I´ve been productive

The last weeks in Germany were busy. I discovered a true knitter´s heaven in Leer of all places. Rows and rows of wonderful yarn in all colours and different mixtures. The lady who own the shop spoke perfect English and was truly helpful. When I found the yarn that I wanted she pointed out that she had almost exactly the same type, just 3 € cheaper. Good service I must say!

A neck warmer and a matching hat which was a gift for a girl that dislikes the wet and cold weather in Ostfriesland

Another neck warmer for someone who doesn´t know it yet. Hope she doesn´t see this before the 24th. 

I also knitted two black hats but never took pictures of them. Hope those who receive them will be warm and happy as well :)

The last weeks I went slightly crazy in the kitchen. I couldn´t leave my family without some of the  "Frühstücksmischung" - cereal that we ate every morning. So I made 4,5 boxes of it. Should last a while I hope!

Dirk told me that it would be good for his weight that I was leaving. I baked something like 7 cakes the last month.. :) haha I think I was compensating for something, but that´s a different story. The other reasons were all the birthdays that popped up and that I wanted to give the family my favourite Chirstmas cookie "Dronningkake" as a farewell present.

"Kvæfjordkake" or "Verdens beste" (The world´s best) as it´s also know.

This was the first time I tried making this cake and I skimmed through the recipe and thought I had understood how to make it. For those of you who don´t know it, it consist of two layers with rum cream in between. Really yummy for sure! When I have made cakes I´m used to cutting them in two circular halves for filling and then adding some icing on the top as well. The Kvæfjordkake recipe told me to make two halves but I was so confused because the cake came of the oven rather flat, I had no idea how I would manage to make two pieces out of one. Since this was supposed to be a birthday cake for Olli I had to make yet another one. I couldn´t show up with a "failed cake" so I made my regular carrot cake. 

I was slightly disappointed that I had failed but Dirk came up with the wonderful idea that we would cut it in two "sideways" halves and enjoy it anyway. I decided to read through the recipe once again and then it turned out, that´s EXACTLY how it´s supposed to be made. I had just misread it.. oh boy that was such a blonde moment...!! Nevertheless we had lots of cake to enjoy for the next few days and everyone were happy :D

Made from scratch marzipan with rum or lemon taste and chocolate cover 

Dronningkake, my favourite Christmas cookie. If you want the recipe you can ask and I will share, but I don´t want to make it available for everyone ;)

At the end I will share a photo of the last evening meal I shared with the Lucius family. Gluten free Mexican pizza topped with salad and strong(!!!) garlic yogurt dressing, guacamole and nachos. Totally delicious!

One week at home

Time for an update on how things are going back in Norway.

It´s been a week since I put my feet on Harstad ground again and it´s gone by really quickly (as always). I have not done much because I needed to rest after the long journey home and the little sleep I got during it. I have however burned a lot of candles, messed up my apartment, unpacked, listened to great music and met up with good friends and family. My parents and I even managed to squeeze in a visit to Lofoten where I saw my 7 weeks old cousin Tamara who is a total cutie and my soon to be 91 year old grand mother!! :)

Since my return the weather has been good. Harstad received soft and beautiful white snow on my first day home and the whole city looked like the perfect Christmas card. Between the 2nd of December and the 10th of January Harstad has "Mørketid" - the polar night so I haven´t seen the sun since I returned. That doesn´t mean that it´s pitch dark though. During my travels many people have asked about and wondered what the polar night feels like and I therefore want to show you some pictures of how the city has looked the last week.

The view towards the ocean from my parents house. Taken 11.12.2011

 Snapshot from Trondenes church Sunday 11.12.2011. 

 Beautiful moon light above Harstad sometime this week. You can see MS Kong Harald on the

opposite side of the bay. 

