HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!! This is my mom. Tomorrow is her birthday. Yay. Here she is cleaning cloud berries my dad went to pick. My mom lives far away. Hope she comes to visit soon! :-) ♥ ♥ ♥
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mamma mia
» The English version of it all 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!!
This is my mom. Tomorrow is her birthday. Yay. Here she is cleaning cloud berries my dad went to pick. My mom lives far away. Hope she comes to visit soon! :-) ♥ ♥ ♥ -
Home, sweet home
» The English version of it all Hey guys.
One week ago I came home from my lovely vacation. The first week of vacation was busy, Oslo, Germany, back to Oslo in one week. The second week was all about being home in my parents house. Although my parents house is my late grandmothers house. They sold THEIR house in April and moved into my grandmothers house, in a beautiful village outside my hometown. I am always awestruck when I come back there. The air, the nature, the tranquility, the smell of the ocean, the beauty. It's just a perfect place, and when the sun shines, it gets even better. It is a place that makes me want to take walks. Im not much of a nature girl, although being Norwegian appearently is being a nature loving tree-hugger. Well, I'm not. Nature is nice, but I don't drop everything to go be with it. But in the village, called Ekkerøy, the freedom out there really does something to me. When I'm there, I get crazy thoughts in my head to move back home ... I don't wanna go live in the North with 10 months winter, and 2 months supposed summer.
It is beautiful to come back.
I thought coming home for the first time to a different place than my childhood home, was gonna be weird. I thought I was gonna miss OUR house. I drove past it once, saw new cars outside it, a new mailbox and other things. It felt weird, wrong. And right there and then, my childhood home was gone for me. I don't think I'll be passing by many more times. I won't be walking down the street I spent my childhood and youth. Home is where the heart is. Home is where my parents are. Home is that beautiful, little white house by the beach in Ekkerøy.
My grandparents who lived in the house
My friends posing in front of the mighty ocean.
Life on my beach.
Wish I could have stayed a month. But that dream life is already a week of reality away.... -
I am here.
» The English version of it all 
And here.
And I sleep here. In this house. And in the top window I sit on the computer. And look out at the sea.
If you need your soul to be at peace, come to Ekkerøy. -
HOLIDAY!
» The English version of it all I have HOLIDAY! 21 glorious days! Yay me.
The first real holiday day was today. Slept in, long breakfast, went to the banks to check if I can get a loan to buy an apartement (iiih), bought a new wall clock in the second hand shop, found a new (old) coffee table in the second hand shop I'd like to get, visited my very cute, sick nephew and gave him grapes, but he only wanted ice cream, made a nice dinner, tried to do some sensible house chores (tried!!), watched senseless realities, ate ice cream, watched Alice in Wonderland with lovely hubby, and now - geek time for both of us before bed. And another holiDAY containing nothing known so far apart from a meeting with a councelor in the bank (help).
From Friday on, I'll be on the road. To Oslo, Germany and my beloved hometown, mommy and daddy!
Uncle and nephew kicking the ball around. On the beach. Summer!!
Yey for HOLIDAY!! -
Our fridge
» The English version of it all In our kitchen is a nice, big fridge. When (if) we move out and buy our own place, I'm gonna miss all the things that come with rented apartements...
I wanted to show off our fridge because: 1) There are alot of meaningful things on it and 2) I don't have anything sensible to blog about.
So there it is. Our fridge.
The newest addition to the fridge.
The gym schedule. Not looking at it much these days...
Work schedule... One more week before 3 weeks off!
A little inspiring piece of "art" made by moi, with pics from Kokrobite, of a friend and an old, drunk lady.
Yeah, I've got a new camera that can zoooom!
An artwork made by my nephew, sister and brother-in-law ♥
Valentine's card from Hubby when we were still separated by distance. -
help
» The English version of it all What do you do when you realize you have made a fatal mistake? And correcting the mistake means ruining peoples lives and making mega-changes in your own?
Just wondering, really.
Should you correct the mistake to better your own life, or keep it "wrong" not to ruin others lives? -
Adorable
» The English version of it all 
This is what I get at MY job.
Just gotta love it.
The girl with the crown is me. I am a princess. I have big earrings and a scarf. And glasses of course.
I think my little cat is hiding in the right corner. But it might not be a cat. Never suggest what a 6 year old has drawn. You might end up seriously offending her. "It's not a CAT! Can't you see it's your boyfriend??" Ohhh, yeah, of course, now I see it.
Another portrait of me, still with a crown.
Two girls who are about to take a huge step into their future, by starting school, gave me these drawings the other day. *melt*
The text says: "In the kindergarten, you are the best."
But if I'm gonna pick on their writing skills, it really says: Selma from. In the kindergarten est you are the b. vildYng to.
But I'm not gonna pick on their writing skills. They are so smart and didnt have any help. They have just cracked the code of reading and writing.
I'm gonna miss these two creative, interesting, naughty, lovely girls!! -
summer. at last.
» The English version of it all 
-
The first time
» The English version of it all One year ago, I did a lot of firsts.
First time I got my hair made into a faaaancy hairdo in a salon.
First time I had my make-up done by a professional.
First time I had fake fingernails.
First time I felt like the absolute most important person in the world.
First time I felt SO pretty.
First time I walked up the church aisle with my father.
First time I danced the first dance.
First time I got married. And last. -
This time for Africa!
» The English version of it all 
Football has never hurt before. Unless it was a ball kicked in my face or something.
Yesterday's Ghana-Uruguay match was torture. I have never put so much feeling into a game before. We all know how it went. I'm not a good Ghanaian loser as Maya and Kajsa are writing about. I keep picturing Gyan missing the penalty.
That poor guy. I hope he rises.
If it was Norway playing, I don't think it would have felt as bad. In my head it wasn't a football game alone. It was Africa getting on top. Africa getting an energy boost they needed. A joy the whole continent would share. Showing that Africa can do what everyone else can do. Africa deserved this.
But as my brother in law writes on facebook; We will be back in 2014.
We will try to forget the pain from yesterday. We are off to the "big city" to celebrate our wedding anniversary. After all, there are more important things in the world than football. -
MidsummerWinter
» The English version of it all Oh my Gooood, you guys don't know how badly we need the sun up here in the Central region of Norway. We have had a freezing winter, with long periods with temperatures below -25 degrees celcius. For days on end. Ice on the inside of the door and windows. Hair freezing on your head. Difficulty breathing. Humungous electricity bills. Downer number 1.
Spring finally came. The snow finally melted. And it started raining. It rained and rained and rained and it wasn't hot and it wasn't sunny and it was raining. I travelled to Oslo for a long weekend, hoping for sun. It rained in Oslo almost the whole time. Downer number 2.
The calendar passed June 1st. It IS summer when it is June. At least if you live South of the Polar Circle (which I do, but born North of it). Did anyone see the sun? Have you ever seen the rain? Yes. It rained, rained, rained. The stupid weather sites online kept telling me that "next week we will get summer temperatures", and each week that came and went, the summer stayed wisely away. The weather report said: Neeeext week. It rained. There was FLOOD in our region. The temperatures didn't even rise over 10 degrees. Everyday in the news: Summer has come to OSLO! Swimming in the SEA! Summer this, summer that, summer f.... it. Who cares? We are suffering. We are so weather sick. Living any other place than up North in Norway, Sweden or Finland, makes you unable to understand. We are about to throw ourselves in front of the next train that passes by, it's so depressing. All we want is a bit of SUN!! And not having to wear wool underwear in the end of June. Sun makes happy Norwegians.
I'm so sick of having to let the weather control my mood. But that is how it is to be Norwegian. Unfortunately.
Please SUN, can you visit us soon? And you are welcome to stay as long as you want.
The funniest thing is today is Midsummer, when the Sun turns, and it goes towards darker times and autumn. If the sun went and did a frigging parachute jump, we wouldn't have noticed. So sun, turn as much as you want, travel to Mars for all we care. We won't notice you are gone anyway. You were never here.. -
Click!
» The English version of it all 
I am far from an expert in photo editing. In fact I barely know anything about it. I'm dreaming of a big fancy camera, and using my Photoshop to create the most beautiful things. But I have a tiny compact camera, and I have NO idea how to use 99% of the tools in Photoshop. But I try to edit and sometimes I am happy with it.
I had a beautiful model last Sunday, a white background, a face full of expressions. And a crappy camera, and no skills in photography. I was disappointed to see my pictures, grey and grainy.
But a little editing here and there made them look a BIT brighter and nicer. Telling me that if I aquire more skills in editing (AND a big, fancy camera..), I can create nice things after all.
-
Hello, is there anYbody out there?
» The English version of it all My readers, my readers, WHY have you forsaken me?
Am I too boring? Want a new topic? just a comment, how it would brighten my day! :-)
Or are you just all watching the World Cup? Go Black Stars... -
Bliss
» The English version of it all 
Hi, guys. Did I tell you it was summer?
Yeah. It came on Wednesday, and left this morning.
Oh, did we enjoy while it lasted. This is my table on my veranda yesterday. Well, it is my landlord's veranda, and he who has bought the furniture for the veranda, bless his heart.
I read a book, listened to the radio, my skin got a liiiittle less bluewhite colour. I felt refreshed.
Summer is so lovely in a place where you really know how to appreciate it. When it comes in Norway, we ALL do all the summery things we can think of. If the temperature rises above 15 degrees, it's t-shirt, grilling, ice cream, sitting outside in cafees and bars... It's been a great last few days. Specially since my job involves spending time outside all day long, I get to enjoy the summer more than those working in offices, or just buildings in general. I work in a garden, at summer time. Hope for more summer next week. But today it's grey and rainy.
Happy feet!
Rain or sun, we are off to celebrate my birthday in advance with my mother who is visiting (but leaving before my real birthday). She wants to bake cake and celebrate the birth of her favorite daughter, so I gotta let her. Haha. And yeah, the pink roses are from my husband. In case you wondered...
♥♥♥ -
Look what I made!
» The English version of it all 
Making things REALLY make me happy!!
P.S. It is supposed to be a cosmetics bag -
Sunday, bloody Sunday
» The English version of it all I really hate Sundays. Most of them, anyway. There are some nice ones in between, but usually they are not nice days in my book. I don't know why! In our house, my "Sunday mood" is an established notion. Hubby will ask: Are you in a Sunday mood?
Sunday mood is B-A-D news. On Sundays I just can't think of any fun thing to do. Norwegians use Sundays as a day to take walks, preferably into the bush, far away from civilization. At least, Sunday means outside day. For families. And disgustingly cute couples who walk hand in hand, enjoying a WALK, in the usually not so nice weather. Oh, how fun it is to walk around without a goal. I'm really a negative Norwegian.
I'm not really an outdoor person. That always make me feel like I don't fit in in Norway. Every thing that should be organized, should be outside. "oh, we can have the party outdoors, in the mountains, oh we can go hiking as a team building thing at work, oh, we can have the kids birthday party outside, skiing...etc". And the most shocking for me is when my colleagues at the kindergarten suggest that we should have the summer party outdoors in the garden of the kindergarten... in this wooden hut we have built. With a fireplace inside.
Come on, you guys?! We spend every single day outdoors! Hours on end we are outside, in rain, snow, wind, and occasionally, SUN. And we wear ugly mountaineer clothings. For once, we are gonna have a party, can't we do it indoors, where women can get to put on some nice clothing and make-up and do something we DON'T do everyday? And not freeze? Who says the weather will be nice? When we get home from the party, can the only smoke smell in our clothing be from somebody's sigarette, instead of from a fire outdoors..?
But hey, nobody understands me. I am weird and un-Norwegian! :-)
But the point was Sundays and how boring they make me. I really want to change my Sundays. But what can I do, in a little village, on a Sunday? I get antsy being in the house, but outdoors is of course not tempting me. I could do sensible things like cleaning and cooking and baking. But I don't get around to do it either. The Sunday Mood is a feeling of not wishing to do anything, yet thinking that what you ARE doing (which is nothing), is not what you WANT to be doing.
Ok, I am already regretting sharing this nonsense with you. Don't judge me. I'm not that lazy and boring... Suggestions for fun Sunday activities will be appreciated!
Have a lovely SUNDAY!! -
sweet, fat balls of joy
» The English version of it all Ye be di den?
Today I wanna talk about the greasy, sweet, soft, melt-in-your-mouth-crunchy-on-the-outside calorie bombs called .... (I'm on thin ice here) Boflot? Bofroot? What is it called? And what is it really made of?
Boflot is a lardy dumpling...made of flour, sugar and fat. Described in this blog it is a "deep fried ball of bread dough" with a little sugar added to it. They are sold from women and men's heads. They carry them around in boxes on their heads, while shrieking "boooooofrooot nieeee" (Boflot is here). Some more established sales women, just sit next to their coal pot, deep-frying the boflots, and selling them at the spot. And they have regular customers who know where to go. When I lived in Atimatim, Kumasi, there was a boflot lady down the road. She isn't there now. SAD.
