Ice fishing & Friluftsbarnehagen & ! ! ! ! !

A couple of months ago;

My friend: ''...., we went for ice-fishing in Roros! It was so nice!''
Me: ''Oh my God! Ice-fishing?? Really?? You're crazy!!!''

Oh well, as if it was the first time I said it here or the first time that I said it and soon after I tried it myself !! :) I'm so unreliable... :P

So there I was on a frozen lake with great people, lighting a fire on ice (!! yes, to my surprise this is actually possible!!!), opening holes with a drill almost of my height and waiting to fool some fishes!! In total having excellent time!

In greek we have a saying when we want to say that we did nothing useful or important that goes like 'I made a hole on the water'. Since ice-fishing I know first hand why Norwegians would never come up with such a phrase!!! Pretty demanding thing to do!

We caught 4 or 5 fishes but after some point I was too busy skiing that I stopped taking photos!!!
Yes, yes skiing, ME, skiing!! & Did I stress it enough?? ME SKIING!!!  

Recently it happened to me  my mouth to spell 'the magic' words; 

'What? You applied for friluftsbarnehagen?? You're are crazy!!' 

Definition of friluftsbarnehagen; An open air preschool!! Tobbles spending almost the whole day outdoors in a place that the mean winter temperature is -10C or even less! Yes,to everyone's surprise  that thing exists in Norway!! It's popular, too!!!

Well, well....
My poor future kids, I have news for you!
First of all I'm sorry but I'm very afraid you most probably are going to attend one!!!!!!! Good luck with that!!

PS: Punctuation allowed in this blog is basically exclamation marks, with ''the more, the merrier'' as the main principle. A budge of dots and maybe a couple of question marks are permitted only when absolutely necessary. 

'Five exclamation marks, the sure sigh of an insane mind' Terry Pratchett 

Cheers to that!! :D

Seriously?

Harlem Shake Norwegian army

Even if I find it hilarious, it feels absurd.

Norwegian songs of my heart

The order is random, it's how they come to my mind;

• Theodor 

Jeg elskede sjøen ifra jeg var ung

og svømmede om som en sei

faderiorei.

En dag da jeg badet min velskapte kropp,

kun bagenden ragede op,

faderiorei.

:/: Folk ropte: "Der svømmer en aligator!"

Så var det (bank bank) til Theodor. :/:

The absolute No1 song when you work at NTNU! It accompanies every single party, julebord ect!

• Sivert Høyem & Ane Brun - Lift me

Singing it at a dawn with the man I was in love! Priceless!

• Postgirobygget -En Solskinndag

Because it makes me smile every time I hear it! Summer is lovely in Norway even if it lasts a little!

• Ane Brun - Du gråter så store tåra

Well to be fair I should add many more of her songs but ok I'll stick to this which is simply beautiful.

• Vår beste dag 

A beautiful song by Erik Bye which suits so incredibly the sensitivity of her voice.

• And last but not least a song I have mentioned before.

Lykkeliten by Nora Brockstedt which I am learning to sing it to my future son! :)

• Additional track! Trondheimsnatt by Åge Aleksandersen

Shame on me!! Well because it's like an anthem of Trondheim and signals so many memories; 17th of Mays, football matches, Saturday morning concerts under the rain in Torget...

''Running To The Sea''

I love this song. It is absolutely wonderful. The music, her voice, part of the lyrics wake up some very deep emotions. And from what I saw in youtube comments many people share this feeling.

So far, I have no clue what is the actual meaning of the lyrics. Usually, I pick up the lines I like, I make a story on my mind that fits them and the melody, and I live happily ever after with it. Well, until someone points out the actual meaning. I have to admit this way many dear songs have been ruined.  Reality sucks! Sometimes it's the artist himself, sometimes a friend. Katie Melua, I'm afraid, has done that a couple of times in her interviews.

