating I`m getting ready for Spring Break (juhu!!) in Florida!!

My travelplans are as follows:
Friday the 6th of March I`m going to New York by bus to meet Linda who is coming to visit!
We`re gonna spend the weekend in NY shopping and looking at the sights before flying to Florida Sunday night, and spending a small week there. We`ll be meeting Lloyd, Jillian, Kevin and Doug there - and the vacation can officially begin.

It`s supposed to be 25degrees and sunny all of next week in West Palm Beach so it should be a nice change from the Pennsylvanian weather.
We`re driving (oh yes, 16hours!) back to State College and should be back saturday the 14th of March.

I`m excited!

Birthday party weekend nachspill

2009-02-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

Enjoy this short, yet lovely song performance, from my birthday party nachspill:

Apart from this lovely song I also got cake (proper American birthdaycake!)
and birthday presents!

It`s been a great birthday weekend so far, and it ain`t over yet! :)

<3 Trondheim <3

2009-02-25T18:35:00.000-08:00

The cuteness of Ida`s last blog entry really warmed my heart, and my love declaration for Ida, Trondheim and ALL the lovely people in Trondheim (and on the picture) will be in the form of a song:

We`re better together!

WE MISS YOU ANNE KRISTINE!!!

2009-02-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

Philly! (and the longest blog entry ever)

2009-02-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

We`re back from Philadelphia, in one piece!
Let me take you through our journey step by step (day by day):

We drove from State College to Philadelphia, luckily WITH a GPS, making everything a lot easier.
And here you can see a summary of what went on during the trip (yes, my voice was equally manly and annoying all 200 miles to Philly...just ask Lloyd):

We stopped in Lancaster desperately looking for Amish people, but a plastic horse at a gas station is all we could find, so we had to make do with that:

And luckily we did find the outlet malls in Lancaster and got a lot of shopping done, for a ridiculously low price. Here is Lloyd and our sweet rental car in front of one of the stores:

This is how Lloyd shops, he looks at the item, and then tries to measure with his eyes if it will fit, instead of trying it on...

come to think of it, I still don`t know if he got it right...did you try it on now Lloyd? was it a good strategy?

We stayed on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, which means that we had to go through Camden to get to Philly..and as our hotel receptionist nicely said it
"when you get to Camden..whatever you do, don`t get out of the car, just keep going untill you`re in Philly". Please notice Lloyd`s new and cool watch, plus the fact that we`re driving on a car with more lanes than your mother:

Lloyd demonstrating how to get from NJ to downtown Philly:

Once we got to Philly we of course checked out the major turist attraction such as
the Liberty Bell:

(where we found this guy, making the "V" for "Vasset" sign):

and Independence Hall:

and, dam-dam-dam:
The Rocky stairs!!

We even found the Norwegian flag (ok, and pretty much all the flags ever) on the way..this was along Philly`s answer to Champ Elysses in Paris:

Lloyd & I were especially fascinated by all the skyskrapers..here you can see some of them:

There were a lot of other fascinating things to look at in Philly also, like all the paitings on buildings:

or this work of art that we had to run sneak out way through a pack of eager skateboarders to get to

and even the manequins in Philly have more to look at than the ones we`re used to:

Other things to look at was the gate to Chinatown

or the big shining Hard Rock Cafe guitar by night:

And on our way back to State College we stopped in Hershey, the town know for the chocolate "Hershey" (Norwegians, imagine a town called "Freia" built around/because of the chocolate factory!). Sadly the amusement park is not open this time of year, but we went for a tour of the factory, as the only people over 10 and under 50:

Welcome to Hershey

It was a nice vacation, and in only 2 weeks we`ll hit the road again!
But till then, it`s high school life!

David Toska and hamburgers

2009-02-19T17:51:00.000-08:00

I`m 99% sure that I saw David Toska (in charge of the biggest robbery in Norway`s history, where a police officer was killed) tonight at a restaurant in State College.

I also payed less than 5 dollars for a burger and fries at that same restaurant
(no! not McDonalds)..which would be like 35NOK. haha. good stuff. yeah, the burger was good too.

I also have to mention that I went out to eat with 2 guys, and I finished my burger long before they did.

Is it a bad sign that I`m proud of that?

Roadtrippin, roses and pimps!

2009-02-19T12:49:00.001-08:00

Hey all!

This weekend I`m going on a roadtrip with Lloyd to Philadelphia
(yes, as in "streets of philadelphia", the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and the Rocky staircases). Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, and the 6th most populous city in the US. It is also one of the cities with most crime in the US.
Needless to say, we`re excited!