When we lived in Tema com. 2, a young boy selling boflot came up to our floor one morning trying to sell us in the rooms boflot. Hubby bought from him that day, and since then, he came almost every morning knocking on our door asking if we were getting any. After a while he even knew our names. Unfortunately for us, the very close access to boflot got tempting, and more often than not we bought from him. Unhealthy? Oh yes.
But nothing can compare to biting into a fresh, warm, crisp boflot early in the morning....
*just a moment, AmaBroni is googling for pics of bofroot/boflot/whatever-ot*
These pictures of boflot in the making, and finished boflot resting on it's newspaper wrapping, I have stolen from a culinary blog full of Ghanaian food, called BetumiBlog, described as: BETUMI: The African Culinary Network (www.betumi.com) connects anyone who delights in African cuisine, foodways, and food history.
Want more food, check that blog out!
I'm working my way down my bottle of white wine that I won at my wonderful job, where I, by the way, have been offered a permanent contract - cos I'm so gooood. Yay me.
Happy weekend! -
life is a journey
» The English version of it all I'm back. Although I have been back from our little trip for days, I am now back in bloggville. Should I continue the food stuff? Or anyone wanna suggest another topic? While you think hard about that, I'm gonna share some images from me and Hubby's journey southwards last weekend.
All my family members, on both my mother and my father's side have happened to settle down in the south of Norway. Not so strange since my father comes from the South. But my mother comes from the opposite side of the country, yet most of her cousins and other relatives has settled down south too. It all has to do with choice of spouses I guess. My mother has no siblings, my father has 2 sisters. Both sisters found husbands from the north and of course, my dad too found a northerner. Only my dad was successfully tricked to move to the high, cold, far away north. Since Norway is a long, long country that takes 3 days to cross by car, we don't go visit our aunt for a weekend or something very often. We rarely see each other. This trip had one major goal - to meet family.
After my dad's oldest sister died when I was in Ghana the last time, I decided to try to see my family more. I was able to get home to her funeral. All our family from my dad's side was there. It is so rare we are all together. It felt good, it felt like I belonged to a bigger, extended family. And that feeling I didn't get often when we lived up north, separated from most of our closest relatives. At our wedding last year, the feeling of family was revived yet again. It felt so incredibly good to know you have these people in your life who travel across the country to be there at your big day. And the amount of support and love they showed was just amazing. I yet against realized I need to keep in touch with my family as much as I can. So, this trip included visit at my aunt and uncle's, visit at my only female cousin (and my childhood heroine), and a lovely get together at my other cousin's house, where my other uncle and cousins also were.
Ok, enough sentimental stuff. Have a look.
Looking at gigantic rock carving from ancient times. Where we were standing, in the middle of farm country, used to be a beach before the ice age melted away and the land rose.
A sign board at a fortress we visited - Fredriksten Fortress where the Norwegians were protecting themselves against the horrible Swedes. ;-)
In Oslo, I finally got to take a stroll on the new very white Opera House, that has a roof you can walk on. Cool.
Then 17th of May arrived. The day some brave Norwegian men wrote down our constitution in 1814. It is celebrated this way: Holiday, everybody dresses up, millions of flags, kids parading, shouting hoorray, eating plenty of ice cream and hot dogs, having fun. It's all about the kids really. No military processions like other countries usually have. No display of power. Just kids and happy faces. It's nice. And in Oslo, it's very, very, very crowded!
Can you spot us? Trying to move down the main street in Oslo. Tip: We are under the balloon.
The Royal Palace in the background, where the King and Queen with family stand on the balcony each 17th of May and wave to the crowds.
Lovely lunch at my oldest cousin's house and then, sightseeing, still in our fanciest dress (and national costume) with uncle and cousin.
-
Lunch break
» The English version of it all I'll be offline for the next 6 days. Hubby and I are finally going somewhere together. Tomorrow after work we travel to Sarpsborg, to visit my aunt and uncle. From there we go to Oslo, Norway's capital, to visit friends and family, AND to celebrate Norway's Constitution Day (cause we celebrate when we got our constitution, not our independence, which, weirdly enough, came after the constitution). More on that later. But that day is a very big deal in Norwegian circles. So celebrating it in Oslo will be cool. I hope I'll catch a glimpse of the king!
Therefore my dear Ghana food lovers and other readers, I'll keep you starving for a while. I hope you will make it through. Here something to chew on while I'm gone...
-
The Sunday Classic
» The English version of it all 
It is Saturday night and we have to discuss the Sunday special in many a chop bar throughout Ghana. For those who don't know what a chop bar is, go to Ghana, look for a funny sign board, like "Don't mind your wife Chop Bar", or "In God we trust chop bar" and enter whatever type of building is there. You will find... Ghanaians, a loud radio, a curtain in the doorway made of bottle tops, and fooooood. Chop means to eat, and chop bars serve traditional Ghanaian meals for a bearable sum of Cedis. The food is plenty, tasty and, yes, cheap. Going to a chop bar is a true Ghanaian experience. And believe me, some chop bars do NOT have white people as regualr customers.
A chop bar that used to be my go to place, was a little wooden shed in Adum, Kumasi. It was hidden through som narrow streets, close to the bus station. Me and my fellow exchange student found it on one of our many times spent together in Kumasi town. An old cute lady was making groundnut soup, fufu, banku, rice balls, rice and stew.. We came in our school uniforms one day, sat on the benches inside and said in our purest twi what we wanted. And it was the BEST banku and groundnut soup I have ever tasted. We came back often. Today, it is crazy to think that these days really happened in my life. Being in Norway now, living such a normal, Norwegian life, thinking back to a time when I walked around in Kumasi in a school uniform, speaking Twi, eating in chop bars is almost unreal... I was such a Ghanaian, although I wasn't. It's 10 years ago.
This was the intro. This post is supposed to be about one of my favorite Ghanaian meals. Nkateenwan and emotuo, or in plain English: Groundnut/peanut soup and rice balls.
It is so yummy. I have made a photo montage to show how it's made and with what. This is a Ghanaian meal I have perfected! In fact, my husband said that my groundnut soup tastes better than his mother's! Can you get a greater compliment from a man? How to make it... :Take some meat (I prefer chicken), steam it with onions and garlic and ginger, after a while, and groundnut paste (peanutbutter or blended peanuts, if you can't get the real thing), cook this together for a while so the chicken takes in the peanut taste. After a while, add water, tomato, tomato paste, pepper, salt.. Cook, taste, add more salt, cook, taste, add more pepper.. cook, cook, cook. Boil rice with extra water for extra long, use a big stick to stir it HARD, mash the rice...into a dough of rice. Shape balls out of the rice. Put the soup in a plate, put the rice ball in the soup, eat with your hands, ENJOY!!
Thanks to Hubby's excellent cooking skills, we enjoy groundnut soup and rice balls in Norway anytime we want. And it tastes almost as good as in Ghana. Highly recommended Ghanaian dish! -
Ghana's WORST eat
» The English version of it all The first period I lived in Ghana, I was an exchange student in High School. I was 18, lived in a Ghanaian family for a year. Alone. Gosh, it was scary. And wonderful.
One of my greatest challenges in the Boamah family was the food. First of all, I was always served my food alone. There was a plastic table outside my room, and my hostmom always came with my dinner on a plate, she knocked my door, I opened, she said "Your food!", dumped the plate on the table and left me to eat alone.
For a Norwegian this goes against everything I've learned. Here, eating dinner together is a social institution. That's one of the few arenas the family meets during a hectic day, where everyone sit down to eat, and TALK, together.
Appearantly, we did it differently in Atimatim, Kumasi, Ghana. I felt so lonely and abandoned eating alone at this table. Luckily I had lots of "siblings", little kids who I asked to join me at the table with their food. If the older siblings or parents saw them eat at my table, they wanted to chase them away, but I assured them I wanted them there. The kids were also free enough to talk to me while they were eating. In Ghana, at least according to Hubby, when you eat, you dont talk. Cause your mouth is busy chewing!
Of course, I realized my family didn't hate me, and therefore placed me alone. They did it out of respect and caring and all nice things, thinking that the best they could do for me was to let me eat in peace. While I just wanted to eat with someone. They all ate by themselves, in different locations around the house. Sometimes I took my food with me to my host brother's room and ate with him. My mother was so harsh and short with her words because she didn't speak much English and was shy of me. I learned Twi, I learned the culture, I learned that the Boamah family was gonna be my family nr. 2, and Mrs. B was really a mother to me.
This post became long. And the title doesn't correlate with the text. Until NOW.
The point was, I was served my food outside my room. The food was often delicious. Sometimes it was the opposite. For my Norwegian taste buds, anyway. The worst I can get in Ghana is something I like to refer to as Crushed Fish Stew, and boiled plaintain on the side. I dont know where to start. Ghanaians love their fish, and the bones within it. Why? It makes it so uncomfortable to eat when your mouth is full of tiny bones! Sometimes the fish is served whole so you can pick the meat from the bones. But when my mama served Crushed Fish Stew, it was fish, in the sauce, crushed into pieces, together with the delicious bones, together with green leafes (I think spinach), and it tasted...fish with bones. My food was always one plate, and that was the food we had that night. It's not like I could go to the fridge and make myself a sandwich. So most times I tried to force it in me. If Crushed Fish Stew is served with boiled plaintain in addition, you can count me out. I probably sound like a spoilt brat. But I'm not. I just can't teach my mouth to like it. Never. Ever.
So, sometimes it was a good thing to eat in solitude. At least no one would know I didn't finish my dinner.
Seriously, guys, what IS it with the bones?
pic. Me and my mother no. 2 -
Que...bab!
» The English version of it all In Europe we think of shredded meat from a big roll of meat being cooked in a street kitchen, served in pita bread with garlic sauce, jalapeños and salad. In Norway, a traditional after-closing-hours-on-Saturday-night-meal, and very important for hungover days as well. In e.g. Germany Döner Kebab has almost become the national dish.
But hey, kebab isn't shredded meat in a bread, now, is it?
Oh, no, the real kebab is meat on a stick!
In Ghana this means chunks of BEEF, chicken, or sliced giant sausages, grilled and drenched in pepper, served in news paper wrappings by a nice guy at the street corner, often referred to as Lambert, or the kebab guy.
The kebab guys where I have stayed in Ghana, have been lovely life savers, super friendly guys, one called LAMBert which we found quite hilarious, the go-to guys if we had a party, or just wanted to enjoy these delicious, hot lollipops of meat. I miss kebab! Or the feeling we had in Community 1 when we lived in a room with a mattress and no money to waste, but decided to buy kebab and coke one night, just to enjoy it. Or when we, in Community 2, desperately needed to spice up our good old rice and stew with some extra meat and bought kebab, carefully removing the pieces from the sticks and put them in our bowl. Always making sure we had an equal number of meat pieces each. I'm getting hungry as I write...
Me and Hubby had a nice division of labor when we had a kebab night. I usually felt shy of going out at night to the kebab stand, cos it is usually placed next to a bar, with lots of people, looking at the obroni all of a sudden emerging from the dark to buy kebab. My job was therefore to go to the nearest shop to buy drinks. In the shop the people knew me, cos I would always come there for other things during the days. Hubby went to do the man job, buy the kebab and hanging around outside the bar. Worked like a charm, but many times Hubby mysteriously ended up doing both tasks. Don't ask me how that happened.
But, I have bought kebab myself. Just so you know it.
I have got to find a way to make kebab the way it is made in Ghana. Should be easy enought, some meat, some sticks, a grill, and red pepper that we have straight from Ghana. But my experience is that no matter how similar the ingredients are, the food we make never really get the true taste of Ghana.
And in Ghana, the kebab guy is never far away...
Pic. 1: Kebab lying on its wrapping paper, ready to be chopped (eaten). The red powder to the left is red pepper. Dip it, if you dare!
Pic. 2: Me, with a cold beer and lovely kebabs in front of me.
Pic. 3: Our room in Comm. 1, with the famous mattress. You'd feel like eating kebab too, if you were to be in this room, right? -
Rice and Stew Very Plenty
» The English version of it all Today we are gonna enjoy a nice dinner. Something like waakye. The way you can make it in Norway, in Levanger, at least. Hubby is preparing a nice stew, with boiled eggs, and totally free of wele.
Waakye is rice and red beans cooked together. Hubby tells me that waakye is a word in Hausa, meaning beans. But it has become the name for the mix of rice and beans, served with stew, shito, meat, fish, vegetables, pasta, gari. Back in Community 2, where we lived when I stayed in Ghana, waakye was Sunday food.
We woke up at 6 to go to the 6.30am Mass. At 8.30 we closed, and Hubby often went out to buy waakye, FULL of pepper usually, and the good times - fried COW meat. Mmmmm. We put all the food in a bowl, and ate it together with Ghanaian gospel booming in the background, and our neighbors making noise as usual. Yum.
