Christmas on the North Pole

I can't believe I've been home for four weeks already. It's been the quickest December in a long, long time.

Christmas Eve was celebrated in Grovfjord at my grandparents' place.

The few days we were there were absurd. Grandma kept going on about:

1. Finish all the food now. I don't want left-overs. Come on; theres one spoon of rice porridge left, who wants it? No one?! Ok, I'll eat it. One potato left. Here, you look hungry.
2. Do not flush the toilet paper down the toilet. Throw it in the bin next to. (Everyone is standing there as question marks). It can get closed up. - Yes, Grandma, after 40 years of flushing down the toiletpaper IN the toilet, it will probably break down now.
3. Eat the apples now. I told you to only buy what you'll eat. So now, EAT!

My mum, aunt and grandma made the traditional Norwegian christmas dinner (pinnekjott). I've never liked it, still don't like it and never will I guess. My family never gets it, and think it's just as surprising every year that I don't eat that greezy meet. I've always been very happy with my rice porridge. BUT, this year they couldn't accept that I only ate porridge on Christmas Eve, who does that? So me and my Grandpa got fish.

Opening the presents always takes forever with us. And it did too this year. Grandpa got two presents. As he got the second one he looked at it and said "no". It looked exactly like the bottle of something he had tried before. Once the nurse was there they tried to give him an energy drink. It came straight from the fridge and was very cold. As he swallowed it he got cold all the way down to his stomach. He also said his head got cold and then his arms dropped. He was quick, he said, and saved my grandma by drinking her drink so they wouldn't die both of them. When he saw the present he asked for a rope and a big rock so he could throw it to the sea and never see it again. After a while we managed to convince he it was only a deodorant and safe to open.

Grandpa is one funny man. Just before we left he had to wear his winter shoes inside. The slippers were hard as rocks and couldn't be worn. Once again he wished he had some rope and a rock, and could throw them far to sea.

Of coursewe had to take the traditional x-mas pictures before we left. Me and my sister had some fury beanies on. My grandpa recognized them at once and ran to the hall to get his on. Then we were all ready for the photo shoot.

The newest member of the Johnsen family came over on Christmas Day. I dare say we became the bestest friends. After a whole day of playing with everyone he felt asleep on my lap.

Christmas in Grovjord never gets boring....

The journey begins....

1 month ago I figured out summer school is a vast of time, and an extra semester is easier. That means I have no school this summer/Christmas. Mamma and pappa were quite happy, because now I had no excuse for NOT coming home.

Therefore, Tuesday morning, 10.30 I left 12 Vulture St, and started my journey to Norway.

My first stop was in Sydney, where I thought I was late for my plane, hence ran to the one end of the airport to be told that wasn't my flight. Ran back to the other side again, but for no reason at all....we were two hours delayed.

Finally on the plane, I had decided to try something new. Since I can never sleep on planes I decided to hit the free wine. And, it helps!

In Bangkok we just got off and on the plane again, and started the longest flight towards London. I sat next to a Norwegian girl which was really nice. When we landed we had 30 minutes to get to terminal 5 (from 3) to catch the next flight to Oslo. Nothing to do but to start running. We got there 5 minutes too late, and they had already booked us over to the next flight...5 hours later!

Two Norwegian ladies I met had a solution; food, cards and wine. 5 hours later we had to run to the gate after emptying 3 bottles of wine. It was a great way to spend the morning.

Safe in Norway and at Gardermoen, I had to wait another 4 hours. I've never been so tired my whole life before.

Mum and dad picked me up at Evenes. It was so so good to see them again after almost a year.

I woke Thea up. The most confused person I've seen in a very long time. She turned around three times before she realized it wasn't mum waking her up. "Det gaar ikke ann" (It's not possible) came out of her several times before I finally got a hug and a smile. I love surprising people.

Ida

Litt norsk, becasue I want too, og som kanskje utvikles til engelsk as I write...Kem vet!? Dag 2 av ferien er ihvertfall godt i gang, og hva har skjedd? Vell, vi hadde en storslagen feiring; jeg, Tom, Dave og Rapha paa torsdag. Jeg var ferdig med eksamen litt over 9 am, dro og fikset noe paa skolen og i byen, og kom meg hjem ca 11. Da fikk gutta seg en heidundranes waky-waky av moi. Dave stakkars ble litt forvirra og visste ikke ka han skulle helle nedpaa foerst; melk, frokostblanding, kaffe eller oel...eller ka som skulle oppi frokostblandingen for den saks skyld.

La oss bare si at ferien ble feiret paa skikkelig vis.