We`re gonna stop in Harrisburg, Hershey and Lancaster on the way for some shopping / Amish-people spotting too. If I make it back alive I will give a rapport about all of our adventures.

Yesterday was a nice day! I got a phonecall from the post office, saying there was a delivery for me. I expected it to be something boring, but I quickly discovered I was wrong, as I entered the building and two women asked me if I was "301"?
(which I am, cause it`s my room number) and told me "oh, this is so cute"!
I was kinda confused, but then one of the ladies hand me 3 red roses and a teddybear - ai ai ai! Nice work, Spain ;) thanks!

Look how pretty:

And from roses to pimps:
I`m making my classes write rap songs using their new vocabulary words, and prepare rap performances to show their classmates, and today I got a sweet question:
Can I use the word pimp in my rap?

First of all:
How amazing is it that he ASKED for permission?
Second of all:
How amazing is it that the word he wanted to use was something so mild?

It actually took me a few minutes to understand which word he meant, cause I was expecting something a lot worse!

I`m sure had my high school class been given the task of writing rap songs,
we a) wouldn`t ask for permission, and b) would use A LOT of bad language.

Gotta love America.
and Spain.
and Norway too of course.

Me & my mentor

2009-02-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

I thought it was about time I introduced my mentor to you:
This is me & Jenn at a track meet for the high school teams: My mentor is great!! she`s the best! :)

Oh, and I also have to tell you about a really good comment I heard the other day:
I was getting a drink at a bar (not an uncommon situation by any means)
and the bartender-girl said she needed to see my ID (the drinking age is 21 over here). So I pull up my passport (I carry it with me everywhere, cause that`s the only kind of ID they accept for foreigners) and she says:
I`m sorry, I`m afraid we can`t accept passports.
hmm.
I said: is there anything more official than a passport?
She said: what can I get you today?

haha. good stuff.

Valentine`s day <3

2009-02-15T12:39:00.000-08:00

Me and my roommates (minus Li from China):

I was definitely in the right country for celebrating Valentine`s day on Saturday!

The grocery stores were filled with cards, chocolates in heart shaped boxes, and everything was red or pink!

To celebrate Valentine`s day I went out to eat with my roommates, then to the movies with some friends (to watch "he`s just not that into you" - appropriate for Valentine`s day, huh?), and then to have some drinks!

A great celebration!

I hope your Valentine`s day was as good as mine! :)

Lloyd getting spanked in public

2009-02-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read that heading correctly!

This one is for my fellow Norwegian Lloyd,
it`s his birthday today, and as I like to tell everyone we meet:
he is now closer to 30 than to 20. You do the math.

So, apperantly I also go to Hooters a lot (when I`m not at basketball games I mean), and shockingly Hooters was Lloyd`s dream location for his birthday party!

Take a look at how birthdays are celebrated at Hooters
(again, sorry that the first part of the video is side-ways):

Other fun stuff from Hooters for your enjoyment
(especially for those of you who expressed disappointment that I only took 2 pictures last time I was there..you know who you are!)
I like to call this picture "what are you looking at there, Lloyd?" :

There we go!

I almost failed this exam twice....that`s sad:

That`s enough hooters for now! :)

Cheerleading

2009-02-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

Another basketball game, I know, it seems to be all I do!
One of the cool things about going to a basketball game in the US is the cheerleaders!

And for your pleasure I present you with this video showing you some lucky guys with a nice view holding and then dropping some cheerleaders (drop it like it`s hot!):

That`s all folks.

Who said 14 year olds were mean?

2009-02-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

I had the most amazing day today (and it`s just 1.30!)!

My supervisor was visiting and evaluating me as a teacher,
and my class (that`s usually loud and unfocused) were SO nice..everyone were quiet and listened to me, and the whole session went so smoothly.

One guy even whispered to me:
hey, if you need to look god in front of your supervisor you can yell at me any time you want.

Isn`t that the cutest thing you`ve EVER heard?
My cold teacher heart melted at that point!

After the assessment my supervisor even took me and Lloyd out for lunch, to TGI Friday`s and payed for a delishious meal.
Now, it just doesn`t get any better than that!

Tonight I`m going out for dinner again with some friends and then to a Madeline Albright event.

This is a great day! :)

Fo- Anne Kristine -paux

2009-02-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

So I made my first teacher fo-paux in the US today (I think, there might have been several in the past that I just didn`t notice).
I said "blablabla....badass"..and all the kids were like:
WHAAAAT?! what did you say?