The Vågsfjord and Harstad this morning at about 11. am

Harstadbotn and the mountains to the south. Can´t remember the names unfortunately

This Christmas will be spent at sea, working. I´m heading out on Wednesday and I will only return the 8th of January. I therefore try to celebrate the holiday on beforehand. Have succeeded only half way but on Sunday I got the proper Christmas feeling while listening to Harstad Mannskor (a choir made up only by men) in the Trondenes church. (Picture number 2) They sang some of the most beautiful songs I know and during "O helga natt/O holy night" I had tears in my eyes and goose bumps all over my arms. It was wonderful.

Now I wish the ocean to be gentle towards MS Nordstjernen where I will celebrate the holiday and that everyone reading this will have a peaceful and lovely Christmas and a happy and joyful new 2012!

MS Nordstjernen docked in Svolvær August 2011.

November

I will start this blog entry by saying that I am going to talk about the weather. Now you have been warned! ;)

On my way to school yesterday I was listening to the radio. They were discussing the weather. Apparently it´s been an exceptionally dry November. Germany normally receive an average of 66 liter precipitation per square meter in November. So far this month the measurements say 0,4 l (!!)

For those rain-haters out there I´m sure you´re smiling and picturing yourself enjoying the sun while raking up colourful autumn leaves. Well let me tell you something about Ostfriesland, the area I live in. It´s one big marsh field! As any other good marsh field, Ostfriesland does an excellent job of producing massive amounts of fog! Don´t get me wrong, I have experienced my share of foggy weather. In fact, in Svalbard it comes and goes throughout the summer. In Harstad too, we are all familiar with the ocean fog rolling in from the sea if the wind happen to come from the "wrong side" (which it often does by the way). Clearly, I know how annoying this particular type of weather can be but I also know that the sun is never far away. It normally peeks through the mist and reminds us that the wind soon will turn as well.
In Ostfriesland on the other hand.. Well let me put it this way: in my 28 year long life, I have never experienced such long periods of NO SUN and such thick fog.

I have not managed to take any good pictures of the thickness of it but the photo above was taken on a sunny Sunday. The family and I wanted to go the the dike to look at the setting sun. We left the house under a blue sky, drove the 5min ride (5 min if we encounter no trains at the train crossing, 15 min if we are on typical "Ostfriesen time," meaning the one controlling the boom is in no hurry to lift the damn thing even though there might be plenty of time for 20 cars to pass between the train arrivals) down to the dike and were met with the white fuzzy wall somewhere in between home and the river. Oh fun! :/

It has to be said that I find the weather in East Friensland fascinating. It´s so different from anything I´ve ever seen. However there´s only so much fog a girl can take. It creeps and crawls in everywhere no matter how well you pack that scarf around your neck or tuck the jacket around you. It´s so freaking humid and the air is nothing but raw. brrrrrr

To my great surprise I saw no fog when I pulled the curtains aside this morning :)  Indeed the last three weeks have been so packed with the fuzzy stuff that I hardly remember what the sun looks like. Of course I saw no sun this morning either, but at least it was possible to spot more than just the neighbour´s house, which is an improvement if you ask me.

I´d rather like to show you what the landscape looks like on a beautiful sunny day. (Yes there was one last Thursday believe it or not) It happened to be on my day off. I got up, dressed in running clothes and set off to have a look at the country side along the "Ostfriesland Wanderweg" while working my lazy butt a little.

Oesfriesland Wanderweg

I did get a nice work out of the hour I spent outside, but so much more as well. I saw happy cows, pigs and goats running around on the green beautiful fields and wonderful autumn coloured trees. What a wonderful day.

The harvest has been brought indoors already

Happy pigs 

and curious goats that let me cuddle them. 

The fields are green and the cows are happy too

The pictures were taken with my mobile phone hence the low quality but I hope it still shows what a beautiful area Ostfriesland really is. 

Being from Norway I find it quite amazing that I´m enjoying the landscape here so much. I normally miss mountains and the ocean quite quickly when being far away from them. I guess it means I find Ostfriesland to be home. Just writing that makes me feel so good that I believe it to be true. :) 

Av og til savner jeg Hurtigruta ganske mye!