Of course, considering the contents, it's a heavy meal. Like most Ghanaian meals. And, as tradition, every Sunday, a few hours later, fufu waited in my in-law's house. Sunday in Community 2 is eating day.
<-- Waakye, Norway style
Today we enjoyed our waakye, celebrating that Hubby has survived a whole year in this country so different from his homeland. Tomorrow it will be exactly a year since I drove the looong way to the airport, shaking, so nervous to go pick him up at the airport, in NORWAY. It was unreal. Now having him here seems like the most natural thing in the world. We should have celebrated tomorrow, but I am (hopefully) travelling to Norway's smallest city, with 2 good friends, to visit good friend number 3 from African Studies. Will be FUN!
Have a smashing May 1st weekend! -
I just love my cow skin well cooked
» The English version of it all Ok, I do dig my own grave alot of times. Like when I ask my readers to suggest blog projects, as I did in the post below. This time a loyal reader, and lovely blogger, Nana Yaw, suggested I'd blog about Ghanaian food. For a whole week! Awurade, boa me.
Let's see what I can do. I can't let Nana Yaw down.
Ghanaian food no. 1.
Wele. That is, in English words, cow hide (skin).
Mmm. Yummy. Or?
I have never seen the joy of eating cow hide. But Ghanaians, they just love this curled, chewy thing. I had to do some research beyond my own head for this, and found much information on GhanaWeb. A whole article actually.
"Some “Wele” are hard and others soft, however it is a common delicacy in almost every meal-particularly cooked rice, “wakye”, ground-nut and palm nut soup."
Soft? Hard? Chewy is more like it.
“Lots of Ghanaians consume “Wele” because they see it as fun when chewing it"
Oh, how fun to chew on a piece of skin that you can never bite through. Mmm. Ok, so I'm not wele's best friend.
Here is worst case scenario for me, and wele. I am in Ghana, someone has gone to buy rice, or waakye for me from a street vender. Waakye is rice and beans cooked together, will go further into it's phenomenon on a later stage. Back to the meal awaiting. I have asked the buyer to get some MEAT with the food, not fish. When you buy rice or waakye or something from the street in Ghana, there is always several protein sources to choose from. You get your rice, your sauce, and then pick: an egg, fried fish, fried meat, salad, pasta, beans, gari (one day...), and..... WELE. I would ask for fried meat. I get my food in a bag, opens, put in a plate, digs out the meat and... OH NOOOO! The highlight of the meal is the meat. Imagine my disappointment when I find WELE. A curled up, chewy, light brown, hairy?, piece of cow skin. You can't chew it a) because it's chewy b) because the thought of what it is is ewwwie..
I say: "But... I asked for meat."
Ghanaian friend/husband etc: "It is meat. It is wele!" Followed by a big grin, and watery teeth, looking at the wele in my plate.
An alternative answer could be: They didn't have meat.
And you think WELE is a good subsitute? You might as well give me a plate full of lizard tails. (Maybe that's good?)
Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging Ghanaians for enjoying their wele, hell no, I am in awe of their ability to enjoy the WHOLE part of every animal, how they find fish bones as good as the fish itself, chicken bones, WELE etc. It's just me. And the texture of the food, more than the taste. I eat animal skin. Our Norwegian traditional Christmas dinner is all about getting the skin of the pork crispy. But that's the keyword. Crispy. Not chewy.
That's it. All I can say about wele. Appearently, according to GhanaWeb, it's cancerous cos of the way it's being processed. Finally I have a better excuse not to like this lovely delicacy.
Picture and info borrowed from GhanaWeb. -
dream big
» The English version of it all Write, write, write.
I don't understand why a person who dreams of being a journalist or creative writer, can't think of topics to blog on? I want I want I want to do a journalism course. But maybe I should be an author instead. How fun won't it be to write a book? Hmm. What would it be about? Biography? I am such a famous person, people would just storm to the stores to buy my story, right? Even if it was so, I have such a bad memory, I wouldn't remember all the things that has happened in my life.
I'm 27 soon. I want to have a dream to follow, yet at the same time a steady income. Oh, fellow blogger, NY, inspire me to write! I have stories in my head, but they don't come through my fingers. Yet.
Challenge for bloggers. What book would YOU like to read? What should it be about? Give me a topic. Maybe it can be my new blog project. Who knows. I need something to excite me. Life is getting to normal! -
hello.
» The English version of it all 
hello. -
Up in smoke
» The English version of it all Europe is in trouble'oooh!
We find ourselves in an absurd situation. A volcano is stopping huge parts of air traffic in Europe. Norways airspace has been paralyzed since Thursday morning. And many other countries, including the UK is also shut down.
It's fascinating and a bit scary actually, to see how powerless we really are now. We can't do anything about this volcano erruption, we just have to obey by it's rules. We are all of a sudden unable to control our own ways, we are controlled by nature. It's been alot of talk about a bigger volcano in Iceland, Katla, which might errupt too, and it will have catastrophical consequences. Not only for air traffic, but also weather conditions all over the world, pollution, floods etc.
In a country like Norway, stranded planes are very serious. Not just for the passanger planes, but rescue helicopters and ambulance planes. Norway is a super-long country. The distances are vast. From the north to the south its over 2500 kilometres. It takes 1-2 days to drive, if you drive more or less non-stop. In my county, the nearest hospital is 2,5 hours away. Let's say you are giving birth, it would take 10 minutes in the air to get to a proper maternity ward. Now it will take ... 2,5 hours. Nobody knows if people are gonna die as a cause of this, but no matter what, we can't do anything about it. One of the main newspapers in the country has opened their own "hitchhiking central" where people either search for rides here and there, or offer rides. And it's amazing how many people are now reaching out to give strangers a ride. Lovely for our cold natured people! But some people has of course seen how they can make money out of this and offer seats here and there for lots of money.
But this one sweet guy says this: The ride is of course free since I'm going there myself anyway!
Volcano, please don't blow out ashes for weeks, I want us to go to Oslo in May...
Picture borrowed from: VG,no -
Morning glory
» The English version of it all It is Friday morning. The best day of the week. And I start work at 9.30! Yes, that means I close at 5pm, but it's not the worst working hours. We are quite spoilt here in Norway. Yesterday I went to the gym for a 90 minute spinning class - yay for me! Unfortunately I had plans with my lovely friend to go for the morning class today, at 6.45am... Yes, it's early, but oh Lord, how good it is afterwards. And the main reason for going, is that after the shower, the gym gives us breakfast, and when we both start late, we can sit and talk for a looong time while enjoying our healthy cereal and coffee.. A nice start of the day, and you go into the weekend feeling that you are allowed to eat GOOD stuff cos you have worked out. Blah blah blah. ANYWAY... This morning my legs were really tired. My phone went beep:
05.50am
Friend: Oh shit..
Me: I know...
Friend: Are you up?
Me: My eyes are up..
Friend: I'm lying still.
Me (trying to fool myself and being her inspiration as usual): Rise and shine!!
I get up, go to the bathroom, and then.... beep.
Friend: I can't do it. Shit. It is snowing..
(Pic from last Sundays bike ride around the area: a flower! SPRING!! Or..?)
Thoughts inside my head: %&¤%&¤"%#!¤"#/&!#(/#)(/"!"%¤#¤!#"¤¤"!#"¤!#"¤%!#"%¤!#""!¤#"!%&!"
Why the H.... is it snowing now??
Me: Ok, sleep tight.
I slept till 7.30 and dragged myself up. It is now 8.30, I have eaten and I'm dressed but I need make-up, clean up a bit..., brush my teeth and be on my bike in 50 minutes. Doable? Yes I can. But, I have something really really dangerous on my lap. A lap TOP. I need to get rid of it.
So. You got a morning report from my life, enjoying the fact that I got this lovely morning all to myself, but right now I need more hours. Luckily the snow melted as fast as it landed, but something tells me that this wetness that has just landed, is gonna make the kids overly muddy, yet again. Oh, how fun sand and water and mud can be! I'm glad I'm not taking the clothes, and the kids with me home.
Have a lovely Friday and weekend!! -
Dishes
» The English version of it all Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned.
It's been 10 days since my last post.
I have dishes to do but I don't wanna do them.
How come dishes are so hard to do? It is such a boring task.
Give me rather a floor to wash, even a toilet is better than dishes.
Tomorrow is the application deadline for school. I have filled in my application, but I can still add more to it.
I am playing with the thought of a study in journalism. Unfortunately I have to pack up and move far from what I now call home, to do it. It's not exactly what I want. I have grown old and I wish to settle somewhere. I have travelled so much back and forth the last few years, I have changed towns and jobs and what I was gonna do the next 6 months, was always the question. I am satisfied with being in one place. But this particular place doesn't offer a journalism course. I'm gonna apply for more work where I already work. And take a journalism course on the side, online through a renowned school in Norway. Good idea? Yes.
I have applied for creative things. And children things. Anyhew. No matter what I choose, I'd still have to do dishes.
Here are the main reasons not to move from here...
This little cutie pie, and his parents ♥♥♥
This little amazing princess and her mother and father ♥♥♥
-
When I was just a little girl..
» The English version of it all 
I asked my mama "what shall I be"? And I am still asking, going on 27 I still don't know my place in the world. And I am tired now of "Que sera, sera". It is about time it turns into something graspable (word, NanaY?).
My problem is that I suffer from severe indecisiveness.
When I was 20 my sister said: Hey, I found the perfect study for you. African Studies. Oh yes, so exciting, different, interesting, I'm gonna end up working in an aid organization, a orphanage in Africa, do great, adventurous (??) stuff blah blah blah. Did that happen? No. Did the studies totally break down all my stupid illusions? Yes. Did I gain the best friends ever, great experiences AND a husband indirectly through it? Oh yes.
So it's not all bad. It is just me who dont know how to put my education into use. In a village in Norway.
Now I am working in a kindergarten, that is all I have done since I completed my bachelor. And of course, travelled. I travelled back and forth to Ghana the 3 years after my degree, to be with hubby ♥
I spent time in Norway in between, working in different kindergartens, cos that's where I got work. Short term contracts, living at home with my parents, going back to Ghana... That was what life was about for a while, and I forgot about everything else. What will become of me? The goal was hubby to come here, and to get him here, I had to work, again. Being a student would not bring in the cash I needed to prove I had to get him here. I looked for work, now in another town. But it was still kindergarten I got. And I do love it, don't get me wrong. Working in kindergarten is very rewarding and meaningful and it gives me alot. But. I am not trained to work with children so my salary is low low low. I am not trained to work with kids so my responsibilities are less than what I think I am capable of. I want more challenges, I want more responsibility, I want more money.
This August the chance to go back to school is so very present. Hubby is here, I don't need to work for anything but for the fact that making my own money is so much better than living on a student loan... April 15th I must have submitted my applications. And I can't make a choice.
I feel so guilty cause I have all the opportunities in the world. I am so priviliged. I can get into anything I'd like (except those physics, medicine, science mathematics stuff that I hate anyway). I can be whatever I like.
JUST SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT I LIKE!
Ok, I'll make a list:- I like to be creative. No, I LOVE it. I would LOVE to make a living just...creating SOMETHING, anything.
- I like the way we work in the kindergarten, all colleagues, together. Not in your own office, alone.
- I like to plan, organize, fix, write lists (but I am a control freak and having a job like that would make me take all the work home, and worry about work in my free time..).
- I like kids.
- Languages.
I just wanna create. And make money. Unfortunately they don't always match so well. The schools are few, and/or private, meaning it costs my shirt to go to school there. The jobs are few. And the schools are far away from where we kind of wanna stay. 10 days. Clock is ticking. :-S
The pictures above is from my two jobs I ever held in Ghana. The first: unpaid nursery teacher in a public nursery. My plight there can be read of HERE.
The other pic is from my only real, paid job. As towel folder (and shop keeper) at Una Agencies Ltd. at Airport, Accra.
I liked selling, the only problem was that everyone thought I was a customer there, so all the real customers approached my colleagues rather than me when they had a question. But when they allowed me to make beautiful gift baskets, with towels, soaps and candles, I was, again, happy. And creative... If I dont end this post now, it will never end. So consider it ended!
I made this... :-) Talent, huh?? -
pasqua
» The English version of it all 
This is how it looks in our apartement for Easter. I just love the colors. No furry chicken in this house, table cloths with chicken or bunnies. They are safely hidden in a drawer (sorry mamma, who gave them to me). The eggs on the tree I have painted, the candy and lily my mom gave me, and the Easter egg I bought myself, but it's currently empty. The sun is shining, nothing scheduled, just enjoying playing with Photoscape, a free photo editing program, and dreaming of a mirror reflex camera...