And I was like: eh..what now?

Anyway, it was really funny, and they`d never heard a teacher use a word like that before! Amazing..my mentor thought it was really funny cause all the student got really shocked. I would never in a million years have thought twice about using that word in Norway when teaching, but I guess here I should clean up my language even more than I do at home in Norway. Oh well, at least I managed to stay away from "fuck" and "shit"..I`m happy with that ;)

Post pittsburgh rapport

2009-02-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

I`m back from Pittsburgh!

It was great to be in a big city again..with sky-skrapers and everything (you know, since I am from the huge city of Trondheim).

It was great to see Catherine again, and she has a really nice apartment (and car)!

We went shopping, we went out eating, we went sightseeing...we even watched dodgeball! (don`t ask because it doesn`t have a logical explanation! :P)

Because of the Steelers (Pittsburgh`s pride and football team) EVERYONE (I mean everyone) were in the Steeler colors, black and yellow. And this guy had a cd out with Steeler songs:

Sorry that it`s not turned the right direction!

PS. The Steelers won the superbowl!! :)

Pittsburgh

2009-01-29T21:23:00.000-08:00

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

Just letting you know that I`m off to Pittsburgh for the weekend to meet up with Catherine, my previous roommate of 2 years in Trondheim!

Appearantly, this is what Pittsburgh looks like:

It takes about 3 hours to get there by bus, and because of school on Monday I will be returning Sunday (during the superbowl - go steelers!!)

Have a great weekend! :)

Snowday!!

2009-01-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

I woke up at 5.30 this morning, to check www.scasd.org where we get information about any delays in the school day because of the cold, or if school is cancelled because of too much snow.

And today was one of those days: SNOW DAY!
That means no school..I don`t think we have days like that in Norway..do we?
Anyway, this is the view from my window today:

Not too much snow if you ask me....but I`ll take it!
(sorry the picture is taken from inside, but I fet that going out during snowday would be wrong)

Teaching my first lesson...on Norway!

2009-01-27T08:58:00.000-08:00

So gang,
today I taught my first lesson..I had a presentation for the 2 classes I`m teaching where I talked about Norway, and a little bit about myself too.

It was AWESOME (to use an American word), they were really interested, and asked good questions, and they even enjoyed brown cheese!!

Some of them wanted me to speak in Norwegian to them, just to hear what it sounded like. And a girl said:
I have 2 questions about Norway:
1) how cold does it get?
and 2) how do you get your hair to be that long?

The conclusion from my first day of teaching is: this is gonna be fun! :)

JUHU

Gin&tonics and Chinese New Years

2009-01-25T12:04:00.000-08:00

I forgot to tell you something really important about Hooters:
The Gin&Tonics there only cost 2 dollars...TWO DOLLARS!
that`s 14NOK...14!!! 14!!!! That wouldn`t even get you the tonic in Norway..
I like this country!

And yesterday I payed 4dollars to get in to a disco and hang my coat..that`s 28NOK!
For that you would just be able to hang your coat in Norway..and that wouldn`t help you, cause you`d still be on the outside, so why would you want your coat on the inside, when you ain`t got no money to get in? you get my point.

This country is cheap, and I like it!

Other than that going out in the US is quite similar to going out in Norway..same music more or less, same dancemoves more or less, same creapy people sneaking up behind you.

PS. Donuts make a lovely night-snack. I recommend the peanut butter cup donut!

Oh, and also: there is a Chinese New Years celebration going down in my kitchen.
That`s all I wanted to say.

Peace out

Mind the bumps

2009-01-24T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hooters baby!

One of the decorations in the restaurant:

Friday night was the time for visiting a famous historical American institution:
Hooters!

For those of you who haven`t heard of this all-american awesome concept, it is a restaurant/bar chain, where all servers are female (with hooters) wearing shorts
(borderline panties based on size) and tight tops.
Now, what more can a Norwegian girl ask for on a friday night?
Beats me!

In order to preserve my confidence I decided that all the beautiful girls working there for sure are stupid. It helped.
Anyway, here I am, in my burka with my two hooter-hotties :

PS. There is a small chance my good friend Lloyd might have enjoyed this visit too.

Smack that!

2009-01-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

I just remembered that I have to share with you the special feeling of Akon`s "smack that" played by a school band! It truly is a beautiful song..deep lyrics to.