Tidligere i uka tok vi oss en surfe tur til Coolangatta. For min del ble bolgene LITT i sterkeste laget saa svei kroppen litt istede. Var paa tur uti vanne en gang, og da blei jeg nesten sprunge ned av 20-30 menn i speedo! Hallo Baywatch!

Red: Vi tok oss altsaa en tur ut igaar. Va ikke helt etter plan fra mi sie, men gadd ikke sitte hjemme aleina, saa heiv mae paa toge. Dro t ett house part som va mindre arti, saa t byen...joda, blei fort hejm paa mae. Savna faktisk senga!

Dagen idag starta med HEROES. For ett fantastisk show. Tenk at ae ikke har oppdaga d foer?! Jada, blei fort noen episoda (halve 1.sesongen) foer resten kom sae opp av senga. Vi tok oss til og me ti til shining av kjokkene nede idag. OG gjett at det trengtes. Saa har ae baka kake. Eller gjort ett forsok paa det, men maa aerli innromme at den saa ikke helt ut so den sku...

Etter hele dagen med husmorsplikta skal vi nu snart paa kino aa se Harry Potter. Ae glede mae!

Other than that people have just been leaving lately. It's strange. You get used to having so many people around all the time and suddenly they are not there any more. I know I will see many of them again, so I always say "see ya".

It's been an amazing semester though, and these people will be extremely missed and hard to replace.

Blei fort over paa litt engelsk jadda...Og lure paa om d e foerste innlegge uten bilda?

Ida

True Love's Kiss

Magical!

Almost finito

Finished my third exam today, and holidays have never been closer. I do still have one left, so can't relax 100 % yet, but I've passed the last unit already, so I'm not stressing. I'll have a relaxing weekend, and then start revising (learning statistics) on Monday...Sounds like a plan.

The other exams haven't been too good, or, I actually have no clue. Chemistry was extremely hard, so fingers crossed I passed and don't have to repeat it next year. That would be a disaster, to say the least.

That's it, time for a nanna-nap.

Ida

New Favourite Holiday

I love halloween!

Sleeping Beauty - that never woke up.

Saturday we rearranged the house into a spooky halloween house, dressed up in our finest dresses and make-up and invited to party. As always we cannot do something half way, so Millie and me went crazy with the decorations - the student way.

Our living room in the making.

Everyone dressed up in great costumes. I was a dead disney princess, or more correct; dead sleeping beauty. Millie was a dead girl, Kathi a dead Aussie bush man - killed by a snake, Joe a lady boy. We also had a butcher, some murderers, the evil fairy godmother, a pirate, spiders and much more. It was all about being sexy. NOT!

Group picture: just looke at the beauties.

The Thai lady boy is playing hard to get

We all had a great night. Millie, Joe and David went out, but guess the rest of us were too tired. I know I was, and went straigth too bed and slept like a baby til midday next day. Havent slept for that long in months. For a few more details read here and here. Two amazing blogs!

BUT, the main focus for the next three weeks now is exams. I can't wait to finish.

Ida

Jacaranda Lodge

A new blog has been discovered. Read it here. It's about the house I live in.

Ida

Chillax in Byron

First time on the left sidee of the road.

A weekend away from the city was probably the best thing we could have done right now. We went to the other side of the city Friday morning to collect the car. Both Millie and myself was suppose to drive, but because of insurance we decided she could be our driver. She doesn't trust north norwegians.Me and Cecilie on the beach.

When we finally got to Byron, we went straight to the beach. Oh, sand, sun, cold breeze and a beach all by ourselves. When I started to get restless, we picked up some very good, almost-not-greasy mexican food in the city and went to the lighthouse for a beautiful view. Back at the hostel we got ready, played some games and went out to see how Byron is by night. It's alot of fun, I can tell you!

Waiting for the rest in the car

The most Eastern point of Australia's mainland.

Bea and me getting some water

The day after we went straight to the beach. Millie and I rented a surfboard each. It was awesome! I'm hooked, and am definietly doing that again. I even managed to stand up...For three seconds. After several hours out in the waves my stomach was filled with rash from sliding on and off the surfboard, and my back was burning red. All worth it.

Ready to surf

The Norwegian party outside Coles. A short time later Millie and Ida went home to bed.

There's not much more to do in Byron (at night) than hitting the bottle and dance the night away. So, thats what we planned to do. Millie and me, however, were way to tired after a busy day in the waves. At 11 pm we were back at the hostel, safe under the blanket. I was glad the next morning as we had decided to get up early to drive to Nimbin.

Me outside the police station

Nimbin is a small, small hippie town about one hour drive from Byron Bay. It is colourful and relaxed. The first thing that met us was: Cookies, girls? The town is known for cannabis. Was interesting to see.