Så da er det kanskje like greit å takke ja når de tilbyr deg fast jobb... :D

Go helg folkens!

What are you looking at???

Work it!

Oh la la!

<3

Oktoberfest - Gallimarkt

Trying to keep it in English this time.

Last year I lived in München for 6 weeks. I tried to learn German at a EF language school. I clearly remember the information boards at my old school had several flashy posters showing the different EF offers. Strangely enough the hard to notice, black and white United World College poster hanging in one corner, was the one that caught my eye and to make the story short; I applied to UWC, got in and had the best two years of my life (so far at least).
Therefore in August I found myself thinking: why not give EF a chance. I was tired of work and wanted to learn more German so I could get different jobs within the tourism business.

The only German EF school lies in München and seeing that the world famous Oktoberfest would be taking place while I was there, the choice wasn´t too hard to make.

The 27th of September 2010 I found myself getting out of the train at the Haupbahnhof in Munich. It smelled like sausage and in front of me I could see hundreds of people passing. The funniest thing was that most of them were wearing Lederhosen or the Dirndldresses that we all know to be "typical German" (NOT). I guess the only thing missing was someone yodeling and a proper "ompa ompa band."

It didn´t take many days before I had been to "Theresienwiese"where all the madness takes place and I had invested in my own polka dot Dirndl dress. Yes I know, I got a little carried away.

I made quite a few films from the spectacle. Most of them are should not be shown to the public but after looking through them all, I decided to post this one.

The quality is not the best because it was filmed with my cell phone but you still get an impression of what was going on in the Hofbrauzelt every day. I don´t know if you will agree with me but I think 2-3 days of this is enough. I´m glad I got to experience it but I´m not sad that I missed it this year.


Here in Oestfriesland I asked about Oktoberfest and other celebrations and most people laughed. I then asked if anyone has a Dirndl or Lederhosen and again people laughed and thought it was a silly thing.

After a few weeks here the city got filled with poster of the "Kramermarkt" in Oldenburg and for the Gallimarkt in Leer. The plan was to hit the Kramermarkt with my friends but somehow we ended up staying in dancing to Glow by Madcon (story will come later) and later making the dance floor at the UMbauBAr slightly unsafe and slightly Norwegian too (I got them to play Madcon again)

Last weekend all my friends were busy or away and I was lying sick and annoyed in my bed. It was decided that we would visit the Gallimarkt. I didn´t have high expectations, actually I had no expectations at all but the weather was super so I knew it would not be an unpleasant experience. Except the horrible smell of fried mushrooms it was a ok way to spend the evening. Regine and I rode a few of the fun rides and we saw Leer from the "Paris wheel" which was the best thing. 

Then we saw this mobile bar house and I thought: Oh yes! This sums up the way I feel about markets like this. TASTELESS but an ok way to spend your time when you´re bored... ;) 

Going to Hannover today. Then Rotterdam tomorrow and the USA on Friday! Yay! :D 

"Learning to walk again"

(for those reading only english.. look further down)

Da har den endelig kommet. Filmen som har vært etterspurt siden juni.

For de av dere som ikke aner hva det er snakk om så har jeg følgende historie å fortelle:

Det var noen dager før jeg skulle ta bilteorien og jeg var drittlei av å lese hele dagen. En kompis var i byen på kurs og satt sammen med kollegaer og nøt et par øl. Jeg var også invitert, så jeg hoppet i noen behagelige, men fine klær, satte opp håret, tok på meg jakka og skulle til å klaske sykkelhjelmen på hodet, da jeg innså at jeg hadde satt opp håret og at jeg ikke fikk hjelmen på. Hmmm så da droppet jeg like godt hjelmen.