So I`ll let you enjoy that:

Apart from that I`ve spent the entire day like a high school student,
or, almost anyway. I`ve been the shadow of a 14year old boy through his day,
and it was quite interesting. Observation 1) they say the pledge of allegiance to the flag every morning. Observation 2) their days are from 08.10-15.16. Observation 3) they can choose cool subjects like "3D graphic design" from 9th grade (when they`re 14!). Observation 4) some 14 year old boys are really polite and mature, chivalry is not dead in the US!

More basketball!

2009-01-21T05:33:00.000-08:00

So, me and Lloyd went to another basketball game, and this time we won!

We also discovered the fact that those who get there first get the best student seats, it isn`t related to numbers where you are placed..so this time, we sat almost courtside baby! I think that`s why the team did so well..they could feel our good energy! I take full credit!

And I also re-discovered the pleasure in popcorn, it`s so nice to grab into my box of popcorn, pull up a fist full, aim it where I think my mouth might be (I`m not sure as I`m still watching the game with full concentration) push the hand against my face, open my mouth and hope that at least a few popcorns find their way.
Then I look down at my sweater and realize that 90% of the popcorn ended up in my hair..man, I feel like a woman! :)

"Pedagogue"

2009-01-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

I learn new words over here every day, and today I am proud to bring you the accurate definition of the word "pedagogue": a teacher, especially one who is dull and narrow-minded.

It seems being dull and narrow-minded is something deeply embedded in all teachers.

I was making a vocabulary quiz for my students today, and I felt extremely funny when I wrote:
"Please fill in the right word.
Miss Vasset is about to start teaching and we hope that she isn`t a typical __________"

I think I`m hilarious, but I just realized that the fact that I feel this was very funny might in fact confirm that I am dull?

Well, what can I do? keep laughing at my own jokes.

Martin, Barack and Tupac

2009-01-18T16:11:00.001-08:00

So, two big days in the US are coming up:

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday the 19th of January,
where we celebrate the birthday of MLK (which was the 15th of Jan. but is always celebrated on the third Monday in January), for his Civil Rights efforts and protests about racial discrimination...

and what better way to celebrate than to inaugurate Barack Obama as the first black President in the US on Tuesday the 20th of January, both for Democrats and Republicans?

Tupac was wrong! ("and though it seems heaven sent, we ain`t ready to see a black president")

Happy MLK day and happy inauguration day! :)

US address

2009-01-18T15:13:00.001-08:00

So, I keep throwing my US contact information at you,
take it or leave it, here`s my address:

(didn`t get myself a US name yet, so the name is still the same)
301C Garban Hall, White Course, University Park
Weston Community Center
Pennsylvania 16802
USA

I`m adding a picture that shows how serious me and Lloyd are about fitting in over here..we walk around in our Penn State sweaters trying to be just like the locals:

US cellphone

2009-01-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

I finally got an american number:
001 814-206-4869 :)

My Norwegian phone does not want to charge, so I am not able to receive or send any sms from it sadly. So if I`m not answering it`s not cause I`m being rude

Today me and Lloyd went to WalMart..it`s HUGE (like everything else).
But we have both unanimously agreed that it`s too cold right now..forecasts say that it`s between -11 and -15. Wow.
I guess I`m not a viking after all ..she said (and climbed under a truckload of blankets:))

Norway is in Europe, right?

2009-01-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

Take a look at some pictures from my first 5 days in the US:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=206024&l=2f1d8&id=736410091

Everything is bigger over here!

2009-01-15T11:35:00.001-08:00

Yes, sometimes the people too.
But most definitely school sporting events!
Take a look at this video of a basketball game between the school teams of Penn State and Michigan State, it`s HUUUUGE! a bit different from the NTNUI games I`d say!

PS. We lost, but only by a few points!

Arrival!

2009-01-14T11:06:00.000-08:00

Hi again people (the 2 people reading this blog might be Ida and myself, but whatever..HI, anyway!:))

I have safely arrived in the US, after a sprint through Heathrow airport, and A LOT of security checks..I would tell u how many but I lost count right around number 5.
We received a warm welcome here in State College and I`m settled in to my new room (not nearly as nice or cheap as Moholt sadly but it`s ok!).

I have discovered that State College the city is covered in University buildings so there are students everywhere, which is great! :)

My mentor in the high school where I will be teaching (get this:) advanced (!!) English is very nice, and I`ll be starting tomorrow. I`m sad to report that there are no metal detectors by the doors of the school building (aka dangerous minds), but I`ll try to find some drama elsewhere.

