A duty

So eventually I've found myself a job. Through a temp agency nevertheless, but it's still a full-time job. I work in the duty free shop at the airport in Oslo (which is really not in Oslo but rather 30 min away) and tomorrow is my last day of training. It's a lot to think about with different currencies, regulations on liquids as hand luggage and how much you are allowed to buy of alcohol/cigarettes. But at least I have to use my brain so I won't be totally braindead by the time I leave. (And I get the chance to retrieve some lost brain cells because of binge drinking over the past year).

I'm sort of in a limbo at the moment. I'm just waiting for summer to kick in so I can start to wear my summer dresses. Most of my clothes are still in the suitcase as I can't really use much of it yet. I actually had to buy some more jumpers as the weather is not exactly the best. So yeah, I miss Australia!

A significant day

May the 17th is Norwegian Day. It's just like Australia Day.





Except that we start early in the morning with Champagne breakfast, dress up in our best clothes, join up in the streets to watch the parade with marching bands and smiling kids, wave our flags while we shout "hipp hipp hurra!" and have ice cream eating contest with our friends. But besides that Australia Day and Norwegian Day is exactly the same thing.

Well, at least both days include alcohol troughout the whole day. There is some common ground.

Avoidance

Yesterday I did my first "public appearance" in my hometown. I had to go to the shops and I braced myself with sunglasses and iPod. My hometown has just over 13.000 people living here. It's big enough to hide away in the crowd at the supermarket but small enough to always see people you sort of know. And boy, was I stressing out when I walked towards the shops.

I like meeting people I know but it is sometimes hard to tell who you know. Are we just acquaintances? Would you remember me if I said hi? And the look you share that says "I recognize you from somewhere but I don't know if I should say hi because maybe you don't remember me and it would be all awkward". Oh yeah, these are the things that ran through my minds when I was heading for the shops. And of course, I didn't run into anyone I shared the look with, I didn't even see anyone I know really well. So much worrying for nothing...

My other home

I've decided to write in English for the next couple of months so my non-Norwegian friends can catch up on my adventures here.

The flight back home was incredibly boring. I met no hot guys, no friendly old people and there were a lot of nagging families. I usually like to have an aisle seat but as the plane was full booked I was stuck with my window seat. I find it better to be bothered by people that need to pee rather than me being the annoying one. But I was so happy with my window seat when I realised the lady sitting next to me was fully pregnant and went to the toilet every 10 minutes. Goddamn, I would have hated her if I had the aisle seat! Well, that was the most interesting part of the flight so as you can tell it was a bloody boring portion of my life.

I landed around 11.30AM so I had plenty of the day left. I never feel tired when I come back to Norway so I decided to go and see a Blymandag, a stand-up thing, with some friends. It was fun, fun, fun and as my best friend, Else, was a part of the show I nearly wet myself laughing. God, she's hilarious!

Kari-Anne met me with the Norwegian flag and a welcome home poster and she made me feel really loved. Bless her!

It was really nice to be in Oslo again. Even though Melbourne is my favourite city it will always be something extraordinary about Oslo. I'm not done with Australia, but some part of me crave for Oslo again.










Anette and me











Me and my cousin Cathrine













Alexander AKA Odd













Showtime











Eline and me













Welcome home, Vera!

Hockeylocks

Og jeg som trodde jeg skulle være pen og fin på håret til jeg kommer hjem. Elle farget og klippet det søndag kveld, og jeg må innrømme jeg var bekymret da hun IKKE hadde et vinglass i hånden. Jeg hadde god grunn til bekymring. Sveis funket bra søndagskveld, men det var kun et engangstilfelle. Jeg har fått en herlig hockeysveis og verken mousse eller spray kan redde dette. Jeg trøster meg med at mitt hår vokser sykt fort så jeg kan alltids håpe at det har blitt litt bedre til jeg ankommer moderlandet.

Trøste og bære, neste gang skal jeg sørge for at Elle er snydens!

Forlate for godt?

Nærmer seg avgang for Norge, og det gjenstår som vanlig en god del pakking. Har allerede blitt en del kasting av klær og gamle sko, men kofferten blir allikevel tung.

Har vært mye styr og stell med skolen det siste året, og selv om Lånekassa er veldig grei å ha, så lager de utrolig mye stress. Det er håpløst å komme i kontakt med de og mailer jeg har sendt har tatt opptil uker uten svar. Bond Uni må ha en bekreftelse av de på hvorfor jeg ikke har råd til å ta dette semesteret, men heller neste og etter mye mas ble det sendt et brev fra Norge til Bond. Det er to uker siden og det har ikke kommet frem. Fikk derfor mamma til å ringe for å be de fakse dette over til Bond, men de sa de ikke kunne gjøre noe uten en fullmakt fra meg. Hallo, mamma ba ikke om noen opplysninger, jeg ville bare at de skulle fakse over det brevet til Bond! Utrolig firkantet.

Håper alt ordner seg for ellers er det stor fare for at jeg ikke kan komme tilbake. Har to fag igjen, og det hadde vært ergelig om jeg ble kastet ut av skolen pga Lånekassens treghet. Så derfor blir pakking litt merkelig. Jeg må ha i bakhodet at jeg kanskje forlater for godt, men samtidig er muligheten der for at jeg kommer tilbake og kan derfor la noen ting være igjen.

Jeg kommer nok tilbake serru. Man må bare finne riktig person å ligge med i byråkratiet.