Ute var det nydelig vær og jeg hadde fått meg nytt Canon kamera (som er til salgs hvis noen er interessert). Det skulle selvfølgelig testes og jeg hadde ingen baktanker for mitt gamle Canon kompaktkamera passer alltid perfekt i hånden og det er enkelt å filme mens man sykler. Så hva gjorde jeg? Jo jeg satte i gang filmen og trillet ned bakkene. Det gikk strålende helt til jeg hadde kommet et godt stykke ned på "Søsterstien." Det hadde Harstad kommune drevet med veiarbeid pga det berømte fjernvarmeanlegget (grøss og gru) og det var kommet noen nye humper som jeg selvfølgelig oppdaget alt for sent......

"HELVETE," var det første jeg tenkte mens jeg fløy i lufta. "KRÆSJ" var et neste og merkelig nok "jeg må holde kameraet høyt," det tredje. Det fjerde var AUUUUUUU og E D MUUUUUULIG?? og til sist men ikke minst, "jeg må komme meg til en nabo før jeg besvimer." Som tenkt, så gjort. Jeg banket på nærmeste nabo sin dør og sa forsiktig til damen som sto i gangen innenfor at hun ikke måtte bli skremt for jeg var blodig men bare ute etter hjelp.

Damen var tilfeldigvis (????) sykepleier, tok meg med på badet og kommanderte meg på gulvet der jeg ble liggende helt til jeg følte meg bra igjen. For en hjelp! Hun puslet og styrte og var den rene engelen. Godt med gode naboer altså! Hun mente at kuttet jeg hadde fått ikke var så ille og at jeg mest sannsynlig ikke trengte sting. Derfor hoppet jeg ikke lenge etterpå tilbake på sykkelen og dro ned til byen der jeg ble møtt av en del forunderlige blikk. Jeg var jo tross alt grå pga grusen, blodig og bustete og litt fortumlet (og gjengen jeg møtte var nok litt småbrisen også)

Vi tuslet oss etterhvert hjem til en av karene og hadde det koselig på veranaden i kveldssola. Rundt middnatt var det tid for å sjekke "skallestatusen" min og det skremte meg litt at jeg fortsatt hadde fersk blod i hodebunnen. Frank meldte seg som ridder og ble med på sykehuset, der det tidlig ble bestemt at jeg skulle sys. Kl 01.00 på natta lå jeg paddeflat, fortsatt totalt bustete og skitten, på en sykehusbenk med grønn duk over hodet og ventet på sykepleieren. Hva gjorde jeg??? Jeg lo så jeg var dårlig. Det gjorde sykepleieren også og det håper jeg du blir å gjøre når du ser videoen! ;D

I tillegg til mitt fantastiske svalestup kan du se noen av sommerens store høydepunkter. Jeg opplevde den som en av de beste på mange år. Supre minner med herlige mennesker! Nyt den <3

FILMEN

It´s finally here! The video you all have been asking for since June. 


Don´t know what I´m talking about? Let me tell you a story... 


I had been reading and reading theory for days because I planned on taking my driver´s license and I was so dead tired and bored. A friend of mine was in town for the evening and was sitting with some colleagues at a bar, enjoying a beer. I was invited to join them. I jumped in some comfortable though chick clothes, put on my jacket and reached for the bike helmet. It didn´t fit because I´d made a hair doe that did work well with the helmet so what did I do? I skipped the whole thing. Nothing bad had happened before so why not leave it just for that one evening??


On the way out I got my new fancy Canon camera out (for sale by the way.. picture above), put the setting on "film" and had no thoughts at all that this might be a bad idea. My previous, highly beloved compact canon camera fit perfect into my hand and I had been filming with it, while biking, a million times before. This new camera however, was much bigger and heavier. 


What did I do? I rolled down the hill, faster and faster, happy as a clown, not a worry in the world. The weather was superb and life was great. Half way down the hill I hit the gravel path and discovered a little late that there had been road work since the last time I had biked there....


"BUMP"..... 
Elisabeth FLYYYYYYYYING, 
Elisabeth CRASHING (strangely enough holding the camera high above my head so it didn´t get a single scratch) 


"THUMP".... the sound of the bike pedal hitting my head


While bleeding quite badly I managed to walk over to the nearest neighbour. Her door was open and I could hear someone talking in the hall way. I told her not to be scared of what she was just about to see but that I was just bloody because I needed help. 