In an attempt to blend in I have eaten a lot of burgers, said "awesome!!!" 50 times per day, and to top it off, tonight me and the other norwegian student (lloyd) will be going to a school basketballgame wearing our brand new "Penn State" sweaters.

The city is more or less covered with snow, which makes me feel right at home, but I kind of miss Norwegian food (we learned the hard way that macaroni and cheese, at least the kind u get on a box, is disgusting!).

Hollah back Norway! :)

USA - e pluribus unum...AK

2009-01-09T05:40:00.000-08:00

The day has come, I`m finally going to the US, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Interestingly it`s also the country (of the top 20 industrialized nations) that is #1 in: millionaires, billionaires, military spending, firearm deaths, beef production, calorie consumption, energy use, oil consumption, C02 emissions, municipal waste, hazardous waste, rapes, and births to mothers under 20.

If you were wondering, the US map picture shows which state specifically I`m going to (Pennsylvania).

JUUUUHU!

I`ve said goodbye to Trondheim, and am already looking forward to coming back the 13th of April! :)

Stay tuned!

Germany… well… hmm… I like it!

2008-12-28T06:32:00.001-08:00

Okay, the journey began in Oslo, visited a couple of friends there that within the last years emigrated from Trondheim, unfortunately. It was nice to see everyone again and I hope it won’t be that long until the next time our paths cross.

All of a sudden I find myself in the beautiful country of Germany. Never experienced this part of it before (that is anywhere outside Berlin) I must say – I like it! Open-minded people, beautiful cities, good food, great beer and a hell of a lot of chocolate! In other words ‘my cup of tea’, which by the way the Nintendo Wii we got for Christmas used to let me know, in a gentle way, that my balance suck. I quote; this balance test was obviously not your cup of tea. Damn!!! I’ll show you, besides it’s not my intention to balance my way trough life, I don’t mind a fall or two… pah, in your face, Wii-machine.

The Christmas spirit was definitely all around down there, I could feel it in my fingers and also almost in my toes.

Most important was of course the garden-gnomes. But seriously, I think they are hiding from me, most likely they know I’m after them, and that’s why they are especially careful when I’m around. The only ones I found were these, dressed for the occasion. Pretty, sure, why not.

One of the 1,500 types of sausages. Mmmmmm, delicious!

Altbier
Kölsch
Weizen/Weißbier
Weizenbock.
Berliner Weisse
Leipziger Gose
Roggenbier
Helles
Schwarzbier
Pilsener
Export
Spezial
Dunkel
Rauchbier
Bock

For each 750 ml (3 cups) of wine
1 stick cinnamon
6 whole cloves
Rind of half a lemon
2 Tbs sugar
1 cardamon pod (optional)
One of: (optional)
rum
brandy
vodka
schnapps

Germany is a leader in garbage separation… I approve of this! High five to Germany.

The German people seem to be very warm and welcoming, they include you in their lives in the most wonderful way and they show interest in you as a person from a different culture. They also invite you to return one day, this I really appreciate,

Thank you!

From all of me, to all of you, a continued Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

On the road again

2008-12-15T01:26:00.000-08:00

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, is a country in Central Europe and Danubian Europe. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 square kilometers and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With over 82 million inhabitants, it has the largest population of any member state of the European Union and is home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide.

Okay... blaaaaah, to the important stuff.

Germany has about 1250 breweries offering more than 5000 different beer brands - as a traveller interested in the soul of the place i'm visiting I will definitely check this out.

There are over 1,500 types of sausages - will of course try this as well.

Germany is the home of the world-famous garden-gnome. In the mid 1800s, the first garden gnomes were made in Thuringia, Germany. They have spread via central and northern Europe as far as America and Australia and have admirers in all four corners of the world - Exactly, they are invading the world, I always said so but nobody ever believed me, and here it is black on white, heeeelp, I might not return for Christmas, to my family: I love you, if I'm not back the 23rd - sue the gnomes.

Germany is a leader in garbage separation. More than 80 % of paper and glass is recycled. The problem is that each state has a different set of rules on this matter - wow, amazing, I'm actually going to this place! (Søffis, I promise to do research)

Many great philosophers of the world, like Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and Heidegger, were German - and I guess they like visitors of this kind as well, anyway...

Germany here I come!

Rules

2008-12-13T04:35:00.000-08:00

I received my lease contract for the apartment in the US today,
and naturally I sat down to study the rules, and I highlighted
the rules that will disrupt my normal way of life the most:

Candles are not allowed (only potpurri burners) - what the fuck is a potpurri burner?