In the last post I mentioned Hubby's birthday on April Fool's day, also known as yesterday. If you can't read Norwegian, you would still get a pretty good idea of what happened on his birthday by checking out the video on my Norwegian blog. -
holidays
» The English version of it all Easter vacation is the best. It comes in the middle of Christmas and summer, at a time when you really need it. The holidays never end up falling only on weekends so you miss out on any of them, like what happens during Christmas when 25th and 26th is Saturday and Sunday, as it will be in 2010 :-(
But Easter, Easter never disappoints. It's always a Thursday on Holy Thursday, it's always Friday on Holy Friday. And in Norway we work till noon on the Wedenesday, and we also have the Monday after Easter off. It is the longest vacation we have actually. And I'm liking it more and more each year. Empty days, nice weather, in my case, no pressure to travel into the mountains and stay in a cabin with a hole for a toilet and a freezing bucket of water as a shower, to ski all day. Just bliss.
I got my vacation today. I worked Monday and Tuesday but almost all the staff got to use their overtime hours to take the days off because out of 57 kids only 13 came to the kindergarten. But now I am gonna enjoy my 6 blank days, and fill them with ... nothing. As little as possible. And maybe finish a book and watch a movie or 5. And celebrate Hubby's birthday on the 1st. And decide what to do with my life. And decide what to do with 5 days in a row holiday that we are blessed with in May thanks to Ascencion and our National Day. And..... sleep. -
Wedding bellZ
» The English version of it all Z is a difficult letter too, but not as hard as X. Lucky for me I have a nice song I want to share with you. Zulu Wedding by Hugh Masekela. Unfortunately I can't find a video on YouTube with this song alone, so I found one with two songs by him; Send me and Zulu Wedding. So, you can either listen to both songs, OR fast forward to about 6 minutes. I want to have if not a Zulu Wedding, then a Ghanaian wedding one day too.... -
Yesterday
» The English version of it all Let's face it. I don't have a song on X. So, I'm gonna jump straight to Y. I just wanna get through this music stuff, so I can start blogging about something else. Dear readers, any thoughts, ideas, wishes? Topics? :-)
I am giving you and OLD classic, today. Although today is already turning into Yesterday. And in one hour, yesterday will be two hours away because we are setting the time to summertime and turning the clock one hour forwards. Tomorrow will come one hour earlier than it did yesterday.
Enjoy Paul and the rest. Yesterday. -
Wicked games
» The English version of it all Hello. I am back home, hoorrahh!
Oslo was fun. And busy. The feel of the big city (big city being a city with about 500 000 people) is great. But the feeling of always being in line, having people front and back, left and right, crowds everywhere you wanna go, made me think a crazy thought: I am happy I live in little Levanger. Wow. It is a revelation. I like to live here in this small farmer town. Cos you can breathe freely and the lines in cafes and shops are not so long that you wanna kill the slow-mo's before you.
Our gang
10 ladies spent the weekend shopping, eating, laughing at stand-up show, drinking, and the lady writing this was asked to go out and get some fresh air at around 1.am Sunday night. Yes, the angel when it comes to alcohol consumption, the calm and collected girl who sat properly on her seat in the bar, with a glass of water (trying to sober up before bedtime...), was asked by a Swedish bouncer if I would bother myself to go outside to have some fresh air. I did not have a black-out, it's not that I was so drunk I didn't know I needed air. NO. I was NOT in need of air. But, oh so friendly Swedish guy said: If you go and take some fresh air, I won't say anything. A silent threat, no? I went out, with my friend being asked by Swedish to accompany me. This particular friend had been drinking since 3 o'clock and had several bottles of bubbly behind her. AND a glass of beer in her hand. End of story.
Laura, here is Wicked Game. Unfortunately with Chris Isaac, not your friends' version. -
forever friends
» The English version of it all I am off to Oslo on Thursday morning, to have a girls weekend with my friends from High School. We have spread all over the country but still keep in touch. We were a very close group of friends, and meet every time we go home for Christmas and other holidays. But, we are growing up, and working so we can't always come home all the time as before. Therefore we have started a new tradition I hope will last for YEARS. It's called Gang Meet-up. We called us the Gang (in Norwegian of course), and we were quite a solid group of girls. Now we have decided to meet somewhere in Norway each year. In a big city that it is easy to get to, and where some members of our gang live who are able to host some, if not all of us.
The coming weekend it's time for the third meet-up, and the first I'm able to attend! Yippie! 10 out of 12 are attending and it's gonna be a great weekend in Oslo. It's been ages since I spent time in the BIG city of Norway (with 500 000 inhabitants...haha). Just that big city feeling.... Shopping, good food, stand-up, a party, good times with friends who REALLY know you, from kindergarten. It's so relaxing. You don't have to explain anything from before, you can just start the conversation in the moment, cause you are so updated about their life up to now. We might not talk so much during the year, but when we meet we are connected right away. I love them!! I love it, and I hope when we are 40 we will still have our yearly meet-ups.
But, before I go, there are 2 more work days, BUSY work days. The art exhibit is coming up fast, and it means a bit extra work, and overtime. Today I was at work from 6.30am to 9pm... Not just because of the exhibit though. Tomorrow it means overtime, and Wedensday it means overtime. SO. I am writing this post to say: Hi, I'll be really busy and then going to Oslo so I don't think there will be more posts this week. Sorryyyy....I am sure you are all very sad right now. Anyway, I'll come back stronger and better!
-
Tribute to Sweden
» The English version of it all Hello.. I'm in bed, waiting for my hubby to get in so I can sleep. But he ain't coming. What to do? Blog.
Today we have come to the letter V. I knew we would need a Scandinavian song for this letter, and I landed on the lovely "Vill ha dig" by Drømhus (trans. "I want you" by Dream House). They are Swedish, they are late 90's? They were big and when I saw the video in YouTube right now, I really remembered the dancers in the white outfits... Ok, we are back in my youngster years, but you couldn't expect more of me on a Sunday night.
Good night! -
U guessed it
» The English version of it all eeey...eeeey..eey .. Under my umbrella, ey ey ey.. and so on. I'm gonna give you Rihanna's Umbrella for the letter U. But not her own version. I couldn't help falling for the Baseballs who have transformed lots of pop music into real 60's swing music. It's very funny. And well done.
Here you go! I've kicked Hubby out and spending the night with a girl friend and Mexican food! ♥ -
promises
» The English version of it all Ok. I admit this "singing our way through the alphabet" is taking looong. Not as exciting as I had hoped for. Gotta get through it fast! Another Tracy Chapman song gets the honor today. It's a song that has been with me for a long, long time. And has been a very appropriate song when I have been missing my boyfriend when we were far, far away from eachother. The Promise. Love it. -
Somewhere over the rainbow
» The English version of it all Things take time in my world. All of a sudden Wedenesday is about to end. This week is gonna run fast. It has been running fast at work, cause we are really busy implementing a plan I had: Having an art exhibition at the kindergarten for the parents to come and see. It was my little, little idea which has now grown in to a biiig project, and we are gonna have a fancy vernissage, with canapes and sparkling drinks, classical live music and a lot of beautiful (and less beautiful) art works made by the kids. Yippie! So the days are flying by with Yngvild covered in paint, glue, glitter and plaster, and the evenings just disappear into nothing and all of a sudden I find myself tucked in and ready to sleep...
But I'm gonna share with you a song today. A very beautiful song from The Wizard of Oz, here sung by a young Norwegian talent, Nora Foss Al-Jabri. Just love her version and her voice. And I let myself be impressed by children with amazing talent. Somewhere over the rainbow. -
Pimp my blog
» The English version of it all Im playing with blogspot. HTML and stuff like that. Im not good. Anybody wanna teach me something?? I wanna pimp my blog...
-
Ghanaaa'ohh, Ghana!
» The English version of it all GOD BLESS OUR HOMELAND, GHANA, AND MAKE OUR NATION PROUD AND STRONG!!
To all you Ghanaians out there, I congratulate you on your 53rd year of Independence.
The day will be celebrated in this house with emotuo and nkateenkwan (groundnut soup&rice balls), ice cream, Manchester United winning their game, and wifey overcoming her hungover from yesterdays lovely girls night/birthday party!
I've spent the day in bed... Lovely. Only interrupted by a walk downstairs to the supermarket (oh, how I love living next door to it) to get fried chicken for hubby cos he asked so nicely since it was Independence Day and all, ice cream as a substitute for not finding fresh fried chicken, only cellophane wrapped chicken. Now the room is being filled with smells of garlic, ginger and groundnuts, and when its half time, hubby will start making the rice balls. I'm one lucky gal!
I'm sharing with you today a new song I've been digging lately, along with many others I guess.
Russian Roulette with Rihanna. Can there BE more R's in that sentence? Cool girl. Cool song. Cool sound.
Happy Independence Day! -
Childhood dreams
» The English version of it all Hey guys, you are quiet these days. I dont have much to say either.
I'm crying my brave tears over my childhood home, which at this very moment can be viewed here.
My dear house is put out for sale. My parents are planning to move to my late grandmother's house, in the village where my mom grew up. A sensible thing to do of course, since they are only two people alone in a big house, and both daughters live far away and are not planning to move back home any time soon. But... all the memories of my childhood are from this house. I lived there from I was 6 till I moved out at 20. It's a quite significant amount of time. All the important things happened here, if you don't count the first steps, first words, first day without diaper etc.
Gosh I'm gonna miss it. Next time I go to my hometown, I don't have a home to go to. The only thing to hope for now, is that they get ALOT of money for it!! :-)
Since we are in the spirit of reminiscing, I'm posting a song today that will remind me of my early teenage years, when we were digging these hot guys! It's (drumroll!) the BACKSTREET BOYS, with Quit playing games with my heart. -
torch night
» The English version of it all 
-
Do you hate her 'cause she's pieces of you?
» The English version of it all This is a good song, you guys! Yet another one of my singing ladies, Jewel. But this song really has a message. Just listen, and listen well. Take care and enjoy your weekend! -
A night of a thousand torches
» The English version of it all Wooops, and there goes another week!
I am sorry. Again I have sinned. But I think I have been boring you guys as well. I'm already thinking about a new plan if I ever get through the alphabet with these songs.
Today it is ONE year exactly since I got a letter in the mail saying that my now husband was given a residence and work permit in Norway. I was standing outside by the mailbox screaming and crying. I didn't even enter the house, I called my mom first. It was a crazy day. The day happen to fall on the day of a special night in Levanger called Torch Night. It is part of a 4 day long festival/fair in town. The Torch Night is special. Everyone in town is asked to turn off all electrical light, and people gather on the town square, everyone carrying torches, and then a march through town begins. Thousands of people walk through the city, and along the road sides there are small shows - music bands, drama, artwork, dance, all kinds of cultural small shows. In the dark, only lit by thousands of torches. Magical. I hope my hubby will be impressed, considering he is only joining me cos of heavy convincing from my side.
In the mean time, enjoy Ohene. It's a Ghanaian Gospel, by No Tribe. I love this gospel. Usually, Ghanaian gospel songs are very upbeat and jolly, but I fell in love with this one cos it is so somber and ... majestetic. When we started planning the music for our wedding, I knew I wanted this song played in the background during the communion. How I wish I could be there and hear this song live...
Happy weekend! -
Diallo, Diallo...
» The English version of it all Ok, today I'm gonna cheat you. I'm gonna show you a clip from the Nobel Peace Prize concert last year. When Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, poor guy. Maybe not fun to win it when you, and half of the world don't think you deserved it at all. I don't really know where I stand on the subject. And I'm not gonna discuss it here. All I know is that it isn't HIS fault he won it, so don't beat him up over it.
Back to the CONCERT, which always is great, no matter who wins. This year I realized Wyclef Jean is so cool. He is cool, I know. But he is SO cool. Specially during the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. That's why I'm gonna share a clip from that concert, that on youtube has the name Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2009. Starts with an N, right? Watch and enjoy. And happy weekend!
And that PRINCESS is the princess of Norway'ooo...
_______________________________________________________________________________
What's up with the video though, why is it so huge? Anyone with blog knowledge can tell me how not to make it go into the right border...? Uuuh. What up with my english? -
then appears someone who wanna tear you down
» The English version of it all Today, although I'm feeling good and happy, I'm gonna share with you my heartache song.
At least it was long, long time ago when my heart was broken. I listened to this song on repeat and pitied my poor self. Now it is embarrassing to picture the teenager in her bedroom, feeling like the world was about to end. But the song isn't for teenagers. It is still great. Sung by another Norwegian singing lady, Lene Marlin. The song starts great. "You think you've made it, everything is going fine." That's how it usually feels, right before something will go wrong. Wether it's your heart being broken, or ...let's say... its getting FREEZING outside again, after a few days with some less cold days.
Anyway, ENJOY Maybe I'll go. -
LoveLoveLove
» The English version of it all Lalalalalalalallalalalaaaaa....
Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. In Norway it was also Mother's day yesterday, + fattening Sunday, meaning the day before you start the fasting. The tradition left behind from this biblical happening, is baking a type of sweet bread, small round balls of wheat and sugar and milk and stuff. Then you split them in half and put whipped cream in between.