The lady happened to be a nurse. She brought me to her bath room and demanded me to stay on the floor while she took care of me. A true angel I must say. She concluded that the cut was not too bad and after 20 minutes in her care, I washed my face, tried to save whatever was left of my hair doe and biked, a little more slowly this time, to the city. My friends laughed when I told what had happened and we had a great evening out in the sun.


Around midnight I had a second check of my cut and it made me a little nervous that it was still bleeding a little. Luckily Frank was a true gentleman and came with me to the hospital. So at 1.am it was decided that I had to get stitches. There I was, bruised, tired, dusty, messy, lying flat on a bench with a green sheet above my head. What did I do? I laughed. What did the nurse do? She laughed. The whole story was so hysterical. I hope you find it to be as well and that you´ll laugh when you see the video.. ;)

In addition you will see some of the great moments of the summer 2011. I have to admit it´s been the best summer in many many years and the memories are great. I think of all the wonderful people I shared it with.. <3 Enjoy!

THE MOVIE

Ny livsstil

Som noen av dere vet har jeg lagt om kostholdet mitt. På søndag feiret jeg at det er 4 måneder siden jeg kuttet ut melkeprodukter, sukker og gluten.


Veldig mange har spurt meg hvorfor jeg gjør dette. Det er virkelig ikke enkelt å forklare hvorfor, men den største grunnen er nok at jeg alltid har vært en diger "sukkerjunkie." Nesten hver dag drakk jeg saft, brus eller juice, tygget en pakke tyggis, stappet i meg litt potetgull (ikke så mye sukker i det nei men likevel), smågodt eller sjokolade, ei lefse, et kakestykke eller kjeks. Var jeg trist og lei meg, trøstet jeg meg med godterier. Var jeg lykkelig, belønnet jeg meg med sjokolade eller noe annet søtt.


Jeg er absolutt ikke i mot "å kose seg" for det gjør jeg fortsatt, men da jeg virkelig begynte å legge merke til hva jeg stappet i kroppen min, tenkte jeg at det ikke kunne være særlig sunt. Joda, jeg vet at jeg er slank, men man merker den usunne livstilen på andre måter. Overaktiv slimproduksjon, masse kviser, appelsinhud og "24-timers influensa" men jevne mellomrom. Dessuten kjente jeg alltid på den dårlige samvittigheten. Den var spesielt sterk etter at jeg hadde spist noe søtt og nettopp derfor trøstet jeg meg med mer sukker, bare for å gjøre det verre. 
Blodsukkeret mitt var akkurat som en berg og dalbane. Jeg fløy høyt i noen minutter og så var jeg dypt nede igjen, skuffet og lei meg. Jeg hadde fått nok!


Så kom jeg over denne damen med det flotte navnet Thorbjörg og leste om hvordan hun la om kostholdet sitt. Mange kjenner nok "kernesundfamilie"bedre enn Thorbjörg men deres program er omtrent det samme som Thorbjörgs: Null sukker, melkeprodukter og gluten. Dessuten skal all maten være økologisk. Jeg leste boken deres og ble rett og slett inspirert. Familien var plaget av overvekt, stress, depresjoner, humørsvingninger, astma, allergier og for lite søvn. Deres eldste sønn Bertram har diagnosen infantil autist i tillegg til en feil på kromosom 22. Typisk oppførsel for Bertram var stadige raseriutbrudd. Han hylte, slo og var så vanskelig å være i hus med at foreldrene vurderte å plassere han på en spesialinstutisjon.
I dag har ingen astma og ingen sliter med allergier. De er sunne, friske, veier betydelig mindre og sist men absolutt ikke minst har Betram et mye bedre liv. Han er ikke lenger rasende, derimot empatisk kjærlig, spiller i band og går på dansk folkeskole. 
Jeg hadde broren min Kristoffer i tankene da jeg leste dette. Han har Tourette syndrom og AD(H)D. H-en står i parantes fordi han ikke er hyperaktiv. Slike dietter skal kunne hjelpe på adferdsvansker og jeg tenkte at hvis sukkerjunkie Elisabeth kunne klare å legge om livsstilen, så kan Kristoffer også klare det. 