There is always a risk listening the artists discussing their art. Any art. It can be, for sure, enlightening and reveal meanings you would never imagine, it can give a new perspective and deepen your understanding but it can also be disappointing and leave you with the empty feeling that something was stolen from you. In a way it is. It's the sensation you had about it. The memories or the feelings of yours that had finally tuned their expression with it and now are hanging teased and naked. Despite this risk I actually seek to find out what inspired the artist or how other people feel/think about it. I'm listening to the interviews or reading an essay about a paining or a poem and my heart bits a little bit faster with agony if I got it correctly, if my perception will remain intact. And it happened to me with pieces that I really loved/love, to get this frustration. I managed to overcome it somehow, at least partly, as they had already become so personal that it was impossible to restore their actual meaning. 

So to come back to this excellent song; 

My dearest Susanne, Svein and Torbjørn,

I really really love your song! As a great addicted fan of it I need a favour. When you speak about this song, please, please say something among others about potential in closet, about powerful youth that fears it'll end up wasted, about big exciting, yet, far from realized dreams.
Please don't talk only about anger which is my second not the favourite interpretation of your song...
I really love it, please don't ruin it.

...or say something, something which would lead in a different dimention, something that would force me to love this song even more.

Yours sincerely,
Maraki

And for the record, the least expecting explanation I found searching in the web was that this song talks about oil! 

Jule - Pepperkakehus

I had never celebrated so vividly the Christmas period before I moved in Norway!! There are so many things to do and events to participate that you have to try hard to escape them! & I have no intention to do so for no reason! Christmas are fantastic and super cozy here!

Yeah, yeah I know the true meaning of Christmas doesn't lie on the little lights or the presents ect ect... Well, I agree but is it very bad that I hopelessly enjoy social events and cozy gatherings? I love the wealth of excuses to gather and party, I enjoy the abandon of interaction and high spirits, I enjoy that I meet beloved ones that I usually don't. There is always a ''consumer'' aspect in which more or less we all give in but if I'm to be blamed, blame me for the party animal side of mine more than anything else!

One of the super fun gatherings is to build a pepperkakehus! Prepare some gløgg, put some Christmas music and get ready for tones of fun!

Last year, since it was my first attempt I had bought for back up two ready ones and extra dough to bake one and make it from scratch. We had amazing time! Hilarious moments when everything collapsed and had to be glued again, troubles with icing and some serious stability issues that our structural engineer had to take care of when the rest of us quited! : D 

We ended up with a very unique peperkakesommerhus and two masterpieces!

Wisdom gained; apply icing with a syringe!

Makes things really easy!! And clean!

This year we went for a Stjerneslott! From the NTNU pepperkakehus page. Ok the norwegian may be a problem but all you really need is the pattern and how many times to reproduce the pieces. Go brave and have fun! I certainly doubted that we would manage to fix it... more than once I have to admit.
But we actually did!! :D

Here are some advice and photos of the fantastic 5hr that took 5 people to construct it! 

Advice No1; never remove the star before placing it on the pan! Apply a lot of flour or cut the piece on the pan.

The pieces came out a bit (a lot) uneven even if we tried hard to shape them as good as possible. I was told afterwards that you can fix the shape by cutting the edges directly after you take them out of the oven and while they are still warm.  Next year!

Advice No2: Don't burn them! Not them nor your hands (true sugar story...sweet)! :P

Advice No3: Burn sugar instead!! This is the best way to attach each of the pieces even if the gaps are huge! 

 

Advice No 4; Have enough dough and keep the oven warm to make new pieces. My lovely hands managed to break several during the gluing process!

Advice No 5; See where the two parts overlap, glue just there. Believe me it's enough!

Advice No 6 ; Go crazy with the decoration!!!

 

Many thanks to my friends for the great great pepperkakehus evenings both in 2011 and this year!

Simply amazing

Cabin trip the real one- II

Of course I survived it and of course I had an excellent time!
I tried to chop wood, to fish, I washed myself in the cold waters of the lake and I enjoyed the bonfire in full  excitement. All new experiences, all great ones!!
Ok the truth is that I was exceptionally bad to chop wood unless you wanted a wooden abstract sculpture...
I was fair on sawing thin branches though. I managed ok on being functional with the headlight on in complete darkness if Mr hobbit forgives me on destroying his front door with my foot when I stepped in his hole. : )
But let the pictures I took speak for themselves! Enjoy!

Place: Heinfjordstua
Weather: ideal
Company: the best
Level in norwegian scale: underminus
Level in mine: 3/5