We didn't celebrate that. Or Mother's day, since my mother lives far away. But before Hubby went to church yesterday morning, he dropped a bar of chocolate on my pillow. I took it as a Valentine's day gift. :-) I'm not really a fan of Valentine, cos it's just another tradition adopted from the U.S. in the recent decade. Like Halloween. I think it's really stupid, but now Norwegian kids also go trick or treating.
Well, I'm getting myself lost here. You need a song. On L.
So, I give you another of my favorite singing ladies, Pink. And her Love Song. In the spirit of Valentine's Day and all the other 364 days of the year you should tell your darling you love him/her. -
Norway moment
» The English version of it all Today I'm gonna Norwegianize you!
I'm gonna let you hear a song of a great band.
They took Norwegian folk songs.
And turned them into rock.
With a singer whose voice is magical.
And a dialect to mesmerize you.
Their music draws you into the olden days, into the mountains, with the mountain lords and trolls.
Here is Gåte. With Kara tu omna. -
Do you want to be a millionaire?
» The English version of it all Some movies are of those kinds that ALL have to watch. One of them is Slumdog Millionaire. Yes, it was hyped, yes, maybe it was a bit commercial, maybe the stories about how some of the actors in the movie were sent back to the slum after finished the recording, are immoral and questionable. But before all that, I went to the movies with a good friend and saw a movie with a remarkable, exciting story. Great soundtrack. Amazing pictures. Adorable kids. It just gripped me. It was one of those good movie experiences. One of those you felt it was worth seeing in the cinema. I really enjoyed the movie, and I enjoyed the soundtrack even more. So much that I bought the CD.
Here is Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire.
But here is a NICER video... -
In God's hands
» The English version of it all Okay, sorry about last post. So negative. Not good.
I have decided, for many reasons, to try and live by the "accept the things I can't change"-philosophy. I let too many things bug me, while I know I can't change them. So, if you hear me complain again, ask me if it is something that cant be changed.
A new and better week will hopefully start on Monday. I think the antibiotics I'm on are finally kicking in. Last night I kept hubby up all night, coughing my brains out, so it can only get better. The weather is good, only -0,2 degrees right now. Love it love it love it! It means no ice on the windows, and not a freezing bathroom.
And that also means going to the gym again. I have been sinning the last couple of weeks, feeling crappy, eating crap and visiting my beloved gym only a few times. A good gym friend of mine has left me though, I want to complain about it even if I can't change it! :-) She has travelled to Argentina, and I have to do our regular Tuesday and Thursday gym dates SOLO. And it's really boring. So, Silje, come back!!
I feel this is a messy post. Today you will get a song from my favorite artist. I guess. It is the wonderful, talented Nelly Furtado. Although she is my favorite, her last commercial pop album disappointed me, cos it was the special, original tunes that made her catch my eye (or ear). But I guess everyone needs to make money. I just know a couple of people who love Nelly, and the rest think she is weird. But the pop album is like "...oh yeah, I like Nelly Furtado..", since she now sounds like Beyoncè or whoever.
Aaaaaanyway. I will still share a song from her newest album, "Loose". It's a beautiful and touching song. And with this I wish you all a wonderful weekend! -
Head over feet
» The English version of it all What song do you guys want?
I'm still sick.
And I have pulled a wisdom tooth out.
And I am paying the price and I just complain and seek sympathy.
So better make this fast and painless.
I'll share with you one of my teenage years heroines. When I was in my teens, I was sooo into singing ladies. All kinds of singing ladies. And Alanis was one of my favorites.
Here is her Head over feet. Hearing her songs puts me right back to my blue room in my childhood home which is about to be sold, reading the lyrics and singing. Loud. -
About goodbyes
» The English version of it all I met my husband when we were both doing an exchange at the University of Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania in 2005. I heard rumours that there would be Ghanaian exchange students at campus and I was eager to meet them. I had lived in Ghana before, spoke Twi, and felt I knew the country. Coming to Tanzania was like coming to something similar to Ghana. Something I knew well. I wrote in my diary: It looks like Ghana, it feels like Ghana, it smells like Ghana - BUT I DONT UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE! I was frustrated cos I felt I knew how to do an African country - somehow. But no matter what I knew, I was just as much a mzungu/obroni/white person as the others I travelled with.
Hearing about these Ghanaian students made me feel like something from home was coming my way. Something I knew and could relate to. The day came when all the international studens were gonna have an information day on campus, and I saw 5 black people amongst the rest of us white European and American students. And forced myself to go up to the only girl in the flock and said: Are you from Ghana? She said yes. And so I started speaking Twi with her, I was immediately accepted into their group, I was brought over to the 4 boys, one of them was gonna be my husband... They were all quite extatic about this obroni speaking Twi like that, I sat next to future hubby during the information and I was immediately interested. I realized he laughed at the same things as me (cos the people having the orientation were very funny, although they weren't trying to be), and he was sarcastic and making jokes I would make.
The next day I went to their hostel for a superdelicious rice and stew, the best food I had tasted since I got to Tanzania. I soon realized it was future hubby's work. Impressed. Somehow it was him who ended up hanging out with me. He used to come to our hostel and hang out in my and my roomates room. We talked and listened to music and I guess flirted for a looong month before something happened. At first I wasn't sure how this was gonna end. I mean, I was leaving in a few months, he was staying in Tanzania and later returning to Ghana. What future did this relationship have? Was it just a fling, some fun?
It soon became obvious that this was more than a fling. I have never felt like this about someone before. But after about 3-4 months of flirting and relationship came D-day, the day I had to go home. I was assuring him I would come to Ghana when I finished my bachelor, in about 6 months. These were some looong 6 months, with insecurity, longing, fighting, bad communication over bad phone lines and what not. But, an opportunity came my way and 7 months... after we saw eachother last I came to Ghana, with a JOB, and we spent more time together, and solidified (a word??) our relationship. I left and came and left again many times before he finally came to Norway last year. But that is another story.
I have given you this story because the song for today, was a song I heard right after coming back from Tanzania. It felt like a song about us. About me. If you just remove the "I'd be the father of your child"-part, and change it with "mother", it is about us. The way it felt to leave. And say goodbye. Although James Blunt's goodbye sounds much more final in this song, and ours was supposed to be a temporary one, this song really touched me.
So, on a late Sunday Eve, I serve you: Goodbye, my lover.
Odo, me pe w'asem! -
Fuck you
» The English version of it all Hi.
I know I haven't been doing a good job lately with blogging. I'm sorry. I have been sick for days, but only yetsterday did I stay home from work cos of it. The last week has been crap, health wise, work wise, crappy apartement wise. Today we discovered a big crack in one of our windows. Through the last cold period we had problems with ice freezing on the inside of the windows. It is alot of humidity in the apartement and steam gathers on the windows and roof, cos they are cold. The landlord blames us, but I and my father and everyone I talk to blames poor ventilation in the building. I'm worried cos all the steam causes alot of water on the woodwork around the windows that can lead to rotten wood, mould, fungus... I don't want to be blamed at the end, so I tell the landlord. And he tells me the same thing over and over: It is becuase you are two people, shower, drying clothes... I dont think he wants to face that his building has some serious constructional problems. Fingers crossed that we get more money in our hands soon, and can afford to move to a better place.
We have gotten to the letter F in my little game, and because my mood is ROTTEN as our windows today, you get a song that might be offensive to some. But right now, that is what I'm saying to the landlord, my sore throat, my wisdom tooth and the world - FUCK YOU - with Lily Allen. Quite catchy really. -
Emmanuella
» The English version of it all Today's song comes from one of MY favorite artists from Ghana. While Kajsa digs Kojo Antwi, Ofori Amponsah's catchy tunes have always gotten my attention. Specially I like Otoolege and Broken heart, and another song that I don't know the name of and just call it "the nice song".
But today I have chosen Emmanuella, which was the first song I knew was of Ofori Amponsah. Get up and dance! -
Dagane
» The English version of it all Though we didn't play Beyoncè's Crazy in love at our party yesterday, it turned out very successful after all. I had invited 4 girls who are not directly connected, some know eachother a bit, but that's all. Then hubby invited 4 friends of his, from his language class. And we all brought them together in our tiny flat. How will this go? Thinking Norwegians are a bit reserved and dont talk much to strangers, I had my thoughts before hand.
It went very well. 3 continents represented, 5 nationalities, 9 human beings in all, had a fun evening together, sharing thoughts, ideas, jokes, music - and learned some language. I learned how to tell an Afghan boy that his daddy is soon coming to pick him (at kindergarten), I got to practice my Spanish, and Norwegian was being practiced on a high level. Red wine was of course spilled on the carpet I thought about removing before the guests came, in case someone would spill red wine on it. But thanks to a magic stain remover I bought, carpet is good as new! Music was played, dancing was done in our kitchen. It was a very nice evening!
Of course, now I have a headache but I guess it is worth it.
The song on D I'm gonna share with you today, also a live performance, is called
Dagane by Odd Nordstoga.
A Norwegian artist with a wonderful voice and characteristic dialect. I just love him. In the clip he is performing together with one of Norway's most famous singers, Sissel Kyrkjebø. The song means "The Days". -
Crazy in love
» The English version of it all I wanted you guys to start off the Friday with some real party music, and since I'm having a party at our house tonight (yippiee), I have been searching high and low for the right song. Unfortunately my music folder is not full off too much party party music cos I dont party as often as I should. I guess.
I give you Beyoncè and Jay-Z's Crazy in love... -
Behind the wall
» The English version of it all Today I'll share with you one of my favorite artists, and it wont be the last time I'll use her.
Tracy Chapman and her song Behind the wall.
It's an incredibly strong song, although its short nature. It says what needs to be said, and nothing more. It is a clear message, about domestic violence, and our fear to interfere when we know someone we dont know is struggling. -
All this time
» The English version of it all I start my new ambitious project with Maria Mena's "All this time". Maria Mena is a Norwegian young artist who have had great success with her music, and has titles that really hit home. Specially this one and this girl (me). Enjoy. -
29 Musical days
» The English version of it all Ey. I have an span style="font-size:130%;"idea/span, maybe. What about singing myself through the alphabet?br /br /I start with span style="font-size:180%;"A/span and pick a song I like that start with span style="font-size:180%;"A/span. And find it on youtube and post the link and then you can all listen, and y'all will know my music taste inside out!br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"Thoughts?/spanbr /br /lalalallallalallalallallaaaaaaaa....br /br /(And by 29 I mean I will try to include some Norwegian songs, starting with the Norwegian letters Æ, Ø and Å!)div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-1643776182412310865?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Words. Don't come easy.