9. juni, etter en slitsom og alt for "sukkerrik" turnus på MS Nordnorge, hev jeg meg i gang. Det var ikke lett skal jeg si dere. Jeg hadde konstant lyst på søtsaker. Flere ganger per dag åpnet jeg kjøkkenskapet for å lete etter snop. Takk og lov hadde jeg tømt huset for slikt. Det eneste jeg tillot meg selv av søtere matvarer, var frukt, honning og rosiner. 


Det tok to uker men plutselig ble alt lettere. Jeg hadde faktisk ikke lyst på kaker, kjeks, sjokolade, is, brus og den berømte "twist og godt og blandet" lørdagsskåla på MS Nordnorge fikk stå helt i fred. For en herlig følelse! 
Å bytte ut glutenbrødet var heller ikke vanskelig. Tenk, en dag uten luft i magen! ;) Jeg anbefaler det!  Mye har med vane å gjøre for jeg innrømmer lett at det er litt rart å ikke spise baguette eller loff til suppe eller reker men det meste kan man altså venne seg av med. Det finnes glutenfrie brødoppskrifter og det positive med pålegg på en riskake i forhold til på et brød, er at pålegget smaker mer!


Det aller vanskeligste har vært å kutte ut melkeprodukter. Taco uten rømme foreksempel, nordnorske jordbær uten fløte... Hmm ja det er vanskelig! Derfor er jeg ikke lenger så streng mot meg selv på det området. 
Heldigvis har jeg aldri vært den store melkedrikkeren så den biten savner jeg ikke og mye av maten som inneholder fløte eller rømme, som foreksempel kaker, vafler, boller osv, spiser jeg uansett ikke lengre..  


En annen flott ting er at Thorbjörgs livsstil tillater geitost. Her i Tyskland er osteutvalget så utrolig mye større enn hjemme så her nyter jeg osten min :) En skjønn oppdagelse er alpro soyaproduktene. (Takk til Ruth på Hurtigruta som lot meg smake på yogurten sin) I Harstad lette jeg etter yogurten men ingen av helsekostbutikkene hadde den i utvalget sitt så da jeg fant hele 3 forskjellige smaker på det lokale supermarkedet her i Leer, til under 1 Euro for boksen, ble jeg helt i hundre!! 

Hver morgen spiser jeg hjemmelaget frokostblanding med soyayogurt og litt honning på toppen. NAM NAM

Bildet viser frokostblandingsproduksjon

Det er litt verre med middag. Jeg har aldri vært glad i å lage middag selv, men Regine har vært kjempegrei når det gjelder kokkeleringen her. Hver torsdag har jeg fri fra skolen og da finner jeg på nye matretter. I over i morgen skal jeg servere falaffel med salat. Håper de blir fornøyd ;) Jeg har juksa og kjøpt ferdigblanding fra helsekostbutikken men neste gang skal jeg lære meg å lage det fra scratch, jeg lover! 

Tyskland er virkelig helt super når det gjelder alternativ mat. Man finner alltid et økologisk alternativ i ferskvarebutikken og til og med i småbyer finnes det en helsekostbutikk. Det er i tillegg billig! Her er en ny yndling: 

I blandingen pleier jeg å legge til gulrot og solsikkekjerner. En skive smaker helt himmelsk med geitost eller peanøttsmør.

Jeg er ganske så stolt altså. Det må være lov å skryte litt, men hovedpoenget mitt er at alle kan klare å kutte ut noe de er avhengig av. Nå håper jeg at andre blir inspirert og at jeg klarer å overtale Kristoffer til å kutte ned på brus og godterier. Han skal få smake på alt det andre gode man kan lage når jeg kommer tilbake til Norge.