Norwegian

I can't speak it. I've tried, I've taken classes. I've even had friends try to help. It feels like history repeating itself. My mother raised me. Spanish is a language I have heard all my life, but I still can not speak it. I've taken classes in high school, in college, my ex's first language was Spanish. He tried, friends tried and after 30 years, I still never could speak it.

Something has to happen. There has to be some way to get me to be able to speak Norwegian. I learn nothing in the courses. I can sit in class. I can pass the tests, but I can not seem to retain what I have learned long enough to get to a point where I can speak it.

So what now? Is there any other techniques that I haven't tried? There has to be some way to get a new language into my brain.

I am not giving up yet!!!

Sisters

I miss them! They just left.

Spent a few days here with me. We had a fabulous time!

It has been so long since I have seen them(almost 9 years). Moving across the world can make family relationships a bit strained at times. So to see them again, to hug them and talk, it was like I had never left! They are the best sisters ever!

Sometimes you wonder

Just going threw a few things at the moment. So I haven't been posting much.

Sometimes things make you wonder about the world and people. So things you feel very passionate for and some things you don't, but others are. I do try to respect the knowledge and passion someone has for something even if I disagree with their take on it.

I am not so lucky it seems. Some can get pretty rude as well. It makes you wonder if spreading your insight on a topic is worth the aggravation. Guess it is since there is some good that will come of it. People will think on what was said and some people will agree never having heard that side before.

Gonna go read my book, it is a pretty day out and I think I just want to enjoy that for the moment. Have a great weekend!

Apartment in haugesund

So what do you think?

Toppleilighet med 4 soverom og solrik terrasse.

Pretty?

My new book

On the way home from Göteborg, we stopped in Oslo to retrieve our passports from the US Embassy.

While there we stopped at Outland. One of the only fantasy, comic and sci fi book shop chain in Norway(or the only chain actually). There are 2 Outlands in Oslo, and one in Bergen and Stavanger. There was a shop in Haugesund called Ankh, but that was closed down. So I am stuck with on-line shops normally. So when passing threw a bigger city. It is a must to stop by.

Usually, by the end of our trips, there is little money to play with to be able to buy a lot of books. So I need to be picky when I am there. This time I got a bit lucky.

As I went to check the books on sale, (I like some older authors, so a lot of books I tend to want can be found there) the first book I saw there was one that I had been wanting for a long time. The Magician's Apprentice.

I do like Trudi Canavan, her trilogy The Black Magician was a very enjoyable read to me. So when I saw The Magician's Apprentice, I was so excited. Only 80 nok for the hardback. Nice find, yay me!

So now it is time for coffee, a comfortable chair and my new book. :)

Tram greetings.

(This was first a response to Miss Nea's blog post and then it started a life of it's own. Well it just got too long and turned into it's own post here.) :) ...

I am guilty of this at times. To start speaking to someone as we are waiting for or on a bus or tram. I guess as a foreigner I can better get away with it more? Who knows. Yet most often I do keep to myself.
Also there are times that I am approached. Well in Sweden I have been on several occasions, not in Norway. I have struck up conversations with people in Norway, but no one has with me.

I just got home from vacation in Sweden and I do love the ambiance with the bus and trams in Göteborg, so perhaps at times when I am enjoying the feeling of just being there, that causes me to stand out.

Just a few nights back a man named Henrik approached me waiting for a tram. Speaking Swedish at first till he found I couldn't fully understand then switched to English. We spoke for a bit and on the tram he sat across the isle from me. Then when his stop came, he bid me farewell and went on his way.

It kind of feels like getting a glimpse of a book you never would have gotten a chance to ever read.

My mom always taught me never to talk to strangers. I think it was a pet peeve of hers since I did anyway. At least now I am more aware of the when I do take a chance and greet a stranger.

Have you ever?

Home again

Sadly my vacation is over. Unlike most that enjoy a vacation and are ready to come home and relax (like my husband).
I was not ready. This usually happens when I go and visit Gothenburg. There is something about this city that moves me. I feel like I am at home when I am there, so to leave is like giving up a piece of me.

I am not sure when I will get back again. Soon I hope.

Some seem to go threw life not finding the one place that makes them feel like they belong. It is a feeling I really never have had before till that first time I stepped off a train into Göteborg. Odd that it would take over 30 years to finally find that feeling, but I have found it. Perhaps one day my dream will come true, that one day, coming home from a vacation will have me driving into Göteborg, not away.

Lifestyle change

It has almost been a year. Well a year in September. So far I am doing great!

I feel less tired, my headaches are gone! I use to get one everyday, I mean everyday, now NONE!!!

My hips don't kill me after a half hour of walking, my chronic leg pain is gone. something I had to deal with for 30 years, is now just gone.

And the main plus to all this, so far I have dropped over 30 kilos in weight. No extra exercising, no extra anything. I do the same I have always done when it comes to activity. Now I can do more just because I feel better, but nothing extra in my routines were changed. Just what I eat.

Heres to feeling great! Skål!!!