» The English version of it all span style="font-size:100%;"During my time as a research assistant for a Norwegian student in Ghana, we were in an office in some ministry, dont remember if it was Health or Youth...somethingsomething, but anyway, THIS wonderful writing was on the wall.br /br /Just gotta love it. I think I have to make a post about all the lovely things I have found on walls in Ghana./spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" br /br /I dreamt death came the other nightbr /And Heaven's gates swung open widebr /With kindly grace, an angel ushered me insidebr /And there to my astonishmentbr /Stood folks I'd known on Earthbr /Some I'd labeled and judgedbr /Unfit or of little worthbr /Indignant words rose to my lipsbr /But never were set freebr /For every face showed stunned suprisebr /No one expected me./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-2083872304111255272?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
blablabla
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/S1N22RH1qPI/AAAAAAAAAjA/voiNGokxoBA/s1600-h/0016.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/S1N22RH1qPI/AAAAAAAAAjA/voiNGokxoBA/s320/0016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427812650592872690" border="0" //aspan style="color: rgb(0, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" ok./spanbr /br /span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);"I am back to old sins. I'm not blogging./spanbr /br /span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"And I haven't even /spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"thought/spanspan style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" about a new blogging project./spanbr /br /span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);"Somebody have some extra blog self dicipline to sell?/spanbr /br /span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" While I'm thinking, I'm giving you all the privilige of resting your eyes on the happy couple in front of the Christmas Tree the last day of last year./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-8559319613064832007?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Brain freeze
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/S0eTuX1Ui7I/AAAAAAAAAi4/DExYKlHNsxc/s1600-h/IMG_7239.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/S0eTuX1Ui7I/AAAAAAAAAi4/DExYKlHNsxc/s320/IMG_7239.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424466701071977394" border="0" //abr /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/S0eTX6oEeLI/AAAAAAAAAiw/4QASNzWwuqI/s1600-h/IMG_7226.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/S0eTX6oEeLI/AAAAAAAAAiw/4QASNzWwuqI/s320/IMG_7226.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424466315274647730" border="0" //abr /Ok, for those of you who read news about Europe, you might have noticed the cold spell that has been affecting alot of countries. In the UK everything is standing still thanks to some few degrees below zero and some centimetres of snow. But I understand them. They are not used to it.br /Just as I am not used to 25 degrees span style="font-weight: bold;"below/span zero. Cos that have been the temperatures the last week. The whole week we have been inside in the kindergarten, which results in wild kids, who are used to 2-3 hours of fresh air and physical activity every day. They are about 4 days behind on their activity level. Lucky me was the last person at work today, closing at 5. Cos of the extreme cold we have turned off the ventilation system there. Resulting in no oxygen which results in headache. And the wild kids with their paper planes, and energy levels on overload. I am so happy I'm in bed now, in front of my TV. Waiting for the temperature in the room to get over 20 degrees. +.br /We live in a crappy apartement, very very badly insulated. That means that cold air streams into the room all the time, while the hot air that I am paying a fortune for coming out of the heaters, get wasted cos of the poor insulated house. The ventilation in the house is also crap, so air doesn't get out unless I open the windows. You cant do that in -25. That results in humidity in the room. The hot air lands on cold flates in the room, like the windows and roof. This results in (or used to result in) dew on the window and small drops of water forming in the roof. BAD cos that causes mould in the end. Anyway, thanks to the cold and the poorly insulated roof and windows, not the dew FREEZES on the windows and in the roof. I actually have small frozen droplets of ice in the roof in the bathroom. And my windows are frozen and I have to defrost them with a hair dryer every day. (If anyone wants to know, our landlord doesnt care, and blames it all on us).br /How many times have I written "results" in this post?br /br /I haven't had inspiration for starting to blog again. But I'm open for new suggestions for projects. :-)br /br /I leave you with a picture (very bad one) of the ice on my window. span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-weight: bold;"br /Have a lovely warm weekend!!/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-6879576577019378191?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
twothousandandten
» The English version of it all One advice....br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" Don't drink and fly./spanbr /br /And don't go home at 4am from a New Year's Party when you are gonna sit in a plane for 5 hours the next day, up and down, up and down, up and down along the loooong coast of Norway in a little propellar plane.br /br /But what a SPLENDID New Year's Eve it was!br /br /Hope ALL your dreams come through this year,br /br /and if they don't, remember it's normal for most of us.br /br /:-)div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-6833317456382725856?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
It came upon a midnight clear
» The English version of it all pa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNSGsmrhrI/AAAAAAAAAig/n4jDapKn4f8/s1600-h/IMG_7128.jpg"img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNSGsmrhrI/AAAAAAAAAig/n4jDapKn4f8/s320/IMG_7128.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418765051662927538" //aThe day is finally here. The end of my advents calendar. It's Christmas Eve in our House, and the snow is falling heavily. It's actually perfect. I mean, snow on Christmas Eve? We usually have snow but the last years it hasn't been so much. But today it started pouring down. If you can say that about snow. We do our usual Norwegian Christmas stuff. My husband is watching all the racket in amazement. What's up with these people? What's all the fuzz.. It's just traditions that is burned into our Norwegian souls./ppI feel guilty sometimes, we are the most unreligious people, yet we celebrate Christmas much harder than people who really celebrate what we are supposed to celebrate. But then again, before Christianity arrived in Norway, we had a big party at this time of year, celebrating the return of the sun. We live in the dark country, and up north we dont have sun above the horizon between November and January. The pic in the post below is taken almost at the days brightest hour. It could have been a bit brighter out, but thanks to all the clouds with all the lovely snow, it's daaaark. And lovely. All the Christmas lights really come to their right in this part of the world. Now we are about to have lunch, later I go to church with my dad and Hubby. I think that is the most important part of the Christmas Eve traditions in our house, even if it's usually just me and my dad. My mom is cooking usually. When we get home from church, we eat, and then...open presents. We have SO many presents this year. Another thing that is not usual. We are 7 people at dinner this year. We have been 5 at the maximum, usually only 3 or 4. Therefore all the presents. We have a baby here too, and he will get most of the presents in the above pic. /ppPresents or no presents, sun or snow - it's span style="font-size:180%;"span style="color:#000099;"Christmas!/span/span Thank you all for following the blog calendar, it has been fun and challenging!/ppI wish you ALL a span style="font-size:180%;"Merry Christmas/span and span style="font-size:180%;"a fruitful new blogging year/spanP.S.: /ppstrongP.S.:/strong The quiz on the December 1st post, anyone? It was (drum roll) --------/ppA DROP OF strongspan style="color:#ff0000;"PAINT/span/strong!/ppAll I want for Christmas is an idea for a new blog project/ppI almost forgot... span style="font-size:180%;"24 /spanpresents on the span style="font-size:180%;"24th of December!/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-4024481402960452056?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Frozen river, the Santa Clause pic and our back yard TODAY!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNMK10ITpI/AAAAAAAAAiY/9jOrKnmJGuQ/s1600-h/IMG_7105.jpg"img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNMK10ITpI/AAAAAAAAAiY/9jOrKnmJGuQ/s320/IMG_7105.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418758525784968850" //abr /pbr //ppbr //ppbr //ppbr //ppbr //ppbr //ppa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNMKew4D5I/AAAAAAAAAiQ/X3-vNUVmXZs/s1600-h/IMG_7110.jpg"img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNMKew4D5I/AAAAAAAAAiQ/X3-vNUVmXZs/s320/IMG_7110.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418758519597305746" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNMJy0KbqI/AAAAAAAAAiI/xEl_m6X-M_o/s1600-h/IMG_7127.jpg"img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzNMJy0KbqI/AAAAAAAAAiI/xEl_m6X-M_o/s320/IMG_7127.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418758507799932578" //abr //pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-4215007180847468768?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Little Christmas Eve
» The English version of it all pa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzJxwtaOdnI/AAAAAAAAAiA/t-JtXV0WIdU/s1600-h/IMG_7119.jpg"img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SzJxwtaOdnI/AAAAAAAAAiA/t-JtXV0WIdU/s320/IMG_7119.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418518383317382770" /I/a had such a good plan with today. I had this lovely picture of a bunch of my mother's little santa clause figures (She has ALOT). They were all neatly lined up in the coach and I took a nice photo. Later of course realizing they were only 21.br //ppI have learned alot through my 2 latest blog projects. /ppstrong1./strong I don't know the alphabet and strong2./strong I can't count. br //ppBecause I didn't have the motivation to line all the santas up again, AND considering the presence of my 1 year old nephew who wants everything he can't have and nothing of what he can have, there were no new santa pic. Instead I am making you jealous by showing a picture of the marzipan (?) candy my sister has made, coated with chocolate. Very yummy, I can tell you. But eating one means you have to jog for like 20 minutes or so... Christmas came at a bad time this year, I was on the roll losing weight and eating well. And so comes the season to be jolly and gain weight. But not to worry, I haven't become a health freak and I will enjoy Christmas as I always have. And go for long walks in the SNOW. Love it. I love spending Christmas in the north. Such a shame it's so far away from everything. On Monday I left work at 1.30, walked to the trainstation. Took the train to the airport at 2, and arrived home at 1am..On Tuesday. And we were on schedule. /ppAnyway, today is the night before the night here in Norway. We celebrate most tomorrow, with good food, church and presents. So tonight is decoration, preparation, and watching Christmassy things on TV. /ppSo today I have served you span style="font-size:180%;"23 /spancandies on the span style="font-size:180%;"23rd of December./span/ppbr //pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-1715015265970278944?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
dotdotdotdot
» The English version of it all pspan style="font-size:180%;"strongspan style="color:#ff9900;". /span span style="color:#990000;". /span span style="color:#33cc00;". /span span style="color:#cc33cc;". /span span style="color:#ffff66;". /span /strong/span/ppspan style="font-size:180%;"strongspan style="color:#c0c0c0;" . /span span style="color:#ff9966;"./span span style="color:#cc9933;"./span span style="color:#33ff33;" ./span /strong/spanspan style="font-size:180%;"strongspan style="color:#003300;" . /span/strong/span/ppspan style="font-size:180%;"strongspan style="color:#ffcc99;". /span span style="color:#ff0000;". /span span style="color:#9999ff;"./span /strong/spanspan style="font-size:180%;"strongspan style="color:#000099;"./span/strong/spanspan style="font-size:180%;"strong span style="color:#ff0000;". /span/strong/span/ppspan style="font-size:180%;"strongspan style="color:#33ff33;". /span span style="color:#333333;" . /span span style="color:#009900;"./span span style="color:#6600cc;". /span /strong/span/ppspan style="font-size:180%;"strongspan style="color:#ffff33;" . /span span style="color:#990000;"./span span style="color:#3333ff;". /span /strong/span/ppspan style="font-size:180%;"strongbr //strong/span/ppspan style="font-size:180%;"strongsorry guys. i'm just too tired. 22nd December.br //strong/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-6434868256924841020?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Threads of many colors
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyQZNdJVoQI/AAAAAAAAAhA/wE0_zWabajo/s1600-h/IMG_7062.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 237px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyQZNdJVoQI/AAAAAAAAAhA/wE0_zWabajo/s320/IMG_7062.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414480370958967042" border="0" //aI went to a shop with my friend one day. I didn't know these kinds of shops existed anymore. It was FULL of sowing equipment and nitting equipment and needles and pins and buttons. It was heaven for my blog advent calendar cos there were so many similar things next to each other.br /br /Like these threads. What do you call them, a roll of thread? Whatever it is called, they were many and nice colors and beautiful and I sneaked a picture of them. I had to crop it seriously. It was a lovely shop with SO much organization! :-)br /span style="font-size:180%;"br /21/span threads on thespan style="font-size:180%;" 21st of December/span.br /br /I am going home to my mama today!! Leave at 5pm and will hopefully arrive home at 00.45am... Pray there wont be any snowstorms tonight!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-5316114860556455151?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
hands up
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Syz2-UmrzGI/AAAAAAAAAho/T_OaE8eWoGM/s1600-h/IMG_7090.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Syz2-UmrzGI/AAAAAAAAAho/T_OaE8eWoGM/s320/IMG_7090.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416976002363149410" border="0" //aSo I am arranging pictures again.br /Yesterday I visited my cutest friend. She has the cutest chubby little fingers. And she has 10 of them. I also have 10. So, it was obvious. She was gonna have her debut as a HAND model.br /br /Didn't she do well??br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"20 /spanfingers on the span style="font-size:180%;"20th of December!br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-3792245069009202874?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
These shoes were made for walking
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Syz75aXMpCI/AAAAAAAAAhw/z53IU95L4OA/s1600-h/SKO.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Syz75aXMpCI/AAAAAAAAAhw/z53IU95L4OA/s320/SKO.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416981415567598626" border="0" //aMy lovely header photo! I like it so so so much.br /I took it at the nursery I worked in back in Ghana in 2007. Every day after having lunch, the kids went to take their nap. Before that, some of the oldest kids were given the job to put all the shoes in rows outside the room.br /br /And they did it ever so neatly.br /br /The kids were sleeping, the teachers were sleeping, and the obroni was wondering what to do with her time. And the shoes were shouting: Snap me, snap me! :-)br /br /There should be span style="font-size:180%;"19/span PAIRS of shoes here, on the span style="font-size:180%;"19th of December!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-3966670256140323113?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
The table is set
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sy0-z4mdbeI/AAAAAAAAAh4/0s30mLYD5lw/s1600-h/6371_120325085865_534325865_2865426_6335337_n.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sy0-z4mdbeI/AAAAAAAAAh4/0s30mLYD5lw/s320/6371_120325085865_534325865_2865426_6335337_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417054987884522978" border="0" //aMore on my creative side.br /My sister got married this year, and as the artistic member of the family, I span style="font-style: italic;"took /spanthe responsibility for the decorations. Mostly I took it, cos my sister is of the type that thinks everything works out in the end... But since I had gotten married only a month before her, I span style="font-style: italic;"KNEW/span that for a wedding things don't just work out by themselves.br /br /So I made the invitations and decorated the table, and almost burned down the house where we had the party cos I decorated some candles with something flammable... woops! I know the table looks very simple and maybe plain, but that's what the bride wanted.br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"18 /spanplaces by the table, on the span style="font-size:180%;"18th of December./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-5704185802598610803?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