"Bringabong"

Me and Cecilie in the back streets of Nimbin

Me and Millie. We bought some hippie suits in Nimbin

On the dirt-road home...over the mountain

Suddently, a cow came up next to us


PS: Thanks to Millie who has hacked my blog and posted some lovely posts lately. What would I have done without her?! Read her blog here.

All the best,
Ida

byron baby!

idag har vi surfet og koooozt oss! Ida er tykjen, jg (millie) er jesus! Akkurat naa er vi paa vors. Tykjen og jesus er saa slitne! Kanskje vi maa hjem og sove snart? Vi ser. Det tar paa aa drikke en hel flaske captain morgan kvelden foer en stor surfe session. Vi er like roede som julegriser, sola har stekt oss. Og alle musklene verker! Ida ber meg om aa informere dere om at hun har to truser paa seg idag ;) saa dere i nord kan puste rolig

mobil blogg!? teste egentli bare om d funke

GJESTE INNLEGG!!!!

Hej hej alle nordlendinger!

Greetings fra bibelbeltet! Siden Ida er så opptatt med å lese og studere tenkte jeg at jeg, Millie/Emilia/Milla, skulle oppdatere litt fra andre siden av jorden. Ida har vært smart nok til å dele passordet sitt med meg, så dette blir bra!

Alles ist gut med oss. Nå er skolen nesten ferdig og det føles ikke dumt ut for å si det sånn. 3 mnd med ferie står for tur. 3 mnd med sol og varme for oss. 3 mnd med snø og kulde for dere stakkars mennesker i nord. Kan dere ikke bare komme ned hit da? Ida har fortalt masse om dere- dere høres ut som en artig gjeng!

Denne helgen skal endelig Ida & jeg (pluss en del andre folk såklart) på tur! Vi skal til Byron Bay hvor det vrimler av kjekke surfere og hippier. Det blir nok koz. Båndet til Ida er pakket ned (jeg passer på at hun ikke løper helt vildt rundt på dansegulvet og plukker opp det ene og det andre). Updates fra helgen vår kommer sikkert når vi har kommet trygt hjem igjen.

Ellers har noen folk i huset startet en sladreblogg. På den kan dere lese alt som skjer her i Brisbane. Jucy stuff for å si det sånn! Dere burde check it out. Da får dere se alt som skjer bak kulissene, og det kan jo være spanande? Bloggen finner dere HER.

Håper alt er bra med dere da! Det blir nok fezt ikveld, så dere får krysse fingrene for at Ida & jeg kommer oss opp imorgen og er fine nok i formen til å være sjåfører for resten av gjengen! SNAKKAS!

Klem fra Millie!

It's raining cats and dogs, horses, cows and men....

Queensland is known to be the sunshine state of Australia with 245 sunny days a year on average. "The region never suffers from the chilly cold like many other places around the world, which makes Queensland an ideal beach location. You can swim at every beach along the entire 7400 kms of coastline at all times during the year!"

BULLSHIT! Its been constantly raining now for weeks and weeks. And its not light rain, it's pooring down so heavily that your undies get wet if you are wearing a skirt. It's cold too, by the way.

Enough with the weather report, upcoming news is Byron Bay this weekend! I'm really looking forward to get out of the house and Brisbane for a few days, relax and have a great time with good friends.

Laters,
Ida

reconnecting with the world

Hey,I decided to reconnect with the world and invested in a phone. It's a HTC wildfire. It doesn't tell me anything, but it is quite cool and I am in luv. This weekend was supposed to be dedicated to chemistry. But the time goes past too fast and when Jurassic Park is on TV - lets just say it cannot be missed. Who doesnt love dinasours.

tjohei,
ida

Give us beer; its Oktoberfest in B-town.

Yesterday, after too many weeks in isolation, I went out: to the Oktoberfest.
The party started in the morning at home. With lots of the classy good, music and fun.

Hairdressing session for Maria.

Yo!

Some goon for Sanna

Waiting for the bus and enjoying some water (Sanna and Kathi)

The impatient Pigeon

Where is the bus?

Millie, Pigeon and Cecilie finally on the bus

Cuddling-session before entering the show grounds.
Finally at the showgrounds, and Pigeon are making contacts. After looking around we found th rides. Drunk driving and spinning up-side-down; GREAT! Loved it!

Thank to you above for beer!

I also had several long, nice chatts with my lovely, big, crazy extended family today. Aw, I miss their crazyness alot. My sister, mum, aunt and cousin have been visiting my mums cousin this week. So they were all there + Ivan from Balkan, my uncle (the most insane of them all) his girlfriend her son and my mum's cousin's 2 kids. Galskap paa hoeyt nivaa! If you know the Johnsen Family, you know what I mean....

Well, time for bed...Take care!

Ida