Live trees, including holiday trees are not permitted at any time - what about festivus poles?

Liquid filled beds and other liquid filled furniture are not permitted - damn it.

At least it means my luggage will be a lot less heavy now that I know I have to leave the christmas tree and the waterbed in Moholt.

Minus 15 degrees celsius and snow - Vikings!

2008-11-27T04:22:00.000-08:00

Norway's got talent!

2008-11-26T03:34:00.000-08:00

Hey there world - it's done!

2008-11-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

I was thinking since Exams are coming up now, and the only reasonable thing to do would be to sit down and read the appropriate litterature in that coherence, it's about time I step up to the plate and introduce myself to these burning surroundings.

This is me moving into position...

Back in Trondheim I find myself extremely satisfied with the life we live here in Moholt Alle 22, Trondheim - Norway. We got absolutly everything we need (with the exception of some minor details, but really not that important in this context, the world is not as big as it once were, for example I can tell you that Spain is now only a couple of hours away). Every day is important, every day is educating, every day we're blessed with the presence of good friends, our familys (not that far away anyway), adventure, music, a lot of good food... and A LOT of laughter. We're lucky. We know.

This will not just be the media for telling you about our travels and the big beautiful/scary world out there. Nonono, we're gonna change it!
...and hopefully be able to contribute to making it a little bit better.

For now this is the recipe
AK will sing and I'll play, Am, F, Dm and G
Later we'll work out a more detailed plan
where we most definitely will be in contact with the hotel-man
Peace and Love
to the ones mentioned above
And to the rest of you as well
...guess I need to include you if this thing is gonna sell ;)

The American Dream

2008-11-24T01:42:00.000-08:00

So, it`s time to stop talking about ourselves and start talking about travelling!

Ida will go to Germany in December for a short vacation, and as mentioned Anne Kristine is moving to the US for 3 months in January...those are the travel plans closest to us in time now.
Also, we just came back from Sweden, where we tried some of the finest things Sweden has to offer (cheap meat, alcohol and candy + bowling and kebab).

Anne Kristine:
Even though it will be sad to leave Moholt and Ida I`m so excited to move to the US!
I`ve chosen the "NO" option on all the questionaires asking me if I`m coming to the US to conduct any kind of terrorism (an example of a good preventative measure as a terrorist obviously would never lie about his (or her) intentions on a questionaire). So, it seems I`m ready to go..I just need a J-status visum, a DS-2019 and a thick selection of different forms and papers and then I`ll be on my way!

I`ll be leaving Oslo the 10th of January, and returning to Trondheim the 13th of April.
I`m going to Pennsylvania, to a city called State College, and I`ll be doing an internship as an English teacher (yeah, you heard me, I, me, the Norwegian will be teaching English in the US) in a high school called State College Area High School (very creative name indeed).

I will be travelling with a guy from NTNU going there to teach social science.
We will live in a student city much like Moholt (hopefully it will be equally nice!)And while I`m in the US another English teacher in-training will be staying in my room in Moholt (Kelly from Seattle).

The pupils "over there" will refer to me as Ms.Vasset, and I must refer to all other teachers by their last name, at least when I`m in the prescence of students.
I can not wear denim (which means I have no pants to use) or short skirts (which means I have no skirts to use, as my longest one was too short) - which leaves me in my panties..but, I have a sneaking suspicion that might be slightly frowned upon too.

I hope you all come to visit me (especially you!) :)
(just bring your nice pants in case)

over and out from Moholt

A selection of Ida and AK

2008-11-10T06:27:00.000-08:00

We obviously enjoy hearing ourselves sing.

We`re proud to be Norwegian, and we like to show it by wearing the flag apperantly.

We like to sit down and have a comfortable rest.

We have a sligthly different interpretations of how a viking would pose.

And we have our own style of dancing:

Welcome

2008-11-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

Hi!

We`re Ida and Anne Kristine...I think you know us ;)

We have decided to get a blog where we can keep our friends and family updated on our plans to conquer the world. We`re planning many small and big trips in the future, and this is the place to keep track of us.

As you might know, our most extensive travelling plan is to travel through Latin/South-America from fall 09, but we`ll have lots of small and/or big events to tell you about before this.

Anne Kristine is moving to the US in January 2009 and this is where you`ll have the chance to read about what it`s like to party with Obama. Meanwhile, Ida will keep you posted on Moholt life!

So, stay tuned, and give us lots of comments! :)

- Anne Kristine & Ida -