SikaHelaMoney
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Syppmwk_38I/AAAAAAAAAhg/fUS3J9AreTw/s1600-h/IMG_7080.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Syppmwk_38I/AAAAAAAAAhg/fUS3J9AreTw/s320/IMG_7080.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416257616462471106" border="0" //aHey guys!br /br /One more week. I really appreciate all your comments! I hope you are gonna come with great ideas for the next week...after Thursday. I can't believe it's almost Christmas. I have never gone home as late as the 21st December before... I've always been a student or doing nothing, so I have had a lot of time home before Christmas. But now I'm a working class hero and I'm lucky enough to get the whole Christmas week off! Thanks to my lovely work and lovlier boss.br /br /br /The ideas for pictures are getting few. I carry my camera all the time but the problem is that when I go to work it's dark and when I go home from work it's dark, so I can't really snap anything on the way. I can't post pictures from work, that's not allowed. So. Today you get to enjooy the picture of 17 Norwegian Kroner. It's a 10 and 7 1s.br /br /About what is left in my wallet after the Christmas presents shopping. :-)br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"17 /spanKroner on the span style="font-size:180%;"17th of December/span.br /br /And for those interested, we didn't get -23 degrees today. Only -14,5...br /Now I'm just waiting to feel like wanting to clean. Got it?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-125762748100258456?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
in the footsteps of yesterday
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyaraJjmLbI/AAAAAAAAAhY/M87CB-SXojM/s1600-h/DSCF5683.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyaraJjmLbI/AAAAAAAAAhY/M87CB-SXojM/s320/DSCF5683.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415204067689770418" border="0" //aOk, follow up from yesterday.br /br /Here are the gingerbread cookies in full. Full of yummy nonstops... So sorry they are not in MY house. But they will be. On the 22nd. Me and hubby will definitely be baking the compulsory gingerbread cookies, in my mother's kitchen. Home sweet home....br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"16/span gingerbread cookies on the span style="font-size:180%;"16th of December./spanbr /br /They have reported 23 degrees below zero tomorrow. Centigrades, not Fahrenheit. - 23!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-1111487820889836312?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
snow snow nonstop (xmas wish)
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyadXTnX4UI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/6rnetPONBuI/s1600-h/DSCF5680.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyadXTnX4UI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/6rnetPONBuI/s320/DSCF5680.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415188625687568706" border="0" //aThe inspirator of my blog advent calendar has been forced to contribute with a picture.br /br /This will be a short post. Christmas is coming too fast, I think there is something I have to do that I haven't done before I travel home on Monday, but I can't put my finger on it...br /br /Anyway, this is an excerpt (?) of Guros gingerbread house. We decorate with icing sugar and nonstop. Nonstops are color coated chocolate chips. Compulsory for gingerbread decoration....br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"15/span nonstops on the span style="font-size:180%;"15th of December./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-1731255928308848588?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Buttons up!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyQb-Iuj_fI/AAAAAAAAAhI/74s4FUD3f0Y/s1600-h/IMG_7061.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyQb-Iuj_fI/AAAAAAAAAhI/74s4FUD3f0Y/s320/IMG_7061.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414483406314798578" border="0" //aSo I found all these buttons in a shop in Trondheim. Love Trondheim. I'm quite indifferent to buttons, but they were cool, and together and many.br /br /Today we are lighting the span style="font-size:130%;"Christmas Tree/span in the Kindergarten after work. It's a gathering for the kids and parents. Hot dogs, Santa Claus is visiting, lottery, christmas carols... and they have reported span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"R-A-I-N/span!br /br /Ugly ugly ugly rain. We want span style="font-size:180%;"snow/span. We live almost at the North Pole. Give us snow, damn it!br /br /Ok. I will relax. span style="font-size:180%;"14/span buttons on the span style="font-size:180%;"14th of December./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-5846167404639774252?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Everyone is an expert
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyFVP6-emsI/AAAAAAAAAgg/E11F1_iLwHY/s1600-h/mor+og+far+%28105%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyFVP6-emsI/AAAAAAAAAgg/E11F1_iLwHY/s320/mor+og+far+%28105%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413701959093754562" border="0" //aWhen my parents visited me and my husband in Ghana two years ago, we took them round. Of course we visited my "hometown" Kumasi.br /On the way back from the Garden City, we got a ride with hubby's sister's work car. We thought this was gonna make us get back to Accra faster than the dreaded Slow Transport Company (STC). We were wrong.br /br /First of all, all the ladies had to do an hours shopping in Ejisu. They left the bus, were gone for an hour, and came back with half of Ejisu's plantain population. My parents watched in awe as they stuffed the bus beyond full with plantain and other tubers. There were no ways in or out of the bus anymore.br /br /Not to our suprise, along the way the tyre exploded. Heavy load? Anyway.br /The equipment used to fix tyres and such things hadn't been used forever and had rusted into the car - it was stuck. So what happens? Yes, the "Everyone is an expert" phenomenon hits all the guys. But that didnt help. What helped was a truck from Mali with two REAL men inside, that had equipment and skills, and heart. Bless them for stopping, my mom was about to boil away. It was noon.br /br /So in the picture there should be span style="font-size:180%;"13 /spanexperts on the span style="font-size:180%;"13th of December./span Can you spot them all?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-8074676638285741891?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Confused
» The English version of it all Nobody wants to tell me that I posted two posts on the 9th of December, cos nobody wants to tell me what a moron I am :-) Sorry for being so unprofessional, I'll straighten myself up!!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-231124804328112501?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
On the 12th day of Christmas...
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyFdHaiOiII/AAAAAAAAAg4/G-Ka3WwKxWA/s1600-h/oktober+%2889%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyFdHaiOiII/AAAAAAAAAg4/G-Ka3WwKxWA/s320/oktober+%2889%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413710609039394946" border="0" //a12 cute kids from the nursery I worked in in Tema in 2007.br /br /They are actually lining up here to sing the national anthem and recite the Lord's prayer.br /br /But who cares when there is a weird obroni there with a camera?br /br /Let's look at teacher Ama instead!br /br /Lovely, wild kids.br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"12/span is the number, on the span style="font-size:180%;"12th of December/span!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-5489900409350539924?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Go go go HIGH!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyFYrFSgwLI/AAAAAAAAAgo/H-JNX0PfKOM/s1600-h/ghana+-+moroccoo+%2834%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyFYrFSgwLI/AAAAAAAAAgo/H-JNX0PfKOM/s320/ghana+-+moroccoo+%2834%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413705724253487282" border="0" //a"Just put a picture of a football team", hubby says when I'm worrying about how to find a picture with 11 things in it. I don't feel like going out looking for a football team, so I look at my external harddisk.br /br /And what do I find? Ghana vs. Morocco in the African Cup of Nations in 2008. We were there, at Ohene Djan magnificent stadium, after waiting, wondering, pushing in the Post Office to get a ticket to the game. Weee, I was so happy. And it was SO exciting. And we won! Yay!!br /br /On the field there are span style="font-size:180%;"11/span people, Morrocans, Ghanaians and the referee, on the span style="font-size:180%;"11th of December./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-4830717025741711037?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Yum, yum, give me some!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyANGrG0xuI/AAAAAAAAAgY/bv0kxYKnqBE/s1600-h/IMG_7056.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyANGrG0xuI/AAAAAAAAAgY/bv0kxYKnqBE/s320/IMG_7056.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413341160401061602" border="0" //aYummy! This is Christmas in Norway. Klementiner. What is that in English? My husband calls them tangerines. Whatever it's called, they are small oranges and taste like Christmas cos for some reason, we buy these in excess in Christmas.br /br /I guess they are in season somewhere during this time of year, and that's why they happened to be a December phenomenon here in the North. It's not like we grow them here exactly.br /br /I buy bunches of them. I love them and they are cheap AND healthy! 3 in 1! 3br /br /br / Here are span style="font-size:180%;"10/span of them on the span style="font-size:180%;"10th of December./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-1259454552996616258?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
A star is shining tonight
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyAIhUbeFHI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/tzqHC4KjcVQ/s1600-h/IMG_7053.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SyAIhUbeFHI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/tzqHC4KjcVQ/s320/IMG_7053.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413336120611968114" border="0" //aspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /This is the holiest hourbr /Heaven is now in sightbr /Listen to bells that are chimingbr /Christmas has come tonightbr /br /Sweet are the voices high abovebr /Singing of peace and of lovebr /All of the world is filled with lightbr /A star is shining tonightbr /br /Now he is resting among usbr /On Bethlehem's golden strawbr /Night giving way as we stand herebr /Watching this child with awe/spanbr /br /This is one of my favorite Christmas carols, translated into English from Norwegian. If you wanna hear the Norrwegian version, click a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZmeUCtrcs"here/a. And, if you wanna hear my husband's choir back in Ghana sing the song in Norwegian, click a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLgUhNeqKDg"here!!/a (He is gonna kill me now...)br /br /Anyway, a star is shining tonight, and span style="font-size:180%;"9/span candles are shining on my red IKEA plate on the span style="font-size:180%;"9th of December.br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-7248135285679363473?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Marry me!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sx66kjcXeVI/AAAAAAAAAgA/qzq5SRMiV9A/s1600-h/IMG_5553.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sx66kjcXeVI/AAAAAAAAAgA/qzq5SRMiV9A/s320/IMG_5553.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412968939298191698" border="0" //aWow. This project of mine is getting harder and harder each day of December that passes. It might have to do with the fact that the numers are increasing fast! Until now I have found pictures that I have already taken that fit with the numbers, but I might have to start arranging pictures.. Or take my camera everywhere and take pictures of numerous things. I see all the kids everyday and think: Oh, how easy it would be to take pictures from work, but of course it's not something I would do!br /br /Today the choice fell on wedding invitations. These are my sister's wedding invitations, that I made for her wedding in August this year. I was very content with them. Simple yet classy and beautiful. Me like. She also liked them, luckily. :-)br /br /span style="font-size: 180%;"9/span invitations on the span style="font-size: 180%;"9th/span of December.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-712922335083999606?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Happy Birthday!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sx62lZ9zr3I/AAAAAAAAAf4/z1bKpbpFowQ/s1600-h/IMG_6951.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sx62lZ9zr3I/AAAAAAAAAf4/z1bKpbpFowQ/s320/IMG_6951.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412964555887456114" border="0" //abr /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /br /Today is my span style="font-size:130%;"sister in law's birthday!/span Hooray for her!br /Therefore, a birthday cake in her honor. This birthday cake isn't very tasty. It is made of wood.br /br /It was our birthday present for a little angel whose 2nd birthday passed a few weeks ago. She has a little play kitchen in her house, and there are all these beautiful wooden toys, food shaped, that you can buy. Kids have so many toys nowadays, much more than they need. So if I'm first buying for kids, I want it to be a little educational (cake??) and good quality. Not only Fisher Price plastic fantastic! So I was very happy with this cake, and the birthday girl seemed to like it too!br /br /Now you are thinking: what has this got to do with number span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" 8/span? Try to count the decorations/candles on the cake.br /br /Yep, it's span style="font-size:180%;"8/span little removable thingies on the cake on the span style="font-size:180%;"8th/span of December!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-595964363481839411?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Friends forever
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxuMEzFwqxI/AAAAAAAAAfo/u1HldRH_abc/s1600-h/DSC01710.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 256px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxuMEzFwqxI/AAAAAAAAAfo/u1HldRH_abc/s320/DSC01710.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412073391277517586" border="0" //aOn a special day now 5 months ago, this picture was taken. The girls in the photo are representing my gang of girlfriends from my hometown where I grew up. We were tight back then, in high school. We were a group of 7-8 girls and we called ourselvesbr /span style="font-size:180%;""the gang"./span Cheezy? But so good to have someone you are so span style="font-size:130%;"comfortable /spanwith. After high school we spread all over, and we dont talk on the phone every day or meet all the time. We meet when we go home for summer or Christmas. We have also started a tradition called "gang get together", which have been arranged on two different cities in Norway. Those who are able, travel there, and we meet and have a smashing weekend together.br /This picture is taken on my wedding day. For my wedding, it was really important that I was able to get guests from all sides of my life, and I invited all the gang for the wedding. 5 of them made it, and I'm SO happy they came! I had friends there from uni and from my time in Ghana, but these friends are the oldest, the ones who come from where I come from, and who knows my whole background. And they looked span style="font-size:180%;"SO/span hot all of them!br /br /Here we are, the span style="font-size:180%;"7 /spanof us. On the span style="font-size:180%;"7th/span of December.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-5887020540513054420?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Not Expect Power Always
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxgRZFJMxAI/AAAAAAAAAfA/Vk2r7ASnqIE/s1600-h/November+%287%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxgRZFJMxAI/AAAAAAAAAfA/Vk2r7ASnqIE/s320/November+%287%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411094074860815362" border="0" //aAnd maybe expect trouble when you abuse a single plug. But when that is the only plug you have in your little single room in Mangoase, what can you do? Get a lot of extensions and plug in everything you can. This is me and hubby's creation. It went well, but I guess it wasn't the safest electrical fixture... :-) When in need....br /br /6 things are connected into the little poor plug.br /br /On December 6th.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-6705997101024248257?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
High 5
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxgWqJkv-jI/AAAAAAAAAfg/HfH8ut_TFxc/s1600-h/IMG_5780.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxgWqJkv-jI/AAAAAAAAAfg/HfH8ut_TFxc/s320/IMG_5780.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411099865666026034" border="0" //aHere is a picture that is capturing 5 important people in my life.br /br /From the left, friend Vero, my nephew Gaute, on his grandma's lap, my MOM, me (come on, we all know we are important in our own lives) and another friend, Guro.br /br /The picture is taken on my birthday this year. We went to eat out and came home to our humble apartement to eat cake. And for grandma to spend quality time with her nephew!br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"5/span nice people on the span style="font-size:180%;"5th/span of December.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-3474153374537204820?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
quatro
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxgUcwsdRsI/AAAAAAAAAfY/KuQc9wUfZj8/s1600-h/IMG_5685.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxgUcwsdRsI/AAAAAAAAAfY/KuQc9wUfZj8/s320/IMG_5685.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411097436625913538" border="0" //a4 little Norwegian angels in their traditional wear, captured on the beautiful 17th of May this year. At a celebration arrangement, traditional folk music was played and dancers performed Norwegian traditional dance.br /br /But someone else also wanted to join in and stole the show. So cute.br /br /span style="font-size:180%;"4/span little angels on the span style="font-size:180%;"4th span style="font-size:100%;"of December./spanbr //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-5883774066527100909?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Nutrition
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sxa82L-LUkI/AAAAAAAAAe4/quNFHu6HEzY/s1600-h/IMG_7024.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Sxa82L-LUkI/AAAAAAAAAe4/quNFHu6HEzY/s320/IMG_7024.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410719641444766274" border="0" //aLately, I've been doing quite alot of exercise, been going to the gym about 4 times a week, getting up in the morning to run to the gym, and eating as healthy as possible. It has paid off small small, in both kilos and centimetres. One of my new eating habits consists of eating a new type of bread, healthier and without wheat flour. It's made from rye and sunflower seeds and bran (?) and... whatever. Supposed to be healthy. I don't know how much it has meant in my life, but I bake them myself and I baked span style="font-size:180%;"3/span today, on the 3rd of December.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-4682443760268032732?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Hall 3
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxVwyfALT5I/AAAAAAAAAew/8JpZUfltsA4/s1600/Bilde+039.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxVwyfALT5I/AAAAAAAAAew/8JpZUfltsA4/s320/Bilde+039.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410354539973529490" border="0" //aHall 3 will always have a special place in my heart. I only spent 5 months of my life there, but it was a very significant part of my life. Hall 3 is the student block on the Dar Es Salaam University Campus, where they put the female exchange students, together with female Tanzanian students. I did one semester of my bachelor in African Studies in Tanzania in the fall of 2005. In Hall 3 I built up a relationship with my current husband. I spent 5 months in the same room as a classmate. We shared toilets and bathrooms with all kinds of girls. We had friends upstairs and downstairs and the first floor. We had a balcony with view to the Indian Ocean. We had monkeys and bush babies visiting us veeery close. And we had water shortage. In Tanzania I experienced the most extreme water shortages I have experienced during my times in Africa. Considering we were so many sharing toilets I guess it was much more noticable.br /br /Today it is the 2nd December, therefore the picture has to include span style="font-size:180%;"2/span things (and they have to be of the same thing). These are the two sinks on our floor that was the first place to stop on the way back to our room from lectures or town. Specially my roomate Kine went straight to the sinks when returning to the hall (especially when it had been no water when we left the building). Usually I heard her angry or disappointed shout: Hamna maji! (No water = Swahili). But sometimes you could hear an excited shriek, following by Kine rushing into the room, ripping her clothes off and heading for the shower. You'd never know how long the running water would actually run.br /br /At night during shortages, we left the taps open, so we would be awaken by the water flowing if it happened to come. And when it did, we got up, collected water and took a shower. At 3am.br /br /Should I repeat the fact that I love water? But I also loved Hall 3 in a funny kind of hatred-ish way.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-2674531824684951541?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Countdown to Christmas
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxVpom8D72I/AAAAAAAAAeo/x_tjuczYIGk/s1600/cherry.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxVpom8D72I/AAAAAAAAAeo/x_tjuczYIGk/s320/cherry.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410346673723666274" border="0" //aOk, a href="http://mayasearth.blogspot.com/"Maya/a, you guessed it. My project up to Christmas Eve (which is the day mostly celebrated in Norway, and the day all the children look forward to), is an advent calendar. I don't know if this is a Western or a European or Scandinavian tradition?br /It's anyway a tradition which includes a calendar that has 24 days. Or numbers. Some parents make 24 little gifts for their kids that they wrap, and the kids get one gift each day up to Christmas. Some calendars are mass produced with a chocolate each day. On TV they have a special advent series for the kids, that also has 24 episodes. In the kindergarten where I work, we have a calendar of gingerbread cookies. One kid gets one each day up to Christmas.br /br /So this is my span style="font-size:130%;"big secret/span - I'm having a blogging calendar. It is gonna work like this:br /Each day I have to put a picture with an amount of things on it referring to the date we have. Terrible English explanation, but you understand! So we start today with picture number 1, on the FIRST of December, it's a picture of ONE thing, And this is not just a picture, it's a QUIZ!br /br /What is on the picture?! Anyone? :-)br /span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" br /(By the way, the pic is copyrighted to my friend, Mario!)/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-3805040754318499540?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
just keep writing
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxQkuhbvVeI/AAAAAAAAAeg/I7JaObD2Q2o/s1600/IMG_7010.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxQkuhbvVeI/AAAAAAAAAeg/I7JaObD2Q2o/s320/IMG_7010.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409989434046109154" border="0" //aOk, this blogging break havent been good for me. I feel really lazy again. But tomorrow starts my new project, and I have to complete it. Day by day. So.... Keep reading guys, a new thing is on the way. Thanks to an idea from my friend, a href="http://guros.weblogg.no/"Guro/a! :-)br /br /-- span style="font-style: italic;"A little hint.../spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-3528796121490159919?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
» The English version of it all a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxAZ-33R0UI/AAAAAAAAAeY/Ld_CCi19CuE/s1600/Lys4.jpg"img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408851720410353986" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SxAZ-33R0UI/AAAAAAAAAeY/Ld_CCi19CuE/s320/Lys4.jpg" //a Hi guys,br /div/divbr /divI am around. Just preparing a special advent edition of the blog./divdiv /divdivThis is how it hopefully is gonna look like when the waiting time is over and I'll be home for Christmas. Lots of snow and beautiful light on the sky.../divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-2298157258700485553?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Competition!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwrtP8E7WkI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/dY1KtZw9KSs/s1600/1988a.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 211px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwrtP8E7WkI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/dY1KtZw9KSs/s320/1988a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407395160692316738" border="0" //aThink out a new, smart blogging-each-day-project I can start now that the alphabet thing is over!br /br /The person who wins gets to make Christmats gingerbread cookies with me! :) As I'm doing here, 100 years ago, together with my sister and mom. I'm the lovely lady to the left, with the lovely girly hairdo.. Making a gingerbread house, important Norwegian tradition.br /Cant wait for Christmas to begin!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-9166946246804214283?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Now I know my A. B, C's...
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwkIH4cQ8II/AAAAAAAAAeI/gMoq18JoueE/s1600/door.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwkIH4cQ8II/AAAAAAAAAeI/gMoq18JoueE/s320/door.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406861759138033794" border="0" //aAs Maya and Ellen have pointed out along this journey through the alphabet, I have made more than one mistake. I skipped span style="font-size:180%;"E/span and now I think that there are 2 letters after span style="font-size:180%;"Y/span. You can't really blame me though, in Norwegian there are 3 more letters in the alphabet, span style="font-size:180%;"Æ/span, span style="font-size:180%;"Ø /spanand span style="font-size:180%;"Å/span.br /But now I'm at the end of the road, wondering what to do next. Now I need a new project and if anyone has an idea, give me! I know a friend has suggested one picture from each year of my life. Interesting challenge. Access to digital pictures from those days are limited, span style="font-style: italic;"now/span. But at home in my parents house, my father has a huge library of photos. He has one or two folders for each year since the 60's, and he has a scanner. So getting pictures WILL be possible. During Christmas, when I'm going home (hurray!).br /br /But today's picture I have known the whole time what would be. A picture from span style="font-size:180%;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Z/spananzibar/span. I spent a semester in Tanzania when I was in Uni, and outside Dar Es Salaam where I stayed, lie the beautiful islands of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is commonly seen as one particular place, but it consists of the two islands, Unguja and Pemba. Unguja is the main island where most tourists visit. My life long regret will be that I only went there twice within those 5 months I was there... It was truly amazing, beautiful, paradisic (a word?), special, magic. Such an amazing mix of Asian and African culture, together with the Islamic. Herbs, fruits, scarfs, colours, fish, white beaches, superblue water. The smell of cloves everywhere. The night food market, the lovely restaurants with the amazing Zanzibari food, different from anything you'd get anywhere else in Tanzania. The calls for prayer all over the island, the narrow streets, and finally - The span style="font-size:180%;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Z/span/spananzibari Doors, which I have decided to show today. This is how the traditional doors used to look like. They are hand carved, and were originally supposed to protect and show wealth and security.br /br /Zanzibar is an amazing place, it's not just a cliche in the tourist brochures. Gosh, now I REALLY feel like going there!!br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"The picture is stolen from a friend, Kristin! Hope you dont mind I stole your photo.../spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-5575201609744904714?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Lazy
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Swg-5cmPpBI/AAAAAAAAAeA/Qb6I_FUtfVk/s1600/IMG_6240.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/Swg-5cmPpBI/AAAAAAAAAeA/Qb6I_FUtfVk/s320/IMG_6240.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406640509308347410" border="0" //aIt's weekend and weekends are used to relax, and not work right? So a cheap shot... Y is for span style="font-size:180%;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Y/spanngvild/span. Picture taken in a museum in my hometown, where my sister had her wedding ceremony and reception this summer. It's an old house where the richest family in Vadsø lived in the 19th century. Old furniture, old wallpaper, old paintings, and very cool atmosphere. I couldn't help myself and had to get some pictures taken. Unfortunately my clothes and glasses were too up to date to make it authentic, but I think I have the serious 19th century woman facial expression. Haha.br /br /Have a lovely weekend you guys!br /br /Help.. I have only 2 letters left!! Ideas on what my next row of posts should be about??div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-2079684594868873267?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
xcuse me
» The English version of it all span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" X/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-6643889596097512657?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Never underestimate the power of water
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwTnTvSyCSI/AAAAAAAAAd4/vANkFF-fGRc/s1600/n802770607_2729015_4539.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwTnTvSyCSI/AAAAAAAAAd4/vANkFF-fGRc/s320/n802770607_2729015_4539.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405699779050211618" border="0" //aspan style="font-size:180%;"span style="font-weight: bold;"W/spanater/span is something I like alot. I grew up in Norway, used to constant flow of water and electricity and all that. Living the sweet, comfortable life. Of course not knowing myself how well off I actually was. Until I experienced water shortages in Ghana. In Tanzania. After experiencing 5 days in a row without any water, while living in a student dorm in Tanzania, sharing 1 toilet with 7 girls. Or after days without water in Ghana, while sharing a toilet with a a href="http://amabroni.blogspot.com/2008/07/intro.html"family of 5 /a+ all their friends and neighbors. After taking a bath in bottled water, or after buying a bag of sachet water, cutting them up and pouring them in a bucket to later use it for bathing. Washing clothes with a deciliter of water cos you have to save. Waking up early and run down 7 floors to fill up all you have that can carry water from the water tank on campus before its empty. I could go on and on.br /br /No matter how priviliged I was before, I HAVE LEARNED. Water is so basic. The presence of water decides how your day is gonna be. I love water. And it's a human right. And, it starts with span style="font-size:180%;"W./span The picture is from Tanzania, on an incredibly hot day.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-2915914137101519535?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div -
Home, sweet home!
» The English version of it all a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwMZjvF-fYI/AAAAAAAAAdo/RWFzURB9tpA/s1600/n703161252_88872_2596%5B1%5D.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwMZjvF-fYI/AAAAAAAAAdo/RWFzURB9tpA/s320/n703161252_88872_2596%5B1%5D.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405192079502376322" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwMagnvfYLI/AAAAAAAAAdw/MgvnIE1li2g/s1600/n500954791_53029_4932%5B1%5D.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5T1QxuE8xbI/SwMagnvfYLI/AAAAAAAAAdw/MgvnIE1li2g/s320/n500954791_53029_4932%5B1%5D.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405193125501034674" border="0" //abr /I've spent the whole evening looking for a picture starting with U. Getting more and more annoyed at how hard it was. Not remembering that span style="font-style: italic;"yesterday/span was the U-day. Today is V and Very easy. V is fospan style="font-size:180%;"span style="font-size:100%;"r/spanspan style="font-weight: bold;" V/spanadsø/span span style="font-size:180%;"/span, my hometown, where I spent the first 18 years of my life before I jumped on a plane headed for Ghana. It's a small town, far north in Norway, with about 6000 something inhabitants. Here it is in the dark. I live right below the Hill from where the photo is taken. The big lighted area right below is my primary school.br /br /In the next pic, taken from the air, you can see parts of the city covered in snow. The island in the top of the picture was actually the real Vadsø. Vadsø means Water Island, and the first known settlements in this area was on that island, rather than on the mainland. It's a nice place, come visit! :-)div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2494012953748530791-3193952583642485845?l=amabroni.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
